2026-09-11: Address Not Found
- Log: Address Not Found
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin, Takaya Sakaki, Remi Ryuuja, Kurou Ryouhara, Jin Shirato, Noriaki Okaga, Niko Kirisaki
- Where: Narumi - Main
- OOC Date: September 11, 2026
- IC Date: January 8, 2013
- Summary: Having found rumours of a laboratory still in operation, Strega, hard at work, tracked down the rumoured entrance to Blacksite Revelation. When they assault it in force, the Blacksite recalls its NWO assets as a matter of emergency to protect the facility... which, in turn, gives /those/ agents access. Aims both at cross-sections and aligning will collide as Strega attempts to smash and grab top secret information!
(|============================== Narumi - Main ===============================|)
-================================================= Sumaru City/Narumi Ward ====-
The newest ward of Sumaru City is also the fanciest and most elegant--and,
consequently, the most expensive. The crime rate here is low and the stores are
top-class, so many rich and famous people make their homes here. The view is
second to none, thanks to how it juts directly into the sea to the south; a
yacht harbor ensures one can watch classy ships sailing by all day long.
Because it's so new, there are sections of it that are still under construction,
most notably the local subway lines, and some of the seedier parts of society
have taken advantage of that to creep in and take root. That has nothing to do
with the local science lab, conducting experiments for the good of society with
top-notch security, and maybe everything to do with the sewer system next door.
But one can't possibly want to go into the sewer--not when the five-star
accommodations of Hotel Pleiades are available on the south beach. Hotel
Pleiades is without question the jewel of Narumi. Because it also overlooks the
yacht harbor, many rich, seafaring travelers get rooms here, boosting the local
economy even further. The Astro Universe Theme Park here is home to the Astro
Clock, the second largest ferris wheel in Japan.
AS: Noriaki Okaga has readied for combat as Efnysien! He is now fully healed! AS: Takaya Sakaki has readied for combat as Hypnos! He is now fully healed! AS: Jin Shirato has readied for combat as Moros! He is now fully healed! AS: Niko Kirisaki has readied for combat as Ate! She is now fully healed! AS: Kurou Ryouhara has readied for combat as Gashadokuro! He is now fully healed! AS: Remi Ryuuja has readied for combat as La Maupin! She is now fully healed! Umie Akabane has arrived from Historia: The White Chronicle.
AS: Miho Ijuuin has readied for combat as Faust! She is now fully healed! <Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxRATJiC-XM Persona 2 Eternal Punishment - Science Research Institute
The first entryway into the Blacksite -- a nondescript office building hidden in plain sight in Narumi Ward -- was intruded through by hacking, but it wasn't long before Strega got to a door which couldn't be knocked on so quietly.
Luckily, they don't need to do quiet.
"Sector 2, breach," a man in a suit reports, as explosives rock the outer doors of an elevator. "Sector 2 transit, breach," and that's the way he describes the ropes which drop down -- all entirely mundane methods, as Strega forces their way into the facility.
"That trick won't work for the lower blast doors," his fellow insists. "There's no way they can use charges like that when they're in the elevator shaft. Besides -- they'll need to breech the elevator to get to the doors," which soundly explains why he hasn't dropped it on them when they started climbing down.
"You idiot," the first man growls, "that far down, they'll be in supernatural space! Deploy the Numbers! They'll cover us getting out!"
"All right, all right--!!"
Strega breeches the blast doors. Down in these tunnels, once part of the railway system, long destroyed by earthquakes... a secret facility was built. Blacksite Revelation abjured any attempts to scan or analyse it during the Dark Hour, with plating along its walls which blocks any psychic intrusion. Once thats breached, it becomes clear: this is not a place of honour, but it is a gravesite.
Not everyone survives the testing environment.
'Project Sybil', down one wing, may relate to that strange plating... as Sybil was another name for a seer. 'Project Promachos' may be less clear in its warrior's focus. Perhaps most sinister is the wing for Project Hemitheoi -- at least for anyone who recognises the link between theoi and theology.
The scientists are hiding in their offices, in the wings; every door is locked, and strengthened against Personas, but even a strong barrier must fall to enough concentrated power. ... this need to knock so loudly, though, precludes them splitting up -- where they go, they must go together.
What's going on?
Who's there?
Don't resist! They'll hurt you, too!
o/`
A series of psychic calls urge them into the Sibylline wing... most pressingly, a wordless pipe. They proceed through an abandoned mess hall, sighting a dance hall through a door, a painter's room, a library... until they come to the music room, where that flute grows louder, until it comes to a young -- girl? Boy? -- playing a heavy, Revolver-like Evoker like a flute.
Number 149 -- or perhaps it's kinder to call them 'Piper' -- opens their mouth, only for no sound to come out... but for the piping of the Pied Piper, ethereal behind them. Their mouth is open in a big smile, though. :D o/`
With the help of their illusory, compelling guidance, Strega will be able to release all those Numbers which the Blacksite meant to wield against them -- and they start escaping, instead, those of them able to teleport between Supernatural spaces escorting the others out into Mementos now they haven't been artificially penned into the facility. It involves killing some scientists who were hurriedly trying to pack up research and bolt, but they're able to find solid evidence of the Order making children like them... but not only children. Some of the people in these experiments are older teenagers... or even proper adults over twenty! It seems like their methodology is to engage people in their passions in order to promote their Persona development, on top of the tortures, which also explains how many artistic visionaries seem to have been kidnapped in here. It seems, as well, that they're cohorting types of Artificial Persona-users after they force them Awakened -- such as here, where all the Navigators and Anti-Navigators are processed under Project Sybil.
With escapees running from both the Sybil and Promachos wings, the next obvious target is Project Hemitheoi... where they'll find something even more shocking, as they explore together. These -- these are robots! And not just robots -- but demons, locked in rooms or cages. These are treated, as one might expect, much more coldly than the humans who shatter more easily -- far more stick than carrot.
Meanwhile, in the control room, those men in suits are panicking. "Why aren't the Numbers responding?!"
"One of them's got them in its grip! It's leading them out! They haven't been tempered yet -- they can't resist! All we have left now are the ones in recovery or who haven't Awakened yet--!"
"God damn it!" A fist slams down on the surveillance console. "We can't cover this up... tell the scientists to shelter in place, we can't lose any more of them! As for these rats -- retrieve the assets on deployment, then! Anyone with clearance! Get me something, or the Director will have my head!"
And that's why there's an emergency klaxon, sounding at Miho's phone, and Remi's, and Yua's, and Tyrrha's. Kurou Ryouhara, as it happens, is on Yua guard duty today -- and the flurry of suiting-up movement informs his decision to reveal himself to Miho and offer his strength to her.
She has no reason to deny him and preserve the Order's secrecy; the call was placed to the assets and their handers, but they did say anyone with clearance would do...
Speaking of going together, Miyu and her assets (as the Blacksite would describe them) arrive to a puzzle: with the nondescript front entrance to the Blacksite bombed out, and the elevator damaged, how are they to get down? The surface -- unlike Rumoured conditions underground -- does not allow them to summon their Personas, and the Pied Piper helping everyone escape into Mementos can hardly help out here.
... of course, the lack of a Supernatural area has never stopped Miyu. With the activation of the Groom's Mark, it's much easier for Yumi to teleport them inside... at least, now the cognitive shielding has been breeched. (It was rather impossible to escape or enter that way before Strega made a mess. Perhaps that's another reason why they keep all their Navigators in one Project... if they're all in Project Sybil, they only need to worry about thwarting teleportation from one cohort.) Yumi remains at the entrance, Empusa bribed with jewels and blood to leave her be or to keep vigil, while the others move to intercept Strega -- still digging through the secrets of Hemitheoi.
The wing of the demi-Gods will become their battlesite, with its grim, barred rooms, sick cages, and horrific operation tables. It is a thing which only becomes clearer as Yumi's influence infiltrates the Blacksite's bones: the lights dim and flicker, the lab plunging into murky blackness, and any familiarity flees the feeling of doors barred like jail cells, red hand prints appearing on the walls, as everyone feels the oppressive feeling of being turned around and trapped. It is a terrible, seeping feeling; through Scion, it transmits more directly into everyone's bones.
This is not the first time Yumi has stopped people from fleeing this place.
It may well not be the last.
At least Scion -- who may, in fact, be one of those robots, judging by the blatantly metallic sounds she's making under that black hood of hers, plus the pink-swirling pearl antenna poking out from it -- is still in good spirits. "Hey! It's a party! C'mon, let's have some fun!"
AS: Yua Ijuuin has readied for combat as Tyrrha's Summoned Guardian!! She is now fully healed! AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Almighty skill Pain Wave - Gretchen's Calling on Jin Shirato, Takaya Sakaki, Noriaki Okaga, and Niko Kirisaki! | Defense: Yua Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Takaya Sakaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Yua Ijuuin's Pain Wave - Gretchen's Calling. | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
It is a simple matter to invoke the Mark--to invoke a space above wherein demons arrive. ...Maybe they'll eat a couple of the people up there. It is not her problem. Kurou is also not her problem--he is an asset.
...But really, someone assaulting the Blacksite? How very interesting indeed...
Miyu--the Groom--has been here before, though not in this context. She wants to set the entire thing ablaze, save that there might still be test subjects here. ...And there might still be useful information here, for that matter.
The scientists? Hmm.
So it is that a woman in gray armor with a dragon-emblazoned sabre in hand walks through the halls, looking around to see and sense intruders. "Ryouhara," she says. "You are free to engage as you see fit. Tsurugi..."
"Keep your anger leashed--for now."
"And Scion..."
"...Remain in the Bride's sight."
Miyu is obviously giving the orders here.
AS: Mind Up! Niko Kirisaki's SP +8! AS: Block Best! Niko Kirisaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Yua Ijuuin's Pain Wave - Gretchen's Calling. | Bind (Magic and Avoid Penalized!) and Exhaust (Damage when using Weapon/Tandem!) added!
AS: Block Worst! Noriaki Okaga takes 0 Almighty damage from Yua Ijuuin's Pain Wave - Gretchen's Calling. | Poison (Damage on end of turn!) added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Jin Shirato takes 0 Almighty damage from Yua Ijuuin's Pain Wave - Gretchen's Calling. | Rage (Weapon Attack and Incoming Damage Up!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Takaya Sakaki has posed.
The raid on the NWO facility has been a plan that has been in Takaya's mind for awhile. Ever since they (probably) killed Sudou, Takaya has been saying they should repay the conspiracy with a visit. While some might see this as an attempt to free those poor test subjects, Takaya has told his people to take whatever looked "useful" and kill whoever they like. The term Takaya used was "Unpersons" for any scientist or unlucky employee who got in their way...Which he used very loosely.
