It wasn’t dissatisfaction that Tesni felt when Camelot saved Tsubasa… that simple emotion couldn’t encompass this. It was a cavalcade of annoyance, frustration, a hint of joy as the Pageless scattered at the impact of her attack and a flutter of excitement when Camelot screamed out “Dynasty Queen”

It’s funny, everyone called her Dynasty Queen, but she never called herself that, even in her own head she never referred to herself as Dynasty Queen... did people really see her actions as those of a different person when she was in magical girl garb? Whatever the crackling of magical energy behind her was more important than some hero upset at her. It was as if she could see it, as if she were graffitiing the battlefield, disrupting their rhythm. She would swing her staff in an arc behind her, shrinking it as she did to limit collateral damage… and conveniently threaten the hands brimming with the beginings of a spell with pure blunt force trauma, then she would follow the momentum and leap up before following up with another swing down into the Pageless horde once more…

Then as she was about to retract her staff and spin… Tsubasa and that condescending tone of voice rung in her ear, absolutely ruining her mood. Saying that she had made a mistake, really? How? Normally she would ignore Tsubasa's words and continue with her assault, but Chinami acting as Tsubasa's shield would no doubt prevent that. So Tesni figured she would have to buy time with words and reposition herself, change the battlefield to her advantage if possible and if not possible, disrupt their formation.

“Lady… it’s bold of you to assume I never repeat mistakes. Especially when I don’t like a person and the mistake pisses them off, but fine. Please, please enlighten me. Why should I trust an enigmatic lady that the Pageless who we all have been let’s tactfully say ‘destroying’ are flocking to and seemingly obeying? Please give a good reason why any of us should take your words as anything more than a fart in the wind?” As if trying to prove her words true in some way, the Pageless ran from her and fled behind Tsubasa and her familiars.

“These better be the most convincing words of your fucking life, because right now, you’re looking like the General at the head of an army.” Slowly walking to keep both Tsubasa and the familiars in her field of vision, moving herself so all potential threats were in front of her. Tesni turned her eyes to the heroic armour-clad magical girl Tesni gave her the steeliest gaze she could manage.

“Chinami… how long are you going to stand there with your thumb up your ass? Do you believe that even for a second, she needed your help? I think I'm going to have to spell this out for you, since you got the heroics of King of Camelot and not the battlefield wisdom. If Miss Enigmatic blocked my attack, she would be protecting Pageless therefore she would be an enemy. Are you following so far? I hope so, because it's not difficult." Tesni couldn't afford to give Chinami the benefit of her full attention, not now anyway, so her vision began to roam the battlefield and her fingers rapped along her staff, daring anyone to make a move, as if looking for an excuse.

"If she had have dodged, on her own without someone swooping in to be a knight in shining armour, she would not be protecting Pageless therefore trustworthy enough to not be an immediate concern. It’s a simple equation. Now you have complicated things slightly, but even if you think Miss Enigmatic is not an enemy, right now she’s not a friend! So, until you can say for certain that she will cause no harm, would you please get your ass over here?!”

The Pageless loomed high in the sky. Like a titan or a giant of mythical origin riding a cloud, it hid itself in the folds of darkness that now patterned the skies, far away from the reach of... well, Wilhelmina. Though the Magical Girl boasted quite a bit of power, she had not figured out how to make herself fly or if she even could fly, which presented quite the dilemma: either she remained here, vulnerable and unable to help her allies or she would have to impose on one of them. But which one could she inconvenience freely?

Lumiére could not be it, as she needed her mobility in order to fight effectively. An extra body would just weigh her down and make her more clumsy and even if the magical girl could fight fine with it, that would likely not be enough against an opponent of this size. Likewise, she could not make herself easily at home on Nessie's broom, as it looked quite fragile. Which meant that only one option could transport her reliably.

The realisation almost made Wilhelmina drop her focus.

She swallowed as she felt her comrades take up oaths one by one - even Olivia, so she could move her power to her in case the ethereal maiden required it - pouring her magic into the bonds between them, letting her blessing flow free exactly like the warm, golden glow radiating from her. Not just on the outside, but on the inside as well, the story along with the characters of her grimoire making up for the shortcomings she knew she had. The dread she felt when she looked at the distorted form of Olivia's summon being chief amongst them in this case.

"Y-y-y-es, y-you're fine," Wilhelmina responded to Olivia's question, trying to put a brave front on as always. It did not succeed. "Y-your oaths are all good. I can only give it to three p-people a-at a time, s-so... Thyerg'll be the one to recieve it! B-but oh! D-don't worry, if y-you're in danger, I-I'll be able to shift it over to you, so you won't get hurt as easily and your power will rise and you can do m-more t-things and ohgodI'mrambling." Frankly speaking, the thought of having to ride on Thyerg made her shiver, the very idea lancing into her soul with a cold, serrated edge. She would have much preferred if she could get slowly used to the creature's appearance along with the disturbing feelings it left with her over time, but they were pressed for time. And the option of abandoning her team-mates never even crossed her mind.

The golden magical girl took a deep breath, her blessing fluctuating as she calmed her emotions. Metaphorical hands digging into the story of her grimoire, she found solace in the fact that even the Cape of Storms could be peaceful, that all storms along with ailments would eventually end. With this thought, she steeled her heart.

"Okay. Okay!" Her determination wobbled, yet remained upright. "I'm ready, so let's go!" With her eyes refusing to look at Thyerg'Xolys, it took a while for her to find appropriate handles on his skin. Even then, she could not bring herself to grip the flesh completely tight, the sensation of it under her fingers proving more than enough to remind her of what she rode on despite her best intentions. Fortunately, she had allies to keep track of, with her powers being best at healing along with support, however, her hesitation did prove to be her downfall.

A gust of wind swept her off her perch and for a moment, Wilhelmina felt weightless. Helpless. Buffeted by fierce winds which always raged up here, catching her clothes in a gale. Her scream stolen away from her in a cacophony of noise. Eyes closing as she felt gravity make its inevitable claim. The ground closing in on her like a relentless wall. Moments of her life flashing before her eyes, even her connections shattering for a split second as chilling terror turned her veins into ice. Eyes closed, reaching out in desperation for something, anything that could help her survive this.

She found something.

Even as Thyerg reached back for Wilhelmina with his horrid tendrils, the winds around her resonated with an aspect of her Grimoire, responding to her will. The winds, which had been intent on tormenting her skin just a second before, became docile, then gathered beneath her in a supporting cushion to give her rescuer a crucial moment of still waters, so to speak. And even though she lost the feeling when the squirming tentacles grasped her and pulled her back, the golden magical girl's heart remembered it vividly as it echoed with the very same beat that she felt when she first got her powers.

Of course, the things which now wrapped around her body to keep her secure, gave Wilhelmina a more... immediate concern to think and shriek about.

"I-I really, really, REALLY a-appreciate y-y-your protection, but c-c-couldn't you d-d-do it in a l-less c-creepy way?!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, clearly distressed at the prospect of being gripped by Thyerg's unsavory appendages. "I-it's i-i-i-i- u-unpleasant! I-I-I wish I could summon a s-ship for real!" Naturally, it only took a split second for Wilhelmina to realise she was being ungrateful towards her comrades and hung her head, making sure to close her eyes lest she give herself another reason to heighten her heart rate.

"S-sorry. I-I... u-ummm... E-even if it's unpleasant you're s-still a good... man? I-I will apologise properly later, but Pageless first, p-please!" Goodness, this was going to be such a strange fight.

@Sonnambula @Ponn @Villamvihar

As the quartet soared up to cull the skybound Pageless before it could wreak havoc on the ground, Lumiere had no illusion that it would just sit there and let them invade its personal space. Thus, when the golden eyes flickered, the white-clad seraph instinctively willed her wings to form two barriers, each composed of four obelisks, but the attack was so swift that while the divine shields could already protect herself, their mistress didn't manage to move them in time to guard her comrades. As a result, a telekinetic force slammed against Goodhope and Lake Lady, causing both of them to lose their grip on their respective method of aerial transport.

"..." Lumiere's reaction to it was… uncannily calm all things considered, perhaps too calm from what a layman would expect from a "15 year old", magically powered or not, it was as if... she had been in this situation before. Even as Goodhope screamed in fear, Rose shouting in slight panic, and Lake Lady's fingers slipped from her broom, Lumiere simply watched with her glowing white pupils, expression locked into the stoic neutrality that's so commonly seen on her visage. If Camelot was here, she expected the paladin to chastise her for being so 'cruelly callous', yes she would say that, for the blonde placed too little faith on her peers' ability to take care of themselves.

Why should Lumiere be concerned? In fact, this was a good lesson to learn, always be aware of your surroundings, especially when in the obvious presence of a Pageless, disregard this and one shall suffer the consequences. Even if Xolys didn't catch Goodhope in time, or the winds didn't slow down her fall, even if Lady Lake didn't conjure her cushioning water bed, even if none of those happened and the two magical girls fell to the ground, they would live; not only that, they would still be able to get back up and continue without extensive healing. Ordinary humans had survived a fall from this height, let alone their grimoire-blessed bodies; unless a magical girl was particularly cursed with an exceedingly poor constitution, a simple fall from terminal velocity was well within the realms of survivable injuries.

