Chevaleresse

Should have just let him die. Ungrateful, insufferable idiot. Kusuke didn't bother with any sort of fancy countdown; as soon as Leo took up a combat stance, Kusuke was moving. He rushed straight at Leo. . . then flickered, reappearing in two places behind him and aiming to cut at his arms to handicap his offensive abilities.

N5 Heavy Lance and canto back to O7

"He's not nearly as nice as he looks. He doesn't really lie, but he's not very good at telling you really important information." She did her best to glare at the creature, but once again had trouble summoning up a lot of actual anger at the thing. Mostly, she just felt tired. Haruka stood quiet for a few more moments, unsure of where to take the conversation from here. Something told her that this girl wasn't liable to listen to her about Kyubey, who was currently doing his best to snuggle up to her chest like an affectionate cat. "I don't think he can do it here, but don't let him offer you anything." Quickly running out of conversational topics, the blue-haired girl started to stall out again. "So, um. . ." What was there to talk about? Their impending deaths? ". . . What do we even do now?"

Mitsurugi eyed Lexiel for a moment. She did say she would behave herself, but. . . "There is no need to push the bounds of tolerance. The attitudes of a god are not so unchanging as you seem to believe; a small amount of politeness and a token offering can ease one's life significantly. And if the god is tolerant, there is all the more reason to pay them due respects, no?" The angel seemed to have a strange distaste for other divinity, and she supposed she likely fell into such. Well, she was not one to trouble herself with the opinions of the ignorant, though she would prefer to get along with her allies. Or get the deference she deserved, but she had largely given up on such.

"Wrong? No, you're a goddamn idiot, and you're going to get us all killed sooner or later because something in you is physically incapable of recognizing when you need to take a little care with a material. There is no such thing as 'elemental delineation' here, this place is NOT the same as your home, and you are GOING to take a step back, or I am going to force you to." He laughed at the bit about having other things to do, though there wasn't a lot of enjoyment in the noise. "I have all the time in the world, and I can either spend it doing things that are actually productive, or I can spend some of it to make sure nobody ever has to clean up one of your fucking messes ever again. Your repetition isn't going to make you any more right, either, and I'm not going to continue to allow you to endanger people for the sake of curiosity. Now let me ask again: do you understand me?"

"Scraped off of my boot? Impolite? No, I think you misunderstand." Mitsurugi seemed genuinely confused by Lexiel's seeming issue with her behavior. "One does not sleep before the shrine of a goddess one claims to serve. It is utterly disrespectful. Now, however, the issue has passed, and I trust that this miko will take her duties more seriously in the future. Particularly with the looming threat of Yamata no Orochi." Her expression returned to a more neutral one. "And were you not the one cautioning me to take care when dealing with the gods of this land? I do not know the gods of your world, but capricious, easily offended gods are not precisely a rarity in a place like this."

Heidrun blanched, and blanched again at Halley's words. She didn't think she was capable of bringing down an arcology. . . but she also hadn't tested her own limits. If they could even be considered hers. Heidrun didn't quite trust herself to speak at the moment, thoroughly unnerved as she was, and so "contented" herself with glancing nervously between Halley, Alexandria, and Friedhold, alongside another step backward. She noted in the back of her mind that she was going to collide with the far wall if much more of this happened.

