The sniper’s cursing and calls for help from her allies would do nothing to change the fact that her back remained facing Noah. Not helping matters, Noah’s cross cutting the sniper had allowed it to activate its special ability, slowing the sinner’s movements. And perhaps worse still, the sniper remained without momentum.
Noah, still running on that mix of adrenaline and panic, capitalized. Her cross’s blade was once again bathed in holy light, and with her teeth grit, she moved. From its previous downward slice, the cross now thrusted upwards, with every inch of force and speed Noah could muster, poised to pierce through the right side of the sniper’s back.
Noah’s assault would not end there. She’d heard and processed the call for help to understand that someone was going to do something. Her head would swing around violently, searching for that help, and spotting it near instantly. It was rather hard to miss the monstrous shadow whale right above her.
Noah’s body immediately pivoted to face the beast. Her feet firmly planted, she adjusted her grip on the main body of her cross so she could push up, and grabbed onto the horizontal beam of her cross with her other hand. With that leverage, she would force the cross upward and out of the sniper’s body, and swing it around.
The cross’s tip would aim directly at the whale, and as its previous melody dissipated, something else charged up. Noah’s particular brand of holy light coalesced around the blade of the spear, and after a second, her choir screamed in unison. “JUST GO AWAY!”
With that, the beam of light would fire upon the beast of shadow.
23 | Female | Freelancer | His Guidance Five Pointed Cross | Spear | Arcane | One Sin and a Hundred Good Deeds Holy Shroud of the Unknown Saint | Consecrated Body Faith of the Transient People | Light | To Be Heard By All [Reveal (2), Purity (4)] {Damage (2), Damage X (6), Shield (4), Reflect (4), Magic Sense (4), Heal (6), Major Heal (18), Stabilize (0), Purify (6), Dispel (6), AoE (2), Full Extend (4)}
The walls of darkness finally melting away for the last time, leaving the sniper without anywhere to hide, and giving Noah a clear path forward. As Noah rapidly closed the distance, the sniper shouted something at her, but Noah didn’t hear a word of it. With blood pumping in her ears, bullets clunking off of her shield, and her heart beating out of her chest, Noah responded in the only way that felt natural.
“Shut up!” She yelled, though in response to what, she couldn’t say. Noah’s hold on her cross changed, forgoing it’s previous defensive placement in favor of bringing the bladed side back and behind her head. It was a clearly telegraphed attack. One that, if successfully landed, would have more than enough force to be devastating. Perhaps, if Noah had ever been in a real fight before, she could’ve done something better, but it would do the job.
The sniper raised her gun above her head in a desperate bid to block, and succeed. Noah’s cross bit into the rifle, and the sheer momentum Noah had built up forced the gun down, but not enough to deal any true harm. The sniper mustered her strength and pushed, trying to throw Noah’s cross back up and into the air, and followed it up with a roundhouse kick.
Unfortunately, forcing Noah’s cross back up into the air didn’t really do all that much but prepare her to strike again. Alongside that, as a spear user, Noah had more than enough room to try and backpedal slightly to dodge the kick. While dodging, her spear would be coated in a golden white energy. It was clear to anyone who looked that something had been cast on it. She could then surge forward, bringing down her spear on the sniper once more, trying to take advantage of the opening after the kick.
23 | Female | Freelancer | His Guidance Five Pointed Cross | Spear | Arcane | One Sin and a Hundred Good Deeds Holy Shroud of the Unknown Saint | Consecrated Body Faith of the Transient People | Light | To Be Heard By All [Reveal (2), Purity (4)] {Damage (2), Damage X (6), Shield (4), Reflect (4), Magic Sense (4), Heal (6), Major Heal (18), Stabilize (0), Purify (6), Dispel (6), AoE (2), Full Extend (4)}
Were it not for the incredible danger Noah had found herself in, she might’ve had some kind of comment to make about the woman that had Noah in her sights. Instead, Noah was regretting her previous lamenting over the loss of the drama of the encounter, and wishing that they could go back to the unserious atmosphere present some moments ago.
