BrokenPromise

Symphony on High

"I just wish I could have pushed him."

— Mika Fang

@Ponn@Majoraa@TaintedMushroom

It may have seemed strange for Mika to ask what was going on right behind her head, but that was a testament to how intently she was watching the nuns. She didn’t look away from them for one second, despite how relaxed they seemed.

Mika was not relaxed though. As superior and inferior “talked” behind her back, she found her hands tightening into fists.

No one really takes me seriously.

Yet Ashley keeps you by her side in every job we take on.

You really still don't get it, don't you? You don't see it?

You’re the one who’s blind to everyone’s feelings but your own.

Ah yes, pity how my theory about how the behemoths behave was correct.

A broken clock is right twice a day, but we don’t know how this is going to play out.

I'm sure there'll be another one you lot can kill with glee next time.

The only one living out their power fantasy here is you, dummy.

And I fear with the way things are going, there won't be a time.

You’re just trying to be annoying now.

Hmm... Protecting behemoths is grounds for getting fired, is it not?

No, Finn. Being a liability by constantly disobeying orders and getting mad when Ashley slaps your wrist is!

Consider this my formal resignation from everyone. Don't wanna keep jinxing everyone I meet, right?

Oh look, we agree on something.

Let this be the last time we meet as allies.

Good, you'll help us far more on their side than ours.

"Whatever." She curled her lips. There was so much she wanted to yell about, so much she wanted to rub in Ashley’s face, but there was no point. Her anger was only building and-

What was that fluttering through the air?

As if Peace Train was curious, it floated up to it so that Mika could catch it in her hand. It was a jacket. Did it belong to Himiko? It looked like something she’d wear, and Mika couldn’t see her anywhere else on the battlefield. It was no surprise she had finally fallen. Mika had believed Himiko was on borrowed time, and her prediction came true. But it also brought the world back into focus. This was Pax Septimus. Everyone was fighting in a never ending conflict that nobody understood. Because the fighting never ended, continuing to fight lead to certain death. Her mother died, Angelie died, and now Himiko died. Mika had no intention of stopping, so she would die too. She knew she wasn’t as experienced as her mother was, and she only survived four operations here. This was Mika's third, so her number was coming up.

Mika slipped her arms through the jacket. The white tattered jacket looked a little weird with her Arabian style outfit, but it felt nice to wear something that belonged to someone she knew. Even if she was an idiot, she died trying to protect something. She deserved to be remembered, even if it was just for the small time the current espers were alive. She’d have to recover her Grimoire soon.

”It looks good on you.” Lexi commented, but she was ignored.

The corner of Bobo’s lip crooked upwards. She took the cigar she was smoking out of her lips and handed it to Asher. Then she pulled out a fresh one to smoke herself. ”I knew I’d be tempted to light your face on fire if I gave you a fresh one.” But the joke fell away as soon as Asher revealed how confused he felt. ”Eh? Are you sad or something?”

”Yes! We can explain everything to you. Lexi clapped her hands together. But let’s do that once we get out of here.”

Mika fretted her brow and pointed. "Don’t leave with them." She warned. "You’re a cool guy, and I don’t want to fight you later because they lied to you. You saw what they did to Angelie."

Then a familiar voice that belonged to a nun, but not those present spoke up. ”I thought it was hard to see with the smoke screen.

The trio were enveloped in smoke. Mika took a step back and raised her claw defensively, and just in time to defend from Lenore. She flew out of the smoke and collide with Mika before hopping back into the smog. Nova’s gravely laugh ripped through the air before the smoke, the nuns, and even Asher, were gone.

"He had better listen to me." Mika said while pointing at where Asher had been moments ago. "I’d hate to get betrayed twice."

@The World

Below, the priest plummeted. Even if he was just a corpse, he would turn into one hell of a mess if he hit the ground. Surely the vatican wouldn’t be happy to learn of Raphael’s death, but they could swallow it better if he was returned in good condition like his bravery warranted. Marrie was running low on mana, but she pushed herself as far as she dare go. She caught the giant gargoyle and nearly plummeted to the ground herself. But she was able to slow her decent enough that neither her nor cadaver were damaged by the fall.

But once the adrenaline wore off, Marrie remembered something. Dead espers revert back to their true form once they’re slain. Maybe their instruments or outfits remain in some instances, but if Raphael was keeping up this transformation, that could only mean…

”Than you.” The Priest attempted to stand up, but he found himself stumbling. ”We were unable to slay the demon, but the Holy Roller-” He raised an eyebrow. ”You didn’t come to my summons. Why are you here?”

