In spite of the pain wracking her body from that damn sniper, Alicia was able to give a vicious grin as she succeeded in dropping that wind user. Not that she was down, but considering the state that she was in, any success was better than none. She could be glad that she was at least able to contribute as more than just an additional target, even if it slowed her process of recovery and return to adequate fighting capacity.
At the same time their situation rapidly improved. Aside from the blocks of ice on the deck the ship was now free and able to proceed forward once again, inexorably approaching their destination. Somebody got smacked into the water, but it was doubtful that she was actually dead. They would have to be wary for her return.
She lowered her bow, panting as the magically inflicted pain surged due to her own expenditure. At least she had Penny to watch her back, something she was okay with while Suwako was busy dealing with Caroline. She just hoped that her friend was okay, and that Mariette hadn't decided to go for a backstab or something in the heat of battle. She wouldn't have put it past their 'ally'.
"Don't worry," she replied firmly at Penny's suggestion that she use the cyborg as a physical shield. "I've had worse. You focus on miss nuclear over there." She was a bit pressed to think of times, but she was sure that it had happened. She didn't even have a majorly broken bone right now. She would take the offer though, focusing on her recovery while she let the others fight it out. Hopefully she'd be more prepared for when they actually fought Justine than she was now
Penny was grinning as she watched the battle swing in their favor with the airborne cat getting hit, to one of the opposition getting launched in to the lake below and the ice breaking away from their vessel. The grin turned blood thirsty as she heard her gauss round strike home. Even if Umeko wasn’t dead, which penny doubted, she was going to be out of the fight for a while.
Seeing as things were going in their way for the moment the cyborg had no qualms about focusing on the more obvious threat “Will do and offer stands as long as you need, just keep an eye on the windbag while I’m at it” she replied to Alicia moving towards the large blocks of ice that were lying about on the deck. She might not haver her cannon at the moment, but that didn’t mean she was useless against the airborne enemy.
Taking a moment to guarantee her footing, Penny gripped the first block of ice she came across before making use of her monstrous strength to whip the block of ice around pivoting on her heels as she did, a few rotations later Penny launched the oversized ice cube at Curie at high speed.
Shortly after letting go an electric whine began emanating from Penny, signaling that her next shot was ready and waiting.
There wasn't much Amber could do to influence the battle at this point. With such a mighty hurricane in place, her projectiles would all veer off course, and she had no reason to hope her water magic could aid her shots. But she had more pressing concerns anyway. The goal wasn't to win the fight, it was to stop the ritual. Her body fluttered like a flag as she struggled to climb into the castle.
“Must...” She reached for a brick. “Get...” And another. “My...” And another. “Booty...” And another. “Inside!” Once Amber reached the door, her troubles weren't over. The hurricane was ripping the wind right out of the castle, and the pirate didn't dare try to close the window. Could the window even be closed?
So who knew Miss supernova could absorb magic? Sue just let out a “Huh?” in response. It wasn't that she wasn't scared. She was fighting along side giants. Even the weakest magical girl was surely stronger than a familiar. But combating that fear was outrage. All Sue had to do was think about what these people had put her captain through, what they put Deni through, to gain her courage. They were just hussies, all of them.
The beam wasn't doing much against Curie. However, she doubted the feline had the same ability to absorb magic. Or at least, that's what she suspected. To her, it made very little sense to have an elite team of magical girls that all shared the same abilities. So without much thought, the familiar attempted to split the lion monster in two. She could only hope Kimble wasn't as nimble in her new form.
Helga closed her eyes and shook her head with her arms at her hips; she bent her wrists so her claws faced away from her. "Alex, I know you want to save your girlfriend and all, I really do. But you gotta learn some teamwork. Just saying, kiddo." It didn't take long before Makoto was back to full health, her wounds healed by the holy power of Sol Invictus. "Now come on, we got to save Sleeping Beauty from Maleficent." After she waited for a response, she grumbled before she led the way to the dungeons.. "Damn kids don't know about classics..."
The dungeon was unlike anything Alex or Makoto could have predicted. In fact, aside from iron bars that split the great hall into square-shaped cells along the wall, it looked more like a costume party than a dungeon; each cell was lavishly furnished with furniture and interior design fitting for a period drama, with a table set with tea and cake, and the girls that sat in their seats all dressed in frilly dresses and wore fancy hats, like life-sized porcelain dolls. But they could tell the girls looked dazed and sickly, with bite marks on their necks and pale skin as if they were suffering from mild anemia. Alex didn't see Lily among them. "So Justine wasn't lying about collecting dolls for Caroline..." Helga mused. "They must be brainwashed by her magic. No use trying to talk to them. Let's just bust down the doors. We gotta keep moving."
After the cells were opened, the trio entered a long, windowless corridor that seemed to have no end as they soon realized. "What the...We should have reached the stairs by now!" Helga growled. She looked back, and saw that the way they came was also stretched beyond what eyes could see.. "There is an infinite space going forward and back. There's nowhere for you to run." Sonia suddenly appeared, as she always did, and stood about 50 meters down the corridor from them. "You are too late; Lily has already been delivered to Lady Justine." she said, and with a flick of her wrist three knives extended from between her delicate fingers. She stood poised and non-chalant like a distinguished servant, not a single muscle moving on her face.
"She has given me an order to stop you at all costs. And I shall not fail her."
With those dramatic words, she threw her knives, and more seemed multiply out of them as they were launched; nine knives were now flying through the air, three aimed at each one of the three infiltrators.
Kimble's great hurricane had now reached the Earth Bastion, and the ship began to turn and lift from the force, out of the water. It seemed she planned to throw the ship away using her power, and kill everyone on it from the impact. But then, Sue came in for the rescue, and shot the last magical shell on the ship, aiming it right into the eye of the storm. The beam passed through the tornado, and knocked Kimble back, causing her to roar in pain before she fell over, unmoving; it was difficult to tell what happened to her. Regardless, her magic ended, and the weather calmed down, dropping Earth Bastion back into the water...Or at least, that's what the crew thought.
"Activating Ice Golem. Refraining from bad ice puns."
