It was a 'blink and miss it' moment, as one second Summer was there, the next she was gone along with the girl who had been guiding them for this fight. Alicia could only hope that that would work out for them, since if there was some sort of difficulty in the Overcity then help would be a long way away.
That was about the time that Jenna arrived on the platform, Alicia outright stabbing a tentacle with one of her arrows before glancing over at her fellow Beacon member. "Overcity, apparently there's some kind of plan...."
Her comment fell off as things seemed to take a strange turn. The attacks stopped, causing her to lower her bow. A wave of energy rippled across the platform, and Alicia turned to see what the source was with eyes widening as her gaze fell upon the flickering arm. "Well, that's weird," she remarked with a puzzled look. Was it working? This was a bit outside of her area of expertise when it came to magic. The fact that they attacks had stopped was at least good, right?
As if to confirm that, a booming voice filled the sky, what sounded like the actual Horror getting into an argument with the Horror that was on the platform right now. Which was weird, but Horrors were at least a bit in Beacon's wheelhouse so them being responsible for something unusual was also fairly normal when it came down to it. She remained silent, merely waiting for the resolution of this. It wasn't like she could meaningfully do anything right now anyway, not to a Horror itself.
Then in an instant, it seemed to resolve. The presence of the Horror was not encroaching further, and the platform itself was sinking towards the ground. They had won the day, at least this time. Now they just had to deal with what was left of the Horror, and the giant monster nearby. She lifted her bow once again, taking aim before she found herself interrupted by Renfair girl. "Alright, if you say so," she agreed before turning to Jenna. "If you want to help her with that you can, I'm going to go deal with our other big problem." It was time for some payback.
Stepping to the edge of the now fallen platform, she quickly took in the scene as the two giant monsters tussled with each other. "Right, time to put you down, she said to no one in particular as she channeled energy into Star Seraph. After a few moments her aim rose as she fired, casting a bolt of light into the sky. It slowed and then eventually stopped, a ball of glowing radiance hanging in the sky above the battlefield, though below the distortion caused by the viewing presence of the larger horror. Then it burst, three searing beams of light lancing down and striking the transformed Regina, or the other monster too if it happened to get in the way. With the damage already being done, hopefully the addition would pierce whatever defenses were left and put an end to this.
Though she could see what was about to happen to Mayra, Emily had been too late to warn the girl of the surprise attack, a fact that she regretted. "Damnit!" she had assumed the wound to be much more severe than it ended up being, and for a moment, even thought it might've put Mayra out of the fight. Yet, perhaps as a testament to the wild girl's tenaciousness or how actually weak the attack was, Mayra basically jumped right back up.
A sigh of relief escaped Emily's lips as she confirmed the girl wasn't dead or dying. With the worst-case scenario avoided, she now turned her attention towards Tonya. Unlike Alexander, she didn't pick up on the evidence of movement. Yet still, she knew exactly where to look because while she may have been invisible to the naked eye, Emily could still see her via her body heat. She had prepared to retaliate, when Alexander had done so first. Locking the girl between the ground and a barrier, the man had successfully pinned her and probably ended the fight. "Great work!" But suddenly, the girl had disappeared! What seemed to be a portal opened beneath her and took her to some other place, as Emily scanned the nearby area and found no traces of the girl reappearing in their location.
She did, however, notice someone else who had probably attempted to hide from them. "You there!" she began to approach Lee, ready to engage on a moment's notice. Even if Tonya was gone, this new person or even Mayra could still attack. She'd be happier if that wasn't the case, though. Clearly, something bigger than this was happening and she wanted to go assist with that. "What are you doing here? Was that your doing?" she motioned towards where Tonya had been mere moments ago. "I'd prefer to avoid more pointless fighting, so state your intentions."
Silhouette couldn't exactly tell what she was feeling right now. It was extremely difficult to get a grasp on how she felt about being carried around during what was definitely a huge, important string of events that could potentially shape the world, while she was currently no more useful than a dwarf with a yoyo. It also did not help that her current method of transportation, Mika, was baffled at what to do too. And since nobody bothered to help her return to fighting condition, she did not feel an obligation to be here anymore.
"In my condition, there simply is not anything worthwhile to do here. And I am not so sure it is a bright idea to try to jump into that commotion to begin with, at least if you don't have a specific goal in mind." she told Mika. "Ideally, we would leave." but Silhouette had a feeling that Mika wouldn't accept that.
Guess I should have brought some popcorn.
Uncharacteristically, Silhouette found herself joking about the situation.
The clone of Aurelio eyed Rebecca with open worry. He could tell plainly that something was wrong, both due to her apathetic feeling and dazed look. The fact that she hadn’t noticed that the original him had already left was another point of worry as well.
Then she went and left before he could try and make sure that she was doing alright. With a sigh the clone took off as well trailing after everyone else. His attention primarily on the welfare the girl that just spoke to him, He would carry the message to Alicia if he could but that wasn’t his priority.
Further ahead at the sight of the ruined crypt the true Aurelio would be called to action by the most surprising of things, his Vow. The out pouring of emotions that flooded the area gave him a rather clear idea of what was going on in most placed, especially when wound add in his superb perceptive capabilities.
Thus when he glanced over the battle field that seemed mostly in hand, he moved to the one person that was giving off simple sorrow. A few poofs of smoke later and three normal clones would stand as look outs in case things changed. “Hey, what’s wrong?” The magician would ask kneeling down outside the ring of cats that surrounded Sammy.
Countless error messages and warnings scrolled across the engine’s HUD as it dragged its self forward. Its outer layering had been shredded, vision had been hampered, and its right primary limb was no longer functional. To make the situation worse the exchanged hits of final blows had burned its magical supply, causing a short circuiting of its regeneration.
Yet as always, it did not seem to comprehend to concept of stopping. The target was unaccounted for, this was unacceptable. Thus it crawled back towards the place that the two attacks had clashed. The one good optic sensor it had constantly surveying for any sign of Elroy.
Said sign fell directly in the Engine’s path. As Elroy’s severed arm landed not far from the wounded monster. It kept its gaze locked on the limb calculating the probability of Elroy’s survival as Regina descended in to madness.
It was on the cusp of judging Elroy’s demise within acceptable parameters, and rebooting its emotional capabilities, when the limb vanished. Elroy’s demise was no longer certain. Before it could continue its search for Elroy, a dragon appeared in front of it, a dragon that sought its demise.
The engine reached out for the nearest source of metal. Intending to consume whatever it could to try and refill its reserves and kick start its regeneration.
Once again it was interrupted, as someone else literally swooped in and removed it from the line of fire. On instinct it nearly struck out at the interfering party, but stopped when it registered who it’s savior was.
C.̢̨.̶̕͟C̷͟h͠l̵o̶̢͡.̧e̛̕? Came the heavily distorted voice of Penny “I̱͕̪̙̠͠ͅ.̝̯̣̮͇̯̻.̧̯̬͓̻͈̹̩C̱̮̫̟̙͕̻͟͡ơ̷̖̹͢ų̤̣̮͢l҉̻.̀҉̧̱̟͚̜͉͚.̴̰͖͕̱͜d͎̯̠͡ ͏̭̟̥̠͡U̘̫̳͚s̷̡͕̞͖̫̦̻̗̲̕ḙ̻̟̯̹̫ ̜̥͎̫̺͚S̟͖̘̦̼͟ó̴̯̤̯ḿ͕͍͚͎͚̗̱̥ę̼̭͍̟̞̳̯.̴̫̥̹̺͕̝͖̥͡.҉̩̟̭͉͍t҉̩̬̯̮̺̪̬h͚̟̲͙̬̗͔̗̮͠.̧̩̘͓͇̗̱͕͕̜.̖͔i̷̦̤ņ̩̟̭̤̻͟g̪̠̝̪͔̠̝̤͝.̛̛͓̯̩.̸̻͖̺̩̱͞t̮̜̫͇̞̲̼͎͠o̸̳̤̗͉͠ ̳̥̰̞̬͉͖̼E̴̺̮̗͙̘̩̞͢a̶͘҉̥͙͈̙t̢̲̺͈̼.̨̯.̤̳̤̯̳͉̳͢͞ͅ”̖͈̪͎̺̘̮̕” She forced out as color started to return to the battered Monstergirl. Her metamorphosis slowly reverting.
“Shh, my little Penny.” Chloe said quietly, laying the injured girl on the ground, taking a seat next to her.“You've done well, you just need some rest, okay?” Ah, it really tugged at her non-existent heart to see her little Penny in such a sorry state. In fact, it infuriated her. If Elroy hadn't already been dealt with, she'd make his death much more slow and painful.
But it seemed as though the party crashers known as beacon had arrived. Chloe observed the two with a neutral expression. Thankfully the two had sense enough not to cause trouble.
“Ufu, what’s this? A beacon member being friendly with a dark magical girl? My,” Chloe’s mouth slowly turned into a devious smirk. “Little Penny was right. Perhaps you’ve all changed a bit in my absence?” Chloe took a seat next to Penny, stretching languidly despite the obvious tenuous situation. Placing a hand on the monster girls head, Chloe gently began stroking her hair.
