2026-07-24: Which Honors Justice
- Log: Which Honors Justice
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin, Remi Ryuuja, Yukari Takeba, Yanagi Nagisa, Shinobu Shimizu, Masao Inaba, Hyousuke Suzuki, Umie Akabane, Eriko Kirishima, Katsuya Suou, Tamaki Uchida
- Where: Akihabara, Tokyo
- OOC Date: July 24, 2026
- IC Date: December 14, 2012
- Summary: Miho Ijuuin makes her move--to the third of the Dragon Lines she covets, the Purple Dragon of December. But Yua's Mark cannot alone bring forth something buried so deep in reality, and so Miho uses her own--which draws the attention of many other Persona-users. A terrific battle with her alter ego and that of her allies ensues: the Groom, the Knight, and the Scion. In the end, she is able to claim only a part of the power she sought... and now, it is known what she's looking for.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
When Miho first felt the presence of the next Dragon Line, wreathed in purple, it was not far out of the way. No: deep in Akibahara, there was no lack of people here.
That was the first problem.
The second problem -- perhaps related to that first, lived-in, excessively normal problem -- was how faint the presence was.
"It's okay," Yua urged her. "Even if there's people... let's go, Mimi."
Down an alley, out of the main streets, behind a maid cafe, the presence of these costumed individuals is not so surprising -- like this Bride in her uncharacteristically grey bridal veils and dress, though it's marred by combat armour slung over it. Or, for that matter, Scion, who matches the greys of her and the Groom in the dark hood slung over her, like Little Red Riding had all the colours drained from her... but for the antenna which extend out from slits in that hood, ending in receptive pearls visible to either side of her head.
When they gathered, the Bride urged them: "Don't worry... they won't stop us. I'll invoke my Eye --"
The Groom frowns to the Bride, though it is not visible--Remi's reaction may be obvious first. But Miyu says, "That isn't necessary. I can use my Mark. I'd prefer you not risk yourself..."
"Yumi. Do not strain yourself unnecessarily." Tsurugi can't actually stop her, of course, but... she can at least say that much. "The new suppressants... Let us shoulder your burdens."
"Huh?! It's like that?! Then -- yeah, Yu-- Yumi!!" Scion's still no good at remembering not to call her Yumama, like this. That's a tragedy waiting to happen. "No way, you can't!"
Even hearing this, Yua shakes her head, placing a hand to the Groom's arm. "We have to! We don't have a choice! Mimi needs the power of the Dragon Lines... we'll never be happy if she doesn't grasp that! If it's me... if it's me that does it, they won't flood in to stop us, Mimi. You understand, right? If we don't have to fight... we'll win!" Yua's been reading her Sun Tzu, it seems...
With their assent -- reluctant or otherwise -- Yumi draws in a sharp breath, as she injects something which isn't *quite* Persona Suppressant into herself. "The air..." she rasps, as she staggers, would surely have fallen alone; she coughs, and blood splatters, across the Groom's armour and the alleyway.
"It tastes... different..."
The lights of Akihabara dim to something greyer, as her power falls over the area. Everything grows a touch more quiet, as her laboured breath fills more of the air. Normally, one would expect a strange sensation in that air, a terrifying stab in the soul, WVOOP, reminding one of all their deepest failures --
There is none.
No alarm.
No klaxon to Philemon's harmonic.
Nothing, but... the lingering sensation they've stepped into a liminal space.
Still, to the people inside it, it's an unsettling feeling. The maid cafe, facing the street, finds its customers finding excuses to leave; the cosplayers decide that tonight has stretched on long enough, as the lights around them dim to grey, and start off home. It is an orderly exit, an eminently normal exit, and one which Yua facilitates by not using her powers to raise a maze and trap them all.
The Groom, now, may summon her Persona -- just as Tsurugi and Scion may do. The Bride leans against the wall, heavily, as she fires her heavy revolver Evoker against her Eye, beneath her veils. "Gretchen," she invokes her.
But even with this place made Supernatural... Miho cannot grasp it.
The wilderness which this concrete jungle has been brought to is not enough.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"If it is necessary to spill blood today... then so be it."
It's not a good day to be a geek in Akihabara, as a small section of street by a maid cafe glows with a faint purple energy. Ordinarily, the manga stores would be full of people looking through their shelves; the collectors would be at the gachapon machines. The cosplayers would be out on the street!
But instead, the Groom invokes something Other, something awful, as she lifts a hand to her wrist and the Mark beneath her gloves.
Sound Effect: P2l Vwoop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RARotEaobh0
Now, there is a strange sensation in the air, a terrible wrongness that makes the air feel like soup even in the December chill. Even the people who work here are finding thin excuses to leave in a hurry -- because everyone, now, is leaving in a HURRY. This is no longer a place which feels off -- this is a DANGER to the people who ignored their initial instincts. An angry heartbeat resounds through the area:
This place is anathema, now.
The center of the effect is localized on the Groom, in her gray armor with a scarlet-hilted sword. The purple light of the ground before her begins to glow more intensely, and she starts to draw off energy from it with one outstretched hand. She is intent... and she is not alone.
"I feel it," the Groom says to the Bride. "This is the time. Soon..."
Out on the street, closing off the alley, the battlefield is still tight--especially if someone would prefer to avoid destroying storefronts and abandoned possessions. But at least it's not in the alley proper.
Either way, the December chill may make sword arms ache; there is no snow, but there has been rain. It's a dark, dismal day, and the alley is dirty where the streets outside are clean and bright. It isn't a nice place.
It is even less nice now that the Groom finds herself anointed in the Bride's blood... and her mood darkens accordingly.
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Tsurugi is displeased that they've had to rely on those other suppressants again. But once Yumi has made her choice, all she can do is do her best to protect her (and Miyu and Scion) with everything she can muster.
She is dressed, as ever, in her black fencing garb with a matching black fencing mask that covers her face. On her hip and thigh a rapier and a dark gray revolver--her Evoker. Behind the mask her eyes narrow as the powers of two Marks and an Anti-Navigator are summoned forth. They should be upsetting.
But she has become inured to such things after spending three and a half years in a lab surrounded by the supernatural.
This time she does not wait. She pulls out her Evoker and raises it to her head, firing. Blue flame and shattered glass rise up behind her in the form of La Maupin, an androgynous figure in a red straightjacket clutching a chipped rapier through the sleeve.
Miyu can sense it. "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly," states Tsurugi in a quiet voice.
She steps forward to meet the battlefield, La Maupin striding beside her.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
When Miho realises that Yua's power is insufficient, and invokes the blood sacrifice of Demons, that klaxon now is well and truly SINGING.
Come here! -- a great ill has been done! -- AID US!
Safely tucked away in that alley, wrapped in Gretchen's bars, Yumi spreads her obfuscation across their pocket of Electric Town. It is not a deep or complex maze, today, which confounds them -- but just a warped, strange sense that the area around them is increasingly unreal. It is an effort to navigate, but not an impossible one, with that screaming impossibility digging into their ears.
There, in the street, they will meet her:
Scion, the mechanical girl, in her dark hood with those pearl-tipped antenna sticking out from its sides, a strange mechanical dinosaur creature at the ready behind her.
BGM START!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDycXD2d324 Persona 2 Innocent Sin (PSP) - Boss Battle
AS: Yua Ijuuin has readied for combat as Tyrrha's Summoned Guardian!! She is now fully healed! Ready for 3 opponents! AS: Remi Ryuuja has readied for combat as La Maupin! She is now fully healed! Ready for 2 opponents! AS: Remi Ryuuja has readied for combat as La Maupin! She is now fully healed! Ready for 3 opponents! AS: Miho Ijuuin has readied for combat as Faust! She is now fully healed! Ready for 3 opponents! AS: Umie Akabane has left Miho Ijuuin's bucket! <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari Takeba...
Has her nose buried in her notes! After all, finals are coming, as inevitable as death or taxes. She knows the former far too well, the horror of the latter will only occur once she's come of age.
"A squared equals B squared + C squared minus 2 BC Cosine of A..." She refreshes herself, as she looks over the solution to a problem she worked out for a non-right angled triangle.
It's a lucky break that she got a seat on the Monorail today, all she has to do is head straight to the dorm and shut herself in for an evening long session!
If only...
No sooner is she off the Mono-rail than-!
VWOOOOOOPPPPP! VWOOOOOOPPPPP!
It hits like a migraine, phantom lights strobing at the corners of her vision. Klaxons like tinnitus, hinting at activity in Mementos.
"Not! TODAY!" She says, while clutching at her head with one hand, "Come ON!" She complains, as she resolves herself to march out of the station, and straight to studying for Trigonometry.
It'd be easy to march right out of that station and back to the dorm.
The easiest thing.
-=-=-
Cue Yukari Takeba riding a train through Mementos.
"Can't the trains in Mementos at least have a women-only car?" She was still grousing, this time surrounded by numerous Shadows. "There's just no space in here!"
Suddenly, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, growing larger, and larger, until it was all consuming.
-=-=-
NOW!
A teenage girl wearing a SEES Jacket over a pink cardigan, holding a bow shows up with an Evoker holstered at her thigh at the edge of that purple light.
"Wha... Akiba?" She blink blinked, as she cleared the spots out of her eyes then, took a step back like she was genuinely startled, "IS THIS A MAID CAFE?"
Mind you she thought the maid outfits were cute but, way too embarrassing. Turning, she shouldered her bow, to look right at Scion- then the Groom- then Tsurugi.
"What are all of you even doing overrunning some maid cafe!? Do you have any idea what you drew me away from tonight to deal with this?!"
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
Yanagi has never been to a maid cafe, and in her quest to experience whatever she can, she is there by happy coincidence tonight. She's admiring the costumes of the maids and the cosplayers with a broad smile as she nurses a durian parfait when it hits.
The world greys. People, even employees, make excuses and leave. Yanagi's smile fades as she looks around.
"I didn't even get to finish my parfait," she complains sadly, taking up her polished walking cane with its unusual handle and walking outside.
She looks almost like an ice fairy princess in her gauzy, pale blue dress anchored at the waist with several delicate silver chains hung with various charms, a shimmering dress-coat, sheer white body tights, azure scarf and puffy white earmuffs with matching gloves, and the aquamarine-studded silver snowflake hair pins and matching earrings she wears, dangling amidst her long, ash-gray curls. It looks like she'd be cold, but the tights lock her body heat in, keeping her surprisingly warm. Her make-up is lightly applied, but shimmers much like her outfit. One might be forgiven if they though her a cosplayer too, but no: this is just fashion.
Yanagi comes to a stop and observes the Bride, Groom, Tsurugi, and Scion with a seemingly impassive gaze. Yukari arrives on the scene, demanding answers and complaining about what they're interrupting; Yanagi offers her a friendly smile and wave before looking back at the source of the ill air on the chill breeze.
"Yes. I didn't even get to finish my parfait," she repeats, still sadly.
[OOC] Yanagi Nagisa says, "blu-ray Yanagi comes to a stop and observes the Groom, Tsurugi, and Scion with a seemingly impassive gaze. She can sense the Bride's presence, but her anti-navigation makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly where she is."
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Shinobu received a message from her sister, Ayame - a message of warning. It isn't safe for her to fight, so Shinobu agreed to go in her place and join the others already hurrying to intervene. She makes her way to the destination, shouldering her way through throngs of people retreating from Akihabara.
...They're the smart ones, she thinks. Even if they can't understand what it is they feel, they feel enough to know that's something is wrong in this place.
It starts with an off feeling - and then graduates to a sense of danger. The world begins to feel like mud, the closer she gets to the source. Just pushing forward begins to feel like an enormous effort as everything melts together into unreality.
But, one foot in front of the other. That'll never steer you wrong. One foot in front of the other, until -
"...It's you. I should have guessed." Shinobu says, as other figures begin to come into view. The Groom, Tsurugi, and... her eyes settle on Scion. That's a new face(metaphorically speaking, since she can't actually see it). "...Never seen you before. New hire?"
Shinobu reaches for her duffel bag to draw out her staff.
"Doing something in a public place like this... what are you planning?" She asks. She glances toward Yukari, and then to Yanagi, whose elaborate outfit is pretty hard to ignore.
"Nice look." She notes.
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
Masao got another art commission going! Life's looking great! ...It's at that maid cafe at Akihabara. That's, uh, well. A bit embarrassing? But he's not going to say 'no' to getting another bit of work that's 'anywhere but the family dry cleaning business!'
Discussion seemed to be going well about what'd be asked of him, when... stuff... happens, and people seem to lose enthusiasm to even be there and just up and leave.
"What." Is all he can say, when the world goes gray and weird. He's dumbstruck and annoyed at the sudden change of fortune for maybe all of four seconds longer than he ought to. What's going on here is terrifying and dangerous and he catches up to that, eventually.
"...You didn't get to finish a parfait, and I might've just lost a commission... yeah, we got a hell of a night tonight--"
His hair's standing on ends at the back of his neck. "...and that's 'bout to be the last thing we complain about..."
His eyes settle on the Groom - a familiar sight, from another event that feels like it's never too long ago, because Sumaru City is a place that has decided everything is weird and that's normal and how things go, except now this isn't Sumaru City.
Yukari beats him to the equivalent of 'hey, what the hell,' and maybe that saves him from having from more severe inquisitive words in the moment.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke could feel it in the air. He couldn't place what specifically felt off, but it felt as though something had carved a wound into reality itself, and left it bleeding. He looked down at his dog, anxious that the thing would sense that there was something off as well, but saw only a blissfully napping animal. As dire as the situation always was when sensing the Mark, he took some small solace in knowing that it wouldn't even be attempting to follow him into the foray that day. He, however, would be nowhere but.
The moment Hyousuke had set foot outside of his dorm, he was off like a shot. He'd caught the scent of something in the distance - something he had all but conditioned himself to leap up and chase down - and there would be no shaking him off without a fight. He slipped past whoever got in his way, barged through anyone that would not let him pass, and kept the bag slung over his shoulder pressed tight to his side. It would not do to stride into battle without weaponry, after all.
The gloom cast over a once-bright and bustling locale was a dreary thing indeed, but it only served to make the lumbering student with a crop of honey-gold hair stalking through it stand out like a sore thumb. Heavy boots threw spatters of rainwater to the side, a wet crash sounding with every footfall. Quiet, rhythmic, breathing was stifled by clenched teeth. His eyes darted quickly from side to side as he hunted for his prey, searching every backalley, nook and cranny for signs of those that stood to harm him and his friends.
Every part of him screamed at him to leave. The feeling that the very air wanted him gone permeated every cell in his body, leaving his arms weakening and his legs leaden while he took each forward step. His heart thrummed in his chest, no faster or slower than it normally did in the tension before battle, but it felt as though the thing sought to shatter its way past his ribs. Even his very mind turned against him, plaguing him with a maelstrom of thoughts, each one clamouring for him to turn tail and live to fight another day.
But something forced him onwards, dragging him across the rain-sodden ground with fists clenched and jaw tight. Whether it was a singular force of will, hatred for those that bore the mark, or simple instinct demanding that he deal with a threat to his life and those around him, mattered little. The end result was the same. He was there, he was ready to fight, and he didn't particularly care which one of the three decided that they were going to be his target that day.
"I think they're looking for more than tea and short dresses. Dunno what they hell they're here for, but if it's these creeps, there's no way it's good." Hyousuke said to Yukari, a low growl underpinning his otherwise clear tone of voice. A glance was levelled at Shinobu as his eyes tracked back to the three, lingering for a moment in the hopes she knew what was happening, before swiftly moving on. He did not brandish his gun at the enemy, but his hand was close to it, ready to draw it from its holster at a moment's notice. Once turned to the three, he glared down each, and addressed a question to all. "So? Spill it. What do you want?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Le Chat Marron *was* having a busy day. Then, while Umie was in the middle of blushing on cue as a young patron cooed over her, the bubble of normalcy was viciously pricked by a needle of abnormality, dragging the 'boy' butler back into the supernatural.
To her credit, Umie manages to rattle off the specials, if in a distanced, professional way, rather than embodying the ideal of the mysterious foreigner, just child-like enough to allow a customer to feel more comfortable being more in power.
No one seemed at all comfortable there, which seemed unusual. Even Toki, normally upbeat in that wonderfully oblivious way, seemed affected when Umie came back to the kitchen to get a head's up. "Hey, Umie-chan..."
It was like a slap to the face, for Umie Akabane, to see these worlds collide.
====NOW====
"What the *hell* is this all about?!" Arriving behind Yukari, Umie looks *livid*, in a complete contrast to her outfit and makeup.
The boy butler uniform, a replacement for the one that had become mangled at the GiraGiraCon well over a week or two ago, peeks out from a white winter jacket that was placed over it. With a curled, hairspray'ed ponytail curled over one shoulder, tied with a ribbon, as well as elegantly swept, feathered bangs, combined with the faint makeup, emphasizing the pink innocence of her cheeks, the cupid's bow of her lips, and long lashes, Umie's uniform clashes with the red sneakers on her feet, the white coat, and... the two parts of the kyoketsu shoge she has strung between two still gloved hands.
"This is a busy metropolitan area! Take your *shit* and go someplace else! We are trying to work here!"
Really, it was seeing Toki affected that got Umie this angry; while her weapon is here, her mask isn't.
She's too angry to think, right now.
<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.
There are plenty of ways for a girl who only turned 21 a few months ago to spend her Friday night with her best friend. Akibahara is even acceptably one of them, though not top the list. It's not like Electric Town is known for bars, or clubs, or whatever else.
'Investigating some supernatural occurrences around Tokyo' isn't one of them, but it is one of Eriko's favourite ways to spend time with friends! And that's why she has been rummaging around second hand stores and music shops through Akihabara. She is wearing her adventuring outfit, the tan jumpsuit she's so fond of, but because it's Winter she has black tights on with the Gold and Onyx Garter glinting against it, a nice long grey winter coat over it- that has also had some alterations in the name of combat fashion- a grey wool felt cloche hat with a black band to match the coat, and tinted fashion glasses because. Well. She is a little famous, though thankfully less so in Tokyo.
"...you know, I am starting to think we might never find it," Eriko says with a frown, upon leaving a store with no cursed tape- but a new CD from a singer she liked in High School- it is annoyingly hard to get English language releases out here so she can appreciate that. "Most of these places don't even carry cassettes, let alone the mix tape variety. Maybe we would have been better off hitting somewhere else for Mrs Watanabe's search." It doesn't help that Eriko is *constantly* looking over her shoulder here- more than a few guys have stopped and stared, but none have approached her. Yet. A nice man in a fashionable suit might be the biggest factor in that, though.
