The two team takedown was more than enough to handle the princess, sending her flying again only to be caught by Kanbaru's controlled ice, snatching her out of the air. She is still dazed and confused when those frozen hands clutch around her throat, causing her to choke and groan from the pressure induced pain.

"This isn't a court...of law!" The princess sputtered out, body temperature dropping from the freezing encasement. "You don't have any proof I'm the one who did anything! Just because I'm new here doesn't make me the thief that stole from Victorie! You have to listen to me!" Riku's tone had changed from friendly to indignant. She knew that reason was not working anymore, and she'd have to either make a case for why she should be released or hatch some impromptu escape plan, lest she be held by these crude thugs and subjected to torture. She could not bring herself to imagine again being in Kanbaru's clutches, and was familiar with her preferred torture methods. Her fear was soon to be realized, Kanbaru and Ami had already set their sights on her and try as she might to budge from her quickly created ice prison, her muscles were locked in the chilly encasement.

As dread filled her heart, another actor has come to join the play. Her icy bindings are riddled and torn apart by what appeared to be hail. The frozen water is torn up, loosened and made fragile. Enough for Riku to use the strength she had to break her right arm free of those glacial restraints. She'd soon spark a light of fire with her free hand, muttering a word under her breath to melt the frost on her legs. Using the opportunity this stranger gifted her, she pulled away and got as much distance from Kanbaru and Ami as her little legs could manage. Her scythe extending out, long and sharp and ready for battle as the princess took a combat stance. She felt a great rush of freedom and adrenaline, she had gotten a second chance! Time to not waste it!

"Now I'm actually ready to fight, if you want to push me again like that!" Riku declared, her sights set on the cold fighter.

Rose's thoughts refocused as two new combatants entered the fray, though calling one of them a combatant might have been a slight overstatement considering all she was doing was blinding and annoying the monstrous snake repeatedly. The deflected orb of what could now be identified as condensed gravity slammed right back into it's origin and sent the serpent flying backwards like a limp noodle, with Thomas rushing in to deliver the finishing blow. It had almost seemed anticlimactic in a way Rose thought, or at least it would have been if that were the climax of this battle. A blast of shadow erupts forth from the snake's corpse as it divides and conquers amongst the four Serei users, a horde of snakes wrapping around Rose without warning and threatening to crush her within her heavy armor as they tighten and begin biting at her without mercy. With a roar of pain she flexes her muscles to try and force them away, but there's just too many, not enough room to move, not enough-

And then Rose explodes.

Explodes into a swarm of various insects that is, dissolving into legion and turning the tide on the snakes as the multitude of carnivorous bugs eats away at the snakes which were just a moment ago in control. Her mind is in every single one, it feels weird to look at herself a hundred times over but it's even weirder to be so damn hungry! Why were bugs so fucking hungry!? Why was she so hungry!? Lost in a rush of primal instinct she bites and consumes the insects in a writhing mass of bloody hunger, only stopping once the snakes are reduced to naught but bleached bone.

---

Back to the adventures of Ami and Kanbaru beating on a poor innocent girl, the beating continues! The bard predictably keeps her pristine hands clean of the filth of combat, in the back of her mind Ami can't help but sneer at the prissy girl who watches the fight as though it were entertainment for her to enjoy. Reminds her of a Light Magical Girl in a similar way that Red Riding Hood does, both of them think of themselves as above the violence. Maybe she'd find an excuse to beat on the bard later too, wipe that superiority off her face and remind her just who's who around here. Maybe if she wasn't distracted by these kinds of thoughts she would have noticed the obvious sniper in the rafters, maybe she would have been fast enough to deflect that bullet and stop the fight from restarting. Ah well, Ami wouldn't complain if Red Riding Hood wanted a round 2 with her new partner.

"Ugh, I know right? They could at least try and prove my expectations wrong, fucking lame as hell." She complains, yet that vicious grin falters not for even a moment. Her eyes dart towards Red Riding Hood as she pulls out some unholy combination of sniper rifle and scythe, before snorting and shaking her head as she aims at Kanbaru. "Come on Red, I thought you had learned by now!" Flames spring to life at the soles of her boots as she aims her body right at Riku. "It's fine though, I'll teach you this lesson as many times as I need to!" Or want to. She shoots forwards like a rocket, mach 1 is reached within a fraction of a second as she cocks her fist back and throws a straight punch right at Riku's jaw, no finesse or thinking involved.

"Woah! This party is getting crazier than I thought," Clair declared as all hell broke loose once Thomas and Caprice—or so she thought—joined the fray. She had to admit that the chaotic melee was growing a little dangerous. However, the life of a thief was a life of danger. Clair was more than prepared to face whatever odds were thrown against her.

