[IC] Tengoku no Owari CT, Chapter 1.2

[StormLord]

Owen paused just a moment, long enough to get an idea of where each one of them was and what was about to happen next.  He started to take a step forward, a faint, instead he quickly sidestepped and practically slid around behind Cu.

Owen brought his sword up in a defensive position ready to deflect or block whatever attack Cu planned on throwing at him before stepping forward and putting new meaning to the phrase "lightning quick right hook".

 

Fury of the Storm: 5, Action: 6.

 

[Empiricist]

Spoiler

Chise : 6, Resolve

Immanuel : 6

Marina : 5

Owen : 6, Hyper[5]

Sasha : 6

 

Fort Jackass : 6

Hecatus (Cu Chulainn) : 5, Hyper[3]

 

[Now Playing: Emiya]

 

A gunshot, a flash of light, and the crash of thunder.

 

And then, silence. Silence in your head.

 

Focus Immanuel. Focus damnit!

 

It's hard, hard to see, hard to feel.

 

You watch on, an observer trapped in a stranger's body.

 

There's no pain, searing agony, just numbness, silent numbness.

 

Focus... focus... you can barely focus. You're having a stroke. Well something close to it.

 

Blood drips from your wound, a deep red that mixes with the rain.

 

The shot was perfect. Right in the joint. Right in the gap. Even through the smoke.

 

Punched a hole through, and detonated. The incendiary armor piecer expanding in an instant, and filling your body with barbs.

 

That, is what's happening right now, that is what is wrong with you. The blockage in your brain, the bleeding, its all from these barbs. It'll take more than that to kill you of course, but it certainly won't make living any easier.

 

You need medical attention. You need to remove the barbs. Leave it inside and you'll surely bleed to death. Marina can do it. Maybe Sasha too. Hell maybe even the gimp cocoon. But point is, you need help, and the sooner the better.

 

You're not the only one who's bleeding. Blood seeps from Owen's cheek. The rifle had become a spear and in that same instant struck with a fatal intent, but a graze is all it managed, because that, that was the same moment the flashbang went off.

 

If this were one of em japanese cartoons, now would be where the camera cuts the punch from like three different angles before Cu goes fucking flying off. But this ain't a cartoon, this is reality, and y'know what Owen? You're know a punkass bitch. A punch that throws someone across the room looks real impressive for Hollywood, but all that force? It's exploding across their body, spreading out, pushing them backwards. Pushing doesn't hurt a man, well not unless they're a soccer player. No, when you punch a man, they crumple. All that force? It goes into breaking them. You don't need them to fly, hell you don't want them to fly, flying means widening the gap, no, you can to break them. And you're pretty sure you just broke Cu's face.

 

That's just a bonus, the real goal's the discharge, the electricity coursing through his body now, tensing his muscles, locking down his movement. Funny thing about all those legends, he'll fight an entire army to a standstill, he'll make the earth shake with fury, sure, but cut him and he bleeds, spill his guts and he'll die. He'll die slowly sure, and he'll die fighting, but he'll still die. He's not much more durable than a regular man.

 

See, the thing about Cu's legend is, he didn't have to fight you. 

 

This copy of him? Now that's trouble, but what hits it still hurts it and you got plenty of lightning to go round. Trouble is, Immanuel's wounded so you got no fire support right now, and well, here comes the riastrad.

 

A wave of heat crashes outwards as he just goes fucking 40K on you, it's less like the classical description and more like well, all his features, and his details, are beginning to melt like wax, a furious inferno roaring out beneath entombing flesh. An otherworldly being, a mix of flame and flesh so volatile you cannot tell where one ends and the other begins, veiled in plasma and heralded by the hiss of boiling asphalt. An otherworldly being still spasming from lightning like a punk bitch.

 

Aight so here's how shit's going down, just fucking being near it you're going to be getting continuously burnt, much like how you'll be able to continously zap it. Not that he's planning to do that, oh no, he's planning on going for a quick kick to the shins, a crushing body blow, and a swift disengage. You're not entirely sure what he can do at range now, but you've the feeling you'd rather not find out.

 

Meanwhile, up in the skies...

 

Marina you warp the fuck away, not quite out of the fist's path, but enough that you ca fly the hell away when in a stroke of luck Fort Jackass flickers and falters as one of its subforts just fucking detonates. You return file with a beam to the chest and bunch of space rockets but well it doesn't seem two phased by that, looks like you might have to go after its power supply.

 

Still your bombardment and light show to its credit does manage to distract it, distract it long enough for a, shifting amalgamation of steel and bone to crash into its side. There, wasn't much left of it at the time of impact, Chise had to detonate the reactor to really get the juice needed to blast it back so the bone was rapidly fading, but well, she didn't need much, and now, even now, she can feel her Invasion spreading through the skeleton's torso. With its legs now formed, the fortress fucking leaps into the air. It doesn't do anything just yet, but well, it does have one arm raised to the heavens and an awful lot of kegare seems to be gathering there, congealing into an orb of general unpleasantry.

