2016-09-11 - Locks and Keys 14

Title: Locks and Keys 14
Summary: The finale of Locks and Keys! Led by Fuu Hououji, supported by the Magic Association, the magical girls perform the Ritual of Rending to destroy the Master Key, lest it be used for evil. To do so they have to defend it from the forces of Dark Fall, which come in a great army in a last ditch effort to claim it for themselves...
Who: Chitose Shiratori, Endo Naoki, Fuu Hououji, Garnet, Hikaru Shidou, Lera Camry, Mami Tomoe, Nori Ankou, Ren Aizawa, Setsuna Meioh, Takeo Akamizu, Usagi Tsukino, Haruka Tenoh, Steven Universe GM: Hotaru Tomoe
Where: The Pacific Ocean, off the shore of Japan
OOC - IC Date: 09-11-2016 - 11-20-2014

<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.

PREVIOUSLY ON BATTLE FANTASIA

The seven Keys are brought together at Searrs Symphony Hall, to form the single, cosmically powerful Master Key.

Bad things happen.

By the end of the evening, Searrs Symphony Hall is burning rubble, and Fuu Hououji is spiriting the Key into the night. She takes it to the Magic Association, who warn her that it isn't safe to hold onto, that dark forces will come for it. The Key must either be used or destroyed.

NOW

The Magic Association, faced with the twin necessities of 'a place to perform a sacred ritual' and 'a place that is defensible from a large-scale attack,' have elected to host the Ritual of Rending outside of city limits. Outside of national borders, in fact.

It is in international waters that they unleash an ancient power.

The sky is a bruise, the sea a hungry void. Suitably, its teeth become visible, one at a time. Jagged spikes -- but with the first lightning bolt that arcs across the chasm of the heavens, the flash reflects off of not black stone, but white ice.

First there's one, then two, but soon it's thirty, forty, fifty pillars of ice, and more. They grind up against each other with monstrous roars, filling in the gaps. More lightning flashes, creating a strobe effect. Moment to moment, the construction ceases to be a set of disparate spikes. There! The outside is rising, screaming upwards, becoming a wall -- a palisade. The courtyard below isn't slippery at all; there's much too much salt for that, creating a grainy, tough surface that smells bitingly of brine.

And with a final crackling sound, a prism emerges from the center, a single, glorious, gigantic salt crystal, fused together with mystical might. It pulses with power, the heart of this immense magical fortrees. It feels not just strong, but sacred. It may not have existed before today, but there is power in birth, too, in new growth.

The one who cast this spell is, at a distance, too tiny to recognize, and departs too swiftly to greet. But Madoka Mano, who's running this show, remains. The tiny old woman is dressed for the cold in a practical black tactical suit, with an extra scarf for good measure. It's bright red, in the manner of her family. She straddles her motorcycle, one foot down with all the weight and patience of a master rider, and watches as people arrive.

The Association put the word out that a portal would be opened from St. Ursula's Cathedral, for Fuu and her allies, and they didn't mind telling the Tuner Organization, either. Officially, Tuners wanted to prevent the Key from being used, all along; today, their goals are one. Word of mouth has reached many other magical girls as well. Mascots telling mascots; friends telling friends.

But for those who managed to be completely out of the loop, it is easy enough to be attracted to the magnificently massive pillar of light that erupts out of the crystal to lance the wounded sky. It is visible from shore. It may be visible from space.

It seems likely that magical girls won't be the only ones responding to its call.

"Salt is our ally," the retired Devil Hunter remarks, as people arrive. "One of our oldest, our most reliable. Wind Knight, the Ritual of Rending is very simple. Place the Key upon the crystal, and speak your desire. So long as the crystal remains pure, untouched by darkness, it will wreak your will."

She shades her eyes with the back of her hand as she squints into the dark sky. "Keeping it pure until the Key's destruction, that will be our task."

OOC: If you're here, you're transformed. Please make sure this is reflected by the combat system!

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji transforms into Wind Knight!

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou transforms into Fire Knight!
COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori transforms into Barrier Jacket!
COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino transforms into Sailor Moon!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki transforms into Barrier Jacket Aufprall!
COMBAT: Garnet transforms into Garnet's Got Gauntlets!
COMBAT: Lera Camry transforms into Barrier Jacket Perihelion!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe transforms into Puella Mami!
COMBAT: Lera Camry transforms into Barrier Jacket Aphelion!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa transforms into Barrier Jacket Lustre!
COMBAT: Takeo Akamizu transforms into Lancelot!

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Lera offered Fuu the best advice she could: the Key isn't something she thinks should be used. The ability to shape a world -- and a city is a world, in a sense -- for everyone is a little more power than one person should have. Even if Tokyo isn't perfect, it's theirs, and it isn't one person's. She holds fast to that.

But she is still nervous about going out. She looks down at the hammer gripped in her hand. Broken Ground finished his repair cycle just recently. Her Linker Core healed -- and maybe not completely -- just recently. "You ready, Ground?"

<Could ask the same. Let's do it.>

She smiles, then, and nods. "...Yeah. Let's do it," she says. She looks up at the sky, then, having stepped through the portal. Her clockwork hammer at her side, she hears Madoka Mano speak. Her lips purse.

Then, she nods. "We'll keep it that way, y'know?" Then, she glances at Fuu, and shoots a thumbs-up in the Wind Knight's direction.

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Hikaru and Fuu have been the closest of friends for the longest time. In spite of how this key could be as much of a bad thing as it is a good thing, Hikaru still remained loyal to her friend to the end. And now that the 'moment of truth' is upon them, Hikaru has taken it upon herself to accompany her best friend to this location. Of course, she had to make a slight change before they got there.

Skipping the incantation and all that and getting to the point, of course...

The Fire Knight now looks to the Wind Knight and gives her a smile of courage and reassurance. "We can do this!" She says reassuringly to those around her, not only reassuring the Wind Knight, but also acknowledging what has been said.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Ren heard the call to arms through the usual channels. It's not hard when you're unconciously keeping an ear to the ground for that sort of thing. After checking to make sure Lera and Endo were in the know, also, she took off for St. Ursula's Cathedral, all the while pondering the dilemma of the Keys. It's caused so much trouble and grief -- how could she /not/ want to see them done away with in some fashion to keep the bad guys from reshaping the entire world? Just having that kind of power in anyone's hands makes her more than a little twitchy.

She touches down sometime later and joins the others after stepping through the provided portal, smiling at Lera and Fuu especially. She then listens to what the older lady on the motorcycle has to say, the lance that is Souverain Heraut held firmly in one hand. When she finishes, Ren nods along with Lera in agreement.

"Yeah. Definitely."

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

It could very easily have been a different ritual, and the Wind Knight remembers this fact as Madoka-sensei instructs her on how to proceed. She can still feel what she would swear is the Key's own desire to be used, to shape the future ... she still knows how she would have liked to do so, but the fact is, the power of the Key frightens her - the kind of fear that is coolly, even crisply logical, at least from the inside.

The mere fact that she remains tempted by it - after ostensibly making up her mind, with the support and advice of several of her friends - actually shores up her resolve: *she* doesn't trust herself to make a wish that would genuinely make a better Tokyo, or a better Earth, for everybody concerned. She may be smart, but she still lacks the wisdom or insight to construct the wish just right. Maybe somewhere in the city is somebody who actually *does* possess those qualities - but they can't afford the time to go looking, and as such, the Wind Knight simply nods in response to Madoka Mano. "Thank you, Sensei ... and the rest of you -"

Her gaze sweeps across those who have come to assist in the Key's destruction, and she bows to the group. "Thank you very much for assisting in this matter." She smiles briefly, inclining her head to Lera at the latter's thumbs-up, then turns towards the salt crystal at the center of the icy fortress. She walks forward without hesitation, placing the key upon the crystal - maybe putting it down a little more firmly than she has to - and then stands up straight, leaving the Key upon the salt crystal's surface. "I wish that the Key may be destroyed, its power dispersed so that nobody may use it until it arises once more, however far off that may be."

Now, if Madoka-sensei was right, it's just a matter of time. A flash of green light emerges from the Wind Knight's glove jewel, splitting and resolving into her bow and a quiver full of arrows. If anyone's going to interrupt the Ritual of Rending, coming in by air seems the most likely approach for them ...

COMBAT: Nori Ankou transforms into La Sirene du Nord!

COMBAT: Steven Universe has fully healed himself.
COMBAT: Takeo Akamizu has fully healed himself.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Nori Ankou - no, la Sirene du Nord - had, perhaps, already been in motion towards things when matters came to an explosive head. She came, seeming slightly tired but essentially herself, to St. Ursula's, and then, beyond.

La Sirene hears the words of the retired Devil Hunter. She takes a deep breath of the salt-scented air, and seems to have nothing, in particular, to add.

"Good luck, Magic Knight!" chirps Batiste, who has come with la Sirene, and, for once, seems comfortable with this situation. Then again, what does he have to worry about if he falls into the water? The two of them do straighten up, bracing themselves as Fuu begins to render her wish.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Usagi hasn't been well- given the nights she's had since the gala. The sensation of chill gunmetal to her temple. Feelings of profound helplessness. The images were indistinct, but the feelings were real. The way she was the day after- Luna had actually toyed with not telling her what had been passed along by a fairy that had annoyed her.

But the moment she had- "I'm going." There was something in her eyes. Something that made certain the cat's only answer would be a nod. The cat would never discourage her from duty, after all.

Sailor Moon was the one that showed up at the Cathedral, and through the portal she had gone. And when she showed up, she quickly looks impressed at the giant prism. "It's huge!" And shining with so much prismatic light, she leans towards her and gives the elderly Devil Hunter a look that's part inquisitive, and part skeptical, "Are you sure it's just salt?"

It seemed way too impressive for that. To her- salt was something that came out of shakers, or small boxes after all. But as the other Magical Girls talk about keeping it safe, and the Magic Knight thanks them for being here... Sailor Moon crosses her arms, one still holding the Spiral Moon Heart Rod.

She suddenly looks strangely abstracted in the way her chin dips, how she turns on herself. Her head bobs and her eyes shut- "To keep our shining future safe, we'll definitely give it our all." It's a sotto voce, almost inaudible, as a shiver runs through her.

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

The choice to hold this ritual outside national borders, out on the ocean--it both concerned and reassured Mami Tomoe. Concerned because of the power that implies that could be released... and reassured because of its distance from other people. She shared this feeling with few, though. After the Magic Association put out their word, she was one of those contacted, still counting herself at least a distant member of that organization, and Mami answered.

She wonders why the Cathedral in particular was chosen, but walks through it regardless.

She doesn't arrive first, but she arrives, all in yellow and black and white, dressed for battle. Her shoes click against the salty ice. Even she can't help but be impressed looking around the fortress, the giant crystal, the whole edifice seemingly conjured out of nothing--or of the ocean itself. A little of that marvel shows briefly in her eyes.

Her outfit is not as insulated from the cold as some, but she stands without seeming to notice, her drills impeccable, her long sleeves billowing softly. The Puella Magi looks over that light from the crystal first...

And then back to Madoka Mano, thoughtfully. The gem on her hat, set in a golden flower of gold wire, glints brightly in the light as she closes a hand clasped in a fingerless glove. "I see," she answers thoughtfully, though it's perhaps not a conversation, and glance to Sailor Moon in particular as she speaks. She adds, "I'll do everything that I can."

Do they know, what happened? She doesn't know.

But Mami turns to Fuu as she speaks, as she walks forward to place he key on the crystal.

She wonders, for a moment, what she can do with it, but she shakes her head. "...You've proven a good guardian, Wind Knight."

...She finds her eyes flicking to some of the others.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Pluto [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

This magnificent protective sea-salt structure, isolated and secure, strikes Sailor Pluto as, possibly, enough -- with the assistance of those gathered. She hopes it will be.

She plants the silver Garnet Rod in the sea-gritty floor and watches the Wind Knight and the assemblage from a slight remove, part of the gathering but not really a part of the group. Sailor Pluto is quiet, pensive. She has watched many similar moments, over the ages. Some have gone well, and some... have not.

The Tokyo of the here-and-now has already become so important to her. She's involved, and she will fight for it.

"You have my support, Magic Knight."

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Endo's gotten the missive through word of mouth. Which is to say, an elementary schooler ordered him to be here. It wasn't like he could refuse, once he figured out what the ritual was.

The faux-Belkan Knight now stands upon the ice with the rest of the assembled, arrayed in armor, cape billowing out behind him. The Intelligent Device that serves as his weapon is dug into the ice behind him, giving him something to lean against as he listens to their instruction. His face is pulled into a glum look, something appropriately grim for the occasion.

"We'll help however we can." He affirms.

That said he waves his hand toward Ren and Lera, and then the rest of the gathered magical individuals. "Are you doing okay?" That he asks of Lera, adding after, "Try not to overdo it, yaa?" His eyes turn back toward the fortress, scanning it over, and then to the walls.

<Pose Tracker> Garnet [None] has posed.

Garnet, true to her word, was on hand to help defend Fuu and the key. With all they had gone through up to this point, and all the conflict the Searrs corporation and their allies had sown to acquire the keys the first time, there was no doubt she would be needed. They were not going to let it go without a fight. Maybe if they kept things "low-key" enough. But Garnet was familiar enough with the Magic Assosciation to know that to ancient wizards "That's Just Not How These Things Are Done", and she sighs a bit as she watches the Association summon and transmute the ice crystals into the fortress with runes and light and furor every step of the way.

"This. Will DEFINITELY get everyone's attention..."

She stops and beholds it in all its majesty for a moment though, and thinks maybe she's being too hard on them. It has been a long time since she's seen any lovely new crystal architechture...

But only for a moment. She focuses back on the task at hand. You don't need Future Vision to guess that something bad is going to happen, (with the storms at hand, reality itself seems to be providing its own omen) but it helps.

"Get ready Steven. Be prepared to defend Fuu." After the fortress was finished, Garnet made sure they took point close by. "If they get the key..."

Garnet stops. She had spared Steven the story of the Searrs company's potential future. She couldn't burden him with thoughts of such a painful world.

A world that will NOT come to pass.

She was here to make sure of that.

<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Merlin had informed Takeo of the need to be here, and to be ready for a fight. The rabbit had hopped off to try and gather the other two knights, but Takeo had little hope. After the diplomatic snaffu, one of them was likely grounded for a decade, and the other was ... Well she was likely grounded for a decade because of who she was. How, he wondered, he ended up not being the one in trouble escaped him. However, it meant that Takeo was now standing, looking at the elder Mano in the guise of Lancelot.

Lancelot eyes the key, Fuu, and then Mami who he locks his eyes on when she is looking at some of the others. He grunts and then says calmly to Fuu, "Don't worry Windy, despite what might come our way, we got this." He leans in and whispers, "If you influence Tokyo can you make Bacon cheaper?" He clears his throat and rolls his shoulders. "I'm glad you grabbed it. I'll back ya up no matter whatcha do though." He flashes her a grin, and then twirls Arondight, alowing a little lightning to flicker on the blade.

His eyes go once more to Mami, and the lighting flashes just a little bit more. Somehow he manages to say nothing, but instead moves to a spot where he can be of best use. Keeping the Lightning flashing Arondight out and at the ready.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha transforms into Mai Tokiha!

<Pose Tracker> Chitose Shiratori [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Chitose Shiratori is one of those weird individuals who have been completely out of the loop for this operation. She's not a member of the Magic Association nor the Tuners, and while she works for someone who is an Ends member she doesn't really know that part.

So she's out and about when everything starts to go down, walking down a road near the shore as she walks her way home to get some rest. "So I was thinking, perhaps we should go talk with some digs and see if they've turned up something interesting? Because I've always been really curious what she was looking for--"

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she sees the beam of light from the crystal mess. She sweeps to turn and look directly at it. "W-what is that?"

<I don't know.> White Omen warbles from his position on Chitose's hair.

Chitose watches it for a few moments, before she hisses air. "I really don't like that. I hope it's a good thing."

<We really can't take the chance that it isn't, though.>

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." Chitose pulls off White Omen from her head, and moments later she's dressed in her Jacket, and she doesn't even let the jacket time to cool before she leaps into the sky and takes off towards the crystal light beam.

White Omen helpfully makes jet engine noises as they fly. <Zoooooooom.>

Once they arrive, Chitose lands, letting her legs stumble to bleed off speed, and she looks around. "So now what?" She asks, mostly to herself as she heads towards the giant beam of light.

<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

"Haha, reminds me of home..." A boy comments. Possibly less of the structure and mroe of the briny scent in the air. Perhaps it brought back memories of something...

The young child stands among the older representatives of good, particularly near one that is several millenna old, actually. A shield he holds, a manifestation of his will to enact justice and mercy. Okay, maybe that is a little too flavorful for Steven Universe, but he seems to be looking over his shield to make sure everything is okay, despite it always being fine. Learning new things is hard without a manual!

The boy caught wind (haha, get it?) through the magical grapevine of what was to happen. He just saw Fuu a few days ago at the arcade! He didn't know she had such a monumental task ahead of her!

