Chevaleresse

Arturia took a couple stumbling steps backward. She was fairly certain this is somewhat what she was going for, but not entirely sure where her continued safety and well-being factored into this particular equation. She really, really wished she had some method of defending herself against Layla (who she probably should have anticipated being a bit more paranoid); fortunately for her, said wish was just about exactly what Arturia needed to get such. The second step Arturia took backward made a metallic clanking sound, instead of the muted sound of a tennis shoe on dirt. Said shoes had been replaced with silvery-white metallic boots, complete with slightly pointed sabatons and shin guards. Past those, her jeans were replaced with a set of white leggings, just sheer enough to reveal the floral tattoos that had appeared on her legs (of a variety of kinds, but lilies, daffodils, and gladiolus were prominent among them.) They lead up to a multilayered skirt, violet then yellow then white again, which itself continued up into a white dress covered over with a chestplate that matched her boots. The dress was sleeveless; her arms were covered in another set of tattoos similar to the ones on her legs, with bracers over her forearms. A heavy cape draped itself over her back, violet with yellow fringes, and her normally-unpainteed nails became the same color. This transformation confused Arturia for the briefest moment (along with an incongruous flash of embarrassment, as there was an instant where she felt entirely naked) but she fairly quickly decided she didn't need to ponder it right now - Kallisto had mentioned something about unlocking her power, and apparently this included fancy half-armored outfits with far too much white and exposed leg. As well as the vaguely sword-shaped bolt of lightning that'd appeared in her right hand, her fist reflexively clenched around it. Ideally she wouldn't have to use that for anything, though it seemed to be rapidly approaching that point. . . Assuming Layla wouldn't just absorb the thing. "Seriously, what reason would I have to lie to you? I don't even know what I'd use you for, so please just calm down for a second? You're not the only one who's got magical shit going on, so can we just talk for a second?" She spoke at a volume that was probably far in excess of what she needed, but this wasn't exactly a calm situation.

"This is going to sound crazy - it still does, even to me - but I think I met you in. . . a dream? Er, a dream's not the right term, I guess you'd call it a vision or something? I swear I'm not insane, alright? And uh, it wasn't quite you, but it was someone a lot like you. . . Fucking hell, let me just start over." She sighed irritably at herself, half running her hand through her hair and half pulling on it. Was she really this nervous? "I was chasing after a couple girls - they'd just run off into the woods, it's not important - when this weird third one showed up. Red hair, talked really confusingly. She snapped her fingers, and I was in this black void. . . thing, and the only other person around was a girl that looked exactly like you." She briefly debating bringing up Kath- Kallisto, but she figured that could wait until Lilith wasn't visibly losing it. "I don't really know you that well, but from what I can tell she acted like you too. I figured there was something more to it than sudden-onset delusional schizophrenia when I uh, saw that back there, so I figured I'd take the shot and ask if you'd experienced anything similar."

Not particularly, no. Your best bet is just getting on the Discord and asking about anything you need.

Well, uh, this wasn't good. Outright hostility wasn't something she'd planned for. "I mean, I don't know how to prove it to you, but I don't think I could use you even if I wanted to. I've never really had the sense for that." Right. Keep calm, keep that voice steady. Ignore the electrical flux passing through you. Ignore the niggling thought that Katherine was probably using her which might mean Arturia was unwittingly using Lilith. Layla? "I just wanted to see if you were okay, and talk about some stuff. Like uh," maybe directly referencing the lightning was a bad idea, "where we might have met before, among other things."

Operator Navi

Arturia panted a bit, though she tried to keep her breathing mostly under control as she replied to Lilith. "To be honest, I'm a little too busy dealing with this existential crisis to be scared." It was true, to an extent; her emotions always felt a bit muddled, but today she'd had no idea how to feel. "Plus, I don't think you're trying to hurt me or anything, otherwise I'd be hiding behind a tree or something." Alright, now for the hard part. . . Ask her to confirm something without actually telling her what that something is or actually asking for said confirmation, because if she was wrong about the hunch and asked about it, Lilith would literally explode. Or something. "As for why I'm here, uh, well, why do you think I'm here?" Too sassy sounding, but whatever.