 

Spoiler

Chise

Status: Fine, a wish for a way to clean up bodies and two wishes increased Requiem virulence, The True False God

Infection Vectors: Sasha, Fort Jackass' torso

World Line: 2 6 4 4 6 6 1 4 6 2

Alterations: 2

Resolve: 1

 

Immanuel
Status: Critical, circulatory system has been filled with barbs, massive hole in the shoulder, having a simulated stroke, struggling to move, struggling to focus, staggered, wishes for maneuverability, bullet dodging, wall phasing, and plasma speed/damage, 1 railgun
World Line: 2 4 5 2 5 6 5 4 6 4
Alterations: 4
Resolve: 2
 
Marina
Status: Slightly hurt, wishes for drilling and a paint-based catalyst, False Install - Kingmaker's Mantle, Meteor Shower active for 2 more turns
World Line: 3 1 4 6 6 4 3 6 3 1
Alterations: 4
Resolve: 2

 

Owen
Status: Fine, wish for seeing through Hecatus and Fort Jackass' cloaking, Resonance - Evasion
World Line: 2 1 5 4 1 5 4 4 3 3
Alterations: 5
Resolve: 3

 

Sasha

Status: Fine, wishes for flight and true sight

World Line: 5 3 5 4 3 4 4 3 3 4

Alterations: 4

Resolve: 3

Fort Jackass
Status: Missing two subfortresses, remaining subfortresses are heavily dented, decloaked, fully formed, missing a part of itself, Invasion is spreading across its torso

 

Hecatus (Cu Chulainn)

Status: Face is half caved in, burn wounds across body, shocked by lightning, Warp Spasm, veiled in plasma, off-balance

Spoiler

Cu's statpool is, pretty fucking insane. Even a massively boosted wish combined with a smoke bomb isn't enough to fully dodge his attacks when he uses his accuracy boost hyper. Mobilitat+ would've been enough to cover the difference, but unfortunately Immanuel was aiming to use it after the dodge for the flank.

 

Oh and Immanuel ain't on death's door or anything, that being said the whole barbs filling his circulatory system thing is going to make it real hard to fight. Having an ally with magic that can remove it is the easiest way to get rid of it, but well, there's nothing stopping him from just tearing the damn thing out himself. Gonna hurt, gonna hurt him more, but probably beats all the negatives.

 

Ge Bulg yeah, severely cut what Immanuel managed to get done with turn, since the barbs made it hard for him to do as much.

 

[IntSys]

Marina turned to the crash of thunder in surprise, and at the end of bang was none other than her uncle, speared by "Cu"'s Gae Bolg. Almost equally as concerning was the fortress seemingly intent on nuking the whole place with excessive kegare.

 

"Sorry, uncle, but this will have to do! I'll get back to you later!" She wished for a large, pink, and liquid sphere of healing energy and... morphine, almost as large as Immanuel was, and sent it speeding down toward his position. She then went back to focusing on the fortress. More specifically, its raised arm. She rose to the same height as the fortress' arm. She could probably stop whatever the fortress was doing if she could sever its arm, she thought, but she'd need something sharp... gigantic... and sacred.

 

So she wished for exactly that, as well as all the strength she'd need to actually wield the thing, and brought whatever sacred sword she ended up getting down upon the thinnest section of the fortress' raised arm.

 

Alteration to 6.

[Ragnarok97071]

Chise ran the numbers in her head, considering options. Where would be the best way to assist? The familiar she had created would almost certainly kill the Fort eventually, though perhaps with that attack it was building it wouldn't be quick enough to really help. She could likely protect Sasha and herself from the blast if necessary, but the others would need to be in close proximity to protect them, and it would take a moment to prepare, plus there were others in different places... OK.

She instructs Invasion to focus its efforts on the creature's arm, hoping to gain control of at least part of it as it works its way down.

 

Meanwhile, she addresses her handler.

 

"PLEASE BRING ME CLOSER TO THE INJURED."

[Zetaark]

"Alright" Sasha responds, trying to drive closer to Immanuel while avoiding line of sight with Cu and keeping an eye out for any incoming fire.

[Yours Truly]

Immanuel did what seemed reasonable to him at the time, which was lie there in pain for a brief moment as he tried to grasp for a healing potion with one hand, and grasp at the largest collection of barbs with the other, immediately tearing the entire damned thing out and chucking it at the approaching gimp as soon as the wave of morphine flooded over to him, and chugging the entire damned potion bottle.

He staggered onto his feet in a crouching position and rearranged the priorities of his wishes as he summoned another railgun in his hands, sacrificing bullet dodging, maneuverability, wall phasing, and plasma speed and damage for one thing, and one thing only, a hopefully excessive increase in his ability to aim his railguns and the amount of damage they deal, okay maybe that was two things. He charged up a Leistungsverstärker in his pair of railguns as he brings the two of them to bear, and he said absolutely nothing as he opened fire at the sniper, one liners can wait.

 

Immanuel chugs a healing potion and uses Sofortige elektromagnetische schienenkanone-Erstellung [4] and Arcane Infusion: Leistungsverstärker [5] after removing Hecatus's gae bolg from himself and sacrificing all of the four wishes he has for extremely increased accuracy and damage potential with his railguns to make the shots he is firing at Hecatus actually hit and mulch the fucker. He is also altering the roll to a 6 because why the fuck not let's do this.

