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Eryl Fairfax      Winter certainly lives up to it's name. The area in which Ruler was spotted is a wide, desolate stretch of fresh-fallen snow over tightly-packed ice, most likely a frozen lake. Standing out in the middle of it is the man himself, his hair and cloak being jostled by the freezing winds. Before him is... something. It's hard to tell what it is from a distance, it blends in well with the darkness generated by the clouds blotting the sun.

    Upon getting closer however, it becomes more apparent. It's an orb of suspended nothing, a black circle hanging in the air. It may be a sphere, but its dimensions always appear the same from any angle so it seems 2D no matter what. It hangs there ominously, but doing nothing save giving off the same 'air' as that bizarre event in Paris when Avenger was gunning for Tanya's life.

    It would be hard to hear him over the wind, but Ruler is saying something as he considers this anomaly. "Lucky it manifested so far out of the way. But man... how am I supposed to break this thing? He's way better at this stuff than me..."
Seifer Almasy      Seifer Almasy is a lot of things. In his life, he's a soldier - a black ops soldier, well-trained in arts a lot of people would consider perhaps a bit bloodier than average. In his own mind, he's a Knight, a servant who protects a Sorceress with his life. In fact, he's a King, or a Warlord, or some ruler-equivalent, sitting on a throne of moonlight and foxfire beside someone he's come to love. In this war, he's a Master, of a Servant he barely knows, serving the Concord in order to get a distant prize.

     Most importantly of all, though, in his dealings with Ruler, Seifer Almasy has already decided that that guy is going to die by his hand.

     He strolls in behind Ruler, Hyperion slung over his shoulder. He's not masking his presence. He's not bothering. Seifer is an arrogant, self-righteous, cocksure son of a bitch, a cowboy in a white coat; he makes no effort or pretense to hide because he doesn't feel it's necessary. He *wants* Ruler to know he's coming. He wants Ruler to look him in the eyes when he kills the son of a bitch.

     "Hey."

     "Asshole."

     Seifer slings the gunblade off his shoulder and grinds it against the ground. "We're doing this now."
Priscilla     "No, we art not. Not at this exact moment." comes the frosty voice on the wind, carried over Seifer's shoulder from the white that would mask its owner even if she weren't briefly invisible upon entry. Even her bare feed don't seem to crunch in the snow. "Thou shalt hath thine opportunity, Sir Almasy. Soon, even, but not so soon as it precludes what usefulness this man is still possessed of. I didst go to considerable pains to acquire the object of his particular fixation, after all."

    Priscilla shows up in the fluffy white dress this time. El classico. She also has a slim black hard drive containing all the relevant information scooped out of the two obnoxiously risky and perverse runs to the former Njorun and Citadel databases. "I believeth thou now oweth mineself something, Servant. Albeit, I admit some curiosity besides in what bizarre toy thou art set on playing with now."
Karian Icefang     Having been keeping an ear to the goings on of Ruler and the rest of the Masters, Karian found himself currently observing the Servant closely. Thankfully, cold didn't bother him too much thanks to his home being an ice ball most of the year. He was quiet for the moment, trying to remain from sight. Picking up that his own Servant, Rider, was with him, he gave the Primarch a hand gesture of 'keep alert', not wanting to sacrifice the element of surprise just yet.
Touta Konoe      Winter sucks! Touta's lucky enough to be able to be in the right place at the right time when there's a sighting of Nagi. Unfortunately, even though he had prepared to dress for the weather he didn't realize that Winter was a code name for Hell frozen over. He may be immortal but it's not like he can't feel the cold winds as they blow against his face.

     While the Concord may be tracking down Ruler to conclude this war for their own victory, Touta had agreed for the most part that it was best to stay neutral. Besides Nagi's presence, he honestly hadn't cared too much for what had been happening in the war. He had at one point thought that Nagi would have been willing to help his home world and that turned out to be a bust.

     But now he's here for a different reason. He wants to know if this guy has anything to do with a certain vampire that has apparently been springing up in the Multiverse. It just seemed to strange to be coincidence.

     Though it seems he'll need to take a number. The Concord had already made their move it seemed. Seifer looking like he was ready to throw down, only looking to stop as Priscilla herself appeared. It was difficult to hear him from the distance he was at but he could tell that it looked like something was going to go down.

     "I got a feeling it's gonna get a hell of a lot colder for me..."

     With that said he continues pushing through the snow towards the others before things realy start hitting the fan.
Eryl Fairfax @emit
    People approach, and Ruler audibly groans. Not a big playful 'oh jeez you guys~' kind of groan. A genuinely aggreived one, that makes him spin on his heels and glare. "God, you people have the worst timing! I'm really, vitally busy here, and having you lot will only... make it..."

