"Soldiers of stone will be your end are you ok with that?" A voice echoed in Kuremi's mind. Her thoughts were racing miles a minute what the hell was happening this... this couldn't be happening she placed others lives above her own grandfathers. "A cold decision but was it the right one?" The voice asked once more in her head worry built in her head. "Hmm, a failure than worry has no place here." The voice stated as it faded from her mind. She had enough of this of the dang stone soldiers and of the dang voice questioning her every action! She knew what she had to do she had to protect those in front of her. These odd weapons her fellow members had was odd but she was the president of the student council she would stand and protect them even if it meant her death. Broken broom handle in hand she charged she knew what she had to do. "Good there may be hope for you yet but victory teaches little compared to a failure." The voice said once more sounding more coaching than before. "Find safety I need to check on the others that is my duty!" She exclaimed as she went forward she would need a better weapon than a broken broom handle though to fight stone soldiers.
So many mistakes made. Emotions allowed to boil over. Panic allowed to take over. Action. Inaction. Consequences applied to both. Aoi’s scream was an attractant to guards that had lain sentry slumber, and Noboru’s rampage had pulled more inside the school towards him. Emotionlessly, Hana raised her sword, and trust the blade towards her paralyzed sister; intending to sink the blade into her and fold her in. However, her attack was suddenly applied to a section of armor, and screeched, as it scraped down Aoi's lance.
Underneath, there was a ruffling that came from a book that fell before Aoi; Hana turned her attention to the new threat, instincts of a human, and tapped her sword against the ground. Forward, the assaulted teen turned stone marched straight at the ping that was Rebecca... at least, until the soldier was battered against the back by a wooden rod that used to be a broom. It wasn't much but, in the hand of the kendo proficient, Kuremi was able to, if only briefly, bring pause to Aoi's sister, and keep Rebecca safe.
However, as she ran forward, her path was blocked by a pair of soldiers that Rebecca could easily recognize as her American penpal, and his childhood friend from his griping. The foreigner known as Bill Cumberland raised his longbow, and aimed squarely at Kuremi's face, while Lauren marched forward with a sword drawn before both paused in place, and sheathed their arms. Hana ceased her own assault against her sister and company, and looked towards the distance behind the school, with her stone compatriots... as if their attention was summoned.
Inside, Noboru had the good fortune, if one could say so, that his Servant’s manifestation had come with such potential and guardianship. If not for the dervish of chains, his body would have be riddled with arrow and sword within moments of drawing so much attention. However, in spite of his heroism, it had the drawback of culling all attention to him, and leaving him without defense. It was just a matter of time before his selflessness would bring his downfall... until his instincts warned him of a sudden threat.
A twin set of spikes of magic; one distant and all encompassing that brought pause to his Servant for a moment, as if attempting to trace it back to the source, and one that prickled his Human sense of overwhelming danger. Noboru wouldn't have time to mull on either, as the onslaught against him stopped without reason, but his chain suddenly braced for an unseen hell that was coming...
Her breath held behind trembling fingers, Maggie listened to the thunderstorm of her heartbeat, and the march of terracotta against hardwood. Before her, the phantasmal hand seemed to be planning something, as it was frantically jerking around, and trying to make her move. However, she wasn't listening; rooted well in place by her fear. Fortunately, or, perhaps, unfortunately, that fear was easy to override, as Noboru burst into the room; a mess of man and chain, flailing wildly, and radiating a powerful aura of -- over -- confidence.
Instead of fearing the soldiers, she feared his almost eldritch existence, and yet, she couldn’t run from it, even as he commanded. Maggie couldn’t run... and, that... drove her over the edge. “... go... away...” she muttered, as the phantasmal hand clenched, and she reached into her runestone pouch, “Cosaint! Soinneáin! Soinneáin! Soinneáin!” Maggie shouted, as she suddenly flipped the table with a large dome shield, and created a trio of large explosions that destroyed the room, and sent Noboru out of window he came in.
“Soinneáin! Soinneáin! Soinneáin!” Maggie's denotations ripped apart the floor, and sent the bulk of the room crashing into the one below it. “Dlús a chur.” Maggie says, as shattering her shield with the force of her sudden acceleration, and outrunning the collapse. Fear controlling her, she wastefully began to blast everything she came across, as she forced a path deeper into the school.
It would be easy to assume, when he got up, Morimoto Ryouji wasn't planning on hiding out from stone statues of his students, fellow teachers, and even the nice lady at the coffee shop he liked. Yet, here he was, hiding out in a spare classroom, as several petrified students were marching around. He’d heard screaming from down the hallway, outside, and a shatter of glass nearby. Looking up from behind the desk, he looked to his left, at the 3D Animation teacher, fellow Homeroom teacher, and owner of such an unique name in all of Japan: Dorian Fiordilatte.
“It’s getting quiet again,” Morimoto says, hopeful. “Think they sleep...?” he asks, drawing a growl from one of the two girls that made up the four occupants of the room. Ryou Jin, he remembered her name from the earlier discussion over “troubled” children. It seemed she was enamored with the yankii lifestyle; an old delinquent, himself, he remembered the glamorous look of the lifestyle, before coming to terms with the reality of life. He knew that Jin could be something, if she tried to be more; something like the other female in the room.
Lia. C. Icecole; pianist; singer; linguist; and, she was aiming to be a doctor. Morimoto was proud to be her Homeroom teacher... however, he was proud... and pride could translate into creepy staring at her. Blushing in embarrassment, Morimoto looked away from her, and back to Dorian. “S-So, do you think, we can -- ?” Suddenly, he was interrupted by a distinctive female scream, and the wall across from this blowing down. “What the -- !?” Morimoto tried to speak, however, he noticed the floor was fast giving away.
Talking was wasting time the could be used for action -- or escaping.
“It is time to advance,” Kozo said, head tilted, as if acknowledging someone to his side. He lifted his arms, as if silencing crowd; in a way, perhaps he was, as all his stone soldiers paused, and turned their attention to his direction. “Progress, its march cannot be halted by even destiny, so I have decided. Against this city, we've amassed the force to consume the greater area,” he announced, “Assimilate all that lie before you; fold them to the divine will of your Emperor. Failure is not something you can know under my divine guidance, so march without waver.” Kozo lowered his hands, “Expand my Empire, and know Heaven sends you through me.”
Under new orders, the soldiers of stone started to press into the city, proper, and drew sword and arrow against anyone they saw. Unable to react, situation beyond their training, the first response police flew to the unyielding march and folded. However, they weren't simple civilians, but truly trained warriors, and held crossbows instead of the terracotta shortsword or longbows. Unfortunately, it didn't simply end there, but escalated further, as they place a hand against car, and the metal was wrapped in stone; cracking, crumbling, reshaping, until a stallion of terracotta stood were a car once did -- the mechanical horse realized.
Forming old-school rifle companies and calvary, simultaneously, the expanding army posed a greater treat with superior mobility; which was put to task, as the horses were driven further. Truly, the march progressed without any seeming to possess any possibility of failure.
Save for the attention drawn by its very existence...
From a sea of swivel chairs, LCD monitors, and a chill that made winter seem like summer, came a stream of reports from eagle-eyed men and women dressed like an everyday office worker. For a woman with a strong jaw, sharp eyes, and very unhappy expression, one was currently Priority One. “Update on Activated Servant in --” Her request was cut short, as a woman spoke up, “Servant, Caster F-01 is increasing. Report is a follows: Saint Graph Signature Materialization: Completed. Spiritron Construction: Temple is complete. Addition information is present.”
Sitting up, the woman opened the feed on her screen. “Seven simultaneous Saint Graphs are being detected in one location, approximately ten city blocks from the Temple,” says a man, “seven in the Materialization Stage, and one fully Materialized; a Rider Saint Graph, Designation: D-23. Preliminary scans of the area return a Saber, Archer, Assassin, Lancer, Caster, and, interestingly enough, a Shielder, all of Spiritron Quality: Nominal.” The woman sat forward, “And, the eighth?”
Another man spoke up. “Berserker. Spiritron Quality: Sporadic.” Sighing, the woman sat back. “A Full House? That can't be good news,” running a hand through her hair, she stood up, “This is getting out of hand. There's no fighting the progress of this without getting numbers of our own," she flipped open a cellphone, placing a call, "Switch Maria Hotsuin and Rider A-05 from Standby to Active.”
The woman looked at her destination, “It’s time for Ratatoskr to send a message. What better place than school?”
