Part 32: Update XXX - Walpurgis night - VS Caster

Update XXX - Walpurgis night - VS Caster



Music: None


I turn toward the voice coming from behind me. He wears the clothes of a priest, which in the end only makes his snide tongue more jarring.

Come to the first floor when ready. You can do something trifling like stop by the commissary if needed.

Apparently finished, he opens the door and lets himself out. In preparation for the Elimination Battle, I should go to the chapel and the commissary. Or, I could go to my personal room and sort out my information on the enemy Servant. And then, once that's in order, I'll go to where Kotomine is.



Another week, another ritualized deathmatch in the pursuit of a wish granting object inside a computer. You know, the usual.

Music: Down to Dawn




It would be good to review all the things that have happened this week, one by one. First, there was the "friend" who turned out to be a monster. I thought it was...



a Berserker.

Right. From the ferocious intensity that Alice's friend displayed, I was positive it was a Berserker. Next, Alice erected a Reality Marble in the Arena. It was a Reality Marble so large it blanketed half the Arena. It had the ability to...



Remove you from existence.

That's right, Alice proclaimed that inside of it, people would forget their names- Then they'd forget they existed entirely. It was scary. However, if I was to believe that the monster was her Servant, then the Alices would be twin Masters. According to the rules established by the Holy Grail, there can be only one Master per Servant. So then, how could there be two Alices AND a summoned monster? The answer to that puzzle is...



The first one has no unique response, which is a real missed opportunity.

One of the Alices is the Servant.

Touko Aozaki pointed out to me that Berserkers are incapable of using Reality Marbles. Then, while I was researching in the library, Alice herself said that the Jabberwock wasn't her Servant. Here's my thought— "It's all the same thing." The Jabberwock. The Reality Marble— They're part of the Noble Phantasm created by the other Alice.







Which makes sense if she's been dead, probably a long time. Alice is stuck in a dream, always trying to grant her own last wishes. Alice's Servant's identity is best described as the channel through which Alice's dreams manifest—



That's right, Alice summoned a physical manifestation of nursery rhymes as her Servant! Ain't Fate grand?








This is the only entry in Rhyme's Info Matrix that has non-italicized text.




Video: Week 3 Elimination Battle
Music: None


Alright, time to go kill a child for the second time.

...man this Grail War is fucked up.



Remember, the only way to leave the Coliseum is to win. If you are ready, I will open the gate.



Enter the Coliseum

The way to the Coliseum is now open, young Master. I wish you the best of luck and hope that you will return. Remember: It's kill or be killed.





Music: Duel - Prelude to Confrontation












Play hide and seek.





Yeah, Alice gets to be the mommy, and Alice gets to be the daddy. What about the lady?



A bad guy?

Uh-huh, a bad guy. A mean, mean person who's got evil plots.

Rhyme's true nature recontextualizes her behavior during the entire week.



Uh-huh, that's what I think. The bad person is gonna get in our way and ruin everything.

She's the one pushing Alice to act in ways that will kill the enemy Master, but she goes out of her way to make Alice think that she's just playing to keep her from catching on.

No, I don't wanna have anything in the way. I don't wanna say bye to happiness. What do we do...?



Alice had no say in joining the Holy Grail War. She died a lonely, miserable death and the SE.RA.PH wouldn't let her soul rest.

...Wouldn't that hurt them?



There's no honest malice in this, Nursery Rhyme is just keeping her charge safe in an environment that no child should ever wind up in.

You're smart! Everything's okay since it's just pretend.

And if it doesn't work the first time, then we can play hospital.

~

Play tag.

Alice wants to play hide and seek! Alice is the best ever at hiding!

Even from the lady...?

Yeah! Even from the lady.

Yeah! We're really good at hiding from people.

The lady wouldn't ever find us, even if the lady looked really, really hard.

And then, we're gonna cut off her head when she is looking for us.

...Are we really?

Uh-huh. Cuz anyone who's bad at games gets their head cuts off. That is the rule in Wonderland, 'member?

