Hey, you... you've been standing there, just watching everyone after all this time.
And then what? I only want to get to know my potential allies and enemies. It's a standard procedure.
That's not what I'm saying. Do you think you're so above the preliminaries that you don't have to take part of them as well?
....You're not very subtle.
What was that?
It's a tad hypocritical of you to mention me scouting other fighters when you're trying to do the exact same thing with me... not that I care. Although, none of these lot seem very wary of me. So I'm not sure why suddenly you are now.
....
Anyway, if you're that curious, then observe and observe carefully. You might even get to see something good.
(Impressive speed. But he can't rely on that under his given circumstances. Perhaps he's absurdly strong, too, but in a contest of strength here? No one will have the edge. And even if he's confident in his ability to take a hit, that will go both ways. It comes down to technique, at the end of the day.)
Mission start.
Hmm.
(Doesn't look too special to me.)
.....
"Show me something good"? All of your attacks have been deflected so far. Are you really as good as you say, or do you just happen to talk a good game?
Take a closer look.
That's...!
...
(He had all his attacks blocked on purpose!?)
All he can move now is a single leg... it's quite unfortunate. I certainly wouldn't want to be in that sort of predicament.
But it's expected. Battle is composed and determined by the two principles "offense" and "defense". And if you can't hope to do so much as either... You're as good as dead.
.....
What's going on out there? I thought I could still feel my other's presence. but it's dimished.
I would place my concern there at a l8r d8. I'm doubtful he's in any sort of f8l condition.
You're right... if he's me, he's not so weak as to be dealt with so easily. what I should really be focused on is finding the answer to a question I've been asking myself all too often as of recent.
Well said. We'll start on your memories... as this whole ordeal began the moment "Walter" came (le troll) to be.
Was that supposed to cue something, or?
Something is not gr8t, m8.
Huh--? What... what is is this?
You can feel what's approaching?
Yes. It's familiar, but also not. Somehow, it feels like it's calling out to me specifically. I don't know.
(I'm beginning to pick up whatever it is that he's referring to as well. Quite powerful, but still peculiar that it would trigger such a reaction from him.)
How is this possible?
H,ehehGAB``DGAKJDSG NAKJSG MASGHh-heheh.
There it is again. I can fight off the feeling, but I can tell for sure it has some sort of connection. But I don't know what. Perhaps, just like me, it couldn't keep tracks on my other self and found its way here instead.
When I tried to seal and contain the crack... I felt something very unstable.
"Unstable"?
HA /Hhfgd HEEHhyjEHgjsjsfjsEH | heh.
It looks like it's trying to communicate somehow... but it can't say anything intelligible. I almost feel pity.
BAS56jk6k AAHAHAH..AH0-0T........
,,,YJUH/./DETj77224FHSWE TEQGH,,;;BASG ASjjGJASG NJAKJSGN!!!!!!!! HEH0GH JGHHH-==AH!!!!!!!!!!

This is annoying me.
DGNS.;'P%-DGMK EGRH'0-EHEGHEH FJHYAD486846';''!!
You may think I'm beat, but I! The great narcian! Will defeat you with my tactical might!
...Why would he-
what? you didn't fall for my horseman trap? I had it set up and everything! the entire game was hinging on that!
You're incredibly willing to give up pieces for the sake of whatever "strategy" your pulling, you've already lost one of your knights, as well as a bishop and a few pawns...Why?
The only difference between my discarded fancy piece, and your castle piece, is that I sacrificed my fancy piece to further my strategy, while you lost your castle piece due to a tactical blunder, we're both one less piece than we were before, but I took my loss and turned it into a gain, while you only suffered a loss.
But your talking as if your turning a loss into an advantage on the fly, but from how your playing, it's as if your expecting for those pieces to only be sacrifices, rather than using them to their full strength, such as the knight, Its unorthodox movement is tricky to utilise sometimes, but that movement can also just as easily catch someone off guard if they aren't paying attention, and can easily cover gaps to where your other pieces can't reach, Sacrificing one of them for the sake of taking out another piece intentionally...You may as well play without those pieces at all.
I was reading a book in the castle library before…all of this happened, One of the books from your home world, brought up some weird hypothetical situation about a giant metal carriage, having to choose between letting 5 people perish, or intentionally taking the life of one person, it seemed like a lot of philosophical nonsense, nothing someone as intelligent as I was interested in at first, But, as a general, Sometimes one must choose between the lives of the many and the lives of the few.
Is that why you tried to sacrifice yourself while fighting Icos?
What? The great narcian would never allow himself to be used as a sa-
Drop the theatrics, we all saw what you did, What was your plan there? just let Icos kill you after you drew their attention away? Were you justHoping someone else would break free from that spell while their attention was unfocused to bail you out? You’ve always been so willing to throw anyone under the bus and yet, that’s the first time I've seen you willingly try and use yourself as the sacrifice.