As Takaya exits the elevator, he pulls his pistol from his hip and fires a shot toward the nearest guard who was brave enough to cross him. His shirtless chest breaths with anticipation as he walks the corridors, not reacting to each horrible crime against humanity. Hofwever, the demons being turned into robots elicits a smile from the cult leader. "Well well...hubris. It would seem they have things even I didn't believe possible. Jin, lets see if we can get one of these robots for...fun. Maybe we'll drop it into Tartarus so SEES shares in the festivities."
He doesn't know that this would likely not work but then again, Takaya was still window shopping.
He stops near a door between him and some scientists, firing a warning shot into the door.
For some reason, Takaya is feeling rather "Charmed" with the whole affair so far. Thus he is more likely to shoot anything that intices him.
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Remi got the call, the same as Yua and Miho. And as much as she hates that accursed place... she was compelled to respond. Quite literally, in fact. That emergency protocol has been ruthlessly drilled into her head, and though iit hasn't needed to be activated since she was allocated to Miho, the compulsion it produces is still frighteningly potent, clawing at her mind and forcing her to suit up and report, lest the consequences make themselves known to her.
So she is in a doubly bad mood to be forced to return to this place, dressed in an all-black fencing suit, with a matching black fencing mask. A rapier sits on one hip, and an Evoker on her opposite thigh.
Miyu has orders, and Tsurugi looks at her. Her anger flares for a moment--another order vying for control of her actions, but she eventually grunts and nods as she sorts out the conflicting directions. She must respond, but the situation is also unknown. Some caution is warrented. "Acknowledged."
She's still itching for a fight as she stalks through the halls. It is not the first time she has walked them.
She fears it will not be the last.
But they come in sight of the intruders, and her footsteps pick up as she breaks into a full run. Wordlessly she draws her rapier and a main gauche from her back, locking onto Jin. With a shout she throws herself forward, lunging at Jin with the rapier, followed by a quick twist and a second go with her dagger.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Guarding Yua is an important facet among Kurou's instructions, but the order Shiryuu gave him was to provide protection for the Ijuuin clan and relations. His interpretation of such is precise: Yua, and her family... the family that Kurou has observed it to truly be, present and future.
But his technical clearance is also a critical opportunity. He does not have the social finesse to push his luck. Miho does not deny him, and Kurou knows his actions must remain stalwart and steadfast, no matter what it is he sees.
... Even this horrific laboratory, stained in cruelty, Kurou's face is set in stone. He draws his Ryouhara ninkou, Soumeiunsatou: a short, straight sword with a chain attached to its pommel that ends in a grappling claw. His fingers tighten around the hilt, knuckles turning white, as he surveys the space.
His gaze lands upon the intruders. For a long moment, they set upon Niko, lingering in heavy intensity... but without surprise.
Miho grants him the freedom to engage.
"Understood."
As soon as the word is finished, Kurou vanishes from his obedience position behind Miho and descends into there would-be battlefield. He launches his chain ahead of himself, trying to grapple around Takaya and drag him from the group to isolate him with a follow-up strike from his blade.
"Strega," he acknowledges.
It's not impossible that those of Strega might recognize him... once a simple Ryouhara errand boy within the New World Order up until about a year ago, who once delivered goods within the Dark Hour, wordless, obedient, and with an empty, soulless gaze.
Now his eyes burn with undying intensity as his heart beats for battle.
AS: Weapon! Kurou Ryouhara has used the Slash skill Defy Heaven on Takaya Sakaki! 3 Hits! | Pressure: Kurou Ryouhara gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Takaya Sakaki takes 107 Slash damage from Kurou Ryouhara's Defy Heaven. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Neutral! Takaya Sakaki takes 75 Slash damage from Kurou Ryouhara's Defy Heaven. Critical Hit! AS: Counter Worst! Takaya Sakaki takes 105 Slash damage from Kurou Ryouhara's Defy Heaven. Critical Hit! | COUNTER! Kurou Ryouhara takes 31 Slash damage in return for his attack!
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
But they come in sight of the intruders, and her footsteps pick up as she breaks into a full run. Wordlessly she draws her rapier and a main gauche from her back, locking onto Jin. With a shout she throws herself forward, lunging at Jin with the rapier, followed by a quick twist and a second go with her dagger.
AS: Weapon! Remi Ryuuja has used the Pierce skill Balestra on Jin Shirato! 2 Hits! | Aggression: Remi Ryuuja gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Jin Shirato takes 53 Pierce damage from Remi Ryuuja's Balestra. AS: Avoid Best! Jin Shirato takes 35 Pierce damage from Remi Ryuuja's Balestra. Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.
Jin sticks close behind Takaya -- not because he's looking for his leader to shield him, but the reverse; Jin didn't doubt in Takaya's abilities in the least, but Takaya was more than a leader to Jin. He was something else. Jin had never really quite figured out the appropriate label for their relationship; 'friends' didn't really quite fit. It was more than that. All he knew is that he'd die to protect Takaya and he was ready to do it anytime or anyplace.
"Got it." The sound of fast-moving footsteps echo down the hallway. Jin tenses and reaches for one of his grenades.
"Looks like we have company."
Jin can't even get the sentence completely out before a member of the NWO lashes out at Takaya with his weapon. Jin whips around just in time to catch the end of it. "Takaya!"
But then the footsteps he heard before stop behind him. He whirls around, clearly agitated; he'll have to take care of this one before he can help Takaya. So he'd better move quickly.
In any case, Jin's frenetic energy isn't quite enough to evade Remi's attacks. He grimaces, but doesn't let it show on his face for long; he disrupts the pain, letting anger and irritation override his expression with a new one. Jin runs his thumb along the handle of the grenade.
"You've made a big mistake choosing me!"
And as if to demonstrate why, Jin starts lobbing grenades in Remi's direction.
AS: Weapon! Jin Shirato has used the Pierce skill Overflow Exception on Remi Ryuuja! 2 Hits!
<Pose Tracker> Noriaki Okaga has posed.
"Knew it was gonna be some shit," drawls Noriaki, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck as he follows in Takaya's wake, a turn of the ever-present hoodie obscuring the precise line of his gaze but not the general direction his eyes take. "Tch... a whole new barrel of shit, just for us!"
His stained and rusted machete is propped against his shoulder as he saunters on in, his gaze tracking the space between ceiling and doorframes.
It had been comparatively a simple thing to throw wide the gates of the other halls and let those poor bastards free to the cold world that awaited them. Noriaki had just let them go, venting whatever animus or pique upon the researchers or staff that just weren't fast enough.
They might not survive very long out there. But he hadn't lifted a finger other than to rend their bars and split open their cages with his own Artificial Persona.
Perhap it was just his whim.
Perhaps there was a reason for it.
Of those here, Takaya and Jin know the man's story, one that he hasn't yet relayed to Niko. But then again, his story's not terribly far from their own tale.
If he'd expected more sad stories behind the door to Hemitheoi, though, he's going to be sadly mistaken. Or at least--
It's not sad in a way that Noriaki would recognize.
"Not even sparin' demons, eh..." he says, shrugging listlessly at a caged demon. "Heh, now here's a laugh!"
And that's when he draws his Evoker and upon summoning Efnysien, crushes this particular cage in. "What's all this shit for, anyway? Usin' demons as an army?" he wonders, his gaze eventually falling on one of those demon-operated machines that's apparently out and about.
"Hey, we got a loose one--" he starts, before the very air around him seems to shriek and he doubles over. Is it just his imagination, or have his veins started to feel like they've turned to sludge?
"What was that?! --Hey, we've got a live one!" he barks at Jin and Takaya, jerking his head towards the solo figure chirping about a party.
Though Tyrrha isn't solo for long, as he soon notices. "Eh? Now what? Sakaki, Shirato, I'll leave these bastards to you. As for you--" he growls, lunging for Tyrrha with that machete--
He may be displeased to learn that these machines, demon-spirit inside or not, don't bleed.
AS: Weapon! Noriaki Okaga has used the Slash skill Well-used Machete - Forward Cleave on Yua Ijuuin! 3 Hits! | Aggression: Noriaki Okaga gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
It's a Smash And Grab! Niko is generally in her element in these kinds of missions, being very capable of smashing and all too eager to do some grabbing. But she well realizes that isn't your average one of those. This one's big, and the target a very special one indeed. All the more reason for her to be totally on board.
The prep work was mostly Takaya's, and in regards to gaining access, it's been mostly Jin's show. But once they'd descended, Niko sprung into action, eagerly breaching into Project Sybil. While perhaps not all among Strega care equally about the fates of the test subjects, she very obviously did, being the first to start shouting to, quote, "get the fuck outta dodge".
Mostly busying herself with that side of the affair, she didn't actively seek out those deemed 'Unpersons'. Only those employees who happened to be in her path or trying to make off with research materials got the sometimes literal boot - and they might be the lucky ones, as of those in Strega, running in Niko has the highest odds of living to tell the tale. If likely with a broken bone or three.
No time for it now, but Niko is very, very interested about learning what she can about this place - that wing, in particular. It may be crude, stuffing everything that looks like it might be related to Project Sybil's research into an actual sack she brought along, but hey, it works. It IS still a Smash And Grab, in the end.
By the time Strega gets to Hemitheoi, Niko's already carrying a sizable prize - and with it, her personal primary goal has already been achieved. She's far less perturbed by the demonic experiments, remaining in high spirits. "Oh man, really, we can have our own robot?! Hey Jin, you better pick a good one!"
Of course, things couldn't keep going smoothly forever. A sudden massive headache isn't the best way to notice being the target of Something Supernatural, but Niko does have some measure of advance warning, cautioning, "Ugh, careful! Something... something's here!"
Soon, everyone can feel that themselves through the unsettling changes in surroundings, as well as the physical sensations that come with them. As Takaya and Jin find themselves beset upon, Niko moves to take action, but--
"Kurou-chan?!"
...freezes in her tracks. She wasn't expecting this. Wasn't prepared for it. Why here, why now, is all she can think.
Until she decisive turns towards the armored woman, clearly the one giving orders. And thus the one at fault for this. An appropriate target to vent her displeasure.
"Damn you! I'll make you regret this! ATE!"
Niko breaks into a run, Evoker in one hand as she casts the sack aside for now - she'll be needing the freedom of movement. A quick motion and trigger-pull later, a spectral statue-like head appears following her close behind, dark hair trailing like a cloak of shadows. Its empty eye sockets glow purple as it launches a wild barrage of psychokinetic energy in the Groom's direction.
AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Elec skill Furious Psi on Miho Ijuuin! 3 Hits! | Ruin: Niko Kirisaki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 54 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Furious Psi. Critical Hit! | Bind (Magic and Avoid Penalized!) added!
AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 34 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Furious Psi. AS: You have 1 more attack in queue! AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 49 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Furious Psi. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Neutral! Remi Ryuuja takes 35 Pierce damage from Jin Shirato's Overflow Exception. AS: Avoid Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 63 Pierce damage from Jin Shirato's Overflow Exception. AS: Block Neutral! Yua Ijuuin takes 41 Slash damage from Noriaki Okaga's Well-used Machete - Forward Cleave. Critical Hit! AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 38 Slash damage from Noriaki Okaga's Well-used Machete - Forward Cleave. AS: Block Neutral! Yua Ijuuin takes 41 Slash damage from Noriaki Okaga's Well-used Machete - Forward Cleave. Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"No problem, no problem!" Scion chirps, to her leader, saluting the mysterious Groom lazily. "So long as I'm transmittin', she can see me just fine!"
"Waves break upon me," a voice -- not Scion's -- comes, as those pearls on the antenna sticking out from Scion's hood swirl with pink energy. "Come, break upon me... battering, battering..."
Well. She can see them.
And judging by the black, dim, blurred and lightless halls...
... she can see what's going on around them, too.
One of those robots, released in the fray, does enter the hall -- with jerky, trembling movements. "Hee hee... hoo... HOO... are you? I woke up -- I woke up -- and my feet weren't my feet, and my hat's not my hat, and the door's not a wall, and the door's slick with blood, and I got my tongue stuck there, just like a Christmas pole... what's with the Christmas pole...? Hee hee... hoo hoo... hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh....!!!"
It falls into Takaya's space as a robotic voice interjects: "OVERLOAD IMMINENT. EVACUATE ALL PERSONNEL. EVACUATE ALL PERSONNEL."
He will need to show quite a lot of alacrity to avoid the ensuing core explosion, as that robotic horror self-destructs in its self-awareness -- and so will Kurou.
... it seems like Takaya's hopes and dreams of stealing a robot are going to be much more complicated than he may have envisioned.
"Huh, what's with that guy?" Scion wonders, rubbing at the back of her hood, as she shrugs -- not even flinching as she sees another cage crushed at the edge of that blackness, as Efnysien metes out what may have been mercy, from one perspective. "Well, whatever! Hey, fella! You look fun! Let's party!"
He lunges -- and Scion lifts her arms in an X, as that wicked instrument drags deep, grinding, GRATING gashes into her metal chassis.
There is no blood, though a little lubrication does drip down... it's machine oil.
"Wow! That's a real powerful knife!" She grins, beneath her hood, as she hops back. "Man, everyone's so upset whenever they come here... look at Tsurugi, she's all switched off and stuff! And Miyu's givin' orders like it's serious, and Yumi's havin' a moment up there, and even the ninja's all like, 'I'm a super serious ninja guy'... what is it with this place, huh? Everyone always treats it like it's the worst! Oh, well. Summonin'...!"
She has no Evoker, though there is the sound of shifting gears, as a tag in a black box flares with runes. What erupts from her appears at first glance to be organic -- but the leonine figure is bound by metal, screwed and plated into its flesh, creating a cyborg from its body. Guardian roars, and lightning crashes down onto Noriaki...!
AS: Persona! Yua Ijuuin has used the Elec skill Rapid Zio on Noriaki Okaga! 3 Hits!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miyu is indeed giving orders. That must make her the one in charge... right? It's true to a point.
Kurou-chan, though...
"So you know him?" Miyu, the masked Groom, opines to Niko. Then she takes the attack--she attempts to dodge the first blast of energy, but instead it slams into her side, knocking her to the wall. She raises her sword to block the next, but psychokinetic energy is hard to block with a sword; her impact hits the ground at one knee.
"Will you?" Miyu wonders of Niko. "Will you indeed?"
"...Or will you simply doom these experiments to a lingering death? If you don't take their medicine with you, understand that they will die. Did you think of that?"
Miyu's exposition may make Niko angrier. It'll have to depend.
She recognizes Niko, of course. She likes Niko. But that does not change what must be done today.
But this place... This odious place... This place where Yua was tormented. Where Remi was turned into a weapon. This place, Miho is obligated to defend. In the face of spilling blood for a place she wants to see in ruins, Miho is met with something familiar:
Anger.
"...But you..."
"You see it, don't you? The toll in misery. Humans, turned to weapons; humans, turned to things. Treated as less, until they believe it themselves. Not even demons are safe from our touch. ....No. You see it."
"And you are here to profit from it, are you not?"
"You see it," she says, and she is no longer speaking to Niko, just for a moment. "Watch," she says. "Watch it burn."
"Faust," Miyu whispers then, and the plague doctor rises from red mist.
"Ignite."
There is a hum of microwaves, before nuclear flame erupts throughout the hallway; towards Niko, yes, but in rooms, in the ceiling, in the floor, indiscriminate.
And the Groom begins, ever so quietly, to laugh.
AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Fire skill Mafrei on Niko Kirisaki! | Defense: Miho Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Niko Kirisaki takes 135 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Mafrei. Weak! | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Takaya Sakaki has posed.
Takaya smiles as Kurou seizes him. "Well, well." He looks over at Jin, nodding confidently to let his lieutenant know he will be ok.
He doesn't fight back until he is relocated and the strikes come. The leader of Strega attempts to avoid strikes, swaying back and forth. This doesn't seem to work as Takaya is slashed three times by the NWO's former errand boy, cutting into his bare chest. On the third strike, Takaya points his gun toward Kurou, firing off a single shot as he moves out of melee range.
"So...you seem to have gone up in the world. From a mere gofer to a leading player. How wonderful for you." Takaya clicks back the hammer of his pistol, pointing it toward Kurou mockingly. His yellow eyes gaze at him as he gestures from his free hand. "However, I'm not just some riff raff you can shoe away. I'm someone who has a gripe with this organization....After all, you started this little war."
Suddenly, a Persona appears behind Takaya, looking like a pale dead body being suspended by wings made of veins and viscera. The Persona begins to glow as it hovers over Takaya. "Persona....Hama." He states his attack matter of fact-ly. This is just business.
But then a Robotic Demon wanders into the fray....sounding like it wasn't going to be overloading soon. Takaya smiles, moving away from the unfortunate Jack robot but keeping his gun trained on it just incase he can use the explosion as another attack.
AS: Niko Kirisaki spends Limit on Salve! Exhaust removed from Niko Kirisaki! AS: Persona! Takaya Sakaki has used the Light skill Hama on Kurou Ryouhara! AS: Charm results in party damage! Takaya Sakaki takes 90 damage! AS: Block Best! Kurou Ryouhara takes 130 Light damage from Takaya Sakaki's Hama. Critical Hit! Weak!
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Even as Niko calls out his name, Kurou does not flinch. He cannot afford to.
Faust ignites, and Kurou still does not flinch, but his breath does quicken. His eyes cannot leave his current target.
"... 'Up'... I wonder..."
Steel sings admits gunshots, and Kurou lunges back from Takaya to avoid the point blank shot. He eyes watch Takaya's every movement like a cat follows the movement of prey. They light as Takaya calls it a war. One the NWO already started.
"Is that so?"
Hama encircles Kurou in its sealing light, and as it detonates, that is what blasts Kurou back from the robotic self-destruction as he recoils with a guttural wince.
It is not enough to down him, stance held firm as he regains his poison and balance, his fingers at the scarf at his throat. He pulls, and the needle-mechanism hisses as it enters his throat.
"Gashadokuro."
The colossal skeleton of skeletons appears behind Kurou, towering over him and barely fitting within the walls of the facility. Its eye sockets burn, and its mouth opens to scream as grave dirt spills between its maw of jagged teeth.
Kurou becomes enveloped in darkness, and as his Persona leaves sight... so does he, barely a shadow, and difficult to make out within the darkness. But his voice remains as he stalks Takaya from the dark, hunting for the perfect moment to strike.
"... And how will you define victory?"
AS: Persona! Kurou Ryouhara has used the Recovery skill Dead of Night on Kurou Ryouhara! | Kurou Ryouhara takes 45 damage from Stress! | Pressure: Kurou Ryouhara gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Kurou Ryouhara takes 0 Recovery healing from Kurou Ryouhara's Dead of Night. | Cloak (Non-Area Damage Mitigated!) and Light_Wall (Light Affinity Up!) added!
AS: Block Neutral! Noriaki Okaga takes 34 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Rapid Zio. AS: Block Neutral! Noriaki Okaga takes 34 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Rapid Zio. AS: Counter Neutral! Noriaki Okaga takes 55 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Rapid Zio. | COUNTER! Yua Ijuuin takes 23 Strike damage in return for her attack!
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Tsurugi and Jin, as it happens, mayu have a strange sort of symmetry. The vital difference, however, is in how that protectiveness came about. In Tsurugi's case, it was manufactured, not inspired.
The fact that the most frequent recipients of that compelled protectiveness happens to be two of her best friends is both a blessing and an awkwardness.
"You have made the mistake by walking into your grave!" Tsurugi snarls back to Jin. Grenades come, and Tsurugi does her best to clear out of the way, but a Balestra is an attack that leaves her extended and exposed as she seeks to withdraw.
They push her back, and though the shrapnel cuts at her suit, leaving her with rends and gouges, Tsurugi seems undeterred. Aside from the insult she hasn't made a noise of pain.
There is a scowl of annoyance as she hears Scion's chatter, though. But it's not her place to comment on that. (And she's too busy getting locked into her target, anyway.)
But, indeed. This place.
Tsurugi scowls as she sheathes her rapier. From her thigh she pulls out a gun. A heavy revolver, made of a dark gray metal. The exact form of it may be unclear at first, until she all-too-calmly raises it to her head and fires. "Persona."
Flames and glass whirl and shatter behind her as a figure in a red straightjacket rises up. Androgynous, hands obscured by dangling sleeves but still clutching a chipped rapier. A large, tattered hat on their head that has seen better days.
The Evoker, different in design to Kirijo Corp's design but unmistakeable in purpose, is sheathed. La Maupin gestures, and winds explode from Tsurugi's feet to wrap around her.
"Now perish!" she shouts, as she gestures. La Maupin charges forward, sword raised as it shimmers with energy--and when the Persona lashes out, it slices through Jin, trying to attack his mind, instead.
AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Exploit! Remi Ryuuja can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Persona! Remi Ryuuja has used the Recovery skill Masukukaja on Remi Ryuuja! AS: Take! Remi Ryuuja takes 0 Recovery healing from Remi Ryuuja's Masukukaja. | Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!