    He turns. As everyone was getting closer, the circle by him ceased its stillness. It has begun wobbling and distorting at an alarming rate, swelling on the spot as arcs of nothingness spill out over the surrounding area. "Crap! Everybody RUN!" Ruler shouts, hopping onto his staff and blasting across the ice. He spots Touta, and begins to swerve towards him, but whatever this occurrence is, it doesn't give anyone time to make their escape. It explodes, rapidly consuming the whole area and-




===============================<* Fimbulvetr *>===============================
    Frozen desolate wastes, where the only warmth is felt when skybusters rain down from the suborbital warships. No comfort, no value, no hope. A perfect encapsulation of the Multiverse at large.
=================================< Players >==================================
Name        Faction            Desc        Combat     Idle    Scene
Wolf        Neo-Union                             
Crossbreed    Confed                    
Knight        Confed                    
Legacy        Astray                         
Hero        Astray                    
Vermin        Confed            ???        
Soldier        Neo-Union        ???        
==================================< Things >==================================
Name                  Owner                DBref

==================================< Exits >===================================

==============================================================================

    Nothing happens?

    Everyone is left standing in the same snowdrifts, not a single flake affected by the occurrence. Everything seems as cold, as miserable, and as lonely as ever. But now, lightning seems to flash in the sky. Lightning that seems to be impacting things, causing explosions.

    Lightning that makes something huge begin to fall from the sky, impacting towards the frozen lake everyone is standing upon. Two far smaller figures fall alongside the burning spacecraft. Who they are is not clear.
Karian Icefang     "Oh hells!" Karian says, spotting the circle behind Ruler distorting. Before he could properly react, he was swallowed up. But things seemed to not have changed at all. "What....happened?" He asks, looking around. Spotting the two figures, Karian watches them closely. "Rider...be ready." He says.
Karian Icefang     When the orb was starting to destabilize and Karian began to move away, he gave an order for Rider to swoop in and likewise try to get anyone close to the epicenter away. Sure it would blow his cover, but it seemed to be the best course of action.
Touta Konoe      There's no explanation to describe what was going on. What occurs happens in only a moments notice. As Touta had continued tracking through the snow, he can see something begin to change. It's not that anyone from the Concord has taken the first strike, or Nagi has decided to attack as well. An anomaly occurs as the spherical object distorts and all he can hear from Nagi is 'RUN'.

     Touta's not sure what the hell's going on but the moment he sees Nagi swerving towards him, instead of running away he's running towards the Ruler Servant. Hopefully, Nagi's not trying to pick him up. Touta + Magical flying objects usually = Loss in altitude.

     The that's irrelevant as /it/ blasts in all directions. At first, Touta's confused as to what just occurred but looking up into the sky, the sight of explosions caused by lightning, the appearence of the sky falling towards the lake itself.

     As Nagi swerves towards his great-grandson, Touta's already trying to get out out of the crash zone along with him.

     "Nagi what the hell's going on?!"

     He's pretty sure he's never heard of having a Grail War have this shit happen.
Seifer Almasy      Seifer slings his blade back over his shoulder at Priscilla's orders. He's hot-headed, but he's loyal. "Tch. If you think you can make him useful, boss-lady, he's all yours. When you're done with him, though, I owe him an ass-kicking."

     Seifer gets told to run.

     Seifer pointedly ignores Ruler. He brings Hyperion around to deflect the darkness-

     -and then nothing happens, the blade comes back around onto his shoulder, and Seifer scoffs. "Motherfucker's already trying to give us the slip."

     "God *damn* I hate this guy."
Priscilla     "I assure thee, mine own time is more valuable than thine." Priscilla responds to Nagi, immediately and with not-uncharacteristic testiness at this point. "Thou were so bold as to maketh such unreasonable demands, so be grateful they were met at all." She does not like him setting the terms for the trade so high and then complaining when she takes a deep, deep breath and shows up to give it to him instead of punch him in the face. Metaphorically.

    Reality exploding is a little outside of what she had expected, from a guy who usually concerns himself with selectively enforcing rules, stuffing his face, and being irresponsible. On the other side, even if Priscilla had expected much less, she was braced for much worse, given the other times something sort of like this she has to draw on for experience. When she looks around after the hole opens and everyone's relationship to it inverts, she seems briefly, wordlessly stunned at how little had changed. The boom of aerial bombardment unsettles her a little the first time the rumble passes through the ice, but after standing the breeze, she seems to realize that the ice cracking isn't a problem for her, and moves forward instead of continuing to hesitate. "Thou art hardly the only one." she borderline hisses while moving past Seifer.

    Regardless of where anyone wants her, Priscilla heads towards the burning wreck falling from the sky --specifically, towards the two figures falling alongside it. Given the convenience of immediately having access to people here, instead of hours of bumbling around trying to figure out what happened, she isn't about to let them splatter on the ice or freeze to death in the lake, and so with a commanding sweep of her hand aroudn her body, she whirls the wind and snow into a much intensified frenzy, coiling around her to pile up thick drifts of white under where the two are going to land. It's still not exactly refined, even after this amount of time, but trying to make more targeted use of her power is still part of the agenda.
Eryl Fairfax     Rider rises and swoops towards the darkness on Karian's word. In spite of the incredible unknown factor this 'explosion' represents. He dives towards Seifer, who seems to be intent on trying to parry it, but the sphere expands dramatically and catches them both. However, Rider is still diving in the aftermath, so Seifer may have a massive armoured angel slam into him.