The only thing evident in Clair's move's—and so she thought Rose's too—was that she didn't intend to truly harm the snake. It was merely a dumb animal, after all, Clair was sure they could subjugate it without resorting to lethal blows. Her concentration was broken when Thomas delivered what looked like a fatal wound to the snake. "What!?" Clair had a guilty look on her face for a moment. But, before she could say anything, the four of them got literally entangled in an explosion of purples and blacks, bound by snake-like coils of dark matter that looked like they were cut from the very fabric of space-time itself.

"Eww!" Was all Clair said when she saw what happened to Rose after being bound. Even if their fearless Captain got a pretty nice look thanks to her card, the idea of becoming a living mass of bugs creeped Clair to no end. Once again, she would have no time to focus on those thoughts, though. "Argh! What do you think you are doing? Ahhh!" she let out once the snake sunk its fangs on her throat. Clair could feel her flesh and blood burning from whatever poison the creature was injecting on her but no matter what she did, she was way too weak to wrestle herself away from its grip.

"Get away from me, ahhh! I'm not gonna turn into snake food," She said as she tried to grab a hold of her weapon and possibly use a magic trick or two to free herself.


"Well now, this is getting spicy. Allow me to—" Victoire's comments on the comedy unfolding before her eyes were cut short by none other than Kanbaru trying to get a little too howdy, prompting Victoire to temporarily turn into a swarm of shadow bats to avoid the strike. "I should have expected someone like you to be a ruffian. The smell of your blood doesn't lie, after all," the Vampire said as she took back her physical shape, only to find that she had a wet throne to sit on now.

"Do as you wish, but I can't guarantee that your friends won't drag you in. In fact, it would be quite enjoyable to see that," Victoire had a dark grim on her face as she answered Akiko's question. "Well, it seems like the issue is going to come to an end soon, what a terrible shame," she added in a disappointed voice once Kabaru and Amy ganged up on Riku.

Just as the confrontation between the girls—or should it be the cat-fight?—was about to come to a conclusion, another interloper invaded Victoire's space. "Hi there, Annabel. It has been a long time has it not?" The vampire said in a rather casual manner as she gazed at the huntress. "What brings you here? I don't think I've done anything worth being hunted, so... Oh, I see it now," she spoke more to herself than to the other woman after witnessing Annabel's actions.

"Seems like you have an ally now too, Princess. This fight isn't going to be as one-sided as it looked. Just be sure to ask about her prices first, I suppose," Victoire said to Riku.

"By the way, you don't happen to know anything about stolen books, do you?" Victoire asked Annabel. Even though she had figured the answer to her own question by now.

---

There was barely enough time for Thomas to register, let alone celebrate, his first actual victory, with the succeeding events after his clean slice through the giant serpent happening almost simultaneously. As soon as he landed his head spun to look at Clair as she cried out in confusion at what had just happened, distracting him from bracing for the sudden burst of energy right next to him. He was forced back a bit, dropping his glaive, and fell back into the stream of serpentine shadows that surrounded him and everyone else there. Before he had a chance to get up off the ground and retrieve his weapon, he was pinned and coiled up in one or multiple, he couldn't tell.

"Ahh! Damnit...!" The onset of pain immediately after was figuratively and literally bone-crushing, his eyes widening so much at first he almost thought they might pop out of their sockets. Finding it difficult to breathe, Thomas coughed and grunted while trying to strain the dark forms off of him, but with each push came more resistance and pain in return. Unable to see or turn to any of the others, only really able to hear them, he began to panic as he felt the air be quite literally be forced out of his body with every breath. In his panic though, he reminded himself of the cards in his pocket. His Serei.

Though his arms were held quite tightly against his side, they were in a position where his hands could just about reach his pockets. He winced while his fingertips flicked desperately around the tops of the three cards that had concealed themselves away. At last, he managed to manoeuvre one between his index and middle finger, sliding it out into view carefully and trying his best not to let it slip from his grasp. He peered down to the card's cover, though didn't take too much time to pay attention to detail, apart from the name and the face. He wasn't really sure what exactly he was supposed to do, so simply raised the card up as far as he could and called out into the air through partially-gritted teeth.

"I summon you, Leyna!" Thomas waited, staying as still as possible so as not to let go of the card, hoping to whatever higher power that might've been out there that he hadn't just made himself look like an idiot for nothing.

Caprice's first instinct was to simply slam the door shut in the snake's faces. And so she did. Of course, the vast writhing mass of so many powerful snakes would not long be hindered by such a paltry slab of wood, and they quickly burst through to make their escape or attack as the case may be.

Cartwheeling to the side, Caprice launched pies in both directions, both as a delaying action to slow the slithering pursuers, and to bust through a nearby window for Caprice to nimbly leap out of, sans glass based lacerations.

