2015-10-11 - North Pole, Part Four
| Title: North Pole, Part Four | |
|---|---|
| Summary: An evil old as the Silver Millennium is free, at last, to bring death and despair to all living beings. The full might of the Silver Crystal was only enough - barely - to seal it away once, and now...who can stand in its way? Everyone will. | |
| Who: Princess Serenity, Princess Mercury, Princess Mars, Princess Jupiter, Princess Venus, Nanoha Takamachi, Lera Camry, Ren Aizawa, Lancelot, Hikaru Shidou, Fuu Hououji, Mai Tokiha, La Sirene du Nord, Nagihiko Fujisaki, Kaitou Jeanne, Masque Feu
| |
| Where: Dark Kingdom Ruins | |
| OOC - IC Date: 29 August 2014 - 10/11/2015 | |
<Pose Tracker> Queen Beryl [None] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVKolCf7pzM
PREVIOUSLY ON BATTLE FANTASIA
"Greetings," Queen Beryl murmurs with your face, the nicety itself a melting facsimile of a benevolent leader, and an incredibly intense challenge, all at once. Her eyes blaze. "I grow weary of these endless skirmishes through Tokyo. Tomorrow, humanity will be wiped from this world by these very hands."
Her gaze flicks down to the hands of your reflection, and she smiles, an expression that has nothing to do with happiness. The threat is a promise sworn on her very soul -- and yours.
"Stop me if you dare. I shall even show you where, children of this rotten era. The world will be reborn in ice -- and fire, into... my... image."
---
THE NORTH POLE
The greatest assembly of magical girls in history meets the entirety of the Dark Kingdom on a frigid battlefield. Outnumbered and outflanked, they are not outclassed... and emerge victorious.
But not without loss. The icebergs are covered in the bodies of fallen warriors, fiercely protected by their friends. Indeed, as girls dropped, one by one, to the claws and fangs and blasts of their bloodthirsty enemy, the remainder were spurred to new heights. The world was on the line, yes... but their friends sprawled out around them gives the danger much greater immediacy.
Only the wind carves into the silence that follows, but the victory is short-lived.
"NEVER AGAIN SHALL LIGHT TOUCH THESE SHORES!"
Beryl never took the field, but to gather a dreadful power from beneath the Earth and invoke a terrible ritual that inverts an ancient victory into a modern and devastating loss.
In a swirl of rainbow light, every magical girl on Earth is ripped away through time and space, banished to the evershifting morass of the Multidimensional Chaos World.
---
All of them, that is, but five.
A vision of a tortured loved one takes Sailor Moon off guard, and Sailor Mercury dies in her defense, throwing herself and her icy blades into the fray.
A storm separates the senshi, and then a fall into an icy cavern confuses things further. A false Sailor Moon nearly eviscerates Sailor Venus, but Sailor Jupiter destroys the monster at the cost of her own life.
The monsters converge, and Sailor Venus makes a last stand to buy her friends time to escape, to penetrate further into the Dark Kingdom. She holds the line -- but one creature breaks through.
In the bowels of shadow, where Earth and stranger, darker realms converge into one, they come upon a false, tortured Endymion. Sailor Mars immolates them both in order to ensure that her Princess survives.
Sailor Moon walks alone into the heart of darkness.
---
Alone, she confronts and defeats Dark Endymion, purifying his darkness just in time for him to perish in her defense, to die in her arms.
Alone, she faces Queen Beryl. It seems hopeless -- but the spirits of her dead entourage and the hearts of the banished magical girls, scattered across the multiverse, gather to support her. In a burst of white light and an explosion of white lace, she draws upon the power of past and present to fight for the future.
"I WON'T LOSE!"
The Silver Crystal which Beryl wanted so desperately destroys her, even after she draws even more deeply on the support of elemental darkness than she ever had before.
"You're wrong," she spits out, with the very last of her air. "You've already lost... everything."
The queen is dead.
Long live the queen.
Afterwards, Princess Serenity is left in a shattered icy cavern, surrounded by corpses.
"Alone... I'm... the n-nightmare didn't e-end at all... I'm..."
Alone.
<Pose Tracker> Princess Serenity [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> Lifestream - FF7 OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BejhPAtcQsU
If not for the sobbing, it would be like a respectful moment of silence for the fallen. Princess Serenity never had much use for it. She mourns them, mourns herself and her loneliness.
For without them...
Nothing. She had no answer to a life without them.
Except...
"N-No... No!" Denial.
Tortured sobbing became sniffling, as she crawls forward on the trail of her grown to pick up the Moon Stick and cradle it to her chest like a child who had realized they had dropped a precious toy.
She has all the evidence that they weren't yet gone, she'd seen them with her very eyes, heard them with her ears, felt them with her big, naked heart. They'd crossed the boundaries of death before when she needed them.
The only thing she doubted is that she'd be able to work a miracle again. When she'd brought Venus back before, it was through raw instinct of pure expression of herself, when she'd tried to force it to shine again, it wouldn't so much as glimmer.
And since she obtained this power, this precious crystal treasure, she'd been told over and over that she wasn't a worthy heir to it, that she was inadequate to the task of wielding it. That she only might be worthy if she strove to cast a bigger shadow than that cast by the legacy of the Moon's great history.
But maybe that didn't matter.
"Maybe all that matters..." As she removed a hand from clutching the Moon Stick to wipe her eyes.
You're completely right. It's not fair. Nobody should be forced to go through the kinds of things that you've had to. But, even so... you can't give up. Not ever. Keep standing tall and proud, continue to face all that comes your way with your head held high, and there isn't anything that you can't overcome. As long as you hold onto hope, in the end, all your wishes will come true.
We love you and cherish you. We always have and we always will. Now finish this, so you can glimpse in yourself what we see in you every day. Protect us, and all the rest of us, just like you always have. You're almost there. Stay strong and know that you're loved.
...fight. Fight, Sailor Moon - show her your admirable true self! I promised not to put you on a pedestal - but you're strong. Stronger than you think - strong enough to forgive people, to accept faults. Your feelings... caring about people, that's what makes you strong. So show her the Sailor Moon your friends believe in!
Sailor Moon... please... believe in the future. Never stop shining.
We're here, with you, even if we can't get down there, y'know? Just believe in that, because we believe in you!
You're extraordinary, Usagi. It's not because of your powers, or who you were in a past life or anything like that. It's because of who you are. It's because of what you inspire in others.
Don't give up, all our hopes rest in your hands.
All you have to do is be the Usagi we all love.
It is during times like those - when the world counts upon the actions of the single woman to be spared from annilhilation.
All your hopes and dreams, everyone you've traveled with has led to this moment. Everyone gained and everyone lost. The ones who helped you get here are behind you. The future you all worked for is in front. Who you were is a distant memory, and who you are now barely matters. There's only one person who can win this fight. Show her the person you want to be!
We're right here with you, Sailor Moon.
You're my friend! You had no reason to give me anything but a nod - but you did - don't give up!
It isn't easy to lose everything. But as long as you have one thing to cling to, one thing to fight for, one thing to save, then you have to hold onto it. Until the end.
They're /all/ brave, and they're /all/ beautiful, and they /all/ cry a lot, because they /all/ have great big hearts that love everyone and get hurt easy because of it.
"...is that I be myself." It would be tempting, so tempting to do what Beryl offered, to wish for ordinary happiness again, to forget in beautiful ignorant bliss and trust that she'd be friends. But that would be forgetting everything she learned... it would be forgetting all the people she'd met as Sailor Moon.
And so as Princess Serenity spreads her hands out around the Moon Stick, it hovers in mid-air, the Silver Crystal rising off of it as her hands continually move to envelop it, gem facets spreading apart one by one, revealing individual petals. And she calls out her simple, ineloquent wish, "I am never alone!"
It's like a chime of a bell that resonates with the heartbeat of the universe, that set the petals of the Silver Crystal and the Prism Flower aglow. A rainbow of light shines forth from each individual petal, glimmering in the warmest hues of spectrum, becoming an auroral path that leads them back, and welcomes them home from their long and strange journey and brings them to the one who called them.
It does not stop there, those souls still close to this world who fell in the costly battle for the North Pole are welcomed back too. One moment they are passionate shades and the next... they take a breath, they're standing on their own two feet, floating motes of pink radiance born of the wish maker's deep love drifting off of them.
Perhaps a bit selfishly, those who are given the warmest welcome back are the four brave Senshi who fell defending their Princess, but in Serenity's eyes, she cares not for how well they exercised their duty. She only cares that they're back, yet the miracle appears to reward them nevertheless for their beautiful sacrifice.
When the light clears, they're not merely standing near their Princess rather than where they fell, but their transformation pens have transcended into a new form. The Moon Stick has changed too, lengthening into a longer rod, its crescent moon containing a red sphere, atop of which sits a tiny regal crown motif.
Princess Serenity... despite her bone-weary exhaustion, smiles. Her eyes glimmer as if it overwhelmed by sheer joy of just seeing them all again with her in the flesh. "Everyone... I'm... so glad..." So happy it looks like she could die...
And then as if all the energy had been drawn out of her, she starts to swoon, her eyes rolling back. But before she topples over, she regains her feet, shaking her head as if she were merely trying to shake off a sudden headache. She'd be damned before she'd let fatigue, even supernatural in nature, steal this moment away from her.
Before the eyes of the gathered, her elegant white gown fades into pink ribbons, that unravel and reform around her into a Fuku. The Silver Crystal, its work done, descends into the brooch she wears, and shines as it comes to rest there four gems of red, orange, green, and blue lighting up, and blurring together until it too transforms into a sublime compact that closes shut upon the Silver Crystal's new resting place. Right over her heart, where it always belonged.
COMBAT: Princess Serenity transforms into Sailor Moon!
COMBAT: Makoto Kino transforms into Sailor Jupiter!
COMBAT: Minako Aino transforms into Sailor Venus!
COMBAT: Ami Mizuno transforms into Sailor Mercury!
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has fully healed herself.
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
The last dimension that Lera Camry visited was a world of cake. It wasn't so long ago that she finished talking to Setsuna Higashi there. Tears are still fresh on her cheeks and a smile still hovers, uncertainly, on her face as she looks down at the flower. It wavers, though, as she sees Sailor Moon crawling like that -- victorious, but only a pyrrhic victory, she fears. Lera bows her head, sadly.
But then she hears that wish. She turns her head, back to where the girl she left behind stood. There isn't any sign of her friend. She left, Lera realizes. But, she can see her soon.
'I am never alone!'
...Perhaps very soon.
Despite herself, despite all of the pain and tears she just witnessed, Lera grins brightly. She never doubted Sailor Moon; the other girl had reached out to her many times, had stood by her at her lowest, and had offered her help even when they were out of their element. She stands up in front of the beautiful little flower, grinning.
The grin is still there when she appears with so many other girls in front of Princess Serenity. Lera stares at her for a moment -- and the grin softens, tears forming in her eyes. "Sailor Moon," she says. "There was a world that was one giant big cake, y'know? I'll have to tell you all about it."
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Out of a shade of green comes the Magic Knight of Wind, rising to her feet from where she was kneeling before the Princess of the Moon broke the dark spell of exile. She has a short moment to smile to Princess Serenity, bowing her head, before Serenity reverts to the form of Sailor Moon, newly-powered up (or so it would appear, based on the Magic Knight's own experience).
"It seems you did it," she says, still smiling. "Beryl's shadow is dispelled ... I have so much that I should wish to talk to you and your teammates about, Sailor Moon-san. Perhaps we can make the time ... whether in these guises," she gestures at her armor and Moon's fuku, "or as civilian friends. I'd be glad for you to know both my identities, time permitting ..."
She bows in greeting to the other Sailor Guardians as well, in turn or collectively, as she sees that they're back among the living. Beyond that, she seems to be reassuring herself that everyone who was at the battle has returned.
<Pose Tracker> Masque Feu [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Much to the relief of a certain turtledove, Masque Feu didn't die.
The Prism Flower shines. An auroral path winds itself through the maze of dimensions - and a serious girl in a small ballroom masque indulges in a quiet, serene smile of a delight that is much bigger than the smile she lets show. Their faith in Sailor Moon bore fruit, as she believed at a very profound level that it would.
The pure heart of a girl can never be doubted.
With a subtle ripple of jet-black hair and ringlets, Masque Feu touches down in the reality she and so many others left behind. A reality populated not by the sorrows of the dead, but by the silver spark of life, gifted by the weary princess. The lone Soeur can find no words, though her heart resides somewhere around her throat right now. Behind her mask, her eyes shimmer. Only her natural inclination towards behaving with elegant grace keeps her from letting the emotions bubble up.
She can find only one action. It is to close her eyes, take a step forward and smile to Sailor Moon with that simple dignity - and, folding her hands together, she dips her head, bowing with a deep, abiding respect.
A few seconds later, Augustine lands on her shoulder, wide-eyed and fluffing his wings out for a moment. "That silver light," he murmurs. "You could never be alone, Sailor Moon... our hopes have always been with you. Thank you...!"
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
When her Princess calls, how can Sailor Jupiter refuse to answer?
Before she has any idea what's happening, the soldier of protection is on her feet, opening her eyes and drawing a breath of sweetest air, the radiance of her friend's love still fading off of her like dew from grass in the morning. She stands tall, her uniform brilliant in the darkness, white and green and pink, and blinks, using eyes she was certain, just that little while ago, in a cold, dark place, would never open again. "I'm..."
'Everyone...'
"We said we wouldn't leave you!" Her smile comes quickly and broadly, though ti disappears for the instant as Princess Serenity begins to swoon, taking long strides forward in an instant as if to catch her--
...But Sailor Moon keeps standing.
So her powerful steps stop, and she slows, feeling like she might never /stop/ smiling. There's only still the dazed look as if she might still be dreaming. "I thought--But we're all--"
She rushes the rest of the way to take Sailor Moon into her arms, giving her a Jupiter-sized hug that lifts her from her feet as a completely enthused Makoto spins in place with her dear friend, knowing the others are with them, too.
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Fire is orange, isn't it? So the Magic Knight of Fire comes from a shade of orange. She too was kneeling before the Princess of the Moon, out of respect mostly, before she stood up and bowed her head as well. "You did quite well," Hikaru says with a smile. "The battles we've faced aren't easy, but we can do this, I'm sure of it!" Her determination and courage radiate like nothing else. Even in spite of what they've all been through, the Fire Knight shows a positive side for a change.
After that, she bows to the other Sailor Guardians as well. She's feeling relieved that they're not dead either. "We can't die now! There's still too much in life to be had!"
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTv3rsBg7eY
Like a thousand tiny shards of shattered glass clinking together and catching the light..only in that way was Rei Hino able to speak from the dead. In life, a constellation of atoms. In death, a scattered apparatus held together by a proximity that would surely fall victim to entropy in time.
But then..it was as though a tea cup had fallen and froze time as the last of its pieces lay still on the ground. And then they sprung back up, each a perfect reversal of its individual path. And without a seam or a split the tea cup is put back together, soaring back up to its saucer without a scratch.
Sailor Mars gasps sharply, like a drowned woman resuscitated whose entire nervous system grasps for oxygen as quickly as it can lunge. Blinking rapidly, it takes her a moment to reconcile the timeless spaceless disorientation of a tenuous existence beyond the physical world with just how few moments had passed since she stood little more than a stone's throw away. She doesn't know if she'd see her corpse if she looked, so she doesn't.
It doesn't take her all that long to come to though. She's not one to hit her snooze button in the morning. When the bell sounds, up she comes..and she is far from alone. A host of girls experiencing a range of grogginess and surprise fill the unholy court. Among them all, looking surprised enough but not as though they need a moment to get their bearings, are the Princess of the Moon and the Dark Queen of the Earth.
Gently but assertively threading her way through the crowd, shouldering girls aside when need be, she throws her arms around Usagi, hugging her tightly and affording herself just a heartbeat or two to screw her eyes shut. She speaks softly, in a voice not meant to travel.
"I knew you could do it, Usagi..thank you for saving me..for saving all of us.."
And then her gaze opens to whatever little light there is once more. Although one arm maintains the embrace, the other snaps out and erect, pointed straight at Beryl as red energy crackles at her fingertips. Sailor Mars holds it in check, but she won't fall prey to a sneak attack in a moment of distraction. As the other Sailor Senshi join in the embrace, and Rei rises on a euphoric crest as she can accept that her friends are not dead..it is especially important not to drop her guard.
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
A moondrop bursts and ripples through the prism flower. Somewhere in a world on the other side of the mirror, la Sirene, still standing in excitement, sees the Moon Stick rise. Light shines out -
La Sirene steps forwards. It feels like it clicks beneath her feet.
But then, closer, closer yet - and from a rich cool violet emerges la Sirene, Batiste on her shoulder, slightly dishevelled but smiling with only slightly hesitant warmth.
"I knew you could do it... Sailor Moon," La Sirene says, voice quivering.
Batiste squeaks in pleasure as he sees Sailor Jupiter go in for the mega-hug. "I suppose now our only concern is how to wend our way home," he says, settling back and balancing on his haunches, becoming - briefly - taller than la Sirene (by a certain perspective).
You say, "I love that that is a thing now."
COMBAT: Nori Ankou transforms into La Sirene du Nord!
<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Just like everyone else, Ren is brought back in a flash of bronze light, smiling brightly at Sailor Moon. "Never alone." She repeats, moving off aside to stand next to Lera and the others. She doesn't quite remember the details of where she was -- but that doesn't matter. Everyone is here now, supporting Sailor Moon and her loyal guardians.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Even when it came to ditching studying, Sailor Mercury could almost never let her friend down. The soldier of wisdom joins her friends, clad in blue and white. "S -- Sailor Moon!" she stammers out, eyes wide and streaming tears -- partially in appreciation of their newfound openness, partially because she's just... shocked. To have felt death's embrace and returned...
"I -- I'm so glad, I was so scared... but everything's -- it's --" Swallowing and trying desperately to stop the stream of tears, she tries to find the words to put the thousand happy feelings that swirl in her gut together...
... and decides that actions would speak much louder. She throws her arms around her princess -- no, she throws her arms around her friend. Those tears start right back up, and hope for the future overflows in her heart.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Sailor Venus doesn't quite realize what is going on until she feels her toes touch the ground; with a burst of orange light, her heel hits the earth, and Sailor Venus becomes acutely aware that she is solid and standing on ground as real to her as her physical form is right now.
For a moment, she can hardly believe it; she looks down at her hands uncomprehendingly, then taps a finger to the palm of her other hand. She's here, she's alive.
And then in a sudden burst of understanding and hope, she suddenly looks up to discover that she's not the only one here now. The others -- they're here too.
They're alive.
"Everyone!" Sailor Venus has a hard time holding back her tears. Her eyes well up as she races towards the other sailor guardians, flinging her arms around all of them. For the moment, the conflict is completely forgotten. All that's there is the knowledge that they're all alive and together again.
"I'm so relieved," she says as she presses her nose into Sailor Moon's shoulder.
<Pose Tracker> Nagihiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (6)] has posed.
Nagihiko wasn't even expecting to be on this trip. He /wasn't/, to start; left behind in Tokyo with the others who couldn't fight at the same fantastic level as the other magic fighters. But that didn't matter to Queen Beryl's foul trap.
Fortunately for him, perhaps; it led him precisely where he needed to be. And with the invocation of all this cosmic might, he wonders what role fortune had to play at all. Still.
He's whisked away from that far-off forested world, the place he'd found himself trying to reach the heart of Sailor Moon before him. He finds himself instead there in the cavern; amid elated girls, returned from fates deeper and darker than Nagi has much reason to try and fathom. The dead body of the fallen Dark Queen is already troubling for him. But...the world is saved and the victors still walk, even the ones thought fallen.
He finds himself slumping back against the wall of the cavern, head tilting to where his new fairy partner Rhythm now floats, in much a similar pose. "She did it," Nagi says, releasing a breath. "She saved everybody."
"Not going to thank her, bro?" Rhythm asks, with curious eyes.
"It's not cool to interrupt a reunion like that," Nagi replies, and holds up one fist toward Rhythm. The little fairy grins and extends a proportionally liliputian arm in answer, tapping one knuckle with five.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
If she'd had a seat before the miraculous prismatic flower, Mai would have been on the edge of it, watching the final battle between Serenity and Beryl reach its climax. Swirling clouds bear witness to her victorious whoop, punching the air of that distant world as Beryl finally, finally meets her end. And then...
Princess Serenity, alone. Bearing the Silver Crystal, and invoking its full power - transforming the window into the Dark Kingdom's halls into a doorway. With but a passing glance to the grand tree-world she had wandered, Mai steps through.
(And on that world, there might be whispered a legend of the Wandering Waitress...)
Light swirling in shades of arboreal green and burnt orange, Mai steps through into the ominous hall. Bangles dangling around her wrists and ankles, she is practically beaming ear to ear as she beholds...the victory after a terrible battle. "Great job, you did..."
She trails off upon seeing the reappearance of the Senshi, joining Princess Serenity - no, joining Sailor Moon in a great hug. Mai's bright grin fades to a warm smile, and she takes a step back - not daring to intrude. And then the smile fades entirely, as realization strikes her.
"Mikoto! And Eri-chan, and Kuga..." Another step back, to better survey the returning crowd - looking for those friends dear to -her- heart. Another glance to Sailor Moon, and a matching smile - but Mai has her own worries returning with her return to this world.
(And if there were any hope of cell reception at the North Pole, she'd be checking on Takumi already...)
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has fully healed herself.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha transforms into Mai-HiME!
<Pose Tracker> Maron Kusakabe [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
One minute, Kaitou Jeanne was still in a jail cell, ironically having needed to be captured in order to make it the magical flower she sought, wishing with all her might for some way to more directly lend her support to the Moon Princess in her time of need. The next, a swirling rainbow of colors envelops her, and when it fades, she's somewhere entirely different, looking up from where she used to be cradling the flower to see the exact location she was watching from afar, now all around her.
