2023-07-16 - VICTORY LUCK AIZAWA 2
| VICTORY LUCK AIZAWA 2 | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Ren and her friends defend her home from a coordinated assault by the dark Devices. | |
| Who: Kyouka Okazaki, Lera Camry, Mikoto Minagi, Fate Testarossa, Setsuna Higashi, Signum Yagami, Ren Aizawa, Shamal Yagami, Dark Heraut, Black Sky, Shadow Stern | |
| Where: Aizawa House, Chofu Suburban District | |
| OOC - IC Date: 7/16/2023 - 3/15/2016 | |
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Chofu Suburban District +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Chofu was built on a vast natural terrace that reinforces the town against
the slope down to the sea. It has its own town limits, and it is large
enough that you can get anything you need without leaving them. It has
lovely houses and apartments, well-appointed town centers, and beautiful
green fields around it. But the Tama River that flows through and past Chofu
feeds into the main city, and the great splay-legged power lines that follow
its course at a safe distance link town to metropolis. This is and is not
Tokyo.
Just fifteen minutes (and a scant 230 yen) by high-speed rail from Shinjuku
Station, Chofu is one of the largest "bed towns" for central Tokyo. Most of
the people who live here work in the Special Wards, the short commute buying
them vastly cheaper, less cramped lodgings, though some maintain local
businesses. While this makes Chofu a suburb of inner Tokyo, it is certainly
still Tokyo, and the expansive lawns and sprawling development one envisions
when thinking of a suburb are not to be found here. Still, there are no
skyscrapers here, and freestanding houses replace the massive apartment
buildings of Tokyo.
Chofu's river banks host old-fashioned festivals that draw many from
surrounding areas at the proper times of year. In contrast, Chofu is also
home to the headquarters of JAXA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Though Japan is not yet involved in manned space travel, those interested in
Japan's satellite or other space-related technology can find ample materiel
for research or wrongdoing.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
PREVIOUSLY ON BATTLE FANTASIA
<SoundTracker> Sakamaku Arashi - Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b-Q2hvh7xA
It is the night before the beginning of finals week, and the Infinity Device-users (and girlfriend) have gathered for a study group. It's a particularly crucial juncture for Ren and Endo, who are on the verge of high school graduation; Ren, in particular, is under a lot of pressure by her family, who seem to view her as an underperformer. Nevertheless, though obnoxious, her elder brother Yuu's butting in on their session was obviously kindly meant.
Meanwhile, at Yagami House, Signum and Shamal attempted to defeat the new enemy of Doing Earth Taxes. They were alarmed, but maybe on some level a little TINY bit relieved, to be interrupted by what are to them much more mundane matters, familiar ground: the imminent assault of Aizawa House by the three bizarre agents of criminal mastermind Jail Scaglietti: Shadow Stern, Black Sky, and Dark Heraut.
It is easy, in the context of the running battles they've had, to understand what those three want to achieve tonight; in their initial ambush, Shadow Stern and Black Sky both managed to defeat their counterparts, and, by briefly uniting with them, stole -- or maybe copied, it's never been entirely clear -- some critical data from the cores of Fallen Stern and Soaring Sky. Something that somehow made the dark Devices more potent, but far more fundamentally than that, more... complete. Without it, they spoke in broken, almost staticy voices, and the thoughts they expressed were... simpler, in certain ways, than how they've been ever since.
But Ren wasn't there that fateful day. And she's been attacked separately, but her friends have managed to defend her each time.
Some of our heroes are stronger than they once were -- those of them who have installed the Resonance Drive -- the maesters' best effort to take the terrible violation that the dark Devices have inflicted upon their Fate Testarossa-clone carriers and inverting it into a potentially unlimited conduit fueled by the trust between wielder and Device (though this comes with certain risks). But the Dark Devices, especially Sky and Stern, have been getting stronger too...
---
NOW
It would be best to go after Ren while she's alone, which is difficult but not impossible. A frontal assault on her house while most of the heavy hitters are gathered to study is a really weird choice. Even if they're aware of Kyouka's lack of a Device (who knows?), there is still a major force present, and reinforcements already on the way. They're either worrisomely confident or extra-desperate. Hard to say which would be worse.
In the living room of Aizawa House, there might be just enough moments to transform. Good thing Yuu Aizawa just retreated to the kitchen, or wherever big brothers go after they give their little sister a cute embroidered headband and then flee.
In the skies of Tokyo, Shamal calls upon her partner, Klarwind.
"I invoke the essence of the Lake," she murmurs, a mint green Belkan triangle unfolding beneath her boots from where she hovers. "The Lake is water. The water is glass. The glass looks to the Center. Let the twin mirrors rise..."
The crystal pendulums undulate before her raised hands, twisting and turning into an increasingly complex cat's cradle.
"...Spiegellabyrinth!"
And above Aizawa House, nearly invisible lines of green light do the same, just as the cowled trio fly straight at it...
...and then past it. All three of the dark Devices are now trailing strange, warped reflections. But they don't seem to be affected equally; whoever was first took the brunt of it, the second to fly into the maze spell has far fewer versions of themselves flowing behind them, more like five to the first one's ten.
And the last has only two.
They immediately separate from their squadron-like soaring formation, two breaking off from the third. One starts sweeping search patterns from the air; looking for the missing House, perhaps. One lands, perhaps doing the same from the ground, though optimistically they take a wrong turn almost immediately and disappear around a corner. And the third one...
...the first reflection behind Dark Heraut fades away even as the golden scepter, black cowled figure attached, hovers in midair -- hesitating, or maybe just focusing.
Over the telepathy line, Shamal's voice sounds strained.
<< I can't cast a barrier and maintain the Mirror Maze at the same time, >> she enters into the record, though for some this is just stating the obvious. With Yuuno Scrya often in faraway places, and Zafira on the wrong side of the city, that eliminates all the typical candidates for this sort of support work -- Hayate's done it recently too, but she's with Zafira. And surely everyone at the house who can go on the offense will be needed, up against a threat of this magnitude.
Her focus both sharpens and begins to fray, all at the same time. Kyouka, especially, feels her presence draw close; so near, somehow, that the teenager can feel the lady knight's eyelashes brush her shapely cheekbones as she slowly blinks.
<< Kyouka-chan, >> Shamal murmurs into her ear, or at least the ear of her mind. Her own mental voice is soft and gentle, but also urgent. << I need you to focus. Sense the power inside yourself... your awakened Linker Core. Feel how it glows inside you. How it's always a part of you. A Device helps you use it, but it's always there... and it's always yours. Now, I want you to imagine... making sure that the city is safe. Imagine yourself... imagine all the fighters... as being half a dimension over... and then wish it to be true. WILL it to be true. Impose yourself upon reality. This is the essence of a spell. >>
It's one way to describe the essence of a spell, anyway, but this is kind of a rush job as a tutoring session goes.
Above the house, Dark Heraut extends himself -- that is, the scepter. A golden spell circle inscribes itself below his carrier's black-combat-booted feet. A familiar one.
And his voice crackles into the minds of all around, as he invokes an all-too-familiar, all-too-deadly midrange barrage:
<< G3--L!GHT... >>
<< Do it NOW, Kyouka! >> commands Shamal, quite unlike her usual, mild-mannered self. There is a motherly authority to her voice... but also the absolute conviction that the new girl can do it.
<< ...--^S!L@D3. >>
Any second now a powerful stream of mana-infused gems will hit Aizawa House and explode on impact into more, smaller grenades -- a cluster bomb of sorts that will, unquestionably, rip through the roof like so much sawdust. The only question is whether it's going to destroy the top of Ren's home...
...or its counterpart, that crucial half a dimension over.
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
It has been a rather emotional few days for Kyouka, running into the damn fox again, and having to meet with her the day after taking down a new Ogre, and then only a day after that... a battle approaching her friends where she is completely defenseless.