BGM Isobel hatchets a couple more hapless fairies for [15] damage while LOTUS tries to exert some control over their movements through the air. Empi gives some positioning advice of a different variety to Lambda, questionable action that it is. Masako blasts the fairies with danmaku, and the first group seems to have finally had enough. A burst of red danmaku flies outwards from them as the survivors vanish under the assault, heading towards [Isobel, Ritsu, and Lambda.] The fairies add to the mix by targeting the only one who seemed experienced with this, sending a stream at Masako. Rory calls out to Chen, and recieves a confused and startled-sounding "MRROWWWW" back for his trouble, He is gaining on the cat, though. Hikari casts a defensive spell on Rory, somehow managing to connect with it despite the latter being mostly invisible at the moment. The stream of danmaku fired earlier strikes Hikari, buffeting her for [11] damage. Walmond elects to taze the second fairy swarm, a stream of bullets in the shape of stylized lightning bolts arcing out to strike them for [6] damage. [Fail] The electricity doesn't stick, though. Lambda draws the focus of the remaining fairy swarm, and eats two streams of bullets for her trouble, aking a total of [16] damage from the attacks. The remaining swarm sends another stream of bullets outwards, targeting Masako again. Ritsu repays this by chainsawing more of the little nature spirits, dealing [29] damage. The party brushes past the first set of poison mushrooms, causing them to emit a cloud of toxins! Anyone who changes initiative or uses a defensive action while targeted by multiple attacks for the next two turns will be poisoned! Additionally, [Ritsu] catches a faceful of paralytics that stop her from doing much more than hurtling forward through the air. A larger, yellow-haired fairy comes into view ahead of the party, dressed in a, well, dress seemingly made out of leaves with mushroom patterns on them. Initiative Status

"I'm simply glad to be called upon to perform my duties once again. Yamata no Orochi, though, that is disturbing news. . ." That demon. In her world, an ancient youkai beast killed by Susano'o after he was banished from Heaven. She'd never been overfond of Susano'o, herself; gods should have a bit more composure. Even if he was a sort of older brother to her, in a vague and distant way, it didn't excuse that level of misbehavior. "Do you know if this descendant of Nagi is still alive in well, or if they have children of their own? A bloodline that has banished the demon twice may be useful for the third."

Mitsurugi quickly settled back into her normal demeanor, much like the equally sudden calm after an unexpected storm. The only hint of her prior irritation was a slight nod once the shrine maiden offered proper respect, and even that might have been a response to the bow, instead. Her eyes shifted slightly, meeting Ako's directly as she interrupted herself. "I am Saigai Mitsurugi, goddess of natural disasters and a guardian of this country." Well, not this one, specifically, but it was close enough, and she would put in the same effort she would if she had succeeded previously. Now is not the time to ponder that. "I, along with my companions, have come after a call for assistance, though I was unsure of who, precisely, made the request. I had hoped that Amaterasu, or one of her shrine maidens, would be able to clarify."

"W-wait, you did what last time? An entire arcology?" She side-eyed Friedhold again. Whoever this scientist was, it probably wasn't him given the elf(?)'s lack of recognition. "I thought you said you were protecting people from threats," she said, her gaze swapping over to focus accusingly on Solomon. "I don't know if I should be helping a group that's going around. . . well, not another terrorist group, anyway." AVALANCHE had been a terrorist group, if one looked at their mode of operation, but it was pretty easy to forgive terrorism committed against a company draining the life force of the planet to do unethical experiments on people.

Rhian's thoughts on dragons were rather rudely interrupted by a frigid blast of magic blasting through the protection her armor offered. She cursed, loudly. "Come out and face me instead of, blasting me with a damned siege tome, you coward!" She didn't have much room to talk, being an archer, but it made her feel a little better to insult someone. Plus it helped her focus, something that was difficult given she could barely stand right now. She would keep going, though, at least as long as there were more enemies in front of her to kill. v12, shoot cavalier

Heidrun tried to even out her breathing. This man was incredibly unsettling to her, and his line of questioning skirted far too close to things she was trying to keep secret. Though, this was going to be quite dangerous, if they were to be believed, and it was probably better that they find out sooner rather than later. "Well, that's good to hear," she said, somewhat quietly. Heidrun glanced down at the girl in question. Poor thing. At least she still mostly had control of her own thoughts. Who knew what went on inside her head? "Does Nessa, um, like anything in particular? I'd like to keep an eye out for something." Genuine interest aside, perhaps a change of topic would get the man to stop interrogating her.