She only looks about briefly to confirm her surroundings, her attention quickly drawn to the Moon Princess. In the end, a brief meeting of the eyes is really all that's needed for her to know that everything's alright now. That kind of overwhelmingly heartfelt joy can be seen as well as felt, effortlessly bringing a smile to the Kaitou's face.
When she came here, she had no idea why exactly she'd felt so strongly compelled to do so. In her line of 'work', she's had to be constantly wise of traps, and this felt like she would be walking into the biggest kind. Her rational mind, reinforced by her angelic guide, very much advised to avoid getting involved with this one. It's not her job. There are many others to handle things like this. She shouldn't feel obligated.
But despite so arguing against herself, she came anyway. And seeing this conclusion, she couldn't be happier. Regardless of all the tragedy it took to get this point, everything is alright now for the Moon Princess, for Sailor Moon. Hope has won in the end, as she always believed it would. Later, this will likely inspire her to renew her faith in her own wish coming true as well. But in this moment, she can only think of the happiness of the Senshi in front of her, perfectly content to watch from a distance without getting directly involved. Somehow, the scene feels vaguely familiar, but she can't put her finger on what she's reminded of exactly. But that too doesn't really matter right now. All that matters is...
"You did it, Sailor Moon... you made your wish come true."
And there's not the slightest bit of jealousy about it being the exact same wish that she's been chasing after herself all this time, ineloquency and all.
COMBAT: Maron Kusakabe transforms into Kaitou Jeanne!
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki transforms into Beat Jumper!
COMBAT: Lera Camry has fully healed herself.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
"I'm so..." She'd promised Mars she'd tell them face to face what she wanted to say. Sailor Moon's arms barely drift apart, by the time strong Jupiter picks the diminutive girl off her feet... We said we wouldn't leave you! Her eyes mist over ever further. "Jupiter... I'm..."
With the dreamy timbre of someone who was newly awakened from a cuckoo alarm clock. Another set of arms are thrown around her so assertively, so passionately,I knew you could do it, Usagi..thank you for saving me..for saving all of us.. "Mars... I really want..."
I -- I'm so glad, I was so scared... but everything's -- it's -- Tears, and arms thrown around her, "M-Mercury..."
Everyone! I'm so relieved! "Venus... how can you...?"
This is the moment that all of her self-recriminations would pour forth but everyone is... happy. So happy. And Sailor Moon is too. And she just can't. Many other friends surround her, and many other friendly acquaintances who fought with her.
I knew you could do it... Sailor Moon. You could never be alone, Sailor Moon... our hopes have always been with you. Thank you...! It seems you did it, Beryl's shadow is dispelled... There was a world that was one giant big cake y'know? I'll have to tell you all about it. Great Job, you did... It's not cool to interrupt a reunion like that. You did it, Sailor Moon... you made your wish come true. Never alone.
"Everyone-" So many looking at her so kindly. Giving her such supporting words, their thanks. And in that moment she forgets. Not intentionally, but she's so swept up in the moment that she just... can't ruin it, "I'm so glad you're all safe!" Tears sparkle out of her eyes, drift down in streams... as she throws her arms the Senshi, but her words are for everyone, "Welcome b-back! I m-missed you all so much!" Joyous laughter erupts from her lips as she throws her arms around each of the Senshi in turn.
And then, in the most Usagi like of moments for those who know her she asks eagerly, with a toothy grin, "Now what was that about a giant cake?"
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has fully healed herself.
<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.
Let it be said now, and let it be said again, Nanoha Takamachi has had a very interesting week.
Between bouncing along the moon, running from a tyrannosaurus, joining an epic and noble 80 hour long quest and completing many sidequests along the way and gaining plenty of EXP and loot... There was zombie slaying, and musical adventures under the sea with snorkel-headed friendly water people...
"HAHA! NOW I, Referijerator, will gather up all seven Lizard Orbs and summon the mighty King Komodo to grant my wish! There is nothing you can do!" This next world played out like a shonen anime for some reason, and Nanoha was getting kind of bored by the filler, the purple skinned alien paying no attention to the giant ball of pink energy glowing in the sky...
Let's just say he never got to make that wish, after the ground is left a smoking crater, and Nanoha scratches her head. "I don't think this is the way home, either, Raising Heart..."
<MY MASTER. THE TENKAI-ICHI BUDOKAI IS NOW COMPLETE.>
"Wh... What does that even mean...? I still think you really went overboard with the whole 'Die monster, you don't belong in this world' thing from before..."
The child's bewilderment is deep and profound. She had remained in Tokyo during the terrible trials and events of the battle against darkness, only to find herself flung so far away from her home and everything she knew, loved, and had she been given opportunity, would have died to defend.
Then... She feels something. A tugging resonance deep within her heart. As if a single distant voice were calling out to her, making known the way back to that very home, and in the span of her very next heartbeat, the girl finds herself there; among such a gathering of her peers and betters the likes of which she hadn't previously imagined. "A-ah..." The ten year old stands somewhat in awe, blue eyes drinking in the gathering of Magical Girls. Familiar faces. Friendly faces. Old faces, new faces. Casual acquaintances, close friends, complete strangers. Let it be said, whoever had shown Nanoha Takamachi the way back to the world and friends she loves, is truly never alone, as the tiny redhead stands in mute, confused, awe.
<Pose Tracker> Queen Beryl [None] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzVBqBosf5w
It is the best kind of ending.
A journey home, across time, across space, across the line between death and life, life, life.
Celebration.
Rebirth not just of life but of hope.
The noise! The warmth, even here, in the icy heart of darkness! The color! Every magical girl on Earth might well be here, given the nature of Beryl's wish and Usagi's miracle. There are many reunions to be had.
Amid the happy chaos, one corpse remains a corpse.
It is the only time in all of history that Queen Beryl has not been the center of attention in her own throne room. She is tall and statuesque, but sprawled backwards on the ground, it doesn't matter. Frost is already beginning to creep across her violet gown, to transform her luscious locks from red to white. Her expression was never peaceful, but is beginning to harden into a rictus grin.
- Between the idea
- And the reality
No -- that isn't frost, and her body isn't leeching cold from the ice that has become her tomb. This chill is coming from within, not without, and one vein at a time it flows through her. Her body isn't freezing.
It's crystallizing.
- Between the motion
- And the act
All at once, she rises, floating into the air as lightly as a cloud. That is the only thing light about her. As her body slowly, fluidly spins on its axis to become vertical once again, her feet hovering several feet above the ground and her broken crown proudly pointing towards the ceiling, palpable darkness flows through her. It is the same darkness she drew upon to wish away the magical girls of Earth, and again in her desperate last stand against Princess Serenity.
And though she gave her life in its service, the darkness isn't done with her -- not yet.
- Between the conception
- And the creation
Everything shatters! Without warning, the ice gives way in all directions, blown backwards and outwards by impossible, unstoppable force. The sky is once again visible overhead, and it is now a true black, marked only by pale blue lines that delineate the clouds that swirl inward, a perfect spiral. In the center: the immovable object, now veiled from view by a fantastic blossom, a dark lotus. Its petals are screwed upwards, shut in an inverse spiral to the one in the sky. They are the color of poison, the very hue of death.
They are a hundred feet tall.
- Between the emotion
- And the response
The petals are no barrier to the voice. Deafness is no barrier; this is not sound. It is present inside everyone because everyone has still, small voices inside, which speak to them clearly without any words at all. Not all of those voices are friendly.
"After eons unending, I am become flesh."
Where Beryl had once hijacked the reflections and vocal chords of everyone to deliver a message, that trick is now turned upon her. It is her voice... but not her words.
"The sun itself was my prison, but could not hold me. This Earthly ice a cage, but now the bars are shattered. The final veil torn down -- no longer must I enforce my will through another!"
What was Beryl laughs, and her laughter is completely different. This is not the cackle of cruel amusement, this is an outpouring of ecstasy, the transcendent feeling of finally -- finally -- being truly alive. Nascent potential finally reached. It could almost be innocent, the first burble of an infant finally emerged from the womb, were it not so impossibly ancient. Instead it is parody, hateful satire.
- Between the desire
- And the spasm
The petals fly open, scattering a gross facsimile of pollen across the ice. Where the tiny motes of light land, they infect, turning shards of ice into more dark crystal, swirling with malice like tiny, angry eggs of hate.
Next to emerge from the steam are filaments of stamen, blacker even than the sky, which writhe and undulate their absence through the air. Air tries to fill the void that they are, and is instantly destroyed, nitrogen sizzling, screaming its descent into true nothingness.
- Between the potency
- And the existence
And at the center of the blossom stands Metallia embodied, Queen Metallia, no longer a voice and a shadow but fully realized upon the tapestry of existence. Not even in the time of the Silver Millennium was she able to express herself so completely.
If Beryl were many dozens of feet tall, Metallia might look like her, but the transformation is more than just growth, and more than just inversion. Her gown is not violet, but red, the red of heart's blood, of all the lives she intends to spend as freely and easily as coins at the arcade. Many magical girls wear crimson, but they don't wear it like this, so vibrant that it pulses, beats with its own malice. And her hair is no longer that glorious fiery auburn, but an unrecognizable cyan, the tainted heart of a tainted flame, the heart of an dying star. It soars above her, bourne aloft by the heat that pours off of her form.
Her tiara has been removed. Only the gem remains, in the center of her brow, a single shard of the crystal she once bubbled in impotently. Her choker, her armlet, both are an unrecognizable black metal. Her fingernails are as long and sharp as the spikes of bone emerging from her shoulders like clasps without a cloak.
- Between the essence
- And the descent
When her eyes open, the force of the presence behind them causes the rubble of the Dark Kingdom, mixed with the ice of the plain, to tremble. It is a familiar feeling -- the dark pillar that summoned everyone to the North Pole, the wish that tore them away -- the malice, the wrongness.
But it was never like this -- so toxic in its closeness that it makes breathing shallow, squeezes tears from wind-torn ducts, clutches the heart and burns.
- Falls the Shadow
"The time has come," says Queen Metallia, "To imbue all living creatures in the universe with hatred and greed -- and then wipe them out, reaping their darkness."
This is darkness born through fire and through ice.
This is the shadow on the heart of the solar system.
This is the true destroyer of the Silver Millennium.
- This is the way the world ends.
COMBAT: Queen Beryl has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 15 opponents!
COMBAT: Queen Beryl transforms into Queen Metallia!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Sailor Mercury.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Nanoha Takamachi.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Sailor Venus.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Kaitou Jeanne.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Nagihiko Fujisaki.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Masque Feu.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon fails to dodge Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Taunted! Stun applied to Sailor Moon!
COMBAT: Masque Feu fails to dodge Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun and Trap applied to Masque Feu!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars is Taunted! Stun and Trap applied to Sailor Mars!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa fails to brace Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Ren Aizawa is Taunted! Stun applied to Ren Aizawa!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! La Sirene du Nord's Block ability activates! La Sirene du Nord's Parry ability activates! La Sirene du Nord is Taunted! Stun applied to La Sirene du Nord!
COMBAT: Sailor Venus narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Venus's Fade ability activates! Sailor Venus's Flash ability activates! Stun applied to Sailor Venus!
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury fails to dodge Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Mercury is Taunted! Trap applied to Sailor Mercury!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha perfectly dodges Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge!
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Nanoha Takamachi's Block ability activates! Nanoha Takamachi is Taunted! Stun and Trap applied to Nanoha Takamachi!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates! Stun applied to Sailor Jupiter!
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki fails to dodge Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun applied to Nagihiko Fujisaki!
COMBAT: Kaitou Jeanne narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Kaitou Jeanne's Fade ability activates! Kaitou Jeanne's Flash ability activates! Kaitou Jeanne is Taunted! Stun and Trap applied to Kaitou Jeanne!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has adjusted her boss levels. She is now ready to take on 16 opponents!
COMBAT: Lancelot has fully healed himself.
COMBAT: Lancelot transforms into Lancelot!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Eclipse of the Heart on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly counters Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun applied to Fuu Hououji!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji's counterattack, Gale Arrow, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Queen Metallia!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Hikaru Shidou's Block ability activates! Hikaru Shidou's Parry ability activates! Hikaru Shidou is Taunted! Trap applied to Hikaru Shidou!
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Lancelot's Block ability activates! Lancelot's Parry ability activates! Lancelot is Taunted! Stun and Trap applied to Lancelot!
COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Eclipse of the Heart, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry is Taunted! Stun and Trap applied to Lera Camry!
COMBAT: Lera Camry transforms into Barrier Jacket Perihelion!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Jupiter /remembers/ her wounds, remembers what killed her, but it's gone. It's gone, and they're alive, and she can't even stop to think about anything; how can she stop to think when she feels this way?
"I thought I'd--" She has too many words to get these out, too much sheer joy, /life/, and finally she turns to see--so many others. So /many/, that for a time she didn't even see them. "Everyone...?"
A beat. Jupiter can't help it; she starts laughing at Usagi's question, about /cake/, as she looks out at familiar faces... and not at something now behind her. Something horrible she fails to notice in the celebration.
There is a strange noise, behind her, but as much as it is a noise is something in the air, something in the wind that shouldn't be /anywhere/, even in this awful place. She feels, deep in her bones, the death she only just escaped settle back onto her shoulders, and turns, eyes widened in horror.
Soldier of Courage she might be, but this is a fear that goes beyond her, goes deep into her soul, ages in the making. And until she hears that voice from within, that she /knows/ is within, she can't even do anything other than stare.
It's like it's choking her, like it's grabbed hold of her heart, and the brown-haired guardian has to force herself to keep her feet. ...But just behind her...
Still slow, still feeling that need to collapse, she takes one step to the side. Only one, because one is all that she needs. She draws in another breath of the chill air, eyes still locked upward.
"NEVER!" Pushing all the air she can through her lungs, finding some way to break through this horror, Sailor Jupiter lifts her arms, hands outstretched to either side, between their ancient foe and Sailor Moon.
Only then does she feel like she can breathe again.
Only then can she look behind her, at her dear friends. At one in particular, staring upward unmoving. One, who--
"Sailor Mercury!" Jupiter calls, trying to pierce that reverie, stepping back and turning just enough to offer her hand. "I'm with you! Don't give up, we've come so far!"
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Together on Sailor Mercury.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Masque Feu [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
There are faces Masque Feu recognizes. Her smile grows a little wider as she catches sight of La Sirene - and, in the same room, Lera and Mai. She takes a step back and peers between the pair of redheads, eyes lingering on Mai, then darting back to Lera, then back to Mai again, as though she were taking mental notes.
(Oh, now I see the differences,) part of her thinks. (How did I ever mix them up?)
She has little time to reflect upon it - because Queen Beryl's body just leapt into the air and transformed itself. The warm feelings of love and success - mostly Sailor Moon's - she felt ten seconds ago are suddenly cast aside as the Queen surges into the form of something more monstrous, a titan countless feet tall.
"Masque Feu!" Augustine exclaims, darting back into the air with a beat of wings - but the oppressive poison of that /sheer malice/ is stifling, and the ancient dove begins to wilt almost immediately, gasping and sagging in the air to hit the ground with a thump. Masque Feu is not much better off. She coughs out a hoarse breath, her throat burning from the sheer intensity of that feeling. She steels herself, but can't seem to find the will to move forward just yet. Whatever is being done - it's making her heart want to curl up under a rock and wilt away.
A silver light threatens to dim. A candle flame gutters dangerously.
She forces herself not to give in to the feelings of greed and hatred. Grits her teeth.
And brings her right hand up, tossing her long black hair back with an imperious crackle.
She brings that finger forward, leveling it towards the towering figure.
"We," she says, "will not allow it. Never."
The lone Soeur takes a few quick steps - but not towards Metallia. She takes them towards La Sirene, moving closer to the girl, as though to cover her. "La Sirene," she urges, her voice quieter and a bit more edged with worry as she looks sidelong to her friend. "Please stay strong... I'll support you however I can."
(Just as you were there for me,) a part of her thinks. (Remember this day forever.)
COMBAT: Masque Feu has used Remember This Day Forever on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has cancelled their attack on La Sirene du Nord. If there are more attacks that need to be +cancelled, please hold all +attacks until the process is complete.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Their happy reunion is short-lived. As Metallia's voice booms out from around then, Venus falls into a defensive stance; she's prepared to fight alongside her companions again, if she must.
And she must. The petals burst forth, giving way to an enormous presence, and for a split second, Venus is in awe of the magnitude of it all.
But when the earth quakes beneath her, Venus is literally shaken out of it. Her blue eyes flash menacingly at Metallia before turning towards Sailor Moon behind her.
"Sailor Moon!" she says. "Don't let her scare you! We can do this!"
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has used Don't be afraid! on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has used Silver Soul on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has finished attacking.
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord accepts Masque Feu's Silver Soul, taking 0 Fatigue damage! La Sirene du Nord is Cheered!
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury accepts Sailor Jupiter's Together, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mercury is Cheered!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Sailor Venus's Don't be afraid!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Cheered!
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
It's a celebration. Happy chaos, through which Mai-HiME flits searching. Some of these magical girls are people she's met. Some are friends, others acquaintances, others...well, there's at least one Puella Magi she only glances at in passing. Even with those lingering worries, though, Mai finds it hard to be too dour - they've won. Everyone banded together, called up to the grand cause, and...
Well. Much as she'd hate to become a certain history teacher, it's hard not to feel like part of a band of heroes right now.
Waving to Kuga from afar, she searches for Mikoto...up until the moment that awful sound of cracking ice echoes through the area. The fiery HiME whirls around to the cause too late - she catches only a glimpse of Beryl's floating umbral corpse before the world seems to shatter. The same force that scattered the roof of the dark kingdom sends her reeling - tumbling through the air uncontrollably.
Fear-fueled flames flare to life, her rings spinning wildly to stabilize her tumble - and Mai Tokiha feels, for a moment, absolutely alone. The bonds of friendship and family seem utterly overshadowed by the hundred-foot flower, and the sheer dark joy it sings.
From the triumph of the light, the darkness now claims victory. Queen Metallia stands towering above, older than imagination and born of absolute malevolence. Suspended on the air upon her elements, Mai stares upward at the presence before her, drifting further away as the dark queen looms high. This is darkness and death, and the conviction in her heart is voiced by self-preservation. To run, flee to the ends of the world, and hope...
*chirpchirpchirpchirpchirp*
There's a buzzing from Mai's pocket, accompanied by repeated dings. It takes a moment for realization to set in - and then Mai snatches her phone from her pocket, staring. Apparently there was reception here...
And there are a number of delayed texts from her brother.
Hey, sis. You weren't at the dorm - is everything okay?
I know you're probably busy, I just got worried all of a sudden...and it seems like no one's around. Even Akira's off at some strength competition...
Anyway, I know you'll be fine - just send me a note when you get this. I'm allowed to worry about you sometimes, right?
Mai stares at her phone, disbelieving - and then the fear on her face fades, to be replaced by a warm smile. "...you really shouldn't, Takumi. But...thanks." Closing the phone, gripping it like it's a cherished treasure, she returns it to her pocket. Taking a deep breath, Mai looks up again to behold Queen Metallia a second time. The embodiment of darkness and death, the shadow of the sun, the greatest evil...by all reason, there's no hope of winning. But... "...there are people I care about too much to back down."
It's hard - it's absolutely terrifying, frankly - but with a deep breath, Mai fuels her fires with determination. She'll die before letting something like this hurt her brother - hurt all the people close to her - and so as much as that might be literal today, she rushes forward. Not foolish enough to charge the queen directly - but rushing to those beginning to stand in the wake of evil's awakening. Her fires are warming, not searing, and she lands on the snow near the first face she recognizes-
-pauses a fraction of a second-
-and then offers Lera a hand. "...so. If I were a sensible girl, I'd be trying to find somewhere to hide - but I think you know me too well for that. And besides - if you're willing to stand up to my 'threat', then we have to fight here, right?" Mai can't help it - even here, at what might well be the end of the world, she gives her fellow redhead a grin.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Affectionate Inferno on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lera Camry accepts Mai Tokiha's Affectionate Inferno, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Lera Camry's debuffs are cleared!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
"I-Is it just my imagination or is it getting colde-" While not the most perceptive of people, she feels it, a second or two before it happens, and her eyes drift over to the Queen's corpse. She'd always been a bit attuned to purity and impurity. "No-oh nonono... It's not..."
When the world around her shatters, she screams. It's not just a scream of horror, but frustration, and visceral emotional pain. Her eyes drift upwards even as snow flakes down upon her twintails...
Sailor Moon takes in the enormity of the disaster, as Metallia blooms out of her floral womb, wearing the body of someone she'd slain not even twenty minutes ago as if it were her own. But not without cost to the flesh, it's warped and changed and so different and twisted and... "H-HUGE!" The fear is emphasized clearly in her words as she recoils. How do you fight something like that?
At least Queen Beryl had some sense of humanity that you could reach out to, communicate with, this was a being that was so beyond their mortal minds and hearts that it just eclipsed all of her newfound joy in but a single heartbeat.
And yet. Even as Jupiter jumps in front of her, and she almost falls backwards onto her rear... Venus stands so proudly, trying to tell her to be brave. She'd been so brave already. She'd done more than anyone could have ever expected of her, been brave even when she felt weak kneed and just wanted to fall down and cry and stop going. But... "I can be brave a bit longer." She whispers, a fist clenches upon the rod in her hand even as she nods at her idol.
... And the other hand of hers reaches out, suddenly, to clasp against Mars' hand, palm to palm, and whispers words for her alone, echoing words from not so long ago. "There's no place I'd rather be."
