Class 3 Demon Event, Battle
The tension as you mobilize a truly massive battle force is palpable. No one's really too sure of this. Outside of training times and SIMP meetings most girls have only moved in groups of 4 or 5 before. And it came so suddenly, barely hours after you first received the message you're martialing half the Serene into one attack group.
A huge number of cubes are handed out amongst the girls, which rapidly becomes awkward. Besides healers most of the girls have rarely carried more than three on their person before. Let alone half a dozen poured into pockets. You idly worry about that, since demons
can respawn from grief cubes touching each other, but it shouldn't be a concern in such a short time frame.
You brief your girls on the situation, on everything Kyuubey has told you about this Meguca Hunter. You let them know that the all of the Elites of SIMP will be there and keep them safe, and pray you aren't lying. You stress to use grief cubes early and often no matter what they might feel, they need to be careful with the drain effect they'll be under.
With such a large group you opt to teleport. It would take too long to get there from Mitakihara just taking the bus. You teleport to the edge of Seto's territory to let your teleporters have a chance to recover before the fight. You get directions from Seto and run from there.
Seto meets you with the contingent you requested she bring shortly, rather shocked at the numbers you've brought to her aid. She makes sure you know how grateful she is even as you hand her the Kevlar equipment and go over last minute arrangements. You can feel the demon miasma now, but it's moving
away. Kyouko idly comments that perhaps it's not so anxious to fight when it's not going to win.
Your group splits up into the designated squads and you let the healer team lag behind. The demon's movement means you won't really be able to set up a stationary field station as you'd like so they'll just have to keep their position carefully, you can coordinate teleports anyways.
The demon miasma is moving at about half your pace, not enough to outrun you, but significantly faster than the usual crawl. It's also massive. It's one thing to hear it over the phone; it's another to see it in person, far larger than any you've ever seen before. Your whole party slows up for a moment as you see it. You idly let the clairvoyants scry for it from just outside, but it's no good.
You have the three barrier users put up a layered shield over the entire party before you enter. You all stay grouped under it and slowly enter the miasma, you feel like twenty kilograms just settled on each of your shoulders. Your worry about your girls safety seems to double, but you know this is just the demon and push it aside completely. Your soul gem remains sparkling. The other Elites mostly handle it well, though Seto less so, her gem clouding a bit before she steels herself and straightens.
The Veterans you brought with are more affected. Aiko even falls to her knees. You push a grief cube against her soul gem yourself as Kaoru shakes her head clear and begins projecting her magical song. That seems to reduce the effects somewhat.
You order the clairvoyants to begin scrying, reminding them of their job in this again. The seconds inch by with none of them reporting anything. The demon seems content to just let you wait while its aura wears you down. Taya seems halfway to bursting a blood vessel on her forehead as she tries to penetrate its stealth. All she seems to be accomplishing is burning magic at an extraordinary rate. For your part you spread out ribbons around the group as much as you can for just an extra chance of warning.
It's a full minute, that feels like an hour of quiet tinkling of grief cubes against soul gems under a multicolored barrier before anything happens. Ayako's shout comes seemingly the same moment as the first barrier shatters from above despite the lack of buildings around you and Aiko collapses to the ground in pain from the feedback. Yui and Miwa's barriers manage to hold though even as Yui flinches from the hit against her barrier and takes a grief cube.
The storm of immediate reaction fire from your group is uncoordinated at best, more panicked flailing. Though maybe it's for the best given you still don't have a firm target. At least the shatter of Aiko's barrier gave you a general direction of "above" to focus fire in. The hail of attacks sent in that direction by your vets mostly misses and much of the remainder glances off, but at least you can make out your target from that.
Your Elite core's attacks are much more on target. Your battery of musket fire slams into the invisible monster, though without clairvoyant penetration you're knowing you hit more by the lack of the bullets continuing than anything else. Likewise Kyouko is throwing spears as fast as she can while the affectionately nicknamed Kyoclone follows suit, you put a bow on it to be sure which is which. Seto flickers into the shadow of the attacks for an instant, an oddly strange sight as you can still see her clearly in what looks like the path of your attacks but not being hit. Taya fails to respond, seemingly locked up.
You attempt to latch onto it with your ribbons, but it's gone before you can draw them taut on anything, Yui's barrier dimpling a bit as it does so. The engagement lasted only seconds. It still doesn't trip any of the ribbons around you.
You've no way of knowing how much damage you inflicted because the invisibility never failed. Your plan relied on being able to at least see it after the first engagement. You're tempted to order the rest of the squads to stay for another round, but following your standing orders, or perhaps just scared, the three squads of vets teleport out before you can decide.
Taya is still attempting to scry for the demon, but has nothing to say. You and Kyouko and Kyoclone form a circle around her, Seto standing next to her, daggers slightly quivering. You catch Kyouko smiling at you out of the corner of your eye, and have an amazing sense of nostalgia.
A thought flashes across your mind, some instinct perhaps, and ribbons form a dome above your group. Just in time it seems as the demon seems to have had no reason to wait after your vets left. You aren't able to harden them enough to stop it as it crashes through them, but it does give you an awfully nice target and slows it down as the five of you scatter. The air roars with gunfire as you open up on the revealed demon. For its part it goes after Kyoclone leaving her in a frantic evasion and parry that leaves her spear screeching from abuse as claws and teeth are deflected.
Seto flickers into view in front of it, stabbing directly into its maw, and it's jaws snap shut, your blood runs cold and you pull with strength you know you don't have to slow them. For just an eyeblink the ribbon across its jaw loses its color. And Seto flickers away, daggers left behind as she summons more. Taya spins around the demon her totsuka biting deep, trying to make up for her failures before.
Your own shots ping off it, deflecting. You can't really tell how injured it is though. You have an outline of ribbons but you still can't see it. Kyouko struggles to safely attack it with her spears.
It suddenly shifts its attack from the beleaguered but holding Kyoclone. Seto leaves behind a leg as she teleports completely out of the miasma. You get several telepathic calls from worried vets which you shut out as you focus on restraining the demon, guns abandoned for the moment.
The monster taking its attention away from Kyouko for even a moment was a mistake though as twin Kyoukos are free to tear into it, and its struggles against your ribbons weaken. Chunks become visible as they fall away. Finally it stays still and the stealth effect fails completely, you get a look as it begins to dissolve away. It's more intact than you'd like given how many attacks it absorbed.
The miasma around you begins breaking down.
Fight Complete:
Cube costs: .3 replacing a leg, 2.4 vets resisting miasma, 1.5 Kyuubey information = 4.2 cubes
Guardian Angel expended preserving Seto Tomoe (not actually related, just coincidence, maybe) from death.
Cube rewards: Kyuubey's bounty 9, Dropped 5.
Net gain: 9.8 Cubes
