[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/72bEcUi.png[/img][/center]

Alex, having used his clones as diversions with defensive capabilities, managed to keep the bottleneck up despite the horde of wendigos slowly restoring their numbers, their tails expertly used to slam and parry the claws and antlers of their adversaries. Though the duplicates fell before the quick attacks of the blue monsters, they prevented the monsters from attempting to bust through the barriers around them or spread out. When they got through to Alex, he succeeded in standing his ground even as an antler pierced his arm right from under his shoulder, having bought enough time for Lily to charge her spell.

[color=fff200]”Take this!"[/color] Lily’s eyes glowed an intense yellow, and she held Ramuh’s bowstring fully drawn.

[h2][color=fff200]”Raisō!"[/color][/h2]

A loud boom rang out as the blue thunder spear, as large as a ballista bolt, was shot out as if from a railgun, piercing through the ranks of the wendigos. The monsters were blown away into ash by the intense energy of the projectile, leaving none behind.

[color=fff200]”Alright, we got them all!"[/color] Lily cheered. However, her smile quickly changed into shock; it was only then that Lily had noticed the injury that Alex had taken.

[color=fff200]”Alex, are you alright?"[/color] She asked, looking worried. The antler had disappeared alongside the wendigo it belonged to, causing the opened wound to trickle with blood.

[hr]
At the hospital, two wendigos rushed for Alicia with swift leaps, about to savage the Beacon archer, when they suddenly stopped in their tracks: they were slain by Sanngridr’s impaling spears that sprang up like deadly pillars right through their torsos, leaving their corpses to dangle in a macabre fashion. The one biting Aurelio was also struck; it was hit in its side, causing it to weaken its grip on Aurelio but not quite release it.

Alicia, however, chose not to accept the Valkyrie’s embrace, and dodged backwards…Right into the path of an impaling spear. The spear struck against Alicia’s lower back, but failed to pierce her; her Enhanced Outfit held firm, and saved her life. However, it dealt a critical blow that broke some of her ribs and caused her to cough up blood as she was knocked into the ground by the impact. Her body shook from the impact, but she managed to rise up to one knee and shoot a single arrow at the wendigo biting Aurelio; the Magician’s magic aimed for her, and pierced the monster’s frozen heart with burning light, rescuing him.

Aurelio, after a strike of his cane, used the emotion he got to quickly shoot out executing blades at the rest of the wendigos coming after them; he managed to decapitate one beast and cripple another, causing it to fall down. Then, having been freed from the jaws of the beast, attempted to protect himself from Sanngridr’s indiscriminate spell with a protective box of Determination. While it only slowed down the spear, it gave him just enough time to quickly move aside as the spear cracked through the box, scraping the side of his arm, making it look like a particularly insane form of an escape trick.

The remaining wendigo rose up quickly despite losing a limb, and set its sights on Sanngridr, seemingly finding the girl with the unfurled black wings particularly scrumptious. It rushed in to bite Sann’s black wing, causing black feathers to scatter as the beast painfully pulled and shook the delicate limb in an attempt to rip it off, but failing due to strength-sapping injuries it had incurred from various blades and arrows sticking out of it.

[hr]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/K2ssvzh.png[/img][/center]

At the industrial sector, Shane hatched a genius plan to contend with the crows. Using the Thunderbird’s agility to evade the pursuing birds, Shane used collected dust and debris to form a field to conduct electricity, followed by unleashing a spherical burst of electricity that enveloped the area. Crows screeched as they were zapped, causing a black rain of feathers to fall. Dina’s phoenix joined the fray, a majestic beast with wings of flame, and it further scorched the skies blotted black. Finn also provided relief with his own Beast magic, lessening the power of the magic that has been cast on the flying combatants, but without being able to completely negate it.

Some of the crows followed after Mariette, and eventually perched on the very building the eyepatched girl hid herself away in, cawing loudly enough for even her to hear. Despite her predicament, Mariette was still able to assist, shooting at wendigos in the industrial district with periodically opened portals. One of her beams of light successfully shot through a wendigo’s heart, scorching it with white-hot brilliance and turning it to ash. At one point a crow managed to block a portal’s view with its fluttering, causing a black feather to fly into the basement as she slapped the bird away with a tentacle, but otherwise she was able to survey the battlefield and provide support without harassment.

Down on the ground, as Roxanna, Oliver, Finn, and the Angel of Hope arrived, Dina made her stand, and activated the Ruler’s Menagerie. Like a banner was proudly raised up, the spell gave a bolstering effect to the fighters around her; wounds slowly closed, and skin hardened against the blows of the enemy. As the spell, now further empowered by the Angel of Hope adding her own Reinforcement to the mix, washed over Hanna and her friend, they too stood up, having found new courage. “Y-You’ll pay for Karen’s death!” Hanna screamed as she summoned her blades and joined the fight alongside the wolf spirit-wielding girl. “Let’s avenge Karen, Fubu!”
“Yeah!”

Ashlyn took a sure-footed, area-of-effect style of fighting, performing mighty blows in a 360-degree arc and incinerating three wendigos with flame-wreathed weapons. Monica also fared on her own, and split a wendigo in half with her axe, leaving the halves to smoulder away.
Belladonna continued keeping up the good fight despite taking a more defensive approach, and with Ashlyn covering her succeeded in destroying two wendigos. The three of them together formed a triangle of pain, giving the ravenous beasts no quarter and no chances to flank them.
Hannah and Fubu also joined forces, and took down a wendigo each; Hanna with her slick blade chakrams, and Fubu with her rending wolf spirit.