This is lousy timing, to say the very least.
Dammit. If only there was something I could do...
But then Shamal's voice draws near, at least mentally, and Kyouka blinks. She inadvertedly blurts out, "Shamal-san?" before catching herself and closing her eyes to focus. To listen to the instructions.
A barrier. She's seen it cast before, even by Strike Wolf, but she's never done it herself.
But this is no time for doubts.
She doesn't know if she can actaully transmit the thought back without Strike Wolf to help, but she tries to project it anyway.
<<Okay. I'll try.>>
She holds out her hands, and reaches inside. A bright violet circle appears, inscribed with Midchildan runes, as she channels. Power flows from her into the spell as she pushes her will outwards. She has to protect the city. She can't fight with her friends, but... she can make sure they can fight unimpeded.
Just a little bit more, and....
"Barrier!"
And everything shifts half a dimension over.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
Kyouka feels her mana move in her without an assist from any Device, and it sets the planet on its axis; she will never be entirely the same. It's a bit of a rush. And, also, she can tell that if she does not bend her whole focus to this, it's going to drop. Her Linker Core is not an obedient and quiet battery. It surges with her feelings, and wanes with them too, a maelstrom that she must grip with both hands and her teeth.
But, satisfyingly, the world takes on the characteristically strange, slightly greenish tinge of moving half a dimension to the right--
--Mikoto, out and about, passes some evening pedestrians who simply wink out of existence, which would be disturbing if she wasn't old hat and knows very well that this was a deliberate safety measure--
--just in time for the top half of Ren's house to explode.
(Which Mikoto can also see, from a few blocks away; the way the glittering mana bursts, then bursts again, like fireworks made of accelerating popcorn; and then, the column of smoke and debris that comes after, a clear beacon...)
Gemlight Fusilade simply reduces it to splinters, which fall, along with some bathroom tile, into the living room below.
Dark Heraut looks down at the group through the -- it's not really a hole in the roof, there just isn't a roof anymore. The hole in the ceiling. A bit of exposed pipe sprinkles nearby, a tiny rain shower.
He addresses Ren, presumably, though his always choppy mode of communication sounds worse than it did the last time they encountered him, breaking high and low like an out-of-control radio frequency:
<< !MP0S--R. S^RR3N*R @T 0NC3. >>
That's hideously unlikely, and everyone knows it. Everyone including Endo, who, when the smoke of the Fusilade cleared, was gone... perhaps to intercept his counterpart before they can arrive.
Everyone else, however, is far from defenseless, in all their raiment and glory:
COMBAT: Dark Heraut transforms into DARK HERAUT! COMBAT: Signum Yagami transforms into Cloud Knight! COMBAT: Lera Camry transforms into Barrier Jacket Dynamic!
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Lera looks up, staring as the roof explodes. It's gone, in the blink of an eye -- but she registers, too, that a barrier was activated. Her amber eyes widen as she looks up at Dark Heraut.
It all registers with her, then.
Kyouka did that. It's not bad at all, especially without a Device. She sucks a breath in, then stares at Dark Heraut. Then, she looks at Setsuna, then towards Ren. "Ren-chan, be careful! They're here for you!" she says. "Setsuna... let's go."
She holds her hand up.
Light gleams across her; her jacket ripples outward, feather charm forms in her hair, and both clockwork shield and her broadsword form. Soaring Sky and Broken Ground swing to each side, as she looks up at Dark Heraut.
"I'm not going to let you!" she calls out, before she swings her shield up. There is a gleam of light across Broken Ground's surface -- and then a bolt of golden light explodes off it, shooting up into the sky for Dark Heraut.
<Fault Siege!>
COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Fault Siege on Dark Heraut.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
The end of the school year is on rapid approach, and something tragic has befallen the Tokiha-Minagi Dormhold. (That's a household when you live in a dorm.) While Mai was busy studying for finals, they found...
... that they were all out of a specific type of watermelon soda which was absolutely fueling their ventures.
"Mai, I'll do it!" Mikoto volunteered, bravely, to save Mai from having to leave THE ZONE. THE ZONE, you see, is far more important for Mai than for Mikoto, given how impactful these exams will be for the girl she loves most in all the world. "Keep going..!"
But the little township attached to the edge of Ohtori didn't have watermelon soda in stock. Going next door, across the river, Shibuya didn't have any either. Mikoto, who has never experienced anything this capitalistically challenging, naturally decided to go for the next place which she knew sold watermelon soda:
A little baito on a residential Chofu corner.
This is a normal amount of travel to do for a can of drink. She told Mai she'd handle it, after all! What's Mikoto going to do, come back without watermelon soda? What kind of provider would she be.
All this to say that Mikoto, in a gold coat and white leggings under LOUDLY aqua blue shorts, carrying that black case as she ever does, crosses the street as some pedestrians walk the other way. Until, mid-step, they're not walking any more, because they're not anything -- "!!", she says, without words but an implosive sound of air and tongue to teeth, and she knows the measures well.
At once she draws her obsidian blade, black as shadow and sin and secrecy, and charges for the site of the explosions. She has not forgotten her watermelon soda quest, of course -- but if Fate or Endo or Ren or any of the others are fighting, then naturally she must help them, because they are still under so much threat.
She doesn't meet up with the gang in any coherent way, of course. She's still Mikoto.
No: Dark Heraut will find that a girl charging like a freight train leaps into the sky from the opposite direction of the house he's just blown a hole in, to swing the flat of her massive blade into him and his wielder, screaming all the while. The angle she's at may well bowl Dark Heraut into their attacks.
Eloquently, she announces herself: "RRRAAAAAGHHHH---!!"
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi transforms into HiME Mikoto! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Dauntlessness on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.
It's a desperate situation. Fate wishes that she could simply cast the barrier in question, but that had always been Arf's domain. She had focused instead on ritual and attack spells of enormous potential, while Arf upon support and binding.
As such, she can understand Shamal's desperation, painfully so, wishing she could support her, and being unable to. However, Kyouka steps up, at the desperate moment, she'll try. Fate doesn't even have time to tell her that she knows she can do it.
She just knows she can, she has faith in that.
Instead, Fate shouts a simple phrase, "Bardiche Impulse - Set Up!"
<Drive Impulse - Ignition>
The home detonates, and even as the rubble is falling, violet lightning strikes, limming her body as her clothing changes to the armor of her barrier jacket, the flowing stylish peacoat like structure, accentuated by silvered gauntlets and boots.
Bardiche materializing into reality piece by piece, and yet also in the blink of an eye.
"Good work." Fate Testarossa says to Kyouka, still a silhouette in the settling dust. "You really came through for us."
Suddenly flying out of the rubble of the living room, she zips around to a separate side as Lera, swinging the polearm Device in swift circles, as she tries to clash with the wielder of Dark Heraut again and again and again.
"We'll handle the rest!"
Easy enough for her to say, much harder to do. And she still has no idea- if there's anything within these clones of her that can be saved. In this unholy marriage, this awful role reversal of Device and Wielder.
"Give it up." She tells Heraut, because while she is certainly here to defend Ren. She can't help but fixate some on the girl that Dark Heraut is wielding, "I won't let you have your way with her any longer!"
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa transforms into Barrier Jacket Impulse! COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Aerial Ace on Pink Moon Stick.
<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
'Setsuna... let's go.'
Watching their foes come, wtching Kyouka do her part when she thought she'd be unable--Setsuna transforms, and Cure Passion appears in a flash of red light. Her casual clothes become the cloth armor of Pretty Cure; her hair lengthens, turns pink, head ornaments appearing red diamonds and hearts.
And she is as ready as she will be.
"Right," Passion says, and gives Kyouka a serious look. "We'll do our part, too!"
