Act 2, Scene 1
-"A train will be coming soon. If you get on that train, you will have a scary experience."
Adrenaline surges as the familiar opening words of an urban legend reach my ears. Those who board the monkey train will be torn apart - gutted, beheaded, or made into minced meat. But that's irrelevant now - rather, both the 'staff' of that train and its passengers have already been slaughtered by that mysterious tengu.
-So, my mind completely blank, I start to run. Tossing Arima over my shoulder, allowing another [Emergency Reinforcement] to compensate for the added weight, I vault over the turnstile again as she cries out in protest. Dimly I feel my bones groan in complaint, but I ignore them. When he first reached the Pleiades Watchtower in the other world, Natsuki Subaru was capable of such feats of athleticism - and now, with the tower visible in the distance, I feel a strange kinship with the boy I was at that time.
"Hey! Hey! What the hell-!?" Arima shouts as I charge recklessly out of the station, springing out from behind it and back into the tree cover, a terrifying heat behind me as [Hell's Snipe] clips the hair on the back of my head. "Put… me…" She trails off, and my ears strain.
Clack. Drip. Clack. Drip. A sound of rushing air, and then it's close. Clack. Drip.
I throw Arima ahead, whirling around as my first Command Spell blazes to life. "[EMM]!" A hand thrust upwards at my chin passes through me as I phase out of reality for a moment. The tengu's terrifying eyes, burning red behind his mask, do not widen. Cold disinterest remains the only visible emotion - but that's fine. "[Invisible Providence]!"
The unseen hand connects - and knocks him back into the gap between the tree cover and the station - and the next instant, [Hell's Snipe] tears through the air-
-and is smacked away by his right hand.
"...You've gotta be kidding," I mutter, dumbfounded.
(To the left, I can hear the crashing sound of cymbals as the train begins to leave the station.)
The tengu takes another step towards me, and then flickers out of existence, with another clack of wooden sandals behind me that signifies my imminent demise, and as I turn, I see-
"Haaaah!" Arima roars, her fist flying towards him, forcing the tengu to divert his attention for just a moment. she shifts into an elbow strike, but he pushes her aside with practiced ease, raising a hand shaped like a knife with the intent of killing her with a karate chop - but this once, my Unseen Hand catches his wrist!
His foot lands with another clack of his wooden sandals, and his form flickers- but he's made a mistake, perhaps his first significant one in this casual murder attempt.
Firstly, the grip of my [Unseen Hand] cannot be pried open. The only method of dealing with it is to diligently sever the invisible limb connecting it to my body - or perhaps to teleport free, if one was capable of such a thing. But secondly, that rapid motion of his, the sort of flicker-step movement he's been making - is apparently more akin to super speed than teleportation. That is to say-
A horrible tearing sound and a spray of blood fill the area as the Tengu's movement accidentally tears his own left arm off at the elbow - and rather than killing me instantly from the position in front of me that he just warped to, he stakes a step back, his strange movement ability transporting him some thirty feet away as he clutches his injured limb.
Then, with a fluid motion, he leaps into the air, landing on the departing train, his scornful red eyes trained upon us until he leaves sight.
…
"...W-we almost died," Arima says after a moment, collapsing to her knees as her legs give out..
"...Yeah," I admit. "Sorry, I should have been more careful. I'm… not exactly the front-line fighter of our group."
"That's not… no, you pretty much did everything correctly. I'm the one who… The next time you grab me and pull me somewhere, I think I'll just go along without protesting," She says. "I… he would have killed me. I can tell that much." As she finishes her sentence, a hint of irritation enters her voice, and she looks at her hand, clenching it as she grimaces.
-And then, my communicator beeps.
"Your analysis is incorrect, Miss Arima," Says a voice I've never heard before. "Arima, Arima… An ordinary name, and yet you have not been devoured by the Pleiades Watchtower. Such a mystery - and I detest 'mysteries' just as I detest Mystery." I lift the device on my wrist, and see a holographic form appear - a wiry, pale man in a dark robe that rises well up his neck and ends in a tight black mouth covering. As I do so, his image turns and jabs its finger accusitorily towards me. "And as for you - as a Servant of Chaldea, I'll respect your current choice of name, Flugel - but I will not respect your actions! By this point, surely you should know that your first role upon finding yourself alone is to hide yourself and await contact from Chaldea!"
"Servant of Chaldea, my ass! Who even are you!?" I shout, pointing back. "And besides, wait for who? They're all already-!"
