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Revue of Annihilation

Meisa Amorette

---

The previous evening had been an exercise in a steaming pile of shit. Meisa had navigated the immediate incident with the merchants and the Blackhand Butchers by the skin of her teeth. Firenze was supposed to be there to prevent her from making boneheaded decisions, but the purple-haired woman had too much bloodlust to talk anyone out of a stupid decision if it involved copious amounts of violence.

Her shitty bodyguard spent the entire rest of the night calling Meisa a stupid fucking bitch in the most pleasant terms an elf could offer, too!

Regardless, despite how fucked up the two elves could be, Meisa felt enough responsibility to not get all those merchants ruined or killed. Part of it was the semblance of a conscience lurking under whatever qualified for one in her psyche, and other was simply the fact that not protecting those merchants, and not taking down the shittiest racketeering group that she’d heard of in her entire multiple-hundred year life was counterproductive to her goals to becoming the embodiment of civilization. What kind of shitty goddess of civilization and civility would be so derelict?

Not this lady.

That did put her in a very difficult spot, though. Pissing off some crappy gang was one thing—Meisa and Firenze could hole up in the Atelier, or at worst, in the Abyss proper. She had not forgotten about it, after all. She had barely gotten the merchants’ cooperation, but together, they’d pooled together just enough money to be sufficient to hire a group of adventurer-mercenaries. It wasn’t the best solution—after getting back the house, Camille was helpful enough to inform them that the Blackhands had influence in two whole sectors—but it was a stopgap measure before she could come up with some harebrained scheme to deal with the gang. With that in mind, Meisa was making her way to the Adventurer’s District to hire a group—it remained to be seen how trustworthy they could be, though.

Firenze, on the other hand had her own job to do, and that was to dig up dirt on the Blackhand Butchers to probe them for weakness and information.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

---

The answer to Éliane’s question, as it turned out, was quite soon. It wasn’t long before the team had split in two according to Esben’s plan. With the usual sense of Skaellan infallibility, she had full confidence in the spy’s competence while inside the facility as a ‘prisoner.’ Éliane joined Galahad and the remainder of the party in spying on the detention facility.

It didn’t take much time at all for them to be in action.

“I didn’t like the suspense anyway,” she grinned in response to Galahad’s comment, already having counted the number of enemy riflemen on the rooftops and memorizing their general positions. Springing into action, she was boosted onto the rooftops by the dragoon. It seemed she would be having another rooftop battle after all. Whether or not it would turn into a running rooftop battle remained to be seen…

The moment the Skaelan officer was on the roof, she unholstered not her gunblade, but unshouldered the long rifle that had yet to be used up until now. It took her but the briefest moment to check the gun before she was in a crouching, aiming position. She was no sniper, but at this range, she was still enough of a marksman with an accurate full-powered gun.

The air cracked as she pressed the trigger, and an unaware soldier fell from the roof, blood blossoming from his chest. There was a smooth clack and then a cling as she quickly worked the bolt, and moved on to the next. Another snap—and a second rifleman fell backwards, just as he was starting to aim in their general direction. After her second shot, she quickly repositioned, and then she was shooting again. Briefly glancing a the airship moving in the distance, she gave it about five to ten minutes before they had to vacate the area entirely.

Even then, staying in place before then wasn’t a good idea. It was a good way to get killed “No, time to reposition,” she replied, nodding at the familiar sounding fox-masked woman that had shown up alongside her.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

---

“I agree with attacking the detention center.”
With the information provided to her, Éliane was leaning towards an assault on the prison complex out of all the available options. Both battlefield experience and vibes had led her to think it was the most viable option, and that was even before her questions were answered and the others pitched in to strategize.

Esben gave a good summary as usual. If he weren’t a SEED agent, he would make a very good aide to a general on the field. As far as odds went, they really weren’t terrible, if they had the element of surprise. Although Reisa had encountered them previously, she had hardly seen all of the tricks and strategies team Kirin had to offer.

The plan he proposed right afterwards, though…

She stared right at him. “Esben, that is the most insane, unhinged, and ridiculous plan that I have heard from anybody from your organization to date.”

She paused.

“I like it. How soon can we start, and how much gunpowder do we have access to?”

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

---

Éliane had not expected to hear Izayoi’s story. She’d heard inklings of it, little bits and pieces from traveling around with the Mystrel woman during their journey together, but she had never actually enquired on it. It was far more of a traumatic tale than she had expected or, ultimately, even properly relate with. How could she, when she had lived a life that was as charmed as could be, up until the Valheimian attack?

