2022-09-22 - Showdown At Dark Burger 2
| Showdown At Dark Burger 2 | |
|---|---|
| Summary: The thrilling conclusion of Showdown At Dark Burger. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Dark Burger | |
| OOC - IC Date: 9/22/2022 - 01/12/2016 | |
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Dark Burger +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
There's nothing dark about Dark Burger; the fluorescent lights may wash out
most colors on the walls, hard tile floor, and simple plastic tables and
chairs into a thoroughly corporate beige, but they allow few shadows. Grease
and desperation fill the air (the former from the deep fryer, the latter
from the fry cooks) but so does gaiety and laughter, from the children
eagerly consuming their treats to the surreptitious adults indulging in the
same. This is a place where dreams come true, if only little ones, but at a
price, if only a little one.
Fast food, like all food, is rather expensive in Tokyo, and regular visits
to the eatery strain less replete allowances (and belts). That makes the
opportunity to consume all the more precious, and Dark Burger delivers.
Their fries are always hot and crispy, their burgers (beef, shrimp, and
croquette!) are juicy and their shakes thick. They are definitely not run by
an evil organization bent on sucking the excited and gratified energy out of
their customers.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki transforms into Barrier Jacket Zerstörer! COMBAT: Endo Naoki has loaded him saved combat state! He is now ready to take on 1 opponent! COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki transforms into Barrier Jacket Wolf Fighter! COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has loaded her saved combat state! She is now ready to take on 1 opponent! COMBAT: Setsuna Higashi transforms into Cure Passion! COMBAT: Cure Passion has loaded her saved combat state! She is now ready to take on 1 opponent! COMBAT: Fate Testarossa transforms into Barrier Jacket Blaze! COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has loaded her saved combat state! She is now ready to take on 1 opponent!
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
<SoundTracker> Material-L - The Battle Of Aces -
PREVIOUSLY ON BATTLE FANTASIA
Kyouka's new to the neighborhood, and some of her fellow mages have (gently) conspired to introduce her to the Yagami Family. They meet up at Dark Burger for a light meal (well, a Dark meal, but it's the thought that counts). Things start well, with introductions, friendly conversation, and a dog under the table eating fries.
That is, until a figure in a black cowl blows the place up!
Fortunately, Shamal Yagami put up a barrier in the nick of time, so the Dark Burger wreckage is roughly half a dimension to the left, and all the ordinary citizens are too. This leaves everyone free to trash a city block of Shitamachi in a no-holds-barred conflict with SHADOW STERN, who is apparently a copy of Endo Naoki's Intelligent Device, Fallen Stern, unless of course it's the other way around, which Shadow Stern likes to assert.
It's unusual for a Device to take the lead in their partnership with a mage; but Shadow Stern's bearer (one hesitates to say 'wielder') really takes that to extremes. Their body appears to be puppeted through their connection to the malicious Belkan greatsword; it is as though they have no will of their own. And as Kyouka was warned, but gets to see for herself, even more disturbingly the body in question appears to be an older version of her friend Fate Testarossa.
Through some combination of the might of the Testarossa line and the immense power intrinsic to Stern himself, Shadow Stern was able to solo a titanic battle against most of the Wolkenritter and their friends. Signum, Cure Passion and Mikoto were laid low, unable to carry on the fight; at that point Shamal switched to healing their wounds and coccooning them from further damage (as the battlefield remained quite dangerous) while Hayate, over the concerns of her family, transformed, and took over barrier maintenance duty.
At that point Shadow Stern announced that his mission was accomplished and, while 'awaiting further instructions,' unleashed a truly hideous amount of power to try to take out the remaining mages and clear the field. Endo, Kyouka and Fate are straining against him in a terrible clash of energies. They may have surprised him with the strength of their initial response, because Shadow Stern is suddenly struggling to keep the beamwar from blowing up in his face! And his bearer isn't looking so good -- her Linker Core, the manifestation of her mana, has emerged from her chest and is being drained mercilessly to fuel his side of the battle.
NOW
Endo, Kyouka and Fate didn't start this fight, but they need to hurry up and end it before things get even worse...
...if they can.
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Mikoto is right. Kyouka jumped in so readily to help Fate. But in truth, she would have done the same for any of them.
Especially after today.
Kyouka's arms and legs are trembling, fire burning through her veins with the effort of pushing back against the malevolent device's blow, even aided by magic. She is so far beyond her limits and understanding in this moment and still has so far to go...
