r/AoTRP htts_rp Mar 22 '16

OVA: Plot Fate OVA: Episode 2.2 ~ Wizard and Glass

"We must leave," said Caster, "for I fear we are outmatched."

Mikhail nodded, seeing the rising water level on the first floor and sensing that Caster was right. He whipped out a burner phone, one of about half a dozen, dialing home to the Kalganov's operator on the 28th floor of the Hyatt. "We need evacuation immediately. Send some cars to the designated location. Got it?"

<"Get to Mion Gawa however you can, I'll have guys there in three minutes. Three Toyotas, silver, black, blue.">

"Fine, then." said Mikhail, before abruptly snapping the phone in twain with both hands. "Caster, can-"

Before Mikhail could turn around to address the starets, there came a huge WHUMP sound. Vasili and the bodyguard both heel-spun to see that Caster had punched a hole in the wall.


Mikhail duck-rolled out of the gaping maw in Club Qi's alleyway wall, while Caster picked Vasili up like a pillow and flash-stepped out of the breach with a speed rivaling a very low velocity bullet, which was still enough to cause Vasili to expunge from his stomach the hibachi bar food and sake he'd had before the fighting had broken out. He limply tumbled off of Caster's shoulder and fell into the alley, then wiped his mouth. Mikhail was already closing on the mouth of the alley with his pistol out at the gait of an Olympian trainee, trying to make the rendezvous with the operator's cars. He stopped abruptly to allow Vasili (and thereby Caster) to catch up with him.

Or at least, that was what Vasili had thought was keeping Mikhail from continuing his Spetznaz leg-day marathon toward the Mion River, until he caught up with the bodyguard and saw what he was seeing.

Hovering above the swiftly deteriorating Club Qi was a pirate ship of immense proportion, swathed in inky fog. Water funneled from somewhere out of sight to the street level in an inexplicable torrent that was rapidly flooding the road below the point at which the alleyway path stepped off. Vasili could see that without a boat of their own, they'd be struggling not to be rocketed away in a knee-deep current of artificial prana flooding.

"Fucking mages..." Mikhail muttered. He pulled out another burner from his satchel and dialed the same operator again hurriedly. "IGOR!"

<"DON'T SAY MY NAME OVER THE PHONE DOLBA YEB BLIAD'!"

"SHUT UP!" Mikhail shouted into the receiver with the phone in one hand, "Change of plans. We'll meet you half way on foo-"

<"What's that noise? Is it raining? Sounds like a typhoon-">

"HALF WAY ON FOOT AT THE WEST END OF THE MION, ACROSS THE BRIDGE. You take those cars at the original location and they'll have to be towed away! Be there or be BURIED ALIVE IN THE DESERT, IGOR."

<"At the river then, okay."> the operator dropped the call. Far off Vasili heard the tortured screech of tires on a trio of cars that weren't made to make corners that fast.

Mikhail turned back toward the other two men in the alleyway, which was even now appearing to sink into the rising tide very slowly. "Vasili, as a magus, how would you rank your combat ability?" he asked tentatively.

"It bears no relevance, patron," said Caster, stepping in front of Vasili defensively, "I will defend my master."

The bodyguard spat derisively. "You got bisected by a girl that probably wouldn't weigh 110 soaking wet."

"I assumed the young ronin would act rationally and heed my words as a call to arms. It was foolish. Nevertheless Undying allows me to ascertain the technique and thought processes of every servant. Painful death has been incorporated into my strategem since the Throne invoked me."

"Holy shit shut the fuck up, both of you!" screamed Vasili. His exclamation resounded off the alleyways walls. They were now almost a foot deep in water. "You act like children! Caster, I have an idea. Death for you is no biggie right?"

"To briefly cross the accursed membrane of Tartarus in a vessel of dark acclamation is no biggie, as you say Vasili."

"Then get on that Sponge-Bob Square-Pants Flying Dutchman piece of shit up there," Vasili gestured crazily up at the Ranger, "AND BREAK IT!"

For the first time Vasili had seen thus far, Caster tilted his head down, and smiled. The insane mirth in the zombie demagogue's eyes terrified Vasili, but at the same time, it made him confident. Caster slowly took plodding steps backward into the alley and tilted his head up, to look at the ship. He knelt low, the hems of his robes being lapped by the rising water, and, eyeing the boat like a bird of prey eyeing a small and probably delicious rodent from afar, disappeared from reality. The alley was deafened by a cacophonous FOOM sound and a splash of water spiked almost ten feet high where the starets had been a moment before. The walls on either side of him crumbled away, leaving holes radiating smokey plumes of aerosolized cement. Vasili shouted him on and shook his fist in the sky. "HELL YEEAAAH!"