Summoning one of her signature licorice whip ropes around a gargoyle, she swung around, back towards the building, but shifting horizontally to come back inside a different hall than she left. Launching a very large oversized pie through a new window as she careened back, she landed on top of the thrown pie and used it as a sliding coaster to slowly arrest her momentum.

Landing on her feet just as it came to a stop, Caprice took the shortest moment to dust herself off, bits of sugar, creme, and other confectionery falling off at her magic's command. "Mmm, the sliding platform trick is quite a clever idea for mobility. I shall have to thank Kanbaru for that."

She was hopeful that her maneuver had lost any snakes still pursuing her, but that was ultimately irrelevant, as her next action was to open the door next to her, which if she had judged the distance to the end of the theater room correctly, must be the cast entrance to the Theater room. She still had some teammates to rescue. Or at least as far as she knew, as she hadn't been there to witness the latest Serei cards used.

The dark snakes that remained in Victoire’s theater room saw purchase in restraining their targets. However, where they bit and hissed at the trio, only one actually launched itself with clear intent and meaning. The snake was undeterred by Clair’s cries as glinted fangs met soft flesh, biting through and latching onto her throat. Immediately venom that burned her insides and scrambled her sight would take over, though it was short-lived. The snake hissed just as the foxy thief was about to counter attack. Sensing her building magic, it gave her one final squeeze before unlooping around her, uncaring if she fell to her knees before slithering away.

It made a hasty escape through the smashed door left behind by its other spawn with good reason. The remainder of its kind were being devoured by manifested bugs that crawled out of Rose’s form like a mound of ants. The snakes hissed even as they were consumed, each one eaten so fast it was as if their flesh and scales were disintegrating. Curious enough, neither left bone in their wake, only dissolving in the same dark glow as from which they spawned. Thomas responded in similar fashion, the greenish glow of his Serei summon blowing back the snakes holding him before a platoon of arrows embedded themselves into their heads.

As for Caprice, some of her movements found results in stumbling the snakes. Most however, simply enlarged their jaws and gorged upon the pastry treats, though this too served to slow them as the pies created great lumps in their bodies. Luckily for her, they broke off pursuit once she exited their line of sight. No, now they turned their heads and bodies towards the sounds of battle, slithering as one great mass that was headed straight for Victoire’s chambers. It was there where the air was filled with smoldering ice and fresh smoke from gunfire.

Grinning lowly and name-called, Annabel met Kanbaru blow for blow. Unholstering a pistol of her own, she quickly dispatched of the shots heading for her with her own. The air clang with sparks and heat with the two deadlocked, Kanbaru’s bullets blown away by Annabel’s. Unfortunately, her intent was meant for her perching spot more than anything else. With a grip on her hat, Annabel leapt off from her leverage spot, only to casually balance atop a broom that defied gravity that may or may not have been there from the start. “Hey hey, easy there hotshot. Don’t wanna ruin my hat, you know? From huntress to huntress,” she snarked at the whale, noting Kanbaru’s own hat.

In one swift moment, she unlatched several orbs from her pocket and hurled them right at Kanbaru. Upon impact with the ground, they spewed out more and more heated smoke that hissed and dissolved away Kanbaru’s ice nearly immediately. “Red Riding Hood! We’ll talk about payment for my help later, yeah?” she called out to Riku’s tussle with Ami before finally turning towards the elephant in the room. "Yo, Victoire. Whasup?” Her grin got even wider as the vampire saw right through her. She innocently put her hands behind her head and leaned back on her broom. She would have fell had the fronts of her boots not caught its length, displaying the huntress lazily hanging upside down from her broom.

“Now come on Victoire, you really think I’d steal something as lame as books? Nah, I got something better for my money~”

---

The huntress proved ready for the challenge that Kanbaru presented, matching her bullet to bullet to create a brief storm of sparks where ice met melt in mid-air between them. It was only her indifference to projectiles that would cleanly miss her that saw Annabel's perch collapse, and given the convenient broom nearby, it wasn't a great loss either.

She kept her eyes cast upwards even as Ami continued the fight against Riku. Or, rather, she started the fight with the hooded girl, as she hadn't put up much of any defense the first time around. Arrogant though it was, Kanbaru didn't see Riku doing any better without this huntress helping her significantly, and found her beliefs validated by the smoke grenades that melted her ice constructs with insane speed.

If she was still limited to her magical girl power set, that would have been a deal breaker for her to deal with, but the Tower had more then accounted that. Dropping the revolver she summoned her plushie once more and slammed it to the floor before her. An orca's cry rang through the room as a wave of knee water shot forth, sweeping across the room and the two girls still fighting along the ground. More important to Kanbaru was them sweeping up the smoke producing objects, heating the water to a boil before the wave converged on a single point Annabel and rose with a geyser of force to smash through her and the ceiling above.