And yet--they're winning! The titanic clash is moving back, and she takes heart. Maybe she hasn't hit her limits after all.
She can tell Shadow Stern is in control: she's watched the way its carrier moves, the priorities given to defense. And when that Linker Core is brought out... she hasn't seen one, but Fate's described it to her, and she knows, instinctively, what it is... and just how heinous the act is.
He's trying to push back. Draining that poor girl dry just to seal his victory.
She won't let him. She can't let him. And so she grits her teeth, blocks out the tremendous pain, and she digs down deeper. To protect herself. To protect Strike Wolf. To protect Endo and Fate. To protect them all.
BEAMWAR! Kyouka Okazaki has placed her bid! Endo Naoki, Fate Testarossa, and Shadow Stern still need to bid!
<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.
It's eerie seeing your eyes reflected in someone else. In this bright clash, it's like a flash of lightning illuminating herself within a hurricane. Seeing her... so...
... doll like.
A certain anger in her builds, but it clashes against the words of her mother in her mind. It's as overwhelming emotionally as it is physically.
There's something like a glowing horizon at the point where the spells clash. And she pushes. And pushes.
However... it feels like something is faltering too.
This is what you bring Harlaown? This pathetic doll, this facsimile?
Both mother and absentee father, treating them like dolls...
From the moment I created you... I'VE ALWAYS HATED YOU!
Her foot slides back fractionally, and it's like she has to struggle to muster even the same force. The resolve in her eyes continuing to be tested each time she meets those dull-eyed ones.
BEAMWAR! Fate Testarossa has placed her bid! Endo Naoki and Shadow Stern still need to bid! BEAMWAR! Endo Naoki has placed his bid! Shadow Stern still needs to bid!
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
Fallen Stern burns with energy as the sword struggles against its twin, purple-black light pouring out.
Endo's eyes are set on the other Fate and the weapon that she wields, his fingers clenched tight.
He shows no sign of relief as they push back-it's too early for that.
Instead Endo clenches his teeth, channeling as much power as he can to aid Kyouka and Fate as they weather Shadow Stern's assault.
BEAMWAR! Shadow Stern has placed her bid! BEAMWAR! Shadow Stern rallies, tenaciously forcing back Endo Naoki, Kyouka Okazaki, and Fate Testarossa! Shadow Stern has the advantage! BEAMWAR! Endo Naoki, Kyouka Okazaki, and Fate Testarossa each take 8 damage! Shadow Stern takes 4 Fatigue damage! BEAMWAR! Now accepting mana bids for the third of three rounds! No longer accepting any more BEAMWAR entrants!
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
The bearer's lips part a little; it seems involuntary, pain expressed through hyperventilation, the lungs and heart -- and, perhaps, given the steadily darkening Linker Core halfway out of her chest, soul -- protesting through those functions of the body too fundamental for Shadow Stern to control directly. Or at least, he can't be bothered to micromanage every heartbeat, every breath. It's entirely possible that he has no awareness of such necessities at all. HE has no organs to manage, and never has.
Mana beads at the corner of her mouth, or maybe it's blood. Her Core is not golden like Fate's, but rather the dark violet of Endo's -- or rather Fallen Stern's. There's an esoteric research question to be asked there, but no easy answer. One can't just trade Devices around to experiment on what it does to the color of your magic. Maybe the elder Testarossa just happens to have purple magic anyway. Or maybe it's some other color completely, as yet undiscovered, unharnessed, warped beyond all recognition by the unnatural relationship between herself and Shadow Stern.
In any case, it doesn't look good for her Core, which is taking on something of a FLICKERING quality to its light... or for his opponents. Mercilessly, the tide is turning; gravity is reversing once more; Endo's feet, most unusually indeed, find themselves lifting from the ground. Kyouka's too. They are hovering now, and not as under their own control as they might like. (Fate, accustomed to aerial magic, will find the zero-g unexpected but not as discomfiting.)
The wall of boiling magic takes a great leap forward, Vernichtung Brecher's purple-black light crashing into the opposition only to be halted briefly. Strike Wolf flares with silver light, then Bardiche golden, and finally Fallen Stern's own, compressing like a spring. There's a feeling of -- tightness -- in the heart. The moment before going on stage. The moment before the final exam. The moment before the confession.