She is also here to defend. And so she rushes as Fate flies out, and swings forward, handspringing up and then starting an array of kicks that launch her up, up, up--
"We'll show you 'impossible'!"
COMBAT: Setsuna Higashi transforms into Cure Passion! COMBAT: Cure Passion has used Rising Passion on Pink Moon Stick. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has cancelled their attack on Pink Moon Stick. If there are more attacks that need to be +cancelled, please hold all +attacks until the process is complete. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Aerial Ace on Dark Heraut. COMBAT: Dark Heraut neatly dodges 16 Fatigue damage from Lera Camry's Fault Siege, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Lera Camry is Psyched! Dark Heraut's Fade and Flash abilities activate! COMBAT: Cure Passion has cancelled their attack on Pink Moon Stick. If there are more attacks that need to be +cancelled, please hold all +attacks until the process is complete. COMBAT: Cure Passion has used Rising Passion on Dark Heraut.
<Pose Tracker> Signum Yagami [None] has posed.
"Haaaahh--"
Signum Yagami,
swift as summer grassfire,
the thirst of her blade
Descending from above, having been cloaked perhaps by the strength of the focus necessary to unleash the Gemlight Fusillade, Signum has been worked into the heat of battle. The hesitancy, the tactical flexibility they had had to show - these things brought back memories of old. Not good memories, perhaps, but familiar ones; and what hard-won strength came from those times can now come to good cause. Perhaps such suffering was not wholly in vain, needless though it had been.
And now she sees something else that heartens her -- the rising shape of Mikoto Minagi! (Did she attend school? Signum had little clear idea; but then, she does not track their comings and goings too closely. Perhaps she should. Shamal usually -- no! Focus!)
Signum shifts herself then, to place herself on the opposite vector of where Mikoto rises. "--nnhhh---"
Aiming to impact the shape of Dark Heraut from the other direction at the same time!
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has cancelled their attack on Pink Moon Stick. If there are more attacks that need to be +cancelled, please hold all +attacks until the process is complete. COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Dauntlessness on Dark Heraut. COMBAT: Signum Yagami has used Shiden Issen! on Dark Heraut. COMBAT: Dark Heraut decisively counters 24 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Obsidian Blade: Dauntlessness, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi is Psyched! Dark Heraut's Reverse ability activates! COMBAT: Dark Heraut's counterattack, Majestic Crasher, partially gets through, doing 45 Fatigue damage to Mikoto Minagi! COMBAT: Ren Aizawa transforms into Barrier Jacket Lustre! COMBAT: Dark Heraut neatly dodges 24 Fatigue damage from Fate Testarossa's Aerial Ace, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Fate Testarossa is Psyched! Dark Heraut's Fade and Flash abilities activate! COMBAT: Dark Heraut braces 7 Fatigue damage from Cure Passion's Rising Passion, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cure Passion is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
The realities of being a mage have always threatened to upheave the mundane aspects of Ren's life. They've also threatened Yuu's safety before, back when Jaren Zastava was a constant threat. And now those same realities were coming to put him in danger once again.
Staring down at the headband he'd made for her, Ren feels a surge of determination flow through her. Yes. She's going to fight. And protect Yuu. That is her decision.
Hearing Shamal's telepathic communication, she nods as she responds. <<Thank you, Shamal-san. We'll handle the rest.>> Any aid in this situation is greatly appreciated. Ren turns to Kyouka to reassure her once again that they'll protect her as well, but then the girl is channeling her magic and raising a barrier in quick succession. "Kyouka..." Ren says, smiling at her. "Thank you!" Yuu is now truly safe thanks to her.
...And not a moment too soon as the roof explodes and is gone. But it's not the actual roof of the Aizawa house, thank goodness. Standing there with everyone else, Ren looks up at the one responsible.
Dark Heraut.
Narrowing her eyes, she clenches the fist with the silver ornate ring that is Heraut's standby form. "Imposter?!" She shouts, voice filled with offense. Heraut pings as well. <You are the imposter!>
"Heraut, let's go!"
<Yes! Setup!>
Bronze-colored energy flares around her before coalescing into bright, glittering ribbons that wrap around her form, dissolving with a visible and audible burst that leaves her clad in her stately barrier jacket. Holding out a hand, the shining lance that is Heraut's active form flares into being, mechanical clicks and whirrs emitting forth as the device takes its final shape. Now fully transformed, Ren wastes no time kicking off from the ground, streaking through the air on a direct course for Dark Heraut, extending her lance forward to clash with the dark counterpart.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Sky Dancing on Dark Heraut. COMBAT: Dark Heraut fails to dodge Signum Yagami's Shiden Issen!, taking 48 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Signum Yagami is Psyched! COMBAT: Dark Heraut decisively counters 12 Fatigue damage from Ren Aizawa's Sky Dancing, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa is Psyched! Dark Heraut's Reverse ability activates! COMBAT: Dark Heraut's counterattack, Sterling Guard, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Ren Aizawa!
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Kyouka grunts, struggles, as she feels the magic coursing through her. She knew there was a lot of it--she learned that, first hand, in the fight with Shadow Stern. When something that was equal parts desperation and wonder forced her to believe, for just a moment, that she could harness the same power that Fate and Endo were bringing to bear to stem the tide of Shadow Stern's final assault.
A leap of faith, to believe in herself and Strike Wolf.
This time, she does not wait for any of her friends to fall to find the strength to make the next leap. She's found a place here, and she will not give it up without a fight.
Even if fighting is the one thing she can't do right now.
She is tense, muscles and mind both taxed with the exertion of channeling this power directly for the first time, without the benefit of Strike Wolf's assistance. But she does not have the luxury of flinching when the top of Ren's barrier-house is blasted off.
'Good work!' "Th-thanks!" she manages to get out in response to Fate.
She gives Passion a silent nod in response.
"W-welcome!" she says to Ren.
The magic circle spinning beneath her feet is drifting far too lazily for the amount of effort it's taking her to maintain it. She closes her eyes and pushes the thought out to all of her friends, since there's no way she'll be able to raise her voice high enough. <<E-everyone. I've got your backs. Just... kick that thing's butt.>>
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed. <SoundTracker> Sky Dancing - MGLN OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKMrmySjCc0
Dark Heraut is well-understood to be the least threatening of the three dark Devices, for the same reason that Dark Heraut is here tonight: they're incomplete.
But even on their very first appearance, all three of them were brutally effective.
Having just challenged a small army of pissed-off final examees (and their adult chaperone) to a fight in the most aggressive way possible, he is not taken off guard by the proportionality of the response. He jukes left, out of the path of Lera's golden blast, which highlights the golden hair further back inside the shadowy cowl as it goes by; then right, left, right, avoiding the OG Testarossa's advance; and finally has to stop to take Cure Passion's series of kicks right to the force field, which springs up, circular and gleaming, in the nick of time.
This creates a conveniently unmoving target for Mikoto and Signum to surround. They close in in perfect concert, forcing Dark Heraut to make a choice.
It is fair to say that he chooses wrongly.
Counter-charging Mikoto at the last second -- without turning around, which really makes it a big bad surprise, which may be the tactical basis for this coinflip -- she is met with a ring of spun-up, glittering multi-colored gems that emit a burning golden explosion that sends her tumbling away, Miroku's flat having only made the barest contact.
But Laevatein comes in fiery and furious and almost slices Dark Heraut's shaft in half. This is averted at the last possible second by the imposition of the black-cowled carrier's ARM.
By the time Signum has committed to continuance, that tiniest flicker of hesitation has bought Dark Heraut the time to ensure that, by the angles involved, it gets sliced UP, but not sliced OFF. The stench of burnt flesh fills the air. Certainly the arm of the ROBE did not survive, and the now-exposed bodysuit beneath is more blackened than black.
It is at this moment that Ren joins the fray. Her lance, set at jousting height, slides directly into her counterpart's Sterling Guard, which materializes at the last possible second.
