At least they were agreed on the unimportance of conversation. They all had chosen their paths, and reconciliation was long gone. Alicia might have felt bad about the fight before, but any guilt was driven into the ground and squashed by what the pair had done since their meeting. For all the girls that they had brainwashed, she would make sure that this ended once and for all.
Unfortunately she didn't do so great after that. She'd remembered the shadow manipulation, but had underestimated how many would be left behind in a graveyard like this. She was going to need a lot more light if she was going to negate that entirely.
Just as suddenly she found herself affixed to his shield, the intention obvious as he began charging at the recently arrived Penny. At least she still had one arm to use, and no intention of being used as a human shield to keep her friend from doing what had to be done here. She might not have access to her bow with only one arm, but that didn't mean she was helpless either. Not by a long shot.
Her right hand opened wide as she focused, imagining what she wanted. A sword, of course. But light was also heat, and in her mind she imagined it glowing bright, brighter and hotter, and even more still. With a mental snap she manifested the blade in her free hand and swung it backwards, stabbing at Elroy's arm and then at the chains that bound her in place on the shield. At their give she would move, diving off to the side whilst taking a swing at his leg.
Only then did she let the sword go, instead returning Star Seraph to her as she manifested a trio of hanging orbs of light to illuminate her immediate area. A quick shot, she fired off a bolt of light at the dragon harassing Summer to give the Beckoner relief while keeping Elroy's presence close in mind for any retaliatory attacks. She wasn't sure if her friend could hear her at this distance, but she could sure try. "Penny, flatten that crypt!" she called, well aware of her disposition to break things. And now she could go all out.
beacon would save the day this time around, there was not a doubt in her mind on that.
Lily's heart ran a hundred miles an hour as she zipped and dashed from gravestone to gravestone, using them as cover from the cultists' projectiles. It had been a while since she had entered into open combat, but she hasn't forgotten the rush that came with it. She could get excited, because she knew she was fighting for the side of true love; when Aurelio confirmed they were on the same page, she smiled confidently; they could do this. When she was empowered by Aurelio's spell, she felt her courage grow immensely, and streaks of lightning now traced after her, like a flowing veil of yellow energy. Moving at speeds unseen in Penrose up to that point, she easily ran circles around Abigail, her bow bright as it launched arrows. Still, she looked miffed as her shots got deflected. "Aurelio, keep her distracted! I'll deal with-Kyaaah!"
Lily was shocked to see Abigail turn furious, and found herself spinning in place, unable to move as gravity was nonexistent for her; her greatest weakness was indeed taking her agility away from her. "Oh no! I'm stuck!" She cried out, and screamed as she felt herself become the center of a gravitational force, her entire body now under great pressure, causing her great pain; it was like being compressed into a small box. Even worse, she now attracted the surrounding environment, with rocks and clones colliding into her.
"No! I can't...!" She struggled, but she was far too weak to resist Abigail's Gravity Well. As the pain kept rising, and her breathing turned more hoarse, the electric veil surrounded her, wrapping her in a crackling field as she curled up. "M-Make it stop...Make it stop!" Something strange began to happen in the battlefield; some clones of Aurelio, upon being hit with a projectile, were completely fine when they should have been destroyed. Also, some seemed to teleport forward and back while they were still on the move, as did everything else that had motion. Aurelio then realized what was happening, having seen the phenomenon in an online game; everyone's perception of time was "lagging out", like the real world was connected to a server with extremely high latency. When Aurelio's clones moved, some seemed to stay frozen in place, only to teleport to the other side, while others seemed to rapidly move back and forth, their current state undecided for microseconds at a time. Abigail could no longer tell where Aurelio or his clones were or would be, unable to predict their movement as time itself bent and twisted.
Cindy's expression didn't budge as she listened to Penny's explanation, only nodding occasionally to acknowledge her words. Upon learning the circumstances for the two's current relationship, Cindy nodded, and lowered her blocking hand. She understood that strong feelings of attachment would lead to their rash decisions, but she did deem the girls as lesser for being so controlled by their emotions. The message was odd, but didn't seem to reflect Penny's current actions. The message was a bit concerning, she thought, But, she could make an ally, given the right encouragement. She gave a slight smile. ‘I am satisfied. However, by aligning with me, your friend has put herself under my protection. As it is, I won't let you approach her if she doesn't want it. However, if you become my subject, I will take your wishes under equal consideration. I need my underlings to get along, and as such, it would be natural of you to meet and talk under my supervision.’
She watched as Penny walked away, and then turned to meet eyes with a strange floating girl with octopus hair and carrying a rusty chest. ‘That is correct,’ she responded, glad to know that she was recognized. ‘Have you come to seek my protection? As you can see, it is likely you will soon need it.’ She gestured towards the tornadoes and the black smoke that coiled upwards into the sky. She also listened to Lotus, and lifted an electric eyebrow in response to her claim of ruling Penrose's coast. ‘Is that so? Well, at least you recognize my right to Penrose's governance, so I shall listen to what you have to say.’ She then looked down at the chest, and grimaced. ‘Well, it certainly is...Something. Do you honestly expect me to open this by myself?’ While she didn't suspect Lotus of ill intentions, as she was facing her entire retinue of fellow magical girls at the moment, she still considered the gesture rude. She also didn't like touching metallic objects because of her lightning-filled body. ‘You there. Open it,’ she commanded a member of her gang, and the girl reluctantly judo chopped the lock, lifting it up for Cindy to examine the contents.
Helga barreled through the smoke shoulder-first, and saw Su speak to what seemed like Alicia, only she was smiling in a way she knew the uptight Beacon girl would never do. Her eyes furrowed as the disguise melted, and her sharp teeth turned into a gnarl as she confirmed her suspicions; these people desecrated Amber's corpse. She was absolutely furious, her claws clacking together as her entire body trembled violently; the last time she felt such anger was when she confronted Justine for murdering her. When the monoliths rose around her friends, it was the last straw, and she was consumed by pure wrath.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH AMBY, YOU FUCKING BITCH!"
She screamed, and her Monstrous Metamorphosis kicked in, turning her into a winged, mechanical dragonoid. She screamed the loudest she had ever screamed before, her Sound magic having amplified it to a frequency that went beyond shattering ice, and cracked the sturdy monoliths themselves. Everyone in the graveyard could hear this, over the sounds of fighting. As a result of the audial attack, Divina was dazed, her ears now ringing. In fact, it was probable Su and Chloe's ears were also dazed with ringing ear. With an earth-shaking launch, Helga took to the air, her wings furled, and performed a drill dive on her claws first, roaring the entire way.
"LET HER FINALLY REST!"
Kimble flew around in a mad rush, her sickle hacking visible cuts into the hurricane she was wrestling with. She was ecstatic at the prospect of being useful to the nice people at Beacon who took her in, especially Alicia. "Nyaa! Once I calm these winds, Mistress will be pleased! Maybe she will nyatice me, and pat my head...Nhhh, my heart is pounding!" Her tails whisked back and forth as she daydreamed about Alicia, when she heard a strange sound. Her furry ears twitched, and her eyes were wide as they saw a girl in a green dress, also using Wind magic to calm the storms. Like a curious kitten, she watched as the pretty lady gracefully spun around, admiring her skill with Air magic. "Heyyyy! Miss Butterfly!" She greeted her, and flew close. "Hello! I'm Kimble!" She gave a cute smile. "Thanks for helping me with these bad tornadoes! What's your name?"
Rebecca tentatively pressed into the fog wall, her gaze firmly fixated on her surroundings for any kind of signs or signals to where she might be going. The dense shroud that covered the graveyard, the oppressive aura she could feel making her way through it, everything indicated that she shouldn't be where she was. Even her shadow steps barely provided any ground clearance, but it wasn't like she would be able to tell, not under the veil of smoke. But that oppression kept her moving forwards. Such an occurrence, there was no doubt Beacon would show up, and if they did, The Seraph would be among them. What a perfect chance she had - all she really had to do was find the girl.
Better said than done.
For a moment, she thought she had some semblance of her bearings. Bravaan's voice lingered in the back of her mind, accompanied by the words of Christine. She needed to fight, and destroy her opponents, and complete her objective. Becoming a Tasker, Rebecca had thought this kind of work would be left to others. That her days would be spent scouring the city for graffiti and blog URLs, dredging up information of Fears and the like, and investigating potential threats or informants. Despite her earlier protest to the job, a modicum of joy crept its way into her mind. Bravaan's influence, surely, but it held weight. There was a tangible sense of accomplishing something worth while.
As she thought, she stumbled into what began to look like a clearing. The smoke was less dense - she could see more of her surroundings. And what she could see was strange. A beast of a being, some black and viscous form, that... seemed to be attacking another girl. But just past that, there was a veil - something she could see through, among and between the fog. People she hadn't seen before, except for one - the profile of Alicia. Crisis crossed her mind. A hand clutched the hilt of her blade, and she looked back and forth between the two scenes. Her mission was right there. She could start completing it immediately, get the worst over and done with.
"Why do you want to join, exactly?"
"Ah... We, wan't ta do somin' good. 'Elp some people or, or... or somethin', ah dunno."
With a running start, Rebecca drew her sword, and grasped it with both hands. As she approached, she brought it down to her left side, letting the blade face diagonally down towards the ground, whilst charging it with her magic, until she came upon the thing. This giant, awful beast. Near enough in melee range, she swung across and diagonally up, aiming for one of the Tar Baby's legs, her sword brimming with an immobility curse, hoping to sever the limb in its entirety. Whether the curse would be effective or not, she didn't know, nor whether she was physically strong enough to cut off such a creatures leg, but she had to try.
Regardless of whether the attack was successful, and provided she wasn't restrained in anyway, she would immediately pull back into a defensive stance - positioning the katana vertically and on her right side, preparing to deflect any attacks that came her way.
She had flown a fair distance, just to reach the graveyard. Now that Cindy Ford's little usurpation of Penrose was no longer the biggest event, she had no need of heading there. This was a much more important, and vast, scenario. Without hesitation, Katelyn dove into the fog barrier, intent on making her way to the heart of the place as quickly as possible. Unless something drew her attention along the way. Whether this was the fault, in some way, of Cindy and her group, she couldn't tell, but the stench of a Horror lingered over the area. She had encountered Horror servants before. Killed Horror servants before. Graveyards and mysterious smoke was a trade tradition, at this point.
The moment she landed in the area, what looked to be some kind of Mausoleum, her eyes went to the surroundings. From the outset, she spotted what looked like four Magical Girls of some kind, and numerous minions surrounding the area. Tentacled abhorrences, that tallied three in her mind. Two of the four did battle with the minions, doing their best to clear them out, but struggling. She had never seen them before, but the other two... she recognised immediately, even with them both locked into battle. One of them was that girl, the knight, from when The Bates had attacked her. Revenge made itself known for a second, until her eyes flicked to the last combatant.
