Scene #7129: FateParadox: To The Victor

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Eryl Fairfax	The blasted wastes near the fallen Njorun are quiet, save the rushing winds, and occasional distant creaks from the massive fallen tree on the horizon. Amid the scorched earth and occasional hardy shrubs, there is a cave that descends into the earth. It is here that the map lead everyone. Here that Reiji's vision pointed. Ruler is here, as is the mysterious figure in the hooded robe. The former does not look happy, keeping his arms crossed and his mouth shut. The latter is more welcoming. "Greetings, one and all. I am glad you can make it. The Holy Grail awaits us down below. Your wish will be granted, and the War will come to an end." Cenedril is here, as the victorious Master. Her eyes are puffy as if she had been crying recently. Gwyn towers over her, a husk of a man still clutching his sword. The girl gently pats his arm. "Worry not Lord Gwyn. We'll have you back to normal in no time." The Hollow says nothing. The hooded figure gestures for everyone to descend. The path is narrow, but sigils have been carved into the rock that shed light, and even a small amount of warmth. Gwyn has to duck and squeeze at a few points, but with some guidance from Cenedril, he manages. And finally, the narrow path opens up. A vast cavern, well lit and warmed by several of those sigils. In the centre, sitting on a boulder, is the Holy Grail. The shining, golden cup that grants wishes. However, it is wrapped in a thick barrier that shines with magic circles and symbols. Some serious work went into... protecting it? "Mind not the barrier," the hooded figure says pleasantly. "Please, make your wish." Cenedril looks to everyone, concern plain on her face. "Is it... really this easy?" she asks.
Priscilla	Of course Priscilla would come. Outside of having sworn to see Cenedril protected, and her obvious self-interest in seeing the girl's wish granted (and some fondness of her in general), the crossbreed has ample reason to be extremely suspicious of the underpinnings of the Grail War by now. Though she has heard more than enough of people opining about the inevitably deceptive and evil nature of anything claiming to grant a wish, her mind isn't on that right now, but rather, the reason she knows where this is in the first place; the ominous and surreal monstrous creature of gargantuan size from which Reiji had gained his vision. "Not all things must be so esoteric." she says to Cenedril, softly and, she hopes, reassuringly. "If it were a difficult process, only attainable by those of obscure learning, the ritual wouldst hold little appeal to the vast multitudes of potential Masters who couldst maketh no use of it." She looks to the hooded man. "Asides, if it is not so straightforward, this one is a dead man regardless. It wouldst be in his best interests to instruct truthfully."
Reiji Arisu	A long road has finally come to its terminus. Maybe he should have spent more effort actually searching for where this place was hidden, but it felt as though it simply was not the right time. With affairs such as these, arriving at the wrong time could have only made the situation worse. There's no sense in worrying about it now. He was told that he should be here, one way or another. For good or ill, Reiji Arisu is present and in attendance. "It's never so simple," the exorcist says from the mouth of the Greater Grail's chamber. "I'll caution you one more time: given all that we've seen so far, is this worth the risk? You're the last keystone in this ritual, Cenedril. Your wish is within your grasp. But to make it means to see this to its completion, whatever may come." "Nobody will blame you either way, though," the exorcist says with a shrug. "If that hooded bastard is going to double-cross you, then everything that follows is on /his/ head. For as long as it can stay connected to his shoulders, that is. Speaking of which--" Reiji gestures at the Hooded Figure, "We're at the end of it now. How about you do us the pleasure of actually introducing yourself, would you kindly?"
Touta Konoe	He thought he'd be okay. He thought after having some time, after having accepted some of his guilt he'd be okay...Touta was surprised when he had been granted permission to come along in this final venture of the Grail War. Truth be told, a part of him didn't want to come. Why would he? He'd have to stare down Nagi who had all but abandoned their home universe when he allowed Assassin's Master to harm Neo Tokyo unopposed, forcing Saber to have to use Rynith's remaining magic to fuel his Noble Phantasm at the cost of her life. The war had seen many people come and go, and as someone who wasn't even a Master in the first place, it was probably remarkable to see that Touta Konoe would have followed it through to the end. Whether that spoke to dedication or to reluctace was hard to say, yet here he was following Cenedril and the others still thinking if this was the right choice for him...Though he finds himself pulling out a card from his pocket. The only thing left of the Servant he had come to call a friend. It was just this single card that encouraged him to continue with what he said he'd do, "Rynith...I'll see this thing through to the end. I owe you that much..." He finds himself mumbling to himself, his grip on the card controlled yet the hand upon his taichi gripped almost maliciously. Perhaps that had to do with seeing a familiar face in the caves. That of Ruler and the hooded figure. Truth be told, if Pris still wanted to remove Ruler from the board...Touta felt it'd have been harder than ever to just try and not beat her to the punch. That's how betrayed he had felt since the last time the two had met. The others who have come have given their reassurances and warnings to Cenedril of what's to come. So it would have made sense for Touta to say something wouldn't it? He was usually the first to try and give those words of encouragement, and yet in this moment he finds himself without an utterance. The young man takes his job as an 'Observer' more seriously than before. He doesn't need to say anything at the moment that his expression doesn't already give to the others, and his expression was solemnly serious. It was a face that said if something were to happen here he was going to make sure it was handled. It's an expression that Nagi should be able to recognize at the very least considering he had probably given such a look to others at one time in his life. But now...Who knows if he even had the gull to call himself a 'Heroic' Spirit.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"So this is what the end of a Grail War looks like. It's..." Jeanne isn't quite sure what word to use there. She looks towards Cenedril, scoffing lightly at her expression. She looks towards Gwyn, visibly irritated at his current form. She looks towards Priscilla, raising an eyebrow at the strangely dressed... Whatever she is. Jeanne can't actually recall Priscilla. She shrugs, then she looks towards Touta. He actually doesn't get any taunting or annoyed expressions for once. Oddly enough, the Avenger even seems to have come in shortly after he did. A coincidence, surely. Finally, she looks towards Reiji, laughing after his warning is issued. "Oh, what's the worst that could happen? If it blows up in their faces, it'd still be better than what's going on now." She gestures at Cenedril and Gwyn again, crossing her arms after a moment to regard the victorious pair once again. "But if you're that worried about this being too easy, I know a few ways to make things harder for the both of you."