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

“Maybe I do wish to curse some of you, Kiyo.”

— Rei Ishiko

Roche was strangely happy today. It wasn’t hard to tell that something good must have happened to make her change like that. Rei, as Roche would likely notice, was also in a sort of rare form. While not as apathetic as Tsubomi, it was rare for her to show much emotion. She tended to stay on a narrow spectrum somewhere between “confident smile” and “disappointed frown.” These expressions could be entirely read by looking at her lips, as her eyes always stayed the same size and her brow was fixed in place. This only changed in very extreme cases like when she risked having to eat Suki’s food or was joking around with Willow. Though something must have been up, because her eyebrows sunk a bit when she saw Roche.

“The crematorium has been busy.” Rei concurred with the rule keeper, but that wasn’t what she wanted to discuss. “Is Hibusa town not big enough for you anymore? I understand you ventured out to slay stronger miseria with a few detention members. It seems you ended up destroying a beach as a result.” She rolled back her shoulders before sliding her hands into her pockets. “You know the rules, Roche. That could have killed someone. As interesting as it was, a group of light girls see us as a threat now. Not just any group of light girls, you managed to upset the GEMS. They come from the City of Light.” The GEMS wouldn’t have been a familiar name to Roche, but all dark magical girls knew that light girls from the City of Light were a nuisance. They had much better teamwork than the solo light girls that haplessly wandered into Hibusa town, and rumors painted them as being a good deal more aggressive too. “They’ve already attempted to capture some of ours, and have their eye on Hibusa town. I have a hard time believing you would endanger the club like this.”

"My second and third favorite people in the club!”

— Suki Oyama

Suki was shocked. Not by the sudden appearance of the purple skinned magical girl, but the fact that she bothered to say hello to her. She immediately took a hand off of her book and waved it over her head. "Hi!” Was all her brain could muster before Nyxia said something far more normal. Before she could answer, Kiyo made her presence known, answered for her, and then made a comment about Roche’s tardiness. "Uh…” She looked back at Nyxia. "Yea, I had fun. But I brought Tsubomi with me. I don’t really have any sex toys unless you count my body pillow, but I haven’t taken that old thing out in public in years.” Yes, shortly after becoming a light girl, Suki started hanging out with her “real friends” and left her pillowy partner at home. It brought a smile to Suki’s face just thinking about it. It had a pillow cover that looked like a magical gir. On one side she was smiling bright enough to shine through clouds, and on the other side was a “battle damaged” variant where she was laying on her back with an unsettled expression on her face. She had initially named her pillow Miki, but eventually ended up changing her name to Lada. It was unfortunate that she couldn’t recover her before retreating. She wondered what had happened to it. "Hey, you guys like fairy tales? I always thought Rapunzel was kinda cool.”

Suki immediately opened the book to Rapunzel’s chapter. Rapunzel was barely the size of the letters on the adjacent page, but the tower filled the space completely. There was just enough space to show the night sky, and the back of the prince that would scale Rapunzel’s golden braid.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

“May you find this next arc… Interesting.”

— Rei Ishiko

Summer drew to a close, and fall began. The leaves were already starting to change color and good girls and boys were helping rake the yard. Some were even thinking ahead to halloween and the load of festivities that were to come. For bad children, the season was one for tricks as well as treats, and the Hibusa girls found themselves on the defensive.

It started a month ago after an attempted ambush. Some light girls had attacked some of the club members. They were driven off, but ever since that day they had been encroaching on their territory. Not within Hibusa town directly, but the roads and rural communities surrounding it were starting to see more light girl traffic. It had always been Rei’s rule that Hibusa town was theirs, and those pesky light girls could have anything beyond. That was why the forest and the mountain were left to the frog princess to croak about in. If she really wanted to she could flush her out of the trees, but who cared about the mountain? There were no miseria to hunt there. But it no longer felt like they were merely neighboring a frog obsessed priestess, no. A noose had been lowered around their neck, and, while they were not strong enough to tighten it, Why allow them to think they had them trapped? That would only give them more hope, and hope was what emboldened light girls to be more annoying.

Rei stood outside her classroom. There was no reason to visit the club at this time. She had to be somewhere with Willow and only really needed to speak with Roche. A busy schedule could be a hassle sometimes.

"Wow! Feels like I missed 7 3 months weeks of school posts!”

— Suki Oyama

It was that time of the week again.