The wall surges again. It was twenty feet from them, and now it's ten. Again, and now it's five--!
BEAMWAR! Shadow Stern has placed her bid! Endo Naoki, Kyouka Okazaki, and Fate Testarossa still need to bid!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Shadow Stern is burning his host up, and -- Mikoto sights the way Fate's foot slips back, the way Bardiche doesn't push in like she knows he could.
"Fate!" Mikoto yells, from behind Shamal's breeze. "It's up to you, okay?! Fate's still fighting--!! Fate decided to fight! Right?!"
Mikoto wishes la Sirene were here -- or Kasagami -- or Steven. They're all so good at giving these speeches, at helping them...
"Endo! And Kyouka, right?!" Mikoto calls, to them. "You gotta end it now! It's getting too hard!"
On Fate, or her sister?
Mikoto can be worried about more than one person.
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
"N-no!"
That damned monster was pushing the back--bringing that swirling maelstrom of energy so perilously close... The cracks on her already-broken visor grew deeper and finally it broke completely. The broken fragments of her visor and tatters of her barrier jacket were ripped away by the torrent of wind.
They needed more power. She needed more. But she had already given so much, such an impossible and scary amount that already defied her comprehension--how could there be anything left?
The tears were already stinging in her eyes when she received a message sent directly to her and her alone.
<Kyouka, don't give up. Don't hold back.>
She blinked, tears running sideways across her face before being ripped away by the vicious winds swirling around them. Strike Wolf's surface was cracking, the device straining as he overclocked again and again just to keep up. She wanted to ask if he was sure, but in her heart of hearts, she knew the answer.
And Mikoto was cheering them on, too. They had to protect everyone.
"Fate.... Endo... We have to...." It's so hard to get the words out, but she hopes that's enough.
There was something left after all. She throws open the floodgates, Strike Wolf's glow erupting into blindingly painful radiance as it surges with new life. Wisps of white energy streamed from the device to swirl in the winds around them.
They were down, but not out. There was still a chance!
BEAMWAR! Kyouka Okazaki has placed her bid! Endo Naoki and Fate Testarossa still need to bid!
<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.
The dark violet mana spilling from her mouth, the darkening Linker Core. Will there be anything left of her?
She doesn't know.
As unsettling as it is... she has to try, for her little sister, for her big sister. And for herself. Mikoto calls out to her...
"I'm still... fighting. Bardiche." Pause, "All of them."
<Load Cartridge.>
A cylinder spins, and the three remaining cartridges get pounded in consecutively. Vernichtung Brecher's light is so close to them, when that Golden Light surges back from her, as she tries to bring it all to bear.
"Endo... Kyouka. All you have. Then a little more!"
As she digs deep emotionally in a heart that's known far too much sadness...
... but also, a world of happiness. Will this become another sad memory? Or a happy one? She makes a small wish in her heart...
... and pushes.
BEAMWAR! Fate Testarossa has placed her bid! Endo Naoki still needs to bid!
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
The effect that the battle is having on the other Fate is an awful thing, hard to watch even in the half-processed heat of battle.
Endo doesn't know if flinging back the encroaching wall of energy will make it any betterbut Mikoto is right: this has to come a stop, one way or another.
Despite the overwhelming pressure, there's no choice but to continue. To fight back. To win.
"Don't worry-we can do it!"
Fate and Kyouka are counting on him. And their other friends are counting on them all.
"Stern!"
<KNIGHT.>
"Let's give it all!"
There is the difference between Shadow Stern and Fallen Stern: One of them is not alone.
Together, device and wielder burn with light as they push back.
BEAMWAR! Endo Naoki has placed his bid! BEAMWAR! Shadow Stern presses her advantage, her Vernichtung Brecher exploding through Endo Naoki, Kyouka Okazaki, and Fate Testarossa's Meteor Absturz, Shining Moonlight Strike, and Jet Zanber for a total of 1142 Fatigue damage! Shadow Stern is victorious! BEAMWAR! Endo Naoki, Kyouka Okazaki, and Fate Testarossa are unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
The magic stays at five feet away -- almost close enough to touch, though any hand foolish enough to curl gently through its beautiful whorls would be instantly disintigrated. And it is beautiful, both in the distant, awe-inspiring way that extraordinarily primal things are beautiful, the beauty of a volcanic eruption, of a cresting tsunami, of a heart in love; and in the intimate, knowable way of a favorite flower, of a bento prepared by or for a crush, of a distant comet viewed successfully for the first time by the Astronomy Club after months of preparation and some very lucky weather.
