Given that it's not TheWendil's post, I'm pretty sure that Sonnambula merely used the wrong color-coding, because that whole scene was very much in-character to what little we know about Ozma. And this line is what sealed the deal for me:
"Indicated only by a red blur flashing past her vision as she regained her sight"
Ozma's nickname among the Magical Girl community is the "Crimson Comet". Literally everything about this scene screams Ozma. But genuinely, reread that section and read Ozma's bio, and I think you'll be as convinced as me. I'm sure we won't know for absolute certain for a while yet -if at all (because half the fun of Ozma is the mystery), but I'd genuinely bet on this being the case. I'm open to being proven wrong, but I'm fairly sure TheWendil was being jokingly vague.
In that case, I'll probably post sometime today then. I think the Power of Friendship has handicapped our opponent more than enough for Nessie to stand a chance now.
Oh, I think you can go ahead and continue the post with the result of Nessie’s action. I think no one else is going to steal her thunder, so all I can reply with is pretty much just Lumiere watching her.
At Binky's revelation, the brunette took a slow, deep breath via her mouth, then made a long, drawn-out sigh with all the resignation of a convenience store employee, a sigh capable of draining dry the energy from even the liveliest of parties. Plenty of thoughts gradually formed into half-coherent words inside Valkyrie's mind, but she nipped it at the bud, pushing them to the back of her head. It didn't matter, she was here to follow orders and get paid, not play politician. Just follow instructions and take the money, which was convenient considering a bulk of those instructions involved purging monster filth.
As long as Fritzi had the money and the monster hunt list, then she would have Valkyrie's allegiance. The doctor being a sociopathic piece of work was irrelevant, no one's perfect anyway.
For the duration of the ride, Valkyrie simply listened to the cabbage-haired esper's answers on the various questions that her co-workers raised. None of those sound unreasonable, she could provide fire support wherever she's needed. One thing though... Stall the freelancers, huh? Yeah she could do that, but no promises. If there'd ever be a situation in which she had to choose between a comrade's life or a freelancer's, she'd not even have the slightest hesitation to pull the trigger. Those freelancers had made their opportunistic allegiance clear after all, they were as likely to work for Maverick as well as Gemini, a wildcard could be useful in some circumstances, but in others, well, nothing personal really.
Soon enough, the Gemini convoy arrived at the mission location as Lada immediately used the bodies of dead Cobra Gang members to conjure the barrier, convenient and good riddance, finally those scum could be useful in death where they lacked in life. Upon hearing the first shots being fired, Valkyrie mentally engaged 'combat mode' as her orange eyes no longer involuntarily blinked. As the only primary ranged fighter in the group (Avenir was more of a caster), the sniper decided to disembark last from the van, a logical maneuver really. As soon as she did, however, she wasted no time in following the group to charge into the mansion, its double doors proved inconsequential in the face of Leroux's warhammer.
--
The interior was... incredibly stereotypical of a vampire-owned dwelling. It was so stereotypical that Valkyrie couldn't help but wonder if Justin was the type to see all of these ridiculous portrayals of fictional vampires and decided to embrace them wholesale. Would he appear in an 18th century nobleman's suit along with an oversized black cape to greet them in a Romanian accent too? Heh, to be honest, that'd be neat, at least they could exchange pleasantries before she put a sabot straight through his cold unbeating heart.
Though the markswoman's eyes scanned the whole hall for any targets as was standard procedure, her attention glossed over the details; the scarlet carpet, grand organ, its eye-rolling spooky mansion music, the morbid statues, and everything. Contrary to what others might believe, nope, she didn't get chills running through her from this glorified haunted house attraction, what did give her chills was the sight of live hostages being chained to pillars, faces covered by sacks. Oh... so this was how it's going to be, huh? Hmmm... a show of cruelty or... desperation? Might be neither, these people might just be Justin's food stockpile, you know, bloodsucker and all.
Good, this blatant display of inhuman savagery assured that everyone here should have no moral objections to hunt these monsters down to the last creature.