Suki had already shown up in the detention club. Her swift approach was less because she wanted to hide from Roche and more because she had heard that boss baby might be dropping by. It wasn’t super uncommon for Rei to be here, but she was still quite busy doing whatever it was that she did. At the very least, she was sure to take interest in getting stronger. Though at the same time, Rei had to know what a giga miseria was. There was no way someone as strong as her couldn’t have encountered them in the past. So why didn’t they ever bother to try fighting them?

She probably had her reasons. Suki picked up a book and started reading. Though the book she picked up was one on old fairy tales, and instead of reading she was just looking at pictures of the princesses.

Symphony on High

”Thanks guys…”

— Regina Bates

@Ponn@Majoraa@Vertigo@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@Kero

With the arrival of Tony, a lot of attention shifted over to the giant orange monster.

Ashley gave a few orders before charging her wand up. While green techno energy gathered at its tip, Tony was already starting to sprint away. For someone of such large stature, he was pretty quick. His comparatively tiny legs were more than enough to help the hulking feline find refuge. Before he could get too far, Marrie fell beside him.

?

With Tony being so tall, Marrie had to hop in order to cast her melody on Regina. The wound on the back of her head started to heal, and her eyes fluttered closed once the “stabilize” part of her melody took effect. The brightest fires burn the shortest, and it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Regina was a glass cannon, nearly done in by a single attack.

Though freeing Regina from Tony’s grasp would be more difficult. She needed to plant her feet on Tony’s back and pull. All the while his fist, which was closed around Regina’s legs, refused to let go. He ran for the back alley while thrashing about, but Marrie wouldn’t let go.

!

As impressive as Tony’s size was, his unusually thick back muscle made it difficult for him to reach around and snatch Marrie. Normally the feline would run on all fours and nobody would be able to hang onto him, but he was carrying cargo that needed to be delivered. The fur beneath Marrie’s feet shook when Tony roared, but she still held on for dear life.

Tony thrashed, Marrie held on, and then her shadow turned into a bird and pulled on her. The bird pulled on Marrie’s legs, and her grip on Regina’s arm started to slip. She slid down her elbow onto her wrist, then her palm, and then…

The bird and Marrie fell backwards off of Tony. She landed on her back, which was pressed against the shadow creature.

But Marrie could feel Regina’s hand in hers. But then why did she feel so light? And why did her own legs feel so warm? When Marrie propped herself up, she could see that she was holding Regina’s hand and little more. Behind her elbow was a stump that dripped crimson.

Regina couldn’t scream right away. The shock induced paralysis prevented her from doing anything, but she was wide awake now. Tony looked over his shoulder at Regina and noticed the wound, then shot Marrie a glare that could freeze water. But his eyes swiftly readjusted to the neon green glow from the back of Peace Train. He dove into the crevice as the beam whipped around the corner. While the cat had disappeared from sight, the blood thrown up on the wall had not. The cat howled before, presumably, limping out of sight.

Things were no less chaotic on the train. Raphael and everyone who followed him hung on for dear life, but the train’s spinning stopped soon enough. The only visible opposition was a single esper.

”Looks like we get a break.” Raphael growled. His demonic wings were pushed over to the side due to the spinning, but as the train slowed, they started to even out. ”I’ll take this one, you-”

But after a furious blast of light, Raphael’s position exploded. His silhouette, minus one wing, was sent flying off the train in a trail of smoke. He fell from the train like a meteor, but the coast was clear.

"What the…" Trixy flew up beside the train on Boteg’s back. She sighed when she realized there was no trace of Himiko. "Isn’t that just like my suitors to up and disappear." She leveled the rocket launcher at Noah. "Well, I can make you disappear too!"

Noah could feel Crazy train curve upwards. With so few people on its back, it seemed like it felt content to vanish into the sky. But what was Noah going to do?

Meanwhile back on the ground, while Tony had fled proper, Penumbra lingered for a bit longer. The blue-haired bleeding heart did only focus on retrieving Regina, so she figured she hadn’t seen her yet. Though as she had watched the two beams shot out towards her co-worker, the assassin was curious. The golden one. It felt a bit too overkill on an already weakened esper, but it did keep the Ruinous Meteor from recovering so soon. Kudos to whoever fired that. But the green one that managed to actually hit him, it seemed more…focused? Was that the term she was looking for? Eh, it didn't matter.

But Penumbra was very curious. Especially when she watched the dear preacher get knocked off Crazy Train despite his devilish power up.

She did warn the guy.

”Hm. Heeeey, Ramona???”