When Ryou'd gotten out of bed in the morning, she hadn't really been thinking of rocking up to class. School was a pain to get to, you know? Especially with everybody loading into the fucking metro like canned squid or whatever the metaphor was. Her original plans were maybe to check in on her Farmville, set up her fortune-telling stall on a street corner to grab a bit of extra dosh, hit up a local dojo for some fun, the usual, you know? But then she heard that Dor was in today, so hey, why not follow those societal norms and do a bit of learning for a few hours? It wasn't like she could find anyone else whose mouth could shit out the top fucking joke material so consistently, you know? Probably UNESCO-rated or whatever. And one day, he'd actually confirm if he was the OG pasta gangsta that everybody said he was.
She'd been trying, but no dice with that.
And she'd gotten nowhere today either. Had to deal with classes too, which was a real pain in the ass. Dor was a cool fucker, but even he wasn't enough to make school less of a total chore. Fuck, she'd really made a bad decision this morning. Next time, she'd just follow his Twitter or add him on FB or whatever. Sure, that lost a lil' bit of the magic, but even the diluted good shit was still pretty ace, you know? Like, she followed Beat Takeshi on Twitter too, and that guy was still fucking divine.
But she was digressing. 'Cos today was turning into a serious rodeo. Did she beat up an actual fucking Taoist at some point in the last few weeks? Was this some Zuo Ci bullshit? Her fortunes hadn't been looking this bad on the weekend, but now some asshole nincompoop magi decided that it was a great idea to dump some crazy terracotta bullshit on her ass while she was already hating on school? Like what the hell? She was feeling real attacked right now. All she wanted was a good time, you know?
Bloody fucking hell.
Fuck it, she was number one in Japan. Whoever the shithead responsible was, she was going to go and find him, admire his huge brass balls, then rip them off and give them to an actual tanuki. Then she was going to enjoy the rest of her day. Instead of this fucking bullshit.
Ryou jumped through the window in a hail of shattering glass.
"Hit the windows, teach!" she barked out over the din, hand barely gripping onto the sill. "Unless you lookin' to be paste cos I'm not judging!"
Huh, now that she thought about it, her uniform was looking kinda funky with all the glass shredding it.
So there's these two friends - one's a wiseguy, like me, and the other is Greek. They're having an argument at dinner one night. Magi have similar arguments all the time, but the Italian and the Greek guys aren't magi, so they don't have to worry about "our" kinds of squabbles. The argument goes something like this:
"[x]," says the Greek, naming something noble that the Greeks introduced to humanity.
"[y]," retorts our Italian hero, cheerfully countering with a way that we improved it.
"We built the Parthenon," insists the Greek, pulling up a picture on his phone to prove it. The Italian shrugs and retorts with: "We built the Coliseum."
"We gave you the Olympics!" insists the Greek, drawing the five rings in the air with his fingers like he's casting a rune. The Italian laughs. "We gave you Easter."
"We made mythology popular with our gods." The Greek guy is getting pissed now. "We invented mathematics." Those are both true, but the Italian looks smug when he says: "We have Latin. And we have your gods, too, only they named the planets after ours."
The Greek is really pissed now.
"We invented sex!" he exclaims angrily, and the Italian laughs and gets a big dumb grin on his face.
"Forse, stunad," says the wiseguy, "and we introduced it to women."
There was a pearl of wisdom in that joke, even for any non-Italians I had confronted in my life. Whenever I told it, most people miss the true point - there is honor and glory to be had in going to the mattresses for what you believe, blazing new trails, even dying bravely. No one died more courageously than an Italian man - but that would only come to pass when he went against his true nature and chose to die at all.
That was still a possibility in my book. I might not even mind, normally. But if I had to go one day, and there was no way around it, it wouldn't be as Dorian Fiordilatte, 3D Animation teacher. I had more to offer to this world than giving everyone passing grades for irrelevant work or giving a few weird shut-ins the know-how to end up as virtual porn directors. And I certainly couldn't die while there were a couple of kids who still needed to clear out.
I didn't come all this way just to let kids die. That was, in fact, the opposite of the whole idea.
With a speed that warmed my heart and a triumphant display of pig-evading acumen, Ryou had gauged the situation without any input from her "betters" (read: teachers, one of whom, aka yours truly, had prepared for a day like this and was searching his bag, while the other gazed longingly at another student's chest before turning to see what I was up to) and decided to take the quick path out of the school. I watched her dip out the window, the shards of broken glass cutting her uniform in various shredding patterns. It looked like someone had taken scissors to her top. Ryou would have liked that. Scissors.
More importantly, she had created a mostly-cleared avenue of escape now, just in time for me to produce the bottle of whiskey I'd been hiding in my bag, as well as a single glass. I opened it up and poured just enough to steel Mirimoto's nerves. It probably would have been better not to give it to him, especially with petrified students roaming around susceptible to noise. But the window had already been busted out, and if he was going to die - which, let's not fuck about here, chances were high would come to pass - it would be better to die with some courage and fire in his blood.
"Per cent'anni, Doc," I instructed him, sliding the glass over as I took a quick draft myself from the neck of the bottle. "You'll thank me when you don't feel the impact. You first, Lia. Be smarter than her. Try and clear any spare glass off the pane or sides of the frame before you jump. Then us, Morimoto-san. Don't break your ankles. You're going to want to run."
On the list of problems Lia Icecolle had planned for, attacking statues didn't really factor in. How to charm her way into an extension on the essay she didn't really bother doing, because it was boring. Or how to get it done before sixth period. One or the other. Whether or not her latest piece was up to snuff for an impromptu recital after school. Her favorite shop in town had received the latest collection from Europe, and she needed to make sure she got there before anything in her size was gone. How to avoid rolling her eyes at the homeroom teacher.
But no, attack of the art student's revenge didn't seem like it'd come up.
Yet here she was.
It wasn't a question of whether or not what she was seeing was possible, she had no problem with that. Terracotta soldiers wasn't that weird. What caught her off guard was the weird happening here and happening now.
Not that it delayed her reactions. She hit the ground fast. All it took was one dive out of her chair to hit the floor on her stomach, low and theoretically below any imminent danger. The other homeroom teacher, Dorian, was reacting with a haste that pretty definitively indicated that some of the rumors were true. Whatever he did, whoever he was, before he came to their school, he'd seen some action. And he was accepting the whole terracotta soldier thing pretty quickly. Something to dwell on a little later.
"Don't suppose you'd give that here, sensei," The pianist commented cheerfully, having raised herself to her hands and knees to move a little quicker than commando crawling. Imminent danger hadn't switched off her sense of humor. For the moment, being closer to the teacher was safer. Well. Closer to one of them. Jumping out the window, though...
For half a second, she had the image of her skirt catching the air like a parachute and floating daintily to the ground.
Alright, maybe the danger had done the opposite to her sense of humor...
"Easy enough, just don't keep your legs rigid. Drop and roll." The student drew her knees up towards her chest so she could reach her feet without getting off the ground, where the enemy could see her easier. Heels, even mild enough ones to wear with a school uniform, were not things to try and land on. So she slipped them off quickly, and held them both with her left hand. Off with her glasses with the right, tucking one of the arms down her collar to keep them secured.
"Clear the window, Jin, or I'm gonna take you down with me!" Lia hollered, making sure her bag was secured across her torso. "Don't need you trying to kill me today, too!"
What had been a heroic standoff against a seemingly never-ending wave of petrified students, teachers, and various other cursed people soon became a free fall as Noboru was sent hurtling out of the hallway towards the ground. His senses had at least let him curl up a bit before the explosion hit...though judging by the lack of any real pain from where he thought he got explode-d made him wonder just what kind of power Installing had given him. Landing on his back, Noboru winced as he looked back up at the building. It was as if he'd only fallen a foot or so in terms of physical feedback, and he couldn't help but wonder just where the hell this power had all come from, and if this was all just some strange dream that'd end. Sadly, reality wasn't so kind as his ears perked up, driving his empowered form to move in an instant as an arrow whizzed past his neck; Some new sense of experience in his mind told him that strike was targeted, planned to strike a vital point...and oddly, squinting his eyes, that arrow seemed to move slow enough that if he tried, he could catch it in his hands.
There wasn't time for that however, as the stone soldiers that he had thrown out the window, as well as the many that had been blown out by the explosion circled around him.
"So...uh...what else can I do?" Noboru questioned as he sidestepped a stab from a stone soldier, dropping to all fours as two to his sides swung, their stony blades clashing where his head at one point been.
"Hrm...well, I'm not a really fancy sort of Spirit, so if you were hoping for some sort of beam, or legendary weapon, might as well get used to disappointment. Fun as it'd be to watch you stumble around with my powers, I'd rather not die so soon after meeting my Master. 8 O'clock." the spirit within his mind warned, Noboru heeding the direction to narrowly dodge away, aided by the chain who's head was tightly wrapped around his left fist.