But... We can't do that and hide at the same time.

Right, cause if no one finds us, we'll be lonely.

...Uh-huh. We'd be really lonely!

So, we'll just beat up the lady if she can't find us.

Rhyme hasn't broken her smile for any of this, even as she talks about having us killed. She's probably panicking underneath, when you think about it. It was implied that Alice's prior two opponents got erased by the Nameless Forest, and Rhyme could spin them not showing up again as them not wanting to play with Alice anymore. Here, they'll have to kill us outright, and that can very easily break the facade she's trying to keep up for Alice's sake.

~

Play house.

Alice wants to play tag! I'm gonna chase the lady!

I haven't been mixed up my transcriptions, by the way, they've been blatantly ignoring what we have to say.

Uh-huh. When somebody runs like a bunny, I wanna chase them down.

It'd be sad if the lady got away.

We need to run fast, fast so the lady won't ever get away.

Alice loves running.

Alice couldn't run for a long time.

Alice will run and run...but can we catch the lady?

We can! We can! And when we do, off with her head!

Aren't you gonna be scared to cut off her head?

Sometimes even little girls hafta be scary.

Moral of the god damn week, right here.

Then, we gotta make the lady really scared of us.

Uh-huh. Let's make the lady so scared of us that she cries a pond.

As much as she'd hate the comparison, I'm noticing some similarities between Rhyme and our Caster. Both got a Master that are completely unprepared for the Holy Grail War, and both keep their Master's spirits up with a constant smile. The problem is that while Caster makes no bones about how we'll have to kill to survive, Rhyme is intentionally keeping Alice in the dark, and that's just not sustainable in the long run.

~~



While everything here gets the same result.

Please don't cut my head off.



Yup. Alice is talking to Alice right now.

That's right! Alice only talks to Alice. I thought you were the same as us. The exact same as us! I thought Alice wasn't going to be lonely anymore! If you don't like me, then I don't need you, lady!

Alice is the only one Alice needs. She's the only Alice for Alice.

You're not my Alice, lady.



You're in the way now.



If you get bored, you can talk to me instead.





Let's have a lot of fun! Don't run away again, 'kay?



I don't want to play with you.



Are you angry, lady? Is it cuz you have a tummyache?







You can join us today, lady. Fun, fun, fun! I'm super happy.

~

...We're in a war, Alice.

War? Nuh-uh, Alice doesn't like that. We only like playing.

It's so much fun to play with Alice. I'm super-duper happy.

Alice loves to play with Alice. I'm super-duper happy.

Lady, you're not our friend, but we'll play with you just for today. We'll all have fun together.

Let's be happy together.

~

I don't want to get hurt.

Alice doesn't like getting hurt, either.

Yes, Alice knows all about being hurt and lonely. Alice hates it so much!



That's because it's been forever since Alice hurt all the time.



You understand that, lady. Don't you?

Because you are a lot like Alice.

Full amnesia versus long term memory loss, but I get your point.

...how long has Alice been dead, anyways?

See? So, even though you're not the only Alice for Alice, we can have fun together today, lady.

~~





Music: Duel - Kill Or Be Killed


We're fighting at the giant ice castle, naturally.



The twins start circling us.

Uh-huh, we haven't had so much fun in a long, long time. Alice is happy and says thank you too!







You forgot already? It goes like this:





"May dreams of dark embrace your heart Night's curtain does descend."





















Aww, you still act like the heroine at your age, OL-D LA-DY~

Shh, you can't just say that, Alice! You have to keep that to yourself!

Ahahaha... Okay! Time to absolutely obliterate you!



The fight against Alice is annoying as hell, as it takes a lot of work for her to use Rhyme's Noble Phantasm. Namely, she'll only use it at the end of the eighth round.

8 rounds equals 42 actions, but with Caster's damage output, Rhyme can only survive around 22.

This means I'll have to stall in order to see it.



So I start stalling.



Dragon Skillet is an offensive cast from Alice that has an added Stun effect vs Break.