Now the two of them are almost nose to nose.
It seems that's exactly how Dark Heraut wants it. In an instant, the scepter has become a lance.
<< F@LL, P3@S--NT: T^--****---R!!! >>
The attack is almost completely unintelligible from a particularly long burst of static, but all to familiar to Ren; she is on the wrong end of Turbulent Blazer, a series of swift, fierce strikes, scorching with superheated mana. Dark Heraut SMASH.
And there are enough lances to go around, because in that long defensive streak it seems that the dark Device wasn't ONLY conjuring force fields, retreating, and playing chicken with his carrier's arm.
<< T!M3 D3L--Y: PARTIZAN SNARE, WIDE AREA SHIFT. >>
Uh oh. Somehow the way that this attack call comes out crystal clear is extra ominous.
Spears of light -- like and unlike the twin clashing lances, a little less well-defined -- are falling like rain, six for each enemy.
And that means thirty-six.
Because Kyouka has not been forgotten...
COMBAT: Dark Heraut has used Turbulent Blazer on Ren Aizawa. COMBAT: Dark Heraut has used Partizan Snare on Kyouka Okazaki. COMBAT: Dark Heraut has used Partizan Snare on Signum Yagami. COMBAT: Dark Heraut has used Partizan Snare on Cure Passion. COMBAT: Dark Heraut has used Partizan Snare on Fate Testarossa. COMBAT: Dark Heraut has used Partizan Snare on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Dark Heraut has used Partizan Snare on Lera Camry. COMBAT: Lera Camry braces 0 Fatigue damage from Dark Heraut's Partizan Snare, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Cure Passion braces 0 Fatigue damage from Dark Heraut's Partizan Snare, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cure Passion's Block and Parry abilities activate! Trap applied to Cure Passion! COMBAT: Fate Testarossa decisively counters 0 Fatigue damage from Dark Heraut's Partizan Snare, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Fate Testarossa's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! COMBAT: Fate Testarossa's counterattack, Sonic Move, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Dark Heraut! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi fails to dodge Dark Heraut's Partizan Snare, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Trap applied to Mikoto Minagi! COMBAT: Ren Aizawa decisively counters 39 Fatigue damage from Dark Heraut's Turbulent Blazer, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Dark Heraut is Psyched! COMBAT: Ren Aizawa's counterattack, Sanctum Shield: Detonation!, partially gets through, doing 24 Fatigue damage to Dark Heraut! Critical Counterhit!
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"Mikoto..!" Lera gasps, as she tears her way towards Heraut. Then, her eyes flicker to Fate -- and she doesn't have to look long to know what Fate will do. After all, they've fought side by side for a long time, now. She knows where she will be without thinking about it.
She looks relieved as Signum charges in, too -- and it registers that they're very much not alone.
"Stay out of danger, okay?" she says, with a glance at Kyouka. She looks back up at Dark Heraut, as they meet with wih Ren. She grits her teeth -- then blitzes upward. "Ren-chan! I'm with you!"
She flies up, and a barrier of her own explodes around her. The interlocking golden hexagons repel several of the lances that strike at her -- before Lera shoots up, the barrier holding the cage of spears back -- and comes at Heraut from the side.
She heard Fate. She doesn't strike for Dark Heraut's wielder (his battery?), but for the Device itself. Soaring Sky swings down. <Heraut! You can think me later!>
Fire and plasma ignite off it, shining bright gold, and then explodes off it as the weapon crashes down for Dark Herault. <Corona Crash!>
COMBAT: Signum Yagami fails to dodge Dark Heraut's Partizan Snare, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Corona Crash on Dark Heraut. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa covers Kyouka Okazaki for Dark Heraut's attack, Partizan Snare, taking it upon herself instead! COMBAT: Fate Testarossa fails to brace Dark Heraut's Partizan Snare, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Trap applied to Fate Testarossa! COMBAT: Dark Heraut braces 16 Fatigue damage from Lera Camry's Corona Crash, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry is Psyched!
<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Passion imagines Dark Heraut won't be sparing Kyouka--that will be up to all of them. She has little faith in the mercy of their enemies, this time. Certainly not with how they treat the 'wielders' of the Devices.
But Passion is out of her element; these are not the monsters that she is best suited to facing. Accordingly... she improvises, becauwe that's not going to stop her if she can help it. That wide spread of spears slams down towards her, and Passion is trapped within a set of them, forced back to avoid being impaled. She looks around, sharply--
Then she jumps for the next, and as they move with her, she kicks off of one, and then another, and another, until she's able to bring herself bindings and all to Dark Heraut. She swings a punch for the Device itelf.
"Haaah--!"
COMBAT: Cure Passion has used Stairway to You on Dark Heraut. COMBAT: Dark Heraut decisively counters 6 Fatigue damage from Cure Passion's Stairway to You, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Dark Heraut's Reverse ability activates! COMBAT: Dark Heraut's counterattack, Effulgent Knuckle: Strike, partially gets through, doing 22 Fatigue damage to Cure Passion!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
It's a proud tradition.
Mikoto comes charging in, and Mikoto goes flying AWAY -- her "RRRAAAAGHHHH!!" turning to "AAAAWKGHHH?!" mid-holler -- as she's met with those exploding gems, and shortly she meets the house across the street. No -- the copy of the house across the street, half a dimension over, thanks to Kyouka's efforts. That's for the best, because Mikoto has made an impressively Mikoto-sized hole in the drywall: if this were Chofu proper, Ren's neighbours would have words for them.
She climbs out of their loungeroom, teeth grit.
"Kyouka..." Mikoto says, with her words and not her heart, because she doesn't have telepathic speech so close to hand. She can hear her, though, understand the effort she's putting in -- and she nods, sharp. "Right!"
But before Mikoto can charge for Dark Heraut again, the partisans come down. Some part of her mind must still remember how to be afraid -- that she was afraid; it is not that she freezes but that her movements are too poor and too easily-traced, easy enough for Dark Heraut to crash six light-lances into the ground around her.
"--" Mikoto says, doesn't say, as her lips part and expose the air pouring over her bared teeth. "... Ren!" She cries, as she orients herself back to the girl under threat. "Look out!!" If Dark Heraut is trapping them all, then -- then, she's in danger, isn't she?!
Mikoto spins and swings her blade for the partisans, but finds them stern enough, at least, to survive that assault. "Rrrghhh..." She growls, as she glares at them, before she decides: "Me... me, too!! Miroku--!!" Her blade-tip comes to the ground as she whirls a second time, and plunges her blade into the ground, a prayer which opens black portal and sends white light crackling out to double her shadow.
Mikoto, too? Whatever could she mean?
She means this:
White-light partisans may have shot from the sky to trap Mikoto, but from the ground dark portals erupt, underneath Dark Heraut. Because Miroku has the worst sense of irony, six spires of darkness shoot out from them, to lance around his Wielder. Not to pierce -- but to trap, pinning her and her Device like a butterfly to the board.
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Darkness on Dark Heraut.
<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.
Dark Heraut, despite being incomplete, is not to be trifled with, she knows this well. As it and wielder evade her assault. Certainly she knows this could go badly, but she's at least optimistic in so much as that none of them are alone.
"That's very rude." Fate says as Heraut calls Ren a peasant, and one might wonder if she'd say the same thing to the real Heraut. However, she can see the shape of a 'Wide Area Shift' as easily as she can the 'Phalanx Shift' she developed. Weighing the options, she understands implicitly that Kyouka is being attacked. And thus as it fails-
<Sonic Move.>
The spears pass through an image of Fate Testarossa, looking like it skewered her, but then it blurs, and fades. The real one appearing, just over Kyouka's head, a palm contacting her collarbone.
It's just a nudge. Just enough. Not enough to distract her concentration, but merely to push her out of the way.