"I don't need some beam...I need a manual. And what's with the ears?" Noboru questioned, the stag ears in question twitching and flitting up and down as three arrows whizzed by him, deflected by the chain's swipes around him. Feeling that now he was beginning to be overwhelmed, Noboru sprinted forward, figuring he could just vault up another wall. Since, y'know, being possessed let you do that or something.
"Eh, complicated. You'll get used to them if you stick with it. Surprised you didn't notice the antlers first."
"...The what?" Noboru asked, just before being ambushed by a stone soldier jumping from a window, forced to block with all his strength against the aerial assailant's assault. His chain was tightly wrapped around both his hands, stretched taut to catch the stony blade as he twisted and pulled the chain to toss it out of the figure's hand, before a swift kick to their chest sent them stumbling back. Taking a moment to feel the top of his head, he was shocked to feel the bony pillars protruding from the top, but...today was already weird enough, so he could ignore that for now. "Not important. You said 'Someone' is using them like this. Tell me how to stop them...whatever your name is."
Its Herne. H-E-R-N-E. Do they really not talk about me anymore? I used to be a big deal, you know. Anyways, don't even worry about it. Just run away and hide out for a bit; Idiot is probably burning up all his mana just using this Noble Phantasm. We can hit him after he's taken the town and thinks its secure."
Noboru clenched his fists as he ran, before suddenly pivoting on his left foot to spin back around, lashing out with his chain in order to whip the arrows flying at him out of the air. "There's still people in here! And there's gotta be more in the town. I'm not just gonna-" he started, before the voice in his head interrupted him. "You're not just gonna do the smart thing, and save everyone all at once, instead tiring yourself out to run in the middle of EVERYTHING yourself instead of catching him off guard. You can pretend to be a heroic big shot all you like with power like this, but that guy's on a whole other level from you," Herne explained.
Noboru stopped, childishly stubborn to admit that, for how cruel it was to just...leave everyone...Herne was kind of right. If this could all be undone...it might just be more effective to wait and end it in one fell swoop. He was just starting to buy into that line of thinking, before the face of his petrified mother came back into his mind.
"...Herne. Work with me here. I'm not just gonna charge in, but I can't just leave everyone here. What can I...what can WE do?" Noboru questioned, as he backed further and further away from the terracotta army.
A deep sigh echoed in his mind, as if he'd just actually convinced a lazy child to cooperate. "Okay, so, there's this ONE thing we can do to make it easier to hunt for survivors; See how your right arm's wooden? Jam your palm into some dirt, and watch what happens." Herne explained as Noboru immediately complied. His wooden hand breached the dirt present in a nearby flowerbed, and, in an instant, a sharp pain caused "something" to split from his being, before the pot would explode violently into a mess of vines, brambles, leaves, flowers...all of which spread out with an abundant desire to grow, propagate, and completely consume the surrounding area. Terracotta soldiers suddenly found themselves entangled in thick underbrush, surrounded by trees that completely shifted the landscape. The interior of the school was left unchanged, though it would become clear to everyone that something had happened.
Mere moments after the planting had finished and the school grounds were covered in plants, small woodland animals began to merge from contorted branches, some even just APPEARING from out of bushes, their bodies composed entirely of bark, and their eyes replaced with distant white dots that seemed too far back in the skull to truly be "eyes". First, it was small things, like rats and sparrows, but after a few minutes owls and deer would begin to blossom outwards. Directionless, they wandered about, attempting to eat foliage and not at all being surprised at their inability to do so. The owls would catch and shred the mice, the deer would graze and flee; It was as if an entire forest had been transplanted and recreated.
"...Won't this make everyone harder to find?" Noboru questioned, before Herne immediately said: "Walk into a bush. This is the fun part."
Obeying his partner in crime, Noboru stepped into a bush that was about as tall as him before vanishing completely from sight; To Noboru, he was simply stuck in a mass of leaves and twigs that poked at his skin, but to the world, Noboru Maki had vanished completely. As such, the stone soldiers would lose interest quickly. "Now we just follow where they go, and bam, people for you to save." he said, as Noboru moved from foliage to foliage, completely evading detection so long as he was covered in green, thanks to his Jack in Green skill. First, he would try to find Maggie once again if he could. Then, he could regroup with the others out front to get her to safety before diving back into the school to look for survivors. "I'm gonna be honest here though; You can only keep this thing up for about 30 minutes before you'll pass out from exhaustion. Don't waste time." Herne at this point was basically revealing that he didn't like giving all the details up front, which caused Noboru to pick up the pace.
Breathing hard from the mental stress that comes from losing control of one's body and attempting fratricide, Aoi's knees began to buckle under her weight as she dropped down to the floor. The magical spear which had appeared in her hands moments ago continued to stay embedded in the wall she had aimed for while trying to avoid running her sister through, while it's wielder watched Hana slowly make her exit, following a voice that only she and the other stone warriors could hear.
"Hana," she whispered, reaching her hand out despite knowing the blind girl was too far gone.
It's too late, child. She has fallen to whatever unholy forces lead these people on their destructive crusade. If you shall not allow me to end your sister's suffering though, I shall not force you to do so. Know though that such a curse is unlikely to have any way of being reversed. More innocent blood shall be shed from your decision.
I... I don't care. I can't do it. Not after all I've done to her already. She doesn't deserve this.
So often is that the case for God's children. However, in the end, he has a plan for us all and we must learn to play our role. No matter how... difficult it is to do what is asked of us.
This gave the student pause. It was only now listening to this religious man preach about his devotion that the question she had asked him earlier returned to her head. Who are you? Aoi asked the voice.
I am Longinus, and by installing the lancer card as you have done, you have gained the power to wield my power and my weapon.
You mean-?
Yes, child. That spear which you pierced into the walls of your institution of learning is The Spear of Destiny.
Kuremi, Rebecca, and any other students who may have been in the school's courtyard would be able to see as their fellow classmate returned to her feet and pulled out the weapon with ease, as if the wall before her was styrofoam. She turned back to them, still covered in her class card's strange armor and the color of here eyes missing, before attempting an awkward smile. "Um, I'm not gonna lie, I'm about as confused as you all are."
And Ryou was absolutely, one hundred percent certain of that fact as she dropped. Falling from two storeys was fucking nothing compared to all the other shit she'd put herself through. Everything else was a real dog's breakfast though, goddamn. Now that she'd gotten some fresh air in her and wasn't hanging around inside some crappy classroom anymore, the extent of whatever the fuck was going on was like, way clearer. Like, the "if her silverware got cleaned so good she could be mirin' her reflection in them" type of clear, you know?. That was always pretty fucking ace, actually, but she was getting off track again.
She brushed dust and fragments of dust off her uniform. A few cuts'd opened up too and maybe she'd get some fucking wackass infection from them, but that was like, the least of her worries right now and she'd kinda fucked up by forgetting her bandages today too. She didn't know nobody who'd like, wanna start something who was a classmate, you know? Most magi were shut-in NEET fuckers who liked poppin the jizzle for Dark Amazon or whatever (and hey, that was their business even if she thought they were super creepazoids), not fucking crazies who thought swinging their bigass magic juju 'round in public was a good idea, you know?
Bloody hell, and were there two of them now?
Ryou wasn't like some forest scientist or whatever, but she was pretty sure that forests didn't pop up outta nowhere with Bambi in tow everyday. That was some Shennong shit that was going down, not that the guy'd told her anything. Was she losing her touch with the fortune telling? Did her fam accidentally degrade some mystery or whatever? Like why the hell hadn't she seen anything like this coming? She already thought the terracotta was pushing it, but this was some more bullshit?
Damn, she really shouldn't have turned up to school today.
But hey, she was supposed to look at the sunny-side of the egg or whatever it was. At least she'd be able to hunt down and wreck the shit of some idiot magi. But first she'd have to find where their asses were hiding, and that was going to be kinda hard unless ...
"Oi!" she called up to the window. "You wanna see a magic trick?"
Kuremi watched in horror as a bow was aimed straight at her face. In fear, she collapsed and crawled back “I don't want to die not here!” She exclaimed as she crawled backward unable to do much more else. Seeing the stone thing turn away Kuremi took the chance and quickly entered the closest door she found and barricading it to the best of her ability. “I don't want to try anymore,” Kuremi whispered she was at the end of her mental rope as she fell to despair what was the point anymore she failed she couldn't save her grandfather and she was unable to save her fellow students they were able to take care of themselves more than she could herself. “What's the point I'm nothing but a miserable pile of secrets” Kuremi continued as she huddled into a corner. “Is that what you really believe in?” A voice echoed in her head once more. Kuremi hearing that was disheartened even more but the more she thought about it the more it was right was she really ok with this? Was it really what she believed in. “No…… I’m not,” Kuremi replied she was lost and confused it was clear she didn’t know what to do anymore. “I Don't know honestly” She whispered once more she was confused her grandfather was more than likely dead and she failed to protect her classmates what was left? Everything she set herself to she failed what was left beyond watching the world burn?