With a great clang that caused the ship to shake from the vibrations alone, causing the girls on board to tumble, Doris had emerged back to the surface, looking pristine as ever. She was encased completely in a giant statue of ice formed from the surrounding lake water, which had dropped in surface level. It resembled a Buddhist monk in design from the waist up, the rest of it a pillar of ice that reached into the bottom of the lake. She could be seen piloting the mech-like construct from the stomach, where a crystal-shaped inner chamber was located. The ice golem carried the ship above it with massive arms, and then tipped it upside down, sending the girls on board to fall down; they had a couple of seconds left before they hit the icy water.
While the others were distracted, Amber took her chance, and sneaked into the castle. She entered what looked like a crossways section of the tower, splitting into three paths; up and down the spiral staircase, and across the room to an archway with a "Treasury" sign above it. She could see that there were candles mounted along the staircase, but even stranger was the series of broken mirrors under each one, illuminated by the candlelight. She could see a dim red light coming from an archway at the very top of the tower, and hear a young-sounding, sinister voice of a girl:
"Yes, just a little more...Father..."
Amber knew there was little time before the blood moon fully formed in the sky; she had to decide between pursuing her booty, or confronting the mistress of the castle alone.
By this point, Curie's radioactive fireball had grown into an awe-inspiring sight, resembling a spirit ball from Dragon Ball Z. Her laughter carried easily in the wind, and Mariette recognized it as the same laughter back when she visited the Overcity on her own. And as she recalled, she created an explosion strong enough to wipe out a monster the size of a mountain with one blow. "Hahaha! Time to get a suntan like you've never seen before!" She screamed, and tossed the sun bomb right as Penny threw the ice block, melting it in a flash; however, it also shrunk the fireball to some extent. It seemed as if nothing could stop the magical bomb from annihilating the brave Earth Bastion crew. However, at the last moment, it was redirected by Mariette; she used the last of her strength to create a portal big enough for the nuclear projectile to pass through before she fell into the sand from exhaustion, saving everyone in the process. The other side of the portal opened up right at Doris and her Ice Golem; the magical girl did her best to dodge with the lumbering giant, but was hit in the arm; the magic forces cancelled each other, and the fireball dissipated, melting the arm away alongside a chunk of the golem's flank, exposing a small part of the crystal inside. Unable to carry Earth Bastion, Doris was forced to drop it into the lake, creating huge waves that washed over both Eli and Shannon.
Silhouette had managed to come out relatively unscathed after three battles, yet they were all still fairly close calls. Perhaps getting too into her disguise had led her to become disabled in the first, Caroline's offputting strategy doing the same in the second fight, and her own self-restraint just barely winning out over the undesired bloodlust in the third. It was unfortunate to say that getting excited over Caroline's defeat would be a mistake because they still had a war to wage, which was made especially evident by the sudden appearance of an ally of Caroline's. Things happened rather quickly and Sil could do very little at the time, so the main point was that they had lost Caroline to... something. Perhaps this was for the best, though. Silhouette wasn't especially fond of an abomination claiming a foe as strong as Caroline for its own.
"Geez, buddy, that is rough." Shade's expression showed concern for the dirtied dark mahou shoujo, who'd just had to bribe her own patron so that it wouldn't devour her. Her situation was not one Sil envied in the least.
Mariette seemed to be as pleased as a dwarf with a yoyo -- that is to say, not pleased at all. "Wake up Suwako and go help," she barked an order a Shade. The DMG wasn't ecstatic to receive an order from someone who wasn't her employer, but Shade still smiled bright and nodded enthusiastically.
"Alrighty~!"
Only she didn't really know who "Suwako" was. Thankfully, she was able to deduce that it was probably the small child she just floored with a single punch. It was not the first time she'd been in this situation, but it was the first time she'd been in it unwillingly -- err, been in a situation where she harmed a smaller child. She not have a habit of punching them. Anyways, feeling just the slightest amount of embarrassment, Shade kneeled down next to her poor victim and gave her a few shakes. Sadly, she lacked any smelling salts or the time to allow the girl to wake up naturally.
"Hey, hey, are you done resting? We've got things to do, places to see, bad guys to bop!" Sil had to admit she was more experienced at causing unconsciousness, not rousing one from it. Hopefully, she wasn't shaking her too hard. "We've got to..." before she could finish that sentence, her eyes had drifted off towards the distance. In it, she spotted the happenings surrounding the ship she was on a bit earlier.
What the hell is going on here?
She wasn't able to discern whether or not the huge golem had succeeded in murdering the remaining crew of the ship, but she did know that she was thankful she wasn't required to deal with it. At least, not right now. "...umm, hey we should really get going, Suwako?"
She really hoped she didn't accidentally kill the poor thing. She only killed for necessity or profit, after all.
Leaning against the railing, Alicia focused on recovering as she watched the ongoing battle. Her breathing deepened as she forced her muscles to relax, to recover the energy that she had burned if only to some small degree while Penny did what she could to keep the ship, and all of then, in one piece. It gnawed at her though, being only able to watch and having to trust that things would work out. She knew Penny would do her best but given how important this was, being forced to stand aside and not do anything was that much worse for her.
It was times like these that she really wished mana potions like from fantasy stories were a real thing. One would have been real useful about now.
Her musing was interrupted as the ice lady returned, picking up where cat girl had left off when she had been shot in the face by the Bastion's cannon. Even holding on to the railing Alicia found her legs knocked out from under her, the hold the only reason she didn't go tumbling. Which gave her the opportunity to see the ice golem as it emerged, bodily lifting the ship up out of the water on its own. "Okay, why doesn't anyone on our side have neat tricks like that," she grumbled to herself while quickly racking her brain to come up with some sort of solution. Maybe she could blind Doris with her light and buy therm a few-
The ship flipped over, and though she managed to hold on to the railing for a few seconds, her strength rapidly failed from all the fighting previously, leaving her tumbling through the air. She'd have grumbled more if she had the time, so instead she settled for crying out as she fell. Dimly aware of the sudden appearance of the fireball that sent the boat falling after her, Alicia did her best to right herself before hitting the water in something resembling a dive.
Hitting the water was a shock to her system, setting her shivering at how cold it was. Because of the height she plunged deep, and it was only thanks to her enhanced uniform that she hadn't been hurt more by the impact with the water or been dragged deeper down by her clothes. Pulling herself to a stop, she quickly oriented to where the castle was before hauling herself through the water in that direct, limbs burning in stark contrast to the freezing water as she desperately hauled herself away from where the boat was going to land. She couldn't keep this up long and would have to go up for air even sooner, but right now she needed to focus on getting distance. She might not be a sailor but she knew that upside down vessels didn't tend to stay on the surface, especially falling ones.