And that's when the world loses it's colour and Eriko can feel the threat coming. "...New plan," Eriko says, slipping her CD into her purse and then slinging her sports bag back onto her shoulder. (Did she make Katsuya carry her bags while she was in the store? Who could possibly know.)
"It will be difficult to move against the crowd, but we should get moving, shouldn't we? Even if we haven't found what we were looking for, we've found something." Once they're past the worst of the crowd, and more into Demon territory, Eriko has pulled her sword from her sports bag and is starting to see a number of familiar faces- and familiar masks too.
"It is rather rude to interrupt a girl's dessert," Eriko says, as Yanagi grumps out loud- but she still shoots her friend a smile. "Frankly though I'm rather pleased to be out of the crowds."
Masao also complains about a lost commission, and Eriko offers him a sympathetic look. "Well, it's not as if this business is your fault, is it? I'm sure they'll understand. This sort of thing does happen all the time." In Sumaru. It happens all the time in Sumaru.
A much more pink presence does catch Eriko's attention. "Yukari?" She's glad to see the girl is up and about after what Kandori did to her, but still... "...Do be careful. I know these people are not be underestimated." She's not as worried about them as she was Kandori, but she's still plenty worried. "Mark, look out for them, okay?" She asks, trusting her friend to take care of her other friends.
Now, then, Eriko's eyes look forward to view Tsurugi, the Groom and Scion. She can feel that increasingly familiar presence of the maze, too. "Now... I don't suppose you'd be so kind as to tell us what you're up to here? It would be only polite."
Despite her calmness, her blade is drawn and she's already in Epee stance, held defensively. A fight is only a matter of time away, if not already upon them. She doesn't know where the attack will come from- just that it will come.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Akihabara is... not the sort of place where someone like Katsuya goes, not even for work reasons: it's way out of his jurisdiction. He's not one to judge too much, but isn't some of the artwork for these... characters suspect? Just what are young people looking at these days? And some of the outfits some of those young ladies are wearing -- oh dear. It's not breaking any laws, per se, but... aren't cuts like that indecent? And cold?? He--
He hopes that young lady is wearing a skin-tone bodysuit under that. Otherwise she's probably freezing...
Katsuya, it should be noted, is almost twenty-six. It's not as if he's that much older than some of the people out around here.
He'd agreed to come when asked by Eriko and Tamaki when they went to investigate a particular rumor's origin in the city. He had the impression there was something that Kirishima was uncomfortable about, though not the specifics therein. If it helped her out, then it was certainly no trouble at all. Besides, even if this has no apparent relationship to the change in the Joker Curse, it's still in their best interest to investigate something like this... isn't it?
Looking away from the regulars of Akihabara, Katsuya turns his attention towards Eriko and Tamaki once they head out of the store (he does, in fact, have Eriko's things). "Have you found anything yet?"
This is about when it happens, when the world goes...
Not tilted. Not precisely. But there's a feeling like something has gone and plucked the beating heart out of the city. There's the urge to simply turn and leave. There's something wrong about this place. Katsuya pauses, gazing across the street as if he can spot anything that's immediately amiss, but...
That's when his cellphone rings. "Hello, this is Suou? Ah, Watanabe-san?"
There is a long pause on his part.
"You... what? In Akihabara? We're here right now. I..."
He trails out, his gaze coming to rest on a few very familiar figures. It was only a few days ago, wasn't it?
"I will call you back," he finishes. "Goodbye."
Tucking his phone back into the pocket of his winter jacket, he looks again at Eriko and Tamaki as the former reclaims her bag. "They are the ones from Club Zodiac," he says, by way of explanation.
"You aren't here for another 'caller', are you?" he asks of the NWO operatives. "You don't take them before they change, and that hasn't happened here yet." Not unless they have some way to determine when that's about to happen, but then if that's so, why even involve the police?
Slowly, he unzips his jacket partway, reaching inside to draw his own holstered weapon from within. Even if he's off-duty right now, this is still a crime in progress...
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
There's something stirring in the air tonight. A mysterious tune calls out from afar, an old music cassette tape from a couple of decades ago, a mixtape full of hits from around the same era -- except for one strange song in the middle of it. Rumor goes that the contents of a cursed tape got uploaded to an online video site, and those who have heard it report 'feeling cursed', but whatever that precisely means isn't clear just yet.
Whatever it is, however, it can't be worse than that god-damned jingle in the pharmacy stores that she frequents! Curse or not, anything else would be a welcome reprieve from the song currently stuck in her head!
So here she is with Eriko, who'll jump at any opportunity to investigate the paranormal. Her own outfit today doesn't differ too greatly from her attire chosen for other investigations, especially in function, though during the winter, she opts for more muted colors like grey and brown over other seasonal choices of red and tan. A scarf drapes around her neck, in black-and-white checkerboard pattern.
Presumably, both she and Katsuya are here to lend some sense of safety to Eriko.
She does give the arcade more than a passing glance, recognizing it from a time when she played a few rounds with someone who reminded her of the fun to be had in life. While Tamaki is often curmudgeonly and resentful when it comes to supernatural affairs, this reminder does cause her gaze to drift to the woman beside her who often has the same effect on her.
'... you know, I am starting to think we might never find it.'
Even if they don't find any leads on the story, even if they can't track down the store in question, who recorded the tape in the first place, who the artist behind that one strange track was, she does have to admit, this has been fun. She starts to speak to try and say something to that effect, words to ease any potential sting of a failed venture, "H-hey, we still saw a lot of interesting things here. I don't go to this part of the city all that often, and I ha -- "
Then the world flickers in grayscale as her skull pounds. Now? Of all times?!
Tamaki's expression turns serious as she turns to Eriko and Katsuya with quiet resolve in her eyes and nods firmly. "New plan," she agrees. She looks at Katsuya expectantly as he finishes his phone call, which points them in the right direction. "The warehouse, Club Zodiac, the sanitarium ... at least one other instance."
Through the crowd and the streets, she pulls her own sabre out of her bag as she arrives with Eriko, winded from the sprint. She looks around to assess the area, and furrows her brow when she sees it's those two, the Groom, the Knight.
... and a fourth unfamiliar one.
She leaves her own hands by her side, blade still drawn, but not held point-in-line just yet. She's not exactly eager to fight, but she will if she has to.
Tamaki gives Shinobu a nod. "Your sister gave us a heads-up. Good to see you here, too."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Yukari asks a question. Miyu, the Groom, answers, "Studying, if you're a good student. You could always have kept at it."
Miyu, meanwhile, would prefer not to harm uninvolved people--which makes the fact that people flee the rancid vibes convenient to her. However, that means anyone who hasn't fled is a potential enemy...
Particularly those who are calm about the whole matter, even if they can be recognized; no, especially. It would be suspicious to spare her...
So Yanagi is in part of the area Miyu's blast of blue nuclear blaze erupts, a powerful but ultimately warning shot to a Persona-user--leave or suffer.
"There will be more parfaits... if you abandon resistance today."
Shinobu asks what they are planning, and the Groom turns her full-face mask towards her. "Nothing that need concern you," she says, as purple light floats from the alley beyond towards and around her. This will stop--once someone attacks, and forces her concentration.
But only then.
"The people here will only suffer a bad afternoon; they will forget even what they were afraid of in time."
Perhaps later, 'Miho Ijuuin' will commission Mark again. That would make up for the lost business. But she does not appear to be here today, and Mark will have to contend with the Groom, instead.
Mark, too, will be hit by the area of effect of nuclear fire.
Whereas Hyousuke...
"For you to leave. Only suffering awaits you here; content your bloodlust with the demons I have called, if you must." Hyousuke isn't in the area; he gets a trio of Frei spells instead, one explosion beside him, one closer in front of him, one above him--seeking to herd him backward.
To Umie Miyu has a simple answer: "No." To Katsuya she shakes her head. "Also no." She's willing to say as much to him, for some reason. Why is that?
Miyu steps back into a ready stance, one arm forward with her dragon-graced blade. "But if you will not be swayed..." Then come.
AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Fire skill Mafrei on Yanagi Nagisa! | Pressure: Miho Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Fire skill Mafrei on Masao Inaba! AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Fire skill Trio Frei on Hyousuke Suzuki! 3 Hits! AS: Block Best! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 9 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Trio Frei. AS: Block Neutral! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 17 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Trio Frei. AS: Block Worst! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 24 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Trio Frei. AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 31 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Mafrei. | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) added! AS: Counter Best! Masao Inaba takes 101 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Mafrei. Critical Hit! | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) added! | COUNTER! Miho Ijuuin takes 84 Fire damage in return for her attack! Resist!
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
Since Masao had also been at the maid cafe, Yanagi had of course greeted him--but he seemed to be there on business, so she hadn't stuck around to chat. Still, that'd been another reason for her to take her time on her parfait. Durian is truly an exquisite fruit like none other! Some people register it as sublime, while others register it as utterly foul. Which would Yanagi be? She'd been delighted to find out, and happy to savor it!
So she really is sad not to get to finish it. Not that sad, though. If she's so inclined, she can always come back and try it again. She isn't dead yet.
"You're so right, Masao," she tells her friend, clasping her cheek with one hand.
It's such a familiar sensation, too. She doesn't mention that part.
What Yanagi does do is sparkle at Shinobu, both figuratively and literally. "Thank you! <3" That bright smile turns next to Eriko. She prefers to revel in what life offers rather than lament it--she's spent enough of it doing that--so seeing another one of her friends is plenty to lift her mood. "Yes! I was enjoying watching everyone in costume, but it's also nice to have some space to walk around and breathe, isn't it?"
She notes that garter Eriko's wearing, of course. Being the one who made it, she's quite pleased to see her showing it off.
That cheer fades into curiosity and puzzlement as she tilts her head at Katsuya. A 'caller'? At Club Zodiac...? That's over in Sumaru's Yumezaki Ward... She blinks her lead grey eyes over at Tamaki, clearly in a group with Katsuya and Eriko, as she tells Shinobu she was tipped off by her sister. She doesn't add any explanation, so she looks over to the Groom--
In time for that plume of nuclear fire to burst out towards her.
Yanagi doesn't move--with her withered, swollen legs, she can't move quickly at the best of times, and so that blue frame overtakes her. As it passes over her, though, so too does a radiate shine that washes over her with it, protecting her from the worst of the attack as she transforms. Her waves of hair whoosh into the air, and the hot pinks and cool lavenders of sunset bleed into her hair. A tight, active dress with a long stained-glass train adorns her form, as do thigh-high reinforced boots. Her hair clips shift into their own sort of plume of feathers made from gold and jade, and when she opens her eyes, they are a brilliant peacock green.
"Hmmm... I think I'd rather see how you fight," she tells the Groom conversationally. "I do believe I've heard of you somewhere." She smiles not right at the alley, but close enough to it for the Bride to realize she's been noticed, albeit not pinpointed.
Yanagi then twirls with a grace she could never have un-Transmuted, swinging her gun-cane and pointing it at a ghostly blue butterfly now passing her by. She fires, and it shatters as she lilts, "Giselle~!"
Beside her, a porcelain doll with limbs of catheter needles pirouettes into existence. From her spin tiny origami angel-spirits that float and flutter around Yanagi, Masao, and--why not?--Hyousuke, also targeted by Miho's nuclear blast, trailed by a soothing shade. In the wake of their dark dance, the trio's defenses are all strengthened.
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Almighty skill Shade Revel on Yanagi Nagisa, Hyousuke Suzuki, and Masao Inaba! AS: Take! Yanagi Nagisa takes 0 Almighty damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Shade Revel. | Def_Up (Block Improved!) and Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!
AS: Take! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 0 Almighty damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Shade Revel. | Def_Up (Block Improved!) and Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Nothing is more inevitable than death; thus we strive.
(Yumi, one notes, has not had to worry about taxes her entire adult life, for one reason or another; likewise, Scion isn't entirely sure that isn't a snack.)
"Yeah!" Scion raises a hand, fist pumping, to Yukari's question. "Studyin', right? Hey, me too! But don't worry, be happy! Nankuru nai sa, everything will turn out all right!" She doesn't sound like Aigis in the slightest -- her voice is full of casual warmth, like sunny beach shores, even before one considers the Okinawan phrase in there.
And yet...
"Oh, whoa!" Scion gasps, as that hooded girl turns to look at what they're standing in front of. The facade of the maid cafe is a little greyed out, warping at the edges, the insides made indistinct by that strange aura which consumes the distance -- but there's certainly a picture of a girl in a maid costume, on the sign. "What do ya know, that IS a maid cafe! Hey, hey, do we get to eat maids in there?!"
Those pearl-tipped antenna, close to where her ears ought to be under that hood, glow pink as Yumi's voice is relayed over them. "In black and white do they deliver bounty unto thee," she insists, her voice wrapped in tension. "A cornucopia to be served. Eat not the tray, Scion."
"Awwwwww..." Scion's pout is audible, if not visible. Out comes Yanagi, and Scion's head cocks, as she looks to her. "Soooo... is that the food?" She asks, pointing to her.
"There she moves with flesh and blood," Yumi's voice can be heard correcting her, though those pearl antenna. (If there's a little more tension in her voice, as she tries to pretend she doesn't know who Yanagi is while she convinces her daughter she isn't dinner, that's fine.) "A thing which tires, flags, enervates in starvation, and so she sets to her consumption."
"Oh... so she was eatin' the food? Like, uhhh... a 'parfait'?" Scion's head cocks the other way. "Hey, if she never finished it, I bet it's still sitting there! Let's go eat parfait!!!"
"Parfait lies ahead us if only now we grasp Power," that voice scolds her, with a little more marked tension. "Lay them low!"
"Don't worry, mama!" Scion assures Yumi, and she at least doesn't name what specific mama she's speaking of. "I love fightin'! But hey, hey --" she waves at Shinobu, animatedly, as she asks after her. (Behind her, Welwetes -- who looks much like one of those remote-controlled robotic dinosaur toys, save for his flexible tail and the mane around his neck -- waves a sharp little foreclaw, tipping onto one leg for a moment as he does it.) "Hey, S--"
"Many people, here, as yet unglimpsed," that glowing pink pearl reminds Scion.
"--Ssssstranger! Hey, hi! I'm bein' 'Scion'! I like your big stick!!"
Perhaps it is not only the madness which plagues Yumi from every gap and crevice which will overwhelm her...
"Aww, man!" Scion pouts, hearing that Masao lost a commission. "That sucks. But chin up, nankuru nai sa! There'll be other commissions!" She knows what those are; even if Masao can't recoginse her, she recognises him. (Luckily, Yumi's already reminded her of oh-pea-seh-kea. ... though it's still 'opsec', Scion.) "But whatcha got to complain about aside from that, my guy? Mama gettin' her Power," different mama, this time, but that's not at all obvious when spoken aloud, "and now we get to fight, too?! Tonight's goin' GREAT!"
Scion sighs, folding her arms behind her head, her hood somehow managing to stay draped over her body despite it. "Welll, I want mama to quit usin' that weird trick that makes her cough her insides up over her outsides," she sighs, what-can-you-do, as she answers Hyousuke's question. "But for some reason, she just won't quit! Even though I got deployed just so she wouldn't get hurt no more! Moooouuuu, this sucks... oh well, I'll just get her to tell me what's goin' on later!"
And here's -- an angry butler in a coat! "Whoa! Hey, hey, is that a tray too?" Scion asks, seeing her barge in so angrily. "So cool... hey, maid, can you get me a parfait? I really want a parfait, but we gotta finish this stuff first!"
She looks around, though, at the streets -- now much emptier, though she can see some Demons creeping in, out there -- and scratches at the side of her hood. "I guess this is, like, right in the middle of the city, though... and not even our city! But mama said the last one was in Okinawa, so it's probably normal for one to be out here too? We're lucky it wasn't in, like... Kansas!" Scion, one notes, does not know where Kansas is -- just that Dodo and Dolothy are no longer located there.
Scion grins, turning to Eriko. "I'm fightin' you guys!", she announces, proudly. "Uhh, but... is it rude to interrupt dessert for a fight?" She looks back to the warped cafe behind her. "Maybe 'parfait' is one of those foods on a time limit... like ice cream..."
Scion is going to be ONE YEARS OLD when it hits January 1st, because that's when they decided to benchmark her hardware, but her lying paperwork insists she's fifteen. (What about the earlier models? What about the earlier models.) She does not know a thing about the trials and tribulations of being in one's early twenties.
"Nah, nah," she waves a hand, at Katsuya, unaffected by the sight of him reaching for his gun. "This isn't a call from the higher-ups or nothin'. It's our own personal project! See, Mama needs to --"
"Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh," Yumi's voice transmits, through that pearl, interrupting her.
"... oh, right!" Scion's grin is audible, too. "Sorry, Officer! That's a secret!" ... and, well, technically she knows he's an officer because of that time she and Yua went to visit the Sumaru Police Station with something for Kimitake and met him there, but Yumi at least doesn't insist that's opsec.
"Hey, hey!" Scion adds, two red pin-pricks of light flaring up in the shadows of her hood as she zeroes in on Tamaki. "You look really strong, lady! Oh, but that's a sword, so the adults are gonna want you... moooouuuu, lucky!!" Is this -- is this all a game to her?!
(Yes. She's having a great time.)
"Then, I'll fight... hey, you! And you! And you!" She points at Katsuya, then -- and Umie -- and Yukari. "I was fighting these really strong girls the other day... they were soooo cool! They used tricks like this, and this..."
"Load Gry Cartridge!" She announces, and there's a mechanical clunking sound -- but she holds no Evoker in her hands. "Load Aqua Cartridge! Aim... Fire!!"
The beast which roars out from her soul is strangely organic, at its core, lion-like as it dances -- but metal has been plated to it, screwed and fastened and forced through, and the Guardian is unrecognisable as anything but. In the metal plate across its face, where its mask ought to be, is reflected first the purple energy of Gry -- and then the blue flow of Aqua. Crushing power falls onto Yukari -- as Katsuya and Umie, meanwhile, get splashed.
AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Earth skill Gry on Yukari Takeba! AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Water skill Aqua on Umie Akabane! AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Water skill Aqua on Katsuya Suou! AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 45 Earth damage from Yua Ijuuin's Gry. Critical Hit! | Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 167 Water damage from Yua Ijuuin's Aqua. Critical Hit! Weak! Avoid Water!
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Tsurugi turns her head as Yukari appears, bow in hand. "The archer..." Do they have any idea what they pulled Yukari away from?
"You were studying for finals," she says, coldly and matter-of-factly. Why does she know that?!
Easy. It's basically the only thing most of her clients at Le Chat Maron have been talking about all week.