"Ah," Elias said, as if he fully understood. Occupying the same space? So. . . now this Augustus lived inside his head, or something? This was a fair bit more magical than the things he was used to dealing with. "I hope you're not just mocking a man who can't look around to see you standing over him." That was going to be interesting, to say the least. Certainly not something he was particularly keen on, but it was probably better than dying. "Though if you have no body, how are we speaking right now?" Elias shifted slightly where he laid, trying to see how much he could get away with before the pain was too much. He had never been one to lie around, and there was far, far too much to investigate right now for him to be comfortable doing so.

Heidrun visibly jumped backward before freezing with her hands up defensively, looking not dissimilar to a spooked animal. The sudden turns in body language, the piercing looks, they reminded her of her past. "T-That was an exaggeration to get those t-thugs away from me. G-Geostigma isn't contagious and I-I've never had symptoms of it. N-Not nor- I mean, none. I just wanted to escape that gang and I thought d-disease might scare them away." She was starting to babble a bit; realizing this, she took a deep breath and forced her hands down to her sides. "I, we all have secrets and sensitivities, Mr. Grimmelshausen. It would simply be best if you, a-and everyone else, were to refrain from touching me when I am feeling afraid."

"Then hurry up and ask, I've had a long-ass day." Arturia was, rather abruptly, holding onto that anger instead of the other way around. It kept the spike of nervousness out of her voice, mostly. "People are usually a little more cooperative if you don't lead with death threats, too." She hesitated to try and call any bluffs; given she was, herself, a fairly unassuming fifteen-year-old (if one who attracted far more admirers than she cared for) and could conjure up a sword made of lightning by mostly just wanting to, it would be unwise to assume that this girl couldn't do something similar, however unlikely. Arturia had the feeling that Lilith might be just fine if she had another. . . outburst, but the small girl was solidly asleep right now and there were a number of reasons she'd rather not bet on it. "We're having a party. Pah, it's my room," she grumbled under her breath.

"Who the fuck are you and why are you in my goddamn room?" Arturia countered irritably. She didn't mean to be quite so hostile, but she was having a long day and terrible luck with strangers recently. This stranger couldn't be Kaede's friend; to be blunt, Kaede didn't have friends, other than herself and possibly Alva. "She's my friend and she's not feeling well, so I took her back here to keep an eye on her. And I'm sure both of us would feel a lot better if we had the room to ourselves." The girl's attitude wasn't winning her many points either. This was her space, the one place she could go and feel like she wasn't going to be judged, and now she was being interrogated? Not to mention how poor this timing was. She had a lot of things to deal with in a very short period; there wasn't any time left over to deal with nosy strangers.

Sacred Flame Black Soldier 1 again. "Why are you just standing there letting it poke you? Blow it up or something, wouldn't that be easier than what you're doing?" Tarja asked the question towards Dagda as she casually strolled into the drow's house, moving to M22.

Mitsurugi cast her gaze about the place. Simple enough, but well-maintained; she would expect no more or less from a shrine located thusly, with extra leeway given for this being recently converted. The feeling in the air was a familiar one, but one that was also one she hadn't felt in a while; the presence of a different deity of the same nature as herself, but greater. Amaterasu was one of the great gods, chief among the kami. . . well, as often as they deigned to interact with those below, anyway. She couldn't recall more than brief brushes with the goddess, back in. . . well, times like the one she found herself in now. Still, being humbled by a greater being or no, she was pleased with the state of the shrine. This pleasure, unfortunately, evaporated fairly quickly upon the first snore emitted from the shrine maiden. The slight smile on her face inverted itself, and an uncommon event occurred; the goddess actually raised her voice. "Shrine maiden of Amaterasu! This is no place to be sleeping, you lazy monkey! Show some respect!"