Then she'd just have to pray that nobody noticed her swimming along. She was a sitting duck here and was well aware of that fact. Could things get any worse?
If only she had did, she probably could have dodged out of the way in time.
As someone who specialized more in evasion than outright defense in combat, she could not really take a hit well.
And so with just a single punch, she was knocked out, down for the count. Her bow disappeared once she did, as long as the plants she had created.
Thankfully, there weren't any permanent damage caused by the punch, so when Shade shook her small body to wake her up, she did wake up, though with quite the major headache accompanying it.
"Uurgh, that hurts..." she groggily said as she sat up, her right hand holding her head and her left rubbing the spot where she had been punched. She looked up at Shade and said, "That really hurts you know..." It was the only complain she gave however as afterwards, she slowly rose up back to a standing position.
The massive clang of metal impacting the Ice Golem tore Penny’s attention away from watching to see if her impromptu projectile hit her target. As her gaze lifted to the top of the giant icy construct Penny could help but let out a sigh of disappointment. “Man, I still feel jipped that I can’t do anything like that.” She groaned quietly.
Her complaining was quickly discarded as she felt the Earth Bastion being lifted as she scrambled to grab hold of the railing so as not to tumble off the side in to the lake below. Not that the fall would be to terribly painful, which from this height it would hurt, but more for the fact that falling in to the lake would Take Penny out of the fight for at least some time as due to her body she would inevitably sink to the bottom and have to find a way back up.
Her mind was racing away trying to come up with a plan on how to deal with this new complication when the ship was flipped over. By virtue of her inhuman strength and constitution Penny was able to hold on to her spot at the railing. Said spot gave her the perfect view to witness Alicia fall in to the lake far below.
The cyborgs eyes turned nearly full red as she watched the splash below, with only small points of harsh yellow replacing where her pupils would normally be. A voice, recognizably not Penny’s, chimed from somewhere inside her metallic chassis “Yellow alert: D̷͞҉͏̡è̛͘҉̕s҉̶̛̛҉t́̀͘͢͜r̡ứ̧ć̸t̶̡̨͟į̛ơ̶͜͡͝n͏̡̛ ̴̵̛͞E͏̨ņ͏ģ́̕͠҉i̡͞͏̸͠n̴̢͠͝e͏̧̀ ̶̵̨̛ has reached 50%. Caution advised.”
Her attention snapped back to the Golem, as her additional spider limbs snapped out from their concealed state. Using her new limbs and her substantial strength Penny was able to climb up to the underside of the ship just in time to see Curie’s attack get redirected in to the frozen monolith. Locking her gaze on Doris, Penny snarled quietly before she began a flat out charge, trying to close the distance and exploit the compromised defenses around Doris, and hopefully tear her appart, before it was too late. Her blades snapped to life around her hands as she sprinted, and she held her mouth slightly open with her next gauss round so she could fire at a moment's notice.
"Fuck your knives!" Alexander yelled as he made a barrier in front of them that completely blocked off the way forward, and by extension Sonia's attack. "'an infinite space forwards and backwards' huh? You must think you're so clever. Well I'm too angry to outsmart!" He put up a quick barrier behind them as well, and then began adding layers to both barriers "You two!" he addressed the girls with him "punch a hole in the roof. It's time to renovate this ugly castle!" Thanks to his mask, no one could seed the crazed grin on his face
With earth bastion flipped upside down, and falling, Sue didn't have much time to get out of there. She was able to unbuckle her harness and fall onto the roof hatch, which was now under her. She spun the hatch open as quickly as she could. When it popped open, the falling ship forced air into the small chamber. Sue's body was picked up and thrown towards a small viewing part. With a yelp, Sue transformed back into a bird and was forced out of the earth bastion. Sue didn't even need to spread her wings. The falling tank was moving so much air that it forced the familiar out of the way. Once sue was completely clear of the ship, she spread her wings in an attempt to regain control. But she was so dizzy that she ended up gliding along the surface of the ice.
“Owww....”
Sue blinked until the world came back into focus. She could see everything. The castle, her scattered allies, their beaten but undefeated foes. Without the earth bastion's cannon, Sue had no way to participate in the fight anymore. She could only hope this was enough. That her effort would ensure the rest could finish the fight. It sounded dramatic, and even a little hopeless. But that wasn't entirely true...
Sue looked away from the fight. Amber's pirate hat rested on the surface of the ice. That's right. Amber was inside the castle. She was going to beat Justine, save Lilly, and restore Penrose to its former glory. Amber liked to pretend that she was a tough pirate, but Sue knew she wasn't like “real” pirates. She was heroic, noble, and sweet. But she needed help.
Sue picked up the hat in her talons and flew towards the castle. It was time for them to start functioning as a unit again.
While the fight had raged on, Anaya had grabbed the injured Scout and hid inside the ship. "Can you walk?" The spirit mage asked the witch, setting her down onto the floor. "The cat chick got me good..." Scout groaned in pain. "But maybe if I do this," two tentacles grew out of her back, lifting her up into the air a little - enough to where her injured leg wasn't touching the ground - like stilts. "I can still fight."
"No need." Anaya told the witch. "The others seem to have things under control."
"I hope so. But I still wanna help save Lily." Scout crossed her arms in thought. Anaya wanted to ask her why, but felt that it was a bit rude to do so. "Look, maybe you can-" the mage was interupted when the two felt the ship move.
"What the hell was that?!" Scout exclaimed, grabbing her rifle. Both of them ran back outside to see that a golem made of ice was holding the ship in the air. "What the fuck?!?" The witch shouted, before the ship was turned upside down. Another tentacle grew out and grabbed Anaya, with the other two stabbing the frozen water to break Scout's fall, and keep them both suspended into the air.
Scout looked back at the ship and scowled. "So much for a battleship." She sighed and looked back at the mage. "Come on, let just get to the castle." Anaya nodded in reply, as the witch made her aproach to land.
"But can you put me down once we're there?"
"Can't you float? You are a ghost..."