She looks at Yanagi, studying her for a moment. Yanagi, no doubt, can tell who she is. But there's nothing for it now. "Return to your parfait and your commission. We have no quarrel with either of you."
And there's Shinobu. How many times have they crossed sword and staff now? "Yes." It's them. "We plan no harm. Leave, and we will complete our work more quickly." Hyousuke wants them to spill it. "No." This is also her answer to Eriko.
Behind her brow she arches an eyebrow as she sees Umie appearing in her butler costume. It would be a shame to ruin that, but... she might have her hands busy with other combatants.
She turns her head to regard Tamaki as she approaches. She notes the two swords at hand. Hers is a rapier--but not the sport fencing kind. It is more the historical kind, with a real edge and everything.
"Leave. Or be forced back," she issues her own rebuke. Wordlessly she holds her sword out to La MAupin. From the tips swirling winds burst to life, coating the blades.
Then she and La Maupin charge forward in tandem. Tsurugi charges for Tamaki and Eriko while La Maupin charge for Shinobu, twinned rapiers striking out in a fury of slices.
AS: Tandem! Remi Ryuuja has used the Wind skill Stormbrand on Tamaki Uchida! 2 Hits! | Aggression: Remi Ryuuja gains 1 Limit!
AS: Tandem! Remi Ryuuja has used the Wind skill Stormbrand on Eriko Kirishima! 2 Hits! AS: Tandem! Remi Ryuuja has used the Wind skill Stormbrand on Shinobu Shimizu! 2 Hits! AS: Block Worst! Shinobu Shimizu takes 51 Wind damage from Remi Ryuuja's Stormbrand. AS: Block Neutral! Shinobu Shimizu takes 32 Wind damage from Remi Ryuuja's Stormbrand. AS: Block Worst! Tamaki Uchida takes 58 Wind damage from Remi Ryuuja's Stormbrand. AS: Counter Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 80 Wind damage from Remi Ryuuja's Stormbrand. Critical Hit! | COUNTER! Remi Ryuuja takes 52 Light damage in return for her attack!
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
Yanagi perks when she overhears Scion talking about going into the maid cafe and stealing her parfait. Part of experience is also vicarious experience, and durian is a highly polarizing fruit. There's also something odd about Scion, and so Yanagi is very interested in seeing how different her experience would be from her own.
"Oooh! I would love to see you try it!" she calls, waving to Scion, in seeming direct opposition to her lamentation a moment ago. "Go in and bring it out and we can share it! Or you can have it all, I don't mind as long as I get to see!"
...Of course, they're all getting into a fight right now, so that's not likely to happen. Tsurugi, for her part... Yanagi gives her a rueful smile, for she can tell who she is, even with that mask. She appreciates that she's trying to let her go. It's kind of her, all considering. "Thank you, but no. I've already made up my mind," she tells her, matter-of-fact.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 60 Water damage from Yua Ijuuin's Aqua. AS: Take! Masao Inaba takes 0 Almighty damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Shade Revel. | Def_Up (Block Improved!) and Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yanagi waves- it's always a little weird whenever she shows up. It's like the two don't get along, then things just reset.
'Yes. I didn't even get to finish my parfait,'
"Wha- that's what you're concerned with??? ... ... ... Actually that sounds pretty good right about now."
Parfaits > Trigonometry
'Studying, if you're a good student.'
"And that's what you were counting on, huh?" Yukari says, in suspicion to the Groom, "Timing this to just before finals on purpose."
After all, most of their opponents tend to be teenagers.
Then Scion, whom she doesn't recognize, starts talking in a way that causes Yukari to look at her like she sprouted another head, startled as she takes in her appearance that's so like, "You go to school? Wait... well I guess, she does too." As she thinks over the comparison to how- sort of like Aigis she looks but also not.
"Who are you anyway? Why do they have someone like you?"
Shinobu shows up, which is a relief, as at least there being one responsible adult around. "Oh! Thanks!" She says, perking up to the compliment. She was always a little worried that even a cool jacket over a cardigan would look strange.
But it is a really cool jacket...
"Eriko?" She nods at that, "Yeah. No matter how strange they may seem... they're killers." She agrees, given that her first exposure to them was them trying to kill cops in Sumaru City.
There's more backup here, in the form of 'very real actual cop!' (Does he have jurisdiction in Akiba!?) And PI in training. Enough to make her feel relieved.
Then Umie causes her to start a little 'What the *hell* is this all about?!' until she turns and
"Uhhhh- you're- what are you wearing? Did you know they were hitting a maid cafe and- dressed for it?"
And so too does-! 'I think they're looking for more than tea and short dresses.' "Well... I sure hope so." She's fairly sure that if these NWO enforcers were dressed as maids for a heist, she'd never be able to take them seriously again.
Scion though answers their name, and Yukari's head cocks to the side in an odd cant before, "Yeah, watch out-" She asides to the others, "-if she's even a little like someone I know, then we may be in trouble."
'mama to quit usin' that weird trick that makes her cough her insides up over her outsides,'
"Uh wait- you mean- if that's happening to her then why isn't she in a hospital!?" As she looks over all those who are here, as if in accusation.
Even as, Katsuya demands answers and- well, they seem to think better of giving them a straight ones, other than, "Personal project?" She looks suspicious, but Scion then turns well- she's not sure she can call it anything other than cheerfully hostile???
'Load Gry Cartridge'
Yukari suddenly hops back before the crushing power descends, now on the edge of a crater, she pivots around, taking a knee mid-motion and nocking an arrow simultaneously.
And let's loose an arrow right towards that strange antenna with an eerie accuracy.
"Stop jumping around like some little kid." She commands, "This isn't some game!"
AS: Weapon! Yukari Takeba has used the Pierce skill Eight Stages of Shooting on Yua Ijuuin! AS: Avoid Neutral! Eriko Kirishima takes 35 Wind damage from Remi Ryuuja's Stormbrand. AS: Avoid Best! Eriko Kirishima takes 18 Wind damage from Remi Ryuuja's Stormbrand. Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Shinobu's eyes meet Hyousuke's, briefly, as he glances her way. She shakes her head - she's not aware of what's going on here any more than he is. To Yukari and Yanagi, she sends a nod, as they each thank her for complement.
She looks toward Katsuya, Eriko, and Tamaki when they arrive. Did they all come here together? She nods toward Tamaki.
"Yeah, she sent me over, too." She replies. "Good to see you, Uchida, everyone."
She looks toward the Groom, then. 'Nothing that need concern you'...
"Like hell." Shinobu replies. "You set up in the middle of Akihabara and expect us to turn a blind eye?"
She shakes her head.
The people here will only suffer a bad afternoon - they'll forget what they were even afraid of...
"...You think I'm supposed to find that reassuring?" She asks. "You just disrupted their lives. A single day may not mean much to you, but that's a lot."
She looks toward Scion, then, who greets her, and is interrupted by a familiar voice before she could finish what she was saying.
"Oh, so you are here." Shinobu comments. Just not... here, here. Scion - and Shinobu notes that she's being Scion - compliments her staff, and for a moment Shinobu is taken aback.
Her energy is... a lot different than she expected from this crew.
"Uh... thanks? You should see what I can do with it." Shinobu replies.
And then, Tsurugi. Tsurugi, the one she can never get a feel for. She does something helpful one day, and then she does something like this...
"Nah. No dice. You're going to tell us what you're doing, and we'll decide if it's 'no harm' or not." Shinobu replies. It comes down to a fight - but it's not like she expected anything else. Tsurugi and La Maupin charge forward in unison, rapiers slicing through the winds themselves. With a grimace Shinobu raises her staff to intercept, and their joined attack forces her back and nearly causes her to lose her footing.
"Alright, you asked for it...!" Shinobu seethes, lunging forward. She spins her weapon - right now, a length of charred-black steel fashioned into a staff.
"Looks like we're fighting together today," Shinobu asides to Eriko and Tamaki. "You need anything, I've got your backs."
AS: Weapon! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Spinning Staff on Remi Ryuuja! 3 Hits! | Aggression: Shinobu Shimizu gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
Masao looks up as a certain someone relays an important regard in English. He's had a rough day, but for Elly - that wide smile, and a "'Yes! I got you.'"
Hyousuke is gonna be a handful though. Almost reminds him of a certain someone from not all that long ago but let's not wax poetic or nostalgic right this moment.
"Tch... when has anyone ever been swayed when shit hits the fan like--" The Groom doesn't play. That's a Mafrei spreading out, and Masao draws that gaudy diamond axe from a terrible place and swings into that flame with a clumsy overcommitment into a whole three-sixty degree whirl just going with the momentum of it.
There's a pause as he watches Yanagi transmute - he doesn't know the actual name or mechanism of it, that's why it's so striking - but just how unflappable she is against the oncoming flames is really something.
Origami spirits flutter around him, giving their blessing via Giselle, which gives him a second wind in the whole of it as he squares up, axe in hand.
"Nagisa! That one's serious," Masao warns, even as a burning sensation nips at him. He catches some of what Katsuya's saying - is this related to that whole Joker thing, then?! - and that's more than reason enough to risk it by standing tall (he's not all that tall, but he's standing his whole height).
"So I guess we're doin' this, yeah? So..." He hoists his free hand up. "Let's get funky!"
A column of blue light surrounds the street artist as Ogun descends from a thin line of color that stretches out to that familiar shape, before hurling themselves forward into the Groom in a tackle.
(It is called Tackle.)
AS: Persona! Masao Inaba has used the Strike skill Tackle on Miho Ijuuin! AS: Avoid Best! Remi Ryuuja takes 17 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Spinning Staff. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 52 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Spinning Staff. AS: Avoid Best! Remi Ryuuja takes 10 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Spinning Staff. AS: Counter Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 98 Strike damage from Masao Inaba's Tackle. | COUNTER! Masao Inaba takes 17 Slash damage in return for his attack!
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
The Groom gave answers. None of them sated Hyousuke's curiosity. In fact, their vagueness only served to heighten his frustration with their continued existence, and in turn his bloodlust began to follow. Bereft of his usual mask and armour, there was nothing to hide the withering glare that he levelled at the Groom, the sparks of a yet-to-be-burning anger beginning to flicker in his gaze. His lips curled into a snarl, and he stepped closer, dead-set on resolving the situation the way that she seemed so intent on forcing him to.
"Fine." Hyousuke growled, reaching away from his gun, only to crack his knuckles against his palm in preparation. "If you're not gonna give me the answers I want, I'm gonna wring 'em out of you and all your friends." A firestorm engulfed him before he had the chance to make good on his threat, however. Three deafening bursts of fire engulfed him, but he'd been waiting for a strike, and Achilles held his shield out at the speed of thought. The first blow was blocked easily - the heat barely kissed his skin. The second, Achilles was able to heave his shield around and take the blast, but some flames still reached about the edge to singe his skin. The third detonated with little to bar its path, and Hyousuke was thrown back, barely able to gain his footing before glancing back up with fire twice as intense in his eyes.
Tyrrha addressed him, as did Remi, but there was no chance to answer them with anything particularly in-depth.
"If that's how it is, then fine. I'll get my answers outta you two another time." Was all he could spare for them before Yanagi's bolstering magicks seeped into his system. Spirits, dark things with soothing powers, left him with skin that felt like iron, and limbs that no longer felt as though they'd been weighed down. "Thanks! Lemme return the favour!" He called back to Yanagi, tossing a healing item of some sort at her. He tossed one to Mark as well, the only warning being a shouted "Catch!" before turning back to the Groom to return the favour to her as well.
Without warning, Hyousuke barrelled forward, guard up and body low. Achilles was faster, however, despite all logic stating that the clanking, creaking, titan wreathed in battlescarred bronze wargear should have been some lumbering behemoth. He heaved his sword down at the Groom, standing face-to-face with her to cover Hyousuke - himself darting across open ground towards her.
AS: Persona! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Slash skill Defiant Cleave on Miho Ijuuin! | Defense: Hyousuke Suzuki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Hyousuke Suzuki spends Limit on Help Up! Blast removed from Yanagi Nagisa! AS: Hyousuke Suzuki spends Limit on Help Up! Blast removed from Masao Inaba! AS: Counter Neutral! Miho Ijuuin takes 40 Slash damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Defiant Cleave. Resist! | COUNTER! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 28 Slash damage in return for his attack!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Elsewhere, Ayame Watanabe worries for her friends and sister, who went into a battle that it was best she didn't; she'll have collected up some medicine for them by the time they're done, in case they need it.
But, Miyu is willing to be conversational, though she grits her teeth under the mask as her connection to the Line is broken. She will have to finish this fight quickly to resume charging...
"Very well," the Groom says to Yanagi. "If that is your wish, then I will oblige."
Scion about gives away the game, but Miyu does not scold her. Yumi has stopping that covered. Remi, meanwhile, also tries to get them to go away...
Which frankly would be convenient for Miyu. Alas, they see her acting and move to intervene. Yanagi's boosting of her group's defenses change the calculus for Miyu; she will have to strike more fiercely. ...With no rom for parfaits at all.
To Yukari she comments, "No, the timing is a coincidence... but it would have been convenient if that were so."
"Scion," she says then. "It is rude, but necessary. There are times at which manners give way to conflict. This is one of those times. ...Be otherwise polite, of course."
But Shinobu says even a day means much... And Miyu thinks of Yumi's health. "You are right," she says. "I should not diminish it. But through their sacrifice, another may see more such days. I am willing to make that trade, though it is not mine to make."
Mark's power is significant, too--though he was unconvinced, he is indeed funky--Ogun's power rushes forth, and while Miho attempts to parry, she is overwhelmed in the moment, knocked into a sign that advertised extra time with a maid. It will be enticing no more customers.
Hyousuke says he will wring forth answers, and Miyu shakes her head, masked. But then he attacks; Achilles is fast, and Achilles's sword meets Miyu's--they clash, Miyu's dragon-graced blade holding off Achilles's thanks to the power of her Persona, Faust--but this gives Hyousuke time to dart towards her, and that's when the clash breaks, Achilles scoring a hit.
With Hyousuke directly in front of her, Miyu moves to slash at him from shoulder to hip, her blade catching on blue flame as Faust waves a gloved hand to ignite it pre-strike.
Then she whirls, "Faust!" and Faust holds up a long knife, hacking the air as poisoned shockwaves of slashing energy rush Hyousuke and Mark both.
Finally, Faust throws out a gloved hand to send blasts of collapsing blue ignition at Yanagi.
"This is how I fight," she says.
"And now..." Faust puts up both hands, and a barrier appears in front of Miyu that fades a moment later.
"Physical assaults will avail you not."
AS: Miho Ijuuin spends Limit on Exploit! Miho Ijuuin can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Tandem! Miho Ijuuin has used the Fire skill Atombrand on Hyousuke Suzuki! 3 Hits! | Pressure: Miho Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Slash skill Blight on Hyousuke Suzuki and Masao Inaba! AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Fire skill Freila on Yanagi Nagisa! AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Recovery skill Line Guard on Miho Ijuuin! AS: Take! Miho Ijuuin takes 0 Recovery healing from Miho Ijuuin's Line Guard. | Phys_Safety applied!
<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.
"My, aren't you chipper?" Eriko says but there's no mockery in her tone, if anything, Eriko is slightly charmed by Scion. ...Especially when she mentions eating maids. Raised by demons, maybe? She doesn't really know but the Monotone Riding Hood look is cute. "Parfaits do tend to melt. If it were summer, it would be unforgivable. In this case it's merely rude." ...Still, 'Mama'?
Fortunately, Eriko's ability to interrogate Scion's existence is derailed by a particular laconic fencer both refusing her request for information and coming at her with a rapier! Wrapped in wind!
Eriko learned sport fencing with epee, but one can adapt quite well to actual combat with one when needs must, and her current epee is less a sporting tool and more... something that looks like a Shadow was wielding it. The wonders you can find!
Eriko quickly parries the twin strikes from Tsurugi- but the flowing wind around the blade still cuts at her, slicing the sleeves of coat and battering her and Nike both. "It's been some time since I fenced against rapier," Eriko responds. "It's a pity you're no slouch, I'd much prefer it if you were."
Staying in close is, sadly, not to Eriko's benefit. She can already tell that Tsurugi is stronger than her. With Tamaki at her side, though, she has options- not to mention a new ally. "It's a pleasure, miss! Call me Elly!" no look they're in a fight it's fine to ignore decorum, tamaki "I'll be counting on you, and I hope you can do the same!" She then smiles to her recently reignited friend. "Tamaki, I'll let you set the rhythm and follow your lead!" ...after all, if it's two fencers against one, the two do need to coordinate.
Still, there's still a dangerous opponent in front of them. "Nike, get us some distance!!" Eriko calls, as she steps back into a defensive stance. "Holy Light!" She summons her other self, the steel angel of victory manifests behind her, her jet engines flaring as she bursts forward, a trio of light flares plummeting toward Tsurugi with speed.
AS: Persona! Eriko Kirishima has used the Light skill Holy Light on Remi Ryuuja! 3 Hits! | Pressure: Eriko Kirishima gains 1 Limit!
AS: Block Best! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 8 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Atombrand. Critical Hit! AS: Block Best! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 8 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Atombrand. Critical Hit! AS: Block Worst! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 30 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Atombrand. AS: Block Worst! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 80 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Blight. | Poison (Damage on end of turn!) added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 123 Pierce damage from Yukari Takeba's Eight Stages of Shooting. Critical Hit! AS: Block Worst! Masao Inaba takes 102 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Blight. | Poison (Damage on end of turn!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki's cautious gaze turns to the Groom and Katsuya. "Whatever they're here for, it's for the sake of 'their world,' or something to that effect. Granted, that's their end goal, not their immediate aim ..."
Yanagi's outfit draws her notice more than anything she's said, perhaps causing them to briefly make eye contact. Tamaki feels a brief pang of envy over it, but breaks and focuses on the trio before them all, choosing to not dwell on what exactly that was right now (or ever, if she can help it).
Scion's enthusiasm catches Tamaki off-guard, causing her to slightly stagger back. "H-huh? What about me looks strong?" After all, it was Katsuya who did most of the bag-carrying; ignore Tamaki's unfortunate high school nickname of 'Muscle Freak.' Given that both herself and Eriko have swords, she pauses and points at her to indicate to Scion, "But that's right! She's with me, and we're going to go off with the adults."
The heavens call! The earth calls! The people call! Rather than try and reclaim some lost fragment of the past, Tamaki resolves to carve out the new future she desires. Her focus returns to the Groom, who had stated that goal in prior encounters, and she starts to charge her but --
Tsurugi, the Knight, intercedes, also catching Tamaki more off-guard than Scion had. She brings up her blade to try and parry, but in vain, and briefly driven by fury, she lashes out with a brightly-gleaming blade for interrupting her efforts. "You again -- !"