It stays there for a long time, while the winds of its existence howl and the heat of its manifestation rises.
Long enough for Fate, Endo and Kyouka to begin to hope that they might be able to outlast Shadow Stern and his bearer; a stalemate clearly favors them based on numbers alone. And they have more than that. They can't see Shadow Stern's bearer through the oppressive, oncoming cataclysm anymore -- the magic is too dense -- but they can sense her on some level. Is it a sisterly link, through Fate? Or brotherly, from Stern to Stern? Kyouka might think she's imagining it entirely. But they can feel it, they really can, feel the way that her light is guttering. Is dying.
And then they lose.
Vernichtung Brecher EXPLODES through its counterpart, through Jet Zanber; both blades break, or at least, the lightsabery portions of them do, shattering off into huge chunks of mana that explode with grenade force throughout the neighborhood. The last part of Dark Burger that was still standing, the kitchen? Gone. The konbini across the street where Endo works? Cratered. Juuban itself, a few blocks away, is rained upon by the uncontrolled and broken backblast of Strike Wolf's moonlight.
And the three mages themselves are flattened into the concrete, detransforming uncontrollably, their Barrier Jackets having burst to fuel that automatic, final defense that allows their survival at all. Their friends, all around them, miss this moment, as Shamal has revved up her magical defenses to maximum, making the soft green light of the Lady of the Lake momentarily opaque in its strength, before it, too, is gone, blown away. Shamal is back in her winter coat in an instant; she held nothing back in her protections of the others.
Hovering over them all -- slowly descending, with long blond tresses floating upwards behind her -- is Shadow Stern and his bearer.
And the Linker Core in front of her chest isn't dead at all. Very much the opposite. Something has changed, drastically, for it burns like the heart of a star...
...in a new color.
It's still purple, but much more of a lavender than Stern's 'black holes aren't visible, but if they were, they'd be colored like me' aesthetic. A soft color, even at the impossible saturation of its magnesium flame-intensity. Sophisticated in its way, even refined.
The bearer's head lolls on her neck; she is, if anything, even LESS conscious than she already was. But not a corpse. No, she is not permitted to die today. Celebrate for her; mourn for her also.
Her lips move, and from between them comes an intelligent and gratingly unpleasant male voice.
"You need await instruction no longer, Project Stern."
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Kyouka's heart lifts, for a brief, tantalizing moment--they had stopped the blow again! Could it be possible that their combined might was enough to push back the heinous device?
And just as she dared hope that they might not only survive but win this encounter--
All hell broke loose.
She's only dimly aware of the armageddon that engulfs them as Shadow Stern breaks through, the carnage caused in their isolated pocket of reality as Shadow Stern's blow breaks through, breaks the blades of her two comrades, and forces Strike Wolf's attack to backfire.
Kyouka will be endlessly thankful later that even if Strike Wolf seemingly doesn't have Auto-Guard, that the last moment reactor purge was still in play to protect her.
Engulfed in the blast as she is, she can't keep track of just everything that happens, but as she slowly regains consciousness in the rubble of their beam war, she knows one thing for sure:
This doesn't feel like victory.
Kyouka can barely feel her own body at the moment--a small blessing, even though it means she also can't control it. But that's okay, because she's currently so exhausted beyond measure she's surprised she has any energy left for her heart to pump, let alone to be awake.
But what's worse, she can't feel Strike Wolf's comforting presence. That isn't a physical touch--it's a comforting presence in the back of her mind that ties her to her device. One that had become so comfortable she'd forgotten about it until it was suddenly gone. Strike Wolf himself isn't in much better shape than his partner--deep cracks run through the purple gem, and it's a wonder it's still largely in one piece at all.
Kyouka mutters something under her breath that definitely isn't on any of the vocabulary lists in English class.
<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.
It's over before she can blink. The blade of Bardiche is exploded through, the mana shatters like glass. Through the air she flies, her barrier jacket ravaged, then gone - fortunately a moment after she strikes the concrete. Eyes dimly comprehend the transfiguration of the Linker Core in her little sister...
... the awful state she appears to be in, now.
And then comes the voice of her father. She hates that he can bear claim to that title. Entering her life only to disrupt her happiness again.