“I have had enough of this foolishness stand up and fight!” The voice yelled in her head “A single loss does not mean every sacrifice was in vain! A single mistake does not end a war! You lost cause you lacked the power to accomplish the ambition you set for yourself.” It continued giving a sort of rousing speech. “The willingness to give up that’s just the sort of freedom I will never understand.” It continued leaving Kuremi lost “Ambition is pointless! To find what was lost, knowing that it will be lost again. What's the point then!” Kuremi yelled in frustration and anger everything she tried failed what was the point. “This is what we call despair it brings with it a sense of loss and feeling of hopelessness.” The voice said and Kuremi despite wanting to disagree knew it was true she lost all hope and welcomed despair in the end. “Though that's fine I guess I will lend you my power.” Kuremi was lost but she knew she needed to stand up and fight for herself. “Than I suppose I can lend you my power for now so say it the words of power that will grant you everything needed for you to seize your victory.” Kuremi nodded at those words “Include Assassin” she said as her own voice seemed to resonate with the other as a single katana appeared in her hands. “Kojiki Kiyomitsu” Kuremi muttered the blade felt so familiar yet so foreign in her hands still she now had the blade she needed to cut down a path of her own.
As the forest erupted from the purposefully made barren sand that surrounded the schoolyard, and ruptured the concrete school with the merciless reclamation that nature was so entitled, Aoi found herself humanly disoriented. Even with the guide of the one called Longinus within her mind and soul, she was victimized by the inherent disruption of a forest, and her hopeless movements observed by the fauna that endlessly watched them stumble, until they crashed so into someone -- backs impacting back, sending her sprawling to the forested floor.
Like the hopeless spirit within her, there was no God for her. No longer in need of the echolocation of her cane, Hana could sense her sister's footsteps upon the trodden path; fallen leaves and bramble brush betraying the young woman with every step. Sword in hand, Hana advanced with seemingly practiced step and strike, forcing Aoi to parry and defend under Longinus's direct influence, and against her own will. There was little room for error in this death match between two sisters; however, one was forged in unflagging stone, and one was besieged by weighted guilt.
A decision needed to be reach by the one that could exhaust, and soon...
At the same time, Rebecca was truly by herself; unable to do more than hide within the bushes, as the terracotta soldiers were marching to and fro. Unlike her, they didn’t seem lost amid the greenery, however, they were easily distracted by their own noises and movements -- human flaws underneath rising to mess them up. Perhaps, for her, this was opportunity crafted by a guiding hand -- perhaps, Godsent, in aid of her indecision -- that made it possible for the girl to move without strife... for now.
In the distance, however, she could hear the clashing of weapons, the shoutings of another woman, followed in short by a large impact, and a nearby explosion. For Rebecca, these could all be taken as signs -- not ones of hope, nor confidence, but warning to arrest ideas of venturing beyond her safety in the tall bushes and shaded trees. Unfortunately, there is no path truly divine nor safe; as her eyes fell upon the sought safety of the opposite school gate, she could see that Bill had been displaced here.
Or, perhaps, dispatched here, as he seemed stand as a lone sentry, and yet his presence of comparable to ten. Rebecca's choices narrowed to two: place her faith in the benevolent guide that set her here and retreat into the trees or stand firm with the path handed her and forge ahead...
As Kuremi struggled and overcame her internal doubt and fear, and drew upon the strength of the spirit within, the forest around the school invaded the school, itself, and crushed down the door behind her. Before her, the path was lain that she would have to venture into the building. However, before that was even possible, she had to face all her demons -- not just those of doubt, but those of action, as well. As she materialized her blade, there was a crunching of stone through leaf...
Standing in the door, Kiriya looked at his granddaughter; hand upon sheathed sword. His eyes, empty and compassionless, studied her drawn blade with years of understanding that dwarfed Kuremi very existence manyfold. This was her challenge -- perhaps, one that she was destined to undertake -- as Kiriya drew his blade upon her; his stance wasn’t that of a rookie swordsman, but that of a kendo proficient steadying himself for a duel... one to the death, in this case.
However, that gave Kuremi a sense of her grandfather still existing within. It didn’t promise a victory by any means, but a chance to succeed...
Dorian’s quick-thinking was something of a Godsend, in the situation at hand; getting Jin and Lia out the window and to safety. Morimoto took the offered draft, and drowned it without a moment’s hesitation. “Thanks,” he sighed, “This is an interesting day, isn’t it? I wasn’t expecting such an event.” Morimoto was babbling, now, as panic set in, anew, and his tongue was loosened by drink. “I’m babbling,” he acknowledged, “I better get out the window, shouldn’t I? Yeah. I’ll do that. Are you sure you down want to go first?” Dorian’s stance, of course, wasn’t going to change in an instant -- he didn’t seem like the type of man to offer you fine wine just to stab you in the back.
As such, he heeded Dorian’s sound advice for landing, before hurrying to the window; a tree sprouting from the center of the floor, and causing him to stumble. Grabbing the window, Morimoto focused on jumping... before a searing pain filled his core. He didn’t have anything on his mind, beyond escaping, as the stone started to cover him; corrupt him; control him. Looking back, he growled at Dorian, before resuming his last thought and the Emperor’s Decree. Newly formed ji in hand, he leapt from the window...
Looking back, Dorian could see, due in part to the growing tree, a section of the wall had been torn away, and a bow-wielding soldier had shot at Morimoto, since it could only see him. However, the wall was coming away quickly, and Dorian wouldn’t be hidden for that long, and his charges below where definitely in grave danger.
A sudden explosion of reforestation was something that could easily set anyone’s day at odds with their initial plans. For Jin and Lia, they were, for better or worst, stuck together, as the forest surrounded them, and encapsulated the schoolyard, before spreading into it, and beyond it. Jin’s landing had been as easy as she expected it to be. Lia’s more so, as she flopped into a sudden bush, and scattered off a bunch of squirrels; some of the running by and upon Jin, before launching into the trees. As she gathered herself, and Jin set her attention to the window they’d leapt from, Lia could see Morimoto about to make his leap...
...only to suddenly lurch forward, as an arrow punched through his neck, and he clung to the window frame with a fleeting moment of desperate hope not to fall, before his finger crushed the frame with the strength of the stone that was coating him. His head was taken first, as the impact zone was closest, and he formed a unique helm; followed by a large ji in his hands, and a suit of much heavier armor. He growled, looking back to Dorian, before finishing his leap, and landing merely a few yards from the girls that had escaped before him.
Turning his attention to Jin and Lia, Morimoto leveled his weapon at Lia, and charged forward at her.
Due to the forest nearly devouring the school, Maggie was nowhere near hard to find for Noboru. In fact, in comparison to all that he’d done so far, and what he’d have to in the future, finding the frightened girl was the easiest thing he’d done. Unfortunately, that’s where the ease ended, and the trouble began anew, as Maggie was cornered by several soldiers -- a phantasmal hand slapping aside arrows and swords a frantic rate. He could see a familiar face, his mother’s, which brought him pause, once more.
He would have to deal with her, with finality, if he wanted to save Maggie.
...if that was even an option to him.
Maggie reached into her runestone pouch, but, she came up empty. [Is this where you intend to die, then? Alone? Abandoned? Loveless?] asked the voice from before. “Dad... save me...” Maggie whimpered, as soldiers pushed forward, and trust weapons at her. [If you don’t move, you will die here!] says the keep of the defending hand. [Either face this, or flee!] Maggie looked up, and her eyes widened, as she paled. “N-No...” she gasped, as a spear-wielder soldier beside Noboru’s mother looked too familiar. “No... Dad...”
There was a sudden spike of Mana, and fire swallowed the immediate area in a blind fury and fear.
Noboru couldn’t even attempt to ignore Herne’s commands for retreat, as his own nerves lit with danger...
Frustrated, the Director of Ratatoskr slammed her office phone down, and ran a hand through her rose-colored hair, before looked at a timid youth in the corner. “Did you finish what I asked, Nathan,” she asks with an annoyed growl. Yelping, the youth jumped to his feet, and ran over; near fumbling a cellphone into the air, before presenting it. “Yes, Miss Everclear,” he says. “I created the account, and downloaded the app, and found the rom,” he opened the app in question, and tapped the screen. “I told you, Nathan, call me Rose, or Roselynn,” snapped the woman, “and, thank you. Haven’t played Pokemon FireRed in years...”