The young devil appeared nearby soon as she called. She handed Elroy over to her. ”Make sure this one doesn’t lose an arm either, I’ll meet up with you both in a sec!” With that taken care of, Penumbra went off to catch up to the trains.

”So, zombie face.” Bobo addressed Asher while trying to light a new cigar with her flamethrower. ”You blowing this popcorn stand?”

Mika's eyes bounced back and forth between the two before. "Orion? Was that an explosion? Did Crazy train crash?" This was, of course, in response to Himiko's final melody.

How many RPs do you have at the same time?

That largely depends on how much you like to write, how much you write for a given RP, how much time you spend chatting in the RP discord, etc.

Generally, people who write longer posts tend to post less frequently, especially if they have a busy schedule. There are also other factors. While I enjoy being in a few RPs at once, I have noticed that when I try to join too many my quality suffers.

Battle Toyale — Christmas Rumble!

(Quite frankly, I wish the mask covered more of it)

— Kurosame

She noted the crack in the window, though there was little that could be done about it now. Perhaps if she knew more about the modern world she’d consider tracking down some FLEX SEAL to patch up the crack, though that would require her to care about the damage in the first place. A highly sought after art in her own world was called Kintsugi, which was the art of repairing pottery with gold. The idea was that an object’s imperfections are what give it personality and, thus, made them more attractive. She had no doubt that there would be a lot more “personality” spread about this toy store before she was finished.

During her flight to her destination, she had witnessed several spectacles. It was difficult to take in every brutal fight, as Kurosame very much wanted to anticipate any attacks that might come her way. As convenient as it was to soar above the chaos like this, it did leave one vulnerable. Lightning always strikes the tallest tree in a forest, but whatever stands above the grass in a field. Speaking of being a giant among the grass, there was a rotund octopus sitting before some green folk. It stood out only because of how strange the spectacle was.

Before long, Kurosame landed on the shelf. The water she had rode in took a long cylindrical form behind her back, almost like a serpent floating in the air. It felt good to breathe again. She brought up her sword and looked around for the mask she seeked. She looked into the clear packaging to see if any of them were wearing a mask of any kind, but there did not appear to be a mask present.

Then a voice, but not like the one she had heard before. It was followed by a green glow emerging from the bottom of the shelf. She was no stranger to dealing with Yokai and could instantly tell that this was a strong one. At the very least, it was something that she didn’t want to just wait around for. She kicked one of the boxed toys off the shelf, and growled as a cluster of melted hands coiled around the box and pulled it in.

This was not something she could engage in close quarters combat.

She kicked a second box off the shelf, this time using it as a distraction so that she could swiftly make her exit. She jumped off of the shelf as melted tendrils pulled the second toy in, and Kurosame’s hydro powered “flight” kicked in when her water rushed up beside her and guided her to an even higher shelf on an adjacent side of the isle.

Now it was easy to see what was chasing her. This amalgimation had to be a Gashadokuro, or at least a toy-like version of one. Though this youkai was made out of melted toys instead of bones, it had all the other traits like it’s need to increase its size at any cost. Their primary, if only weakness, was a purifying ward. Kurosame didn’t have access to those, but she did remember what the voice had told her about the mask. If it had the power to grant one great speed and reflexes, than maybe this abomination would be easier to defeat if the mask was removed.

That, and it was what the pirate had come here to plunder.

She cast out her hand, and the water serpent descended on the Gashadokuro. Kurosame was confident that she could wrestle the mask off of the amalgamation's face at this range. Water could become any shape it wanted, and under normal circumstances, she couldn’t see this creature stopping her assault. Though if it did, it would reveal one of its abilities to her, and that had value too she supposed.

Symphony on High

"No need for both banners to appear back to back, right?"

— The Bates

@Ponn@Majoraa@Vertigo@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@Kero

Gemini and the freelancer’s mostly stood their ground, but there was still a bit of movement on top of the trains.

Marrie had opted for a slow and conservative approach to getting the Immortal Volcano’s attention. She called a beam from the heavens to strike Elroy’s shield and place her in front of him. He paid the mist froth on the front of his shield little mind and plumbited down towards his target. Marrie’s timing wasn’t perfect, it was impossible to be. When she appeared in front of Elroy, her “feet” were off the ground and she fell a few inches onto the train. While she managed to touch his shield with her knife, she was thrown onto her back, and Elroy flipped through the air before coming to a stop just a few feet away. He turned around, clearly intent on charging again, but his face went from teeth clenching anger to mouth open surprise.