    Ruler and Touta do collide indeed. And while Touta does have some innate anti-magic to him, Ruler is flying that staff with his own power. "You remember what happened in Paris? Imagine that, but... bigger, and way worse. We need to break this thing before it gets worse." And yes, he does snatch up his great-grandson and make him ride sidesaddle with his old man as he takes to the air to survey the scene. "There's gotta be a weak point somewhere, a place to smash through this."

    Priscilla conjures a cushion of snow under the falling figures, but one doesn't need it. Booster jets emanate from their body and stabilize their fall. The other does impact the snow, but rolls with the fall to minimise injury. And then the wreckage impacts the ice, sending spider-web cracks across it. Their footing is immediately far more treacherous as the burning jet fuel starts melting things.

    The figure that was able to stop their fall flies at the rolling figure, their left arm unfolding into a sinister blade. "Now die!" they shout in a feminine voice, swiping the blade only for it to clang against a shield. The two figures struggle, now lit by the flames.

    One has the head of Janine Liberi atop a robotic body. The other is The Kid, wearing devices that enclad his whole arms, from which a shield has emerged. His other comes up, and fires a blast of orange light point-blank at the Liberi-borg, but her booster jets blast her out of the way. The beam strikes a distant hill, and causes black material and flames to erupt from the point of impact.
Karian Icefang     Karian runs in after rider does his thing. "Ruler. What in the Allfather's name is going on?" He asks, looking over everyone gathered. As for the machine looking Janine, the wolf lord watches her, drawing his blade slowly. "You. What is going on?" He asks of the machine.
Priscilla     It seems that Priscilla has just saved the Kid. A fake one. An alternate universe one. A theoretically extant one. Something or other, but the Kid nonetheless. She'd initially intended to question the two randomly appeared individuals in the middle of what looks to be a warzone, but given that she knows one of them already, having both their cooperation is unnecessary now. 'What to do next' becomes immediately more obvious and more convenient.

    Everyone falling into the drink would probably be bad, and so Priscilla spreads the cold of the Painted World out over the ice, re-sealing the cracks with a fresh, meter thick freeze, closing around the burning wreck, which will probably slowly melt its own hole through and fall to the bottom over time. That taken care of, Priscilla sweeps her other hand back around to Janine, as if guiding some invisible current, and a rolling carpet of glowing frost somehow explodes even across the surface of the snow, racing underneath Janine, where the unstable crystals explode into blue-white icy energy. "If thou wouldst be so kind as to do so first." she remarks, not terribly interested in the consequences of harming alt-u versions of people she only passingly knows.

    "Sir Kid." she starts up, becoming him over. "Thou recognize mineself, yes?" so sayeth Priscilla, leader of the Den of Monsters^5^5^5 Concord(?).
Seifer Almasy      Rider's charge is met by the blade.

     The gunblade hits the armor. It doesn't bounce off, and it doesn't go through. Seifer seems to use it as leverage, as...as a point of *motion*. He presses it against Rider as he swings upwards, lands on Rider's huge shoulders, and hops off, skidding down onto the snow. It's not a thing a normal human could do with a blade, but then that's been Seifer's stock in trade for a while - stupid gunblade tricks. Practically the title of the TV show he doesn't have.

     "Give me an excuse, big guy," Seifer says, spinning the blade back onto his shoulder, "I'd love to trim those wings off you right here and now. An' it'll be all nice and legal, too." He raises his middle finger at Rider. He's got Command Spells woven on the back of that hand - his right hand, not the marriage-ring loop of spells on his left. "'cause Ruler's got way bigger problems right now than whether or not I can kill you an' god *damn* do I have a vested interest in gettin' you an' your Master outta the War asap."

     "So go on, chief." Seifer shoulders Hyperion. "Gimme an excuse."
Touta Konoe      Touta did not expect that. He's never been able to ride a magical item before without it losing some noticeable capacity to its usage. So to see Nagi just scoop him up and keeps flying speaks of just how incredible this guy is. Getting pulled onto the broom he looks up back at him generally surprised at how serious he's being about this. It takes him a moment to recall what he was referring to when he was speaking about France, but it comes back to him. That feeling when he tried to help Seifer. That off-putting feeling that got him blamed for making the Gunblade wielder miss his shot. It was so subtle he almost forgot it, and yet this was a larger occurrence of it? He doesn't know how bad this can get but he can only imagine that if Nagi's getting concerned he needs to deal with it as well.

     "Look, I don't get how this stuff has to do with the Grail War, but right now that thing's dangerous right?" Touta begins standing up upon the broom, trying to find his bearings as he looks towards the anomaly once more and then back towards Nagi. "When this is over I want to know what's going on. What this has to do with the Grail War, and if you've seen that other Yukihime... But for now," Touta pulls out something from his pocket. A small ring of some sort. "Just tell me if we can stop this thing with Magic Cancel or not."

     He has no idea how this alternate reality distortions work, but if it was involved with the Grail, then it was probably a magical component to it. If that was the case, Touta should /actually/ be able to do something to deal with it. He just needs to know if it'll work or if that's a bad idea.
Eryl Fairfax     The alternate/fake/??? Janine and Kid stand apart, eyeing each other cautiously when Karian interupts by attempting to interrogate the cyborg girl. "Who the fuck are you?! You think you can just /say/ things to me?!" she demands, immediately proving that this version has no less of a foul mouth than the original. However, she is interrupted by being suddenly encases in ice courtesy of Priscilla.

