Section 6: Game 3 - A Wolf, A Goat, And Cabbage

Let's hope this break room's still in working order...

Yes, it looks like it is. So, what's going on, Merlin?

Actually, I'd like to hear from Cú Chulainn Alter right now. What do you make of the Demonic Beasts eating each other?

It's great they're cutting their numbers down for us.

But...

That's right.

It's easy to overlook this point, especially since we're already referring to it as them eating each other...

...but this is a battle for survival, so the last one standing wins. We're all intimately familiar with such things, aren't we?

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...Right. Their cannibalism has ended up serving as the ritual for manifesting the Holy Grail!

That may not have been happenstance; they might well be doing it on purpose.

Otherwise, I can't see why they wouldn't have started eating each other before now.

...A ritual to manifest the Holy Grail, huh.

What about it?

...How did they learn about the Holy Grail War in the first place?

They couldn't have arrived at cannibalism just by observing what we've been doing here.

We weren't actually fighting each other...

...and we definitely weren't killing and eating one another.

This leads me to think they must have already known the mechanism for making a Holy Grail manifest.

And if they did, it may be that they intend to complete the ritual...

...by reducing their own numbers before ultimately coming to wipe us all out.

Your line of reasoning makes sense. But if you're right, that would also mean...

They're much smarter than we had assumed. Less shark and more orca.

Do you really think those Demonic Beasts are so intelligent?

...Probably, yes. For that matter...

Remember the mage's message warning of the beasts going berserk?

I think that might be because they made the beasts too smart.

So the beasts were given intelligence and power, which let them learn how to take it for themselves and understand what a Holy Grail is.

And now that they've realized we're not going to kill each other...they've started holding their own sort of Holy Grail War.

We gotta do something about this.

It's bad enough that the Holy Grail is feeding them magical energy...

...but our bloodless Holy Grail War has brought it one step closer to manifesting.

And if it does, it'll be capable of granting just about any wish.

What do you think these Demonic Beasts would wish for?

...You know what? Never mind. I can imagine plenty of stuff and it's all terrible.

Prosperity. Longevity. Power.

When you get right down to it, mundane human desires aren't much more than their instinctual needs as living creatures.

So now that these beasts have begun to think for themselves, they're definitely gonna wish for the same things.

And if they get their wish...it'll be a damn catastrophe.

If those things flourish and grow stronger, they'll eventually start using their brains.

And then, it won't be long before they're thinking stuff like:

"Why share this planet with other intelligent life?"

"We oughta be ruling."

That sounds worse than some of the stuff I've seen in sci-fi horror films. But I think you're right.

Okay, now that we all get the gist of what's going on here, let's get to the big question.

...How are we going to defeat those things?

Actually, I have something else to say about that.

Medusa, you lost your power when you killed one of the Demonic Beasts, right?

Right.

They then took that power and misused it for their own, much-weakened version of your petrifying Mystic Eyes.

However, when Arjuna and I fended off some of the Demonic Beasts earlier...

...the Mystic Eye power they were using had grown markedly stronger.

...Oh no.

That's right. In the worst scenario I can imagine...

...their cannibalizing one another also makes the abilities they stole stronger.

It's definitely possible.

I can only hypothesize, but if I am correct about what is happening...

...they could be trying to concentrate these Mystics in one place rather than leaving them spread out and diluted.

Those things getting stronger's about the worst thing that could happen.

Reminds me of a curse from the East I heard about. It's called kodoku. They fill a clay pot with venomous creatures and wait for them to kill each other so they can harvest the strongest one.

...Excuse me. Could I say something?

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Oh, well, I was just thinking thatembarrassment asideI can't afford to keep my True Name to myself anymore.

Because if the Demonic Beasts are growing stronger as a result of stealing my power...

...then I need to tell all of you about that power if we're ever going to stop them.

I see.

So they took your power too, just like they did Medusa's Mystic Eyes.

That's right. Well, here goes...

My True Name is Kōnstantînos. Kōnstantînos XI Dragásēs Palaiológos!

I am the last emperor of the Byzantine Empire, and the one responsible for the Walls of Constantinople that protected my people.

But the Demonic Beasts stole my bulwark ability. In simple terms...

They're really, REALLY sturdy now!

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Thank you, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm incredibly embarrassed things have come to this!

Anyway, all that aside. Medusa, would you mind if I asked you a favor?