Directing her attention to the screen, Roselynn started the game up; humming the intro to herself, as she gathered her gun holster, and slipped into her two-inch heels. “Let’s go, Nathan,” she ordered, as she exited the office at a quick pace. “Here’s a question,” Rose says, as she tapped the elevator call button, “Fire, Grass, or Water?” Nathan hummed, “In terms of,” he thought for a second, “Well, if we are talking efficiency: Water, of course,” he nodded, before elaborating, “Since, the first Gym is Pewter, and Rock-types are Super-weak to Water-types. Additionally, there’s nothing that can menace Squirtle on your way, so you can easily level to 10, and sweep Brock.”
Roselynn nodded, as they boarded the elevator. “True, of course, the same could be said for Charmander,” she noted. “Yes, but, Rock-types take normal damage from Fire-types, so you would have to get other Pokemon to offset that weakness,” Nathan says. “And, thus, you can see, in that Bulbasaur is the superior one, because it can only be menaced by one Pokemon, and yet, is Super-effective to both Brock’s Gym and Misty’s Gym, which follows in suit. Do you know why,” Roselynn asks.
Nathan tilted his head, and thought about it, “I suppose, if you look at it, philosophically, the grass is what benefits greatest from the earth and the water, and can uproot the very earth itself and trap water within itself.” Roselynn grinned at him, as they left the elevator, and headed for a company car. “That’s a thoughtful answer,” she says, “Rival name...” she hummed, fishing out, and toss Nathan the car key. “Ah. You drive.” Nathan peeked over, opening the passenger side door for her, “Wait!? Me!?” Roselynn smirked. “My bodyguard can be my rival, too,” she says. “Now, to get myself a Bulbasaur...”
Frightened of what Longinus might do against her will should she give over complete control to the servant, Aoi would find herself fighting a defensive battle with her sister using only her own skills and knowledge of fighting and the spearman's enhanced strength and reflexes. She could feel his thoughts trying to convince to dodge one way or the other, but each time they'd be followed by a counter-attack. No. I refuse to hurt her.
Child, if you continue to put yourself in such situations, she will wear you down until you can no longer continue dodging.
Just then, Hana would thrust her sword forward toward Aoi's chest. Having been distracted by Longinus' words, the girl hadn't predicted the attack and panicked in her response. Instead of bringing the large weapon close to parry the blade away, she swung the Spear of Destiny like a club, batting her stone sister away. In her current state, she may be a rank C in strength, but it was more than enough to send Hana flying several feet away. The terracotta warrior felled two trees before impacting against the third and halting her impromptu flight.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry Hana. Are you okay?" Aoi asked, her words reminding her of better days when such a question was reserved for the aftermath of playing too rough with her sibling and their mother was fast approaching to investigate the sound of tears. That was before the world turned topsy-turvy. Before she had entered the Student Council. Before she had begun training her magic. Before she had blinded the closest person she had to a friend.
In response, Hana simply looked back at Aoi with those same cold eyes, her face unchanged from the neutral expression that had stayed since the beginning of their duel. She was still a drone serving her master, and her master's orders were to kill. Gripping the blade now with both hands, she charged again at her sister, sending forth a barrage of stabs and cuts that Aoi's C rank agility struggled to keep up with.
Surreal though it was, reality had long since left the building. Adrenaline was in charge now. Higher brain functions were in the passenger seat, hands off the wheel, which is why they could remark on petty little things like the bush that tore her uniform. Not that she cared too much about it, but it was the principle of the thing. She hated her clothes getting damaged.
Still, it was better than her getting damaged. She'd landed without much incident, a couple of small scratches aside. And short of Dorian, Jin was the person she felt safest having around. Between them, she was pretty sure they could take on anything. Unlike Morimoto Lia wasn't concerned that these things were possible; despite her lack of education, she was still plenty aware that the magical was indeed alive and well in the world.
What bothered her was not knowing why. Why were these things happening? What was causing this plant growth? What was behind the stone soldiers? How could it be stopped? From the passenger's seat, the student's higher brain functions had plenty of time to ruminate.
"Alright, Jin, what next? Morimoto will be down in a minute."
The words had barely left her mouth, as she glanced back up towards the window, when the arrow struck him. And before her eyes, her homeroom teacher turned into one of those stone assailants. And landed on the ground. Quite close to her.
Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me.
The lizard brain was in charge, though, and understood readily that the fastest way out of danger was to the side. So the thought hadn't even left her mind before, instead of standing up and running, she dove to the side and rolled. Sure got her away from the charge fast enough. Then she popped to her feet, closer to Jin than she had been, and reflexively chucked one of her shoes with unerring aim at the statue's head.
"Hey, anything in the banchou manual for animated statues?"
Elevated heart-rate, dilation of the eyes, increased bantering.
Yup, Lia noted of herself with clinical detachment, reality had definitely checked out.
Strive for quiescence of body, mind and intention.
Energy was pumping through Ryou's open circuits before Lia's question had even been asked. The delinquent girl was already in action, the od circulating through her body reinforcing her physical capabilities to clearly superhuman levels as she closed the distance between her and whatever she was supposed to call that terracotta bullshit piggybacking off wimpass Morimoto. Maybe "dead meat", because she was gonna rip its ceramic ass a new one before it could recover from that halberd thrust. She'd never fought an actual ji-wielder before, but she'd taken on her fair share of dumbasses who thought street signs worked on her. And like, that was the same fucking thing anyway.
It wasn't like she had a pony under her ass or whatever, so closing the gap was absolutely a legit strat for her to go for, you know? And because "Deadassmoto" had so kindly given her an opening (she'd like, give Morimoto some "fave teacher" flowers on his gravestone when she got rid of this stupid fucking parasite), she was already in close to lay the beatdown on.
A ji was like, what, seven-eight feet? Once she was inside that, there was no way she was gonna get stabbed.
Flicking her nose with a thumb, Ryou felt the power build inside her with each controlled breath. The "inner alchemy" arts of her family translated into the martial arts that had whooped so many others' asses. And as she dashed in with frightening, reinforced speed, her movements flowed naturally into the Quanzhen Sect style, right palm striking out at the terracotta warrior's chest.
@Enkryption Thankful for Herne's advice, Noboru would nearly instantly find Maggie once again, then his heart sunk again. Why...why did he have to keep on fighting his mother? She was pursuing him so persistently in her stone prison, that he was almost convinced that this was a cruel joke. As if some god out there enjoyed his heart being torn apart, each string binding his limbs to hesitate and to hold back. But right now, Maggie's life was on the line, and she seemed unable to run. Taking a step forward he-
"STOP! Noboru, something's wrong here..." the voice of Herne called out to him as he took another step forward, his gait turning into a sprint as he moved to try and save Maggie again.
"Something's not right, here dammit! Listen to me!" another warning rang out, this time licks of fire started to kiss upon the air, their embers lost to the man with a heart of glass and an arm made of wood. All at once, Noboru's instincts would be called back to attention as Maggie...exploded. Mana forced him to take a step back as the heat of it singed his face, the damage healed quickly due to Herne's abilities, but his legs found themselves as firmly planted as his grove was. For the first time since installing Herne, he felt...fear. A fight or flight response not derived of selfless heroic action, but one of a genuine sort of terror, the kind a child bears when confronted with a large predator like a bear.
His hesitation would give a gap for the terracotta soldier that was his mother to capitalize upon, her steps swift for her material composition as blade sliced through flesh, her blade becoming embedded in Noboru's side. Pain filled his senses, an anguished cry filling the air as he scarcely managed to stop the blade by gripping it hard with his wooden hand. Looking right into his mother's face, Noboru's fears only started to grow more and more.
"Get a grip! You're not gonna turn to stone while I'm with you. Now kick her down a peg and we'll get the heck out of here." Herne shouted, forced to move Noboru to keep him from faltering more, his body becoming relieved of the stony sword as he stepped back, his chain coiled tightly around the blade as he wrestled for possession of it with his mother. Clutching his side with his free hand, Noboru started to feel woozy, the experience of having his evisceration virginity taken from him leading only pain, nausea and confusion as he continued to play tug of war. Shakily, he looked at his mother with tears in his eyes welling up and spilling over. In a shaky voice that didn'tt carry any of the courage he had before, he said: "Mom, please...stop...I don't...I don't want to..." in a desperate unheard plea.
Surprise. Shock. Righteous anger. I absolutely can't believe it. Ohhh nooooo.
