Cross Effects 3.0 - April 13, 2015—June 23, 2016

[SINIB]

Sakura Matou

"Tohsaka and I still need to be properly informed about this place. We did only arrive a short while ago. We can–" Her Senpai berated her, but something distracted her, caught her eye. She thought she’d seen a mysterious man walk by, but as soon as she turned her attention to him, he disappeared. Sakura slapped her cheeks. I must be tired. . . She brushed aside the odd experience, thinking nothing of it. “–be introduced to." She heard Shirou finish.

“Huh? Yeah, sure, ok.” She noncommittally answered him, not really sure what she’d just agreed to. Rin walked over to her with a sigh.

"Fine, I think I can hold on.  If things are too bad I could just grab your hair, Rider." She addressed Rider first. Sakura looked curiously at her sister’s hair, It looks frozen. Sakura reached towards her sister’s hair, gently grabbing ahold of it and feeling the crystals forming in it. “That’s no good.” She muttered, casting a spell to melt the ice before breaking free of Rider’s grasp just as Rider had begun stroking her hair. She walked around Rin and draped the coat Brown Senpai had given her around Rin’s shoulders.

“Be careful with this, Brown Senpai gave it to me.” She said with a great deal of meaning. “I’ll want it back later, but you can borrow it for now. It’s not good if you’re freezing.” Sakura explained.

“Rider, don’t worry, I’ll make sure he’s ok when we get home.” She walked over to Pegasus and tried to get onto the large horse, and after a bit of struggling, she climbed onto him.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Pain, all the insignificant point of light could feel was pain as it sank into darkness. It was utterly suffocating, this sensation. No, the warrior had not perished, but he had simply returned to that point in time once again. To weep, to wail or to even think was a meaningless gesture, it was something he had spent far too long attempting to accomplish. To a man, this sensation alone would have been maddening, but to Vanguard such a thing was routine.

Yes, this sensation was one he had an eternity to bask into and enjoy. To him, feeling such pain was no different than breathing. That is, of course, a metaphor. By this point, the fallen legend had forgotten how to breathe. After all, this information was meaningless to a man who had not drawn breath for as long as he did.

Everything was dark, but what constituted of his crumbling core could tell he had sunk somewhere. It was cold, yet burning.  But of course, Vanguard knew not anymore of such concepts. The cool breeze of autumn or the scorching heat of the desert were one and the same to him.

Vanguard laid upon his back and gaped up at the sky, his head throbbing.  His limbs felt strange to him, as if they were never present. The man was here, and not here. Vanguard allowed the paradox to wash over him and let out a grunt.

Puzzling. It’s as if he didn’t have a firm grasp on his own existence.  Who he was… or where…or how… He had answers to none of these questions.

I am… ah, yes. I am-

Something was slowly seeping inside his mind. As if water was slowly sinking into the pores of his psyche, Vanguard was being maintained by craft alien to the mechanisms of his core.  Someone was interfering with his destruction, most likely a master of the arcane arts.  It felt quite unpleasant, but it was a break from the agony he was enduring at the moment.

 It seemed he wasn’t to disappear just yet.

Being pulled back from the suffocating abyss, Vanguard’s hindered senses began to slowly come back. What was to him a near eternity must have lasted but a few moments, for his vision, hearing and complementary senses allowed by his core had re- awakened. It was but a hazy blur, but he could make out the necessary minimum.

Now, his attention was slowly coming back, along with his thoughts. An innumerable amount of memories were seeping back inside his mind at once, a sensation far more unpleasant than anything he had felt thus far. Still, mere pain or displeasure was secondary when compared to his purpose. If it was to sever those accursed chains of fate, mere agony would have been welcome with open arms.

Yes. Slowly but surely, his mind came back. That tainted abyss, it seemed to have been but a mirage of his decaying mind. An illusion? No. Surely it was but a mere reconstruction of his end. Quite troublesome, to be forced to witness such a thing yet again. But now, he could finally make himself present once more. Someone had come, and happened to stabilise his crumbling core. Thaumaturgy of such level, and a familiar structure…

Amusing.

How amusing, to be saved by the same man who almost destroyed you in a single day. Truly fate had quite the despicable jests in store. Chuckling drily, Vanguard looked at the magician.

“A meaningless question, Caster. Why not ask the clouds how human underfoot looks like?” said Vanguard, his tone slightly more humorous than he would have preferred it to be.