Before she could get her chance at a counterattack, Clair was disoriented, possessed by a hacking cough that left her unable to do anything but fight back the need to claw at her own throat. The effects of the burning venom ended a moment but their harshness lingered for long enough to cause Clair to stumble to the floor limply after the serpent let her go.

"I—I don't think I'm feeling so well," the blonde thief said painful breaths, laid on the dusty floor with her cheeks flushed in a feverish pink.

It would take some time before Clair would be able to regain her wits. However, someone else in the antique theater was full of both wits and questions after being summoned so abruptly.

"Hey, it's finally my time to shine! We better get done with this soon, so I can go back to Cait and tell her about...So, what exactly are we doing here, again?" Leyna said as soon as her slender elvishness manifested out of the card. She looked around the clearly haunted theater and then, back to Thomas, wondering what she had been called for now that the snakes were no longer in sight.


Back at the Count's room, Victoire matched Annabel's grin with one of her own. She knew the Huntress well enough to be sure that she wasn't here just to say hi.

The fact Annabel pretty much confessed to her crimes didn't help her case either. "So, you admit you stole something, just not the book? And here I thought you were looking for a present for that Puppeteer you got so attached to." She said, letting the cat out of the bag.

"At any rate, it seems like we are going to have more unwanted guests very soon. I suggest that you all decide on this issue of who's the thief with haste. Or else, you might not be able to," Victoire said as she noticed the advance of the snakes, wondering what could be their intention, now.

---

Left in utter bewilderment, and also to let his screaming muscles relax after having been so painfully constricted, Thomas laid down on the ground for a few more seconds after the snakes that had wrapped around him were dispatched so easily. He inspected the Serei card in his hand again, almost amazed that it had actually worked. He was quickly aware, though, that maybe Leyna had taken care of the streams of darkness maybe too easily, as he was met with a question and a curious look from the elf. He began to panic a little. After all, it probably wasn't a great first impression if he'd seemingly summoned this warrior for no warranted reason. And Cait? Where'd he heard that name before...?

Stalling for time to try and quickly come up with something, the boy sat up and reached out to take back his glaive from the ground. That's when he noticed Clair, who unlike the others was still laid down on the ground. He couldn't really tell from this distance but she looked injured, barely moving an inch even after all the snakes had gone. All of a sudden Thomas was up on his feet, pointing towards Clair's sickly form. He started to hastily guide Leyna towards her, a pinch of anxiety in his voice as he spoke. But perhaps she could help somehow?

"Well, there were some weird dark snakes, though I think they've all gone now... But I think my friend is hurt, is there something you can do to help her?" As they approached closer to the fallen thief, it became evident that she was, indeed, not in the best of conditions. In fact, it looked as though one of the snakes had bitten her, clear fang-marks blemishing her neck. He also took a moment to scan around the theatre with his eyes from where he stood, looking to check for his other teammates, and possibly any stragglers that hadn't yet slithered away.

Ami's appearance has changed everything. Riku is so caught up in her personal animosity against Kanbaru that she doesn't recognize this is actually a 2v2. The insult more than anything, gets the red wanderer's attention.

"What!? I haven't met your expectations!? Hah! More like you haven't met my expectations!" She feigned a cool comeback, but it was clear the bard's insult got under her skin. She shifted her position to focus on Ami instead, as Kanbaru squared off with the newcomer Annabel. The princess would soon have to learn that things got complicated in the mansion very quickly.

Alright. I'll take a battle stance and assume a defensive position. Keep steady and observe her moves and then poke for weaknesses, should be eas-...whoa she's fast-

Her thoughts are kicked out of her head by a seemingly rocket powered fist of crackling flames. She's slammed hard and gets sent flying, this time her back colliding with a pillar. The blow knocked the wind out of her, and she collapsed into a crumpled heap on the floor. A one hit KO by any stretch of the imagination.

But Riku was stubborn.

With great pain, the hooded maiden staggered back to her feet, clutching her thin scythe closely, using it as a support. The lifeless gem underneath the blade part of the weapon began to shake and glow with strange energy. Riku spoke to herself in a hurried and hushed language, speaking in what sounded like Latin. She raised her weapon up and then would swing it down with her strength, carrying it up from it's downward trajectory so the scythe struck upward into the air.

The gem changed into a bright blue hue that shined across the room in the middle of this swing. It jets out a wave of water, that the princess hops onto to catch for a ride. She fights the bard's fire and speed with her magically summoned aqua based speed. Mimicking Ami's move from earlier, she'd surf her wave with incredible speed to slash right at Ami's chest for a mighty blow, using the speed from her wave to amplify the force for tremendous impact.

