First Casino "The Swordsmaster Apprentice Glimmers in the Heavens"

...So, you're finally here.

？！

Yup! And now, we're going to cut you down to size.

Do you have to be so direct about it!?

A-anyway, don't get cocky just 'cause your, um, underhanded plan worked on Anne and Mary!

Honestly, we didn't even do much there. We just gave them a little push into the grave they dug themselves.

Yeah, I can't argue with that...

Just goes to show what happens when you let your desires lead you by the nose. It's a good lesson for us all.

That may be, but it sure feels weird hearing that from one of the most famous pirates ever.

Hah, touché! Anyway, let's get this bloodbath started, shall we?

Yikes. It's kind of scary how quickly he shifted gears.

？！

Hey, Imy mentor isn't nearly that hotheaded, okay?

All right, let's do this! Show me what you've got!

Hehehe, this isn't over yet! Chaaarge!

Heehaha, diiie! Oh, right, you need a heal, don't you, Batty? Here you goone Gentlemanly Love.

TY, comrade!

Rrgh, dammit!

That pirate on the enemy's team is really getting annoying!

Hohoho!

I haven't been training as a semi-regular guest star in all these events for nothing!

And as long as my name is Edward Teach, I'm not stopping until I get some original CG artwork for my own brand-new event!

Amazing. He's looking at things on an entirely different scale than we are!

I'm...not sure that's what I would call this...

Those origami soldiers are pretty clever, I'll give ya that! But if that's all ya got...

...this battle's as good as ours!

No, that isn't all she has! Be careful, Hokusai!

Mecha Eli-chan Mk. II is here now!

Looks like you could use some help. Firing nonlethal missiles.

Simple. They're dangerous, but they won't kill you. They'll just knock off some of your HP.

Hehe. I thought you might see this coming, my pilot candidate. But these missiles are new and improved.

Specifically, their nonlethal payload will send you all flying as far as you can go.

That sounds pretty lethal to me!

？！

Hyaaaaaah!

Yeowch! Dammit all, that moron can't be cut!

That's because there's a trick to cutting steel.

Still, a blast this size shouldn't be any problem for us!

Let's take them all down!

......(Sigh)

Guess I've got no choice but to use my real trump card.

？！

I sure did.

Why do you think I brought that stupidly big and tanky arm with me?

It's a catalyst.

By combining my Swimsuit Swordmaster power and the power of this ridiculous Singularity...

...I can virtually recreate my home territory...

...which means I can also bring them all the way here!

Wha

Wha

？！

Huh? What? What's she bringing?

Hm?

What's wrong with you three? You look like you've all seen a ghost or somethin'.

Okay, that's enough chitchat. They're all ready to go, Batty.

Excellent. This might not technically be where I was born and raised...

...but it is like the first place I set foot in after being reincarnated in an isekai, so it's close enough!

(I get it. You spend enough time in that world, and it's hard to step away from it later.)

Now, come to me!

Csejte Pyramid Himeji Castle!

Plus Giant Mecha Eli-chan!

(Speechless)

Ahahahaha! Ahahahahaha!

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen!

And that castle! It's so...irreverent!

Although, I guess it's technically still considered Himeji Castle?

Wait. That's bad, isn't it?

Heh heh heh. GG, Musashi!

Uh, I'm actually Miyamoto Iori?

...Okay then, GG, Iori!

As long as Himeji Castle is there, it doesn't matter if Csejte is too!

And now that Himeji Castle is here, I'm level three'd out of my mind!

That's it. Now we can really annihilate them. Give the order, Batty. Slaughter them without mercy.

Oh, I will. Believe me!

(Deep breath)

I am Osakabehime. My purifying Bounded Field extends to all four corners of Himeji Castle.

As an old hand at crossing swords, my wild parties are wild enough to send the lower realm into oblivion.

Now, state your name!

That's your cue, Swimsuit Swordmaster Oei! Good luck!

You got it! You wanna know my name? I'll tell ya my name!

I was born an' raised in Edo, in the Ryougoku district of the Honjo ward.

My given name's Oei, my pen name's Oui, and I'm currently tryin' ta make a name for myself as Swimsuit Swordmaster Katsushika Hokusai.

One day, I'll be an unparalleled master swordfighter, eventually achievin' my goal of becomin' a great fairy with infinite variety to her form.

I trained my sword skills by paintin' ukiyo-e, and now I'm gonna paint this town red with my swords!

C'mon then! Let's have a good, clean fight!

Let's do this!

By the way, Batty, I have to ask: Are you sure you don't need to work on your draft?

'Cause I can tell you right now, I do NOT want to get on Lady Kiyo-yo's bad side.

Why'd you have to drag me down to reality just when I'd managed to forget it!?

Khh, this isn't over yet! Mecha Eli-chan!

