Scene #6887: Fate/Dynasty Warriors: Archer's Ambition

Owner	Pose
Archer EMIYA	Riku wants the Mooncell Automaton. Archer wants Riku to win for very nebulous reasons though it is probably easy to guess that one of them is to put Seifer in his place or something. And Big Boss just wants money and WAR. Truly, this is a strong forged alliance and not one that is destined to last very long and not crumble under the weight of differing wants and needs. Regardless of their questionable reasons for uniting, it's very clear that they can't wage a war in a Japanese estate, no matter how nice it is. To that end, Nobunaga is their target. Nobody cries if the Comic Relief character gets beaten up a little after all. There's no attempt from Archer to hide his presence as he just simply walks into the Feudal Japan themed territory, a pair of black and white blades in hand as he prepares to probably be assaulted by the Demon King's homunculi. Even if they fail in capturing some territory, at the very least he's going to put a few of these horrid mess makers to the sword. Petty thoughts like that can wait, however, as it's time for the nameless bowmen to do what he does best. "I am the Bone of my Sword." If he wasn't already drawing ire, the fact that the immediate area instantly felt more oppressive from those words alone probably changed that very quickly.
Big Boss	Big Boss isn't here. Why would he assign himself to the first operation of a brand new mission with people he doesn't remotely trust? That's silly. Instead, he's sent one of his more trusted operatives, Silent Jackal, to make sure the mission is achieved. Big Boss is at the radio control this time, doing comms, while Silent Jackal, stealth expert, is dressed in a sneaking suit, wearing his weird fanged-design face-mask, and carrying a few guns. Assault rifle on his back, silenced pistol at his side, a belt of various types of grenades. He does not move in with Archer. Instead, Silent Jackal uses Archer as a distraction, trying to enter from an opposite, more stealthy angle, looking for things to climb and get a vantage point over Nobunaga's territory. High-tech binoculars are pulled out of a pouch, swapped to thermal and nightvision where necessary. The radio is connected to in the process. <"This is Silent Jackal. The commander is listening. Moving in for infiltration, will reveal self once we have an advantage. Over.">
Nobunaga	Sunomata Castle "Nobu!" A dark-haired woman collects a television remote, pausing the program before turning scarlet eyes on the small charicature of herself, "Mmm?" "Nobnobu, nobuuu!" The creature waves its stubby arms in a panic. The woman's head tilts forward, casting her eyes in shadow, a faint crimson glow pronounced behind her bangs, "Hoooh~? How interesting." Now, Demonic (King) Front The first encounter is a small patrol unit. A group of ten or so meter-tall, oddly proportioned homunculi in black and red uniforms. They squeak when they walk, and upon sighting Archer's utter lack of subtlety, the team promptly turns and runs the other way amidst a cavalcade of squeaks. One raises a rifle, firing a shot into the sky which bursts; a crimson flare. The Sunomata field's response is to rally its defenses. And that means more homunculi. Structures resembling revolver cylinders, about half the height of a phone booth. Homunculi soldiers; the eponymous Nobbu, spill out of these structures waving rifles and swords. Even as they spill out of their spawners, the troops arrange into battle lines, waving their weapons. The din of squeaks and 'Nobu!' may best be described as 'maddening'. Seems they're trying to intimidate first. The gates of the feudal Japanese castle in the distance, meanwhile, open. A familiar red-caped figure emerges, surrounded by more of the same sort of chibi soldiers. It'll be a bit before the warlord is in range though.
Riku	Riku isn't too concerned about the future. He's been spending his life leaping from platform to platform as it crumbles behind him, why stop now? The Mooncell Automaton is a source of power that Riku wants, thus he's getting involved in this ridiculous situation. There's no stealth. No need to hide his approach. Riku rushes at top speed along the grounds towards the gates, working to intercept the enemy Nobbu swarms as they leave. Before he even reaches the first group, he vanishes through a sudden hole in space that is ripped open, the Heartbrand vanishing through it.... And he dives out of another that opens up ninety degrees to the side, suddenly altering the vector of his attack as he begins carving through the horde with Soul Eater in hand. "Disappear into Darkness." Riku states, spinning and slashing... But his eyes are on the keep. They need to take it before they can properly work to invade the territory, to be sure.