It probably couldn't have happened any other way. Morimoto had apparently had some fire to him, once; even in the brief amount of time since the school had come under siege from the nightmarish terracotta sentinels, he'd found enough of a spine to worry about the safety of his students. I could see him from under the window, encased in stone, all traces of the nebbish he had been erased by the magecraft tied to that arrow.
It probably couldn't have happened any other way, but it was too bad it did. I watched Morimoto land, brandishing his new stone weapon for a second as he advanced on the two kids. Ryou was probably about to kill the poor son of a bitch. As much as you could kill stone, anyway. Was it a weird form of armor that had swallowed him, consumed his soul, driven him against his charges? Or his flesh?
I let out a slow exhale and took a second swig from the bottle. Drinking in my own little fiefdom of a classroom hadn't quite been in the plans for the day, but that was par for the course in this life. The world sucked. Wear a fucking cup if you're scared of it. It was a lesson Morimoto had just learned painfully.
Per cent'anni, Doc.
So. The time for decisions had come. The window was the way out of this room. There was no second option; the door to the classroom was pointless while so many terracotta warriors roamed the halls. No matter what I was capable of, it wouldn't matter against so many. I'm no action hero, I'm just a weird son of a bitch with some tricks up his sleeve. And I can talk to people. Those two things can get you far as a magus, but sometimes you needed to put your od where your mouth was.
So: the window. Jumping was the only way; climbing would have taken too long even without the damage Morimoto had done to the windowsill. Jumping also left me a prime target for the next one of those arrows. But...
Ansuz. Kenaz. Ehwaz. Perthro.
What?
Perthro?
I turned to look at the bottle of Irish whiskey that Morimoto and I had been drinking from for luck and courage, respectively.
Luck and courage.
Holy fuck. It had clicked.
You're welcome, you damned devil.
From my messenger back I withdrew my Mystic Code - a plain one, about as common among magus circles as a smartphone case would be in a group of students. But a dearth of rarity usually meant that an item didn't lack for use. The Azoth Blade had gotten me out of a few hairy situations before - both business and personal. I really should give it a name sometime. It needed something to make it feel more unique. Az-nable Blade. Something custom.
I splashed a few drops of the alcohol onto the flat end of the blade and started drawing runes three times faster than the average Mystic Code user.
When I had drawn the last rune, I flicked my wrist upwards, like I was about to toss the blade underhand into the forest below. The channeling had worked; from the end of the Mystic Code, a dense fog colored the dark teak of the alcohol in the bottle swallowed up the window, obscuring the window and its immediate contents from view below. It was only an average Bounded Field, the best I could conjure immediately with the resources I had, but it would work as long as I needed it to.
The average human being would jump as soon as they were covered. That was what any foe would expect. So the smart thing to do was wait a few crucial seconds, long enough for an arrow to be notched and aimed at someone who had immediately clambered up on the window--
I ducked to the right of the exit, watching as the heavy stone arrow cut through the fog and buried itself in the classroom ceiling. That was when I jumped.
The rest of the runes I'd used were meant for quickness, merely getting me the hell out of the room and onto a level playing field with the kids. Ryou would kill Morimoto if she had to. I had seen enough Hong Kong cinema to know that wasn't the route. What I could do was keep either girl from taking an arrow in the back and creating enemies in our midst. Another, stronger Bounded Field would be good for those purposes...but it would also create a temporary island, and if the soldiers had any sort of hivemind - which, odds were pretty good - they would know exactly where to converge on.
Covering the rear was the best option. It was Lia's blind spot.
You're up next.
Yes. That was a damned good idea with the Runes. Quick and dirty.
Rebecca was grateful that she was safe...for now. However the screaming and yelling that was going on was starting to wear on her. The pressure on the young woman was huge: she didn't know what to do. However, she felt...guided, as if something was keeping her safe from the danger that was posed by the stone soldiers. Seeing Bill near the gate, she couldn't possibly harm her best friend. However, she had an idea: they were easily distracted by human sounds and each other. Perhaps she could create a scenario that Bill had to investigate?
However, that was pointless if she didn't check out what was in the trees first. Perhaps she should listen to the guiding hand and continue that way? Maybe there could be another way out or at least something useful? Only one way to find out. Rebecca thought as she retreated deeper into the trees and brush, staying out of sight as best as she could and, perhaps even to her own pleasant surprise, praying that this was the right decision.
Hana’s compassionless gaze stayed on Aoi, as she rained slices and slashes over her; armor blocked her assault whenever and wherever spear could not. As such, her tactics changed, and she took a different grip on her longsword; as if, emulating a rapier. Suddenly, her attacks were lithe and swift; no longer the broad, brutal sweeps of a longsword, but the piercingly precise stabbing trust of a rapier. Aoi found herself backed further into her metaphorical corner, as Hana’s strikes began to feed under her armor, and twice found purchase.
Purchase found, Hana gained ground, and pushed Aoi back; back; back; back... until she slammed into the bulk of a tree, and was pinned to it. Perhaps, it was Longinus’s presence taking control of her emotions. Perhaps, it was her own guilt rationalizing that she deserved this. Either way, it was her own self-preservation instinct that kept her alive in this cruel contention of irony and failure, as she gripped the meat of Hana’s thrusted blade, as a inch of it sank into her left eye.
Nothing, however, could stop her from screaming in pain.
“Before you stands a master one who has polished his craft for his lifetime while far from legendary status it is respectable” Okita said with a medium of respect for the person her master now faced. “He taught me everything I knew raised me when others scorned me. He is the one who stands at the end of my blade now. To think our match would be like this.” Kuremi said her hand shaking a bit before settling into a lose stance. This was her fight she would have to stand tall and face this. She would show just how far she went and prove her worth to him now! ”Men” She shouted her sword at the ready striking downward at the shoulder away with trained precision.
Kiriya faced his cherish granddaughter, the pride and joy of his training days, few and far between, with an expression that could be take as stern and serious on a living person, yet came across as compassionless and duty-bound upon the stone. His eyes studied her motions, took her in, and his blade lashed up to take, and brush away her downward strike; setting the motion effortlessly, uselessly, to his right; as he did, he turned his own hips, and drew the tip of his sword upwards to slash at her.
”Jump backwards” Okita said calmly as if instructing someone guiding their hands as some would do for a person new to the sword taking their hands and guiding softly but making sure they knew what was going on. With a nary a word said Kuremi followed backing up before pivoting on her heel her sword turned sideways and stabbed forward with a skill that spoke of master in battle as Okita took to guiding her a bit to help her survive.
As if guiding her along, Kiriya tilted his rising sword, and blew its side aside Kuremi’s lunge; enough force pressed to the contact to knock it aside, but, not to open him to a smart attack. He couldn’t be sure if she was armed with a dagger or tanto -- anything that was short and fast to bring to arms. Instead, he seemed to be taking her for a tour of her own abilities. Still teaching her, even in the act of attempting to kill her freedom, and fold her into the many.
“Grandfather….” Kuremi said softly her body moving through a dance that she hasn’t practiced forever however something was different she felt it was as if someone was guiding her movements still which she took as a sign of the supposed power that was being lent to her. “Your grandfather is a honorable man even now his body so ingrained with such things is teaching still a master to the very end.” Okita said once more respect clear in her voice as she saw the man who her master called grandfather. “I ask you will you give me control for just a bit I want to see his skills truly as a swordsman. I will a vow as a member of the shinsengumi he will survive to see another day.” Okita said her voice eager yet tempered with duty. “He won’t be harmed?” With a sense of tempered intent Kuremi knew what she wanted and agreed with a sigh words escaping her lips as if her she knew what needed to be done. “Install Assassin” Kuremi said as her trust in her new ally formed a contract and the full power of said ally was unleashed. A surge of power was unleashed as Kuremi smiled as Okita took control her clothes replaced with a short white kimono as her body was lightly armored with dark brown almost black leather armor. “Let’s do this as two masters of the blade as true swordsman Ojii-Dono. I will face you as a member of the proud SHINSENGUMI! Okita Souji ready. “The coat of oaths our promise to protect and guide! the uniform of the shinsengumi!” She exclaimed as a familiar haori materialized on her her grin smiled smiled as the sword was replaced with a new one a bit longer but felt comfortable and right in her hands. “Kiku-Ichimonji Norimune.” She stated once more as she gripped it tightly and switched into a new stance one that is both legendary and feared the stance of Hira-Seigan.
Kiriya shifted into a neutral stance; not too rigid; not too loose; neither easy to victimize nor gain advantage off. Kuremi’s transformation didn’t phase him, but he was aware of it -- only a foolish man would treat the boastful woman before him as a foolish woman. After a full minute of tension, he stepped to his left, and started working a circle around her... slowly fluctuating the distance between them, as he did. He seemed to be studying something about Kuremi, and found it...