Eryl Fairfax	The hooded figure looks to Reiji. It's a bit hard to tell with the way that shadow falls on their face, but they sound like they're smiling sadly. "At any other time, I'd gladly greet you all properly. But it is better that I just fade from the stage as a nameless role. I'm sorry." Ruler looks to Touta, who is plainly in the middle of a small breakdown. His expression shifts, for a moment, to one of sympathy. But he does nothing, and says nothing. It's hard to say if it's because he understands that Touta blames him, or doesn't care all that much. Cenedril looks up at Priscilla, and squares her shoulders some. "You're right." She looks to the hooded figure, who nods to her. "Your wish will be granted. You need only speak it." The young Master looks to the shielded Grail, and raises a hand to it. "Hear me, Holy Grail! I am Cenedril of Astora, victorious Master of the Grail War. Hear my wish and grant it! I wish that Lord Gwyn was restored to his full glory, alive and well once more!" The light shining from the cup intensifies, threatening to blind everyone with it's radiance. But then, in the middle of the light, a pinprick of darkness begins to form. Growing darker and darker, and bigger and bigger. Until a lance of chaotic blackness shoots out, smashing through the barriers, pointed towards Gwyn. There's a wet sound, and the light fades. Ruler stands before Gwyn, the void blade having gone clean through his abdomen. He's gripping it with his hands, having slowed it with his strength and body to keep it from finding its mark. He coughs blood, and looks to Touta one more time. "Nagi-" the hooded figure says, but whatever they were about to say is cut off by the tendril pulling in, dragging Ruler with it. And so, Nagi Springfield is devoured by the Holy Grail, which now writhes and pulses with the chaotic energy that has plagued this War. "Everyone," the mastermind says, their voice terse. "I've no right to ask more of you. But I must, for the sake of the Multiverse; beat back the darkness that issues from the Holy Grail. I will do all I can to assist you."
Reiji Arisu	The exorcist's cheek twitches at the mysterious hooded figure's apparent cordiality. "So you say. A nameless role, huh? What does someone with no name have to gain from this travesty of a war--" Cenedril makes her wish. For Gwyn to be restored to his former glory, in his full might and radiance. This is not what happens. All this time, Reiji has been waiting for the other shoe to drop. And it seems as though it finally has. The light is blinding, all-consuming, but not brightly /enough./ Not even the Holy Grail's radiance is enough to smother that mote of sheer -wrongness- expanding at its heart like a cancer. And before anyone can move, it impales Gwyn-- no, it implaes Nagi. There's no sigh, no room for witty retort. The chaotic heart of this accursed ritual has consumed the one being that has, consistently, stood in its path. And now it's poised to... Consume the multiverse? This is why Shogo requested that he make himself present at this final point in the ceremony. To prevent this -thing- from escaping. The Mastermind begins to speak, but Reiji is already on the move. He roars, tearing his blades from their sheathes. Fire whirls, lightning writhes. A bolt of white-hot power erupts from their confluence and tears into the wriggling dark. "Cenedril!" He calls as he places himself between her and the chaotic dark, "It's after Gwyn! He's the last servant, the final piece. Keep him away from it! And you--" The exorcist's eyes dart toward the hooded figure, as if trying to scythe through their diguise with a glare, "Now you have us fighting against the thing you are responsible for feeding? Explain what's going on, hood. What the Hell have you been doing? What are we /fighting!?/"
Touta Konoe	"...Restore...Gwynn..." There's a grinding to his voice as he forces the utterance of those words. As if saying them aloud would help him process why that of all things would have ended up a wish. For so long he had known Pris had an idea of Cenedril's wish, and while he never really pryed into the matter he had assumed there was some over-arching importance in doing so. So it felt...Cruel to hear that sort of wish, after everything that had happened. Though maybe he was just bitter, maybe he was biased after being someone that could avoid death so off-handedly. Though before he can say something that would surely end up crossing the line, the power of the grail illuminates the cave before being overshadowed by the pitch-black lance that pierces through towards Gwynn, yet the lance never pierces its target. Rather someone takes the fall for that... "...Why...Why now-?!" He's unable to finish his question before Nagi gets pulled into the Grail. Though the question still remains, 'Why did you save him after all this?' It's a question that probably only he cared about, a question he would only come to after everything he's seen of this war. After everything he's seen of Nagi. The grail withs and pulses, and the mastermind offers his plea... The boy doesn't even bother to ask a question. Touta's hand grips onto the hooded figures wrist like a vice, his strength enough to probably stop the bloodflow to the hand entirely. It was probably a horrible time for infighting but frankly, if shit was about to hit the fan, this could be the only time he gets this chance to confront this mastermind properly. "You know, I heard that Nagi was someone who was a real big hero back in my world, and the way he jumped in to protect me during this war I really believed it...So you'd imagine how pissed off I was when I found out you both were watching as my world was getting busted up. Especially when that little snob was breaking the rules of the war that you guys put into place. So what's changed between now and then that he decided to step in again... Truthfully, there were a plethora of reasons. Reasons probably Touta couldn't fathom. But there was one reason, one reason he wanted to believe that Nagi hadn't stepped in that day. One reason he wanted to believe in so badly that it could almost make up for everything he believed. The thought of the grail about to corrupt everything gets put to the backburner as youthful immortal brings down the sleeves of the hooded figure to confirm one thing. Not loosening his grip or giving him the comfort to speak to the others till Touta had received his own answer...