AS: Persona! Remi Ryuuja has used the Slash skill Mind Slice on Jin Shirato! AS: Avoid Neutral! Jin Shirato takes 139 Slash damage from Remi Ryuuja's Mind Slice. Critical Hit! <Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.
Even in the midst of battle, Jin still manages to focus on Remi's evoker and commit it to memory; that's something that he wants to look into later. Doesn't look like the SEES-standard issue. Doesn't look like theirs, either. If someone else is out there manufacturing Evokers, he wants to know who that is and put a stop to it.
But Jin isn't able to focus on it for long; Remi uses it and her Persona strikes true, tearing its way through Jin's mind, leaving behind an intact, but shredded psyche.
"You think that's going to kill me?" Jin shouts out in spite of his haggard breathing. "I'll eke out your weakness!"
Jin spins around and directs his evoker at the side of his head. "Persona!"
Moros is summoned and launches its first attack.
AS: Persona! Jin Shirato has used the Light skill Hama on Remi Ryuuja! AS: Nerve Up! Remi Ryuuja's SP +8! AS: Avoid Neutral! Remi Ryuuja takes 69 Light damage from Jin Shirato's Hama.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Niko doesn't deign the question of whether she knows Kurou with an answer. That much is obvious. Doubly so when she briefly glances back to him, when her psychokinetic assault affords her a brief moment. Of course, she realized he was an experienced combatant. His affiliation, while never stated or questioned, she'd pretty much already narrowed down as the NWO for the only option that made sense. If she looked at things objectively, she'd have already factored in that they may have to fight one day.
Niko rarely looks at things objectively. She doesn't want to fight Kurou. She'd rather that neither of them had to fight at all - but since it was decided for them that they must fight, then she'd want it to be side by side. Perhaps it's not realistic to hope for that. But what the hell does it even mean to be realistic in this screwed-up world, anyway?
The Groom has Niko at a disadvantage - Niko doesn't recognize Miho in this guise. Who is to say whether it would have made a difference, in her reaction to being taunted in regards to the fate of the escaped test subjects. No, she didn't think about what would happen afterwards. And perhaps it is a knee-jerk reaction... but it's also something she genuinely believes.
"It doesn't matter! Nothing that happens here... none of that matters!"
That reaction was visceral. But even once she has the opportunity to soften it, she yet decides, "...It may be the only freedom they can ever know, thanks to what you people did."
She does see it, what's going on here. It genuinely upsets her. And it flat out offends her when accused of profiting for it. "That's not-- that isn't what this is about!" Maybe it is, to others of Strega. But her stake is, to a large degree, a personal one. She definitely has the moral high ground here, compared to one of them. "Whatever! You're with the people who caused all this! You don't get to lecture me!"
Satisfied with having made a good point, Niko is entirely prepared for the reaction in anger that's sure to follow. Except, not only is there no anger, there is fire. Lots of lots of fire. Getting caught in a fire is never a great experience, but this time, Niko's astonishment is even greater than her pain.
"What the FUCK?!"
Only two things can be going on here, she decides then. Either this lady is batshit crazy, or... perhaps her allegiance isn't exactly absolute. Or maybe both! Wouldn't the latter be interesting, though.
With another call of, "ATE!", the Persona's copious, perhaps endless hair envelops Niko, sparks flying as they join together. A loud yell follows, and Niko charges forwards through the flames, fist drawn back. She lashes out, once with each arm - two powerful punches wreathed in Ate's electrically-charged hair. In spite of the aggressive move, Niko's following words are considerably calmer than before.
"...I don't know what your game is here. But if you don't give a crap about this place, why not call your people off and let us leave? All we need is--- wait, shit!"
Surely the rest of Niko's words would have been very convincing, if she didn't need to hurry back to save her sack of loot from going up in flames. Give her a second.
AS: Tandem! Niko Kirisaki has used the Elec skill Untold Wrath on Miho Ijuuin! 2 Hits!
<Pose Tracker> Takaya Sakaki has posed.
Takaya is also watching Kurou. He analyzes the man's movements. Unlike Kurou's rigid trained movements, Takaya moves more without structure and worry. In this man's mind, death was not an ending that presented him with fear.
No, Takaya is more amused than anything else as he sees Kurou's Persona also make an appearance. He can only manage an impressed whistle as he scratches the side of his head with a cocked and loaded Revolver, perhaps trying to get into Kurou's head or throw him off. "Indeed. You killed one of ours. I have a strong suspicion anyway. So we're going to take some stuff from you and use it to our own ends."
Takaya points the gun toward the darkness, keeping his eyes on the stealthy assassin's hiding place for any sign of movement. He moves toward a wall, trying to give himself less directions to pay attention to.
"Victory will be when we take what is ours from your lovely little facility here. Though your body bleeding on the floor would be a nice addition to our spoils...Though if you turn your attention elsewhere, we could forgo that."
Takaya fires into the darkness when he thinks he senses something moving. "Hmph. Do you think your tricks will work forever?"
AS: Weapon! Takaya Sakaki has used the Pierce skill Death Wish on Kurou Ryouhara! AS: Charm results in party damage! Takaya Sakaki takes 90 damage! | Aggression: Takaya Sakaki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Takaya Sakaki spends Limit on Medicine! +75 HP to Takaya Sakaki! AS: Avoid Best! Kurou Ryouhara takes 9 Pierce damage from Takaya Sakaki's Death Wish. AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 28 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Untold Wrath. Critical Hit! AS: You have 1 more attack in queue! AS: Avoid Neutral! Miho Ijuuin takes 83 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Untold Wrath. Critical Hit! <Pose Tracker> Noriaki Okaga has posed.
Noriaki gets just about a moment to glance back over his shoulder as the rambling robot that Takaya and Kurou encounter a distance behind him suddenly detonates. "Tch," he hisses, brushing ash (real or imaginary) off his shoulder. "Seems more trouble than they're worth, Sakaki."
Even if he says that, though, he's not exactly cutting and running. No, if anything, once he lunges for Scion (Tyrrha when she's at home), he seems perfectly at home with this particular turn of events.
It's not as if they're going to live terribly much longer besides, might be the thinking. Though, if one were to pick Noriaki's brain on that particular line of thinking more personally...
Well, but no one's asking him what he thinks, and he's not willing to share.
He sure looks like he's having a good time, his lips curled and teeth bared in a grin that looks fit to rip out someone's throat. That cleaving blade of his comes down like an axe--
There's no blood. Just a shower of sparks followed by a trickling of machine oil. Noriaki leaps back, bringing the long knife up in a guarding posture. "You ain't got blood, do ya?" he asks of Scion, looking her up and down, his grin turning into something more like a scowl. "Pain in the ass... how'm I suppose to know if I hurt ya? Eh?"
Scion, though, wonders what's up with this place and why everyone's not having a good time here.
Old scars have a way of hurting when memory's touch brings old aches back around. And a place like this is full of memories, even if it's nothing he experienced, personally.
None of them are good memories.
The lack of blood on Scion's part only turns the screw tighter. Here, he shakes his head, lowering his blade just a touch. "'Cause it's a grave, you tin-can! Tch... can't you smell it? The blood and the rot," he tells her, baring his teeth and wrinkling his nose in disgust. "Ain't enough water to wash this away."
Lightning strikes not twice but thrice. While he bears against one then another strike rather than try to escape in these halls, the third--
"Persona!"
Punctuated by the sound of a gunshot. When the third strikes, it's answered in kind by a bolt of bludgeoning force from Efnysien.
"Ain't enough water," Noriaki pants, rising after that third blow. "So I'll burn it down. Sakaki! We'll take what we want from the ashes!" he roars, jamming the Evoker again into his jaw and pulling the trigger.
Efnysien's bulk rises from within his cauldron. He draws from the watery depths a sword that bursts aflame as soon as it slips the surface. The Persona need only swing once.
Noriaki follows suit soon after, carving a second arc at Scion with his own chopping blade.
AS: Tandem! Noriaki Okaga has used the Fire skill Firebrand on Yua Ijuuin! 3 Hits! AS: Noriaki Okaga spends Limit on Medicine! +75 HP to Noriaki Okaga! AS: Avoid Best! Yua Ijuuin takes 39 Fire damage from Noriaki Okaga's Firebrand. Critical Hit! Weak! AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 68 Fire damage from Noriaki Okaga's Firebrand. Weak! AS: Block Neutral! Yua Ijuuin takes 48 Fire damage from Noriaki Okaga's Firebrand. Weak! <Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
In the control room, men are swearing. "Fuck! Pierce of shit!" A man in a suit slams a fist on the console, again, as its display sinks to that same inky blackness which consumes the edges of the combatants' vision. "We lost sight on them!"
"We've lost uplink transmission on Jac-9!" "It wasn't even supposed to be active yet! We still needed an anchor for that one!" "And Inc-2!" "We didn't even fit it into a chassis yet--!!"
"Sprinker's activated! Someone's set a fire!" "What about our men down there?!" "Comms are down! We're blind!" "Damn it! Didn't we recall a Sybil?!" "The only one in service is that Yua Ijuuin!" "Ugh, so the lockdown -- is it at least cutting our losses?!" "Affirmative! We're not reading any more teleport fluctuations since we played the control clip through the intercom up there!" "Play it again! We can't lose it all here! This is a nightmare...!"
Everything's in chaos.
Equally chaotic, rent to madness, is the voice which tears from those pink-swirling pearls: "The bells... the bells...! I had naught to do with it, I swear! Here I grasp, choking, tight...!"
There can be no escape, from this place. Each hall turns those fleeing around; doors become walls with no exit. Rending the door-posts leads only to blood and ichor leaking from what is damaged, with sick fumes which addle the mind.
But here, in a place turned even darker and more wretched than it was, sterile white lighting quashed by inky black: there is fire.
And there are people, fleeing from the flames.
Some of them wear white coats...
... they are as trapped as their victims.
"War, war, war, war... a thousand fronts and one, singing the old lie, 'dulce et decorum est pro patria mori'! Here now we are guttering, drowning, and for what?! To stand?! To fight?! You will fall as all fall! We are not gifted as you, to burn and defy!" That feminine, distressed voice echoes out through the pearl's transmission, again, and perhaps she was listening to Takaya's words...
... as she places them categorically beside Miho, and not herself.
She does not know where they came from.
She cannot See into a man's past.
"She's really havin' a bad time, huh..." Scion wonders, tilting her head, as she listens to that transmission. "Oh, wow, her too," she adds, looking to Tsurugi. "Man, does the boss's bosses really gotta force it like that? Pretty sure they're both not havin' fun right now..."