[StormLord]

Owen watched, stared for what felt like minutes as Cu's features slowly melted away in wave after wave of heat.  In that fraction of a second he was floored by a mixture of disgust and awe before he tore himself back to reality.

The heat from the plasma made him back off, but he just managed to get Cu where he wanted him and he figured backing off was exactly what he was expected to do.

 

So he did the batshit insane thing instead.  He called upon another wish, one to dull the burning as he stepped back in close.  Close enough to cut Cu's kick short and swiftly follow up by planting Fragarach, and a fresh jolt of lightning, inbetween the man's ribs.

 

Wishes to evade burning, or at least the pain of it.

Alter to a 5 to attack with Fragarach, closing in to cut off Cu's kick.

[5] Fury of the Storm activates.

[Ragnarok97071]

Having realized upon arrival that the target of her charity had already helped themselves, Chise refocuses herself on controlling Invasion and speeding up its progress as best she can, though should a sufficiently dangerous attack be launched she will change focus to defend the group now that she is nearby.

[Zetaark]

Seeing that the situation has changed, Sasha decides that staying evasive and counterfiring whatever it is Cu does is the best course of action. That can keep Chise focusing on her objective and hopefully keep everyone else from not biting the dust.

[Empiricist]

Spoiler

Chise : 2

Immanuel : 6, Hyper[4], Hyper[5]

Marina : 6

Owen : 5, Hyper[5]

Sasha : 5

 

Fort Jackass : 5

Hecatus (Cu Chulainn) : 5, Hyper[R]

 

[Now Playing: Emiya]

 

Owen, you decide that two can play at this game, and as Cu wreathes his body in energy you answer in turn. Your blade resonates again and in accordance with your wish the clouds around you swirl inwards wreathing your body with numbing discharges. Even in a close fight like this, footwork is key, but you can't let it come to that, you can't let him disengage. You need to keep the bastard tazed and you need to to tackle this head on. he goes for the kick but you just go right  in pushing yourself into an awkward angle and driving your lightning charged blade right into him. It, doesn't sink it. Why isn't it sinking in?

 

Gae bulg clatters to the ground. At least, what was once gae bulg, as with its master it had transformed, become something greater, something more monstrous. Something thicker, something bulkier, something sporting a drum magazine that you could only presume to be proof that you needed to keep him here. When you rushed in, he dropped the weapon and with his now-free hand grabbed your sword.

 

Your actual sword, the one that's metal and charged with lightning. Just being clear here.

 

Now this couldn't actually stop your attack. You grab a thrusting sword and no matter how strong you are that shit's probably still gonna jab right into you. But the thing is, when he touched it you felt something happening, and it sure wasn't a good something. Spirit energy was flooding into your regalia, overloading it, impairing it. By the time your blade pierced his side its enchantments were so damn haywire it could no longer inflict anything beyond the shallowest of cuts.

 

It was still conductive however, and lightning isn't that picky. Your body discharges with a thunderous roar forcing your foe's body to lock up. You're burning up too now. No matter. You release your blade, keeping it afloat via electromagnetism as you drive your fist forwards and follow through your strike, feeling the burning flood scalding your arm as Cu's ribs buckle and break. He's no slouch either. Doesn't even flinch as he just fucking takes it. A sharp jolt of pain announces that he's just jammed a combat knife into your leg and with another burst of strength he draws his pistol with his other hand, slamming the barrel right up under your chin. That electricity's gonna make it hard for him to pull the trigger, at this point, he can only resist it in bursts and well, you're pretty sure you can take a bullet to the throat just fine if it comes down to it.

 

Immanuel staggers upright. Blood seeps from his wounded shoulder. The wound has yet to fully close, most of the magic spent fixing the internal damage, the internal damage Cu inflicted, the internal damage he himself inflicted when he tore the round free from his body, that barbed tangle of ivory and burning phosphor. He's unsteady. He's wounded, peering out from beneath that morphine haze. But he can think again. And that, that will be enough.

 

An empty syringe falls to the ground. He crushes the barbed round with a gauntleted fist, the whole mess dissipating to naught. And on his good shoulder another railgun appears, energy pouring through its systems as he diverts power to it. There was no ominous hum, no crackling tendrils, no menacing glow. No need to telegraph the attack, no need to warn his target. Not that he'd notice anyway, Owen had the guy quite well distracted.

 

Owen lets go, throwing himself backwards, and as Cu turns to follow the bouncer's gaze it really was much to late. The first round hits him square in the chest. The second right in the head. The two impacts happening almost simultaneously The results are, spectacular to say the least. It's just this fucking explosion of plasma as his upper torso is obliterated, his head is just gone while his arms and his lower body are just completely separated and blown backwards from the impact. The pieces flicker and the overlay fades, revealing a body made of straw and wrapped in cloth, which y'know promptly catches fire from all the heat and plasma before burning away. Guess that used to be one of the mononoke. A card falls to the ground. It's like one of the ones Tor used, it's like the one Marina is using right now even, except where hers is blank, this one has a name and a picture.