Caring so little about her as to create more, and more, and more of her and to hollow them out to deny them even having the life she did, when she was acting as her mother's enforcer.
She hates it.
She hates it.
Curling up around the blinking triangle that is her partner, she waits for what comes next.
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
Even together, neither Endo nor Fallen Stern are strong enough to withstand the rising tide of purple-black destruction that washes over the three device users.
He's vaguely aware, once the wave has passed, of his surroundings. Of the other Fate and the shining core in her chest. Of broken concrete and the shattered remains of the dark burger.
Of failure.
His fingers can only twitch, the barest futile motions toward the dark blade buried in the ground beside him, his now silent device standing an equally helpless vigil.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
It's beautiful, and -- Mikoto's hungry, all a sudden.
If only all the places to eat weren't so summarily destroyed.
"Sha..." Mikoto starts, voice guttering in her throat, as the wind is blown asunder, with concern for the woman who was fighting Shadow Stern in another way. She sights Shamal, in that coat; everyone in such normal clothes, and it's fine for Mikoto, but it's not so fine for the Device Wielders.
Everyone's defenseless. Fate's sister, too, she thinks, even though that Linker Core burns with such an awfully sophisticated purple.
It's a complicated emotion. Mikoto wonders how she'll feel, tomorrow morning. It never felt very good to her.
She growls -- wordless and angry and quite, quite weak -- as she hears the voice of that man, but there's nothing she can do, in the wake of Shadow Stern's power.
Mikoto thinks of Fate -- or perhaps the word is 'worries'.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
That's right -- Shadow Stern had transmitted the completion of his mission and was waiting to be told what to do about it.
The body lurches in midair, leading not with the sword but with the head. Nasty. It turns, clumsily but inexorably, towards Hayate Yagami, who is still transformed, but on her knees in the rubble of the konbini, which it seems the blast threw her against. Her very blue eyes are distant in their focus, intent upon maintaining the barrier keeping all this wreckage half a dimension over, surely.
Her voice trembles; she sounds every bit the child she looks.
"I-- I won't give it to you." She swallows, panicking. "You can't have it!"
The body draws closer.
"Who will stop me? Your friends -- are defeated. Your made-up 'family' -- is defeated."
Hayate shakingly levels her staff at the body. The great golden cross that crowns it points at her like a spear.
Tears pour down her cheeks.
"Forgive me," she whispers, though surely not to the one looming over her.
The barrier collapses instantly! Crowds of people flood the streets, which are intact, though they steer clear of the 'cosplayers' on the ground, or maybe a flash mob? The Dark Burger will serve its fried fare another day...
...assuming this doesn't turn into another fight.
But it seems that it will not.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" screeches Jail through the bearer's lips -- her lungs must not be collapsed, not to have made a noise like THAT. "YOU -- YOU IDIOT CHILD! YOU INFANT! TO -- TO DESTROY THE GREATEST MAGICAL REPOSITORY EVER CONSTRUCTED JUST -- JUST LIKE THAT--"
He and the bearer seem to pant together; him from rage and horror, her from exhaustion.
"FINE!" He shrieks in the end. The bearer slams down a heel with all of his pique, and a circular spell circle -- Midchildan and lavender, rather than Belkan and purple-black -- springs forth around them. "DIMENSIONAL TRANSFER!"
And they're gone. Shadow Stern, his bearer, and their commander... and possessor.
Hayate, back in her street clothes too now, looks down at the absolutely blown-out staff in her hands. All four spikes of the golden cross are shards. Smoke is still drifting off of them, like a candle burned at ALL ends instead of merely the traditional two. The connection between them, slagged.
She cradles it very gently... and smiles a most unchildlike smile.
Her eyes are ice.
A swarthy man with blue dog ears barks over, "Mistress Hayate! Are you all right?"
"I'm okay," she says, levelly, though she is very pale and peaky. "Guess I'm gonna have to build a fourth Schwertkruz. Good thing it's just a Storage Device."
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Kyouka's face is buried in the ground, and she can't see Shadow Stern nad his master turning towards Hayate. But she can hear the words being spoken.
There is just enough presence of mind for her to be angry--angry at this madman for what he's done to all of them, angry that he would threaten a child (even though she knows full well that Hayate must be enormously talented, like Fate is, but it rankles her all the same.)