In a few seconds, she summoned her spear, the white lightning arc plunging through the fog wall to her hand, whereupon she raised it, pointing the tip towards the two fighters. The next second was filled with the sound barrier breaking, and the tip firing off towards them, most likely capable enough to kill the intended target with a single shot if she didn't dodge of somehow block it. But the spear railgun wasn't the end, as Katelyn leapt her way towards the two, ignoring Mika, Lupa, and Sil's Shade entirely.
"Hey there, Silhouette. I've been looking for you." she said coldly, channelling her magic to regenerate the tip of her spear, the blade and handle crackling with residual electricity; if Sil wasn't dead from the railgun, she would watch Katelyn stroll up towards Shona, eyeing her target from the corner of her eye, "You must be Shona, I've read about you. Remember me?" she grasped the spear, angling it towards Silhouette, but keeping a watchful eye in case Shona attempted anything against her, "Apologies for breaking up your fight, but this one is mine to kill."
“I m-mean, we’re not really, you know…” …playing football here, are we?
Amaryllis didn’t manage to finish the rest of her sentence though, as Betty immediately went on to the next bits of info that she felt like disseminating. A magical girl bodyguard who suspects that the Mint’s after them? What a rough life. Maybe if the currently-not-Knight-of-Rose actually knew how to speak her mind, she’d have offered condolences or something. But the world didn’t wait for her to timidly sputter out words, and it looked like every day, Penrose tumbled further towards apocalyptic calamity.
As the ever-grumpy Scarlet Hallwell appeared (must be the VIP, huh), Amaryllis shrunk back further, uncertain as to how she was even supposed to respond to all these words being tossed at her. Was this just what confident people did? Throw a small speech at strangers before walking off? Was that what she’s supposed to emulate then? Her Sword continued to rattle in her brain like an impatient child, but the sheer nausea of even being in the presence of a blonde primadonna made it nothing but a distant concern. It wasn’t like Amaryllis asked for these backbreaking tiddies, or even to get contracted with a sword altogether. She wasn’t even in Penrose when that stuff happened! Not like she really needed to transform into a superhuman stabby person to survive the day. And geez, extensive networks are, who woulda thought, hard to get into when it literally involves selling your soul to a whole buncha creepy things, especially when her soul was more or less already sold.
But rather than calling out after Scarlet, Amaryllis simply compartmentalized it all and shoved it aside to deal with later. Personal issues had no place in this circumstance, especially not her personal issues. The convergence of dark powers and foul energies and her painfully loud Sword pulled her out of her head and into the present, and finally, she turned towards Sammy.
For a moment, she was almost happy that the little detective girl had come back for her.
Then rationality told her that they only crossed paths because Sammy had been heading back after determining how ridiculously crowded the Cindy Ford area was.
And Amaryllis did the big sad again.
“Uh, sure, that would be…I mean, yeah, thanks. Ah, but wait a second.”
Stepping into a nearby alleyway, Amaryllis crouched behind a dumpster, spoke the magic words, and…
The moon shone, and she stood alone, bathed in fluorescent fire.
Her arms raised towards Diana, entwining in an infinite spiral, caressing the face of the heavens even as slender fingers grasped nothing. The maiden and the moon, separated by the vastness of distance.
But the Heavenly Muses, faceless and flowing, saw the offering and took it, nine celestial flowers twirling around her as moonlight bent and twirled, as her earthly garments dissolved into Edenic dress.
She twirled at the insufficient peak, the Edenic fabric dissolving in starfire. Her arms unravelled like the blooming of a rose, and sparkling sand, lunar dust, fell from the moon, sifting through the gaps of her cupped hands.
The staircase shattered and, arching her back against the tyranny of gravity, she fell into a garden of roses, iron vines tearing into flesh.
From the rose garden, the maiden knight resurfaced, clad in Silverlight and Starspace.
✦【I】 【A】【M】 【R】【E】【B】【O】【R】【N】✦
…the reverie of rusted roses returned unto this plane.
A silver sword, a silver blossom. Hair of azure, eyes of amethyst. A blue rose could not exist without divine intervention. A blue rose could not be attained without undying affection. Only in the reflection of the god-slaying blade could the true value of one’s soul be tested, and only in wielding the proscribed Silverlight could the heart of its wielder be exposed.
Once again, judgment arrived, clad in cloth, armed with steel.
“Forgive me for my tardiness, Great Illuminator of Mystique,” the Knight of Rose spoke, “It will be my pleasure to mount such an awe-inspiring beast. Now, let us depart, and strike this foul malady at its very heart!”
With a wholly extraneous leap, the flamboyant maiden flipped once and landed behind the Illuminator, raising her sword dramatically.
Breaking through the fog a small section of the battle came into view. Leaving out the monsters and cultists the three combatants were all people the twins knew. Though the one that was a surprise was Abigail. She had been one of the Beacon girls to go missing. While Janet had not known the girl all that well it did afford her at least some knowledge of what they were going up against. Thanks to Aurelio they also knew that she was brainwashed by the Bates, an issue that the reforged girls could potentially resolve with their new Specs. That whole circumstance she had intimate familiarity with. Simply focusing on that though would not do. It was clear that their allies were getting focused pretty hard at the moment. Thankfully there were two of them.
With a simple motion Janet pointed her sister to assist Lily. They would keep in contact psychically between the four of them. We got your back. Jenna, try and cleanse Abigail. Isolate her at least. Breaking away Janet cast a defense spell on Lily to shield her from incoming debris. That was merely a stop gap to allow Jenna to work on Abigail. Luckily it didn't require getting close to the gravity well and also becoming trapped. Given all the other baddies around though it would probably do well to deter them as well. Lance leveled Jenna first cast a spell to strip away at the dark magic surrounding Abigail. Hopefully having weakened Regina's grip Jenna switched to using her own Psychic abilities to free her friend. In the past Justine had gotten around the Spark that Beacon had given Janet. It was a particular that, since their use of the Red Coin, they'd spent a little time learning about. While not having the magical prowess as some psychics there were situations like this were they could try and use other facets. In this case her Reinforcement spec to attempt to bolster the Spark within Abigail in tandem with Psychic to undo the brainwashing.
While that was happening Janet rushed to the defense of Aurelio. She could put a barrier up around her friend, but at the moment she had the element of surprise. Boosting her own speed she ran her lance past one cultist, aiming at one just further while clothes lining a second. "Am I interrupting?" Not waiting for a response she continued on into the midst of the cultists to disrupt their focus. The reach of the lance covered a wide swath around her so staying out of range was more of a task than one might expect from a melee weapon.
Horrors were always such a pain. Worse they came in so many varieties and scales that one never really knew if they were dealing with the ones that are out to make things difficult or the one that wanted to consume the universe. Most often it never got far enough to know one way or the other. Unfortunately on this occasion the Earth girl had garnered the attention of a horror that felt the need to reach back out. Not in kind, as the response was far and away more devastating.
Having a thing speak to her through her mind was nothing new to Shannon. That was all well and good. After all sometimes a being such as thins will just go on and on without really doing much at all. Soth didn't do something expected. Seeing or being shown terrible things was not preparation for the tidal wave of suffering that was dropped on the girl. Even if she had the fortitude to ignore the things in her minds eye there was just so much of it that there was nowhere else to turn to get away. Even when the imagery stopped and the voice left there was barely the faculties to notice a monster had run into and ensnared her. Tumbling and engulfed the realization of what had happened didn't really kick in until the creature started trying to tear her apart with its teeth.
Touch was about the only sense available in the pitch black. The makeup of the thing surrounding Shannon definitely felt like tar. Having an extensive geological knowledge of terra firma there was little doubt in her mind that where she she was not going to be able to struggle her way out of this. Tar pits were essentially natures death traps that once you fell in you weren't getting out. So already being dead center of a living thing of tar there was no amount of leverage to free herself. That did not mean she was entirely out of options though.
We'll see who eats who first. Completely unaware of what Rebecca was doing outside the dirt under the Tar Baby shifted, pulling whatever legs it may still have out from under it. The earth didn't stop at that though as the earth rolled up and over the inky black monster. Over and over the ground underneath shifted up and over sucking both the girl and its prey deeper into the earth. Once sufficiently buried that the creature wasn't going to just be able to jump out the ground would began to swirl while continuing to overturn like a cement mixer. While Shannon had no way to get out of the tar she wasn't the only thing that would stick to it. Assuming nothing stopped her she would turn this ball of tar into clods of asphalt as it would become clods of dried up dirt and tar.
For a moment...it seemed like her patron had turned his attention away, even if only for a brief time. Though it wasn't like she was free either at this point in time. Her limbs were held tight, eldritch tentacles wrapped around them and holding them in place.
More than this, the ritual had begun. Robed horrors and a few mind-bent human slaves gathered around the central altar, around that white sheet covered body. Arms (or other appendages) were raised by the cultists, before a slow thrum of chanting began to echo within the chamber. Hushed voice speaking in sheer reverence, all in an alien language that seemed to emanate a sort of power into the air with each word. Yet the atmosphere of the stone-wrought room seemed to be condensing, thickening, making it harder to breathe as dark magical energies began to permeate the chamber. Even the Black Coin her patron had acquired was placed on top of the sheet as the chanting continued, melting through the sheet and into the body under it like it was water.
But...
She could also feel it in her body, the power inside of her being yanked on like she was a dog on a leash, the very feeling of life in her body even being pulled out of her. It was like her insides were iron, and the body on that altar was the magnet...albeit unlike a magnet this corpse was absorbing the very life and magic being torn from Annabelle's own body. As much as the girl attempted to use what she had to cling to what was being taken from her...she was starting to die without a doubt. Truly, actually, die.
As mind-bent as she was, it didn't frighten her because it was "death". No, it was more worse. She was watching herself die, with every bit of loss leaving body-wide pain in its wake for her. It was like having hot lava pulled out of her, and she wasn't any bit sedated for it the operations. She almost would have preferred they pull out her actual guts compared to this...but even so she held on as best as she could. She was a magical girl, there...there were far worse things than this...like watching Regina and Elroy die. She had no doubts Soth would allow Regina and Elroy to perish merely for his whim of incarnation, just like he was doing to her...
She was almost, if not already, very laughable. Some amnesiac failed vessel of a Horror, kept for parts and used to collect them at the same time. She had no past to remember, she had no present any would care about after being tricked and used all this time before, and she had no future after this ritual because she was being used a fuel for a Horror. Looking at it all now, it was like a mediocre tragedy, one that got booed off of stage on the first night it premiered.
Did she matter at all? Had she done any good for anyone in this world? The idea of being a hero, dashed into millions of particles and cast across the cosmos...and only visible in a distant twinkling she could never grasp. No friends, no allies here to help, and no one probably willing to listen to her at this point.