 

Epithet Acquired - Cu Chulainn HECATUS

 

Meanwhile in the skies above, Marina is conjuring a giant fucking sword. Because it always comes down to a giant fucking sword. This sword comes out, pretty generically honestly, your typically cruciform holy blade with a blade of shining silver. In terms of good places to bring it down, the whole arm being raised makes that a little troublesome, since everything is basically just going to end up being a diagonal cut. She eventually settles for about halfway down the forearm.

 

The fortress is weak, weaker than it was, it's lost two reactors and it's actively trying not to succumb to the magical equivalent of a highly aggressive sentient mutagenic venereal disease but the actual slicing still proves to be rather tricky seeing as Marina wasn't especially well-versed in swords let alone giant ones, so strike down't do that much as it was mostly just gravity doing the work for her, managing only to kinda lodge the sword down a bit of the ways into the arm.

 

Looks like it's time to improvise and Marina had just the thing. If you can't drive the chisel in you'll just have to hammer it in, and Marina had the mother of all hammers. And hey if she was already outsourcing the work to gravity, obviously she just needs to outsource it more!

 

The rippling portals streak upwards, aligning themselves with the edge of the blade as the meteor shower just pounds against the blade and forces it through the damn arm. With the limb cut, the orb of energy loses all coherence and just fizzles as the fortress itself starts falling backwards to earth. Its body quickly reattaching the arm as it shifts in midair aiming to turn its fall into a flying elbow drop aimed at the pair still on the ground.

 

Spoiler

Chise

Status: Fine, a wish for a way to clean up bodies and two wishes increased Requiem virulence, The True False God

Infection Vectors: Sasha, Fort Jackass' torso

World Line: 6 4 4 6 6 1 4 6 2 2

Alterations: 2+

Resolve: 1

 

Immanuel
Status: Critical, hole in the shoulder, wish for accuracy, a bit woozy from the morphine and unaffected by pain
World Line: 2 2 5 5 4 6 4 6 4 6
Alterations: 3
Resolve: 1
 
Marina
Status: Slightly hurt, wishes for drilling, a paint-based catalyst, a giant holy sword, and the strength to wield said sword, False Install - Kingmaker's Mantle, Meteor Shower active for 1 more turn
World Line: 3 1 4 6 4 3 6 3 1 5
Alterations: 3
Resolve: 2

 

Owen
Status: Badly hurt, there's a knife stuck in leg, wishes for seeing through Hecatus and Fort Jackass' cloaking and for evasion, Resonance - Burn Numbing
World Line: 2 1 4 1 4 4 3 3 2 1
Alterations: 4
Resolve: 3

 

Sasha

Status: Fine, wishes for flight and true sight

World Line: 3 5 4 3 4 4 3 3 4 3

Alterations: 4+

Resolve: 3

Fort Jackass
Status: Missing two subfortresses, remaining subfortresses are heavily dented, decloaked, fully formed, missing a part of itself, Invasion is spreading across its torso, falling out of the air

 

Hecatus (Cu Chulainn)

Status: Utterly obliterated

Spoiler

Most of the healing done to Immanuel went to repairing the internal damage especially since he worsened it further when he tore out the round.

 

Sasha didn't really countersnipe Cu since all her ranged attacks are Hypers and I'm presuming she was planning on performing a ranged attack and not sniping him with a motorcycle hit and run to the face.

 

And before Rag asks, yes the Fort Jackass status hasn't changed much as it's managed to resist further infection this turn thanks to the roll difference.

 

Spoiler

Congratulations! You've acquired your first proper Epithet Card!

 

All PCs can now add a Hecatus Install to their character sheet. A Hecatus Install is a transformation, summon, or other continuous effect that draws upon the power of an Epithet Card. Only one Hecatus Install can be active per battle, and only one Install can be active per character. Also you need to actually be in possession of the card to perform the install so if you cancel it and want to have someone else do their own install you gotta actually pass it over to them. (Though there are ways around this like if your Install is a summon you can make it pass itself to an ally, or if you're Chise you can unseal and infect the card so that's you're technically always in possession of it).

 

Unlike False Install - Kingmaker's Mantle, you guys get to design your Hecatus Install yourself. You can draw on any number of the aspects of the card listed in this document. It can be anything from Immanuel making his railguns getting crazy antimaterial gae bulg rounds and nothing else (to focus it for maximum power), to Owen improving his general agility, from Marina summoning a stand, to Sasha becoming some sort of kamen rider knockoff.

 

You can change your install later when you level-up to fit any changes to your own playstyle. Oh and obviously you get to choose whether this changes your appearance and how.

 

[Ragnarok97071]

The True False God looks up at the black creature which was falling, trying desperately to inflict some sort of damage to the group. This was not acceptable.

 

Her eyes flash. Her power surges, everywhere but within Sasha, from whom it recedes.

 

This thing was a mockery of her kind? How fitting. She had something more than capable of binding a true Aramitama, yet alone an imitation. She spreads out her hands, and exerts her will.

 

Full Leather Bunker with the second 6 from the left, drop True False God to activate sealing effect of belts.