(Something faintly tickles the edges of her memory, but right now, Tamaki pays no mind to the periphery.)
She regathers her composure and nods to Shinobu. "Right. Likewise for you." To Eriko, she confirms, "Will do. I'll try to pen her in so you can outmaneuver her." She clutches at her necklace and calls forth Arianrhod, who stretches her own blade out, not to swing it, but to recite a series of forbidding incantations, proclamations that should punish the Knight for stepping out of line, should she do so.
The Knight may notice that this time, unlike in their first two encounters, Tamaki no longer seems like the rusty or intimidated woman that she was in those times. A different spirit animates her tonight.
AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Almighty skill Threefold Tynghedau on Remi Ryuuja! | Tamaki Uchida takes 45 damage from Stress! | Ruin: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Best! Remi Ryuuja takes 12 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Holy Light. AS: Avoid Neutral! Remi Ryuuja takes 28 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Holy Light. AS: Avoid Neutral! Remi Ryuuja takes 28 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Holy Light. AS: Avoid Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 0 Almighty damage from Tamaki Uchida's Threefold Tynghedau. | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!), Pain (Attacker takes damage on healing and PL 0 attacks!), and Poison (Damage on end of turn!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Faust's blade struck a sheer wall of gods-blessed bronze, sending forth a thick welter of sparks as it beat against that ultimate defence. The first two blows might as well have not struck, for all the damage they did, with the only sign they'd landed being streaks of blackened metal from the flame. But the third, Hyousuke misinterpreted, and that momentary lapse in judgement allowed the flaming sword to strike true. It carved a canyon into his chest in a single, clean, stroke. He grimaced, grunting loudly from the pain, but it was like attempting to stop a cannonball in motion. He surged forward, focussed and unyielding, even as thick lines of crimson began to seep downwards across his skin.
Not even the toxic energy could stop him. The poisons ripped into him like wildfire, searing his veins from the inside out and sending his stomach churning, but he was a man possessed. A maddened beast, locked onto its target with furious intent, and all the pain in the world could not have stopped him from charging. It slowed him, of course. He staggered from the force of it, and was slow to rise to his feet from how much pain wracked his limbs. But he forced them to move, the same as he did when he snatched the gun from his holster and held it out towards Miho.
"Nothing physical? Then try this!" He shouted, squeezing the trigger. He cared not where it hit, as long as it hit the Groom. All the while, Achilles stood before him as a staunch protector and something upon which to steady his aim, letting him drag his battered body forwards to close the gap. Shot after shot rang like booming thunder, belching orange gouts of flame into the air, while lead pellets streaked towards the Groom and her Persona.
AS: Masao Inaba spends Limit on Help Up! Poison removed from Hyousuke Suzuki!
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
'Catch!'
Somewhere in this sequence, Masao does catch 'it,' this vaguely defined and surprisingly quickly-applied healing item that makes him feel a bit less on fire! "Right on!" He calls to Hyousuke.
There is a clash of will, and the physical resistance the Groom puts up in stopping the tackle reverberates back in the very soul, like a wounding, grzing strike. It loosens him up for the follow-up where Faust appears to strike with those poisoned shockwaves cutting deep that Masao flinches and winces.
"Hey! You," to Hyousuke, Masao shouts as he checks his person for an antidote-equivalent thing to toss back, rather than take it himself. (Eriko did call for him to watch the others, didn't she?)
"Friggin'... is that what we're doin' today, huh," Masao murmurs as he comes up from a pained kneel. "Right... yeah, I'm more of a fightin' guy! But you think that's gonna stop us? C'mon!"
Mischief spreads on his face despite it all, as that aura returns. "You wish... Ogun!"
There's Ogun again, who is poised to do a little dance. "We're clearin' the way together,"
And then, a word of great magical power.
"Megido!"
The primordial magical energy fills a space and explodes - a powerful word, an almighty skill, spoken true... but there's a certain kind of vague hollowness to it that's tough to define.
AS: Persona! Masao Inaba has used the Almighty skill Megido on Miho Ijuuin!
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
For a moment, Umie is distracted by Yanagi's outfit, admiring it for a moment before Yukari comments on her own outfit, peeking as it does outside of the more modern-looking winter jacket.. She lets out a long, suffering sigh, as she hooks a thumb towards where she came in fromt. "Le Chat Marron's just around the corner. Butler cafe. I recommend it if you like fancy pastries and tea. Old friend of mine runs it. Different sort of clientele, as well."
"However--" Umie begins, tapping the toebox of her right shoe on the ground, "--_someone_ decided to make this a playground for whatever little game they got going."
'No,' Miyu says.
"Then I guess we'll just beat you back like last time," Umie comments, nonchalantly beginning to spin the looped end of her weapon. "You may seem sympathetic, but that doesn't change the circumstances of the situation here. These are people's lives." She hesitates, noticing Masao, Eriko, and Tamaki, then looks away with a guilty grimace.
She's *still* thinking about how she telled at them, back in Aoba Park.
Katsuya mentions another 'caller'; Umie turns towards him. "Is that what this is all about?" Miyu, however, disagrees. "Like we can trust what you say? I don't see you offering another explanation."
What's more is... Scion. She was at the last encounter Umie and Katsuya had as well, and now, she's their problem. Umie's lips turn, nodding to Yukari's confusion. "Maybe because of the Bride's abilities, given how she can mess up people's perception of the environment," she suggests quietly, to Yukari and Katsuya. That, and the Mark, but Umie shall leave that out, for now. "Though, if they're letting her at least not be fighting in the front lines like she was at the sanitarium, that's at least a *start*. But it means we'll have to deal with this fresh-faced bundle of joy instead."
Who... seems very similar to that one member of SEES, in some ways, though Umie's not sure where to start, on that.
Well, of course, Umie *could* start with that Persona of hers, which whips a wave of water towards her and Katsuya. Evading some of the brunt of it, Umie glances over her shoulder at Katsuya with a concerned glance. "Hold on."
Umie turns her face towards Scion now, whipping up a hand, which she points towards her. "... I agree. Settle down." Badb's unspritely self falls upwards from Umie's gesturing form, pointing a finger of her own towards Scion.
Then, with a gesture towards Katsuya, Umie erects a wall over him. "... Thankfully I'll be a bit more help here than last time, eh?" she says, giving Katsuya a lopsided smirk, and extending it to Yukari. "And what's this about parfaits?"
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Hooded Smile on Yua Ijuuin! | Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Recovery skill Water Wall on Katsuya Suou! AS: Tandem! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Pierce skill Shot and Shield on Miho Ijuuin! 3 Hits! | Defense: Hyousuke Suzuki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 143 Almighty damage from Masao Inaba's Megido. AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 7 Pierce damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Shot and Shield. Safety! Physical damage reduced! AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 33 Pierce damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Shot and Shield. Safety! Physical damage reduced! AS: Avoid Neutral! Miho Ijuuin takes 10 Pierce damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Shot and Shield. Critical Hit! Safety! Physical damage reduced! AS: Take! Yua Ijuuin takes 0 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Hooded Smile. | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) added!
AS: Shinobu Shimizu spends Limit on Shift! Eriko Kirishima can use another Weak skill this round! Hyper (Next Attack Boosted/Incoming Damage Down!) applied to Eriko Kirishima! They both receive 8 SP and 30 HP! AS: Eriko Kirishima spends Limit on Shift! Tamaki Uchida can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Block Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 29 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Freila. | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) added!
AS: Tamaki Uchida spends Limit on X Soul! Spd_Up applied to Shinobu Shimizu!
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
It is like things reset, isn't it? For Yukari, that might be baffling, but it's simply because Yanagi prefers to live in the moment. Yukari might be a curmudgeon of a teenage girl, to her view, but that's really nothing to hold a grudge over. However...
"Well, yes," she tells her, blinking. She blinks again at her talk of the timing; then she tilts her head. "Ohhh, is it time for finals?"
...it is something to be casually rude about. Again.
Have fun with that, Yukari? (Actually, no, they're both about to get distracted with their own fights.)
Hyousuke tosses her a healing item, which Yanagi manages to catch with her free hand. "Oh, thank you!" she calls back to him. The item does its magic, and the lingering pain from the nuclear fire fades, soothed into non-existence. She breathes a sigh of relief. Yanagi deals with pain all the time, so she'd barely noticed it; this is the source of the unflappableness Masao had noted. However, that doesn't mean it wasn't and wouldn't have continued to have an effect on her.
She giggles at Masao's warning. "Oh, I can tell!" she reassures him in a very unreassuring way. Is she actually taking the Groom seriously? However, he declares it's funk time, and she bounces a little on her feet. She knows very little English--she did not make out that exchange between him and Elly at all, though she did catch Tamaki's eye when she took in her Transmuted costume--but still she sing-songs in English, "'Let's dance!'"
Dance he does, as Ogun calls down that Megido. Yanagi utters a low, enthralled, "Ooooooh!" as the almighty power sears down around Miho. "You're so cool, Masao! <3"
Umie recommends her to Le Chat Marron. "Oh? Oh! I believe I spotted that on the way here!" She beams at her. "I'll try it out sometime!" It's at that moment that Yanagi notices Scion send off an adorable little robot into the maid cafe and watches Welwetes with open delight. Tromp tromp tromp tromp... Oh, the Groom is attacking now.
With more nuclear fire, at that--an even more powerful burst, flaming up around her with tongues licking the sickly sky. Yanagi cries out this time, the pain enough to be notable, but still she remains reserved in her movement.
However, those painful burns are back... She won't be able to do so so casually next time, barring another one of Hyousuke's items. She hunches over, supported by her gun-cane as she winces. "Mmm... So I see," she remarks to the Groom. "It's effective..."
The burns from the Freila weaken her magic, and the Groom forbids physical attacks from Hyousuke and Masao. Masao of course has that Megido instead, but it is troublesome. ...The Groom knows well how to do combat.
"Then I can't very well hold back either, can I?" Yanagi concludes, forcing herself upright. "Giselle, tell me a story!"
Those dancing little origami angels now flutter and bob and dance around the Groom, absorbing information from the very ether (or so it might seem). Soon, one descends before Yanagi and unfolds like a scroll into a mid-air animation paper. Yanagi's eyes unfocus as she absorbs what it displays to her. "I see..."
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Almighty skill Full Analysis on Miho Ijuuin! | Insight: Yanagi Nagisa gains 1 Limit! [OOC] Yanagi Nagisa says, "blu-ray out the part about Welwetes, Yua hasn't posed yet"
AS: Take! Miho Ijuuin takes 0 Almighty damage from Yanagi Nagisa's Full Analysis. AS: Yanagi Nagisa's Strength Scan! Miho Ijuuin resists Fire! AS: Yanagi Nagisa's Weakness Scan! Miho Ijuuin is weak against Light! AS: Yanagi Nagisa's Support Scan! Miho Ijuuin has passive skills Defender, Fire Boost, Quick Weapon, Sharp Student, Slash Amp, Slash Resist, and Slash Riposte! [OOC] Yanagi Nagisa says, "actually you know what, blu-ray out the blu-ray, it's only a line and this way I'll react to the thrilling conclusion in my next pose after Yua /has/ posed"
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Yanagi tempts Scion with parfaits. "Stay focused, Scion. Focus. ... there are parfaits elsewhere." She spares a glance for Yanagi. She wouldn't mind if everyone left--it would make their work go by faster. "Suit yourself."
Tsurugi's allgegiances are somewhat mercurial, aren't they? Unfortunately, it can't be helped, given her circumstances. "As Miyu says. This need not concern you. But you will ahve no answers from me. But the longer you delay us the more these peoples' lives are disrupted. As our ours."
She's thinking of Yumi, the image of her coughing still fresh in her mind. Her her sake, Tsurugi would end this quickly.
A spinning staff comes for La Maupin. The Persona's fast footwork is enough to blunt a few of the strikes, but a solid hit sends it flying back. Tsurugi grunts, doubling over momentarily but making no other sound.
Eriko would prefer it if Tsurugi were more of a slouch with a rapier. "That would be more convenient for you, yes. But not for me."
'You again -- !' "Yes," is Tsurugui's rather laconic reply.
Nike comes forth to give them some space, and those charging lights do indeed force Tsurgi to dance her way back, the lights scoring long hits against her as she retreats. "A wise strategy," she comments.
Tsurugi is known to be fast, but Tamaki's new animating spirit proves too much to avoid, and she seizes up as the threefold curse is laid upon her. She lets out a shuddering breath and then glates at her. (One presumes, you can't exactly see her eyeline through the fencing mask.) "... You have a newfound sense of dedication. Intriguing."
"But I will overcome it! Masukukaja!" On another day, Tsurugi might be casting this on her allies. But today it is only on her that it is cast, as winds explode from her feet to envelope her. Then she throws her hand forward. "Illuzone!" From La Maupin's raised rapier comes a hazy mist to wash over Tsurugi's part of the battlefield, hoping to distract and delay her opponents. She uses the time to catch her brath and try and center herself.
And then in that haze there is a spark as Tsurugi and La Maupin touch blade, flames now wreathing along their blades. Again the two charge forward, delivering flame-enabled strikes in rapid succession.
AS: Persona! Remi Ryuuja has used the Almighty skill Masukukaja on Remi Ryuuja! | Remi Ryuuja takes 90 damage from Pain!
AS: Charm results in party damage! Remi Ryuuja takes 90 damage! AS: Take! Remi Ryuuja takes 0 Almighty damage from Remi Ryuuja's Masukukaja. | Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!
AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Broad!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
...Parfait? He looks if anything briefly bewildered by the particular avenue of conversation to which he's being exposed.
"Then, you know something more about this, Uchida-kun?" He shakes his head, though. "No, we should talk later. I have the feeling that this is about to get dangerous..."
He's not wrong, as it will happen.
He spots Shinobu and waves her over. "Shimizu-san! Watanabe-san just called! We must take care of whatever is about to happen!" It's direct, yes, and in ear-shot of the NWO agents, but if anything else, he thinks that Ayame would want Shinobu to know that she's aware something is happening here.
Which isn't at all related to the abduction of Jokers. "What? Then--"
It seems that they won't be receiving an easy answer, though. Scion is quickly silenced by her operator, wherever they are. "What do you mean, a personal project? ...Your 'Mama'?" he says, echoing Eriko and Yukari, the latter of whom he glances at in mild surprise, apparently just realizing she's also here.
Katsuya is not, as such, taken aback by being identified as a police officer. There are a number of valid reasons why this 'Scion' might be able to recognize him and his occupation.
Indeed, even when he's out of uniform, people seem to be able to guess that he's a cop, for some reason...
Then, Scion announces that she's going to fight him at which Katsuya utters a somewhat bewildered, "You're fighting... us?"
There's not much room to argue. She fires that bullet directly at him. He moves, trying to escape the incoming projectile, but alas, it isn't to be.
Water crashes into Katsuya. Alas, this is the element against which Helios cringes. Is it simply because water and fire often appear to counter one another, or is it because his Persona takes the form of a cat? Be what it may--
--Katsuya has more urgent considerations at hand than the precise method by which his own Persona's particular pain points lie.
"Damn," he utters, on the recovery even as Umie bids he hold on. "Kirishima-kun, Uchida-kun-- it looks like we will need to split up!" Tamaki and Eriko are already on it, fortunately; Katsuya, for his part, touches his left hand to his sunglasses as he invokes: "Persona--!"
Helios erupts onto reality's stage in a blaze of blue light, whipping out its own archaic weapon as it takes a shot for Scion; Katsuya, meanwhile, takes a quick glance about him, trying to get the lay of the land just as that warding wall of water cascades around him. It takes him a moment, but he realizes what Umie's done. "Ah, thank you!" Now it's his turn to be on the receiving end of some much-needed defenses-boosting.
AS: Persona! Remi Ryuuja has used the Almighty skill Illuzone on Shinobu Shimizu, Tamaki Uchida, and Eriko Kirishima! AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Recovery healing from Umie Akabane's Water Wall. | Water_Wall (Water Affinity Up!) added!
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Pierce skill Single Shot on Yua Ijuuin! AS: Block Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 0 Almighty damage from Remi Ryuuja's Illuzone. | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) and Rage (Weapon Attack and Incoming Damage Up!) added!
AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Salve! Pain removed from Remi Ryuuja! AS: Tandem! Remi Ryuuja has used the Fire skill Flarebrand on Shinobu Shimizu, Tamaki Uchida, and Eriko Kirishima! 2 Hits! | Aggression: Remi Ryuuja gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Almighty damage from Remi Ryuuja's Illuzone. | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) and Rage (Weapon Attack and Incoming Damage Up!) added!
AS: Avoid Best! Shinobu Shimizu takes 14 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Flarebrand. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Neutral! Shinobu Shimizu takes 36 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Flarebrand. AS: Block Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 31 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Flarebrand. AS: Avoid Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 19 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Flarebrand. AS: Avoid Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 181 Pierce damage from Katsuya Suou's Single Shot. Critical Hit! <Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
"She's particularly skilled at slashing attacks and weaponry, as well as nuclear attacks," Yanagi reports of the Groom to Hyousuke and Masao. This is maybe a little obvious, given her fighting style so far, but still. "Avoid attacking her with blades or fire. If either of you have any Bless attacks, use those instead--she's weak to them!"
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
'Avoid attacking her with blades or fire.'
Masao looks up to his axe and makes a face. "Y-Yeah, figured that one out the hard way a while ago..."
AS: Avoid Worst! Eriko Kirishima takes 0 Almighty damage from Remi Ryuuja's Illuzone. | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) and Rage (Weapon Attack and Incoming Damage Up!) added!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Eriko Kirishima takes 58 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Flarebrand. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Worst! Eriko Kirishima takes 112 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Flarebrand. Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Correct," the Groom offers to Tamaki. "In order to bring about the True World, I act. ...We have little time now for this one. And as the mad oracle found, violence alone will not suffice."
Hyousuke is indeed a wrecking ball in two forms, man and Persona. Miyu looks towards him as he sturggles, and then forces himself ot move. The gun will go off--the shield continues to reappear, reducing damage from the shots that thus only impact her bulletproof vest (already speckled with blood) rather than tearing through her.
"Anger can be a potent weapon," she informs Hyousuke. "But only to a point. Intent and control will take you farther."
Mark rises again. He' sa fighting guy. And Ogun shows: mark has options beyond physical might. That great magical power impacts Miho, though she brings up her sword to defend against it--and is knocked backwards as a result, skidding along the strange-made asphalt as she loses ground to his attack.