"Mist girl!?" He hovered in place, listening to Marrie’s words. Once she had finished, he lowered his shield an inch and crossed his brow. "Usually we work together. I keep her safe." He looked past Marrie. "But you’re right, mist girl, I’ll carry her to the back and meet you there."

Regina hadn’t said anything since she collapsed. She struggled to get to her feet, but Lenore kept her eye elsewhere. ”We’re going to destroy this train, right?”

"That’s your mission, nun. I’m tasked with keeping the other train running." There were no more words as he scooped up his sister and ran through the smoke screen.

Meanwhile, Lenore’s gaze shifted to Ciri. ”Now that’s interesting…”

When Ciri’s melody went off, its shadowy magic seeped into the train, making part of it intangible. Such a massive object couldn’t possibly become totally Intangible, but it was able to work on part of it. The “train car” that she was on became intangible, but so did Ciri due to the AoE nature of her melody. She fell through crazy train and towardsTrixy, who was still on top of Boteg.

"I’ve got ya, baby!" Trixy reached out her arms only to discover that she couldn’t have been further from the truth, as Ciri fell right through her. Marrie fell down shortly afterwards, and she did manage to land in Trixy’s arms. She raised an eyebrow. "You uh, weren’t the one I was hoping for, but…" She stared at Marrie for a moment. "How old are you?"

Ciri continued to fall. She had become tangible again, and looked like she was about to splatter herself all over the roads of pax septimus. Then a sparkler harmlessly smacked into her back, and she began to bounce in the air as if a bungie had been attached to her. Vertigo was starting to set in as she violently bounced around, but she wouldn’t be eating pavement today. Then a giant hand reached out and plucked Ciri out of the sky.

”Nice shot, Tetrad!” Billy kept a firm grip on Ciri, even as the harsh rain pelted them.

”That was awesome!” She laughed from her motorcycle.

Bill kept his eyes on the road while he addressed Ciri again. ”How do we look up there? Anyone defending Crazy Train?”

Soon as he had asked, a pair of melodies had flown out from the direction of Peace Train back to back from each other. The twins hurried over to stand beside Ashley once she ordered them to keep Crazy Train from running into anything. They did their best to keep a close eye on the behemoth’s movement patterns, just to make sure they weren’t haphazardly wasting mana in the wrong places. With the scene becoming more hectic by the minute, they could only hope everyone would get the hint already to get off, killing Crazy Train or not.

Everyone that was presently on crazy train had disappeared from view, save for Himiko. On its way out of the park, Crazy Train noticed a hotel that would be perfect for scraping against. The GEMINI espers concentrated their mana on the hotel as the behemoth attempted to rid itself of the fleas on its back. The hotel only hummed as the creature brushed against the magical barrier. Himiko wouldn’t be able to wait and see much longer, as the train spun like a corkscrew while it passed. The shadow wall dissipated, and even the smoke walls didn’t hold up. It remained to be seen if Himiko had gotten out alright.

The nuns and it were missing too.

As were the Bates.

Or at least Regina was, as Elroy fell out of the sky like a comet. His flesh was cracked and oozing with lava, his clothes smoldering like dying embers.

”Woops!”

A darkened figure suddenly emerged, quickly moving under him with her arms reaching out to catch him. Despite being smaller, she seemed to have no trouble holding the wounded brother in her arms. ”Hey, I think you’ve missed one!” She called out with a chuckle. Her form slowly turned back into someone only Raphael, Asher, and Noah would recognize from prior.

Penumbra had followed them onto the trains. She spared a glance over at the group gathered onto Peace Train, and gave the aforementioned three a knowing smile.

A second shape hopped off of crazy train, though this one was big and notorious enough to be recognized by anyone. Big Tony had only made a few appearances, but it seemed like he had chosen to appear during this operation personally. Intel didn’t do his size justice. HE was twice as tall, twice as wide, and four times as muscled as the strongest esper present. Like any feline, he landed on his feet, and he had Regina slung over his shoulder. He looked up at the assassin flying overhead and scowled, or may that was just how he always looked.

”You have got to be kidding me…” The Timekeeper, though keeping quiet and to himself for the most part after the rest of the freelancers showed up, couldn’t help but react to the sheer fucking fact that both the Bates got their shit wrecked near instantly by a pair of new arrivals. He quickly stood straight back up, hands tightening around his weapon. The…weirdly familiar woman was one thing, but he was more concerned over the literally bigger issue that had accompanied her. Of course the Hand would show up eventually.

”So, any bright ideas on how to fight THAT thing!?” Finn called out to Ashley, and who he assumed was Raphael.