Right as a sextet of spears fall. Several catch her in her cape, her barrier jacket, piercing at odd angles. None of course piercing the flesh, as that's not the intent of the flesh, but simply hampering movement.
"Listen to Lera. Get into cover if you can, keep your focus on the Barrier." She breathes, even as she tries to move, pinned down, even Bardiche's stave caught between the magical spears.
<Haken Form.> Bardiche intones, even as the axeblade shifts into a hook as lightning energy crackles out of it. A cartridge is pounded in, and even if she can't fully move, she uses the burst of magical energy to smash Bardiche through one magical spear pinning her in. <Split Haken>
The lightning blade is launched in the same motion, even as it divides into a quartet of spinning blades that it launches at Dark Heraut.
"Signum, are you alright?" She asks, because well- it's like she hears something in her tone, before she tells the others, "I'm pinned down, I'll back you up as best as I can from below."
COMBAT: Dark Heraut braces 14 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Obsidian Blade: Darkness, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Tangle applied to Dark Heraut! COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Split Haken on Dark Heraut. COMBAT: Dark Heraut perfectly counters 40 Fatigue damage from Fate Testarossa's Split Haken, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Dark Heraut's Reverse ability activates! COMBAT: Dark Heraut's counterattack, Sterling Guard, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fate Testarossa!
<Pose Tracker> Signum Yagami [None] has posed.
SMASH
That hesitation - Signum might curse it as weakness but it is, of course, a fruit of something else, a fruit of something far stronger that has grown - may have caused greater problems. The smell of scorched flesh tells her the enemy is a person.
Or at least, has a human form.
A lance flies towards Signum and she brings up Laevateinn -- the blade catches the incoming glaive's blade, a shower of yellow sparks coruscate even as she twists and deflects it aside, grunting at a brush from the blade as it passes. But this was nothing -- for the spears all came to intersect her, and they instead clash against each other.
"I am well, Fate," Signum answers the younger warrior, brow furrowed in effort. "Do what you can --" Her eyes flick with concern towards Mikoto as she swings her great blade round.
"Schlangenform!" Signum intones as she sweeps backwards -- if Dark Heraut intends to entangle things, then turnabout is fair play. In the air, the gesture is far simpler than it is upon the ground, but the whip-and-blades form of the weapon ripple upwards to try and ensnare the Device's wielder, and thus, the Device itself.
COMBAT: Signum Yagami has used Schlangbaisen Schneiden on Dark Heraut.
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Kyouka is not surprised to see Signum charging in--she gave them their warning, after all, right before Shamal offered Kyouka encouragement to take the only action she could. She is... a little surprised to see Mikoto, but had a sense that someone else had been caught up in her barrier. But she is relieved that it's another one of their friends, and not a fourth enemy.
"I-I'll try," she responds to Lera. It is distinctly not out of danger, given the lances that are about to come for her, but it's taking everything she has to manage and guide the ridiculous (to her) amounts of magic she is right now.
'Moving' is not an option for her right now. Neither is 'raising any kind of personal defense.'
But then again--as Kyouka sees that attack incoming for her, wonders if she can can possibly avoid it, when it's already taking all of her concentration, Fate appears in a flash and nudges her aside. Not a lot, but just enough to get her clear.
And instead of getting stuck inside her head worrying if she can, she's forced to just do, holding the barrier steady as those lances strike down on Fate instead. Even if it's a narrow thing.
Even if it's a narrow thing.
'Get to cover.' ... Where, exactly? Dark Heraut already blew up significant part of the house.
"Th-thanks! W-will do--" And she starts looking about for cover, all while trying to keep an eye out for Heraut and any incoming attack.
COMBAT: Dark Heraut perfectly dodges 19 Fatigue damage from Signum Yagami's Schlangbaisen Schneiden, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Dark Heraut's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
Ren grits her teeth as her attack is mostly mitigated. She spares a quick glance around her, noticing for the first time now that Mikoto has somehow found her way into the fray. She's thankful, for sure, and hopes that the sword-wielding girl's help will be enough to tilt the scales in their favor.
She next hears Lera's declaration, heartened by her best friend's words. "Ok Lera-chan!" Though her heart skips a beat in the next instant when Dark Heraut casts the aforementioned all-too-familiar pair of spells.
The first one, meant for her, prompts her to hold out a hand almost immediately, and Heraut pings accordingly in response.
<<Sanctum Shield!>>
A round buffer of energy billows forth in an attempt to tank the brunt of the strikes being delivered, sparks flying off of Dark Heraut as he carves layers off of the still-holding (for now) aegis.
Then, the second spell is cast, and Ren's eyes widen as a move she's utilized multiple times in battle is deployed against her friends. "WATCH OUT!" She shouts down to everyone. Her horror only intensifies when she also notices that Kyouka was not spared. "NO! LOOK OUT!" But Fate, the excellent young mage she is, zips on over and nudges the girl out of the way, taking the attack meant for her onto herself instead. "F-Fate!" Still, it was the best move, Ren realizes, since interrupting Kyouka's concentration would mean no more barrier.
Ren then hears Mikoto's voice calling out with concern for her current precarious position -- directly engaged with Heraut's dark reflection. She's right. Though Ren isn't going to run away. Nor is she going to let anything from Heraut be stolen.
"I'll show you who's a peasant!" She shouts, and Heraut pings again, in perfect sync with his master.
<DETONATION!>
With that verbal cry from Heraut, the shield currently protecting Ren explodes outward, enveloping Dark Heraut in a conflagration of scorching mana energy.
"Got you!" Ren shouts triumphantly, floating backwards to put a bit of distance between them. And it works out pretty well since Mikoto's jagged spikes of darkness jut upward from the ground to return the favor from before. Deciding to take the opportunity to keep pressing the attack, Ren waves a hand out in front of her, summoning a Midchildan runic circle.
<<Bane Spike!>> Keeping with the current theme, a large single lance of energy flies out from the spinning circle, heading right for Dark Heraut.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Bane Spike on Dark Heraut. COMBAT: Dark Heraut braces 16 Fatigue damage from Ren Aizawa's Bane Spike, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Dark Heraut!
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed. <SoundTracker> Shukumei no Yukusue - MGLN OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t5cHPlu5BE
It seems like, unfortunately for Dark Heraut, their big plan of 'lure everyone in close, then bind them all at once, except for their preferred target' has gone off like a wet dud. The group is resurgent, smashing through those binding spears, avoiding them entirely... shards of pale light scatter like sakura petals in the night, filling the air with a faint and fading glow as each flickers back out of existence.
Except for the air filled by six spires of darkness from below, of course. They lance through one two three four but five and six get them in an X, one before and one behind, momentarily sandwiched.
Unable to move until the spires break, Dark Heraut draws upon alternatives. When Cure Passion comes punching in, the lance shifts to a gauntlet -- one of Ren's more recent, and neater tricks, apparently known by even this imperfect version of Heraut as well. They punch each other dead on, and despite Passion's considerable upward momentum, Heraut seems to have the better of that impact. Then he opens himself -- and the fingers he's slid around, revealing the Fate clone's now-armored palm, and plants four Sterling Guards in every direction, which shatter on each impact of Fate's four Haken blades. There is a concussive, thundrous force.
But with Lera...
...with Lera, something else happens...
...she swoops in with her own flaming sword. It's hard to hit 'just Heraut' when just Heraut is a gauntlet, but she manages. The palm is still open wide -- the gold-shod fingers clamp hard, and--
---
The Umbral Knight catches the Radiant Knight's blade between his gauntleted fingers.
"Sloppy," he says. "You always were easy to upset."
They are standing on one of the too-open fields, the wastelands, of Belka. This could have been one of the many times they sparred, in training. But it isn't.
Things have been done that cannot be undone.
It is impossible to fight for honor in a world without it.