Archer EMIYA	Much like Archer expected, he's drawing aggro. Gunshots are (understandably) fired at the Red Archer, and he quickly lets go of the white blade he's holding, placing the empty hand in front of him as a flowery pink projection appears in front of him to eat the hits. While the shield is pretty strong, being under constant fire isn't ideal, especially since Rho Aias isn't perfect. His Rho Aias, anyway. A layer starts to crumble, and Archer grits his teeth in discomfort. Best to just finish what he started. "Steel is my Body and Fire is my Blood I have created over a Thousand Blades Unknown to Death Nor known to Life. Have withstood Pain to create many Weapons Yet those Hands will never hold Anything. So as I Pray- UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS." The chant is finished, and probably much to Nobunaga's dismay, her beautiful little slice of Feudal Japan is now littered with swords. The ground becomes red and barren, the air filled with the smell of fire and steel as a thin layer of smog fills the area, and the skybox is now filled with slowly turning gears. With his Reality Marble in play, Archer wastes no time in dropping his shield, retaliating against the Nobbu's with very little remorse as various nondescript swords line up behind him to be fired at the expendable troopers at full force. It's okay though, Nobbu did say they're paid more than enough for their services, so clearly this also includes being slaughtered by fake weapons.
Big Boss	Soldiers. A lot of them. This is a real battle, and there's only one operative from Outer Heaven. A full infiltration will be impossible with the sheer number of homunculi, but Archer and Riku can provide a distraction for Silent Jackal, being on the assault. First, though, Silent Jackal needs to get into a position to await Nobunaga's approach. There's probably an arched gate or something nearby he can perch on for sniping. He's not a great sniper, but he's good enough, as he affixes a scope to his assault rifle. Placing it back on his back for the time being, he needs to remove some of the firing line actually blocking his perch. Dashing across the field, ducking in and out of cover and watching to avoid sight lines, the Outer Heaven operative pulls out a frag grenade. Angling it, he pulls the pin and rolls it underneath a group of Nobbu, before ducking into cover and trying to mask his position. They can probably get off a shot or two at him before he starts disappearing again, if all goes well for him. If he can succeed in making his vantage point safe...well, then Silent Jackal will approach to climb it, and get in position. Now to wait.
Nobunaga	The field of Sunomata is overwritten with Unlimited Blade Works. In the confusion, several of the Nobbu pause in their defense, glancing about, only to swiftly get annihilated by swords. A grenade scatters another formation, hurling discarded weapons about. A different formation scatters around Riku's charge. The slain homunculi dissolve rapidly into their component magic and materials, leaving behind a powdery purple-black sand. Survivors fall back to new positions, rallying around fresh troops. Two of the cylinder spawners click and rotate in unisen, and both cease producing ordinary Nobbu troops. From the West spawner, the first trooper to emerge does so on a small platform of tank treds, carrying numerous guns. The East homunculi spawner's top opens, and the first soldier floats up out of it on a small Kettle-shaped flying saucer. Tank Nobbu comes to a stop just outside its spawner, taking aim with shoulder-mounted rifles. After a pause, it fires on Riku while he's battling the more ordinary soldiers. UFO Nobbu, sighting from the air, swoops on Silent Jackal. Once it determines this person doesn't belong here, the second pass drops small bombs shaped like teacups. At the back line, the feudal warlord strokes her chin, "Hooh~? That's a bit rude, isn't it? Just imposing your reality?" Her lips split into a grin, "Well~..." She spreads her hands. Beneath her, the brown-red dust ignites, then spreads. From this circle rises a colossal Nobbu, made out of shimmering steel and large enough for Nobunaga to stand confidently upon its hat. Raising a hand, she gestures, "Onward!" Mecha Nobbu rears back, mouth open. When it leans forward, a great crimson beam spills forth, carving across the land straight for Archer.