“Don’t have to tell me to keep my things safe, beacon.” Chloe smirked. “But go be heroes. I'll keep little Penny safe as I can. Just try not to let my pet get hurt too badly, will you?” Chloe left it at that, instead focusing her attention on Penny. “Jeez, you had me worried!” Chloe berated Penny lightly in a mildly annoyed and exasperated manner. “I almost thought I wouldn’t make it in time. Of course, I did, because if anything happened to you I would be quite distressed. Heart broken, really.” Chloe quickly observed the others present. They seemed like they could handle the situation. “Anyone got any metal!?” Tsk, where was that annoyance Aurora when she needed him?
“Nhn...sorry, I’m a little out of it right now so I don’t know.” Divina stood a bit off to the side, still a bit wobbly. It seemed like she was answering a question, though.
A spider made of human bone and sinew skittered across the graveyard battlefield, headed directly for Chloe. To the casual viewer, this would simply look like another one of the magical girl's reanimated creatures returning to its summoner… but if one looked closely at its back, they'd notice that there was a piece of paper bound to its back, with the Greek letter "Ξ" written on the visible portion.
It came to a stop about a foot from Chloe, parking itself firmly within her field of vision.
““...ah?” For the briefest of moments, Chloe would appear somewhat surprised before her mouth curled into a grin. “And what are you doing here?” Chloe held out a hand, letting the bone spider crawl into it, using her other hand to pet it. “Slacking off and enjoying the show?.”
The bone spider took a brief moment to bask in this affection, but regrettably could not indulge in it for very long. It had a message to deliver, after all. The bone spider tugged on a specific line of webbing to open the paper, and then placed it into Chloe’s hand.
It was a note written in Scribe Xi's handwriting - one that read:
"Time is short. I have a plan, but we'd need you to pull your chimera back before Regina is slain.
On the back, there was a postscript.
"Also, please keep Penny from trying to eat my familiar, Beat. Elroy left plenty of scrap metal lying around."
"Heh, I'm not going to let my Penny eat trash.” Now this was curious. What did the Archive want here? Well, far be it from her to not assist her benefactors at the moment. Had to maintain a decent relation, after all. Plus, she really didn't want for her newest pet to get gibbed so easily either, and now that she had secured Penny, there was really no need for it to keep fighting.
...except, drawing back immediately would look suspicious to the other magical girls. Well then.
Letting the spider rest on her shoulder, Chloe turned towards the Chimera. A snap of her fingers, and the beast would halt its aggressive assault, and a simple hand motion later the beast had backed off from Regina – not completely disengaging, however. It took a defensive stance. It should appear to everyone else that it was simply waiting to run interference in case Regina went after another magical girl, or ready to defend itself in case it ended up on the receiving end of the barrage of attacks aimed for Regina.
“Hey, new girl. See if you can round up some scrap metal for Penny here.”
“Ah! Of course. Poor dear looks so tired...” Divina fluttered her wings, a chirping noise coming from somewhere on her body. She wouldn't go to far, but she'd find a few large pieces of metal remains from their fight, bringing them back so Penny could at least try and heal herself.
Just outside of Regina’s field of vision, Scribe Xi flickered into sight and... was holding a sign with the number 58.5 written on it? A strange creature - one that looked like a boombox with legs - noticed Scribe Xi and her sign very quickly. It had been playing some abysmal remix of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Thrift Shop,” but now it had abruptly fallen silent.
As the creature fell still, Alicia's beams of light descended upon Regina and the chimera with the power of her love, her anger, and all of her sorrow. A crescendo of magical force that by all rights would have collided with the beasts in a spectacular fashion...
...had someone not summoned a trio of floating mirrors directly into their path, to reflect the deadly light out into the mist.
And apparently that was Scribe Xi’s cue to recast her veil.
"So this is it, Reggi. You're going to die for nothing?"
The living boombox increased the gain on the audio, making sure everyone nearby could hear it.
"You seemed so willing to stop the ritual for Eyeball's sake, yet here you are, spitting on my memory. In case you didn't notice, I'm not stopping you anymore. So do you give a shit about her, or are you making your life a tragedy because you've decided you hate yourself too?" The voice paused.
The boombox creature looked around. It seemed to be looking towards the signal’s origin - if Chloe remembered it right, the girls from the Archive referred to those tunnels as “entrances to the Catacombs.” It looked like it was angled so Regina couldn't look inside, except maybe for a little sliver of space.
A sigh rattled out from the speakers. "I suppose you're throwing a tantrum so that someone can cry for you. But Eyeball's gonna be the only one to do it, and that's if she's still kicking. I'm not putting myself through that shit again."
A very familiar arm popped out of the tunnel for a moment, about to throw the microphone at a headstone. It paused mid-swing, long enough for the dragon lady to see it. Then the arm retreated. "...actually, you know what? I'm gonna keep this. I'm not going to cap off this little benediction with more hypocrisy."
The microphone picked up the sound of footsteps, retreating into the torchlit passage. It also started sending a lot of white noise. "Oh yeah. Tin Can, no clue if you can still hear me, but I'm gonna say this anyways... you suck less than most people."
Tonya should have been pinned over the catacombs, and her body would fall inside without much fuss. Then an eldrich horror would be able to use her as their play thing as they experamented on the corrupted spark inside her.
But Mac didn't let that happen.
She swapped Tonya with a duplicate illusion that did exactly what Lee wanted her to. But the real one had been carried off by her gravity and slammed into a tombstone until she detransformed.
Mac had done the unthinkable.
She had gone against fate.
And why? Because she could? Because she was bored? Because Alicia showed kindness to monsters? Maybe she just wanted to see what happened? None of those. She was just protecting the innocent like a good cop would. She slung Tonya over her shoulder and ran to the main conflict. She had wasted too much time here, and needed to make sure the ritual didn't complete.
Katarina’s arrow flew true and struck the tiny tiger rider. The other imps had retreated soon after Elroy was killed, and Soth's separating of its selves had a noticeable effect on the black tiger. Tony was clearly afraid, and didn't even have the guts to raise its tendrils to Rina anymore. With a gleeful smile, *Rina put an arrow in each of its paws, and then finished it off with an arrow to the head. Because she is a merciless C A T S L A Y E R. Lupa’s clone remained nearby to keep any other attackers at bay.
*This action may or may not have actually been preformed by Rina
“Hey! You forgot to help Sil out!” Mika took a few steps towards the beacon girls before stopping. “Penny? So those guys are Beacon? I guess that explains why they didn't wanna help me.” She sighed. “I'm sorry Sil. I messed up again.” She examined Sil's form. She was mostly healed up by now (she thought), but Mika couldn't do anything for her mana reserves. “I can still get you out of here though. It looks like all the goons are leaving.” Mika turned and ran for the smoke wall. “Let's go Lupa!”
"Party's over?" Lupa chuckled. "If anyone else is feeling weak, follow us! I know a place you can crash to recover your strength."
”Cowards!” Abigail pointed at Mika and Lupa as they ran. ”Actually, retreating might be a good idea if you're weak. But I've still got business with this creep, bwahwahwahwahwah!” She folded her arms. ”I've got just enough juice for one more good spell. Just give me an opening!” She joined the girls running towards Regina.
Not all of the magical girls were trying to move about or even participate in the fight. Aurelio made his way to Sammy's side to ask her what was wrong. The detective did not look at who was kneeling next to her. She had been aproched by Jenna before, but they just said something before running off. With Aurellio remaining nearby, she tried to speak. ”He's dead!” She managed to say between sobs. ”H-he died while-” But it was impossible for Sammy to finish. Some of the cats nuzzled up against her in an attempt to bring Sammy comfort, but about eight others wandered towards the crypt.
Regina's breath attack was cut short when Chloe's beast rammed into her. This new draconic form was much more durable than her previous form, but she lacked the strength and stability that her brother had. That didn't mean that she was helpless against the abomination however. Her tail was flexible enough to flail against her back where Chloe's minion was. To something this large, her tail wouldn't inflict much damage. But like Regina's bullets, it was the curses that made her attacks dangerous. Her first hit made the creature's body less resistant to physical attacks, and another smack caused its muscles to weaken. Before Regina could continue her assault, the creature had backed off. Its legs were shaking. Between getting blown nearly in half by the white monolith and the curses, it was a miracle the thing was still standing. Regina would have followed up with another attack, but Janet, Helga, and Abigail had arrived. Everyone briefly stopped when they noticed Alicia's attack activating overhead. Even Regina seemed to notice the sudden burst of light. But she did noting to avoid it, as someone as obstructed the attack with mirrors. That was when “Elroy” started talking.
As her “brother” spoke, Regina's attention seemed to be captivated. Janet knew that she wouldn't be distracted like this for long, so she used it as an opportunity to attack. She continued her charge, with Helga and Abigail following behind her. The gravity girl used the last of her magic to lock Regina in place so that Helga and Janet could go to town on her. Regina turned her head to see what had taken hold of her, but it was too late. Janet wasn't able to get to Regina's head, but she was able to drive her lance into one of her bony thighs, and Helga followed up with a sonic blast. Her bones were cracking, they had wounded it.