"Impressive," she says. "I will not underestimate you."
Then to Umie once more, "...Sympathy will neither restore the time to those people nor aid us. It is hollow."
Yanagi dances, too. The Groom does not oblige this. Instead she is attacking. Yanagi cries out, but Miyu remains resolute. "You cannot," Miyu agrees, hold back. The sensation of being Analyzed is an uncomfortable one; Miyu doesn't complain, even as the little angels flutter around her.
But she has something to add. "Believe me or don't," Miyu says to Umie. "It is of no consequence."
"Persona!" In more red flame, Faust reappears--and Miyu's barrier shifts. "Magical attacks will avail you not," she intones.
Then she says, some irritation entering her voice, "This is taking too long."
She suddenly rushes at Yanagi, slashing at her limbs to disable--it may hurt, but it will not kill... though the strikes bring with them a certain weight of misfortune. "I must have the Dragon Line's power!"
She rushes again, slashing at Hyousike and Achilles's wrists with bladework almost too fast to see, that leaves afterimages of haze thanks to Faust's power.
Finally, Faust brings out her knife agian, and hacks down at Mark!!
AS: Miho Ijuuin spends Limit on Blood! AS: Miho Ijuuin spends Limit on Broad! AS: Weapon! Miho Ijuuin has used the Slash skill Blade of Joka on Yanagi Nagisa and Hyousuke Suzuki! 2 Hits! AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Slash skill Fatal End on Masao Inaba! AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Recovery skill Spell Guard on Miho Ijuuin! AS: Take! Miho Ijuuin takes 0 Recovery healing from Miho Ijuuin's Spell Guard. Safety! Magical damage reduced! | Phys_Safety expired! Magi_Safety applied! <Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Aye-aye!" Scion salutes, loosely, to Miyu. "Unloading manners!" Did she have that loaded to begin with?!
And that pearl antenna swirls with pink energy, as Yumi responds to Shinobu: "The girl is yet young. Alone she yet returned, yet what lies tomorrow?" ... and Yukari might connect that concern, of the Bride's, to the way Scion fought Aigis and Reiya alone.
Maybe that's Scion's mama, Katsuya...?
Tamaki's question, meanwhile, is met with a cheerful: "'Cuz you got a sword!" Is -- is that why?! Are people with swords strong?! Then again, the adults with her are both fencers...
At least she's still apparently distractable without them. "Parfait... parfait pause..." Scion muses on this, thoughtfully. "Focused, focused," she chants, to herself, as Tsurugi reminds her to stay keen. "... oh, I know! Fetch, little buddy! Go in there and bring me out a parfait!"
"Rah," Welwetes growls affirmatively, as the little robot raptor (he's chicken-sized, he's not large) does his little tromp inside.
(Yanagi's expert anti-navigational tricks have {disabled Scion's Weak weaponry}! Huh? You mean that wasn't anti-navigation at all...?)
"Oh, that's easy!" Scion grins, to Yukari. "I got given to mama 'cuz I'm the most advanced model they ever made! But I guess they hit a wall, or somethin'... so she's stabilisin' me so I don't explode like the fifth one did!"
But Yukari asks why she isn't in hospital, and Scion explains: "'Cuz Miyu's gotta finish up, first," she explains, plainly. "I don't know why, but Yumi's takin' this real seriously! Maybe it's like how Miyu's callin' this all rude but necessary... but man, you'd think it was, like, life or death!"
The pearl swirls with pink light, but no answer comes, for a moment. "... here you fight," her voice emanates, at length, "astraddle the unfathomable divide placed twixt death and life. In each motion..."
"Ohhh," Scion snaps her fingers. "So it's life or death 'cuz it's a fight. Got it!"
There, though, is the arrow -- and Scion keeps jumping around, and Yukari warned her about that so of course it explodes, though luckily the way she jumped had it exploding at her chest instead of those antenna. "Ow, owww! Man, you weren't kiddin!" Scion rubs at her derriere, Downed for a moment. "But I like jumpin' around... why aren't you havin' fun? I'm tryin' to get funky over here!" She likes the cut of Masao's jib, evidently.
There's a Pixie, in the background, chasing a salaryman into the gloom.
She looks to Eriko, then. "Oh, so it melts? But she's wearin' a coat," Scion points at Umie, "so it's gotta be pretty cold right about now, right? Hang on, analysin'..." She pauses, for a moment. "Yup! Sensors report temperatures hostile to human life without thermal coverins'!" She -- she didn't just know that offhand?! "So it's fine!" She decides, cheerfully.
'Raised by demons' is honestly a pretty good guess.
Welwetes tromps back on out, holding a plate of half-eaten omurice. "Rah?" He asks, tail wagging expectantly.
"Is that a parfait?" Scion asks, still on the ground.
"One unlike the others, flayed spread bled and fled..."
"I don't think that's a parfait," Scion translates.
She picks up the omurice, and tips the whole plate into the shadow of her hood, swallowing it whole.
"... still tasty, though! Try again, little buddy! We know it's not gonna melt, so we got time!"
"Rah," Welwetes tromps back in.
Unfortunately, not getting up from her downed state means that she's caught completely flat-footed when Umie points her finger of death at her. She points at herself, as she scrambles up. "Welllll, we weren't meanin' to invite you anyhow, but Yumi's weird trick wasn't doin' it, so Miyu had to do hers. It's weird, like? This is comfy, but that one's kinda... resentful?"
"Three ways to the crossroads which collide, unmarked, unpassing; do not dwell there, where monsters dwell, now drawn closer... what is unseen in the gathering grey... denied us!"
Things have gone a little greyed-out, here in Electric Town... the screens all too bright, against the gloom.
Katsuya catches up to this being a fight (yay!!!) and fires that gun, and Scion, once more, tries jumping around --
-- and gets shot quite squarely by a Persona that is also a cat.
One might normally expect this to make a normal person go 'OW!' or 'WHAT THE FUCK!' or even 'was that a cat' -- but Scion just eats dirt as she's shot out of the air. "Geez!!!" She pouts, as she picks herself up again. "You guys SERIOUSLY weren't kiddin' about that, were you?! Fine, fiiine! From now on, I'll block physical attacks, okay? But I think you guys could really stand to lighten up... zap!"
Guardian rises, again, a paling falling across Scion which sparkles with extra blue power; when it dances over Katsuya, Yukari, and Umie, though, its paws drop down thunderbolts to zap them all handily.
"It won't be that dangerous if you just fight real hard!" She assures Kaysuya, cheerfully.
AS: Block Best! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 17 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Blade of Joka. | Sick (SP Damage on end of turn!) added!
AS: Block Worst! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 58 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Blade of Joka. AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Elec skill Mazio on Yukari Takeba, Katsuya Suou, and Umie Akabane! AS: Charm results in party damage! Yua Ijuuin takes 90 damage! | Defense: Yua Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Recovery skill Line Guard on Yua Ijuuin! AS: Take! Yua Ijuuin takes 0 Recovery healing from Yua Ijuuin's Line Guard. | Phys_Safety applied!
AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Recovery skill Marakukaja on Yua Ijuuin! AS: Take! Yua Ijuuin takes 0 Recovery healing from Yua Ijuuin's Marakukaja. | Def_Up (Block Improved!) added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Yukari Takeba takes 117 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Mazio. Weak! AS: Avoid Worst! Umie Akabane takes 86 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Mazio. | Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) added! [OOC] Yua Ijuuin says, "blu-ray *Katsuya"
AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 32 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Mazio. AS: Block Worst! Masao Inaba takes 206 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Fatal End. Critical Hit! | Masao Inaba is unable to continue fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Katsuya calls out to her, and Shinobu looks his way. Ayame did? In that case...
"Right! Let's do what we can, then." Shinobu replies. It is a relief for her to know that Ayame's aware that something's going on. If she is, then that means she's probably aware enough to avoid getting caught up in it directly...
Miyu admits that she shouldn't diminish the spent day... but resolves to make the sacrifice all of the same.
"'Another', huh..." Shinobu repeats. "...But you're right. It isn't yours to make. So what gives you the right?"
Yumi's voice speaks over Scion's pearl antennas. The girl... she considers Scion for a moment.
"...Yeah, she is. So why her?" She asks.
She focuses in on Tsurugi - but not so much that she has to ignore the people she's fighting beside.
'Miss'... She nods as Eriko says it's a pleasure, and tells her to call her Elly.
"Elly, then. Just Shinobu's fine with me, too." She replies. "Yeah, I'll be countin' on you too, then."
This isn't her first time seeing her in action - she recognizes the signs of someone who knows what they're doing. And the same applies to Tamaki, too. Shinobu nods back to her.
As for Tsurugi...
"Don't you try to pin this shit on us. Making it sound like it's our fault just 'cause you aren't being allowed to do your shady business." Shinobu bites back.
Tsurugi once again enhances her speed - but this time, there's something new. A mist washes over the battlefield. Shinobu braces herself.
"I can't see anything through this... Are you two alright?" She grimaces. Her eyes are clouded, and she feels a spark of anger... and also a spark of flame, as Tsurugi and La Maupin's blades ignite. She feels a warning just in time, direction - she moves to dodge the first, and sweeps her staff out to redirect it. She winces as the blade still makes contact - but it's a wound, at least, that she can take.
"You think this is gonna stop me?" Shinobu hisses out. "It'll take a lot more than that! Come on, then!"
She rushes toward where she thinks Tsurugi is, leaping toward her with a flying kick before bringing the staff down with the force of her momentum, finishing off with an upward strike.
...She's dangerous to everyone swinging that long staff around, but at least in her rage she's been plenty loud - enough that Eriko and Tamaki might be able to at least know where she is through the fog.
AS: Weapon! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Overdrive on Remi Ryuuja! 3 Hits! AS: Charm results in party damage! Shinobu Shimizu takes 90 damage! | Aggression: Shinobu Shimizu gains 1 Limit!
AS: Shinobu Shimizu spends Limit on Help Up! Charm removed from Tamaki Uchida! Hyper (Next Attack Boosted/Incoming Damage Down!) applied to Tamaki Uchida! They both receive 8 SP and 30 HP! AS: Shinobu Shimizu spends Limit on Help Up! Charm removed from Eriko Kirishima! Hyper (Next Attack Boosted/Incoming Damage Down!) applied to Eriko Kirishima! They both receive 8 SP and 30 HP!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yanagi's casual ease of asking if right now is finals sort of takes the wind out of her sails, "I-" She thought she was younger! A high schooler! She guesses not.
Suddenly she's jealous.
Umie reveals that she works at a Butler cafe! "You... buttle?" Yukari says with a sense of incredulity, "Uhhhh..." She really doesn't know what to say to that. "... Well, if cross-dressing is your thing..."
The Groom reveals it was a coincidence. "You say that but uh- your-" A glance towards Scion, "-you know I don't even know what she is... was studying too?"
Yukari's gaze follows Welwetes as they go out for parfaits. "..." Suddenly she wishes SEES had a robot for drink runs mid-battle.
Wait focus!
'I got given to mama 'cuz I'm the most advanced model they ever made!'
'so she's stabilisin' me so I don't explode like the fifth one did!'
"Uhhhh for a model that's unstable, you talk... pretty well?" She sounds more human than Aigis even, which is- weird to think about.
The contrast of the two is just mind-blowing to her.
"Isn't she pregnant though? What's- so important about this!? You're knocking over a maid cafe!"
'Why aren't you havin' fun?'
"I don't like fighting!" She answers, quickly, "Why would anyone see this as fun?!"
Welwetes brings out omurice, "Is- that the most advanced model you've all made of that one?" She asks, drily.
'From now on, I'll block physical attacks, okay?'
"Why are you even telling us!?" 'But I think you guys could really stand to lighten up... zap!' Eyes wide, Yukari scrambles up from her position on the ground, as she gets shocked in that moment, sending her back to the ground, stunned.
Then getting back up to her feet, she places her Evoker to her forehead, "Io!" And as her Persona appears, a healing breeze scented of fresh water spreads out between those fighting Scion.
"He won't have to." Yukari declares, of the idea that it won't be dangerous if he fights real hard, as Io suddenly casts a Garu spell, perhaps- momentarily distracting Scion as the dumpster in the alley behind her is shifted to slam hard against the wall.
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Recovery skill Naiad Mediarama on Katsuya Suou, Umie Akabane, and Yukari Takeba! | Support: Yukari Takeba gains 1 Limit!
AS: Yukari Takeba spends Limit on Shift! Katsuya Suou can use another Weak skill this round! Hyper (Next Attack Boosted/Incoming Damage Down!) applied to Katsuya Suou! They both receive 8 SP and 30 HP! AS: Avoid Neutral! Remi Ryuuja takes 29 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Overdrive. AS: Avoid Neutral! Remi Ryuuja takes 41 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Overdrive. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 61 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Overdrive. <Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.
Eriko's response to Katsuya's concern about splitting up with a simple thumbs up. "That's how it goes sometimes, Sergeant Suou! I believe you'll be in good hands!" Umie and Yukari are quite capable, after all. Not that she doubts Katsuya either it's just, well...
Of that trio, he IS the least experienced. Yukari might only slightly beat him out in terms of time active, but well... SEES is a touch more stringent about training than Team Whoop-ass.
...And she knows if push comes to shove, Katsuya is on the same page as her about getting the younger persona users out in a pinch.
Eriko glashes Shinobu a confident smile in response. "Nice to meet you, Miss Shinobu! Let's do our best!" She nods to Tamaki. "Got it! Let's make this difficult for them!"
Finally, now, Eriko has a chance to get a good look at Tsurugi's persona- unfortunately it's as she uses Masukukaja to boost her defence. "La Maupin- the opera singer Julie d'Aubigny..." Eriko frowns a bit- that's a much newer persona than she's used to encountering- and it's personal interest more than her usual occult knowledge that tells her about this persona. "A woman known for dressing and fencing as a men and seducing men and women both and tragically short lived." Eriko's eyes focus on Tsurugi. "...I wonder if your stakes are much like the Bride and Groom, then."
A lesser person might take a further shot about what that implies about Tsurugi, but Eriko does not. She's possibly shared too much.
The Illuzone washes over her though, and the mix of charm and rage are... intense to say the least. "...My, my," Eriko says, her footing a little shaky now. "You do live up to your persona's reputation..." The crossing feelings are difficult for Eriko to handle, magically induced as they are- and as a result her attempts to deflect and avoid the Tsurugi's flaming blade leave her burnt and cut, her coat absolutely catching alight in the chaos and forcing Eriko to dive and roll to put it out- though that was practically going to happen anyway as La Maupin and Tsurugi's combined power is enough to shatter Nike and send Eriko packing anyway.
It's only thanks to Shinobu's rapid actions in her rage to dispell the charm. That's good. She's now angry, and trapped in the fog as well. "...Enough of that, I think," Eriko says- but her rage is not the roar of Shinobu, hers is harsher and colder. "Nike, blow away this damned fog!" She yells, and Nike responds by rising and firing a blast of wind from her engines to try and dispel the effects of the Illuzone- and as she flies skyward, she gets a goddess eye view. "...and now- shut her mouth! Mafui!'
The safety lights on Nike's wings flash red, and she goes in a dive- but instead of striking at Remi and La Maupin, she buzzes her with an emulated sonic boom- the sound waves carrying magic instead of a ear splitting blast.
AS: Persona! Eriko Kirishima has used the Wind skill Magarula on Shinobu Shimizu! AS: Eriko Kirishima cancels 1 attacks on Shinobu Shimizu. AS: Persona! Eriko Kirishima has used the Wind skill Magaru on Remi Ryuuja!
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki shakes her head in Katsuya's direction. "Only what the Groom's alluded to, and only vaguely at best. Eyes up front for now." The Groom answers in the affirmative. " -- like that, yes. We'll reconvene --" And so they split off --
The Knight boasts that she'll overcome Tamaki's apparent dedication. Tamaki narrows her eyes through the mists as a protective gale stirs to cover the Knight. "You can try, but we'll do this on equal footing. Have you mistaken your talent for what truly drives you?"
Shinobu's call out helps her to partially regain her bearings; while she can discern more clearly between friend or foe, her ire still remains squarely focused on the Knight. "I'm well enough, thanks. Elly?"
Two flame-covered blades strike out at her, and it's only through the aid of Shinobu that she could anticipate them coming. Arianrhod herself parries one, Tamaki drops her blade while she scrambles to dodge the other, causing it to clatter on the ground, though she doesn't reach for it again just yet.
Arianrhod raises her broadsword in the air, then makes two cuts in a V-shape, cutting down then up at Tsurugi and La Maupin, leaving behind a red trail. Should this succeed, the winds surrounding the Knight die down just as soon as they began to blow -- an expression of Tamaki's desire to reassert a sense of normalcy in the world, to reintroduce the mundane into the supernatural.
No miracles belong here, not while she has any say in the matter! No rumors, no curses, no 'True World' as far as she's concerned!
... but some of the stripped blessing happens to find its way to Shinobu. That's mere happenstance, no such miracle, and Tamaki will deny any notion that she was involved in that.
Having said her piece and exhausted her body more than she'd like, she pulls out a card and holds it aloft. Arianrhod sends a light-blue wave of light to wash across herself, Eriko, and Shinobu to reinvigorate them a bit more.
AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Slash skill Deny Aspect on Remi Ryuuja! | Tamaki Uchida takes 45 damage from Stress! | Ruin: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Recovery skill Media on Tamaki Uchida, Eriko Kirishima, and Shinobu Shimizu! AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 127 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media. AS: Take! Yukari Takeba takes 156 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama. AS: Avoid Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 18 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Blade of Joka. | Sick (SP Damage on end of turn!) added!
AS: Avoid Best! Yanagi Nagisa takes 18 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Blade of Joka. AS: Avoid Neutral! Remi Ryuuja takes 49 Wind damage from Eriko Kirishima's Magaru. | Haze (Physical and Block Penalized!) added!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Remi Ryuuja takes 73 Slash damage from Tamaki Uchida's Deny Aspect. Critical Hit! Resist! | Spd_Up removed!
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
Yanagi's giggling has Masao rubbing the back of his head. It's great to see her smile and laugh compared to the times he was able to visit her in the hospital back then, but... here, in this situation? Well. He can fret over that (more) later.
"Heh," to the saying he's cool, "well sometimes you just gotta catch up in style, yeah?" Catch up in what way? (We all know what way, we're on the level about the experience distribution issues...)
He's satisfied with Yanagi being clear that she's not going to hold back. No one can, against the Groom and their cohorts!
