Barely an instant after the inaccurate barrage, the man in white was at it again. This time he fired off both of his guns, and sent one of his golden fakes into the fray, aiming all at once towards the Shroud in the hopes of doing some damage. Not nearly so impressive as his previous attack, but together they still packed a lot of force.
This time, however, Lyra didn't even bother moving.
The glowing fake struck first, in the form of a bright stream that exploded at the very last moment. In terms of energetic composition it was not unlike the lightning bolt from early in the fight: heat, light, and electricity, just in greater quantities this time. Alas, it would suffer a similar fate to its predecessor. The wider spread of its impact diminished any chances of penetration, and as before the cloud promptly ate it up and shut it down without much trouble. On its own, it stood little chance of pushing through.
On the other hand, the Shroud was still dealing with the flood of energy from the explosion when the cannon attack struck home, and responded to the latter a little less effectively than it might have. This particular method did have some success before, and the field this time would be stronger, more capable of pushing back and damaging the Shroud. Unfortunately for the attacker, whether or not he had realized it, his previous attack with this weapon had been made against the thin, distracting layer Lyra had erected early on, and had accomplished a seeming breakthrough largely because it had only needed to penetrate a fraction of an inch of Shroud. The current projectile would be faced with a great deal more opposition. Both field and round would be swiftly slowed to insignificance, their energies snuffed out by the black miasma's flagrant defiance of conventional physics.
All the same, the Shroud did seem to be having some trouble dealing with this much energy at once. It self-concentrated, bulging near the site of impact while the rest of it shrank and thinned, leaving the way clear for the slower, smaller attacks. These had been well-placed, taking advantage of the Shroud's defensive nature by aiming slightly to one side of the larger hit. While the cannon shot drew the cloud in like a hungry whirlpool, the following rounds struck its weaker fringes. They carried less energy than the larger projectile, and the first would far little better than its larger cousin- but its sibling, the final bullet, striking where and when the Shroud was weak, had better luck. Its field dispersed the Shroud in front of it just enough for the physical round to push through at reduced speed, and for just a fraction of a second, barely long enough for Mitsu to catch, it tore a small hole in that dread veil of darkness to reveal what lay within.
More darkness.
Fair play to the man, he had managed to understand his opponent's defense well enough to put together attacks that could actually have threatened Lyra if she'd dropped her guard. She, however, had anticipated this. The otherworldly fog's tendency to self-concentrate around threats could be turned into a weakness, but Lyra knew this better than anyone. So she'd split her Shroud.
Discounting the little sphere that had been wiped out just a moment ago, she'd made three parts. One was fairly small and served an unrelated purpose, the other two were roughly equal portions of the remaining Shroud: one wrapped around Lyra herself, and one wrapped around the other like a shell, with a thin layer of air in between. This might not have seemed like much of a difference, but as had just been demonstrated, it could yet be used to great effect.
The Shroud self-concentrated to deal with threats, which left it thinner in places and vulnerable to follow-up attacks. What it didn't do was move to stop things that weren't touching it. While the outer cloud had been deformed and left vulnerable by the initial impacts, the inner cloud surrounding Lyra herself remained untouched, placid and calm. Together, the Shroud might have fallen, but divided it stood firm. Only three projectiles made it through to the second layer, and once there, two were soon slowed to the point of insignificance. The third, the pistol shot that had penetrated with some of its surrounding field intact, would penetrate far enough to score a hit- but unfortunately by that point it was only traveling at a few hundred miles per hour, well below the muzzle velocities of even primitive firearms. Lyra's swift reaction times and her ability to sense anything within her Shroud made it easy enough for her to physically avoid it before it could land. Thus, when it did land, the bullet acted less as a penetrating projectile and more as a blunt one. Even before it hit, Lyra was hardening the frozen fluids within her midsection in response, so that when the blow landed she was able to keep herself in position and hold her body intact. Rather than being crushed or smashed, her flesh *cracked* a little, the ice within her blood vessels breaking in places from the force of the impact. Had she been a living human, she'd have suffered some heavy tissue damage and hemorrhaging, but with most of her blood frozen the latter would hardly be an issue, and she could use her power over said frozen fluids to physically hold herself together, further minimizing the harm done. It surprised her that something had been able to reach this far through her defense, but it'd take more than this to seriously hurt her.
The gap snapped closed as soon as it had opened, and the outer layer of the two-part Shroud swirled into motion, returning to its former shape while pieces of debris dropped out of it in succession, falling to the ground far below. The ice flower, which had been wisely kept away from the part of the Shroud that would be taking impacts, sped out as planned, and Lyra and her cloud continued to ascend in an unpredictably curving path. The interruption, powerful and complex as it had been, had not delayed her plans. Even if Mitsu immediately attacked upon observing what had happened, the Shroud would have largely recovered by the time his next round hit, and the flower would be well en route.
Something else flew out behind the blue flower, though unlike the icy construct it did not travel far. A gas bomb, the one Lyra had primed a short while before. It detonated some distance in front of the Shroud- and then began to spread, carefully directed by the wind. Rather than expanding in all directions, it flattened and swept outwards like a curtain, forming an opaque green veil that hung in the air some distance in front of the Shroud. Rather than using her gas as a weapon, Lyra was using it as cover: with her power over wind she could spread it wide while making sure it never came in contact with her Shroud, and while she kept it between herself and Mitsu he would be unable to track the Shroud's precise location by sight. A girl hid within a cloud, and now a cloud hid behind another, much wider cloud.
Of course, Lyra herself couldn't see through this second miasma either. She didn't need to, however. The key lay in the flower: its stem was hollow, and rather than another bomb it held a far more versatile payload.
The third portion of her Shroud.
This last, smallest part would be effectively invisible in its current state. The dark particles held within and embedded throughout the ice could store and emit light as well as absorb it, and rather than simply sucking up every photon that came near, the Shroud within the ice flower was emitting light in wide bursts at roughly the same rate as it absorbed it, thereby rendering itself almost transparent. It likely wouldn't have been enough to fool Lyra's sharp-eyed opponent were it in the open, but hidden as it was within ice, any minor distortions of light would be impossible to distinguish from those caused by reflection and refraction within the ice's own structure. Lyra, meanwhile, could easily track what light was hitting the Shroud, and had crafted the aforementioned ice herself- she knew exactly how to get a clear view from inside it. The flower acted not only as a weapon, but also as a mobile eye.
As it approached, and glittering particles began to spread around it, the flower changed. The lovely petals split, becoming thinner, sharper, and more numerous. A circle of needles, a vicious variation on the dandelion.
The main body of the flower had slowed down as it drew close, but the threat would come suddenly, and deadly swift. Without warning, the very tip of the pointed stem- opposite the flower shape with all its petals -broke off from the main structure and shot towards Mazono.
As with the initial blood spike, it would likely run into his defensive field. In this case, however, said field only stretched ten feet, and the shard had been crafted from raw ice, which Lyra could toughen much more effectively than frozen blood. It stood to reason that this one would not shatter before reaching its target.
Of course, as the man in white probably knew by now, his opponent always had a card or two up her sleeve. A spike through the head might seem a threat, but for all he knew it could be the least of his worries.
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