[IC] TTG Chapter 3: Gluttony

[IntSys]

Supernova

 

"But you didn't win you stupid traitor. Using Nil to protect you is way worse than cheating."

 

N-Nil?! Cardinal, what the hell did you just do?

 

Suddenly, all the worth in the victory became zero. Truth was, he'd much rather let his reflexes kick in and dodge the hammer himself, given that it was a slightly more predictable attack than before. But, the Tenth God stepped in and prevented that from happening.

 

Am I... being used? Am I sponsored by Nil... to sabotage the tournament?!

 

It was a disgusting feeling. He had a simple goal, to claim the plane of Gluttony, but that determination was used by the others. He walked to Libra's armor frame, and punched it over and over again, until it was all melted and destroyed. The ground beneath it suffered the same fate, making a steam-filled crater in the arena. "WHY?" He shouted, not caring about the audience around him, nor Temperance. He knew that he couldn't talk to Him from here, but he had to let out the steam.

 

If he's sponsoring me, then this means my goal is as good as ruined. What will I be fighting for, then? There's nothing for me, nothing.

 

He quieted down, kneeling on top of Libra's unidentifiable remains, and shut down his mech. The steam formed some clouds over the arena, making it rain slightly.

 

For a moment there, he wanted to quit the tournament altogether. The battles wouldn't be his, but rather, Nil's. It'd be Nil carrying him all the way to the end, until he finally sacrifice himself and die. There wouldn't be joy, there wouldn't be excitement, and there wouldn't be effort. He'd rather stay on the losing streak that started when he was curbstomped by the Revenant, even if it meant that he would get stomped on over and over.

 

But, what would happen if he quit? Another challenger will take his place and die instead. Quitting, meant killing. I've worked so hard to run away from starvation. A selfish, self-sufficient person I am. Do I have the right to let someone else take the role?

 

He shut his eyes, and waited for the teleportation.

[Bfroger6]

Slumbering Giant vs Strider

 

The railguns, targeting no specific weak spots on Mommo's armor, would bounce right off, as the most effective way to impair the giant's frontal defenses would've been heavy-powered bludgeoning. As Strider was backing away, there wasn't much Mommo could do at the time other than fire off a couple more beams from the energy cannons in her palms and prepare the reast of her weaponry (i.e. grenades, rockets, etc.) for when (if ever) Strider decided to approach her. Though if these shots were the best Strider could pull at long-range, then there was no problem. Analysing her surroundings, Mommo decided would have to make the most out of the problematic terrain. For example, if she was having trouble balancing on this ice, then Strider would also have at least some degree of issue with it as well. To take advantage of this assumption, Mommo would target the cannons at the point a few meters in front of where Strider was moving in order to force her to quickly have to change direction and then, if the lack of friction kicked in, she would have a nice target to practice and she wouldn't hesitate to shoot her down immediately with a well-aimed and timed shot of her cannons.

 

"..." Mommo's mind was clear for now, but she was, regardless, having trouble dividing her full attention to the fight. There were so many other things on her mind...

[Komodojoe]

Strider vs. Slumbering Giant

 

Morgan watched as the projectiles just bounced off the Giant's armor. "Jeez, that armor is tough." She spoke softly. Then again, Slumbering Giant is an FAO. Shouldn't be that surprising that it can take a few hits. Still, it's pretty impressive that her shots bounced off like that, and it gives her an idea of the worst she's got to deal with. Morgan tried to think of what to do next, but was quickly interrupted by the next laser fired off from her opponent. And, as predicted, she changed course in reaction to the shot and almost lost balance. Almost. Luckily for Miss Belle, her jets were good enough to compensate for the lack of traction and kept her from falling and sliding around, though there was a small bit of a lag because she wasn't expecting it.

 

Morgan then closed in just enough to get within range to use her machine guns effectively, then changed direction once again, which went much more smoothly this time around, to circle around the Giant, and opened fire. Things were a bit rough at the start, but Morgan believes she's starting to adapt to the field and began to run through a couple of ideas, looking to see if anything sounds good enough to try.

[Bfroger6]

Slumbering Giant vs Strider

 

Mommo's plan almost worked. Almost. Seems like Strider was better than she thought, and more mobile at that, if she could keep up with this icy terrain. The bullets penetrated the energy layer of the Giant's defense, but couldn't leave more than denting in her heavy plate armoring, especially around the back, so she was fine. More importantly, judging from Strider's movements, she was trying to avoid her lasers and strike from her presumed undefended point. Too bad for her that Mommo had a whole artillery hidden inside the Giant.