Lumiere went out of her way to protect Wilhelmina a couple years back and Nessie a few days ago with the nuance that they were still ordinary humans, now was no longer the case and they needed not to be watched over like fragile flowers anymore, sheltered from even the slightest of harm. Camelot would do this... and carry everything on her shoulders, a naively idealistic dream of a storybook hero.

To further drive that point home, as it turned out, the two falling girls had powers enabling them to cushion their fall; they would be safe by themselves even without outside intervention, though unlike Nessie, Wilhelmina still couldn't fly on her own so Xolys made the right call to catch her.

"Brace yourself, girls," The seraph spoke calmly once everyone had regrouped, "It is obvious, but the assault will only get more intense as we close the distance. It's clear that the Pageless sees us as a threat." With that word of warning, she then turned at the pair of eldritch lovers, "With a Pageless like this, it matters not even if it doesn't target Ethereal Rose directly, the wide area covered by its attacks will inevitably catch Olivia as a form of collateral damage." It would be foolish to think that her pacification aura meant she's completely immune from harm's way, but Lumiere figured the two already knew this. Next, she addressed the only ginger of the team, "The same as what transpired in the construction site, Lady Nessie, Pageless - hostiles - attempting to neutralize us." Finally, Lumiere deliberately didn't address Goodhope's stuttering panic, there wasn't anything she could do to make her feel better as her primary concern was Xolys instead of the Pageless, it's a fear that she must conquer herself.

"Agreed, Pageless first. Keep your senses focused and preemptively prepare defensive countermeasures for the inevitable." With a firm nod, she began soaring up again, keeping her wings in their twin barrier formation, orbiting around her like a pair of moons, each of them poised to react in a split-second should Lumiere detected an attack or two.

It was disappointing to find the Magical Girls had ways to save themselves from an early fate. Disappointment, rage, anger, and malice; all were such negative emotions that spurned the Pageless and their hatred towards humanity’s defenders. The yellow eyes beamed down on Lumière’s team but no further motion was made as if the Pageless was waiting to react. It was more than enough time for their leader to break down strategy and give a quick pep talk before she led the charge once more. That one…too dangerous.

The light within Lumière was far too great to be preyed on so easily. Too dangerous. It was too dangerous to approach. And then there was the Magical Girl with the strange creature that nearly resembled one of its own kind. For some reason the Pageless felt no desire to destroy and consume her, if only as a first instinctual reaction. That left the other two, the fresh lights and stories that could be gorged upon and fed until it festered, the sweetness of tales born physically into the world. Once more the yellow eyes flickered and once again the wind howled.

However, something was off. Something had been off ever since the girls took to the skies. The closer the Magical Girls got, the fainter the eyes appeared and they never once moved. Closer and closer they approached….the two golden orbs lost their brightness and hue until at last they were revealed to only be two clusters of yellow specks all densely cluttered into each other. The revelation was no doubt puzzling especially when the wind moved again.

The attack focused in on the Lady of the Lake, the only one of the newcomers with no immediate protection. Once more the force hit her with a sharpness that left claw marks along her broom. This time the force was much slower than before, giving the Lady of the Lake a good chance to spy just what they were facing. It was more than the wind’s force tossing them about.



An illusion. The “eyes” were only an illusion, a beacon to draw in the Magical Girls close to the Pageless. And now that they were within range their enemy was more easily seen even if it blended into the dark clouds one moment, only to reappear out the other end the next. Sharpened claws came to bear down and swipe at Captain Goodhope. It made sure to maneuver out of Thyerg’Xolys’ way to seek out its prey before sinking back into the murky clouds once more.

Indeed, Thyerg’Xolys’ words seemed to ring truer than before. This Pageless, much like the rest in recent times, was much more aggressive than usual. The cluster of specks that once made up its “eyes” suddenly burst outward in a plume of crackling display. A light show danced across the girls’ visions in an attempt to blind them. The Pageless’ true form emerged out of hiding once again to take out the Lady of the Lake once and for all with its fell claws.

---

Lilac locked eyes with Burning Heart for just a moment and nodded after Burning told her to get clear. A quick knee stomp and a hip check knocked down the two Pageless closest to her, and then she leaped free of the pile at the last second before the flames and weapons of Burning Heart struck. "Amazingly done, Burning Heart!" Lilac's eyes shined with glee, quite literally thanks to Joyeuse's latent power spilling out even while not called onto the battlefield yet, as their combo attack landed. Now the Pageless that Lilac had brought down to the ground were more or less defeated as a fighting force.

Turning to see how the others fared, oh, it looked like Dynasty Queen was on the offense while Camelot played defense for that other magical girl. Awesome that they were working so well as a team already!

"Alright woooh, looks like the rest of them are milling about in panic! Their morale must be broken. Burning Heart, let's sweep in on them from above, do you know how to wall run with a partner?" Lilac sucked in a few deep breaths after the exertion of the last few moves, but seemed still mostly ready to go, just pacing herself. ~Ok.... So, this is like, the second date, right? So, it's ok if I get a little excited, and ask to hold hands, right? It seems like Camelot and the others are holding back so we don't get outshone, so let's show everyone what we Fable ranks can do! Alright, that last part actually sounded good, I should say that out loud.~ "Let's show everyone what we Fable ranks can do!"

After getting confirmation one way or another, Lilac would spring into action. Unlike Tesni, who decided to attack the Pageless through Tsubasa, Lilac would attack the Pageless after moving past Tsubasa. She leaped up to the wall of the alley, and if Burning Heart leaped up to the opposing wall in tandem, Lilac would extend her hand out to grab Heart's, and then, using the force of pushing against each other, the pair of them would be able to run along the opposite walls of the alley, easily coming over the Pageless that were regrouping behind Tsubasa and choosing when to leap down and strike at their hapless prey.

The signal of when to do so would be easy to tell, as Lilac cried "Joyeuse!" with her free hand stretched skyward and called her blade to her, before jumping down to strike at their Pageless foes.

If they weren't synced up however, Lilac would have to make do with walljumping between the two walls.

@Sonnambula @Ponn @Villamvihar

As it turned out, after the initial attack, their elusive assailant didn't make any more moves, perhaps that first attack was simply a 'warning' for the warriors of light to not dare approach it any further, let it be. Yes, let it be so it could prepare its sinister plan of devouring countless innocent souls, there was no way in YHWH's good earth that Lumiere would let it do that, not while she still drew breath. Thus, up they went, encroaching even further into the sky that the Pageless claimed, intent on telling it that it never belonged here in the only language that the Pageless knew, purification.

By now, they were at an altitude where it could be safely deduced that the pair of ominous orbs were actually composed of many smaller specks, superficially like an insect's compound eyes. "Peculiar..." The seraph murmured, so the giant 'eyes' were fake, an attempt at mimicry just like a polyphemus moth which had a pair of eye-like pattern on its wings. Their enemy might not be as gigantic, nor terrible, as she thought. The twist revealed itself when it tried to strike Nessie once more, leaving claw marks on her broom.

...small claw marks, diminutive enough to scratch such a narrow surface.

"..." Lumiere stared at the hooded assailant with the same impassive stare that she had ever since she transformed back on the ground, even so, one of her four-winged barrier swiftly moved to intercept between the Pageless and Goodhope, the divine force field taking the claw strike in lieu of the Magical Sailor. The other sauntered near Lady of the Lake, achieving the same thing as shielded the Water Witch from the wolverine assault. All this time, Lumiere didn't attack, not a single golden beam, auric explosions, nor shining wing-scythes; all eight of her seraphic obelisks maintained their twin barrier formation.

Amongst darkened clouds pouring heavy rain and spewing flashes of lightning and roars of thunder, the angel enunciated with all the power that the Lord had given her.

"Girls... banish this creature back to the realm of shadows it crawled out from."

Camelot’s heart was in her throat, as the paired explosions died down, the heat of uncomfortably hot flames crackling in time with the clattering shower of shards of ruptured pavement that followed Dynasty’s Queen’s assassination strike.

She hesitated to relinquish her grip on Midnight Tsubasa, and luckily, the senior Magical Girl seemed in no hurry to alter that state of affairs, despite the somewhat humiliating nature of the, frankly, “princess” carry Camelot had abruptly swept her up in. A moment’s consideration, however, had her lower Tsubasa’s feet to the ground while keeping one arm firmly around her waist, ready to hoist her away once more if her out-of-line theoretical subordinate decided to try a followup attack. After all, this time around, Dynasty Queen would be expecting her interference and could adjust for it. If Camelot didn’t preemptively have hold of Tsubasa, she might not have time to evacuate her again while warding off the strike.

Ruyi Jingu Bang was just that bullshit a weapon. Excalibur was legendary for sure, had never failed to claim victory -even if a pyrrhic one at the end of Arthur’s tale, but it had never been put to the test the same way the ocean-measuring divine staff had, never challenged the entirety of the heavens with its master and only been truly halted by the Overgod, Buddha, himself. Camelot had never had the opportunity to test it, but she quite suspected that Excalibur’s “cut anything” property would struggle -or even fail outright- when it came to the Monkey King’s weapon. That wasn’t a battle she wanted to fight… or was even sure she could win.

Movement. Camelot’s eyes flicked to the Attendants, who were suddenly behind Dynasty Queen and looking understandably far less friendly. Honestly, she was half-way inclined to let them have their way with the little shit, but perhaps fortunately, Midnight Tsubasa’s verbal interference stayed the hands and limbs that now crackled with elemental power. Dynasty Queen seemed to have noticed the -frankly, undeserved- stay of hostilities too, because her reflexive defensive attack halted halfway.