Her eyes locked onto the only non-agent, non-hostage, individual in the room, the finely-suited broad-shouldered vampire, likely a member of Justin's coven. She casually took aim at the creature's heart, his poem entering one ear and spilling out the other as his words became nothing more than ambient noise, though she did catch a few words by virtue of her murderous attention being locked onto him.
How about we take a third option, hmm? We live, the hostages live, and you die.
"Permission to cull the vampire?" Valkyrie inquired, her voice relayed through the team's comms.
21 | Female | G.E.M.I.N.I. | The Faceless Teslic Gauss | Long Gun | Physical | Nibelung Valesti Northern Sentinel | Government Agent Electromagnetism | Lightning | Static Shock [Paralysis (4), Speedster (4)], Damage (2), Damage X (6), Push (2), Pull (2), Piercing (2), Bend (0)
DAMAGE: B | SPEED: E | SENTINEL: C | Max Mana: 500
"Nngh...!" The white-clad Seraph winced as the Titanic Pageless relentlessly slammed its jackhammer arm against her force field, all in its singular purpose to ransack the spawning Grimoire. With each forceful strike, the barrier cracked like a stained glass window designed by a demented artist. At this point, it would merely take another swing to completely shatter the shield, the shield that Lumiere put all of her effort to maintain, this meant a huge chunk of her mana reservoir.
"..." Lumiere stared with one closed eye as she braced for the final blow that'd crumble her barrier, but it never came... for Lilac's Joyeuse struck at one of its legs, lobbing it off as the monster tripped, unbalanced. This allowed Lumiere to disengage as her wings returned to settle behind her, exhausted but still not completely out of the fight, she merely watched as the limp Pageless attempted to chase after the Grimoire once more, but it was too late for the Chosen Bearer had found it first.
An explosion of light filled the abandoned construction site, warm to the forces of good and blinding to their sworn enemies. Lumiere smiled solemnly as she bathed in the glow, yes, this was an experience she could never get tired of, another guardian had been born into the world to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.
Just as she opened her blue eyes, a meteoric projectile made its dynamic entrance as golden light streaked behind it, all but smashing at one of the Pageless' forelimbs, destroying a part of it. One look at the sword embedded in the concrete was enough for her to identify the mythical sword and its owner. "Excalibur..." One wondered why a Grimoire so closely related to Merlin's own could fall into the hands of a person so skeptical of the Wizard, but experience had showed her that Grimoires sometime chose the unlikeliest of candidates. Who was she to question God's judgment?
The Pageless was wounded, but not completely crippled, good. However, it might not be so true after Ethereal Rose's tentacled lover spewed its eldritch bile against the titan. Had Lumiered realized this sooner, she might have deigned to warn Olivia against this course of action, but would it even matter? Would the girl even listen? She knew that Olivia wasn't exactly sane, befitting an Alter. A surge of frustrated annoyance rose up in the Seraph as she realized that she might have overestimated the Pageless' endurance, she hoped that it could last longer than this, just for a few more minutes at the very least.
But... why?
Camelot might have wondered just why Lumiere didn't unite all eight wings into a singular cannon of divine might to vaporize the titan, why did she bother on such an 'inefficient' method of delaying the leviathan instead of just pulling the weed by its roots by going on the offensive. Well, she was correct on one thing, that the angel opted on the side of caution to not accidentally destroy the Grimoire. After all, for all of the dangers that the giant monster posed, it paled in comparison to how important it was to recover the arcane artifact. However, that wasn't all, for there was another, equally important reason.
You see, even though magical girls are free from the ravages of time, old age, and disease; they weren't immune to perishing via violent means, whether mundane or magical. It was important for the older girls to guide and nurture their younger peers, so that the guardians of humanity wouldn't fall to attrition. As the old adage goes, experience is the best teacher. No one would fault Camelot for not realizing this yet as she's young, but in time, she would.
Lumiere had received Goodhope's blessing, her body empowered by the good captain's magic... however, this wasn't her fight, not anymore. The century-old magical girl descended to Nessy instead, floating a foot behind the newborn magical girl then reached out as a hand clasped the redhead's shoulder. "Go forth, child. Go forth and claim your destiny."