 

From inside Fort Jackass, hundreds of belts explode. As they had done to Chise, now they do to it, for it was now a part of her, in a way. The leather wraps around it, binding it tightly, swarming over its body, and around the towers she had already affected. It reaches out, merges, and pulls, attempting to string the skeletal creature between the pillars as she finishes infecting it, attempting to change it to her will.

 

"O PITIFUL SHADOW, LOST IN DARKNESS,
BRINGING TORMENT AND PAIN TO OTHERS,

O DAMNED SOULS, WALLOWING IN SIN,
I COMMAND YOU: BECOME MINE."

Edited December 17, 2018 by Ragnarok97071

[IntSys]

"YEAH!" Marina shouted, overjoyed with her clean cut. "And now, the finishing blow- " Her hands were right up in the air as she saw an expanding web of belts emerging from Fort Jackass' torsos and ensnaring it within its embrace, almost making it look like a gigantic Chise. Speaking of whom, that would no doubt be her doing.

 

She hesitated only for a moment though, as she followed through with her original plan, with some slight alterations. "Gravity, go!" She dunked the sword downwards, letting the hilt slip down her fingers, and the blade crashing into Fort Jackass' chest, along with the last of the Meteor Shower. Either the sword would distract it enough for the belts to fully take over, or the belts would set it up for a timely finisher, but unfortunately she had more concerns on her hands and not quite enough time to enjoy the scene.

Or maybe...

"Ms. Sasha, you're still down there, right? Could you grab my uncle with you and get away from that monster's shadow right now?"

[Yours Truly]

In truth Immanuel didn't actually need to be picked up and taken out of the splash zone, since as wounded as he was the man could still fly worth a damn, which is exactly what he did while he tried to inject a healing potion, absorb the epithet card, and possibly help Owen get away from the damned thing all at the same time!

 

After that he'd try and fly inside of the nearest subreactor and introduce it to a fun concept called 'Getting shot by a pair of berettas firing rapid fire incendiary anti material plasma .50 cal rounds' until it seemed ready to blow, and Immanuel activated a Mobilitat+ to get the hell out of here.

 

(This is pretty placeholder)

Alter to 5, absorb Hecate and activate it's powers, chug a healing potion, push Owen away from the falling Gashadokuro, blow up a subreactor with your brand new and improved gae bolg plasma .50 cal berettas, and use Mobilitat+ [4] to get out before it tries to take him with it.

[IntSys]

"Oh. He's... actually fine, huh. Never mind then!" Marina saw her uncle apparently getting right back into the action already and sighed, realizing that she was worried for nothing. She turned back to the falling behemoth beneath her.

Anything she'd do at that moment would merely be for gratification, and that was what made it so great for her. And you know what would be better than one sword skewering a giant skeleton? Six more, of course! And so she wished for six more giant, possibly holy swords, each bearing cheesy anime one-liners on their blades. They were launched from wormholes above, raining all over the remaining subforts as well as its face.

 

Alteration to 5.

[Zetaark]

"Well, looks like everyone is handling things just fine. Good for them," Sasha muses, not having done that much due to her stealthing approach. Well she did blow up that one room earlier which definitely contributed, so she felt fine with that. In the meantime, she decided to focus her attention on what Chise was doing.

 

"So is this something you've always been able to do, or did we have to weaken the fort first. Also this thing isn't going to cause problems for me later is it?"

[StormLord]

Owen just stood there for a second after Cu was obliterated.  His mind reeling from the experience of it all, what was that thing?  Where did it come from? and why was it trying to kill him and the rest of these people....whoever they were.

 

It was about that time that Immanuel flew over and picked up something off the ground where Cu had once been, then after absorbing it started flying towards him.  Owen's brain finally kicked in and he looked up to see what was casting the massive shadow over them, it was the fortress.  The entire fucking fortress was falling over them, what more did this day need?

 

He started running, as fast as he could with a knife in his leg and covered in burns.  Once he had enough speed he launched forward into a magnetic glide and at least kept pace with Immanuel.

 

"Have you got anything for these burns?  I'm not sure I'll be help much longer in this state"

 

Alter to a 4 to evade the falling fortress and bum(and drink) a healing potion off Immanuel.

[3] Ride the Lightning to fly.

[Empiricist]

Spoiler

Chise : 6, Hyper[6]

Immanuel : 5, Hyper[4]

Marina : 5

Owen : 4, Hyper[3]

Sasha : 3

 

Fort Jackass : 2

 

[Now Playing: Emiya]

 

Fort Jackass starts its flying elbow drop. It does not get to finish it. Countless belts erupt from thin air and race across its torso. Layer upon layers of belts, closing shut one after the other, until the infection was contained, until the skeleton was frozen in the air. Somewhere in the world Testsuya Nomura has just gotten a boner and doesn't know why. Maybe. You're not sure because you're not there. You're here, and about to rail this skeleton harder than J. P. fucking Morgan.

 

See, everything Chise's Invasion isn't simply some sort of horrific controllable venereal disease, it's actually an extension of her existence, and where it is, she is too. So when she manually triggered her seal's emergency restraint system, it didn't just seal her, it sealed away every single object she had infected at that time, which included a good chunk of the gashadokuro.