Enough to be angry, but sadly, not enough to do anything about it. She tries so desperately to move in that moment, to get up, to do something... all she manages is to slowly curl her right hand into a weak fist, and even that gives out after a moment.
And yet... it sounds like Hayate may have gotten the better of him after all. At least, she hopes she heard that right.
She wonders how she looks as the barrier around them falls, face down on the ground as they slide back into reality. But that question is the least important of the many, many currently swirling around in her head.
<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.
It occurs to Fate dimly who he's after. "Sorry... I'm..."
She - or rather 'he' advances on her. And then... the barrier falls, and suddenly Fate's senses are awash with stimuli. She doesn't know what happened at first...
Then Jail starts screaming. Feeling concussed, she tries to shake the cobwebs off, looking that way as the ambient noise of pedestrians adds another layer to the ringing in her ears.
And then he's gone. Fate lays there for a bit...
Then slowly turns on her back, still cradling Bardiche. Looking Hayate's way.
"... That was..."
Pause.
"... a very good trick, Hayate."
Despite her current state, Fate manages a small smile after all. The day might end up being another sad memory, however...
... at least he did not get what he wanted, at least the worst case scenario did not happen.
She can take some small amount of solace in that.
"Everyone... alright?"
Fate asks, but does not actually look around to confirm that anymore. She just hurts right now.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
LATER...
Shamal, tapped out of healing magic, used the most powerful spell of all: CELL PHONE.
Of course, Vita can't drive. But there is another option, and in very short order, another adult arrives -- a woman with long teal hair in a high ponytail, wearing a business suit. The features of her face are nothing like Fate's, but when she arrives she rushes straight to her, and then the resemblance is clear; in just such a way did Fate look protectively upon her friends in battle. If they are not mother and daughter by blood, they surely have a profound connection all the same.
Gathering the group into an alley where no one is watching (with the more mobile carrying the less mobile, as needed; someone fetches Hayate's wheelchair, too valuable to be carelessly forgotten), she effectuates her own dimensional transfer. Translucent wings unfurl from her back in that moment, but they're banished almost immediately upon arrival -- the group has been teleported into the courtyard of a large, sprawling single-family home. It isn't a mansion by American standards, but it's very luxurious for Tokyo.
"Welcome to Yagami House," Shamal murmurs to Kyouka. Hayate nods her agreement, and smiles much more gently. That moment of coldness feels like a bad memory; she is a kid again, though not a normal one.
---
Wounds are tended, mostly with magic, a few of the more minor ones with rolls of gauze and tape and disinfectant.
"That trick won't work twice," Hayate says after getting down some water, a long draught from a bottle. "I think ONLY the shock value of it made it work at all."
"Scaglietti is one of the greatest scientists of our age," Lindy Harlaown -- as she has introduced herself to Kyouka and anyone else who hasn't met her before -- agrees. "He's a renowned collector. As soon as he realizes his mistake, he'll try again. And it's clear that he won't stop until he gets what he wants."
"That won't happen," grunts Zafira, "IF Hayate doesn't use her magic. No magic, no signature, no detection."
Shamal nods a little too quickly. She has never really adjusted to seeing her Mistress on the front lines. "Yes. Mistress, you must remain hidden for now. Though... I don't understand what he thinks he's targeting. Our Tome of the Night Sky is gone. We all said our farewells."
Hayate's shoulders droop, and she looks at the floor. "I can at least repair everyone's Devices," she offers, changing the subject. "They deserve as much healing as any of you. More. What an ordeal they've been put through." Shamal opens her mouth to argue, and Hayate holds up a hand. "I can instruct Lindy-san. She can supply the mana. He'll never know. And not taking care of the Devices is not an option."
"What did he say he was after, the other time he manifested inside one of the," Lindy glances at Fate sympathetically, and modulates, "Members of his team? A 'Periscopic Array'? But what does that have to do with the Book of Darkness?"
"Maybe nothing," suggests Zafira. "He's greedy. It seems he wants every Lost Logia."
"I don't think we can assume it's coincidence," Shamal says hesitantly. "After all, the Tome comes from the same place as Fallen Stern and Soaring Sky."
Hayate nods. "Once we're all fighting fit, I think we'd better try the ritual again. You all learned so much last time, but there must be more."
She looks around the room. "But we might need to have the slumber party somewhere else this time, if we want to avoid attracting too much attention in my direction..."
THE END... FOR NOW