Okay. What is it?

Would you take a quick peek at the Demonic Beasts out there cannibalizing each other?

I know you can't fight them off with your power gone...

...but I think you're probably also the only one here who's resistant to their petrifying Mystic Eyes, since they originally belonged to you.

...Good point.

I can't do much against other Mystic Eyes, but I should be able to deal with my own.

Okay, I'll go take a look.

Thank you.

Hmm, I see. So it's all about finding the right order...

Hey. What're you muttering about over there?

Oh, I was just thinking about how, if the Demonic Beasts continue to eat each other, the last one left will be stronger than we were expecting.

Naturally, we have to find a way to defeat them, but if we use our Noble Phantasms to do so and fail

They'll take our powers from us and leave us with less to work with, but they'll get stronger.

If we can kill them, great, but if we can't, we're screwed.

That I was the first to defeat some of their number is truly unfortunate.

Thanks to that, theyor maybe just one of them by this pointhave very high defense.

They're definitely tough enough to hold out until the very last moment.

Then there's no way we'll be able to defeat them without our Noble Phantasms.

Quite the conundrum.

Of course, I can't imagine the Demonic Beasts are capable of fully utilizing every bit of power from every one of our Noble Phantasms.

If they could, they would be well beyond the realm of Demonic Beasts. But, not knowing how much they CAN use them is worrying.

While we're at it, we can rule out destroying them by using all our Noble Phantasms at once.

Why's that?

I know you're all weakened right now, but between you, Gawain, Karna, and Arjuna...

...I don't see how anything could withstand the full force of a combined attack.

You might be right, but if we succeeded, where would all that energy go?

For all we know, it'd blow up this whole building, and us with it. At that point, the Holy Grail would be the last thing on our minds.

It might work as a last resort to prevent the worst-case scenario, but it's definitely not the best solution.

...Yeah. You're right, Cú Chulainn Alter. Thank you. That's an excellent point.

Indeed. And that's why we need to carefully consider the order of our next actions. This will be our final game.

Everyone, I know this is a lot to ask, but could you share your Noble Phantasms and skills with us?

Specifically, things like Kōnstantînos's bulwark or Medusa's Mystic Eyes.

Basically, I want you all to think about which of your skills the Demonic Beasts would want to take from you. Even a guess will do.

The order in which we use them will be crucial, so we all need to consider this together.

I'm back.

It looks like they're down to about ten land, sea, and flying beasts.

But, they're also still eating each other.

I'm not sure if they'll end up as a single entity...

...or if they'll maintain an equilibrium with one of each type.

But if I had to guess, I'd say it'll be the latter.

I see. So it'll probably come to a battle against the last three beasts...

Then we'll have to assign the right Servants to deal with each Demonic Beast.

Okay, let's start by going over all of our abilities.

I know there's no point in keeping to our teams anymore, but since we already have them, why don't we go in team order?

Sanson, Paracelsus, Mordred, and Medusa, would you mind starting us off?

My power's already been taken, so I don't have anything to add.

Understood. All right...

As a Heroic Spirit, the key words that describe me are "healing ability" and "executioner."

They're both core abilities and/or occupations for me...not to mention an intrinsic part of who I am.

So I think if one of my abilities were to be stolen, it would be from that list.

For Demonic Beasts, they'd probably prefer my healing ability to my execution skills.

In some ways, executions are tied to ethics. It's not an execution without the concept of crime.

I have magecraft, especially alchemy and elemental conversion magecraft capable of controlling the five elements.

I don't know to what extent Demonic Beasts would be able to make use of those skills, but let's see...

If they were able to create a philosopher's stone, it would make things much, much worse.

For me... I guess it'd be my Mana Burst. For a temporary power-up, it's pretty damn strong.

True, having those Demonic Beasts fly at us at the speed of sound would most certainly be a nightmare. Okay, how about you, Team B?

If my power were to be stolen...

...it would probably be either my Noble Phantasm, Excalibur Galatine, or my special ability, Numeral of the Saint.

The former lets me project the sun's rays, and the latter uses the sun's energy to boost my physical abilities.

Don't mess with Gawain when the clock strikes nooon♪ Or his triple-jacked strength'll knock you to the mooon♪

Mordred... When in the world did you come up with that...ditty?

Yikes. Yes, it would be very, very bad if the enemy had access to such a power.