He takes the upper hand in momentum to step a bit closer and give Miho that much less room to maneuver - dangerous, because that is a capable fencer, but it's also to cut off avenues where the Groom might lash out at someone else.
"Yanagi!!" He calls, as the Groom rushes at her, actually catching where the strikes intend to land in a rare bit of on-the-spot martial awareness when he is typically a man that goes on vibes and momentum with the way he wields that axe of his, and he's moving to intercept--
Hyousuke's gonna have to handle himself here right now, as he hoists up his axe in what would - in a best case scenario - be merely a pre-emptively parried blow from Faust that would arrest and overturn Masao's attacking momentum.
Faust's knife is faster than that, and the Fatal End comes down and slashes clean, a guttural groan as Masao falls over from the shock of the recently inflicted wound.
"...sucks," he murmurs, several gestures suggesting a will to get up and keep going - but not the capacity.
AS: Take! Eriko Kirishima takes 127 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media. AS: Persona! Eriko Kirishima has used the Almighty skill Mafui on Remi Ryuuja! | Pressure: Eriko Kirishima gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 156 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama. AS: Take! Shinobu Shimizu takes 127 Recovery healing from Tamaki Uchida's Media. AS: Nerve Up! Remi Ryuuja's SP +8! AS: Avoid Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 0 Almighty damage from Eriko Kirishima's Mafui. | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) and Sick (SP Damage on end of turn!) added! Poison removed! Explosion! 30 damage!
AS: Tamaki Uchida spends Limit on Help Up! Charm removed from Shinobu Shimizu!
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke, despite his laser-focus on the Groom, still had enough situational awareness to snatch the antidote from midair and gulp it down in the blink of an eye. He wasn't sure whether it was a potion, pill, or some other vaguely-defined ingestible, but it did the trick. Like a gust of fresh air blowing a forest fire out, he felt his veins be purged of toxins, and there was one less thing he felt himself pained by.
"Thanks for the assist!" He called back, not looking away from his opponent, but still sounding genuine in his gratitude.
Yanagi's analysis came in, and Hyousuke glanced down at the wound in his chest. It was nothing a few healing spells or some well-timed medicine wouldn't take the edge off, but as it stood, it was a line that had been cut into him and almost seared shut. He grimaced at Mark, giving him a knowing look - one that almost resembled a grin - before grunting in pain and reassuming a guarding position. "What he said. I'm gonna be feeling this one later..." Hyousuke shook his head. He could process the pain later. For now, he had a mission to complete. The news that light-aligned attacks certainly didn't make him feel any better about the situation, and his mouth twitched into a deeper snarl.
He was burnt and bleeding, and he had little that he could effectively use against the Groom but he was far from ready to collapse. What strength he'd lost had been replaced with the adrenaline rushing through his veins like lightning, and he kept close, ready to launch another strike with hateful intent. He did spare a moment to smile at Masao again, however.
"Good hit! Now let's keep it up!" He shouted, more trying to work himself up into a hot-blooded frenzy, rather than trying to offer encouragement. But if both happened, he wouldn't have complained.
Things were taking too long - where had he heard those words before? He couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu, but it was quickly snatched from him when the Groom attacked once more. He wasn't quick enough to intercept the blow intended for Yanagi, and by the time he recognised what had happened, it was all he could do to bring up his guard himself. Bereft of armour, he had only Achilles to act as his defence, and the invincible warrior took the strike's brunt with a screech of grinding metal. Sparks, flung off in a thick and orange sheet, almost blinded him. But they did not deafen him, and he managed to catch her vow before Mark was targetted.
"Dragon Lines? The hell are you- Hey, watch out!" Again, he was too slow to move, but Mark was wasn't just hurt. Carved into by knife striking true, Masao was taken cleanly out of the fight, and Hyousuke moved on instinct. "You!" He called out to Yanagi, snapping his head towards her while Achilles - weakened, but unbowed - shielded him from the Groom. "He needs healing! I'll cover you both, just do something!" He didn't wait for a response, instead choosing simply to cannon himself into the Groom like a wolf lunging in for the kill
The deafening scream of protesting metal tore through the air as Achilles moved in on the Groom, but no blade or scattershot came her way. What struck back was a spear, its head tinted the faintest shade of sanguine red, leaving thin wisps in the air as he heaved it into her.
"How's that for intent?!" He snarled, close enough that a few steps more would leave him within striking distance. Guard high and muscles tensed, he waited for the coming strike, bloodied but unbroken.
AS: Persona! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Pierce skill Avenging Spear on Miho Ijuuin! | Defense: Hyousuke Suzuki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Hyousuke Suzuki spends Limit on Shift! Yanagi Nagisa can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 60 Pierce damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Avenging Spear. <Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
AS: Yanagi Nagisa spends Limit on Shift! Hyousuke Suzuki can use another Weak skill this round! Hyper (Next Attack Boosted/Incoming Damage Down!) applied to Hyousuke Suzuki! They both receive 8 SP and 30 HP!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
"Yes! We'll report back afterwards!" he calls to Shinobu.
"Indeed, Kirishima-kun. Please take care of yourselves," he tells Eriko.
This he follows with a nod to his other companion here. "Understood. We'll talk more later," he reaffirms Tamaki, doing just that as they move to tackle their separate foes.
They are correct, though. For all that he might be a police officer, he's also the least-experienced Persona-user of his group. Even practice with armed weapons is strictly controlled in Japan, which means that it's possible that with weapons alone he may be the least-practiced of the three of them. It's fortunate that a Persona alone can enhance someone's martial skills, but...
It just might be that the voice that's being broadcast through Scion's antennae is the 'Mama' in question. Come to think of it, doesn't he know the sound of that voice?
Which is a remark that Yukari herself makes mere moments before Katsuya has his own realization. "Wait--"
That woman. The Bride? And, she had been with child the last he'd seen of her, he's fairly certain. So that's her voice, and she's the one controlling this... machine.
Which is being stabilized somehow so she doesn't explode like the fifth one did. "Explode...?" he hazards, eyeing Scion anew with fresh concern. Because 'Miyu' isn't finished yet, whatever that means, he considers, glancing over at The Groom whom he had fought with the last time. What in the world is going on here? What are they doing? And, can he really figure that out mid-fight?
It seems doubtful, not if he wants to leave here in one piece. He refocuses on Scion, trying to keep in mind an awareness of potential routes of evacuation as he sizes her up anew. A normal person might have responded... well, more normally, but Scion just acts like it's again part of a game that she's playing. Is it because this is what she was built to do? Or is this simply 'how she is'?
Helios opens fire as Katsuya receives support and cases the scene. Has the world turned a degree more grey? Or is he imagining things?
Scion, though, announces that she won't go so easy on them, and that physical attacks won't get through this time around. Lightning strikes: even mediated through Helios' defenses, Katsuya finds himself staggering under the blast for the moment. "In that case-- we'll need to change our tactics!" Katsuya starts, his firearm still directed at the ground before him, "Helios!" Flame kicks up in a wide halo around his Persona, which itself burns with a brilliant blue light. All at once, that ring of flame is cast off from around Helios to rain down upon Scion. This, in the end, is joined with a final rolling sphere of flame that detonates like a small sun once the other fires have faded.
"Nonsense! This is a fight!" he replies, as if to answer Scion's own exhortation.
AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 161 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Naiad Mediarama. AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Fire skill Maragi on Yua Ijuuin! | Defense: Katsuya Suou gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Fire skill Agilao on Yua Ijuuin!
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
"You really do!" Yanagi agrees with Masao. After all, she caught up in style, too. Her cheer muddies with concern when he talks about having learned what she just analyzed through hard experience--and then alarm when Masao sweeps in to handle the Groom's blade attacks as she zeroes in on her. "Masao!!" she calls, staggering painfully away. Though those are all the pains she takes from the exchange, Masao suffers far more as he's laid low by the Groom's sword.
Yanagi looks up at the Groom when she declares she needs the Dragon Lines. Her expression is briefly blank.
Then:
"What for?"
Hyousuke takes point against her, yelling at Yanagi to heal Masao. She doesn't answer. Aside from some regenerative magic, which won't help here, she doesn't have healing magic--at present, anyway. But... that doesn't mean she can't do anything to help them all retreat. She joined this battle to see the Groom fight, and she's done so; she's interested in learning what she and her cohorts are trying to do, but she's not particularly invested in stopping them, beyond how she's helping a friend (Masao) out. And he's gone down, so... she would really rather make sure he gets away safely.
She is momentarily distracted by Welwetes' return with an omurice, and Scion swallowing it whole. This would mind-boggle most people; Yanagi instead calls to her, "Oh, no, that's not a parfait at all! And you can't get just any parfait! There are several options in there, and you must specifically get a durian parfait!"
Yanagi does not in any way explain what a durian is. Or a parfait, for that matter.
Another butterfly flutters by. Yanagi smashes it with her gun-cane once again, and Giselle manifests once more. "Shroud us from their vision, Giselle," she intones to the pirouetting Persona. A cloak of darkness settles in over her, Hyousuke, and Masao, shielding their weaknesses from the Groom and the others... and perhaps also their retreat, when a shimmering of healing energy falls on the
three, hopefully enabling Masao to at least get /to/ retreating condition. Yanagi will leave Hyousuke to decide on that on his own; for her part, she offers Masao a hand.
"You're in no condition to keep fighting," she chides him gently, for she sees both his will to keep going and his physical inability to do so. "Let's leave this to the others."
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Recovery skill Wide Shroud on Yanagi Nagisa, Masao Inaba, and Hyousuke Suzuki! | Insight: Yanagi Nagisa gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
No sooner have the final flames faded than a cooler (by contrast) breeze washes over Katsuya. Just like that, some of the pains he's suffered seem to ease and vanish. "Thank you," he tells Yukari: he'd know that sort of healing spell anywhere.
AS: Take! Yanagi Nagisa takes 0 Recovery healing from Yanagi Nagisa's Wide Shroud. | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!
AS: Persona! Yanagi Nagisa has used the Recovery skill Healing Wave on Yanagi Nagisa, Masao Inaba, and Hyousuke Suzuki! AS: Take! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 0 Recovery healing from Yanagi Nagisa's Wide Shroud. | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!
AS: Take! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 0 Recovery healing from Yanagi Nagisa's Healing Wave. | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added! AS: Take! Yanagi Nagisa takes 0 Recovery healing from Yanagi Nagisa's Healing Wave. | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miyu can only focus on mark for a few moments--but thsoe moments for now are enough. He can't get back up, and Miyu doesn't strike at him any further--she is here to dissuade, not to kill. The Groom focuses on the other targets.
To Yukari, "As I said; the timing for this mission was based on extrinsic factors separate from your exams. It is, indeed, an unfortunate coincidence."
But Hyousuke demands attention. He is burnt and bleeding, but powerful nonetheless. He asks about the Dragon Lines, and Yanagi asks the entirely reasonable question of 'what for?'
"...You know my goals," she says instead. "That is all I can say for now."
The 'True World', she has mentioned.
But indeed--Achilles covers the others, and Miyu is forced to deal with only him for a time--the wolf luncges in, and that spear with a red tip crashes in towards her. Right before it can impact Miho's chest, she and Faust both take their blades to turn it aside--but the effort that takes is significant, causing Miyu's shoulders to sag for a moment. "Gh--"
Not a parfait at all, though. At least Yanagi is still in good spirits. But Giselle, under Yanagi's direction, shrouds the enemy from Miyu's sight. While she can still barely see them... it will be much harder to target them with that. But Hyousuke is in no shape to fight, according to Yanagi--or so Miyu thinks.
"Scion!" Miyu directs. "Hold them off a few moments longer! I will try to resume the transfer!"
Miyu takes her sword, backs towards the alley--
And darts within.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
and I don't have to worry about people trying to peek up my skirt." Which was a downside when she did that, though Umie isn't about to explain further. "There's male butlers there too. Mostly some younger part-time guys."
Umie Akabane says, "Ghh!" Umie falls back, but Yukari even more so. Umie glances to Yukari with alarm; she used to be able to shroud, but Badb's abilities have shifted since then."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
'You buttle?' "I mean, it's not that different from a maid," Umie replies back to Yukari, drawing her ponytail back over her shoulder. "A lot of women have trouble talking to guys, or feel scared. It's no different from cosplaying, really, only I get paid for it, and I don't have to worry about people trying to peek up my skirt." Which was a downside when she did that, though Umie isn't about to explain further. "There's male butlers there too. Mostly some younger part-time guys."
The explanation on the nature of masculine and feminine societal roles and whatever mess Umie may make of it is cast to the side by a shocking reveal: Scion is here, and this is a game for her.
"Ghh!" Umie falls back, but Yukari even more so. Umie glances to Yukari with alarm; she used to be able to shroud, but Badb's abilities have shifted since then.
Assuming Scion's like Aigis (which still blows Umie's mind), perhaps... Scion may not understand beyond these simple set-ups people may have given her. That, or it's intentional: with Yumi being pregnant... if they have someone here as a stand-in for her, what better way to keep Yumi concerned about what's going on than to have a robot who acts... like this.
But how does a robot have a Persona? Is a Persona really not so closely tied with the necessary components of a human being as Umie thought it was? ... Then again, Aigis does act more advanced than Umie would think a robot would...
Katsuya announces they'll have to change up their tactics. "... Yeah. Looks like it..."
Scion senses a distinction between the Bride and the Groom in their Marks. Well, perhaps, what difference would Umie's have, if she'd ever were to use it again?
The temptation's there, in the back of the blonde's mind.
As Umie draws from her soul the Badb, that cool, sarcastic, slightly angry unmasked self breaks for space of a crow's silent caw. She winces, the red-brown of her eyes growing detached from reality.
"The discarded sun lies buried in the hill, The spiral clockwork ticks to the inevitable climax."
She draws a gloved finger upwards, in sync with the Badb, as both point towards Scion.
"As the dragon rises from its slumber, the feast will begin anew."
Sweat beads on Umie's forehead, only half recognizing the congruence of a 'dragon' being mentioned by Miyu earlier, and a 'dragon' in the misty half-remembered words embedded in her subconscious.
AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Exploit! Umie Akabane can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Garden of the Crow on Yua Ijuuin! 3 Hits! | Umie Akabane takes 60 damage from Stress! | Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Block Neutral! Yua Ijuuin takes 77 Fire damage from Katsuya Suou's Maragi. Weak! | Haze (Physical and Block Penalized!) added!
AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 198 Fire damage from Katsuya Suou's Agilao. Critical Hit! Weak! | Haze (Physical and Block Penalized!) added!
AS: Block Best! Yua Ijuuin takes 15 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Garden of the Crow. AS: Block Neutral! Yua Ijuuin takes 33 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Garden of the Crow. AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 82 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Garden of the Crow. Critical Hit! <Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
There is almost an audible sigh as Scion sends Welwetes to go fetch a Parfait. "... that is not focusing," she chides. But more than that, Yumi can surely handle. And Tyrrha is just explaining things. "Remember what we discussed about 'opsec'?"
Shinobu resents the implication of blame. "Not at all. Our aim today brings inconvenience but not harm. But it would be better for all concerned if this were concluded quickly."
Tsurugi sidesteps the flying kick and the downward strike, deflecting them away with her forearm and rapier both--but the upward strike catches her instead, sending her rocking backuntil she stumbles backwards.
But Eriko has identified her Persona. "... is that so?" Those who've fought her before may take note that Remi hasn't actually called out La Maupin's name before.
There might be a reason for that, in something that Eriko has said.
"My fate is chained to the will of others." Indeed, the fact that La Maupin is in a straightjacket probably goes a long way to explaining the state of her psyche.
Nike's winds are enough to push away the winds--and the fogs created by La Maupin's maics. But the sonic boom catches her off guard, and the mixing of magics (and the boom itself) blast her, sending her reeling and smacking into a storefront. Something seems to crack but she forces herself up regardless.
"You have no idea what drives me," she says to Tamaki as she's getting back up. "Even if I told you it would not be enough to understand." Not enough to have lived it, at least.
And indeed, Tamaki's Arianrhod do cut through the winds, which disperse harmlessly before Tsurugi can get moving again. "Grrr." Her head turns as she hears Miyu shout for Scion and leave. "Then it is time..."
She stands and brushes herself off, glaring at the others. "We will be leaving soon. But not yet." She offers her own guidance to Scion. "We must hold the line!" She pulls something from a pouch in back and applies it to herself, and suddenly seems a lot less afflicted. Not completely well, but she's moving more smoothly than before.
"... Loading Theurgy Cartridge," she announces. From that same pouch she pulls a cartridge and loads int into her revolve. The cylinder snaps shut and she raises it to her head. "La Maupin!"
La Maupin surges with power, and User and Persona both step forward in unison, raising their rapiers. "Tempête Fatale!" she announces. In a flash, trailing gusts of wind both snap forward, laying a single strike on each opponent as they pass by. They reappear where they started, and a moment later there is a furious storm of wind that erupts where each cut landed.
AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Salve! Charm removed from Remi Ryuuja! AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Salve! Sick removed from Remi Ryuuja! AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Break! AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Exploit! Remi Ryuuja can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Remi Ryuuja has used the Wind skill Tempête Fatale on Eriko Kirishima, Tamaki Uchida, and Shinobu Shimizu! 2 Hits! | Aggression: Remi Ryuuja gains 1 Limit!
AS: Remi Ryuuja's turn has ended. It's time for an All-Out Attack! | Remi Ryuuja: Haze and Break removed!
AS: Avoid Worst! Tamaki Uchida takes 193 Wind damage from Remi Ryuuja's Tempête Fatale. Critical Hit! AS: Nemesis! Tamaki Uchida can take another Weak action this round! AS: Avoid Worst! Tamaki Uchida takes 193 Wind damage from Remi Ryuuja's Tempête Fatale. Critical Hit! | Tamaki Uchida is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Avoid Worst! Shinobu Shimizu takes 123 Wind damage from Remi Ryuuja's Tempête Fatale. AS: Nemesis! Shinobu Shimizu can take another Weak action this round! AS: Avoid Worst! Shinobu Shimizu takes 156 Wind damage from Remi Ryuuja's Tempête Fatale. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Neutral! Eriko Kirishima takes 76 Wind damage from Remi Ryuuja's Tempête Fatale. Critical Hit! AS: Nemesis! Eriko Kirishima can take another Weak action this round! AS: Avoid Best! Eriko Kirishima takes 14 Wind damage from Remi Ryuuja's Tempête Fatale.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki wordlessly gives Eriko a sidelong glance as she explains La Maupin's origins, then flicks her eyes back forward. It strikes Tamaki that if there's 'no such thing as miracles' as she wishes on some level, then that means disappointing her friend, doesn't it?