Even as the world falls down. There's no place she'd rather be, than with her friends. It's just a short moment between friends, as she smiles at her. "Let's live in the moment." Her palm slides down. She turns her eyes upward again, fierce determination in her eyes. This was their true test. She was ready... and she was not alone.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
And the shadow that seemed to have been dispelled chooses to fall once more.
The Magic Knight of Wind looks up at the giant monster, swallowing hard, the blood draining from her face - but her bow and quiver appear even as Queen Metallia declares herself; as the Wind Knight sees that crystallizing powder spreading, she pulls out an arrow and draws it back. "Gale Arrow!" she calls out, and looses ...
But the best she can do is scatter the pollen around her arrow's path. She can't stop its advance; she certainly doesn't harm Queen Metallia, the looming darkness hardly seems to even notice the shaft, no matter how much wind magic may be wrapped around it to speed its flight. "Just when I think we were making progress," the Wind Knight murmurs ruefully, "another boss reminds us that we never have enough time to level-grind."
A handful of people might have any idea what she's talking about.
No matter. The Wind Knight looks among her allies, a smile flashing to Nanoha in particular, but she doesn't deny any of her comrades-in-arms the encouraging look on her face. Even with an enemy who dwarfs Beryl in size and power, she's sure of one thing: standing together, they can triumph.
"I believe our enemy is predicating her assault on some false assumptions about the way the world works, wouldn't you all say? I may not be able to harm her much, myself, but I'll support you all to the best of my ability, and add my strikes when I have the chance to make them count."
She looks then to her own closest ally, the Magic Knight of Fire. "Hikaru-san, it seems she wants to immobilize us. I think she's going to be disappointed in that effort ... shall we teach Metallia-san not to underestimate 'mere' humans?" she finishes with a cheerful smile, almost as if they were chatting over burgers or parfaits at Linden Baum, instead of preparing to fight for their very lives against an evil more ancient than they can readily imagine.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Favorable Observation on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used As the World Falls Down... on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou accepts Fuu Hououji's Favorable Observation, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Hikaru Shidou is Cheered!
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The shadows return, and Hikaru feels like the pressure is bearing down on her like nothing else. She drops to one knee, trying not to let it get to her. But then the words of her ally spark her inspiration to keep going, and she looks to her ally and smiles. She knows what Fuu-chan is doing and she goes along with it.
"Oh, but of course, Fuu-chan!" Hikaru replies with a grin. "We can't let them do that to us! We need to teach them a lesson!" She grins at Fuu-chan, almost like she's trying to encourage her in return.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Don't Give Up on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji accepts Hikaru Shidou's Don't Give Up, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower applied to Fuu Hououji!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
La Sirene smiles at Sailor Moon again, a bit more widely. Batiste is clasping his paws in delight. Neither of them are looking at the nearby corpse of Queen Beryl. That is a problem for later.
The place is cold. How could it not be? However, la Sirene du Nord is resistant, if not impervious, to such a chill. Even so, it seems to be growing. Is the wind lifting outside, she wonders idly - and then ice smashes around them! The sky is revealed, light spreading, ice contorting, the air itself stinking of torment and ozone -
La Sirene has, of course, by now whirled round, the Brazen Pharos plucked from her waist and held guardedly forwards. Her hand feels numb in the face of that unwholesome and unholy irradiance from the revealed and titan form of Queen Metallia. If there is anything that guards la Sirene's heart from total defeat, it is that slamming into the sea-bed of despair is not a wholly unique experience for her.
She breathes in the cold and tainted air.
"... Batiste, run," she says, over the howl of the wind.
"I won't leave you!" squeaks the otter, clinging to her shoulder; terror clear in his black eyes.
"Someone has to tell them," la Sirene says, voice hollow. "You must go back to the Sea." She does not claim she will be alright.
Before either of them can speak to each other any further, the Soeur steps closer, quiet, worriedly. Both look at Masque Feu in surprise - and they draw breath at almost the exact same time.
"... Of course," la Sirene says. Her lips quirk up again, a sorrowful smile that suits her face better. "If you will not run, Batiste... stay with Masque Feu."
Batiste seems to understand, and leaps his way towards Masque Feu's shoulder, moving then to curl the length of his body around the back of the Soeur's neck. To her, he speaks urgently and softly. "I will help you however I can. Please, be strong, Masque Feu -- Augustine! Hurry! Do not let yourself be a sitting turtledove!"
And now la Sirene steps forwards, past Masque Feu. She forces herself to raise her head, to look up along the looming stories of Queen Metallia, towards her face. Her hand rests on the handle of the Pharos, squeezing - but not quite the right way as of yet.
"There are tears enough in the universe without your aid," la Sirene addresses Queen Metallia, as if to a peer. "Will you throw your freedom away, just to see if you can make others hurt...?"
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used Carpe Aonyx on Masque Feu.
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Masque Feu accepts La Sirene du Nord's Carpe Aonyx, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Withstand applied to Masque Feu!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars accepts Sailor Moon's As the World Falls Down..., taking 0 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Mercury opens her mouth to join Jupiter in laughter -- and then, just as she's about to let her guard fall and enjoy herself for the first time in an eternity, /she/ comes, and her power seems to crawl into Mercury's mouth and strangle that joy in its crib.
The oppressive gloom of Metallia -- of the immense power that ripped the Silver Millennium to shreds through mere proxy, of the architect of the Dark Kingdom and all its despair -- brings Sailor Mercury back to harsh, brutish reality. Her heart sinks as low as it had once soared high; she looks immediately to Sailor Moon, trying to keep the sudden wave of hopelessness out of her eyes.
She freezes, and feels as though she's falling through reality and standing still all at once... at least, until Jupiter calls out for her. Her consciousness returns fully to the world, and she violently shakes the gloom and doom out of her head. It's only a start -- but it at least might let her start to get her bearings. Jupiter is there for her; she can believe in her friend, and in turn, in herself.
Turning her gaze back toward Moon and Mars, she forces a smile. "Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars... we're all together again. We can do this!" The smile doesn't quite reach her eyes -- but she's trying, at least, to be reassuring for her dear friends just as Jupiter was for her.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has used Together Again on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Sailor Mars shakes her head with an exasperated sigh. Less than a minute and the silly girl's head is filled with pastries! Even so, it feels good to roll her eyes again so soon. The thought of things returning to normal tempts her into believing that it might be so, and the fury in her fist fizzles away into nothingness.
She regrets the decision in record time. Almost the moment that she shifts her attention to those she loves, a toxic nasuea churns in her belly, like a terrible sea sickness even as they stand still. Reeling, she tries to sense the cause of her distress, and settles soon upon the source. Something terribly unnatural is occurring to Beryl's corpse..and despite all of the vileness that had so long twisted her soul it seemed to be more than a death rattle. Reacting automatically, Mars attempts to resummon and release the fires that just recently wreathed
COMBAT: Sailor Mars accepts Sailor Mercury's Together Again, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Nagihiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (6)] has posed.
While the Senshi cheer and Nagi tries to dutifully respect their private-but-not-actually-that-private moment, Nagi scans his eyes around for his own party. Amu should be here, he thinks, and if he was taken, the other Guardians would be as well. He'd like to make sure they're OK. But...
Rhythm suddenly hisses, "Nagi!" and Nagi's gaze swings around, first to his fairy friend, then following a pointing finger to the original knot of Sailor Senshi, and then past them to - "Rhythm!" Nagi yelps, throwing his arms up defensively; Rhythm immediately shells himself and drives into Nagi's chest, the starlight of Chara Transformation washing over him and (chara) becoming Beat Jumper - just seconds before the shockwaves start. The ice shatters; the flower-woman forms. Beat Jumper stands there with wide eyes, staring up at the monstrous menace. For a second it feels like it's completely beyond his handling; this is the sort of thing he used to run and tell Amu about, not handle himself. But he's stronger now. He's got Rhythm now. And he's fought some pretty crazy stuff before, he remembers; back when he used another name and another Guardian Character. "Nagi!" he hears; Rhythm speaking from his heart. "Don't let an old lady intimidate you, dude! She's got the worst kind of beat! Show her your style, man!"
Shivers down his spine. 'Show her your style,' Rhythm said, but she's a hundred feet tall and made of evil flowers! She shattered this whole huge place just by showing up! Every inch of her outfit sends his skin crawling, something deeply wrong with every curve and color. But...
He flexes one hand, a ball of light forming in it, and takes a deep breath, and makes himself start walking forward, joining the gathering front line. "She's the one who did all this," he says, eyes cutting to Lera and Mai; Lera was there for him several times the last few months, and bore witness to Rhythm's birth. It's about the best emotional throughline he's got, right now; he'll take it. "She's huge, but...it's not power that wins this. We've got everyone she tried to send away here with us."
He sets his stance wider, dribbling his ball a few times, letting the track of light it leaves between his legs and up his arms shine defiant. "We've got our own pace! Our own beat to hold us up!"
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has used Flower Letter on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has used Flower Letter on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has used Flower Letter on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lera Camry accepts Nagihiko Fujisaki's Flower Letter, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry is Cheered!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha accepts Nagihiko Fujisaki's Flower Letter, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Mai Tokiha is Cheered!
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX3xHXXM2PA
Takeo stood where Lancelot stood, he WAS Lancelot, and took a long look at what was. He looked at Avalon, at beauty and wonder, and majesty. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a breath. On the hill, just outside of that city he had found it. The flower, radiant and wonderful. An Old Man stood with him leaning on a staff. "I know who are." The old man says carefuly.
Lancelot looks to the old man and nods. "I have to get back. There is a fight coming. I'm not much of a player, but I can help." He looks away, sheepishly, "And I need to find a way to save my sister."
The old man nods. "If you go, things will happen as they happened before." The happenings unspoken, the implication there.
There is a brief moment. Just the briefest. Where Takeo is tempted. He then grins and scratches the back of his neck as he looks impishly to the Old Man. "Oh man. Merlin. I can't do that. There's like some Prime Directive or something that says it's illegal for me to hamper with the flow of time. Or something." He glaughs and says very seriously. "Besides. You haven't invented Donuts and your bacon tastes... funny."
The Old Merlin blinks, then smiles slightly. "I'm going to hate you in a few hundred years arn't I?"
Reaching out to touch the flower, Takeo winks to Merlin, "We'll pretend. See ya soon Old Man."
As touches the flower he sees the battle. His eyes watch as Princess Serenity takes on Beryl, moon beam to dark magic. When it's over, he passes through the image's edge. The portal sends him where he needs to be, and instantly, Takeo transforms into Lancelot. He steps form the last lightning strike announcing his arrival and looks around. He notices he is standing next to Mai. "Oh man. I cannot tell you bow much I missed your bacon. Avalon makes WEIRD bacon." He looks like he's about to say more when the dark power of Queen Metallia manifests itself.
Arondight is drawn quickly, and he stumbles back, the young knight feeling ... stunned ... at what he witnesses. Nornally he'd have something to say. Instead, he simply says evenly, "Oh. Crap baskets."
The Knight takes a step back again, holding the right white blade Arondight between him and the Darkness that is Queen Metallia. Fear grips him, and threatens to strangle him. The Knight looks visibly shaken, but then grits his teeth. "I'm a knight." He says evenly. With purpose he then steps forward. Once. Then twice. Then quicker as he begins a full on run toward the evil entity that lies before him. Lightning suddenly sparks form the blade as he changes to a low guard to trail the blade behind him. "I won't let you get past any of us, I won't let you hurt my sister, I won't let you hurt my friends!" At the last second he leaps and calls out, "I WON'T LET YOU TAKE AWAY BACON!" and lightning strikes his blade to infuse it with a blinding white crackling power, "LIGHTNING!!!!" He screams and lashes toward the darkness before him, "SLASH!!!!"
He lands in a roll, coming up and ready for whatever mgiht happen next, (Like a foot squashing him. I mean she's like 30 meters tall or something. He doesn't know really. Takeo is terrible at math. She's jsut REALLY big,) his face set in a determined grimace as lightning arcs off the blade and around the Knight of the Round Table Reborn.
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Lera didn't have her guard up. She even came without being transformed; she had dropped her Barrier Jacket when she arrived in the last world, to not mess up her clothing while she had a chat with Setsuna. She didn't -- despite being in a place so dangerous -- expect this to happen. Her head turns, slowly, when Beryl's corpse turns upright and begins to crystallize. Her eyes widen, sharply; she draws a tight gasp in.
<Look out!> Soaring Sky chimes. <She is-->
The Armed Device's warning comes much too late. The ice shatters and blows away, and cold winds whip in; against the chill of the Arctic, Lera's summer tank top and shorts are woefully inaccurate. And, more than that, the terrifying voice coming from Beryl chills her to the bone as Metallia begins to laugh.
She stares up at Queen Metallia, in the plant-like form, and she takes a step backward. She remembers this, from her dreams. Her eyes drop down to Princess Serenity -- and then sideways, towards Ren and Nanoha, before she shakes her head. "Sky, we--"
<I know.> The Device finishes the thought for her. <Get set!>
In a flash of light, Lera is left wearing her long green coat; her feather flutters up, in her hair, and gauntlets form around her hands. She grips the sword-shaped Device in both hands, the point punching down into the ground, and she stares up with wide eyes. She feels chilled to the bone; her heart sinks, and she wonders for a moment if they can do this. She wonders if she will really go back to Tokyo alive.
She feels something in her throat and swallowing won't get rid of it.
But then help comes from a most unexpected quarter. She stares at Mai Tokiha -- not in concern or disapproval, as she might have after their last conversation -- but in confusion. Then a smile comes to her face and she sticks a hand out, grabbing Mai's. "Yeah," she says, her voice shaky. They can fight; even if it feels absolutely terrifying. Mai's words don't take away the fear -- but they help her move it somewhere useful. Even then, though, it begins to become something else.
Guilt, in the strangest of places, as she realizes that this might be how Mai and her both die. She doesn't want her to think of her that way, and in a panic, her mind rushes there. "I'm sorry, for--for getting angry and--and..." Her head tilts to the side, and she keeps babbling. "I didn't think about how--why you might have--"
Nagi cries out to her. Lera sucks a breath of cold air in, and it calms her down -- she stares at the boy, now with his Guardian. Then, she nods at him. "Right... right!" she says. "We can still do this. Sorry, Tokiha-san, I was just--ah, y'know. Terrified out of my mind."
She laughs awkwardly. "Fujisaki-san is right!"
She glances, then, back to Ren. She bites her lip, then she calls out: "Ren-chan!" she yells, over the fury of the Arctic wind, her hand slipping out of Mai's. "I know it's scary, but... but this is why we have Devices, right? For... for times like this! We need to make sure there's a bright tomorrow!"
She lifts Soaring Sky, pointing him up at Queen Metallia's terrible form. "Let's do it, together, Ren-chan!"
COMBAT: Lera Camry has used We'll Do It Together! on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lancelot accepts Nagihiko Fujisaki's Flower Letter, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Lancelot is Cheered!
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Lightning Slash on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Kaitou Jeanne [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
It's not fair.
As everything comes apart around her, it's the only clear thought that will come to Kaitou Jeanne, not for the first time today. This should have been over, right? They earned their happy ending, right? Then why... why is /this/ happening?
Jeanne's ribbon appears in her hand as soon as it becomes apparent that Something's Wrong, but no action immediately follows. The way she beholds the appearance of Queen Metallia is nothing short of awestruck. Imposing size and displays of magic aside, she instinctively knows that what she's looking at right now is far beyond anything that she's ever dealt with. And quite possibly beyond anything that she's equipped to deal with. What could she reasonably be expected to do against /this/?
An overwhelming urge to run, to escape in any way possible, overcomes her. But at the same time, fear and doubt grips her heart, and she finds herself completely frozen. There's just no way... no way that anything she does would make a difference. It's pointless to even try. She might as well--
Her head sharply turns towards the Sailor Senshi. There, she finds her determination. Even when things feel hopeless... she can't ever give up. Isn't that what she told Sailor Moon? More than that, isn't that what she vowed to do herself? To never give up, and make her wish come true?
Her hand tightens on the grip of her ribbon. She'll do it. And it won't be just her wish. She'll protect Sailor Moon's wish, too. As she approaches the Senshi, she murmurs to herself those magical words once more. "Strong and serious... matchless and marvelous... energetic and courageous...!"
When she arrives by their side, Kaitou Jeanne lashes out with ribbon once, creating a sound not unlike that of a whipcrack, before pulling it back, the far end dropping down to drape over her outstretched left hand. "If that's your intention," she begins, directly addressing Queen Metallia, "Then this sounds like my purview, after all." She closes her open hand, clutching the end of her ribbon in a fist. "In the name of God, Kaitou Jeanne has appeared! Tonight, I will restore beauty to the world!" In spite of her lingering fear, a grin comes to her face. "After all... there won't be anything left for me to steal if I let /you/ take it."
COMBAT: Kaitou Jeanne has used Miraculous Reversal on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Kaitou Jeanne has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly counters Lancelot's Lightning Slash, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Lancelot is Psyched! Blind and Stagger applied to Queen Metallia!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia's counterattack, The Hand of Goddess, partially gets through, doing 21 Fatigue damage to Lancelot! Critical Counterhit!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly dodges Kaitou Jeanne's Miraculous Reversal, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Bind Break! All of Kaitou Jeanne's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa accepts Lera Camry's We'll Do It Together!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa is Cheered!
<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.
Everything had been so perfect. To return home after what felt like seven days lasting an eternity, seven days of bewilderment, lonely wandering, and homesickness- to come home surrounded by allies in triumph and celebration; exultant over friends returned from journeys like and unlike her own- some of which one normally would not return from. Like the rosy tint rising to the child's cheeks against the biting chill of the north pole, Nanoha's confusion is melted away by the joyous warmth of reunion.
Before a chill far more dire, far more biting, and terribly merciless sets upon her. Too busy joining in the celebration, the crystallizing corpse misses the Mage's perception entirely until it is far too late, and that voice- Queen Metallia's voice of gleeful malice stabs Nanoha to the very core of her soul with a chill the likes of which she had never felt before.
She had faced monster and youma.
Duelled Fate Testarossa.
Stood defiant with her friends against the Executives of Labyrinth,
She even threw herself headlong at Precia Testarossa without a second thought.
Yet these were no mere achievments- they were steps to be climbed, one after the other, each one a lesson in the fact that to be brave is not the complete absence of fear, but to overcome it...
When those words rip into Nanoha as they do... Perhaps for the first time in the girl's live...
Nanoha Takamachi instantly learns the meaning of what total, abject, mewling terror is.
Body locking as though flash frozen by the arctic chill she near loses herself to instant and complete despair. And then.. Then that fear, and woe bubble to something darker... Something seething, something so very angry, threatening to claw its way from her breast, a dark shadow falling across the ten-year-old's face as her hair shrouds her eyes, hand clenching around the shaft of her staff...
<DON'T LET HER BREAK YOU.>
It is the firm, resolute voice of her trusted and beloved Device that shakes Nanoha of her complete, powerless, terror. She glances around... All it takes is a smile- and then realization sets in. Despite the terror, she's surrounded by countless girls who she can count as friends, even the strangers. Girls who bring hope- girls who literally create miracles where darkness claims it holds domain.
Still terrified, Nanoha looks down at her palm. It's still so small.
But if she can help another, now in this moment, then that's all she needs to do.
Among the throng she spies a familiar face, and it is to Masqye Feu, Nanoha forces a smile.
"I never got to thank you for what you did, before. For Fate. So let's all get through this together, because I'd like to thank you. And everyone else here for all of their hard work.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Encouraging Words on Masque Feu.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Masque Feu accepts Nanoha Takamachi's Encouraging Words, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Ren feels her smile grow wider as the scene plays out before her. But it's ultimately completely and utterly wiped away when the fearsome Queen Metallia rises up and spreads her deep, suffocating darkness all around. The mage grunts as the force Metallia's sinister appearance forces her back, wavering unsteadily in the air. "What?!" Now /this/ is unexpected. She looks around in dismay at everyone, then clenches her jaw.
"No way she's going to ruin things...!" Ren exclaims to herself, turning to stare Metallia down. It's not as effective as she hoped due to the dark Queen's sheer magnitude combined with the overwhelming aura of wrongness, however. But she can't back down and let everyone down! Too much is at stake -- as it always is it seems. The world around them is falling apart, but they cannot -- and will not -- run away in fear.
And then comes aid in the form of Lera, bolstering her courage to new heights. Ren looks at her best friend in the whole wide world with an air of pure exuberance. "Right Lera-chan! Let's help Sailor Moon and the others finish this! You too Nanoha-chan!" Then she looks down at Heraut. "You ready?"
The device chimes. <Of course! I was born ready! This devil in a red dress won't beat us!> Heraut's personality has certainly done a complete turnaround since the Jaren business ended! Ren smiles and nods, gripping the device tightly before rocketing forward, flying towards Metallia like a streaking comet.
<Regal Crasher!> Ren delivers a slash with her scepter, sending forth a blinding beam of light that rips through the air towards Metallia.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Regal Crasher on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to counter Ren Aizawa's Regal Crasher, taking 50 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia's counterattack, Sol Survivor, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Ren Aizawa!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBbGKUQs2BE
Sailor Mars shakes her head with an exasperated sigh. Less than a minute and the silly girl's head is filled with pastries! Even so, it feels good to roll her eyes again so soon. The thought of things returning to normal tempts her into believing that it might be so, and the fury in her fist fizzles away into nothingness.
She'd regret the decision in record time. A terrible nasuea crashes into Mars almost to the moment that her attention shifts from foe to friends, like a severe sea sickness even though they're on steady ground. Casting out to find the source of her ailment, she doesn't have to search for long. Something unnatural is happening to Beryl's body..and for all the warping corruptions that she'd basked in for so long, it seems like more than a death throe.