"I'm not someone to fall down and give up, you'll find that out very soon!"

"Order up." Caprice declared in a loud clear voice to get Thomas's attention before a pizza was sent spinning towards him. It unnaturally hung in the air like a frisbee, and didn't send its toppings flying in all directions like a natural pizza should, so this was obviously some sort of magical pizza.

"I'm not sure what good generic healing magic will do against whatever malignant poison this could be, but it can't hurt her chances to be in good health. And there should be plenty for you if you took any hits." Caprice explained her sudden impromptu pizza delivery.

"Now that I think about it, a pizza might not be the easiest thing if any swallowing difficulties start. If that doesn't work for you, I can come up with maybe... cotton candy or something? Not being able to make cups makes liquids problematic." Caprice looked down thinking.

Eww was a pretty apt metaphor for what was going down with Rose about now. A disgusting insectile orgy of blood and weird snake energy dissolving until nothing was left but a vaguely Rose shaped pile of insects squirming about looking for what remained of their meal. Perhaps a weaker willed folk would have remained that way forever, lost to the horde's instincts to consume and propagate. But Rose was most certainly not that weaker willed folk. Slowly but surely her form coalesced back into what she was prior, a girl with a shield who looked very tired but that entire ordeal. "That was so fucking gross. I don't ever want to do that again." She groaned as she pushed herself to her feet and stumbled over to Claire. "Alright girl, up and at em. Good ol slice of za never hurt anyone, that's slang for pizza if you didn't know." Rose was already guiding Claire to the "za" as she said this, efforts more focused on getting everyone healthy then worrying about those snakes. For a brief moment she looks at Thomas with a hint of intrigue, but her focus quickly shifts to the elf in the room.

She hums in appraisal as her eyes scan the girl up and down, then she looks back to Claire. "Yeah I can flirt with you later I guess, first things first is making sure this crewmmate doesn't die to horrible snake venom."

---

Whatever cool comeback Riku had was completely lost on the berserking Ami as she charged into battle once again, a straight shot right to the jaw to rattle Riku's brains about a little. Just a little, not enough to kill her. At least not enough to kill her if she didn't suck. And lo and behold, she didn't suck! Ami's smile only grew wider as Riku shakily got back to her feet, ready to keep the fight going until she was either dead or Ami got bored of beating on her. Or maybe that was just Ami's perception of this. Either way, she did a thing! Two waves of water sweep across the room, one a byproduct of Kanbaru's own battle with someone Ami didn't care about, and the other a direct attack from Riku as she rode the wave to attack the berserker directly. But it wouldn't be an easy hit for Riku, Ami would make sure that she extracted every ounce of pain she could from Little Red if she wanted to make this a real fight.

She raises her right foot into the air and thrusts it into the stone floor, cracking the ground as a roaring pillar of flame erupts from beneath her and engulfs her own body in black flames. The moment Riku got even close to such an inferno she would feel her skin singing, even as the combined might of Kanbaru and Riku's water crashed into the blaze to smother it completely. A super heated blast of fog would swallow the pair, boiling in midair and covering Riku from head to toe. It was like being dumped into a boiling pot of water, but the pot was the entire room and the water was literally the air itself. "I'm glad! If you gave up after one measly little punch I would have just cut your damn head off then and there!" Ami roars gleefully as her own sword swings out to crash into Riku's scythe.

Disjointed as they were, it seemed this latest group within the Tower had enough sense and compassion to look after one another. Or perhaps it was practicality that drove on the efforts to heal Clair. Whatever the case, Rose’s group was left relatively undisturbed by snakes and monsters when one of their own was stewing and suffering in venom. Different ailments were used from all sides, including elven magic and conjured pizza. The scene was almost peaceful were it not for Clair’s condition and the sounds now rocking the entire mansion.

Indeed, the noises of battle were beginning to rupture and shake Victoire’s estate all around as mighty forces clashed right in front of her. Within the throne room, the scenery was filled with water, fire, and fog of all kinds as the two-way battle raged as it did. While Ami and Riku continued their bout with serious intention, Annabel only sighed and propped herself back right-side up on her broom in response to Kanbaru. “What’s with you all making this a water park,” she mused, her broom suddenly moving with all the velocity of Kanbaru’s motorcycle.

She skirted and skeened off the pillar of water aimed for her, even riding it like an actual wave with her broom as a surfboard no different to Riku’s maneuver. “Hey hatty, can’t you see I’m having a nice chat with the lady here? Maybe wait your turn and I’ll think about buying you dinner.” However, any conversation continued with Victoire was to be intruded by the appearance of another. Being the only one to notice the converging source of power soon to break through her throne room doors, it was appropriate Victoire was unphased.