    Said queen approaches Kid, and asks if she is recognized. "Yeah, I know who you are," he replies. "And I don't know what y'all are plannin' but..." From those strange devices on his arm, a hammer manifest of energy emerges, which he takes into both hands and raises over his head. "Ya gotta go." The hammer is rbought down onto the ice, undoing the refreezing and then some as the light of calamity spreads throughout, erupting upwards in unison. Either trying to blast Priscilla, or sink her through the broken ice.

    Rider bounces off, away from Seifer and lands a small distance away. Far enough to be out of immediate range of the curious weapon, but close enough to be heard. "Peace sir!" he says, raising his hands. "My Master bade that I attempt to save some of you from that darkness, but I was too slow." As Seifer reveals his Command Seals, the angel raises an eyebrow, but shakes his head 'no.' "Sir, your will to fight is strong and commendable. But we both find ourselves in alien situations. I think it would be best that we both collaborate on undoing it before meeting in battle. Once this is over, I would happily introduce your blade to my own."

    Nagi looks over his shoulder at Touta. "Anit Magic huh? It might... but it has to be directed. At the rate of expansion, I don't think you could cover that much ground..." Weirdly scientific terms from Ruler, but he stares down at Priscilla confronting Kid Alter, and Karian speaking to Janine Alter, and he seems to notice something. "I got it. We need to like... chafe with our surroundings." He grabs Touta by the shirt and abruptly hurls him towards the two natives. "Mess with them as hard as you can, and keep an eye out for something weird happening!" Ruler shouts.
Seifer Almasy      Seifer spins his blade on his finger like a pistol. "See, you say that," he says, looking Rider in the eyes, "But I don't really give a shit about this situation. In fact, this is nothin' but advantage to me. Like this, Ruler's way too busy to intervene. Like this, Ruler ain't gonna get in the way of my killshot, an' he's got way bigger things to deal with, now ain't he?"

     "So I guess you don't need to give me an excuse. Sucks to be you, pal, but I got somethin' way more important ridin' on you bein' dead."

     "You signed up for this shit, you better be ready to die in it!"

     Seifer surges forward. His gunblade flashes, whirling at Rider's head.
Karian Icefang     Karian hears Seifer confront Rider, and quickly wheels around to fire his bolt pistol at the Knight. "If you wish to fall so soon, I can oblige you. Rider, engage! Leave the fool to me." He says. Moving with all the speed he possessed, he was not letting Seifer make another move.
Touta Konoe      Just looks at Nagi with the most confused face as he goes into details about 'rate of expansion'. It's only till he mentions that busting the locals up might help resolve the issue does he get a vague idea as to what to do. With that he nods back to Nagi, "Fine but you better be ready to start talk- Awaaaaah, Naaaaaaaagi?!"

     And before he even realizes it Ruler's launched him right into the fray, or rather over the fray! Touta's got a lot of horizontal movement over the battlefield! Though, who's he suppose to hit?

     Whel, he'll need to figure that out while he's falling.

     "Priscilla, heads up!!!" That's all of the warning he gives before his trajectory takes a 90 degree drop downwards towards the three of them. Raising the weight on his sword he stopped any forward motion that had been propelling him from Nagi's throw and began a straight vertical descent slamming down at The Kid with the force of a falling heavy utility truck, while he was taking his shot at Priscilla. Apparently Pris was going to be getting some help whether she asked for it or not.
Seifer Almasy      Karian interposes himself. He orders Rider away. He fires the heavy bolter-shot, explosive armor-piercing rounds. The sound of it tears through the air like a thundercrack. Seifer's eyes flash as the heavy shot comes shooting for him. He's already mid-charge. He can't dodge.

     He can deflect.

     The gunblade, in mid-swing, inverts. The bullet grinds along the backside of Hyperion like a rail. Sparks fly as Seifer makes it dance, makes the bullet spin along the axis of his weapon. With a flick, he nudges it away. The force of it passes by his chin, like a punch in the face, his cheek rippling, his eye twisting shut to avoid being burst. That's fine. He doesn't need both eyes at the moment anyway.

     "Yeah? Fool, huh?"

     "You're the Master, right?" Seifer says, his currently-open eye (the other has a trail of blood from the sheer pressure of the bolter shot) glinting in the light. "That's good. That's way faster. Instead of killing Rider, I'll just cut off your hand!"

     "And that's not even against the rules, so Ruler won't get in my way!"

     Seifer's foot pushes off the ground. He's fast. He's *real* fast. He's not as fast as Karian, but he's certainly faster than a normal human, and the way he's holding that blade...

     Well, honestly, he holds it like a rank amateur. And it's so /stupid/-looking. It's a pistol hilt with a long, slender blade attached. That thing should break under the slightest pressure.

     Then again...he did just bounce a bolter shell off it.