Instinctively, Rei attempts to resummon the fire that had just recently wreathed her hand, but it's too little, too late. All she gets off is a half baked hip shot that couldn't burn a slice of bread.
And then everything bursts, and the dark heart they all stood within gave way to a greater cavern, no less black with malice. And in place of the tyrant is a monolith to a far more vast and ancient evil..a great collosus that she recognized on instinct even as she is gripped by its incomprehensibility.
Sagging down to her knees as though the back of their caps had been struck with a club, she has to clap a hand to her mouth to keep from vomiting. Her body and spirit are open ports to the metaphysical, and the sheer and relentless immensity of this..entity's evil are overwelming.
And then Usagi takes her hand, and murmurs words that had so recently sprung from her very own mouth. They sounded so strangely, coming to her ears instead..although a tear springs to her cheek, and she is filled with love and gratitude, she can't quite shake the poison in her belly. Ami's voice, too, calls out to her. Would that she could manage to squeeze out a smile of her own..but with their support she manages to stand to her feet, and points a wavering finger to the deity of demons. Her arm and her voice alike creak a little less by the end of her words.
"I know you! It's been you all along! All this time! All this tragedy! You've been steering it all, haven't you? Billions slaughtered, great flames of the galaxy snuffed out for your appetite! In the name of Mars, and all of the worlds of this sun, this solar system will be avenged!"
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used In The Name Of Mars on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to dodge Sailor Mars's In The Name Of Mars, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Mars is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Queen Metallia [None] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqMHRKTYDHM
Defiance.
It was the inevitable response, and Queen Metallia, unlike her predecessor, welcomes it. She honors it, even. She's said the same words so many times against the bars of her elemental prisons, whispered them into the dreams of Serenity the elder -- and a young Beryl.
Never.
She smiles, spreading her massive arms above her head, spreading her palms. It's invisible behind those clouds, but impossible to avoid the visual, regardless, that she seems quite able to snatch the Moon out of the sky and grind it between thumb and forefinger. Render it to dust... again. Finish what she started, all those years ago.
"Never," she replies conversationally, "Is a very, very long time. I have already waited forever -- in a way inconceivable to you, whose souls merely slumbered through the intervening eras."
Power gathers between her hands, shining blackly. It sizzles, crackles, arcs, but is not lightning. It licks and burns, but is not flame.
Lancelot makes the extremely unwise decision to get up there in it, and the summoning she's in the middle of enacting is momentarily stretched like pizza cheese, the energy widening and thinning, such that she can backhand the Knight in midair. In that moment, Ren's beam of light takes her on one hip. Narrowing her eyes, she tries to catch the speedy flyer on the foreswing.
"I won't let the likes of /you/," she adds, glancing at La Sirene and Kaitou Jeanne and especially the infuriated Sailor Mars, for whom a glimmer of recognition enters her golden eyes, "Dictate my actions!"
And then, the power reaching its peak, she rolls her shoulders even further back and hurls it all, like a single, massive, explosive javelin, directly at the army of magical girls. When it hits the snow, it melts it instantly then refreezes just as fast, creating a pillar composed of razor-sharp shards. Girls are tougher than ice, but it's still an unbelievably brutal blow, the likes of which has not been seen on Earth in at least several decades, and quite possibly 'never, ever, not at all.'
There are only a few moments, no doubt, before she strikes again!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Sailor Mercury.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used The Hand of Goddess on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Nanoha Takamachi.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Sailor Venus.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Kaitou Jeanne.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Nagihiko Fujisaki.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Masque Feu.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Masque Feu narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 37 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Masque Feu's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Lera Camry fails to dodge Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 63 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon fails to dodge Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 47 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 35 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji perfectly dodges Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Kaitou Jeanne narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 44 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Kaitou Jeanne's Fade ability activates! Kaitou Jeanne's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa fails to counter Queen Metallia's The Hand of Goddess, taking 80 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa's counterattack, Quartz Guard, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Queen Metallia!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Mai Tokiha's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki perfectly dodges Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Nagihiko Fujisaki's Fade ability activates! Nagihiko Fujisaki's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 38 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi fails to dodge Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 47 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars perfectly dodges Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Sailor Mars's Fade ability activates! Sailor Mars's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury fails to dodge Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 60 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Lancelot fails to dodge Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 61 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou fails to dodge Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 49 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Venus fails to brace Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 56 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
The Wind Knight sees the javelin coming in; it's virtually impossible not to at that size. It's too big to counter, too big to block; the obvious response is to get out of its way with all possible alacrity.
She does so, and keeps going until things have settled down. The lack of stopping may be the only thing that protected her from a secondary icicle impalement; she looks back to see how her allies are faring, and for most of them, the answer appears to be 'not very well'.
The Magic Knight of Wind heads back to form up with her allies, eyeing Queen Metallia along the way. How do you fight back against that kind of overwhelming power ... ?
You start by making it a little less overwhelming, she realizes. It's certainly worth an effort; the worst she can do is fail, in which case nobody is any worse off for her trying than if she curled up and shivered instead. Of course, if it DOES work, Queen Metallia may make a more dedicated effort to smite her in particular, but she's prepared to take that chance - better her than the girls who can hurt Metallia worse than the Knight of Wind can.
"WINDS OF ADMONISHMENT!!!" she cries out, summoning the force of the tempest - almost as much power as she'd draw on for her Emerald Cyclone, but shaped instead into the entrapping whirlwind which she uses so often. The only difference is in size; she's not going to let that stop her, any more than she's going to let it stop her friends and sisters-in-arms.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Admonishment on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly counters Fuu Hououji's Winds of Admonishment, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Trap applied to Queen Metallia!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia's counterattack, Solar Flare, partially gets through, doing 13 Fatigue damage to Fuu Hououji! Critical Counterhit!
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The huge javelin coming at the Fire Knight causes her eyes to go wide in disbelief, and she knows if it hits her she's in big trouble. The best course of action would be to try to move out of the way of the javelin, but it's too fast and too big for her to even think about avoiding. It pierces through her body, causing her to cry out in pain and drop to the ground. She can feel the blood under her armor, but that only seems to ignite the fires within her instead of weakening her.
"No... I won't be defeated that easily!" The Fire Knight thinks as she rises to her feet. "We must triumph! Together we can do this if we try!" The Fire Knight points at Queen Metallia and scowls. "You were just lucky. Next time you attack, you won't be so lucky!" She summons forth the power of fire and calls out, "FIRE ARROW!" This calls forth a flaming apparition in the form of, what else, an arrow. With a gesture, the Fire Knight sends forth the flaming apparition at Queen Metallia.
<Pose Tracker> Masque Feu [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
"I'm - hnf - I'm not sitting!" Augustine manages as he pulls himself laboriously back into the air, fluttering his wings briskly.
Suddenly, there is an otter, and Masque Feu gasps gently as Batiste slides around the back of her neck like a shawl. She bows her head, her eyes closing for a moment. "Thank you," she murmurs. "Batiste... La Sirene... please stay strong."
Another voice comes through. Smaller.
A lump forms in Masque Feu's throat as she looks back down at Nanoha Takamachi. A blur of soft blonde hair dances in her vision. Live for you.
She lifts a hand, gently touching Batiste's back, letting her grace give way to the smallest of smiles. A hint of genuine warmth even among the darkness. "We will get through it," she says with a small dip of her head. "I know we will."
The Dark Queen just about feeds her, and everyone else, their words.
"Watch out," she calls to La Sirene and Nanoha both - and she tries her best to leap over the javelin of dark power as it's cast into the crowd of girls.
She makes it - but by what factor is 'making it' when you're dealing with something that flash-freezes in a hail of ice shards? Fragments scatter through the air; icy thorns slash at the lone Soeur. She gasps as she does her best to will herself higher into the air, curling her arms to try and shield Batiste from the worst of the collateral damage. "Please be okay," she whispers to the otter coiled around her.
And to someone else. She twirls as she sails clear of the massive blast, hurt and battered, but still moving -
To land, with a flourish, near Nanoha Takamachi.
"'The likes of you,'" she repeats, glaring through her mask up at the towering Queen Metallia. Her voice is low and controlled, but a note of righteous anger burns behind it. The candle burns brighter. "I won't have them talked to in such a manner. Even as someone who has walked alone, they have shown me nothing but kindness... and I, Masque Feu, will not have that kindness dismissed."
She takes a step to the side - and stands, for a moment, between Queen Metallia and Nanoha. Giving the younger girl a moment to collect herself.
"Please, be careful," she urges Nanoha on a breath.
Her eyes flare with intention. She whips both hands up, heels sliding apart to brace her against the cold, scarred ground. Swinging her arms out in dual arcs, she brings her palms together. "Pure Spark," she calls out. "Burn away the dark!"
Her voice rings in the open air, with no roof to really contain it - and the magic of the Silver Star /sings./ Even made for battling vampires, the light seems to relish this battle against the ancient enemy of the Silver Millennium. The light in Masque Feu's palms peaks - and it erupts forth in a barrage of fireballs, streaking like comets to pound towards the titanic Queen of Darkness. Each one shimmers with a flame that burns the darkness back and leaves only purity.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Fire Arrow on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has used Purespark Barrage on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia perfectly braces Masque Feu's Purespark Barrage, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Queen Metallia's Block ability activates! Queen Metallia's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to dodge Hikaru Shidou's Fire Arrow, taking 28 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Seeing that look from Mars is worrisome. Sailor Moon stares at her like she's ready to break off from the battle just for her sake but... all of her passion and fire returns to her as she calls out Metallia. "All of this... all of those worlds..." She remembers. With a gesture, how Beryl had looked at the Red Planet from afar... "...all those people. They were nothing more than..."
Sailor Moon starts her slow walk towards Queen Metallia, even as the Mahou Shoujo around her explode into action. She does not lead them. So many hearts, with so much belief in her. She'd try to be equal to that belief. And with every step, the exhaustion seeps out of her. She finds her feet on the ice of the North Pole, her strength in the face of the enormity of the evil they face, in the insignificance of all of them in Queen Metallia's terrible burning eyes. "I..." She looks over her shoulder at the Senshi, and smiles.
Sailor Moon disappears. Cut off so completely by what happens next.
A spiked crystalline pillar takes her place. Spiked and fearsome, it looks like she was slain on the spot, or at the very least critically injured. A monument left over her corpse?
But no more than five seconds later. The top of the pillar flattens out, into a platform, and there stands Princess Serenity again. She looks deathly pale, sweat beading on her forehead, the Silver Crystal floating in front of her, petals opening. She lived, but at what terrible cost? Her twintails and the train of her gown sway to the side in the frigid arctic wind, her eyes open. She holds her rod high. "...I will definitely protect everyone!"
It is a promise more than a rallying cry, even if it it that too, to herself. Everyone is risking their lives out here, so the least she could do is give it her all too.
The crown ornament of the rod shines, and the Silver Crystal responds, it shines forth wave after wave of light of raw purifying power, trying to blunt the impurity Metallia's terrible onslaught by shining right in her eyes. ... The very object she wanted all along, is right there. "I won't let you have this world! I won't let you take away our shining future!"
COMBAT: Sailor Moon transforms into Princess Serenity!
COMBAT: Princess Serenity has used She's Got The Power on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Princess Serenity has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
...a knight who missed bacon? Lancelot's comment receives a quirked eyebrow from Mai in passing - but then there were far more pressing concerns to worry about than a breakfast dish.
Hand clasping Lera's, Mai shakes her head in response to Lera's stammering. "...it's fine, honest. I said I understood before, right?...and for what it's worth, I'm sorry too. For - well, overreacting like that..." It's a sad smile, but a smile all the same. Because there's no better time. "...I'm kind of stubborn sometimes, yeah. It's fine."
Nagihiko calls out, and Mai turns to hear his encouragement - and takes a deep, calming breath of her own. "...right. She's powerful...but there's worse things than..." She shakes her head, and turns back to Lera for one last word before releasing her hand. "...yeah. Hope you don't mind if I wind up 'overreacting' here..."
And then - then, Metallia answers their assembled defiance.
Eternity. Or close enough, the sheer force of hatred smouldering across millennia making the difference academic. Mai's hands tremble as she looks up at the towering Queen - the queen who has waited through the lifetimes of civilizations for this freedom to end entire worlds...
But her back is straight - and she steps forward. Power crackles and flickers and rages, a storm of ice bearing down on everyone - and Mai throws her hands together, a flickering wall of fiery red meeting the onslaught of ice. Abyssal, brutal cold hammers at the barrier, the sheer power of the assault driving Mai back a dozen meters - but when the storm passes, there's still flame burning.
Still a HiME standing.
"Never...is a long time. You're right about that much - it's a heavy promise, saying that something will never happen. But I'll settle for this much...!" From falling ice shards, a HiME ascends, bolstered by furious flames. Every part of her that wants to live is screaming in protest - that she should stay as far from the dark queen as possible. But - there's someone waiting, back home. Friends who accompanied her this far. And for their sake...
Three teardrop-shaped sigils of flame appear before Mai, swirling around each other in a familiar pattern. As they turn, a shield of crimson light appears - one that Mai flings forward decisively as she approaches Metallia. A dazzling sheet of flame - one to sear the judgmental eye that looks down on it. "I'm not going to let you hurt them while I draw breath - not today!"
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Devoted Scintillation on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to dodge Princess Serenity's She's Got The Power, taking 47 Fatigue damage! Princess Serenity is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
When Lera sees Ren fly in with her scepter-shaped Device, she smiles even brighter. Sometimes, it is hard to believe how far her friend has come. She can remember when she was far less confident, when she wasn't nearly so brave, and when they were scared of each other. A lot has changed, besides Souverain Heraut, and Lera hefts up Soaring Sky, gripping him in both arms. A field of orange-red light crackles around her and up the length of the sword.
Lera looks sideways at Mai, and then she nods her head once. "Y-Yeah," she says. "I'll come by Linden Baum later. We need to get back home, first, y'know?"
The descent of that javelin, though, wreaks havoc on everything. The explosion and razor-sharp chunks of ice slam into Lera, striking her and throwing her to the snow -- and away from Mai, Ren, and everyone else for a moment. She rolls a few times, gashes cut into her clothing here and there; a crack runs up the right gauntlet; and a slash on her cheek leaves a little line of blood running down her face.
"What is she!?" the Midchildan girl yells, as she stands back up. Her sword crackles next to her; the plasma dancing across Soaring Sky's bronze blade makes a little more of the snow melt.
<I don't know.> He hesitates, before he chimes: <It will take everything we've got. Raising Heart, Heraut... we'll go in close. Hit her together, when we do!>
"I like the sound of that, y'know?" Lera says, with a grin on her face, as she lifts off the ground. "But be careful. Nanoha, you gotta get back to Fate. Ren-chan, you gotta get back to Endo-kun. And I've gotta..." She looks straight forward, thinking of Fate and Setsuna and her mother, while she lifts up off the ground. Wind whips by her, and she swings her sword up alongside her head. "...make sure I live up to the proud Camry name!"
<Engaging! Go!>
Lera blitzes across the ruins of the Dark Kingdom, speeding up to nearly the speed of sound. She tears past rubble and pieces of ice, leaving a trail of red-orange light zig-zagging in the air behind her, before she comes to a stop directly in front of the monstrous Queen. Metallia towers over her, but even still, she swings her sword down. Plasma flame dances up it, winding over the blade.
When she strikes, the plasma explodes off it. A huge blast shoots into the air, right off the blade, and at Metallia -- and more than that, it makes a flash of light that might distract her from the attacks coming in.
<Triple...!>
COMBAT: Lera Camry has started a combo targeting Queen Metallia!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to brace Mai Tokiha's Devoted Scintillation, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cripple applied to Queen Metallia!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
La Sirene du Nord stares upwards as that light forms together. It is not quite flame, not quite lightning. And not quite -
La Sirene's mouth gets ahead of her, or perhaps it simply follows the outrage of her heart. "Then," she says, narrowing her eyes, "do not try to dictate our fates!"
Then the massive Metallia throws her thunderbolt down into the snow, whereupon it explodes most handily. She throws up one arm to shield her face and one of those crystalline icicles, formed in impossible speed, SLAMS UP HER SLEEVE - la Sirene makes a gagging noise, half scream and half gasp, as she thrashes momentarily against it. Her sleeve rips when she tears loose. She can feel something wet on her palm.
La Sirene's hand curls into a tight fist, the other clenching around the Pharos' handle. She doesn't do anything for a full second, her head lowering down. The pain is making her eyes prickle with tears.
Then up comes the Pharos, with a sudden jerk. Back goes her opposite foot. A slight crouch. Like she's going to throw her entire body behind something. La Sirene's gaze goes up, as if to sight along her arm. She breathes fast and quick, letting the tears flash-freeze on her cheek - and evaporate just as fast.
She can take a moment. She can do it perfectly.
La Sirene raises up her wounded arm, the hand contorted for a moment. Her grip on the Pharos loosens slightly, index and pinky fingers rising upwards. "Les Mysteres," she half-whispers, voice shaking slightly.
The final word becomes a shout as she slams down with her wounded arm. And taking time means everything comes out perfect, not least because all of la Sirene's previous hesitance with the brass flap that holds in the stark unlight that pours steadily out from her Black Mirror is not applicable right now. The cap flips upwards entirely, glittering like a black star for a moment -
The spell floods outwards, swirling with its usual silvery force in the channeled tube of black, like gorgeous ink slamming upwards. With the time that it has to spread out on its way up along the titan form of Metallia it /does/ spread, the stark geometric curves and representations spreading out as if to write in resonant scripts upon Metallia's blood-crimson form. The echoes behind her extend out, crawling like worms and fish through the demolished ice and dark crystal that stretches behind her.
"From here," la Sirene says, "I suppose... /every/ wind is the North..."
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used Les Mysteres on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
He lands in a roll, coming up and ready for whatever mgiht happen next, (Like a foot squashing him. I mean she's like 30 meters tall or something. He doesn't know really. Takeo is terrible at math. She's just REALLY big,) his face set in a determined grimace as lightning arcs off the blade and around the Knight of the Round Table Reborn.
That's how that attack with Arondight, Demon's bane went in Lancelot's head anyway. Instead he is casually slapped out of the air, and driven to the ground like he's NOTHING. He hits the ground and rolls, the lightning arcing with every strike he makes on the earth.
He slams the point of Arondight down into the ground, the blade biting deep, and first slowing, then stopping Lancelot's egress away from the Dark Queen, his head snaps up as the Queen launches her assault on the group. He leaps, but isn't fast enough, the blast slamming the Knight to the ground again.
He grits his teeth and pushes himself up, spitting out a red glob to the side. "Yeah. I'd say I'm gonna feel that in the morning, except I'm already feel's it." He shakily takes up a guard stance again, holding Arondight at the ready once more. He narrows his eyes, and then surges forward, spinning arondight as he goes.
The knight lets out a battle cry as he charges forward, armored boots slamming against the shattered remains of the Dark Kingdom, and Ice alike as he moves. He circles to the left as he goes, lightning shimmering along Arondight's edge. "HEY! EVIL LADY!", he calls out as he jumps first to a large piece of rubble, and then directly at her, "BLOCK ---THIS!!---"
Arondight moves quickly, the blade almost unseen it moes so fast, as the knight strikes repeatedly at Queen Metallia as he passes by her.
This time he doens't picture himself landing. That didn't work out so well for him last time.
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Bladefury on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to dodge La Sirene du Nord's Les Mysteres, taking 34 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly braces Lancelot's Bladefury, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Lancelot is Psyched! Queen Metallia's Block ability activates! Queen Metallia's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
<A perfect shot!> Heraut enthuses, tone brimming with excitement and pride. Ren goes to say something in response, but Heraut begins to ping like crazy in interruption. <Watch the backswing!>
Ren turns in time to see Metallia's /HUGE/ hand bearing down upon her, and with a squeak of peril she hastily holds out a hand in front of her.
<Quartz Guard!>
The shining white shield of protection magic erects itself between her and the incoming blow. There's a thundering CRASH where upon impact the shield is completely and utterly /destroyed/ in a display that lights up the area, and Ren lets out a scream before being flung backwards at high velocity straight into the ground. Her body tumbles and slides along the slick surface before coming to a rest thanks to a conveniently raised ice wall, Ren letting out a cough and immediately grimacing when the taste of blood reaches palate.
<Your majesty! Are you-> "I'm ok...!" <That was quite a hit! I advise you don't take anymore like that in the near future!> "Right. I don't intend to."
And with that said Ren gets to her feet, just as Soarking Sky delivers his communication to Heart and Heraut. <Alright Sky! Surely she won't be able to withstand our combined might!> Yes, it's amazing how far both Ren and Heraut have come. There was a time where Heraut especially did not particularly address Sky in the best of ways. But now hearing them get along makes Ren's spirit swell. "Let's do it!" She then kicks off back into the sky.
<...Air...!> Heraut shouts as he's once again aimed at the formidable dark queen, Midchildan runic circles spinning into existence around the scepter as it then launches a mana-encased energy grenade that whistles down towards Metallia.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has joined the combo started by Lera Camry!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"Once this is over with, I'll buy you a parfait from the new French cafe in Azubu-Juuban," Sailor Venus promises, when Sailor Moon agrees to stay brave for a bit longer. Truthfully, she wants to try their raspberry cheesecake, so the offer doesn't come from a place of /complete/ generosity, but--!
Metallia is relentless; the shards race towards Venus, and though she throws her arms up to brace the assault, it still rips through her. By the time it has all ended, Venus is bow-legged and struggling to stay upright.
Still, she won't fall down. Not until the very end!