"This place is a lot like Midgar, although simply tainted would have been a bad way to describe it. Bathed in, maybe, from what I saw and heard of the slums." She'd never seen much of them, despite the amount of time she'd spent there. One could almost consider that fortunate, if one was ignorant. "Now, though, it's just a radioactive ruin. The planet was nearly destroyed not long ago, and then a plague swept through the survivors." The events hadn't been nearly as bad for Heidrun as they had for many others, but she still looked slightly haunted at the mention. "Our technology isn't nearly as advanced, especially now that we don't use Mako any more, but I do feel hopeful about how things turn out going forward." She seemed to abruptly remember who she was talking to, side-eyeing Friedhold. "Why do you ask?"

Heidrun slowly lowered herself (which actually took a bit of time, given she was making an effort to not startle the girl and was also six feet tall) to get to roughly eye height with the Little Sister. "Oh, you poor thing. . . I'm Heidrun, okay, Nessa? If you meet any more bad guys, you can come to me okay?" She glanced up at Friedhold before quickly returning her gaze to Nessa. He says he saved her, right? Still, she couldn't help but mistrust the man. Heidrun reached out to stroke Nessa's hair once (if the girl allowed her to,) then returned to her full height, instinctively backing up slightly again. "I've. . . You remind me very strongly of someone responsible for a large number of terrible experiences in my life, who hurt a great many other people."

"No, this place is too similar for this to be coincidental. This air is much like the air of my youth. A powerful air, one of faith and potential from when gods walked the land among men as they should." She took a deep breath, as if she could inhale the energy she felt in the air. "I doubt that she will be the same as the Amaterasu I know, but a shrine like this, with a miko in a land such as this one, to a god of that name. . . it could not be possible for her to be that different." The corner of her mouth twitched upward slightly. "And besides, I have done no small share of smiting in my life. I shall not go quietly if it comes to conflict."

Hiroki uses Divine Challenge on the Kofo-Jaga and her basic attack on the silver scorpion.

Heidrun did her best not to visibly flinch away from Friedhold as he approached. . . and spectacularly failed, taking a couple steps away from him as he closed. Her only encouragement, if one could call it that, was wanting to get a better look at the girl, which only seemed to confirm some of her suspicions. She was clearly modified, unless she was massively mistaken, a once-normal human girl who had become something else against her will. "What did you do to her?" she asked quietly.

Isobel delays her turn. . . Empi gives Masako a quick lesson on how to leverage one's smarts to pick up girls, increasing her INT by 6. Masako creates a web of bullets with her spell card, performing the undoubtedly brilliant task of fooling a bunch of fairies and unmoving mushrooms. She deals [44] damage to each swarm and [22] to each mushroom, stunning them all. LOTUS offers some advice on how to more efficiently distribute power to Masako, while Isobel crushes a fairy with her hatchet for [4] damage. Fairy Swarm B is too busy weaving through danmaku to consider attacking with their own. Rory dives beneath the haze of spores. [Pass] He manages not to get too high, and proceeds with his search for Chen. He eventually finds a two-tailed cat with a little green hat nestled between its ears, looking rather spooked (and damp) while it flies through the forest; it looks like the group passed a small pond just after taking off. Fairy Swarm A is similarly occupied. Hikari casts a wide variety of buffing spells, increasing the power of Empi, Isobel, Ritsu, and herself by 12. Fairy Swarm A finally pulls themselves together, and launches a line of danmaku at Masako that will connect in 1 turn. Walmond tazes the first fairy swarm [Success], electricity arcing between them and dealing [8] damage. Fairy Swarm B launches another stream of danmaku, this one at Hikari, that will connect in 1 turn. Ritsu chainsaws the first swarm of fairies, dealing [27] damage as the little creatures explode one by one. Another Poison Mushroom appears ahead. It declares a Condition: Enemies that strike it with any Ranged attack will be attacked with Paralytic Cloud. Both Fairy Swarms declare their Condition: Enemies that do not attack or use a buff on their turn will be struck with a Bullet Stream. Initiative Status