     Seifer's run turns into a swing. But at the last minute, his free hand comes around. His fingers press together. The smell of gunpowder fills the air.

     Snap.

     Seifer blows up the air right in the Space Marine's face, like a bomb went off. Except there wasn't any bomb.

     And then the gunblade comes hurtling through the smoke.
Priscilla     Alternate universes. Of course. Of course this'd be the one where the Kid is actually her evil enemy and the sweary teen who hates Lezard is actually on her side. That's what Priscilla should have expected. She should know better by now.

    She knows well enough not to be caught boggling and betrayed by the Kid through his hammer swing, though. Instead of looking shocked and wounded, a slow sigh escapes her as her eyes focus behind him rather than taking in his face, no longer looking to hear him out. "Mine apologies." she says, before disappearing (and also disappearing) when he brings the hammer down, leaving a bitterly cold wind blowing past him while the ice explodes where she stood.

    The Kid obviously knows who she is and what she does, so Priscilla assumes she doesn't have all day and the luxury of complete surprise, so she makes it her business to smash the ice currently sticking Janine first, while she still has the initial opportunity, grabbing the girl inside, wresting her free, and throwing her back up a ways into the air again so she's not right in the reach of the Kid's hammer again. When Touta comes flying past as the proverbial Wick Car, she blinks in invisible silence, and then lets it slide. She'd rather focus on getting this over with.

    "I taketh it thou hast some sort of idea, Sir Konoe?" she asks, but almost rhetorically. He either does or they're in a whole lot of trouble. "Lady Liberi." she dares to ask instead. "What is aboard the vessel?"
Karian Icefang     A strange stance, and even stranger method of attack catches Karian off guard. The explosion singes his face and sets some of his hairs aflame, though they quickly go out. As for the strike, it hit's true, but Astartes Power Armor is resiliant. "Not bad. Both a gun and sword. Impressive weapon...Still, it won't help you." He says. He grips his own sword..well, more a massive claymore wielded in one hand. He swings the sword with the practiced skill of centuries, but the old man was measuring his strikes as well, just in case their strength was required elsewhere.
Eryl Fairfax     The Kid is immediately on guard as Priscilla vanishes, raising his palms and pointing them outward as he slowly turns on the spot, awaiting her attack. But he did not bank for Touta to plummet from the sky and impact hard into him. He projects a shield, but he is still driven through the ice and into the frigid water.
        Janine meanwhile is broken free enough that she manages to use her boosters to clear the rest. "What the hell is your problem?!" she demands immediately, but grumbles the answer to Priscilla's question. "That new black hole round we were gonna test. Gonna be a pain in the ass to salvage that shit, and we can't do it with that punk on our asses."

    Ruler, unfortunately for Seifer, has noticed the fight breaking out between he and Rider, and is now monitoring it. "Man, you really want to win this huh?" he asks the gunblader, in a genuinely kind of impressed tone. Rider however, is not as impressed. But he has drawn his sword and points it at Seifer. "Though I feel that our time would be better spent dealing with the situation, I follow my Master's order. Prepare yourself sir."

    He flies at Seifer, and swings! It's... pretty easy to see coming and deal with. Is he even trying?
Touta Konoe slams into the ground, sending Kid right through the ice surface of the lake and into it's waters. Man, he did not want to think it must be under the water. He doesn't know if and when this guy will resurface again but when Priscilla prompts him for a response he gives one hoping she'll be able to the quick resolution of this matter.

     "The short and simple is that we need to keep messing with these two till something weird happens like it did in France." How much Priscilla actually knows about what happened that day he has no clue but he figures that the Concord takes reports so she might know something. Still with Kid under the water though that only leaves one other person to try to mess with, and Priscilla's chatting them up. Unfortunately, that's when he hears something he shouldn't. 'Black Hole' rounds. Those are several words that while they sound cool put together, should /definitely/ not be in that order for any reason. On one hand, he should really be following Nagi's words on the other...Given the Concord's track record with this war if they get hands on black hole bullets... There's also the fact black holes seem really relevant to all this. That could justify this. Right? ...Right?

     He really is gonna get cold today.

     Touta shundos towards the vessel in an attempt to try and figure out if he can find those bullets.
Priscilla     "Thou wouldst not beginneth to understand if I attempted to explain." Priscilla says with the verbal texture of dry ice to Janine. "I see. And thus he is amidst attempt to steal said property." she then follows. 'Black hole' round hadn't escaped her. Even if she's aware that black holes are a pretty specific thing, what Ruler had been poking at sure was a hole and it sure was black too. It explains why the Kid seems to be specifically trying to sink the craft too.

    "I am unfortunately not as familiar with France as thou art, Sir Konoe. If thou hast witnessed this happen before with thine own eyes, pray, taketh lead." says Priscilla, taking advantage of the opportunity where the Kid isn't back just yet. "Lady Liberi, pray seeketh and neutralize the boy. Attempteth not to slay him, if at all possible. Maketh certain he is occupied." she says, before turning back to the flaming wreck.