<< Blauverschiebung, >> says Fallen Stern. And, one-handed, the greatblade sweeps for the Radiant Knight's midsection, generously allowing her the choice of being swept away by its flat, or retreating more on her own terms...
---
<SoundTracker Interrupt!> Omnislash (Hurry Up!) - FF7 Voices of the Lifestream - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UroYl6a0p7Y
<< Blauverschiebung,>> says Shadow Stern by way of announcing his arrival, forcing Lera to disengage from Dark Heraut.
He may well have fought through Endo to get here: the carrier's robe is considerably tattered, and the cowl ripped off completely, revealing the dead-eyed, expressionless, older-teen Fate clone beneath. Her lips are unmoving, of course. It's her Device doing all the talking.
<< N00!*!!! >> objects Heraut, violently; the gauntlet drags its carrier higher into the air, like an uppercut backed by nothing, nothing at all. << TH!S F!G--T * M!N3. >>
<< PETULANT, >>)] Shadow Stern replies, not a little bit smugly. {<< I WOULD ENJOY WATCHING YOU FALL. ...AGAIN. >>}
A crackle of offended static requires no translation for Heraut's reply.
<< BUT ORDERS MUST BE CARRIED OUT. METEOR STRUM. >>
In his carrier's hands, Shadow Stern becomes a crossbow; and then the world is filled with arrows, arrows that become violet meteorites, meteorites with homing properties. And these seek to chase Mikoto, Cure Passion, and Signum away. He also shoots Mikoto's last few spires off Dark Heraut (not very carefully).
---
On Belka, the Radiant Knight sees the Umbral Knight fill the gap she must close with homing meteorites. But this trick is one she knows well... and knows how to avoid.
---
Dark Heraut makes a static-strangled statement of pure rage as Shadow Stern so casually clips him, but having regained mobility is not eager to lose it again so quickly. Properly prioritizing the threat that is Signum this time, he falls further back, and further up, away from the snake-sword Laevatein.
But Ren, of course, will not be ignored. Not that Dark Heraut would want to. Perhaps in a bid to regain a little composure and bragging rights, he takes a considerable risk in just bracing that Bane Spike directly, takes it right to the chest, a flickering golden force field bouncing it off without even a full invocation; a reckless use of what are ultimately finite defenses, but a dramatic one.
He does not see through the Fate clone's eyes, so there's no way for their gazes to meet. But contempt pours off of him, and the feeling, telepathically conveyed, is unmistakable: you call THAT a Bane Spike, peasant?
<< ...H@Z3 SP***... >> A familiar, fuzzily indistinct, difficult-to-follow-directly-with-the eyes spear is conjured into being from high above. Dark Heraut is a gauntlet no more, too, once again shaped like a lance.
<< ...C@SC@-- SH---!!! >>
Seems bad. Dozens of energy spears appear, and he lets all of them loose at once. There are so, so many, more than enough to not only try to impale Ren far too many times, but to impale the HOUSE. They crash into the kitchen, cutting off Kyouka's most likely path of escape -- then will crash into her, too, if no one intervenes. Fate has similar problems... and a binding to contend with.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
It seems like, unfortunately for Dark Heraut, their big plan of 'lure everyone in close, then bind them all at once, except for their preferred target' has gone off like a wet dud. The group is resurgent, smashing through those binding spears, avoiding them entirely... shards of pale light scatter like sakura petals in the night, filling the air with a faint and fading glow as each flickers back out of existence.
Except for the air filled by six spires of darkness from below, of course. They lance through one two three four but five and six get them in an X, one before and one behind, momentarily sandwiched.
Unable to move until the spires break, Dark Heraut draws upon alternatives. When Cure Passion comes punching in, the lance shifts to a gauntlet -- one of Ren's more recent, and neater tricks, apparently known by even this imperfect version of Heraut as well. They punch each other dead on, and despite Passion's considerable upward momentum, Heraut seems to have the better of that impact. Then he opens himself -- and the fingers he's slid around, revealing the Fate clone's now-armored palm, and plants four Sterling Guards in every direction, which shatter on each impact of Fate's four Haken blades. There is a concussive, thundrous force.
But with Lera...
...with Lera, something else happens...
...she swoops in with her own flaming sword. It's hard to hit 'just Heraut' when just Heraut is a gauntlet, but she manages. The palm is still open wide -- the gold-shod fingers clamp hard, and--
---
The Umbral Knight catches the Radiant Knight's blade between his gauntleted fingers.
"Sloppy," he says. "You always were easy to upset."
They are standing on one of the too-open fields, the wastelands, of Belka. This could have been one of the many times they sparred, in training. But it isn't.
Things have been done that cannot be undone.
It is impossible to fight for honor in a world without it.
<< Blauverschiebung, >> says Fallen Stern. And, one-handed, the greatblade sweeps for the Radiant Knight's midsection, generously allowing her the choice of being swept away by its flat, or retreating more on her own terms...
---
<SoundTracker Interrupt!> Omnislash (Hurry Up!) - FF7 Voices of the Lifestream - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UroYl6a0p7Y
<< Blauverschiebung,>> says Shadow Stern by way of announcing his arrival, forcing Lera to disengage from Dark Heraut.
He may well have fought through Endo to get here: the carrier's robe is considerably tattered, and the cowl ripped off completely, revealing the dead-eyed, expressionless, older-teen Fate clone beneath. Her lips are unmoving, of course. It's her Device doing all the talking.
<< N00!*!!! >> objects Heraut, violently; the gauntlet drags its carrier higher into the air, like an uppercut backed by nothing, nothing at all. << TH!S F!G--T * M!N3. >>
<< PETULANT, >> Shadow Stern replies, not a little bit smugly. << I WOULD ENJOY WATCHING YOU FALL. ...AGAIN. >>
A crackle of offended static requires no translation for Heraut's reply.
<< BUT ORDERS MUST BE CARRIED OUT. METEOR STRUM. >>
In his carrier's hands, Shadow Stern becomes a crossbow; and then the world is filled with arrows, arrows that become violet meteorites, meteorites with homing properties. And these seek to chase Mikoto, Cure Passion, and Signum away. He also shoots Mikoto's last few spires off Dark Heraut (not very carefully).
---
On Belka, the Radiant Knight sees the Umbral Knight fill the gap she must close with homing meteorites. But this trick is one she knows well... and knows how to avoid.
---
Dark Heraut makes a static-strangled statement of pure rage as Shadow Stern so casually clips him, but having regained mobility is not eager to lose it again so quickly. Properly prioritizing the threat that is Signum this time, he falls further back, and further up, away from the snake-sword Laevatein.
But Ren, of course, will not be ignored. Not that Dark Heraut would want to. Perhaps in a bid to regain a little composure and bragging rights, he takes a considerable risk in just bracing that Bane Spike directly, takes it right to the chest, a flickering golden force field bouncing it off without even a full invocation; a reckless use of what are ultimately finite defenses, but a dramatic one.
He does not see through the Fate clone's eyes, so there's no way for their gazes to meet. But contempt pours off of him, and the feeling, telepathically conveyed, is unmistakable: you call THAT a Bane Spike, peasant?
<< ...H@Z3 SP***... >> A familiar, fuzzily indistinct, difficult-to-follow-directly-with-the eyes spear is conjured into being from high above. Dark Heraut is a gauntlet no more, too, once again shaped like a lance.
<< ...C@SC@-- SH---!!! >>
Seems bad. Dozens of energy spears appear, and he lets all of them loose at once. There are so, so many, more than enough to not only try to impale Ren far too many times, but to impale the HOUSE. They crash into the kitchen, cutting off Kyouka's most likely path of escape -- then will crash into her, too, if no one intervenes. Fate has similar problems... and a binding to contend with.