Moments ago, she felt so sure of herself. This, however, causes her heart to sink.
She begins to reach for her sword, left on the ground until now. That earlier sobering thought gives her pause -- the world that the Groom and Bride want isn't too dissimilar from what she desires. Her voice wavers in rhythm with her dedication. "You and I, we disagree on the means to get there, but -- "
'You have no idea what drives me.'
Her sword left forgotten on the floor, against her better judgment, Tamaki stands up straight and defiantly glares back at Tsurugi.
"Very much likewise."
('La Maupin,' Tsurugi finally confirms for the first time. Eriko's impressive knowledge goes deep, once again.)
The winds come again, in full force this time. Tamaki tries to stand her ground, but Arianrhod shatters into ethereal glass, and she's sent tumbling aside. She stretches out a hand momentarily, but weakness soon gets the better of her.
It's far from the first time that Tamaki's fallen like this, left defeated.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Would that I could call it 'rescue'," Yumi's voice echoes, through the antenna, to Shinobu. "No. She was given. Still, I shall not soon give her back."
"I'm 'Scion!'" Scion supplies, helpfully, hearing Yukari's confusion over what she is.
(If Yukari looks that up, later, she'll find two definitions. 'Scion' can refer to one's descendants... or a shoot of a plant cut for grafting to another plant.)
... maybe Yukari can train Koromaru to go fetch...?
"Of course I can talk!" She adds, folding her arms in Yukari's general direction. "Talkins' easy! Everyone does it!" Talking... is easy...?
"I mean, sure, there's a cafe out in front," Scion admits, looking back to it. "But that's not really the point, y'know?" ... hey, aren't Tsurugi and the Groom kind of... positioned to protect that alley? But Tsurugi reminds her of 'opsec', and so, Scion says: "Oops! Right, right!"
"It's as fun as talkin', that's why!" Scion says, happily, to Yukari's confusion over violence. "I love seein' what everyone can do!"
As Welwetes tromps back into the kitchen, Scion affirms, to Yukari: "Yup yup! Since I keep glitchin' out when I attack stuff with my own two hands, they just made me a helper to handle my weapons system for me! I'm sooooo jealous, though... there was this other girl, and she was this other model, like, a Kirijo robot, and she had sooooo many weapons just built right into her body! Like, how does she do all that?! I SO wanna know!"
When Yukari asks why she's telling her about her paling, though, she points to Miyu. "Mama says it's honourable," she says, so -- maybe mama is Miyu instead????
And then -- Io! -- "Woooow, you got an Evoker, just like mama!" BUT MIYU DOESN'T USE AN EVOKER! WHICH IS IT?! WHICH IS IT?! "Oh, but yours is smaller... is it 'cause you're still a kid?"
Meanwhile, in the Maid Cafe...
Welwetes' ocular scanners narrow in on a table he's hopped up onto.
ANALYSING...
30%...
50%...
90%...
TEMPERATURE: 38C
SOURCE ERROR: HOT FOOD
"Rah," Welwetes hops off the table, to try again.
Out the window, where things aren't so blurry: things are definitely more greyscale than they were, and the lights of Electric Town are definitely more striking within it.
It's a weird kind of 'vibe' for summoning Demons... but there are still Demons, here, on the hunt. They're acting a little strange... but it's hard to tell, with none of them close enough to be part of this arena. A horrible little Incubus was trying to sneak past them into the alley, but Yukari's dumpster pins it to the wall in a manner we won't illustrate directly and the poor little demon wails in agony as he turns tail and runs the other way.
But Helios goes to magic, and -- "HOT, HOT, HOT!!" Scion yelps, as Guardian manifests above her to absorb the blow only for it to display a unique animation as that fire heats up the metal plating and makes it dance around in a panic. (The 'yipe yipe yipe!!' will have to be imagined by the viewer; it's a silent panic.) "Hey, arrow girl! You wanna throw some of that healin' over HERE?! I so hated that! It's like remindin' me of every time I screwed up EVER!" She--she means it hurt, right?
she means it hurt, right???
Meanwhile, in the Maid Cafe...
Welwetes scrambles up onto an upended chair, wriggling his little dino butt as he jumps up onto another table to examine a deep bowl.
ANALYSING...
30%...
50%...
90%...
MATTER STATE: LIQUID
SOURCE ERROR: MELTED FOOD (80% CONFIDENCE RATIO)
"Rah," Welwetes huffs, as he hops down to try another table.
Back to the battle, and what happened, when Katsuya Downed Scion? Why -- Umie prophesised, of course. "Beware!" That pearl swirls with pink energy, as Yumi's voice transmits. "The Sybil invokes her Sight!"
"Huh?" Scion blinks, as she looks up from where she's been knocked down, to meet the Badb's gaze, as she calls down dark powers into her. Her arms cross, as -- perhaps with the metaphysical feeling of pecking -- first comes one blow, then two, then three. They build upon each other, in crescendo; the third, with critical might, breaks through, knocking her up into the air from where she was knocked down.
She lands on one foot, and wobbles, like a character in a video game perched precariously on a ledge; her arms windmill, for a wild moment, before she gets her footing down again. "Whoa!" She says, clearly impressed. "That attack was real strong! Didja load up a Theurgy Cartridge?"
Miyu retreats. Scion salutes, to the Groom. "No problemo!" She chirps, cheerfully, as she springs back towards the alley to block any attempt to follow her. (Okay, any attempt but Tsurugi. Tsurugi can go back there if she wants. She's allowed, she's got a hall pass. An alley hall pass...)
"So now I get to fight all you guys?! This is so great! Yeah, yeah! Tsurugi's got the right of it! If you guys are showin' me your strongest attack, I gotta show you mine, too!"
"Unready and untested!" Yumi's voice cuts through Scion's eagerness.
"Nankuru nai sa! Don't worry, mama! I'll be fine! All right... summoning!"
Isn't she supposed to say 'Load Theurgy Cartridge'...?
As deep within her chassis, it is not a gun but a dialect tag, straining against ofuda...
Outwardly, Guardian rises from her, again; towering, it roars, an expression of pain as much as challenge. Echoes of it leap, as a lightning bolt crashes to the ground where it was, like a dozen shadows cast -- into Hyousuke, Yanagi, Yukari, Umie, Katsuya. Its claws are electric; its bite, shocking. It leaps into them, shocks, and fades in an instant --
-- and beneath that hood, Scion's chassis is smoking.
AS: Yua Ijuuin spends Limit on Break! AS: Yua Ijuuin spends Limit on Reach! AS: Yua Ijuuin spends Limit on Exploit! Yua Ijuuin can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Persona! Theurgy! Yua Ijuuin has used the Elec skill Guardian Beast on Hyousuke Suzuki, Yanagi Nagisa, Yukari Takeba, Umie Akabane, and Katsuya Suou! 3 Hits! | Yua Ijuuin takes 60 damage from Stress!
AS: Charm results in party damage! Yua Ijuuin takes 90 damage! | Defense: Yua Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!
AS: Yua Ijuuin's turn has ended. It's time for an All-Out Attack! | Yua Ijuuin: Break and Reach removed! | Yua Ijuuin's Phys_Safety tactic expires on Yua Ijuuin!
AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 56 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. Weak! AS: Nemesis! Yukari Takeba can take another Weak action this round! AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 56 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. Weak! AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 67 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. Critical Hit! Weak! AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 34 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. AS: Nemesis! Katsuya Suou can take another Weak action this round! AS: Block Neutral! Katsuya Suou takes 58 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. AS: Counter Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 118 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. Critical Hit! | COUNTER! Yua Ijuuin takes 37 Elec damage in return for her attack!
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 31 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. AS: Nemesis! Umie Akabane can take another Weak action this round! AS: Block Neutral! Yanagi Nagisa takes 43 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. AS: Nemesis! Yanagi Nagisa can take another Weak action this round! AS: Block Worst! Yanagi Nagisa takes 66 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 37 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. Critical Hit! AS: Block Worst! Yanagi Nagisa takes 66 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 37 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. Critical Hit! AS: Block Best! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 21 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. AS: Nemesis! Hyousuke Suzuki can take another Weak action this round! AS: Block Worst! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 79 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. Critical Hit! AS: Block Neutral! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 52 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Not 'rescue', even though she would like to call it that, but Scion was 'given'... That's a whole other can of worms.
"...Guess she seems happy enough. But should she be?" Shinobu asks.
Eriko returns her greeting. It's still Miss Shinobu... Well, that's fine.
"Yeah, nice to meet you too. Let's give 'em hell." Shinobu replies with a nod and a slight smile of her own.
When the mist rolls out, Tamaki responds to her call with one of her own.
"Good to hear." Shinobu replies with a nod. She feels more stable, now... though her rage burns as red hot as before. But soon enough a wave of light crosses over her. Her sore body feels soothed, strength returned to her.
"Thanks!" She calls back, before looking toward Tsurugi.
"So you say. So she said. But I'm still not convinced. You say you don't intend harm, but I don't buy it. Maybe you don't think it's harmful... but I don't trust you." Shinobu replies. "But you're right about one thing. I think it would be better if we ended this."
Miyu starts to retreat, but Tsurugi and Scion hold the line.
Tsurugi, indeed, moves to end it. A Theurgy Cartridge... Shinobu grimaces, bracing herself. She can feel the power emanating off of her Persona, and the two rush forward at high speeds. They're fast - too fast for her. Shinobu is struck and she's sent reeling black - and then an explosion of wind sends her flying.
She crashes to the ground, but has enough presence of mind to roll with the back to prevent an unfortunate landing.
"Damn... Who's alright?" She asks. Eriko is still standing, but Tamaki... Shinobu grits her teeth with a hiss.
"...Alright then. Gloves are off now, Tsurugi." Shinobu says. She reaches out - and in front of her, a card of the Hanged Man flashes in front of her. She grasps it tight, and holds it aloft.
"Lachesis!" Shinobu calls out. Behind her, a shadowy woman in a hooded cloak appears, bearing a measuring rod. She turns her eyes open Tsurugi and La Maupin and holds up the road, as if to measure something.
And then, Shinobu races forward. She leaps - and then Lachesis catches her with a swing of her rod, sending her higher. Shinobu descends foot-first toward Tsurugi with a meteoric kick, bringing her staff down - and then Lachesis punctuates the attack, lunging in with a thrust of her rod.
AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Measured Fate on Remi Ryuuja! 3 Hits! | Aggression: Shinobu Shimizu gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Scion..." She echoes, like she's trying to roll it over her tongue and commit it to memory.
'It is, indeed, an unfortunate coincidence.'
"Just like the bride vomiting up her insides outside while she's how many weeks pregnant?" As she quotes Scion in this regard, after having heard the same thing as Katsuya. "That sounds like a lot of unfortunate coincidences." She knows it's not normal, because she knows the vomiting thing is most common in early pregnancy.
And the bride most certainly is not.
Don't ask her how she knows this! She definitely has not been looking such things up after her Mom called her and she wondered if... nope, nope not going there.
Yukari thinks back to Aigis, and how she talks versus- this. "Is it though?" At least for robots, what the heck. How did the NWO build a robot so advanced but so... 'unstable'?
Umie explains the Butler thing to her, and Yukari looks like she doesn't quite get it, "Well if it's just a job I guess..." She wouldn't dress in men's clothes for a job, but, she knows people do it for cosplay and- some people enjoy the thrill of cross-play, just not her.
And then there's Takarazuka. She's not even touching that one. No she's never seen one of their shows!
"You don't have to pick fights with people to see that, you know."
Indeed, this is a fight, just as Katsuya says, and as he thanks her.
"Don't mention it, Officer." She's able to breathe more easily herself, to say such things after her healing spell. Electricity is unfortunately uncomfortable.
As representative of Zeus, a Divine Will, a lack of agency in a world where things just happen to her- and she just has to deal with it.
"Honorable." She echoes, deadpan, "The people who ambush cops are worried about honor?" And then- she's impressed by an Evoker!? "Uhhhh..." Well that settles it that Mama is the Bride, "... Yeah? Wait, no? That's just the size it comes in!"
Katsuya capitalizes on the opening, and- she asks for healing?! "Arrow Girl?" She repeats, as if that's a new one, before, "Uh, no? Why would I? Like- if you were gonna die... well, sure? But right now, you're trying to help them commit crimes!"
Summoning?
And then- Guardian rises, and Io hurriedly shoves Yukari out of the way, right as the Persona crashes down, the Electricity arcing, as Io writhes- then shatters, in a Persona Break.
Reeling, she holds her head in agony, before...
She reaches into her jacket and pulls out a clip. It's not like what Katsuya saw when he inspected the weapon before, she inserts it into the bottom of the Evoker, slamming it into place.
"Was that really your strongest attack?" Yukari says, putting the Evoker up to her forehead, as it thrums with energy, she pulls the trigger, with a shattering noise around her as Io is resummoned.
And her eyes begin take on a crimson hue.
Swinging around she takes a knee, Io already channeling the wind, one after another- as fast as she can draw, the wind infused arrows cross the gap between her and Scion. Then, buoyed up by the winds, it flips her up end over end, as she draws one final arrow, as currents of wind begin to spiral off of its tip, like they're being drawn inside of it.
"You should have hit the books tonight."
And looses.
The detonation is tremendous, a column of riotous wind blasting skyward from the point of impact.
AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Yukari Takeba has used the Wind skill Cyclone Arrow on Yua Ijuuin!
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
The Groom claims that they know her goals. Maybe Hyousuke does, but--
"I don't," Yanagi replies.
Though she also looks again towards where the Bride is secluded, wondering. This wondering slips closer to certainty when the Groom ends up dashing away in the same direction, and specifically into an alleyway. An alleyway that the Scion is positioned to defend, and continues to defend, after Tsurugi scolds her about opsec. Hmmm.
Well, far be it for her to criticize acting in the name of being with the ones you love. She's gotten the Groom's measure, and she's satisfied with that. (Did she already forget about the durian parfait...? Yes. Yes she did.) When Scion summons Guardian, all (literally!) flashing claws and fangs, lightning blasts in all directions, driving Yanagi back. She's content to stay back, and takes the opportunity to simply... leave.
Yanagi doesn't expect Tsurugi or Scion to chase after her. Clearly they have better things to worry about, even with Scion eager to fight. It's a leisurely retreat, one that takes Masao with her if he accepted her hand, and may even meander by Tamaki to help escort her away too as the others stay and fight. She'll remember about the parfait she was going to watch Scion experience later.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
With two people at his side, the odds were even. With one of them down, his and Yanagi's attentions were likely to be split between protecting Masao and defending themselves, leaving chances slim at best. But Yanagi - quite rightfully, he hastened to silently add - prioritised getting her friend out of the danger zone, and Hyousuke was left to fight by himself. He was confident in his skills, but the Groom held an unprecedented level of power. One that he regretted to admit he could not match by himself. Though he did not care for the taste of retreat, he could - in this instance, at least - justify it.
But that did not mean he could not get off some parting shots before he did so.
"Go! I'll be right behind you!" Hyousuke called out, raising his fists and readying to fight. Notably, he did not ready to lunge in and attack - his was a reactive, defensive, stance. Achilles took point beside him, using his body to block off a section of the area, further trapping the Groom in. Could she punch through them? Undoubtedly. Admitting it left a sour taste on Hyousuke's tongue, but in terms of skill and strength and experience, she had him beat. But she didn't use that strength to go through him. She retreated instead, vanishing away while the girl took the fore.
It was then that Hyousuke found himself body blocked, his path forward cut off by Scion and her Persona. He hadn't the measure of her strength, but if she was anywhere close to what the fencer and the Groom had been, fighting by himself was a death sentence. Not that it seemed to deter him. Not when there was so much on the line. He stood with that titan of a man, and watched, waiting to see what she would do. He regretted his decision to remain still almost immediately, and barked out an order to whoever would listen.
"Brace! Big one coming in!"
Achilles surged forwards to intercept the blow, and the first he withstood while barely staggering an inch backwards. Hyousuke felt the strain on his body and his mind, but it was something he could endure. The second strike broke the shield like pottery, shattering it into little more than shards of rent bronze, while the man himself was blown apart in a burst of shattered sparks. Hyousuke reeled back, crying out more in shock than pain, but feeling both too intensely to remain standing upright. The third struck him like a storm, the force bludgeoning him to the ground and leaving his body a smoking wreck.
Yet still, he endured. Lowered to one knee, head bowed as though he were too drained of strength to support it, and his guard dropped by deadened arms, he looked a sorry state. But he forced his broken body upwards, head lolling to one side before he dragged it back into place and fixed Scion with a gaze that burnt hotter than any lightning bolt.
"That all... you got?" He asked, his expression obscured by the angle of his face. Slowly, he looked upwards at her, and all was revealed. There was no snarl, no growl, no open-mouthed bellowing. What he wore fell halfway between a savage grin and gritting his teeth to bear the pain.
Once more, he called on Achilles. Once more, he summoned his strength - or whatever remained of it - and beheld his target.
"I don't know what you're planning..." Hyousuke growled, as Achilles' spear took on a deep and bloody-red glow. "...But you're not gonna get away with it. Doesn't matter how far I gotta chase any of you, or what I gotta do. You people are gonna keep hurting and killing people until someone stops you, and I'm not gonna just stand back and let it happen." He drew his hand slowly up, as though weights had been tied to the wrist, until the fist he made was level with Scion.
"Achilles! Finish it!"
The blows came like cannonfire. The first was a shield blow, rammed into Scion with blinding speed. One moment, the armoured titan had been standing by his wielder. The next, he was crashing into Scion, deafening those around him with the earsplitting crash of metal against her. The spear, suffused with anger potent enough to break shackles the gods themselves had placed upon him, struck down like a bolt from the blue. All was finished by Hyousuke surging in, himself like a bloodied bolt of lightning, driving his fist into her chin with all the force his shattered body could focus into that one blow.
AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Pierce skill Princeslayer on Yua Ijuuin! 3 Hits! | Defense: Hyousuke Suzuki gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.
"I'm standing," Eriko responds to Tamaki, now that the charm and rage have dissipated for her- but there's no doubt about the danger that Tsurugi represents.
"...Perhaps you are- but that conflict with your other self will tear you apart," Eriko says, a little too firmly. "La Maupin followed her whims- no matter the limitations placed on her. "...you still have a blade, no matter how broken- and it's not blunted. You can determine where it points-"
And then Eriko's eyes widen as the attack comes for them, the rage of the Persona and wielder both- and while Eriko is swift enough to react, the first strike from the blade makes contact and pierces Eriko, leaving blood on the ground. The wind, however-
The wind is Nike's realm too, and the Persona's turbines burst to life creating a counter spiral of wind and while it buffets them tearing up the pavement around Eriko's feet- Eriko and Nike stand in the eye of the storm- an eye they have made themselves- and the Goddess of Victory and her Chosen One stand calm despite the tempest's rage.