Understood. Taking flight!

Oh no. Osakabehime's going on the attack from above!

Damn, she's out of my range!

All right then, I'll just have to shoot them down with my Noble Phantasm's flying saucers!

Oh please. Did you really think remote-controlled flying saucers could stop me? As far as I'm concerned, they're just giant skeet targets.

Argh!

Hey, I can't ADS with all this zipping around! Hey, Mecha Eli-chan! Hold still a sec!

...All right. We should be safely out of range up here. Ceasing lateral flight. Transitioning to hover mode.

Dammit! Of all the chintzy underhanded ways ta go out!

I've got an idea! One of us needs to jump up towards them!

？！

Helena can provide a platform for Oei to jump off from, and Iori can give her a boost!

Huh!? Y-you want ME ta do it!?

We don't have time to be picky.

Besides, it'll be easy! All you've gotta do is jump up real high and cut through some steel!

I-I dunno...

You're aiming to be the greatest swordmaster in Japan, right? Then you've gotta be willing to take on anything!

？！

......A-all right!

No Edoite worth their salt'd back down from a scrap, and I ain't 'bout ta be the first!

I'll do it!

Thank you, Oei! We're counting on you!

Hm? What are they up to?

Well, whatever it is, at least they've stopped moving around.

Wait. Is that

We're all set!

You take it from here, please, Helena!

Will do! Don't you worry!

This flying saucer might not be too big, but it should be enough to use as a platform!

G-good to know!

Okay, Oei, get ready to soar like a bird!

I'll make sure to cover you!

？！

Yeah... Gotcha!

Just you wait, Master! I'm gonna show ya the greatest jump you ever did see!

Here goes nothiiiiiin'!

All together... Now!

Phase one is a success! You're up next, Iori!

Sh-she's jumping towards us!?

Not a problem. She can't possibly reach us up here. All I'm concerned about is getting rid of this damn flying sauce

Hm? Chotto a minute! They're still planning something!

...What could they be up to now?

I still ain't nearly close enough!

Guess it's all up to me then!

I'll fling my swords over your way, so you can use the back of the blades as footholds!

Are ya sure!? I thought a samurai's swords were as precious to 'em as their soul!

It's fine! A true samurai'll happily step on their own soul if it'll help them get closer to the sun!

Here goes! One...two...three!

Oh, I call hax!

Don't worry. She's still just jumping. I can easily evade her with a barrel roll.

All I have to do is change my flight path a little bit, and she'll never be able to catch up to us.

Ah...

Yamete! Abort, abort!

Huh?

Ma-chan is gunning for us too!

？！

A-aaaaaah! Wh-what was that!?

I got a real ticklish feelin' in my chest outta the blue...

Ah, who cares! The important thing is, I can definitely catch up to 'em now!

...Batty, I'm going to go ahead and apologize to you now for losing a battle in midair.

It's okay, Mecha Eli-chan! I understand!

Although, um, if she cuts you down now, then...

Yes. Naturally, you'll fall straight down to the ground.

Remember what happened with Icarus? Anyone who flies too high with borrowed wings inevitably has a tragic downfall.

That traaaaaacks!

Taaake this!

Aw man, right at the end...!

Yes, Osakabehime. We won this one.

I'll say you did!

That was a well-earned victory! I haven't felt so good about getting my ass kicked in a long time.

I know, I know, I know already!

I lost, okay!? I admit it! I lost!

(I thought I saw something just now...)

(Sigh)... And after I got my hands on that amazing power, too.

I'm a failure of a Swimsuit Swordmaster.

Honestly, you never really struck me as the swordmaster type to begin with.

Yeah, that's fair... You know, I think I actually feel better now that I've lost.

That strike of yours definitely stung, HokusaiEr, Oei? but it was just the wake-up call I needed.

Hehe. Well, ya know, I am strivin' to be the best Swimsuit Swordmaster out there.

(All right, once I finish up with a cool swordmasterish one-liner...)

(...Nah, maybe not.)

(Everyone here knows I won fair an' square. Master even told me himself that I got a shot a bein' the best swordfighter in Japan.)

(So I don't gotta worry 'bout acting the part. Just being me's more than enough!)

Hehe... Hehehehe... (For the time bein', just laughin' like I don't got a care in the world oughta do the trick!)

(Oh man, I can totally tell she's overthinking how to be cool! I feel the noobish aura of someone who's gonna be mortified about this later. SMH...)

(But, I'm not gonna say anything to her. I'm not even gonna warn her. As her swordmaster senpai, the best thing I can do now is to watch over her wherever she goes!)

...Hm? I thought I saw somethin' just now...

(Sigh)... Well, now that I've lost, I guess my Swimsuit Swordmaster career is over.

Then let me ask you: What can you tell us about the other Swimsuit Swordmasters?