COMBAT: Shadow Stern has used Blauverschiebung on Lera Camry. COMBAT: Shadow Stern has used Meteor Strum on Cure Passion. COMBAT: Shadow Stern has used Meteor Strum on Signum Yagami. COMBAT: Shadow Stern has used Meteor Strum on Mikoto Minagi. COMBAT: Shadow Stern has used Meteor Strum on Dark Heraut. COMBAT: Dark Heraut braces 16 Fatigue damage from Shadow Stern's Meteor Strum, taking 13 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Dark Heraut has used Haze Spear: Cascade Shift on Ren Aizawa. COMBAT: Dark Heraut has used Haze Spear: Cascade Shift on Fate Testarossa. COMBAT: Dark Heraut has used Haze Spear: Cascade Shift on Kyouka Okazaki. COMBAT: Fate Testarossa braces 17 Fatigue damage from Dark Heraut's Haze Spear: Cascade Shift, taking 25 Fatigue damage! Fate Testarossa's Block and Parry abilities activate! COMBAT: Lera Camry perfectly counters 36 Fatigue damage from Shadow Stern's Blauverschiebung, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Lera Camry's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! COMBAT: Lera Camry's counterattack, Mantle Heart, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Shadow Stern! COMBAT: Cure Passion counters 22 Fatigue damage from Shadow Stern's Meteor Strum, taking 22 Fatigue damage! COMBAT: Cure Passion's counterattack, Crimson Counter, partially gets through, doing 17 Fatigue damage to Shadow Stern! COMBAT: Signum Yagami fails to brace Shadow Stern's Meteor Strum, taking 40 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi counters 9 Fatigue damage from Shadow Stern's Meteor Strum, taking 27 Fatigue damage! Mikoto Minagi's Reverse and Tactician abilities activate! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi's counterattack, Obsidian Blade: Dynamo, partially gets through, doing 11 Fatigue damage to Shadow Stern! COMBAT: Ren Aizawa neatly dodges 56 Fatigue damage from Dark Heraut's Haze Spear: Cascade Shift, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Ren Aizawa's Flash ability activates! COMBAT: Ren Aizawa covers Kyouka Okazaki for Dark Heraut's attack, Haze Spear: Cascade Shift, taking it upon herself instead! COMBAT: Ren Aizawa braces 37 Fatigue damage from Dark Heraut's Haze Spear: Cascade Shift, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Ren Aizawa's Block and Parry abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Lera watches Setsuna's charge up the spears -- like stairs -- and she cracks a smile. She keeps an eye out, even though she's got every confidence in Cure Passion. But if she needs someone to sweep in, Lera will be there.
"I'm glad you came!" she calls up to Signum, even as she also looks to Mikoto with concern.
LONG AGO
The Radiant Knight sees that blade coming for her midsection. She is distracted -- conflicted -- and her blade slams
And then her blade swings in -- and like so many years ago, with two knights, it's caught by Shadow Stern. Lera sucks a breath in as the dead-eyed face of Fate Testarossa looks back at her. "Oh, no--"
His blade swings out, and the Radiant Knight throws out a barrier with one hand. It's a barrier stronger than she would normally ever manage; something that registers as strange in the back of her mind.
His blade slams into it.
"I think not," she says, and then lunges forward.
Of course, in reality, it was Broken Ground -- missing on Belka, given his much more recent and much more Midchildan origin -- that made the barrier. Lera swings Soaring Sky down, and the blade ignites with golden-white light across it, straight for the Umbral Knight's weapon.
Something mirrored, long ago -- or maybe only in her memories -- by the Radiant Knight. And whatever is happening, Lera isn't noticing; her eyes are locked on Shadow Stern's.
COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Radiant Saber on Shadow Stern.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mikoto's own spires are at least able to help Ren -- and the others, at that, as she manages to pin Dark Heraut down for a time. See? She asks, inside herself. When we work together..!
Miroku is not the sort of pers-- creat-- sword given to teamwork, but perhaps it could appreciate the violence wrought, even if it's all so tragically... targeted.
Finally the light pinning Mikoto glimmers away, as well -- but before she can spring on Dark Heraut again --
"Shadow Stern!" She barks out, bristling, as his spell interrupts the battlefield. Her brow knits, as her too-gold eyes cast over the girl wielding him. She's already been in a fight...
(Can she handle another?)
A parenthetical thought which Mikoto has no time to pursue. Those crossbow bolt-arrows rain down, meteoritic, and they mean to chase her away. But Mikoto is a capricious soul, and she leaps into that meteor rain, with a great cleave upwards of her blade to clear a path for her. (Not a clean path -- several meteorites course to either side of her, searing and singing at her coat as they come close -- but a path, nonetheless.) She's been watching Cure Passion and Fate, in this fight, too -- so she's sure to bring Miroku down on Shadow Stern, not the girl behind him.
She uses the flat of her blade regardless, though. Knowing these dark Devices' tendencies to sacrifice the humans behind them for their own safety, she's able to put at least that much thought into her screaming assault.
Yes, of course, there is the screaming. It sounds like this: "GRAAAAHHHHHHHH--!!"
It may be impolite, to interrupt the past this way, but Mikoto isn't about to let Shadow Stern hurt Lera -- and she doesn't realise she's cutting in.
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has used Obsidian Blade: Devastation on Shadow Stern. COMBAT: Shadow Stern counters 13 Fatigue damage from Lera Camry's Radiant Saber, taking 39 Fatigue damage! Shadow Stern's Reverse ability activates! COMBAT: Shadow Stern's counterattack, Meteor Absturz, partially gets through, doing 16 Fatigue damage to Lera Camry! COMBAT: Shadow Stern perfectly dodges 37 Fatigue damage from Mikoto Minagi's Obsidian Blade: Devastation, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge!
<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.
"I will!" She replies to Signum, before offering, "I'm alright!" To Ren. She cannot see what Lera sees as the sword makes contact with a hand.
Instead, she sees Shadow Stern's arrival, her head jerking in alarm as she sees the Fate clone, cowl ripped off. The objection, the banter. Her breath seethes between her teeth. How like the real Heraut and real Stern, only twisted and wrong, they cared for their wielders despite it all.
All she sees is a lack of care. To so many girls with her face. To Alicia.
"Stop this." Fate breathes, quietly, gauntlet scraping as her grip increases on Bardiche. She is a quarreled bird, pinned down and unable to fly. Her wings are strong, but it matters little if she cannot use them.
The energy spears form, and again she sees the shift. As the concentric rings of Fate's spell form. <Defenser-> "-Plus." The two intone, as it forms shimmering and gold, the spears making contact with them. More and more rain down.
It's a subtle thing, when the first crack forms on contact. A chain reaction, and then at the last moment it breaks through as Fate lets out a gasp, as more spears contact her barrier jacket, gouging and puncturing. Taking a deep breath as it rattles out of her chest, Fate weighs her options.
It's a difficult position to be in. Sense tells her that this jacket is best for Magical Dueling, and pinned down as she is... it might be wisest to simply continue the fight at range. However again and again, she's found herself overwhelmed by these. Over time it feels inevitable that playing defensive this is certain to happen.
And so...
<Blaze Impulse - Zanber Form>
There's a sudden dramatic shift, with a strike of lightning, as her cape shifts from black to a stark white, framing her, even as Bardiche splits open, a greatblade of lightning mana forming out of it, an inner white corona and outer crackling edge of yellow. And then with a shift, she cries out, "HAAAA-!" Twisting, she shatters the spears, even as she rises, the last one trying to keep her pinned to Earth, and tearing out of her barrier jacket as she goes.
<Sprite Zanber>
And as she twists, lightning striking, her Greatsword rises to meet Dark Heraut, the tip swinging to collide with one shattering impact meant to break magic wherever it is met.
"RELEASE! HER!"
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa transforms into Barrier Jacket Blaze! COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Sprite Zanber on Dark Heraut.