It did, though, reinforce in her eyes that Valheim was once more the enemy, and needed to be removed from the world together with the Blight. Again, she felt that the two would ultimately be intertwined issues…

The news of even more Valheimian atrocities, interrupting their little tea party was yet another crime to add onto the mountain of evils. Without even understanding the situation in the capital, she was nearly immediately inclined to agree to Izayoi’s impassioned plea. Had she been younger, she might have immediately, jumped up alongside Izayoi, Rudolf, and Robin in rescuing this young lord from their clutches. After all, it had so many parallels to her own past. A running battle in a capital city to foil some nefarious plot, ultimately to the benefit of Skael, too. It sounded mightily familiar, and it urged on her battle lust.

But she wasn’t exactly in Solitude, with the entire backing of the Royal Guards to put down a nascent rebellion. No, this was the opposite—she would be helping Izayoi and a ragtag band of rebels in fighting an occupation force. It was the kind of thing that needed careful consideration, or they’d just end up alongside this Hien.

Of course, she’d still do it, but it just needed to be carefully done.

It would just have been nice to have a whole company of SEED agents to advise and execute it, as that was what they did best. She turned to Esben, who was already providing some very useful facts and questions to consider, and nodded.

“Since we’re talking a real battle, what exactly are the numbers are we working with here? Against an occupying force, I think forces like yours,” she gestured towards Ciradyl, before adding her questions ontop of Esben’s, “and us, have a very good asymmetric advantage. How many soldiers can Reisa muster to ambush us without compromising the rest of the occupation of the city? If we’re going to rescue him straight from the dungeons, what are the streets or the geography around his prison like?"

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

---

Éliane beamed at the shinobi’s response, which was the opposite of the one she’d given to Robin. “Straightforward but polite is my thing,” she agreed. Of course, she was blunt and rude when such things weren’t reciprocated –A certain Edrenian noble came to mind—but that was hardly a thing that she would mention in a conversation like this. She gave a bob of her head. “Chisa, then,” she replied. The particular subtleties of shinobi culture flew well over her head, but the Skaelan officer wasn’t so clueless to not notice the subtext behind her happiness, even if she didn’t fully understand it. Not wanting to reveal names in an occupied city was easy enough to understand, at least.

Appreciating the space that Esben made for her, she shrugged at his response. “I’m sure you’ll get another chance later,” she batted back.

A pause. “If there is coffee, I will be around.”

As it turned out, there was coffee, although what was available in this Valheimian-occupied place was a pale shadow of the quality she had when in Galahad’s city. It was predictable, but she was disappointed nonetheless.

Coffee woes aside, the rest of the stay in the village was uneventful, as was the trip to the occupied capital of Osprey as well. Éliane had been half expecting to be accosted by a Valheimian patrol, or even set upon by a small force at this point, but they journey went from seeing the peaks of the black towers of Kugane to seeing the walls of the city rise into view before directly approaching the gate unmolested.

It would appear the shinobi was telling the truth—and from the subsequent smooth entry, most of the party’s suspicions and the last of Éliane’s relatively low apprehension evaporated. Éliane remained privately impressed at the shinobi’s spycraft. It almost matched up to the skill of the SEEDs…

They were ushered into a modest building soon after that, to meet Izayoi’s apparent old friend. Ciradyl was a stunningly pretty lady, and before she did anything, she turned her gaze to the new redheaded addition to their party. Éliane had only known Miina for a short time, but she had already become intimately familiar with the Mystrel’s preferences, if she had to go by the way she always stammered and with her gaze always locking right onto her and Izayoi’s chests…

Sadly, the girl had been forewarned, so there was little entertainment to be had, but it was probably for the better.

Unlike Miina and some of the other members of the party, as the Skaelan representative, she was once again obligated to make an introduction. This time, she mirrored Galahad in greeting first, before introducing herself in her full manner as usual. “Éliane Laruelle, of the Household Guards of Skael. Officially, I’m here to behalf of Skael to put an end to the Blight, but it seems that cause is becoming more intertwined with the fight for Osprey the more we investigate.”