He would have totally played the wizard if he knew.

"This sounds... super important," the boy comments. The keys have been assemble into one big key! That is an impressive artifact thingy. And so many people are here to help! Hikaru was there, That one really strong girl with the bullets and stuff from the warehouse, The knight guy from that park event. Even Sailor Moon was here! That means it really is important!

Steven looks to Fuu. He wants to say something, but in truth, he knows nothing of what is going on. But they do. All he can do is look up to her, her friends, and her superiors to make the right choice. Stars glint in his eyes as he smiles softly. Garnet stops mid explanation, and some worry shows on his face. He didnt know what would happen, but it couldn't be good. After all, Who would want to stop someone doing good? "I get it," he replies to his caretaker. "They won't get it. We can stop them."

...He hopes, anyway.

COMBAT: Steven Universe transforms into Steven Quartz Universe!

<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> The Storm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0yL7eRI8hU

Madoka nods at the arriving magical girls, dignifying Sailor Moon's question with a tiny smirk, the showman's smirk of a magician. "Wait until you can see the reds of their eyes," she advises the group in the vaguely helpful manner of a veteran who thinks more detailed plans are fruitless, though the gesture that accompanies it, like cocking a shotgun, is ferocious.

The Key passes effortlessly into the interior salt crystal, which sings to receive it, a song of the sea's bounty, of making and breaking, of endlessness, of time. Though a preservative, it's also true that salt corrodes. Salt's purification doesn't only prolong endings -- it can also bring them about.

A horn blows in response. A scream is too high to capture this sound well -- it vibrates in the basso range, in not one but three tones, the undertone too low to hear, the overtone a strident harmonic. Together, they pulse a dissonant, atonal declaration of intent. It's carried on the wind, which thickens the tongue, freezes in the eyelashes, blasts the skin not just with chill but with stabbing, twisting horror.

The crystal's light flickers. Up close, its beam is not any dimmer, but the sky it crosses has become cloying and thick, heavy with menace.

When they come, though, they come from the sea.

The waves escalate ravenously, tearing against the high outer wall of the ice fortress. Every slamming impact shakes this newborn structure, reminding those who stand upon it, at the base of their teeth, that this is a transient platform. It didn't exist yesterday. It's unlikely to last the afternoon. It just has to last long enough -- and there are those who would deny it even the briefest butterfly-worth of a lifetime.

Is it raining? No, but it's an easy mistake to make; the spray is thick enough to mistake the wet smacking sounds for droplets. If only it were so. There are claws and fangs digging into the base of the ice wall, to be sure, but far more suckers, squishing and popping as many-tentacled purple beasts, evocative of the monster who fought for a Key under Tokyo Bay, but myriad and smaller, start dragging themselves upwards. Their eyes are scarlet slits, their flesh undulating with luminescent ultraviolet in the lower layers.

The external wall is as perfectly smooth and slick as the interior of the fortress is not, yet in no time at all, the horde is a quarter of the way up -- halfway -- three quarters...

"FIRE!" yells Madoka.

OOC: Tonight we'll be defending the Ritual of Rending from consecutive waves of enemies! Each round, it's your goal to KO the GM, whose new starting health will steadily increase. If you fail to KO the GM, they will be extra-deadly in the following round!

COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe transforms into Army of Darkness!

COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 13 opponents!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Chitose Shiratori.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Endo Naoki.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Garnet.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Sailor Pluto.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Steven Universe.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji perfectly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Sailor Moon is Taunted!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! La Sirene du Nord's Block ability activates! La Sirene du Nord's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Endo Naoki's Block ability activates! Endo Naoki's Parry ability activates! Endo Naoki is Taunted!
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Pluto is Taunted!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa's Flash ability activates! Ren Aizawa is Taunted!
COMBAT: Garnet fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 31 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Garnet is Taunted!
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Lancelot is Taunted!
COMBAT: Haruka Tenoh transforms into Sailor Uranus!
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has fully healed himself.
COMBAT: Steven Universe narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Steven Universe's Block ability activates! Steven Universe's Parry ability activates! Steven Universe is Taunted!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Hikaru Shidou's Block ability activates! Hikaru Shidou's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Mami Tomoe's Flash ability activates! Mami Tomoe is Taunted!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used The Shadow of Doom on Sailor Uranus.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Sailor Uranus's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Lancelot looks to the tentacled beasts that look jsut like something he once took a bite out of. He tries to keep out of the way fo some of the darkness coming and is mostly succussful, but finds himself eventually to a spot where he just can't. He grits his teeth. Now is the time to fight. He closes his eyes and pushes back the memories of a wall hundreds of years ago. Of the armies that came then.

Instead, Lancelot brings the light to him.

Not in shining rays of luminesence, but in the form of bolts of lighting that coalesce and begin to swirl on Arondight's naked blade. Reflecting and pulsing light that shines and crackles with power. When Mano yells "Fire!" Lancelot does just that.

Pointing Arondight at the advancing hordes of evil, Lancelot calls out in a powerful voice, "LIGHTNING STREAM!" The sum of the lightning that swirled along the edges of Arondight, burns forward toward the tip, and explodes outward. The blast forking rays of lighting that crackle and boom with thunder. Blue and White forks of lightning arc, and dance as a continues blast of the lightning rains down on the enemy.

COMBAT: Lancelot has used Lightning Stream on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

And here the Wind Knight thought the most dangerous forces coming after the Key would be of human origin; these don't look anything close to human (except maybe in that one anime, but ...)

The sound of the horn prompts a slight narrowing of her eyes and a tilting of her head, as well as her pulling an arrow from her quiver, nocking it, and drawing back. She knew there'd be hostile forces coming to try and take the Key, prevent its destruction, and so forth; why they needed a horn to signal the attack is somewhat lost on her, but it's useful as a warning to the defenders. A tentacle lashes up over the outermost ice 'wall' - but the Wind Knight holds her shot, just long enough to see the monster's head hove into view.

"GALE ARROW!"

THEN she looses, with a sheath of wind magic wrapped around the shaft to steady it against the winds - and to drive it ahead even faster than the bowstring alone could have, amplifying the arrow's piercing force.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Gale Arrow on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Lancelot's Lightning Stream, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly dodges Fuu Hououji's Gale Arrow, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori perfectly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Chitose Shiratori's Fade ability activates! Chitose Shiratori's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Being on high alert doesn't always mean that you're ready for anything. In fact, the moment the horn sounds, the Fire Knight jumps a little in surprise, before turning to see something she wishes she hadn't...

A strange creature with tentacles coming at her. There's no way she'll avoid being caught by it. She plants her feet firmly into the ground and assumes a defensive stance, not letting the creature get the best of her. She staggers backwards a little but doesn't fall over or anything like that.

"We will win this!" The Fire Knight yells out as she conjures up a fiery projectile in the shape of an arrow. "Nothing from the darkness shall defeat us! We are going to triumph!" Aiming at the nearest monster, she shoots forth the fiery projectile while yelling out, "ansi(hr,FIRE ARROW!)"

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Advice like that is advice Mami can get behind, gesture and all. She doesn't look to the others anymore, after seeing who is there: she watches the key as it starts its song, as it passes through...

And the horn chills her blood. She can't describe the tone well but she /knows/ it, an angry thing to her that speaks of fear. She /feels/ cold, in her heart and on her skin, as it approaches, and does her best to bury it as surely as she feels its pain. She blinks a few times, to clear her eyes of what must be ice.

All she has to do is get started.

...So the waiting is almost worse. The sky seems to her different, and then she hears it against the walls. She shifts her stance, to steady herself, conjures a single rifle in her hand that she aims upward.And there they are. She sees the monsters--

In the heartbeat after that command, Mami's first rifle reports loudly her gunfire, dropped for another, and another, and another, spinning with her momentum in something like a dance, punctuated by shot after shot after shot, with deadly aim.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Flourish on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Fire Arrow on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> La Sirene du Nord [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

"The reds?" Batiste squeaks, thinking Madoka spoke to him. La Sirene looks towards Sailor Moon with a sympthetic expression, but the song is already rising upwards. She takes in one more deep breath, the salt in the air familiar to her.

And then horns. in the distance.

They're warned. Told to wait, to hold their fire. La Sirene turns in the direction from which the enemy will come, and Batiste climbs her coat to curl round her shoulders. "This is a nice change, isn't it," Batiste says quietly. "At least we know which way they're coming."

"Don't jinx it, cousin," la Sirene answers quietly. The Brazen Pharos rests in her hand comfortably, and she slowly raises it upwards. Her lips purse as she hears that horn, sees the tentacles, and waits a moment further yet. She swears she can feel sweat running down her spine, but, she tells herself, remember who you are.

So she thinks of something red, and then she tightens her hand at Madoka Mano's exclamation. The brass cap on the Brazen Pharos's lens flips open and that shadow is met with -- more shadow? No: Shadow is an absence, this is a negative /presence/, the un-light of the abyssal depths of the Sea of Tears lancing outwards, reflecting with an amethyst glitter off the vertices of the salt crystal that surrounds them, aiming to slap into those oceanic creatures.

"Yah!!" Batiste enthuses.

Of course, la Sirene thinks, it can only get worse from here.

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has used Pieces of the Perfect Black on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Mami Tomoe's Tiro Flourish, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates! Stagger applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe perfectly dodges Hikaru Shidou's Fire Arrow, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces La Sirene du Nord's Pieces of the Perfect Black, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Endo winces, his hands moving to grip his ears when the horn sounds. It scares him, makes his chest heave for a moment with primal terror. "Not this time." He reaches back to grasp at his weapon, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to move. He couldn't protect his friends from the girl in red, but he can make up for it this time.

<THEY COME.> Fallen Stern thrums. <ONCE AGAIN.>

"Ren-Lera-I'm gonna go!"

With a shout Endo goes to the wall. Well, really, he jumps there. Symbols spin into view under his feet, and with one great leap he's crashing atop the battlement to meet the approaching horde. He impacts hard, ice cracking and shattering, his sword arcing out to meet the first thing over the wall.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Blauverschiebung on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Endo Naoki's Blauverschiebung, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Endo Naoki is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

The crystals are so pretty as they light up from the event playing out. Watching them is near entrancing. At least for the first few moments of it happening. Then things get dark. And kinda stormy. And then creatures crawling up the fortress-y. Wait, what was that last one again?!

All sides of the fortress are covered in a moving mass of... something. A bunch of somethings actually, all working in unison toward a single goal. This might be why help was requested. And with them, a most horrifying noise that is both just beyond perception yet recognizeable as something dark and sinister. "A gem's work is never done," the boy comments, though his voice sounds shaken.

As the creatures crest the edge, Steven is nearby, ready to wallop anything that comes close to him! "We can do it!" he calls out to everyone. "Stick together, and we got this!"

COMBAT: Steven Universe has used Shield Bash on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Steven Universe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Steven Universe's Shield Bash, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Steven Universe is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Trouble comes just as expected. Ren watches the tentacled monsters rise up from the sea following the horn sound and the accompanying chill that makes her shiver.

"Oh." She says in a low voice, falling into a stance premptively. Sea monsters are kind of creepy. But she's made a vow to protect the salt crystal until it does its job at destroying the key. And there's no way she's going to let a bunch of octopi drive her off so easily.

"I'm with you Endo!" Ren shouts as she gives chase after her sword-wielding boyfriend, bringing her lance in an upward motion to deliver a punishing strike to whatever was unfortunate enough to be in the way.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Lance of Faith on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe perfectly dodges Ren Aizawa's Lance of Faith, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Pluto [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

The heavy charge of magic in the air would raise goosebumps along Sailor Pluto's arms if the ocean's chill had not already raised them; still, she feels a tingling rush of internal reaction. When the Key touches salt and begins its song, she looks to Sailor Moon, her concern briefly split. Her future queen looks... troubled.

A horrific, dissonant blast of an otherworldly horn interrupts those thoughts, whips evergreen hair into Sailor Pluto's face and thickens it with a spray of ocean salt, and chills her deep to the bone. She wonders if this suddenly frail-seeming edifice will indeed be enough...

She won't give more time to doubt. Instead, she snaps the Garnet Rod up before her and whirls it, deliberate in the motion. It goes through a full rotation before her, like the minute hand of a clock making its hour-long passage, before stopping at the upright position once more.

The Garnet Orb pulses red and flares.

"Garnet Blast!"

Power erupts from the Orb and races forth toward one of the onrushing, horrible /things/ with their ravening claws and slithering tentacles.

COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has used Garnet Blast on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Sailor Pluto's Garnet Blast, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Sailor Pluto is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Garnet [None] has posed.

And then there was darkness.

Garnet turned to Steven to tell him to get down, but before a full syllable left her lips, a swarm of tentacles, wrapped together as one, hits her like a battering ram! She rockets back into one of the fortress walls, and slams into it, cracking the wall upwards.

Garnet groans and struggles to her feet. So that's how it's going to be...

Garnet raises a gauntlet towards a cluster of the writhing beasts, and in a flash of transformative magic it separates from her arm and magic flaring behind it like a propulsion engine, rockets towards them!

COMBAT: Garnet has used Rocket Gauntlet Buster on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Garnet has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Garnet's Rocket Gauntlet Buster, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe is Quipped!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Mami gets a smile. "I would never doubt that- Mami-chan." Not even after- everything that happened, would she doubt that Mami tries to do the right thing. Pluto however. But upon hearing Sailor Pluto's voice- she inches up. A little at a time. And once she's closer- "I'm glad you're here." She says quietly, looking at her presence as sort of a bastion of support given how she feels right now- even after their recent disagreement on the mission of the other Senshi, she's grateful that she's there.

The key slides in, the gleam catches her attention. But as the horn blows- something low, something horrible. It's reverberating across the tiny hairs on her skin, crawling and clawing at her ears. One hand goes to her ear, while the other well- she tries to press her hand against it awkwardly, not with the flat, but with sort of a cupped motion to prevent from letting go of the rod it grasps. The feelings it evokes are the same she has late at night, in her worst nightmares. A whimper of primal terror escapes her lips.

It's a while before she can uncover her ears. There's this horrible, slick, scraping sound, sucking and popping. It causes her to cringe. She hears it climbing the wall, amidst the spray of droplets. She starts to hesitantly, tentatively point her rod towards one portion of the wall.

It's higher up now. She remembers claws in her cheeks. A warring sensation of heat and cold.

A horrific scraping near the top- You are always alone. Her arm trembles, as a shiver wracks the rest of her body. "I'm not- I'm..."

A mass of creatures crests it- "...I'm not." She insists. Within the horrific teeming mass, she sees a creature's scarlet slits. "Moon Twilight-" With a spin, she flourishes the rod- the tip gleaming with energy as she spins, "-Flash!" Gleaming orbs of power erupt from the end of rod, one after the other, before converging on a single spot. Upon impact it detonates, it becomes a brilliant explosion, all the hues of the sky at twilight.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Moon Twilight Flash on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly dodges Sailor Moon's Moon Twilight Flash, taking 55 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Uranus [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Some might expect Sailor Uranus and Neptune to be against the destruction of this Key. They have no obvious limits in how far they'll go to achieve their goals, after all. But this situation has gotten far out of their control. If there was a point of no return, it was when Pluto protected the Wind Knight during her retreat rather than assaulting her for the completed Key. It isn't what Uranus would have done, that's for sure, but it's done, and things have progressed too far. Enough. A draw will be good enough. Destroy the damn thing.

Besides, Uranus has been waking up sweatsoaked from aftershocks of the visions that Key inflicted on her.

A white glove comes to rest on Sailor Pluto's shoulder, from one of the few people who can manage that without reaching up unduly far. "Hey. Do me a favor and make sure we win this one." Sailor Uranus grins sharply over her shoulder as she steps past Pluto. "Neptune won't forgive either of us if I die. You know that."

Uranus steps to the edge of the wall. She is unusually accustomed to the sight of a horde of unholy beasts assailing a fortification; it was her life for what feels like an eon--hers and Neptune's. Not that it makes it any less pleasant. She curls a lip. At least this isn't her wall to repair afterwards.

"This planet never belonged to you!" she shouts arrogantly down, boot resting on the edge. Drawing back a hand, gloved fingers claws, she fills her palm with the coruscating golden energy of the heavens, then slams it into the wall, sending a crackling ripple down through the surface into the onrushing horrors.

COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has used Siegebreaker on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Chitose Shiratori [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Chitose makes her way into the courtyard and beholds the source of the light-- and the not-small number of defenders.

"All right." She says after a moment. "I guess that's where we go." She heads towards the group of defenders slowly. Having been on the other end of a large number of fighters before, she kind of has the right idea to be cautious. At least, until she realizes they're not waiting for her. "Hey!" She yells out really quickly. "What's going--"

Horns.

Chitose suddenly makes an about face, and steps backwards a moment before she adds magic to her velocity to try and increase her distance between her and the rest of the area. When she finally stops, significantly closer to the rest of the good guys, White Omen answers.<That.>

She doesn't respond for a few moments. Instead, she watches the rest of the area to see what comes, and the horns do not disappoint as the monsters start to arrive.