A yellow-orange light radiates from the bauble on Sailor Venus' bow, nearly over her chest as the courage and determination wells up inside of her. Then for one split second, the girl's silouhette is engulfed in yellow before it bursts forth.
Where there was once a ripped sailor uniform, there is now a long, flowing yellow gown. In her right hand, where there was nothing before, is a stone sword. Princess Venus slashes out at the air in front of her before she rallies the other sailor guardians to attention.
"Everyone! Help Sailor Moon!"
COMBAT: Sailor Venus transforms into Princess Venus!
<Pose Tracker> Nagihiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (6)] has posed.
Nagi's grin splits a little at Lera. "C'mon," he says. "She's big, not invincible!" Keep saying it, Nagi! You might believe it eventually!
But not right now, because his eyes slowly widen in response to Metallia's raw spite for their will. She doesn't talk to them like threats. She talks to them like an adult talking to children play-fighting; humoring their resolve but sensing no threat at all. It's the price he pays for being so good at reading people, perhaps, that her sheer disintrest in their power hits him so deeply. His toes are curling in his boots; the hairs on his neck stand on end. He opens his mouth as to speak, but he can't muster anything before that terrifying light reaches its apex, and Rhythm calls to him from inside: "NAGI!" "I see it!" Nagi yells, and sets his feet.
The wings on his boots glimmer with gathered energy, and then Nagi SURGES up; Beat Jumper racing away from the cataclysmic javelin of....of doom; of pure annihilation raining down on the people he just left below. He swings and surges, racing through snaking threads of leftover power trying to arc up to him. He jukes and weaves even in midair, Beat Jumper gliding through even lightning with a dancer's grace. When he's clear, still sailing upward with that interminable hangtime some magical warriors enjoy, Nagi grinds his teeth, looking down, but he can't distract himself with every individual injured when his side is an army.
So he looks up; his fingers drawing another ball of light into his hands. "I can't speak about forever," he says, maybe more to himself. "But it's not forever for this. You'll deny us the next minute! And that's worth fighting for, too! BLAZE!"
He rears back and wings the ball - a bolt of magic light racing down to slam into Queen Metallia's upper body, easily reached by Beat Jumper's tremendous high-jump. "SHOOT!"
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has used Princess Venus Rally! on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has used Princess Venus Rally! on Sailor Mercury.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has used Princess Venus Rally! on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has used Blaze Shoot on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter accepts Sailor Venus's Princess Venus Rally!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter is Cheered!
<Pose Tracker> Kaitou Jeanne [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
It takes an incredible amount of effort from Kaitou Jeanne to even attempt at avoiding something that huge. In a desperate bid to escape, she takes a mighty leap in the general direction of Away From That Horrible Power... and is mostly succesful. But even in avoiding a direct head-on collision with it, she doesn't manage to get far enough away for the air displacement to not slam into her like a ton of bricks, knocking her away from the intended trajectory and ruining any possibility of landing on her feet.
Instead, she lands on her side, hitting the ice with a loud thud. She has the presence of mind to turn it from nothing but a crash landing into a roll, but that initial impact /hurt/. At the end of her roll, she remains on her back for a moment, needing to catch her breath and try to bite back the pain, before scrambling to her feet once more.
"Okay... no speeches, got it," she mutters humorlessly, trying to keep her Phantom Thief guise strong to keep the Frightened Teenager from taking over. It's not easy, since it only takes a brief survey of the condition the others are in to confirm her suspicions that is more than not just her, but any of them are equipped to handle.
But even so, even if it's not much, if they all do what they can...! Trying her hardest to hold onto that hope is all she can do at this point. It becomes a little easier when Princess Serenity appears once more, renewing her vow of determination. That's right, they can't back down now! But what can she do? She doesn't really have much in the way of heavy-duty firepower. ...unless...
For a moment, it may look like Kaitou Jeanne has lost it. Both her mind as well as her aim, since she appears to be trying to pelt Queen Metallia with a barrage of Rebound Balls, but none of them are actually hitting. They all end up landing close by, but never quite making it to where they'll actually strike.
It's probably obvious that she was planning something by the time she quips, "Let's see if /this/'ll break the ice...!" Otherwise, the tip-off will have to be the scattered Rebound Balls violently blowing up one by one, packed with timed explosives as they were.
COMBAT: Kaitou Jeanne has used Rebound Bombardment on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Kaitou Jeanne has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars accepts Sailor Venus's Princess Venus Rally!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Standing up here with Sailor Venus, Jupiter can recall again the way that she felt that short time ago.
But they've come through so much since then. All of them have. Since then... And since so long ago, in another life.
'Never' is a long time, the colossus Queen says, and as Sailor Jupiter looks up at her, jaw set to try to steel herself, she /feels/ how long that wait must have been, though her mind can't encapsulate it. It can only point at such a vast gulf.
...Her spirit, after all, slept those ages, too.
"That doesn't matter!" Sailor Jupiter calls back, standing with her friends, and with so many others who might be or /could/ be, some of whom she's fought alongside before. ...No longer are they infiltrating in the midst of a great battle in which they can only do their part.
Her eyes lock onto that mass of /un/-making, the power that opposes everything she wants to protect. Already her breathing is heavy; she can feel sweat beading from her hair onto her tiara, despite the frigid cold. And then the power is /thrown/.
Green boots crunch into the ice as she starts to move as quickly as she can, but the snow beneath her melts before she can even register that it's happened, and she is thrown. Sailor Moon disappears behind the pillar, and Sailor Jupiter wrenches her muscles powerfully as she avoids by inches repeating her previous fate.
"NO!" she calls, staring at the pillar where she knows, just a second ago, was her friend. Her heart catches in her throat. A deep need, the same love that bound her to Usagi even after death, feels like it's melting the ground below her. Everything seems, for a moment, to fade into light, everything except the awareness even through some kind of haze of the yawning maw of the darkness before them.
The world focuses again, its edges hard and unforgiving, as Princess Serenity comes into view atop the pillar. Still on the ground herself, Jupiter can feel herself breathe again. ...But that isn't all she feels.
'I will definitely protect everyone!'
A brilliant green light, like all of springtime condensed into one space, envelops Sailor Jupiter, and a cold, ripped sailor uniform transmutes; while still glowing she rises, the power most concentrated in that one tiny space about her bow, and blossoming forth. When the light fades, Jupiter is standing, her long, green gown, ruffled down the skirt, stretching almost to the snow below.
"Right!" Princess Jupiter calls to her leader, and plants herself in place, adopting an immovable posture. Silently, she reaches out both of her hands, her arms moving slowly, as if performing a dance rather than some form of attack. She inhales.
"Io... Revelation!!"
She acts on instinct; as she moves, suddenly from beneath the gigantic, horrifying flowers a brilliant light shines, and radiant, glowing viridian leaves explode upwards towards the ancient and terrifying Queen before them in a blinding flash of light.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter transforms into Princess Jupiter!
COMBAT: Princess Jupiter has used Io Revelation on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Princess Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly braces Nagihiko Fujisaki's Blaze Shoot, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Nagihiko Fujisaki is Psyched! Queen Metallia's Block ability activates! Queen Metallia's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to dodge Princess Jupiter's Io Revelation, taking 60 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly dodges Kaitou Jeanne's Rebound Bombardment, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Kaitou Jeanne is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The barrage of shards bites into Mercury, and indeed she nearly falls right then and there; it tears at her and pierces her, despite a desperate attempt to leap backward. She hits the snow and lets out a sharp, agonized cry that trails into a whimper at the strength of that released, sleeping monster. She takes a deep breath, and reaches down within herself. Her love for Sailor Moon, her hope for the future... they pour out further, and bright blue light spreads across her form.
... and when the light breaks, she, too, is clad in a gorgeous blue gown. It seems to almost fade into the snow, despite its brilliance.
The Princess of Mercury draws back up to her full height, looking Metallia in the eyes. Breathing in and out, taking a second to catch herself, she spreads her arms to either side. "Sabao..." As her arms sweep forward, thousands of bubbles spread across the snow -- at their thickest close to Metallia. There's a greater intensity to the bubbles than there was before, and they seem almost effortless, despite the Princess's significant injuries. "Spray!"
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury accepts Sailor Venus's Princess Venus Rally!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Mercury transforms into Princess Mercury!
COMBAT: Princess Mercury has used Sabao Spray on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Princess Mercury has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to dodge Princess Mercury's Sabao Spray, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cripple applied to Queen Metallia!
<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.
A slow breath... And that's all it takes to help Nanoha return to a more functional state, less clouded by the murk of true terror, bitterness, and greed, that Metallia had so frigidly tried to impart upon her. All it takes is the simple act of reaching out to another- and in turn being reached out to- to restore Nanoha's faith from its shaken core.
"Mmm- mm! We will." Her voice is as shakey as her hands, but Nanoha still draws breath. She will not just mewl in terror.
Raising Heart is hefted. "I'll be fine!" Piped as sweetly as she can to Masque-- before Nanoha's world is a wash of pain. The immense bombardment, flash freeze, and sharp landing on jagged ice do no wonders for the girl, leaving her Barrier Jacket shredded, white fabric staining red as she wobbles onto hands and knees. One small hand actually reaches out, grasping Masque- so that Nanoha can wordlessly show 'I can still continue' as she forces herself back up on her own power. Pink wings flare at her ankles, and though Raising Heart is cracked and damaged, the Device pings her tiny master the green light. Before Nanoha is in the air, exercising an immense amount of will to ignore her wounds.
Nanoha has to get back to Fate, Ren back to Endo... "You've got to come home with us." Nanoha says firmly to Lera, power gathering at the head of her Device.
<ACKNOWLEDGED SOARING SKY. SOUVERAIN HERAUT. TOGETHER NOTHING CAN STOP US! CANNON MODE!>
Nanoha takes a position on high, aiming. A target as big as Queen Metallia should be hard to miss. As Nanoha pulls the trigger.
<RAID!>
And thus unleashes a massive plume of roiling pink light.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has joined the combo started by Lera Camry!
<Pose Tracker> Princess Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
At Venus's direction, Princess Mercury starts to backpedal toward Princess Serenity, even as the bubbles continue to fly forth from her fingertips. She has to get closer -- that's the best way for her to start to support her.
COMBAT: COMBO! Lera Camry, Ren Aizawa, and Nanoha Takamachi have used Combo: Triple Air Raid, composed of Inferno Slasher, Infernal Shell, and Divine Buster: Shoot, on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly braces Lera Camry, Ren Aizawa, and Nanoha Takamachi's Combo: Triple Air Raid, taking 60 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry, Ren Aizawa, and Nanoha Takamachi are Psyched! Queen Metallia's Block ability activates! Queen Metallia's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11mf-eKJcHE
The size of the adversary is intimidating enough on its own, to say nothing of all her other terrible facets. Sailor Mars isn't about to turn and run, but even her fiery heart balks at the task at hand. They've all come so far, and fought so hard..as they embraced their false victory the adrenaline gave way to the fatigue that always catches up with it. And yet..after all this, they're in more peril then ever?
Even when she'd given her life as Usagi's last line of defense, it hadn't felt like the end of things. It wasn't that she wasn't prepared for that. It just didn't seem like there wouldn't be a tomorrow in that moment. Now, though..now it starts to set in that she will very likely never see the Hikawa Shrine again. Or the sun itself for that matter.
Obsidian oblivion is flung for her heart. Whatever doubts were brewing in her heart seemed unable to infect her spirit. Acting of its own accord, Sailor Mars' body flings itself away with improbable grace, landing neatly on her feet even everything around her is pulverized. The melting ice and instant resetting of the freeze suggests a physical world reeling from its struggle to keep pace with what it endures.
Her counterstrike comes as part of the very same motion, Mars' allowing her will to melt into her greater self without resistance. A single Ofuda, glowing whiter and brighter than an LED panel shrieks from a whip-like pitch as well as any pro player's fast ball. It's a tiny and seemingly insignificant drop of dew against the vastness of the task at hand, a literal prayer in the darkness. Only then does her mind return to her..and all around her there is blood.
She nearly falters a second time as she sees defenders of the light fall all around her. Metallia's bombardment had been terrifyingly effective..and it seems that of all of the Senshi, Mars and Mars alone slipped through unscathed. Sailor Moon in particular seemed like a cause for alarm..but moments later she emerges, beautiful and shining like a beacon, pledging with all of her purity and grace to be their shield. All of her sisters, in turn, rise up from the onslaught, incandescent with their inner lights..and blossoming into the girls that she'd once known, far from this blue planet, far from this bend in time's river.
Her heart beats fast, and she begins to think of that time..and of who she once was, and still remains.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Evil, Begone! on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to dodge Sailor Mars's Evil, Begone!, taking 53 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Queen Metallia [None] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wpIpxJsJkY
And then the battle is joined in earnest.
The Magic Knights of Wind and Fire come in from either side, summoning their respective elements; believing herself inured to flame after her long purgatory in the sun, Metallia moves to counter the former but not the latter. Thus she discovers two things: first that even her blast of brutal desert heat cannot trivially disperse the whirlwind, and second that, indeed, this fire can burn. The arrow explodes against her knee, leaving a black scar upon her gown. Flicking her fingers, she sends concentrated beams of darkness flying at both girls, a momentary direct connection between their skin and hers.
Masque Feu's many smaller blasts have less luck on that front, perhaps because now the Queen is alerted to the potential and reacts accordingly; reaching down a hand, the air around her shimmers with power that precisely absorbs the incoming barrage, then explodes with a second heat beam, straight back at the Soeur. Mai Tokiha singes off a few of her long (and massive, tree-trunk in scope) eyelashes, and receives another one of those blasts for good measure. They warp the air as they fly in, like a terrible mirage on the hottest midsummer Tokyo concrete.
Les Mysteres invoked at the North Pole is about as awesome as anyone might expect, causing a momentary explosion of darkness across Metallia's immense form. That doesn't prevent her from answering Lancelot's and Beat Jumper's challenges with plenty of blocking, the energy field that appeared before, returning with its undulating shimmer to blunt the impact of Arondight and Blaze Shoot, respectively, with each blow. As they fall away from her they find their heels being licked by a wave of consuming black energy. It burns more like acid than flame.
That field also serves to mitigate the worst of the Midchildan-style combatants' joint assault, though the sheer force of three hearts acting as one is too much for it to stop completely. Lera's gambit of getting in close is a risky one -- Ren knows why -- and indeed a hand reaches down from the sky to try to slap her away! It buys time for Ren's grenade to blast open her guard, though, and then Nanoha's massive blast comes in, and between the three of them they rock her back. The black energy that assaulted Beat Jumper and the reborn Knight surges further outwards to encompass Ren and Nanoha, as well.
Kaitou Jeanne's explosions rock the air and do, indeed, ruffle the Queen's dress and hair, leaving tiny marks. It seems as though she's shifted her weight through the weakest part of the blasts, though, leaving her more intact than she might have been otherwise. She responds with another of those dark finger-beams, which blasts snow and ice outwards in all directions as it heads towards the magical thief.
Her pupils narrow to slits when Princess Serenity appears amid the ice and invokes the power of the Silver Crystal. It does, indeed, get her attention, even as its very existence defies and denies her own. Princess Jupiter's viridian light and Sailor Mars' ofuda join it, causing her to grimace but also to yearn. She wars between feeling hungry and affronted.
"Ah, I see the past is present. Princesses of the Sol System, returned for revenge -- you've saved me the trouble of tracking you down to take your Crystals."
Princess Mercury's mist veils them -- and therefore Metallia, as well -- from view, just for a moment. Then, through the bubbles, lances a single massive blast of light, so dark that it wraps back around into color again, tinged with tainted reds and oranges and blues, beauty perverted into great, great evil, designed to swallow up all the senshi at once.
It is Serenity who she answers directly. More directly than that, anyway.
"You dream of a shining future? Ultimately, you'll realize that this world is already ugly and full of filth. It is unworthy of your protection... and when you discover that, /my/ wrath could be nothing as compared to yours."
She grins savagely.
"That is, if you weren't all about to die."
The aurora-blast wasn't actually spent with the first impact -- as the ice clears, one can see that it has formed into ten razors of burning sunlight, two for each reincarnated Princess, hoping to take them all in their backs.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Dark Side of the Sun on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Aurora Over Malice on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Mal Ignox on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Mal Ignox on Nanoha Takamachi.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Dark Side of the Sun on Kaitou Jeanne.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used The Hand of Goddess on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Mal Ignox on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Mal Ignox on Nagihiko Fujisaki.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Aurora Over Malice on Princess Mercury.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Mal Ignox on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Dark Side of the Sun on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Aurora Over Malice on Princess Serenity.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Solar Flare on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Aurora Over Malice on Sailor Venus.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Solar Flare on Masque Feu.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Aurora Over Malice on Princess Jupiter.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Aurora Over Malice, taking 43 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Masque Feu narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Solar Flare, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Queen Metallia is Psyched! Masque Feu's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi fails to dodge Queen Metallia's Mal Ignox, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Exhausted applied to Nanoha Takamachi!
COMBAT: Princess Serenity narrowly counters Queen Metallia's Aurora Over Malice, taking 31 Fatigue damage! Princess Serenity's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Princess Serenity's counterattack, A Maiden's Policy, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Queen Metallia!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord fails to brace Queen Metallia's Mal Ignox, taking 11 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Kaitou Jeanne narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Dark Side of the Sun, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Kaitou Jeanne's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Mal Ignox, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa's Block ability activates! Ren Aizawa's Parry ability activates! Cripple applied to Ren Aizawa!
COMBAT: Princess Jupiter narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Aurora Over Malice, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Princess Jupiter's Block ability activates! Princess Jupiter's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's The Hand of Goddess, taking 34 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry's Fade ability activates! Lera Camry's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Mal Ignox, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Nagihiko Fujisaki's Parry ability activates! Exhausted applied to Nagihiko Fujisaki!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to brace Queen Metallia's Dark Side of the Sun, taking 21 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly counters Queen Metallia's Mal Ignox, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Lancelot's Reverse ability activates! Cripple and Exhausted applied to Lancelot!
COMBAT: Lancelot's counterattack, Veil of Steel, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Queen Metallia!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Aurora Over Malice, taking 36 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha perfectly dodges Queen Metallia's Solar Flare, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Dark Side of the Sun, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Hikaru Shidou's Block ability activates! Hikaru Shidou's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
"Don't worry," Lera yells back to Nanoha, even as she is facing Queen Metallia, and wonders if she can truly mean these words: "I'm gonna come back, y'know? I promised I would! I can't break that promise...!"
<Incoming!>
All Soaring Sky can do is issue a warning. Metallia's massive hand /slams/ the Midchildan aerial mage from the air, slamming her into the blasted and frozen ground below. She hits the ruined floor of the Dark Kingdom with a crunch, cracks shooting out like spiderwebs from her point of impact. She groans, rolling over, and then she forces herself to her feet. Her legs shake, and she looks up, weakly.
She sees the Princesses. The same girls that she saw die, in her dream; the ones she tried to kill, when she was inside of Jadeite's mind. Her eyes are heavy for a moment, before she nods to Serenity in particular -- the one she knew the best, the one that always stuck by her. She remembers what Sailor Moon told her once: this world is better because she is in it.
Lera doesn't know that she believes that, but it's a nice thought. She lets out a ragged breath. "Don't listen to her, Princess Serenity!" she yells. "It's not--it's not true! This world isn't filthy and ugly! Even if bad things happen here... a lot of good things happen, too, y'know?"
She flies up -- and away from Metallia for a moment, to catch her breath. "So don't believe it! Not for a second! Those good things are what's really important!"
COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Soaring Dreams! Fiery Love! on Princess Serenity.
COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Mercury narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Aurora Over Malice, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Princess Serenity accepts Lera Camry's Soaring Dreams! Fiery Love!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Accelerate and Empower applied to Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Masque Feu [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Masque Feu stares for a couple of seconds as one of her strongest spells proves to be entirely useless - in fact, /all/ of her spells are, suddenly, rendered totally useless.
Then she's slammed into by a heat beam, and she's thrown into the air with a scream. She's blown away from Nanoha instantly; her hand slips away, the tiny girl's grip on her broken instantly. The lone Soeur sails through the air on a sickening trajectory, trailing smoke and flame behind her.
With a dull thud, she lands on a patch of hard permafrost, and slides for a few metres until she lands with her cheek in the snow.
She does not move for a long time.
Panting heavily, Augustine comes fluttering after the downed girl. Masque Feu doesn't see him. She's been blasted at least fifty or sixty metres from the thick of things at this point. Seconds tick by as she lies there, only half-conscious.
(My magic is useless against her. She's just going to absorb anything I throw at her. What can I do?)
(Nothing. I can do nothing.)
Behind her mask, tears begin to stream free. They bead down her cheeks and freeze in the bitter air.
Her right hand curls tightly.
She remembers, for a moment, the feel of a tiny hand in hers. Nanoha's.
And she grits her teeth.
With a low breath, Masque Feu struggles to her feet. She flicks her curtain of hair back and clenches her hands into tight fists - and she glares across the distance between herself and the titanic Queen Metallia. Her mind burns with equal parts shame, humiliation, helplessness - and with fire.
(Nanoha put her trust in me. Batiste, Nori... all of them did.)
(Even if my powers mean nothing....)
Before she knows what she's doing, she finds herself breaking into a dead run. Her hair and the trains of her tabard billow out behind her as she sprints across the many many metres. Her strides are long and fast, heels not impeding her anymore because all she has on her mind is dealing the Queen of Darkness a blow.
(Even if I can do nothing....)
Her eyes widen - and she suddenly lunges forward with a strong, soaring leap. Reeling back, she throws her right arm back -
And, lunging as hard as she can, attempts to slam her fist into Queen Metallia's ankle. Over and over and over again. It probably does not do much; she is not a strong physical striker. Not with her upper body. She keeps punching and punching and punching anyway.