As Jin may realise, Tsurugi's Evoker echoes the heavy, revolver-like Evoker they saw that Navigator use in the music room, back in the Sybil's wing; it seems as if it may well be standard issue, for the human experiments here, though Scion does not use one.
"Nankuru nai sa!" Scion calls, encouragingly, to Niko. "If nothin' matters, you're free to worry about whatever you like!"
Her encouragement is joined by an echo, "nothing matters nothing matters nothing nothing nothing nothing," from that woman in the pearl, "nothing nothing and no one leaves. No exit. The door is a wall. The wall is a binding. Press in. Collapse."
Scion grins, to Noriaki; at least he's smiling. That means he's having fun! Right? (That grin, face half-obscured by her hood, is a terrible, frightful thing...) "Nope! No blood for me! See, I'm a K-Series! Name's --"
"SCION --"
"-- uh, oh, right!" Scion grins, as that voice booms out, from her pearls. "Sorry, can't tell ya what my name-name is! But I got one for missions, ain't it cool? Anyway, don't worry about hurtin' me. I don't feel pain like you do! I just got damage alerts comin' in! If it helps, I got one about my arms right now. Would it help if I said 'ow'? Ow ow owwwwww!" She howls, and pauses, tilting her head. "No, that's not pain, that's a wolf... that's the sound wolves make. Leave it with me! I'll figure it out!"
But Noriaki has an answer, for her, and she laces her hands behind her hood as she tilts her head. "Not really," she says. "My olfactory sensors are pullin' that up, sure, buuuut... that's how stuff is supposed to smell? Like, this is so normal? I super don't get it."
There's not enough water -- "Heyyyy! No fair! It's fine when Miyu does it, but you're gonna hit me with that fire! That makes me feel SO bad, like I totally messed up somethin' I was supposed to keep safe!" Which isn't quite pain, but it's something, at least. "Nope, nope --" She hops back, out of the might of terrifying Efnysien in his cauldron, before she's forced to block that burning machete. "Aaaaahhhh this sucks!!!! That's it... time to pull out the big guns," she declares, as she hops back another step.
"Big, bigger, bigger...! You crashin' the party is makin' everyone upset, so I'll send you runnin' home! That's why I've got the 'Guardian Beast'--!"
A sick rune flashes on the ground, at her feet -- an echo of the binding runes in the black box of her chest, as her energy flares. Guardian emerges again, and for a moment all that can be seen, against the flash of thunder and lightning, is the way he climbs to the highest point in the air and roars down oblivion.
God from the machine, the bolts fall, onto Efnysien and Noriaki.
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 Noriaki Okaga! 3 Hits! | Yua Ijuuin takes 60 damage from Stress! | Defense: Yua Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"...Fair enough," Miyu says. "For some, freedom may be more valuable than life." But she doesn't say more than that at first, not to Niko--she does battle. instead,s he sees what's capable of offending her--she really isn't here for profit. "I will speak as I see fit."
The bells. THE BELLS. Miho's expression twists in rage under her mask.
A war, Takaya calls it. Miho is not certain how she feels about that; she is certain that that gun of his is a potential danger.
The old lie... Miyu hears it. She hears the distress Yumi feels. No, she hears the scream, knows they are playing that clip. The bells... But Scion speaks of bad times. "Yes, they do," Miyu says simply. "They wish to push. And push they shall. ...For now."
The flames rise. Nuclear flame gives way to red-orange blazes. And Miyu steps through the fire.
BGM: Mai-HiME OST - Mezame https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTRgr9IWLnY
Niko wonders what the fuck. Because Miyu just set a fire. "A fair question," the Groom allows. But before she can say anything more, powerful punches come with those electrical charges, and they hit hard. Even as she's able to turn aside the first blow with the flat of her blade, the second she has less success with, and is slammed back wallward, long enough that she has to listen to what Niko says whether she likes it or not.
As she does, she hears Noriaki's talk of ashes, and smiles under her mask.
"It is no game," she assures Niko. "It is deadly serious." ...Perhaps surprisingly, Miyu doesn't attack while Niko is running off to get the sack of loot. She waits.
Then--
"That is no option," Miyu says. "But if the place happens to burn down in the chaos... What an unfortunate accident that would be, you see?"
"There are those who choose freedom over life--but the one I love chooses life, and I will see it given her."
"So if you wish to leave, you will have to dance to our satisfaction first." She knows; they don't have ears down here. But they will be able to go over the evidence.
She lifts her sword. "So come. Earn your gains. If you can protect them from me, it is only right that you keep them."
"But this is my price--"
"We shall battle until the ashes claim this place! Life or death! Seize it!"
Miyu could set loose more hellfire. But instead--she lunges for Niko, hacking away at her with expert strokes of the blade and the ferocity of a dragon, slashing down diagonally across her front, up again, horizontal--
"Seize it, and damn the bells!"
AS: Miho Ijuuin spends Limit on Psych! AS: Weapon! Miho Ijuuin has used the Slash skill Dragon Clash on Niko Kirisaki! 3 Hits! | Defense: Miho Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
A moment within the cover of darkness is a moment to listen the battlefield as a whole. Tsurugi and Jin's indignance. Scion's joy and Noriaki's frustration. The Bride's familiar but unsettling shift in perception. The Groom's cutting words and Niko's rejection of them.
But Takaya's not an easy target to read, and the darkness will not protect Kurou forever.
Killed one of theirs... "That you have survived this long is a testament to strong instincts."
If that is what Takaya believes, then Kurou has no desire to discourage him from thinking it. It may well be the truth -- Kurou is not lying about his belief in Takaya's intuition. The rest Takaya's answer is met with a brief silence, and in that silence, fires. Droplets of blood hit the laboratory floor, and where the wound oozes from the shiest graze against Kurou's cheek, it paints an outline of the curve of his face and reveals the rest of him, starting with his gleaming eyes.
"... Is that all it would take to satiate you? One facility's spoils? One bleeding body?"
Kurou touches his fingers to the wound, smearing it gently. Willing to forgo it... Takaya recognizes Kurou is not a primary concern. Good instinct, indeed. But that means Kurou has to make himself one.
"Only death will distract me. Show me your hunger for war."
He leads by example, finger hooked to his scarf, mouthing out 'Persona'. Gashadokuro rises up from the earth, screeching in silence as grave dirt wreathes around Kurou's blade. He lunges at Takaya, heedless of that revolver and open for counter attack.
AS: Tandem! Kurou Ryouhara has used the Earth skill Gravebrand on Takaya Sakaki! 3 Hits! | Pressure: Kurou Ryouhara gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Noriaki Okaga takes 110 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Neutral! Takaya Sakaki takes 73 Earth damage from Kurou Ryouhara's Gravebrand. Weak! AS: Block Worst! Noriaki Okaga takes 119 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. AS: Avoid Neutral! Takaya Sakaki takes 73 Earth damage from Kurou Ryouhara's Gravebrand. Weak! AS: Counter Best! Takaya Sakaki takes 93 Earth damage from Kurou Ryouhara's Gravebrand. Weak! | COUNTER! Kurou Ryouhara takes 39 Earth damage in return for his attack! Resist!
AS: Counter Neutral! Noriaki Okaga takes 159 Elec damage from Yua Ijuuin's Guardian Beast. Critical Hit! | COUNTER! Yua Ijuuin takes 66 Strike damage in return for her attack!
AS: Noriaki Okaga endures with 83 HP! AS: Niko Kirisaki spends Limit on Brace! AS: Avoid Best! Niko Kirisaki takes 24 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Dragon Clash. Critical Hit! AS: Block Best! Niko Kirisaki takes 57 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Dragon Clash. Critical Hit! AS: Counter Best! Niko Kirisaki takes 59 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Dragon Clash. | COUNTER! Miho Ijuuin takes 28 Slash damage in return for her attack! Resist! <Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
The answer to 'Who manufactured Tsurugi's Evoker' is, really, a distressingly simple one.
It's the standard issue one for this lab, after all. It might be more surprising if they haven't seen any of those models here. (But Tsurugi, too, is curious about the SEES-issued model.)
Hama comes, and dodges to the side with a burst of speed as the ray of light tears at her side. Tsurugi tucks into a roll and comes up while smoothly drawing her rapier. "There is nothing you can do to me that this place hasn't already."
"We cannot quit this place," she retorts to Niko. "The men who hold our leash demand we heel."
No, Tyrrha. Tsurugi is not having fun. And Tsurugi has little doubt that YUumi isn't, either. She scowls as she hears Yumi's report. She remembers far too well all the horrors of this place. Her only solace (if it can be that) is that in this moment she is doing what she is 'supposed' to be.
As despicable as it is.
She's keeping a close eye on that fire, too. But Miyu sets the terms... and Tsurugi is not disinclined to go against her. She is the one she takes orders from, aft4er all.
"If all is to be reduced to ash..." Tsurugi laughs, and she doesn't sound entirely herself for the moment. "Then so be it!" She has no love of this place. And if, in her zeal to capture the eintruders, whs goes too far...
... Well, it's not her fault her priorities weren't set more carefully.
She darts back, as La Maupin falls into place besides her, and she pulls something out of her pouch that looks disturbingly like a bullet. "Loading skill cartridge," she intones, for Miyu, Scion, and Kurou.
She raises the Evoker to her head again and pulls the trigger. Power surges into La Maupin in waves, and the Persona throws her hand out. A swirling ball of intense, nuclear flame quickly grows and then flies outwards towards Jin, exploding with an intense flash of light and a titanic wave of heat.
AS: Persona! Remi Ryuuja has used the Fire skill Ultra Freila on Jin Shirato! AS: Avoid Best! Jin Shirato takes 49 Fire damage from Remi Ryuuja's Ultra Freila. | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) and Poison (Damage on end of turn!) added!
<Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.
Dammit, dammit, dammit!! Jin hurriedly pats out the residual snaps of flame eating through his jacket. Now he's _realy_ annoyed!
"If you really wanna see how to turn somethin' to ashes, I'll show you myself!"
Jin holds his metal briefcase skyward and with a single flick of his thumb, snaps its latch open. Grenades fall to the ground, all bouncing in Remi's direction.
BOOM.
AS: Tandem! Jin Shirato has used the Fire skill Error 410: Gone on Remi Ryuuja! 2 Hits! AS: Remi Ryuuja spends Limit on Brace! AS: Avoid Worst! Remi Ryuuja takes 80 Fire damage from Jin Shirato's Error 410: Gone. Weak! AS: Avoid Neutral! Remi Ryuuja takes 42 Fire damage from Jin Shirato's Error 410: Gone. Weak! <Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Things are going from bad to worse. The fire was bad enough, but the din of the battlefield is turning into a cacophony. Whatever unseen presence is watching can be heard as well, and as far as she can tell is just spouting absolute nonsense. She'd ask 'are they okay', but she's pretty sure of the answer to that one. She notes the dissatisfaction in Tsurugi's statement as well, the phrasing making it all too clear that nobody actually wants to be here.