Archer EMIYA	"If I had any other tricks worth using I'd have used them, Demon King. Unfortunately, all I can do is mildly inconvenience you." Rather than picking up the sword he had dropped previously, Archer just simply creates another one, a flash of green filling his empty hand briefly before he's holding onto a freshly made white blade. He's about to prepare another volley of swords when a Mecha Nobbu comes to mess with him, a giant beam of red spilling out of its mouth and towards his general direction. Not one to test the limits of Rho Aias, Archer simply runs out of the way, the edges of jacket getting caught and burnt as he barely manages to get out of the way in time. Of course, there's also the smell of burnt skin that now fills the air as Archer probably has some burnt skin from being that close to a beam attack, but he'll worry about that latter. Now running towards the oversized Nobbu, Archer tightens his grip on his pair of identical swords briefly before throwing them at the the mechanical giant. Both blades miss their mark, but Archer continues. This thing has a recharge time between shots, right? Probably should have checked a bit more before charging in blindly. There's no stopping now though, as he projects another pair of white and black swords, these ones longer and more jagged in appearance as if they've been modified. With surprising deftness, Archer jumps up to cleave the massive mechanical Nobbu's face into several pieces, while the blades he had previously thrown now circle back to attack from behind.
Riku	Archer begins altering the environment to his advantage. That's good. That's something that will help them. The Nobbus will likely suffer if that Reality Marble can keep up. Riku moves as a highly mobile threat, working to savage the flanks and exploit any holes made in the chaos. This becomes complicated as the more advanced (as if anything involving a Nobbu can be called 'advanced') forms are brought into play. The Tank Nobbu swings rifles to bear, the guns firing dramatically. Riku pays for his inattention as the bullets blast him, knocking him backwards and scorching him painfully, albeit comedically-looking as his body is blackened and his eyes blink from the scorchmarks across his body. "Gah!" He hisses, falling back for a moment... And his gaze is drawn towards the colossal Nobbu. "The enemy commander is taking the field!" He calls. "Someone needs to engage it before she drives the damn thing right into our back line!" The Heartbrand turns to deal with his own problems at this point, however, and he bolts forwards, streaking back and forth as he homes in on the West Spawner. "Darkness take you!" He declares, purple flames roaring up his arm as he poses. "HYAAAAH!" With a leap into the air, he smoersaults... And his Eidolon erupts forth, the black beast rushing out of his shadow to descend, the muscular horror crashing down as the black fire scorches in all directions from it in an attempt to clear the area and give him a direct shot at the more dangerous Tank Nobbu and the spawner that is creating them!
Big Boss	Silent Jackal gets into position, but it doesn't work out, because a Nobbu in a UFO shows up, dropping teacup bombs. Silent Jackal isn't expecting them, and they detonate right as he realizes and ducks off his perch, blasting him hard into the ground. He grabs his assault rifle from where it dislodged out of his hands, suit soaking half the blast and his body taking the rest, as he avoids a groan in pain to instead point his rifle at the Nobbu. "Target sighted. Boss, orders?" Big Boss's baritone responds over his comm, watching the situation from a body camera. <"Allow them to deal with the leader. Take out the pilot."> "Roger." The rifle's trigger is pulled, as Silent Jackal starts moving for cover, firing a short burst at the UFO bomber and trying to damage it. He aims for the pilot if he can, but if she's not exposed, any weak-spots in the UFO are the second choice. And then Riku calls out. Both Riku and Archer are focusing on big guys themselves too? Interesting. Big Boss speaks over the group's comms, trying to hash out a plan. <"Gan Jiang. Can you strike at Oda Nobunaga? Otherwise, Jackal will need to divert.">