(I must do /something.../ for them...!)
COMBAT: Masque Feu has used But I Must Do Something on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
The attack mostly pings off Queen Metallia's summoned energy defelction. He feels the heat of the counter and spins calling out in shallenge: "VEIL OF STEEL!" whipping Arondight around and deflecting the incoming atack fo malicious hatred. He hits the ground and slides back on his feet, the energy he is deflecting cutting a large swatch into the ice before him. When it's done he finds himself near Mai, and he looks over at her.
"Oh heck. I'm probably not gonna make it." He removes his helmet and tosses it aside, allowing his hair to fall in a wave behind him. Takeo grins over to Mai, and looks at her with a grin as he tosses the helmet aside. "Hey Mai. I never really..." He sighs. "I'm sorry I said you smelled delicious." He nods once and then twirls Arondight. He looks over to Mai and winks once. "The good news is, you don't really smell delicious right now..."
Then the Knight holds his sword before him and begins to summon power to himself. Lightning begining to coalesce around him, his hair whipping around behind him.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Who would have expected darkness to burn that hotly? The Magic Knight of Wind lets out a shriek of pain - probably a very welcome noise to Metallia's ears - as she gets blasted further away.
When she rolls to a stop on the arctic ice, the Wind Knight takes a moment to examine her wound. Even burn scars can be healed with her magic, although it takes a LOT of work. This doesn't look like the kind of burn it felt like, though .... but she'll have to worry about it later; the battle rages on, and her allies still need her help.
Princess Serenity in particular. She's at the heart of the battle, and was always (so far as the Wind Knight knows) the focus of the Dark Kingdom's enmity; she also wields the brightest and strongest heart out of all of the gathered warriors. "Princess Serenity," the green-clad Magic Knight calls out, "I don't know what it'll take to bring this foe down ... but I believe that strength lies within you! Allow me to lend you a shield ... Winds of Protection!!"
A barrier of focused wind coalesces in front of the Moon Princess, moving with her as well as the Wind Knight can track, ready to blunt Metallia's attacks if not to turn them fully aside.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Protection on Princess Serenity.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Serenity accepts Fuu Hououji's Winds of Protection, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Accelerate and Withstand applied to Princess Serenity!
COMBAT: Lancelot has used I'mma Charge'n My Lightning Bolt on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lancelot accepts Lancelot's I'mma Charge'n My Lightning Bolt, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Lancelot is Reinforced by Lancelot!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly braces Masque Feu's But I Must Do Something, taking 1 Fatigue damage! Masque Feu is Psyched! Queen Metallia's Block ability activates! Queen Metallia's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Princess Jupiter [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
"It's more than revenge!" Princess Jupiter calls out from the ground, so small when compared to her gigantic foe above, rooted into the ice that already begins to melt around her.
But she can feel the memory of all those she lost, now; remember so many people, whole moons full.
Then, as she tries to recover herself, that is when the beautiful destructive force that feels like a rent in those worlds rushes towards her. She does not move from where she's standing; instead, sparkling green light erupts around her, covering her over in a shield that turns to twisting branches. She grits her teeth against the sheer force that /still/ blasts through her defenses, huffing another breath as she nevertheless remains standing, the magic shielding her disappearing after the great rents left in it from those incredible blades. ...Blades to the back. It makes her--
It's more than revenge... But all those lives lost--destroyed so long ago--those call, too, for an answer.
"She's better than that!" Princess Jupiter calls, straightening her shoulders again and defending /her/ Princess... But it's not quiet assurance that in her voice this time. It's a building anger, a fury that builds from her heart and expands outward. Jupiter's rage is not mindlessly destructive--
But it is not quiet.
While the others move, Jupiter remains before Serenity's pillar, and shouts upward, "You don't know anything about our worlds! You don't understand what it is that we're fighting for! You've spent so long plotting your ugly, wretched past that you can't see that /our/ future..."
She takes a breath, and starts to focus her power, "Our future has NO PLACE for you! If you want to try to take anything more, come and take it!"
COMBAT: Princess Jupiter has used Immovable on Princess Jupiter.
COMBAT: Princess Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Jupiter accepts Princess Jupiter's Immovable, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
The eruption of power of the planetary princesses draws a moment of a glance from la Sirene - no more - she can afford no more than that! Hissing breath out through her teeth, she feels Les Mysteres depart from her in that moment...
And something hissing, plucking at her heel. It hurts! She's staggering already, before she's able to leap upwards, doing a somersault in the air to gain at least a moment of freedom - landing and almost slipping, crying out in dismay at the pain that shoots up her arm.
Meanwhile, Batiste squeezes around Feu's neck, doing the best that he can to share his warmth and his encouragement - though he does dig into her tabard with his claws when he runs up that close. He does not protest, though he does seem surprised --
But la Sirene, on the other hand, is piqued. "Ugly?" she says when Metallia speaks.
Her eyes widen. "FILTH?"
Her hand clenches on the handle of the Pharos. A vast shadow is cast upwards - backed by the momentary spiritual outrage of the distant descendant of the Mother of Sorrows, she looms vast, though of course such a thing is likely to do more for /her/ than against /Metallia/, given the scale of the situation.
"It looks like UGLINESS to you? Like FILTH? Then you are blind! The flaws, the strangenesses, the sorrows, even the petty wickedness - these do not dirty the world, they are what make it - make it LOVELY!"
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used Brockenspectre on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly counters La Sirene du Nord's Brockenspectre, taking 2 Fatigue damage! La Sirene du Nord is Psyched! Diversion applied to Queen Metallia!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia's counterattack, Solar Flare, partially gets through, doing 36 Fatigue damage to La Sirene du Nord! Critical Counterhit!
<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Ren touches down soon after the combined strike hits home, rocking the towering queen back. "She's /really/ tough...!" No kidding! There's no way to tell if they even have her on the ropes! <Careful! She's-> "Yeah!" Ren kicks backwards into the air in an attempt to avoid the incoming wave of black energy. <Protection!> A standard Midchildan runic barrier goes up when it becomes apparent that she won't be able to, however, and the impact forces her into a bit of a deadspin. Thankfully she hasn't strayed too far from the ground -- because it rushes up to meet her soon enough. Her shoulder stings from the impact but for the most part the damage is mitigated by the defense her barrier jacket provides.
<Close one!> "You're telling me!" Ren gets up again and wobbles a bit, using Heraut for support. <You could use a hand...> The device chimes, and a bright light spreads from the scepter to its wielder, washing over her from head to toe. "Oh... Thanks Heraut." <A pleasure! Now go beat up that sorry excuse for a Queen!>
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Sovereign's Mettle on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa accepts Ren Aizawa's Sovereign's Mettle, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa is Reinforced by Ren Aizawa!
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The darkness burns like nothing else. Even fire never hurt that bad before. Don't ask the Fire Knight how she knows please, she's not in the mood to answer questions right now. She struggles to protect herself as best as she can, but the heat overtakes her, combined with the blood she's lost so far, and she's dropped to one knee, struggling to keep herself from passing out... but it's not looking so good. "N-no... can't fail... now..." But the Fire Knight's ability to fight is fading fast. "Can't stop now!" She struggles to get back onto her feet, but just as she
<Pose Tracker> Princess Serenity [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
"I'm holding you to that Venus! It's a promise!" It's a funny thing. Usagi Tsukino, ninth grade, she who is a bit clumsy and kind of a crybaby never expected to shine. It was strange hearing it even the other day, when people were encouraging her from beyond the borders of dimensions and life or death.
But every one of the Senshi? She already thought they shined so brightly. In their hearts, their passions, their every word and deed. She admired them so much. And when she notes each of them change, in a radiant hues of orange, green, blue, and red.
She's both pleasantly surprised, and entirely unsurprised. They were all Princesses more glorious and wonderful than her in her eyes, in their past life. And yet the sight of them still takes her breath away, "Venus... you're dazzling the stage! Jupiter! So graceful! Stand tall just a little longer! Mercury! You're shining like the stars! Mars... you're blazing so fervently!" There's earnest joy in her praise even in the heart of this disaster, from the simple pleasure of seeing them exceed themselves. "You've all tried so hard, and given so much..." Including their lives, twice. And yet they were unable to break the cycle of hatred that still persisted to this day. This made her all the more determined to make certain it happens now. "...I'll make sure it has meaning!"
She wasn't the same helpless, spoiled rotten Princess that she was before. She might be an empty headed dreamer as Beryl had called her, but she was one that had been tested by hardship and loss, and came out stronger for it. And yet, there was only so much one could do before the force that was Queen Metallia. She addresses Serenity directly. "That's not true! I don't care about revenge! If that's the legacy of the Moon Kingdom then I don't want-"
But before she can elaborate further the Moon Princess shrieks, raising her rod with trembling limbs as the power of Metallia comes crashing down upon her. The Silver Crystal pulses with barrier like wave after wave of light, but only by the supreme effort of its wielder. Suddenly by the words of Lera and the efforts of Fuu, red light and protective spells which steady her arm she manages to lower her rod, chopping it downward as she only barely survives this wave.
"Even if... even if terrible things happen... in this world..." Through her mind, flashes images of Mercury, Jupiter, and Mars being impaled. The feelings she had when Venus passed from this world into the next. The sight of Endymion being impaled in her mind's eye.
"Everyone is trying so hard to protect this world, for their own dreams of a shining future! And you won't stop that from coming about! I may not be strong on my own, but nothing... not even banishment... not even death could stop their feelings from giving me strength to protect this world. Even though I'm weak, even though I may falter. I would never turn on this world! Not while they're here with me, holding me up! I love this beautiful blue world that allowed me to meet everyone again! I have faith in its people who are trying so hard to protect this world! And I have hope for the shining future they're trying to build!
Power pulses outward, wave after wave, creating a beautiful barrier just trying her best to /maintain/ long enough, for all the other Mahou Shoujo on the field, she had to stand strong just a bit longer. And she was doing it with their support, "And while I have that, I'll never give up! It's my maiden's policy!"
COMBAT: Princess Serenity has used A Maiden's Policy on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Princess Serenity has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The darkness burns like nothing else. Even fire never hurt that bad before. Don't ask the Fire Knight how she knows please, she's not in the mood to answer questions right now. She struggles to protect herself as best as she can, but the heat overtakes her, combined with the blood she's lost so far, and she's dropped to one knee, struggling to keep herself from passing out... but it's not looking so good. "N-no... can't fail... now..." But the Fire Knight's ability to fight is fading fast. "Can't stop now!" She struggles to get back onto her feet, but just as she gets to both feet, her leg gives way and she drops down to her one knee stance again. "No... not now..."
With a grunt, the Fire Knight pushes herself up, but this time she drops to both knees. She drops down and then collapses into a semi-fetal position, her sword falling beside her. "I... I... no... I must keep fighting..." She clenches her fist and tries to force herself up again, and this time she succeeds, even though her stance is still a bit on the weak side.
"The burning desire to fight always keeps me going!" The Fire Knight gasps, pushing herself to call forth more flames and send them at Queen Metallia. "Even if I fall here, I won't fail!"
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Fire Arrow on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to dodge Princess Serenity's A Maiden's Policy, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Princess Serenity is Psyched!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly braces Hikaru Shidou's Fire Arrow, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Queen Metallia's Block ability activates! Queen Metallia's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYI09PMNazw
A heavy fog drenches all that Mars can see. Even though it emanated from her beloved friend, it does her no favors..but perhaps no injustice either. Perhaps the mist made it that much harder for her to prepare for the coming assault. Perhaps it made Metallia that much less precise in making it. Perhaps it had no real consequence at all. Whatever the result..the initial spear stabs into her flesh, but in her twists and turns she dodges the spikes hoping to catch her as she falls, and lands adjacent to the gleaming teeth.
She shoves herself up, roughly and with only the grace of her fury carrying her. The deep pit in her heart has swollen wide, but surrounding it is a corona of her own burning passion and purpose. Forget the stakes at hand and the circumstances that led all present to this point. The woman towering above them all embodies all that Rei Hino has dedicated her life to combating. So what if she's young and her path is only recently embarked upon. Dozens of her ancestors could not have hoped for a better death.
She'll run until she falls. No more walking, no more stopping. In the moment she closes her eyes and she continues to remember..not by way of specific moments of a past life, but a reunion with its contours and characteristics. Sailor Mars is not the long dead Princess of a decomposed world. Sailor Mars is not Rei Hino, the Miko of the Hikawa Shrine. She is both at once, a synthesis of multiple iterations of a spirit that refuses to drift down Charon's river.
Her eyes open, and she stands wearing a scarlet gown down well past her ankles, pink down her front, a blood red choker around her throat. The symbol of Mars burns with a living light upon her brow. She straightens with righteous anger, regal in her poise.
"All your words. Worthless. Your petty nihilism is half baked. If you were truly so supreme then you should be able to exist as the carnivore that you are."
She steps forward, her heels ringing quietly against the ice.
"Were I afforded your centuries I'd have far better than your fortune cookie pessimism, but perhaps you're just bad at concealing your nature. I see you for the rabid cur that you are. You've spent all this time just picking a grave. I hope that you find it well suited."
Extending a single arm with outstretched fingers, twin jets of blue flame burst above and below her hand, an azure arrowhead extending past her touch. Drawing a clutched grip back from that point, her arm forms the arrow's shaft, ending in a fletching just before her fist. A bow of her spirit, burning so much hotter than any she could remember channeling.
"I am the Princess of Mars, Sovereign Heir and Queen Apparent. And my world will breathe long after you're forgotten, filth."
The arrow flies.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars transforms into Princess Mars!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Aspect of Artemis on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to dodge Sailor Mars's Aspect of Artemis, taking 51 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Nagihiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (6)] has posed.
Beat Jumper falls back toward the ground, overshirt and vest whipping in the breeze; his eyes tick a little, his initial assault all but bouncing off the almighty mystical shield of Queen Metallia. He's so new at this. He hasn't fought, really fought, in a year, and even then Temari fought completely differently, and against lesser evils than this.
"Yo, dude! Head in the game! She's still after you!"
"R, right!" Nagi yelps, and throws his arms up to try and ward the worst of the pursuing ribbons of darkness. It works: he gets his arms up in time and the blast of power from Metallia doesn't penetrate his own defenses, but it still sends him hurtling to the ground. He lands neatly, both feet; skidding backward in the ice as the blast forces him down. Hisses in pain; shakes out his arms. "Burns," he grimaces. A quick look around; Lera and Nanoha and, uh, someone he doesn't know are all releasing their own powers. It's all he can do to focus on them for a second; he doen't SEE Amu, or Tadase or Kukai or Yaya, and after that first blast he's got ample reason to fear for them. And Metallia hissing about the dark things that darken this world - the sins that man commits on man, with no help from the darkness...he doesn't know them, but he knows of them. He's felt their sting, those heartless words in Paris that put Temari back in her egg and Nagi seeking himself. That person wasn't even trying to hurt him, but...that kind of injury may be the more common, isn't it? And his hurts are nothing compared to what adults do to each other, he knows, at least, in a broad sense. But...
He squares his feet again, a ball of light forming in his hands. The Sailor Senshi are releasing all the strength they have to end this. Rhythm has given him the power to fight. He owes them nothing less than his support. Rhythm speaks inside. "This lady's got a real downer beat, man, but I know you can do it. It's a pretty far shot, dude! Stick it with style!"
Nagi's lips split, trying to grin; trying to let his heart feel as light as Rhythm's. It doesn't work so well, but still, the words come: "DOWNTOWN!" he hollers, and then whips the ball with all his formidable strength - a magic blast racing up from the very floor of the arena to biff Queen Metallia right across her chin, hundreds of feet away. "BEAT!"
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has used Downtown Beat on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia perfectly counters Nagihiko Fujisaki's Downtown Beat, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia's counterattack, Corona Invictus, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Nagihiko Fujisaki!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Of all the villains Venus has fought over her years as Sailor V and Sailor Venus, Metallia is by far the most powerful. As Metallia presses on -- her attacks ripping through Princess Venus' gown -- Venus finds it more and more difficult to stay standing.
Venus' shoulders fall up and down as she breathes, the stone sword still in hand. She glances over at her princess -- still fighting feverently, then at the others around her, some sailor guardians, others not.
Everyone is doing their best. She can't stop here. It's time to get back to the basics.
Sailor Venus cuts away at the lower half of her tattered gown, then races towards Metallia, shreds of silk wafting behind her.
"Sailor V... Kick!"
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has used Sailor V Kick! on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to dodge Sailor Venus's Sailor V Kick!, taking 29 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Kaitou Jeanne [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
The combined power of the magical girls present is a sight to behold. The other Moon Princesses appear, lending their power to the effort. It should be an encouraging, hopeful sight. Should be, but... Queen Metallia yet stands as tall as ever.
Holding her ribbon out in front of her for protection, she catches the fingerbeam sent for her. It was a move born of desperation, but somehow... all that happens is that is knocked back. She looks at her hand-held weapon in surprise, watching its faint white glow. Then, she smiles. It's strange... she feels so insignificant in the face of this power, but it looks like deep down, she isn't ready to give up just yet.
Her gaze shoots up at hearing the Queen's next words, narrowing her eyes. She's not the only one deeply offended by that choice of words, lending her support to La Sirene. "If this world wasn't full of beauty, you and so many like you wouldn't keep trying to corrupt it! Even if not everything is beautiful, even when it's being overshadowed by ugliness... it makes beauty shine all the more brightly for it. It should be treasured and kept safe, it's always worth something to somebody!"
Indeed, those who can't see that must be blind. And if that's the case... Jeanne lobs a handful of pellets toward's the Queen, which explode in colorful lights and a thick cloud of smoke. Hopefully the distraction can be capitalized on.
COMBAT: Kaitou Jeanne has used Smoke Bomb on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Kaitou Jeanne has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly counters Kaitou Jeanne's Smoke Bomb, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia's counterattack, Solar Flare, partially gets through, doing 11 Fatigue damage to Kaitou Jeanne!
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Fire is met with fire - and however ferocious Mai's flames might be, they are but a flickering candle before the might of one who was imprisoned in the sun. As encouraging as it might be to see that handful of eyelashes burn away, the narrowing of Queen Metallia's eyes is enough warning that she throws everything she has into flight.
She can feel the heat of the wrathful sun at her back as she soars through arctic air, glancing back only long enough to know that it's not a summer warmth she wants any part of.
By the time Mai can safely come to a halt, she's put considerable breathing distance between herself and the dark Queen - and aloft in the sky, she can't help but feel small. That comment about past becoming present, though, drags her attention from the darkness to the light - and for the first time in this life, Mai is able to see the Princesses.
She stares in awe - and perhaps a little jealousy - as they stand nobly against the darkness, clad in royal regalia.
But Metallia's mocking challenge pulls Mai's attention back to the shadow cast over the world. The HiME, for a moment, is silent. Her gaze falls, considering how much misery there is....and yet. Her gaze snaps back up to the nemesis, and she nearly snarls. "There's ugliness in the world, and people make mistakes. I won't deny that... but if we dream of a better world, then there's nothing saying we can't get there!"
Sailor - no. Princess Serenity speaks her heart, and the HiME looks down from where she flies...and Mai smiles. Smiles more as the chorus is taken up, as everyone denies Metallia's words, and takes a deep breath.
She murmurs to herself, "Keep up that hope. I'll see if I can buy you a diversion."
And then she yells out a single word in defiance. "Kagutsuchi!"
Flames erupt in the air, a miniature momentary sun - and from the cocoon of flame, the phoenix-dragon emerges. Wings spread wide as sheets of flame, sword brilliantly impaled through its maw, a dozen eyes firmly locked on the Dark Queen - the Child lets out a loud screech of challenge as Mai alights atop its head. One hand resting on the sealing sword's hilt, she stares down Metallia with determined defiance.
Amazingly, even the dragon is the underdog here - Metallia towering above even it - but at the HiME's command, the fiery beast flies forward. It wings its way high, circling around the dark Queen, unleashing a handful of fireballs as it flies, finishing by spreading its wings wide with a challenging screech.
Because someone important is not allowed to die today.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha transforms into Mai and Kagutsuchi!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Wings of Triumph on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly counters Mai Tokiha's Wings of Triumph, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Mai Tokiha is Psyched!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia's counterattack, Solar Flare, partially gets through, doing 11 Fatigue damage to Mai Tokiha! Critical Counterhit!
<Pose Tracker> Princess Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Amid the still-bitter cold and the burning sunlight, she whirls to face those vicious blades and defend herself; it's narrow, but it doesn't sting her as vigorously as it might have had she taken the shots to the back. She does her best to stabilize, presenting as brave a face as possible for Princess Serenity's sake.
"... This world -- this Earth -- is absolutely worth protecting!" Princess Mercury declares proudly, as she stays close to Princess Serenity, to her friend. "I'll lay down my life for this planet if I must!" She has, already, in fact. "None of us will give up on this planet -- and right now, that means defeating you!"
Splaying her arms out to each side again, Mercury summons forth a spread of icy blades; most of them just hover next to her... but one lances out, cutting a jagged, irregular path through the air before repaying Metallia's attempted backstab with one in kind.
COMBAT: Princess Mercury has used Mercury Ice Fang on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Princess Mercury has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to dodge Princess Mercury's Mercury Ice Fang, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Princess Mercury is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Queen Metallia [None] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bBpiHJm3t0
Whatever joy Masque Feu finds from punching Metallia's gigantic ankle, it is hers to find. The demon Queen herself doesn't seem to particularly notice or care, other than to be slightly baffled by the effort; glancing down, she allows a blast of black flame to emanate from her, trying to encourage the Soeur to back off, and another for the Magic Knight of Fire, whose eponymous attack irritates her.