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"... Of course it wouldn't be that easy." Jeanne stifles another laugh as she watches the Grail's light darkening, although that quickly fades as the spear of darkness blasts outward to pierce the Ruler. Her hand goes to her sword reflexively as Nagi gets consumed by the Grail, but she doesn't draw it right away when it becomes obvious that there's no saving the Ruler. "... That's right, you don't. You have a hell of a lot of nerve asking." Although it sounds like Jeanne's taunting the hooded figure, she looks intensely angry. Her anger is not directed towards the figure, though, but at the energy itself. "Practice your groveling and try again!" Without waiting a moment longer, the Avenger conjures up a wave of flames powered entirely by that inexplicable rage, launching it directly into the darkness and whatever might be coming forth from it!
Priscilla	The presence of the hollow Gwyn is something Priscilla had steeled herself before. It isn't any easier for having seen almost the same sight once before; if anything, it's only harder that way, as distant as it'd been, but it'd become easier to accept for her having grown to accept the truth of the Holy Grail. That its mere existence cannot --could not possibly-- bring that man back from the dead to be a familiar for a ritual. That no Servant is the same as in life. A pattern engraved upon history. A person bearing the same face and name. A noble tragedy repeated again, which Priscilla does not care to look upon, keeping it out of mind by placing herself constantly ahead. Whatever she was braced for coming out of the Grail, after the disastrous show of merely being entangled with it before, she couldn't say. 'Prepared for the unexpected' is a term that doesn't go far. She is on guard for a sudden attack, stepping back to cover Cenedril when the barriers shatter and darkness leaps from the radiant light, recognizing a threat --but no further. Ruler leaping into the way, being dragged back in and consumed, the hood seeming barely surprised. It happens in the blink of an eye, and there's so many layers of things wrong with it, ultimately the emotion that wins out rises to Priscilla's face and voice after a clouded second is one of anger, unusually heated, only partly controlled. "Is this how it is to be, Nagi? After all of that, is this what thou were prepared for?" She pushes Cenedril back, moving with her several steps, gesturing towards the entrance, shoving her, urging her "Go. Taketh Gwyn. Now." She can't leave her in the line of fire here. She turns with her scythe, then laying her finger towards the anonymous man. "And thine protections; for this rather than those who couldst somehow find the Grail early, no doubt! What is it that thou knoweth?! Of all times to hold thine silence, this is by far the most absurd! Out with it, thou arrogant fool! What is it that thou were so ready for in coming here? What was it that thou didst so magnificently fail to contain?!" Still, though the potential for destroying the Grail weighs heavily on her mind, there are no alternatives. Priscilla knows it. It burns restless and indignant behind her eyes, she swings back the scythe such that the haft intentionally hits the mage from behind, enough to knock him to the floor, part to prevent him from bolting the moment they all shift their focus, and a little out of spite. Casting an arm towards the grail, Priscilla draws bone-biting wind and painted snow from the ether, too cold to really exist, yet crashing into the darkness pouring from the artifact.
Eryl Fairfax	Cenedril, to her credit, responds quickly. "Come, Lord Gwyn!" she shouts, taking the man's hand and pulling him towards the cave exit. But the Grail vomits up black sludge that splatters over the opening. It distorts, and renders the gap into smooth rock. The cavern is sealed. But the girl gets herself and her Servant against the wall, and begins using sorcery to layer as many barriers over the two of them as possible. The hooded figure has his wrist grabbed tight, and is justifiably berated. He sighs, and doesn't even resist. "I called Nagi into this world to help me deal with this. This is not a true Grail, but more... sentient potential. Potential that wished to realise itself, and so sought to use the model of a Grail War to do so. A War occurred, and a victor was realised. And their wish... was to undo the War. A wish to cancel the events that allowed the wish to occur. A paradox. That is the nature of what you face." Priscilla's scythe catches the figure across the head in the backswing, causing the hood to come free. They reel, but remain standing. They have a square jaw, and a pair of spectacles on. Their black hair is tied back in a long ponytail. They continue explaining. "And so I, as the winning Servant in that War, continued to exist. My Master consumed by the paradox they created, and the false Grail still longed to realise its potential. And so I engineered another Grail War, hoping that letting a War occur, and a wish be granted, would fill in the paradox. And I believe it still may. The Grail still exists in there, else I would vanish." He raises his hand, and in a flash of light, a tall staff with a head modelled on the sun appears in it. "But the paradox has merged fully with the potential, and now they seek to render the Multiverse a chaotic realm. We must make the 'potential' that it fails to do so real. I, Clow Reed, stand with you." The act of cutting the darkness produces strange sensations. It's like cutting flesh, bone, rock, steel and air all at once. There is at once no resistance and plenty of it. But the darkness writhes as if in pain, so it is working. Fire spreads in fits and bursts, at times not at all and then suddenly surging across it. Lightning arcs and conducts not at all, and then all over. The darkness seems to sprout a crown, and then the temperature in the cavern rapidly drops. Icicles sprout from the ceiling and begin raining down, threatening to skewer everyone as Clow produces an array of cards.