Oh, I could tell you all sorts of things. But I'm not going to.

I mean, you've seen that summer king, right? She's terrifying...

What was what, Ma-chan?

？！

Anyway, let's see...

I suppose I could consider telling you what I know if you tell me "I want you more than anything," Ma-chan.

(Twitching in anger)

Say what?

JK! JK!

We all know there's no way Ma-chan could ever say a pickup line like tha

？！

!!!

N-no fair, Ma-chan! That's playing dirty!

You can't look at me with those ultra-dere eyes and tell me you just want my information!

Hnnng...! Oh kami-sama, my heart! I can't take it!

!!!

Um... Batty? Maybe we should think about moving on before

(Sigh)... I feel like I've just been punched right in the feels.

Okay, I take it back!

From now on, I'll do whatever I can to help you beat the other Swimsuit Swordmasters!

Don't worry, I'm more aggressive than I might look, now that I've changed my Spirit Origin to an Archer.

Hm? What's behind me?

Huh? I don't see anyone.

Besides, didn't the whole Foreigner mess happen last year? Silly Ma-chan♪

？！

!?

♡

K-K-Kiyo-yo! Th-this isn't what it looks like, okay?

Y-y-you've got it all wrong!

She's reciting straight from the "cheating lover caught red-handed" playbook...

Teehee. It's all right, Batty. I know exactly what's going on here.

I can tell when someone is lying, remember?

Kyaaa! I forgot all about that!

Now then, I'm going to ask you some questions, and you're going to answer them truthfully.

First off, do I seem angry to you?

......

...Y-yes. Extremely...

And what do you think I'm going to do to you now that I'm angry?

Giggle while you burn me to a crisp?

...Hehe, of course not.

Th-then, are you going to slap me silly with a flaming paper fan?

Don't be silly. I would never do something as cruel as that.

Th-then...does that mean you forgive me?

Oh yes. There's just one little catch...

Th-that sound... Please tell me it's not!

It is. I'm going to shut you away in my Dojo-ji Bell so you can give aaall your attention to finishing the draft♪

Oh, and do be careful. My naginata will fill you with holes if they sense you slacking off♡

Iyaaaaaa!

...Phew.

Thank you, Master. Now I can finally get back to work on our draft.

Hehe, don't worry, I'm well aware.

I can tell she genuinely wants to help you now, just as I suspected she would.

I'll let her out once our draft is back on track.

Hehe, not to worry.

I'm just going to make sure she has some time to think about the choices she made that led to this.

Besides, she should be able to get plenty of work done on her draft in there. It's air-conditioned and everything.

It has an air conditioner!?

That sounds...quite pleasant...

？！

But your draft's completely blank right now, isn't it?

I dunno if I'd feel comfortable havin' her help us when she's still got so much on her plate...

Oh, you don't have to worry about that! I already did the rough draft myself!

Hehe... Soon, my high school AU will be a reality... Hehehehe...

Batty can scream and cry about how much she hates it all she likes. Now that she's spent so much time fighting as a Swimsuit Swordmaster, she doesn't have a leg to stand on.

I can see it now... Master and me, each wearing a sailor uniform, in our very own romantic comedy... Hehehehehe.

Fou forror...

Putting aside whatever Fou is trying to tell us...

This takes care of the second Swimsuit Swordmaster! Way to go, Master!

？！

As they say, even a journey of a thousand kilometers begins with a single step.

They also say that to strike me down, you should do so from behind.

？！

...I'm sorry. I was trying to make an intellectual joke...

I'm afraid it was much funnier in my head than it was in reality...

Hehe, guess my work here is done. Okay, I'll leave you kids to it then!

There's plenty of other Servants here in Vegas, so it might be worthwhile to have them help you defeat the other Swimsuit Swordmasters.

Awww, you're so sweet! Hehehe.

Like I told you, Granny's always got it covered! Well, see you later!

？！

Ya know, I just realized... We never did get any info outta Osakabehime, did we?

Oh, don't worry. I'll ask Lady Kiyo-yo about that for you later.

Once I find out, I'll just tell Kotarou, and I'm sure he'll find a way to pass it on to you.

Thank you. That would be a big help.

Hehehe. Still, now that Batty's not here, I feel like I should at least tell you this in her place.

Oh?

When it comes to Swimsuit Swordmasters, Batty's the bottom of the barrel.

Even she wasn't sure she qualified, since she uses guns instead of swords.

So watch out, 'cause the next Swimsuit Swordmaster's gonna show you exactly what makes them so terrifying!

？！

It was I.

Will that do?

That was perfect! Thanks, bro!

Very well then.

？！

No wonder you were such a notorious pirate. You truly have no fear of anything...

I only brought it up as a joke. I didn't expect the old son of a gun to actually be all in...

Anyway, good luck!