 

She fired a dozen rockets upwards from her arms and they flew at Strider in zig-zaging motions, trying to cut her escape route off and strike. Meanwhile, Mommo began turning the Giant in the direction Strider was heading (so if Strider's movements suggested she was heading towards Mommo's left Mommo would turn that way). The rockets would fly at Strider from the other direction, effectively preventing her from heading there. If she tried shooting them down she would probably succeed, but that also meant she wouldn't be shooting at Mommo anymore. And Mommo was preparing the rest of her artillery to strike in case Strider broke through. A new dozen rockets was ready to fire if Strider decided to move to close-quarters for some reason, and would blast her away launching into her front in a spread if she came within a 3-m radius.

 

"..." The Giant's weight was shifting on the ice as it turned. Mommo felt like she was missing something in her plan. A possible flaw...she was too distracted to notice it...damn.

[Code: PIRULUK]

LOLI_HUNTER v.s. Hellfire Knight

 

Kagari sighed. She had no motivation to fight Hiroki. She just couldn't get herself fired up. Better to just... let instinct take the wheel. Seeing the plasma bolts headed in her direction, she pushed off from the ground, using her powerful legs to propel her into the air, above the plasma bolts. While midair, she deployed her autonomous drones, setting up a grid above the arena. Using one of them as a foothold, she propelled herself toward her opponent, her spear changing form midair into a halberd. Landing next to Hiroki, within her guard, she spun her torso and swung down her halberd...

 

...only for it to stop short of actually hitting the mech. Kagari stood there for a moment, holding her position. Then she opened her hands and dropped her weapon.

 

She couldn't do it.

[Komodojoe]

Strider vs. Slumbering Giant

 

Much to Morgan's surprise, the machine guns had some effect on the armor itself unlike the railgun. It was good to know the Giant wasn't invincible, but it looked like she had even more armor in the back. Looks like Ms. Belle was going to have to take her head-on. For now, at least. There's probably something back there if there's that much protection. Ah, the joys and frustrations of experimentation. You'll never know what might happen until it happens.

 

Noticing the volley of missiles, Morgan changed directions once again, this time speeding backward... well, more like leaping backward since she went airborne, and directed her fire on them. One by one, the shot them out of the air until the last one exploded. Not a single missile managed to touch her. That was the upside. The downside was that she was out of range with the machine guns. She knew the railgun wouldn't have much of an effect, so that was out of the question. In her short moment of thought, she found a plan that might work. She was a bit further than she would like, but that might not be a bad thing. First thing's first, though. Morgan started by completing her circle to meet the Giant face to face, or at least circle around her to the point where they're actually facing each other.

Edited January 30, 2017 by Komodojoe

[Bfroger6]

Slumbering Giant vs Strider

 

"..!" That was a close call! Had Strider kept going at Mommo and then changed directions, the Giant would have been caught in the explosion created by one volley of rockets colliding eith the other. As things turned out, she didn't even have to fire the second volley.

 

A bead of sweat ran down Mommo's cheek as she gripped the controls. She was still distracted...too distracted. What did she want...why wasn't Ares's gift helping!? What did Sloth say about it..? She couldn't remember. She had to fight now! 

 

As the Giant had been turning slowly, it wouldn't have turned its torso much from the starting position by the time Strider circled to her front. Mommo quickly released two cluster grenades from her elbow compartments which exploded several meters in front of Strider, showering her and the area around her in shrapnels, while still far enough as to not do any damage to Giant itself. Meanwhile, Mommo loaded the Giant's main cannon onto the back of its right arm and prepared the rockets. If Strider escaped the grenades, she would instantly be targeted by these rockets (the same as last turn) heading in her direction and circling her out from all sides before colliding in a massive explosion.

[Komodojoe]

Strider vs. Slumbering Giant - CHARGE!

 

"Huh... This might actually work better than expected." Morgan said to herself. The Giant had been turning around to face her as well, albeit slowly, and on top of that, she launched a couple of grenades at Strider. If she can time this right, Ms. Belle might actually be able to use those grenades to her advantage. She had to move now, though. Like, right now.

 

"System, prepare the EAS for energy pattern D. And don't start it up until I say so."

Command Accepted...

 

As soon as she barked those orders in, Morgan boosted upward and forward at full speed, the very place she was planning to land being right behind the grenades (as in between the grenades and the Giant, but super close to the grenades). Once she got close enough to her landing point, she spoke once more. "Now!"