One could construe the gigantic beam of heat that pours through La Sirene's shadow and Kaitou Jeanne's smoke bomb to engulf the girls as a similar reaction, but they induce a verbal response as well. "You can mask your troubles in poetry, but it won't make them less painful. And certainly I believe the world has value -- that's why I am here to consume it." She follows this up by leaning forward and trying to literally step on both of them, to grind them into the ice beneath her heel.
Beat Jumper's attempt to whack her on the chin is the straw that breaks the camel's back; all these little shots are like bees buzzing around her. She draws another bolt of black energy between her palms and sends it directly downwards, straight at him. By some miracle he avoids the blast, but it is not very different from seeing death pass right before his eyes. With a soft tsk, she sends a second one straight down at him.
Mai summons a creature so massive that it rivals her own bulk, and her eyes widen in recognition. "Ah... I know you." She brings up an arm across her face, to take the worst of Kagutsuchi's fire, and then as he passes, rakes him with two more beams of heat, of hate, one from each hand.
The Princesses, meanwhile, assault her on a variety of levels. Princess Mars' arrow of flame pierces her right in the chest, where her heart would be if anatomy was terribly meaningful for this construct of hate, and Princess Mercury's ice knife gets her right and the back. She roars as Princess Venus kicks the blade even more deeply into her, then glares at the girls collectively as they challenge her.
"Very well." That must have been to Princess Jupiter -- and she winds back another immense black blast, but in manipulative, cruel fashion, sends it towards Princess Mars, instead! "We both know that's not a promise you can back up with action," she adds to Mars in an ominous hiss, gesturing upwards at the sky, at the invisibly distant, dusty red planet.
More black-hot beams arc out of her fingers, diving towards the princesses from all directions, seeking to sear and torment them. But it's just then that Princess Serenity's beautiful barrier appears, lessening her wrath to something thinner and weaker (though still very real and present).
"You have /faith/, Serenity? In people? Love? Friendship? Trust? Those are nothing to believe in, words on the wind! How well did you protect them from the fury of my minions? How are you going to stop me from just /killing them all again/?"
It seems especially appropriate, thus, for her to send more of those lovely torn-sky blasts, the ones that become knives, at the Magic Knight of Wind and Lera Camry, who encouraged the Moon Princess with such sincerity. There are some extra -- she has cruelty enough for everyone -- so Ren, Lancelot, and Nanoha, who hung back to prepare themselves, have to contend with these explosions-that-become-razors as well.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Aurora Over Malice on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Sailor Mars.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Under My Heel on Kaitou Jeanne.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Aurora Over Malice on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Corona Invictus on Nagihiko Fujisaki.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Solar Flare on Princess Mercury.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Under My Heel on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Mal Ignox on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Solar Flare on Princess Serenity.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Solar Flare on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Solar Flare on Sailor Venus.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Mal Ignox on Masque Feu.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Solar Flare on Princess Jupiter.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has used Aurora Over Malice on Nanoha Takamachi.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Masque Feu narrowly counters Queen Metallia's Mal Ignox, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Queen Metallia is Psyched! Masque Feu's Reverse ability activates! Exhausted applied to Masque Feu!
COMBAT: Masque Feu's counterattack, Dancing Fire, partially gets through, doing 3 Fatigue damage to Queen Metallia!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Solar Flare, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Mai Tokiha's Block ability activates! Mai Tokiha's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Aurora Over Malice, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Lera Camry's Fade ability activates! Lera Camry's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa's Block ability activates! Ren Aizawa's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Under My Heel, taking 9 Fatigue damage! La Sirene du Nord's Block ability activates! La Sirene du Nord's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Princess Serenity narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Solar Flare, taking 10 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Princess Jupiter narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Solar Flare, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Princess Jupiter's Block ability activates! Princess Jupiter's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Venus perfectly braces Queen Metallia's Solar Flare, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Brace!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly counters Queen Metallia's Aurora Over Malice, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji's counterattack, Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi, partially gets through, doing 20 Fatigue damage to Queen Metallia! Critical Counterhit!
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 23 Fatigue damage! Nagihiko Fujisaki's Fade ability activates! Nagihiko Fujisaki's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Aurora Over Malice, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Nanoha Takamachi's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Kaitou Jeanne narrowly counters Queen Metallia's Under My Heel, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Kaitou Jeanne's counterattack, Holy Barrier, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Queen Metallia!
COMBAT: Princess Mercury narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Solar Flare, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Princess Mercury's Fade ability activates! Princess Mercury's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou narrowly dodges Queen Metallia's Mal Ignox, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Exhausted applied to Hikaru Shidou!
<Pose Tracker> Princess Serenity [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Her words are cruel, they cut right to the heart of the Moon Princess, "It's true, that I failed to protect them. But even that couldn't keep us apart! Time and time again you try to seperate me from those who mean the most to me! And time and time again I learn... that I am never alone! And never will be! So long as I keep believing in them! As long I keep believing in this world they strive so hard to protect! You /can't/ take them away from me! You can't take away our hope for a future where we're together!"
It sounds so idealistic, but practically speaking, Metallia certainly can. She's powerful enough to kill this world, this solar system many times over. A flare of dark power, like the darkest spots on the sun strike against the barrier she's barely maintaining, and it wavers, cracking. It becomes clear that she can't hold. With every second this battle passes, it looks like Princess Serenity is going to swoon, she looks dead on her feet already and in fact, stumbles, but manages to stay upright
"Everyone... give me strength! Believe... believe in this world and its future! Show her there's something inside each of us that she can never take away!"
Hope does not belong to a single person, a singular entity, a single treasure, no matter how precious. It belongs to many people, many hearts. As Princess Serenity raises her rod, the Silver Crystal takes its place even higher, it seems to bloom even more fully, and sends out its call. It chimes again, in time with the pulse of this suffering world, gleaming brightly. In everyone's heart who hears it, a gentle radiance shines.
It does not belong to the Silver Crystal. It does not take. It asks, a gentle plea to all in this darkest of hours. But none feel the loss, for within these hearts, hope is infinite. Infinity upon infinity. End upon end. Even so, it needs more than the hope of a single heart, a single mind, a single dream no matter how powerful and infinite they might be. So much hope required to combat such great darkness and despair. It asks for a lot, and so little at the same time.
And to any who answer, a silvery trail that wisps about like delicate strings forms as their hearts answer, to a few at first, and then many. They join to the Crystal, until it shines like the core of a bright star. A radiance that can be seen across the world a bright new dawn all of its own, upon the horizon.
Even with all of its power, it appears to have trouble containing all of it. Streams of silver light pour off of every petal, trailing around behind her like a lambent comet.
Princess Serenity herself vanishes within the light, blinding to look at. It gathers forth until it cannot be looked into and it erupts forth riotously, explosively and shines from horizon to horizon to ends of the world and beyond. It reinforces to every being in this Solar System that even if it looks like all should crumble to dust...
That hope shines eternal.
But the outburst of power that comes from all is more than that, it is a rallying cry that she doesn't command, yet it is an imperative still felt in everyone's heart to salvage this desperate situation. /Strike!/ /Strike now!/
COMBAT: FINISHER! Princess Serenity has started a combo targeting Queen Metallia!
COMBAT: Sailor Mars perfectly dodges Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Sailor Mars's Fade ability activates!
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly braces Queen Metallia's Corona Invictus, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Lancelot's Block ability activates! Lancelot's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
One of those sky-blasts comes down, turning into a knife. Lera would be skewered, if it weren't for her Device. Soaring Sky chimes, desperately: <Behind you!>
Then Lera does a tight barrel roll, twisting to one side. The blade slashes along her left side anyways -- but it doesn't rip through her body. She still hisses, sharply, as blood wells out. The side of her dark green jacket begins to stain with a deep red color where the knife blade hit, and she looks up at Metallia balefully. She flies up, then, and backward. She glances at Ren and Nanoha, for a moment.
Then, she hears Princess Serenity's words. 'Believe... believe in this world and its future! Show her there's something inside each of us that she can never take away!'
She grits her teeth, and drops down from the Sky to hover near Princess Serentiy. A Midchildan magical circle appears under her feet, becoming a platform for her to stand on. "I'm with you, Sailor Moon," she says. "For the Earth, for my second home!"
<So am I!> Soaring Sky adds. The sword splits in two -- and the forks of gold and white that leap between the two blade-halves are utterly dwarfed by the bright point of light coming from Princess Serentiy. When the energy blast fires, it blows back some of Lera's hair. She lifts her weapon, aiming it towards Metallia.
A trio of ever-spinning control rings appear, lining up in a trajectory that ends in the Queen. Then, a massive blast fires from it, all white and gold, and joins with the immense wave unleashed by Princess Serenity.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Lera Camry has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Dark flames sear out in response to Kagutsuchi's assault, and Mai's perch upon the dragon's head is shaken as the power slams home again and again. The Child lets out a pained, furious screech as the force drives it back through the air, tail lashing about ferociously as it steadies itself.
And yet, for the wrath thrown forth, it was Metallia's recognition that startled Mai the most. "You...know him?! How is that..." Eyes wide as she climbs to her feet, the HiME looks down to meet part of her Child's gaze. "Kagutsuchi, is this..."
There's the sound of metal on flesh as Kagutsuchi forces its maw open, that it might screech defiance at Metallia directly.
For a moment, Mai stands silent in the arctic wind, as Kagutsuchi flaps those burning wings to stay aloft. All she can do is stare at Metallia, and wonder just how much she doesn't know...up until the rallying cry surges up from the Moon Princess.
Something Metallia can never take away...hope. Mai has clung desperately to hope before, but this...this feels different, somehow. Not a desperate plea that things will work out...it's a certainty that the world will thrive. Mai's hand comes up to her heart as she gazes upon the silver light, and...she hopes.
Hopes that the world might keep turning, long enough for her precious people to live the full lives they deserve.
Before, when watching from a distant prismatic flower, Mai hoped that Sailor Moon would be able to carry the day for everyone. Put her trust in a courageous girl, and prayed for the best. Now...now, she can do more. Driven by that will - that will to fight back against this darkness promising oblivion - that hand clenches into a determined fist.
"For our friends...for our families...for everyone we care about. Kagutsuchi!"
Gaze torn between the familiar darkness and the silver light, Kagutsuchi's eyes focus upon Mai's order. The cylinders on its back emerge, whirling rapidly to draw in the surrounding air as fuel for terrible flames - and Mai's rings, meager as they are, are spinning just as ferociously. The light of a tiny star shines from the belly of the beast, rising inexorably up its throat, blazing from between countless teeth -
And with a joint cry from Mai and Kagutsuchi both, the power roars forward - a blazing comet of ferocious heat and light joining the silver light in barrelling towards Metallia.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Mai Tokiha has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
The rippling explosions come roaring toward Lancelot, who had just seconds ago tossed his helemt aside to confess his love of bacon to Mai. And by that he means reveal his secret identity. He holds up his left arm, and lightning swirls there to forma shield, that he crouches behind. Some of the shards and shrapnel find marks, one of which is a ragged line across his left cheek that sprays blood instantly.
He winces, but stands tall as the last of the balst wave rolls past him. The Lightning shield dissapearing as he does so. He hears Princess Serenity's words, and nods once as he walks forward.
"My blade is your Princess Serenity!" He calls out and salutes her. Then he turns and faces Queen Metallia. Arcs of lightning begin to slam down around him as he smirks slightly. "For everyone back home. For those who fell becuase of you. For Sparkles, and Avalon." He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Then he opens them and smiles, "Charging - " He says as the lightning quickens in pace. "For peace, and for love." He makes a fist with his left hand and whispers, "For you Mika." Then he looks to Serenity and nods.
The Knight launches forward and cries out, "ASSAULT!" the Knight moving as fast as the lightning that surrounds him. A veritble storm of electricty flies out of the blade with each strike, as the Kngiht lends all of that energy to Princess Serenity, even as he strikes at the form of Queen Metallia. With each pulse of lightning a thunderous explosion ripples out. The thunder a deafening roar that shatters debris with each strike. The Lightinng swirling, and emitting pulses of blinding white light that joins with the silver light aimed at the pure evil form they all batle against.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Lancelot has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Even as the Fire Knight continues to endure the incoming negativity and attacks from her enemy, she still stands strong. Her legs start to buckle a few times as she braces against the incoming attack, but she doesn't fall. She lets the spirit of flame keep her standing strong, even if her body is telling her it just wants to give up. "No, I won't fall! I'll help finish this fight!"
As her adrenaline starts to flow through her body, acting as fuel for her the Fire Knight, she senses what is going on around her and decides to lend her support. All of that power flying towards Metallia is going to get a bit hot. Namely since the Fire Knight has raised her sword towards the sky. "Let the flames burn you and send you back to where you belong! SWORD OF FLAME!" A huge sword-shaped flaming apparition appears in the air, and then proceeds to fly towards the light from the others, adding its fiery power to the combined powers.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Hikaru Shidou has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"Because all of us stand by her side! STORM-DANCE OF KAMAITACHI!!" the Magic Knight of Wind shouts at Queen Metallia, the latter words accompanied by the conjuration of a powerful tornado: not the binding whirlwind of earlier, but the destructive wrath of the tempest. She can only do so much to counteract Metallia's dark beams, and most of her defensive power is going into the Winds of Protection that help protect the Moon Princess. But as much as she looks up to Serenity right now, the Wind Knight won't leave the lunar princess to defy Metallia alone: not physically, not magically, and not even verbally.
"Perhaps the ideals we speak of are merely words on the wind to you, but you underestimate the truth which those words describe at your own peril," the Wind Knight says. "We have faced your minions, unravelled their plots, battled their leaders, and despite the cost, seized victory. We who are human, though we may be weak and frail of body, possess a spirit which shall never yield to the Darkness you embody!"
The winds pick up around the green-clad Magic Knight as she moves to stand by her allies once again. "Those whom you may bend will recall themselves and stand tall against you; those who fall before you will inspire those who remain to fight back! Individually we may tremble; together, we stand firm! With our hearts united -"
The winds peak about the green-armored girl as she finishes, "THERE IS NOTHING WE CANNOT ACHIEVE!! EMERALD .... !"
She draws her arms back, then flings them forward, gathering up the winds and hurling them at Queen Metallia. ".... CYCLOOOOOOONE!!!"
COMBAT: FINISHER! Fuu Hououji has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.
This is... This isn't working, is it. Everyone is throwing everything they have at Metallia, and like a titan- indomitable and unstoppable, she continues to taunt and torment. As soon as Raising Heart is done venting steam to bleed off the accumulated magical heat from her Triple-tech with Lera and Ren. Nanoha is engulfed in that darkness, her movement and body growing sluggish with exhaustion and pain.
Try as she might to keep holding onto that hope from before, the truth of it is, Nanoha is beginning to internally panic. The child hids it well- but then again... She had learned how to hide her feelings from a young age, anyway.
Nanoha's hands are shaking, Raising Heart rattles in her grasp as she champs her teeth, tries to think of something to do. These are her friends giving their all, and for a moment, she's paralyzed by indecision, blue eyes darting from person to person, looking for some example to follow, maybe pry into some already found weak point in that defense. Everyone around her is continuing to give their all and what can she do? The Senshi-- no Princesses now are going full tilt, even Masque has gotten up and just started -slugging away-, and... And...
Nanoha is staring down at her hand again.
Just shoot- that's what the magic is for- to blast through fear, sadness, and destiny, isn't it?
Right?
She just barely raises a shield in time in the face of explosive concussive force, Barrier Jacket shredding and staining damo with liquid scarlet. Nanoha pants, lost and confused in the utter chaos of what is easily one of the most terrifying moments of her life.
<STOP BEING INDECISIVE.>
"Ah... R-Raising Heart..." She whispers, hoisting her cherished Device as Raising Heart gives her a brief moment of clarity. But even that is like trying to stop a gunshot wound with a band-aid.
And then Princess Serenity calls.
<GO TO HER!>
"I guess I'm not strong enough..." Murmured as her feet plant on a pink runic sigil forming in the air, setting up a firing platform. Wings of pink light flare and spread from her Device's neck as she hoists the staff, hand gripping the firing column and resting her finger on the trigger. "On my own, anyway... But maybe with everyone together..."
Even amid her panic and despair, there's just that spark of hope. Hope doesn't have to be a grandiose thing. At best it's little more than the guttering light of a candle, defying a hurricane. Nanoha takes aim.
<WHICH IS WHY YOU AREN'T ALONE.>
"Funny... I could have sworn someone said that to help me get home. Alright, Raising Heart... Shoooooooooot!"
With that last spark of hope in her chest, Nanoha pulls the trigger, energy rapidly gathering at the head of her staff, coalescing into a bright pink sphere, several guide rings manifesting in front of her to keep the shot aligned, before it lances forth in a blazing beam.
<Pose Tracker> Princess Jupiter [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
'Jupiter! So graceful! Stand tall just a little longer!'
Still trying her hardest, standing against something so great, so terrible, that it's already killed more beings than Jupiter thinks she's ever met, it isn't the will to win that keeps her spirit going. It isn't that competitive streak of hers, though it's real, in this life and the last, that brought her back to Usagi's side even after she was dead. ...It's something simpler, something that is in her only because love is something that isn't lost when it's given. ...Princess Serenity's feelings reach her easily, and make her even more sure not that she can, but that she /will/ help this time, things /will/ be different.
...But Jupiter's love isn't a quiet, walking thing; she's still mad as hell. "You'll pay for that!" she calls at the impossibly powerful Queen Metallia as she strikes at /Mars/ in that moment. "And it's not just Mars that's going to shine again! You can say all you want that you'll kill all of us, but we'll show you there's more than even you can ever snuff out!"
/None/ of them will give up. Not Venus, always charging ahead into; not Mercury, quiet but sincere. And not the rest of them, either!
'It should be treasured, and kept safe! It's always worth something to somebody!' ...Those words are something that resonates with Jupiter, too. And when Princess Serenity answers the awful Queen.... the inheritor of Jupiter finds that her heart is overflowing. Nothing can keep them apart forever.
'Believe... believe in the world and its future! Show her there's something inside each of us that she can never take away!'
This brilliant, radiant light is familiar, in its way. It's something that it seems doesn't come from without so much as within. ...But she can't be surprised at that. Anything Usagi had to give...
Of course she would give right along with it.
"I believe!" Princess Jupiter answers, too direct, too straightforward, not to say it with her lips as well as saying it with her heart. ...She faced death gladly for those here. How can she face life as anything less?
Her expression stills, and her hands fall to her sides. Green eyes close, as the Princess of Jupiter, of all of its moons, clasps her hands before her... And draws on that Planet's wellspring of life. Her hands begin to open, with green radiance forming between them.
A planet known for the great forests of its moons, for its brilliant life, still has power enough to support the Moon now.
"--Haaaah!" With a fierce shout, Jupiter's eyes snap open, and the mass of power, now easily her size, pulses before her--as she hurls it with all her power straight towards the icy ground beneath. It slams through, breaking ice, and rather than stopping, it only /grows/. In its path burst flowers, vines, blossoms lost even to memory so long ago were they last seen, in a riot of scent and color, forming a gigantic path all the way to the colossal foe they face. And there, only there, to join the radiance of everything brighter than she ever knew was possible--
There the power of Jupiter bursts into bloom with a massive storm of petals and leaves, erupting from the once-frozen ground.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Princess Jupiter has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY7h4VEd_Wk
To be stepped on by a titanic woman was not something la Sirene expected when she left bed... gosh, it must be several days ago by now, even if she was able to snooze in a bed of red amber behind the mirrors not so long ago...
Fortunately for her, she is not stepped upon directly. The reflex when such a thing happens is to lunge out of the way, and so it is that la Sirene is merely /sort/ of stepped on - squirted out from beneath the toe of that vasty heel like a watermelon seed, with 'only' screaming pain in her left leg. She clatters on the ground, the Brazen Pharos threatening to leave her hand...
Then something sings in her heart.
Strike, it says.
Strike now.
La Sirene looks over towards where Metallia is otherwise distracted for a moment, in no small part by the power of Kagutsuchi. The cold wind stirs through her hair, blowing away her little cap, which in this moment of pain and focus she does not even notice.
Her head arches back - and she presses the handle of the Pharos down. The brass flap flips over with a faint click - fully everting itself. At this angle, la Sirene will have to close it manually. Darkness rises out of it, forming a streaking, curving cloud - rise is perhaps wrong, but the silver threads of Princess Serenity's appeal are guiding it. Bringing that clinging unlight, cold and gelid and laden with mystery, forwards - to damp the ambitions of Metallia. Can the depths from where this darkness hails be strong enough to smother the rays of the sun?
Perhaps not on their own...
But they aren't on their own, now, are they?
COMBAT: FINISHER! La Sirene du Nord has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Masque Feu [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
It helps that there is an otter there. Masque Feu just keeps punching away as hard as she damned can. Her breathing picks up. Dark fire blurs around her; she lets out a shout, but this time it's with determination as she pours her flame into her hands, not caring if Metallia absorbs it. She just keeps pounding away as hard as she can, heedless of how much the flame hurts her.
(Something. I have to do something. SOMETHING. ANYTHING.) Tears bead down her cheeks and stream free into the night.
"Masque Feu!" Augustine shrieks as he comes in for a landing on the girl's right shoulder. "I have a- oh, excuse me." He comes up short with a flutter to avoid landing on Batiste. If a turtledove could blush, he would.
With a huff of breath, the Soeur lunges back and away from Metallia's ankle, scooting away and landing on a knee and a palm. "What are you trying to say, Augustine-sama," she asks intently.