The snakes that attacked Rose’s crew had long since converged into a single, dark shape that now burst through the doors without a second thought. Emerging from the darkness rose a serpent as black as coal, the very same that attacked the theater room; only now it was big enough to reach towards the ceiling. Eyes gleaming a hellish purple, it gave a low reptilian hiss that shook the bones of everyone in the room as well as casting an after result. Suddenly Annabel was floating upwards without control of her broom; they all were, as gravity became displaced by the snake’s very presence.

Water and embers and fog all hovered in stasis midair, along with the rest of the room’s patrons. The snake shook its head, swiveling side to side as if looking for its next prey. When it laid its gaze upon Annabel, it blinked once in impossible regard before conjuring a dense orb identical to the one it used in the theater room. “Ah, well, guess this makes us all target practice,” the huntress said with a nervous gulp, trying to swim her way through the air to avoid line of fire.

---

---

"I have faith in my friends to not drag me in, Lady Victoire, and besides..." Her eyes momentarily met Ami's as she offered a grim smirk, not indicating whether it would be a stone cold bluff or a dangerous threat. "They should know better. Rafters." Around the finish of her statement, the gunshot from Annabel rang out from the rafters and freed Riku, the fight continuing forward on more even ground. Akiko considered getting involved for a moment before she simply fell backwards, purple light flowing through the normally green-starred brooch across the bard's chest, her kicking back in the air and watching as the fight unfolded. To others watching, she'd be floating in mid air, but the bard was aware of various applications of the purple relic. As long as she didn't overtax it, the vacuum would keep her afloat.

Gosh, all this talk about Light and Dark girls was boring, wasn't it? As fun as watching the girls fight was, the bard started to grow bored slightly of all this talk regarding target practice. Not that it wasn't useful, no it absolutely was. It helped her garner an idea of the 'friends' that she worked with. Castle would be the greatest asset if she needed to put any of them in their place, sure, but she still needed to be ready in case Castle alone wasn't enough.

Annabel admitted to stealing, or at least wanting to steal, something, though not the book, and Akiko leaned forward from air seat. Interesting that the newcomer and clear-witch of the combatants would willingly admit this to Victoire, but then again, Akiko wasn't too sure of the interpersonal dynamics of the vampire yet. That being said, she definitely could see just what was the target, the similar flash appearing here to see what was going on with Annabel and what she could learn.

"She stole a card, Lady Victoire. Bastion, I believe." Akiko spoiled the fun for the group and spoke to Victoire, a smile washing over her face. She glanced back at Annabel and smirked. Sure, that put a target on her head, but she figured that maybe the vampire queen to her side was a pretty formidable ally to work with.

Once the snake came into the room, Akiko stood from the sitting position she was in and immediately prepared herself, the purple light on her fading momentarily. Something was amiss about this snake, and when the gravity suddenly turned off, well, Akiko was immediately intrigued. While it would be nice for Akiko to just let the snake eat Annabel, maybe that wasn't the best idea overall. If this was as big of a threat as she made it out to be, keeping multiple people alive was the best course of action.

Her chest flashed, and the winds of fate sparked up behind Annabel and pulled her out of the way, over to Akiko specifically. While the gravity was off, there was still an atmosphere, meaning she could still use the winds to move. Similarly, if something wasn't initially affected by gravity anyway, it wasn't about to be now, correct?

Annabel would land beside Akiko and Victoire, if she kept going along that path. "Sorry to spoil earlier, but we've got bigger priorities. Push off the wall, get around the room like that, and use whatever you can to deflect and dodge. If you're in a tight spot, shout something and I'll try and worm you out of it." Castle manifested behind Akiko, though only for Kanbaru to see. "Keep yourself alive, and you may want to use that card. We've gotta be careful and we can't afford to lose."

Akiko's chest gleamed with green and she launched off the floor, cleanly flying up into the rafters with a throw from Castle. She had to bide her time, wait for a good opportunity, then she could go in for a strike...

"Maybe we shall come and assist in restraining this beast?"

"Maybe. Let's find an opening first..."

"Hmm, I think I get it," Leyna said after listening to Thomas'—and to a lesser extent Rose's—requests. "Let me try an old elven trick, then," she said, picking the slice from Rose's hand and taking a bite of it.

Leyna chewed the pizza for a moment before leaning down and... kissing the pained Clair, feeding her a mix of the curative pizza and Leyna's elvish saliva. Feeding an unconscious person was a haphazard idea at best, a good thing the elves had long since perfected the art of doing such, thanks to the uncountable number of travelers they have to save from Death's grip in the heart of their forest homes.