“Yes, I believe some could say I am still alive… Do I look alive to you?”

[Kotomine_Rin]

Tohuw Balagan

The three were now in a charming room, sitting next to a charming fire. The charming lady Irisviel then asked a charming question to the charming demon.

"A charming question milady. I believe I told you earlier, but to reintroduce myself can do no harm. Besides, perhaps it will quell our waryness, and your friend's." said the demon with a humble tone, bowing before grabbing a microphone from thin air.

"I am Toh-"

A frozen silence. He almost slipped up, almost. That was too close. Chuckling, he rebutted once again.

"Ohoho, I see what you did there. A ruse, quite clever you are. Certainly you are befitting of my praise. But enough small talk. To keep this short and sweet, I am what some of you would call a demon."

Well, it was a bit more complicated than that. Truth be told Tohuw didn't know what he was. The name demon was something attributed to his kin by humans, so it was more of a habit to call himself one.

"That... probably isn't the best thing to add on your C.V. Well, I certainly could have put it in a better light, but no matter. In fact, I am no common rabble myself. A prince, if such titles mean anything to you. Now, what I want? It is simple Irisviel. I wish to offer you my gratitude in any way I can. If you desire it, I want to grant it to you; be it riches, lovers, security, fame or power. You saved my life, therefore it is my turn to pay this favor back." he continued, lowering his head in respect.


Then, with a short laugh, he scratched his head before answering Irisviel's final question.

"And, as for why that detestable lizard attacked me... I put a beard on him."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Urthemiel

The entrancing gaze of the regal woman focused on Adjutor. "So, you've made it here in one piece. That is reassuring. It would have been annoying to have found you entranced by a demon of desire before we even began your first lesson."

She raised a dainty hand and walls shimmered into existence around the island and sealed it off from the rest of the dream world. "This is the Fade. A dream world from which you will draw your magical power from. It will be substantially more difficult to pull its energy within the physical world but for the most part your performance is expected to be adequate."

A flame burst into existence in her hand and she launched it at the wall which blasted a large hole into it. "The demon within you is a channel to the Fade. Reach for that rage and anger, and pull the power through it. With that power think of fire and bring it into existence. We can move on once you've managed to blast the wall apart."


Caedia

The Arisen gave Rebeca a wide smile as she accepted her gift. It was rather reassuring because while Caedia would have relentlessly held out the gift until her fingers fell off her hand she preferred that people accept it after the first few offers. According to her Pawns it was irritating to others after a week.

Regardless it seemed like the other two had already gone into the building. So Caedia did what she saw as the most logical choice. She grabbed Rebeca and tossed the smaller girl over her right shoulder like a sack of potatoes. It wouldn't show on her face but the Arisen was very comfortable with physical contact. In fact, is was almost comforting to hold someone so close to herself. She lightly squeezed her passenger a few times just to make sure her hold was firm and partially because she wondered if the white haired girl would squeak. Selene made delightful sounds when some pressure was applied and Caedia wondered if Rebeca was the same.

Then without even a word she merrily walked into the building. Of course, she did get a few glances but Caedia was more than used to ignoring others. The smell of the building reminded her a bit of the guard barracks in Gran Soren. There was less yelling but it seemed similar enough.

She waved at Aki and Crest with her free hand as they talked to a man at the desk. The only thing that caught her attention was when rest had asked if they had a place to leave their belongings. People couldn't truly be foolish enough to leave their belongings in these 'lockers'. Caedia kept everything of worth on her person for a good reason. But if these people truly did leave things of worth alone... The Arisen's free hand twitched and her mind began to wonder. How strong were these lockers? How strong were the locks? How much could she carry out of here without someone noticing? What kind of currency did they have? Should she split the loot? She had never had to give money to her Pawns.

Her eyes glazed over as she started to run through the possibilities of what could be in those 'lockers' and what could go wrong if she made a mistake.

[Panda]

Adjutor

Desire demon?

Pity we didn't even get to see one.

Oh shut up.

Adjutor watches as Ur summons walls seemingly from nowhere, listening as she explains the nature of this place before she summons a fireball and blasts a hole in one of the walls. Unconsciously, his eyes unseal, flashing silver as he sees how Ur gathers the mana from around her to form the fireball before launching it.

"Rage and anger, huh?" Adjutor says, more to himself than to anyone in particular.