A droplet of water splattering against her pauldron briefly drew Camelot’s attention upwards, and she grimaced at the noticeable morphing of the sky into a dark, rumbling overcast.

Camelot startled, as the Pageless, which had already been acting oddly to begin with, suddenly started to flee from her fellow Magical Girls. That… that just didn’t happen, especially not in these days of enhanced aggression! She tensed, reaching for Excalibur with her free hand, as the remaining Pageless charged towards herself and Midnight Tsubasa only to-! To…

What?

The Pageless did not raise their claws in aggression. Instead they scrambled with all due haste, parting around Camelot and Tsubasa like water, as they attempted to hide behind the latter and put her between themselves and their aggressors. Given that Camelot was still supporting the rabbit-eared Magical Girl with one arm, they ended up directly behind her too, as she shivered in confusion and… intrigue. They didn’t attack her, and ultimately, given her Scabbard’s ability to heal, she wasn’t all too worried about that aside from how annoyingly painful it would be. This was… the first time she’d ever managed to be in close quarters with these beings without hostilities, and perhaps against all regular standards of better judgment, she found that to be… fascinating.

Perhaps one core facet of Camelot’s obsessive drive to train and improve was, well… magic itself! As a bit of a munchkin and avid reader of fanfics, she’d always been someone with a fascination for the technicalities of how exactly a given system of magic worked. When she explored a fantasy story, she was always taken in by any section that actually bothered to explore the mechanics of how and why magic did what it did. As a result, when she’d gotten her powers, her training had been as much about personal interest and entertainment as it was survival. That was why she could train so long and hard. It all came down to the idea that you would never work a day in your life if you enjoyed what you did… and Camelot enjoyed exploring powers and magic very, very much. As a personal hobby, she obtained humongous amounts of gratification from obtaining an understanding, especially of stuff others did not.

And these Pageless… Their behavior… Perhaps she might have been more skeptical of the situation a day or two prior… were it not that she had already met a perfectly nice Magical Girl with a power that could pacify Pageless. And now, Dynasty Queen was going on and on about things being black and white, like she could somehow dictate that one particular reaction or another determined who Tsubasa was without question? She wanted to say that the ability to pacify and draw Pageless to oneself was an inherent sign of evil? She would throw away -without a second thought- something this useful?

Absurd.

A power like this was one that needed to be studied and understood! Camelot knew there were universal abilities Magical Girls shared, magic sensing chief among them. If there was even the slightest chance that this ability wasn’t unique to Tsubasa -that it was something that could be taught, then its value was genuinely incalculable! This was the key, abilities like these! The Pageless were a foe that had been preying on humanity since ancient times, the war they provoked unending!

This rotten system that bred naive, foolish girls. This life-and-death battle that they were expected to participate in for eternity till the Reaper took them? A Ministry with a mysterious monopoly on magical power? All of that could be torn down if the Pageless threat could be handled… permanently.

Camelot’s expression was one of shock and realization, as she looked at Tsubasa and the submissive Pageless with a sense of conflicted wonder in her eyes. A resolve had crystalized in her chest. This was it, a real genuine lead on actually doing something meaningful. Tsubasa might just be the key to a final, true victory. She could be the key to overturning this stagnant system and deadlocked war. Camelot… could not, under any circumstances, in good consciousness allow harm to come to her. She needed to know if her suspicions were correct, needed to know what someone that could get so close to Pageless could tell her about their nature, a nature none had been able to properly study… This was nothing less than the first step to saving humanity and the entire world for good.

The rain was coming down properly now, the sky well and truly blackened with the power of an Apex Pageless, but that distant fight was almost inconsequential in importance now.

Dynasty Queen was saying empty things, her callousness clear. Words were clearly meaningless to someone like her.

Lilac Shimmer continued to act without thinking, blathering on and on and not fucking listening while leading the new girl around by the nose! They were going to kill the harmless Pageless, and if Dynasty Queen got into their little black and white heads, they’d try to kill Tsubasa too!

Camelot’s expression darkened thunderously.

For the first time since its rebirth, Excalibur was drawn against the forces of light.

Despite perhaps popular belief, Excalibur’s light was not something that struck solely at the darkness. No, in truth, it was the weapon of a King, of a victor. In the end, it had no time for such paltry things as “good” or “evil”, merely defeating the enemy. It was only associated as holy in Le Morte d'Arthur because Arthur and his knights were -at least ostensibly- of the Christian faith. The reality, however, was that it was a weapon given to him by the Lady of the Lake. God had nothing to do with it. Excalibur was a weapon intended for domination, intended to do what the righteous sword, Caliburn could not allow, the dishonorable deeds that would ensure victory. That was the truth.

That was ultimately why she had refused to draw it before now.

To draw it while her heart was conflicted was to invite disaster to both sides.

The light would blind those she currently considered to be her enemy.

And for once, that wasn’t the Pageless.

A flash-bang of light erupted from Camelot’s position, searing into the retinas of all but Moonlight Tsubasa and the Pageless she currently held to be under her aegis. For once, the golden light of Excalibur was nothing less than oppressive and almost white-hot to Dynasty Queen and Lilac Shimmer, even looking in Camelot’s direction like looking directly, unerringly into the sun. Burning Heart was hit less badly, the flash more akin to a low-level flashlight to the eyes, as the Knight’s ire was not truly with her.

The sides of the blade’s golden hilt spit fire furiously in constant tiny spurts as if mirroring the resolved anger in Camelot’s heart, as she ramped up her perceptions, turned towards a midair Lilac Shimmer, and made to swat her back the way she came. Two blazingly fast blows under the cover of blinding light: one to deflect her sword upwards away from the Pageless and the other with the flat of the blade lightly pressed against her now open ribs, not a true strike so much as a very hard shove. Nonlethal. But maybe bruising. Camelot was a little fucking pissed, after all. Her gaze briefly met the not entirely blinded fox-girl’s, the warning clear. She would not visit the same reprimand upon her as well unless she chose to continue foolishly following Lilac’s lead.

“I’m genuinely disappointed, you know,” Camelot’s voice stated almost conversationally through the oppressive light, a heretofore unheard tone of barely-restrained menace present where there was once congeniality. “At first, I had seriously wondered why I was made the leader of this team instead of someone supposedly more experienced.” Who she was referring to was blatantly clear to all but perhaps Burning Heart. “Well... now I know. So, given that you should be too blind to see through whatever rosy fucking glasses you’ve been wearing this whole time, perhaps it’s about time you sat down and finally listened.” The rumble of thunder rolled overhead as if in punctuation, as the cold downpour of rain continued to intensify.

Turning to Dynasty Queen, her gaze was frigid, not that the brunette could likely see it through the light. Her voice carried an echo to it, a genuine fury that surpassed the merely almost chastising annoyance she’d directed towards Lilac Shimmer. “Your concerns have been heard, and they have been deemed fallacious and without credence. This is not a black and white situation. You cannot summarily determine that simply because she defends herself reflexively -and coincidentally happens to defend an enemy- that she is somehow on the side of evil. You cannot determine that the only factor by which she may exonerate herself from some imagined crime is through dodging a surprise attack!” she all but spat. “I’ve never heard such absurdity before! You leveled an entirely lethal blow against a Magical Girl who you should have every logical reason to believe is a support type! It doesn’t matter in the slightest whether she could dodge or endure or not, only that you didn’t know for sure and did it anyway!” she seethed out. “There is nothing simple about the insanity you are spewing.”

Straightening up, Camelot exhaled deeply, regaining some level of composure. “Recently, I met the sweetest Magical Girl, who had a passive ability that let her pacify Pageless hostility. In the face of that, there is not even the slightest chance in the bottomless depths of hell that you can convince me to act with prejudice against -to not protect- a Magical Girl whose ability lets her do just a little bit more than that. You want to say that’s evil, that such an ability can’t be used for good? You couldn’t possibly be more closed-minded,” she ground out. “You don’t even know how it works, if it’s passive or not, and yet, you would dare presume malice for the offense of having an ability that she may very well have no control over?” Exhaling again, she sheathed Excalibur with a whisper, dousing its light, and spread her arms, gesturing at the complete lack of life other than the magical in nature. “Look around you! Where are the victims of the Pageless?! Look at how the beasts of darkness tremble and cower helplessly, refusing to even fight back! You want to call an ability that does that, that draws them here and away from anyone else, evil?”

She closed her eyes and exhaled once more, before reopening them, a cold resolve filling her. “Here are the facts: every step of the way, you have seemingly done your level best to be a socially corrosive disruption for entirely irrelevant reasons, and you unapologetically attacked an innocent person out of either spite, an imagined crime or both.” She leveled a single armored finger at the Monkey King’s successor. “So, allow me to put this in a simple way that even you can understand. You are out of line, Tesni. Go home. Or go fight that Apex Pageless I’m sure we can both sense; maybe you’ll even get there in time to matter. I don’t give a shit. But us? Filter it through whatever lens you like, but I don’t have the time to deal with your bullshit. I’ve got actual good to do and a new Magical Girl to train. We’re done here.”

And as the rain thundered down around them, she meant that in every sense of the phrase.

