Nasuverse Murder Mystery Quest [Part 3]

>>308846
>[] Apologize, but use the information you got from Vikas to prove that you're doing stuff that matters. He can't argue with results.
It might be information he already has but it might still be worth something.

In response to Ammon's irritation, you decide to do as you did earlier, and try to prove your usefulness as a member of the detective force that you aren't a member of. You especially try to focus on the information you gained from Vikas; even if Ammon had spoken to him, it didn't seem like he would know about that, from the way Vikas was acting.

Sure enough, a trace of surprise shows on Ammon's face following your explanation, the Atlas alchemist nodding slightly. "...well, I won't say that as a motive it's tenuous, but that's valid information nonetheless." He concedes, his expression sharpening a moment later. "That said, don't think I approve of what you've been doing. It's fine to go around asking for information, but not when you're pretending to be my partner, especially when you're saying that sort of thing to a Lord of all people."

Oh. It looks like word of your visit to Lord El-Melloi II had traveled back to him.

"Just...look, I can appreciate the effort, but when I said that I'd contact you when I made my decision, I meant it. Going behind my back and pretending you have a position you don't to get information makes me look bad if it gets out in the open. I'm not going to ask you to stop investigating things, it's your choice, but I'm going to have to ask that you stop pretending to be a detective to get more clout. Alright?"

[] Agree to his terms, and ask about what information he's gathered.
[] Agree to his terms and don't press for anything else, he's annoyed enough as it is.
[] Ask what will happen if you don't agree.

>>309079
>[] Agree to his terms, and ask about what information he's gathered.
Might as well get our next lead so we actually have a plan for next time.

As irritated as Ammon seems, you can't just walk away without at least figuring out what he's learned since you last saw each other. He's an actual detective, after all, so odds are he's done an overall better job of things than you. So, after saying you won't abuse the "detective" title anymore, you decide to ask.

In reply, Ammon looks at you silently for a few seconds before sighing. "You're serious?" He asks blandly, letting out an almost childish groan. "...fine, sure. Most of the information is sensitive stuff that I can't tell someone who's only involved in this as a hobby, but I can at least give you something. Besides Mill, nobody was in his office at the time of his death. That was one of the few things my divination was able to scrounge up. If I were you, I'd investigate the methods someone could use to kill from afar before you move any further."

Looking out of a nearby window at the now-darkened world, the alchemist sighs again. "Alright, I'll leave you with that." He says, pulling a phone from his pocket and messing around on it for a bit; you feel a buzzing in your pocket seconds later. "I've sent you my contact information. If you have any findings you want to share, feel free. Keep this up and I might actually cooperate with you." He remarks, letting out a slight laugh towards the end.

"Either way, I have a few more things to look into. It's getting late, though, you should get some rest." Ammon states, giving you a slight nod before turning to exit the building.

[] Say your farewells, and head back to your room. Sleep deprivation will only hurt you, and you're unlikely to get good information at this time in the day.
[] Say your farewells, and keep up the investigation into the night (specify location).
[] "Hey, aren't you going to walk me home?"

>>309160
>[] "Hey, aren't you going to walk me home?"
I can't resist. It also goes along fine with the first choice.

>>309160
>[] "Hey, aren't you going to walk me home?"
It does seem a little petulant...but I can't resist. QM, you must know how this sort of scene makes my kokoro doki-doki, you manipulative little shit.

"Hey, aren't you going to walk me home?"

While Ammon is moving to exit the building, you call out to him, the alchemist's movements grinding to a halt as he pauses for several seconds, before turning around to face you. "I...what?" He blurts out, visibly caught off-guard with an eyebrow quirked up in incredulity.

You simply offer a warm smile in return, cheerily walking up to him until the two of you are standing side-by-side. "Don't worry, I'm over in the Creation Department, so it won't be too long of a walk."

Ammon sighs, shaking his head a bit as he resigns himself to the situation. "...I know, I read your file and-" He cuts himself off as he sees the coy grin that's playing at the edge of your lips.

"Oh? You even looked up where I live? Planning on a midnight visit, were we?" You hum, Ammon sputtering in response and turning his head away slightly. You do feel a little bad for messing with him like this, but things were a bit tense, so this was a good way of lightening things up a touch. By the time he's back to facing forwards, you're already a few steps in front of him, gesturing for him to follow. "Come on, don't just stand there!"

Once more, Ammon lets out a sigh, though you just barely manage to catch the edge of a laugh in it as he catches up with you. The lonely moon floats above you, bearing witness in the night sky.