While White Queen's Enigma is a buff skill that lowers our magic resistence if she lands a Break.



Keeping her alive for 8 rounds is going to take a lot of work.



And a whole lot of these.



Yup! Very fun! Let's have even more fun!







Plains of Winter has an added Stun against Attack.



We get our first refund from Aphotic Cave.



Two rounds in, and she's already taken a good chunk of damage.



Me not investing in Caster's Magic is paying off here. A Curse skill will deal far less damage than a normal attack, and I can follow up with Guard for a safe draw right after.



Only dealing half damage will give me a good bit more leeway.





Frenzied March Hare is Rhyme's last skill, and has an added Stun vs Guard.

However, Aphotic Cave is a Skill, not a Guard, so it can be used without getting stunned.

Between the two of them, Alice and Rhyme have a skill to stun all three basic attacks, just like our own Caster. Right down to the Fire -> Break, Ice -> Attack, Wind -> Guard animation design.







March of the Black Tea is Alice's other Code Cast, giving a small heal and making my life a little bit easier.



We're over halfway there.



Don't worry, Alice. Even if it gets dark, we'll be eternal.

Two more.



Are you angry?

One more.



And there, Rhyme's icon is lit.



You're right, Alice! Let's seal this girl in eternity!

You might have noticed that there's no NP marker on the turn preview, even though the entire thing with a Level E Matrix is always showing you the enemy's NP.



There's a very good reason for that.



We're at the end of the round, but they still haven't used it.



That's because they get a special seventh action just for their NP!







The damage is low, since there's no way for you to mitigate it.



That's because Maiden's Empire fully heals Nursery Rhyme on use. And since the seventh action ignores all modifiers, there's no way to stun her out of it. If you don't kill her in eight rounds, she resets the fight in her favor, end of discussion.

Now, you might think that's complete and utter bullshit, but there's a catch to this.



Nursery Rhyme is a tale, a story, a book.



You can reread a book as much as you want.



But a book, by its very nature, can never change.



Paul Atreides always becomes Muad'dib and fails to prevent a jihad in his name.



Snape always kills Dumbledore.



Alice always falls down the rabbit hole and finds herself in Wonderland.



And Nursery Rhyme is the only boss in the game with a 100% fixed attack list.



The game itself hints at this, if we go back to her Info Matrix page:






But every book has to be put away eventually.





And the barrier goes up.

Music: Goodbye


Ohh... It's over already.

...Why?

Servant Alice firmly grasps Master Alice's hand. They cling to each other, their voices plaintive.





That was all we needed. Forever and ever, just like this. That was all we needed. Why does it gotta end? Why did they take our happiness away? Why...



Alice gives a small smile.



I don't 'member very well, but I am probably already dead. My body isn't in that hospital anymore. Alice is like a box with nothing inside of it. There wasn't ever anything there since the beginning.

Yep, even back in the hospital, there was no Alice left inside Alice. No one noticed Alice. I was alone. It hurt. No one treated Alice like a person. It was the same after Alice came to Wonderland, too. Alice was so, so alone. That's why I know that my home here and my Alice will all go far away soon...





I'm not about to break a young girl's heart as she's actively (double?) dying I'm not a monster.

Yes.

Uh-huh. You always paid attention to Alice, lady.



Thank you, Alice. For being my friend. For always, always being with me.

And thank you, lady... For seeing Alice. For playing with Alice.





Farewell, Alice.

With a sound like the crumbling of sugar, Alice glitters for a moment. And then, she's gone.



Even if I'm summoned in the next War, I won't be the Alice I am now. I am always someone's fanciful creation.

And then she showed up in Fate/Grand Order.

As Alice.

Mobile games, gotta love 'em.

The real Alice is a mystery. But, being Alice's Servant made me happy...

Right before she crumbles away, a single drop falls from her eye.





And she fades away.



All that remains is a ribbon.

Music: Stops


But even that doesn't last.

Farewell, Alice.

...The licorice girl chases after her sweet Master.



Next time: The aftermath