By this point, Camelot's mind was made up. There was no feasible way she could handle Tesni long term. The girl would sabotage and question her every effort while bullying the rest of the team. The moment she got back to Marrywell, she was going to have Tesni removed from her team. She didn't care where the brash girl went. She didn't care if she got a replacement. In fact, she'd rather take a disadvantageously smaller tight-knit team any day over the pit of toxicity that was any team with Tesni on it. Ultimately, they were both horrifically incompatible as teammates, especially with either of them subordinated to the other. In the end, team cohesion would always suffer, and resentment would be bred amongst all parties.

Camelot refused to grit her teeth and bear it, to support that kind of environment while the rest of her team suffered for it. Perhaps it was an inevitable result, that having two strong-willed Kings on the same team would not end well, but this was what was best for everyone. No matter how this confrontation or the rest of the patrol played out, she was decided, and she wouldn't be taking "no" for an answer.

For once Suzuya and Burning Heart felt something approaching harmony. The Grimoire was doing the heavy lifting and Suzuya was hesitant still, but both found the idea of fighting alongside Lilac Shimmer to be something they wanted.

Though the prospect of holding hands rendered both eastern personalities blushing and hesitating, culture overcoming warrior mindset as they left the Lilac to bounce along the walls rather then meeting hands in the middle. The heat of the moment was one thing, but that kind of coordination would fluster any maiden. She was fairly certain the actual Tomoe Gozen wouldn't have been so brazen with her husband!

She was still grouned, waiting for her senior to finish her attack before drawing more weapons when a searing flash of light erupted from behind her, overpowering her own naturally intense illumination to make her flinch. But even as her eyes screwed shut she could hear Lilac crash as though swatted from the air by a physical force-

When did I move?

Suzuya inhaled, lungs filling and eyes opening to find she was not where she was standing before and there was a naginata in hand. Though she'd barely claimed any heads since transforming the wood felt aflame against her palms, her grimoire erupting with negativity towards Camelot as she brandished her sword at an ally. The girl wanted to turn away and check on Lilac, but Burning Heart was both girdle and cage, keeping her focused entirely on the one threatening them as her tails thrashed angrily, tips flashing with steel waiting to be drawn.



Tsubasa would readily concede she enjoyed the feeling of being carried in the arms of so venerable a knight, but her dignity was unflappable and she hadn't the emotion to pout at being set upon her feet. She had already experienced Excalibur's radiance before and found it as comforting as ever, but it wouldn't distract her from summoning her minions back to her side. With a splash, a crackle, and a snap of ice that flanked Camelot, expressions rigid in barely held neutrality.

As Camelot was eager to attest to, the Pageless would not lift a claw against them. Something that Roma would have rather not been seen but it wasn't like there was any use denying it now. In one hand materialized a gold tipped smoking pipe, and in the other was a fan of plated gold. The former lit with a puff of magic and she drew deep while she idly fanned herself in Tesni's direction.

"Perhaps you see now that this is partially what I meant by your Evolution growing stagnant. What you see before you is but a triffle of what I and any like me can accomplish if one simply matures beyond the yolk of eternal childhood. The Pageless are indeed being of destruction, but they are not mindless. They are instinctual beings, or in a word, beasts. An animal does not fear the tools of man even if they kill with the ease of a gun or bomb, but they can respect the power."

"Understanding is the first step to begin and end conflict. Know your enemy to fight them, and love them to make them an enemy no more." A long exhale, smoke billowing from her lips to drift to the clouds above, eyes lazily drifting to the Apex Pageless somewhere over yonder vainly struggle to pluck the false angel's wings. Her gaze turned back to earth, where Pageless cowered in unity while Magical Girls all turned upon each other with barely restrained murder in their eyes.

"I believe I can manage to stand now, Dame Knight. Contrary to your estimation of me, I am not the frail child who hid behind their sempai's skirt I once was." The impossibly tall Magical Girl slipped Camelot's arms with the grace of an Eel, pipe now lowered and fan drawn still as she moved halfway between herself and Dynast Queen. "It is important to know, when I speak of understanding, it is for both sides. The Pageless know only hunger, and so one must demonstrate their own to hope for even a fraction of a chance."

"And if the Monkey King desires a conclusion to their story, I will devour the Wheel of Samsara and demonstrate to this world the Moonlit Path to a new tomorrow."

“When I said I’d see you around Camelot, this wasn’t what I had in mind, y’know?”

It was disappointing. It was almost a cardinal sin to witness; Magical Girl turning on Magical Girl, sisters in arm and comradery bound by their duty wearing away at each other like they were the enemy. The sullen situation and heated hackles of tension were displaced by the light but concerned tone spoken from the newcomer. A familiar hand rested on Camelot’s shoulder as if trying to provide some shred of ease with the situation at hand. Arthur’s legacy needed naught to turn around when very few would approach the knight in this state.

Magical Girl Ozma flashed Camelot a cheery smile before removing her hand and backing off lest the blonde get the wrong idea. When she had arrived and how she slipped in without anyone’s notice was everyone’s guess but it wasn’t to be mulled over. She simply did. Her gaze swiveled to assess the situation though judging by her eyes it was doubtful she didn’t already know what was going on to a degree. Ozma had an uncanny know-how around what went on in London after all. She noted each Magical Girl individually from Dynasty Queen and Burning Heart’s desire for confrontation to Lilac Shimmer’s confusion.

And then there was Moonlight Tsubasa and her three emissaries. The Pageless scrambled away and dissipated back to the shadows where they came as soon as Ozma appeared. A deep-rooted, old magic lay in that girl and it was not something the rather meager Pageless were eager to face so suddenly with other Magical Girls around. That was fine, for there were always more Pageless to come; where there was light, there was always shadow as well. “Magical Girls don’t fight each other, let alone our teammates. Though I have to wonder who it was that made this call….” said Ozma, more to herself than anyone else. Once more she flicked her sights from Camelot to Dynasty Queen. It was a foolish question anyway; only the Grand Minister held influence on who was paired with who.

That could be handled later because for now…. “Everyone, let’s all just keep our wits about us. Causing a fight right now in the open like this will only cause damage for the buildings and anyone who may be in them.” There was of course the storm above them and the other Pageless she knew they all could sense was currently locked in combat above London. “We’re Magical Girls. We help people, not make ordinary people’s lives worse,” Ozma continued, still looking at both Dynasty Queen and Camelot until she turned to the root cause of all these problems.

“I thought you left the Grand Ministry some time ago Moonlight Tsubasa. If you don’t mind me asking, why are you back in London?” the redhead asked neutrally, raindrops petering off her witch’s hat. “Whatever assumptions or questions we might all have, we can resolve them without coming at each other’s throats. Looks can be deceiving after all and we know that better than anyone when we dabble with magic.”

---

Restraining a grimace, Camelot dismissed Burning Heart’s anger as unfortunately important for the time being, as Moonlight Tsubasa made use of the opportunity to draw herself away from the Knight. Exhaling again to continue the steady reconstruction of her lost composure, Chinami listened with half an ear as Tsubasa pretty much confirmed what she had deduced, that the passivity of the Pageless was something that could be learned.

In that case, Camelot knew she would be willing to burn some bridges. Ultimately, in the face of something like that, was she really expected to care about a team that had been foisted on her so abruptly? A team with a girl who was blind and deaf to anything she didn’t like, a girl who allowed herself to be strung around by the nose by the former, and a girl who would never truly listen to Camelot and who would -and had proven herself to- be an outrageous disruption and socially caustic on a scale she genuinely hadn’t expected, a poison to team cohesion.

Was she really expected to value that sort of team over what might be the solution to everything?

Tsubasa was quite understandably riled up by this point, so the threats of bodily harm upon Dynasty Queen were hardly anything Camelot could begrudge her. But unfortunately, as much as she might dislike the bitch, as much as she resented her for being part and parcel to getting the Knight to genuinely lose her temper, she also couldn’t condone an outright threat against her life. She addressed Tsubasa. “Your wrath is not misplaced, but I have a duty to protect my charges, and -at least for the time being- she is one of them, like it or not. I’d much prefer peace, for us to leave this place without violence, but if you must have retribution… then I won't interfere as long as it isn’t lethal or maiming. She’s brought this on herself, and I can heal anything less.” Deserved karmic retribution or not, no-one was going to die today if she could help it.

There was suddenly a sound of scrabbling from behind and a hand on her shoulder, and Camelot couldn’t help the flinch, such was her current state. Head swiveling, Camelot brow furrowed at the sight of the Pageless fleeing again with even greater urgency… and at the witch-looking magical girl currently stepping back from her.

“Ozma,” she greeted with some wariness, crossing her arms to stop them from so much as twitching towards her weapon. In this state, with her battle instincts on high alert, she really couldn’t help being incredibly wary of anyone she didn’t have a true clue about the abilities of. It was remarkable that between the equally mysterious two, she almost felt like she’d learned more about Midnight Tsubasa in these tense few minutes than she had about Ozma in years. In that respect, her instincts were tweaked far worse by the unknown than the known.

Still, if there was anyone that could deescalate things, it was someone with that kind of unknown power.