The dragon was not without her tricks, however.
The same black fog that surrounded everyone was now being blasted out of Regina's rib cage. It disorientated and blinded those caught in the smoke, who were unable to continue attacking Regina. They would be fine once they wandered out of the mist.
Everyone else would feel something was afoot, but only those with third eye, a wind specialization, or any ability that might help someone notice an invisible object would be able to see what it was. There were several bone drakes flying through the air, ready to do their queen's bidding. They had just come out of the smoke wall around the crypt and looked like they might attack soon.
"Deceivers..."
Meanwhile, Collector Delta was deep in concentration. She had a small window of opportunity to do this while almost everyone's attention was drawn away from her target. Delta focused her full attention to the instance of Soth as it staggered back with its stolen legs, unable to escape the Knight's whirling hell of nothing but steel. She waited for the right moment, then conjured another mirror. Unlike the three she just created, this one laid flat on the ground directly underneath (Soth's) feet, and was enchanted to drag it into the realm within the mirrors.
Regina phased out of the shadows right where Collector Delta stood. She took one of her talons and thrust it towards her. Between Regina's swift appearance and speed, Delta barely had a chance to react. Regina wasn’t aiming to kill though, only to mar her mind with a concoction of curses and metal effects. The small shards that surrounded Delta fell to the ground, revealing her position to all. "I do not care for your friend’s tricks, Anna, and I don’t care for you."The black smoke all around them started to surge towards Regina along with all of the bone drakes. (for those who could sense them). The smoke then started to rise into the air, obscuring the queen as she left the battlefield. The smoke cloud seemed to get smaller as it went off into the distance, until it plunged into the ground and vanished.
”Mmmmm?“ Lotus came running onto the scene. ”Over already? What a waste of time. I'm glad I didn't bring the rest of the vanguard with me.“ She fret her brow. ”Wait, looks like there’s one left.“ Lotus ran towards the crypt.
”I've never been better, at least not in a graveyard~!“ Faith followed after Lotus.
The Cradle agents were making a bee line for Sil and Mika. Although Sil had never personally met any of them, she knew who they were by the red halo only she could see. The eye patch maid was leading the way. ”Finally, I get to meet the top idol!“ she tripped over something and landed on the ground. Her companions proceeded to walk past her, seemingly ignoring the clumsy maid.
”Good grief, at least now she’ll shut up for a second.“ One of the cradle agents retracted a tentacle into their sleeve. A medic-looking girl was quick to approach Sil and Mika.
”Thank you for looking after her. We can take it from here.“ When the medic extended her hand, Mika pulled Sil away from her. ”Ma’am? I’m going to heal the wound in her chest. I need to be close for it to work.“
“I-I’ve got it!” Mika was squinting her eyes.
The medic blinked once, but kept her hand outstretched. ”Do you not trust me? This place looks like a war zone, and I can understand if you’re a little shaken up. But with all do respect, you’re going to run out of mana before you heal her.“
“I got it! I’ll-” Mika was cut short when a zombie-looking agent yanked Sil out of her arms and slung her friend over her shoulder. “Hey! Give her back.”
”Or what? You’ll talk me to death?“
“I scratch and I bite!”
”You’ll do neither if you pick a fight with me.“
Mika puffed up her cheeks, but before she could deliver that sick burn that was resting on the tip of her tongue, the medic retracted her hand from Sil. ”There you go soldier. All patched up. You should be able to stand on your own now.“
The zombie girl lowered Sil onto her feet. ”She could probably walk before.“
“No she couldn’t!” Mika stepped between Sil and the agents. “I saved her!”
The zombie girl scoffed. ”Did you save this girl’s life Sil? I can’t imagine you being anyone’s type.“
”I think I see what’s going on here.“ The medic looked at Mika. ”Ma’am, I’m part of a team. I’m not nearly as strong as any one of them. They can do a lot of stuff better than I-“
”Lets save the monologue for after we save the world.“ The zombie woman patted Sil on the back. ”No one’s going to carry you Sil, Get your ass out of here, we can clean up the rest. Let kitty here play escort if you’re scared.“
Divina had almost picked up a piece of scrap metal, when it was whisked off the ground. In fact, all of the scrap metal was being pulled into a small whirlwind. It didn’t just pick up the metal though, it also picked up stone and other loose debris that resulted from all the fighting. Everything that it touched was being thrown in the direction of the fragmented horror that Amaryllis was fighting.
Su was flying above Chloe. ”I had no idea that your friend was Penny. If you had said something sooner, I’d have been much more eager to come here and save her.” She folded her arms. ”Oh, I’m sorry about the scrap thing. The magical girl over there looked like she needed some help. Speaking of which, you owe the two of us a date don’t you?” Su grinned. ”Why don’t we go to my place? Just let me clean up here first.” Su flew towards the horror to continue the fight.
Alexander was upset about the brainwashed girl escaping...for about three seconds "Fuck it, she's someone else's problem now." With the battle over, and that other weird girl who helped the brainwashed nowhere to be seen (or maybe she was. Alexander didn't look to hard for her, or even get a good look at her at all), he started scanning the area for Lily, and quickly saw that the smoke walls were gone. "Huh...well that's-" Then he saw her "LILY!!!" Pumping as much of his Reinforcement and Beast magic into his legs as he could, Alexander took off like a bullet to the girl, his currently long hair fluttering behind him like his cape in his fully covered form.
"...Hah...ah....we...we did it!" Annabelle said to Summer, her voice croaking with ecstatic excitement as she finished.
Snap.
Without the altar, this plan of her boss' was already strained barring he...manifest a lot more of himself. But with this strain on the connection, even her own to the body, her original plan was more viable! She hadn't planned this all to happen, given...but it had worked out splendidly! This girl's actions had just saved the planet, perhaps.
Slowly, but surely, the corpse and chains began to flicker more and more oddly. Noticing this, the darkness magical girl reached over towards her right shoulder with her left hand, casting a spell to form a blade-like protrusion...and shoved in what little magic she had left to force it to suddenly grow.
With a nasty crack and splatter sound, Annabelle's chain arm was cut off from the shoulder, the void-touched girl's face streaming with tears as the metal clanked to the ground. Yet Annabelle's body shuddered itself, no cry or scream, as crimson blood began to flow from the again-stump of a right arm she had. It seemed stupid, foolish...but the arm had its job.
And she had done hers...
"That should stop...the flickering. I think...we can...go back now."
The white-haired magical girl seemed to wobble a bit as she spoke, however, until she finally fell over onto her side in front of Summer. Her breathing was slowing bit by bit as well, and her arm hairs seemed to bristle as if a chill breeze had just come through. Annabelle, however, merely grinned widely despite it all as she lied upon the white flowers. In fact...they felt rather soft to the touch, a very welcome thing after what had just happened.
"Ah..."
Annabelle's magical girl form fizzled out before Summer's eyes, returning to the now one-armed redhead Annabelle usually was otherwise. At the same time, the girl's extremities began to rapidly turn pure black....starting at the fingers and toes. And from these blackened parts began to come off strange black flakes that were take up in the wind.
There was one thing she could feel being intact, however, though after she had cut off that arm it had begun to fade. But...well, perhaps she could make good use of it. One more time.
'Hey there...my knight in shining armor...haha. Seems it all took a bit too much out of me, i think.....all of this...ah. Not...much time.
But we did it on this side...cut the Soth off from the body i mean.'
Annabelle rolled herself onto her back as she communicated to Amaryllis with their waning mental link, looking up to the starry alien sky with her grin still in place. Her eyes seemed weak, even as her body was crumbling before the Beacon girl's very eyes, but even so they still beamed with a sort of energy. That....and perhaps a form of acceptance of things as well.
'Gotta take a rain check....on any...return trip though. Just ask the girl....who brought me here.
But i hope that horror bastard is getting what it deserves. I hope....that Regina....finds peace as well.
I just wanna ask one last favor, though...
...Make sure the new girl...doesn't make any of my mistakes...alright?'
With that last message, however, the last of Annabelle's blackened body finally crumbled into black flakes and dust. The wind blowing over the field too picked up the last of the magical girl, tossing and scattering it about the field.
And the moonlit alien sky merely watched on...silent, ever waning.
~Crypt Ruins, The Graveyard, Penrose~
As Amaryllis dug her hungry blade into the flesh of the partial manifestation, the fragment of Soth screamed. It lashed back with its tentacles, fired lasers, roared back in attempted defiance. It, finally, feared for its own life and sought to preserve it like a wild animal. Gone was any prior charisma or subtlety, evaporated was the calm demeanor it had shown before.
A god who had brought down into the most meager of mortality. How laughable.
Alien blood flew about as the monster's body was torn asunder, inky black and disgusting as it was. The blade that patron'd Amaryllis would drink deep of but this miniscule fragment of Soth, the rich blood of a horror being readily available in this instance. Too did a flurry of metal flying into the fray, slicing into the flesh of the fragmented horror like a cheese grater to a hard block of Parmesan. This being courtesy of Su, of course. Even so, the monster fought back as hard as it could, struggling until...the very end.