Well, maybe there is somebody who's having a good time. Scion is a breath of fresh air, really. While Niko beats a hasted retreat to collect her spoils, her response there is a lot more cheerful and casual. "Yeah, that's it, you get it!" And then she has to do a double-take at the appearance of the one she's talking to. "...Wait, is that of those robots? Hey Nori-kun, I like that one, stop playing around with it and grab it for me, will ya?"
While making her way back, she also catches Kurou's words. Stopping in her tracks, she turns around to yell, "Holy shit, Kurou-chan, are you hearing yourself? Settle down dude, that chuuni schtick doesn't suit you at all!"
That very important business done, she returns to, of course, still find her way blocked by Miyu. "Okay... where were we? Right, no game, gotcha." Does she really, though? That little bit of side tracking sure seems to have turned the dial to flippancy. Which doesn't actually feel that inappropriate, given the statements made. "Ohhh, so that's what's happening here. Your finger slipped, yes, very unfortunate, that is."
A measure of seriousness returns to her expression, then, hearing words that resonate with her. "...I respect that choice. From both of you. Don't plan to die here myself. And..." She hops side-to-side in a display of freedom of motion, in spite of the load held resting over her shoulder. "...I happen to be a very good dancer."
Warned about what's coming, Niko prepares well for the assault - counting her blessings that it doesn't come in the form of more fire. Focused as she is, she is capable of staying one step ahead - or rather, behind, almost literally dancing backwards as Miyu charges towards her. The first slash is narrowly avoided, the second grazes her arm, harm kept to a minimum... while for the third, she risks a counterstrike, a quick jab with her left hand aimed to unbalance and disrupt further follow-up. A hand which immediately goes for her jacket afterwards, where she stashed her Evoker.
"Seize this! Persona!"
All too soon, the entirety of Ate's giant form surges forward, seeking to slam into Miyu and forcefully knock her back. Once she has a moment, Niko exhales, not disguising her relief in that not ending as poorly as she well knows it could have, had she misjudged even a single one of those slashes. And then she starts to laugh, softly, yet ever so slightly unhinged.
"How's that, huh?! Nobody's taking anything from me, not now, not ever again! I'm taking it all back, everything they took from me! You'll see, you'll all see - once I shatter the illusion blinding you all!"
AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Strike skill Brutal Skull Cracker on Miho Ijuuin! | Ruin: Niko Kirisaki gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Takaya Sakaki has posed.
Takaya keeps vigilant as he stares into the darkness. He smiles when Kurou actually compliments his instincts. "Hm? My desire isn't to live. It is to take this world with me when the end does come. If I feared death, would I engage you so haphazardly? You are clearly a killer."
Takaya's smile grows. "You understand what it is to end someone but do you understand what it is to die?"
Takaya then laughs when Kurou boils this down to trinkets. That was only part of it. The messiah figure cocks a brow, grinning. "Do you think we are so shallow? One corpse is far too few for striking our flock."
Then comes the attack, Takaya turns his attention just in time for the first strike to cut into his chest, flinging blood against the floor as he can't avoid it. He attempts to avoid the second, still feeling the second cut draw more blood. By the third attack, Takaya points his weapon at the ninja and opens fire, allowing the third attack to strike him.
Despite looking like a cut up mess, Takaya doesn't stop grinning at his opponent.
Blood flows down Takaya bare chest and arms. He holds up his arms to mimic a cross as he mouths, 'Persona'.
The drowned corpse appears again, charging up another light attack as the man smiles darkly. "May your sins be clensed in the burning light of my salvation. Hama!"
AS: Persona! Takaya Sakaki has used the Light skill Hama on Kurou Ryouhara! AS: Charm results in party damage! Takaya Sakaki takes 90 damage! AS: Miho Ijuuin spends Limit on Brace! AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 113 Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Brutal Skull Cracker. | Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added! AS: Block Neutral! Kurou Ryouhara takes 88 Light damage from Takaya Sakaki's Hama. | Takaya Sakaki is unable to continue fighting! <Pose Tracker> Noriaki Okaga has posed.
He'd said he was going to burn it all down.
A place like this... shouldn't exist. And once he's done here, maybe he'll take this little war straight to Kirijo's gates.
"She's mad, ain't she," he remarks to Scion, of the woman who rants and raves through her connection. "Heh... fitting, ain't it, in a place like this! Too bad 'they' weren't so honest!"
At least the NWO was honest about its intentions. Another organization, on the other hand...
nothing matters nothing matters nothing matters
"Yeah," remarks Noriaki, squaring up against Scion. "It ain't matterin' now, either."
"Scion, eh? Fancy name for a fancy toy," he shoots off, a hint of that grin returning -- if just for a moment. A place like this has a way of dousing what cheer Noriaki normally has, utterly.
It reminds him of blood, too much blood, and a slit throat.
She says she'll even pretend, if that's what he wants. "Nah. Ain't gonna help. I know you ain't feelin' it for real," he tells her, glancing sidelong the once towards Niko, then back at Takaya and Jin. "Your sensors? So you got it, and it don't matter? Eh, whatever," he says to Scion, shrugging. "Don't suppose it'd matter for a piece of junk like you!"
But he's apparently manage to do something to put her on the back foot, because in response she pulls out the big guns.
"Eh? What's that--"
In the shadows of his hood, is it possible that lighter patch might just be the white of an eye.
What happens next is just about incomprehensible to him, not least for the bolts that strike home once, twice--
Thrice, again. Efnysien surges in the heart of the storm. It's still not enough.
He'd take this war to Kirijo's gates.
If it were possible.
He drops slowly, falling to his knees as his weapon clatters to the floor amidst the inferno baking the walls around him. Noriaki maintains like that for a good long moment, then a longer moment still before he unceremoniously collapses to the floor, face-first. His Persona wicks away into so much red light, then is gone altogether.
Scion has won her match... right.
Fingertips twitch against the floor. Chipped fingernails spasm, clawing as if he were attempting to dig himself out of his grave.
"Not... yet," Noriaki snarls, a hiss rising as if from beyond the grave. "Not yet--!"
Like a puppet on its strings, he jerks up to his feet, the light in this room singing along the damaged blade he seized on his rise from death's door.
"I ain't-- finished yet!"
He lunges at Scion with killing intent, his hood falling back with the feral ferocity of the movement.
He has light grey eyes. Young eyes, for a man circling the drain, a counterpoint to everything else about his person.
All of them, himself included, spit their defiance even if the Reaper should claim them here and now.
AS: Noriaki Okaga spends Limit on Psych! AS: Weapon! Noriaki Okaga has used the Slash skill Malice Aforethought on Yua Ijuuin! 3 Hits! | Aggression: Noriaki Okaga gains 1 Limit!
AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 100 Slash damage from Noriaki Okaga's Malice Aforethought. Critical Hit! AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 100 Slash damage from Noriaki Okaga's Malice Aforethought. Critical Hit! | Yua Ijuuin is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Yua Ijuuin takes 84 Slash damage from Noriaki Okaga's Malice Aforethought. | Yua Ijuuin is unable to continue fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Everything is burning," that voice says, broken on her tears, as Miyu speaks. "All burn. All burn."
... and the fire really is spreading, now. "Hungry, hungry... starving... what is starving can never be full," that voice counsels Kurou, though how cognisant she is is another matter.
"Be good," that mystery woman urges Tsurugi, her voice echoing through that pearl into the room. "Be good, be good, be good! They'll hurt me if you're not good...!"
(If you place a catch of crabs in a bucket, they'll all drag each other down before they can escape, did you know?)
"Group punishment, huh?" Scion wonders, tilting her head as she looks to Tsurugi. "Wow, humans are kinda messed up!" Though she's distracted by Jin's answer to Tsurugi's pain --
"Hey, Miyu! Can I have some grenades?! Pleaaase?"
She completely doesn't get it... but at least Niko likes what she's getting. "Heyyyy! I'm not an it! I'm a girl!" Scion pouts, turning to her. "And I can't leave, I gotta take care of mama! But you seem really fun... hey, let's play sometime!"
(Robots have mothers??? Robots have PARENTS??????? Questions for later...)
Scion tilts her head, and asks: "Hey, did we kidnap her friend with the whole Joker Curse thing? Sounds like we took somethin'... who'd we get got?" Sudou, sadly, is after her time; her ignorance is certainly part of her cheer.
"Oh... Sake-kun's friends..." ... Yumi remembers. "There, on the beach... I Saw him. Hot air rises, captured, bound -- burning -- burning! There, I Saw him... the Black Mask... high above, he popped the balloon, all the hot air came out. No more sake... no more revolution... no more salvation through bloodsoaked rampage."
... it seems these were not the agents who killed Sudou.
"Yumi's just... seein' a lot more than we do, I think?" Scion guesses, when Noriaki asks if Yumi is mad. "Plus, I think somethin' bad might be happenin' to her when she comes here... she tells me it's not my fault or nothin', but... she's real upset every time."
But Noriaki called her a fancy toy, and Scion puts her hands on her hips. "I'm not a toy! You're thinkin' of Welwetes! But I couldn't bring him, they didn't give us much time... aww, he woulda had so much fun!" What's worse is when he calls her junk, though --
-- and it's the mysterious voice of Yumi who cuts through, then. "Scion is perfect," she insists, with all the protectiveness of a mother. "Insult her not!"
Could a piece of junk use Theurgy?????
"Whoa... did I really get him?" Scion wonders, as she steps forward, curious. "Hey, my guy! Are you like, dead dead? Hey --" She reaches forward, to poke him -- right when those fingers twitch. "Whoa!" Scion yelps, jumping back, as Noriaki spits defiance into the eyes of his oppressors.
(His oppressors today are being represented by Scion. She's not a man in a suit or a white coat, but she's doing her best...)
And there -- killing intent. Scion must have it, too, curious about her kill as she was... but Scion is young, yet. She has only lived, as far as she remembers, for a few months. Noriaki has bled, and fought, and scraped, and KILLED... for longer than she could ever perceive her life.
He leaps at her with killing intent -- and if indeed she had life to lose, she would have lost it, today. There! The machete digs deep into the side of her chest, the hook digging in such that it would lance both chambers of her heart on the way down. There! It carves into her side, right at the edge of her last rib, where her liver and its life-giving properties rest. There! He slits her throat, straight across, slicing both vein and artery -- or where the ought have rested -- on the way past her windpipe.
She should be dead. She should be dead.