 

EAS activated. 

Speed is now 1 from 5. Firepower is now 2 from 6. Total stats given to armor: 4.

Final statistics: Speed is now 1. Firepower is now 2. Armor is now 7.

 

The grenades detonated not too soon after she landed and actually propelled Strider to the Giant, though, without the support from the jets, she slipped and fell backward. Not like it matters. She was sliding to her opponent all the same. Morgan pointed the machine guns at the Giant once again and opened fire, using a combination of her speed the explosion of the grenades, and the lack of traction from the ice to quickly slide to the Giant guns blazing.

Edited January 31, 2017 by Komodojoe

[Chevaleresse]

Hellfire Knight vs. LOLI_HUNTER

 

Shit, she's too fast! I have to just take this hit, and then try to catch her on the recovery with a blast - huh? Kagari's blow had stopped a breath away from impact. The automated barrage flicked off as Hiroki herself froze entirely. Is this some kind of trick? The halberd clattering to the ice rang in her ears. Is that her special ability? Does she have a signature attack that activates when she's disarmed. . .? The apparent lack of any followup to this action stumped her utterly. The bulky mech rotated slightly in place, to face the opponent directly. "Kagari? What are you doing?"

[Bfroger6]

Slumbering Giant vs Stride- huh, what's going on?

 

Mommo was able to detect the sudden shift in Strider's abilities but it didn't mean she had a way of explaining or countering it. The grenades' damage was severely impaired by the spike in Strider's defensive capacity and Mommo was being showered with bullets straight to the face. Mommo directed her main cannon towards Strider but it wouldn't be able to charge quickly enough, and firing rockets as such close range would be dangerous and ineffective since Strider was firing her machine guns. She raised the Giant's other arm to protect herself but accomplished nearly nothing, as the bullets kept making little dents in her plating. However, Strider wouldn't have much time herself before the propelling force pushed her directly into the Giant's feet, and the Giant was fairly immovable...oh wait, they were on ice. Well maybe it would be fine.

 

The giant opened its palm and fired three energy beams in succession directly at Strider. These blasts wouldn't miss when accounting for Mommo's aiming and the fact that Strider was an easy target sliding like an idiot towards her over the ice and without powerful jets to save her. Also, despite her newly formed armor, these powerful blasts at such short range would still deal some damage to her.

[Komodojoe]

Strider vs. Slumbering Giant

 

The lasers had no chance of missing. They did a decent amount of damage considering the boost in armor. However, that just means that Strider could return that twofold. But that doesn't mean much at the moment, though. Right now, Morgan had to stay on her toes. One false move could put her in a really bad spot, and chances are things would end badly if that happened.

 

So Morgan was still sliding toward the Giant. Actually, she was pretty close to her opponent. She thought about just crashing into her, but between the Giant's laser's and Strider's very own machine guns, she's slowed down a bit. Things would probably end badly if she did that, so that idea is out. The only other thing she could do is stick to the original plan.

 

"System, deactivate the EAS and hold the charge."

Command accepted.

 

EAS deactivated. All stats have returned to normal.

 

As soon as those shield dropped, she lit up her jets to stand upright and switch to her shotgun. Then she pointer it right at the arm that the Giant was blocking her shots with, shifted her direction just past that arm so she wouldn't crash into it, and shot it point blank. She would continue heading in this direction for a bit to gain some distance. When Morgan actually started to look at where she was, she found herself behind the Giant, albeit at an angle  rather than directly behind. "Hmm..." She thought about what she shoulddo next, or more specifically,  whether or not she should use the energy she got from the EAS just yet.

Edited February 8, 2017 by Komodojoe

[Bfroger6]

Slumbering Giant vs Strider

Mommo wasted no time after the point-blank shotgun round penetrated the three layers of her armor but still got stuck in it and she still felt she had control in the limb, albeit some damage has been done. She let loose the rockets at Strider, once again zigzagging to hit her without leaving an opening so if Strider wanted to escape she'd need to make one for herself. Either way, Mommo was getting close to using her mech's full potential. Taking a careful step back (or well, her front...away from Strider), she launched another grenade at the ice in front of Strider that would explode upon contact with the surface, showering Strider and all the rockets in shrapnel, setting an explosive chain reaction in motion fom one rockets to another that would both impede Strider's vision as flames would burst practically in her face and possibly also hinder her movement.