<Chitose,> says her Device. <We must fight.>

Chitose adjusts her glasses in the brief moment she has to do so, in order to make sure they're firmly situated on her face. "Yeah."

The woman whips the Device up, and circles of Midchildan magic appear each time the Device fires, pulses of light streaking towards the monsters with each blast.

COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori has used Light Bolt on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Chitose Shiratori's Light Bolt, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly dodges Sailor Uranus's Siegebreaker, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Sailor Uranus is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Lera Camry fails to brace Hotaru Tomoe's The Shadow of Doom, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Lera Camry is Taunted!

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

In the wake of that terrible horn, distant but approaching swiftly, there is a screech. A terrific sound, like what one might hear from a furious whale leaping from the waves - but the waves aren't cresting to admit a beast of the water. There's a light approaching from the land, a last late arrival to the battle one way or another.

She hadn't been sure about coming. After meeting with Fuu the day before, Mai had been fairly sure that the decision was to destroy the key. Much as her heart wavered, might have been tempted, it was the right choice. She'd gone home, and done her best to try to forget about it.

The beacon of light was, of course, impossible to miss. Southern Cross Island was as good as part of the ocean itself, so the beacon of the ritual site was visible even from her walk through the Ohtori gardens. Hesitation, again - should she get involved? Should she stay out of it? What was the answer?

She'd glanced to the lamp posts and other high perches. No sign of Nagi - no sign of guidance from her ostensible advisor. Like it or not, this really was entirely her decision. To stay out, or to see if some aid was warranted.

And then there was that terrible horn, just barely audible, and Mai closed her eyes.

Near the ritual site, there's another terrible screech - and then a rush of wind as a fiery beast wings its way past the fortress. A roar of flame comes in the wake of the screech, Kagutsuchi's strafing run coming with a healthy dose of fire - and distantly, the voice of a high school girl.

"Careful! We need to buy them time - so aim away from the fortress!" From Kagutsuchi's back, Mai takes a moment to wave to the defenders - but her dragon's attention is entirely on the monsters that it just spat flame at.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha transforms into U-Koyo!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha transforms into Mai and Kagutsuchi!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Indignant Immolation on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Mai Tokiha's Indignant Immolation, taking 79 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Hotaru Tomoe is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Lera looks at Endo and Ren. She flashes them a grin, though it's a little nervous. She remembers what happened the last time they fought together. She doesn't know that she is back to a hundred percent, after her Linker Core was hurt. She can find out, though.

She hears that scream.

<Get ready!> Broken Ground chimes. The wave of darkness comes: a rush of terrible monsters, many aquatic, shooting right up. Lera's amber eyes widen, and there is a flutter of panic... but she holds her ground. "Right behind you, Ren-chan, Endo-san!" she yells. She swings the clockwork hammer down. A magical circle appears, ever spinning, and the hammer strikes it.

A blast of bright yellow light explodes downward, threatening to shoot a swath through the encroaching monsters. Lera's teeth grit.

<Fault Siege!>

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Fault Siege on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly dodges Lera Camry's Fault Siege, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe is unable to keep fighting! Lera Camry is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> Atrocious Raid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15fkEX8MhOs

Battle is joined near the top of the wall; Lancelot rains lightning while Mami rains bullets, the Wind Knight sends arrows while Chitose sends bolts of pure light, the Fire Knight throws flame, Sailor Uranus invokes the heavens themselves. La Sirene du Nord's shadow is the perfect preface for the crash of Fallen Stern and Souverain Heraut, striking monsters that cannot see to defend themselves (although, conversely, this makes it difficult to see /them/), while Steven becomes a roseate beacon in the shadows, a smaller wall that the monsters cannot easily surmount. Their advance is covered by Sailor Pluto's brilliantly colored blasts, Garnet's explosive gauntlet, Lera's blast which is more light than magma (for now), and Sailor Moon's magnificent invocation of her precious Crystal.

Amid the chaos, it's possible to catch a glimpse of the Key, which, now suspended within the salt crystal, emits brilliant golden sparks as though under a welding torch. It is painful to look at directly. Hopefully, that means things are working.

A moment of respite is bought by the arrival of Mai Tokiha atop her magnificent dragon, Kagutsuchi, who renders the last remnants of the first wave of monsters to ash in an instant. An eerie silence falls over the battlefield, at least for a few precious seconds... though the horns are silent now, the despair left in their wake remains, twisting in the gut, whispering dark promises to the heart.

You barely withstood the first joining of battle. Only one monster needs to get past you for it to all be over. Just give up. Just let go. This is hopeless...

The quiet is shattered abruptly and totally -- just like a quarter of the ice wall. It's a good thing the surface of the courtyard is well above that of the ocean, because the big external wall is gored by the beak of a familiar, kraken-like monster with entirely too many suckers. It gapes open, emitting a pack of mind-bendingly awful-looking creatures (start with man-sized sea anemones, pitch black in color, where half of the tendrils are instead sharp-yet-flexible blades), then withdraws, the entirety of the kraken disappearing without a ripple back into the tumultuous sea.

Those smaller squidlike critters come surging through the hole left by the larger monster's egress, and what comes next puts the relatively controlled confrontation of magical girls atop the wall, monsters surging up it, to shame, at least on the scale of chaos, of confusion. The anemone-creatures form the vanguard, launching many blades from their guts even as they roll forward; in their wake rush the many-armed demon squid, which don't seem slowed at all by being out of water. They grasp and crush all those in their way. There is no way to stay at range, removed; instantly the courtyard is filled with urgent threats, any one of which could corrupt the salt crystal with a single touch.

"DRIVE THEM BACK!" bellows Madoka, with a battlefield volume quite at odds with her rickety old frame. She follows her own advice, revving her motorcycle and running over a demon squid that was getting a little too close for comfort.

COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 15 opponents!

COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Closing The Gap on Endo Naoki.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Closing The Gap on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Closing The Gap on Steven Universe.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Closing The Gap on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fierce Fighting on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fierce Fighting on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fierce Fighting on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fierce Fighting on Chitose Shiratori.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fierce Fighting on Sailor Uranus.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fierce Fighting on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fierce Fighting on Garnet.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fierce Fighting on Sailor Pluto.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fierce Fighting on La Sirene du Nord.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fierce Fighting on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Fierce Fighting on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Closing The Gap, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Cripple applied to Mai Tokiha!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Fierce Fighting, taking 31 Fatigue damage! Stagger and Stun applied to Sailor Moon!
COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Fierce Fighting, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Chitose Shiratori's Fade ability activates! Chitose Shiratori's Flash ability activates! Stagger and Stun applied to Chitose Shiratori!
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Fierce Fighting, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stagger and Stun applied to Sailor Uranus!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Fierce Fighting, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stagger applied to Fuu Hououji!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji's counterattack, Spinning Slash, partially gets through, doing 8 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Closing The Gap, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Endo Naoki's Block ability activates! Endo Naoki's Parry ability activates! Cripple applied to Endo Naoki!
COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Fierce Fighting, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Lera Camry's Reverse ability activates! Lera Camry's Tactician ability activates! Stun applied to Lera Camry!
COMBAT: Lera Camry's counterattack, Mantle Heart, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Fierce Fighting, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Sailor Pluto's Block ability activates! Sailor Pluto's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Fierce Fighting, taking 29 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun applied to Mami Tomoe!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe's counterattack, Tiro Retort, partially gets through, doing 20 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe! Critical Counterhit!
COMBAT: Steven Universe perfectly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Closing The Gap, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Steven Universe's counterattack, Reverb Shield, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Fierce Fighting, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: La Sirene du Nord's counterattack, Les Mysteres, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou perfectly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Fierce Fighting, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Hikaru Shidou's Block ability activates! Hikaru Shidou's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Closing The Gap, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa's counterattack, Blade Barrier, partially gets through, doing 18 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Garnet perfectly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Fierce Fighting, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Garnet's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Garnet's counterattack, The Unstoppable, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Fierce Fighting, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Lancelot's Block ability activates! Lancelot's Parry ability activates! Stagger applied to Lancelot!

<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

The cracking of the wall and the subsequent avalanche of falling ice shards throws Lancelot off balance, and when the monsters flood in, he narrows his eyes. There. There coming through the hole was the monster. THE monster. He whispers fiercely. "Fooood."

When last they faced, the titanic struggle beneath teh waves of Tokyo Bay ahd left both fo them with a bite taken out of them. It was eventually defeated, but nothing was ever settled, at least in Lancelot's mind, between the two of them. Food should know it's place. On Takeo's dinner plate.

Lancelot surges forward, bracing with Arondight several attacks as he comes to the edge of the cracked wall, to the edge where the Food awaits, (For those not following the Kraken is Food...) He screams in defiance and leaps off the wall like some sort of action here, Arondight trailing lightning as he does so. His wordless scream becomes a familiar cry to those have fought beside him, as does the crack of thunder that accompanies it. "LIGHTNING SLASH!"

The words cried mid air, as he brings the weapon to slam forward in, you guessed it, a slash at the monstrous Kraken/Food before him. Lighting arcing in waves as he does so.

COMBAT: Lancelot has used Lightning Slash on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly counters Lancelot's Lightning Slash, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Lancelot is Psyched!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe's counterattack, Holding The Line, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Lancelot!

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Mami actually smiled faintly at Usagi in that moment earlier.

But that moment is past, and Mami aims for monsters as she can see them. Already she's planting more rifles before herself in an effort for the inevitable next wave; she doesn't have /time/ to look at the Key. ...And the arrival of that dragon only rattles her nerves in the moment, the sight of the flames jarring her. ...She's here. And then there is silence.

Those dark promises claw their way into Mami's heart. She's barely started, but there are so many of them. And the last time she faced darkness like this...

As the monsters pour through, Mami is too close to them--anything would be too close to them it seems--to get away. Looking up in alarm, she almost disappears among their number, getting just a sight of the kraken beyond as they reach her. There are too many all at once.

A blast of golden light slams forward from a small cannon in Mami's grasp, and the recoil knocks her backward and free of one that was already grasping her--but not free of the others she lands among. She needs to jump further, or keep shooting, but--

"Don't give up!" she calls out, and a brace of rifles appears around her as the ones she conjured earlier jerk upward; the first seem to shoot at /her/, but shoot at the ones closest--except the ones that shoot near Lancelot and Lera. Each has a mark in a tentacle, a sucker, an enemy's hand too close.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Assist on Lancelot.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Assist on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Assist on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe accepts Mami Tomoe's Tiro Assist, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cleanse! All of Mami Tomoe's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Lancelot accepts Mami Tomoe's Tiro Assist, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Lancelot's debuffs are cleared!

<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Steven manages to hold his own despite the swarming deep umbral colored enemies all around. Combined efforts make dealing with them on the front lines that much more manageable. It helps to know so many fight for a good cause, even though the situation feels less possible as more enemies surge in from a breached wall-- and whatever that giant thing was that broke it.

Some of the creatues immediately engage in close combat, but some fire from outside, blade-like protrusions fired like missiles at some of the magical envoys of good. Some fire at Steven, though he raises his shield; the shots hit, and are immediately repelled, the shield reversing the kinetic force. The boy looks confident as the shield makes an undulating noise and lets off a ripple of sound and force back... but the enemy seems wholly unaffected by it.

The fighting continues, and Steven backs up soem toward the others. People seem down, but not out. At least emotionally. It is a desperate situation, but they cant let these dark voices and feelings to get to them! "Garnet!" he calls over the fighting. "Don't let them get under your skin! Just do what Amethyst would do, and just smash them! Show them what you are made of!"

The boy repells a small reature, and maneuvers closer to Lancelot. "You! Cool guy! You are a freakin' knight! And these blobs are trying to one up you! Don't let them get the chance! Show them you are more than shiny armor!"

A final dodge out of the way from more bladed attacks, puts him near Fuu. "F... uh, Wind Knight," he starts with. He is unused to calling people by their alter identity. "I beleivei n your choice you made with that key. But these guys want to change that! I believe in you! We have to stop them, together! Your wish to do what you want with that key is yours and yours alone! You earned that! Whatever happens, everyone is behind you! They know you made a good choice!"

The boy has to fight an octopus-like enemy from crawling on him, narrowly keeping it from latching onto his face. "I believe in you!"

COMBAT: Steven Universe has used Strong In The Real Way! on Garnet.

COMBAT: Steven Universe has used Strong In The Real Way! on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Steven Universe has used Strong In The Real Way! on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Steven Universe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lancelot accepts Steven Universe's Strong In The Real Way!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Garnet accepts Steven Universe's Strong In The Real Way!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Lera Camry accepts Mami Tomoe's Tiro Assist, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Lera Camry's debuffs are cleared!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Pluto [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Uranus's request to ensure their victory and bring her home safe to Neptune rings in Pluto's ears, and the Guardian of Time is heartened by it, oddly enough. It's a grim sort of rejoinder, but... They're fighting side by side, rather than separated by the unkind void between planets. That's something, that's more than something.

Sailor Moon is glad she's here, and that's more than something, too.

Horror from the depths reaches up, tearing through the conjured sea-ice wall, and Pluto wishes Neptune were here, as well. She would surely know the best way to confront these twisted creatures from the ocean (not /of/ the ocean, Pluto is sure, an important distinction).

Shards of felled wall-ice strike the floor and shatter nearby, exploding and spraying frozen, gritty sea-salt everywhere, and in the time it takes Pluto to shield her eyes from the spray the writhing hordes are upon them all. A demon squid charges tentacles-first, and Pluto faces it down head-on, taking painful circular wounds on her forearms for the trouble.

All of those suckered arms encroach, surrounding Sailor Pluto with awful, alien menace, and with a cool head and practice borne of eons of combat, she does not recoil. Instead she sees opportunity.

The Garnet Rod becomes a silvery blur in her hands, *whrrr*ing through the air as she tumbles it end over end, and with one quick motion she surges forward and strikes at those grasping abyssal arms with all the force she can muster. Rather than calling on raw brawn like her golden-haired comrade often does, Sailor Pluto prefers to leverage precisely applied force.

COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has used Pendulum Blitz on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

When adrenaline is surging through you like fire (excuse the pun!) then you prepare yourself to be more focused than you usually expect yourself to be. At least that's the intention sometimes. For the Fire Knight, it means that she's got her reflexes on high alert, and the attack that comes at her is effortlessly knocked away. She shakes her head and smiles a little. "Tsk tsk, you could've done better than that I'm sure!"

Of course, the octopus (or whatever it's supposed to be) is coming back for more it seems. Rather than try anything magical, the Fire Knight decides to try keeping things simple here as she readies her sword. "Too bad we don't have any rice or we could make sushi!" She says with a laugh, before lifting her sword and then slashing it at the nearest tentacle monster (as she calls it) coming for her.

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Sword Slash on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Endo's weapon jerks up in attempt to ward off the hail of swords headed his way, a clang of metal ringing near his ear, one of them tearing across part of his barrier jacket. His teeth clench, a step take backward, back-to-back with Ren as mass of creatures surge around them.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

And then comes the Kracken. He wobbles as it shatters the wall nearby, barely keeping his feet as the ramparts quake and the next wave begins to pour through. His heart is still pounding, head shaking as he tries to ignore the sirens call of despair.

<Ren-chan, Lera-san, we need to clear the courtyard!>

He focuses on the task at hand, turning to signal to his fellow mages. It's a sharp and sloppy job, but the gist of it is clear: Triangle. He's the first one off, hurling himself from the top of the wall to get into position.

<RAID CROSS.>

He blurs through the mass of creatures, sword flashing out, cutting a clean line as he sweeps through the mess of black shapes, leaving the other makes to fire their own blasts in his wake.

COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly dodges Sailor Pluto's Pendulum Blitz, taking 23 Fatigue damage! Sailor Pluto is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has started a combo targeting Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly counters Hikaru Shidou's Sword Slash, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Hikaru Shidou is Psyched! Stagger applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe's counterattack, Overwhelming Darkness, partially gets through, doing 15 Fatigue damage to Hikaru Shidou!

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Lera was already unnerved, as the fight started. She sags, a little. She can tell that her Linker Core hasn't healed completely. When she watches her spell fly down, it leaves her feeling more drained than usual. Her shoulders slump, until she shakes her head, and summons as much courage as she can. Her eyes narrow. "Ground, how're you holding up?"

<Systems nominal.> A pause, then he adds: <Camry. Chin up. We got work to do.>

"Right," Lera murmurs to herself. The whispers in her mind are frightening. They dig at her sense of confusion already -- and she shakes her head, quickly, as she sees the kraken. "Holy..."

She doesn't finish that. The many-armed squid come rushing in; a few comes rushing towards Lera, and she throws out a hand. "Ground, now!" she yells. Her Device bellows, immediately after: <Mantle Heart!>

The interlocked hexagonal dome appears, erupting over her, and then blows outwards, throwing back some of the squids. It's only for a moment, though, and Lera knows that only one could cause a problem. She hesitates, a moment, though in the face of that. Which is when a cavalcade of shots hits the squids, throwing them back. Her eyes widen and she turns her head, staring at Mami for a moment.