Camelot snorted humorlessly at Ozma’s open wondering about the decision-making process that went into putting her and Dynasty Queen in close quarters for longer than ten minutes. “I assure you, that’s not the only issue with this team, merely the one that exacerbates the others,” she replied bluntly. Quite frankly, she had few if any fucks to give remaining. She just felt exhausted mentally by all this, by fucking Tesni. Diplomacy… politeness… clearly, neither were effective here. She’d tried. She’d tried so hard to use her words, to be reasonable. But to the stubborn and willfully blind and deaf, words were useless. Such people… clearly, they only understood force.

Something ugly burned inside the Knight, red-hot and almost tangible. It curdled and bubbled wrathfully, practically baying for violence. Squeezing her eyes shut, Camelot exhaled calmingly again -as she had been doing for a while now, only to start when her long exhale against the chilly, rainy London air almost seemed to hiss out in a small cloud of actual steam.

Blinking furiously, Camelot’s brows furrowed, but… No, it was probably her imagination. Whatever the case, the red-hot poker of anger in her heart had subsided with that breath, almost as if literally expelling the temper from her. To be sure, a kernel of resentment still rattled with the desire to pop, but her prior bout of wrath had been doused and didn’t seem like it would truly be reignited unless things continued to devolve here. For the time being, however, her overt rage washed away with the chill of the rain pitter-pattering against her armor.

Still, she barely restrained a scoff at Ozma’s next statement, a plea really. ‘Keep their wits about them?’ She had all her wits right now, dammit! It was everyone else that was losing it! And the rest of that… was all she going to do is state the obvious? Camelot knew those things well, adhered to them better than most even, she thought, given she seemed to be one of the only Magical Girls that paid significant attention to actually avoiding property damage where possible. But she wasn’t a machine, not some perfect hero, despite any show she might put on. She had her weaknesses, her pressure points, so surely, she was allowed to get truly angry once in a while? Was she expected to just… not?

Maybe…

But she already put enough pressure on herself as is. She certainly didn’t need others telling her what she already knew and practiced, because she wasn’t perfect. Enough pressure… enough stress… and she’d lose her temper just as much as anyone else… as she had today. And that? That was dangerous. There was a sharp difference between her losing her temper and someone, like say, Lilac Shimmer. The contrast in brute force power made it all the more important she keep it together at all times, that she always used her words, that she never resorted to violence except as a last possible option. Frankly, she liked to think that she had actually used it last in this situation… but had she? Maybe she could have used her fists instead of her sword to stop Lilac. Maybe she could have just… refused to engage in debate with Tesni. But instead, she’d focused more on what she “knew” would work. She didn’t want to leave herself open to Tesni when stopping Lilac, so she’d gone for the only option she had that could take care of both problems -or at least, waylay one- at once.

But was that the right move? She really didn’t know. It had felt right at the time, but… she had been so angry. So… No. Camelot shook her head in self-recrimination. This was not the place or time for such thoughts. She couldn’t allow herself to hesitate on the battlefield, not when it came to saving lives. Not ever. Midnight Tsubasa’s life had been in danger. She acted. Simple as that.

Regardless of her internal conflict, Camelot was paying attention to the goings-on around her. Honestly, as wired as she was, it was difficult for her to do otherwise. Ozma was saying some… pretty interesting things about Tsubasa, things that she knew she’d be hunting the redhead down to inquire about later… even if she knew she’d probably receive the white-washed Ministry version of events. It was still a place to start, nonetheless. That aside, she also… generally agreed with the enigmatic Magical Girl’s closing statements.

This entire patrol was a bust. She wanted nothing less than to continue it, and she wanted nothing more than to go back to the Ministry and let the Grand Minister know in excruciating detail how badly put together this team was. But as things were, selfishness could wait. Ultimately, she recalled Tesni saying something right before things devolved, and even if she was right about nothing else, she was right about that.

“Dynasty Queen…” Camelot spoke up abruptly, turning to face the martial artist once more, before pausing. “Tesni, you were right about one thing at least: this is a patrol. Whether we’re doing it for justice or merely fun, we’re here to save lives, and I think we can agree on that -if nothing else. We are not friends -or even friendly, but I would hesitate to call us enemies. I don’t think this team will hold together, not as we are, but I think even now, we can work together one last time. I don’t care how or why you fight right now. I just want you to kill every Pageless that looks at you funny as quickly and wholly as possible. Stay with the group, or go alone. I won’t stop you… unless it’s Tsubasa, but I think you know that.”

Exhaling another small puff of steam that she hadn’t noticed herself working up, Camelot addressed her purple-clad charge. “Lilac Shimmer, if I have injured you, speak now honestly, and I will heal your ailment, no matter how meager it may be. It was not my intent to do harm, but I drew arms against you and took the risk anyway. However, you seem to have a problem. I regret to admit my ignorance of it till now, despite the warning signs and even after two years living together in the same damn room. It is a shameful failure on my part, and had I noticed sooner… perhaps I could have done something before now. For the time being, know only that we shall address it later.”

She turned to the fox-girl. “Burning Heart… I must apologize for the shameful display as your senior, during a time where you should be receiving nothing less than the best from me. I have wronged you twice over, as I have also harmed someone you seem to call a, dare I say it,… friend? That said, I see your countenance… is entirely different than it was before. Now that I’ve gotten the chance to observe you up close, transformed and not, I feel I understand what your issue is, but only time will tell if it is one that can be mitigated.”

Turning to the statuesque eastern Magical Girl, Camelot smiled apologetically. “Midnight Tsubasa… I regret that we have met under such circumstances. Though our meeting hasn’t been entirely amiable, I bear you no true ill will and would be perfectly happy to meet with you again. And while I would like to continue our exchange now, I have work to do. If you would fight beside us, then I would be honored by -if not your forgiveness- then your tolerance for those that wronged you.” She sighed. “If you would be on your way instead, I quite doubt any here would truly begrudge you, all things considered. And at the end of it all, I would be more than willing to continue this somewhere quieter.”

"Ozma..." Camelot's jaw worked itself silently for a moment, a prideful little part of her sorely wishing she could ignore that the Crimson Comet had needed to show up at all. "I am not arrogant enough to avoid admitting when I am out of my depth. Well, I was before and probably still am, so thank you for intervening. This... could have gotten much much worse."

Sighing deeply once more, Camelot stared up at the dark perspiring sky. “Make no mistake, this conversation… these issues we have… our exploration and handling of them isn’t over, not by a long shot, but right now, we have bigger fish to fry by far. I won’t ask or expect you to like it. The only thing I must ask -because it is my duty to the people- is if we can set all this aside long enough to save lives. If you can give me that much, then we can return to infighting back at Marrywell… and figure out where we go from here -or if there is to even be a ‘we’ to begin with.”

That Pageless towered over all of them. It revealed its massive, gaunt form that seemed almost ephemeral as a wraith from humanity's many ghost stories, yet it clearly held a physical presence and it drove an icicle of a shiver deep into Wilhelmina's heart. For a second, she even forgot about the monstrosity beneath him or her circumstances as something primal and ancient in her reacted to the appearance of the thing, curling up into a tiny little ball and screaming into its invisible hands at the top of its lungs. But-

Light met that fear. Her grimoire pulsed once more as she saw Lumiére interpose herself between her and the attack, sparks flying as the long, gnarly claws met the golden forcefield and much like in the myth of the Flying Dutchman's Kindness, hope along with determination soared in the most unlikely of places. Despite the raging storm, despite the visceral repulsion she felt towards Thyerg along with the otherworldly grip of the Pageless' dark nature, Wilhelmina found a steady heart beating within her chest. The core of a true hero echoing within her. Giving her courage to go on and face the massive threat before her.

She swallowed. The world seemed to turn, but Wilhelmina reached out towards the trust she had in the people around her, reaffirming her connections to them and then giving them a pulse of magic through her link. Almost as though she were squeezing their hands in reassurance, letting them know she watched over them.

"W-we s-shouldn't get close!" The Captain's voice still trembled, but it felt more steady with the backing of her Grimoire. "I-I could summon my s-sailors but... there isn't enough space." She needed a platform of some sorts so they could stand on it and use their muskets unless she wanted them to fall into oblivion. Fortunately for her, Thyerg'Xolis acknowledged her request and her eyes went wide when the creature changed its shape. Flesh moulded itself as though it were hot metal poured into a receptacle, shifting in ways that made her want to squirm.

Pushing the urge down her throat, Wilhelmina let loose a loud, somewhat forceful 'thank you' before she shifted her focus and summoned three of her sailors, the finely dressed men immediately going for their muskets and aiming. The rifles exploded with small cracks of thunder, digging into the titanic Pageless' flesh. They would not cause much damage; offense never came easily to the Captain but... Why did she feel a nagging feeling in her mind, the mark of a possibility etching itself into her magical senses? And why did she feel it had to do with when she fell from Thyerg's back? Confused by the feeling, she kept her eyes on the battlefield while loosening a little bit of her focus to search for its source. It seemed too important to ignore.

Olivia frowned upon hearing Wilhelmina’s distress, the kindhearted beauty completely clueless as to why her friend was so freaked out by Xolys’s efforts to protect them. “Creepy?” she echoed. “I-Is darling Xolys holding you a bit too tightly?” she inquired, her tone a mixture of concern and puzzlement. “I know you’re just doing your best to ensure Helmi won’t fall again, darling,” she added while smiling up at her eldritch companion’s misshapen head. “But could you perhaps loosen your grip ever so slightly?”