[Komodojoe]

Strider vs. Slumbering Giant

 

Morgan saw the damage she did to the Giant's arm. It looked like she did a number on it, but it was still operable. She then took notice of another volley of rockets pursuing her. She took aim with her machine guns, but by the time she did, she noticed the grenade and was taken by surprise. She couldn't react to everything at once. Well, not perfectly. Looks like she wasn't using that built up energy just yet.

 

"Uh-oh." She seemed worried. "System, activate the EAS. Put everything into it."

Command Accepted...

 

EAS activated.

Firepower is now 0 from 6. Speed is now 1 from 5. Total stats given to armor: 5.

Final stats: Firepower is now 0. Speed is now 1. Armor is now 8.

 

Witn no way to move, Strider was sent sliding away by the chain explosion, and couldn't really do anything else at the moment. She could soak up a lot of damage, though. Morgan sighed as she slid a little circlet onto her head.

 

"Switching controls to advanced..." She said with a hint of annoyance. She really hated doing this. While it was more convenient, it always gave her a bit of a headache. Too many things run through your head while doing this, both consciously and unconsciously. To be fair, though, that's really because there was more to a mech than a human body. She should probably find a way to fix the problem. But first thing's first, she needs to finish this fight. And now, she's got full mental control rather than various other controls, so things should be a bit easier to operate at the very least.

[Code: PIRULUK]

Hellfire Knight vs. LOLI_HUNTER

 

On 01/02/2017 at 8:40 AM, Adamance Ascendant said:

"Kagari? What are you doing?"

 

Kagari took a step back, still unarmed. Her low voice, tinged with uncertainty, crossed the space between them.

 

"I don't... I don't want to fight you. I know it's not actually dangerous, I know you won't actually get hurt. But... I don't want to fight you. It feels weird. It feels wrong. It feels wrong to raise a weapon against you. You- You're special to me. You've made me feel things I've never felt before. You've made me feel... strange. And it's a nice type of strange. I want to hug you, kiss you, love you, but... not like how I want to do that to others. It's... there's something different about you. And I'm afraid of losing that. I'm afraid of losing you."

 

Kagari dropped her hands, letting them hang limply by her side.

 

"Sorry, but... I'm... I'm not going to fight you."

[Bfroger6]

Slumbering Giant vs Strider

 

Now was the time, with Strider getting blown away by the explosion, she was the easiest target Mommo could hope for. Even if she was worried about that ability Strider demonstrated, Mommo wasn't gonna waste any time. She rotated the Giant's torso and the arm with the loaded main cannon and aimed it at Strider who was still on the trajectory forced by the explosion. She'd suffered a strangely small amount of damage, probably once again using that odd ability, but a shot from her cannon was gonna shake her up even with her upped defenses. Nothing could withstand the full blow of Mommo's blast.

 

The cannon fired an explosive round directly at Strider who would have only the smallest window of opportunity to avoid the full brunt of the blast once it detonated, and even if she did, the force of the explosion would still send her flying and provide a new opportunity for Mommo. And so she did that, launching the round at Strider. It would detonate once within Strider's proximity even if she avoided it to either side or maybe by falling back. If she avoided it, the explosion would push her forcefully in the direction where she escaped and Mommo would continue her relentless barrage. Staying in on the explosion would be suicide for any normal mech's systems.

 

Mommo's cannon is reloading another explosive round.

[Chevaleresse]

". . ."

 

Hiroki's head clouded with confusion. She'd made the determination that she would fight, regardless of how the person in front of her had treated her in the past. She should stick to that. It'd be better for her if she stuck to that. Kagari was a strong opponent and defeating her would definitely go toward proving Hiroki's own competence, but at the same time defeating an opponent that didn't fight back was hardly proof of anything, and besides, did she even want to beat Kagari? The woman had to have her own goals, dreams, motivations, elsewise she wouldn't have ended up in the arena here - why am I even here, I don't even want to be a god - fighting against Hiroki in the first place. 

 

"I. . . Don't you, um, have a reason to fight?"

[Code: PIRULUK]

"A reason... Yes, definitely. Or I had one. A really silly one."

 

Kagari scratched her head, feeling a little embarrassed.

 

"I wanted to have my own plane, populated with lolis. Imagine it! Me! Ruler of a plane, and with all the lolis I could ever want, all to myself! It's like a paradise!"

 

She lowered her gaze and her voice.