It was only because of Okita’s “secondary sight” given by her overlain existence that she caught the weaved strike of the blade of her Master’s grandfather, the tip settled within the minute degree that made Kuremi’s blind spot. It wasn’t great, but it turned a full impaling of Kuremi’s right shoulder into a deep graze.
Taking the blow with a grunt Okita/Kuremi looked forward it seems she would have to use it. her skill made famous she hoped this wouldn’t end in tragedy. “One silent step... Two steps infinite... Three steps, a sword absolute! Mumyo Sandan-Zuki.” She intoned quietly and moved her sword creating a blur as she struck three times in a single blow at the shoulder of her opponent. This was her blow, her skill that bordered fantasy and one that she could call hers alone.
Kiriya's skill went far for a human, was ascended by the Noble Phantasm that shrouded him, and yet, he was still bound to a set of rules that Okita defied through Kuremi. Her first step stressed his guard, her second step blew it open, and her third step found home; the silent victory swelled under the crackle of fractured and punctured terracotta, and the dropped sword. Kiriya's eyes studied Kuremi's, looking well beyond her possession, and straight into her core... before he gripped Okita's blade, and pushed it out without effort.
Taking a neutral stance, Kiriya set his hands to his side, and bowed deeply to his granddaughter and her guardian.
“A fine match…” Okita said as she sheathed her sword normally she would relinquish control however Kuremi was catatonic unable to bear to see her family injured. “Still so young, so innocent.” Kuremi said softly at her masters state she may have went to far but her master needed to see it to grow as a person no matter how cold it was it was a needed lesson.
Kiriya maintained his bow, allowing them the freedom to pass him, and go forward. This would, more than likely, be the only time this would happen. Anyone else, and Okita's blade would have to go the distance, and draw the blood of unwilling strangers -- perhaps, fatally so.
”I know your afraid but your grandfather is a strong man he will survive.” Okita spoke she saw potential in her master. Her recent fight with her grandfather only cemented the fact as well with the right training she would shine brighter than any star. “Know that I Okita will protect you for now my young master. I will let you rest but know I will set to train you this is your first battle and you did well but we won’t always have honorable opponents know this well.” Okita said speaking to Kuremi who was almost dead to the world and could only give a brief acknowledgement of the response. Walking out Okita stumbled out using the wall as support her stab wound giving her some trouble. It would be a long battle from here on out but it was a lesson in humility for the both of them.
Lia’s deft motion was enough to get her out of the charge, and her lateral thinking of enough to by Jin the time she needed to free up her Magic Circuits, and make her charge in. Jin’s motions, smooth and flowing, easily slipped past the weapon’s superior reach, and into its weakness of short range. As her fist impacted with Morimoto’s armored chest, the teacher was already reacting; his upper body extended, as if stretching forward to reach something away from him. As he did, he slid his right hand forward, and anchored his left hand solid...
Jin hadn’t an opportunity to relinquish her commitment, and Morimoto pivoted his entire body at her. True, the ji’s strength rested at its point; however, Morimoto was no soldier. He didn’t have a day of soldier’s training, a hint of proper spearplay, and didn’t use tactics that were common to what the delinquent was expecting; perhaps, that’s why the haft of the stone spear crashed brutally into her ear, and so cruelly shunted her head upon the root.
There was a chaotic spray of mana, as Jin’s reinforcement magic was truly pushed to the edge of regret -- enough that another form of magic struggled to her aid. Lia could see that her head bent at an angle that her body followed, as if everything was moving in slow motion, and Jin was picked up off her feet by the stone beam raging against mana layered her ear. As time resumed for Lia, she could only witness her classmate being dragged through the air, and slung at her.
No time to think, bodies slammed together, and girls tumbled into toward the school without a hope of control.
Morimoto reset his position, and hefted the ji behind his back; tapping it against his shoulder like a baseball bat.
As Dorian landed among the growing fog bank, he took notice of three things:
The first was the bundle of girl that tumbled by him, as Jin and Lia came to a stop a little bit behind him.
The second was Morimoto, standing a ways off, and leaning on his ji, as he was bored -- despite lacking expression.
And, the addition of his fog bank added a new layer of obscuration to the Merry Duke's Forest of Windsor, as the third notation he’d have.
There were multiple new variables on the battlefield, now, and he'd little in the way of support for himself. Due to the “thickness” of the Mana that surrounded them, some had become visual to his trained eyes, and in the air, a visible trail of it leading from Morimoto to Jin, as her Physical Enchantment was crackling and falling. In addition, he could see a dense cluster of Spiritrons formed around her head like a helmet, and a clunky left arm armoring that braced Lia’s body from being all but crushed under Jin.
The girls were alive, at the very least; probably plagued by a massive headaches, and serious aches, but they could still help him.
Maybe.
Shifting, Morimoto moved to a tree, and punched a fist into it. He tightened, and pulled back on it. It was coated in terracotta, and he started to bang his ji against it, until a glorious buck appeared; it's body half wood and half terracotta. Morimoto was appropriating the Merry Duke of Windsor, much like an army general in need of resources would, and he continued to bang; turning the area into terracotta where the fog was touching the ground born of the Merry Duke of Windsor, and bringing in soldiers.
In the distance, there was a similar banging...
“Anchin-sama!” Maggie roared, as she bodily tackles Noboru's mom, and stared at him. “Are you okay?!” she asks, panicked at his stab wound, despite the fact that she'd an entire spear run through her abdomen. Maggie didn't even wait for the answer, as she grabbed Noboru's cheeks in her clawed hands, and pressed her lips to his wholesale. Noboru could probably tell, this wasn't the same shy girl that he'd barely known a day, but someone far more willful.
“I won't lose you, darling,” whispered the phantom controlling Maggie, before turning, and unfolding their fan. “Stand back!” Maggie whipped her fan, and Mana gathered at such an incredibly rate that is was more of a burst cast than traditional cast; appropriate for the swath of flame that cut through the room, and mercilessly knocked everyone before her to the floor; all but melting them to their flesh core. “Let's run away together, Anchin!” she says, taking his hand -- Noboru didn't have a choice, as he was dragged by the Irishwoman dressed in formal Japanese attire from a feudal age moving faster than he could process at the moment.
Not to mention, In the back of his mind, Noboru could feel a series of disruptions in his Forest; coinciding with a drumming that started up.
Much to her chagrin, or perhaps, to her destiny, fickleness was the main course of divine guidance, as Rebecca bumped into the wooden construct of a young buck, and drew the ire of nature. An angered grunt escaped the beast, as it reared, and drove itself, bodily, into Rebecca shoving her out of the treeline. Landing flat on her back, Rebecca's sudden presence triggered the senses of her currently possessed friend, and Bill drew his short sword, as he moved to fold her in. However, before he could, he turned his attention from her, triggered by something else, and turned back to the gate; sword drawn, and rushing towards it as swiftly as he could.
Whatever it was, it seemed to present a greater threat than she had, as the soldiers, for all their overwhelming strength, had never once attempted to run to them. Since they had appeared, everyone of them had only marched -- or, if one could be hopeful, was fighting against their commands -- towards their objective, and yet, now, Bill had ran to attack something. Rebecca could only wonder what could be so threatening...
...before someone shouted something about challenge, glory, and honor, and Bill came flying through the gate, and sailed over her entire body, as if returned by a catapult. Rebecca saw him slam into the earth, ram into soldiers that were gathering to the target zone, and knock them over. In the gate, stood a lanky teen dressed in the armor of a Grecian warrior of days long gone with a glorious, yet simple shield, and a woman in a luxurious golden fleece toga with rose-colored hair holding a water gun in her hands, as if it were real...
In the backseat, Roselynn lied across both seats, as Nathan drove around the terracotta soldiers and their horses, as the city slowly fell. “I can tell, it's a Bounded Field, at the very least,” says the teen, as he turned into a new lane. “I'm sure Miss Dedalus can tell us more,” Nathan looked back via the rearview mirror, “Are you still trying to catch that female Nidoran? It's a 1% chance. Statistically, you shouldn't have even caught a female Pikachu and a male Pikachu -- much less, back to back.” Roselynn smirked, “And, yet, I did. If I can roll two 3% chances in a row, then roll a 1% is possible. Such are percentiles.”
Nathan conceded, as he pulled into the school parking lot. “Autonomous Sentry-types,” he says, “Golemancy. That needs a lot of power, and a high focus.” Roselynn sat up, saving her game at the Pokécenter at the base of Mt. Moon, and shutting the app off. “So, we're on the outskirts of the Bounded Field, then,” she says, thoughtfully, “Alright, let's be quick here.” Nathan shuddered, “Into that? Couldn't we just wait for Miss Hotsuin?” Roselynn exited the car, and huffed, “If she could answer her phone. Honestly, a young woman that cannot even answer her phone. What is the world coming to?”