-------
But as the fog of pain hung in her mind as the seconds and minutes passed, clouding her thoughts and eliciting grunts of pain, one sensation eventually wormed it way into her awareness. A small and tiny thing, but not useless by any means. In fact, it was a lack of other sensations altogether, in regards to her right arm by now. That arm made of chains, formed after she'd been shot and had an arm butchered at the stadium....her patron hadn't even made it-
Aha! Soth hadn't infested it when he tried to possess her as an avatar those years ago, he hadn't made the arm itself at all even! Magic wasn't leaving it, she could feel it, and maybe that was all she needed to do something here. But..what? What could she do with this little revelation even?
"Wait a second...," Annabelle said, the words trailing out of her lips as an idea finally came to her mind, a very small smile lingering on her lips.
There was at least one thing she could try. That magical girl, er, Amaryllis! She had made the chains originally, so maybe the chain could...potentially make them "resonate" with the other girl? Er, despite he own magic now permeating them to the core? By the cosmos, it was a very random idea, and it wasn't like she had tried to test it before for more obvious reasons. It was worth a shot though, maybe, if it didn't get her instantly killed by either the cultists here or the person who had refused to listen to her before as she had tried to stop things.
Dammit.
Annabelle took a deep breath or two, trying to focus just enough beyond the pain to channel her magic in that new right arm of hers. Focus on the chains...try to trace the magic back....kinda like a portal.....just about....yes!
The darkness magical girl felt something 'click' in her head, like someone had turned on a walkie-talkie. It wasn't much to spit at, but maybe it was something that could work? She just hoped it worked, if nothing else did, and that it couldn't be used to actually kill her right now. Would that speed up the ritual if she died?....she has no idea. But no, she had to use this while she had it in place!
-------
Shortly thereafter, a certain "Knight of the Rose" would find herself on the receiving end of a sudden mental message. Certainly not the messages of the knight's patron, at least. The voice would perhaps be familiar, though:
'H-Hello? Is...is this thing working? Please tell me if you can hear me! Please! I don't have much time!
As soon as Alicia's arrow connected, Summer dropped out of the small gap in the dragon's mouth as it opened in surprise. Deciding that a head-on strategy would be futile, she instead pulled out her bat and began waving it in front of the dragon's face. "Here girl, here girl." she said. "Ready? Fetch!" Summer threw her bat into the distance, her magic causing the dragon to run after it like a puppy. During the moment of reprieve, she bit her thumb to cause bleeding and began to suck out her blood, spitting it out afterwards, sucking out the curses like poison from a dragon snake bite. When the dragon returned, happily moving about as if wagging a tail, Summer took her bat back and threw it at Regina, hoping the dragon would run into her in its mad dash towards it.
She took this moment to grab a few items from her handbag, specifically a large paintbrush, a can of paint, a folding ladder, and a large tarp. She quickly painted a tunnel on the tarp and hung it up from the ladder before pulling a multitude of bricks from her handbag, building a brick wall behind the tarp and then running into the painting with her magic to stand far inside the tunnel.
She couldn't hear, and her sword was feeling incredibly heavy. But that was fine. The weight of her bow had always been heavy, a little more wouldn't stop her. As long as she didn't get hit with any more, it would be fine. It seemed as though however, she needed to change targets - fine, she would take out this Regina then. She probably thought she was a melee user, attempting to keep her at range judging from how she was shadow stepping. Hmph. Never assume your opponents abilities are always obvious.
Ignoring the pain in her shoulder and thigh, Rina leaped over a third arrow, narrowly avoiding it. Smirking confidently, in the few seconds she was in the air she knocked one of her arrows, firing it at Regina's position, attempting to predict where her shadow stepping would take her.
Upon landing, Rina spun, focusing on dodge tactics for now.
"Ouch, rejection hurts." Chloe smirked. "I don't know who this Elroy is, but with a name like that he's probably trash-" Before Chloe could finish the thought, the other girl in the vicinity leaped into the air - whatever she was planning on doing was going to be massive, but she didn't have time to contemplate that. Divina leaped backwards, a row of pitch black monoliths rising around them and the girl disappeared, not even her Third Eye able to seemingly find her.
It was then a third girl that had showed up did something quite annoying. With a monstrous transformation, she leaped into the air with a high pitched roar. Chloe winced, holding the side of one of her ears, though otherwise didn't seem too bothered by it.
"I dunno who she is, but that girl really needs to work on her bedroom voice," Chloe smirked as Divina was attacked by the monstrous girl. "But I guess you're quite the heart breaker huh? - but that's okay." The Dark Magical girl held her orb in front of her. "I'll set you straight. Just don't blame me for a little rough loving, hmm?~" Chloe would remain at a distance for now, and would instead focus on destroying those pillars while those other two focused on the girl herself.
Deftly avoid a laser, Chloe focused more magic into her orb, channeling the magic into powerful beam and swinging it in a horizontal fashion. A pack of vicious dog spirits had gathered near Divina, waiting to sink their teeth into her.
A voice. A familiar voice, carrying with it all the messy, complicated feelings. A painful voice, crossing through space to fill the mind with a language shared by humans, rather than the slicing tongue of a sword-god.
As the world blurred around her, Sammy’s tiger steed shooting through with impressive speed, the Knight of Rose narrowed her eyes, sensing the magical connection that kept the two of them bound even now. Her chains lived still, writhing and corrupted as they were, and through that, such a link could be created.
How invasive.
“Maiden, has the veil over your eyes finally been lifted?”
That voice...wasn’t the most pleasant one to hear echoing in her mind right now. It made the remaining part of her former right arm throb a bit more with each surfacing of pain just remembering…remembering what had happened to it. Her ignored pleas….desperate cries of others...being stabbed in the back by her own patron….it sent chills down her spine. All of it, all of that mess that had gone on, she hated it. And now the one she cared about most was in danger, and she was dying, and the city was going to be potentially destroyed if not the actual planet potentially.
’Agh!....I believe so- hah, AH!!!’
Stupid brain, letting the sounds of her pain leak over in these messages. Stupid her, for letting things go this far and not trying to stop this sooner...but she couldn’t fuss about it now. She could only try to move forward, gritting her teeth to get this far. She couldn't relent.
Not with everything that was at stake.
’...My patron led me on, and did so to everyone he could to get to this point.
And...and i had no idea what he was really up to. I just...i just wanted to help people. He’d never done things like this b-before now.
...I wanted...i wanted to be friends with you, even…i’ve been so alone....’
The words slipped off of her lips as the old situation came to her mind. It hurt to admit it, however, but she soon tried to get back on track. The stupid pain was wracking her mind enough still, took a lot to focus properly at that.
’I wasn’t meant...AGH!!!....to be his m-magical girl. I was his first attempt to make an...an avatar.
B-But my boss, h-he’s right now trying to incarnate into the body of a magical girl he had stolen and prepared.
A-And if he succeeds...the city, the world even, m-might not survive t-the ritual...’
“In the end, Horrors are merely Horrors, huh?”
An involuntary thought, transmitted to another’s mind as easily as breathing. The pain of another shot through her as easily as if it were her own, and Amaryllis set her lips into a tight line. The end of the world, huh. With so many incidents occurring in the same city, over and over again, how has the world not yet fallen prey to any of these undying celestial scourges?
Because humanity, as collectives, as individuals, refused to keel over.
“I cannot be your friend, Annabelle. But I certainly should have tried harder to slap you awake. Before it came down to this.”
Her heart roared, her blood sang, her mind bloomed.
“For that, I apologize.”
A sword of silver to vanquish all the evils of the world. A god in her hands, guiding her to the pinnacle of bladeskill. A mighty steed, a companion with a set of powers she’d never have. And now, a maiden, pure of heart, clear of eyes, to illuminate the path within grotesque shadows.
“So guide me. How can I save you?”
Time to try harder.
’Ha….ah…m-maybe you have reasons for that, but y-you can’ tell a girl….she can’t try to make a friend out of you….haha- AH!!!
A vain attempt at humor, or to sound better off than she was.
Truth be told, she wouldn’t argue with what the Rose Knight had let slip. Soth...he had always been the same, she supposed. They all were the same...heh….took too long to get to this point though. Too long for her, maybe too late even.
’Ah...hah...i-if you can get to the crypt in the graveyard...i can let one or two people in before S-Soth stops me. M-Maybe. B-But Regina and E-Elroy are defending, a-and its dark. I-I-I...have an idea to t-try to handle that, w-while we have this connection going.
...B-Boss, h-he’s draining my life, to b-bring his new avatar to l-life before he gets into it. B-But the chains that make my new right arm….that’s my magic a-alone. W-We...we can use it t-to try to fight back...interrupt things….if i...can get some h-help in here.’
“On the sword of my soul, the flower of my heart, deliverance shall doubtlessly descend upon you. For now, stay strong and stay silent.”
The Knight of Rose smiled, despite the nearing calamity. Drawing into her magic, seeping through the connection the two had, she regained power over a very small portion of the chains that made up Annabelle’s arm. Glistening threads grew through corrupted metal, weaving together to form a silver clover.
Her token, her assurance, her compass.
“I’ll make it on time. Don’t worry about it.”
’Heh...y-you have a good sense of t-timing with t-that….AH!!!
..ah..hah....Just t-tell me when you...get t-to the barrier...or R-Regina...’
Another wave of intense pain rippled through the darkness magical girl’s body, causing her to nearly bite her tongue as she tried to avoid screaming. The touch of the small, tiny silver clover being somewhat comforting...and frankly perhaps lucky since it seemed to have four leaves to her eyes. It almost elicited a beleaguered laugh from the mindbent magical girl by just thinking about it, before another sharp pain hit and she let out a small scream within the ritual room’s stone walls.
None of the crawling horrors paid her any mind, however, as they continued about their business. It took a few silent minutes before the girl communicated again, however.
’....H-Have you ever…fallen in love with someone before, A-Amaryllis?’
“The whims of Aphrodite have yet to chance upon my heart, Maiden,” Amaryllis replied, slightly baffled. “Has that demon boy become the apple of your eye?”
Despite the pain she was in, a low chuckle could be heard from Annabelle over the mental link.
’N-No...not him….ah….
...she’s b-beautiful to me, a-at l-least, i suppose.’
She couldn’t ever recall another looking at her like that, or hearing of such from Regina herself. Not anyone in this world before she was a magical girl, nor ever since. It it wasn’t right, but...at the same time was it so selfish to want to be that first person to see her like such?
’...S-She’s someone hurt by...by the cruel w-world so much....s-she b-became a monster….
...y-yet she shines like a s-star t-to me, u-under the moonlit sky….AH!!!’
Like a crescent moon hanging in the sky, she could look at her forever. Heh...
...Perhaps she was being nostalgic, sappy to a fault, but maybe she liked it...maybe she liked those feelings those images in her mind gave her. Images of a girl who at that moment made it seems like everything really wasn’t so bad in this world. Dreams of a happy future, even, where nothing else mattered anymore.