<Pose Tracker> Signum Yagami [None] has posed.
"Heh," Signum answers Lera, briefly, warmly; she smiles, even as she brings back her blade.
Signum's efforts to return the favor have come to naught, but even those who do not strike may hold a leg. Something else, though -- Signum's head turns as a moment at the arrival of Shadow Stern.
Perhaps for the sake of the Aizawa house, however well guarded, Signum turns herself to brace against the bombardment. Two arrows are struck against but a third strikes her square with a screaming detonation and a sudden cry of pain, Signum thrown to the far side of the house --
Struggling through it, back into the air. Shaking her head, Signum grimaces then --
She is moving more slowly than she would hope. Shadow Stern is no triviality. But Signum has taken stern blows in her time (so to speak) and she has answers, now: crossbow is met with the reshaping of Laevateinn into a bow form, and as Signum's foot brushes against the remaining peak of the roof, she leaps into the air, twisting as she maneuvers and draws back a hidden string.
What she says is a newer sort of statement: "Youganyaji-rushi!" The arrow screams forwards, and partway to the shape of Shadow Stern it bursts into a tight cone of screaming subsidiary blasts, a tight carpeting of explosive force aimed to stun the enemy!
COMBAT: Signum Yagami has used Youganyajirushi on Shadow Stern. COMBAT: Shadow Stern braces 11 Fatigue damage from Signum Yagami's Youganyajirushi, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Shadow Stern's Block and Parry abilities activate! Blind applied to Shadow Stern! COMBAT: Dark Heraut dodges 19 Fatigue damage from Fate Testarossa's Sprite Zanber, taking 29 Fatigue damage! Dark Heraut's Fade and Flash abilities activate!
<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
The odds are looking to be in their favor at the moment...
...So of course that means Shadow Stern has to show up at that exact moment to provide his comrade with some much needing reinforcement. "Endo...!" Ren finds herself calling out in alarm, knowing he had been engaged in battle with his device's dark copy. <<Are you alright?! Endo?!>> She telepathically reaches out to him, though doesn't wait for an answer given the current shift in their situation. 'Please be alright...!'
With that last thought, Ren goes to charge at Dark Heraut, but stops short when Shadow Stern begins raining meteorites down upon the battlefield. And then, another familiar spell is cast by Dark Heraut. She doesn't even have time to shout warnings to everyone before the dozens upon dozens of red hot energy spears erupt outwards. But she does have enough time to send a mental command to Heraut, who responds by materializing three pairs of stylized wing constructs along the sides of both boots. They then flap once, and Ren flits to and fro in what is an impressive display of aerial avoidance. She still gets knicked by a couple of stray spears, tearing her barrier jacket and causing her to wince, though the damage is much less than it would have been otherwise.
Heraut chooses to ping right as she's pulling off a tightly-controlled Immelman turn. <Kyouka!> He warns, and Ren freezes momentarily as she realizes that once again the barrier-holding mage is in danger again. "I'm on it!" She shouts, and blasts off in her direction, a steak of bronze trailing in her wake. She gives it all she has to get there in time -- and she does, immediately imposing herself in front of Kyouka and throwing up a hand, springing up a shield at the very last moment.
<PROTECTION!>
The spears impact with the energy shield, getting knocked aside to destroy the surroundings of the Barrier!House. It's not quite enough to stop herself from taking a few hits, but Kyouka is safe, and that's all that matters.
"K-Kyouka...!" She pants when the onslaught ends, letting the shield drop as she feels her knees grow heavy. She's not going down just yet, however, turning to give the girl a fatigued smile. "You're doing great. We won't let them hurt you." She reassures, then turns to look up at Dark Heraut again, witnessing the impassioned attack delivered by the now free Fate. It never ceases to amaze her how powerful the young mage is.
"Right then. Let's help her, Heraut." Ren takes off again, using the distraction from the lightning mage to get close and deliver a series of hits. She, like the others before, focuses on the device -- not the person being used by it.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Quick Jabs! on Dark Heraut.
<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Passion feels the shockwave of her punch meeting Dark Heraut's, and she grits her teeth as she takes the worse end of that one, forced back. There is much they can 'try' right now, but the only thing they can't do is nothing--not if they want to stop this foe.
"Fate!" Passion calls, but she is faster than she looks, and Passion sees that she is not impaled after all. Mikoto is with them, too, and Passion tries to look out for her--soon, she'll link up with her, and maybe they can prove a more melee match for the situation.
And the situation is abrubtly worse. Meteorites that home on Passion rush in, and Cure Passion swings back, detonating one with a whirling kick as it crashes towards her, knocking the remnants of the meteorite back at its sender. There is little she can do to avoid taking a blow, but she can at least share the damage.
"Orders... Orders aren't good enough!"
"Orders aren't enough for the things you're doing! For the pain you're putting them through!"
'Them', of course, being those with whom Fate is concerned. Passion, for her part, trusts LEra implicitly--if she needs the help, se knows she'll get it. But for now, she has to do her part.
So she rushes. "I'm with you!" Passion calls to Ren, and suddenly, in a flash of red light--
She is. Crossing the distance in ruined house in less than an instant, Cure Passion is one place and then another, not quite teleporting but scything through the distance too fast to be seen, hoping to hit center mass on that lance.
COMBAT: Cure Passion has used Passion Flash on Dark Heraut. COMBAT: Dark Heraut counters 6 Fatigue damage from Ren Aizawa's Quick Jabs!, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Ren Aizawa is Psyched! Dark Heraut's Reverse ability activates! COMBAT: Dark Heraut's counterattack, Gemlight Fusillade: Interception, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Ren Aizawa! COMBAT: Dark Heraut fails to dodge Cure Passion's Passion Flash, taking 57 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
The battle is raging in the sky, but yet she's not left out of it, as bound to the earth as she is by gravity. (Don't wonder exactly how gravity works half a dimension over, Kyouka. It's not the barrier and and science isn't really your specialty.) But somehow, while being targeted is Very Bad, seeing Dark Heraut take that attack so casually, putting his carrier's life at much more risk than necessary rankles her more.
If only there was anything she could do about it.
But there are other things to worry about as Shadow Stern arrives, looking the worse for the wear.
"Dammit, Endo... If only..." If only what. She could get to him? Then what. It's hard enough maintaining this one spell as it is. Dividing their forces, or isolating herself from cover (she was suppsoed to be doing this so they could fight unimpeded, but yet her friends now have to spend all their time worrying bout her regardless. But this is surely better than the alternative, right?)
Endo's and Fallen Stern are sturdy. They'll just have to hope that they're okay, for now.
But she was told to find cover and she's turning towards the kitchen, only to find--
A very sudden and very distressing lack of cover.
"Crap!" She turns, but that momentary delay in her escape is enough for the rest of the attack to find her--but Ren is suddenly there, deflecting most of the blows, and Kyouka takes cover under her shield. One arm (uselessly, she realizes an instant too late) is covering her face, but the other is outstretched, maintaining that bright violet spell circle that, for her, represents her maintained spell. "R-ren! Th-thanks!" For both the save and the reaffirmation of their protection.
And while all of that is going on she's dimly aware of Fate breaking free of the spears that trapped her from her previous save.
Okay, kitchen's out. Kyouka heads for the front door, taking her spell with her as she searches for cover.<<Shamal! I think Endo's down and the enemy keeps coming after me. My barrier's holding but... Any advice?>>
COMBAT: Dark Heraut has saved her current combat state for later! COMBAT: Shadow Stern has saved her current combat state for later! COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has saved her current combat state for later! COMBAT: Cure Passion has saved her current combat state for later! COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has saved her current combat state for later! COMBAT: Lera Camry has saved her current combat state for later! COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has saved her current combat state for later! COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi has saved her current combat state for later!
TO BE CONCLUDED...