“Of course, my sweet,” Xolys replied. “I do apologize, Captain,” he told his terrified passenger. “I know you may still be somewhat uncomfortable, but please be assured that I intend you no harm. Indeed, all I do is with your continued safety in mind.”

Realizing the rudeness of her words, Captain Goodhope quickly apologized to her nightmarish protector, before asking that they focus their full attention on the Pageless.

“There is no need to apologize, Captain,” Xolys reassured her. “Your reaction towards me is perfectly understandable, although I thank you for your generous compliment,” he added. “You are truly a kind soul, much like my dearest Olivia.”

“Oh, darling!” the azure-clad beauty giggled, while a blush colored her cheeks.

Meanwhile, as they had steadily drawn nearer to the sky borne Pageless, an interesting aspect of its nature rapidly became apparent. Its “eyes” were actually nothing of the kind, merely clusters of glowing specks. Was this creature some form of bizarre gestalt consciousness, Olivia wondered, or was it perhaps just a distraction to conceal their foe’s true form? As it happened, the mysterious creature would soon provide an answer as it moved to attack Nessie. Thankfully, the redhead’s increased alertness, coupled with the creature’s noticeably slower speed, meant that she was able to dodge the attack, although not without getting a few scratches on her broomstick in the process. The Pageless then proceeded to swipe at Captain Goodhope. The shadowy creature was swift, but Xolys was swifter still, and thus was able to place one of his own twisted appendages between Goodhope and the creature’s claws. The Pageless vanished into the clouds soon after, but the eldritch monstrosity and the two Magical Girls that rode upon him still had time to make out just what they were facing, a spectral being with two clawed arms emerging from its cloaked form.

“Goodness!” Olivia exclaimed. “He’s quite fast! And he looks a bit like a wraith, or maybe a shade… Oh, but I just love his tattered cloak! It makes him look very mysterious!”

The creature darted at them a second time, but a luminous barrier blocked its attack, causing it to pull back into the clouds once more.

“My thanks, Miss Lumiere,” Xolys told their angelic team leader with a small nod.

A moment later, the glowing motes that composed the Pageless’s “eyes” dispersed in a brilliant flash. Under cover of this blinding light show, the vile fiend once again attempted to strike at Nessie, but as with Wilhelmina, Lumiere’s obelisk wings shielded the Lady of the Lake with a protective energy barrier. The angelic girl then gave the order to attack, and Xolys responded by firing a crackling beam of unreality at the cloud into which the Pageless had retreated. However, although the cloud was utterly unmade, the cloaked form of the Pageless was able to narrowly avoid the blast. Indeed, it seemed far too agile to target, although perhaps a greater volume of fire would leave it unable to maneuver? That said, Lumiere seemed perfectly content to allow the rest of the team to deal with this threat, and while the Lady of the Lake and the Master of Xhar’doth both possessed the ability to unleash powerful ranged attacks, those attacks didn’t have the greatest rate of fire, and there were still only two of them. If only Captain Goodhope’s offensive capabilities weren’t so lacking… Then again, perhaps there was a way in which she could contribute…

Having apparently come to the same conclusion, the maritime maiden shakily noted that she could call upon the aid of her ghostly crew, but only if they had something, or someone to bare them aloft.

“Captain,” Xolys intoned, his strong voice resounding in both her ears and her mind in an effort to cut through the howling wind and roaring thunder. “If you wish to summon your spectral sailors, I shall be most pleased to provide them with protected positions from which to fire upon our elusive foe,” the Master of Xhar’doth told her, even as his shifting form enlarged and reshaped itself to create the shielded depressions that would hold and guard Goodhope’s conjured crewmen.

“Oh! That sounds like a wonderful idea!” Olivia agreed. “Don’t you think so, Helmi?!” she asked her friend with eager excitement, once again completely unaware of the terror said friend was probably experiencing…

Despite the severity Nessie had perceived of the prior situation, it came off as a minor inconvenience and delay once she regrouped with the rest of the team. Perhaps it was just something you got used to over time as a Magical Girl, being unfazed by assaults and perilous situations. It seemed feasible, but that didn't mean the young redhead became any calmer. Even if she was back with her friends. She couldn't help but feel on edge.

Lumiere's words of explanation to the Scot were lost on her ears to the heavy rain and bustling wind around them, but also due to a lack of attention on Nessie's part. The girl's focus was on those eyes as they got closer, her face contorted with suspicion. She glared at those static orbs, keen pupils discerning that something was wrong. Even so, she wasn't able to discern what exactly was wrong until it was obvious. An illusion. That's all they'd been. An illusion.

Nessie stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she realised, kicking herself for not coming to that conclusion sooner. Ironically those eyes, though clearly deforming into a passive collection of bright specks on the wind, seemed a dozen times more ominous now. Because it came with the realisation that they'd been tricked. And now whatever puppetmaster was pulling the strings would see to it that the four of them met consequences for it.

This is where Nessie's paranoia came in handy, since it was her who was chosen first by the illusionist Pageless. A clawed hand swept at the young lady out of nowhere, but at a speed that was more than manageable for her to avoid, rotating around with a swish on her broom, which took some of the attack in lieu of her. The hand drew away slowly, slow enough for Nessie's eyes to flit up to the creature it belonged to. Perhaps it was just the wind, but a cold shiver ran up her spine as her gaze settled on the spectral force floating effortlessly on the wind. It drifted there, garbed with a long, flowing cloak that gave it some form other than what was presumably its heart, or some kind of source of energy for it, resting open but protected at its lower half. Its bony arms, now resting unnervingly at either sides, almost seemed to sprout from the cloak itself. Its pitch dark shade almost seemed to evoke utter despair. Though, given it was a Pageless, that was sort of to be expected.

And then, in a blink of an eye, it was gone. The darkness of the surrounding storm made for an excellent cover, and Nessie barely even saw it at Goodhope's side until Lumiere's radiant shield burst forth to block it. Barely able to keep up with the pace of the battle now, it was no wonder that the Lady of the Lake found herself targeted once again next. Dazzled by the mini-fireworks display that rippled amongst the Magical Girl quartet, all that gave Nessie away to the fact that she was in danger was the sudden aura of dread that the Pageless brought with it, those claws ready to drive into vulnerable flesh before, yet again, Lumiere's barrier intercepted it like the workings of a guardian angel. Being the kind of person she was, however, Nessie wasn't going to take protection just sitting down.

"Not so fast ya tatty bastard!"

A couple of blinks was all it took for the girl to regain her senses, the fuzzy blotches in her vision clearing up as she spun around to the cloaked Pageless before it could retreat back into its camouflage for respite. Fixing her eyes on that glowing heart at its bottom, she thrust forward her hand forcefully. Like it had previously, the rain came loyally to assist the Lady of the Lake, a mass of individual droplets and streams ignoring the logic that usually controlled them, forming into a barrage of razor sharp needles which were sent straight in the Pageless' direction.

"Aye!"

Nessie let out an affirmative cry to Lumiere's words in the heat of the moment. Now the battle had really begun.

Lilac snapped her fingers nervously, with one last glance at Burning Heart before refocusing on the Pageless. It would have been so cute, right out of a Magical Girl show... Maybe third date! She bounded between the walls before summoning Joyeuse for her attack.

Camelot's light truly would have blinded Lilac's eyes, had Lilac considered Camelot a foe in turn. But it was natural as breathing to her that Camelot was an unshakeable ally, and Lilac's eyes were focused on the Pageless, not Camelot. Not a single thought or glance was spared for the impossibility that Camelot would attack her. Why be on guard against something that could never happen? Such was Lilac's faith in Camelot.

With an absolute lack of defense, Camelot's attacks landed exactly as they were intended, turning aside Lilac's blade and knocking her back. Lilac slammed into the awning of a small shop, and lay there dazed for a moment. Someone was speaking but it was too low to hear over her ringing ears... Wait, that attack had come from below, where Camelot was!

"Camelot, you ok?" She yelled, her first thought as she struggled to rouse herself and get up. Ugh, she couldn't see anything... Wait, but that was Camelot's voice! Oh, and she was doing her turn bright thing extra double hard today, maybe the Pageless hadn't been running away, but were grouping up to deal with her.

“... perhaps it’s about time you sat down and finally listened.” Er.... Wait, was Camelot talking... to her? Lilac paused.

"Um... Ok? You got this one I guess?" Lilac tried to see what was happening, but was forced to shield her eyes. Huh, sounded like Camelot wanted her to stand down. Well, if whatever attack had just hit her was still that strong after passing through Camelot, maybe it was too dangerous and Camelot couldn't protect both her and Tsubasa at the same time. Her shoulders slunk a little in disappointment. Still, usually people shouted something like "get back" rather than disapprovingly telling you to sit down. Well, guess everyone had their quirks?

Wait, Burning Heart had been right behind her, did she get hit too? "Burning Heart, you alright?" Lilac couldn't see her through the light, her grip tightening on her sword. She felt uselessless that she couldn't be helping right now, Burning Heart had to be ok!

But, now, finally, as Camelot spoke with fury to Dynasty Queen, Lilac started to get a picture of what was happening. "What? That can't be right.." Camelot and Dynasty Queen were fighting?