Well, it just so happens that today hasn't been the best of days.

Then give in.

Adjutor doesn't ignore the demon this time. That would run counter to what he's trying to accomplish here. Instead, Adjutor focuses for a moment, not just on the demon, but now also on what's happened today. Mordred's face came to mind, her obstinate blanket statement over all vampires, declaring all of them to be things to be hunted down and killed with extreme prejudice.

That obstinate whore who left you to face that berserker at the first opportunity, who had the gall to forget that incident and then to ask you to betray the one who sought to shelter you.

The teen's anger, at first a low burn, was soon fanned into a warm blaze by the demon's prodding. Still lucid, Adjutor took the opening to try to reach for the mana, carefully, carefully...there. With the feeling of moving his hand through warm molasses, Adjutor swept his arm back, trying to gather the mana in his hands. Bringing the hand back, Adjutor notes that there isn't quite as much mana as there was when Ur launched the fireball, but the teen assures himself that it'll be enough and thrusts his hand forward.

The fairly small bolt of flame that erupts from the teen's hand barely even scorches the wall, much to Adjutor's annoyance. Shaking his head, Adjutor tries again, gathering up mana through the rather feeble connection, but it's not enough, something Adjutor doesn't even need to form the mana into a fireball to understand.

You're still holding yourself back, incompetent. So much will and yet you're managing to utilize so little power. Truly pitiful.

Frowning, Adjutor tried again, feeling the connection start to solidify as his frustration began to mount. Even so, it still wasn't enough.

...Well this is saddening.

The hell are you going on about, Xarrest?

You still don't get it?

Get what, exactly?!

What's the point of getting mad at me? What's blocking your way.

That wall. It didn't need to be said that that wall was what was blocking the teen's way. That wall was what was keeping him from learning more, the reason that he was still standing here uselessly, the sum total of everything Adjutor could be annoyed at in this the moment. This wall is an eyesore.

Some part of Adjutor's mind registered that the connection now felt strong, the mana gathered around him, growing thick around him as it concentrated around his arm.

Still not right.

Focusing in on the mana, Adjutor forces it all into a concentrated ball in his hand before thrust his hand forward, the resulting fireball sailed towards the wall and Adjutor had just enough time to realize that he might have put just a bit too much power into that attack when it struck, the resulting explosion obscuring the wall in a cloud of dust and forcing the teen to shield his eyes. Lowering his hands, Adjutor takes a look at the dust cloud, frowning just before an errant breeze clears it away to reveal...nothing. Nothing left of the wall in any way shape or form aside from a charred outline in the ground from where the fireball had struck and scorched the earth beneath it.

"...That was..." Adjutor trailed off for a moment, unsure of how to describe the feeling that replaced the rage as the latter bled out of him, "That was a rush..."

Good, now go ahead and-

Not listening to you anymore.

YOU DA-

Shut up, the wall's gone.


Guts

Guts frowned for a moment at the girl, somehow managing to talk about broken bones as if it were nothing more than unexpected weather.

"If you're able to stand with them, they're not an issue," Guts points out, "Come on, let's get out of here."

With that, the mercenary leads them out, making his way back to his gym with them in tow.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

As soon as Medaka spoke of broken bones, Lorenzo's face fell flat, as if he had just been slapped. Mere sadness didn't cut it, he was more like a kicked puppy at this point.

"I-I'm... I'm sorry. I misspoke. I really really really shouldn't have said that." said Lorenzo before sniffling a bit, wiping snot and tears off his face with his sleeve.

Without letting her reply, he grabbed her tightly and picked her above his shoulders. Smiling weakly, he murmured in an oddly serene voice.

"You know... I was really happy when you came to help me. I... I was afraid you hated me."

Looking down, he murmured "I've leant on your shoulder long enough. Now it's my turn to do something." before crying again. But it was not like before, his tears showed no sadness.

Holding her, he was crying tears of joy.

"Thank you."

And so, he followed Guts's lead all while carrying Medaka above his shoulders. Then, he noticed multiple cops were surrounding them, guns aimed at the trio.

"Erm, please don't shoot." he said with a weakly hesitant yet clear voice.

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura

Sakura followed Irisviel through the corridors and into a large room, containing a bed, a table and a fireplace.

Is this the room she is giving to me? Or is it hers? she wondered.