"Not so, Flugel! Had you considered for but a second, you would have recognized it - were there no person operating Chaldea's command room, no person here to verify your existence, you would already have disappeared!" He retorts, jabbing his finger over and over at me.
"B… but if you were here, then why didn't you pick up the freaking phone!?" I protest.
"Do you think that I, a freshly summoned Servant, would be familiar with your technology? I had my hands full establishing a method to monitor your existence with my own abilities," He says with a scornful shake of his head. "I was not present for most of it, but my records are clear. Every member of Chaldea has already been pulled into that singularity. As an emergency measure, the Autonomic Observational Existence Verification System "MNEMOSYNE" was activated - but this, too, was pulled into the Singularity. And so, as a last-minute, emergency measure, I was summoned to fulfil the role. Servant Caster, though I prefer to be called Recorder - my birth name is lost to history, but you may call me Hieda-no-Are."
"...Who?" Arima mutters.
"Japan's first historian?" I ask at the same time, and then blink. "Hang on, you didn't know this, Arima? Aren't you some kind of honor student?"
"I'm first place in attendance," She replies, pushing up her glasses to hide her eyes. Hey, come to think of it, attendance isn't necessarily coordinated with grades, is it? "...This just never came up in class."
Right, not every honor student is like Mashupedia. I'm sure that's all it is.
"With our introductions complete, I will explain to you the situation at hand," Recorder starts.
"I got it already. This singularity freely manifests fears and rumors in response to the thoughts and words of those caught in it," I say. "The center of it all is the Pleiades Watchtower, probably because I was talking too much about it before. Somehow - it might be some rumor that went around because of me running my mouth, or it might be because of my fears - everyone in Chaldea that had a name to give got recorded in that Tower's library, where the [Books of the Dead] are stored."
Hieda-no-Are closes his eyes for a moment, contemplating something, and then opens them again. "Very well. You seem to have a reasonable grasp of the situation at hand, so I will hold my peace for the time being."
"Still, what the hell could even-?" I start to say.
"Stop, Flugel!" The Recorder roars. "Above all - you must not suggest identities for the culprit of this incident! Should you do so incorrectly, you will have started a [rumor] and that foe will become real as well!"
…Shit.
"For now… you should know that, aside from yourself, the sole surviving members of Chaldea pulled into the singularity are the man calling himself Romani Archman and the Foreigner-Class Servant calling herself Vincent Van Gogh," He continues. Shit, so that means that Akuta Hinako, who Daybit Sem Void mentioned, is already… "Do not consider the others pulled in, and certainly do not discuss them. They are dead, and will remain dead."
"Ah, that's…" I get where he's coming from, but…
"As far as those consumed by the tower go, they may yet be saved. Their deaths went unobserved and thus cannot be verified by reality to have actually occurred. Indeed, in all likelihood, they did not occur, but rather that lack of observation combined with the creation of Books of the Dead modeled after Chaldea's staff were used to imply the deaths of the staff members. Such fragile mystery shall not long withstand the fall of the Pleiades Watchtower, and with assistance from my Noble Phantasm we ought to be capable of restoring them."
There was another who offered the same thing - saying that aloud seems dangerous, so I won't. But to receive confirmation that it's possible…
"...Thanks, Recorder," I say as a wave of tension leaves my body. Even though I'm not even sure if this guy is trustworthy - just a second statement that it's possible, that Rem, Mash, Olga, and everyone else haven't just been suddenly ripped away from me, is…
"I'm… a little out of the loop and that all sounded horrifying, but I guess from your reaction that there was some good news in there," Arima says. "But that doesn't get us any closer to the tower, so… what's the plan there?"
"...On the subject of 'us'," I say. "Recorder, is it possible to rayshift Arima to Chaldea?"
"Are you stupid? I'm not just going to leave you here on your own, you'll die," The girl replies.
"No, I mean- if you handle the existence verification part, he can come over here, and since he's a Servant-" I say. "Ah, Servants are those ghosts of past heroes I was talking about before." Arima gives a hesitant nod.
"-Existence verification and communication are one matter, but operating the Rayshifting technology is beyond me," Recorder says. "This is why it is paramount that you locate Romani Archman as quickly as possible. Should he die, any hope of reinforcements, or indeed of you escaping the singularity, will die with him."