That, that was not normal. And probably exactly the sort of thing she had been looking for. A flash of light, a boom, and a dodgeball hitting someone hard enough to put them down like that? . . . Not exactly typical signs of divinity, but they were weird enough that she'd take it anyway. "Uh, you guys make sure she's okay, I'll go get Lilith. Tell Miss Katherine where I went if I'm not back soon." She lingered for the briefest moment; a twinge of guilt passed through her at more or less abandoning Alva, but she did have more important things to take care of, and. . . Saying she was confident in her classmates to do anything in particular was a stretch, but it's not as if Arturia staying was going to affect events much. She jogged off in the direction of the forest, hoping that her longer legs were enough to allow her to keep up with Lilith. She felt a faint flash of irritation; Arturia wasn't exactly in top physical condition, and she'd neglected to put on a sports bra or anything today. . .

look, a Ruler also imma put a master sheet here eventually

G8

L11

Partway through Soryn's speech, a dark fire, crimson laced with purple, enveloped Jeanne, though he could be excused for not noticing it; it made no sound, and didn't seem to touch him at all. The person crumpled on the ground seemed different; her hair a less bleached blonde, and her eyes and clothing in dark blues instead of pale yellow and black. "It's alright. I wish we could have met differently, too, but I'm so glad to hear people speak about my country so. I don't know what came over me. You did the right thing, and I know God is at your side as well. . . Thank you." She barely flinched at Snow's action, and finally closed her eyes, remaining for a few moments before fading away.

Isobel was supposed to be stunned this round, but luckily her perk lets her move anyway! Lotus pinpoints two large weakpoints on Lancer. Lancer recovers from her stun. Bridgett politely attempts to befriend Lancer with a blast of technicolor magical force, dealing [33] damage. Lancer seems to be impeded a bit by the electricity still coursing through her, but she still charges at Friedhold, dealing [9] damage. She continues moving, trampling over Marisa for [8] damage. Hikari casts a curative spell over Morgan, healing him for [20]. The first officer hits Isobel with another blast of ice, dealing [10] damage and slowing her further. Dackly Softens Lancer again while Gozer continues to guard her, converting her Hate Stacks into Soften stacks. The first group of soldiers reforms their ranks. Katsuo angrily smashes at Lancer for [20] damage. Lancer tilts her lance skyward. A crack sounds, and it is immersed in swirling, intensely bright energy, and she calmly lowers it, setting it back into place once more. Officer B hits Bridgett with another ice spike. It pings off of her barrier again, but continues to interfere with her flight. Samantha exposes herself as a massive nerd, firing an energy blast at Lancer for [84] damage. The second group of soldiers makes another somewhat futile attempt to hurt Samantha. Ritsu attacks Lancer for [24] damage and inflicts a further [24] bleeding damage for 3 turns. Marisa hits Lancer with a bolt of purplish magic for [9] damage. The first Balor swings its blade at her for [6] more damage. The second strikes Officer A for [9] damage. Friedhold uses some of his seemingly inexhaustible supply of ADAM and EVE to stun Lancer, Officer A, and the second group of soldiers. He also deals [0] damage to Lancer and the officers, and [3] damage total to the group of soldiers. Morgan decides that Samantha needs EVEN MORE ENERGY, buffing her SYN by 14 for 2 turns. Initiative Status

"I'd want to come along, too. Is that okay?" Lucine asked, the oddness of the question not quite clicking until a moment or two asking the question. It was weird for her, not being around her family. She guessed it was nice to not have people telling her what to do all the time, though. "Um, while we wait, though, I'm gonna mess with the computer a little." The girl wandered over to where the thing had been placed, booting it up and trying to ignore the fact that it sounded like it'd taken lessons from Opal. Lucine asks the computer to teach her how to refill her mana without just sleeping over a leyline.