Instead, her heart was pounding out of her chest, and her teeth clenched so hard that they just might shatter. Her eyes were wide and panicked as her head snapped towards her attacker. Noah hadn’t even meant to reveal the sniper specifically, she wanted to dispel the darkness for everyone, but any reprieve from the gunfire was welcome.
The woman stopped firing only long enough to dive back into what darkness was still present, not that it mattered. Noah knew where she’d gone, and wanted to not be shot at more than anything else at the moment. Not to mention, all the shots coming from the same place made where the woman was hidden clear to Noah’s frantic mind.
Noah moved quickly, keeping her cross up as she did before. As her shield cracked and began to shatter, she glowed once more in her holy light, a new shield taking the place of the old. And, just a second later, approaching where she assumed the woman to be, fired off a second dispelling spell. Surely, two would have to be enough.
Noah hoped her attacker wasn’t all that great at melee fighting. It would be her only real shot, she had to make it count.
23 | Female | Freelancer | His Guidance Five Pointed Cross | Spear | Arcane | One Sin and a Hundred Good Deeds Holy Shroud of the Unknown Saint | Consecrated Body Faith of the Transient People | Light | To Be Heard By All [Reveal (2), Purity (4)] {Damage (2), Damage X (6), Shield (4), Reflect (4), Magic Sense (4), Heal (6), Major Heal (18), Stabilize (0), Purify (6), Dispel (6), AoE (2), Full Extend (4)}
Her fellow freelancer’s laugher did absolutely nothing to stop Noah’s ever growing embarrassment. She really hadn’t meant to just say it, you know?! Like, yeah, she was absolutely going to think it, and be a little judgy about the bdsm getup in her own mind, but even if all the tension of the situation was kind of gone, it didn’t change the fact that that woman probably wanted them dead or something? So, Noah kind of just had to hope she’d take the comment in stride.
Which she did, sort of? Actually, she looked pretty surprised Noah had said… well, what she said, but between her fellow freelancer’s laughter and Raphael actually backing her up, it looked like the woman couldn’t help but find the whole thing hilarious. Which was… hopefully a good thing. Hopefully.
The definitely magical darkness was still surrounding them though, and Noah figured it was probably for the best that one of them actually got rid of it so they could all focus. Still a little off balance, Noah put what the woman was saying to Raphael in the back of her mind for a moment, and tried to go through what she knew she could do with her own magic. It took a moment, mostly because she never actually needed to think of this before, but it seemed like the best option she had was probably just outright dispelling it?
She wasn’t entirely positive on exactly how dispelling worked, but as long as it did what it needed to do, it was probably fine, right? A strong melody was probably for the best, to make sure it worked, but after that, she wasn’t really sure what she…
When Noah noticed the out of place red dot on her white outfit, Noah’s heart was halfway to stopping. She stopped breathing for a second, and just stared at it, watching as it moved ever so slightly in every direction, maintaining its presence on her shoulder. A red dot sight, she immediately knew. Her father had been something of a gun nut- of course she knew what it was.
She jerked, desperate to move herself out of the way of whatever gun was aimed at her. It worked, partially. She felt something hit her, clearly the bullet, but she could still move her arm. When she next looked to her shoulder, she was incredibly thankful to see it still functional and in place. There was a gash, the shooter had carved a line across the top of her shoulder, one that was starting to sting more and more every second.
The dispel had to come second, Noah knew, as her life was very clearly in danger. While the other two of her group focused on their own battles, Noah immediately moved to shield herself. Her body was enveloped in a white-gold glow, as a layer of a magical shield appeared just above her skin. Transparent and adorned with the outlines of crosses, Noah prayed to the lord that it would be enough.
The moment the shield applied, Noah made to follow it up with that dispelling melody. Casting from her left hand, as Noah’s right hand was occupied with trying to protect her head with her cross, another white-gold melody appeared, and was quickly shot towards that magical darkness. While Noah waited with bated breath to see if her idea would accomplish anything at all, she did her best to stay moving, keeping her cross up and blocking her head, to try and hurt the shooter’s chances at hitting her again.