    This time she focuses all her effort and attention on the ice and frigid water all around it, extending the twisting fingers of frost from the world above deeper into the lake, focusing the cold downward and expanding the grip of the steadily building ice, so that it slows the craft's descent, dragging against it, and then properly catches it in an arctic crater. Harsh winds blow on the fires, viciously quick and cold enough to suppress them, rather than just fan them, hopefully opening a way in for Touta, even if he is immortal.
Eryl Fairfax     The water is freezing as Touta dives into it in pursuit of the sinking craft, but Priscilla conjures ice beneath it to slow its sinking. Holes in the hull provide easy access to the interior. It's a relatively small craft and lightly armored, but it's pitch black down there which makes the search much slower. However, there is a large, bolted-down case in the helm of the ship that is absolutely plastered in warning symbols. Inside is multiple rounds of ammunition also bearing caution symbols. It'll be this, if anything.

    "Oh thank God, you found some other dupe to go down there," Janine says to Priscilla as she flexes her limbs to prevent frost building up. But nearby, the water is bubbling and glowing, pre-empting an explosion of steam followed by the Kid's re-emergence. "Aw fuck. Fine, let's do this. SHTRIGA!" She brings out her armblade and looks into it, manifesting a hideous, mosquito-like Persona from a flare of red light. She and the verminous thing fly at the Kid and begin exchanging blows with his own energy blade.

    Ruler lands amidst the fight between Seifer and Karian and critically examines the gunblade knight. Sees the two sets of command seals and raises an eyebrow. "Are you seriously fuelling two Servants? Damn kid... so why are you taking orders from her?" He gestures over Priscilla-wards. "You want to carve your own legend right? Do you really think you can manage it taking orders?" Again, no malice in his voice, he's not trying to prompt in-fighting. He's curious!
Seifer Almasy      "It's a gunblade, you tin twerp!" Seifer shouts as Karian brings the claymore down. The gunblade grinds along the edge of it as Seifer uses the sheer force of Karian's slash to avoid it, his thumb up against the back of Hyperion. The little blade should *crack* under that weight. Seifer's more than skilled with this thing - Seifer's /incredible/. There's skill, and then there's impossible, and what Seifer is doing, the way he's exploiting his blade's length, his blade's height, his blade's tensile strength, they all border on knowledge so intimate as to be one with it. Not metaphorically one with it, either. Almost literally.

     Rider comes swinging in as Seifer's blocking. Seifer's blade twists around, bringing Karian's claymore against Rider's not with strength but with simple physics, twisting away at the last moment. The sparks fly, the blades crash, and Seifer comes away only a little bloodied, a cut on his forehead joining the collection of scars he already has.

     He lands and spins the blade in his hand as Ruler talks. "Yeah, I am."

     "Because I'm a Knight, stupid." He casts Ruler a glance out of his good eye as he starts walking back towards Karian, "Knights serve Sorceresses. My Sorceress serves her. An', frankly?"

     "I like her."

     And then he's off again. This time it's not just a slash, not just a swing. Seifer's swing stops in the middle and turns into a thrust, aimed for the power armor's eye. At the moment of impact he pulls the trigger, and the sound of a gunshot rings out, but there's no bullet - the gunblade simply vibrates intensely, furiously, heightening its cutting power immensely.

     Seifer springs off Karian's chestplate and lands a bit away from him as he snaps his fingers at Rider, another explosion going off. "Gun plus blade isn't a gunblade. This gunpowder shit? This is all me, you sanctimonious prick."

     "Look at you." Seifer swings the sword in the dirt. "Guess it's not such a pressing matter, huh?" He's mocking Karian to his face, one arm wide, his stance completely open. It's...amateurish. It's completely at odds with how he's been wielding the blade. "If it was a real threat you wanted solved, if it was more important than the war, you'd just give up, wouldn't you? Or is it only when it's convenient for *you* that other people should stop fighting you?"

     "Huh? Which is it?" Seifer brings up his blade like a rapier. It's...it looks ridiculous. It looks *absurd*. He must be joking. He.../must/ be.
Karian Icefang     A grimmace slides over Karian's face as once more the knight scores a hit on him. He wouldn't say it out loud, but the guy was a pretty good swordsman. "Unlike you, I'm still well aware of what's going on. Just like I'm seeing the weaknesses of your form. So much bravado, and arrogance. Just like a pup playing war. Let me show you how a real wolf hunts. Rider, focus on the others, and break this spell. This 'pup' is mine." He says. Wasting no more words, the wolf lord took off like a shot. Despite his heavy armor, he moved like he was barely wearing any. The blade flashes out again, moving to meet the Hyperion in a clash, and with luck, slip through and score some hits.
Touta Konoe OH GOD HE WAS RIGHT IT WAS GONNA GET - Oh wait, Priscilla was just making sure to keep the vessel from sinking. It seemed she really did intend to let him have the lead on this. That was pretty surprising for him to hear honestly, and made him feel a bit bad too. He'd need to worry about that later. The place was dark, wet, and cold another absolutely terrible combination! It takes some time but ultimately he finds what he's looking for. So here's the conundrum did Touta take this opportunity to try and dump these bullets into the water so that they couldn't be used, or does he bring them back up where they might be taken by the others for the war?