”They’re protecting that demon.” Raphael pointed. ”We can’t get distracted. We need to stop it to thwart their plans!”

”You can’t be serious-!”

Peace train was starting to pull away from Crazy, but that didn’t stop the priest from jumping onto it. Even as it spun through the air, he kept a firm grip on it.

”...Alright! Okay! Cool! Not as if everyone’s been going off of HUNCHES and a lack of solid evidence instead of oh I don’t know ACTUALLY USING THEIR SKULLS!? WE DON’T EVEN KNOW IF THAT THING’S ACTUALLY DEADLY YOU IDIOT!!” Wasn’t really a point in yelling at the proverbial brick wall, but Finn couldn’t exactly help himself.

Mika watched the display and groaned. She turned to Ashley. ”Orders?”

Meanwhile, Lexi had been listening to Noah's story. ”Interesting! And yes, it doesn't seem like Gemini is that interested in attacking peace train. We're fine!”

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

”I can be whoever I want!”

— Mac Ashley

For a flash ambush, there sure was a lot of tedious waiting. Waiting for this one to be ready, waiting for the meeting to conclude, waiting for everything that was set in motion to start. Even when they set off to start their assault, it felt like there was yet more waiting to be done. She made a mental note of everything that was being said, but none of it was interesting enough to be reassessed in her mind. With a nod, she followed after the others. But not before getting something to keep the madness at bay. In fact, it seemed like they had gone all out on making these things and made a few extra. Mac didn't see the harm in pocketing a few extra. If they found someone in wonderland who was struggling, maybe this would be the difference between coming back to their senses.

Though it had dawned on Mac that there would be an opportunity for some more shenanigans here. Penny was pretty much the scariest thing in Penrose, and a threat that was too powerful to overlook. Perhaps if she ditched the "Knight of Tonight" for the "Queen of Penrose", it could potentially have an effect on their opponents. That, and she wouldn't have to be MDP's imaginary friend for a time. It did occur to Mac that MDP and Penny were an item, but surely that wouldn't create any tension during the mission. The real Penny had already soaked up MDP's initial excitement, so there was no reason to expect her to do any more weird stuff. Mac was the last one to step through the portal, but what came out the other side was...

”Told ya!”

— Mac Penny Asimov

Unfortunately, what waited for them on the other side was someone else that wanted them to wait. Someone with Finn's boyish charm and Nykannis's mad scientist complex, yet somehow failing to match up to either of them. Why were they humoring this neanderthal's conversation? The fate of Penrose, nay, the multiverse was at stake and they were debating with a mad fool who had watched too much saw.

Though his mad words must have entranced Nefer, who seemed mwilling to slam her head inside a deathtrap. She reasoned with everyone that this was okay because "There were easier ways to kill everyone."

”Yea...” The "Iron Queen" nodded her head. ”But that doesn't make him any less insane. Are you sure he can't use that device to read your mind?” Or a darker thought, Nefer was working along with the mad hatter to get everyone to participate in this sick game. But no, that wasn't possible. While many of Penrose's magical girls would want to save Nefer, there were just as many who were too pragmatic for such an approach, such as herself. And now he was singing...

They were wasting more time. They had to find those eggs, damn it! Even if this game took a half hour that was plenty of time for them to get routed by the queen's forces. Provided the queen herself didn't just decide to show up.

And then something special happened. Something truly wonderful. Maybe it was the madness setting in, but it sounded like Alicia was trying to take charge of the situation. In Mac's mind, the only thing she could see Alicia doing was going along with everything as dictated by her vow of patience. But it seemed as if Alicia had waited long enough. So when she asked "Penny" how she felt about the situation, a wry smile crossed her lips.

”I think I want them to find me.” She waved on MDP. ”Let's play hide and seek with the super duper meanie wenie head.”

If Mac was actually Penny, she could probably hack the video feed and pinpoint his exact location. That was not an option for Mac, but she could peer into her replica Endless Eclipse and get an idea of where to start looking, maybe. But while the blade prepared itself for her, Penny lunged at a wall and slammed it with all her might. Maybe she could "dig" her way to her target, but worst case scenario she could go full Sampson. Eh, it was an evolving situation, she'd play it by ear. Hopefully there wasn't some weird kill switch in that helmet that would off Nefer for this. She wasn't presently wearing the helmet, but you never knew when it came to insane magical devices. It would be a small loss, but she was more worried about what it would do to Alicia's resolve. Then again, if Alicia could suggest something like this she was already stronger than Mac suspected.