23 | Female | Freelancer | His Guidance Five Pointed Cross | Spear | Arcane | One Sin and a Hundred Good Deeds Holy Shroud of the Unknown Saint | Consecrated Body Faith of the Transient People | Light | To Be Heard By All [Reveal (2), Purity (4)] {Damage (2), Damage X (6), Shield (4), Reflect (4), Magic Sense (4), Heal (6), Major Heal (18), Stabilize (0), Purify (6), Dispel (6), AoE (2), Full Extend (4)}
Considering a Heavy mobile suit, and I'm trying to figure out what to do for a superheavy weapon. I've only really played Armored Core games out of all of the mentioned inspirations, so the only thing that's popping into my mind are the ultimate weapons from ACVD, particularly the Giga Cannon and the Giga Missile. Would those kind of things be classified under superheavy weaponry?
Noah nodded, accepting the information Raphael gave gratefully. It wasn’t as much as she hoped, but if no one really knew how they fought, then she supposed this was going to be a learning experience for them all. That they caused natural disasters certainly explained the horrible storms approaching the city, but why did they do that? Noah had much the same question in regards to how demons would form up around the behemoths. She certainly could toss out a couple of ideas as to why, but she could hardly know for sure by just guessing in her own mind.
Noah decided she’d ask after the job was over, provided it went well. And she absolutely made a mental note of that comment on demons. But again, later. Perhaps if she hadn’t been late… but there was no use worrying about it now.
The dramatic effect of the departure of Black Sabbath was lost on Noah, as she had the misfortune of being right next to Lexi when they left, and was given a facefull of smoke. She coughed a couple times, and waved her hands around to try and dispel the smoke. Walking away from the quickly ascending smoke cloud, she shook her head and held a hand to her chest. She might’ve found the disappearance cool, if not for that.
And, with an ominous warning from Raphael, the three of them were off. The storms in the clouds raged, and rain beat down upon them as if it was trying to pass through them like a bullet. The wind was so rapidly changing that Noah wondered if there might be a tornado forming. And yet, none of it really impeded them. Their esper forms didn’t allow it to.
Noah found the whole experience novel, she couldn’t help but feel like an outside observer to the hurricanes, despite being right in the middle of it. She just felt like she was back up north, back in college, watching a reporter stand out in a storm. As thankful as she was for such protection from the elements, she couldn’t shake a feeling of vague disappointment. It may not have exactly been the kind of thing she wanted to experience, but she couldn’t help but feel deprived of it regardless.
Things began to change some minutes after she and her allies departed from the church. Though the hurricanes had already shrouded the city in such darkness that it appeared to be night, they began to lose more and more of their ability to see the further they went. Noah, unwilling to break the somewhat uncomfortable silence that had fallen over the group, silently willed her natural glow to increase in an effort to counteract whatever likely magical happenings the storm was causing.
Those likely magical happenings became in Noah's definite when her own light collided into it as if hitting a wall. It pushed back enough that the three could properly see their nearest surroundings, but such a passive effect could hardly do much more than just that against whatever spell was being employed against them…
It was at that same moment that Raphael ordered them to stop with a hand. His pace had been slowing steadily since the darkness had begun obscuring their sight, but he did not stop them for just that reason, Noah realized. He had probably noticed it before she heard it. Notice what, you might ask?
The demons lurking just outside of the magical dark. She could see parts of them, sometimes. A claw, talon, an eye, or a maw. She could hear them, too. That was what let her in on the fact that there were more than the few who were just occasionally peeking through the dark. She never fully saw any of them, but all those sounds sent her hand to the cross she rested upon her back, drawing it forth and into physical existence. Her right arm held it roughly in the middle of its shaft, at an angle. She fell into a vague defensive stance, and her heart rate sped up, awaiting whatever might come next.
The demons, despite all their posturing and snarling, hadn’t yet struck. The reason why became clear, when the voice of a woman pierced the darkness, saying some vague threat towards Raphael.