[] Strike up some conversation, ask about Ammon. You don't even know his last name.
[] Stay quiet on the walk back, no need to bother him more.

>>309348
>[] Strike up some conversation, ask about Ammon. You don't even know his last name.

>>309348
[] Strike up some conversation, ask about Ammon. You don't even know his last name.

As you and Ammon walk towards the Creation Department, you turn slightly to face him. It takes a couple of seconds before he notices, looking at you questioningly. "...yes?"

"Well, while you're off-duty, you should tell me about yourself! I mean, you've read my entire file apparently." You remark, flashing him a half-teasing grin. "But I don't know anything about you besides your first name and occupation."

Ammon pauses for a moment before sighing, the trace of a smile at the edge of his face. "You know that's horribly vague, right?" He replies, seeming to relax a little as some of the tension drains from his posture, head now turned towards you instead of warily glancing around the area. "Well, to solve the first name thing, I don't actually have a family name. It's not like you've been casting observation spells or something, so you probably haven't noticed, but I'm a homunculus from the Calypsia line. We're basically the second-tier creations that Atlas sends out. I'm guessing that Atlas sent me and not someone better as a way of saying 'why are you asking for our help when this is your problem'." He explains, shrugging a bit.

You feel a bit...embarrassed, honestly; a student of Alchemy not noticing that someone she was talking to was a homunculus is humiliating to say the least. Still, Ammon doesn't seem to mind, so you manage to take it in stride.

"As far as occupation goes, obviously I'm something of a detective. In a perfect world we'd just cast curses to make people tell the truth and then interrogate everybody, but since that's neither ethical nor reliable, Atlas made models like me. Their own form of Alchemy, a decent mastery of Astrology, don't tell my superiors but I've actually picked up a bit of your western style of Alchemy too." He states, letting out a slight laugh. "Plus a decent slew of non-magical stuff, of course. I haven't actually done much real work prior to now, though, since it takes a while to get someone work-ready, even if you can build them with hereditary memories."

[] "That sounds...pretty lonely, to be honest."
[] Stay quiet and let him continue.
[] Ask about what his defect is. If he's a homunculus, and not one of Atlas's best at that, he almost definitely has one.

>>310257
>[] Stay quiet and let him continue.

Since this is where it gets real, and also since it's the middle of Monday so I won't be on for long, this choice will be left open for a while.

===

"Ah, what else?" Ammon murmurs, seeming to wrack his brains for what else to say. "Well, this is actually only the second time I've been allowed outside of Atlas's walls. As far as goals or anything like that go, I really don't have much to say. Atlas only has one goal when you get right down to it, right? Stop the world from ending. I feel like if I was able to contribute to that, it would be nice, but besides that there's not a whole lot."

"Well, that's not entirely true. One of my predecessors, a homunculus in my line whose memories I inherited, he was a weird one. Actually, he-"

Ammon cuts himself off. No, rather, both you and Ammon freeze up at the same time.

How had you not noticed something earlier? You silently curse having gotten too distracted with talking to Ammon. If you were more focused on the environment than each other, you could have noticed the traces of it before it was complete.

Around the two of you, around the entire expanse within about a fifty meter radius, something had appeared. A line that demarcated an inside from an outside, a circle with a spell based on its boundaries. The basics among basics, its name flits through your mind immediately.

Bounded Field.

A Bounded Field at this size isn't immense in any regard, but it certainly isn't worth writing off given that it was apparently established without either you or Ammon noticing. You manage to notice in this split-second time frame that whoever created it was careful, making sure to wait until you were in a place between Departments where no buildings or other people would be inside of the field, or near enough that it would be quickly noticed. It doesn't seem to be of the sort that restricts usage of mana, so you can guess that it's meant to conceal, maybe hiding sounds from being transmitted outside. You don't have time to sit down and analyze it properly.

Your Magic Circuits reflexively flare to life, prana running through them as Ammon's do the same. You throw out the threads of your consciousness, and find something. About twenty meters behind you, there's another magus.

You can't help but doubt that they have good intentions.

[] Turn around and address them. If this is a misunderstanding then you don't want to be in the wrong.
[] Try to hinder them from approaching you, transmute the ground to sand or something.
[] Turn and fire magic missile, there's no time to hesitate.

>>310333
>[] Try to hinder them from approaching you, transmute the ground to sand or something.
If they're on our side or neutral it's probably easy enough to let them go and if they're dangerous we can hold them down for a while hopefully. Also we tell Ammon about the magus if he doesn't already know.