Nobunaga	Tank Nobbu, guns smoking, moves forward after firing. Another emerges from the spawner mechanism, raising its gun-hand in a cheer, "Nobubu!" It, too, moves away while another starts to emerge. Clearly a problem that must be dealt with, and Riku is already on the case. The Eidolon's blow scatters soldiers, dissolving the more heavily damaged homunculi in the process. The initial Tank Nobbu is summarily destroyed, though the second escapes by leaping out of its tread base. Rather than keep fighting, it dashes off, waving its gun hands. The third, protected during its exit, levels its own gun hands on Riku and opens fire with light machine guns. However, it's blocking the exit..! Nobbu UFO has only one pilot, so that's an easy target to pick out. However, the initial shot cracks into the shell the creature rides in. This lets out smoke, and the UFO wobbles precariously as it comes about. The second burst causes enough damage that the UFO crashes, and the Nobbu tumbles free-- burning in places. It checks itself, pats itself down, then produces a rifle and joins the rank-and-file Nobbu soldiers. However, a second UFO Nobbu is already rising out of the spawner that produced the first one. Metal Nobbu snaps its claw arms, swiveling to keep its eyes on Archer during his approach. There's a flare of golden light from its head, but it seems the swift Servant has outspeeded whatever the machine was trying to do. He's swiftly in its face, digging swords into metal. The other pair of swords bury themselves into Mecha Nobbu's back, creating a shower of sparks and smoke. Rays of golden light shoot off as the machine collapses. Where its head was, floating, is the Demon Archer. Her lips split wide into a fang-toothed grin, an ominous crimson glow in her eyes. "Prostrate your corpse before Three Thousand Souls upon the Three Steps of Nagashino. She raises her sword. In the same instant, the motes of light swiftly manifest into countless rifles, clicking loudly as the matchlocks swing into firing position. Stand before this Three Line Formation and bear witness to the Demon King's descent! She thrusts her sword forward. Immediately, the countless rifles open fire in distinct waves. By the time the third volley has fired, the first volley has dissolved and re-manifested with new ammunition loaded. Through the roar of gunfire, Nobunaga laughs.
Big Boss	The UFO Nobbu is down. But another is coming out of the spawner. The rifle is lifted up to fire at the next one, but that won't be enough. Instead, Silent Jackal reaches for a single brick of C4 strapped with his grenades, and dashes towards the spawner. The brick is stuck to the spawner, and then, Silent Jackal, in plain sight of getting shot because this is precarious, probably taking bullets to his suit and tearing through it, starts dashing back. He grabs his remote detonator, and aims to blast the spawner out of existence. If there's no a swarm of Nobbus coming at him after that, he'll sprint towards Archer's position. Archer seems to need some help.
Archer EMIYA	'I'm only using one percent of my power.' That's a lie, but he kind of wishes it wasn't. He literally played his entire hand as his first move. But maybe someone here is stupid to think he actually has more cards up his sleeve. The strange, jagged swords give way to stress and the laws of reality, crumbling into a fine mist. A volley of gun fire comes raining down, and Archer uses the same trick he used previously, calling forth a pink shield to take the hit. Due to the rules of Stale Moves that totally exist, and not because the sheer VOLUME of lead being thrown his way, the barrier holds up pretty poorly, layer after layer being shaved off as Archer loses the feelings in his limbs. Thankfully (or not so thankfully, depending on perspective), the barrier manages to hold, and when Nobunaga's wall of guns begin to reload, Archer drops it again. He breaks out into a sprint again, the nerves in his legs screaming for him to stop as he nearly trips several times. Unfortunately, despite being several years older and wiser, this man is still to dense to listen to his body's needs. There's a flash of green that shoots through both of the servants arm as he begins his magic again, the shape of his magic circuits clearly visible for all to see as he produces a crimson spear, which he's already cocking back as he prepares to throw it. Soaring Spear that Strikes with Death - GAE BOLG! Archer jumps and throws the spear with all the strength he has left, aiming at the Demon King herself. There's a loud cracking noise as the spear reaches incredible speeds, before it bursts into pieces as it attempts to carpet bomb the area with various smaller 'thorns'.