Symphony on High

”Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow-”

— “Penumbra”

@TaintedMushroom@Kero

Doberman had called for help, Noah needed to act quickly. Though the sniper was able to last a while, she was, as far as the Walking Church was concerned, just a human woman. She managed to slow and stagger her long enough to stab her cross into the side of the other’s back. Doberman retched up blood. Any more lost and she’d be done for in this fight. So when her adversary was temporarily distracted by Ramona, she moved as quickly as she could to the nearest shadow. Dark arms reached out from it and pulled her in, and she ungraciously landed next to the younger devil. ”Sh-Shit- How much longer until we’re through here, dammit…?” She weakly asked her ally.

As she asked, Monstro had made its move, swooping downwards from the air and opening its maw wide. Noah had fired a beam of holy light dead into it. The only indication that it did anything was the beam shooting right back through its body, dark “blood” raining down on her, and the distorted song it emitted giving her the hint that she managed to wound it. It was momentarily stunned and low enough towards the ground for the Walking Church to strike at melee distance. Would a melody even be needed here, with her strength?

”Meh, they hadn’t even caught onto me yet. Give it a few more minutes.” Ramona casually figured. Doberman needed to recover, and Penumbra was forced to fight 1v2. This wasn’t turning out in their favor.

Asher didn’t even need to shout to Raphael. He knew what needed to be done. Their enemy was burned and reeling. It was a grand opening, and one that deserved more than a simple melody as a follow up. This had cost Asher his arm, if only momentarily. While an eye for an eye would make the world blind, God also said that he would bring every deed into judgement, be it good or evil. If the lord was watching over the battle now, he might see reason to guide Raphael’s attack towards his opponent.

While Asher prepared to stand back up, something flew over his head. It had Raphael’s face, but the rest of its body was different. Demonic wings tore out of its priestly vestments, claws and talons were replacing hands and feet, and something glowing under its skin was desperately trying to tear its way out. But before that could happen, the demon was fully intent on pursuing the retreating enemy. With a howl, it brought up one of its fists and drove it into the assassin’s stomach.

The force of the blow was enough to send Penumbra flying. She tumbled backwards onto the pavement, skidding to a stop with a groan. The assassin glanced up to the… Oh, so the preacher had a second form, had he? She’d have to admit, she had to commend the guy’s moxie. She quickly got up to her feet and looked back up to where Ramona and Doberman were hiding, then back to Raphael. ”Well, I suppose you’ve won this round.” Penumbra backed up further. ”Can’t say I didn’t warn you. Oh girls?”

Before either he or Asher could chance a lucky shot, she turned intangible once again, and more dark arms quickly reached out to pull her into the shadows.

A flurry of blows rained down on the shadow, but nothing came of it. They had departed into darkness, the one place where damned souls feel safe from the lake of fire. They would get theirs soon.

Raphael looked up just in time to see the two trains heading towards the earth. Then he lowered his gaze towards his allies.

”This distraction is not our mission. The holy roller appears healthy, but so too does that demon. Let us end this sorry state of affairs.” His wings swelled as he spoke, making the demonic priest look many times larger. With deft movement, he wrapped an arm around Noah, and then another around Asher. ”I cannot heal you in this form, let us hope the nuns have not exhausted their reserves.” With the espers under either arm, he reached down to pick up Asher’s severed arm. Then he rushed towards the trains. He spread his wings and with a mighty jump, soared up to the holy roller and landed beside Lexi and Bobo. He lowered the espers onto the train with a grunt.

Bobo eyed Asher. ”I’m starting to think you enjoy hurting yourself.“

Lexi took Asher’s severed arm and held it in place before lowering her staff on the wound. Miraculously, the arm was whole again after a veil of feathers blew away. But the healing was incomplete. While bone and muscle had been stitched back together, it had not been done so completely. There was still a gash in his arm, and he felt as if there might be a hairline fracture still present.

”There we go! I think you’ll need a second one to finish mending it. That was a pretty bad break.“ Without waiting for a response, Lexi spun on her heel and faced Noah, who was reminded that there were a lot of espers that didn’t dress properly. ”You survived! I thought for sure some giant monster was going to gobble you up because of how cute you are! Are you hurt?“ She placed a hand on Noah’s shoulder and examined her like a girl might look over a new doll.

Symphony on High

"OH MY SISTER!"

”Sup bro?”

