Game Developer : Starting with Fate series Chapter 139 - 169: Dead Dian Wei Is Enough to Stop the Livin

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[Chat]:

[Confused]: his Spirit Core should have shattered. why isn't he dead?

[Frustrated]: I don't want to see him lose, but you can't just ignore ga chanics. this is blatant.

[Skeptical]: willpower doesn't work like this. there's a difference between determination and straight-up immortality.

[Demanding]: Max. Explanation. Now. You can't use Iskandar as a stepping stone without justifying it.

[Spotting_Sothing]: wait. there's an invisible wall. is this a bug?

[More_Confused]: where did that city co from? is that — is that a Noble Phantasm? does Dian Wei have a city Noble Phantasm?

[Accusation]: Max is openly cheating because he likes these two. I'm calling it.

[Defense]: I think it's his Noble Phantasm

[Counter]: IMPOSSIBLE

After dying and coming back the first ti, Dian Wei had plunged straight back into the army.

It hadn't lasted long before they brought him down again — a long spear through his right eye, direct and final.

He stayed down for two seconds.

Then he got up.

The chat, which had been processing the first resurrection, did not handle the second one gracefully. Fans of the Holy Grail War setting, Iskandar fans, history readers — everyone had a problem with what they were seeing, and they were expressing it at volu.

Sothing even less explicable was happening in the anti.

Iskandar's army had pivoted. If Dian Wei couldn't be killed cleanly, then removing his Master from the equation was the next logical step. Arrow volleys, thrown spears — all of it aid at William.

All of it stopped less than a ter from him, as if hitting sothing that wasn't there.

As the frequency of attacks increased, the sothing beca visible: an ancient city gate, materializing piece by piece around William's position. Stone, worn and scarred, the kind of architecture that carried age in its texture. A gate that had stood in a specific place, on a specific night, and had ant sothing that couldn't be undone.

Wancheng.

Max set down his water glass.

"The reason is actually straightforward." His comntary voice had settled into the particular register he used for lore that mattered. "A Servant's defining acts beco Noble Phantasms. Their most formative experiences beco skills. Dian Wei's death — anyone who's read the historical records knows how it went."

He paused, then continued.

"Cao Cao's most famous disaster. Zhang Xiu surrendered, and then Cao Cao made a series of decisions that gave Zhang Xiu every reason to un-surrender — including acting far too quickly on a personal matter that could have waited. Jia Xu advised, Zhang Xiu acted, and the surprise attack that followed that night was arguably more dangerous than anything Cao Cao faced at the Battle of Guan Du."

"That night, Cao Cao lost his eldest son, his favorite horse, and his greatest general."

"The one who bought him ti to survive was Dian Wei."

"His twin halberds had been stolen while he slept. He held the city gate with his bare hands — picked up enemy soldiers and used them as weapons. He held until Cao Cao reached a safe distance. Only then did he stop."

Max leaned forward slightly.

"So. The Servant version of Dian Wei carries two things from that night. The first is the Mad Shark Iron Halberds — that's the weapon. The second is Wancheng itself, the gate he guarded."

"The Noble Phantasm is called Dian Wei's Death Repels the Living Enemy Army."

[Chat]:

[Listening]:

[Still_Listening]:

[Don't_Stop]:

"As long as Dian Wei is alive, no one can harm his Master. He can place the Wancheng gate between his Master and whatever is coming. And as long as the Master stays at his side — before Dian Wei falls in battle, the Master takes no damage. None."

"The second thing is the skill. Historically, Zhang Xiu's forces tried to persuade Dian Wei to surrender while he was at the gate. He didn't consider it. Not for a mont."

"That becos an EX-rank skill called Ancient Evil."

"The chanic is: as long as his Master is still in danger, Dian Wei cannot die. He can be knocked down. He can be reduced to bone. He can be reduced past bone. He will stand up again. The only condition under which he truly dies is if his Master reaches safety."

"So in a situation without a Master, yes — Iskandar beats him without much difficulty."

"In a situation where both have Masters—"

Max smiled.

"Dian Wei is Iskandar's worst counter."

"To kill him, you'd need to teleport his Master sowhere safe first. But his Master has Command Seals and can simply pull Dian Wei to his side the mont that happens. It's a closed loop. Iskandar can either retreat now and preserve his army — or he keeps fighting, and Dian Wei keeps killing his soldiers, and King's Army stops being usable for the rest of the match."

He picked up the water glass again.

"That's the build."

[Chat]:

[No_Words]: no words. Max is a genius. okay.

[Completely_Reasonable]: this is not strange at all. this is completely internally consistent.

[Crying]: he guarded the gate until his Master was safe and only then died. and that beca his Noble Phantasm. I'm not okay.

[Tactical_Analysis]: so Dian Wei is functionally immortal while William is in danger, the Wancheng gate blocks all damage to William, and the only way to break the loop requires a resource William can counter with Command Seals

[Iskandar_Problem]: King's Army's weakness is rebuild ti. every soldier who dies needs ti to reconstruct. four-hour match, two and a half hours left — if he keeps fighting he burns through his army and can't use the Noble Phantasm again

[Corn_Luck]: of all the possible matchups, Northern Star pulled Conqueror and ended up against this. her luck is historically poor.

[Counter]: her luck got her Conqueror in the first place

[Counter_Counter]: and then Conqueror ran directly into his hardest counter

[Corn_Luck_Confird]: yeah her luck is historically poor

King's Army's structural weakness was one that most players hadn't thought about because they'd never needed to — the army was too overwhelming for the question to co up. But every mber of it was a genuine Heroic Spirit, which ant every injury and every death required actual reconstruction ti. You couldn't accelerate that. The soldiers couldn't just respawn. The mana cost wasn't the limiting factor; the ti was.

With less than two and a half hours remaining in the FA Chapter, every soldier Dian Wei killed was a soldier Iskandar couldn't replace before the match ended.

The chat had worked this out correctly.

If Iskandar withdrew now, he preserved enough of the army for one more deploynt. If he stayed, Dian Wei would keep grinding through the ranks, and the Noble Phantasm that had defined Iskandar's legend would be sitting empty for the rest of the match.

[Chat]:

[Iskandar_Decision_Point]: he has to decide. right now.

[What_Does_He_Do]: what does a conqueror do when the math says retreat?

[Watching_His_Face]: he's looking at Dian Wei. Dian Wei is standing in the middle of his army with a spear through his eye socket and both halberds running red.

[Iskandar_Expression]: that's not anger. that's not frustration.

[What_Is_It]: I keep saying it and I'll say it again — he recognizes it. he knows what he's looking at.

[Northern_Star]: Northern Star has not said anything in four minutes. she's just watching.

[William_Status]: William is standing behind the Wancheng gate with the expression of soone who made a bet and is watching it pay out

[Dian_Wei_Status]: standing. eye socket empty on one side. still holding both halberds. waiting.

[Inevitable_Feeling]: sothing is about to happen and I don't think it's Iskandar attacking again

[End of Chapter 169]