"I can communicate and fight with the dead, but I'm not actually dead."
Mariette had simply intended to grab that projectile and send it somewhere else. However… it was far, far more powerful than she had initially estimated. Hearing that laughter and suddenly recalling what had happened back then, Mariette’s visible eye widened as she realized what kind of power she was dealing with. … Which only made it that much more important that this attack did not hit her current allies. Geesh, and she was already strained. She noted the predicament which the girls on the Bastion was facing, and could but hope they would be able to handle themselves. Right now, it was imperative this sun bomb did not hit.
The Reflective Witch called upon her powers as Curie sent her ball of massive power forth. Through the hand-mirror still in her hand, she charged her magic, widening a great portal before the sun bomb, redirecting it at Doris. There was enormous strain as the portal took damage from the mere proximity to this massive energy, and Mariette fought to maintain it. She called on the Mana Font which Asengav had given her, letting the river of magical power flow within and power her portal-
-And then the Mana Font promptly dried out.
Mariette jolted like a physical blow had been struck against her, deep within. It was what it felt like. All the dependency on the Mana Font to draw power suddenly struck back against her, and the spell instead struck power directly from Mariette’s force of life, as how the Blood Magic of Asengav’s champions worked. Regardless, she had to maintain the portal for a bit longer, even as it sucked on her internals… and there it was through, and the portal whiffed out, and Mariette gasped. She was… completely empty.
‘… Well, this is terrible,’ she commented before almost collapsing, but Eli showed up at her side and caught her. Then, the splash of Bastion’s descent into water flowed past them in large waves, but Eli held onto them both and ensured they’d hold off the flow. Left alone, it was Mariette gasping in Eli’s grip.
She had either completely drained her Mana Font, or Asengav had closed it. Given what had happened very recently, both were possible.
‘… Okay, now I’m out of tricks,’ Mariette complained, holding onto Eli.
‘They’re going to need you to get back, mistress,’ Eli informed her, looking a bit worried.
‘… Ghk, guess that means I need to stay alive,’ Mariette frowned, looking over the scene. ‘We’re not getting over the lake.’
‘No, we aren’t, mistress,’ Eli confirmed.
‘… We’re waiting, I suppose.’ They were certainly not heading down into the dungeon when she was drained, and neither were they heading into the lake-battle. ‘Pick up the mirror, it’s our only escape-route, now.’
‘Yes, mistress,’ Eli confirmed, letting Mariette slowly steady herself on her own legs while the harpy went over and picked up Asengav’s mirror. The girl was very calm and collected, almost like she felt everything would be fine, far less troubled than Mariette felt. The mistress briefly eyed her enlightened servant, noting that it appeared she had overcome whatever was ailing her. … A bonus from the previous altercation, she supposed. Good, because Mariette was going to need Eli at her best if something bad happened now.
Mariette looked over the rather terrible battle-scene, unable to affect it due to being out of mana. It wasn’t in Mariette’s nature to trust others, but right now she was drained. Because of Blood Magic, she had a last reservoir in the shape of her own life force, but because of her frail form she had very little of that. She was going to save that for the escape, but that escape was meaningless if Sonia was after her, as even with Eli in this state it was meaningless against someone who wielded their bane with such efficiency.
‘… Well, then,’ Mariette sighed, sitting down to rest for now and looked out over the ongoing battle. ‘Guess my life is in your hands, now, girls and boy. Have fun with that.’
@Card Captor "Wow, it's almost like I told you that was the most likely scenario, that your girlfriend wouldn't be with the regular prisoners." Makoto practically spat at Alex. She may have gotten a boost from it, but she still didn't like that he had smacked her with spikes like that.
Let's see... The best way to handle this would probably be... Yeah. Makoto turned back to the others. "You two go on ahead. Or at least stay out of the way." she said, shooting Alex a glare as she did, before activating her Lure to get Sonia's full attention. A quick blow to the wall to her right left a large hole for the others to hide in, if it didn't connect to another area altogether. She stepped forward and gave another attack to the roof, giving Alex what he asked for before she faced toward Sonia and gave a simply "come on" motion with her fingers.
It was understandable that the poor young girl would be confused, and that she desired to be filled in on the situation. Sil preferred to be informed on what was happening at all times, so she could relate. Unfortunately, it was rather difficult to describe what had happened in that short amount of time, at least in the standard way. Thankfully, Sil was not Sil right now so she could make do.
"Umm...!" she cutely put a finger to her lips. "Since you decided to sleep on the job, nothing serious!" the mahou idol assured. "We beat the crazy girl, Caroline, just barely. And then Mariette wanted to send her to her friend in the creepy dark portal, but then somebody else came and then she kinda disappeared! At least, in relation to us. I think there's bigger, weirder stuff going on elsewhere though." she intentionally hinted towards the boat.
Sorry, short post since I technically owe Bork a post instead of here but sorry bb
Sonia's knives impacted against Alex' barrier, and dropped to the floor after the magical wall was destroyed. She flicked her arm to her side, and new knives appeared between her tightened knuckles. Helga nodded, and wrapped an arm around Alex' waist. "Roger! Try not to get killed, Big Mac!" She shouted, and leaped up through the hole on the ceiling, carrying Alex with her. Sonia scoffed as she glanced at the two before they disappeared, and her eyes then moved down to squint at Makoto.
"Vandals are to be punished with death. Iron Maiden!"
She threw a knife with a red gem at the hilt of it. The gem glowed once Sonias finished her incantation, and suddenly knives replicated at an alarming rate from the original knife. They formed a complete sphere around Makoto, their bladed ends pointed right at her as they stayed still in the air for just a millisecond before they launched, leaving her no room to dodge.
Alex and Helga found themselves in the foyer of the castle, fitted with candles and broken mirrors, with a great chandelier at the ceiling. They didn't have much time to marvel at the interior decorating, however, as they saw shambling shapes emerging from shadows; it was a horde of girls wearing maid outfits, and their arms were stretched outwards, their glazes glazed like zombies as they shuffled slowly towards them. "Dammit, I forgot Justine employed normal humans as servants. They're also controlled by her." She punched one out of her way. "This way, through that door; it's a bit into the castle, but I know the way to the central staircase. Try to keep them off our flanks!" She then shouted, and threw off several that jumped on her as they waded through the swarm of ensorcelled servants.