Irisviel motioned to them to sit at the table, then walked over to the fireplace and lit it using her magic, before joining them at the table.

“So—Togan. Just what are you, and what do you want?” She asked in a serious tone. “Why did the dragon attack you earlier?”

Togan then made a short speech about announcing himself and Irisviel's charming nature, before materialising a microphone from thin air. He began to annonce his name, theatrically, when he suddenly stopped.

"Ohoho, I see what you did there. A ruse, quite clever you are", he said. "Certainly you are befitting of my praise. But enough small talk. To keep this short and sweet, I am what some of you would call a demon."

To most people, that would be a big red flag, but Sakura was not too worried. After all, she had a mythological monster for a servant, and Rider had never shown anything but kindness and love to her. She was almost like a second big sister.

The demon continued to ramble, telling Irisviel that he simply wanted to repay her kindness. Which, if true, meant he was unlikely to harm them or be any real danger to them.

Then, though, she heard the dragon's reasoning for attacking him, and mentally facepalmed.

Well, that doesn't surprise me one bit, she thought, recalling what he had done to her.

Still, whilst it wasn't the nicest thing to do to someone, nor was it worthy of death. The dragon clearly had little regard for the lives of others.

"I cannot say I am shocked, given what you did to me. But, still, whilst I think you were wrong to do such a thing, it is not a crime worthy of death. That dragon obviously does not care about others. It showed that with Irisviel, too.

As for your nature, that is not something I will hold against you. My servant is even more notorious and feared than most demons, and yet she is a kind and loving person who would give her life to protect me. Myths and legends do not always tell the whole story."

[theunknownhero]

Shirou (HF)

I let out a sigh as it seems we're finally ready to head home. It was a pretty crazy day, I ended up reuniting with Sakura, and even Rin, and even meet another version of me. I then get on Rider's Pegasus.

"I really hope this will be able to fit us all."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Urthemiel

The mage as unsurprised as the fireball blasted the entirety of the wall away. In fact, she was currently busy filing her nails and only looked up a few minutes after the wall had been demolished. Then she let go of the nail filer and let it drift in the air before returning her attention to her disciple. "Excellent. It seems like you weren't a waste of time after all. I can teach you many things but it's up to you to choose what to learn next. So what form of magic would you like to start with?"

[Kat]

"Hmm, convenient," Emily admits to Abby, "Unfortunately, I don't have anything like that, so I just have to make do. She's all healed up now, anyway, so there's no need to move."

That aside, the poor guy doesn't sound like he actually wants us to move this somewhere private.

"And Mordred," the Changeling continues, "If they had ways of tracking the air itself or Hedge travel, I think they'd have caught up to us by now. That said, it wouldn't be wise to stay here for too long."

Bondage Boy? Then again, those pants seem to support her statement.

"For that matter, it might not be wise to go back to your place," Emily says after a short pause, "Considering how easily these people caught us unaware, I'd say they've been tracking you for a while."

Then an idea strikes, and Emily turns to Abby and Law, "Could we perhaps stay with you for a while? At least until this mess boils over. We'd be in your debt. Besides, you'd probably want to clear out quickly anyway. If it turns out that they can track us, then they won't be too far behind, and with how much attention...Bondage Boy," Emily can't help but giggle for a moment at the moniker, "How much attention he draws, I'd say it would be best if we all got going quickly."

Mordred

She was pretty convinced by now she didn't like Abigail. Snarking around and her racist joke wasn't endearing. "I would think a Changeling would be last to make fun of how others look like, but I guess I keep learning new things everyday. If Emily hasn't explained what exactly we're escaping from, I will, because you might end up their victim too. Somebody tracked us down, knew we would come out of Hedge, and was incredibly powerful. Now that I remember, there was a suspicious guy asking around something who got on my nerves back then. Maybe I should have killed him instead of trying to intimidate him? Oh, well, next on my hit list." she said with a frown on her face. The events of last two days clearly took a toll on her. "Along with Law-unto-whate- and some perverted killer".

[Panda]

Michael

Seeing the woman advance towards Chalice Girl, Michael remembered all too late the effects of the Chalice on others. Cursing his own idiocy, the immortal quickly Enhances himself before interposing between Chalice Girl and the woman, staff already drawn.

"First off, I doubt you could actually destroy that thing," Michael says, watching her carefully for any signs of attacking, "Second, even if you do manage it, everything will going to go to shit for just about everyone here, and I don't think you want that. Besides, why do you want to destroy this thing?"