Riku	The tank is a problem. They're durable and they have lots of firepower to try to lock down Riku's highly mobile movements. Well, the cannons not so much but the light machine guns? Those are a significant problem tactically. Already, Riku is being forced to dodge roll and dance around in an effort to not be filled with holes. "Ggggh!" He grunts as he is winged a few times, the bullets opening wounds across his armored body with painful grazes. "You're entirely too much trouble!" And on top of it, Archer seems to be either holding back or is being ridiculous. his entire situation is ridiculous! Poor Riku, condemned to that most terrible fate of being the Straight Man in a GudaGuda event. As the massive Nobbu crashes around in the background and Nobunaga begins unleashing her OWN super attack upon the battlefield. The cascading blasts rush down and crash all around Riku, moments before Archer begins cutting off the worst of it with Rho Aias and 'focusing the boss'. Still, it leaves him in a precarious position as the Tank no doubt takes advantage of the distraction to try to put him down for good. But Riku isn't out of tricks yet either. "POWER!" He yells, raising his hand up as the Eidolon surges before him with arms crossed, taking the bullet barrage itself instead of the Heartbrand, a wall of dark power and manifested roiling emotion. What kind of person is it that summons up a creature like that? But either way, it spares Riku a moment as he falls back into another portal, vanishing moments before the Eidolon is blasted back into shadow and vapor. Riku emerges again from the side, slashing out and cleaving past the Tank... But instead of that being the end of it, he dives into another Corridor, repeating the action to emerge with another burning black cleave through the air, cutting past the Tank over and over again, his attacks coming faster and faster until he drives down from above, landing with a deadly blast of dark energy that rolls out from the final impact point. "Just fall down already!" He yells. Of course, the problem isn't making one Nobbu fall down. It's that there's always another one, isn't it?
Nobunaga	Silent Jackal rushes the UFO Nobbu spawner. The pilot of the vehicle floating out of it lets out a squeak of surprise and quickly gets out of his way, hovering up and away while the unit explodes. Various soldiers take shots of opportunity his way, though the forces are mostly scattered by a lack of strong fighters on their side to help direct them. Left to its own devices, the single remaining UFO Nobbu rubs its chin thoughtfully, but keeps its distance in tailing Jackal to his next objective. The remaining Tank Nobbu opens fire with its rifled cannons after the Eidolon appears, not seeming to realize just what it means. The apparition dissipates, leaving the little homunculus confused. The engine revvs, but before it can move Riku is on it. Within a few solid swings, the tank-modded Nobbu dissolves into dust as well. The Spawner clicks. An ordinary Nobbu leans out. When it beholds the shadowy Riku surrounded by the powdery remains of its fellows, the little soldier silently leans right back in whence it came. Moments later, that spawner's door simply closes. Nobunaga continues to laugh, even as the thunder of her rifles lessens and then ceases. The laugh dials down to a chuckle, peering down at Archer through the haze of gunsmoke. Her rifles click in succession, arming for another barrage, when he produces that legendary spear. Nobunaga thrusts her own arm out, producing yet another rifle. When it becomes clear she won't hit him before he hurls it, she presents the bulky weapon lengthwise as a defense across her chest. Gae Bolg slams into the outstretched rifle, then something scientifically referred to as 'Fucky' happens. The Servant and the Spear appear to glitch out, through several iterations, until quite suddenly there's a shout-- a spray of sparks-- a splattering of blood. The blocked lance now protrudes from her shoulder, just missing what should be vital, knocked off course by the sundered gun in her hands. Nobunaga drops from the float she had going on from her Noble Phantasm, staggering when she hits the ground but keeping her feet. The shattered rifle is lowered, leaned on, her full weight placed. When she lifts her face, that mad grin has returned, though her eyes are hidden by the brim of her cap, "Is it even going to work properly when it's not the real deal?" She wobbles a bit, then slumps down onto her backside. Legs are promptly folded, "Damn but that smarts."
Big Boss	Silent Jackal leaves the site, armor pocked with bulletholes and some blood, as he heads towards Archer's position. Once he gets there, right in time to see the Gae Bolg explosion. He rolls backwards, turning. And then, realizing there's still a UFO left from before, he begins scouting the sky. "Come out, come out. You want to play? Let's play." The rifle is reloaded rapidly, as Silent Jackal ducks behind cover, seeking to take out that final UFO so it can't shoot Archer in the back while he, presumably, claims their territory. Big Boss, meanwhile, radios over. <"Be vigilant. Someone with the fame of Oda Nobunaga won't go down this easily.">
Archer EMIYA	"Much to my chagrin, you'll live." Archer hobbles just a tiny bit towards Nobunaga as he still struggles to FEEL HIS LEGS. He's leaving his back to the other two, as he simply just pulls a rather bland looking sword from the ground to arm himself with. "We're both genre savvy archers, you and me. So I believe this is the part where you valiantly cut your losses and flee your outpost while claiming vengeance on our families and slowly building your power to crush us in the sequel." He's basically a few feet from the enemy archer at this point, but he doesn't bother to strike, though he's not stupid enough to let his guard down. "Alternatively, we can have the redemption route, where the Demon Lord allies themself with the protagonists as they work towards a common goal? You're a naughty gremlin of a woman that loves conquest, yes? Well, the plan is that we're doing a lot of that, but as you may understand, launching assaults from your backyard isn't a great way to go about things. Even if it is a very nice backyard."