As Su would approach the Horror to help finish it, it would seem that much of the work was already done. Flesh scattered in bits about the open-air crypt ruins, alien fluids all over the place, and frankly one now very dirty magical girl. Severed tentacles, some at least, attempted to writhe about upon the ground to do something as a couple severed eyes weakly attempted to looked about.
All that remained at this point of the main body was a modest lump of flesh, a couple tentacles and eyes left upon it. It was no larger than the size of a basketball.
At the same time, however, the corpse underneath a white sheet, and Annabelle's chain arm, would finally stop flickering. Their forms became solid once more, clanking to the floor of the platform gently as they landed once more.
???
Where...where was this?
No, what was this?!
Everything was so dark, so cold...was this death? It was like an icy chill, sinking into the depths of one's very being. It was like they were sinking into a lake, weighted down and dissolving like a grain of salt.
It was...it was terrifying! Was this what mortals felt at the end?!
It had merely wanted to walk in the shoes of mortals! It had wanted to smell the flowers, feel the breeze upon itself, and understand that perspective!
It had been bored, so very bored, but why did this mean it had to die like this?!?!
'You are an evil being, that which should be smitten into nothingness.
But for you inability to ever understand, it is pitiable.
Thus, in this one case, i shall offer you compassion this day.'
Wait, what was that voice? It was...warm, yes that was the appropriate word it knew for that. But compassion? Was this one of those mystifying things mortals showed called 'emotion'?
Was it what that seemingly meaningless drivel that dragon girl had shown for its champion, and the champion in return???
'Yes, this emotion is called 'love', or 'affection'. It is one aspect of mortal life that shape nations and even shake the world. I offer this to you, however, but at a price. Your penance, the penance for those many worlds that have been laid waste...and living things defiled by you. You will understand, but you shall suffer for it in order to know any peace.
So, let your mind be shaped by mine, let your will be forged by my own. I shall reincarnate your mind into that which you have so desired. Yet in return you shall live as a magical girl for all eternity, never to escape this fate.
My spark shall glow brightly within with great light inside of you, but in return you cannot escape those memories you bear nor knowledge of your many sins and deeds.'
It...it didn't want to fade into the darkness! It didn't want to end on this note! There had to be more, something, anything, and if this was the price,, then it could only accept-!
'Good, good. Let your consciousness be bathed in the light, let your fate be forged by my will. You shall care for that which your sins have made to be born!
So a monster doesn't try to take over my body or worse? Er...that seemed rather fair. In fact, that 'killing monsters' thing sounded pretty good too.
Well...why not then? She had to make a choice to, er, get anywhere. And not...not being alone would be very nice as well.
'CREEEEEEEAAAAAAAAKKKKKK~'
Alright, alright! Quit with that damned racket! You are excited, but these are only my first steps, you know? Yours too, it seems.
??? and ???
The Collector's mirror would merely suck in some of the mortal flesh of what had been a fragment of a horror.
A bright flash of light seemed to consume the crypt ruins, radiant and beautiful as much as it was blinding. Not the body under the sheet or remaining chunk of the now-lesser horror visible. The feeling the light gave was...warm, however, and soft. Those among Beacon would find its sensation to be familiar, perhaps, as they looked upon its glow or basked in it.
As the light faded, however, a surprise was left for those at or otherwise looking upon the scene:
"What the bloody hell is goin' on here, ya landlubber?" the pirate girl called out, rubbing her head as the white sheet from before covered the lower half of her body, looking around at the same time, "Name's Sophia von Zeerover, and apparently a flyin' ghost ship has contracted me to...'keep that asshole Soth away' or somethin'? Blast it all, i just need some food right now...though i gotta say i at least got ta' appear by a cutie~"
The maid girl, on the other hand, seemed...a bit nervous? She seemed a bit scared, even, as she looked about at the people in the crypt ruins after glancing at the pirate girl.
"A-A-Ah!!!..ah...sorry...oohhhhhh all of the emotions are hitting at once....," she said, speaking with her voice low where it was harder to hear, before hiding her face in her hands, "A-Ah...m-m-my name i-is...S-Serenity G-Gates..."
Soth it seemed had no soul. His plans thwarted the horror, who clearly was something to behold, simply left seemingly to try another time. What was just shocking was the fact that the part of Soth that had manifested was left to effectively die. Not that Jenna was going to complain per se. Defeating horrors and their followers was something that Beacon often sought. While there was some sympathy for the girls and boys that unwillingly got roped into that kind of thing the horrors were beyond reproach.
For this battle Jenna was content to watch from the wayside. She could make a decisive strike, but it would most certainly drain all of her mana. Opting instead to be a support should another attack come in. Thankfully all that did seem to come was support as Su sent in a torrent of debris to further shred the fragmented horror. Surely this would be over soon. Just as things looks to be over and they could all go their separate ways with a victory under their belt things took an unexpected turn. Raising an arm to shield her eyes from the intense light the remaining horror Amber's body had vanished. It took a moment to recognize something that was going on, as at least part of the magic taking place was of Beacon. As things died down there were two new magical girl's present. One had a pirate getup which said to Jenna that she must have something to do with what just happened with Amber's body. The other was less clear as she seemingly came from nowhere. Twinned Soul maybe? It seemed plausible.
Neither girl appeared to be hostile at least and introduced themselves. Wanting to get a better understanding of the two she began picking through their minds. Sophia was completely new, a clean slate if you will. Clearly not an enemy especially from her words. The other was...huh? A massive wealth of knowledge was in Serenity's head. That detail paled in comparison to the next realization, Serenity was Soth! Or the part that had been left behind. And he...it...she? She was somehow now part of Beacon. Mind well and truly blown Jenna stood there staring like she could see through everyone she eventually managed to speak.
"Excuse me, what just happened!?" Marching up to Serenity she poked the girl to be sure what she was seeing was real. "How the heck..." Examining the girl further she narrowed her eyes and got right in the maid's face. "You better start explaining things or we might have a problem." Lowering her voice she whispered. "Soth."
While her strike didn't land true it was sufficient in wounding the great dragon. Though the effort was not hers alone. Together they were poised to crush Regina and be done with this fight. But alas it was not to be apparently. Engulfed in darkness Janet was thrown back before she could attempt another blow. Turned around the knight made for clearer air as the darkness was the dragon's domain. The effort was partly unnecessary though as shortly after Regina had taken off, taking the cloud with her it seemed. While from her vantage point she could see where Regina would have landed she seemed to have disappeared into the earth.
A quick glance around told that most if not all of the fighting was over. This was a win she supposed. Though not everything was bright. They had managed to save Abigail from Regina's brainwashing but her two other sisters she did not see just yet. They could still be around but she wasn't sensing their minds. And then there was Divina who was at least still alive, thank god. Beacon would be moving in to back everyone up if a scuffle started. Turning herself back to Penny and Chloe she approached with a hand up. While fighting Chloe was tempting, she doupted she had the remaining mana to duke it out. She could however try and not lose anyone else. "Allow me to heal my friend, please." Penny needed a bit more than just magic though. She had seen how the mechanical girl assimilated metal to repair herself. Focusing her mana she placed a healing ward on her armor. Reaching around she unclasped and removed her armor, placing it over Penny to give her some magically imbued material to work with the regeneration ward she'd placed earlier.
Sighing she took a step back and looked at Divina. As far as monster girls went she was nothing if not beautiful. More so than Janet would say she herself had looked after Justine got done with her. Making her way over to her sister she wrapped her arms around her in a hug. The moth girl still seemed to be rather confused so Janet had to be sure to prove she was a friend. After a moment she let go and put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Everything will be alright, Divina. Stick with me and we can figure things out."
Face set in determination, a firm conviction turned to almost abject despair as Alicia watched her spell get deflected at the last second by some sort of magic barrier. The beams flew into the sky, dissipating into thin air with nothing to show for the effort she had put into this.
"No! No no no damn it!" she swore as she was forced to stand and watch the events that followed. At least Janet had been there to try and finish things personally, but Alicia could only watch with despair as black smog engulfed the area, and Regina was gone by the time that it had dissipated. She had escaped to fight another day, and who knew what sort of untold havoc she would wreak until they met again and this could be ended.
Inside she burned, her grip so tight on her bow that if Star Seraph had not been magical in nature it might have cracked from the sheer force applied. She didn't know who had been responsible for that spell, but if she ever found out then they were going to regret getting in her way like this. Her Virtue might have been patience, but right now patience was in understandably short supply. After all of this, how could she just accept Regina getting away, when she knew that it would just mean more pain and suffering later. If only she had been stronger...
Her anger was disrupted by ongoing events, turning to the screaming as Amaryllis did her deadly work. Just like she had said, the sword using girl had handled the remnant of the Horror by herself without trouble. Moments later a flash filled the area, one that was warm, and surprisingly familiar to her. It felt like when she had been made a Seraph of Beacon and gotten her wings, though much more intense and distinct in its own way. Which made what came next a bit more explainable as the girl who had been previously a dead body on the altar sat up, while another girl had appeared where the Horror used to have been. It was a genuine miracle.