Penny made a mighty leap just as Doris' ice golem dropped Earth Bastion, her strong legs kicking her off like a rocket towards the colossus and aiming at the weak point at her flank. Doris responded by bringing a fist down at the magical robot girl in a great slam. Penny was ready, and shot her gauss discharge, fracturing the icy arm right at the shoulder, causing it to fall as well. But then, just as she was about to hit the crystal, she was parried by a red sword. Penny managed to drop down to land with an earth-shaking thump, and saw that it was Curie who intervened.
"I don't know how you managed to survive my ultimate attack, but I swear on my honor; you won't last a minute against my Atom Slicer technique!"
Her one eye showing past her bangs of air seethed with fury, and she also landed on the island, her stance wide as she pointed the sword at her. Then, she drew in a breath, her eyes closed, and let it all out in a great scream.
"Hi-YAAAAAHH!
A shockwave of power blew out of her, sending rocks flying around her. Like a Super Saiyan, she and her weapon developed a red aura that glowed around them. Her hair also turned spiky, and seemed to be less affected by gravity as it slightly lifted, waving behind her. Fully powered up, she charged right at Penny, and delivered a slash on her torso. Penny, the most durable magical girl out of them all, realized that not only did the attack cut through her metallic body like a hot knife through butter, but it also left the wounds tainted with painful radiation, preventing her from regenerating them.
Alicia, Scout and Anaya managed to swim or swing their way out from under Earth Bastion as it hit the water, carrying the former easily to shore with a big wave. They saw how Curie and Penny fought each other, but had little time to help their ally as Doris turned towards them.
"Removing all limiters. Transforming into Super Mode."
The golem remolded, shrinking down to about the size of Earth Bastion. However, instead of a fat monk, it took the shape of a muscular Shaolin monk with legs, and jumped to the shore. Then, it drew in air, and blew a breath of cold right at the three girls; Scout and Anaya fared better, and only slightly slowed down from the freezing effect of the magical spell. However, Alicia was less fortunate, having been drenched from the cold water; magical ice formed around her body, freezing her in place. She was protected from hypothermia thanks to her Enhanced Outfit shielding her body from temperature changes, but she was unable to move her limbs.
Amber had no desire to pursue treasure at this time. She wasn't stupid, Justine's plan was bad news. All the loot in the world wouldn't make a lick of difference in her “new world.” There was nothing stopping Amber from collecting the booty once the threat had been taken care of anyway. Besides, it was too convenient. If Justine had a huge horde of treasure, she would probably be smart enough to keep it someplace far away from any entry or exit from the castle. That was more than likely a trap to put off would-be burglars. Without making a sound, Amber allowed water to run out of the end of her cannon. She ascended the stairs, careful to duck below the mirror's reflection. As she approached each candle, the pool of water she was walking in would come up like an octopus’s tentacle and extinguish the lights. Amber doubted they had any magical power, but staying out of the light was how she typically did things.
Amber avoided having her scattered reflection shown in the mirrors, and doused the candles, leaving only faint moonlight coming from the windows to illuminate her ascent. She soon got to the archway, and what she saw took her breath away; the hall she peeked in looked like a cathedral, or a ritual chamber, with stone pillars running down both sides of a red carpet that lead up to a stone altar. A familiar girl was laying on it, dressed in a white gown of pristine condition; Lily. She looked like she was peacefully sleeping, though the pirate girl knew it couldn’t be of natural causes.
Behind the altar, the hall stretched out to accommodate a massive glass window, which fully showcased the nearly complete blood moon, casting the entire room in a reddish tinge. And there, sitting on a throne in front of the window and looking straight at her, was a girl dressed in luxurious gothic attire. But even without her appearance giving it away, Amber could tell who she was:
"Why hello there, Amber Bianchi," Justine spoke, with words both courteous yet seething with contempt. Amber didn’t respond. She just approached her, the water building behind her with each passing second. But Justine was unphased. "I did wonder why the candles in my tower were snuffed out. I assumed pirates were more rambunctious thieves." She giggled, though it sounded more menacing than friendly. "What does bring an outdated outlaw to my humble abode? Surely there are better targets to pillage from, hm?" She asked, and lifted up a golden goblet filled with red, viscous liquid. But she would get no response. Expected. She continued. "Or are you so foolish as to try and rescue Lily? What would you even have to gain? Or...Was it the Mint who sent you?" Justine smiled at those words, and sipped on her goblet. "Indeed, it was I who had your ship sabotaged. I have...Spies with the Ebon bankers myself. Talented schemers, the lot of them...But awfully prone to getting entangled in their own webs. Perfect spiders for a bat to snack on, hm hm~" She crossed her slender leg, and leaned on her arm, looking amused. Then, her smile turned into a frown. "Janet, be a dear and eliminate this meddling mariner. I have far more important business to matter to than dealing with mere peasants."
”Yes my Lady.” A voice echoed through the room. It’s origin seemed to come from all around. Stepping into view from behind a column, Janet’s red eyes glowed with anticipation. Since becoming one of Justine’s followers she had really only been able to do one thing. She had waited to be called upon to do another service for her master. ”I was told about you. I didn’t anticipate getting the chance to kill you so soon.” Of course she placed herself between Amber and both Justine and Lily. Her disguise melting away the girl’s monstrous water form took shape.
During the entire exchange, Amber had remained silent. The water gently sloshing behind her was the only response Amber gave her new foe. As tense as the atmosphere was, Amber couldn't help but grin. Even the appearance of Janet's new form didn't shake the pirate. ”Do you really want to know, Justine?” Amber had her cannon pointed at the floor. She didn't look especially hostile. ”I think you must have a pretty interesting reason to go forward with such a ritual. You were even willing to sacrifice your sister for it.” The pirate extended her hand. ”Wanna share?”
Amber’s words never reached Justine as the sound in the room dropped off. There was an unnatural silence where not a sound was heard. Janet raised a finger to her lips as if so shush the other girl. Justine smiled in return, and gave her servant a thumbs up; an ancient sign Roman emperors used to signify that the winning gladiator in the arena executes their opponent.
The pirate sighed. ”Oh well, was worth a shot.”