     If he brought them up there was a possibility that they would want them as another advantage. Which frankly they didn't need! He's smacked Saber before, so he should know! But just dumping them into the water also seemed pretty dangerous. There was also the fact that if he returned empty handed they may not appreciate that. It seemed like no mater what happened these things were going to cause trouble.

     "Unless..."

     Well, there was /something/ he might be able to do. Touta pulls off one of the gloves he'd been wearing and takes a deep breath. If these were magical 'black hole' bullets he might be able to turn these into duds. Though if they were some sort of scientifically designed ones, he was going to need another plan. It would also need to be a quick plan considering the fact this thing was still sinking.
Seifer Almasy      Karian is faster than Seifer expected. Seifer's already on his back foot. He's dead in the water. The look in his eye tells Karian everything he needs to know. He's got the kid. One good shot is all it takes. The blade comes down for Hyperion, and Seifer stumbles-

     -backwards.

     It's just enough. It might be dumb luck, maybe. It's just enough to avoid the brunt of the blade, to get one more little scar along his face.

     And then Karian sees Seifer's lips flash upwards in a broad grin.

     "You're one arrogant son of a bitch, you know that?"

     Hyperion comes down on the back of the claymore. But Seifer's not pinning the blade down. No. That trick he pulled with Rider earlier is happening again - the long, thin blade gets used as leverage to send Seifer up and over Karian, bringing him down at the man's back. "That's cute."

     "I think I'm gonna take your fur coat for my wife now."

     Hyperion comes flashing outwards. No, Seifer's not an amateur. Not at all. That amateurish stance, that nonsensical opening he keeps leaving, that...that /gaping/ hole in his defenses, even that *stumble*. It's all calculated.

     Seifer's a *genius* of swordplay.

     No, more than a genius. He's doing that with blood in his eyes. He shouldn't even be able to see, let alone react that fast.

     The blade comes carving for the fur trim of the power armor. Seifer's hand moves to snatch it and pull it away.

     This isn't arrogance.

     This kid is *disgustingly* skilled. *Impossibly* skilled. What he's been doing, these tricks - he's defying physics, and there's not a hint of psychic power or magic or special energy or anything, except for that explosion from his hands. He's pure, 100% human.

     That is just goddamn *weird*.
Karian Icefang     If the knight wants the pelt, KArian would use that. He takes the hit fron Hyperion, but moves to smack the blade aside, and get a grip onto Seifer. Should he manage such a thing, he would move to lift up the knight and smash him into the ground with enough force to leave a crater. But a quick look into Karian's eye shows he too was a skilled fighter, and already was moving to match Seifer move for move.
Priscilla     "If thou art searching for a means of disrupting this fiction, certainly so ridiculous an artifact wouldst be a worthy attempt." Priscilla says to Touta as he flies past and dives into the drink. She doesn't envy him. Even if the cold isn't a big problem to her, doing that underwater must suck something fierce.

    Ignoring the potential for a transition involving mosquito puns, Priscilla takes Janine's bizarre alternate Persona in stride (with a mental note as to the thematic of blood between it and the real deal) and redoubles her efforts. She builds up the ice to the point it begins pushing the craft back out --it's no feat fit for a certain swamp planet, but it gets the job done slowly but surely. When the doused sections are exposed to the baleful chill again, she turns alongside Janine, Moonlight shimmering in hand, and swings several times in swift, criss-crossing arcs, sending luminous, moonlit-blue blades of light swishing through the dark air, carving through the ice, and exploding in eruptions of soulfire under the water, following the light of the Kid's Calamity tech.
Seifer Almasy      Karian moves to grab Seifer. He gets a hold of his coat sleeve. Seifer is absolutely not nearly as strong as Karian is, and in hand-to-hand, Seifer's basically useleess. Karian picks him up with ease and brings him smashing down-

     -and at the last second, Seifer snaps his fingers.

     A ring of small explosions erupt along his sleeve. Karian's smash-down becomes a fling, sending Seifer flying backwards as Karian's left with the sleeve in his hand. Seifer hits the ground hard, but not hard enough to break anything; he rolls, bruised, more blood. Might have cracked a rib or two. Karian throws hard.

     But in Seifer's other hand is the pelt.

     He slings it over his shoulder with a cocky smirk.

     Then he snaps his fingers again.

     The ground under Karian explodes. It's like it was hit by one of the artillery strikes in the distance, but it most certainly was not. The sheer force of it is enough to churn up dirt and rock and fire. Seifer's lips curl upwards in a grin as he snaps again, and again, and again, and it's like three more bombs just went off. One more snap, and then he shoulders Hyperion.

     "Thanks for the coat. Lookin' forward to takin' your Servant's head."

     "'course, you could just give up. Now that you've seen there's people in it to win it. That'd be the smart thing to do."
Eryl Fairfax     Touta begins to fiddle with the strange ammunition. His concern is well-founded, these things are really dangerous. So as he handles them, hoping to defuse them, he immediately finds something out. One, they very much have magic as part of their inner workings. And two, the magic is not responsible for the black hole part. Rather, the magic makes the safeties work. And now said safeties do not work. This becomes apparent the moment that Priscilla's ice pushes the ship above the surface.