Does it matter? I, the great and lovable narcian, would be able to return from death, just like we’ve done before! And besides, you aren’t one to judge about being sacrificial like that, for all your refusal to allow your own pieces to be captured, you're perfectly fine with throwing yourself in the line of fire CONSTANTLY!, I’m meant to be your right hand hero! I’m meant to be the great threat of the order! Blocking any attacks towards our frail, weak summoner! This is what, the 6th time you’ve gone stealing my job, making yourself a target when I’m RIGHT here? How am i, the great and lovable Narcian, meant to shine when you keep almost getting yourself killed! The fact that it's only just now that you’ve been severely injured is nothing short of a miracle!
Aha! Checkmate! I win!
Narcian, that's my queen, the strongest piece on the board, capable of moving in 8 directions with no limit on the range,and actually. In your little flanking manoeuvre, you’ve left your king completely defenceless, you’ve sacrificed all your pieces, and now you have nothing
And that's checkmate!
Look, imagine the Order is a side of a chess board Most of the heroes we had were the pawns in this situation, they weren’t actually pawns but this metaphor is thin enough as is so-
These represent everyone we know, Leif and Edelgard are the Rooks, Kempf and Saias are the bishops, Alfonse, Sharena, and the entire kingdom of askr are the king, the main piece on the board, It is our duty to make sure that the king isn’t put into danger, and that its kept safe, Of course, In this situation, we don’t want to lose anyone. Which brings us to the most important piece on the board
In this situation I’m the queen
But you’re a commoner?
...
What i'm saying is that the queen is the most powerful piece on the board, as i’ve just shown you, but when you play like i do, The queen becomes even more important, a piece that can move just about anywhere can become a piece that can easily take out any incoming threats or set ups that would cause you to enter situations where you have to sacrifice units, but like the queen piece, I can't be everywhere, and not only is there blindspots in my range, but I'm also a significantly big target, what's the one thing that Veronica, Surtr,Hel,Frejya, Fafnir, and now Icos have all tried?
Every single one of them pale in comparison to one such as I?
all of them have each tried to take me out of the equation by kidnapping or just killing me when I'm alone, off my guard, its happened more times than it should have, and I doubt Icos is going to be the last, even outside of order happenings, there's always a chance that anyone with a delusion of grandeur could try and attack me, you remember that big battle we were all part of, when I got impaled from behind by that bald kingdom hearts guy? Or when that demon mario guy gave me a skull fracture?,In a way, I've been focusing less on my own health and survivability, and more on the health of everyone around me…Its a wonder I'm not just a walking corpse at this point with the amount of close shaves I've had-
anyways, I got sidetracked, I may be able to do great things, but I can't do everything, especially in a fight, that's where you,tailtiu, soleil and Thea come in, You four are The Knights of the chessboard
But that's four people though,there's only two Horses, and only Thea rides a Pegasus?
Y'know sometimes I wonder if you're just doing this to annoy me.
what this means is that I need the four of you to act as my own Knights, in a sense, as in, you need to follow me when I'm going places, I can't afford to get taken by surprise or be in a situation where I have to tear myself apart just to stay alive. Like the knights, I need you to cover the blindspots in my fighting technique, and to help me keep safe.
Have you told Tailtiu about this? soleil? Thea?
nope, your the first one,I figured you wouldn't agree unless you knew before anyone else.
I see, then I! narcian! The handsome and wise general of bern! Shall agree, on one condition.
you swear that you won't do anything as flashy like that big magic barrage unless your life depends on it.
well, I was planning for that to be a last resort anyway, so, yeah, deal
Rematch?
You're on magic boy.
Y'know, I wonder if there's other Tedds, just like me, but they ended up somewhere else than askr, I wonder what they're like…
They're probably just as insufferably self sacrificing as you are, I bet whatever hero they've roped along as their bodyguards are nothing compared to narcian however!
Self sacrificing fools or not, I hope they're enjoying life at least.
...so am I here for weeding or something?
NO NEED. I PULLED ANY AND ALL THIS MORNING.
THEY LOOK PLEASANT, DON'T THEY?
...
...did you plant these?
THAT'S NOT WHAT I ASKED, BUT YES. I TEND TO THEM WHEN I NEED TO UNWIND.
...they look quaint, I suppose.
IT'S GETTING LATE. THERE'S ONE LAST THING I WANT YOU TO SEE.
...I don't get it.
The Kiketsu n' Keiga families didn't hesitate for a second when the whole spirit land thing† happened, but we ain't heard nothin' from the Gouyoku‡...
...I saw their boss last year, that was the last time I heard o' her busy 'round Gensokyo...
That's gotta be it. She musta thought of somethin' to do in the mountain, and she's just tryin' to get our business messed up when we don't expect it. She did it with the black water, that's her trick§. And I ain't fallin' for it.
Hey, tell the others, I'm goin' out for a couple days!
Whatever's goin' on, I'm ending it before it begins.
Pinky? P.K.? You here?
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