’She is a-afraid t-to touch others...and b-by doing s-so has hurt s-so many....but her hands are so soft, l-like p-precious silk…
And that s-smile s-she has when she’s t-truly happy...it’s more r-radiant than the s-un, a-and more fascinating t-than all the stars in the sky…
Annabelle felt a few tears rolling down her cheeks. Perhaps...some of this was because her mind had been bent. Maybe she was desperate.
...But thats glimpse of what some might call “heaven”, at least to her, was more valuable than all the riches of the world.
’E-Even...even if o-others h-hate her forever f-for her sins…e-e-even if t-they c-curse my name for mine…..ARGH!!!...
….i c-can’t h-help but want to protect that s-smile f-forever…e-even if it costs me...my very l-life…
The secondhand embarrassment was unreal.
And the danger in those words was even greater.
Enough so that Amaryllis needed to take a step back.
“Annabelle, stop. Don’t confess these feelings to someone uninvolved, cause I’m not going to tell her this if you die, ok?” Too much of a burden for a loveless swordwielder, too much of a burden for anyone to carry the love of someone from beyond the grave. “So just sit tight and wait till you can say it in her face instead.”
There was a pause, and then Amaryllis let out an asymmetrical smile, equally diabolic, equally sympathetic.
“And no hero in all of mankind has managed to protect the smile of a beloved by using their own life. Self-sacrifice is just self-satisfaction for the weak...and referencing the stars during a moonlit night is a bad metaphor too, cause starlight is oft dimmed by Luna’s fair gaze. Just so you’re aware. Survive this and go read Shakespeare, Maiden.”
The void-touched magical girl's embarrassment rang out from her on all fronts, snapping her out of the pained yet increasingly romantic mindset she had been falling gradually into just a minute ago. Unintentionally she’d even let images slip through...t-though the m-mental link…..maybe she could just die now, yes? Just have them tear the rest of her life and magic out of her and put her out of her misery.
But by the Abyss, the raw blush and panic on her face was greater than the sum of all embarrassed anime girls combined. Or so it felt like, at least, to the utterly mortified Annabelle.
Even a few of the lesser horrors wandering the ritual site gave her strange, and ultimately very confused, looks. At least, before going on their business once more.
However, the situation itself was still rather serious despite the moment itself. This city, Regina, Amaryllis, and the world itself were in danger here because a Horror wanted to have an avatar and incarnate into the world. A Greater Horror who had as much of an understanding of mortal life as a slice of bread understood the complexities of a cat’s mind.
It was enough to help her sober back up after a few minutes of writhing in the most awkward manner. She couldn’t close the mental link either, as she had to stay in contact with Amaryllis. But there was one thing the darkness magical girl agreed with: She needed to say all of this to Regina...and maybe read some Shakespeare apparently, whoever he was.
Aurelio cursed under his breath at Abigails’s reaction. It sounded like she had misinterpreted what Lily was saying and was dead set on keeping her feelings the way they are. It was situations like this that affirmed his hate of brainwashing, because he could feel the warped emotions flowing from the turned Beacon member.
Then things started to get hard to follow. As he and his clones started to lag out for lack of a better description. He would be unable to stop the massive grin that broke out on his face. Leaning in to the temporal magical oddity He and his clones would start blinking around the battle field.
The main Aurelio was handing out spells to his few remaining standard clones that would wait a moment before casting them. Towards the cultists a few lancing rays of red and orange light were fired. The red would explode on contact with anything while the orange should start to erode what it hit. Every now and again a normal clone would pop up with a Yellow glow on its cane which would soon fire off yellow chains that would seek to wraparound and bind whatever they were near. All the while they would be chatting like they were in a gaming chat room with each other. Handing out praise and playful taunts to each other in equal measure.
The Sky Aurelio would turn his attention towards Lily and would quickly find himself at her side, fully aware that its chance of getting out of the gravity well would be small. “Hey, don’t worry I’m here to help” Sky Aurelio would say as it started to weave its magic, which would have a bubbly joyousness to it. It didn’t want to dispel all of the gravity magic that were affecting Lily. Just the compounding pressure that was making it hard to breath and the well that was dragging everything in, because if it could remove or tweak those, then a simple spell would give Lily the temporary ability to fly. After all who didn’t want to be able to fly? To this end it was willing to spend everything it had.
Rage was keeping its focus on the larger abomination, peppering it with angry bolts of red magic. Occasionally he would fire off a larger spell, when he felt its guard was down. Overall he was the one in the least danger of running out of gas as the moment. As Abigail’s anger was flooding the area keeping him fueled up, thus he just keep casting.
“Never!” one of the Aurelio’s would call out to Janet when she popped up; saving said one from getting a face full of magic fire. “You’re just in time” Another would add as it lagged by, leaving a magician’s mark on Janet as it did.
With the appearance of reinforcement’s the white garbed group of Aurelio’s would change tactics a little. Two would stick to Janet, providing what support they could with an occasional spell would grace their cane’s proving that they were in fact only clones.
The Core Aurelio would take the other clone and move to assist Jenna. After all Abigail’s safe return was top priority.
-Round two-
Penny’s walk to the grave had been, for the most part, a silent one. She was almost singularly focused on her destination, and very little penetrated that focus. Small parts of her went back and forth on wither or nor they wanted to find something when they got there. As she could tell she was more unstable than normal, but that didn’t stop her from putting one foot in front of the other.
The only thing of note that happened along the way was of an alert prompt that would pop-up on Penny’s HUD. “Critical Integrity flaw identified” it would read, there was a small graphic of Penny’s outline behind the text with flashing red line indicating the problem areas “Initiate Repair protocol?” it would query after Penny and enough time to read over the data in front of her. With little more than a mental nod, Penny would activate the repairs. “Acknowledged”
It would take a few minutes before “Platinum resource used. Faulty systems shut down. Integrity once again reading optimal.” Another screen of text would pop up; listing a more detailed breakdown of what exactly had been done to her systems. She skimmed over it while she was walking through the thick fog that covered the graveyard. The only key thing that stood out to her at the moment was her energy blades had been deemed the root cause for the flaw and had been shut down to prevent a re-occurrence. It was a testament to her focus that she didn’t really feel much about the loss of her Platinum coin at the moment.
At last she finally broke through the smoke wall and could once again see. The sight that greeted her was of Alicia spring boarding off of what looked to be… Elroy? Putting aside the outfit change for later discussion The mechanical warrior wasted no more time and started to rush towards the boy. Small spikes would grow from her knuckles along with small blades at her elbows, her energy weaponry was off line but her body was still her weapon.
It was due to Penny’s eagerness to join the fray once she found it that allowed her to hear Alicia. It took less than a second for Penny to make a decision before she would release a Gauss round at Elroy in reply. Her goal was now the Crypt; if Elroy wanted to be the tool she used to break it to pieces he was welcome to it, but was currently between her and her goal. So she would go through him or over him, but for the moment he was irrelevant.
Lost in the sounds of combat there was a sound of a metal latch being thrown shortly before Penny’s legs start to glow as she kick started the hover system, causing her speed to spike as she sought to bulldoze past Elroy.
Lotus only raised her eyebrow at Cindy's refusal to open the chest herself. ”Hmmmm, I did expect you to open it. At the very least, I didn't expect you to dispatch someone else to open it for you.” Her brow lowered. ”Are your subjects not under your protection?”
When Beatrice cracked open the lid, the first thing she was greeted by was the smell of bananas. Once the chest was open, someone in the chest stood up. It took Beatrice a moment for the fairy girl to register. Her outfit was adorned with jewelry, and she was using a small harp to prop herself up. But the air of majesty she had was clearly her defining feature. The curves of her body and accents of her uniform could only be described as fey. There was something about her smile that drew you in. Even though she had a banana peel hanging off the side of her head, she had a glamour few could match.
Maybe it was too much to take in at once, but Beatrice was unable to move as the fairy girl reached for her. She cupped her hands around Beatrice's cheeks and brought their faces closer. There was plenty of time to pull away, to object, but Beatrice wasn't sure if she wanted to pass this up. Any thoughts about what she was suppose to be doing got further away from her the longer she looked into the fairy woman's eyes. And then their lips touched. Beatrice was surprised, but her mind was in a state of total euphoria. Nothing but the gentle sensation of the fairy woman's lips pushing against hers was important. Her eyes fluttered closed, perhaps to savor as much of this moment as possible. But the kiss only lasted about half a second. The world returned to Beatrice as soon as the fairy girl pulled away. It took her a moment to gain her bearings and remember what was going on.
”You're not a bad kisser. That one's definitely going in my top twenty, but I can't say where~” The fairy was holding a half eaten banana. There were quite a few bananas and peels in the chest she was still standing in. ”But getting back to it...” She placed her hand on her chest. ”I'm Faith: Daughter of Gaia. And you are Cindy ford!”
With a growl, Lotus reached up and pushed on Faith's cheek until she was looking at the real Cindy ford. ”That's the queen, apparently.”
”Oh, now that looks like a thunderbird's champion.” She eyed Cindy up and down.
”Hrm.” Lotus folded her arms. ”Were you really planning on kissing her?”
”I was. But now that I've seen her, that might be a little too shocking for everyone watching~”
Shona continued her relentless assault, every swing and thrust performed with perfect poise, her posture unbreaking despite Sil's superior agility. On the other hand, Sil was also able to stand on her own, using her flexible body to full advantage to weave and dodge out of thrusts that could have pierced a lesser woman's heart a dozen times. "You keep droning on about darkness, knave. The Beacon's light will consume you yet!" Sparks flew off Sil's arm as as the two locked blades, and she pushed against Shona's glowing sword, the knight's concealed gaze inches from hers. "No blade has ever crossed with me and stood triumphant," she spoke lowly amidst pained breaths, slowly pushing her back. "I won't let such hatred hurt innocent lives. I will vanquish your evil!" Suddenly, her blade was swept aside by Sil's dextrous maneuver, and Sil drove her dagger to the unprotected neck between her armor plates, shattering her empowered barriers with swift stabs.
However, as she was about to pierce the final barrier and deliver a deathblow unto Shona, the two recognized the attack coming their way, and simultaneously kicked off of each other, gaining distance from each other just in time to avoid the lightning spear. "You..." Shona spoke with venomed words as Katelyn approached, and swept her shield arm aside as she cast new barriers around herself. "You have dishonored us with your intrusion, fiend!" She turned to glance at Silhouette. "It pains me, but we must put our duel on hold until this reprobate is slain." And with that, Shona gathered up her magic, and jumped high into the air, creating platforms shaped like shields under her feet as she raced towards Katelyn. "Die, monster!" She launched off a shield hovering sideways, then spun fast in the air, performing a whirlwind slash at her, extending the Reinforced blade to cover a wide radius in her range.
That was when the Bate's aura washed over Shona, further fortifying Shona's power. Wherever she went,a trail of golden light followed.
“What?” Silhouette could hear Veronica's commands again. “So that thing is what attacked Eliza.” She was half speaking in a growl. “The V.I.P. must be kept alive, but that dragon girl takes your priority as a target.”