Anna was truly enjoying herself, the ceremony was as grand as she expected it to be, even grander in fact. Indeed, she had zero problems accepting the notion that she deserved such a welcome, being one of the few five hundred students to qualify for Ersand'Enise. This institution was no humble magus school in some backwater town after all, this place was the center of magical learning, arguably for non-magical subjects too, and how it showed. If Ersand was making a statement - and she believed they were - then it had succeeded. Immersing herself into the spirit of the festivities, the white-haired teenager continued instructing her flamewolf like a circus mistress, even adding another wolf to form a fiery duo that mesmerized the audience. A bright, joyful smile on her face as she enjoyed both external attention and internal pleasure of casting.
It was in the middle of her performance that she noticed a skywalker older boy veritably crashing onto a balcony, smacking some poor old lady as a result. "Bffft...!" The sight actually made Anna pause mid-show as her wand-wielding right hand stopped moving, her attention momentarily taken by the accident. What followed next was like two warships crashing into each other, a horrible thing but one that she couldn't take her eyes away from. The aforementioned boy got positively smacked in the face by a fuming lady, with enough force to send him reeling too! Oh no no no... she can't... she just...
"Hahahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahaha~! Ehehe...!" Anna lost control of herself as she guffawed to her heart's content, cackling like a madwoman as her free hand held her belly, chest heaving, and jaw opened wide. Tears of hilarity spilled from her eyes as schadenfreude flowed through her veins. Oh poor boy, whoever he was, but he deserved it honestly, talk about instant karma. "Haaa... phew... hehe..." Soon enough, Anna's laughter simmered down to a few quiet giggles and it was at this time that she realized an unfortunate consequence, in her amusement, she had lost control of her twin firewolves and they had now vanished into thin air, dispersed as ambient heat. Awww... that's a shame, but she got a good laugh out of it so whatever, the audience already got a nice show anyway.
---
As the procession continued, the trumpeters blared their instruments, signaling the next step of the day-long ceremony. A chosen crier stepped forward, his voice magically booming as he announced five of the most influential sovereigns in the world, each a holder of one of the Five Thrones.
...and this part made Anna roll her eyes. Who cares about some old fart sitting on some throne? A lot of people apparently, but she's definitely not one of them. While the announcer enunciated each king/emperor/minister/whatever's name, the white-haired Arcanist-Chemist just freecasted three palm-sized fireballs then started pseudo-juggling them between her hands, faux as they were actually floating and fully controlled by herself, she just made it as if she was juggling them. It was safe to say that her attention was anywhere but here as the crier's voice became ambient noise to the girl's mind.
At least, until something disrupted her focus, causing the fireballs to stop spinning around. A sudden surge of energy that sent tingles up her spine, raising her goosebumps. "Huh...?" Blue eyes blinked as she looked around, scanning her surroundings for any funny business. A part of her wanted to believe that it was an "Eshiran's Blessing" announcing its presence, but... nah, it didn't feel right, it was definitely something else. Something to investigate later, maybe? But eh, she had better things to do.
At long last, someone finally stuck it to those five pompous asses. Arch-Zeno Karan Harachorra was a hero for saving everyone from certain death via fatal boredom. Imagine listening to a politician's speech, now imagine listening to five of them in a row. She wouldn't even condone her worst enemies to such a fate. With that matter done, they could get to the actually important stuff, assigning the Biros to their mentor. Like every other student here, Anna wondered just who would be her instructor, she hoped they wouldn't be one of those stuck-up noble with a bark worse than their bite.
As the Zenos called their chosen apprentices, Anna relegated her juggling to just one fireball which she occasionally spun on top of her index finger, now paying infinitely more attention to the procedure than before. It went on until a certain Nashibansekian magus, an exotically-dressed and equally exotically-named woman called "Fades-in-Moonlight" stepped onto center stage. The Greyborn Zeno proceded to read out loud the parchment in her hand, in which the first name immediately caught Anna's attention. "Leon Solaire...? Leon... Soooolaaaaaaiiiire...? ...!!" Her eyes widened, "Leon Solaire?!" twas' the same name as that sand-colored boy she met years ago; the port market, the fish crate, the salmon painting, the traveling buskers' performance...! The memories, they came flooding!