>>310333
>We were lured into a trap, which was prepared in advance. It is unwise to deny it or try to fight on enemy's terms. Instead, right now we must observe, listen and look for any opportunity to flee.

>>309348
>The lonely moon floats above you, bearing witness in the night sky.
You bastard.

>>310333
[] Try to hinder them from approaching you, transmute the ground to sand or something.

You need to act quickly; if this is an enemy, then a moment's hesitation could spell injury, or worse. Your Magic Circuits already opened, you stamp your foot against the ground, muttering a quick incantation under your breath. A simple, if inefficient, transmutation spell. The stone beneath your feet, the stone in the area of this Bounded Field, is transmuted into sand; while this won't do much, it will at least hinder the other party if they want to get close.

As you stamp your foot on the ground, you see Ammon's hand cut through the air, drawing something out of a pocket that glints with a metallic sheen. Simultaneously, the figure that you've rounded about to face waves a hand, "something" flying out towards you. You're barely able to get a good look of it as it hurtles towards you, but it looks like...a marble?

Kicking up a small cloud of sand, Ammon steps towards you, grabbing you roughly by the shoulder as the thing in his hand, a knife you now realize, is waved about in front of him, forming the rough approximation of a magic circle. "Lead me!" He yells, a flash of light forming in front of him.

When the light clears a half-second later, the marble that was about to reach the two of you has vanished. But, before you're even given a chance to process what Ammon just did, the figure waves a hand again, a slew of five marbles tossed in your direction. You don't want to consider what they can do if they hit.

[] It's probably a bluff, run at him and engage in fisticuffs.
[] Transmute the sand into something more solid, trap him in place.
[] Turn and run, Ammon can watch your back as you do.

>>312012
>[] Transmute the sand into something more solid, trap him in place.
We might as well try to do something useful at least.

You need to at least do something. Whatever it is that Ammon did there, you both are still in a disadvantageous position from the atmosphere of things. Without a word, you pull yourself out of the sand, Ammon with his grip on your arm doing the same, and transmute it back to stone. You ignore the feeling of dizziness in your head and pain running through your nerves; you haven't hit your limit yet, but using large-scale magecraft too often is dangerous. Nonetheless, the ground beneath your feet is solid once again, and the unknown figure's feet are likely trapped in the stone, though he doesn't seem perturbed by it.

As you do this, Ammon grits his teeth, once more waving his knife through the air to outline a magic circle. This time, though, he draws a second knife out, holding it tightly in his other hand. "Lead me!" He yells once more, another flash of light forming around the two of you as the marbles reach you. As he does this though, he also throws his second knife through the air, towards the figure while he yells out "Lead me!" once more. The weapon slices through the air like a guided missile, firmly embedding itself in what looks to be the lower chest of your assailant. Only then do you notice that Ammon's free hand is now covering something on his right arm, pain evident on his expression. "...careful, those are possessed." He chokes out. You're barely able to catch the glint of tears in his eyes.

"...the more you persist, the more painful it will be."

From the figure, a mangled voice speaks the warning, as a pair of marbles are shot out once more, one aimed at you and one at Ammon. This time, though, he doesn't seem like he's in a fit state to block them.

[] Try to block both of them yourself, Ammon's the more important one.
[] Try to hide behind Ammon, it's your life that matters!
[] Duck down and knock Ammon with you, it might put you in a bad position but you need to dodge!

>>312084
>[] Try to block both of them yourself, Ammon's the more important one.
Ah jeez, dodging sounds right but it doesn't feel right.

You grit your teeth and steel your resolve. There's no doubt this person is after Ammon, and not you; he's certainly the one who matters more between the two of you. He's the actual detective, the one who stands a chance at unraveling whatever happened here. By comparison...

You can't let this happen.

You body moves before your mind resolves itself, darting in front of Ammon and spreading your arms wide as you cover him. With a dull thud, you feel the two marbles strike you, penetrating your skin effortlessly and lodging themselves there.

Pain.

The screams of the damned form in your mind, an ear-splitting shriek as you feel your soul itself writhe in agony. You fall to your knees, hands clutching your head. How had Ammon managed to take one of those injuries without going unconscious? This is your last thought before your rationality is stripped from you, a steady flow of hoarse screams leaving you as you circulate prana through your body, trying to fend off the invasive spirits.

You don't see Ammon's eyes widen in disbelief.

You don't feel his presence as a magus magnify tenfold.