Mika and Lupa seemed to be in dire straits, having become separated from each other, until Mika bravely trampled her way through the swarm of black blobs, scattering them aside and squishing them like balloons full of ink. Lupa also succeeded in throwing off the tentacles lodged into her thanks to transforming her body into an armored beetle and performing a scissor kick on the Horrorlings on her, sending them back into the mausoleum.
On their own, they did not manage to proceed towards the Mausoleum, until Sil sent her shadow to aid them; stabbing the horde in the back before she was noticed, she cut through them like butter, splitting them in half with every slice. The Horrorlings were quick to adapt to the flanking attack, but were hit at a line so thin that the two Beast girls managed to break through the line, now fighting next to the mausoleum doors. In response, the Horrorlings began piling up; forming columns of themselves, the Horrorlings used their mass to block the doors, while sending out flailing tentacles in a frenzy before them, forming a vicious wall of lashing to block them off, while also sending new lines of troops to flank them again. The aura that set over the place only meant that they would have an even harder time with the minions.
"Oh wow." Mika giggled nervously. "Got any ideas Lupa? My tentacles aren't nearly that big."
“As a party animal, I always say if you can't close the doors...” She pounded one bear claw into the other. “Ya gotta bring down the roof!”
"Sounds good! Let's get up there!" she folded her arms. "I just wish we could do this without ruining that little cottage. Looks kinda cute."
Lupa gave Mika a bear hug and took to the air. Typically a rhino beetle's flight is only good for hovering short distances. But a kangaroo can jump as high as six feet straight up in the air. Lupa and Mika combined weighed a lot more than your typical Australian marsupial, but a typical kangaroo wasn't magical. What Lupa was doing could hardly be considered flight. Her beetle wings made her really light at best, which made her attempt at flight more like a high jump. But it ensured that Both Mika and Lupa could land safely on the rooftop.
“Now what?” Lupa released Mika.
She looked over the rooftop. "Ummm..." Her eyes darted all over the roof. "We need to do this in a way that neither of us falls in." She got into a fighting stance. "Start duplicating, I'm sure they'll be up any minute."
Lupa did as Mika commanded, and started creating clones of herself. It likely wouldn't be long before the horrorlings found a way to come after them. But if Lupa could create enough duplicates, that might not be a problem.
Helga's rebel yell was enough to disrupt Su's concentration and knock her out of the air. Fortunately she was high enough that she could regain control and stick a rough landing. To stop her head from throbbing, she focused her magic over her ears and created two vacuums to block out any sound. This would prevent such an attack from catching her off guard again.
She wasn't mad at Helga. She was pretty upset when she realized what had happened to Amber. Su was lucky that she in a place where she could safely pull herself together. Helga on the other hand was just hearing about this now, in the middle of a fight that demanded all of her attention. Su would have liked to have calmly explained what had happened to Helga, but there was no time. She certainly didn't trust Boteg to relay anything to her friend. None of that mattered now. Helga was going to get herself hurt if she didn't calm down soon. Last time she got this mad, she almost attacked a friend. That was when Amber managed to put herself between Helga and the other girl and talk Helga down. Was that something Su was capable of doing?
She had to try.
”Helga!” First the other threats had to be dealt with. She walked towards Helga while throwing bolts of air at the monoliths she walked past. Her concentrated magic was more than enough to blow apart the weakened pillars.
Chloe was also able to bring down the weakened monoliths with her laser. There were a lot of them, but the dark magical girl was able to dodge them with ease. One of her lazers cut through a swath of them with a single spell.
Divina had somehow reappeared when Helga screamed. She looked like she was about to eat one of Helga's claw sandwiches when the Bate's aura permeated the arena.
A monolith erupted out of the ground directly below Divina, lifting her out of the way. The dog spirits wimpered when they saw the pure white monolith Divina was standing on. The beacon girl spawned four more wings on her back for a total of six. ”Show me the depth of your love, monster!” Divina spread her wings and fired off her feathers one at a time. The rate of fire gradually went up until she was firing them in a constant stream. They flew through the air like daggers, and were all aimed at Helga.
The monoliths were now even stronger than before. They had all grown wings and floated off the ground, freely moving like sentient beings. In addition to their laser eyes, they attempted to chase down and flatten the magical girls and spirits in their wake.
”Settle down!” Su's basic spells were no longer enough to break apart the monoliths in a single strike, and were instead only enough to shove them away. The monolith's were robust enough that slamming into each other just caused them to bounce apart, albeit cracking a bit.
Tonya pointed her umbrella at Alexander, which acted as a shield against his mighty swing. The blow still managed to push the beacon girl entirely inside the slime monster. The top of the umbrella floated on the surface of the creature, which acted as a platform for Alexander when he landed.
Emily was able to cook the apples out of existence, and most of the monsters along with them. The ones further to the back had the chance to jump off of their rides before they were consumed by Emily's mighty flames. But between the flames, and Mayra's sudden appearance, it was hard to tell if she got them all.
By this point, the Bate's aura could be heard in the area. The blob that Alexander was standing on started to expand. It stretched out its tentacles and tied them in a knot some distance over Alexanders head. More and more came up until Alexander was trapped inside a small room. The walls, ceiling, and floor around Alexander started to spawn their own tentacles. One wrapped around his ankle, another around his opposing arm, and more still were coming in from all angles. And that wasn't even the end of Alexander's problems. The umbrella that was separating himself from the giant ooze was channeling the power of Tonya's hammer space, and could soon bombard him with minion infested apples.
Jenna would be the first person to look at the mind of a beacon buddy. Oddly, there was no traces of magic on Abigail's mind. No sort of barrier or interference from other entities. The spark appeared to be doing its job too. But a further look would reveal something most insidious. Abigail's mind looked fine from a magical standpoint, but her brain had been reworked. It wasn't a matter of simply cutting off mind controll. Abigail had been programmed to exibit certain behaviors, and a thorough examination would be needed to correct everything. With a bit of time, Jenna could perhaps use reinforcement magic to heal her defiled brain. But first she needed to figure out-
”Get outa my head!”
Before she could fully examine Abigail's mind, her spark forced Jenna out. The very same spark that prevented beacon girls from being corrupted was now combating any attempt to help Abigail.
Janet's shield would provide Lily with some protection, but the incoming debris were only getting bigger as time went on. It wouldn't be long before such simple forms of protection simply weren't enough. Aurellio didn't have much Joy to spare, but used what was left on Lily. Unfortunately, it wasn't ever going to make Lily fly. This spell was being channeled on Lily, and any attempt to alter it was soon corrected by the stream of Abigail's magic. He was at least able to make Lily comfortable and prevent her from blacking out. But she wouldn't last if something wasn't done.
Fortunately, Janet was able to successfully dispatch a few cultists harassing Aurellio. Their black bodies exploded, leaving only their fluttering cloaks. Lily's spell had done a lot to throw off the cultists, as well as protect Aurelio's clones. An assault that should have wiped Aurellio out of the fight had been turned into an opportunity in mere seconds. Their front line had broken, and were vulnerable to counterattack.
Time for some tricks.
Aurellio's clones were quick to take back lost ground. The cultists continued to create barriers and scatter flames, but it wasn't enough. They were being outnumbered by Aurellio's growing army.
Rage wasn't entirely unimpeded. The last remaining cultists had a barrier up in front of Abigail and the large beast. But the shield was cracking. In fact, a lucky hit slipped through one of the cracks and nailed the beast. It punched a small hole in the bubble on it's back, and was now spraying some of that strange powder over the shields to an area not too far away from Lily.
Aurellio was starting to feel the toll of summoning a small army. Aside from Abigail, his opponents had no emotions. That, and keeping so many clones topped up with spells was hard work. It was fortunate that Abigail only had a handful of cultists left, but he would definitely have to watch his mana and emotion expenditure for any potential future battles. For the moment there was just Abigail's anger, Lily's anguish, and Jenna and Janet's determination to feed off of.
Then the Bates aura washed over everyone.
”Aurellio?” Abigail's anger subsided in an instant. ”Are you trying to get closer to me?” She extended her arms towards the boy. ”Come give li'l sis a hug!” She folded both of her arms over her chest, and Aurellio, his clone, and Janet were mashed together. It was almost as if a pair of giant arms had taken them in and wouldn't let them go. Abigail was giggling like a child on Christmas. She swung her torso side to side while hopping up and down, and the victims of her hug were forced to do the same. Only the childish actions on Abigail's end cause them to fly into the air, slam into the ground, and roll into a gravestone or three. She didn't show any signs of letting up either, as she seemed extremely reluctant to let go of her 'bro.' The amount of mana Abigail was expending was insane, yet she didn't show any sign of tiring.
The aura also caused something in the casket to awaken. The lid was thrown off and a giant shape stood up. It looked similar to a cultist, but it was clear this one was far stronger. It stood taller, and its cloak was covered in moving eyes. This had to be a warlock. It extended its left hand and sucked in the raging Aurellio clone. They seemed to shrink into nothing before vanishing inside the warlock's palm. It then opened its right hand and fired bolt of chain lightning, wiping out all but five of Aurellio's clones with a single spell. It took slow, methodical steps out of the casket towards Jenna. A long, slender blade slid out of its right hand sleeve as it started to sprint towards her.
Abigail was no longer focusing on Lily, and the spell on her ended immediately. Between the barrier and Aurellio's joy magic, Lily didn't sustain any critical injuries. More cultists were coming out of the smoke wall from all sides of the battlefield. The ones on Lily's side of the area lifted their hands and fired bolts of flame at her immediately.
Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Moirai Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Mystic Artifact
Mac did her best to ease the impact of Abigail's attacks, but in the end, Abigail was just outright stronger than her. That mana beast was giving her a sizable advantage. But Mac knew it would all work out for them later. Probably. But Lily had avoided getting crushed, which would have to be enough for now as Mac ran off to help the others. Her special sight let her look through the darkness without much issue.
It was not alone in this space with Shannon. Rebecca had decided to swing a cursed sword at it. The curse did seem to work, but the creature's tar-like body stopped the blade from cutting all the way through. Worse yet, it splashed all the way up her blade over her hands. She yanked as hard as she could, but lacked the strength to pull her blade free. But things really got bad for Rebecca when Shannon pulled all three of them underground, churning everyone together.
Shannon's spell did manage to strip away some of the tar, but this creature wasn't truly one with the void yet. Ripping away the tar expose clusters of bones and tusks that made up the creature's many mouths. However, churning the earth like this did open the creature's mouth enough for Shannon to escape.
Then the Bate's aura took effect.
It let out a beastly howl before it lunged upward, carrying Rebecca and a fair bit of dirt with it. This was not the prey it started with, but it would devour it no less. With time it would devour everything.Tar and dirt from the creature's body started to creep over Rebecca's face and legs. She could feel its teeth pressing against her ribs like rows of cleavers, but it would take some time before it was able to crush her torso. Much like Shannon, Rebecca was not an easy magical girl to tear apart. But the pressure was there, and it was building.