"That wasn't bad at all," Leyna said after breaking the kiss. She licked her lips of any oily remnants before looking at Thomas. "I guess she'll be fine now. But I can stick around if you want to. May try some... other things, if this doesn't work," she added, fixing her hair.

"Ohoho, and what would be those 'other things' you're talking about?" None other than Clair asked a moment later. Her voice was still groggy and heated, but the fact she wasn't sporting a burning-red complexion anymore and was even able to slowly get back to her feet after a few moments, showed that the antidote must have worked, somehow.

"That—That's something you'll have to find for yourself!"

"Hehe."

"Anyway, thanks, guys. That made me feel almost like one of those fairytale princesses. Y'know, the ones from the movies," Clair said, scratching the back of her head sheepishly.

"So... I guess that, now that we are done with the boss, we can either try to look around for some loot/clues in this place, or goo see what the others are doing," Clair said after her knees seemed to finally regain their strength. "What do you say about that, Cap?"


"Is that so? From my point of view, that seems more likely than not," Victoire replied Akiko's comment as she observed the brawl unfolding in all of its chaosness.

Though, the remark about the nature of purloining caught her attention.

"Cards seems to be strangely on vogue these days, are they not? 'Twas not that long ago that I was questioned about something of similar nature, nevertheless—Ughh! What's it that I...?" For the first time in the night, Victoire showed some physical signs of struggle. She brought a hand to her temples and frowned, unwittingly baring her vampiric fangs, as if she had been assailed by a ravaging migraine.

Not long after that, the Serpent invaded her chambers and quite literally turned the place upside down. A mere glance at the lack beast was enough to double up in pain, biting her lips so hard a speck of crimson streaked down from them. "That's—I see, but—Argh!" Victoire tried to say something, but the pain she was going through was excruciating enough to hinder her efforts.

---

It took Thomas a few moments of blank staring at the spinning pizza gliding towards before he realised exactly what it was. As soon as he discerned the object his eyes widened a little in surprise, reacting as most probably would if a frisbee-pizza was just sent hurtling at them. His instinct at first was to duck, but he had enough time to realise that probably wasn't such a good idea. The five second rule probably didn't apply in a place that had just been infested with weird shadow-snake creatures. What he didn't have enough time for though, was to actually prepare to catch the pizza. It sailed right past him, and instantly a panicked expression took over his face. He spun around, about to make a dive to try and save it, only to see that there was nothing to worry about.

Rose, who had evidently appeared behind him while he was distracted, had caught the pizza and was now holding it out towards the injured thief on the ground. He exhaled deeply, relieved that someone had made up for his screw up, and that seemingly no one had noticed that he'd screwed up anyway in the first place.

He simply watched on while Leyna took a slice of the pizza, though was slightly confused when she began to eat it herself. He took a slice for himself as well, idly chewing on it. The effects of it on his body seemed pretty immediate, and he was pleasantly surprised when he began to feel his aching muscles, strained from all the squeezing earlier, began to relax, the pain simply simmering away. That being said, he almost choked on slice of pizza as he was completely caught off guard by Leyna's "old elven trick", promptly turning around while his face went a flustered red. He waited, awkwardly trying to stifle coughs that came from the pizza going down the wrong way, until he heard Leyna speak again, turning back around in time for her to address him.

"W-well, thanks a lot for your help." Thomas said, still nervously stumbling on his words a little bit while he finished his pizza. He smiled a little at Clair as she stood up, happy that whatever that Leyna had done had clearly worked. "But you don't need to stick around. I think we'll probably be fine one our own now." He nodded to the elf girl, a little unsure if he had to do anything in order to un-summon her. But Clair seemed well enough now either way, so he simply looked between his teammates in the room to see what decision would be made.

Annabel had a head for banter that Kanbaru could appreciate, the orca lamenting this wasn't a more private brawl so they could cut to the good part right then and there. Fortunately she wasn't to be satisfied in that regard, as having friends about made the sudden intrusion of a gravity nullifying serpent far easier to handle. Her pillar of water, now lacking any resistance, flew out of her control and slammed into the ceiling, only to scatter in sheets and droplets of loose water before hanging in place like ornaments amidst the rafters.

"Alright, I hate to say it, but near kaiju sized monsters warrant a cease fire. So, Princess and Witch, consider this a get out of jail free card if you don't run away before it's dead." Kanbaru barked from her place floating in mid air. A flick of her finger froze an errant sheet of water, micrometer thin yet ample space for her foot to make contact and launch a Dash upwards to orient herself against the rafters themselves.

It offered a great view of the gravity orb streaking by where Annabel had been, as Kanbaru found herself far too close for comfort and dashed away to rest over the snake's head. Movement revealed Akiko finally taking the stage, hurling herself by that funny looking Serei's of hers in a surprisingly bold move from the group's resident fence-sitter.