Noah’s head jerked to face the direction of the voice, and upon spotting the blonde woman on top of the building, a good number of Noah’s thoughts came to a screeching halt. In the back of her mind, she quite simply put together that this woman was likely behind the darkness surrounding them, and might even be working with the demons. She certainly couldn't figure out why, maybe she had some grudge against Raphael, priests, or just wanted other groups to succeed and for them to fail. Too many possibilities, and it was also not what Noah was focused on.
No, Noah was focused on something much different, something that had utterly drained any tension she had been feeling towards the situation because of its sheer absurdity. Because, really, “What on earth are you wearing?!” Noah unceremoniously blurted out in complete disbelief. Her left arm immediately slapped over her mouth and her face promptly turned red. The rainwater only increased the volume of the slap. She really hadn’t meant to just say it, but who could blame her?! The woman had perched herself atop a building in full fetish gear! Why?! Why was that her esper outfit?!
Her focus returned moments later, and she gripped her cross a bit tighter in recognition of the threat, but still! All dramatic tension was lost! And Noah really couldn't get over the outfit at all! How did that woman expect any of them to take her seriously when she was dressed like that?!
23 | Female | Freelancer | His Guidance Five Pointed Cross | Spear | Arcane | One Sin and a Hundred Good Deeds Holy Shroud of the Unknown Saint | Consecrated Body Faith of the Transient People | Light | To Be Heard By All [Reveal (2), Purity (4)] {Damage (2), Damage X (6), Shield (4), Reflect (4), Magic Sense (4), Heal (6), Major Heal (18), Stabilize (0), Purify (6), Dispel (6), AoE (2), Full Extend (4)}
Noah’s idea to rein in her embarrassment by trying to focus on anything else besides the nearly naked woman in front of her seemed to be rapidly backfiring. As Lexi wrapped her arm around Noah’s shoulder, Noah’s eyes became ever wider as she did everything in her power to stare straight ahead and not look up to the much taller woman. Noah knew very well what she would see if she turned her head, and she was absolutely not mentally prepared for it.
Beginning to sweat, Noah couldn’t help but wonder if she’d have been better prepared for something like this if she’d actually joined her old college roommates on their bi-weekly bar crawls. No use wondering about it now, though.
At the very least, Lexi did actually inform her of everyone's names. She very much could have done without Lexi pointing them out individually with the arm she’d wrapped around her, but Noah was really getting the feeling that the taller woman found her reactions funny.
Also, her thoughts of the now named Nova being relatively somewhat close in appearance to a regular nun were rather quickly smashed into the ground upon hearing the word ‘smoker’. Alongside her internal opinion of the woman. She hadn’t actually seen the smoke before, but now she couldn’t help but notice. Really, of all the vices in the world to choose, Noah would never understand how anyone could bear to pick the ones that smelled as awful as smoking.
As if to emphasize the sheer height difference, Lexi bent her knees enough to look her in the eye. And on top of that, given the new way Lexi had positioned herself to more than likely get some manner of reaction out of Noah, it was to the surprise of absolutely no one that the long sheltered girl would turn a shade of red previously undiscovered by humanity. As a result, she only distantly registered the exchange between Lexi and Raphael. She might reflect on it later, but right now she was a bit too focused on not melting into a puddle.
At Lenora's prompting, Lexi finally stopped with all that teasing, and Noah breathed an audible sigh of relief. She held a hand to her heart in a vain attempt to calm it and resolved, in that moment, to pretend the nearly naked nun didn’t exist for the duration of the meeting. If only so that she could actually focus.
The plan itself sounded like a divide and conquer sort of thing. Three teams of three espers, and one of those teams, the one she was in, acting as backup to the others if needed. And the ‘Bates’... Noah had to assume they were the same twins she’d seen mentioned a few times on the esper app, she was relatively certain they owned the place she and Marie had brought Oliver to, but she hadn’t seen them on that visit.