Shannon could feel the presence of other creatures in the area. This thing had reinforcements, but she could only pick it up with her ability to detect vibrations. Her eyes weren't able to see anything.
Elroy was moving pretty fast when Alicia decided to create her sword. The bright light momentarily blinded Elroy, which let her stab at his arm. This caused his chains to loosen up and let Alicia follow up with the rest of her 2-hit combo attack and swing at Elroy's leg. Elroy had managed to get some of his chains between Alicia and her sword by this point, but she was fast enough that the attack managed to trip Elroy up. "My sock slipped off!" He said before falling onto a knee. Alicia's arrow had no difficulty finding it's mark, and freed Summer from the dragon's mighty grip.
Rina was able to fire her bow, but Regina's erratic shadow stepping would ensure that the arrow never hit her. So long as no one made an attempt to shut down her ability to shadow step, she would be a very hard target to hit. However, Rina was able to avoid getting hit by her attacks further by ducking below the gravestones. This kept her left and right flanks secure, and limited Regina's safe places to attack from to being directly behind, in front, and above herself. This seemed to be enough to momentarily deter Regina from making further attacks.
"So this one doesn't have a spark? Interesting."
Regina was able to pick up on the strange readings her newest weapon was giving off. She simply stepped to the side as Summer's bat flew past her. The rouge dragon head had it's maw wide open, and its tongue was flapping in the wind. Regina raised an eyebrow at this strange sight, but remained diligent. With a simple thought, the dragon came back under her direct control. Further attempts to alter her dragon's mind wouldn't work again. Change of plans, they would be switching targets. The dragon head floated after Rina while Regina shadow stepped away.
Summer's magic wasn't strong enough to combat the curses festering inside of her. Fortunately, she had the spark, so she just needed to will them away with a thought. She could feel her body's durability return, and the crippling pain left her as well. The mana expended from the mana burn curse would not be returning. Not that Summer had lost a lot of mana, but it was something she'd have to watch out for. On the upside, she sort of got to reenact a scene from “Princess Mononoke.”
Regina had appeared about thirty feet away from Summer, who ran into a painting she had made. Regina might have raised her eyebrow at this, but perhaps at this point she realized that she would be doing that a lot if this kept up. She changed her sniper rifle into a staff and threw an orb of dark energy at the tarp. When it hit the tarp, it would expand into a massive dark dome that sapped the mana out of anything that strayed too close. "Let's see how you deal with that." While Regina waited to see what would happen, she unleashed her aura. That would empower Elroy, the beacon buddies, and all of the horrorlings in the graveyard.
Penny fired at Elroy, and managed to blow his shieldright out of his hand. "My shield slipped off too!" Elroy turned to look at Penny, who was hovering his way at full speed. "Slow down tincan, don't run down an ally!" Penny remained undeterred by Elroy's comments and continued to power forward. Elroy didn't have a lot of options at his disposal. He was down on one knee, his shield had been blasted out of his hand, and the light being thrown off of Alicia's radiant sword didn't give him many places to shadow step to. It looked like Penny was going to score a pretty good hit on Elroy. But then her arms started to twitch, the ones she had made for herself. Her upper most arms took hold of her real arms and gripped them tightly around the wrists, and her lower arms balled into fists and drove themselves into the back of her thighs. This forced her legs up, which cause her to jet straight into the air before falling on her back. Her lower arms stretched across her legs, folding her knees into her chest before coiling their fingers around their arms. Penny was being restrained by the strongest pair of arms she had ever felt: her own. Elroy casually stood up and extended his arm. With a snap, his shield returned to his hand. "Has it started to click yet, tin can?" He chuckled while walking closer to Penny. Elroy wasn't stupid. He kept his shield up in Alicia's direction. "I guess you know who enchanted your steel now huh?" He snorted. "I did it all for this! The look on your face right now made it worth it!" He laughed like a demon. That was when it clicked for Penny. Elroy and Regina had to be working for the mint. Veronica must have been looking for a magical girl or boy to enchant some steel for Penny's request a month or so ago, and Elroy agreed to it. "By the way, have you ever played Asura's Wrath? Plot twist!" Penny's body floated into the air, and then all four of her extra arms tore themselves free from her back. They flew through the air and refitted themselves on Elroy's body. The color of the steel changed from Penny's dark blue to the gold tint of aegis, matching all of Elroy's enchanted weaponry. "Now let's have some fun!" Elroy unleashed his own Aura, empowering Regina, and further strengthening the buddies and the horrors in the graveyard. Once Regina's aura had reached him, all six of Elroy's hands were engulfed in black flames. He pounced towards Alicia, but would freely punch anything and anyone that got in his way.
That was when the detective and rose knight arrived on the scene, riding on top of her majestic tiger.
”They appear to be in a bit of a pickle.” Sammy looked over her shoulder at the rose knight. ”And I've also deduced that the horror here will be getting more reinforcements shortly. Whatever you choose to do ma'am, make it count! But be wary of the ground...” she pointed down. ”Try to balance yourself on the tombstones, like this!” She hopped off tony and landed on top of a tombstone. She nearly lost her footing, but managed to prevent herself from falling off. ”Piece of Quiche! Just don't invoke the ire of anyone and we'll be fine.” Big tony was able to cross from tombstone to tombstone, but his massive body meant that each foot needed to be on a seperate tombstone, and even Sammy seemed to be faster than the pace it was currently moving at.
"Gah!" Alexander threw up some flat barriers around him to buy some time. He then pushed Reinforcement and Beast magic to his hands, and ethereal claws poked out of his finger tips. "FUCK YOU!" he swiped at the tentacle holding one of his arms with his free hand, and then the one holding his ankle.
Now freed, He formed a spherical barrier around him 'Okay, what now?' he thought to himself. With the barrier around him, the tentacles couldn't get a solid enough grip on anything, so he had some time. 'Maybe if I...' He held his wand forward, pushing it out through the barrier 'Okay, next...' He then formed a small drill shaped barrier around it 'Fuck that, I can do better!' the new barrier started growing bigger and bigger, until it was the size of the first barrier 'Now we're talking! Time to dig my way out of this lump of fat.' With a twist of his wrist, and a surge of magic, the drill began to spin, and Alexander started to advance. As he did, apples started to appear from the umbrella "...fuck." They charged at his barrier, throwing themselves against it "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!!!" Suddenly very worried, he picked up his pace, rushing out as fast as he could. And right before his protective barrier broke, he made it outside "Ha! Fuck you slime!"
He quickly jumped out of the blob, and turned around to swing his drill at the apples, panting as he did. "Fuck...this!"
Summer ran ever further into the tunnel as the mana sucking dome grew. She quickly reached the other side of the tunnel, which corresponded to a semi-circle shaped shadow from a headstone just behind the flying Elroy, her figure jumping out behind him quietly. Seconds after, a bright light pierced through the dome of darkness as a Summer's bat unraveled into train tracks leading to the painting, right underneath Regina. The source of the light was a small train that came rushing from the painting all the way to the end of the tracks that had just been laid, hopefully for Summer running over Regina in the process. As it came through the wind from its movement pulled the tarp off the wall entirely, floating in the air for a second before landing painting-down on the ground.
Summer simply leaped in front of Elroy, planning to use her nigh-indestructible body and damage-mitigating magic to tank the hit for Alicia. It was the least she could do for saving her from the dragon. "Hey Alicia, can we go with plan A now!? I've only got just enough mana to pull it off, so if we're going to do it we need to do it now!"
A mound of cultists throwing their bodies against the clones of a phantom thief.
A knight, an assassin, and a dragon, their weapons all drawn to tear each other apart.
Monoliths and spirits filled the air, warring for aerial dominance.
Slime dominated the earth, swallowing others whole.
She saw them all. She disregarded them all.
The silver clover that connected the Maiden and the Knight had become a compass, guiding Amaryllis and Sammy through the unnatural darkness that cloaked the graveyard. As the tiger mount rushed through the fog, her sword swept out to the side, slicing into the ground to leave a silver line. Guidance for others, if any would notice. She doubted they would. Any of the Beacon Buddies were a foe that made her Sword salivate, so hungry it was to feast upon their flesh and their might.
But the Knight of Rose quelled the wanton appetite of her eternal companion, even as its impatience chewed at the tips of her toes. They had a greater foe to fight, a greater glory to gain. Against the advent of a Horror, against the Infinite Abyss, it would take more than all of her power to see herself through the other side of the void. Oh, but imagine how tasty Soth would be, once her Silverlight began to carve into its phantasmal form!
Those thoughts gave her some courage, no matter how forced, and Amaryllis leapt off Tony once they arrived in the warzone that had become the domain of the crypt. In the distance, the sole light that shone was the nigh impenetrable barrier surrounding the ritual site, while before her, a dome of darkness bloomed, the masterwork of a witch. Asura descended upon the battlefield, golden arms clad in black flame, and a Seraph filled the world with divine radiance, her light reflecting off an array of blades crafted by a familiar Hunter.
“Sammy,” Amaryllis said, her eyes fixed upon the crypt, “Thank you for taking me this far. Now, I have a most urgent request for the Super Sleuth. Within the crypt is a Horror most foul, one great enough that even I will not be able to vanquish. With your deductive skills, find a way to open the barrier surrounding the crypt, so that others may head in to join the glorious fight.”
A smile, and then, Amaryllis patted her head.
“The best detective don’t need keys, right?”
With the falling of rusted roses, she shot off, all the tension in her body unleashed. The steel of her bones rattled. The iron in her blood converged. Her sword freed itself from its scabbard with the crying of an infant that tore itself out of the womb, and her heels chimed like church bells as she gracefully bounced from one tombstone to the other.
She couldn’t waste time dealing with the monsters all around.
“Rina! Cover me!”
But that’s why she had a partner, however coincidental their meeting here.
A final surge of speed, and the Knight of Rose became a silver bolt, hurtling towards the crypt, the ritual, the sacrifice that had to be saved, regardless of the crimes she committed in her ignorance.
Alicia was quite understandably pleased with herself as everything went as planned. She managed to free herself from Elroy's hold and assisted Summer in her own predicament. It was a better showing than she had given the most recent fights, at least in her appraisal. Not only that but Penny was now in the fight, a slugger to match or surpass Elroy from previous experience. He may have gotten a boost somewhere, but he was still outnumbered.
That seemed to anger the duo, an oppressive aura washing out from Regina, one that was met and staved off by her inner spark. Others might wilt, but she would not let herself be intimidated by magic into inaction or weakness.
While she was confident, that quickly changed as Elroy did...something, and she watched with wide eyes as Penny's arms tore themselves off and joined the dark twin. What the hell had just happened? Glancing between the two of them, what he said was only more confusing. Allies? All she really got was the source of Penny's metal, which didn't entirely indicate anything except she really needed to do a better job of vetting her sources when she was trying to make modifications.