-Right, Romani and Gogh are still out there! "We need to get moving, then." I say. "But… dammit, we're back to square one! How do we even get there with that dumbass scorpion taking shots at us if we so much as dare peek down a main road! The train was a nice idea, but if that Tengu is waiting for us at the next station-!"
"-Then we'll deal with him there," Arima says, and I turn to her in shock. "He's just lost an arm, and now that some time has passed, shock will be setting in. To be honest, this is probably the best time to bring him down. We can't afford to be slowed down if friends of yours are in danger"
Ah, I see. She's still following normal human logic. "That would work if he was a normal human, but-"
"He is one," Hieda-no-Are interrupts. "Strong beyond relief, and probably verging on becoming some sort of incarnate Divine Spirit, but make no mistake, Flugel - that Tengu is a living human, or at least the rumor of one. If you want proof, simply look towards your feet - his detached arm still has yet to disappear!"
"...Even still, where magecraft is concerned, it's entirely possible things like shock and blood loss won't be a factor," I mutter.
"Be careful of your speech, Flugel!" Recorder shouts.
"Dammit, we can't even plan safely!?"
Arima rises to her feet. Her legs start to shake, but she steadies them - and then she starts to walk towards the station. She's just going for it?
"If he's still able to fight well, then… good," She says, taking off her glasses and placing them in a pocket. "I don't really think my fist will be satisfied if he's not at full fighting strength." She continues as she pulls the braids out of her hair. "Let's go, then."
-!
"Wait, Arima-!" I shout, but I'm too late.
Faster than the eye can see, [Hell's Snipe] tears through the air to remove her head - and meets a fist.
Blinding light and force pours out as Arima snarls, her hair fluttering behind her, almost red in the light - and her fist, somehow still intact, drives the shot down into the ground.
"I see!" Hieda-no-Are mutters. "A mixed-blood, in this day and age…!"
Arima frowns and shakes her hand a little. "That's a little hot - but still, it's not that hard to do now that I've seen it. I've been off my game tonight, since so much weird stuff has been happening, but… at the end of the day, I've just got to tear the enemy to pieces, right?"
"..." I have nothing to say. My jaw is absolutely on the floor.
"I'm supposed to be a normal High School Girl, but I'll make an exception for now since otherwise I'll just be stuck here," She sighs. "Let's go, Flugel. I need a rematch, since the first one didn't count."
***
Class: -
True Name: Arima Miyako
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Origin: Melty Blood, Hana no Miyako
Manifestation Cost: -
Bio:
Not a Servant, but a 'normal' human pulled into this scenario by strange circumstances. A self-proclaimed "Ordinary High School Girl" with a history as an enthusiastic practitioner of martial arts. Right now, she's treating all of that as an embarrassing middle school phase, though. She got a new start, living as a normal student, at… a martial arts high school.
By the way, although her attendance is perfect, her grades are terrible.
She should not be able to fight on the level of a Servant, and yet - in this singularity where rumors and fears hold true power, perhaps the legend of a rampaging girl in Chinese dress has yet to die.
…To be clear, this is not the Middle School-aged Miyako from Melty Blood, but her older self. Subaru dodges the allegations yet again.
Parameters
Strength: B
Endurance: B
Agility: C
Mana: D
Luck: A
NP: -
Personal Skills:
Demonic Nature of Oni: E-
The Arima are a branch family of the Tohno - but the Oni traits of the main family have been all but lost at this point. The production of a monster like Tohno SHIKI or Tohno Akiha among her bloodline is essentially impossible. Even the inversion impulse is essentially absent. Even so, every now and then, when tensions are high, the occasional trait of the Oni will show through.
Sphere Boundary: E
When Miyako was young, she received the foundation of her martial arts from a suspicious man in a panda costume. At that time, the very basics of the Nanaya Assassination techniques were also drilled into her - but by this point they are all but forgotten. Every now and then, she instinctively performs some Qi manipulation.
Chinese Martial Arts (Self-taught): A
The foundation of her art is not, as she believes, Bajiquan, but rather the assassination techniques of a certain family of demon hunters. A martial art designed first and foremost to hunt and kill enemies stronger than oneself - made Miyako a terror of the neighborhood when she was a child, and well into high school there were still delinquents twice her age who would call her "big sis".
Naturally, Miyako denies all of this.
-As far as her growth goes, Miyako is already in the top hundred mundane martial artists in the world, but some two years after entering high school, her art has completely stagnated. Now, thrust into an environment where the supernatural must be faced…