"Mami..." She shakes her head, then she smiles. "Right! We can do it! We just need to keep fighting, y'know!"

<Clear the courtyard? Got it!> Lera answers through telepathy. Her voice crackles with static, when she send the message. It takes a little mana. She looks at Endo -- takes note of his position -- and then Ren. She flies up, to another point of the triangle. "Ready, Ground?"

<Ready!> Ground answers. She points the Intelligent Device towards them -- and a third line fires, this one a sweep of golden light that explodes from her hammer. It shoots out, washing over her part of the courtyard.

<Raid Cross!>

COMBAT: Lera Camry has joined the combo started by Endo Naoki!

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji accepts Steven Universe's Strong In The Real Way!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fuu Hououji is Cheered!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

It was only fitting that the wind would fight atop the walls. Uranus' appearance- her defense with a fist full of heavenly energy did a great deal to hearten her. Maybe she even feels herself flushing as she thinks on how strong she must be.

Even as she almost entirely reflexively gets down when Kagutsuchi strafes the wall with a shriek. But then, looking embarrassed, she gets up on her knees, hands pressed down to the floor of the fortress, and holds up two fingers at Mai in a V as she strafes on by. "Nice timing!"

But there's a feeling that grips her heart in the aftermath, even if the monsters disintegrate into ash... her eyes move to the shining crystal. It only takes one. Something falls in her expression, just as another shriek erupts from her lips as a monster gores a giant hole in the wall, and she awkwardly moves in a stumbling hop away.

The rush of small squid like creatures is fast, faster than expected. She brings her rod to bear, presses a hand to her brooch, "Moon-"

Something grasps that wrist, yanks that arm away painfully so quickly that her hand falls away from her brooch. Another tendril wraps around the ankle of her moon boot, and yanks in the opposite direction. They start squeezing so hard that she immediately yowls in pain, eyes blurring with tears even as she looks at the horrific beaks, and arms of the squid monsters. Another spasm of pain which nearly overwhelms her as it tries to crush those joints.

"H-Help...! Please-" Another is reaching for her throat. Her opposite hand gropes towards the one that's being grappled. It's just out of reach, just... she opens her fingers, lets it fall sideways. She catches it, as it spins within her fingers to bring it to bear. That same hand quickly touches her brooch, it begins to glimmer with the silver light, mingled with hues of pink.

She points the rod at the creatures, point blank, "Moon Sparkling-" All that light flows through her, out of her arm, into stream after stream of sparkling power. "-Sensation!" It collides with the creatures at point blank range.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Ren dismays when her lance doesn't find any squishy octopi bodies to rend to pieces. Still, the action causes them to be driven back temporarily, so it's not a complete wash. "I'm not sure I'm going to like calamari much after this...!" She says, mostly to herself to ward off any nerves.

<Isn't that squid?>

"...Oh right."

The wave is beaten back by the combined efforts of everyone, thankfully. Any stragglers are thoroughly incinerated by the timely arrival of Mai and Kagutsuchi. Ren blinks up at the giant dragon as it goes by, remembering her initial encounter with it one night at Tokyo Tower. "W-Wow!" She's awestruck.

But only momentarily. She feels the despair lingering in the air around her, trying to eat away at her resolve. Are those... whispers? Ren freezes up for a few moments, then shakes her head. "No..." She can't let that get to her now! It's a trick! In the next breath all heck breaks loose again when a horrible kraken creature emerges from the water, spits out equally horrible minions, and then retreats. The minions don't hesitate to attack, the anemone's shooting forth blades while the squids try to grapple and crush. Ren jumps backward into the air, putting up a Midchildan runic shield that both blocks most of the incoming blades and shoots out whirling, miniature phantsmal lances that strike back at the aggressors. The blades that get through knick her barrier jacket, tagging her enough to cause several fleeting bolts of pain.

Endo's voice comes in loud and clear telepathically. His intent is made known and Ren responds in kind -- <Alright! Getting into position now!> -- before changing her trajectory and shooting upwards. She comes to a stop, flourishing her lance through the air as another, much larger-than-before Midchildan runic circle traces out at a tilted, downward angle. With her completing the triangle Endo and Lera already began, she points her device directly at the center of the circle. "Alright Heraut!"

<Raid Cross!>

A bronze-colored wash of light explodes from the tip of her lance, magnified tenfold by the targeting circle as it joins Endo and Lera's own in sweeping through the courtyard.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Moon Sparkling Sensation on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Chitose Shiratori [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Chitose watches as the sudden Kraken appears and breaks the wall, salty shards raining down on her, though her arm whips up to shield her eyes from the salty storm. She watches as the swarms of enemies start to fill the courtyard, and for the first time, Chitose wonders if she may have erred in showing up here, the sheer numbers beginning to fill her stomach with dread.

But, White Omen continues to fire bolts of light at the onrushing hordes, and Chitose starts to adjust herself around the courtyard as the squids close around her. Sure, her bolts fell a number of the creatures, but they /just keep coming/, and soon enough they get within range, and the suckers and tentacles go flying, flaying the woman's Barrier jacket. She jerks about to try and keep the tentacles off of her, though, which does prevent some of them from landing hits.

<We need to create some space!> shouts White Omen.

"Right!" Chitose raises her arm upwards, pointing the Device likewise upwards.

<Starling Shot.> A burst of light shoots high into the sky, moments before it splits into multiple smaller bursts, which slam into the ground and explode, trying to destroy the shambling evil that surrounds her.

COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori has used Starling Shot on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has joined the combo started by Endo Naoki!
COMBAT: COMBO! Endo Naoki, Lera Camry, and Ren Aizawa have used Raid Cross on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Sailor Moon's Moon Sparkling Sensation, taking 32 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Endo Naoki, Lera Camry, and Ren Aizawa's Combo: Raid Cross, taking 53 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Endo Naoki, Lera Camry, and Ren Aizawa are Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Chitose Shiratori's Starling Shot, taking 38 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

That's actually an awful lot of tentacles, isn't it? (The Wind Knight won't dignify them as 'seafood,' she wouldn't want to eat those no matter HOW thoroughly they're cooked ... even if Mai-san were the chef and Kagutsuchi-san were the grill.)

Bow and quiver are dismissed, the Wind Knight's sword replacing them in her hands as the tentacled demon-soldiers charge en masse from inside the kraken's mouth - seriously, she wonders, how does THAT work? - and then she doesn't have time to keep wondering things, instead meeting their charge with a spinning, pivoting slash, enduring a couple of strikes as she tries to deliver her own. It's a costly exchange, though, and the Wind Knight finds herself staggering back, wondering where she got cut and fairly certain that she actually did. A quick if crude riposte manages to stall out the monsters' offense briefly - and then her attention is drawn away, if briefly, from the fray.

By the words of a young boy who's proven himself a staunch, determined, and supportive ally, even when the Wind Knight *wasn't* the Wind Knight. "Thank you!" she calls out to Steven, taking advantage of the split-second's distraction to look amongst her allies. The monsters are pressing too aggressively to take her attention off of the battle for long, but she can see a couple of her allies who are decidedly the worse for wear. That, at least, she can do something about.

"Winds of Healing!!" she calls out, conjuring a soothing and restorative breeze; while it ripples around herself first, Endo and Sailor Uranus also benefit from it, their injuries soothed and their condition stabilized for the moment. It's just a magical patch job, but it should let them keep holding up their ends of the battle - and as soon as her spell has done its work, the Wind Knight too resumes her efforts to hold the monsters back.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Healing on Sailor Uranus.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Healing on Endo Naoki.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Healing on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji accepts Fuu Hououji's Winds of Healing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Fuu Hououji's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki accepts Fuu Hououji's Winds of Healing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cleanse! All of Endo Naoki's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus accepts Fuu Hououji's Winds of Healing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cleanse! All of Sailor Uranus's debuffs are cleared!

<Pose Tracker> Garnet [None] has posed.

The anemones of darkness descend on the group...

Garnet launches herself away from her wall towards the breach as quickly as she can, leaving a small sonic boom in her wake!

The anemones are only too happy to greet her arrival, bladed tentacles flailing! It is uncertain what emotions such creatures are truly capable of, but if they can feel dismay, they might for a brief moment. Their blades close in, but struggle to connect, before being propelled away for Garnet arrives fist-first with another boom, carrying more momentous force than she left behind! Trying not to afford them a single second to re-group, she pulls back a fist, and strikes towards the unfolding impact with a decisive blow, in hopes of sending it crashing against the swarm of darkness!

(With such a din, she was unable to hear the encouragement of her little boy and the others, but deep down, she definitely knows. A mum always knows. )

COMBAT: Garnet has used Decisive Punch on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Garnet has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Garnet's Decisive Punch, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

In the wake of flame, there is a moment of ash and silence. Standing atop Kagutsuchi's head, Mai Tokiha has a moment to catch her breath. The horde of invaders is gone from sight, and she can feel relieved. Now that she's not rushing to get to that brilliant beacon before it's too late, it looks like everything might be-

Just give up. Just let go.

Mai gasps, horror glistening in now wide-open eyes. Whatever darkness called out...it seems that that horde was just a prelude. Already, more rises up - oceanwater turning into a brief and ominous rain as a kraken-like thing makes an appearance from the deep.

There is a screech of challenge from Kagutsuchi. It is answered - rolling monstrosities hurl blades into the air, and Mai ducks down with a shout as one comes far too close to her personally. The fearsome Child seems unperturbed by the swords, little more than a dragon's toothpick-

Until one very lucky throw meets the sword in Kagutsuchi's maw with a resounding clang, invoking a pained screech from the winged creature.

"Kagutsuchi!" Mai stands in a hurry, worry in her face - her Child's pain seems to be building with anger, and the perpetrators are in the courtyard with the defenders of the key. It's only a second before Mai makes her choice, laying a hand on alabaster flesh. "...get out of their reach, I'm going to go down and help. If I need you..." Her violet-grey eyes meet the dragon's jade ones - and then Mai takes a step, and plummets to the icy courtyard below, leaving her dragon to ascend into the sky.

As she falls, Mai's rings begin to spin, flames glistening and gathering. There's no end to the enemies below - monsters born of the deep, evoking all the horrific beauty of the deep sea. It's discomfiting, and Mai's eyes flicker to those here she knows. Allies and friends and someone she can hopefully skip fighting today - briefly answering Sailor Moon's V-for-victory, she gathers flames to brace her fall.

Behind a fiery cover, it's simple enough to slow to a rapid yet graceful halt above the ice - but she lets her descent end in a brief wave of heat all the same. Like a star descending from the heavens...

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha transforms into Mai-HiME!

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Starfall, Tokiha Style on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly dodges Mai Tokiha's Starfall, Tokiha Style, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Flash ability activates!

La Sirene du Nord has disconnected.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Uranus [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Uranus steps in grimly; grappling is a specialty of hers, but she knows from long experience just how much of a disadvantage it is to have fewer limbs than your foe. Very quickly her limbs are dragged at, and though she is stronger than any one squid, she can't pull them free fast enough. By the time she fights her way loose, she has to drag suckers off of her bicep. She quirks an eyebrow wryly at the marks they leave.

"Now how am I supposed to explain that?" she challenges the circling foes, brushing off her nose with a thumb.

Her demeanor sharpens to a diamond edge in an instant. A familiar voice, in fear. Asking for help.

When Sailor Moon's attack dislodges the tentacles, it also deprives her of support. When she falls back, however, her shoulderblades immediately thump against a firm surface. Uranus's arms wrap her waist to stabilize her, and her chin brushes Sailor Moon's temple as she looks down the rod, like an instructor might at a firing range, and whistles in admiration at the damage it has wrought.

"You asked, huh?" For a moment, her eyes are shadowed beneath her bangs, but then she grins ruefully. "Just this once, I can't tell you to leave, can I? I guess we're stuck together here." Uranus's thumb presses under Sailor Moon's chin, tilting her head back so she's looking straight up at the far-taller Outer Senshi. Her clear, soothing blue eyes. Her elegant cheekbones, her tousled bangs.

"I guess it can't be helped," Uranus sighs. "You'll never be a warrior, but that's true for most who get sent to war. Stay behind me and fight. If I feel you hesitating..." Uranus dips her head, her cheek brushing Sailor Moon's, and tickles her earlobe with a promise: "I'll toss you into the ocean myself."

Squeezing the short odangoed senshi briefly, Uranus strides forward. "Don't worry," she says, lifting one forearm, solid as an iron bar, as she drops into a fighting stance in front of Sailor Moon. "I won't let /them/ touch you."

COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has used Act Like A Soldier on Sailor Moon.

COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Moon accepts Sailor Uranus's Act Like A Soldier, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Accelerate applied to Sailor Moon!

<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> You Go - We Go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Z3yqcDUvs

It's impossible to chronicle everything that happens during this tide of battle, but there are smaller moments of horror that can be immortalized in memory. Like Mami freeing herself, Lera and Lancelot from encroaching, grasping demons, just in time for the latter two to go bolting off -- and the Knight, in his haste to pursue the kraken, winds up falling right off the edge of the sea-ice platform, detonating his lightning into the depths of the roiling sea. The last anyone sees of him are much larger tentacles eagerly embracing him, all too glad to sucker him down into the depths.

Lera, meanwhile, joins Endo and Ren in clearing a good quadrant of the courtyard with a combination of blasts of light and a giant sword which, despite its size, can be seen only as a blur. Chunks of monster fall like rain, marring their triumph with a keen sense of disgust.

Fuu and Steven do their best to support their allies while contending with nearby threats, but after Hikaru lays about with her sword, and Garnet with her fists, there isn't much left nearby to threaten them. The nearness of the saves, however, has splattered both of them with stinking, briny ooze.

Sailor Pluto, meanwhile, clears the ground near Sailor Moon, and what her staff doesn't render unto goop, the touch of Usagi's silvery rays reduces to dust, instead. The backblast of Mai's descent, coupled with Chitose's many, sparkling bolts of raining-down light, takes out the last of the squid that were still moving.

And then, once again, it's like the whole battle takes a breath, giving everyone a chance to get their bearings. The Key is sparking more brilliantly than ever -- it feels like it's approaching its climax, but isn't there yet, not nearly.

The ocean continues to roar, and now that there's a hole in the wall, the larger waves are swamping the battlefield. They freeze instantly on contact with the icy courtyard, creating intricate, swirling, and relatively slick surfaces; a much more complex geography than it was previously.

But it brings with it no monsters... though it's starting to snow. Though light, drifts form rapidly on every surface, even Sailor Uranus' biceps.

Madoka Mano sneezes raucously.

No -- those specks of white aren't snow. They're tufts of cotton, or something similar, like dandelion down. This realization arrives just in the same moment that one of Dark Fall's deadlier executives, Northa*, makes her voice heard.

"Grow strong with sorrow... blossom with despair!"

This plant dander holds within it tiny purple seeds, which abruptly grow into familiar, deadly vines -- all at once, the courtyard is filled with Sorewatase, her organically cultivated despair demons! Wailing like mandrakes (which is jarringly painful to many), they rush the salt crystal en masse, heedless of their own safety, much less survival--!

And they're all too happy to plow straight through anyone between them and their goal.

• Ed. Note: Northa, among other dastardly deeds, once stole your summer homework, then used it to drain all your energy. She also murdered Setsuna Higashi in front of a bunch of you, back in Okinawa. All in all, a bad dame.

COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 15 opponents!

COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Overwhelming Darkness on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Cry And Wail on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Cry And Wail on Endo Naoki.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Cry And Wail on Sailor Pluto.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Plowing The Field on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Plowing The Field on Garnet.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Plowing The Field on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Plowing The Field on Chitose Shiratori.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Plowing The Field on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Plowing The Field on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Plowing The Field on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Plowing The Field on Steven Universe.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Plowing The Field on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Plowing The Field on Sailor Uranus.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Plowing The Field, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fuu Hououji's Block ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Cry And Wail, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Endo Naoki is Quipped! Endo Naoki's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki's counterattack, Asteroid Eilen, partially gets through, doing 11 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou fails to brace Hotaru Tomoe's Plowing The Field, taking 34 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Plowing The Field, taking 29 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Uranus's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Plowing The Field, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Mami Tomoe's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Cry And Wail, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Sailor Pluto is Quipped! Sailor Pluto's Block ability activates! Sailor Pluto's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Plowing The Field, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Mai Tokiha's Reverse ability activates! Mai Tokiha's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha's counterattack, Vehement Flare, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Steven Universe narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Plowing The Field, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Steven Universe's Block ability activates! Steven Universe's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Lancelot fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Overwhelming Darkness, taking 50 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Garnet narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Plowing The Field, taking 13 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus covers Sailor Moon for Hotaru Tomoe's attack, Plowing The Field, taking it upon themselves instead!
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus fails to brace Hotaru Tomoe's Plowing The Field, taking 24 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori fails to counter Hotaru Tomoe's Plowing The Field, taking 37 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori's counterattack, Business End, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Cry And Wail, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry is Quipped! Lera Camry's Block ability activates! Lera Camry's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Plowing The Field, taking 26 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

A look into Takeo's Mind. A Psych 101 Course.