"Not a bad idea..." Kanbaru reached out her hand for her parasitic compatriot to give her a boosted throw, all the while tightening her grasp upon her recalled whale plushie, eager for a spinning overhead smash to snap the serpent's jaws shut.

Riku's use of the wave is temporary, and assisted by her staff of power with her own elemental manipulation abilities chiming in. The confident princess's surf is met with the brick wall of Ami's intense black fire. Even at a distance the princess felt her skin begin to burn, her nerves demanded she turn back and run the other way. Her desire for a bold and impressive attack to these strange denizens overran her desire for safety and comfort, and she'd ride this wave to it's conclusion.

It smashed into that wall of fire, dousing it's arcane blaze. Though that was part of Ami's plan, as skin melting fog now filled the air in the fire's wake. Riku's desire to get close had been completely used against her, and the would be exorcist quickly throws her cloak over herself and falls back in retreat to save her skin, literally. Blinded by her makeshift shield, she stumbled away and nearly hit a column in a mad escape to get herself from that boiling cloud.

How the hell am I supposed to approach her!? It's like she has the perfect counter for everything!

As she paused for a breath, she'd notice Kanbaru offering a way out of the fight as she dealt with the snakes. That simply wasn't acceptable to the stubborn noble. She wished for a match to prove herself as capable here, even if she was struggling. She knew if she didn't prove herself capable, she'd be mincemeat by these much more powerful denizens of the Tower.

One on one, squared off with Ami. It all came naturally what to do next. Taking a breath and a short, cocky smile. Riku would face her opponent with a second wind.

"Hey you! Ami is it? You going to hide behind your abilities for this fight? Let's make this a good fight! Blade on blade only, my scythe versus your sword!"

Riku announced her challenge to the berserk with a stage worthy smile. She had a real chance now, a one on one perhaps. Now she had to find a way to survive it.

Part of her really hoped Ami would refuse for the princess's sake.

"Awww...." Caprice couldn't help but smile at the displays of kindness and ... other things being displayed as the party tended to their wounds. It seemed she wasn't averse to public displays of affection.

Still, it seemed they would take a little while longer to dust themself off, and having not been in the main melee herself, Caprice decided to take a moment to look around. If this was a theatre after all, where was the director's scripts? Did the snake guard anything or was this a random encounter in the game?

For as long as the others took to collect themselves, Caprice set about searching the place, peering under seat-cushions and behind curtains.

The revelation of what exactly Annabel swiped spilled out and about, but there was hardly time for the throne room’s occupants to process the information entirely, let alone put too much stock into it. The appearance of the towering serpent turned all attention towards it, barring the strife between Riku and Ami. As those two dueled, so too did the snake ignore them in favor for Annabel still. With a yelp, the huntress found herself pulled away by powerful gusts of wind just as the dark orb sailed past her, crackling and wobbling the space around its dense form.

Crashing just above Victoire’s throne, it did horrible wonders to the vampire’s migraine that only worsened the longer the snake remained in her presence. “Hey, yeah, sure, but maybe warn a girl next time you do that,” Annabel said to Akiko while also noting Victoire’s sickened expression and the damage being done to her throne room. “But, uh, I don’t know how these card thingies work-and you’re already gone. Nice.” Watching Akiko jet herself away with an invisible force, Annabel did much of the same, kicking off from the wall and zipping forward.

With gravity free to abuse in the situation, she did as Akiko instructed, bouncing from wall to wall with firearm in place, firing shots at the great serpent. As it was still focused on her, the snake snarled and hissed loudly in her direction, the force and reverberation of its tone enough to rattle the bones of all occupants involved. Each gunshot missed its mark however as portals, small but very much real, opened up wherever the shots made contact, absorbing them away like a snake swallowing its prey.

Its eyes flashed in irritation in seeing and feeling Kanbaru and Akiko approach. Much like the bard, Kanbaru had assistance in her own making, the JSTR tossing her with the force of a rocket on command towards the snake. However, the beast was still a serpent and its speed was underestimated for its size. It spun about, fast, scales shredding the air like a living buzzsaw as it whacked both Kanbaru and Akiko out the air and dead in their momentum with its body to slam them back with just as much force as their start up.

“Yeah, no, this isn’t working guys,” Annabel called out, still bouncing around to keep herself from being caught in the gravity trap. Given the snake was still trailing its sights on her, she couldn’t help but ponder and wonder and… “Hey, so new idea, who’s the strongest in here. Like, no bullshit, the actual strongest around?” No sooner was she listing off her question would she suddenly toss the Serei card treasure over, seeing it arc across the air like a bullet to its new occupant. “Got me a quick-thinking, on the nose fast plan!”

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