 

"But then I met you, and all that changed. I don't know why. I mean, we barely even know each other. I don't know much about you, beyond your name. I don't know who you are, where you come from, how you found yourself here, what you're after. But somehow... Somehow, I think I love you. Despite not knowing anything about you. I can't explain it. I feel like... even if I were to never see another loli again, I would be fine with that as long as I got to spend time with you. And if it means fighting you, then... I'd rather give that silly dream up. It's not worth it. I can't do it. I just... can't."

[Komodojoe]

Strider vs. Slumbering Giant

 

The shot from Mommo's cannon would do absolutely nothing.

...I'm totally kidding.

 

Unfortunately, the window of opportunity was not big enough for Morgan to mess around with the EAS and dodge the shot from the Giant's cannon at the same time, but where one would fail, another would exceed... to a degree. Strider's VI had a bit more freedom with Morgan practically taking over all sense of movement and power control of the EAS, and that meant it could shift the shields around to protect the mech from a certain direction... at the cost of where it was taking it from, of course (but it could never take away the entirety of the shield from that spot, just a good chunk of it). So that's what happened. The shields were shifted to the front just before impact. The laws of physics can be a real bitch, though. 

 

Strider was sent flying backwards, until it landed and started tumbling backwards right up until it hit the wall with. The hard impact to the wall actually shook up the inside well enough to make Morgan lose her glasses. She moved her arms and hands around to find them, and thank the goodness she switched the controls. Otherwise, her mech would probably be doing some weird stuff right now. Instead, it just looked like she was miserably failing to get back up. However, when she finally did find them, she would find that the glasses' display was fading in and out. And on top of that, one of her lens were cracked. Well, at least she had a few spare lenses to replace it. The display was the real problem. Even if she had ways of fixing it, she couldn't do it with everything going on right now. She would just have to make due.

 

Meanwhile, Strider was now sliding forward while it was struggling to get back up. At this point, it was still just a moving target. Mommo could easily get another shot in if she really wanted to.

Edited February 22, 2017 by Komodojoe

[Bfroger6]

Slumbering Giant vs Strider

 

Good, it was a hit and Strider looked all messed up now. Mommo shouldn't waste this opportunity-she charged her cannon with another explosive round and fired it directly at Strider's torso. Immediately afterwards, she'd launch a volley of energetical impulses from both her hand-cannons at it. If the explosive round hit, it would at least damage Strider's armor, allowing for the pulses to do the rest of the work and wrap things up. Just to be sure, she also launched 4 cluster grenades at the same time into the air above Strider which would explode, raining heavy pain upon a general area of 10 m around the target mech which she wouldn't have enough time to escape even if she got up on her feet or changed her mech's stats again. Also, there'd be enough schrapnel to cover the entire area on the ice in that radius because the clusters would detonate on impact.

 

Mommo didn't need an super ultra finishing move-she was enough of an overkill all on her own.

[Chevaleresse]

Kagari's responses weren't exactly helping her figure out what she should do here. Kagari was basically forfeiting the match; this meant that Hiroki should just take the win and move on with her life. That was the option that'd get her further ahead and generally work out better for her. But. . . She flushed due to a number of factors underneath her helmet. The love confession, first of all. How was she supposed to even deal with that? Romance was a topic she hadn't considered much at all save to summarily reject the prospect for the time being, and every time she'd come back to it she'd come to the same conclusion, and did she even like girls anyway? The idea didn't seem to be repulsing - what am I doing? I need to focus, and actually do something here. What came out of her mouth next wasn't exactly the decisive words she'd been attempting to locate, however.

 

"I. . . I, um. . . I don't want to fight. . ." It was true, she didn't. Kagari had been nice to her, tried to encourage her even though they should have a cool relationship at best. She'd been prepared to lose herself in the heat of battle, fight until they no longer had to, not for. . . this.

[Code: PIRULUK]

Kagari sighed and crossed her arms. This was getting nowhere. Clearly, neither of them was willing to fight. She briefly wondered if there was a forfeit clause. She hadn't quite read all the rules of the tournament before she'd entered. Then again, she hadn't quite been prepared for a situation like this. The crowd was beginning to grow impatient, as well. Kagari couldn't blame them. They had likely come to watch violent mech-on-mech action, not a soap opera.

 

Hiroki was ahead on points, and had an actual dream. She had an actual reason to win, unlike the silly whims that drove Kagari. The best thing that could happen in this round was for Hiroki to win spectacularly, cementing her lead. But if she wasn't going to fight, that wasn't going to happen.