Takeo Akamizu is the typical Teenage Male. Rarely does one of this species think things through to the conclussion of their actions. Instead the Tenage Male of the Human Species tends to act first, and then wonder why everything went wrong. Take for instance the current situation. Takeo, as Lancelot, had a previous encounter with something he had labeled as Food. To Takeo's Mind Food was not to be a monster, and should instead be eaten. Sometimes with seaosning, and othertimes just plain devoured. One could, in the mind of this particular speciman, go so far as to eat the object raw. (Please see the entire chapter dedicated to his Obsession with Bacon later in this book.)

Back to the present battle. A Physical Education 215 course, with Magic Extra Credit.

Lancelot had heard and seen the shots from Mami, and part of him had wondered if he was about to die. When he didn't and instead Tentacles had exploded out of his path he had to blink. That made his feeling on Mami Tomoe only slightly confusing. And when Steven said he needed to step it up? Well, that was why he was flying through the air slashing at a retreating Kraken that was moving beneath the waves ....

"Oh. Snap Crackers."

This at the realization that his opponant, IE the Kraken, had retreated after making the breach in the wall out to sea. In mid air he manages to avoid a Kraken Tentacle counter attack, and then he impacts with the water, watching yet more tentacles move to enfold him. The shock of it surprises him, as the cold Pacific Ocean surrounds and envelopes him in it's icey embrace, he has some recollection that it really shouldn't surprise him, becuase it's freaking November, and winter. Yet. He finds himself surprised by the swiftness it overtakes him. And the swiftness of the water filling his lungs and the crushing depths of the ocean that surrounds him. Also the other Tentacle that grabs his leg and beats him against a piece o fhte ice fortress like he's a ball pin hammer.

Lancelot is not one to Panic, but he definately starts to feel a little bit of panic, as well as not a small amount of pain. Not a lot mind you, but it's there. He finds himself out of tentacle and he himself toward the surface, letting out a cry under water of: "BLADEFURY!" As he swings Arondight at the tentacles to try and drive them off. He blurbles in the water as the cry also causes him to suck in huge lungfuls of water. Which definately does NOT help his case.

He also briefly wonders if Mai saw this, and if he can somehow hide this from her if she didn't. Because, he will NEVER live this down. He also really wants some air. Yeah. Breathing air instead of Ice Water would be awesome right about now ...

COMBAT: Lancelot has used Bladefury on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Lera sees the wafting ice dust in the wake of firing her shot with the others. The cleared ground, however, is only temporary. She glances at them, then at Mami, and then turns. She looks out at the ocean -- and she sees a wave hit the courtyard and freeze. She grimaces, at the sight, and recoils a little bit. Her eyes open wider when she hears that voice.

She knows that voice.

The memory of vines impaling Setsuna Higashi comes to her mind's eye unbidden. She shakes her head, sharply, before she sees the Sorewatese rushing forward -- their terrible wail sounding -- and then they're coming in. It makes her freeze for a moment, staring at them with wide eyes. "There's... there's so many."

<Focus!> Ground bellows. <We'll break through!>

She nods, swinging back her hammer. The clockwork bits of the hammer unfurl -- and then begin to fold in -- forming the frame of a buckler, which fills in with a glowing shield of yellow light. Lera turns, then, and hurls it. The shield spins, slashing out in a long arc at the coming Sorewatese.

<Sentinel Arc!>

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Sentinel Arc on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly dodges Lancelot's Bladefury, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Flash ability activates! Stagger applied to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Lera Camry's Sentinel Arc, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates! Exhausted applied to Hotaru Tomoe!

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Sailor Moon's fear sets off a twinge in Mami's heart, but she can't even see her in the moment, amidst the many monsters and the sounds and sights of battle. But when she does she sees her with a tall, strong figure, sees the two she helped bolting off... and sees Lera looking back at her. She can't quite smile back, but she looks.

It's so chaotic; it's as if she can't keep track of everything that's happening, finds herself breathing and staring when there is quiet once again. Finally, she sees the key, and it is brilliant, and shining, and...

"W-what...?" The ocean is roaring, and she feels the water rushing. She sees... snow. Snow, and--

That sneeze. She realizes it like the others, and Mami's eyes widen to hear the voice. She jerks back from the one that she sees in front of her, even as it grows. The shriek barely penetrates for her; she just finds herself crashed into, clawed by deadly plants, and there's a flash of memory... But not of these.

"Aah--"

Mami rolls backward, hitting the ground and sliding a small way on new ice before she hits the salt again. From the monsters, from her fall, from these new Sorewatase... she's in poor shape already. But they're targetting the crystal, and Mami drags herself most of the way up. "...I'm..." A huff, a murmur, "I'm fine. I'm not afraid of these things."

She jerks up her hand, and over a dozen of her rifles burst into existence, flashing against the light presented to them. "...Tiro... Circle!"

All of them fire on the Sorewatase at once in a thundering display of golden bullets.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Circle on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Mami Tomoe's Tiro Circle, taking 27 Fatigue damage! Mami Tomoe is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

It shouldn't be snowing like this *this* far from land, should it? The Wind Knight looks about, her eyes narrowing as a rarely-heard but recognizable voice calls out over the battle ... and then a bunch of animated plants grow from the drifting seeds and charge the magical girls' lines.

"No you *DON'T*!" the Wind Knight shouts, leading with the flat of her blade as she places herself directly in the path of one such monster; their shrieking cuts at her ears and her brain, but she shuts it out as best she can and focuses on halting the plants' charge.

She'd probably do better if her footing were less slippery ... or is it just that the vine-beast she's confronting is pushing her along despite whatever friction should aid her footing?

"After everything we've fought through ... all that we've endured to get this far ... everything we've done, all the battles we've fought, to protect our world as it *is* ... !"

The Wind Knight finally drives her sword into the ground, bringing a halt to her slide - even though that likely exposes her to even more vegetative aggression. "I didn't decide to unmake the Key just to let the forces of Darkness take it and do as *they* see fit with that power!" the Wind Knight continues, her voice rising to cut across the shrill cries of the Sorewatase. "The Master Key will not be yours - not today, and not in the future when it resurfaces!" Her left hand comes up, her glove-jewel flashing as if it's catching the light from the fortress itself ...

"STORM-DANCE OF KAMAITACHI!!"

Her hand comes back down, mana flaring about her arm as a sudden gust erupts around the Wind Knight, whipping at her hair and clothes - and then the gust becomes a raging tempest, starting narrow but expanding as it tears away from her, attempting not merely to scoop up her initial adversary, but to *shred* it like the kind of wind that strips leaves from branches and tears down trees. Nor does it stop with just one Sorewatase; as soon as the monster (or what's left of it) is far enough away, the Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi expands further, with the Wind Knight striving to take pressure off her nearest allies ... and hopefully some of the not-so-nearest as well, for good measure.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to dodge Fuu Hououji's Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi, taking 42 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Hikaru is hit hard and goes down hard... but she still manages to get back up. Despite the coldness around her, rage and determination are burning within her. "We can't give up! We won't give up!" She looks to the Wind Knight and nods. "You can't have this Key! It doesn't belong to anyone but its rightful owners!" She narrows her eyes. "And YOU are not the rightful owners!" She grips her sword and moves into a ready stance of some sort. "I will prove this to you!"

Then the Fire Knight begins to move in a manner that looks like she's dancing with her sword. It does look like a dance of some kind, but in reality it's almost like a choreographed sequence designed to land a serious attack on her adversary. "There will be no victors but those who fight for justice and the benefit of good!" She then spins around, aiming to strike her enemy hard with her sword.

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Dancing Blade on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe perfectly braces Hikaru Shidou's Dancing Blade, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Pluto [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Uranus comes to Sailor Moon's aid and Pluto inhales sharply, a tightness in her chest that she had not consciously noticed releasing and making itself known by that easing. They are both still safe, for now. It's a small comfort in the face of these burgeoning odds.

The darkness swells, is beaten back, takes a breath... and swells again.

The shadows in Pluto's heart grow with that darkness, whispering to her of sure defeat, of comrades sure to fall and critical junctures in time soon to be lost. She grits her teeth and refirms her grasp on the Garnet Rod just as the piercing throatless shrieks assault her ears and skewer her mind.

Pluto kneels down for a moment to regain herself, noting the rushing approach of a great twisted vine-creature as she does so. She crouches in place, coiled like a spring, and waits.

Just as the Sorewatase closes Pluto snaps up into a whirl, flipping back so that her striking heels meet its charge. All that coiled energy unfurls into... well, it doesn't have a face, really. Where the face would be. With any luck she'll connect solidly and be able to spring away right after. That's the plan. "You won't have the Key!"

COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has used Sailor Pluto Kick on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe perfectly dodges Sailor Pluto's Sailor Pluto Kick, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Garnet [None] has posed.

The onslaught just keeps coming. And it just keeps getting worse.

Garnet doesn't exactly have blood to freeze, but her very soul feels a dark chill upon beholding Northa's dark countenance.

"No, not here, not now."

And the plants rush the "stage", Garnet braces and holds a number of them, back! She groans, the impact against her painful, though minor compared to the tentacle sacking she took earlier. On any other day, during any other battle, she would be energized by even this small victory, determined to put evil in its place, and to do it all with a facade of unrelenting strength.

A facade becoming harder and harder to maintain, more difficult than merely holding these monsters at bay.

But she must... she has to... She has to be the bigger Gem... They're counting on her, just as she's counting on all of them...

Wearier of soul than of body, she tries to channel her dread into force, pushes back the vines she's holding, and rushes at every viny monster she can, pummeling them over and over, then moving to the next one she can reach!

Maybe violence... is the answer?

COMBAT: Garnet has used Adamantine Barrage on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Garnet has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Garnet's Adamantine Barrage, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates! Stagger applied to Hotaru Tomoe!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Vents pop out of the sides of the lance's shaft as it lets out a waft of steam, cooling itself after launching the punishing salvo. "I think we did it." Ren says, reaching up to wipe her brow which has formed ab it of sweat from the ongoing efforts at defending the crystal. <Yes... But not for long.> Heraut points out, and Ren only watches, guard still up, as the ocean roars mightily.

She doesn't like that.

She /really/ doesn't like that.

The voice rings out through the area, and Ren snaps her attention to its owner. She doesn't recognize the woman -- but she knows she just /has/ to be bad news. And bad news she indeed is, sending forth the dreadful Sorewatese in a stunning, wailing wave. She attempts to dodge out of the way, though takes a direct hit when she feints right into one of them.

"Ugh!" Ren lets out a gasp of hurt as she's hit right in the solar plexus, spittle expelled from her agape mouth as she then goes spiraling backwards and down into the icy ground, the impact kicking up a plume of white dust that shields her temporarily from view.

<Your majesty! Are you->

"I'm ok!" She says in response as she climbs to her feet, rubbing her chest. There's a rip in her barrier jacket there, showing part of the black underarmor she wears beneath. Yowch. That's definitely going to leave a nasty mark. She gets back into the fray, however, getting a running start after a few shaky steps before she kicks off into the air again. "Heraut... Let's stop these jerks in their tracks!"

<Understood! Partizan Snare!>

The sky around the lance-wielding mage lights up with several of the same runic circles, and out of them shoots several beams that streak downward towards the rushing vine creatures. Before impact they shape themselves into replicas of the very same lance Ren currently holds, then arrange themselves into tight, concentric circles as they embed themselves in the ground around the Sorewatese in an attempt to pin them in place much like a spear-wielding fisherman trying to catch fish.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Partizan Snare on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

The octpi enemies are slowly fought off, though it takes a lot of effort to do so. Many enemies are felled, and a good shirt gets ruined in the process. Maybe. Maybe one of them has a Tide stick. Get it? /Tide/ stick? He is on fire tonight. A shame there isn't a notebook to write it down anywhere nearby.

When the fighting dies down for a moment, Steven takes the time to marvel at the frozen waves. What a cool scene! If only they weren't in danger, maybe he could have slid around on it on his shield or something...

Of of course the enemy wasn't done. A familiar voice calls out as small puffs of white rain down gently, then spring to life in a frightening manner. "I-It's that lady!" he calls out. While not helpful, he remembers her from the trip to save that girl in the tree. She got Lion hurt! What a jerk! Not much time is given before a massive number of vines spring to life and attack, and the boy gets beaten about from all sides.

The boy is starting to feel a little scared now. It doesn't seem to end! He has a rather panicked look to his face. Even as they attack and destroy vines, mroe of those seeds are coming down. Maybe she will run out? In any case, Steven swings his shield, edge out, in wide arcs toward the vines. While it isn't blade sharp, it does have a decent edge to it. Maybe he can cut them down?

COMBAT: Steven Universe has used Shield Dervish on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Steven Universe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe perfectly dodges Steven Universe's Shield Dervish, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Hotaru Tomoe's Fade ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe perfectly braces Ren Aizawa's Partizan Snare, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Out of the tentacles she falls- but without support. And into the arms of another, which wrap around her waist. A cheek brushes her temple. Confusion becomes heat that floods her, steals away the chill. "Uranus...!" She's more than a little breathless. Her eyes shining with- she's not sure how she feels, but she sure is finding out how strong those arms feel isn't she? 'You asked, huh?' Her head bobs in a nod, then another, then a soft Uh-huh with that nod that she utters to emphasize as if she was caught on loop and trying to break out of it.

"Yes- we're- in this together." She murmurs as her mind finally lets her out of that loop. Her thumb forces her to look up into those eyes- they're so blue. A heavenly blue that Usagi was ever drawn to. She remembers a blue like that, that's cold- but this was a different blue, a soothing one. It was comforting. She felt like she could look into that blue all day, but her eyes are drawn to other features. Her cheekbones, her bangs.

For a while- she's able to forget she's in the middle of a battle. But Uranus reminds her, vividly.

I don't want to be.

I think that means I need to be Sailor Moon all the more.

A proud Sailor Senshi. Yet at the same time- not someone who would become a beast for others. That is what she wanted. It was a striking contradiction yet she didn't see it as a contradiction at all.

Someone else- the dip of a head, tickles her cheek. It feels very hot to Uranus touch, almost feverish- something tickles her ear and she's distant. The threat seems like a threat- and it doesn't. It twists her up inside and she's not sure what to think of it. "I-I won't- I won't hesitate."

Uranus stands in front of her, so tall and strong. A proud Sailor Senshi. She finds herself looking at that strong back as she declares that she won't let her touch her. For some reason, that makes her feel safe, secure and- a little happy, despite the other statement, "Why do I always feel this way when she's-" She murmurs to herself as if trying to sort through her feelings.

But then snow starts to drift down. It tickles her nose, causing her to cover it as she makes an indelicate sneeze, but it's not cold- just fluffy she can tell that even more distinctly right now. A terrifying voice resounds over everyone, that takes root in her being. Sorewatase suddenly appear everywhere, but she doesn't shriek despite the mandrake assault upon her ears- because Uranus is there. Evidence in front of her eyes that she's not alone in that strong back.

The other Senshi takes the brunt of it for her, in how they're almost run over, she keeps her promise, not a single one touches her. Not even when she lashes out with her own attack, a flourish of the Spiral Moon Heart Rod towards one of the Sorewatase that gets by her, trailing streams of sparkles in it's arc. But after- the way she looks, "Uranus!"

A gloved hand lightly touches her bicep from behind. The tips of her odangos can barely reach her shoulders, "You got so hurt for my sake... I can take it from here- please- I don't want- I don't want you..." Her eyes are sparkling with tears. She remembers her words, enduring pain isn't enough to have true strength, one needed the strength to endure sin, it becomes a breathless whisper, "I may not be strong- but I can endure a little pain for you." A breath shudders out of her chest, a fervent plea, "Please let me."

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has used Heart Rod Spiral on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Endo is not happy to see these particular plants. He's less happy when they start to shriek, piling on to the sinking feeling that's growing in his chest. His hands are shaking as he pivots to face the mass of them, stuttering and stumbling for a moment before he catches himself on an outcrop of frozen-wave. He's half-bent under the strain, breathing, "There's a lot of them-"

<KNIGHT. ANOTHER FAILURE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTABLE.> The warble of his device is a painful reminder of just a week before. His eyes flash through the melee to Ren, to Lera, and the rest of his allies doing their best to protect the key at the center of the fortress.

Endo's breathing is heavy as he takes a white-knuckled grip on the sword again. There's terror, but there's anger too. Anger at himself, at the monstrosities that swarm around him, at the woman leading them. Belkan symbols twist and burn into the air around him, pulsing once before he's launching forward again.

<METEOR ABSTURZ.>

As he charges for the nearest mass Endo whirls into a tornado of energy, purple contrails following the path of his blade as he spins into action. The momentum sends him crashing forward, all of his power put into the massive cleave through the ice, plants, and anything else in the way.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Meteor Absturz on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Sailor Moon's Heart Rod Spiral, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Endo Naoki's Meteor Absturz, taking 27 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Chitose Shiratori [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Chitose waits a moment as everything suddenly calms down as everything falls. "Good. Hopefully that's all of them."