Her eyes, nonetheless were drawn towards the tea that had been poured for them, and the pleasant aroma that it emitted. Oh, it was no coffee, but Éliane could still recognize quality caffeine when she saw it. Bergamot was still a fine choice…

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

---

This journey was truly one of surprises. Most of it was generally of the unwelcome type—a Valheimr attack, roving bands of wildlife, unpleasant hosts, Gardening overreach, and a second Valheimr attack being the notable ones, but coffee delights and unexpected additions to the party were more welcome. Considering how they had met the party, Éliane thought that they had integrated remarkably well!

Integrating remarkably well didn’t mean they did in foreign land, though. Just like Éliane stood out like a sore thumb in her Guards uniform in Edrenian land, everyone else stood out as much as she did in Osprey, too. And that certainly extended to when they met a shinobi on the road.

Esben provided a very typical Garden-like analysis of the woman and the overall situation in Kugane at the behest of the strange draconic girl. Éliane was surprised at how forthcoming that analysis was, but it was definitely something that she wasn’t very good at. Ask her to plan or lead a battle, that she could do, but to give a fundamental analysis on the cloak and dagger business of a foreign occupied state… well, that was what SEED was for!

Really, they had nobody to blame but themselves if she bungled something again for them. After all, her main mission here was still to show the flag and investigate the blight. As far as Éliane was concerned, everything else was still secondary to that.

The encounter, at least, went well, and they were led through the desolate village into the inn. Given her mission, she wanted to properly introduce herself to the big-breasted shinobi woman, if just for diplomatic niceties (it would be very nice if foreign notables would actually be pleasant for once, but what could one do when meeting foreigners) but Robin had beaten her to the chase.

And bungled it.

Not that everybody could see that happening from far away. Nobody had to be an expert analyst at the Garden like Esben to tell how unlike Éliane’s uniform, the Edrenian one nearly made her persona-non-grata in Osprey…

And then Esben got in the way, too!

Approaching, she patted him on the shoulder and joined their conversation, more or less bullying through whatever subtly he was attempting with her typical blunt approach. It was more or less Robin style, but without the Edrenian element, the sparkles, or the kissing. Nearly identical, really.

“Apologies about my fellow countryman. He’s a clumsy fellow. I am Éliane Laruelle, of the Household Guards. I’ve been intending to meet more Ospreyan representatives as a part of our investigation… may we have the pleasure of your name?”

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

---

With the unexpected help, it didn’t take much more for them to achieve a complete victory. Unfortunately the skirmish didn’t end in a full Valheimian rout, but between one of the stranger girls that had shown up and her massive tempestuous attack, and Éliane deciding to lob one of her explosive attacks at the retreating forces, they were able to end a good number of them.

That captain Reisa would not be regrouping with anything near the full amount of forces she had started with, and Éliane was happy with that. Although the extent of her grudge did not even touch Izayoi’s, the Valheimians still had a blood debt to pay for the massacre of her countrymen in the castle. A convenient, easy target to beat up on was appealing for Éliane’s battle lust too…

But now that the battle was over, who were these unexpected comrades in arms?

Éliane was a bit surprised and a little wary that they had all decided to stick around afterwards at their campfire. The ensuing almost-interrogations and introductions were insightful, at least. Of them all, she was of course most interested in her fellow countryman. She was always delighted to meet fellow countrymen outside their borders, if they weren’t exiles, at least.

She briefly puzzled over his introduction. It really wasn’t the introduction of a SEED member… but the last name, she recognized. She had her finger on the pulse of Solitude’s high society. The heir of the Cadon Barony was supposed to be somewhat eccentric man. She gave him some side-eye for the way he introduced himself, but she didn’t dismiss it, either.

It didn’t take long for him to address her, and she nodded with a smile of her own. “Yes. You’re the son of Mathias Felixssen, I presume? I’m thankful for more eyes from home. Too many of have already been lost investigating this curse,” she replied sadly.

The others made their introductions, and she made hers, in turn. It was still odd, but nobody struck her as immediately suspicious, either. Rudolf was an Edrenian, so she didn’t have much beyond her usual impressions of them. Hunting monsters was cool, though! She wanted to hear some of the stories he could tell about his hunts.

Miina was… so cute! But kind of a weird Mystral in how she flustered so easily. She was the opposite of Izayoi, which sent Éliane in a brief fit of amusement. Especially when she tracked her eyes towards what the very red girl had been affixed on for her entire stammering session.

Eve was just a mystery. Her battle magic was awesome, though. Éliane respected her grudge towards the Valheimans, but between her foreign looks and the lack of forthcoming information, she was the one the commander was the most suspicious of.