Priscilla	The first thought that reaches Priscilla's mind, hitting something far more sturdy than human and seeing his true face, is "Is it even possible for a Servant to be a Master of . . . ?!" For lack of further elucidation, and more pressing circumstances when Priscilla looks to check Cenedril's evacuation and sees the cave blocked, she shifts gears from vexation into a cold, level seriousness. "Thou shalt answer for these omissions whence this is over. Do not intend to die so soon." she says. The temperature plummeting is nothing much to Priscilla. It'd have to be too cold for the others to even survive for her to take severe heed. Jagged chunks of mass are another matter, whether they be associated with the cold or no. She leaps back from a falling skewer, navigating past two others to sweep into a narrow safe spot, and turning her back and raising her arm to shield her face and shoulder from the spray of sharp splinters that flies at her from her entire front arc as they crash to ground, holding tense and firm against the smashing of icy stones against her. When the first round of icicles has fallen she sweeps her scythe low at her feet and up, casting a veil of snow and frozen dust up into the air, and disappears behind it. If Clow Reed says that the Grail itself is not the form of the enemy, but that it dwells within, then she has no choice to believe it, and no better option than to dispense with attempting to physically destroy the item as her focus, and instead spitefully wound the malicious 'potential' within. "Whether thou exist or not, whether thou art chaos, a paradox, or what might hath been and what might yet be, thou stir and fight, struggling to exist, and so, thou art alive, and I shalt visit death upon thee." A clean line slices through the image of the black crown, only visible for the warping of the air around something that is almost more a slashing disturbance than the silhouette of something unseen, though it shrieks above the din, reaching for some sympathetic link.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"Is that your story?" Jeanne spits off to the side with that irritation still evident in both her tone and expression. "Why does it always have to be so damned complicated with you magi? And why do you say your name like you fighting with us should make us feel any better?!" Still angry. Still very angry. Some of Jeanne's anger actually seems to be directed at Clow Reed now rather than just the chaotic force freezing the room, though, although the heat from her flames helps to mitigate some of the icicles falling towards her to the point that they only cause small scratches and punctures rather than outright stabbing her. "Putting everyone through all of this, getting me involved..." She demands from the card wielder, leaping closer to the darkness and drawing her blade in mid-air. She stabs right into it, aiming to tear through the encroaching darkness while flames trail her every swing. "Give us one good reason we shouldn't just toss you into that chaotic mess of bullshit ourselves!"
Touta Konoe	Grabbing hold of Reed's sleeve he doesn't care if the now revealed Servant stumbled or not, or anything of the sort. There was only one thing he had meant to confirm as the sleeve was pulled down. A single mark appears on the Servant's wrist "...A command seal...Yeah, you're not lying. You did end up calling Nagi into this world, but..." The youth's grip gets tighter, "Looks like you're missing a few on here. Now why the hell would that be the case? If you wanted help I can't imagine Nagi needing to be forced to do something...Unless maybe you used one of them to keep him from helping back in Tokyo?!" His grip grows even more violent and for a moment it could honestly feel like he's about to rip Reed's arm right off. It didn't seem to matter if this Clow Reed said he was willing to aid them, the guy had not only dragged Nagi into this, but as far as Touta was concerned forced him to hold back from helping his own home, and that was more than enough to piss him off. Touta feels like he's about to lose control all up to the point that the temperature drops. A few that descend down upon Touta get slammed into by his blade, but a few hit their mark, one literally dismembering his hand from his arm, and yet...That hand still grips Reed so tightly with eyes that stare daggers. Though as the eyes continues to surround him that grip as tight as it gets, releases only to receed and re-attach back to Touta's arm. "I'm glad...As much of a jerk that guy had been, I didn't want to think he was disowning his own world. That him being a Heroic Spirit wasn't just some title...If that's the case then I've got something to say to that smart ass great-gramps of mine..." He pulls out the small ring that begins to expand into a hoop that he brings around his waist. "And I don't care if I've gotta pull him from that grail or hell itself, I'm gonna say it!" Touta finally starts concentrating his actions along with the rest of the group, focusing on the anomaly of a grail that was basically their enemy. He follows Jeanne's approach as she'd try to burn through the darkness with the blade, using it as an opening for himself to try and get closer to the crown that had adorned itself atop the black mass. Truthfully he's never had to try and fight a mass of magical energy before but there was a first time for everything. Unsure of if he could actually damage it physically he bring his blade up at the ready as he attempt to slice into that crown with his Magic Cancel, trying to see if it'd be more receptive than just mindlessly attacking the magical mass.
Reiji Arisu	A Paradox War. A battle that was made so that it never actually happened. All that 'potential' turned in on itself in an attempted to turn back the clock on what was almost certainly a tragic fate for everyone involved. ...And in so doing, the Master responsible caused something even worse to come about. "This seems like the kind of thing you should have told us in advance," Reiji snaps at the once-caster, even as the temperature of the grail chamber suddenly bottoms out. Even Jeanne's hate-filled flames offer little respite. Icicles rain down, and Reiji engages in a dance of gun and sword-- to little avail. His limbs are sluggish, weighed down by the chill in the air and the chaotic energies roiling around the surface of the discordant sphere. Lances of frost cut through his armored jacket, tearing blood-red streaks across the flesh below. "Clow Reed, while I can respect your dedication toward seeing this through to the end, I can't help but think you could /really/ work on your communication skills!" They could have stopped this ages ago. Done... something- Tried /something/ to stop it from getting to this point. But these are the cards they've been dealt... And for all the pain that the war caused, for all the hurt and the death-- it did give Reiji the chance to meet his father again. ...Was it worth it, in the end? Maybe. But neither of the Arisus would have approved of sacrificing so many innocents for that reason alone. Shogo had told Reiji to be here, to witness this, to put a /stop/ to it. "You're asking us to try and kill potential itself," Reiji says to the Clow Master. He drives his blazing blade into the ground, suffusing it with fiery energies-- then draws his shotgun and unloads. Clouds of buckshot ignite, bursting into flame as they leave the barrel and thunder into the roiling black. "But killing it might not be /possible/, Reed. I think you'd know that as well as I do-- we need a plan." But if Priscilla-- if the Lifehunt-- is able to reduce this 'potential' to <<zero>> then maybe they /wouldn't./ Reiji keeps a close watch on her as she strikes, observing and calculating as the results unfold. And yet... "...From Wuji emerged the Taiji. Dad, is this what you were talking about?"
