fourth trial

[airlockedmods]

[With the announcement and the evidence, the Champions are free to decide amongst themselves what order the groups leave in. Once that's done the process of teleporting is automatic and happens in the blink of an eye. Once second they're in the center of the cafeteria before a soft blue light surrounds them and then they're standing in the middle of a circle of podiums.

The room itself it the same shiny, chrome-covered atrocity as most of the rest of the ship save for the sections of floor that aren't the teleporter: those are thick clear glass that show nothing but empty space and stars beneath the Champions' feet. As for the podiums they're the same sort of garish chrome with a digital screen facing toward the center of the circle. More portraits and names in blaring red have been added this week. Karamatsu Matsuno, the Champion of Painful Secondhand Embarrassment That's So Cringe Inducing, Narcissistic, And Eye Blindingly Glittery It Makes You Wish He'd Go Away, Korra, the Champion Avatar, Yuri Plisetsky, the Champion Figure Skater and Max Olguin, the Champion Portrait Artist.

The Overseers are waiting when they all arrive, standing on a floating platform just high enough to be out of reach and back far enough toward a far wall to have a full view of the courtroom. Both are dressed well, Rox in a pressed grey dress jacket and skirt and Blaze in a black suit with the sleeves rolled up to expose his numerous tattoos. He's also sporting a black eye patch with a flaming snowflake embroidered on it over his left eye. Rox is smiling like that cat who ate the canary while Blaze is standing a little farther away than normal and looking uncomfortable.]

Welcome back, Champions! There are ten of you here but, if things go correctly, only nine of you will leave. I don't think I have to explain at this point what will happen if you choose wrong.

As usual there's no time limit but be sure to keep things interesting. [She folds her arms across her chest, looking down on the Champions with a grin.] Let the trial begin.

Comments

[playthedamncard]

Not about the war itself.

About the prize--the wish it grants?

[immaculacies]

Mm! Yes, you're getting warm now. What about it?

[playthedamncard]

You meant to hide it from someone--from Saber, because whatever it was, it was going to be something you knew he didn't approve of. He would have tried to stop you.

[immaculacies]

You're very, very close, Kaiba-san. Yes, he would have tried to stop me.

But it's already done.

[playthedamncard]

Then--what's the point of hiding it from him if it's already done? He'll hate you either way for it. And then you'll be alone again.

[immaculacies]

He doesn't know.

And, I think... It might break him, if he found out.

[playthedamncard]

Was the wish...for him? That it would change him, and he would never have known?

[immaculacies]

Kaiba-san... Alright, I'll give you a hint. The start of my motive goes like this.

The true nature of the Holy Grail is...?

[le_mat]

...I dunno about in your world. But in mine it's an evil god out to destroy humanity.

[immaculacies]

...Aha. Ahaha!

[Manaka's laughter is high and pealing and girlish.]

That's right! That's exactly right, Kurusu—no, Akira! The Holy Church made that cup to grant their own wish, but what is it? It's a thing that receives wishes. The wishes that humans are filled with—hatred, greed, jealousy, bitterness, all of it!

It was never going to give birth to their God. It was never going to grant anyone's pure wish. It was always going to give birth to that Beast, the very one foretold in the Church's own holy book!

[playthedamncard]

...The hell kind of universes are you two from that that makes any sense?

[le_mat]

I told you it was magical bullshit.

[le_mat]

It's true, humans are full of sins. It's our nature. Anything that would take in all of human nature with no distinction would become corrupted and distorted.

And that's the secret you want hidden, that you learned that truth?

[playthedamncard]

No. What she wanted secret is already done. Her secret is that she was going to willingly unleash the beast, isn't it?

[le_mat]

Then if she leaves here... it's not just us who will die?!

[immaculacies]

Wrong.

If I've come so far, that world is already finished.

By now— By now, I must have already reshaped it, into Saber's image—!

[le_mat]

Then it's too late. There's nothing we can do....

[immaculacies]

Yes. But it's also more than that.

To use the Grail, all seven Servants must be added to it in order to complete the ritual. But—I was never going to use Saber that way. Of course I wouldn't. I had to find a substitution instead.

—But, that child. It was really good, you know? It ate, and ate, and ate, all the souls I could find it, because it wanted to be good and please its mother!

[le_mat]

....the Champion Mother. Mother of the Beast....

[immaculacies]

Precisely. I'll use that child—no, I've already used that child to raze the world from the inside out! I'll ride on its back as Mother Harlot, reducing all that is and ever has been to ash, and give the world a new shape as a paradise for my Saber!

[le_mat]

Like hell you will. We might not be able to stop what you've already done, but I'm not letting you go home to enjoy it.

[playthedamncard]

Oh, Manaka...

You never had a chance, did you? Not from the start.

[immaculacies]

[That's enough to make Manaka pause. She blinks, tilts her head.]

Eh? What do you mean, Seto?

[playthedamncard]

Like you told Penny. The only thing human about you is your body. You were never going to be happy or normal ever since you were born--before that, even.

And now, even now, all you want to do is remake the world for Saber.

Who'll hate it and you.

You were always going to be alone in the end. I wish...things had turned out differently for you.

casualty #3 of this case: my feelings

[immaculacies]

[That—

Manaka is quiet for a long moment. When she finally smiles again, it's a little sadly.]

Mm. I think...you're exactly right.

But Saber won't hate me if he never knows. And, even if he finds out, even if he does—

I would still give everything for him, down to my own life.