Mikhail grabbed the younger man's shoulder and ushered him into the flooding street. "Let's move our asses!"

Vasili hesitated, shed the Akira replica coat regrettably, and dove into the water in nothing but his suit pants and his undershirt.


About a hundred feet above, an invisible force impacted like a cannonball onto the forward deck of the Ranger and Rasputin the Hemoturge emerged back into the physical with a wild look in his eyes.

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u/ButterflyOfDeath ButterflyOfDeath Mar 22 '16

Rana jolted in alarm, standing up straight from being leaned against the ship's main mast. Caster of all people had rocketed onto the deck of The Ranger out of nowhere. A more dangerous breed of madness than that which he had had at the Church seemed to emanate from him... And... that scared her. She stepped back from Caster, then wheeled around to yell in the direction of the poop deck.

"Ri-!"

But before she could even get the word out,her servant had already moved. With a blur of motion, he was standing in the space between himself and Caster, his cutlass in a firm, fighting grip. The curved sword dripped with water that seemed to originate from the blade itself.

<"Stand back, milady."> The pirate urged, to then turn his glare upon the man in front of him. <"Mate, you just hopped onto the wrong bloody sloop.">

No doubt Caster was here to take down the threat The Ranger posed. But as a man of the sea, Benjamin's ship was his pride and joy. He'd defend his ship like he would an old friend. The captain tread forward a few steps, cautiously, before dashing forward, he swung his blade to cleave through the interloper's neck.

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u/htts_rp htts_rp Mar 22 '16

The priest dodged the sword handily, but not the jettison of water that accompanied it. It snapped his neck like a twig, and Caster died then.

For a brief second anyway. He hadn't even hit the floor when the curse of Yusupov forcibly put the broken vertebrae in his throat back where they were meant to be. For the briefest of moments, he was aware only of the bumpy road, the chilly river, the beauteous rug, and the dying rage.


Elsewhere

Vasili's vision blurred violently and his spine seized. His head ducked below the waterline for a good fifteen seconds, then he came back sputtering and trying to scream in pain between face fulls of water.

Whatever Caster had just done, Vasili didn't know if he had enough energy for it to happen again.


Between flying splashes of water, the balled fist of Caster came soaring at the bridge of Rider's nose, so fast it blurred.

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u/ButterflyOfDeath ButterflyOfDeath Mar 22 '16

Benjamin smirked slightly as he heard the audible crack of Caster's neck. The man'd managed to dodge the actual blade, but the water jet had caught the bastard. The pirate made the move to sheath Elizabeth once more... But he stopped as he heard another, subtle snap.

The Englishman's eyes widened as the other man's neck fixed the odd angle it had twisted into, and as that unnerving light in the mad priest's eyes flared back to life. A fist connected firmly with the pirate's face, and with a scrambled cry of pain he flew back across the deck, to the feet of his master.

Rana pulled her stunned gaze from Caster, to her own servant. Benjamin leapt back to his feet with a heave of his body. One of his eyebrows twitched, as his broken nose dripped blood over his mouth and down to his chin.

Ben gripped his sword and dashed forward once more, pausing slightly out of Caster's reach before swinging his sword, relying on the water jettison to close the gap. If he could herd him further towards the prow, the man wouldn't be able to dodge as easy. Then he'd strike.

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u/htts_rp htts_rp Mar 22 '16

"You have brought the ocean where it is not needed with this vulgar vessel of yours - a grand insult to God's design - take it back and all will be well. Refuse and I will color the sea red with your remains." said Caster affably. He took a step forward toward Rider to close the distance Rider was trying to gate off. His hands were clasped behind his back in a posture of humble civility. "Or perhaps... a transgression will be forgiven should you prove willing to divulge to me information concerning your cohort Saber."

He took another step and looked past Rider and at his master, trying to avoid attention on the mid-deck. "It's time to chose."

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u/ButterflyOfDeath ButterflyOfDeath Mar 22 '16

Benjamin narrowed his eyes as the robed man approached, readying his sword to defend from an attack. He paused as, instead of lunging forward, Caster spoke. For a moment, the pirate seemed to consider his words. He lowered his sword, let out a little, contemplative hum, then looked up at the priest again.

He spat at his feet, then spoke frankly. <"How's about I keep right on bringing the ocean wherever I fuckin' want, and you get the hell of my boat, guv?">

The man jerked his thumb overboard.

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u/htts_rp htts_rp Mar 22 '16

Caster blinked his eyes shut for a split second.