Free to see the entirety of the battlefield now, anger began to flag with the realization that there was nothing she could do. At least, the part of anger that drove one to take risky actions and plunge into danger. Now it was just a simmering fire restrained inside of her, the kind that could endure for quite some time. There was an additional pang of worry for Penny, who remained unseen even though the fog of war had cleared. But the rest of her sisters were still standing, and that was good.
Still holding Star Seraph, and almost unaware of the fact that she was still doing so, Alicia wore a fairly taciturn look as she turned and stepped over to offer Amaryllis her hand. "I guess we did a good job," she said at the same time. "I'm Alicia. It was nice to help save the world with you."
With Jenna having chosen to address the maid, Alicia chose to give the other girl at least a bit of attention. "I don't suppose the name Shining Scale means anything to you?" she asked. That was the name of the pirate girl right? She wasn't sure on that point, but she at least wanted to ensure that this wasn't an amnesiac zombie or something. Cause the situation was complicated enough already without including that bit.
When it ended, there was nothing but a baptism of blood, accompanied by the scrap metal rain.
Nothing remained of the monster that lurked within the crypt, nothing but errant flesh, dying off as silver consumed it. The last rusted petals fell upon the desecrated earth and dissolved into nothingness, leaving only the sanguine Knight of Rose, foul blood covering every inch of her body. She faced the sky, eyes closed, as her sword, for once, was silent.
It was over. It was dead.
She was dead.
And like this, Amaryllis found it harder and harder to pretend. It was tiring. The weight of the world was heavy, and every time, it seemed as if what she did wasn’t enough. They always slipped through her fingers like sand, the lives of those she’d sought to protect. What was the point of talking about the future? What was the point of sparing her to begin with? What was the point of all this, and of none of this? She was never late, but she never stuck the landing. She was never weak, but she never was enough.
Always confident till the end, only to be left with irreconcilable regrets.
Your wish is my command.
And then, the connection was cut. The clover vanished. Their bond was no more.
…
The Sword scraped against her back, reminding her that there was someone else nearing and, with a slight narrowing of her eyes, the Knight of Rose turned to face them. The Seraph bearing the Star Bow, her own countenance unsatisfied too with the turn of events. Regina escaped, didn’t she? Another burden then. So many burdens, like stones placed onto her stomach, as she sank and sank and sank…
Amaryllis wiped her bloodied hand on her equally bloodied shorts, before shaking the offered hand. “Amaryllis Evenings,” she returned, only a trace of pretense remaining, “She’s dead, you know? Annabelle.” Her voice caught in her throat. Murderous rage wrestled with inexplicable grief. “I don’t like it. We always save the world, but my hands never reach the one that called out for help to begin with.”
A bitter, pained smile creased her features.
“I won’t ever like this.”
There was a sense of finality there, as she cleaned her Silverlight until the surface became mirrored once more. Nodding once more at Alicia, who had already headed off to deal with the newcomers, Amaryllis glanced casually towards the maid, wondering whether to behead her immediately, just out of spite. The scent, distorted as it was, remained a constant. Soth, one way or the other, still ended up getting what they wanted. Annabelle, on the other hand, had nothing now, all her dreams and hopes and wishes and desires dying with her final efforts.
Amaryllis’s right hand trembled at this injustice. The rage exponentiated. It'd only take an instant.
But even though her Sword may lust eternally for blood, the Knight of Rose remained pitifully lenient. If an eternity of servitude could grant this monster absolution, then she will let Beacon do as they desired. She took a sharp breath, and walked out of the crypt, dipping down to graze the cats that flowed in. Sammy was easy enough to find, the only one that didn’t belong. The one that had to bear witness to all this.
Kneeling down beside her, Amaryllis nodded slightly in Aurelio’s direction, before putting her full attention on the younger girl. Every part of her felt like scattering into bits, but if it was just a mask, she could put it on just fine. “Hey there, Super Sleuth,” Amaryllis smiled, brushing her tears away with her thumb, only to leave bloody streaks behind, “It’s been a rough day, huh? Can you tell me what’s got you feeling so down?”
"Eh? Shinin' Scale? It don't ring no bells for me at all, girlie, but it sounds like a fine pirate name at least. Yer' talkin' to tha' Dread Pirate Zeerover right now, though!" Sophia said, giving a winning grin to the Beacon girl as she spoke, slowing standing up as well from where she was sitting.
The sheet fell off of her gently and onto the alien blood-stained ground, though at the same time a certain "clink" could be heard as the chain arm still wrapped onto Sophia moved. As soon as the pirate stood up, however, the chain arm seemed to come to life, reeling itself in and wrapping itself around Sophia's left arm like some kind of armor. The pirate girl, somewhat surprised, took a look at it for a few seconds...before giving a light shrug.
She then began to look around herself in earnest, between the ruins, and alien blood goo, and...was that a tear in the sky filled with a maddening blood red sky and tentacles?
'CREEEEEEAK!'
Oh, so that was the 'Soth' thing she'd been told about? Sheesh...at least it didn't seem to be doing anything so far.
"Oi, i hope all of this isn't some blasted normal ere'. So ah' take it tha' a battle just got wrapped up, an' me n' the maid lass ere' somehow resulted outta this if i hafta' make a' assumption.
On tha' other note, this wee thing seems a tad attached to meh for some reason. But it seems friendly n' all, so i'll let it ave' its place ere' fer' now." the pirate said to Alicia, letting out an exasperated sigh as she felt her own stomach rumble aloud.
Then the pirate girl's eyes, still trying to take in the scenery about her, landed on another peculiar sight. A blood-stained girl hugging a sad-lookin' girl with cats around her? Though the blood-stained one seemed rather sad herself a bit too. It tugged at the pirate's heartstrings, seeing what she assumed to be comrades trying to give some comfort after what seemed to have been a hell of a battle...at least if the scenery was telling enough. That, and the new prosthetic she had over her left arm seemed to prod her slightly when looking at the two.
"Ah...i'll be right back, lass. Gotta' look into somethin', ah' think?"
This sounded so very dumb, but she was new to all of this and wanted answers anywho. So with a casual stride, Sophia made her way over to where Sammy and Amaryllis were, taking a knee next to them. She reached out with a tentative poke on Amaryllis' shoulder with her left hand, still covered in the prosthetic chain arm.
"Er, sorry ta' interrupt ya' both...but this here arm that's gone an' attached isself' ta' me prodded me ta' come over ere'.
I dunno' what appened', but ah'...ah' could take ya out fer' some food, perhaps? Er..."
She'd have to steal some cash for the meal, but...dammit all this was awkward as it could be right now. Stupid arm bringin' her over here without giving her a clear reason! Twas' just like that ship, if she had to confess it.
The maid let out a tiny, meek 'meep' sound before hiding her face in her hands. This was, at least, as Jenna poked her face and got very close to her. The questions didn't make her any less nervous either.
It was awkward enough for all of this to have happened to her. B-But to have someone guess who she was so soon was much worse!!! She didn't want to die here, but this girl had to be psychic or something! How was she supposed to do penance if she was killed or locked up right now! Oh no....
...W-Wait a second.
"U-U-Umm...y-you must be psychic? A-Ah, n-not to assume, a-a-anywho...b-but i'll b-bring m-my most recent memory t-to the s-surface if y-y-you w-want to know...please don't kill me!"
Serenity kept her face covered, however, and her voice low enough just for Jenna to hear. The last few words of hers came out in the tiniest squeak of a scared voice as well. Her raw nervousness was itself rather palpable to boot, and her mind wasn't the exact same 'Soth fragment' from before. More like...its that, but also made human, maybe? Something. It was an incredibly odd thing, but as promised Serenity was pulling up those most recent memories before her transformation into her mind (if Jenna wanted to attempt to look).
There was enough stuff in Serenity's mind to become easily confusing if it wasn't dredged up to the surface for someone to read. The timid maid herself was well aware of that much at least.
'Hmm...well this is interesting, but in an unexpected way i wish to watch play out from afar.
Though i must say, that slaughter and look of despair was to die for~
So i will leave this world to its machinations...at least for now.
Tata for now, mortals~'
The booming voice of the greater horror spoke from the sky one last time, before it tendrils began to pull the rifts in the sky back together once more. Like a little kid trying to hold the parts of a ripped blanket together, except in this case it was actually working. The sky seemed to knit itself shut once more at Soth's behest, until not a trace of the Greater Horror's presence nor the damage in the sky remained.
Though as Soth's voice had rung out in its final message, Serenity seemed to tremble and pull her legs in close to her. Like a scared child, of sorts.
Helga could not believe the chaos that met her when she reached the center. As the former officer of a mad witch, she has seen her fair of magical might in her time. Still, seeing a giant dragon fight against the Engine of Destruction, and winning, was nothing to scoff at. It wasn't even the worst thing, as the sky itself ripped apart, Soth's presence filling the air with dread. And Amber was at the center of it all. "No...NO!" She ran forward, having shut her ears from the horrible cacophony, no longer going to listen to any of it. She was tired, her battle with Divina and Metamorphosis having taken the majority of her mana, but she couldn't stop. As long as she could still draw breath, she had to fight. She jumped at the dragon, only to get slammed by its tail. Still, she didn't give up. She launched a sonic blast, and breathed heavily; she was turning woozy from the blood loss.