Then, there is cotton. Why is there cotton? Chitose looks up as she sees the cotton fall. "Wow."

Chitose isn't exactly aware of what cotton may mean, and thus is completely surprised when Northa, of all people, shows up. Chitose's only seen Northa once before. But, at the same time, she remembers when Northa /killed/ someone. Sure, she got better (at least that's what she saw, she doesn't recall confirming for good), but that did end up happening.

Chitose takes a step or two back, back towards the key they were defending. Then, the hordes of Sorewatase swarm the courtyard, swifter than Chitose thought they were capable of,and their vines sweep around her. Her arm sweeps out, attempting to bash the vines away with White Omen, but one vine manages to strike her square on the backside and lift her up, throwing her into one of the side walls. Chitose screams in pain as she slides back down to the ground.

<Chances of survival are dropping.>

"Yeah, I know. I don't like our odds. But we still have to try."

Chitose sweeps White Omen forward, and his voice rings out again. <Thunder Dove.>

Stylized birds made of light zoom out of White Omen's muzzle, streaking towards some of the closer Sorewatase. When they collide, /if/ they collide, they explode!

Chitose takes the moment to look up into the sky, looking at it like she's considering something.

COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori has used Thunder Dove on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Chitose Shiratori's Thunder Dove, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

The monsters of the sea, at least, seem to have been deterred - between wind and flame and brilliant, brilliant light...well, for a moment Mai can stand tall, and finally get to take in whoever else is here. Sailor Moon - being comforted or menaced by Sailor Uranus, it's really hard to say which - though with someone that dashing, maybe the answer is 'both'. Lera and her friends, triple-teaming the monsters in a brilliant show. Fuu and Hikaru, trying to keep their morale while that key slowly does whatever it's supposed to be doing. And others, and others...

And there's Lancelot. Diving after the Kraken hang on what. Lancelot might, as he tumbles into the waves, hear an indignant screech - or he might not. Things are, all of a sudden, getting very busy.

Fiery rings are blazing brightly, as Mai stares at the water with trepidation. Surely he's fine. Surely he's not that stupid, right? The snow is beginning to fall, and she takes a breath to speak up-

-that's not snow.

A voice that embodies heartless cruelty rings out - Mai isn't quite familiar with it, as her part of the Great Homework Debacle was 'go redo her own rather than risk burning everything', but it's enough to send a chill down her spine. Plant monsters rise up en masse, wailing with despair before rushing forward. The fiery HiME tries to stand firm, a vehement flare of light meeting a descending vine-arm - but she and her barrier are forced back. This shouldn't be hard, they're plants and she has fire...

...but she can see, wailing ringing in her ears, that there are terribly few bubbles from the ocean...

...and she's in the sewers, desperately trying to reach her brother...

...and she's in a storybook, brought to her knees by a sorrowful melody...

...and she's on a riverbank, watching...

The Sorewatase are approaching - but confronted with despair and sorrow, Mai is chained by the past - but if she just kneels, it'll get worse. If she does nothing, everything will get so much worse...and she won't let that happen. She can't let that happen.

Legs shaking, she slowly rises. The water is all too still, and those monsters are all too close to the key, and desperate to break out of the looming tragedy Mai explodes forward. The courtyard in her wake melts, splinters from the force of her launch, and there's as much tackle as flame when she clashes against the nearest Sorewatase.

"Don't...Don't give up! Keep on fighting!" A loud, desperate rallying cry - maybe for her friends, or maybe just to bolster herself. Rings burning, she tries desperately to drive this monster back...

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has used Desperate Sparks on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Mai Tokiha's Desperate Sparks, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Mai Tokiha is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Uranus [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Sailor Uranus feels the familiar tight cold around her heart, the one she hopes Sailor Moon and her friends never need to know for themselves. At some point, facing the slavering horde of alien beasts becomes numbing.

It's snowing. Of course it's snowing. It was always cold.

Uranus body-checks aside the oncoming Soretawase, over and over. Her retinas ache from it; a bad sign, a familiar sign. Every time one bruises its way through her, she finds her feet messily. All she needs is enough stability to hurl herself into the next one, and the next. Her gloves start to tear at the forearm. Her ribbon catches once and rips. Finally, one is charging directly at her, at /them/, the two senshi. Gritting her teeth, Uranus gets low and catches it dead-on, shoulder into shoulder, her bootheels grinding wildly along the ground, friction dragging them both to a stop gradually. As momentum runs out she heaves hard, forcing the monster down, down, until as they grind to a halt, its head is against the floor. With a savage growl, she plants her knee in the center of its back, and when Sailor Moon touches her flexed bicep, she jerks her head around, teeth bare, nostrils flared. But Sailor Moon's hand is small, gentle. Her eyes tearful. Uranus's shoulders relax fractionally.

"Idiot," she accuses coldly. "Still you hesitate. Sailor Neptune and I, we know our duties. Forgetting them is the same as death. For all your power, you have no strength." Deliberately, Uranus plants her palm against Sailor Moon's breastbone. "You would endure for me?"

The shove is hard, propelling Sailor Moon several steps. "Endure sacrifice. Endure tragedy. Endure the world as it is, and not as you wish it to be." Bending, Uranus locks her arms brutally under the dazed, struggling Soretawase, hands clamping opposite wrists, manacling herself around the monster unbreakably. "And if you can do none of that, I will force you to endure one thing."

Uranus's legs flex, muscles separating, bracing, as she blasts a snarl of effort through her nose, hauling the Soretawase into the air. "Endure!" she shouts, and she slams the monster down again, to fold its body, to compact it. When she heaves it into the air again, it is much easier to control, and she is not content to just attack it, this time, her legs driving themselves straight with great effort, launching herself and her arm-shackled captive into the air. "MY PROMISE!"

Uranus's legs swing high as her arms drag the Soretawase down, adding a jackknifed jerk of her powerful body to the full momentum of their fall, just as the next several foes charge forward, crashing down on them like a slingstone from heaven.

COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has used Meteor Slam on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Sailor Uranus's Meteor Slam, taking 32 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Uranus is Psyched! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> Attack On Kraken https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScV5tNmHbgw

Too many times to count, a sorewatase comes a vine's breadth away from touching the salt crystal. That's because they're so dreadfully difficult to stop; Hikaru's elaborate sword-dance is deflected with wince-worthy impact by a swirl of vines, while the one Sailor Pluto kicked in the face, and the one Steven smacked with his shield, each soldiered on as though they didn't even notice. Ren's pinning lances are simply grown around, vines extending effortlessly to continue despite the ends of their leashes being stuck to the ground.

There's the time a tendril is chopped off at the root by the passing of Lera's flying lightshield, or time the massive sorewatase tripping and falling onto the crystal is intercepted by about a dozen of Mami's bullets, which send its bulk spraying literally everywhere but. Let's not forget the time a good six or seven sorewatase are instantly reduced to shreds by the passing of Fuu's Storm-Danced whirlwind.

Northa isn't visible amid all this carnage, but she can be heard. Fuu adds some brave words to back up those brave winds, and the Labyrinth Executive brushes them off coolly. "Bold... but fruitless." Then there's the distinct sense, from the angle of the sound, that she's addressing Lera: "What do you think is happening right now, while you're here, leaving her all alone?" Her insinuation is sharper than any knife, her cackle as anticipatory as an acid bath. "Yes..." she whispers into Endo's ear. "What /will/ happen when all your friends realize you're such a failure? I wonder..."

And moment by moment, these crucial saves continue to occur. A sorewatase taken out at the knees by Sailor Moon's heart rod, sent rolling end over end away from the crystal. Endo's spinning tornado, cutting a swath through an approaching enemy line like it's gardening day and he's had ten extra Starbooks lattes, just for this occasion. Garnet catches monster after monster by the scruff of their organic necks and pulls them back into her maelstrom of violence. Chitose sends sorewatase exploding backwards courtesy of her colliding birds. Mai sets one on fire, and it burns real good, turned to ash before it can reach its goal. And Sailor Uranus, well, she's buried herself in monsters, but at least while they're getting bodyslammed into a dogpile, they can't go for the crystal.

The crystal... it's glowing at a fever pitch, now, turning the whole battlefield bright white, a flood of radiance that leaves no room for shades of gray. You're black or you're white, and those vines, no matter what angle the light hits them, are always, always in shadow.

"Hang in there, kids! Just a little longer!" encourages Madoka, even as the remaining sorewatase -- and they do remain, oh yes, the group has not by any means slaughtered this plant army quickly enough to get a breather -- rush forward to fill the gaps made by their bretheren's passing.

And then it happens.

With a burbling roar, the entire courtyard is drenched in the sea, the natural outcome of the kraken propelling itself out of the sea by detonating every internal jet it has at once. It's never been seen in the full light before, and like the sorewatase, it, too, remains darker than it ought, but there are some grisly details to be had. Like how many of its suckers have teeth... and lips, and are actually all-too-human mouths. How no few of its tentacles have eyes. How it has not just the one beak on the underside, but like... five? Ten? A maw's worth of concentric beaks, which combine to create something far greater and more terrible than the sum of its parts. (Oh, and Lancelot? Remember him? Lancelot is dangling from one of those beaks, his sword wedged in it, gaining the pro of breathable air at the considerable con of 'likely to get eaten at any moment.')

It can't blot out the sun because the sun is behind stormclouds, and it can't blot out the light because it's coming from ground level. But its immense, titanic bulk does intercept that white beam that was previously penetrating the sky, and it's not hurt by it, oh, no. It takes it into itself, and even as it falls towards the courtyard, towards the army of plantmen, towards the desperate line of magical girls, and towards the /crystal/, large enough to blanket the entire icy fortress on impact...

...the pillar of light being consumed by proximity is blackening, infected by the protodaimon kraken's darkness.

OOC: To prevent the crystal from being touched by monsters, you will have to eradicate the sorewatase, /and/ incinerate the kraken, this round!

COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Doom Before All The World on Lancelot.

COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Doom Before All The World on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Doom Before All The World on Endo Naoki.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Survivor: Sorewatase on Sailor Uranus.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Survivor: Sorewatase on Mai Tokiha.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Survivor: Sorewatase on Chitose Shiratori.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Survivor: Sorewatase on Sailor Moon.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Survivor: Sorewatase on Steven Universe.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Survivor: Sorewatase on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Survivor: Sorewatase on Garnet.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Survivor: Sorewatase on Sailor Pluto.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Survivor: Sorewatase on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Survivor: Sorewatase on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has used Survivor: Sorewatase on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 14 opponents!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Survivor: Sorewatase, taking 23 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Moon fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Survivor: Sorewatase, taking 30 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Doom Before All The World, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry is Quipped!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Survivor: Sorewatase, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji's counterattack, Spinning Slash, partially gets through, doing 13 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Survivor: Sorewatase, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Mai Tokiha's Block ability activates! Mai Tokiha's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki fails to brace Hotaru Tomoe's Doom Before All The World, taking 29 Fatigue damage! Endo Naoki is Quipped!
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto narrowly braces Hotaru Tomoe's Survivor: Sorewatase, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Sailor Pluto's Block ability activates! Sailor Pluto's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa fails to brace Hotaru Tomoe's Survivor: Sorewatase, taking 34 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Lancelot fails to counter Hotaru Tomoe's Doom Before All The World, taking 34 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Lancelot is unable to keep fighting! Lancelot is Quipped!
COMBAT: Lancelot's counterattack, Veil of Steel, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Garnet narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Survivor: Sorewatase, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Garnet's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Garnet's counterattack, The Unstoppable, partially gets through, doing 21 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!
COMBAT: Steven Universe narrowly dodges Hotaru Tomoe's Survivor: Sorewatase, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe fails to dodge Hotaru Tomoe's Survivor: Sorewatase, taking 37 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou fails to brace Hotaru Tomoe's Survivor: Sorewatase, taking 30 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus narrowly counters Hotaru Tomoe's Survivor: Sorewatase, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Sailor Uranus's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Uranus's counterattack, Elegant Throw, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hotaru Tomoe!

<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Yupp. It's gonna be one of those days.

That's the thought that goes through Lancelot's head as he holds Arondight right in the maw of one of those beaks trying to hold it at bay. But when it breaks the surface he spits a stream of salt water out and takes a deep inhalation of breath. Which, he had to admit, was kind of refreshing. He had to wince. Mai has to see him at this point. Which means if she didn't know he had dived to defend them all into the deep ocean to confront and take on a Kraken and buy them all the time they needed to keep the crystal safe (He's spinning it like this in his head...), she knows now.

He grits his teeth and manages to push off, taking Arondight and small piece of beak with him. As a Giant Tentacle(tm) comes crashing toward him he cries out, "VEIL Of STEEL!" Trying his best to sever the tentacle before it can ...

Lancelot is smashed down into the Ice shelf. A plume of white cold dust comes up from the tentacle's impact then slitheres away to do more work for it's dark mistress.

As the dust settles, from a Lancelot shaped crater a finger, and then an arm, is slowly raised in an inappropriate gesture toward the Kraken, then flops down. A brief flash of light shows that Lancelot has depowered, and is now unconscious. Alive. Soaking wet, and possibly concussed, but out of the fight and knocked out.

His last thought is that one of these days, one of these bloody days, he's gonna win against these Krakens... And then, he's dreaming of mostly harmless bacon.

On a tree...

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Lera knows how hard a Sorewatese is to stop. One was enough to cause serious troubles for her and the others, the time that Setsuna died. This time, they face an army of them. She brings her arm up -- and smartly catches her shield. Broken ground slides back into place.

But Northa's question cuts to the heart.

She shakes her heread, though there's no audible denial. It plays on the fear those memories put in her. It plays on more than that, on how Setsuna was there for her after the Linker Core damage, before she could turn inward and blame herself. She tenses. She never handled losing someone well.

She almost falters. She almost hesitates. But, she sees the way her friends strike -- the way Sailor Moon takes a Sorewatese down at the knees, and the way Uranus leaps into the fray, and Ren and Endo fighting onward. She grits her teeth, the crystal glowing so brightly behind her, and making her cast a long shadow. Lera's eyes turn upward, to the kraken, and then look at the army of Sorewatese coming at them. "Ground!"

<Let's blast them back!>

She holds the hammer over her head. She takes a deep breath -- it's a little shallow, and she feels the exhaustion deeply -- but she focuses. Her eyes squeeze shut, and she starts the spell. A magical circle forms, turning above her, as the runes inside it flash. Then, a dome of bright yellow light appears. It explodes outward, rushing out as a dome of pure golden power, and shoots out towards the Sorewatese, trying to throw every last one back.

"Strata!" <Excelsior!>

COMBAT: FINISHER! Lera Camry has used Strata Excelsior on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Lera Camry's Finisher, Strata Excelsior, taking 148 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Lera Camry is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Pluto [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

That plan didn't work out as intended. Its lack of a face, and thus eyes, does not hinder the Sorewatase at all; it somehow intuits Sailor Pluto's intentions and writhes out of the way, sinuous vines splitting and shifting aside in ways no normal humanoid opponent could. The tall senshi barely manages a landing, tumbling roughly and coming up bruised. She's not nearly far enough away, and the vine-monster takes immediate advantage to whip at her with its twisting appendages, exacting a cruel price for her failure.

She spots Uranus struggling, torn and battered with her wild pride bared to the battle, and that darkness around Pluto's heart stabs inward. 'See?,' it says. 'This is how it ends.' She sees the shove, hears the challenge given Sailor Moon, and wonders if they will ever find their way back to the silvery future Pluto has seen. She knows with the solidity of lived experience that it is possible, but in the shadows cast by the here-and-now she fights despair. Corrosive doubt eats into her heart.

Nothing is certain. Nothing.

"No! It does not end here, nor will it ever while I can stand and fight."

Speaking the words aloud gives them extra power, gives Pluto extra power, and she grabs hold of that meager thread and /pulls/. She summons up the implacable iron deep in her soul, the resolve that Queen Serenity saw in so-young red eyes, so long ago.

One more time she raises that great shining key of a staff, one more time she twirls it. A slow circle overhead, but not a lazy one: precise, smooth, again the sweep of a hand around a clock's face. Pluto summons up the darkness squeezing her heart and forces it out, fueling the coalescing shadows around her and the raised Rod.

"Chronos Typhoon!"

Those shadows whirl and howl, catching bits of frozen sea spray and salt as they go, spinning up into a great and terrible cyclone of raw time-energy. She holds it in place with her will alone, lets it build to a shrieking crescendo... and releases it.

Rampaging energy in the form of a great spinning storm roars forward, capable of engulfing the sorewatase in front of her and many of its brethren on the way to the final target: the harrowing mountain of kraken looming over them all. Anything caught in its gale will suffer agony split across impossible centuries; the true danger of the Chronos Typhoon is not its winds, but the time dilation energy that makes them batter those engulfed for what feels like eons.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Pluto has used Chronos Typhoon on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Too many times to count, and /once/ is too many. There's so many of them, too many of them. Mami Tomoe huffs from her place on the ground, still dragging herself back upward after she sees one of them explode under her assault.