Riku	Riku ends up gibbing the Tank Nobbu. As Riku ends up surrounded with Void Dust, he stands there gasping, grimacing with the energy expended. "You know, I'm not into this war thing, I think." He mutters to himself. He looks over his shoulder, frowning as he hears the door close behind him. He walks over to the door, staring balefully at it for several seconds. It seems like he might do something... But then he just nods. "Just stay in there." He says simply, and turns away, expecting what he said to be followed. If they don't, he can be back in a jiffy, after all. With one of the spawners down, he turns his attention to the battle as a whole, and of courte everything is a mess. Silent Jackal warns of additional tricks, and Riku nods. "Right." He takes up a guard position at the spawner, waiting to see what Archer is up to.... And he begins negotiating? "Are you actually trying to bring her onto our side?" He asks. "Are you sure she isn't going to just backstab us the second she thinks she can get away with it?"
Nobunaga	Nobunaga shifts, wrapping her fingers around the Gae Bolg. With a wince, she wrenches the copied spear free and drops it in front of her uncerimoniously. She then rests her elbow on her knee, supporting her chin with a blood-splattered gloved hand. Her other hand raises, gesturing. The various Nobbu still up and about cease all aggressive actions. Even the UFO Nobbu, peppered by fire from Silent Jackal, suddenly veers off trailing smoke and makes for Sunomata castle. "So. Continue locking horns with you, which has been an enlightening exercise, or help you in whatever mysterious endeavor you three are involved in?" Nobunaga's hand rubs against her chin, "Hmm. I mean. There's an obvious third option. But that's also hardly as interesting. Whether I'm a recurring antagonist or an anti-hero, I'm more interested in finding out what you're suddenly so fired up about." The warlord glances down, rummaging under her cape for a moment. What she pulls out is a simple scroll, which is handed over, "Here, use this. For now I'll aid you by supplying you. But I'll need raw materials for that. Just bring me anything produced by homunculi you kill with this." It's...well, it's a picture. A small wall scroll, to be perfectly honest. But there might be some magic to it. Or Nobunaga might be telling a big fat lie. But she's taking it so seriously, could it really be false?
Big Boss	As the Nobbus retreat, Silent Jackal doesn't move to keep wasting ammo. He turns towards Nobunaga Prime, and as she gives her pitch, he...raises an eyebrow. What? Merchant? What? Big Boss, over the radio, is silent. But, in the end, he speaks up. <"Mission accomplished. Pequod is on her way."> Soon, the sounds of a helicopter fill the area, coming to drop a ladder to pick up Archer, Riku, and Silent Jackal and take them, well, probably wherever they're being dropped off and then Jackal back home. Rock music is blaring off the speakers.
Archer EMIYA	Not long after the Gae Bolg is removed, it also dissipates. Also Nobunaga is currently not in anymore pain outside of having a gaping lance wound in her shoulder, so Archer's probably not lying about her being fine. Whether he was joking about wishing otherwise is completely up to debate, though. Nobunaga hits them with a third option, and seemingly has no fight left in her after it, so Archer decides to stop imposing his Reality on the land, a long sigh escaping his lips as he's finally given a moment to relax. He feels like he should be offended by what Nobunaga's proposing, but unfortunately, Archer's not quite on the level of genre savvy to realize he's basically been roped into a gacha grinding event. If he did he'd probably punch the war gremlin right in the face though. "Alright. I wasn't expecting you to cooperate, but I guess this is good enough. It's pretty like you to make it on your terms, at the very least."