    Everyone is made immediately aware that Touta founds the rounds due to the black hole that has sprung up from the ship. The vessel scrap is consumed as galleons upon galleons of water are sucked up and compressed by the singularity. Time and space begin to fall apart under the crushing gravity. As far as black holes go, it's pretty small so not everyone is in the event horizon, but as it sucks up water, ice, and soil, it's expanding. Nagi looks upon all of this and smirks. "Leave it to a Springfield to make their own weakpoint! All right, here goes!" He flexes, and begins exerting magical power. So so much. Were there any sensors, they would break immediately. The air seems to fill with static electricity as he becomes a shining nova, flooding the air with his own power, as if decreeing his own presence as Ruler upon the whole world around him.

    And this strange other dimension can only take so much. Between the black hole and Nagi, it begins to crack and splinter. Fractures in space begin to open, wider and wider, cracks interconnecting before it can take no more, and falls apart.

    Kid and Janine Alter disappear, as does the broken surface ice, the flashes and explosions in the sky. Winter is esactly as they left it, exactly as it should be. Nagi descends to the ground and exhales a sigh of relief. "Whew! Man, that was wild huh?" he asks, smiling wide as he walks up to Priscilla and extends his hand for the hard drive. "Good job on getting that. I'll decree Saber's personal power-up A-OK, as promised! But I've probably opened a real can of worms with that, so watch out!"

    He next visits Touta, who is probably healing from undergoing spaghettification from the black hole. "That was really ballsy kid. I take everything I might have said back, only someone from my family would have done something like that. Good job!" Lastly, Seifer and Karian. "All right fellas, I think you should call it off, you're both very big men. Especially you," he says to Seifer. "I'll be honest, I hope you do come for my life in spite of your bosses's say so. I think it'd be a fun fight! Seifer, yeah?" He claps the man on the shoulder before ascending on his staff. Very pointedly not saying anything about what just happened.
Karian Icefang     Karian curses as the explosions strip the coat shoulder, then he's hit with the bombardment. He should be dead, surely. But moments after, he emerges, smoke billowing off his armor. "...That all you've got?" He asks, despite a pained grimmace on his face. The pelt may have been taken, but the old wolf still lived, and Space Wolves know how to hold grudges..
Seifer Almasy      Seifer points at Ruler. "Oh don't you worry. I'm gonna take your head, motherfucker. That's not even about the Grail War. That's just personal."

     He slings the fur over his shoulder. "Fine by me. I'll take this back for my pretty fox wife.

     Karian asks if that's all he's got. Seifer laughs. It's not a nice laugh. "Motherfucker, I'm a Hand of the Concord. And when I sign up for a Grail War I sign up to win. You think that's all I got? I'm not even breathing heavy."

     "You wanna try and put that on hold, you go right ahead. You feel free to let Ruler know when you're gonna check out at any time." Seifer flips him off. "Meantime, your Rider's gonna die to me, too. Hope he ain't a friend of yours. Gonna cut those wings off an' make a shawl from his feathers."

     With that, Seifer falls in line with Priscilla.
Priscilla     "No doubt thou hast." Priscilla replies to Nagi, flat, inflectionless, with a tone so barren a sheet of ice that it's purely in the listener's imagination how they interpret it. Still, she flicks the drive out between her fingers and tips it into the Ruler's hands.

    "It wouldst seem that thou art already dealing with something especially troublesome regardless. This absurdity certainly hast much to do with the inherent absurdity of this Grail War, drawing on other worlds. This hath happened more than once. Thou art tracking it, if not predicting its appearance. Is this what thou fear shouldst thine war go off-track?" she asks aloud, but given the man's apparently notoriously stubborn and lackadaisical nature, she doesn't expect much of a response.

    Almost definitely, it involves one of those 'too Multiverse for me right now' sighs --the kind that start invested and vexed, go to nobly long-suffering, and end resigned to the simple black and white options by the end of an exhalation. In this case, both options involve violence, so Seifer 'falling in' essentially means 'getting on the other end of the Lifehunt Scythe', the dread weapon's silver edge invisible against the snow and black body invisible against the night, almost a chilling impression of absence where the two cross. "If thou still insist Sir Almasy to be an unworthy foe, I shalt oblige and taketh thine head mineself, Sir Icefang. Thine Servant is in mine way. I urge thee to conclude thine business with him as swiftly as possible."
Seifer Almasy      Seifer is about to leave when Karian says 'I'll enjoy when someone puts you in your place.'

     Seifer turns.

     "My place, huh?"

     "I've been hearing that shit from assholes like you all my life."

     "And you know what? I'm goddamn tired of it." He raises his fingers.

     He snaps.

     He's aiming to *blow open Karian's eye*.

     "Fuck you. Fuck your arrogance. Fuck your ego. Fuck your self-righteous bullshit. I am in my place. I'm on top of the goddamn world. I'm the hero, motherfucker."
Karian Icefang     Karian suffers the massive explosion to his face, eye being blasted away. Were it not for his augmentations, he would likely have been dead. But even so, he was on a knee. He knew his limits, and for this moment he had reached them.