Interlude: The Strongest Pair

She was not entirely sure what the point of this exercise was. She was one of the most powerful beings on this very planet, and it was more than willing to bend to her will for the most part. And that wasn't arrogance or overconfidence, that was fact.

But regardless of that fact, the symbols had appeared on her hand, and she hadn't really been able to think of any reason not to use them. She couldn't really think of any reason to use them either, but it was something to do besides just wander the planet aimlessly. The seals on her hand, for that was what she had identified them as, looked like a fanciful version of a crescent moon, as if mocking her and her heritage, and they thrummed with power on her hand. When they had first appeared they had been incredibly weak, so much that they were below her notice, but as they sat on her hand, they seemed to synchronise with her power somewhat, growing in strength until she had realised their presence, which led to now.

She had manifested her castle on the smallest scale she could, setting up the summoning circle the world whispered into her ear, at the foot of her throne, which she sat on at this moment, while leaning forwards to look over the design for imperfections. She wasn't a magus at all, barely knowing more than a few scattered snippets of knowledge, little fragments of theory. But when you had her natural gifts, what more did you need? What that did mean though was that she had to pay very close attention to the summoning circle in front of her. She had no clue whatsoever abut what it was or how it worked, and if she had made a mistake it could be very bad. If something went wrong, the castle would withstand it.

She had heard tell of such things as catalysts and reagents, of how different mediums could affect them in may different ways. She had no clue how she would ever go about doing such things though. Catalysts were simple, just pay someone a lot of money, but while she had access to what was practically infinite wealth, she had no connections with which to spend it, or at least none to anyone who would be able to help in this regard.

The final step was supposed to be to activate your magical circuits and flood energy into the circle, to activate it, and then it would produce the result. It was a simple step, but it served to stop her dead. She didn't have magical circuits, or if she did she was unaware of them or how to activate them. She wasn't human, she had such natural gifts that she could get away with quite literally anything else in life without ever requiring such circuits. But that here and now proved to be a downside. She needed to turn the circuit on. How could she do that?

The chains of the castle rattled slightly as a light breeze blew through the hall, much smaller than it would usually be, but still magnificent in its grandeur. She listened to the metal links chinking and chiming, the sounds serving to still her mind somewhat. As they went on, she was reminded of the emptiness of the castle. It was supposed to be for her progenitor, the one who had been slain by her God-Grandfather. Her people had lauded her with the title of Princess for being able to summon it forth, and yet while it truly did feel like where she belonged, it had never felt like a home. It was far too empty for that.

And now even they were all gone. She was all that remained, as far as she knew. All that was left of them was what flowed through her veins now. The last blood of Crimson Moon.

Blood.

BLOOD!

Blood was a form of bodily fluid, and as such was saturated with at least some amount of her own magical energy. If she spilt her blood onto the circle, then surely it would activate using that energy, she would just need to supply enough of it, and with her regeneration, that would be trivial.

The fingers on her left hand sharpened into claws, and she stood from her seat, walking over to the edge of the circle and carefully slit her fingertips underneath the nails. A few droplets of blood soon emerged, and with a waggle of her fingers they dropped down to the floor, falling onto the magical ritual circle. Immediately the circle reacted, beginning to glow lightly, though not the blinding light that she was to expect. Taking this as a sign that the circle was simply lacking in energy, she swiftly set about bringing forth more blood, a dozen more droplets falling onto the circle, each one of them causing the glowing light to become brighter and brighter, yet still nothing seemed to occur.

Eventually she grew weary. This was taking too long just with little pinpricks. With one huge slash, she used her claws to slice off her right hand, blood spraying forth from the stump for a moment, utterly covering the circle, and immediately it reacted. The light became brighter and brighter until finally it became blinding, and then it got brighter somehow. She was just beginning to think that maybe she had gone a bit far with this when suddenly the circle pulsed, a shockwave blasting out from it and sending her flying backwards.

With her right hand already regenerated, she threw both of them behind her and caught herself against the throne, not taking any damage from being thrown back like that. Looking up, she stared through the mass of magical smoke that had accompanied the summoning ritual, and gazed upon the individual who she had summoned.

"Servant Archer" The Heroic Spirit she had summoned announced into the air, grasping an arrow in her hands though no bow appeared present. The woman was taller than her, and she definitely seemed much more voluptuous. Her breasts were heaving within a thick satin sheath, notably rising and falling with every breath, and her long trailing cape billowed lightly in the remaining wind from her summoning, revealing that her backside was similarly endowed. "My name is Arjun-. Ah!" She squeaked, clasping one hand to her breast, feeling the flesh there. "Very well." She muttered to herself, looking down at her body.

She brought her hand still clasping her arrow to her chest as well, the arrow shaft pressing into the satin covering that was the only thing keeping her breasts concealed, and pushing into it, creating a divot between her breasts that only served to further emphasise how large they both were. "You may call me Brihannala. I shall be your servant in this Holy Grail War. Please utilise me to my fullest." With that, she did a half bow, only serving to even further emphasise the incredible bulk of her breasts.

She stood there for a few moments, waiting for the servant to rise up, while the servant remained in her bow. It was becoming quite awkward, until she noticed that the Archer's eyes were darting between the floor and her feet, and she suddenly realised that the servant was waiting on her. "Uhumph." She cleared her throat before beginning to speech. "I am your Master. My name is Arcueid Brunestud. Umm..." She said, trying to think what else she should say. "Please help me win the war?"

"I shall." The chocolate coloured woman replied, straightening out from her bow. "I feel... stronger. Far stronger than I should be. What do you know of that Master?" Oh yes. Masters could see 'servant stats' like some kind of video game couldn't they? She narrowed her eyes and glared at the servant, 'gazing' at them with that second sight, and inspecting just what the servant's power was.

Strength: A
Agility: A
Endurance: A+
Mana: A++
Luck: C
NP: EX

"Wow. I don't really know how this works, but those seem very high." Except for the luck of course. "

"Indeed Master." The servant said, inclining her head towards her, the arrow disappearing from her hand. "I am... surprised you can sustain me at this strength."

"Well I am as powerful as a servant on my own after all." She replied casually. It was simple fact. She was a True Ancestor, something akin to an elemental spirit of this planet, approaching godhood even. If heroic spirits were ignored, then it was entirely possible that she was the most powerful being on this planet with the exception of her Godgrandfather and the Thing in South America. "I'm pretty sure I could win this war on my own. You still want to help?"

"If you are so certain." Brihannala spoke plainly, but with a slight joking lilt to her voice. "Then perhaps I shall sightsee. I have never seen snow before, it might be an interesting thing to study in this second life."

"I think we might get on quite well." Arcueid replied with a smile, brushing her long hair back over her shoulder.