"I'm alright," Eriko responds to Shinobu- but the person she was standing with isn't so lucky.
"...Tamaki?"
A cold fear seizes Eriko, watching her friend fall. A fear that has gripped her time and time again since the Grand Cross proved to be nothing but a astrological event.
"Tamaki! Tamaki, are you okay?" She obviously isn't, and Eriko kneels to check on the girl next to her. She's breathing, right? The air hasn't been ripped out of her lungs.
...For all Eriko knows that Tamaki has alleged survived her own death before, it is cold comfort.
But the longer she's here, weakened- but alive- the longer Tamaki is in danger.
Eriko is silent as she stands again, and her cloche and sunglasses are gone, knocked away by the wind. Her coat is in tatters from Tsurugi's many strikes. But she's standing- and she is furious.
"...Tell me, 'Tsurugi' do you speak know your latin?" She smiles, but it's a mirthless, thin, bloody thing. "I know a little- not as much as my English."
She draws a spell card from- well, seemingly nowhere. Her spell card. Her totem. Her once mask, resting in her soul. It bears a contract.
"Sancte Michael Archangele," she begins, her Latin more phonetic than a proper understanding, but she knows enough. "defende nos in proelio et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur, tuque,"
Nike begins to change again, her steel taking on red of her body, and gold of her wings, and her steel head becoming a helm of godforged iron. For the navigators, Nike's resonance changes- she is Nike, and she isn't. She carries something else in her now. Her divinity remains, but it takes on the air of a different god, a different pantheon.
"Princeps militae caelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute, in infernum detrude."
Eriko raises her hand and Nike launches hypersonically into the air, leaving streaks of red and gold in her wake, the Persona clearly changed as the spell card glows bright, it's spell coming. Soon, she cannot be seen.
"...I hope you are prepared to face the righteousness of His right hand," Eriko says, venom in her voice for once.
And then the Flaming Sword, massive and alight with holy flame, descends straight for Tsurugi, the point aimed for La Maupin's heart, despite the blade being several times her size, and the righteous, blazing, infinitely hot flames of the Prince of the Heavenly Host threaten to burn them both- not with flame, but with pure divine light.
"Amen."
AS: Persona! Theurgy! Eriko Kirishima has used the Light skill Judgement Contract on Remi Ryuuja! AS: Persona! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Strike skill Savage Slam on Yua Ijuuin! AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Aegis! AS: Avoid Best! Remi Ryuuja takes 16 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Measured Fate. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 90 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Measured Fate. AS: Avoid Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 90 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Measured Fate. AS: Avoid Best! Remi Ryuuja takes 60 Light damage from Eriko Kirishima's Judgement Contract. Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Still teetering on the edge of consciousness, Tamaki strains to raise her heavy eyelids up to see Shinobu and Eriko strike back against Tsurugi.
Were their positions reversed, she would do much the same in Shinobu's place. They are passing acquaintances, but maybe they're overdue in getting to know each other better.
As for Eriko ... How dare Tamaki try to deny miracles when her dearest friend earnestly seeks them out? When she would eagerly perform them for her sake, as she has just now?
She remains on the ground and contemplates this, deciding that perhaps it is an old notion which she no longer feels the need to hold on to.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"It beats konbini shifts, though it can take a lot out of you too." Umie tilts her head towards Yukari, serving up a cheeky grin. "Come on by sometime with some friends." Yes, Yukari.
Contrast this with how things shake up a few minutes later:
"Takeba-san!!" Umie winces as she sees what a Persona Break looks like from the outside. "H-hey, hold in there!" Looking back, her eyes come across Eriko by Tamaki's side, and Masao likewise, injured.
Beyond the concern Umie feels (and Umie definitely feels it) there's the fact that these people are veterans... Miyu must be that much more determined here than in that club backroom, if she's able to do that much in this short of time. Is it for that 'dragon'? If it's for the NWO, why would she be that much more determined to put things on the line?
Scion, likewise, is willing to put up a stand for her Mama(s?), and Umie's turn is up.
ZAP! Umie dodges, weaving out from the blast.
ZAP! Another step, falling back on a palm and a huffed breath.
ZAP! A roll to the side, the remaining currents ruining that artful curl of that ponytail.
As Umie stands, the smell of smoke is in the air, coming from underneath Scion's hood.
It may as well be blood, as far as the Badb is concerned.
The 'sybil's' pupils constrict, a shift in her mood punctuated by that irritability leaking away. "... All this, just to see what I can do?"
She tilts her head, blonde bangs spilling to one side of her head.
Then...
It's there: the bloom of the Badb's open-mouthed smile, spreading like a red crescent on Umie's face. A flower, cultivated by pride, anger, violence, and perhaps, just a little something more: a filmy glint in Umie's eyes.
(.... also Yukari's healing, from earlier, without which Umie would likely not be as spry! Thank you Yukari! Sorry about the lightning bolts.)
She raises her hand, and points a finger.
"Badb."
A cruel, delighted shriek rockets through the space, the Badb's lips stretched wide.
This is, after all, someone who is protecting her Mama, throwing her all into battle with no malice or hate in her programming to be found, and Umie is someone who was, and is, scared of what the NWO could do the more she pushes.
Just get her going, however, and somehow, Umie just finds less and less reasons to care. Funny, how that happens...
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Final Warning on Yua Ijuuin! | Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Psych! AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Pale Shriek on Yua Ijuuin!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
He glances once at Yukari as she makes a rather blunt (he looks fleetingly shocked) remark about The Bride's pregnancy. Wait, though... he's just realized the same thing she has, and perhaps he'll fleetingly make eyecontact with Yukari accordingly.
So that's the purpose of the 'minder', Katsuya thinks. It's not simply that 'Yumi' is staying back because of her condition. Scion needs someone to help guide her attacks because of the way she's... built. Only months ago, he would have met the idea of humanoid robots with the idea that this was absolute nonsense, but... perhaps that all had ended when he'd fallen unconscious and spoke to a man who was not a man who was also a butterfly in a dream after being attacked by a serial killer and his demons.
There's the reality he knew and there's the reality there is and the fact is... he's still having trouble adjusting to it, a little bit.
Right now, though, he must remain focused.
It hasn't escaped him that beyond the NWO agents, there are demons prowling here, too. Something seems odd about them, insofar as he can spare them much attention at the moment. (He does happen to catch what happens to an Incubus. He blanches.)
But given how the agents are positioned around the alleyway, is it possible that something is back there?
"Something's going on back there," he calls out, glancing over at the others only to pause in some shock as he sees Tamaki drop and not get up again. "Uchida!"
Shouldn't he be paying attention to his own problems? Perhaps he's aware of that, for he calls out, "Kirishima-kun! Cover her!" He can't do that just now, after all--
--Umie is behaving oddly. It's something he's seen before, he thinks, when she...
He also doesn't have time to dwell on that. Not when Scion is charging-- something, a sense of misgiving prompting Katsuya to draw Helios closer to him. "Careful!" he gets to caution, just before all hell breaks loose.
It's said that lightning never strikes twice. Something like an animal of coiled electricity rockets at them all. Katsuya holds his ground, not bothering to try to escape fury of the shocking blows. Once, twice--
Thrice. One might for a moment assume that Helios shattered. The Persona, smoking from that direct hit, is still here though, and a burst of electricity ricochets back at Scion.
But he's hardly the worst off. "Takeba-- Are you alright?" She's not downed, but he knows better than to assume.
Scion is smoking. "Now--" he calls out, taking the moment by its horns. Yukari certainly doesn't hestiate.
His answer here to Scion is much the same that it had been for Miho but a few days prior. If everyone else will give all they have then... how can he do anything less?
"Prepare yourself," he tells Scion. "Helios!" Katsuya calls, but Helios does not so much unleash a torrent of attacks as it... vanishes.
Here, at last, Katsuya takes aim, perhaps in a similar sense that Yukari had, and shoots for Scion one blazing bullet.
The fact that the bullet has something, or someone -- which is to say, Helios, burning like the sun in summer -- riding along with it goes without saying.
AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Katsuya Suou has used the Fire skill Midnight Sun on Yua Ijuuin! | Defense: Katsuya Suou gains 1 Limit!
AS: Block Neutral! Yua Ijuuin takes 96 Wind damage from Yukari Takeba's Cyclone Arrow. AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 94 Pierce damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Princeslayer. AS: Block Best! Yua Ijuuin takes 36 Pierce damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Princeslayer. AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 94 Pierce damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Princeslayer. | Yua Ijuuin is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 176 Strike damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Savage Slam. Critical Hit! | Yua Ijuuin is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Best! Yua Ijuuin takes 34 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Final Warning. Critical Hit! | Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added! Charm removed! Explosion! 60 damage! | Yua Ijuuin is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 172 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Pale Shriek. Critical Hit! | Yua Ijuuin is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 286 Fire damage from Katsuya Suou's Midnight Sun. Critical Hit! Weak! | Yua Ijuuin is unable to continue fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
"Convinced or not, it does not change the truth of the matter," she responds to Shinobu. As if there were a singular, objective truth at play.
There is a dark chuckle in response to Elly's words. The 'conflict' with her other self... "You have no idea of the 'conflict' I experience." The one that requires her to take Suppressants, that requires her to slowly die een as she seeks escape. "... or how it will tear me apart."
'Very much likewise.'
Tsurugi watches Tamaki fall. The hand is outstretched, but nothing comes forth. "... that is true enough." It's so hard for her to get fclose to anyone.
It is probably better that Welwetes is out of ight and out of mind for Tsurugi at the moment. She would be exasperated.
But she catches 'Untested' and glances to Scion. That smoke--she mentally shifts some priorities around. They may all ahve to head for that alley way fast when Miyu retrieves what it is she's after.
Shinobu declares that the gloves are off, and Tsurugi's only reply is to lift her sword into a ready stance. A meteoric kick comes slamming down on her, and it's almost like Tsurgui isnt' even there--
Buyt she can't escape Fate, and the rod finds her a moment later, despite her best attempts to bring up her rapier to parry, and she is staggered--and then again a moment later as Laches follows suit, sending her back with a hard impact. "Nggg..." It takes her a moment to recover, though she does slowly pry herself up.
Tsurugi will, in fact, not give Yanagi chase--nor will she keep Yanagi from rendering aid to Masao or Tamaki. Her only concern is for those who might still impede their plans.
She watches, wary, as Elly invokes a contract. Her Latin is decidedly rusty--it was enough for her to have already learned three languages that she was expected to actually use. But he can see the result soon enough.
A different divinity is what descends, one aimed squarely for La Maupin. Tsurugi watches it descend, but seemingly takes no motion. Is it the speed? The wariness of battle? Her injuries? She's not saying. But there is a flick of her hand--and right as the divine blade separates the two shift in different directions--
She was trying to bait the attack out, to ensure that it would strike and not have time to redirect. It only partly works, as the ovewhelming flames wash over them both, and Tsurugi stumbles as La Maupin shatters in the attacks wake.
She goes down to a knee, and she's breathing hard, er chest heaving, and one might wonder if she can get up.
One hand on a knee to brace herself. A strain, almost pitching over as she rises, a sudden shift of a foot to catch herself. She can't even stand up fully, but her grip on her rapier is firm.
"An immense power..." she acknowledges. "... both of you. We will cross paths again." But she is moving back now, carefully, as if trying to safeguard an injury she is uncertain of. "Scion. We have bought Miyu all the time we can." She is moving back to that alleyway that they've been guarding, still ready to lash out at anyone who dares intrude upon it.
... And maybe not a moment too soon.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Twenty-four!" Scion tells Yukari, with excitement, when she asks how many weeks pregnant Yumi is. That surely wasn't the point of her question.
"Woooow, but you can do that without even fightin' someone?" Scion sounds so impressed, when Yukari tells her she can take a man's measure off the battlefield. "You must be super insightful! You're cool, too!!"
And when Yukari questions their honour, Scion happily replies: "Sure are!" ... she didn't get the jab at all, did she?
"Heyyyy, it's SO not a crime to eat a Dragon Line!" Scion pouts, though, when Yukari says why she won't heal her. "Right?! Tell her, Officer! Ain't no law says mama can't eat no Dragon Line!" THE OPSEC -- the opsec has sailed. It's gone. Goodbye, opsec...
Yukari, though, works through the pain of her weakness hit to summon cylconic winds. Perhaps Scion ought to have studied, because she's whipped up into the air in a frenzy! "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee --" she cries, happily, as she crashes back down into the ground, leaving a little crater in the sidewalk where her body lands.
Indeed, though -- she does not chase Yanagi, nor stop her from helping anyone else away. While part of her might have delighted in chasing her down and tossing her up into the air until she stopped moving, she has a mission, right now.
A mission... that's still seeing her overheating...
"But I haven't got to kill a single guy since I got out!" Scion whines, her pout audible, as Hyousuke charges up to her and levels his fist. "I guess I have got to hurt people, though. I'm running an analysis on you, and, like, you're totally vibing like a guy who's been hurt real bad?" She doesn't... she can't tell just by looking at him? "Hey, why are you so upset not knowin' what the plan is, anyway? I don't know what the plan is, and I'm doin' just fine! Don't worry, be happy --"
Strike! Strike! Strike! All of Hyousuke's anger rains on Scion, and she's slammed back into the wall by the force of it. "... wow!" She exclaims, as she straightens up. "You've got such big emotions! Don't you get hot feelin' that all the time?"
Why is she hot?
"You think I'm goin' pretty far?" Scion asks Umie, as she asks whether it's all to see what she can do. "I guess I haven't called that routine before, huh... weird."
What can the NWO do, when they push far enough?
When the NWO pushes past sense and reason, past dignity and possibility...
Badb shrieks, and Scion finds herself hearing it echoing in her ears for long moments afterwards.
"It's a secret," Scion assures Katsuya, realising that he's noticed the alleyway is important. But Katsuya tells her to prepare, and she crosses her arms in front of her --
-- only for that flame to hit her weakness, again, knocking her down, and she does not scream in pain but she does say, "This... sucks."
Here's where she should stay laying down, because her damage reports are all screaming red.
Here's where she puts palm to ground, and levers herself upwards.
"... you guys... are real strong," Scion admits, and her hood is looking a little frayed, her robotic nature more clear as the seams are illuminated by her heating chassis. "I'm super impressed... y'know? ... but even if you yell real loud... I can't just let you past. Mama asked me to protect this entryway... even if I don't get it, it's important to her. It's important to mama, too... she even damaged herself. I felt... bad? And, I feel like... I wanna help her out?"
"So... I'll just recycle my damaged sectors, and get back up... yeah! I can't just take it easy, huh?"
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQKGUgOfD8U VOCALOID Original - ECHO (Gumi English)
Her chassis... is smoking.
"REJECTION CASCADE," a voice emanates from her.
It cannot be her -- here is the electronic echo Yukari might have expected, flat, robotic, generated from a sound bank.
Even so, it comes from her body.
"Huh?" Scion says, again, and that sounds like the girl you've fought tonight, sounding alarmed for the first time, tonight.
"NATURE FRACTURE STATE: ORANGE."
"What's goin' on?" Scion looks around herself, taking a step back, towards the alleyway. "What's that? Hey, I feel weird..."
"HOST INCOMPATIBILITY 48%. 56%. 64%. GRAFT REJECTION IMMINENT. RECALLING OBSERVATION UNIT FOR TERMINAL RECORDING."
And there's Welwetes, tromping back out of the maid cafe...
... watching.
It has not brought a parfait.
"Seriously, what's..." Scion asks, as herself, as she takes a shaky step back.
"WARNING: EVACUATE ALL PERSONNEL. WARNING: EVACUATE ALL PERSONNEL. WARNING: EVACUATE ALL PERSONNEL."
"Ucha--!" The Bride leaves a bloody handprint, as she stumbles from the alleyway; her veils do not fully obscure the lower half of her face, and blood flecks from her chin, where she's coughed up more than what one might expect from pregnancy. In her other hand, she holds a shard of stone, edged purple; she grasps Scion's shoulder, tightly, to steady herself, before she's able to stand again.
She brings that sharp shard down across her own wrist, carving through her glove; what pours from her is red and vital, as she presses it in against what is shadowed beneath her hood.
"HOST-ANCHOR COMPENSATION IN PROGRESS," that robotic voice echoes, as the Bride holds herself up with a hand at Scion's shoulder. "RECONFIGURING... RECONFIGURING... HOST-CHASSIS TRANSLATION REBOOTING." There is a moment of terrible tension, before: "COMPENSATION COMPLETE."
... Scion isn't the same kind of robot Aigis is at all, is she?
"Mama... uh, hey... you good?" Scion asks, a touch blurry, as she reaches to steady the Bride.
"Leave it!" Yumi screams, her own voice tearing from the force of her protective grief, over her shoulder, calling Miho from her work on the Dragon Line -- work she herself may have disrupted, tearing a makeshift dagger from the edifice. "We're going! GRETCHEN!" With Scion steadying her, she's able to draw her Evoker and fire, into her own eye. Gretchen towers above them, twice as tall; she spreads her arms wide, jail bars driven into them, to embrace Miyu and Tsurugi and Yumi and Scion as they pile in. (And, as it happens, Welwetes, who scurries in alongside them.) In an instant, they disappear...
... and no new Demons enter the area, when they're gone, though it is striking that the strange greyscale starkness of the area persists for a while, giving those Demons the time they need to seek shelter from a city more hostile to their existence than Sumaru's storied corners.
Dealing with those which still remain would be a noble pursuit, now pursuing the Groom is impossible. In the alleyway they once guarded, the stone wall has gained a purple, flared dragon sigil, etched subtly into the wall, unobtrusive enough that one would not see it unless they knew to look. Violet energy emanates from it... the Dragon Line, now sealed.
And as reality reasserts itself, people start asking whether there was a gas leak in the maid cafe... did you see how the edges of your sight were wobbling like that? It was definitely the heating going off!
Thank God so many people realised something was wrong and evacuated, they'll say -- and even employees who left the area in a hurry will be relieved to realise they had a good excuse to abandon their work.
Of course, there are soon ambulance crews on sight to treat injuries -- and escort the injuried to hospital.
Hospitals with a certain affiliation to the Order, that is.
(... luckily, they really are going to treat anyone who needs treating, and no one's held longer than necessary.)