Amber fired a cannon ball directly at Janet and let the recoil carry her backwards. The water pooled behind Amber shut around her like a clam. The water around Amber started to build up speed. Amber would need to grow her water barrier a bit before she became a real threat, but for now, she had much more mobility. The pirate floated inside her barrier, which was rolling straight for Janet.
Were Janet still simply a magical girl then Amber’s particular set of skills would have easily outmatched her. However, thanks to the boost in magic granted by Father she could better hold her own. Bending back the cannon ball made contact but her fluid body deformed before bouncing back into place. Not that it didn’t hurt but she was well suited to reduce most high impact damage.
With the ball of water barreling toward her the monster girl opted to test their strength. Rather than avoiding the attack she reached out with a hand to touch it. Both were manipulators of water. Focusing her control Janet tried to disrupt the flow of water and collapse the barrier.
Amber was ready to split Janet apart with her high speed water barrier, but it became apparent very quickly that Janet's magical affinity was not only water, but that she was magically stronger than Amber was. The pirate noticed right away that her barrier was slowing down, and despite how hard she focused on the barrier, she couldn't stop it from splitting apart and landing on the ground in a puddle.
”Um...”
Amber was dumbfound. But her shock didn't last for long. The pirate used the puddle to slide backwards with the momentum of her next shot. The projectile was a a rope net with large ball bearings to make sure it opened coming out of the barrel.
Diving forward the water that made up her opponent's body stretched out and split. Weaving between the netting she reformed on the other side. Drawing back one of her limbs, Janet struck out at Amber. Though it didn’t show the monster girl did still have her weapon. Integrating perfectly with her form the water rushing forward became a solid razor edge aiming to run the pirate through.
”There she blows!” Good thing Amber was trying to gain some distance. If she hadn't tried to slide backwards, she'd be in range of Janet's vile blades. But the distance gave the pirate girl enough time to to put her cannon between herself and the attack. Janet was much stronger than she looked though, and the blow threw Amber backwards even faster. Almost too fast. The pirate grunted while she attempted to regain control of her feet. ”Stronger magically and physically huh?” Despite this terrifying realization, the pirate was still grinning. ”But if everything passes through you, how will you stop me from doing this?” The pirate fired her cannon again, this time the projectile was a spear with a rope attached to it. But Amber didn't fire at Janet. She seemed to be firing at the altar that Lily was laying on top of.
It didn’t take but a moment for Janet to realize the new target. Despite not being in the direct path to intercept there was still the rope. The additional limbs granted by her transformation kicked into action. Though she was made of water, Janet didn’t seems to have issues solidifying herself. Wrapping two tentacles around the rope they bent and kinked the line to slow or stop it’s movement. To prevent potentially getting dragged back though she raised one arm and slashed through the rope.
”You have a lot of tricks” Whirling around in place the harpoon that had been fired came whipping around back at Amber. Letting it go as it would fly at the Ebon girl she wanted to use it as a distraction. Flexing her own ability to manipulate water a jet of what had been thrown around the room launched Janet at Amber once again. Distance was not her friend, though she did have more options than when she was simply a magical girl.
”Scurvy rat!!” Amber cursed to herself. The pirate would have loved to flap her jaw some more at Janet, but she needed to put her feet into action again. Or at least the water under her feet. She swiftly slid to the side, and the spear smashed into the floor hard enough to punch through it. The pirate gave a quick huff out of relief, but Janet was still flying towards her opponent. Sliding backwards would not be enough this time. Amber brought her cannon to bear. ”No kissing!” she blurted out before firing a round of grapeshot point blank.
Already in motion there wasn’t much changing direction when Amber took aim. Janet made the briefest expression of disgust before getting a face full of pellets. The impacts caused her body to blast apart and water splashed everywhere. Wriggling and writhing for a moment the water seemed to try and come together before settling into several puddles on the floor.
”Hah! In your face!” Amber wiped some of the slime off of her face and took a few steps forward. ”Alright Justine, Hand over Lily and nobody else has to get hurt.”
Justine had done nothing but observe the fight that unfolded, and raised the back of her hand to her mouth for a giggle.
”Bold till the very end...But it is futile.”
As Amber walked across the pooled water it began to stir. Rising up around the girl, watery tentacles wrapped around Amber’s legs. Drawing back together Janet’s form came together and snaked its way around to restrict her movement. ”It’s not that easy pirate girl.” Due to the health saping that came with her conversion Janet had to sit quietly with her hunger. But she now had prey in her grasp. Her fingers becoming sharp she slashed across Ambers arm to draw blood. Grasping the wound it bleed directly into her hand and mingled with her liquid form.
The pirate barely had time to yelp before the monster girl had her in her clutches. Amber wasn't especially durable, only slightly more so than a baseline human. She certainly didn't have the type of vitality that would allow her to withstand a blow from a monster like janet. And with nearly all of her limbs ensnared, Amber wasn't able to wrestle free from her opponent. The pirate's foe was stronger than her, faster than her, and more magical than she was. Amber failing wasn't an outcome that should have surprised anyone. With her limbs held firmly in place, there was little Amber could do but wait to become Janet's lunch. Even so, she wasn't without hope. The pirate had an ace up her sleeve. She always did. One last card to turn the tables.
”Ahhh, I see your game plan!” The pirate chuckled, despite the grievous wound to her arm. ”You know I'm Ebon Mint. So of course I'm going to have a black coin on me. If you can get me to use it, you'll have that much more leverage over everyone. But you made an error.” Amber grinned. ”The difference between a pirate and a bandit is that a pirate's heart is fueled by adventure. A bandit is all about the booty, but a pirate cares equally about the risks, the thrill, and the effort they put into getting their hauls. Using the black coin would cheapen that, which is why I don't carry it with me.” Her hand shot up to point at Justine.
”A blood sucker like you, someone whose diet consists of nothing but insects smaller than herself, will never understand how a pirate's heart ticks. ”
Justine’s smiling lips revealed a fang at the corner of her mouth as it turned into a scowl. ”What game are you playing?”
Amber rammed her cannon at the ground. ”You might one day have the world Justine, but you'll never possess the heart of Shining Scale!”