Eryl Fairfax	"In most cases, no. But the paradox has thinned the walls between 'possible' and 'impossible.' So I was able to summon my most worthy rival from the past War. To act in my stead as I attempted to mollify the paradox. I set rules, in the hope that human suffering as a result of the War would be limited." His smile becomes a thin slash across his face. "Not that they accomplished much. I suppose it is in the nature of people to struggle against the rules placed before them." Clow Reed produces a card and says, "Firey." A torrent of flame surrounds him as a humanoid winged figure made of flames arises form the card. The temperature in the cavern is restored as further icicles are melted before they can form. He looks to Touta and sighs softly. "Nagi and I were of split opinion. I feared that weaving knowledge of the paradox into events intended to resolve it would only empower it further. He felt it was unfair to involve so many people without warning. When he said he would simply caution people himself, I used a Seal to forbid him of speaking of the past Grail War. And when he found a way to circumvent it by speaking of the current War in terms of the past War, I used a second to forbid him from acting without my instruction. The attack on your city came during a brief moment of respite on my half, so I was unable to order him to assist. The fault is entirely mine." He next invokes 'Shield,' and another barrier wraps around the layered one protecting Cenedril and Gwyn. "I can offer you no answer that would make you glad to hear," Clow says in response to Jeanne. "Only that I am sorry, and that I hope you understand I wished to prevent further calamity." "Kill it, no," Clow says in response to Reiji. "But potential at times goes unrealised. Moments pass, opportunities dry up. In this maelstrom of cause, we must make it resolve in an effect where it disappears. A chance will present itself, but we must survive this onslaught." Priscilla slashes the crown, and it dissolves into a flurry of snowflakes. The light of Jeanne's flames do little to dispel the darkness, but her blade seems to bite into something deep. But that something tries to grab hold of the weapona nd pull it, and it's wielder, in. Touta attempts ot dispel the magical energy... but it's at once magical and not. It is everything and nothing, all forms of energy at once. For an instant, it has an effect, but then it's something else and he does nothing. Gunfire and elements rain down, again having great effect for the instant that the paradox is something susceptible, and then nothing. The darkness wriggles in response and spouts wing-shaped furls. Shimering portals apepar in the air, before shells begin raining into the cavern, making the ground tremor with their impacts and explosions.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"Earnest wishes, hm?" Jeanne actually goes quiet for a few moments, letting her slashes and battle-grunts fill in the gaps of silence on her end. It's going to take some time for her to process just how much Clow Reed had been involved in and his connection to Nagi's strange... Everything, but it lets her focus a bit more on the ongoing battle against the darkness from the grail. "Not like I haven't heard of that before..." She mutters to herself as she keeps those flames going to try and keep creating openings for herself and her allies to strike at the heart of the paradox grail, although the flames falter as it fires those strange explosions all around. The impact from one in particular sends the Avenger flying, and she only narrowly manages to land on her feet while bracing her sword against the ground. She can feel the chaotic energy of the grail twisting something inside of her, as well as that familiar twinge of something utterly repulsive building up inside of Jeanne. Finally, Jeanne laughs. In the middle of fighting, she's laughing, and it's clear she's gloating. "I'll settle for you acknowledging that failure, then! Remember it as we clean up your mess because you couldn't fix your own problems!" Grasping at straws, but it'll have to do for keeping her mind on task as she dives right back into the fray. Spears form up on each side of the Dragon Witch as they immolate and launch forward, Jeanne herself grasping the spears to push them in deeper and pry them in different directions as though trying to force the darkness open with them like some sort of makeshift crowbars.
Priscilla	"As much as it may disappoint thee, Clow Reed's assistance may be vital at this point. This 'paradox'. I hath seen the effects of its convulsions before. Even limited to this form, it is not something I wouldst taketh lightly; to fight amongst ourselves, even as begrudging allies of circumstance, is too great a risk." Priscilla sounds less reluctant to say it, precisely when Reed produces the Shield card. Almost under her breath, she adds "Thou art certainly a more proficient wielder of those cards than expected. I wouldst hath no reason to believe in such potency from them until now." Priscilla leaps into her attack, rends the crown into a single form, and slides on the ice-slicked floor, rapidly melting on the other side, bracing against the cavern wall, and then launching forward again. Though she'd only just grazed the enemy with her last pass, she'd felt it work. Those infinite possibilities had collapsed into 'snow'. Bits and pieces of that infinite potential collapsing away --the singularity bleeds. It emboldens her. Heightens her aggression, she aims straight for the Grail itself this time, leveled to take it right off the boulder, if not shear it in half. The artillery shells appear and land first. The series of explosions blows Priscilla away. A shallow splash of ice rushes up from the floor, giving her a foothold to stop and angle hard away, but the blast wave hurls her most of the way regardless. Just as she goes flying away however, a fan of thin steel daggers flies out of thin air, no doubt having no physical effect on the Grail, but each carrying their own, tiny charge.
Touta Konoe	The moment he tries cutting through and attempting to dispel the magical energy he can...Well he can just feel how ineffective it is. It was like a tougher variation of what he had experienced before back in Neo Tokyo and that was not a good sign. "Tch...It's like it's got potential to be magic and then all of a sudden it's something else." Potential energy, go figure? Though Reed makes a very interesting statement, "Wait! So the whole hush-hush thing that everyone was getting annoyed with him for doing wasn't even his fault either?! Do you know how much crap he got for that?! Do you know how much crap /I/ gave him for that?!" Now Touta just feels shitty, not only was it not even Nagi's fault on that end but he had actually wanted to tell them everything. He's seriously gotta find a way to make this right somehow... There's a stern look to the young man's face as he tries to think of the best course of action to try and handle such an oddity of power. He deliberates on it for a moment before shrugging, "Guess that's the best thing I can try right now...Just gotta wait for it..." Touma waits as the darkness prepares its attack against them , the shells rain down literally shaking the earth beneath them. Touta finds himself already blown off his feet and into the air with how powerful they are, but he focuses on his goal, to keep concentrating on spinning his hoop till just the right moment... "NOW!!!" As one of the shells looks like it'll catch him in mid-air, Touta brings his palm forward and allows for the odd darkness to be absorbed into his body. Though rather than use it to try and change forms, he opts for something else, rather choosing to redirect the shell right back at the grail itself. While Touta isn't sure what exactly this potential is or what kinda attacks are viable, he can at least make the assumption that this thing could potentially harm itself if it's made of the same material. Basically like trying to use a diamond to cut a diamond was the idea that came to mind. Though if the idea would work...That was another thing entirely. If anything at least he could get a vibe for what kind of power this might actually be.
