Atalanta was not entirely clear on the point of this particular athletic endeavor. Horse racing, yes. Decathlons and heptathlons, yes. Even cycling as a race. But this? There was a certain cachet, perhaps.
BMX Freestyle had amassed a following in recent years, yes. Yet it was jarring to see Servants on bikes sized for preteens. She contemplated the mental image of Kid Gil on one of these things. Then replaced it with adult Gilgamesh. Then hurriedly blocked the entire idea from her brain lest Gil pick up on it from somewhere and smite her with his treasury.
(From deep within the Colosseum corridors, Gilgamesh raised his head and cocked an eyebrow. Was that...? No, no one would dare, certainly. He resumed tallying the latest bets placed by the shady denizens of the dimly lit halls.)
Meanwhile the remaining eight Servants flipped madly through the air, at times zooming straight up the arena walls and along the ledges. The spectators were thoroughly entertained, hooting and hollering like the children they all seemed to be at heart. Gravity-defying tricks, enhanced with magical reflexes and strength and, yes, actual magic. The display culminated in a whirling circle of bikes tightening inward until they screeched to a unified halt, forming a perfect octagon in the center of the arena.
The spectators went wild. Such athleticism! Such charisma! Such nerve! Amid the chatter, each Servant presented the Master with their private scorecard, judging their competitors' performances. They formed a line in front of Atalanta's balcony, and when the Master had finished his tally, numbers materialized over each Servant's head. A close heat--except for Servant Avenger. Average score: 3.5.
The seven victorious Servants stepped back, Antonio Salieri alone with his head in his hands. "No one loves me! No one believes in me...I only dreamed of a single flash of brilliance, an accolade of my own. Not even here?" he asked.
Before Atalanta could reply, Nero rushed across the sands to the distraught man. "The music is the important thing!" she reassured him. "Your passion won't die, and we will serenade you now at the end!" She took a deep breath, ready to sing.
"That's...quite all right, my dear." Salieri looked worried. "It is an honor that you would consider such a thing, but I cannot bear to hear such music only to fade and leave it behind." The seven Servants behind him looked deeply skeptical. "Return my Golden Apple to Atalanta instead; honor me in my dignified acceptance of my fate." Nero took his Golden Apple and made her was with all due ceremony back to the balcony. Salieri first bowed to the balcony, and then to the remaining Servants. "May my reputation from this manifestation be less...salacious...than my life. I killed none, I harmed none; I only acted in friendship. I am innocent!" He turned and walked away calmly, casting a grey shadow over the sands before fading out in a haze of golden sparkles.
Seven Servants remained. Atalanta surveyed the group. "Return your bicycles to the storage facility, and we will move on," she said. 'History is being written, and this story isn't over yet. Marshal your strength, lest you fall like Antonio." The Servants filed out as a series of clouds obscured the sun, casting the arena into shadow. In the dim light, the Master contemplated the row of seven Golden Apples. Half forfeit. A Grail War's worth left to go.
Hi Berserker - this was my contingency plan in case Avenger flipped town. I know it’s public, but I figure it’s reasonably likely that at least one of us is dying tonight so it’s more important to get your or my thoughts out after the town!Avenger flip than me trying to use this to get a scummy reaction out of someone.
You only have the ability to make 10 posts tonight, so use them wisely.
yep, his defense of foreigner and insistence on scum!avenger is I think the most suspicious out of the players remaining. I agree with rider next
I don’t think caster and assassin are 100% cleared either - given avenger’s flip, it’s possible that scum also have abilities that fool detectives or whatever beast is, or used an ability on assassin that prevented him from being blocked. I also don’t put a ton of stock in caster saying beast is town because “why would scum!beast clear players,” because on D2 he did attempt to clear foreigner. (actually, because beast said he had cleared foreigner, I assumed that there were only two scum left, not three, otherwise how would beast know that foreigner was 100% cleared from his action? But there were actually three scum left at that time, so foreigner should not have been cleared at that time just based on the action. I think this is somewhat scum-indicative for beast?)
Of course it’s possible that alter is deepwolfing, but I think that’s unlikely given he had the same reaction as me to avenger in real time?
The crowd was just filing back to their seats. Most people had stuck around to listen to the booming voices of Berserker and Lancer from the depths of the Colosseum, eager from any insights from behind the scenes, so to speak. But the conversation had ended, and it was time for the festivities to resume. Atalanta picked up her megaphone. "The next phase has begun. Servants, make your way back out to the sands!"
Half the starting number had left the arena. Even fewer returned.
The Master sighed, realizing who wasn't there. "My good and loyal friend, Servant Berserker. You would have been happy traveling the stars, shrouded in mystery, but you competed with valor here instead. I will look forward to seeing you again in Chaldea and beyond." The Master stood up, placing a call through to Chaldea, and Rayshifted away.
"Mysterious Heroine X (Alter)'s story is finished," Nero intoned. "The endings to your tales are not yet written!"
"I didn't give you that megaphone!" Atalanta snatched it away, then stared in puzzlement as she found herself holding two megaphones.
"No you didn't!" Nero protested, jumping a bit to try to grab the second one back. "I bought it on break from a vendor. Very nice gentleman, not at all shady.
Said I'd made him lots of money driving customers in to his business domain?" She grabbed the gilded megaphone. "Artistic freedom!"
Atalanta held out her hand to summon back Berserker's Golden Apple. "Whoops," she noted, as its path ever-so-unfortunately ricocheted off Nero's megaphone before smacking into her palm. "What is they say these days, 'my bad'?"
Cutting off Nero's further protests, Atalanta returned her attention to the six remaining Servants. "Continue your quest to present the Festival with a valiant playing field. May the Games continue!"
...I'm not sure why they chose that kill, out of all possible targets. Yes, he was conf-town, but the new Berserker had pretty much stopped doing anything. The reveal is unsurprising.
I suppose I should out now that I neighborized Berserker on day 1. This was part of why I was so...distraught at notscience altslipping. Yes, I knew he vigged Ruler on night 1. No, he did not consult me on this decision. I had known a few details of his role. I'm not sure what use it would be, but I could summarize the contents of the hood?
I also knew he was in another hood, not sure how much he should say about that or if he told them anything about my role info.
I started rereading overnight and have much less confidence than I did yesterday. I started getting paranoid about Beast but had to stop as it was 2:30 AM.
I don't want to pin the blame on one person if we end up somehow losing this game but that is seriously egregious. I'm so annoyed I can't bring myself to actually think about solving.