She can see after she finishes standing the efforts of others, but that brilliant light seems to extend into so very much of her vision.

She /needs/ that encouragement in the moment, from that older voice, as she sees even more of them approach. A part of her quails already, worse than before. What can she do against this horde? She never has enough guns to keep them down, and she can already imagine one of them getting closer. The flood of radiance illuminates her, and it illuminates her fear.

Eyes, and mouths, and teeth. The bulk of the kraken is suddenly /there/, amidst its horrible roar, and it's gigantic. She sees it just as she sees Lancelot there, and starts to back away.

She starts, before she's hit by a Sorewatase charging forward, slammed by another and spun again straight to the ground, trample over in a rush until once again she simply isappears amidst the crush of battle. She cannot be the shining warrior in this fight; she can't even keep her feet. Mami rolls away as soon as she gets the chance, coughing, still stuck on the ground.

"I--I can't--"

It feels like more than she can take, as she looks to the courtyard, looks to that blackening light, and stares up to the monster before her. ...That awful, strange monster.

She sees five faces, and she startes to close her eyes--but she sees five faces, and she forces them back open. They're not the only ones. There are many. There are others, other reminders of her failures. "..." Mami pushes herself up again, though she feels like she can't stand, doesn't /want/ to stand. "...No more."

She doesn't feel graceful or elegant, as she rips the next ribbon straight from her collar, golden and shining as it grows in the remaining light. She snaps it out, and it starts to grow, she spins it further and it spirals, turning into a gigantic cannon. Its details shine into being, elegant filigree over its silvery barrel, brilliant and untarnished despite the chaos, and a base of shining metal that allows her to nudge it towards her firing pattern. ...She sees that her shot is clear.

"TIRO...!"

Mami thinks of two more faces, of blue and pink hair, two faces still alive, and suddenly yanks on the cord with all her remaining might.

"FINALE!"

The cannon erupts into golden light, some three times taller and wider than Mami herself, aimed straight for the center of the Kraken.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Finale on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe narrowly braces Sailor Pluto's Finisher, Chronos Typhoon, taking 56 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe's Block ability activates! Hotaru Tomoe's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Mami Tomoe's Finisher, Tiro Finale, taking 240 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Chitose Shiratori [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Chitose slowly climbs her way to her feet from the ground near the wall, just as another Sorewatase comes rushing at her. She leaps into the air to try and escape, but a vine manages to grab a foot. The vine swings downwards, slamming Chitose into the ground, before it swings her backwards, into the remains of the far wall.

Despite the walls and despite the pain, Chitose wills herself upwards, and the moment she hits her full height she suddenly feels the aches and pains of her arms, and especially her back. Pain lances through her back, like it was threatening to snap at any moment. She looks at the swarm of Sorewatase, and gauges, considering. There were a lot of them, and her position in the back of the courtyard might give her a good vantage point to get a fair number of them. But would it be enough?

Chitose braces herself against the wall with one arm, and walks one leg back behind her to make sure she's not blown over by the effort, though her legs wobble more than she would like. With her arm covered by White Omen, she points it directly at the mass of plant evil, and White Omen fires.

<Nightingale's Lament>

A large light beam fires from the Device, but right before it hits anything, it starts to split into a large number of light bolts. If the earlier ones were like crossbow bolts, these were more like spears.

Then the Kraken appears, washing the courtyard in water, and she's bowled over by the immense amount of water. Chitose instantly tries to stand back up and get her head above water, which she does eventually. As the Kraken looms over her, she wonders if all of this will be enough.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Chitose Shiratori has used Nightingale's Lament on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Chitose Shiratori has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

Things are going awful.

The monsters do not stop, and Steven keeps getting hit and overwhelmed, barely escaping, and repeating. This is utterly terrifying now. Why are there bad peopel that do these things? Why?! Doing this will make everywhere a better place? What could they possibly want instead?

The overwhelming begins to get to the boy. Countless vine shaped cuts and ripped clothing begins to wear very thin (Yes, still puns despite morale) but he seems to hold on. At least until the giant Kraken thing shows up, and begisn to come down on the group, and the crystal! "I... I..." Steven begins to tremble. Everyones fighting so hard! So brave! Why can't he be this brave?! Why is he shaking?! "N-No! I..."

Tears begin to well up as creatures surround. "I CAN'T!" he yells at the top of his lungs over the fighting, and a shield sails out at the Kraken, pitch by the boy; a last ditch effort as a child begins to lose hope. The boy breaks for past his friends, crying. This was like a nightmare. Worse than that dream about Cookie Cat!

Regardless if the shield hits or not, the boy cannot stop crying, being so scard of the situation. His only solace being the beacon of light in the center of the area. "I'm... sorry," he says quietly to it, cowering in fear.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Steven Universe has used Throw Shield on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Steven Universe has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Down once again, the Fire Knight feels like her flames are burning out. But there's still a little bit of fire left within her, and she's not about to let it burn out that easily. Even the smallest flame can still burn brightly. That's what the Fire Knight is thinking as she starts to get to her feet once again. Weakened and a bit out of breath, the Fire Knight nonetheless keeps her strength going by believing as she usually does... while her power begins to circulate around her and build. "Enough of this! The time to end this comes NOW!" The flames begin to build around her.

"We came this far, we won't quit now!" Her glow increases. "The power of good shall always overcome the power of evil!" She raises her hands. "And the flames shall burn those who dare oppose us!" She calls forth something, which manifests into a large claw-shaped projectile which is aimed directly at the enemy as she calls out the incanation loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Claw of Flame!"

COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Chitose Shiratori's Finisher, Nightingale's Lament, taking 46 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: FINISHER! Hikaru Shidou has used Claw of Flame on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Steven Universe's Finisher, Throw Shield, taking 67 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

<SoundTracker> Tales of Zestiria - Flaming/Passionate Bonds Are Being Tested - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MaiPg3tMEE

Mai Tokiha desperately denies fate. It's not enough on its own, nowhere near - but with everyone else fighting against the encroaching darkness, all their efforts combined are just enough to buy a few more seconds. Just a little bit longer. Defiance bolsters defiance, and Mai lets out a shout - and stumbles forward as the force she'd pressed against burns away to ashes.

That's one. There's a hundred more - and glancing worriedly at the crystal, Mai is momentarily blinded. The battlefield becomes a chiaroscuro, with the monsters wreathed in darkness and those fighting against them veiled in brilliance. For a moment, Mai stops in her tracks, starstruck by the brilliance of those around her...and perhaps just a bit dazzled by her own. A moment, and she takes a breath, preparing to charge those plant monsters again-

And then the sea rises up. Water and flame sizzle against each other, and Mai holds up an arm to shield her eyes from the spray. There, leaping into the air, is a horrific monster - made of endless maws and teeth and a thousand excuses for her to call in Kagutsuchi to obliterate it-

But then hope rises up to burn away despair, as she sees a...friend of hers, alive and still fighting. ...sure, the monster flung Lancelot down into the ice, but at least he didn't drown. At least that tragedy didn't happen again-

That's the past, though. And if any of that army of darkness manages to lay a hand on the shining crystal, they might not have a future.

There's a triumphant screech, somewhere overhead, and as Mai's rings begin to spin there's a greater heat building with them. Fortunately, her power holds her above the icy surface - saving her from a slippery misstep as frozen floor turns to water. The kraken looms high, but the horde of plant-monsters cannot be ignored - as proven by someone fighting nearby. Mai is halfway through rushing to the girl's aid before recognition sets in...

...and with a moment's hesitance in her heart, rushes in between Mami Tomoe and the charging Sorewatase. That terrible cannon is aimed at the sky, and that's good enough for today. "Watch yourself, Tomoe - you'd better have this!" And then, the HiME charges at the sorrowful plants.

It's not like before. Her friends are alive and undrowned, there's a hope of stopping the kraken...and there's that desperation that it's now or never. Flames gather before her, and crimson light spreads wide to shine with magatama-sigils. A great blazing bunker wall takes shape, slicing through ice without hesitation, incinerating that which stands before it.

Can it cut the Sorewatase off from the crystal entirely? Mai Tokiha is determined to try.

COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Hikaru Shidou's Finisher, Claw of Flame, taking 59 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: FINISHER! Mai Tokiha has used Precious Pyre on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Mai Tokiha has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Mai Tokiha's Finisher, Precious Pyre, taking 90 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

The Wind Knight actually stops to gawk, just briefly, at the kraken. That can't possibly be ANY world's version of a 'natural' monster, and 'supernatural' doesn't seem to encompass it either; she doesn't sense anything about it to identify it specifically as a proto-daimon, but what magical senses she *has* are probably out of whack between the Ritual of Rending, the swarms of sorewatase, and the overall off-kilter-ness of the occasion.

When she thinks back on this fight later, she's liable to be grateful that it wasn't something more along the lines of Cthulhu - but really, the kraken is MORE than bad enough, and her attention snaps back just in time for her to execute another spin attack, staggering a little but keeping her balance as she cuts another Sorewatase into calamari. She actually manages to get a slightly better look at the situation *while* she's spinning ... and almost wishes she hadn't.

A situation that was already fairly bad is rapidly getting worse, and the way Lancelot gets slammed down hard on the ice in front of her merely punctuates that observation. "You really haven't learned enough about us magical girls yet, have you?" she retorts under her breath to Northa, taking a few steps back and dismissing her sword, backing up nearly to the edge of the salt crystal itself, feeling the mana-pressure making her skirt ripple against her legs and her sleeves against her arms. "We may not all fight for the same reasons, we may get our powers from as many different sources as there are books in a library, but when we stand united for one cause ... there is nothing that can stop us." She brings her arms up and back, taking a deep breath.

"EMERALD .... *CYCLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!!!!*"

If the Magic Knight of Wind can draw out any of the purifying power of the great salt crystal to flavor her attack, it certainly couldn't hurt - but either way, she gathers up the full wrath of the tempest and turns it loose against the gathered monsters, from the Sorewatase to the great corrupted kraken, the howl of the gale surely loud enough to drown out any other rejoinders Northa might care to send her way, or the shrieks of the assorted monsters.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Ren is starting to learn that a Sorewatese is if nothing else a force to be reckoned with. Her spears do nothing to stop their advance -- and in hindsight it was probably a foolish move given their mobility. Again she watches them overwhelm everyone. She herself is utterly unable to conjure forth a shield to stop from once again taking a direct hit (or "hits" in this case), this time to the abdomen, which causes her to double over in shock as she's knocked back, skidding along until she's able to regain her balance, wobbling to and fro as the world spins nauseatingly.

<Another hit like that and...> Heraut doesn't have to finish his sentence for Ren to catch the gist. She felt like she was swiftly tilting into the very ocean around her. Despair like this isn't easy to shake off.

...And it certainly doesn't help matters when the giant, kraken monstrosity rears its ugly head again. She stands there clutching her injured abdomen, wide-eyed at the terrifying sight. "I-It's...!"

<We must defeat it... We must defeat all of them!> Heraut chimes aloud, Ren watching Lancelot get pummeled into the icy ground as if he is nothing but a bothersome insect to the beast. He's right. This has to stop. Everything seems to slow down as the Kraken heads for the crystal, intent on ruining everything they've fought so hard for up until now.

She doesn't want anyone else to suffer.

Crouching down she calls forth all of her remaining reserves to form the spell that has appeared within her mind. In a slow, almost lazy fashion, a Midchildan runic circle several times wide whirls into existence. Out of it comes several of the same spectral lances from before -- although these burn with a stunningly bronze intensity that warps the air around them in a hazy fashion. "Please Heraut. Be with me."

<Apex Torrent!>

Ren catapults herself into the air in a flash, the phantasmal spears following behind her. She soars upward -- ever upward -- before her momentum halts momentarily as she flips backward. At the same time another circle appears, angled in a downward fashion in the general direction of the Kraken and the Sorewatase. Ren's feet touch it, and she remains there as the circle starts to spin with a wild intensity, her lance held out in front of her. The effulgent spears right themselves alongside her, pointed forward just like the real thing she grasps so tightly in her hands. "Straight through, Heraut."

<Yes.>

In an explosion of force she rockets forward and downward, the phantom lances following in her wake.

"RIGHT! THROUGH! ALL OF THEM!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Fuu Hououji has used Emerald Cyclone: Full on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Ren Aizawa has used Apex Torrent on Hotaru Tomoe.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Fuu Hououji's Finisher, Emerald Cyclone: Full, taking 95 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Ren Aizawa's Finisher, Apex Torrent, taking 91 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

The way Uranus' face looks- she almost shrinks back but doesn't. She remembers how it looked before- and she interrupted her in the frenzy of battle. She doesn't expect the coldness, even though she really should. She expects the best from everyone. Her eyes grow wide, as saline streams drip down. A hand presses against her breastbone- even now though she doesn't think Uranus would actually do it though, throw her into the ocean. A palm is against her chest, she nods wordlessly to the question of whether she'd endure for her. Her mouth opens to speak-

The shove sends her backwards, stumbling a few steps. It becomes a hopping twist somewhere along the way as she tries to klutzily regain her footing in the uneven terrain. With each step she hears the things she's supposed to endure-

Sacrifice.

Tragedy.

The world as it is.

She's only just regaining her footing as Uranus hauls a Sorewatase into the air, forces her to endure her promise.

A look of shock is on her expression as she slams the Sorewatase again and again with savagery, not to use the thrill of battle overcome Uranus, but- more her words than anything.

Part of her sags under the weight of what she has to say- and then a burbling roar shakes her, as she's struck by the force of the sea. The chill spray that causes her to shiver. The sight of what's coming causes her to try to take a frantic step backwards and under the slick ground her path causes her feet to slide out from under her. With a thump and a yelp she lands, and slides a few paces away. It brings her out of line with that protective wall that Uranus forms, where Uranus would expect her to be, right into the path of a Sorewatase that had avoided the Senshi of the Sky. The impact is terrible, spinning her around, sending her careening towards a fortress wall, where she hits the ground.

She's so sleepy- so hungry. Right now would be a good time to give up wouldn't it?

But she doesn't, her eyes staring out at Pluto, Uranus, Mai, Lera, Mami, Fuu, Steven... There's still something out there to protect, a future to protect. With a tremble of her arms, she gets up onto her knees, her eyes immediately fastened upon the pillar of light in horror as it blackens. It seems like evidence enough of the way the world is. But she refuses to accept that, her voice is so small. "Pluto says that too about your duty- about the way the world is." Her Fuku is torn, sodden by the sea, her legs feel like some wiggly Konnyaku, as she stumbles back up "That things like, like- fate have no care for hope. That I can't stop what's coming. Things just won't bend because I want them to."

Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCRr-Ys9dVM

Her back straightens, mostly, onto her feet but her chin is lowered, "But if that's the way the world is- I'll find a way to change it, for the sake of our future. So noone else has to endure sacrifice-"

Silhouettes of the Senshi appear in her mind. Barbs emerging from their backs in a world of red.

"-tragedy-"

Five little spots of purity, her hand slowly reaching as she moves against her will through space. They wink out before her fingers would touch.

"-or sin-"

She does feel a pang of guilt, for Uranus' promise being broken solely due to her own clumsiness. Her chin lifts. "I want to protect you- save you from even having to go that far for- your duty."

She raises the rod in her hands high. Upon it is a window into eternity. A shadow of past glory if you look, beyond heavenly blue skys, unto the clouds. Peel back the veil of time, and through a chiming rhythm you'll see the palest glimmer of the Silver Millenium.

Drawn back, she spreads her arms, beginning a choreography like a drum major wielding a baton. It leaves glittering whorls of light in the air as she tilts back, then comes back into position. All is ready now.

She begins to twirl- "MOOOOONNNNNN SPIRALLLLLLLLLL-" She starts high, she starts a little slower, her body, her blonde twintails spinning with centrifugal force as she lowers herself down and down. "-HEEEARRRRTTTTTTTT-" She ends low, and finally stops, like a gymnast at the end of a floor routine. "-ATTACK!"

The rod is raised high and out of it comes a galaxy pinwheel of light, sparkling trails of radiant tears. Interlaced between them are lines and lines of hearts, flowing out- joining together. They become a heart of tremendous size, incredible loveliness. It's path takes it straight through a massive horde of Sorewatase- into the immense Protodaimon Kraken that's trying to eclipse, consume the light.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Moon has used Moon Spiral Heart Attack! on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Sailor Moon has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Garnet [None] has posed.

Violence crashes! Again and again! And again! The sorawtase reinforcements swarm to Garnet and Violence! A massive strike again results in a wall of force that blows her immediate attackers away! But it won't be enough. Garnet can see the ones she hit flailing and dissipating, but she can see more coming. So many more...

Violence bought them time, but it wasn't enough on its own. Deep down Garnet knew that, but they had to keep... going... had to keep...