 

With the immediate threat neutralized, Immanuel is free to just leisurely equip the card, heal Owen up with a potion and fly up into one of the remaining subforts. Turns out it's full of exoskeleton-clad Mononoke. Turns out tinned cannon-fodder is still just cannon fodder, and soon enough the reactor's gone.

 

Marina meanwhile makes short work of the final reactor, one of her four swords crashing through the tendrils and piercing in just the right place to impale the weird pastfarian monument. With some time to kill she then flies up and puts a sword through each eye socket. Hah! Suck it, you big dumb skeleton!

 

With all of its power sources out of commission, Fort Jackass no longer had the power to resist Chise's influence. Really by this point, it was her influence alone keeping it in existence, well what few slivers of it she could afford to sustains, so it really couldn't struggle that much, thus drawing a close to this bizarre Pokemon spinoff.

 

With Fort Jackass devoured the Sanctuary collapses, scattering dead mononoke and the decks of the missing Card Emperors across the street.

 

[Now Playing: Nothing]

 

Okay it's done. It's fucking done. You took down a giant mobile fortress, slew some bizarro Cu Chulainn copy, oh and killed a couple dozen punk ass mononoke while you were at it. One of your allies has apparently run off to fight Nazi forklifts, there's a confused bouncer tagging along here, and at least one of you has managed to become what amounts to a magical girl. This day by all rights should be over. You should be done.

 

Should be.

 

But no. Oh no, the world just keeps on piling more and more shit down. First thing you hear when you're back from the sacntuary? Laughter. Psychotic fucking laughter. The source, the source is like, the shadiest bitch ever. Just some lady in a dark cloak and hood, features basically just completely hidden and peering down at y'all from a nearby rooftop. She got one of those portal tabletop disks on her arm and two summons at her side, so they're a Card Caller ontop of being a fucking psycho it seems. Great. Oh and the summons aren't exactly cannon fodder either. Remember the things the two assassins fielded? It's not that. Which really is basically all you need to know.

 

They take the form of headless suits of armor sculpted to look almost organic in appearance, giving them a slender and inhuman visage. Arcane inscriptions are holographically projected across their bodies, extending from their incomplete form, looking less like something they're emitting and more like another part of their body, no different to skin or hair.

 

The first suit has a fireball for a "head" albeit with runic text in place of actual fire. A grand magic circle extends from its body like a set of wings and in its hands it holds a holographic lance.

 

The second suit has a "head" comprised of a holographic ring lined with eye sigil. It is enclosed by three circles forming a triple gimbal and it brandishes a straightsword with a holographic blade.

 

Look point is, they're bad news. But wait! There's more! As a limited time offer if your name happens to be "Chise Nomura", she'll throw in another fucking suit of armor free of charge! This one has a circle in the shape of a maw for a face and holographic conduits running across its body with magical circles floating at the back of its hands. Also it's phased into the ground. It's literally occupying the same space as the ground beneath your feet and presumable waiting to jump out and blow off someone's junk. Lovely.

 

And before you can even begin to think that the world is done shitting on you, she just yells out something, a title, an epithet. "CLEPSIPHRON!"

 

And at that, you all get fucking whisked away into another parallel copy of the city streets completely devoid of all civilians. At least this one's paid its power bills. Chise? Sasha? This uh, is not a pleasant process for either of you. You both come out kinda disoriented. This space feels wrong, unnatural, and all of your instincts are screaming at you that you need to get the hell out.

 

Not that you needed them to tell you that, the magical circles drifting through the sky are already convincing enough. Worst part is, this isn't even a good place to fight the Card Calling jackass because apparently when she sent out invitations to this little cage match of hers, she neglected to invite herself. The only things in here are the damn summons. Perfect. Fucking perfect.

 

Now before shit goes down, let's make the positions clear. You all are bunched together standing in the same spot.  The first summon is ahead floating about three stories up into the air. The second summon has descended and is standing on the ground beneath it. The third summon is directly under your position, but only Chise knows about it. The magic circles are all up in the air and about half a kilometer away on average.

 

Now that that's clear, here's how shit goes down.

 

The first summon's "wings" are extending outwards further while conduits beam out of them like rays of light, striking the ground beneath it, staining them with arcane markings and making more runic text rise up from them as if they were aflame. With a swipe of its weapon it sends three orbs of energy streaking towards your general position. At this same time, four smaller magic circles appear around the second summon's gimbals, streams of runic text erupting from them. One sweeps across the ground in front of them, one fires directly into your midst, and the remaining two sweep forward along the ground seemingly trying to cut off your escape routes. Meanwhile the third summon is moving upwards, trying to stick its arm out of the ground and grab Marina's ankle.

 

Also, several beams of light are now racing from a few of the circles towards your position.

 

Oh and ontop of that, you all have a sinking feeling in your gut that you really don't want to be where you're currently standing, like beyond all of the above even.