 

Kagari groaned. She hated navigating human relationships. She was never good at them, she was never good at talking to people. Not for the first time, she found herself wishing she could foist her problems off on someone else.

 

Then why don't you?

 

Kagari staggered back, a brief flash of horror crossing her face, as she heard a very familiar voice in the furthest reaches of her consciousness. She had let herself lapse. She cursed her indecisiveness, and tried to expel the voice.

 

The solution to your little problem is simple, is it not?

 

Kagari collapsed to the ground, sinking on one knee. She clutched her head in her hands, moaning.

 

If all you need is for that little girl to fight, you simply have to force her into it, no?

 

Kagari felt bars around her consciousness as she tried to scream but found that no sound came out. To the spectators, it would seem that Kagari was kneeling limply on the floor. Kagari felt herself receding, being evicted by another self. Kagari felt her sense of the world shrinking, darkening, changing-

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

Kagari pushed herself back on her feet and regarded her opponent with an impassive face.

 

Her enemy was heavily armored, but primarily used ranged attacks. Crushing weapons would be preferred. Distance was approximately 8.31 meters. Distance could be covered in approximately 0.8492 seconds from stationary start. Surface friction of the ground was a value which was insignificant in deviance from the mean friction found on common ground. Air resistance was negligible. Given these circumstances, best method of engagement would be a frontal assault with a close-quarters weapon. Hammer or equivalent blunt weapon was preferred. Her current loadout lacked such a weapon. Ergo, the next best option was selected.

 

Kagari crouched down into a striking position, pushing off at a high speed directly at Hiroki, a wrist compartment sliding open to eject a dagger into her open palm.

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki leaned over, taking a concerned step toward Kagari. She could have seen the concerned expression on the girl's face through the visor, undarkened currently due to the lack of need, if she'd looked up. She's passing out again, in the middle of the match? But she seemed find, did I do something wrong? Why is this- 

 

Kagari crashed into an entirely unprepared Hiroki. The only motion she'd taken even vaguely resembling a response to the attack was an involuntary jerk backward out of startlement. She's- I knew it, I knew it, I told myself it was just a trap, she was just trying to catch me off guard, this whole conversation, everything was a trick. Half desperate and half enraged, she tried to slam her reinforced cannon into Kagari, using her back jets to both make herself harder to hold onto and give the attack the extra momentum it would likely need. Her off-hand scrabbled at Kagari, the clawed fingers attempting to dislodge the attack. Underneath her visor, her face twisted as angry tears welled up at this apparent betrayal. 

[Code: PIRULUK]

Kagari impassively regarded Hiroki's actions. The anger was good, but Hiroki needed to be flashier if she was to get a sizable amount of Favor. She deftly avoided the haphazard clawing and crouched low within Hiroki's guard, driving the dagger deep into the ground as a set of elastic wires quickly twined themselves around its handle. Using the dagger as a pivot, she abruptly changed direction, speeding to Hiroki's other side, stopping just short of her fallen hammer. The wires that bound her lithe frame to the dagger's handle stretched out just enough for her to grasp hold of the weapon, before the tension in them jerked her back, heading toward Hiroki at a high speed with a large hammerblow in tow.

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki gasped as the hammer sped toward her. She fired her jets and kicked at the ground, trying to roll backward so that the blow would land glancingly - and then grunted as it slammed into her chestplate with near full force, sending her some combination of skidding, sliding, and tumbling backward as the Knight's systems tried to compensate for the impact. Several notifications popped up on her HUD: warnings that system integrity was down. All lights were still green, however; her armor was built sturdy enough to take a few hits like this. 

 

Her legs kicked at Kagari as she moved - it looked like panicked flailing, and a bit of it was, but Hiroki knew what she was doing. The smaller cannons running along the backs of her legs scattered angry bursts of plasma at the Hellfire Knight's opponent, covering her in an attempt to give her a chance to reassert herself. 

[Code: PIRULUK]

More. She needed to show off more.

 

Kagari reversed the grip on her hammer, holding it such that the head was positioned below rather than above her fist. This made it harder to swing with, but it was far easier to carry while running in this way. The short bursts of plasma that Hiroki was firing in her direction were unimpressive, merely meant to make her approach more problematic. Not nearly flashy enough. Her back opened up, releasing her bits, which formed a lattice of footholds in the sky, above the barrage. With a quick leap, she jumped from bit to bit, zigzagging at high speeds, rapidly closing the distance, finally dashing for another strike from Hiroki's left.