Mine is similar.

If the enemy were to steal my power, it would undoubtedly be the golden armor I received from the god of the sun.

As for my spear...it's hard to say.

I'd like to think that no one but me could effectively wield my spear or my armor...

...but even putting that aside, my intuition tells me that the Demonic Beasts would go for my armor over my spear.

For me, I expect it would be my Clairvoyance.

Even if they did take my Noble Phantasm, they'd be much more likely to kill themselves with it than use it against us, since the very concept of "Anti-Evil" is probably difficult for them to understand.

So I think they'd almost certainly go with my much more straightforward Clairvoyance.

I guess that just leaves me.

That said, I very much doubt they'd be able to use my Enuma Elish.

So if they were to steal something from me, it would probably be Perfect Formmy ability to regenerate using the earth's magical energy.

Okay, that just leaves Team C.

For me, it's a safe bet they'd take my Noble Phantasm, Curruid Coinchenn.

Unfortunately, Demonic Beasts'd have no trouble using it.

So I'm almost positive they'd go for that over Gáe Bolg.

My Noble Phantasm is the Nautilus. I'm pretty sure those Demonic Beasts wouldn't be able to use it.

But the power of Triton the merman is another matter. It provides a blessing when embarking on trips to unfamiliar lands.

That could well help them escape this building.

Hmm... In my case, it's probably my swordsmanship.

That's all I can think Demonic Beasts could want from me.

As for me...I don't think there'd be anything useful they COULD take.

'Cause any power I have exists solely for Sister's sake.

Very good.

Thank you all for being so forthcoming.

Well then, Master of Chaldea.

These are all extremely powerful abilities, and even just having one of them stolen could be fatal for us...

...but I also have a bad feeling that some combinations of these abilities would be especially dangerous.

Now that everyone's told us about themselves, did any such combinations stand out to you?

Oh, yes. Good point.

Armor with the power of a sun god and a skill that uses the sun to triple one's physical abilities would be a deadly combination.

My armor with Gawain's skill, huh... You're right. That WOULD be dangerous.

I'll say.

A sacred sword paired with exceptional swordsmanship, huh...

Oh, I don't think we gotta worry about that.

My skill really only works with Japanese katana or something similar.

I wouldn't rule it out completely, of course, but I still think the use there would be pretty limited.

Be that as it may, it would still be very dangerous.

But don't you think there's an even more dangerous combination? Say, Karna and Gawain?

...Good point. That WOULD be dangerous.

One is armor with the power of the sun god, and the other is a skill that uses the sun to triple the user's physical abilities.

Combining those two would be truly nightmarish.

So Nemo's inclination to travel far and wide, paired with Enkidu's ability to absorb magical energy from the earth...

We don't have to worry about that. There's no way they'd be able to use my skill better than I can.

Oh, but wait. Could they maybe use Triton's power to make up for that deficiency?

It would definitely be a disaster if those creatures got out into the world.

But I think there's a more immediately dangerous combination: Karna and Gawain.

Karna has armor with the power of the sun god, and Gawain has a skill that uses the sun to triple the user's physical abilities.

That sounds like the worst possible combination to me.

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I'm sure there are other bad combinations as well, but it looks like Karna and Gawain's would be the most dangerous by far.

Then, does that mean we can't join this fight?

Oh no, not at all. It's only your combination of abilities that would be a problem.

This means it's crucial that we save you and Karna for the fight against the very last Demonic Beast.

You two will be the ones to deal the final blow.

Understood.

Leave it to me. I can't wait to get started.

Now, we just need to figure out where to put our...less spectacular abilities.

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That's right. Take Saito Hajime's swordsmanship, for example.

Even if they did take it for themselves, do you really think those beasts could hold a sword?

...A Sea Fiend might. They could have one for each tentacle.

Hah, I'd like to see that. Bet it'd be hilarious.

I actually think it would be more cute than funny. Just imagine them desperately trying to grip swords with their stubby limbs.

I don't know about cute, since they're freakin' creepy to start, but yeah, I see your point.

Basically, if we're gonna give them abilities either way, we should start with the ones they can't use, right?

Or, alternatively, we could save the abilities which are useless to them for the very end.

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Maybe we should write all this down in a notebook?

No, let's use a whiteboard. We can use this one I found over there.

Let's see what we can come up with.

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Seriously!?