But that 'black box', hidden deep within her core, remains strong...
... and so, when she tumbles to the ground, her voice box is a little scratchy and glitched but she does speak. "Whoa... holy crap! You're SO strong! That's soooooooo cool....! Do it again, do it again...!!!"
"No!" Yumi's voice cries, from those swirling pink pearls. And then -- again, more strangled, more pitched, more terrified -- "no --"
There, behind them.
A door opens, as the smoke chokes the air. There -- the glimpse of a white carpet, a therapy couch, a sink with its horrible mirror...
... but what emerges from it is nothing human. Lurching more from the weight of the great boils on its back than from smoke inhalation, it drags the weight of great fleshy folds from legs which are more tree stumps than feet. Mushrooms grow from its hands, where its fingers should be; vents along its arms and chest open and close like the gasping gills of a dying fish, and its face is obscured by more of those vents, vertically placed, closing and opening with horrible, hissing breath.
It trudges, down the hall. A demon of a type they'd never seen before? Some sick experiment into the creation of a new monster? Or...
No.
Miyu knows the truth.
Miyu knows the truth -- because Miho has held Yua through so many uncountable daymares, those helpless rememberings which described horrors more unthinkable, still, than those placed beneath a surgical knife.
That isn't just anyone's office.
And so --
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miyu knew full well that speaking her view aloud would let Tsurugi loose--but that was only part of the plan. It will be her business to see that Remi comes out safe. Just as it is her place to see that Tyrrha returns to them safely...
At least Scion is having a good time, anyway. "You may not have her," Miyu says to Niko simply.
Her finger slipped; unfortunate. Miyu doesn't mind the flippancy; her anger is focused entirely elsewhere. So if Niko understands, then all the better. "Good," she says. "It would be a shame to kill you here. So dance."
Indeed, Miho could have let loose hellfire--perhaps she meant it, when she said it would be a shame to kill her. But Niko, for all that Miyu has her weakness, is no slouch--she indeed neatly dances past an Olympian strike, and she takes a bit of a counter-hit by that block--but does not stop.
Ate's giant form surges for Miyu, and indeed--she is knocked backward by the sheer scale of the attack. She cannot evade it, and she feels her ability to focus short out; calling on her Persona would require a painful reconcentration.
"Is that so?" Miyu asks. "...One day, I will hear of this illusion. I wonder... Do you, too, know the 'True World'...?"
Takaya speaks plain his desire. To strike their flock... he is a dangerous man, and Miyu will remember that.
But what is starving can never be full...
"You may not," Miyu says to Scion of the grenades. She does not speak of the rest. But she remembes... She remembers 'Sake-kun'. "...It was a harsh lesson."
"SCION!" Miyu calls, as Yumi is worried, and turns towards her--
...But no. This 'thing'... This thing that comes--
Miyu turns towards the inhuman creature, the mockery of demons, the horrible thing--
The monster that is all the less monstrous for its disguise now, far less monstrous than the 'truth'.
"..."
There is no extra horror in the moment; there is no resonation of the Mark. There is simply intent--
Miho lunges, and stabs her sword through slightly below center mass on the creature.
"You."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
-- as Miyu's blade lances through the creature's stomach, that horrific visage around it flickers, as it thunders to the ground.
No... that is not a demon.
It's a woman. Tall and blonde-haired, she's clearly got Russian blood -- and she chokes out pained words, "help! I'm not one of --" -- before she flickers, and disappears, replaced by that shambling horror again.
And there is a warping, in the air...
... as a massive Persona in white, clad in precious jewels, appears and unfurls arms with prison bars driven through them to reveal a very pregnant wielder. Dressed in a grey wedding dress, maternity body armour slung over her... that voice you've been hearing all this time must have been the Bride.
"The blood is coming from there, now," she says, her voice numb. "From another hole there. Help... help... I heard a cry, again... a word, and it's not my voice... I'm scared to look."
"Hey, don't worry," Scion says, as she hurries over to steady the swaying Bride with a hand. "You can look! Don't be scared!"
"I can... look...?" The Bride echoes, hollowed and harried.
The horrible, oppressive darkness flickers as Scion encourages her -- the gloomy mire lifting, lights at first fuzzy and difficult to see, as she relaxes her iron grip on the Blacksite. "If I look, will there be hurting, over there?" She asks, eyes still on Scion, not the flickering form of a monster-woman-monster-the-woman-is-the-monster -- "... I hope... it hurts."
If Strega is going to escape -- now's the time! The Order's agents are distracted by that woman, and their Anti-Navigator has stopped blocking your exit!
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
As blood paints Kurou into clarity, Takaya's words do the same for Kurou's senses. Conviction shines through the darkness, however grim, crystallizing into something Kurou can grasp. His eyes do not leave Takaya, nor does he balk when he is called out as a killer.
There is no need to take offense at what is true.
When he is scolded by Niko, it is an immense exercise of will and discipline that he does not look away from his battle with Takaya to address her with his eyes, but he does, at least, with his voice: "My apologies, Niko-chan."
A polite, formal apology -- sans the honorific -- in the middle of everything, just like that?! It might mean more if he still wasn't looking at Takaya like he was courting death deliberately!
Do you understand what it is to die?
And even though Niko remains within earshot and will not like his answer, Kurou respects Takaya's conviction enough to answer with the simple truth.
"Yes. You met the corpse."
Unlike then, now there's a spark in him, violent and eager for bloodshed. Bloodshed he gets, and bloodshed Takaya returns, a mess of blade and bullets. Takaya is left a cut up mess, and in accepting the cuts, opens fire while Kurou's defenses are currently too busy being offenses.
Earth crumbles from Kurou's blade as his chain clatters to the ground, his hand going instead to the bullet wounds. Kurou's fingers squeeze in, blood oozing, but still standing... just in time for Hama's cleansing light, as if their spilled blood were but a sacrifice to Hypnos' power.
Gashadokuro manifests, biting around Kurou to encase him in a protective skull. But Kurou has so much sin to burn. Hama blazes until the Persona shatters. Kurou does not cry out, even as his body is scorched in light and he is brought to kneel, barely catching himself on the ground to keep from fully collapsing.
Everything is burning.
The starving will never be full. Kurou's fingernails dig into the ground under him as that truth settles over his restless bones. His attention jerks up, though, to see Scion cleaved with machete, and then there is fear in the depths of his once burning eyes. It fades, slowly, to hear her voice asking for more and more.
Then he is fixated on the thing that appears behind. He looks to Miyu for an order. Miyu provides none, acting herself to strike not a monster but a person...
I hope... it hurts.
Kurou's own hunger recognizes it when someone else is feasting on the same craving.
He stands up, somehow. Yet if he still has the strength to pursue, he won't.
Everything is burning, just as it should be.
<Pose Tracker> Takaya Sakaki has posed.
Takaya feels the pain get to him. He curses under his breath as his frail body tells him its time to go.
He does not take his eyes off Kurou, breathing heavy as his body comes down off the adrenaline high.
He smiles at Kurou's remark to his question, nodding as wipes his face. This effectively smears blood across it, marking his toothy grin stand out.
"Very well. Tonight, we will depart. I think I have gotten what I came for....Strega. It's time to depart." It isn't yelled but is projected loud enough for his crew to hear.
"Until next time." Takaya says as he briskly walks toward an exit, grabbing a coffee mug on his way out. Someone is about to be without their "Konichiwa Neko" mug.
On second thought, Takaya just breaks it on his way out, exiting the building with a confidant walk despite all the blood.
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Tsurugi has quite a lot of options for creating fire herself, despite her weakness to it. What does this say about her psyche or her Persona's narrative?
Tsurugi's staying mum on the topic.
Regardless, a pile of grenades come for her, and Tsurgi sets her stance, the wind enchantment around her bursting with new energy as she and La Maupin try to dance in between the falmes--but there are too many to escape completely, and by the time the explosions die down there are a few more scattered fires, and Tsurugi's suit looks chared and burnt away in places.
There are some patches of skin that look downright ugl8y under the suit, but aside from panting from the effort, Tsurugi doesn't seem to react to it.
The mystery woman urges her to be good. Tsurugi bristles. There are too many competing instincts drilled into her head. Her desire to see this place burn, the conditioning that forces her to obey orders--and this includes Miyu's--and protect the NWO's assets--this includes herself and Yumi--to spare one of her dearest friends any suffering she is yet able.
And the incredible anger she has been instilled with for anything she might fight. To be reckless yet careful is a dangerous balance.
She growls and shakes her head, trying to clear it even as it drowns in competing instincts. Suddenly she sages, panting hard. Under her breath, she utters a message for one person alone to hear. "... Je serai sage." I will be good.
Niko calls out to Nori to steal Scion. Tsurugi lets out a ragged laugh. "You will fail in the trying. If not by her hand then by mine." Noriaki does fall, and Tsurugi categorizes that threat as eliminated... but only for a moment.
Because he gets back up. "Your determination..." she utters in a low voice. "... I see. Then Death does not take you easily, either."
This situation is deteriorating. Scion is struck down, Kurou's Persona shatters, there is fire and smoke, and then a new, fresh horror appears. A monstrous Demon. Tsurugi feels those hackles rise again, but it isn't until Miyu acts, and Yumi appears--combined with the visage of the woman--that Tsurugi realizes what is going on.
"... you."
She clutches her head again, snarling. That woman is with the NWO. Tsurugi has very clear directives about whom and what she is to protect. Directives they instilled, using her concern for Yumi as a template.
Everything comes back to her, in the end. Tsurugi's breath is ragged as she drops her hand, and she turns to walk towards the congregating group. "Miyu," she intones. "Stand aside. I can't let you do this. I-- I--" her voice grows unsteady.
Is she going to stop Miyu? She's walking right towards the Groom.
And then she steps aside, her rapier raised as she looks down at the scientist. "... I must protect the Bride," she utters darkly as her rapier comes down.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Scion defending her personhood only makes Niko chuckle softly. "Man. NWO makes 'em like that too, huh? Go figure. Now I really want it-- her, I mean. Wait, damn, it sounds bad now. Especially if she has a mother??" She is on the verge of getting lost in thought about it, before Miyu snaps her out of it by telling her 'no'. "Aw." That's it???
There is another reaction in that regard, once Noriaki causes all that damage, prompting a dismayed, "Dammit Noriaki, don't break it-- her! Why'd you have to go and do that?" Did she not notice he almost died back there or was that just not the priority there? It can be hard to tell with her.
Everything would be fine if everyone would just give Niko what she wants. Just look at Kurou, he gets it. All he has to do is apologize and she has no more complaints. All is once again as it should be.