Sighing, Nathan stepped out, and surveyed the area. “A single guard. It seems to be going for something,” he says, as the sentry was moving away, sword drawn. “Hivemind,” Roselynn says. “Eyes and ears connected.” Nathan shivered. “Time to go to work,” Roselynn says, unlatching the latch to her water gun holster, as the sentry took notice of them. “Do I have to,” Nathan asks, “Surely, you and Madame Socrates can handle this? They are still human underneath, no? That's your theory.” Roselynn moved behind Nathan, and pressed a hand to his shoulder, “A theory is nothing but. Aren't you my bodyguard,” her lips brushed against his ear, Spiritron Particles floating off them, “my brave, little boy?” Nathan glupped, as he felt the cool polish of the Colt .45 against his temple, and felt the click of the hammer drop into the ready position. He knew for fact it was just a water gun, and yet, Roselynn's Origin suggested it was all too real. “Y-Yes,” Nathan stammered, as he Materialized a Class Card. “But... if I fail...?” Roselynn smiles, “You can't fail me,” she caressed the trigger, “Be brave for me. See your dear mother through this,” and pulled it; shooting Nathan squarely.
Slumping forward, Nathan was surrounded by a swirl of Spiritron Particles, and found himself in the clad in the armor of proud Grecian soldier. Loudly, there was the clang of stone and metal. “Simpleton,” he says, almost beneath his voice. “Dare you challenge my brilliant shield with flimsy stone!? Dare you wage your masquerading steel against honor and glory!?” Nathan thrust himself upwards, and raised the divine right that was Rho Aias. “Rho Aias falls to none! Nor does the glory of Ajax the Greater!” he roared, bombastically, as he sent the sentry flying back to and through the gate with a single heft of the towering shield. “Stand behind me, mother,” Nathan grinned, “we're going straight in.”
Roselynn chuckled, “Such an heroic boy,” and made a ‘lead the way’ motion.
It wasn't a particularly graceful sound, but having her classmate slammed into her and subsequently rolled a ways wasn't a particularly graceful experience. Nothing was broken, though. It wasn't hard to tell. She had wound up cushioning Jin's impact and subsequent roll, but she'd seen the hit the banchou took on the head. Nothing she could do about that except offer some aspirin later. The two were closer to the school than they had been since the jump.
It was more than a little demoralizing, frankly. Jin was a better fighter than her by a mile. Better magus, too. To see her get knocked on her ass wasn't a good sign. That was dealing with one of these soldiers, and she knew of at least two. Almost certainly more than that. Jin and sensei were the only people with her, now. Excellent magi, the both of them. She already knew a little about Jin, but sensei had just demonstrated his own skill, if a little unorthodox. Jin could take anyone in a fight. Sensei looked like he could probably do the same.
What could she do?
She was a musician. In that environment, she excelled. She performed, for her club and other venues. Piano, mostly. But she could sing. She could play the guitar, if not quite as well. Make a passable attempt a few other instruments. Lia was a scholar, too. Excellent grades. Diverse knowledgebase, theoretical and practical. Certified in first aid. Looking at a career in medicine.
But she'd never been in a real fight. Not against a normal person, let alone a stone soldier.
She didn't know more than basic magecraft. Nothing that could give what used to be Morimoto any trouble.
There was nowhere to run, and whether she'd admit it or not she'd considered it. It would be smartest. Finding a clear route and booking it, far, far away from anything going on at her school. Let someone more qualified address the issue. There was nothing that she could do to Morimoto.
God, Morimoto. She hadn't been particularly fond of her teacher. He was inoffensive, but boring. Beyond the respect he was due as her teacher she didn't pay him much mind. But he didn't deserve that. He wasn't built for this sort of world. Maybe she wasn't, either, but at least she was aware of it. Shocking, still, but she had known all of this was possible. He hadn't. His eyes had been closed to it, but he still did his best. And this was what he got for his trouble.
Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Was she going to let Dorian and Jin protect her? Let Dorian protect them both, if Jin couldn't hurt it?
...
No.
It wasn't right.
She was small, even if no smaller than Jin. She was weak. And if she was completely honest, she wasn't that brave. But there was nowhere to go. She could fuck shit up, or she could roll over and hope she didn't die. So she pushed herself to her feet, sparing Jin a once-over to make sure she wasn't in any immediate danger. And with all these stupid trees around, she had tools. So bracing a foot on a tree-trunk, she broke herself off a branch and stalked back towards Morimoto and Dorian. She swung it a few times, as much to steel her nerve as practice, and wound it up like a batter.
"I want you to get lost!" She hollered at what used to be Morimoto, scowling. "I want you out of my school, I want you out of my town, I want you off my planet! If I have to kick your ass back there myself! Those shoes were expensive, asshole!"
"Sensei, if I understand enough about magecraft, we cut it off from whatever's making that banging, we stop it, right?" She queried her teacher, trying to keep that steel in her voice. "Can we do that with a more sturdy Bounded Field?"
Papercuts. Up until a few moments ago, Hana's attacks had reminded Aoi of the occasional papercut she had gained from reading to her little sister every night before bed. They were annoying and hurt when touched, but when compared to the emotional torment of fighting her sibling, they were nothing. The guilt of landing a blow on her sister did far more damage than any attack that got past her defense.
Bee stings. Suddenly, the blind girl would switch fighting styles. Where before they had been aggressive slashes and cuts, now she was using her sword to lunge at any open segments of her armor or, if that failed, between the plates themselves. Each time the blade pierced her skin now, Aoi was reminded of the time the two had been playing in the backyard as children and had mistakenly disturbed a hive of bees. At first she had barely felt a thing, but as the sharp object stayed in place the limb would soon begin to burn. Unlike back then, she couldn't curl up into a ball and wait for her mother or father to rescue the two of them. She had to continue blocking or the next strike could be lethal.
However, as the assault continued, the master of Longinus would find it increasingly difficult to even remain standing. Exhausted from her constantly stinging arms and legs, unable to find the determination to take the offensive, the young mage would find herself with no where to dodge as her sister charged forth for her finishing attack. I- I can't. I can't do this anymore. It's over.
No, child. This shall not be our end. Hearing his master's thoughts of defeat, Longinus used all of his willpower to overpower and take control of Aoi's body. With no time left, he forced her hand to let go of his prized spear and grasp the incoming blade, slicing the palm but stopping it from going through the skull. It had not completely stopped the sword's advance however.
Incomparable. Where before, each time Hana's weapon found purchase it had sent Aoi back on a trip down memory lane, her brain attempting to rationalize the beating she was receiving, this new pain was unimaginable. She had never felt anything like this before. As half her vision began to turn red and disappear, the girl released the most horrifying of screams, the noise echoing through the trees and back to the main campus.
Still retaining control as both tears and blood dripped down her face, Longinus used her other hand to shatter Hana's sword, leaving only the tip that was lodged into her eye. Aoi's body would duck downward to avoid any follow up attack before grabbing the Spear of Destiny and rolling to the right. His master's body had taken too much damage. She needed medical attention. Searching her memories for directions, Lancer would attempt to navigate the labyrinth of school hallways and arrive at the nurse's office while also trying to lose their pursuer. If successful, he could begin the painful process of removing the remnants of Hana's blade and cleaning the wounded eye of possible infection.
Maria sighed as she looked around things quickly went to hell and a hand basket and she was currently lost.She so far managed to avoid detection but knew it wont last. She had a duty to those still trapped to offer them haven and or a way out though so far Haven was the best bet. Having fortified the audio and rec room she went out in search of other knowing not where to go or if she will but she had to do her best. Considering her current location was on the first floor the obvious choice would to try and get onto the second floor where the students may be. With these thoughts in mind she headed up carefully and slowly making sure to keep an eye out in case something odd was to happen. "I better get a raise out of this" she muttered to herself as she continued onward.
Okita Wounded Assassin, Kuremi lost student.
Kuremi was recovering but still let Okita take control it was for the best she was injured and Okita was a trained professional a famous character in legend. "Shinsengum...." She muttered to herself knowing Okita would be the only one to hear her. "Indeed I am Souji Okita manslayer and captain of the Shinsengumi" She said as she walked forward the wound on her side causing her to slow down but not stop. She had to find a way to the nurses room on the first floor there she would be able to bandage it at least. Or so her thoughts was as she head out her sword gripped tightly in her hands as she used the wall as a crutch.