Amber fired her cannon. With nowhere for the cannon ball to go, the ground erupted into stone shrapnel. Justine braced her face with an arm as the air was filled with smoke, and both combatants disappeared from view. But as the smoke settled, Amber could be seen shuffling closer to the altar where Lily laid. Only Amber was no longer a small pirate girl, but a mature looking woman. She looked like she just left her retail job a few minutes ago. Though she was tired. Her classes were cracked, and her platinum blond hair was filled with dust. Her uniform was totally disheveled; torn and soaked with blood. Despite the excruciating pain she had to be feeling, she was smiling at her new body.
”M-my body, I have my body again! Haha!” She hugged herself, but she was shaking. ”Now I can pick up guys at the tiki bar and run with them on the beach!” The woman didn't take another step. She immediately collapsed to the ground in a heap. Shining Scale's quest was over.
Thrown about by yet another blast it took a moment for Janet to piece back together. The move was one of the last things she expected. But perhaps there simply was no other option. This nonsense was wearing on her. Good for her that Justine had invested a significant amount of magic into her conversion. Not going to take chances that the woman that just collapsed was playing opossum she approached. Justine said nothing, her expression indiscernible. ”I must admit, I wondered if you were up to the task, my dear Janet, but you have proved yourself in the end. You may feed from her blood. Then, guard the entrance. I cannot waste any more time.”
Janet’s arm turned into a blade; she intended to drain the body dry to try and quench her blood lust. Getting into a fight just kicked that into high gear. It was similar to when she attacked the Beacon HQ. Some victims that hadn't died right away learned the hard way. There were still others outside trying to interrupt her Lady and she had to remove this factor.
“H-huh?” Sue had just come up the stairs. She was in human form, and was tightly holding onto Amber's hat. The familiar had seen a picture of Amber's original body once, and she was able to identify the businesswoman laying on the ground. “No...” Janet's blade was still wedged in Amber's body, and Sue could see the vampire sitting behind the altar. That must have been Justine. Yes, the Justine that was responsible for Deni's death. The one that had Lily kidnapped, and now the murderer of her closest friend. It was difficult to take in, or even accept that it was real. Sue wanted to believe that she was mistaken and Amber was just hiding somewhere out of sight. But as a familiar, she could feel her special link with her magical girl. And the woman laying on the ground was undoubtedly her. Sue's breathing changed, and her eyes became wet. She wanted to scream, she wanted to drag Amber and Lily out of there. There was even a part of her gentle spirit that wanted to see Justine slain by her own hands. But she was weak. Too weak to save Deni, too weak to save Amber, and too weak to retrieve Lily.
But it didn't have to be that way.
“I-I...” Just need to become stronger. Just a little stronger. She refused to become a monster. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to dip into some dark power to protect what she cherished. With a trembling hand, Sue lifted the black coin out of her vestments. It was so black that it was impossible to discern its shape. It was like looking directly into a shadow, even when held out to the light. When she tightened her fingers around the coin, she could feel a spike of pain. Yet she kept her hand closed around it. Her blood vessels were turning black, an onyx flame consumed her, and she screamed as a pool of black tar oozed all around her feet. But just as quickly as it all started, it came to an end.
Sue was no longer before the monster girls. Instead there was a blond woman in steampunk attire. Two massive black wings sprouted out of her back, causing the woman to groan in pain. ”Ahhh!” She hugged herself, but the pain had stopped at that point. ”Uhh...” Her eyes were still wet, but there would be plenty of time to dry them later. ”Alright.” Sue lowered her arms to her sides. ”I'm not going to forgive you for this, Justine.”
The tears had already dried on her cheeks, glistening like stars. ”But you, you can still live if you stay out of my way.” Sue didn't wait for a reply,. She immediately started to march towards the altar.
Justine turned her head, and her eyes widened at the sight of Sue. She grimaced, and stood up from her seat.
”Another intruder! You know what to do, Janet.”
No rest for the wicked it seemed. No sooner had she dispatched one enemy did another appear. Turning as she removed her arm, the red of the blood began to dissipate and Janet returned to her blue color. The intruder presented a black coin before using it herself. Was it the one Amber had mentioned? It didn’t really matter as the woman transformed before her eyes. So this was the power that the Ebon Mint offered to their followers. Whatever the threat Janet had a singular task, and that was to protect Justine no matter the cost.
Ignoring the opportunity to stay out of the fight the monster girl rushed to intercept the dark magical girl. Though the blood she consumed didn’t sate her hunger it did help bolster her from some of the drain the battle had inflicted thus far.
”You are not allowed to interrupt my Lady.” To draw attention she let loose a jet of water to bar Sue proceeding.
The stream of water was moving pretty fast, but it swerved to avoid Janet’s target. At first, she wasn’t sure what had caused her shot to miss. But Janet could feel the air moving in the room. It wasn’t just her water, dust and stone was being kicked up into a cyclone. Before long, Sue's body was completely surrounded by a small scale hurricane.
”I gave you one chance, you fuckin' hussy!” Sue spread her legs apart and placed her fists on her hips. Not unlike a karate master. ”Now I'll bury the lot of you together!” Sue's fists flew forth like bolts of lightning, punching towards Janet. While punching the air in itself wasn't harmful, her strikes were causing distortions in the air. The projectiles themselves were invisible, but the air currents carried dust and debris in their wake. It was at this point that Helga and Alex managed to make their way to the bottom of the staircase; they could make out the sounds of fighting at the top.
Justine’s four black bat wings flapped gracefully as she quickly ascended to avoid Sue’s air magic. She knew from first glance that she had to hurry with her plans. ”Take her out of the room, Janet. Keep the sacrifice safe, at all costs,” she ordered, and flew outside to the balcony through an open door. She spread her arms, and basked in the red light of the blood moon, an ornate dagger wrapped around her red nails.
"I really hope she's there this time. I don't want to be running around this place for too long" Alexander made a clone, and gave it a large umbrella shaped barrier. Pointing it forward, it used it to shove the brainwashed maids out of the way. He also left behind a few barrier walls to stop them from following them. Once they got to the staircase, he heard signs of fighting. "...Please let this be what I think it is..." Reinforcing his legs to his absolute limit, he grabbed Helga by the arm and bolted up the stairs. Faster then he thought possible, he followed the sounds all the way to the archway, and there he saw something that made his heart feel like it was trying to leap out of his chest; Lily's unconscious body.