Or it was, anyway. Niko was feeling pretty good about herself, managing to get through the dance without getting skewered. But then Miyu speaks of the True World, and her reaction is striking. Eyes widening, it's hard to tell what emotion she's even experiencing as she gasps aloud, just... staring, for a moment.
"...Wait... Are you...?"
She doesn't get further than that, with the appearance of a horrendous creature, distracting Miyu's attention. Niko has half a mind to call after her, but thinks better of it. Takaya has the right call here, this is their chance to - wait did the previously unseen voice from before belong to a pregnant woman?? What the hell even IS the NWO, making someone work for them in that condition?
"Bunch of sick fucks," Niko mutters to herself, before more loudly announcing, "Strega - vanish!"
...She didn't mean literally, she's just running away, shouldering the sack of looted materials. Although soon enough, and not coincidentally, what does vanish is the Strega group's Resonance, making them difficult to pursue through non-conventional means. Strategic withdrawal now... but a lot to follow up on later.
<Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.
When Takaya gives the order to retreat, Jin follows, walking after him with only the occasional glance over his shoulder.
"Don't give him any heat over it," Jin says to Niko about Noriaki. "I promise we'll get you one next time."
If there Jin had any say, there _would_ be another time. And now that they'd seen the layout of the building themselves, they might have an easier time navigating the place the next time they crashed NWO's HQ.
<Pose Tracker> Noriaki Okaga has posed.
He didn't seem to have heard Niko when she called out to him and asked him to bring it back for her. You know, like a cat might with a fresh kill (except Niko's probably more interested in this particular toy 'alive').
But perhaps he's off in his own world by now, locked in combat both within and without.
Scion makes a very suitable target after the horrors of the other wings, even if she's not the right sort. No white coats. No business suits. Just a small robot with admittedly, a lust for a good fight. Perhaps if it had been anywhere else but here, that might be something like what Scion would have gotten.
Here and now, though...
The smell hits him every time he breathes in. Blood. Death. Rot.
Kirijo's methods had been different, but it had amounted to the same in the end.
"Does it matter who you took?" Noriaki wonders aloud as Niko wonders who they had taken. "What's done is done. Even if it ain't by you, tin-can."
Unlike some of those here, he hadn't been attached to their 'Uncle' all that much. And in the end, dead's dead, whoever it is, however it happens. He's not shedding any tears over the deed. But...
Something's owed, maybe. Not in the way justice works. It's more like he wants his pound of flesh, and then some.
He wants it because he might be able to take it.
Scion disperses a little more information about her 'mission control' and something like a thoughtful pull takes Noriaki's visible mouth. Yeah. He knows why. It's the same, wherever it happens, however it happens.
But by the same token it doesn't make him any more favorably inclined towards Scion or 'Yumi' or the other operators on the field. It doesn't matter. None of this matters, save his own satisfaction.
"Save it, kid," he snaps at Scion as she sulks about him calling her a toy, and perhaps that's a step up from what he ends up calling her next, but--
"Yeah? You gonna stop me?" he rumbles at Miyu, across the distance that separates them. And then, by all appearances, Noriaki collapses and possibly lies dead on the floor.
Except that's not how it goes this time. Instead, animated by rage and that most primal of desires (to rend, to tear) he just about takes Scion apart. If she had been flesh and blood, she would be dead. Instead--
Remi (Tsurugi) is correct. He's not the type to go down easily, either.
"Damn-- machine--" he snarls, aiming a kick at what's left of Scion.
Something's moving from down the hall, though, and its appearance is sufficient to give even him pause. "The shit's--"
It's Miyu who sweeps in to slay the demon, such that it is. Or was it a woman? Or was there any different between the two to start? Then there's the appearance of Miyu, a pregnant woman within her Persona-cage.
"...The hell's going on with this shit," Noriaki utters, watching on in something approaching murderous rage colliding with growing disbelief.
And he turns his head as he stands there, still poised above Scion, as Strega calls for its own retreat.
"Ain't gotta tell me twice," he mutters, his immediate ardor cooled at last by the unfolding tableau.
The flames and their possible demise down here if they stick around is another factor, once reason returns where blood-thirst had bayed.
"Stuff it, Ni-chan," he rumbles, about-facing as he moves to stalk out.
Just for that request from Jin, he'll clap the other man on the back when he passes him.
This is probably about as friendly as it gets, from him. On both counts.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
There -- she flickers again, and it's clear she's glaring at Miyu. "You -- bastard -- I took what you have! She's mine!" Natari Konishi gasps, before she's replaced by that visage of horror, on the ground.
... it may earn her more violence still -- but surely the Groom heard her Bride, back there, hoping for her suffering.
And the violence does not only come from Miyu. Is it kinder, to let Tsurugi bring her rapier down on a monster...? Just pretend it's a monster -- and not one in a white coat. Just pretend, just pretend... "aaaargh," she whines, painfully, as when her human form flickers back in it's clear that Tsurugi has gouged her legs, cut off any hope of her escape. "You damn doll...!"
"How... how can I..." Yumi sounds close to tears, as she listens to those sounds of pain, despite her feelings. She takes one shuddering step -- and then another. "How -- how?" She asks Kurou, as she pulls a dagger from her belt, the Purple Dragon's stone etched into the hilt, and it is clear as she asks him despite her mad confusion that she does not know how to hold it.
His hands have held dozens of weapons; surely he can teach a housewife how to grasp one.
"Huh? That ain't no carvin' knife," Scion wonders, and any attempt she might have made to stop proceedings is interrupted by her interest in Yumi's efforts. "What's up, Yumi...?"
Yumi takes a step -- and another trembling step -- and Tsurugi will need to support her, in her efforts to protect her, as she almost falls from the weight of her sins. She lowers herself down, gingerly, as finally that monster's disguise falls away to reveal why Yumi's dress and knees grow wet in the motion.
"Oh, you... precious thing..." Natari coughs, and coughs up blood, as she reaches for her -- only to find her wrist pinned through to the ground by the tip of Miyu's blade, long before she could touch her. "Aaaahh--! Call them off -- help me --!! I demand you --"
"EEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH--!!" Yumi screams, the sound raw, agonised and so soul-splitting that Strega might even hear it as they flee, as her arms lift high, both hands wrapped around the hilt of that dagger, and she plunges it into Natari's chest with all her might.
All Yumi's might...
... is not enough to stab her deeply. She's not strong enough to force her blade between her ribs.
Natari yelps in pain --
-- as Yumi lifts her hands, to stab at her again, drowning out the sounds of her pain with hers.
There, again: the blade glances off the bone.
The third time, it glances lower; it sinks into her belly, deeper, with nothing to stop that sharp blade.
The fourth -- the fifth -- the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, TWELFTH --
"AAAHHHHHHHHHH--!!"
Perhaps it is only chance which finally sees her plunge her knife into her neck, and Noriaki wondered if she could stop him but she's ten years too early to try.
She's never killed anyone before.
This normal woman, who couldn't possibly put up a fight...
"Sucks to be you, boss," Scion shrugs, as she watches Yumi sobbing over her corpse. "Shouldn't have pissed mama off, y'know?"
That much will be recorded, by the systems which are slowly coming back online -- a thing made evident by the sprinkler systems engaging, to quench those fires, to ensure not all is lost.
... when it reaches the Director, he'll close any potential retribution for Natari's death.
"That odious woman served her purpose," is what he'll say, about it, in the boardroom meeting a week from now. "With this, we can be sure that she's bonded fully to the anchor... not even her 'creator' could prompt her to go against her. We may have secured our very first stable subject..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
A woman, tall and blonde-haired. She asks for help.
And Yumi appears. Miyu looks to her for a moment--and then to Kurou, as he kneels. ...As he waits for an order that does not come. No, she will not make Kurou a part of this thing.
Neither will she even try to stop Takaya and his compatriots. The mug is as nothing to her; it is nothing to her. But if she has her way... there will be no 'here' for Jin to return to.
Tsurugi speaks. Miyu turns to her. Until--
'I must protect the Bride.' "We will," she says. Does it hurt...?
yes, it seems to her that it does. And Niko's question goes unanswered for now--but not forever.
...Scion will recover. Miyu will see to that. She does not stop Noriaki, either.
No, instead...
She looks down at that woman, that creature, that thing.
"There is no help for you," she says simply. "And you cannot keep what you have tried to steal. You lack the 'strength."
But Yua doesn't. ...Yumi doesn't. she stabs, and stabs, and stabs...
Miyu looks on.
She kneels down, next to her Bride. "...You need never accede to her demands again." She reaches out, to put a hand on her back, soothingly.
"Never. Now come," she says, and helps Yumi up; perhaps it is more accurate to say that she lifts her, and looks into the camera that she can now see is online.
"That's right, Scion. ...And no one else will do these things again."
Miho stretches out her hand--and red mist rises, Faust emerging.
"Ignite," she whispers, and the body will soon be consumed in nuclear flame.
There will be nothing left. Miyu does not look away from the camera in all those moments.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Kurou only glances to Strega's retreat when Niko says it's time to vanish. She is in one piece, despite her battle, and his next breath comes easier despite his injuries.
... His gaze dips to the shattered mug on the floor. Oh. :(
Yumi's own distress speaks louder than his own. He closes the distance in silence to gently brings his hands over hers, helping her orient the dagger in her grip and pressing her fingers around them.
"You want it to hurt," he echoes of her wishes. "So you do not need more instruction than this."
Her strikes are allowed to be clumsy. They can be purely driven by how she feels.
"But I will be here, if you need it."
Kurou does not suspect that she will need his help in the act itself. And when she screams, raw, with everything, and plunges, again, and again, and again, he is proven right. But he does stay nearby, not desiring to get between Yua and Miho as there is comfort over the corpse.
He does not know the details, but he knows in their pain that they have found freedom. Faust ignites what is left, and Kurou watches in silence so that he can affirm to Yua later that all that remained was ash.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Oh," Yumi sobs, as she looks up, to her Groom. "Mi... Miyu...! S--she is, isn't she? Gone? Gone away? All gone? All gone? She won't make me visit her again?"
'Never', as it happens, is a perfect response to that just the same.
She leans into the Groom, into her arm, around her; that bloodied dagger's gripped loosely in a hand, as if she's not entirely sure what to do with it, as her other holds onto Miyu for dear life as she urges her upwards. "Miyu," she whimpers, again, as she leans into her; she is too consumed by the enormity of what has happened, what has ceased to happen, to even think of where those security cameras are.
But she peeks out, from where she's tucked in against Miyu's own armour, to watch the corpse burn...
And what she says, low to a whisper, "... I hope you feel it."
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrvNy0oi-Tc Ego-Likeness - The Queen of All Things Taken