— The Bates

@Ponn@Majoraa@Vertigo@The World@Nakushita

The espers that were presently out of combat mostly kept to themselves. While Ashley and Marrie prepared their melodies, Finn asked Elroy if he had been given any proof that crazy train was “the destructive one.”

"He gave me his honor as a man." He grinned. "I’m doing this as a favor more than anything else. I assure you the last thing he wants is to destroy the city."

Then the melodies started to fly.

Ashley’s scan of the creature was able to tell her a lot of information she was likely already privy to. It was, indeed, a behemoth class monster that they were dealing with. While it had a fleshy carapace, it was rather resilient to most forms of harm. Though like most monsters, arcane powers was its one weakness. Then there were the more interesting bits. Its most durable part was its skull-shaped head, which was capable of causing hurricanes and storms when it screamed. That was possibly what was causing the storms until now. Additionally, gravity was merely a suggestion to the thing as it surrounded itself with its own personal “crazy zone” that prevented things like gravity, the wind, and other earthly forces. It could even survive above the stratosphere if it so desired.

Interesting details, but nothing that pointed out a conclusive weak point. But Ashley’s training told her that behemoths often had obvious weaknesses that were exposed when they were weak enough. The massive healing spell had restored it to full strength, but that just meant that its weak point was likely hidden. If it was exposed while it was wounded, where might be a good place to look?

Marrie focused as much of her mystical might into her melody as she dared, and hit one of the trains. Immediately winds began to circle around it and push off towards Peace Train. Despite Marrie’s desire for the winds to push everyone off the train, it just wasn’t strong enough. Often espers that could create storm winds were only able to alter the trajectory of projectiles so that they missed their target, and that was what was present here.

Another thing that was present was the sound of akimbo gunfire.

Himiko had two guns. Logically speaking, that meant that it would be possible to fire at two different targets. Another point of logic, Himiko had two eyes that could, in theory, also look at two different targets while she shot at them. This all made a lot of sense, and was very logical. The only part Himiko forgot to logic was that good depth perception really required you to be looking at something with both eyes, and she was never really good at the whole “moving your eyes like a chameleon” thing. None of her shots hit on center. The flaming projectile was easy enough to hit, but some of her shots on Lenore went so wide that she didn’t even need to defend herself. But as the case usually was with revolvers, she ran out of shots quickly. Lenore’s grin only grew as she closed in on the helpless esper, only to vanish in a flash of darklight.

And for good reason to. The fragmented flaming rocks were about ready to strike Himiko down. They came down like a meteor shower, and were impossible to evade. Fortunately, a sudden gust of wind blew the fragments off course. They flew between the two trains and hit nothing.

Once again, Himiko’s refusal to use any mana had no dire consequences. It wasn’t clear if this was something she masterminded, or was just dumb luck. But a catastrophe had been averted none the less.

With the nuns in hiding, the only espers still in active combat were Ciri and Regina. Her Blade cut a perfect arc through Ciri’s mid section, but her target was unharmed. Of course the edgy oni had dominion over shadow magic. But as surprising as this was, Regina wasn’t the type to stay all flabbergasted. As a veteran esper, she had learned how to properly respond to “nuthin’ personnel kid” tactics like this.

The movement was quick. Regina barely had time to turn her head while Ciri faded back into reality, but she was already winding up her own melody. The only one she really had time to perform. The burning esper squinted her eyes as soon as the dark projectile flew from Ciri’s palm. Under normal circumstances, it might have taken her head off. But instead, the hair on the back of her scalp had been blown away and exposed her flesh, which looked like the cracked surface of a meteor.

Dark espers could avoid attacks, but fire espers could endure them.

Regina howled, both out of pain and fury. Again, Ciri was set ablaze as Regina stumbled towards her. She swung again, but she missed. It Swiftly jumped on Regina and tackled her to the ground, but hopped out of the way as a sword flew dangerously close to its head. Lenore stood over Regina with pursed lips, but kept her glowing eye trained on Ciri.

Meanwhile, Elroy lifted his head when he heard his sister screaming through the smoke. "Regina!" After calling to his sister, the immortal volcano flew over the battleground and spotted the small skirmish. Regina was laying on the ground, and only two clear targets could have been responsible. But when given a choice between pulverising someone or their pet, who would settle on the pet? With a roar, Elroy descended on Ciri shield first. She just couldn’t stay out of punching range for long.

But she knew that the rest of Maverick would be here soon. Crazy Train was expected to fly lower, and the roar of motorcycles wasn’t too far off. Who knew, maybe Trixy would stop being useless if Boteg could work up the nerve to join the fight.