Adjutor

Adjutor considers the question for moment, carefully going over the things he's faced thus far and what he may face later. The magic he'd be learning would be specifically for use against any further threats, so it would be best if he covered a field he didn't already have with it...

Let's see, those Spirits, mages, or warriors...Trying to specialize against a specific kind of Monster would be silly...

"Perhaps something for use against mages?" Adjutor asks, "There's this one demon summoner that I might end up fighting, to say nothing of the myriad other mages I might encounter during my time here."

[SINIB]

Caster

Faust nodded in response to Vanguard’s quip and gave Vanguard a wry smile. “I must apologize to you, Vanguard. I had pegged you to be about as useful and interesting as Rider—which seems to have been a grave mistake.” Faust gave a small bow, “I misjudged you.” He told Vanguard.

“I have some questions for you, but I’ll save them for later. Will you last through a trip back to the manor? I won’t pretend that I fully understand how your existence is bound to that orb.”

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Yes, this was quite the amusing turn of events. Still, Vanguard was in no position to complain. Besides, he had no reason to. An orb? Was that what his core appeared to be?

Truly amusing.

"My, you are making me blush. I wouldn't call myself recovered just yet, but what you have imbued in my core seems to be enough to keep it stable at the very least."

No, it was different. No matter what magic, if it wasn't imbued with aether it wouldn't be able to keep his core protected from reality. However, the magician's craft seemed to replace the aether that veiled his soul into the core. Such a thing would have been impossible in another world, unless...

Yes, it was quite the feat. With a chuckle, Vanguard pondered on where he had been summoned. It wasn't just an ever devouring plane, but one where multiple systems intermingled. No, they didn't just coexist, but interacted. All this without denying one another.

"Lead the way, Caster." said Vanguard.

[yinsukin]

Medaka

Without letting her reply, he grabbed her tightly and picked her above his shoulders. Smiling weakly, he murmured in an oddly serene voice.

"You know... I was really happy when you came to help me. I... I was afraid you hated me."

Looking down, he murmured "I've leant on your shoulder long enough. Now it's my turn to do something." before crying again. But it was not like before, his tears showed no sadness.

Holding her, he was crying tears of joy.

"Thank you."

She smiled as Lorenzo picked him up and hoisted her on his shoulders.  She felt proud to hear the pirates words of self reflection and thanks.  It made her happy to think that she could keep her promise to the bird.  They had spent such a short time together, yet they had grown such a powerful bond.  For a brief moment, she reflected on the past before realizing something.  They were surrounded.

Sitting on top of the pirate Medaka looked around at the cops surrounding them.  About six cops had surrounded them and pointed their weapons at them, likely intending to take Lorenzo back to his cell.  There were more of them crouching behind some of the rubble of the damaged car and the corners of the station. At the top of the station she noticed a man at the top of the roof had a gun trained on them.  It was also likely that there were sniper rifles trained on them as well.  Considering her physical state and Lorenzo's mental state, they might be in a bit of a pinch.

"Erm, please don't shoot." She heard Lorenzo say to the cops in front of them.

Medaka stayed silent, both awaiting the response and getting ready to react if necessary.

[Kat]

Seeing the woman advance towards Chalice Girl, Michael remembered all too late the effects of the Chalice on others. Cursing his own idiocy, the immortal quickly Enhances himself before interposing between Chalice Girl and the woman, staff already drawn.

"First off, I doubt you could actually destroy that thing," Michael says, watching her carefully for any signs of attacking, "Second, even if you do manage it, everything will going to go to shit for just about everyone here, and I don't think you want that. Besides, why do you want to destroy this thing?"

Rikuyo

Why did she want to destroy it indeed? It seemed she acted on a impulse, as if something urged her to destroy the thing and fix something that way. But, it didn't seem to be the call of the Chalice, at least not solely. Scrambled memories of something, or someone inside her instead influenced her to be hostile like that. Once that man stood in her way though, for some reason that figment of another will inside her wavered a bit. "It reminds of me of something, yet I don't know of what. But I know I will know if she doesn't hurry up. And when I know it will be not 'me' yet 'me' that will go after her and it" the girl didn't make much sense, gripping half of her face with one hand, finally bursting out at "So better hurry up and tell that girl to get moving or I lose the little sense of reason I have left!"