As far as questions went, only a few things really came to mind. She thought about asking after what they’d be clearing the area of, but it was probably demons, Noah didn’t see much of a point in asking. But there was, of course, the trains themselves. “... Do we know what to expect from the trains, in how they fight?” Noah asked. “Do they favor any particular types notes?”
23 | Female | Freelancer | His Guidance Five Pointed Cross | Spear | Arcane | One Sin and a Hundred Good Deeds Holy Shroud of the Unknown Saint | Consecrated Body Faith of the Transient People | Light | To Be Heard By All [Reveal (2), Purity (4)] {Damage (2), Damage X (6), Shield (4), Reflect (4), Magic Sense (4), Heal (6), Major Heal (18), Stabilize (0), Purify (6), Dispel (6), AoE (2), Full Extend (4)}
While Noah had planned to take Raphael’s suggestion immediately, her greeting was immediately caught in her throat when she noticed exactly what forms the outfits her fellow freelancers had taken. From the way all of those users of the Esper app talked, Noah had been under the impression that espers whose clothes took the form of religious garb were at the very least some flavor of rare. Even more so when it came in the form of the clothing of a Christian nun, if altered somewhat.
On one hand, it was nice to feel unique in such a mixture of ideal selves. On the other hand, Noah would admit that she did feel a little bit of embarrassment that her faith was so core to her that her Esper form had decided to take it and run. Really, it was one thing to know yourself as faithful, but a whole other to see it represented outwardly in plain view!
So she couldn’t help but wonder as she took in the four, were espers like herself really so rare? If it wasn’t for how Raphael had named them as freelancers, Noah wouldn’t be thinking about this at all, but… Perhaps it was a result of the majority of the espers on the app being stationed in cities, that those with forms such as herself were seen as rare. Complete speculation, but it was a thought that would linger in her mind.
Of course, none of the espers before her had an exact copy of a traditional nun outfit - she’d be more surprised if they did, honestly - though one of them, Bobo, was actually quite close. Take away the book, the belt, and the giant flamethrower and mace, and it was nearly a perfect copy! … Though, Noah couldn’t help but wonder why Bobo was wearing a cross necklace on the top of her head. The one with the piercings on her ears was also pretty close, Noah had to admit. She was missing a coif just like Noah, but hers was the right color. Really, all that needed to go was that belt wrapping around her body and the accessories.
The other two, though, were dressed very... Before going any further, Noah felt the need to state that she wasn’t a prude. Really, she wasn’t! But that didn’t really change the fact that the other two espers were both dressed in some strange approximation of a nun outfit that Noah was rather certain would fit in with those costumes in certain kinds of videos! Well, the one of the two that was actually wearing something resembling clothing! Though, that was a point towards the one with the sword, Noah would admit. Even if it was a pretty revealing outfit, it was still an outfit! The other one, who was also that tallest of the group and certainly taller than Noah, was wearing a habit, wraps, and nothing else! And she had a piercing on her belly button??? Seriously, what was with this?!
And, yes, Noah knew that she was being a little judgy right now, but sue her for not mentally preparing herself in advance for someone wearing what Noah would very generously call next to nothing! She didn’t even want to think about how red her face might be…
And oh lord in heaven she’s walking over to her right now-
Noah, in a manner similar to a deer in headlights, took a moment to properly process that the esper who wore basically nothing was talking to her, and quickly took her hand and introduced herself in turn. “Uh, I-I’m Walking Church, it’s nice to meet you.” She said, doing her absolute best to smush any feelings of embarrassment or awkwardness at this situation (and failing, her choir of voices betraying her).
Doing her level best to focus on everywhere but the torso of the very tall and confident woman in front of her out of fear of the heat on her face increasing much further, Noah decided to divert attention a little away from herself, and towards the remainder of the now known Black Sabbath. “Ah- so- um.” A cough. "... Who are the rest of your group?" Her choir finally asked, deciding that learning the names of everyone present would be an okay distraction from what was directly in front of her.
The Raven Calls
BayRat
vietmyke
High Moon
TaintedMushroom
Sky Blue
Remram
rabidbacon
Guardian Angel Haruki
Izurich