Nonetheless, she was faced with a lot more metal and a lot more anger heading right at her, black flames and oppressive aura showing the magic that he was committing to this fight. It was probably too much to hope that he would run out soon, and her situation wasn't great with Penny out of commission. Faced with that incoming threat, Alicia was taken off guard as Summer leapt in front of her to take the incoming hit, relying on her powers to keep her intact.
That was something Alicia had no intention of allowing, Star Seraph returning to her grip as she fired a trio of arrows over Summer's shoulder at Elroy, those arrows tuned to explode after a few seconds and perhaps throw off his charge. She certainly didn't expect to score a direct hit when he was like this. She then grabbed Summer, the hold secure beneath her arms as wings unfurled, and with a mighty heave she cast the both of them skywards.
From the corner of her eye she noticed the arrival of a newcomer, barreling towards the crypt and its contents. That was good, it meant more distraction for Elroy and Regina to deal with, which meant more freedom to act and less chance that she would get shot. She'd have to look out for Elroy's chains after all. "Not yet," she replied. "How good are your landings?"She moved towards the crypt as well, skipping the slog on the ground entirely while preparing to deploy Summer where she wanted so that the Seraph could focus her efforts on hammering down the barrier from the skies with her magic. With things how they were now, they would just have to change the paradigm of the battle.
It was no easy task, but Silhouette had managed to get the upper hand on Shona just long enough to give her an opportunity to perform a coup de grâce. While the fight was lengthy by no means, she managed to enjoy it, despite the implications that entailed. However, before the final blow was struck, Shona tore open a portal in time a third party intervened, and both girls were forced to separate. Silhouette couldn't help but feel frustrated.
I suppose the only time something will go exactly as desired would be the moment I step into a well-placed trap.
Though the new challenger had spoke Silhouette's name, it was not like Sil was aware of who she was, exactly. There were countless reasons why she would attack Sil, though none of them seemed especially likely. A Beacon girl would attack her for reasons quite obvious, but just as obviously, Sil doubted she was with them. There was the possibility that Sil had slain someone she fancied, but then again, how would she have ever known it was Sil? She did not tend to leave witnesses. Stretching the imagination, maybe the Mint leaked information about her in some capacity? She wasn't too confident about that idea, either. Perhaps the most obvious conclusion would be that this woman was a deranged fan of Shades simply not worth the effort. Her motivations, in the end, mattered not. All that did was that she denied Silhouette a kill that she had earned, and now impeded Sil's ability to follow Veronica's orders.
That all said, judging from Shona's tone and demeanor, it would seem this would be a perfect time to bow out and assist her VIP. Though it was disappointing that she had been denied victory, in the end, all that mattered is that she protected her target. Neither of these girls needed to be killed in order to fulfill Veronica's ord---
“What?” Veronica's voice came to life in her head. “So that thing is what attacked Eliza.” She did not sound especially happy. “The V.I.P. must be kept alive, but that dragon girl takes your priority as a target.”
Really, it was strange just how often she was forced to change her plans at the last moment. From being forced to give her Schatten over to her VIP instead of using it against Shona, to now being made to fight the girl that appeared instead of taking advantage of the inevitable fight to flee. Of course, Sil wouldn't complain. If Veronica willed it, then so it shall be.
And so it was that Shona launched the first strike, with Silhouette dashing in right behind her. Silhouette was confident that with the two of them, it would not be much of a task to dispatch her target. However, that meant they would then return to being enemies, which meant more time wasted getting back into a position of eliminating Shona again, which was too time consuming. There was no way to tell exactly how her VIP was going to deal with the horror mob that was surrounding her even with the assistance Sil'd provided, while it was possible she'd survive long enough for Sil to get there after fighting both this new girl and Shona, there was an equal chance she'd perish before then. She wasn't particularly fond of the idea of leaving that to chance, so that left merely a single conclusion:
"Slay all."
Perhaps Kate had opted to avoid Shona's attack. Or perhaps she had decided to block it. Maybe she even ate it. But in actuality, it did not matter. Because as they attempted to do so, Silhouette plunged her dagger deep into her own chest.
The world froze in that moment of time, at least to Silhouette. To witness a cease in motion from everything around her, it was a jarring sight, but one she could not take in. The action she had committed was one that placed a great deal of strain on her, and she would not be able to keep this up. So she would use what little time she was afforded to the best of her ability.
In a flash, she closed the small distance between her and Kate, retrieving her weapon and digging her blade deep into the throat of her target, tearing it out of the side, all but decapitating the girl. But she did not stop there. Naturally, Shona's attack would have left her close to Kate. In the same motion she tore the blade out of a throat, Silhouette would lunge at Shona, and attempt to essentially do the same thing, her dagger glowing as she tried.
A risky play, to be sure, but the payoff was much to great to pass up on.
E m i l y
"Would've been a lot worse if you were a magical girl, Alex."
Emily had certainly dealt with more stable magical girls, that was for sure. It was hard for her to peg exactly what this girl's deal was, but if she wanted to fight and needed a target, then perhaps she had some use in this situation. "I see." she glanced over at Alexander, who was struggling against the slime attempting to eat him. "We don't have much time to waste, if you want to fight someone, fight that slime horror, watching for friendly fire, if possible."
Assuming the girl would listen, Emily made her way towards the slime, noticing that Alexander had seemingly gotten out of his predicament. If that was the case, then she figured she could turn up the heat on this abomination, with the intent on forcing the girl inside back out. "Take this!" a ball of fire formed in her palm, and then shot outwards towards the blob.
"Argh, ya fuckin' kidding me!" Rebecca shouted, withdrawing her face from the tar spray, whilst simultaneously struggling with her blade. She had always lacked strength, but in all her time as a Magical Girl, it had never come back to bite her as badly as it had done now. With both her sword and hands effectively glued together in the thing, her number of strategies had suddenly become incredibly limited.
She attempted to twist her body in a certain way, to drag the blade with the uncomfortable position she would create and cleave through the thing to free herself, but as she did, the ground beneath her collapsed. The start of her manoeuvre crushed her into the body of the beast alongside the rubble of the graveyard, filling her mouth with dirt as she attempted to shout curses at whatever had just put her in the literal grave.
Unable to move, even less than before, Rebecca had but one option. She couldn't see, or hear, or taste anything but dirt, or feel anything but pain and tar, but she could cast spells. Her hands were still gripped to the sword. The Tar Baby launched them both out of the tomb Shannon had made, allowing it to crawl along her body even more, keeping the pain going from being crushed, but there was little time to worry about that.
Instead, within the tar beings huge form, her blade began to glow once again, as Rebecca dumped her mana into a continuous stream of life draining curses. Her magical abilities weren't great, and her capacity and output were limited, but at the very least, she could weaken it a bit. "Oi, whoeva the fucks down there!" she shouted, hoping Shannon would be able to hear, "Do you's wanna fuckin' help, or are ya' gonna keep jerkin' off while the cunt eats us both?!"
Keeping a close eye on Silhouette, Katelyn prepared her assault. She had watched the two fight, if only for a little bit, but even such a short time was enough to glean that Silhouette was a skilled close range fighter - easily better at the art than Shona. A one on one between the knight and assassin had an obvious victor. But with Katelyn introduced, combining her magic and skill with Shona's own, she had fair amount of hope that the two of them could bring the tide to their favour.
She barely caught the glare Shona stared back at her with. In the periphery of her vision, near enough unnoticed, Katelyn saw Shona ready her magic, and heard the words she wasn't prepared to hear. They weren't just insults - they were a threat. A threat she almost didn't notice, let alone react to. Instinct demanded the draw of her attention, snapping her head to face the knight as she charged. The one Beacon Buddy she hadn't had the opportunity to fight. The ally strategy had shattered in seconds.
"Where are you looking, Katy~?"
A voice she hadn't heard in so, so long, rang in Katelyn's head again. The sickly sweet, taunting words of Joyce, with her magic and her staff. Laughing at her from across the training field for spacing out again. Vanishing from one point, only to appear right in front of her, kick out her legs, and grab her by the hand before she fell to the dirt.
"No no, we can't have that~! Someone's gonna take advantage of your cuteness if you don't pay attention~"
She didn't have to be told a second time. Katelyn's offensive stance dropped instantly her reflexes took over, spinning the spear into a defensive position as she kicked back from the attack. From the look of the fight, it was obvious who that she the fastest of the three, but in the seconds between the attack beginning and when it would invariably connect, there was no time to charge The Dragon's Wings. Her wings flapped a small amount, bolstered by her magic, creating a gust of wind enough to lift her from the ground.
Shona was a close range fighter, her sword and shield made that obvious. How high she could climb with those barriers was a question Katelyn couldn't answer, but at the very least, climbing up to her position above the battlefield would reduce Shona's mobility by a little bit. That was all she needed. "Some Beacon member." Katelyn spat back, with words laced in a venom equal to Shona's own, built up over years of anger, "Your people were willing to let Janet Howell live, but here you are protecting the scum of the Ebon Mint."
Arcs of electricity lashed out from her body, down the spear, and into the air, as she raised her weapon in Shona's direction, preparing to attack. "Fine... I'll kill you both then." she said, her tone dying down to a cold, toxic acceptance, before the electrical energy built to a crescendo. Another explosive boom echoed out across the mausoleum, as Katelyn loosed a second railgun shot, aimed to demolish Shona's defences, and kill her swiftly.
Lea occupied herself, flying across the sky from tornado to tornado, calming the winds and countering the numerous destructive weather phenomenon. However, she had to put a lot of mana into this. If they were just going to recreate themselves over and over and over, then Lea would eventually run out of mana. Hmpf, she’d consider that issue when the time came…
And then she found herself talked to. By some cat-girl, who had absolutely no idea who she was. Lea gave her an extremely neutral look, trying to figure out what on earth she was being talked to for.
The first instinct was to outright dismiss her. She had no reason to associate with the citizens of Penrose. However, the second thought told her that making enemies was somewhat undesirable. That said, she had no reason to give information about herself to this girl. As such…
‘I am Frida Merkel, protective spirit,’ Lea lied. That she was a protective spirit was not entirely a lie, but it was misleading. ‘Can I count on you to handle the other side, and I handle this side? … This would be easier if there was more of us, but we’ll do for a while,’ Lea said, then shooting off another wave of wind to counter the winds of a nearby tornado, because she surely wouldn’t stop fighting just because this cat-girl engaged her in conversation.
_______________
Sooo… There was this giant blob and its minions that the other two were fighting, and there was the barrier-generating wild guy over there and this fire-producing woman here. There was also someone screaming in the distance, and the power of someone’s aura spreading through the graveyard. Overall, supremely pleasant.
The girl told Mayra to attack the blob. But, was that fun? That didn’t seem fun. It didn’t have any personality, not to mention that was just going with the flow. What was a more fun option? A grin appeared on Mayra’s face as she imagined the face of this girl if she were to be betrayed. It looked so sweet.