As the number of slayed wendigos kept climbing, the eight wendigos that previously wailed now stopped, and descended down from the rooftop to jump on the fighters below, joining their accursed brethren. Even so, the cursed crows continued to flock. Finn and Dina, having taken careful note of the curse that permeated through the air with their Beast magic, now realized that it was perpetuated by an altogether different entity, hidden inside the factory nearby.

In addition to thinning the number of malevolent crows, Finn utilized his own black-beaked friends to distract and harass the wendigo pack, drawing aggression from others as they snapped their jaws and swiped at them, mostly to no effect as the birds flew just out of reach. He also performed some close-range burning attacks, keeping himself safe from the wendigos around him and even crippled a wendigo, rendering it incapacitated as its legs burned away, leaving it to snap at ankles. Oliver got to work with his bombs and ammo, burning three wendigos (un)alive by exploiting their weakness. In response to possible retaliation, Roxanna provided a wall of clones, preventing the monsters from breaching through to attack AoH or Finn and Oliver. It was a combination attack beyond compare, merciless yet magnificent.

Mayra was initially not faring well, having suffered numerous wounds from the horde of wendigos she had dove into the midst of. However, once Dina and Angel of Hope granted their blessings, the Flame Demon found a second wind within her, and turned into a whirling inferno of kicks and punches. Her body nearly exploded with fiery energy as she shrugged off the biting monsters, now wailing in pain as the magma-like blood burnt on their cold jaws. True to her name, Mayra was like a devil, traversin across shadows like an apparition and striking away at the monsters before they realized she had escaped, before moving on to new targets once her foes had become donuts. As a result, a whopping six wendigos scattered into ash.

[color=bc8dbf]”Agh, they just keep coming!”[/color] Justine cursed as she contended with a couple of wendigos, spinning her spear to deflect a claw swipe and following it up with a stab through the monster’s chest. However, she then blinked, having hear Mariette’s voice.
[color=bc8dbf]”C-Caroline!?”[/color] She yelled, and turned away briefly, before giving on last look at the battlefield.
[color=bc8dbf]”I’m sorry, but I need to find her!”[/color] Then, upon white wings, flew away, letting the winds of fate carry her. 
[i][color=bc8dbf]”Stay there, Caroline…I beg of you…”[/color][/i]

The wendigos, despite their reinforcements, were losing, yet they still managed to get a few more hits in. A wendigo bit down on Ashlyn’s neck, finding its teeth shattered as the ogre-like monster girl’s hide had become thick and chewy. Another wendigo clamped down on Monica’s leg in an attempt to immobilize her as she slowed down, followed by another wendigo clawing at her back, but failing to wound her due to her magical protection. One wendigo attempted to slam it’s antlers against Belladonna, only to be kicked right in the skull, separating it from the monster’s shoulders. Two wendigos went to attack Hanna and Fubu, slashing Hanna in the stomach and biting Fubu’s hand, causing Fubu to grunt in pain as it attempted crushing it. The three final wendigos struck at Roxanna’s clones, destroying six of them with their claws and bites, with the remaining three managing to barely hold the line. The two wendigos that yet remained against Mayra got in a slash at her chest and a headbutt on her back, only to be swept away by a single slap of her tail.

[hr]
At the Penrose Bank, Caroline leaned her head to the side like a loose ragdoll as she looked at Connie, as if trying to read her expression through the mask she wore. She lazily nodded, a big grin on her face.
[color=92278f]”Hello!”[/color] She greeted the timid girl back, and stepped even closer to her.
[color=92278f]”Yes, Caroline’s Big Sis!”[/color] She answered. As she blinked, she then returned to a neutral expression, and…extended her tongue.

[sub][color=92278f]”Blep.”[/color][/sub]

However, before she could continue, Miko interrupted Caroline. She turned her head to the side in an exaggerated fashion like an owl, without moving the rest of her body, and smiled brightly.
[color=92278f]”So Big Sis is really here! Yay!”[/color]
She stopped leaning in Connie’s direction, and clapped her hands in an applaud as Mia further encouraged her.

[color=92278f]”Okay! Caroline is going to look really hard, so Caroline will find Big Sis for sur-”[/color]

Suddenly, she froze, and her eyes darted to the newcomer who just arrived and slandered her. Her expression returned to a neutral one, like an alerted animal.

[color=92278f]”Caroline…is ugly pig spit?”[/color] She asked with no emotion in her voice as her irises shrunk, a chilling contrast to the friendly demeanor she had shown just moments ago.
[i][color=92278f]”Ugly pig spit?”[/color][/i], she whispered in repeat.
A creepy grin formed in the corner of her lip.
[color=92278f]”Big sis…used to call Caroline pig spit. Big sis did all kinds of things to Caroline, like called Caroline names. Big sis gave so much pain…Caroline was happy, at home.”[/color]

She lowered her head, and her weapon appeared in her hand. It seemed to burn with even more intensity than against the wendigos. She raised her face enough for her lunatic red eyes to shine through the strands of her hair.

[color=92278f]”You want to…play with Caroline…Like Big Sis? Caroline…Will play!”[/color]

She giggled maniacally, and with frightening speed dashed to Sakura, slashing wildly at her.

[color=92278f]”It’s been so long since Caroline has got to play! Please forgive Caroline, Mother! Caroline wants sweet red! Lots of sweet red!”[/color] She screamed at the top of her lungs, as she continued running circles around Sakura, swinging her oversized weapon with great strength and unerring accuracy, forcing Sakura to block and knocking her across the street from the impact, managing to land upright.