Reiji Arisu	Bleed it out? To let it simply... Exhaust its Potential and let its chaotic infinity fizzle out into the quantum foam? Reiji clicks his teeth, his brain reeling with the possibility of having to hold this thing off for... How long? There's too much here. Infinity is too much for even an immortal to outlast. But-- That's not necessarily what Clow Reed meant. Shells smash into the cavern, blasting great gouts of subterranean stone into the air with each impact. Bolter rounds, Reiji thinks, as one explodes dangerously close. The shockwave shakes his bones and sends him tumbling away with a burst and bleeding eardrum. A stream of blood trickes down from his brow where shrapnel cut a line across his forehead. He rolls to his feet, hand dropping purposefully toward his personal armory. "Clow Reed," Reiji says to the Caster-turned-Master, "Relying on probability will only get us killed. This thing is infinite. It won't matter if a chance presents itself if none of us are able to exploit it. But...!" Reiji... Swings his arsenal underhand. He squeezes his grip in /just/ such a way that releases a series of locking mechanisms. Three blades and one shotgun go flying, joined soon by a golden handgun. But they never hit the ground. Reiji shouts a kiai and his weapons suddenly whirl away, spiralling out around the chaotic orb like a planetary ring. "What if we create that chance? As you say, moments pass. Opportunities dry up. But it won't matter if the time we need to buy is functionally infinite. So instead, let us exhaust its myriad possibilities in an instant...!" Jeanne Dark goes to wedge the darkness apart, to strip bare the singularity at its heart. That's the moment Reiji decides to act. His eyes burn with blue fire as lines of azure energy cris-cross the cavern floor. Sacred geometry is painted across bare stone. The Grail is already connected to the local ley-network, he knows that from the last time he tried making contact. He links them to his tools, lines of five-colored light lance between each adjacent and opposing blade and gun, carving a pentagram of destruction into a circle of creation. The ritual is familiar. Disturbingly so for any who were present at Shogo Arisu's attempted suicide attack against the Grotesquerie Queen. "I," Reiji intones as the chamber throbs with elemental energies "Am One With All Creation!" The Demon Gate Seal is a technique that ultimately results in the user's destruction. For the mortal warriors of the Arisu clan, it is nothing less than an ultimate sure-kill attack, something that guarantees victory... At the cost of one's life. The soul becomes foundation for a seal of incomparable power, exiling the victim from the universe itself. Does Reiji plan on sacrificing himself...? No. Something else is afoot. Something that Priscilla would recognize, if she looked closely enough at it. "From Wuji comes Taiji. The Primordial Nothingness was divided into Yin and Yang. Thus the ridgepole of the world was forged." Reiji recites as he weaves his spell, taking advantage of the window the Avenger created to attempt to divide the orb's 'potential' further, drawing away energies of two opposing aspects. "The genesis of disparity marked the Beginning. Heat and cold, life and death, light and dark. Then, from the Taiji came the five elements." Yin and Yang are siphoned away further, focused into streams of the five elemental aspects which are themselves drawn toward each of Reiji's five weapons. "From the five elements came the myriad aspects of the Universe. O' primordial chaos of origin, if there is yet some aspect of your whole that yearns to become one with this world, heed my call! Ebb and flow, return to the veins of the earth, and restore life to this blasted land! I call upon your power--!" Tenchi Kaibyaku - The Creation of Heaven and Earth
Eryl Fairfax	"You are far too kind. Thank you ma'am," Clow says. Jeanne buries her spears into the darkness, and through sheer strength, will, or madness, actually manages to start cleaving it apart, tearing into it. The essence shrinks, as if afraid, and tries to contract to peel itself off the spears. With that distraction, Clow returns his attention to the fight. "Loop," he says, invoking another card. At first, nothing seems to happen. But when another volley of shells comes through the portals, they become... stuck. Constantly falling between the same two points before the portals, never impacting or exploding. "These cards are my life's work. Is it so unexpected that I would be capable?" Clow says softly. "I suppose I have not done much to engender faith in me. But I won the War for a reason." He invokes 'Dash' and a small creature manifests, moving with shocking speed over to stand before Priscilla. Her flurry of knives abruptly accelerate, flying faster and burying deeper into the darkness. "I am well aware," Clow says in response to Touta. "He complained endlessly. About the circumstance, not you," he adds quickly. "He wished to have time to spend with you, but... we are Servants. Transitorily. Better that we fade quietly, without fuss. You should not try to bring the dead back, even vicariously." His words hang heavy with personal experience. He watches as Touta redirects a shell towards the darkness, and invokes 'Big.' A woman appears at his side and gestures, causing the shell to abruptly grow massive while retaining speed, impacting against the darkness with crushing force. And yet, all that happens is that it swallows the shell, seemingly without incident. It's... reabsorbing itself. These attacks are just results of its own probability storm. And then Reiji acts. Seperating this primal essence into its components and then subcomponents. It would likely be a savage blow, given this thing's obvious reactions to pain. It actually screams, like static that has been tuned to a glass-breaking pitch, as it begins to peel apart. An orb of deepest blackness splits from an orb of pure static. Yang and Yin. Action and inaction. This may have been a bad idea. For while part of potential is 'something happens,' another part is 'nothing happens.' When you toss a coin, if you take away two of the three possibilities, only one remains. If you take away the passivity of your foe, there is only action remaining. The static orb abruptly explodes, radiating narrow thorns all throughout the cavern. These thorns blossom into more spikes, which blossom further and further still. Activity without end, aimed at skewering every single person here.