Tesni could take losing, there is no one who’s undefeated in everything they do, but it was the idea that those two having smug little grins on their face that agitated her. She wanted to smash that smug face of Chinami’s in… and Tsubasa’s too. She subconsciously adjusted her grip on her staff and shifter her weight, but as she felt herself about to spring forth while the King was making their speech, the wiser side of her pulled her back. She had no doubt that she could win any form of martial combat, to her it was as inevitable as the sun rising in the morning and setting at night, but this niggling voice in her head was saying ‘You could definitely win the fight… but if you do, what will you actually get for your effort?’ and she suddenly felt so very, very… bored? This was wrong, a great fight was about start but now it felt so pointless.

Then Chinami really unloaded at her.

Saying how Tesni was reckless, stupid, and sent a lethal attack at a support type magical girl. All of which were absolutely true. Tesni let Chinami’s words wash over her like she was a rock in a river, and even started licking her lips as she could almost hear the high and mighty ‘royalty’ dripping from Chinami’s voice. ‘Genuinely disappointed’, Tesni might have been hurt by those words if she didn’t judge herself by anyone’s standards but her own… but still the sheer disdain and disregard didn’t fail to rile her up when she thought she had calmed down. Then suddenly it hit Tesni. Chinami was trying so hard to find the grey. She desperately wanted to find the good, to find the middle ground, the third way, a better way. Chinami… was an idiot. Searching for another way, desperately hoping for one, was the perfect way for someone to get caught up in their own head looking for options and find themselves not making a choice at all. And trusting Tsubasa, someone who spoke almost exclusively in riddles was the height of foolishness. But Tesni couldn’t bring herself to hate the stupid parts of Chinami. After all, Tesni felt deep in her bones… right now what she really wanted was far… far stupider than Chinami searching for a better way.

If Tesni ever said what she truly wanted from the bottom of her heart she wondered how they would look at her. They would definitely call her an idiot, they already called her that. They would almost definitely call her insane… and most of all they’d wonder if she’s a magical girl at all. But the heart wants what the heart wants and despite hating the idea of seeing those disgusting smug grins on their faces, if Tsubasa was after what Tesni vaguely hoped… she might be able to get what she wants… and if she was lucky she could even see those smug faces contort into something grotesque.

Am I really going to do this? Do I really have a chance? she felt he heart racing and felt giddy at the idea forming in her head, all the strange pieces of a puzzle she wasn’t aware was there fitting into place… it could happen, and she’d be a bigger idiot than they thought if she didn’t at least try. After all, if it doesn’t turn out as she hoped, it’s never too late to ‘flip the table’ so to speak.

Then Ozma showed up. Tesni always had an odd feeling around her, it was never anything concrete, but she had always been a creature of instinct and her instinct was to not trust Ozma. That said her gut instinct was that everyone was some level of untrustworthy, so that feeling shouldn’t really mean anything special. Maybe it was the fact that in her Grimoire she had the moniker of the ‘man behind the curtain’ so whenever she met the illustrious magical girl Tesni felt she never actually ‘met’ her. Still, she put on a smile and turned to Ozma, after all she was the boss and an easy out for the situation.

“Nice to see ya, Ozzy. Oh, don’t worry, I would never do something stupid like endanger a teammate or a civilian. I mean, Miss Enigmatic is neither a teammate nor a civilian, right? But I didn’t know you two were best friends or something. I guess I was getting all worked up over nothing.” Tesni did find that being blunt and honest did have a way of catching people who liked to be the mastermind off guard. It’s like they expect everyone to play the social games to their rules. Plus, it was always fun to see how quickly they get back on track. How quickly the smile comes to the face as they laugh her off as just an idiot.

“Well don’t I feel like an absolute fool. Chinami, I have to say I feel very embarrassed now. I mean, look! Miss Ozzy is talking to Miss Enigmatic as if they’re peers. How could I even hope to hurt someone who is on the level of Ozzy? We are so far out of our depth here aren’t we? They’re so much more experienced than us, we are absolute amateurs compared to them, right?” Turning to Tsubasa, Tesni’s stupid grin never left her face as she scratched the back of her head.

“There is no need to worry about me anymore, Miss Enigmatic. I’m sure you and Ozzy have some catching up to do. Oh, before you go and catch up with your friend, let me know if you ever need a simple hammer to hit some nails. Since I caused such a mess here, I’d love to make it up to you some time. After all, Chinami is absolutely right. Able to tame Pageless, force them to converge in a single area. And as I previously said, compared to you I am absolutely amateur, but to my eye that was all passive! You made it look so effortless and easy. Who knows what else you can accomplish if you put your mind to it, right?” Her eyes were almost sparkling as she spoke.

“You do not have a thing to worry about at all, Chinami. I think I have found a reason to stick around and like I said to Miss Enigmatic, I’m a blunt object best used like one. The simple idea of ‘destroy Pageless’ is something I can easily do. I’ll say this though, I lack the discerning eye you clearly possess so I am very likely to continue making mistakes, but I’ve never let my mistakes stop me.”

Confusion was smothered. Lies went unheard. The distinction between Suzuya and Burning Heart melted under the flames of her scrutiny as she crouched with her legs coiled. It really didn't matter what either side said at this point, a certainty gripping her that she was in a savage land with savage people and she couldn't spare them a mercy they didn't demonstrate to each other.

Dynasty Queen striking with lethal intent. Camelot turning against her allies over a complete stranger. The stranger herself wearing her fathomless nature openly on her sleeve.

The sudden appearence of the Woman Behind the Curtain may have triggered a conflict if Ozma wasn't immediately acting to de-escalate the situation, trying to get all parties to back down. And...it seemed to be working. The Monkey King was backing off, though casting out enough barbs even Burning Heart felt her tails bristling.

"My Grimoire knows the joys of sisterhood. To hold close those you love with all your heart and share your heart in turn. I ache to feel it myself and not the echoes of what once was...yet I do not see even a shred of it outside of Tsubasa's minions. No wonder my predecessor chose to die alone rather then walk in such shameless circles!"



The weight of the moon itself was set to fall upon Dynsasty Queen yet Tsubasa stayed her hand, smoke drifting from parted lips in loops and whirls as she turned from the disengaging monkey to stand with a shoulder to Tesni and the other to Ozma. Though her expression was as neutral as it had been since she first arrived her eyes narrowed with interest and her chosen tools faded like beams of light smothered by a passing cloud.

That, and the startled cries of her familiars as they found themselves between a credible threat and a fox girl who was gaining an incredibly skewed idea of Magical Girl culture, made it clear what her course of action would be.

"It seems that I shall not be finding new converts just yet, so I shall leave the monkey to her drunken ramblings. Accept this gift and my sincere hope you find enlightenment somewhere more dignified then the bottom of a gourd." The rabbit-eared girl turned fully, waving over her shoulder as she strolled towards Camelot and Ozma.

A hair pin of solid but unyielding gold formed, styled in exacting detail to mirror the very measuring device that would have deigned to crush Tsubasa, appeared in Dynasty Queen's hand. Or at least, it would have been a hair pin if it wasn't shattered in two, the ends splintered as though genuine wood and digging into her hand like the barbs of a fishing hook.

"And Ozma, it has been far too long since I have had the company of a natural red head. My homeland is rather lacking outside certain regions, but I have had a fruitful sabattical spreading my teachings beyond these foggy shores. A shame I could not convince you to come along, but I feel I have returned for a purpose that requires considerable investment of my time and resources, so surely we will have time to reconnect."

Her large, laquine ears twitched under the falling rain, the drops falling from her robes without a drop soaking in. It contrasted with the dampness soaking her long, monochromatic hair and features.

"And Camelot, do not despair. Though my countryman is right and the barbarians are at the gates, the light of knowledge I shall freely provide shall liberate those who wish to rise beyond eternal stagnation. Worry not for we shall meet again soon enough."

There was a moment she considered addressing Lilac Shimmer, but Burning Heart's restraint looked frayed enough as it was, so the tall Magical Girl made her leave from them. The tallest and most developed of her familiar's glasped her hands, the rain around her hanging in the air like beads of glass before light flashed from her person and enveloped herself, her peers, and Tsubasa herself.

And when it faded it left behind nothing but a shattered patrol and the rain of a distant pageless.

By choice or chance the tensions built high like walls around their hearts slowly climbed down with Ozma’s appearance. Her words helped matters too as one by one the Magical Girls refrained from an outright battle in their own way. Camelot was the first to exude some restraint but not before a ghastly aura emanated from her. Ozma raised an eye and noted she was probably the only one to realize that brief but potent change in Camelot’s demeanor. Then it was gone and Ozma said nothing of it, her thoughts left to herself. Instead, she walked over to Lilac Shimmer and Burning Heart, trying to quickly assure both girls of what was happening, especially to the former.

Communication was surely not a strong point for this “team”, especially with Dynasty Queen making her rounds too. Ozma said nothing of the Monkey King’s words; why would she when the girls were resolving things in their own way? Though Dynasty Queen’s remarks dripped plainly with sarcasm that she doubted anyone would be fooled by it, the important part was she backed down all the same. “Just happy to help. Like you said, this could have been a lot worse,” she said to Camelot before addressing Dynasty Queen and Tsubasa. “I wouldn’t exactly call us friends now. We just know of each other in the business. Would a bestie ask her other bestie what she meant by a new purpose? Though I’ll guess you’ll disappear before you answer. Sounds like something I’d do.”