 

Spoiler

Chise

Status: Fine

World Line: 4 4 6 1 4 6 2 2 3 4

Alterations: 3+

Resolve: 1

 

Immanuel
Status: Somewhat hurt, a bit woozy from the morphine and unaffected by pain, Hecatus Install - Cu Chulainn Henshin
World Line: 2 2 5 6 4 6 4 6 4 1
Alterations: 2
Resolve: 1
 
Marina
Status: Slightly hurt, False Install - Kingmaker's Mantle
World Line: 3 1 4 6 4 3 6 3 1 3
Alterations: 2
Resolve: 2

 

Owen
Status: Fine
World Line: 2 1 1 4 4 3 2 1 3 3
Alterations: 3
Resolve: 3

 

Sasha

Status: Fine

World Line: 5 4 3 4 4 3 3 4 3 6

Alterations: 5

Resolve: 3

Fort Jackass
Status: Assimilated

 

Unidentified Card Caller

Status: Unknown

 

Ruin Knight Paulina

Status: Fine

 

Ruin Knight Theurgia

Status: Fine

 

Ruin Knight Goetia

Status: Fine

Spoiler

For future reference, the flamey winged card is Paulina, the beamy gimbal card is Theurgia, the grabby phasey card is Goetia.

 

Chise and Sasha can try using their powers to figure out what the hell is up with this twisted world. To do so, just perform some action using your powers and state waht kinda thing you're going to pay attention to when using it to probe this place.

 

For convenience I've discarded all active wishes (don't forget that the more wishes you make, the more your individual wishes weaken). Wishing's a free action anyway so you can rewish whichever ones you still need.

 

Immanuel has two healing potions remaining.

 

[IntSys]

"Gosh, can't we even get a halftime break?" Annoyed, Marina readied herself to deal with the two walking light shows before her. She wished for a new pair of wings, and propelled herself up into the air, evading Paulina's barrage, and pounding it back with her own kind of energy blast volley, which is to say, more starry fireballs.

 

No Hyper used: Remove the next 1.

[Yours Truly]

"A hero's work is never done I suppose, and I don't think I need to warn the rest of you to not stick around and wait for the lasers to hit you now do I?," Immanuel said just before he activated his rocket boots and attempted to fly up to evade Paulina's barrage and lay down suppressing fire in their general direction with his twin gae bolg plasma berettas.

 

Keep using the 2, if I didn't dream up that mechanic where we can remove a chosen number if we don't use a hyper in a round then remove the next 2, wish for Immanuel's jetpack back for increased speed with added thrusters strategically placed for additional mobility.

[Ragnarok97071]

Behold, another asshole. And this one not even with enough honor to fight them on their own. Just send lackies, one of which is under the ground. EVADE.

 

Several belts extend out of Chise's body, some grabbing onto Sasha and her bike, others anchoring on nearby buildings and catapulting Chise into the air and off to the side, carrying her away from ground zero of the summons. Then, she begins to swing, using her belts to locomote around the battle, keeping her momentum up, playing things defensively for now, observing the summons and trying to figure out what their game was, what their nature was, how they acted, and if she could get a solid lay of the land.

Edited January 15, 2019 by Ragnarok97071

[StormLord]

Owen looked over to the others as they were all shunted into some strange sub-world, two glowing knight-things appeared from nowhere, and some hooded woman cackled on the rooftops.

"Just who the hell did you people piss off?"

He didn't bother waiting for a response, he just charged forward swerving around the Gimbal-knight's lasers and attempted to force it to engage in melee.

 

Alter to a 4, obliterate the first 1.

[Zetaark]

"And of course we don't get any breaks. That would be too simple," Sasha says as she starts trying to avoid the beams of light and firing some potshots at Theurgia. They're mostly probing shots, while Sasha tries warping the space around her to see what sort of place this even is, and whether or not she can connect it to where they should be.

[Empiricist]

Spoiler

Chise : 4
Immanuel : 2
Marina : 3
Owen : 4
Sasha : 5
 
Unidentified Card Caller : 6

 

The source of the explosion was a small pill-shaped device housing two chambers, one spherical, the other cylindrical. The reaction started with an implosion, crushing the contents of the sphere. The resulting energy was quickly converted to plasma and trapped momentarily within the casing. A moment was all it needed. A spark plug in the cylinder goes off, the contents compress, and the fireball is unleashed. Magic, is strange. Symbolism is at times meaningful and at time meaninglesss, but here? It's pretty meaningful. It's a symbolic recreation of a thermonuclear weapon.

 

The group scatters. Owen lunges forwards from the faux-nuclear fireball, using the shockwave to launch himself at the Ruin Knights. He immediately takes three bolts of burning light to the chest. To their credit, they did manage to singe his shirt a bit. But it turns out it takes a little more than just laundry-related inconveniences to halt the bouncer. Beams of solid light roar from the skies gouging deep wounds into the false world, none even come close to Owen. And no, that's not just because he's a g, it's more just the Ruin Knights blocking their shot on him.

 

Chise slingshots herself and her master into the air. There was no mistaking it. This was a Paracosm. An artificial reality. But that, that couldn't explain that strange feeling she felt when she entered. There was something else at play here. A beam crashes through the building next to her. Well, to everyone else it looked like a beam, like a ray of solid light. Chise? Chise saw something different - a thin lance of molten metal moving at absurd velocities.