For the first time in so many years, she wants to falter, but does she really even know how to anymore? She's become so used to standing against it all, holding the line, resisting to the last ounce of her strength. She looks at the oncoming horde of sorwatase, hears the kraken roar, and... wishes she was the kind of gem that could escape, that she could fly away...

Like Endo flying overhead...

Wait, Endo... he's not flying away at all! He's still out there, and still able to manuever around the hordes! He might be able to do more than just hold them back... Garnet takes the moment, maybe the last one she has, and focuses on Endo, raises her hands, and light flows from her gems, through her gauntlets, and upwards in a gentle purple red current towards him.

They might still have a chance.

Garnet will hold them off here.

She knows he'll do what's right.

COMBAT: Garnet has used Funky Flow on Endo Naoki.

COMBAT: Garnet has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki accepts Garnet's Funky Flow, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Endo Naoki is Reinforced by Garnet!

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

The voice tickling at Endo's ear makes his legs weak, and his arms like jelly. The monster is too much. Even now he's not doing enough against it, their loss is imminent. There's nothing he can do. His face slackens as he watches the ice containing the key blacken and turn in response to the proximity of the kraken, and his grip on his weapon falters.

He tries to focus. To fight through the fear, to get angry, to do something. But it's neither of those two emotions that make him move. It's something warm and-fresh. Something that seeps into him and pries loose the cold fingers gripping his heart. As the light from Garnet's gem pulses through him his head rises, his hands cease their shaking.

His gaze follows the light, and he nods at the Gem across the field. He can do it. If someone that strong--that cool is willing to believe in him, how can he just sit down and give up? How can he just let this thing come and destroy all their hard work?

<KNIGHT.> There's something uncertain in the ugly warble that his device makes. <--POWER?>

"Right." He doesn't have time to discuss further. There's work to be done. The sword flares to light again, all that energy pushed outward as the whole of the blade comes alive with purple fire. Purple and bla--no, red. Purple and red. And the Knight raises it over his head It becomes a pillar, the blaring light streaking skyward.

<STERN BRECHER.> It comes down in one fell swoop, coloring flaring as the massive sword of energy smashes down into the kraken.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Endo Naoki has used Stern Brecher on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Uranus [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

The armbound Soretawase smashes down into a clump of its companions, snapping noises and mandrake howls greeting the earthshaking impact. The broken, twitching heap of bodies causes a brief hesitation in the monsters' approach, and they begin to divert around it as one, their anthill minds directing them to their goal.

But as the first passes, the pile heaves and buckles, and Uranus rises, still gripping her ill-fated victim--now quite dead--about the waist. Leaning back hard to counterbalance, she swings it wildly, releasing in time to hurl it into the first beast trying to pass her. Realizing she's still alive, the next few leap her pile to assault her. Uranus hooks the first to reach her in her elbow and twists it to thump into the second. She needs far more air than she's getting at this point, her throat clogged with panting, her limbs and brow drenched with sweat despite the snow.

And then the sea. A thick sheet of saltwater smashes across Uranus, stinging her eyes, dribbling from her bangs, running pink from her lips. She expels a great cloud of hot breath through the frigid mist, and the two Soretawase seize her, pinning one arm. As seawater drizzles around them, one of their viny limbs wraps Uranus's throat.

Uranus can't feel it. She can only taste, right now. The sea is on her tongue.

"I remember," she rasps. The thick cords of muscle on the side of her neck are extended, straining, keeping her airway half-clear. She smiles a little, like a schoolboy with his mother's hand on his head. "You didn't have to remind me."

As the next Soretawase leaps over and past, Uranus's arm rips free of the clutch, hauling it back by the throat. "That's not how this works," she gurgles angrily, and her diadem smashes into the head of the youma strangling her. She headbutts it repeatedly, until something crunches and green fluid spatters her face. Then she turns to her new prey, wrapping an arm around its throat, locking it in. The third Soretawase leaps atop her back to try and pry her free, but it's too late for that. Uranus tightens her arm. That thick bicep bulges harder and harder, distending into the space the youma needed for its neck, and then whatever passes for its spine. Fibers whine, near to cracking.

Uranus gazes with one ichor-painted eye at Sailor Moon. Any doubt she had that that girl could belong on a battlefield is now extinguished. "Sailor Pluto!" she roars, still gazing at the blonde princess, but not deeming her worthy of direct address. "Use everything you have!"

COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has used Strangleflex on Hotaru Tomoe.

COMBAT: Sailor Uranus has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Sailor Uranus's Strangleflex, taking 30 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Sailor Moon's Finisher, Moon Spiral Heart Attack!, taking 238 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: Hotaru Tomoe fails to brace Endo Naoki's Finisher, Stern Brecher, taking 194 Fatigue damage! Hotaru Tomoe is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.

Even as the battle reaches its climax, the Ritual of Rending continues to do its good work, behind everyone's backs. The sparks flying off the Key have begun to dissolve it wholesale; this process begins at the decorative tip. As long as the Key's blades remain intact, though, it could still theoretically open the door to the future.

It needs more time.

And so it shall have it, bought dearly by the many magical girls facing not only their own doom, but the doom of Tokyo. A doom that is approaching quickly.

But the magical girls hold doom in their hands as well. Sailor Pluto's invocation of spacetime warps the battlefield, transforming all the light that dares to traverse it a bright and glorious garnet. Into this zone, her allies can see their attacks in slow motion. Sailor Uranus, engulfed, is strangled, and strangles, over and over; Steven's shield meets the kraken's flesh again and again and again; Chitose's many spears pin sorewatase in place not once per creature but a dozen times; Hikaru and Mai's flames sweep the battlefield from opposite sides, engulfing the plants in a firestorm only heightened by Fuu's invocation of wind. Every flicker of flame is visible in this altered space. Every flash of light.

The effect ends at last, just in time to be replaced first by Lera's dome of golden light, which blasts the remaining sorewatase backwards off the edge of the fortress... where they are skewered, for good measure, by Ren's many phantom lances. There's nothing left to splash into the water, after.

But the kraken is still descending, and though things /aren't/ in slow motion, they feel like it, so narrow is the window in which to prevent calamity.

But Tiro Finale is wide, and Moon Spiral Heart Attack is wide, and Stern Brecher is wide, too. They do not so much fit through the window of opportunity as perform a nuclear demolition on the entire wall of fate. This is no mean feat, even so; these may be immense explosions, but the kraken is even moreso. As it falls apart, it ceases to be flesh entirely, and boils away in evil violet steam, which howls as it goes in an entire Greek chorus' worth of screams of the damned.

And then -- only then -- does the last of the Key dissolve in a fountain of golden light, which infects the white pillar, then detonates in a final flash of sacred radiance that fills flesh and spirit alike with warmth, with potential... with all the wonder and marvel that a city like Tokyo can hold.

There is a long silence, which lengthens, as the sense of malice that had been looming over the battlefield fades along with its chance to seize a priceless tool for destruction. The ocean calms. The wind blows, but gently now, tugging at hair, soothing abraised skin.

A big chunk of the ice fortress loses its tenuous hold on the rest, and falls off with a mighty crack and a massive splash; this breaks the spell.

"Whew," Madoka pants, her grin white against her soot-blackened skin, "Kids today sure now how to party! Kaoruko!" That last was yelled into a cell phone. "Open the portal back up, we're coming home!"

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

After all is said and done, the Fire Knight drops to one knee and begins to catch her breath, before looking for her ally, the Wind Knight, and smiling to her as she waves her over, hoping to get some light healing. "We did it!" She says, albeit weakly. "We triumphed! I knew we could!"

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Lera sees the Sorewatese thrown over the edge -- and skewered by Ren's lances of light. She sees the kraken rip apart, shredded into nothingness. Finally, she sees the Key dissolve away. The last flash of golden last blows away, and then she smiles. It's a little loopy.

She nods at what Madoka says.

Then, she topples over, the last of her magic spent and her still healing Linker Core pushed to its limit. But she has a smile on her face -- and there is a soft snore.

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Whatever Sailor Pluto may have done with time during that last onslaught, it surely has nothing to do with the Magic Knight of Wind wondering if her heart paused for an abnormally long time between beats. She doesn't feel lightheaded or weak or ill, just ... suspended, after unleashing the Emerald Cyclone, and waiting to see the outcome after she's done all that she can.

She gets to see all of it: her own spell, the finishing attacks of her allies, the Sorewatase being obliterated, the kraken disintegrated by a convergence of devastating attacks ...

The monsters cease to be, and a thunderclap just behind the Wind Knight sends her staggering forward as the last trace of the Key is unmade, the ritual completed. Now the Wind Knight is *sure* her heart is beating again.

"Thank you for your help in this endeavor, Madoka-sensei," she says gratefully, bowing to the elder Devil Hunter, then moving to help Hikaru to her feet and casting a light Winds of Healing. More protracted healing will have to wait until they're off of the now-disintegrating crystalline fortress, and back on terra firma - but if anyone needs a quick patch job to make it through the portal home, the Magic Knight of Wind can provide that with little difficulty.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Fallen Stern hits the ice with a thud, the point burrying into the cold ground. Gouts of steam puff out of it in the wake of Endo's final attack, one big cloud. <I DON'T UNDERSTAND.>

Endo doesn't have an answer. He heaves a sigh of relief when the combined attacks blow the monsters away, and then topples over with even less dignity than his device. What energy he has left he uses to wave his hand in appreciation back at Garnet. And to make sure the rest of his allies are alright before he finds his fellow mages and drags himself back through the portal.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Ren comes to a stop in the air, hovering above the place where her lances took out the rest of the vine monsters. More steam vents out of the shaft of her lance, and she's panting heavily. Everything aches and hurts. All she wants to do is find Endo and-

"Lera-chan!?" She sees Lera collapse and makes a beeline for her, hoisting the girl up. When Endo comes over she gets him to help her get Lera and themselves all back through the portal.

<Pose Tracker> Garnet [None] has posed.

Garnet watches the scene unfold with building relief, the relief she, the relief they've ALL craved since the monster waves intensified. Maybe since the first encounter with the mysterious Keys of Tokyo.

She looks around briefly, returns Endo's wave as she does, and ends it with a thumbsup. He did it, just as she knew he could. They all did.

It was an intense battle, maybe one of the most intense she'd had in Tokyo. She felt drained, but she had just enough energy for one last supersonic dash...

...to comfort her crying child.

"Steven!" she says and lifts him up to a long hug, and twirls around with him gently.

"We did it... The key is gone!"

"It's going to be all right...!"

<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

It's so bright, that flash, brighter it seems to Mami than even the world was dark a few moments ago. ...She certainly doesn't break that silence. Instead the wind blowing ruffles her hair, her blonde drills waving in it along with the little topper on her hat. She's exhausted, and that makes a breeze like this all the better.

After the call for the portal, Mami finds Mai again. "...Thank you," she says, though it's hesitant.

And then with Lera falling over Mami's attention is diverted again--until she sees someone helping her up. Mami smiles faintly, with a little sigh.

...But that portal sounds like a /great/ idea. She speaks, probably too softly to be heard, "Is everyone else...?"

She looks, just to be sure, among those together and those not.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

For a moment, time stops. For a moment, it feels like everything is perched on the edge of a knife. And then flames roar, cannons bellow, and brilliant light shines all in a grand cavalcade of turning the tide. When the storm clears, Mai is left standing - actually standing on a chunk of ice that's still relatively intact.

There aren't all that many of those left.

And then the ice fortress starts collapsing, breaking the spell, and the looming threat of further darkness seems to fade away for tonight. Mai turns from the ocean, more than happy to leave this realm of water behind. She glances to Madoka Mano for a moment, but doesn't look long enough to meet the elder Devil Hunter's gaze. Today, she helped - that'll have to be good enough.

She does, however, meet Mami's gaze. One moment, then another, and then there's an unexpected couple of words. The HiME doesn't blink, just meets that gaze a few moments longer - and then, finally, an answer. "Good work."

Sailor Moon, however, gets a smile. Lera gets a worried glance - but a smile all the same. And then Mai is on her way to a crater and a fallen knight, kneeling down to check on him. She sighs, whether in relief or exasperation might be hard to say, then spurred by the sound of another chunk of fortress collapsing sets to haul him up.

Dragging someone taller than her to safety is more than a little awkward, but she seems to be managing. A glance up to the skies, a faint smile - and then she makes her way to the portal, muttering. "Can't believe you jumped in after it...new rule is going to be that you can't swim for a -week- after eating, see how you do with that..."

In the cloudy skies, a dragon-phoenix-whale Child trills encouragement before vanishing in a flash of flames.

<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.

The sounds of battle were fierce. He could feel darkness closing it. It was the most terrifying thing he has ever experienced. Despite it screaming in agony and vanishing, he was scared to look up. Scared to see what was wrought in the end. Scared to see if anyone was ashamed of him.

Though with the lack of fighting and din of battle that ensues, he slowly raises his head, his face smattered with cuts, and the tears that burned them. The sudden pickup leaves him frightened, but is relieved to see who it actually is.

He is happy to see everyone is okay, but other than the responding tightly gripped hug for Garnet, doesn't say a word, still shaken at the events that have unfurled. A meek smile is given though amongst wiping his eyes.

They did it after all...

<Pose Tracker> Garnet [None] has posed.

"You so did well, Steven. I'm so proud of you." Garnet hugs him tight, then moves him to her shoulders. "Now let's get out of here before this place destroys itself."

Garnet makes sure Steven is secure, and walks them towards the open portal.

"We'll go home, take a nap, then go and get ice cream, and a new video game. You've earned it."

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

It's a weak argument when you think about it. 'I don't like it, so I'll change it.' It's something that has to be proven by actions. And she doesn't talk about past actions, doesn't really boast about things like battles won or friends recovered from death and worse. She just tries to prove it to each person individually. And today she doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. It's pretty visible from how Uranus talks- looks.

A denial then- a lack of address to her. The way she's looking at her- it's so loud.

Even when the din of battle fades, when the long silence stretches onward, as that feeling of malice fades, there's still that look.

There's a lot of things she can imagine in that look- You don't belong here. You're a waste of time. A waste of breath. A loser.

She's not really certain that's what Uranus is thinking, any of that- all of that- maybe none of that. That's just how she feels under it.

Even as her arm lowers from where she is, as she pulls herself back up to her feet. She's looking at Uranus for a while, then a quick look at Lera to make certain she's getting up. When she looks back at Uranus, she bows, shivers. Her words a whisper. "I'm sorry- I was so clumsy I couldn't even endure your promise."

There are a lot of things she can't- won't endure, but she could have done that for Uranus. She could have been quicker to back her up, stopped her from hesitating. Let her protect her, and in doing so- protected her in turn. If Uranus did address her- she'll take it, but Uranus really doesn't have to.

That look says everything to her.

She hasn't given up, she'll try again other day- but right now, there's just this.

Garnet says, "thanks for the beautiful and deadly fire support!"

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Uranus [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Sailor Uranus shrugs a limp youma from her shoulders like a cloak. It thuds against the saltwater-stained ground. The rush of the ocean lows in the distance. It would be so easy to drop, to sleep. And that Sailor Moon, she'd catch her, after all.

Uranus takes a step forward, shambolic. So many muscles hurt, so many parts of her sit stiffly. She isn't familiar with her injuries, yet. She'll have to learn them, accomodate. For now she's discovering them with each motion. Her halting steps grow smoother as she walks. But her shoulders sway, as though the ground beneath them was rolling with the ocean waves.

She halts next to Sailor Moon, but doesn't look at her, as they stand shoulder-to-shoulder, facing in opposite directions.

"The only thing you can do to please me is surviving. The only thing you can do to anger me is dying. Don't make the mistake of thinking I care about what you do or feel." Uranus's head tilts down slightly, her jaw muscles tightening.

"Just live. That's all."

With the ripple of cold breeze, Sailor Uranus is gone.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Moon [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

She hears her coming of course. But- she doesn't feel like she has the right to go to her. She takes a step, then stops. Then they're standing shoulder to shoulder. Her chin turns fractionally. Her eyes are attracted to heavenly blue- like always. But the fact that Uranus isn't looking at her, not directly, stops that mid-motion, she can only catch a glimpse of it out the side.

Uranus speaks- and she's not sure how to feel about it. Part of it, the first part would make her happy in some small way if it weren't spoken so coldly. That indication of care yet again-

-but in the second part there's a dismissal, a denial of caring for what she does or how she feels.

Sailor Moon flinches.

It's the last word they share together on the subject today. Because Uranus is gone with a breeze that sends her twintails blowing sideways.

For a while she's quiet. Then a gloved hand presses to her face. With a sniffle, something wet pours through the spaces between her fingers. It hurts to know someone she cares about doesn't care about what she does or how she feels. That the only thing that matters to them is whether she lives or dies. The hand contracts, she rubs it across her face. Uncovers her eyes, as if through blurred vision she could pierce the dark clouds overhead and see the soft light of the moon come down to offer her comfort.

She can't.

Today was a victory, but it doesn't feel like it. Another spasm of sorrowful agony, and she's turning, a limping walk towards the portal, leaving a trail that mingles with salt and frozen seawater behind her.