Robin… well, Éliane loved her style! Wait, was Robin a boy or a girl? She wasn’t actually sure, but she was going to lean girl, for now. The sparkles were a nice touch, if a bit over the top… if anything, Robin reminded Éliane of herself when she was younger…

She decided if they were going to join in their quest, then she agreed with Izayoi. They would be quite welcome reinforcements.

“Well, most of you seem like good fellows,” she happily concluded. “I’d be glad to have you all join if you would.”

An extra thought occurred to her. “You all have your own chocobos, right…?”

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

---

Éliane tsked, quickly knowing that her shots hadn’t found their mark by the clang of her shots against armor and the obvious fact that the enemy woman was being a smug bitch towards her Mystrel ally. Although she was still firing back, now having reloaded, she was increasingly coming under fire by the Valheimian contingent.

“Aw, shit!” She let out a yelp as she ducked down from her cover, a particularly nasty bullet coming close enough to ping off one of the metal ornaments on her shako cap and nearly knocked it off her head. Moments later, an entire volley of bullets hit the stone wall where she together with Arton and Izayoi had taken over, sending fragments of rough stone flying everywhere. She winced as a few particularly sharp fragments managed to cut into her arm. The situation was looking increasingly desperate, with this cohort being far more organized than what she’d encountered previously.

They needed a breakout, or they’d be surrounded and flanked. Izayoi was a second ahead of her, so Éliane deferred to her. “Understood!” she called back, checking her gear and righting her hat. At her call, instead of firing from cover, she leapt over the parapet, backing up Izayoi once again and firing as she went. If this was going to be a death ride, then she was going to do it properly…

The sudden explosions that were not of her own volition and the subsequent disarray of the enemy battleline was something Éliane didn’t expect. Nor were the sudden appearances of what looked like another adventuring party.

Was that the distinct accent of another Skaelan she heard? Had the Edrenian king sent a second adventuring party to reinforce them, or had the Overseer seen it fit to send a second Skaelan expeditionary party as well…? Éliane was entirely confused, but she would pay more attention to the newcomers later.

Whatever it was, it changed their situation immediately. Firing another shot straight into the head of a distracted Valheimian soldier, she kicked him away as she directly fell in with the quickly disintegrating enemy cohesion. “They’re about to rout! Don’t let up the pressure!” she shouted, joining in Galahad’s exhortation as she sunk her gunblade into the chest of the unfortunate alheimian sharpshooter that had been taking potshots at her earlier.

Serves him right.

Not letting up the pressure, Éliane continued to push, nearly recklessly blitzing as she sought to break their morale completely. The last of her bullets in her chamber ran out as she cracked out at another infantryman, then parried another before kicking him away for someone else to deal with.

“Stick together! We can drive through them like a wedge and end this!”

Revue of Annihilation

Meisa Amorette

---

In hindsight, perhaps Firenze had overdone it a bit. Beating the thugs unconscious would have done the same trick. Nonetheless, she knew that if proper, good civilization was to rise again, petty violent gangs would have to meet their end, even if she had to resort to violence herself.

Even with her cushy life, Meisa was no stranger to violence. The elves treated criminals harshly, and violent thugs, as far as she was concerned made the cut. Still, Meisa didn’t quite approve, but mostly because it put her in a difficult position.

“Well, someone has to finally keep order! Are you alright?” she replied, making herself look presentable as the merchant woman stood up. She was going to speak further when one of the other merchants, began to scream in their faces. Right, did this man not have a sense of self-preservation?

“We are holding swords still, you know,” Meisa pointed out, nudging in the direction of Firenze, who was still standing around. She had taken the gang leader’s sword and still had the naked blade out. The praetorian woman looked quite happy with her new acquisition and some extra gold, but glanced towards the bellowing fat man’s hysterics as if to make a point.

Nonetheless, Meisa internally winced. This was exactly the situation she knew was going to happen. In for a penny, in for a pound, right? “Ahem. Addressing your point—Your understanding is bullshit, sorry. It’s just racketeering, and the particularly violent kind that doesn’t actually protect. Violence begets violence, you know?”

Firenze was still looking happy with herself, now that she was fully armed with lots of swords.
Now that the adrenaline of combat was dying down, Meisa screamed internally as she glared at her bodyguard. This was going to fucking suck.

Well, time to try and fucking sell it, because she was going to need it.