It was then that something happened to the ritual site; a part of it had disappeared as Summer got to it, shifted out of this reality. And with all of their attacks combined, it seemed they succeeded in stopping Soth. Still, the dragon was left. Then, she saw the dragon's eyes flash, and she recognized her from her time as Justine's servant; she had seen her as she stalked the city.Just then, she drew the smoke surrounding them, and covered herself with it. "REGINA!" She shouted amidst her coughs, bracing against the winds. "I'll find you, and I'll avenge AMBY!" And then, she was gone. Helga ran to the ritual site; she needed to see Amber, make sure nobody else would try and desecrate her body. But as she went closer and saw who rose up from the sheet wrapped around her, she slowed down to a walk, having opened her ears. "Where...Where's Amby?"
Lily had become nothing but a spectator, so shocked by the carnage that she was paralyzed, despite lacking any ability to produce electricity from her magic. She saw familiar faces around her, but she didn't have the will to greet them, or even flash them a smile; she jumped and spun, avoiding the collateral damage as heaven and earth was uplifted. And then, it was all over, and Lily had dropped to one knee, barely holding on to the last vestiges of Ixion that still blessed her. "Geez...I could really use a vacation..." She murmured.
"Lily, I believe you should run now", she heard her Patron's voice in her heart. "The Horror has left, your duty has ended for today." But she shook her head, and managed to lift her feet up. "No, there's still...Someone I need to find..." She then heard a voice that carried over all the others, and turned to see Alex in the distance. "Alex? ALEX!" She also kicked off the ground at incredible speed, also wanting to reach him as soon as possible. However, it was only mid-kick that she realized his velocity. "Wait, maybe this was bad ide-AAAA-" In a comical fashion, the two smacked against each other, and Lily loosely hugged him, slightly reeling. Still, she managed to smile, having turned back to her regular form in his arms. "N-Next time...I'll wait for you, ehe~"
Cindy's group and Beacon had finished up clearing out the area of Imps when the smoke had dissolved, allowing them to rush in. Silhouette had the opportunity to enjoy a raucous crowd around her, reminiscent of an audience at an idol concert, before it soon turned into confused blabbering. "Hey, where is the Horror?" June asked, having ordered to ride on the shoulders of a taller girl so she stood out from the crowd. "Did you repel it, Alicia? Good job!" The vertical duo approached the Seraph, and June held her hand out for a handshake. Kimble also arrived, floating down with a flutter of her jacket. "M-Mistress Alicia!" She cried out, and hugged her excitedly. "You're my hero, nyaaa!"
Cindy herself crossed her arms, and flashed the tiniest smirk in recognition of the deeds carried out that day. ‘I suppose I was too late this time. But I assure you, my subjects, that I won't repeat this mistake.’ And then, she left coolly. ‘Showoff,’ Julia once again commented from high, her breathing strained. ‘We used a lot of magic, Julia. And the Deceiver still won. Was it really worth it, with Amber's body now...like this?’ Jillian asked with her hands to her hips, an eyebrow raised as she glanced down at the pirate. ‘She won't accept the delivery anymore. What are we going to do now?’ ‘Don't worry, Jillian,’ the softly-spoken girl responded, and pressed her cheek against her Twin Soul's. ‘I still know of one who holds her life force.’ The both of them giggled, and vanished into thin air.
The force of Lily's tackle stunned Alexander for a few seconds, more out of surprise than anything else "Ughhhh...I really worry about you sometimes" He held onto her as loosly as she did to him, mostly because he wasn't sure what else to do, and so he followed her lead 'Huh...this is actually kind of nice.' He shook his head to clear his dazed status (with the feeling of his now much longer hair adding a faint, but noticeable weight to it) and then he resumed talking, "Alright, so what actually happened here? All I know is that we got caught up in an explosion...and then some brainwashed girl tried to feed me to her pet slime...thing. She vanished right before I could catch her, so then I rushed over here as fast as I could. But...it kind of looks like everything's been wrapped up...or something."
A lot was happening at once. Alicia tried to commit the name to memory, one that didn't quite seem to fit with the personality. At least 'Ren Faire girl' was a fairly easy descriptor to remember.
A small nod escaped as Amaryllis confirmed that the other girl who had gone with Summer was dead. Which seemed somewhat to be expected given what had happened with the arm, but the confirmation was appreciated. Yet Alicia couldn't bring herself to feel all that bad about it. She'd heard what that girl had been saying, knew she had been tied to the Horror that had threatened to manifest. The fact that she had turned coat at the last second did not absolve her of what she had done before. "I see," she mused. "Too bad. Hopefully she can atone for those who suffered at her hands in the next life."
Then to the new girl, who confirmed that she didn't know who Shining Scale was. So definitely not a reincarnation. An eyebrow rose as the chain arm retracted, attaching itself to the pirate. "Yeah. Assuming our dark and brooding death holds to his word," Alicia confirmed as she glanced back at the tear in the sky. Not that she was confident it would happen, what with it being a Horror and all. But she didn't have many better plans at this point.
"Sure, go ahead,' she replied, allowing Sophia to depart now that her question had been answered. Her gaze rose as Soth spoke once more, giving a very innocuous goodbye before closing the rift, leaving not a sign of its presence in the sky by the time that it was done. It seemed that it was over, for now.
It was at about that time that the others arrived, a raucous crowd of various magical girls celebrating the fact that they had won and the end of the world would be averted for today. Kimble floated out of the sky and quickly latching on to her with a hug, while June approached on someone elses shoulder's so she stood out. "Hey Kimble," she replied with a smile, giving her a small hug in turn before patting her head.
Reaching out, she grasped June's hand in a firm shake as she glanced up towards where Soth had been. "Not quite. I helped destabilize the initial ritual, but there was a girl here who was connected to the Horror somehow. She finished disrupting it, and I guess that was good enough to get the Horror to decide it had had it's fun and go away. If you can trust the word of a Horror. Though, uh, there is one other thing."
She gestured back towards where the maid and Jenna were, voice lowering for a few moments. "When the whole ritual was over that girl showed up. She's got a Spark." Not that she knew how, or why, but what it meant was obvious. At the very least, she would be safe from them for now. Beckoners couldn't hurt each other after all.
--To clarify, she had been on her feet all day and despite what some people may think, being a magical girl does not exempt you from small nuisances such as sore feet.
It didn't help that she was forced to impale herself either, it was rather draining both physically and magically. But this much was to be expected. Power of that magnitude would naturally have to have a limiting factor, otherwise there would be a serious imbalance of influence between specializations, or so Sil felt.
But she did wish she could pay another price. It would be nice if all she had to do to use that power was to take a nap afterwards. She could definitely go for one now. The fireworks were over and all that remained was the aftermath of what was apparently a decisive battle for everyone's souls life, or something of that nature. Silhouette was more or less in the dark about whichever machinations were going on, she merely did what she was told and eliminated threats to Mika, even if she wasn't entirely sure why this girl was important enough to guard.
Well, at least Sil found the honest girl rather cute.
This does not apply exclusively to books, but perhaps the worst thing you can do to a reader is spoil them on the contents inside the pages before they've had a chance to read them. To spoil a story is one of the most pointlessly cruel things in existence, as you can only read something for the first time once. Which is why Sil was typically not a fan of honest persons -- what were they, except open books, blurting out all the good bits without the build up?
Mika was a bit different, however.
Or should it be said that Mika's case was?
Looking at the girl, Sil couldn't help but enjoy her cute reactions to all the stimulus in the area. Mika worried about doing something in spite of the absurd plot they'd stumbled into. She seemed especially frantic trying to appeal to someone to come help Sil herself. This was in contrast to herself, who would've been entirely satisfied with recovering on her own had they simply left.
Ah, how entertaining.
Given that she was being held by Mika, Sil naturally had the best seat possible to observe the girl's features as she tried to do anything. It made for quite the show. Silhouette began to wonder how delightful it might be to lightly bully a girl with such entertaining reactions. A little teasing here, a prank there or so.
Thoughts not quite common to the assassin began cropping up and eventually, she noticed just how strange this was for her. This caused her a moment of pause.
I may be developing some sadistic tendencies.
Maybe it was caused by the suffering she endured, or maybe it was because she never got to experience a girl of Mika's sort up close before. These perpetually-happy types were more often than not members of Beacon, and for some indiscernible reason, they didn't appreciate Sil very much, so small talk with these sorts was few and far between. And Sil's typical avoidance of that kind of stuff probably contributed to this too.
But alas, Silhouette was only allowed to Mika-watch for so long before she had to stop. Veronica had sent in the rescue team, it would seem. Sil was a little disappointed, but ultimately did not plan to make any sort of fuss.
That began to change when Mika and a member of the Cradle decided to try playing tug-o-war with her. "I would appreciate it if you didn't pass me around. I'm not that kind of girl." she growled as she wound up in the arms of a new girl. Moments later, she was administered aid and admittedly felt much better than she did before. Still, she did not care for the zombie girl's unnecessary, though truthful, remark.