You don't see the six knives that hover in the air in front of him.

You don't hear him utter a momentary incantation.

You don't see those knives distort cause and effect.

You don't see the man's body as it is torn apart.

(Cont)

>>312259
A painful, dull throb in your head clears away the void of blackness, pulling you from unconsciousness. You groan slightly as you sit up, realizing a moment later that you're in what looks to be a hospital bed.

Hearing you groan, a familiar face turns around, eyes widening. Ammon. "...you're awake, good." He murmurs, voice tense. "Are you feeling alright? Do you remember last night?"

[] "I'm...fine. More importantly, what happened?"
[] "How long have I been out for?"
[] "Forget me, are you alright?"

>>312277
>[] "I'm...fine. More importantly, what happened?"
Seems like the most important question.

Holding off on posting for a while since no traffic.

>>312277
[] "I'm...fine. More importantly, what happened?"

"I'm...fine." You groan out, straightening up a bit. "More importantly, what happened?"

Ammon's expression sombers slightly. "...we were attacked by a Bride of the Spiritual Evocation Department. I dealt with him, so don't worry about that. It's the late afternoon now, you were out for a while but we had to make sure those wraiths he shot at you didn't do any damage."

After speaking, he glances off to the side a bit, a hand going behind his head. "And...thanks, for what you did. If another one of those had managed to hit me, I probably wouldn't be here right now."

[] Ask about the battle, and Ammon's abilities.
[] Ask about the assailant.
[] Ask what's going to happen now.

>>312382
>[] Ask what's going to happen now.
Arya just became way more suspicious and getting hurt like this sounds like a perfect excuse to cut class and play more detective.

>>312382
[] Ask what's going to happen now.

>>312382
>[] Ask about the assailant.
Important to get details to piece things together.

Your eyes widen at the explanation of who your assailant was, but calm down and ask Ammon about what's going to happen now. In response, Ammon sighs a bit. "...I'm not sure. Now that you're awake, you're good to go, but since you were injured in an event that's considered related to this case, there's the risk you'll be a target from now on." He explains. "In other words, if you want to go back to your normal life you'll need to have a guard or something accompanying you. Alternatively, I spoke with Lord Valueleta and they said that, given the circumstances, you're permitted to work with me for the time being since you're entangled in this now. If you do the former, though, I can't guarantee your safety, and you're basically signing away the protection that the Clock Tower's offering you if you resume your student duties."

[] Your life is what matters, go back to class.
[] You can't back down now, stay with Ammon.

>>312432
>[] You can't back down now, stay with Ammon.
Hardly even a choice.

As if you were ever going to choose the contrary. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, you know." You reply with a grin, which Ammon pauses at for a moment before returning it. You can't help but feel that the whole "taking a bullet/marble for him" thing has probably helped your cause a bit.

"Well, can't say I'm surprised." He said with a feigned sigh, sitting down in a nearby chair. "Waiting for you to wake up cost me a decent amount of investigation time, though. But a bit more won't hurt, anything else you need to know before we set off then, partner?"

[] The assailant.
[] Ammon.
[] Any new information.

>>312472
>[] The assailant.
Our first big lead so we gotta follow it.

>>312472
Assailant

>>312472
>[] The assailant.

You question Ammon bout the assailant, what he was able to find out about them. After all, if they were from the Spiritual Evocation Department, then the first person who comes to mind is-

"I know what you're thinking, and I already checked." Ammon states, shaking his head a bit. "I couldn't find any connection between them and Arya. We should still be careful, but all the same it feels...too easy, to assume she's involved."

"The assailant himself wasn't anyone special. Use of wraiths to possess physical objects, like those marbles, was his specialty. No notable ties to any of the higher-ups in the Clock Tower, nor Mill or any of the others who I've talked to. Still, the fact that they knew who we were and planned this for us means they had to have some sort of connection."

"Well, if we're working together I should at least ask for your opinion. What do you think about this? Just off of intuition, granted, so we won't make any moves just yet, but I'd like to know what your instinct is."

[] It sounds like Arya's trying to get rid of us.
[] It sounds like someone's trying to frame Arya.

>>313254
>[] It sounds like Arya's trying to get rid of us.
We haven't met anyone else with a real motive so she seems to fit pretty well. If we're wrong we just need to keep searching I guess.

>>313254
[] It sounds like someone's trying to frame Arya

If attacker really wanted us dead - we would have been dead - he knew exactly where and when to strike, and the execution was very professional. But professionals tend not to leave obvious clues like that.