“Because the Blackhand Butchers are on the way out. Simple as that. They’ve overstepped their boundaries for far too long, and will be wiped out. You say they’ll make an example of everyone just for witnessing this? Then you might as well take it as a truth. The only recourse to fight back, or just roll over and die!” And what kind of stupid, uncivilized bandits would ruin their entire cash cow just because some stranger killed a few of their thugs, anyway? What was the entire point of having a protection racket if you were just going to make an example out of everyone who paid for the stupid ornament!?

She glanced at the merchant, and then the girl she saved, and then anyone that was watching. “The point of that silly ornament is for protection. If it won’t even protect you from them while minding your own business, did you really have an understanding at all? No, better to protect yourselves. And we can, at least, help you do that.”

Meisa gestured to the bodies of the thugs around them. Firenze might have caused the problem, but it was still one unarmed elf girl that had basically taken out five armed bandits. They had the credentials.

Revue of Annihilation

Meisa Amorette

---

The neighborhood surrounding the atelier was surprisingly decent, for an area within the Outer Layer. Given that their objectives had changed, at least for the day, Meisa and Firenze had changed back into simpler clothing, although it was still attire that stood well out among the downtrodden. Firenze being Firenze, though, didn’t mind changing in front of Camille, if it brought the puppy-like man further in their camp.

Perhaps even without.

The marketplaces near the Royal Road were surprisingly active and running relatively brisk business. Firenze noticed the odd wooden plaques first, and realized their meaning well before Meisa did, given her proclivities towards spy craft. Regardless, the commotio in the square did not take long to catch the attention of both elves. Five ruffians were roughing up one of the vendors in a clear racketeering operation.

Meisa frowned.

The obvious, smart thing to do was to simply look away and continue on with their stroll. In a normal circumstance, both girls had the mindset to do that. Firenze had done things far worse just messing around for fun, and Meisa was more selfish and morally disengaged than her newfound crusade suggested.

But this sort of blatant criminal activity was not something that ever been tolerated in the kingdom she remembered, nor was it something she would want suffered when the people were dancing to her tune. And Firenze had been itching for a fight ever since arriving at Oratorio. As far as the purple-haired woman was concerned, ever since somehow losing her sword on the journey here, having the pick of five weapons to keep was a plus.

She glanced at Meisa for a signal. The golden-haired elf bit down on her teeth for a moment before sighing and nodding. She was going to regret this, she was sure. No doubt there was a big gang somewhere behind these thugs, and perhaps even a wealthy noble in the Royal Road backing them, too.

With the go signal given, Firenze immediately stalked towards the thugs, using the crowd to position herself for the most optimal opening. Having worked together for so long, although Meisa was her charge, she too moved in concert, having an idea of what the purple praetorian was going to do.

Stepping out of the crowd, she approached one of the watching thugs from behind before immediately sucker-punching the man in the temple, using the twisting movement to simultaneously draw his sword and run him through. The man next to him began to react, but by then, Meisa was also in position, and a moment later, he found a boot planted up his family jewels and the man crumpled to the ground next to his companion while she relieved him of his weapon as well before finishing him off.

At this point, the two elves had gotten what they really wanted—weapons and a lesson taught. If they wanted, they could just bail now and be done with it. The guards, it seemed, still didn’t see fit to intervene, which Firenze took as remit to go further.

“You dare…!?”

By now, the other three men were fully alert, and the leader of the group turned with surprise but immediately fell on Firenze with a clash of steel—with the two other thugs hesitating before releasing the poor merchant girl to scramble to the defense of their thug friends. Now that Meisa’s terrifying bodyguard had a weapon, though, some relatively untrained ruffians had no chance. “Nice fucking try, bitches!” With a delighted grin, she met their steel with her own once more.

One of the bandits moved towards Meisa, who was so confident in her paladin that she was already rifling through the pockets of one of them fallen men for goodies. Firenze had enough opportunity to trip the man on the way there, making him fall flat on his face and just in time for Meisa to react by stomping his head with her boot, making it a simple two against one for Firenze. Her footwork and swordplay were superior, though, and after a few parries and blows, her sword took off the head of the leader before running the last rapscallion through.

And the guards still didn’t react.

“Nice work,” Meisa finally said, as if the battle had been foregone conclusion. Seeing that stall merchant was still hanging around looking bewildered and afraid, she turned her attention towards the lady as Firenze cleaned her weapon on one of the corpses and began to check for valuables, too.

“Congratulations, it looks like you’ve been rescued. Now, who were those folks?”