"Ila-... Is it Ilannak? Ilannak Sigmund...daughter?"
So much so that it took her a couple long seconds to notice Luna calling her name, "E... eh? Ah! Yes! Present!" still blinking, she extinguished her mini-fireball, stood up, and made a beeline to the stage, carrying her broom-staff with her. The half-Rettanese-Eskandish Arcanist promptly arrived, before Leon of course as the older boy was literally the frontmost student of the pack. Normally, her attention should be locked exclusively to Fades-in-Moonlight, but since a certain someone was here, it was obvious that her gaze kept straying toward the caped student, her mind working in full force to connect his face to that of the thirteen-year-old she encountered five years ago. All observations pointed to one conclusion, that yes, he's the very same Leon Solaire.
Oh wow, look at how much he had grown. He's so tall now and so... uh... "A... ah... uhm..." Anna's little stammers betrayed her jumbled thoughts as emotions reigned over rationality, her arctic-borne pale complexion worked against her as rosy blushes spawned at her cheeks. She wanted to say something, anything; ask how he has been doing over the last five years, how did he get enrolled into Ersand'Enise, wonder if he'll still perform now that he's a Biro, and lots of other stuff. Nevertheless, in the end, she pushed the thoughts for later and simply stood at attention before Zeno Luna... while still stealing occasional glances at her childhood friend.
A few moments later, all of the Zenos and Biros were paired, marking the end of this part of the ceremony. It was followed by a display of legendary power by none other than Hugo Hunghorasz the Paradigm himself. The ancient magus proceeded to appear out of thin air and begin speaking to the new members of the academy, officially welcoming them into Ersand`Enise with his blessings. Anna could only smile widely at this, standing there together with her childhood friend Leon, their mentor Luna, and two strangers; the albino girl named Carmillia Carbonneau and a dark-skinned boy of supposedly noble importance called Jomurr Ikon the Third, what was it with nobles and numbered names?
She joined in with the others to watch the fireworks show, whose lights and spectacle dwarfed even that of Leon's. Starting from today, a new chapter of her life began.
More firewolf show. Laughing at Vyrik's blunder. Noticing the mysterious energy spike. Rolling her eyes at the sovereigns. Answers Fades-in-Moonlight's call. Notices Leon as a certain someone she met a long time ago. Reacting to Hugo and the fireworks show.
OOC Note: Honestly, I'm not very good at this post summary thing.
Weeeeeeeeell... I don't think I misunderstood, no, my point still stands, even after your reply.
Lumiere's a 96 year old granny that has been in the business for 81 years. She has met all kinds of characters from straight-laced paladins to shady af conmen. She may or may not be one of the Grand Minister's "inquisitor" too.
Basically what I'm saying is that her whole personality and life experience are the other side of the coin against Roma. They're both craftier than they look, but Lumiere's allegiance lies with the Grand Ministry, or Merlin specifically, while Roma is the opposite.
Why be on guard from the advice of a friendly face met at your favorite cafe~?
Oh, she'll be on guard, she's always on guard, or to be more specific, Lumi just has seen too much shit over her lifetime to be able to connect the dots far quicker than the actual teens of the cast.
The more I think about it, it'll make more IC sense (and interesting too) for Roma and Lumi to be sort of Cold War rivals ala USA and Soviet Union. No outright hostilities, but they'll shake hands with one hand while hiding a knife in the other hand behind their back.
They both sort of want to manipulate the younger girls, just for different purposes. Lumi's all about making them loyal to Merlin.
I'm a fuckin' weeb, but one of my great-grandparents was Japanese and a Japanese can't be a weeb by definition so...
[h3]7/8 Weeb[/h3]
...[s]kill me.[/s]
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<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">I'm a fuckin' weeb, but one of my great-grandparents was Japanese and a Japanese can't be a weeb by definition so... <br><div class="bb-h3">7/8 Weeb</div><br>...<span class="bb-s">kill me.</span><br><br><sub><span class="bb-i">Avatar drawn by <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.patreon.com/vayreceane">Vayreceane</a></span></sub></div>
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