Touta Konoe	The young man finds himself biting his lip when he hears that. Being told that all this time the guy had wanted to actually hang out...He found it a little hard to believe. He almost didn't want to believe it. To say those things wouldn't make him feel better at this sort of situation nor would they rectify what was left, but still it was a a hit that even Touta wasn't expecting to experience right now. It's almost enough that he almost stops spinning that hoop entirely... Though it appears to matter very little when he sees it just ends up re-absorbing itself with little to no issue. An even bigger loss for Touta, "Can't Magic Cancel, can't hit it with itself, am I really gonna have to..." The thought of trying to absorb it again was a possibility. A dangerous one, but a possibility none the less. Though if he became Potential he was just as likely to have been tried to be absorbed back. It was an option, but a last resort. There's little time to think on his feet however as thorns divide and conquer in what almost appears infinitely, so small and precise there's no way for him to dodge them nor anyway he can try sucking all of them in. His only option being to brace for the worst. To which he does, feeling his body get pierced and punctured from head to toe as if being down-poured upon by needles that'd just simply render any sort of attempt to defend meaningless. By the time he comes out of it he feels like swish-cheese. His body does close up most of the wounds though with some of these thorns he can feel them lodged in his body still, lingering like stray bullets after the wounds had closed up. Like imperfections that just shouldn't be. To get rid of them he used revolution, trying to manipulate his blood to separate the foreign entities from those that were appropriate before several of them ended up popping out through several of the wounds that had not closed yet. "Wait...Maybe..." Maybe that was something he could try. "Sorry Side-stick, gonna need both hands for this one..." He places the blade down and looks to the anomaly that was this grail once more. As far as Touta had seen, this thing was magic, but wasn't magic. It was potential, but of differing possibility. It was something that was composed of many things. If that was the case, maybe the way to damage it was to try and break those things apart somehow. This time Touta would charge the black icor not with the intent to negate it or absorb it, but rather to...Separate it. Just like a centrifuge he'd attempt to breakdown this oddity by separating all the different types of potential it was accumulated of. Hell...If this was anything like with Rynith maybe if he was able to revolve this stuff enough, he could even separate Nagi from it. Frankly it was more of a gamble than anything he's tried before. What's more this felt like less of an attack and more of just...A set-up. But at the very least, he figured it was something worth trying. Something that was worth doing. So with Revolution, he'll try to undo all the Paradoxes of this warped potential all at once.
Reiji Arisu	It may indeed have been a bad idea. A storm of tiny missiles explode out from the locus of activity that is the Primordial Yang. They multiply endlessly, replicating in a chaotic mess of fractal division. There is nowhere to dodge, no empty space to step into and avoid what can only be the conceptual manifestation of Bullet Hell. But it's not as though Reiji didn't expect something of this sort to happen. In fact, he was more concerned about the third of the three possibilities; that the chaotic potentiality is expending itself like this is painful and potentially life-ending, but the world isn't turning to salt yet. But a curious thing happens, then. Reiji, as it turns out, is positioned such that he, the Yin-aspect and the Yang form a continuous line. The former of the two globes, the orb of pure inaction, unintentionally acts as a bulwark by mere happenstance. He braces to absorb what is certainly about to be a /massively/ painful onslaught of projectiles... ...And instead finds himself fighting in the proverbial shade. In spite of his good fortune, a fractal assault is still fractal in nature; it expands to fill a vacuum. A cascade of little missiles tear at his arms and legs, punching tiny, painful holes through him in a hundred or more different spots, but he is still /alive/ and that counts for much more than being subjected to crippling agony. The exorcist takes a moment to count his lucky stars, but only a moment. There is still work to be done; the chaos is not spent, much of its nigh-on infinite power remains- divided, but not unable to act. Not... Like /he/ presently is. "I need to maintain focus--" he mutters to whoever is listening. To make sure the two aspects do not recombine again into the original... And, more importantly, to ensure that there's just enough 'normal' potential left that they don't end up dealing with nothing but the madness of 'impossibility.' To try and make sure they can still achieve the possibility of 'victory,' he must not let up. Sometimes, concentration-duration spells can be kind of a pain.
