Act 4, Scene 5
"-Bwah!?" Cries Miyako as she's launched out of the third trial, landing roughly on the jury-rigged crash pad outside the door. "He just keeps summoning more, that's not fair!"
"So it's more than just 'Ivan'?" I ask - only for Pepe and Gogh to turn towards me in obvious confusion.
"Ivan?" Pepe says. "The one dropped on me was Arjuna… supposedly."
"E-eh? Then I'm the only one who faced Qin Shi Huang?" Asks Gogh.
"...It seems like there's some variance going on, so let's go ahead and compare what everyone saw first," Romani says.
***
We spend a bit of time discussing, and a few of us even venture back into the trial chamber again, as we figure out what exactly is going on here.
"...Alright, it looks like most of the time he opens by summoning Ivan the Terrible, followed immediately by the Norse Goddess, Skadi, as backup and support. If that doesn't end the fight, Qin Shi Huang comes out to lock down the enemy's movements," I say as I draw my best chibi version of the bulky Russian Tsar on a whiteboard Romani had somehow transferred into the tower's dining hall. Miyako takes the marker from my hand a moment later, and adds a stick figure in a dress and a stick figure with… I think those are feathers?
"-But, if Goghie or I enter, he switches it up," Pepe notes, adding a little doodle of a shirtless man with horns, or maybe long ears, poking out of the top of his head. "Against me, he summons Arjuna, of Indian myth… though I think there's some reinterpretation going on there, since Arjuna should be an Archer, and this one is instead just waving his arm and detonating the entire simulation about two seconds after being summoned."
"A-and against me, Qin Shi Huang is summoned, and seals my Noble Phantasms before I can do anything," Van Gogh notes, hastily scribbling a peerless work of art depicting an effeminate man with a sort of peacock-themed outfit below Miyako's stick figure. "For being useless without my Noble Phantasms, um… I'm very sorry!"
"At least you're allowed to take the trial…" Shaula says with a pout. Yeah, as it turns out, the trial won't even activate if she's inside the room - meaning our best bet to end the fight instantly is right out. It's probably because she's supposed to be the tower guardian, or something?
"Well, he seems to have some kind of ability to predict which Servant is best to summon first - I feel like you'd probably face Arjuna, the same as me," says Pepe.
"Does Peperoncino-san-" "Call me Pepe-chan, sweetie!" "-Pepe-chan believe that's the case?" Rem asks. "Subaru-kun, Miyako-chan, and Rem all faced the same opening shot."
"...I mean, is there anything else it could be?" I ask.
"There is - because, Nobunaga-sama spoke of Chaldea's A Team, and Goghie, as if she knew them. So, it's understandable her original Master would know the same," she says. "Because the opponent is Fujimaru Ritsuka, he has the same extradimensional knowledge as her."
…
Miyako's hands clench as her gaze falls downwards. My nails bite into the curse-blackened skin of my arm - no, now's not the time. I breathe deeply, and release my grip as a heavy sigh leaves my mouth. "...Yeah. It's a rumor of Chaldea's Master, from another world. Getting too deep into other details… will probably piss off that shadow again, so let's leave it there."
A sound like rustling leaves catches my attention. "...Goghie?" Rem asks.
"A-ah!" The painter gives another jolt as a second sunflower sprouts from her wrist in response to the attention. "I… I'm sorry, I just…" A third sprouts. "I'm sorry!" -and with that, she rushes out of the room.
No, seriously, what was that about?
"...Rem will go after her," she says, and moves to leave.
"Wait, I'll go with you," I say, moving myself, but she shakes her head.
"No," a gentle smile fills her face, and my heart skips a beat. "Brilliant plans are Subaru-kun's specialty, so he should stay here."
"J-jeez… how am I supposed to respond to that," I mumble, feeling my cheeks flush as I look away. Rem gives a small nod, and departs from the room.
A few moments of silence pass, as I gather my thoughts. Finally, Miyako speaks up. "...So, if it's Ritsu-kun, do we need to make an appeal to his heart or something?"
"That's what you'd do in a Shonen Manga, but…" I frown. "That probably won't work here. With that said… yeah, we probably can't win under the default conditions, so let's figure out a way to cheat."
"Bring in more people, you mean?" Miyako suggests. "That'll make it easier, but you need a way to actually pull it off."
"Well, Pepe and I both have command spells, so teleporting someone in is doable, but… does that count as 'breaking the rules', Shaula?" I ask. It'll be trouble if she gets compelled to attack us, after all. "Oh, if you lie about this and I find out, I'll hate you forever." I won't.
"Ack!" She flinches as I call her out. "F-fine, I'll tell you. There's no restriction on the number of people for [The Third Trial]."
"Aside from the 'actually getting everyone in' problem, anyway," Pepe says. "Command spells help, but Ritsuka-kun seems to be using them too. That's how he summons the first one so fast - if it was as slow as Miyako-chan and Rem-chan are saying the second two summonings go, I would have just assassinated him before he could complete it."
And if that Arjuna summon can just blow up the entire simulation the moment he pops out, it won't matter how many servants Pepe calls in. "...So it'll have to be me, then." Out of the two Masters here, I'm the only one who prompts a favorable opening move from Ritsu-kun.
"That's what it's looking like, honey!" He laughs. "...Of course, that's useless if you don't have some way to protect yourself against Ivan's lightning."
"Yeah. Rem and Miyako might be fast enough to dodge it, but I'm pretty sure I won't last past the second bolt," I sigh. "I can teleport all three of our servants in, but Van Gogh will just get her Noble Phantasms sealed, so she's a sitting duck like me…"
"Um, Su-kun, just to check, are you talking about me, here?" Miyako asks. "And Rem-chan, is she a Servant? I thought she was a living person from another world…"
…Right, we actually haven't made a contract yet, have we? And as for Rem- "Her body's one of Da Vinci's backups so… I think it might count?"
"It does," says Romani. "It looks like she doesn't have a Noble Phantasm beyond some incomplete fragmentary data, but Rem is capable of forming Servant contracts in that state."
"Hey, hey! What about me?" Shaula asks.
"...No, probably not. Unless your summoner passes ownership of you as a Noble Phantasm to our Subaru, you're going to stay bound to him," Romani says.
I sit bolt upright, my brain rushing. Is that really possible? Can I bring Shaula with me? I don't dare to even put that fragile hope into words, but the flame of it is suddenly lit within my heart.
"...It won't work here, since that guy's further up," I mutter bitterly. "Which leaves me with just the question of how to protect myself in there."
"Does Subaru really have to ask, in fact?" A voice echoes in my head, and shadows flicker at the edge of my vision. "Betty has her doubts about that shady outfit, but in this situation it's helpful, I suppose."
I wanted to avoid it, though. Ideally, I don't want anyone to know the power this Mystic Code holds. Because, I can summon Emilia with it, even if she's a shade - and that will hurt Rem, which is what Wallachia wants, for some reason. Just summoning someone else - is what I would do if I was an irredeemable idiot. Rem isn't stupid. She'll figure out that I could call up Emilia in this way, and realize I'm condescending to her, and that's about as bad as if I just outright summon Emilia.
But, all the options seem to be converging on it. There's no path forward where I confront Ritsu-kun, with Rem and Miyako by my side, and Rem does not get hurt. And so, in that case…
In that case…
"Well, we'll just have to overcome it with guts!" I say with a forced grin.