Indeed, that was exactly what Moonlight Tsubasa did with final parting words to the girls of her choice. Then she was gone and with her the residual remains of her magic. The area was left to the former patrol and Ozma. The rain heavily dripped and plopped down on her wide hat and she sighed. “Man, that was exhausting. I don’t think we need to worry about the apex Pageless; just have a feeling it’ll be taken care of soon,” she said with a spin on her heels and a flick of her cape. She was already walking away from the group and in the direction of the Grand Ministry.

“Sorry I can’t stay everyone, but I trust your patrol will go smoothly now. Let’s all just try to remember why we’re doing this and settle anything else on school grounds if we have to,” she told the group, her task done. Her steps slowed only as she glided past Camelot. “I’ll talk to the Grand Minister about reconsidering the teams,” she softly told the knight, expression unreadable among the rain and under her hat. “Something like this shouldn’t happen again.” If there was nothing left to be said she’d depart, piqued only by the familiar sensation of someone else in town….ahh. This day was yielding more and more surprises….

The world above the Crimson Comet beckoned in darkness and the great storm that encompassed everything. The Pageless that resembled a grim reaper of the skies continued its fight with the Magical Girls. However, its attacks were blocked by the senior of the group much to its annoyance. Darkened claws slashed and sliced against those light-fueled barriers to no avail and soon enough it was forced to retreat back from the Magical Girls’ counter attack. Clouds dissipated into nothing from the onslaught of lasers coming from Olivia and her eldritch companion while bright flashes of light peppered the sky courtesy of a ghastly crew summoned from Captain Goodhope’s magic.

The Pageless ducked and weaved, much more accustomed to the air than most of the girl’s present. It continued to circle around Captain Goodhope and the Lady of the Lake with claws gleaming as a reminder of what would happen if it got too close. Thankfully the distance was maintained and the rain itself became its enemy from the Lady’s magic. Splinters of hardened water cut through the air like daggers. It forced the Pageless to twist and turn in the cloud’s shadows to avoid the line of fire but it wasn’t long though before a howling banshee’s screech filled the air. The Pageless rocketed out of its hiding spot and revealed several shreds of rainwater embedded into its “heart”.

The Lady’s spell paid off and the Pageless bounced around the air in every direction from Goodhope’s barrage. The wounded creature suddenly found itself privy and open to the attack as the crack of gunfire and muskets sent lit up holes throughout its dark cloak. It gave off another bloodcurdling scream meant to jar and send the younger Magical Girl’s hearts into a miasma of fear long enough for the enraged creature to turn all its efforts on their leader. Those barriers were more problematic than it wanted to account for and despite its instincts shying away from the vast light, the Pageless charged at Lumière in full force. Its palms were gathered in the same flashing orbs that created its previous illusion, tossed at Lumière in an attempt to blind her before going for her throat with razor sharp claws.

---

@Sonnambula @Ponn @Villamvihar

Whether due to Lumiere's encouraging words or that these girls found the courage within their hearts or a combination of the two, Ethereal Rose, Master of Xhar'doth, Captain Goodhope, and Lady of the Lake had banded together as an organized team of magical guardians united by a collective purpose.

First, Xolys unleashed an eldritch beam to consume the enemy, but as it had demonstrated before, the clawed entity was too swift as said beam hit nothing but clouds and droplets. However, the younger girls quickly strategized as Xolys proceeded to use his amorphous body to create platforms and battlements in which Goodhope's sailors could perch upon. The spectral mariners unleashed salvos of ghostly bullets at their target and at the same time, the Water Witch weaponized the rain itself to pepper the Pageless with razor-sharp droplets. This time, the sheer number of projectiles were simply too much for the creature as while it managed to dodge a good chunk of the assault, many more homed into its form. The magical girls needed not to wonder if their attacks were effective or not as the creature's bloodcurdling howl betrayed its reaction.

"It's in pain. Good" Lumiere muttered coldly, tone possessing nary an iota of pity for the being of shadow. "Stout your heart as your fear is exactly what it wants." Conveniently, with Xolys unintentionally being more terrifying than this reaper-esque figure, the seraph presumed that none of the girls would've a problem with it; in fact, knowing Ethereal Rose, she'd be fascinated instead. Alters were surely a unique bunch.

It seemed the dark beast knew that it had bitten far more than it could chew, it realized that its time was up and in all of its bestial limited intelligence, figured that one last desperate attack was the only thing it could do. The silver-haired seraph gazed dispassionately as her eternal enemy gathered orbs of light between its gangly claws...

While Lumiere was but a pale imitation of angels, she still held the power to emulate these divine beings, conceived from the light of the Lord, who in turn was inarguably the most prominent deity on Earth, worshiped by billions throughout the world over countless denominations with tradition and culture spanning millennia of human history. The Omnipotent Father's global fame was to such a degree that even a grimoire embodying just the Malakhim - His Messengers, Warriors, and Guardians - held tremendous power by its own right. Thus, shining from within Lumiere's glowing white pupils was a fragment of His Immaculate Light, and no amount of lesser luminescence could overpower hers.

Then, pray tell, what could a creature of darkness even hope to achieve? Nevertheless, the entity tossed its orbs and blanketed the area in an explosion of unholy light...

"..."

Then, as the yellow light dissipated, the group could see Lumiere and the Pageless, the latter's claws hovering mere inches from the former's throat, and yet, it moved no further... in fact, the reaper wasn't moving at all.

"It's fully within your folly to think that your pale light could match the Lord's, foul creature." Even as Lumiere scolded the monster, the answer to the scene revealed itself in the form of all eight of Lumiere's obelisks surrounding the Pageless, projecting an all-encompassing barrier of light, trapping the clawed beast inside it. The seraph exhaled a quiet sigh as she brought the 'cage' in front of her students.

"O' chosen bearers of humanity's stories, place your verdict upon this devourer of tales."

“We’re done here.” Joyeuse dropped from Lilac's hands, shattering into motes of light upon hitting the ground. Even though the words hadn't been directed at her, they pierced her heart nonetheless.

“I think we’re done here?” Lilac's hands pulled back to hide her eyes. Breathe. That wasn't today. It didn't happen today.

"Yeah, we're done. It was fun, see ya later." It wasn't raining when that happened. No matter how clearly she could hear them still, that was months ago. Nothing could be done, nothing could be said, that would change that day, no matter how much she dwelled on it.

She bit her lip and leaned back. Far from the battle ready stance with blade in hand before, now she rested against a wall, back from the conflict. She forced her hands from her eyes to hold them at her side. She couldn't be this weak. She was supposed to be a magical girl, irrepressible hope.

Lilac seemed dazed as Ozma appeared on the scene and settled things down.

“Lilac Shimmer, if I have injured you, speak now honestly, and I will heal your ailment, no matter how meager it may be. It was not my intent to do harm, but I drew arms against you and took the risk anyway. However, you seem to have a problem. I regret to admit my ignorance of it till now, despite the warning signs and even after two years living together in the same damn room. It is a shameful failure on my part, and had I noticed sooner… perhaps I could have done something before now. For the time being, know only that we shall address it later.”

"Okay. I'm alright." Bonnie responded without eye contact to Camelot as her transformation failed, returning her to normal form. Of course there was something wrong with her. She was just a bad to mediocre person. 4/10. Any friend group she'd join would just break apart. She wasn't cool enough, strong enough, charismatic enough to solve these things. Ozma just whipped in and in a handful of words everything was okay. Bonnie could never be like that.

A day. That was exactly how long it had taken for everything to fall apart again. One day. And this time they had even been fighting each other. The fact that she had been a target was unimportant. It was just that they had been fighting each other at all. Once? Maybe it was bad luck. Twice? Well, you're the common element.

"Can.. Can I go back for now? I don't think I'm ready for another fight." Bonnie asked after Ozma told them the Apex Pageless would likely be handled by someone else.

With Xolys’s eldritch beams of unreality now joined by a fusillade of enchanted gunshot from Goodhope’s spectral crew, and a hail of weaponized raindrops courtesy of the Lady of the Lake, it was only a matter of time before their wraith-like foe succumbed to the massed barrage. Indeed, it would soon be readily apparent that several of the raindrop-spikes had embedded themselves in the glowing orb that passed for the creature’s heart. Emitting an ear-splitting shriek of pain, the Pageless’s attempts at evasion became all the more frantic, but it would do the creature no good, as it was hit once again, this time by several rounds of magical musket fire. “Oh my Goodness!” Olivia exclaimed as she plugged her ears to block out their foe’s deafening cry. “That is certainly some scream! Perhaps it is actually more of a banshee than a wraith…” she mused aloud, seemingly oblivious to the danger of their situation, or the creature’s attempts to frighten them.

Unleashing yet another bloodcurdling screech, the increasingly desperate Pageless hurled itself upon Lumiere. However, the venerable Magical Girl seemed utterly unperturbed by this. There was a blinding flash, and once it had faded, it was revealed that the sliver-haired seraph had imprisoned the dark creature within a cage of luminous energy. The angelic girl then brought the caged Pageless before her four teammates, as though she was a fisherman showing off a prized catch, and asked them to pass judgement on it.

Now that she got a close look at it, Olivia couldn’t help but feel that the poor creature actually looked rather pathetic, and so she found herself hesitant to make the decision she knew was expected of her. “Ummm, I, uh, suppose we should destroy it,” she began hesitantly. “Though it truly is a shame we can’t reason with them,” she added after a moment. “Y-You know, make them stop attacking people and perhaps even fight on our side.”