Lyssa, Vale 8.26. Attack Slime

"That's. . . weird. . ." Kyou repeated. There was no way, was there? "Were the Angels dead?" That blue-haired girl, too. Kyou had thought it was just a coincidence, or just an association with the girl's mysterious appearance and that of the Angels and Evas. Maybe it still was, but two people having the exact same nightmare? "In the dream I had, we were walking through the desert, with tons of dead Angels around. And we had to get across the ocean for some reason, until that giant sea monster showed up like you said. The tree was there, too."

Lucine and Law, after a fair amount of work, managed to get their project put together. The Paracognitive Computer (fancier name pending) can tell the user how to learn anything perfectly, but at a currently-unknown cost in corrupted and damaged chips in the system itself. However, yet to be discovered by the two is the interference caused by making the thing run off of the existences of a famous slayer of extradimensional beings and one of the most powerful of extradimensional beings; the information is filtered through whichever of the two happens to be winning.

Kyou frowned slightly as she was led to her seat. "That's weird, I had a nightmare too. . ." Or maybe it wasn't. Ranga was. . . well, technically a century older than her, but in the ways that mattered even younger than Kyou. "Oh, uh, yeah, scrambled eggs are good." Alma was basically Kyou's only source of well-cooked food. Her father had never been a great cook, and he wasn't exactly taking the loss of his wife well either; lots of frozen dinners and the like when she'd eaten at her new home in the last few days. "What was yours about, anyway?"

"Let's do that, then! Unless there's another problem?" Lucine seemed to be excited to finally exercise her crafting skills. She hadn't had much of a chance to work on Mystic Codes since she'd ended up on this adventure.

"Well, I didn't mean copy the corrupt ones over and over, but I guess I know what you mean. Do you think it would work if it wasn't a full AI?"

Law's lecture on AI combined with their earlier discussion seemed to have given Lucine an idea. "Oh, I know. What if we put an AI in the computer, and then had the AI make copies of itself whenever we asked it to learn something for us? That way none of the copies actually get damaged that much, and the whole thing doesn't wear down over time?"

Lucine spent a moment in silent thought herself. "Oh, I know! Can't that Tim guy transmute things? I bet he could just turn the worn-out circuits into fresh new ones. Hmm. . . The computer still needs to learn the information well enough to actually tell you it, which would make the whole thing wear out, probably. . ."

Morgan's vision swam a bit. But, they somehow felt more aware of the world around them at the same time. It was a strange sensation, to be sure, but they swore they could hear someone trying to speak with them. Or maybe it was just blood loss, you know. Either way, a fuzzy mass of energy traveled through the air in the general direction of one of their assailants. Zap Init4

Kyou nodded. "I'm, fine." Her voice had the slightest hitch; she really wasn't fine, and Alma likely knew better, but she was up and moving, which was good by the standards of the last few days. "I didn't eat yet. I, uh, just woke up." Kyou elected to not mention the dream, for the moment. She just wanted food in her belly and company, not to have a (well-meaning, but still unwanted) conversation about how she was dealing with. . . things. That's probably all it was, just a nightmare about the most terrifying experience of her life. Kyou gave a polite bow to Alma - something she'd only started doing two days ago, not that Alma would necessarily know. "I'd love to have breakfast with you."

Lucine pondered for a moment. "Well, if you know a part is going to take damage no matter what you do to it, you make it easy to replace, right? So what if we just made whatever part is actually getting the information replaceable somehow? Though it also has to be smart enough to actually tell us the answer to our questions. . ."

"I had an idea using the Class Cards I made. One of them lets me learn whatever I want, and another one makes me better at learning or teaching people, so I thought I could make a Mystic Code that used both of them to let everyone learn whatever they want. The only problem is that the one can. . . kinda drive you insane if you use it? That's why I wanted to come up with a computer system for it." She frowned a bit at Law's reaction, but continued. "I just don't know how to actually build computers, and something tells me a gun probably isn't the best form for something like this."