Once the shock wore off, he saw four more people; two he didn't know, some grown woman on the ground with a really bad looking wound and the girl who took Lily. With that information, his next action was clear "Okay stomach shanker" He addressed Helga, who's arm he was still holding on to "It's time to use your shanking powers for good" Alexander focused as much magic into the arm holding her as he could, and with a might heave, tossed Helga at Janet "SHANK THAT BITCH!" With Helga about to turbo shank the kidnapping bitch, Alexander made five clones and sent them after Lily, with forcefields on them. While he went over to the downed women and began to heal her "Hey, wake up!"
@Ariamis Unfortunately for Sonia, a millisecond is all Makoto needed as an experienced Time mage. She was already speeding herself up with her magic, and thanks to her Awareness it didn't take much to let her respond. She let herself spend the little extra magic needed to take things slowly and at to her what was a normal pace, but to the rest of the world was nigh-instantaneous, she carefully plucked the original knife out of the air and with it in hand turned all of the other knives to face Sonia.
"Let's see what your power is all about..." Her words were lost to the minute slice of time they existed in as Makoto realigned with the normal flow of time and created a gravity well just behind Sonia's head, strong enough to pull in the floating knives.
She'd decide from there what the best course of action was.
Penny was angry and was well on her way to becoming truly enraged. She had been so close to staking the overgrown ice cube and possibly breaking the ice witch within when she was diverted by Curie. Then shortly after landing she was wounded by the red headed stripper as well. The pain was aggravating, the fact she had been denied her attack was irritating and the fact that she had yet to be of any major help in this assault was infuriating.
It was with that mindset that Penny started her retaliation, snarling as she did, she wanted little more than to turn the swordswoman in front of her to a smear on the ground. She relied on her inhuman strength and incredible speed to try and over whelm her opponent with a flurry of punches, kicks and spider limb strikes. Many were tipped by her energy blades while just as many were thrown without, leaving her attacks dangerously unpredictable.
That being said her assault was not blind aggression. She would only block or parry her opponent’s great sword with her energy blades, and would use her spider limbs spiked tips to retaliate as she did, or use them to perform dodges impossible with a normal human physique. Her great reflexes and intimate knowledge of combat being used to limit the amount of harm she took.
So absorbed in her drive to dismantle her opponent she didn’t notice the rest of her allies being washed ashore, nor did she realize that Doris was not content to just watch from a far. It wasn’t till she felt the remnant of the icy breath of the now mobile golem that Penny disengaged from her enemy and even then it was done to ensure she wouldn’t suddenly be fighting both of them at once.
Then she saw Alicia frozen in ice.
All color vanished from Penny in a heartbeat, leaving her with only a few shades of gray, as her blades turned a harsh, bloody red. When she turned back to curie one could see that Penny’s face had lost nearly all of its detail, resembling a blank mask that was only passably feminine with two glowing pools of baleful red light where her eyes once were. Her body seemed to disconnect from itself as her limbs became floating segments of metal connected by only arcs of red electricity.
The same cheery voice from earlier echoed out from somewhere within her.“Humanity.exe has encountered a critical error and has shut down.” It was to be the last sound Penny would make for some time.
Without any more delay Penny once again began trying to eradicate Curie, only the assault was now not only stronger and faster, but had the inhuman timing and precision of a machine backing it up.
In the lake, the Earth Bastion would groan as metal would call to metal. Penny had spent long hours working on refitting the ship, every scrap of metal she worked with held the echo of her touch, and the Engine was calling it back for use. Uncaring that it would scuttle the ship, as destruction was its goal.
Somewhere within the crackling of electricity and the scraping of steel there would be an electric whine, signaling that the Gauss system was active once again.
"Oh shit-!!" Scout yelled, startled when the ice golem had appeared infront of her and Anaya. The golem blew cold air at the two, yet somehow they were only slowed down, Alicia getting frozen due to being drenched in water. "Tree Root Airlines is currently having some technical dificulties, please stay calm and summon your army already, Spooky!!" She yelled at the mage, trying to continue walking against the wind, while shooting at the Golem with her focused assault.
"Oh, right!" Anaya nodded, and with a snap, the posessed dolls appeared in the air with their master, weapons in hands. "Dollies, can you be a dear and move this iceberg out of the way?" She asked her soldiers, before they charged at the golem, with the intent to distract and move it away from the front gate.
During the assault, Theresa flew down from the roof of the castle and perched on Scout's hat. "Where have you been? Or really, where do you keep disappearing off to?" The witch asked her familiar. I flew ahead while everyone was distracted, hoping I can spy on some of the enemies. All I saw was Amber and Sue entering the castle. Theresa explained. "What?! Don't tell me they're fighting Justine by themselves!"
"Maybe. Alex's group should be assisting them in the fight, but they might get distracted by one of her lackeys." the owl added. "We need to get to them and help, quickly!"
Things were beginning to get difficult. The dark magical girl launched an attack while protecting herself with her wind. While it couldn't be seen Janet could sense the vibrations through the air. She could dodge it, but more interlopers were just entering. Instead of being quiet the magical boy seemed hasty and irrational. Helga, a former ally, had somehow been converted. What's more she was now being used as a projectile. Fighting three or more on a level field was not going to end well.
Ducking down Janet's magical power swelled. "You will not touch her. Ever Mist!" Calling on a spell she hadn't used the room filled with a magical mist. Vision obscured Janet whipped around and snatched Helga mid flight and pulled her in the path of Sue's attack. Letting to of her target the monster girl vanished into the haze. The wind whirling around had little effect in improving vision. Largely free to move Janet moved to block Alex. Though he was protected by a barrier he wasn't out of her reach. From off to the side, mimicking Lily's voice she weakly spoke. "Alex...help me." Manipulating the sound in the area she moved them subtly around to throw off other's senses. Where you would normally hear footsteps reverberating off a far off wall it now sounded closer. The rush of wind sounded elsewhere as everything seemed to move.
From outside the mist flowed out of windows and cracks forming a cloud over the top of the castle. She was clearly there, her magical presence gave that away. Incognito kicking in the disarray and encompassing presence hid her from most means of detection. Of course within the mist Janet could sense everyone and hear their movements. A haunting song began to echo throughout the chamber and hall. Wordlessly it called out for those that hear it to despair.