Priscilla	Thumping against the back wall from her brief, forceful flight, Priscilla slumps back down out of the shallow crater denting the stone, her invisibility briefly flickering as she coughs, until she again draws breath and picks herself up from her knees. "No reason of import." Priscilla replies to Clow, tensely focused. It's Reiji that catches her attention before anything else --how could he not?-- and in the midst of the battle, she can't help herself but cry out with "Sir Arisu! Thine father did as such to save thee from being made to do the same! Wouldst thou--" But there it is. Her voice halts. Her pupils twitch. Her fingers curl. By the time Reiji has said 'disparity', she herself murmurs along "Heat and Cold. Life and Death. Light and Dark." The rest of what she was going to say dies on her lips. She turns back to the Grail, and to the dark, formless Paradox within it. Being invisible won't help here. It may not have even been useful from the start. Whatever is within the singularity, it only bears the barest approximation to what she'd call a 'being'. A living anomaly. A semi-sentient disaster. Whether or not it could even be deceived --whether it even cared to find them, or even understood who and what they were-- might not have been a consideration paid to the Elites gathered here in the first place. There's nowhere to go. No point of attack to avoid. No shred of direction and awareness. Deadly void fills space itself in the way air must fill a vacuum. If it went right through Nagi, Priscilla decides in an instant that it'll go right through whatever defense she can summon up on such short notice. So there's one thing left. Dark ripples bloom into a silent black blaze around the blade of the Lifehunt Scythe, fading away all around like pitch black ink dissolving in water. It trails the blade with the character of a streaking torch and of a paintbrush's stroke, pale droplet-embers cast from its silver edge. Her own shadow is scattered into a formless blossom of writhing shapes around her, irrespective of the glyph light, which fades away to a near-nothing, then flickers in midnight pitch darkness in that moment. Soot black footprints march across the ground ahead of her, making cold, wet, splattering sounds as they run towards the Grail. Priscilla abandons all ideas of defense, and commits fully to the attack. She rushes straight in along the path, black and silver and dark, painted fire swirling around her. The Lifehunt scythe becomes a blurring, streaking orbit all around her, drawing multiple layers of cutting monochrome streaks about her. A slicing upper diagonal cleaves through a burst of branching spikes, swinging back over her shoulder where the haft is thrown back to the other hand, coming fully back around the side to split a thrust through the middle. Her hands move so that the blade revolves almost around her neck, coming back down to chop off a cluster at the root. She turns with the swing and casts the scythe upwards from the floor, throwing up sparks and a wall of eerie, seething blackness that devours another wall of spines. Her every movement commits to moving the terrible weapon such that it never slows down for even a second; it never stops; it never reverses; it never slows from the same breakneck pace that just keeps up with the exponential multiplication of paradoxical spears, cutting them down exponentially to the root. Where the blade cleaves everything-and-nothing, gouts of blood erupt from the severed sections, spraying the ground with starbursts of slick crimson, as little sense as it makes. She rushes all the way up to the grail itself, and finally sends one last severing arc through it, visible only by the space where it isn't visible, present only as a rush of freezing existential horror, extending from the blade itself through space, lunging the extra few meters from sheer, hellish hunger.
Eryl Fairfax	Touta rushes in to help Reiji, by further diffusing the Yin with his revolution. Under his hands, it becomes wet, cold, soft. It begins to slow, with sections of it floating off and becoming water droplets, hunks of soil and other myriad things. The paradox does not appreciate this, at all. The static side begins to vibrate, building up for another assault. Reiji tries to keep them separate. But it's like trying to throw a stone in water in a way that it ripples without causing troughs also. They connect for a moment, and the static orb begins to shudder. A slight amount of Yin flows into the Yang, reducing its activity. Just long enough for Priscilla to act. The Lifehunt kills life. And Yang is nothing if not lifeful. It is activity, fire, the day. One might need both to be truly alive, but it is easier to call all Yang life than it is to call all Yin life. The spears crumble into ash in the face of her barrage, and the final slash draws another long, keening scream from the paradox. In an instant, it severs from the lay lines, comes free from Reiji and Touta's grasp, and collapses into a murky gray point in space. The Grail is gone. Clow was of no help during that final push. And once the chaos of battle has faded, and everyone catches their breath, it becomes apparent why. That onslaught pierced The Shield card, as well as Cenedril's admirable attempts at protecting her Servant. But in the end, it was Gwyn that protected her. Using his incredible bulk, he became a pincushion to protect her. She is tending to him right now, she and Clow both pouring mana into his form in an attempt to encourage healing. But a fire so faded cannot be easily rekindled. The old man turns his head to his Master and offers a smile, before looking to Priscilla. "Grand... daughter..." he manages to croak, raising a hand to her... before it collapses into ash and cinders, followed by the rest of him. And it all spirals in a non-existent breeze, drawn towards the paradox singularity. Clow is frowning. Cenedril is weeping silently, but wipes her eyes. The Caster starts to speak, but the Master beats him to the punch. "We have to go in there." She points to the hole in space. "The Grail is in there. We can wish him back, and fix all this. Right?" She fixes Clow with a glare that would rival Priscilla's in intensity. Clow Reed nods. "The paradox yet lingers. If you can wrest the Grail from it and make a wish, it will dissolve. Here." He produces a card, and invokes it. "The Return!" A woman manifests, clutching a great clock with its numbers printed backwards. The hands begin to turn, and everyone's wounds begin to close. Their vital energy comes back, as if it was never spent. In an instant, they're as fighting fit as the moment they first entered the cave. Clow gasps, and the woman dissipates. "Time magic is always a massive drain. But all of you at full strength gives us a better chance than I in a slightly fitter state." He gestures to the paradox. "I know not what waits you there. But it has weakened. We cannot afford it a chance to regain power, especially now that it has absorbed another Servant. I must ask you all, once again, to risk your necks and save this foolish man's plan. Please."
Reiji Arisu	Priscilla's scythework is, as ever, a wonder to behold. 'Behold.' What she does to incoming light and the Lifehunt's very nature makes it difficult to watch directly. Regardless, Reiji knows the sensation well. Her strike finishes it, cutting through the mote of Activity that Reiji divided the Chaos into. It brings a smile to his face, working together like this again. The spell Reiji used was one that he had developed to aid in the restoration of Lordran years ago. It seems appropriate that it'd end up seeing use again here and now. But, as it turns out, Reiji's ritual is not the only thing that has repeated itself. The chaos is weakened, a large part of its power has retreated into that gap in space, but at what cost? Reiji is without words as he approaches Cenedril and the dissolving Gwyn. He knows that look on her face, the grief in her eyes. "...Cenedril, I--" Will acquiring the grail, that omnipotent wish-granting device, truly be enough to restore a living god to his full glory...? No, more importantly, would it be enough to restore a young girl's father, and an old friend's grandfather, no strings attached? His expression softens somewhat, and offers her a hand up. "...I'm sorry, I didn't expect it to react like that. I'll do all I can to make things right. It's the least I can do." He looks to Clow as time rewinds, wounds knit and energy is replenished. "For a man who tried to do it all on his own until he had no other choice, you certainly ask a lot from us. But, I'll be seeing this through to the end. We'll clean up this mess, one way or another."