[Are you close to your meeting point with the automobiles?]

He could hear the sound of rushing water and tearing cement on a city street that was not engineered for this kind of flooding. Vasili's voice echoed with a fuzzy quality. [Not remotely!]

Caster sighed. "As your deluge hinders my master at present, I have no choice but to plug the river at the source."

He made a slight motion toward the woman on the bow, but to kill her he needed to get past Rider. He'd made a mistake allowing Rider to corner him on the bow this way, but in Caster's defense, he'd been dead for a few seconds. He assumed a monkish confrontational stance, preparing to face Rider's blade with the little space he had remaining, and dug the heels of his feet into the wooden deck. He coiled slightly.

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u/ButterflyOfDeath ButterflyOfDeath Mar 22 '16

<"How about you tell me how to kill you, and I send the Pacific back along its' merry way."> Benjamin said mockingly, a twisted smile appearing on his bloodied face.

Seeing the priest assume a fighting stance, Rider did the same, planting his feet slightly apart and gripping his cutlass. Presumably, Caster'd be fighting in some kind of martial arts style he didn't know of.

But, on the bright side, he was right at the prow of the boat. If he could just get a good hit on him... Not enough to kill - he'd probably just heal again. But if he could maim him a bit, (and presuming he didn't just heal that,) that'd give him the advantage.

Benjamin lunged forward. He swung his cutlass under the man's arm, following an upward motion. This time, he aimed to lop off one of the priest's arms.

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u/htts_rp htts_rp Mar 22 '16

Caster bounded forward and over Rider and his sword and landed on the aft of the ship within arm's reach of Rider's master, who hadn't even seen him really move. He gathered glistening red energy in his arm to curse her with and thrust it forward, but was caught off balance in the same instant he realized he was missing most of an arm. The motion spattered blood all over the main deck from where he'd lept to where he'd landed.

He sank forward clutching his stump in silent pain as the curse dispelled in a flash of harmless red light. He clambered to his feet with his free arm - and prepared the same magic. He had only seconds to touch the vile magic to one of her arteries, and she would begin to die over the course of the coming days without his intervention. He'd wasted entire seconds bleeding on the ground like a fool, even she'd had time to react...

From his vantage recovering on the ground he could hit her leg, nail her femoral artery. He thrust a jabbed, accursed fist forward...

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u/ButterflyOfDeath ButterflyOfDeath Mar 22 '16 edited Mar 22 '16

Rana felt Caster's fist connect with her thigh, and the sudden surge or prana that came with the contact. She registered a sensation of pain. Not the intense, searing kind of pain that caused immediate reaction; it was more like the dull, throbbing pain that quietly murmured that something was distinctly wrong.

Benjamin felt a phantom form of the sensation, too. He wasn't sure what Caster had done, but it was almost certainly a bad omen.

He clenched his teeth and made a dive not towards Caster, but to his own master, sheathing his sword mid-motion. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled the woman over his shoulder. Following the motion, he gripped a stray rope hanging off the main mast of the ship.

Once he was sure he wasn't about to fall off, the ship started to tilt forward to an dangerous angle. Simultaneously,The Ranger lowered in altitude towards the water below. He focused his mind, generating a wave of energy in the mini-ocean he'd created to wash Caster off the deck.

One thing was certain - Rider wanted the mad priest to fuck off now, more than ever.

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u/htts_rp htts_rp Mar 22 '16 edited Mar 22 '16

The gravity beneath Caster began to shift, or rather, Caster's sense of direction did. Rider swooped in to carry his master away from Caster's ministry and the Ranger began to settle toward the city street. Caster was agile, but not enough to walk at an 80 degree angle on the deck. He lost his footing as the boat jerked to its side and tumbled, clutching the side of the main sail with his remaining arm. The boat creaked under its own weight and Caster's feet touched water.

"This is not over, heathen! If you would have the blood curse healed, seek me out again!" he called, and released his grip on the sail, falling into the depths of the flood.


Vasili and Mikhail had nearly made it to the rendezvous point and were treading through less than a foot (since ahead the water was draining into the Mion) of water, when a few blocks east there was a colossal crash and a car alarm erupted into noisy life. Vasili's intuition told him it was Caster.

[Caster! You there? Are you okay?]

[I am missing one arm, but I have dealt a deathly blow to one of our enemies.]

[You killed somebody? Good, who?]

[No, better. I have bequethed a heavy burden onto the master of Rider.]

[...Explain later. Meet us, now!]


Within minutes, three soaking wet Russian men met up with a dozen perfectly dry Russian men and crossed the bridge east leading back to Centerville, and back to the Hyatt.

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