"Mika is correct. Those serious wounds were indeed hindering my maneuverability. I would suggest applying yourself to the field a while longer so that you don't make any inaccurate observations like such, in the event of an emergency." Like any self-respecting assassin, she of course denied it regardless of whether or not it was the truth. "But the assistance is appreciated." she went on to say. And then, upon being asked about what had transpired, Silhouette merely claimed that the 'saving' was more or less mutual.
There was a chance Mika might have made another cute expression had Sil attempted to take all the credit. Silhouette was aware of this missed opportunity, but she figured that it was very likely that she would have chances in the future to mess with the girl, and considering the help she was after Sil had finished that fight, Mika at least deserved this much.
After patting Silhouette's back, the zombie girl would find Sil turning her body slightly and removing the girl's hand from her back with her thumb and index finger, as if she were picking up a digusting piece of trash. "I'm overjoyed to find I have such dependable allies." she said with a voice drenched in blatant sarcasm. "But you're mistaken: I have nothing but the highest confidence in your abilities. As I don't believe she would rely on people who aren't competent to do what needs to be done. So do not worry, I'm not afraid of you guys managing to mess things up. I'm sure that I can safely leave whatever remains to you."
The girl would probably get a feeling that Silhouette wasn't actually attempting to encourage her or compliment her.
Beginning to depart, the dark magical girl stopped momentarily and faced Mika. "You are welcome to do as you please." she told the girl. Thinking about it, Mika had essentially been doing that anyway so the statement may have been redundant.
Whatever Mika decided she wanted to do, Silhouette was intent on leaving the area as soon as possible. She had had enough excitement for the day. And besides, she had an important matter she needed to prepare for.
The Aftermath of any conflict is always a rough time, more so when it ends with a bitter note. Regina had escaped, and gone to ground most likely. Several of their allies and friends had perished in the fighting. And several more were still missing in action.
And few could feel the full weight of the disappointment and loss as keenly as Aurelio could. The field was an ocean of suffering and bittersweet victory. It was times such as this when he was most grateful of his chosen Vow as well as most frustrated by it
‘Start small’ he reminded himself a short lived smile playing about his features at the incidental pun.
He nodded towards the cats that were venturing off while looking at one of his clones, before planting his cane in the ground. Then he took off his hat and his cape, placing them at the foot his cane, and sat down next to Sammy.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He would respond honestly placing a hand on the small girl’s back. He would glance up and return the nod that Amaryllis gave.
“We” he corrected her “We will do all that we can to help”
“Sorry about that…” Penny’s reply would be soft and weak, as the emotions she had shunted off to the side all came flooding back at once. Today… there were no words for Penny to try and describe today. Nothing seemed to want to go right today.
Finding out about Thalia, actually seeing Thalia, meeting Cindy, being betrayed by Veronica (no real shock there), and fighting Elroy. Today had just been one long string of bad events. And now she was trying to handle all of that emotional impact all at once. It just compounded with the pain and exhaustion that had built up due to fighting Elroy, but it was the light sensation of Chloe running her hand through Penny’s hair that led to the wounded girl breaking down.
Silently Penny curled up next to her friend, seeking desperately the comfort that was being provided, as her mind was awash with the anguish that she had been forcing away.
The world was forgotten about as she silently cried, her battered and broken body to exhausted to do anything else but weep and seek one of the few people that Penny trusted with her life.
It was only when Janet placed the enchanted breastplate on Penny that the robotic girl was broken from her spiraling torment. Instinct had her devouring the gifted metal before she could really comprehend her own actions, but the results were instantly apparent. As the regeneration ward placed upon the metal worked alongside Penny’s regeneration leading to a very rapid recovery.
Pushing herself up to a sitting position Penny surveyed the area and finally allowed herself to wonder what exactly she had walked in the middle of. “Thanks for the save back there” She would tell Chloe as she wiped away the proof of her tears, yet she stayed close to the petite spirit mage.
People could come to her if they wanted, she just wanted to stay where she felt welcomed for a bit longer.
"If you didn't, I'd have to kill you for not doing it." Chloe replied with a smirk. "And don't be so cautious. I have no intention of starting a fight." Letting Penny rest for a bit as the healing wards worked, eating the metal, Chloe watched the rest of the fight. Hm. Something happened to Delta. Regina was gone. Was she slightly concerned? Yes. Was it because she felt emotion towards the Archive girls or was she concerned about their business deal falling through? Difficult to say.
But for now, Chloe merely wrapped an arm around Penny's waist, giving her an affectionate hug.
"That's what I'm here for." Chloe grinned. "Playing hero and saving beautiful damsels in distress. Glad I gave you that trinket. Otherwise I might not have made it." Still...taking a quick look around, it was easy to see what was happening. Beacon was swarming all over the place, and at the moment she didn't particularly have the energy to fight off a hoard of them. Ah, but still she didn't want to leave Penny alone. Penny was hers, after all. Lucy wasn't looking so good, either.
"Ahhh?" Divina blinked slowly as she was pulled into a hug by this unknown girl. A few melodic clicks came from somewhere on her body as she quickly and eagerly returned the hug. "Nhn...sorry, did we know each other? From before? The light is...obscuring so I can't remember. There was...a foolish person who went about love the wrong way and...something before then, but I can't - it hurts to think about." Smiling happily however, Divina rubbed her head on Jantet's in an affectionate manner. "But you seem nice, and the affection is welcome." There was something odd with divina's words. Almost as though they were 'heavier' or something about them was a little off. It wasn't anything overly noticeable or cause for concern, but it was certainly there.
It was about this time, the hulking undead chimaera stumbled back over to Chloe, visibly on its last legs unless it got some rest. The poor thing was wheezing, shambling like a common zombie. Now that wouldn't do at all. Especially the chances of beacon getting on her case, despite the fact she had one hundred percent helped.
"Hey, new girl!" Chloe turned her head towards Divina. "Take Lucy here home, will ya? I'd rather not lose him if I can help it."
"Ah...certainly." Breaking the hug, Divina fluttered over to the hurt Chimaera. "Apologies...hmm, do you think you could help, maybe? Chloe would likely be grateful that you helped keep her pet alive."
"Now then," Chloe turned back to Penny. "Any plans for later today? You need some rest and my door is open as always. I'll even send Aurora and the new girl on some errands for me." She leaned in a bit closer. "We could...have the whole place to ourselves~"
"H-hey wait! Doughnuts!" Rina called after Mika as she left, once again, for the third time, Rina had missed her chance with this girl due to to little time or interruptions. She was a little disappointed...but if they were wary of Beacon, maybe it'd be for the best. Still, she seemed nice...and, ah, well, no. Sighing and observing what was left of the battlefield, Rina took note of several faces she hadn't seen before. Some were obviously with Beacon, there was Penny sitting next to some...dark magical girl.
Hm.
Well, as long as they weren't going to cause trouble for now, no need to cause needless violence after this trial for now. Ah, she wanted to sit and have a break, but she probably should do what she came here for and find Alicia. She headed into the crypt, and a number of Beaconers were gathering around the place it seemed.
...still, that was a lot of people...plus there was someone else that might need something. Alicia could wait, at least for a bit. What was she supposed to say though, good job? Congratulations on saving the world? Neither of those looked like they'd help right now.
"...Hey, Shakespeare." Rina passed Amaryllis, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. From what she could see, Annabelle was gone. Permanently. At least for a bit. Even if Rina had run out of mercy for her, that didn't make what happened any easier. "You look like hell." She offered her a smile. Tried to anyways. Ah, something to change the subject. Something that wouldn't seem totally insensitive or totally callous or like she was being overly cautious either.
Argh, peopleing was hard when she couldn't just tell people to get lost.
"Friend of yours?" She asked the question towards Sammy. She brandished one of her swords. In a totally non-intentionally threatening manner.
The zombie girl snorted at Sil’s remark. ”I can pick up on sarcasm, bitch.” She reached for the maid on the floor and picked her up by the head. ”And what are you still doing sleeping? Let’s get to the crypt.” And with that, the three cradle agents took offt.
“Hmmm.” Mika folded her arms. It did feel good to have her efforts acknowledged by Sil. She was still miffed that, again, she hadn’t managed to be as helpful as the other magical girls. But everything had wrapped up. Even if it was just a few seconds ago, this whole thing was the past now. She had to look forward.
In all the excitement it was hard to remember why she originally came here. But it did come to her. Mika had come after Rina to get her phone number, so that they could be friends. While she hadn’t managed to get that yet, she had gotten her name. It at least gave her something to look up in a phone book if she couldn’t find her again. But Mika was surrounded by magical girls and boys right now. If she wanted to make more magical friends, she was in the right place. A giggle escaped her lips as she surveyed the area for anyone interesting. But her gaze stopped on a familiar character. “Helga?” She ran to her friend, but slowed up on her approach. It was clear that Helga had been through the ringer, and looked a bit confused as well. Nothing that she couldn’t fix! “Hi Helga!” she leaned into Helga with her head. “You look hurt! Let me see if I can make some of the pain go away.” She tapped her collar, and Helgas wounds gradually closed. Lupa bounded her way over to their side, but said nothing.
The cats were notably weary of Rina’s presence. They hissed at her as she approached.