The turtledove's wings beat more frantically. "She may have absorbed your flame before - but think about it! /Think!/ We are not fighting Queen Beryl! This is Queen Metallia /who has taken over Queen Beryl's body!/ The power of the Silver Star is /far/ from helpless against a creature possessed by the darkness!!"
Masque Feu blinks, then frowns, lowering her eyes for a second.
If Augustine could smile sadly, he would. "Masque Feu... please, stop thinking of yourself as incapable. You should not be so devastated when you fall short. I chose you as the first Soeur for a reason."
A lump rises in Masque Feu's throat. She swallows it. "What reason was that...?"
The turtledove flutters past, voice lowering. "Would you believe it if I told you?
"You must find it within yourself."
Slowly, the lone Soeur raises her eyes. Her throat works around that lump as she watches Princess Serenity call forth her power. The silver light shimmers around Masque Feu, too.
(...Her hope shines so brightly. How can I find mine?)
She closes her eyes. Clasps her hands over her heart. Feels her flame beginning to billow around her, pushing itself out into a shimmering halo of fire and silver. She can feel her heart beating against her chest.
It doesn't sing like Princess Serenity's. That passion does not come easily for her. (Why doesn't it...?) Her thoughts drift, again, to the image of a man and a woman, rich and glamorous, stepping out the door. Goodbye, Seika. Goodbye to a girl who matters so little, her own parents cannot bring themselves to love her.
And then another face comes through. One framed by soft blonde hair. Another by red. Fate's, Nanoha's. Mai's, Lera's, Nori's.
With a sudden ringing sound, the Blessed Flame peaks. The flames mount, pushing out into a vast ring around the girl. Her heart soars. Her eyes fly open. Tears stand in them as she brings a finger up, dipping it into the mandala of flame, beginning to trace through it in a slow circle.
(All of them... they believe that I have value,) thinks the girl as her heart begins to race. (They put their faith in me. Their love.)
(Everyone... I'm going to try putting my faith in me, too.)
The flame sings - and she raises her voice, crisp and clear. "Blessed Flame! SHINE LIKE THE SUN!!"
She levels her hand forward - and that fiery ring whirls through the night. It blurs into the growing sea of light, a flame that threatens to separate the darkness from the dead. The power of the Silver Star sings more brightly than it has in what seems like an eternity.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Masque Feu has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Venus [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
This time, Sailor V manages to stay Metallia's assault -- but she's not sure how much longer she'll be able to stay standing. Still, Princess Serenity's speech gives her the courage to keep standing.
"I'll absolutely protect this planet and everyone on it! No matter what!"
Serenity holds the stone sword skyward, light gathering towards it. The sword's grip is trembling with raw energy in her hand now -- so ferociously that it's all she can do to keep her grasp around it.
Then, when she's sure she can't control it any longer, she directs the crescent-shaped beam of light towards Metallia.
"Crescent Light!"
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Venus has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
COMBAT: FINISHER! Nanoha Takamachi has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Princess Mercury [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Princess Serenity cries out for the strength of her friends, and Princess Mercury delivers in earnest. The other blades that whirl around her come to a point, abruptly, in front of her; each of them whirls around to face Metallia, even as the corona of that hateful sun scorches her.
She sags under that force, trying to keep herself moving even as her body cries out to give out; the love in her heart, however, says differently. She looks to the assembled magical girls, and then to each of her closest, dearest friends in turn... and finds the strength to go on.
"Mercury..." she starts, and each of those blades starts to whirl around the other in a spiraling, beautiful dance. The way she moves with them is artful, majestic -- and as she points her arm through the center of the spiral, she provides a point of beautiful contrast.
"Aqua..." The blades' twirls start to tighten, drawing from loose spirals to a single narrow drill-like motion.
With a firm nod, she finishes, "Edge!" The blades lance out, aiming squarely for Metallia's midsection as a fierce, forceful unit.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Princess Mercury has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Sailor Mars [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwJ_a0r2sVM
Princess Mars' hair flares in an aggressive shake of her head. "In little time it will be as though you never were. The wounds you've inflicted will persist..and then they will scab over and recede. And beat by beat your legacy will vanish."
The Demoness with a capital D tries the same trick twice. Where the Soldier of War stumbled in an awkward evasion, the Princess of the Hunt nimbly sidesteps it altogether. The woman that is in part Rei Hino will not suffer the same stroke twice, and her dodge is reminiscent of a blinking teleportation just beyond the theater of engagement.
She smiles softly for Princess Serenity. Even now she speaks. Even now she engages. Perhaps she's foolish for doing so. Metallia is an animal that should enjoy nothing more than a response to her threat. Perhaps she's enlightened for doing so. There is no system beyond that of life itself, and any attempt to subdivide its complexities relies upon perversion and minimization. The answer, the great paintbrush that strokes away all ambiguity is nowhere in sight. But Princess Mars is reminded that she is a General, and Princess Serenity is an Augustus.
Mars will not join in Serenity's attack. But she will supplement it with every fiber of her being.
Standing as tall as any statue, Mars holds her arms to her sides in a horizontal parallel. Her gown sprouts violet sleeves that grow to her fingertips, whose color infects the rest of her, the color of royalty for millenia. Her dress becomes purple and her irises follow suit. A horde of ofuda spew from her cuffs, each shaped into a 15 pointed Origami star. One by one they fill the oppressive night with their own constellations, defiant lights striking forth against the black. Like the worst minefield at the nadir of the most oppressive war of humankind, they suffocate the surrounding space.
And then, as one, they detonate, flooding everything that can be seen with a violet light. A nuclear napalm in horizontal demonstration, aimed with a sniper's precision at the powers of darkness in their midst. In pouring out this assault the Princess of Mars embodies the dying defiance of a proud people snuffed out before their time.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Mars has used Donning the Purple on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Hearing Metallia continue to taunt Princess Serenity while standing there as if they have no hope against her both angers and worries Ren. There's no doubt the evil Queen is formidable. It's likely she has good reason to think that the assembled magical defenders won't be able to defeat her.
And then comes Serenity's plea. It resonates deeply with Ren, even through the retaliation from Metallia that she's able to just barely weather, barrier splintering into pieces as she's forced back down into the cold, hard ground. Ren breathes heavily, staring back at her own reflection in the icy floor. She looks horrible -- like someone on the brink of being defeated...
...But still, Serenity's words resonate. "I believe in this world." She says in a low whisper, inclining her head to look up at the ravaged battleground. "Heraut. I believe..."
The device pings. <So do I, your majesty. Now rise up and let's help save it!>
And that's just what Ren does. Placing a gloved hand on the ground she shuts her eyes as a magic circle traces out around her, motes of light floating up to dizzily dance around her. Although she can't see what's going on, she can certainly hear and /feel/ it all. Everyone is joining Serenity in launching a combined, ultimate assault -- one that will hopefully end Metallia's reign of terror.
"Gemlight..." Heraut shifts into the form of a cannon, steadying itself on a tripod and adjusting itself to point directly at Metallia. In Ren's mind she visualizes a HUD-display with flashing indicators giving her information on trajectories and error margins. A red targeting reticle blinks rapidly before fully locking on with a *PING* for confirmation. "I believe in this world." Ren repeats, opening her eyes with a fierce look of determination. "...FUSILLADE!"
A succession of explosions fill the air as a volley of shots are fired off, ground shaking as the device-cannon bucks back from the sheer extent of the power being unleashed from it. They zip forward one after the other, before bursting apart into a deluge of sparkling multicolored gems soaked in blinding energy that blurs the very space surrounding them.
...And then those gems simply /explode/, building up into a rippling cascade that seeks to render the mighty Queen Metallia apart.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Ren Aizawa has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Nagihiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (6)] has posed.
Beat Jumper's eyes shrink as he notices Metallia looking right at him. "Dude! Nagi! Dude!" Rhythm wails, briefly losing his perpetual calm at the prospect of black doom lasers. "I see it!" Nagi yelps back, and again takes to the air; he swings his weight in midair, the wave of the first blast missing him by centimeters. He really can see his life in it, for a second; things done and left undone. Amu, still waiting for a friend who he could never produce again.
He whips his eyes away from it, eyes up; yep, she's going for two! He whirls his whole body, tries to force himself to control his surging leap, and discovers he sure can do that! Beat Jumper pirouettes away from that annihilating beam of anti-light, the very image of grace and agility even now. Nagi's feet touch down on ice a few seconds later, and his hands slam immediately into his knees; bending over and wheezing from sheer emotional shock. "Close," he rasps. "But those moves were sick, dude!"
Nagihiko can't help a little grin tickling at his face. Rhythm's positivity is a welcome companion in a fight as dire as this; with the very idea of the world on the line, and his acquired habit of attempting to strategize proving sublimely useless against a creature too powerful to do much but throw everything at. "We can't just keep poking at her," Nagi says. "We're gonna have to go big." "Just make it cool, Nagi."
Nagi's figuring out what that could be when the light Princess Serenity draws down ignites like a new, clear dawn, and Nagi takes a breath. Strike now, his heart sings. "We're going," Nagi says, and sets his stance. The wings on his boats hum, and then whine, and then sing, and as the barrage of attacks rains down on Queen Metallia, Nagi takes flight.
He shoots up into the air, blasting past the first shockwaves; past the crown of Metallia's head; past the horizon, until he feels like he's looking down on the whole world. And with the whole spread of the world below him, he finally finds the words he wanted.
"This world's cruel," he says, maybe all to himself. "Dreams break every day. Hearts seem like they're made to be broken. People hurt each other because they tell themselves that's just a part of being alive."
The wind kicks up around him, gravity reasserting himself as he begins to descend. "But I've seen people with amazing hearts! Dreams that won't waver! And people whose light can bring back even hearts that have broken long ago! Even if we hurt each other yesterday, there's still today! If we hurt each other today, we can make it up tomorrow! As long as you keep dreaming, keep believing, your heart can be reborn as many times as it needs to be! So I will believe! I will believe in the people we want to be! BEAT!"
A ball of light forms in his hands, throbbing with the energy poured into it; he spirals around the axis of his descent, whipping and weaving to find the best possible point of impact, and then -
Leans back his whole posture to slam it, two-handed, directly into Queen Metallia's tremendous face, screaming, "DUUUUUUUUUUNK!"
COMBAT: FINISHER! Nagihiko Fujisaki has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Kaitou Jeanne [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfNd74Tx-HE
'Well /that/ didn't work', Jeanne thinks, coughing as she finds herself sprawled on the icy ground, knocked off her feet by the heat ray she drew in response. That and 'was that a /dragon/?', but that's for later worry. Forget masking her troubles - that was plenty painful on its own. While still thinking of a retort to that one, a massive foot comes down towards her... and here she is on the ground. There's no way she can get up and out of the way in time...! The only thing she can do now is close her eyes and pray...
...which is surprisingly effective, conjuring a barrier of light to protect her from getting squashed outright. Its holy properties, in direct opposition to the forces of darkness, is likely the main reason for it being able to repel something that large without it being able to break through immediately, giving her enough time to roll to safety, the barrier dispersing as she does.
Princess Serenity asks for aid, causing the phantom thief to immediately spring back up to her feet and hold her ribbon at the ready, now glowing with a brighter light than before. Belief? She's got belief to spare. Blind belief, unrealistic belief, many would say. But nonetheless genuine belief that even the seemingly impossible can be achieved so long as you don't give up. Holding onto this feeling is fundamental for her being able to cope in day to day life.
To invoke the Silver Crystal, and grant this strong a validation for this belief, is an empowerment like no other for Kaitou Jeanne, for Maron Kusakabe. The light of her ribbon spreads across her entire body, a shield of pure faith to protect her in what she's about to do. At this point, to the question of how they intend to stop her, she replies to Queen Metallia simply, "This is how."
And then, she charges, vanishing in what appears to be flames of pure white with visible 'wings', shooting straight for the giant demonic entity. The distance closed in no time flat, Jeanne dances through the air with speed and grace, landing a series of rapid strikes with her ribbon across Queen Metallia's body, each burning with the purest light.
"Return to Darkness... in the name of God! Checkmate!" With that final statement, Jeanne dives directly forward, delivering one final strike across the dark Queen's midsection, landing further beyond in a crouch. Her aura faded, the only lingering evidence of the extraordinary feat that was performed is the trail of white feathers that she's left in her wake.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Kaitou Jeanne has joined the combo started by Princess Serenity!
<Pose Tracker> Princess Serenity [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Infinite hopes. Infinite dreams. They all shine forth in both word and deed.
It comes forth the heart of Jeanne who taught Serenity a magic spell in her hour of most desperate need. Who strives so hard to help Serenity's wish remain true. A Kaitou she was once at odds with, chasing her across the rooftops. But she knows that no matter what comes between them in the future that the girl will remain... strong and serious, matchless and marvelous, energetic and courageous.
I believe in this world. From the heart of a mage who fights so fiercely for this world, for her friends, for her family, for her future. Who Serenity had once watched hold off the terror of a man who would crush them all for his own amusement. Her heart soars to see her standing up against Metallia here.
No, I won't fall! I'll help finish this fight! It comes forth in the simple fiery determination of a Magic Knight to stay on her feet.
Mars does not join, fierce in her individuality. And Serenity can't help but smile at that, despite the gravity of the situation. Perhaps she's too afraid of her Princess getting caught up in her own sprint again? Serenity doesn't know. Whatever the case, no matter how much they disagree or fight she knows one thing for certain about their future. They'll be together.
For our friends... for our families... for everyone we care about. Kagutsuchi! From the heart of a girl who chose to risk her life for the sake of her brother. And now shines so brightly in all things, big and small.
I'm going to try putting my faith in me, too. In the heart of a dignified girl who does not think very well of herself. Learning again to have that faith, that confidence in herself and her future... and hope for finding someone lost to her.
I'm with you Sailor Moon. For the Earth, my second home! From the heart of an adopted daughter of this world who has learned so much of herself in her time here. Princess Serenity could not be more proud of her.
I'll absolutely protect this planet and everyone on it! No matter what! Duty or dreams? A question which haunts her most dutiful guardians, a dream to shine brightly upon the stage and find romance. Serenity knows without a doubt she'll shine brightly in the future, brighter than ever.
We who are human, though we may be weak and frail of body, possess a spirit which shall never yield to the Darkness you embody! In the towering spirit of a Magic Knight of Wind a gentle soul is always willing to lend a hand, to heal the flesh and the spirit, even if she speaks for the future with an eloquence Serenity knows she'll never have.
I believe! In the character of warrior, a Princess, an ordinary and extraordinary girl all in one, and one of her best friends. In her own dreams of the future, her own ordinary happiness, her desire for romance, intimacy, and love. In her relentless optimism that could never be kept down.
For everyone back home. For those who fell because of you. For Sparkles, and Avalon. For peace, and for love. For you Mika! In the heart of a knight who also had the chance to live again this world, to find ordinary happiness and a future for himself and his sister. Even in her ignorance of that, she still feels something between one old soul to another.
In the heart of Mercury who has her own dreams, her own ordinary happiness in the future. Serenity knows that no matter what Ami Mizuno chooses, a career, a romance, or greater things besides... Ami Mizuno excels at everything she does.
In the heart of La Sirene du Nord. A girl who owed her nothing either. Not even a look, but who gave her many precious memories to cherish. And hope for her own future.
I guess I'm not strong enough... On my own, anyway... But maybe with everyone together... In the heart of a small mage, whose hands can change destiny themselves, in the epiphany that she's stronger with others than she could ever be alone. She doesn't know her, but even in the throes of despair, her hands still bring forth such hope.
And what of her own happiness? Well. She's already said so much that it's embarrassing! But... Serenity herself hopes that beyond her friends who she wants to be with her forever and ever for all of their ordinary happiness... that there's someone out there still waiting for her.
Their dreams for the future both small and large, their happiness both ordinary and extraordinary. Their bonds in each other, their love for the people important to them. They all shine forth to tell Metallia one thing. This world that has so many beautiful hearts, so much beautiful hope for the future... cannot be as cruel and ugly as she says it is. For each of them know what this world can be, and what they can accomplish... together now and in the future!
COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Princess Serenity, Lera Camry, Mai Tokiha, Lancelot, Hikaru Shidou, Fuu Hououji, Princess Jupiter, La Sirene du Nord, Masque Feu, Sailor Venus, Nanoha Takamachi, Princess Mercury, Ren Aizawa, Nagihiko Fujisaki, and Kaitou Jeanne have used Combo: Hope Shines Eternal, composed of The Light of Hope, Aurora Burst Ray, Annihilating Light, Charging Assault, Sword of Flame, Emerald Cyclone: Full, Jovian Memory, Paint It Black and Take It Back, Sunfire Halo, Crescent Light!, Divine Buster: Extension, Mercury Aqua Edge, Gemlight Fusillade, Beat Dunk, and In The Name Of God!, on Queen Metallia.
COMBAT: Princess Serenity has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Masque Feu has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Venus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Mercury has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nagihiko Fujisaki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Kaitou Jeanne has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Queen Metallia fails to brace Sailor Mars's Finisher, Donning the Purple, taking 190 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Queen Metallia narrowly braces Princess Serenity, Lera Camry, Mai Tokiha, Lancelot, Hikaru Shidou, Fuu Hououji, Princess Jupiter, La Sirene du Nord, Masque Feu, Sailor Venus, Nanoha Takamachi, Princess Mercury, Ren Aizawa, Nagihiko Fujisaki, and Kaitou Jeanne's Finisher, Combo: Hope Shines Eternal, taking 1045 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Queen Metallia is unable to keep fighting! Queen Metallia's Block ability activates! Queen Metallia's Parry ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Queen Metallia [None] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsvEu4sF4GI
"Fools! Everyone is born alone and dies alone! Your connections, your support -- ephemeral, fleeting constructs!"
Seeing that the array of magical girls -- an army of hundreds and possibly thousands, in truth, assaulting her from all directions -- is failing to fall to her quick efforts, Metallia's expression turns wrathful.
And as the girls begin to draw together, to gestalt their strong resolution, deep faith, and pure love through the conduit of the Silver Crystal, the darkness surrounding them, in shattered earth and veiled sky, intensifies. It's hard to say where it's coming from, exactly -- this evil power seems to be absolutely everywhere, surrounding and binding.
All of it, streaming towards the demoness' form. She is its genesis and is expression, the alpha and the omega.
The essence of the descent, at least in this moment.
With an enraged roar she thrusts her palms outwards, trying to race the girls, to blast them out of existence faster than they can summon their full powers. A torrent of void pours towards them, casting evil halos where it refracts their light.
What light it is -- at first it is disparate, all manners of distinct lights and fires and thunders and winds, blades and gems and ofuda and ribbons, even another shade of darkness. Planetary power, Earthly power, powers from worlds far and near... it rises to meet the tide of darkness head on, and as it does so it merges into one.
There is no single shade of the heart, and so although it is encompassed by a massively silver sheen, what impacts Metallia's deathblow is a rainbow even lovelier and more spectacular than the one comprised by the Prism Flower. It is hope, as purely as she is hunger.
They strain back and forth for a long moment, and then -- not inevitably but inexorably, and only with the contributions of each and every individual on the field -- the magical girls begin pushing Metallia back.
"WHAT?!"
The rainbow approaches her palms, inch by inch.
"NO! After all these years, I will not be sealed again! I will not!"
It looks like she doesn't have to worry about that, because as the light touches her fingers, they are vaporized -- as are her wrists, her arms, and then the rest of her, all at once, as the energy rushes through in a bursting dam of hearts.
The Silverine Dreaming, that memory of light, revealed a miracle forged alone. Even it could only send Metallia away.
With everyone together, something greater has been wrought. A true ending of darkness --
-- and a new beginning for the light.
As the clouds overhead recede, the revealed night sky is almost blinding in its brightness. Each star twinkles with what feels like approval, in colors nearly as countless as those of the girls.
And the Moon shines most brightly of all, as though the ancient Queen who fell to make tonight possible is blessing every girl touched by its light. Another still, small voice, which couldn't be more unlike Metallia's, briefly whispers from within, quiet and clear in the night, in the heart.
Remember... the most important thing... is not that you're a princess or a knight or a chosen warrior. The most important thing... is that you are a person. Live on, and live in happiness, my child...
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Once all is said and done, and the evil has been vanquished, the Magic Knight of Fire looks to her comrade and smiles. "We did it!" She says, cheerfully. "We, along with the others, all vanquished the truly horrible evil that was before us! I knew we could do it, and I'm glad I didn't give up either!" Speaking of giving up, though, it looks like the Fire Knight's body is about to give in to the injuries it's sustained. Indeed, just like that comic gag (if you will,) the Fire Knight's smile fades a little and then she drops to the ground. She looks like she's really passed out this time... but has she?
Despite just about being passed out, the Fire Knight does manage to get up to a slightly kneeling down position and give a thumbs up. "Well, it wore me out, but we did it! When I get home, I'm gonna take a nice long nap!" She grins and sweatdrops, before looking to the Wind Knight again. "And then you and I are going to celebrate together!"
<Pose Tracker> Nagihiko Fujisaki [Ohtori Academy (6)] has posed.
In the wave of annihilating light, Beat Jumper disappears; a silhouette lost in a crashing wave of light. But with the coming of the restored night, he comes back down to the ground, feet settling into the ice easily enough. He huffs; half-bent, not used to this level of exertion. And his eyes crane up, seeking sign of their foe.
But she's gone. Sealing her isn't a concern anymore; destroyed in that wave of light he could feel his own part in. He manages to rise up; look out across the field of stars and soak in the shining radiance of the sky. The benediction of that final voice prompts him to close his eyes, and breath.
And then with a flash of starlight, Rhythm pops free, and Nagihiko lets himself sink to the ground, exhausted. "Do we even have a plan for going home?" he asks the general area.
"Don't even worry about it!" Rhythm chimes.
"I'm definitely worried about it!"