Lucifer ran ahead of her, turning part of her back towards the monster girl. As she fired her fireball, Mayra got on all four limbs in preparation to pounce, tail swinging lightly in preparation. Then, she shot forward, charging one of her claws full of fire as she swiped towards the girl’s back…
‘CHA…!’ Her claws swung through the air inches to the left of Lucifer’s waist as Mayra appeared on her side and sent a blast of fire to join Lucifer’s, soaring off towards the blob with added fiery firepower. The fire magic of the monster girl wasn’t as powerful as Lucifer’s, but it was still pretty strong and she could certainly tell Mayra’s limbs were stronger and faster than her own to compensate. Side by side, the fire girls most assuredly looked more powerful.
… And then Mayra’s right leg flew up to kick Lucifer in the back, the intent being to send her flying at Alexander. If she missed, then Mayra spun in place counter-clockwise, continuing with numerous quick swings of her flaming claws and legs as well as the snap of her tail that all came from Lucifer’s left. Each of them blasted a fiery burst of fire that was sent directly to the blob as they passed Lucifer. That is, for each swing Lucifer managed to dodge, Mayra shot another fireball into the blob.
Mayra grinned. She couldn’t help it. She just HAD to cause some chaos~!
Lily had curled up into a ball by the time Jenna and one of Aurelio's clones had approached the gravity well, her eyes closed as she endured the rocks that pelted against her, trying not to lose consciousness. Suddenly, she felt that the stoning had stopped, and realized a barrier was cast around her; however it was different from the ones Alex usually casts on her. When she opened her eyes, they turned wide at the sight of the lady knight. In her view, she was the very pinnacle of what a magical girl could be, like a medieval Sailor Moon, and she could only nod as she stared at her in awe. She then felt one of the clones persist near her as they collided, followed by the pressure on her lessening, and she took a deep breath, followed by a faint smile. "T-Thank you," she responded back to her rescuers, feeling the joy that sky Aurelio radiated with, and bringing her smile back.
At that moment, as Lily began to recover from the compression, she gradually comprehended that Aurelio's source of power really came from emotions, as she saw how he manipulated the various feelings; anger was the most apparent thanks to Abigail, but other kinds also appeared, all color-coded as various palette swaps of the dashing magician. She then dropped down to her knees as Abigail's spell ended on her, and with a flourished spin scattered the dirt off from her, realizing that her friends were the next to be targeted. After some mental networking between the four of them, she saw the warlock cultist monster, and the chain lightning it was spewing out. "No! Stop!" She yelled out, Ramuh having transformed into an intricate staff, with a small mechanical spherical shape spinning on top of it, with smaller spheres around it. And then, all time froze.
Lily blinked, unsure what happened. She was pretty sure she wasn't the cause for it, and even pat her head to make sure she wasn't just hallucinating in the heat of the moment. She then realized it had originated from beyond the smoke, on the other side of the graveyard. An epiphany struck her, like a pendulum clock. There's somebody else who uses Time magic much better than me. The chain lightning froze in place, like a zigzagging yellow line of glowing energy, and Lily realized the effect wouldn't last forever; she ran towards the group of clones, and shoved two of them out of the way, managing to save them before time resumed the lightning resumed flashing out. Having realized what she was capable of doing, her heart brimmed with hope and excitement, and she smiled even as she now bounced and hopped, avoiding the cultist fireballs as she thought to herself. She then aimed her staff at Jenna. "Hey, maybe...I'll try it!" She began charging up her magic, and electricity arced around her in circles, revolving around each other. "This might sting, sorry!" She then shot out a blue lightning bolt at Jenna, and she felt a sensation of extreme shock as the magic struck her right in the heart, stopping it for a second. However, it then began pumping again beating faster and faster. This was followed by the rest of her body accelerating, her Agility and speed having tripled. "I can't keep it up for longer than a minute!" Lily shouted as she then switched back to her bow, and began applying lightning arrow-based pressure on the cultists, aiming to shoot them right through their hoods. "Otherwise your heart may explode!"
Cindy crossed her arms, unamused by Lotus' attempts at sassing her. ‘My underlings are under my protection. That is, if Beatrice had suffered any sort of injury from the contents of your chest, I'd hunt down and destroy you and all your subjects. See it as a sign of good faith that I had her open it.’ As she smelled the bananas, she wondered how the apparent "Queen of the Coast" had managed to preserve them until she saw the surprise stowaway who showed up.
Cindy could only lift an eyebrow in mild annoyance as the fey girl reached out to Beatrice, and blatantly wrapped her around her finger with her beguiling charms. However, a small giggle inadvertently escaped the otherwise serious lightning champion as Faith was turned, having the most humorous expression on her face. She leaned her head to the side, and saw that the chest had nothing else inside it but bananas, and the flirtatious fairy. ‘I would advise against it, yes. Even a mere touch is enough to fry you.’ She turned to Lotus. ‘This was certainly a positively surprising tribute you have granted to me, Lotus. Very well, I shall accept her.’
Helga bore her way through the monolith that lifted Divina out of the way of her attack, leaving a rough hole in her wake.
"I'll tear your heart out from your chest, and make you eat it!"
She screamed back, all reason now thrown out the windows as she was baited by the Beacon Buddy, and slashed wildly at the feather flechettes, tearing them into fine dust. She didn't notice one of the flying monoliths that dropped on her, and it smashed her back into the ground. However, that only made her angrier as she punched her way out of the flat stone; her mechanical parts looked more roughed up than before, and blood trickled down her shoulder. She leaped up, her wings now vibrating like a colibri's as she used the boost of agility to dodge past the feathers. As she thrust her talons backwards, they began trembling in high frequency.
"VIBROSLASH!"
She swept her claws out out in a cross-pattern, and shot out a four-layered cutting sound-wave.
Kimble's eyes lighted up when the fae-like girl told her a name, the naive cat-girl completely oblivious to the deceit. "Nice to meet you, Miss Frida!" She exclaimed, looking happy as can be as she swiped her nose with her curled hand, a piece of flying dirt having hit her. Her fluffy ears bounced on top of her head as she rapidly nodded to her suggestion. "You can count on me, nyaa!! Together, we'll blow these blusters away in nyo time!" And with that, she flew away, her sickle in hand as she began cutting up another tornado; Lea could see that she was surprisingly adept at it, using her magic to destabilize the swirling winds from the base before scattering it into mere wisps.
A silent scream radiated from Penny as she felt her limbs being torn from their sockets. She had struggled in vain when her own limbs betrayed her but now she was still she fell silently to the ground below. The fall seemed to stretch in to eternity as Penny’s mind started to overclock. Dozens upon dozens of things were passing through the robotic girls mind as she fell.
Pain was there, those spider limbs had been fitted deep into her frame. Tearing them out had done terrible damage to her back, leaving it a gory mess and had she been human it would have likely been a fatal wound regeneration or no. In the dim light the mesh of human and machine could be seen, as blood and other fluids leaked from her back and naked arcs of electricity leapt between the gaps. It hurt, but she had suffered worse. Even now her body was pulling its self-back together, but it would take time.
There was also hurt and betrayal. The revelation about Thalia earlier had been brought back to the forefront, as was her running away from Penny. All of it was mixing with this latest betrayal from Veronica. It wasn’t a betrayal in the truest sense, Penny doubted that Veronica meant for this to happen, but still the ex-coin broker had given her a poisoned gift, just like so many others had. She doubted she would trust the vampire again.
Fear lingered here and there. She feared for Alicia, about the harm that might be coming her way. Feared that her friendship might have been tainted by what Elroy had said. She was keeping so many secrets from the Alicia, and she feared that she would hurt her friend with them.
A part of her just raged at everything, at the unfairness of the world, at her Patron, and her own naivety and weakness. Mostly, however, there was exhaustion. She was tired. Tired of hiding things from the people she called friends. Tired of being betrayed, tired of being angry, of being depressed, of being spineless, tired of Laat and all his schemes.
She hit the ground with a dull thud and, for a moment, just laid there. Drowning in her own emotions. When she stood it was in one smooth, silent, motion. Her eyes were a bloody red, nearly devoid of emotion and the dark blues of her body had faded to flat grays.
Twin orbs of baleful light tracked Elroy as he rushed towards Alicia. The Engine waited only a second before Jetting off towards the monster boys open back.
As it crossed the distance, metal throughout the graveyard would twitch, The Engine was calling out. Calling to all the metal that would listen, drawing everything that it could to itself, but the call was not a loud one. Most Metal users would never notice the quiet and unending call the engine gave out, but it resonated with all metal, regardless if it headed the call or not. The first scraps to heed the call would start grafting to its back, sealing up the open wound and starting to rebuild the limbs that had been stolen.
Twenty feet out The Engine would begin its assault. Thrusting its left arm out there would a hiss of static before the forelimb was launched at high velocity towards Elroy’s wounded leg a length of chain trailed the limb ready to be retracted the moment the boy was within grasp. Its right arm stood poised to lash out with a vicious knife hand. Preferred targets were any of the limbs that Elroy had as his disposal, as the serrated chainsaw band that ran the length of the Engine’s limb would make short work of most of them if a clean hit was scored, and even a glancing blow would rip and tear.
“One step forwards..” Aurelio sighed to himself as he and himselves dodged out of the way of the chain lightning as best they could. The loss of Rage was a disappointment, but not an unexpected one. The red garbed clone tended to get taken out rather quickly due to its relentless nature. He could try and make another on, but with his reserves as they were that wasn’t a good idea.
Then Lily’s hope shone forth like a beacon. The Sky garbed clone would lap up the Excitement like a sponge the emotions being close enough for the clone to get a restock. The main man himself wove the Hope around himself and Janet and Jenna before imparting just a bit of his magic to it and feeding it back to Lily. A simple spell as far as cost went; a self-reinforcing loop of hope was powerful even without magic effect added in to it.
“Alright gents! Let’s go!” He would shout pointing his cane at the emerged warlock. Six of his basic clones started rushing to mob the new foe before it could gain too much momentum. They were without spells, and by their nature fragile, but they knew each other as well as possible and had perfect teamwork.
Joy would stick to Jenna working to assist the Knight as much as he could on the plan they had hashed out in the quick meeting of the minds they had.
The last basic clone was off towards the powder that Rage has caused to spill out, he was off to find out if they would need to be wary of the stuff, thus was only aiming to touch the smallest amount he could find.
The true Aurelio would, in a sense, vanish. As while his clones were busy making a ruckus with the warlock, Lily and Janet were fending off the cultists, and Jenna aiming to get up close and personal with Abigail. Aurelio would pick up and put on one of the Cultist cloaks that lay litter around the battle field.
He was planning on staying hidden and assisting from the shadows with well-timed spells. Unless he ended up close to Abigail without being noticed, if that was the case he had a technique he could use to stop her in her tracks. He just massively disliked using it, and it would take him out of the fight as well. As it was rather hard to do anything when all you felt was apathay.