All of the extra attention was only serving to make Sammy more uncomfortable with her situation. She was going to stand up and leave when Amaryllis appeared before Sammy. When they embraced, Sammy’s body shivered. Her tears rolled over the bloody smudges on her cheeks, but she didn’t make a sound. When Amaryllis was ready to let go, Sammy wiped her eyes, further smudging the blood around her face. ”Thanks.” She inhaled deeply. ”Tony.” A hug wasn’t going to make Sammy’s trauma go away. She could talk, but she needed to take her time to avoid letting her emotions control her again. ”I made a bad deduction.” A breath. ”It changed him.” Another breath. ”I got him-” She inhaled sharply and grit her teeth. She placed a hand on her hat and pulled the brim down over her eyes. ”I wanna be alone, I’ll meet up with you later.” When Sammy turned around to walk away, her cats followed her.
”Excuse me?“ Lotus pushed her way through the Beacon girls to get to Alicia. ”Did I hear you say Shining Scale?“ She raised a hand to her chin. ”Hmmm, how do you know her? I wouldn’t think Beacon would do much with the unsavory sort.“ Lotus folded her arms.
Faith had managed to get behind Non-gothic Sonia Serenity. ”Are you what all this fuss was about?“ She placed her hands on the maid’s shoulders. ”My, you’re rather tense in the shoulders. That’s not good. Let’s see if we can get some of that to go away.“
Su felt empty.
It had been a trying day, and not one she would soon forget. Her best friend’s corpse had been pulled out of the earth to be used in a ritual. She had to fight off some corrupt beacon girls with the help of a questionable ally. All while trying to talk Helga down so that she didn’t destroy herself. And after all that, it didn’t even matter anyway. The ritual was a success, and the villain lived to fight another day. Everyone would have been better off just letting things happen. It was the Justine event all over again. Amber died in vain, and everyone who died here did as well.
Something rushed past Su, and for a brief moment she thought that she could smell Amber. An ocean breeze carrying the scent of tropical flowers. It caused Su to blink herself awake. When she looked over her shoulder, she could see the pirate girl was going over to another congregation of magical girls. Su found herself following.
”That can’t be Amber.” But it must have been made from Amber. The pirate in front of her looked nothing like Shining Scale, but it was a pirate. It had a peculiar way of talking, acting, and also acted like someone with real sea legs. He must have planned on replacing her. That horror. Replaced. Amber. With this disgusting abomination. A mere puppet to mock Amber’s memory, with some horror tugging on the strings. It was too much to ask the world to just let Amber’s body rest in peace, or for Su to have something go right for once.
But things didn’t have to be that way.
The pirate girl was blabbing about something attached to her arm, so she was likely not aware of Su’s presence. This would make what Su was about to do rather easy. She simply stood behind the pirate girl and, faster than most could react, shifted the two of them into the Overcity.
Without missing a beat, Su sprout her tendril-like wings and took to the sky. Dust swirled around her, indicating her growing magical power. Her blood vessels turned black, and her wings grew. Like flowers dispersing pollen, her dread wings bathed the area in her emotions. She had been saving her strongest spells for a big final fight. This manikin didn’t stand a chance.
”I came here for my friend’s body, and I’m not leaving without it.”
A tower of wind descended from the heavens and surrounded Su. When it touched the ground, it was strong enough to break up the tile-like surface and carry the shards into the sky. It wasn’t unreasonable to think that such a barrier could deflect spells and projectiles. Su lunged forward, and so did the tornado. Normally Su held back as to not damage the city of penrose, but that wouldn’t be a problem here. She didn’t have to hold back.
The world wouldn’t win today.
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
Earnings this post: Messing with all the beacon buddies, the Bates, and Soth: 2 Gold 11 Silver 21 Bronze
Total: 5 Gold, 111 Silver, 120 Bronze
Mac was still a bit surprised with what she had done. Saving Tonya from the Archive had the potential to create great change in how the future would unfold. This was a direct violation of her patron's code, and she had done it for one of her sworn enemies.
But there would be time to think about this later. For now, she would return to her apartment with Tonya and figure things out from there. While Drama was still unfolding, the main event had ended. Soth had been appeased, or defeated. Anticlimatic, but that was what fate wanted she supposed.
Before she could even speak more to the blood-covered girl and crying girl with the cats, Sophia found herself in a very alien and strange environment. No warning. No pause. No speaking. More than that, the pirate found herself wheeling around to witness a magical girl taking to the sky with devilishly vile wings of tentacles.
Then came the wave of emotion that washed over her, familiarly human yet at the same time alien. Rage. Anger against the world.
"What in the bloody blazes is goin' on ere'?! the pirate girl said, barely getting out her words before the mysterious girl who had drug her here finally said something.
”I came here for my friend’s body, and I’m not leaving without it.”
The girl wasn't going to slow down for her, or seemingly say anything else. A pillar if winds seemed to descend down upon the flying girl, and her preparation to attack hte pirate was more than obvious.
'What in the-...? Wait a second!'
What her patron had told her, er, back there in her head! Something about a ritual and some kind of monster tryin' to use it to get her body, and that tear in the sky as some 'Soth' thing? She'd sat up with a blasted sheet on her body too, and that one other lass had asked her about the name "Shining Scale" or something.
That was all she had to run on other than a blasted ghost ship-...
'Feckin' hell, ya dastard! You coulda' tried to communicate that when it was more relevant, but...blast it all. Not like ya knew this was comin', nor did i.
I just got the damn idea, though, that i was maybe made from a damn corpse!
But i think it's too late fer' this lass' ta' listen to anythin' at the moment! Just git yer' ass ere' or otherwise if ya' gonna help!'
Her patron creaked a last message to the end of 'good luck and i'll send help soon', before its voice disappeared from within her skull once more. Not that the help would matter if she'd been cut open a new one by this lass with the wings by that point. Curse it all, she'd just woken up today! What in the blazes was going on here to cause this to appen' to her?!
The pirate had no time to pause, however, gritting her teeth as her opponent dove at her with seemingly lethal intent. She'd didn't want to die the day she'd just been born!
Sophia reached out the chain arm to her side without thinking, a pair of chains shooting from it and latching onto the side of a nearby alien lamp post a bit away from her. The chains then pulled with force, yanking the magical girl and prosthetic (which seemed to prod her mind with some form of approval) out of Su's and her tornado's current trajectory. This placed her to the right, even if out of the way, of Su...well, for the moment at least.
Snapping the thumb and middle finger on her right hand, Sophia cast a spell between herself and Su. An array of basketball-sized mines appeared, floating in the air between the two. Aerial mines of some sort, about a dozen of them, and meant to deter the girl sucking em' in with her tornado. It wasn't too much, but she had enough mana to spare and then some for this.
'CREAK.'
'Here you go'? What kind of message was that-?
In the air, a ship-like form seemed to shimmer into existence far to Sophia's left, and behind Su out of the girl's view altogether (for the moment). A large, seaworthy vessel that had an imposing look and be a little distance from the two magical girls themselves. Cannons lines its above and below decks, with plenty of room for a crew and loot! It made her heart swell with a kind of pride...odd for the situation.
She felt a tie to the boat flutter into her mind as well. Well...this was useful. She had to give that pile of wood credit for this, at least!
"Lass! I dunno' why you are tryin' ta' kill me ere' and all.
I just woke up fer' the first time a few minutes ago, contracted to some bloody ghost ship who said somethin' about not lettin' a monster get in this body!
What is this all about?! I dunna' wanna' a fight at all, but if ya' keep attackin' ave' gotta defend myself!" Sophia shouted back at Su, all whilst trying to prepare her next move in case the other girl would try to continue attacking her. Her chain arm seemed to ready itself as well, at least prepare to probably try to drag her out of the way again.
Amaryllis breathed sharply, before letting Sammy go. A part of it stung, but more than that, it simply made…sense. She watched the super sleuth walk off, disappearing in the mass of other magical girls. Nothing she could do about it now. Just gonna have to be ready when Sammy was.
Standing up, the Knight of Rose ran her hand through her hair, slicking the sticky strands out of her face. Every part of her felt gross now; all the elegance in the world couldn’t keep her spotless when she dove headfirst into that lump of eldritch mass, after all. She offered a smile at the phantom thief first, glad to see his own kindness remain consistent, but it was Rina who she turned her words to. “It’s not my blood,” Amaryllis replied, somewhat ruefully, “Wonder if I coulda finished it earlier if I didn’t focus on evasion so much though.”
She hefted her sword up again, inspecting it for chips, fractures that she knew wouldn’t be there.
“Wonder if this could have ended if I let myself go…”
But hypotheticals meant nothing, not when she lacked the power to travel back in time or anything silly and self-indulgent like that. Amaryllis shook her head, scattering such depressing thoughts away, and this time, she stopped try to fake her smiles. “Yeah, she’s a friend. Sleuth and all that got me here to begin with. Rode on a tiger, but, well…guess he’s gone now.”
“Say, Rina, where did that girl who was offering us a free meal go? I only see you and Phantom Man here, and he certainly doesn’t have the voice for it. Could really go for McDonalds right now.” @Shifter_Master@Rune_Alchemist
pls
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