 

Sasha warps through the air probing at the fabric of this distorted world. Space is twisted here and not in any way she recognizes. On the surface level, on the level needed to use her powers, it's normal. But there's something hidden, some other unfamiliar aspect being manipulated here, and though she knows not what it is, she can sense it at some instinctive level. Whenever she twists space it feels as if something else is getting dragged along.

 

Weaving through the beams of light she points her rifle and pulls a trigger, bolts of plasma joining Immanuel's own deluge, tracing across towards the summons as Marina hurls a volley of starry fireballs downrange at Paulina.

 

Theurgia's beams left two lines of magic circles running  down the street and a third line in front of itself forming a threshold of sorts. Behind it, Paulina's diagrams spread like wildfire, tracing out from their origins and growing larger and larger, the street below seemingly aflame with runic text. Those are sacrificial patterns, Immanuel's sure of it, he's seen them before in one of the tomes Rosario lent him, doesn't much thinking for him to conclude that he does not want those on him or his teammates.

 

Across the boundary Owen leaps, crossing the threshold as plasma rains down from above and starry fireballs scream towards the foe above.

 

Two voices bark out in unison. Harsh. Mechanical. Synthesized. Bearing the faintest trace of noise and static as if spat out by a tape recorder.

 

"When a creature would enter a space occupied by a Theurgia Mark, Ruin Knight Theurgia can attack that creature."

 

"When a creature your opponent controls declares an attack, you can detach 2 materials from this card to negate the attack."

 

A patch of ground right below Paulina ignites, not with runic text like before but with tongues of pale fire. The symbols char away as the Ruin Knight meets Marina's attack head on, catching the fireballs with its free hand. The fireballs burn with uh, well, fire. Just y'know, different fire. Screeching louder and louder til nothing remains of them but embers of light. As for Theurgia, it vanishes. When Owen crossed the threshold, the circles beneath him activated and in that instant Theurgia teleported behind him, swinging its sword down at his neck. Its triple gimbal spins, tracing a spiralling array of circles around him, aiming to cut off his escape.

 

Paulina meanwhile begins to rush through the air in a curving trajectory that leaves it skimming across the side of a few buildings, spreading its sacrificial markings across their edifice before sweeping its lance in a cleaving strike aimed at Sasha.

 

Chise feels something else within the building - Goetia. It's rising through the concrete readying to lunge unto her.

 

Immanuel and Marina find the circles going for a little suppressive fire of their own, aiming one explosion at each of them, with a barrage of beams aiming to catch and impale them as they dodge. Immanuel suspects that he only managed to evade the beams last time by surprising the adversary with his speed, they won't be surprised a second time.

 

Spoiler

Chise

Status: Fine

World Line: 4 6 1 4 6 2 2 3 4 2

Alterations: 4+

Resolve: 1

 

Immanuel
Status: Somewhat hurt, a bit woozy from the morphine and unaffected by pain, Hecatus Install - Cu Chulainn Henshin, wishes for increased speed and maneuvering thrusters
World Line: 5 6 4 6 4 6 4 1 6 5
Alterations: 2+
Resolve: 1
 
Marina
Status: Slightly hurt, False Install - Kingmaker's Mantle, wish for wings
World Line: 4 6 4 3 6 3 1 3 2 5
Alterations: 2+
Resolve: 2

 

Owen
Status: Slightly hurt
World Line: 2 1 4 3 2 1 3 3 1 6
Alterations: 2
Resolve: 3

 

Sasha

Status: Fine

World Line: 4 3 4 4 3 3 4 3 6 3

Alterations: 5

Resolve: 3

 

Unidentified Card Caller

Status: Unknown

 

Ruin Knight Paulina

Status: Fine, diagrams are spreading across the street

 

Ruin Knight Theurgia

Status: Fine, two lines of circles going down the street, one line of circles cutting across the street

 

Ruin Knight Goetia

Status: Fine

Spoiler

Theurgia's fourth beam aimed at the party didn't fire because it should've only had one beam per gimbal. In related news I can't count to three.

 

Immanuel managed to avoid molten metal stabby funtimes even with the result difference because the circles didn't account for his fast dash. And because he has doubly enhanced evasion. And because they were aiming more at the party's general location. Basically point is, the circles are gonna be a little more accurate this coming turn. Maybe.

 

[IntSys]

"Hey, over here, hothead!" Marina called out Paulina, who had apparently defended herself with card game rules. "Screw your annoying mechanics!" In protest, she wished for the ability to bypass the card game mechanics., and then, she wished for a lovely pink sledgehammer, and went to intercept Paulina's assault. With a graceful ascent, she evaded the explosion and raced with the chasing beams as she approached Paulina, and finally dunked her with the unfortunate reality that she was fighting a girl that played board games by her own rules. Though she genuinely thought that her house rules were way better.

[Yours Truly]

Immanuel decided that if there was ever a time to learn how to move with an amount of grace and dexterity, that would have been about a week ago before he got dragged into this fortress invading mess, but for now he had to settle for frantically going on the defensive with his shields and dodge rolls while he tried to lay down counter suppressing fire with his guns to pin Paulina in place for the hammer.

 

Use Mobilitat+.