Peril's Origin - A Magical Girl Quest [Complete]

170 EXP spent
16 remain

---

You take in your situation in an instant; there is a momentary surprise that is not really your own, but Paoras quickly adjusts to you as you both take up speed.

Hesitation means defeat. So you will not hesitate.

Magic not your own flows through you as if it was yours, accepted and understood. Your own power circles through Pao just the same, the halfbreed keeping up with you despite your longer legs; you both dart past the dozen metres, the Handle elongating and forming your trusted spear, right at the surprised Fairy. And you reach her before she manages to fire off whatever spell she is aiming at you.

This time you have to make sure it is enough.

(Aetheric Tide: +540 Base Damage, +371 dice, +270 First Strike = 1,181 Total Damage
Aetheric Tide: +540 Base Damage, +371 dice, +270 First Strike = 1,181 Total Damage
Aetheric Tide: +540 Base Damage, +371 dice, +270 First Strike = 1,181 Total Damage
Aetheric Tide: +540 Base Damage, +306 dice = 846 Total Damage
Aetheric Tide: +540 Base Damage, +306 dice = 846 Total Damage
Aetheric Tide: +540 Base Damage, +306 dice = 846 Total Damage

6,081 Unified Damage
Apricot: +50 Base Resilience, +4562 dice, -25 holyshitwtf = 4,587 Total Damage Reduction

1,494 Total End Damage
Sanctuary (x2): 2,988 Final End Damage

Apricot Health: 150 - 2,988 = -2,838
Splotch)

You can feel yourself speeding up as you circle sideways around the small woman, Aetheric Tide lashing out. With every single strike, Paoras' club also hammers home and against the protective surge of magic your opponent brings to bear. She tries to step back, but you simply step after her and stab for her again; your magic applies itself again a moment after the last strike of the first batch landed, giving her no quarter.

And then, the moment your strikes pierce her protection, you can feel more foreign magic rise from the land to lend your strike more weight. Your spear takes her through the heart and Pao's club tears her off of it; blood splatters over your front and in all directions, pieces of crystal shattering under the force with which the Fairy finally slams into the ground.

Before she goes flying however, before you can get your bearings, the mana she held onto is let loose in a weak pulse of magic.

(Magic backlash: 365 damage
Defiance: +145 Base Resilience, +151 dice = 296 Total Damage Reduction

69 Total End Damage
Santuary (50%): 35 Final End Damage

Defiance Health: 1,350 - 35 = 1,315)

It rushes over you and does basically nothing aside from scraping off some skin; you covered your face with one arm, and it only draws a small line of blood from it. The same magic that made your own strike more powerful softened this blow.

The remaining Fairy women stare at you; the two armoured ones shuffle a little closer together unconciously, the third one, the leader, narrows her eyes and raises her dagger. You are just a metre from her.

As she moves, the man behind her calls out "Force Lance!" twice in rapid succession.

(Warbook Force Lance: +1000 Base Damage, +400 Ordnance, +4000 dice, +3540 Spell Boost = 8,940 Total Damage
Soul Reaver: +150 Base Resilience, no dice = 150 Total Damage Reduction

Yeah, even Sanctuary will not save you.
What about the other one?

Warbook Force Lance: +1000 Base Damage, +400 Ordnance, +2764 dice, +2527 Spell Boost = 6,691 Total Damage

Yeah, no.)

You do not pay attention to whatever he may have hit, focussing on the woman coming at you. She darts forward even as you prepare yourself; Paoras steps aside to give you space and the Fairy quickly slashes for your throat.

(Storm Fairy Blade: +400 Base Damage, +2112 dice, +500 Aiming for the Throat = 3,012 Total Damage

Attack Negated.
Riposte!

Aetheric Tide: +540 Base Damage, +180 dice = 720 Total Damage
Aetheric Tide: +540 Base Damage, +180 dice = 720 Total Damage
Aetheric Tide: +540 Base Damage, +180 dice = 720 Total Damage

2,160 Unified Damage
Clarisse: +50 Base Resilience, +802 dice, +100 Desperate Dodge Attempt = 952 Total Damage Reduction

1,208 Total Damage
Sanctuary (x2): 2,416 Final End Damage

Clarisse Health: 150 - 2,416 = -2,266
Splotch #2
Vampire heals Defiance for 1,208 and thus back to full)

You lean back instead of meeting her attack, then let go of your spear with one hand to slap her wrist in a quick motion to derail her angle. The Fairy sails past you and even as you fall, you manage to strike her in the back; Paoras, who is still on her feet, clubs her with three quick motions from the front.

Again, magic enhances your later strikes. The leader of the group tries to lean away and float away on her wings, but is not fast enough before you clip them. Paoras hammers her into the ground and you can feel your small wounds closing as the Tide heals you up. Most of it is lost, but that can not be helped.

Then you land on the ground and have to roll around, quickly grabbing your friend's hand as she pulls you up. She covers you as you kick up the spear you let go of to get to your feet and catch it out of the air; then you both take a moment to eye what is going on.

(Four turns until the completion of Warbook: METEOR)

The two armoured Fairies, still casting, are gritting their teeth at the sight of you. The man has his eyes narrowed as he begins to cast. You make a decision in instant, gathering the both of you together and begin to cast yourself.

However, seeing you distracted brings a grin to his face. "We're chancing the Hell Beasts! Fire Storm, and Fire Storm!"

Only his dagger begins to glow the first time he calls the name, but the second time lets loose a small sea of flames. Instead of aiming it at you however, it descends on the nearing Demons and halts their charge.

PI​​ AR​​ RO​​ AN​​ D ​​C​​OS​​O​​XH​​N​​_E​​U​​CL​​N​​HL​​D​​A!​​R​​R U​​G M​​E !​​!

Wait, that is not Conundrum; you definitely were meaning to call for it; Paoras casts with you, and she is confused for that moment as well. Then something peculiar happens. Your respective magic courses through the both of you each, applying itself and then mixing. You can feel it surge.

(Conundrum and Iron Shell are cast simultaneously.

Spell Synchronisation!

Paradox Charge: +2025 Base Boost, +932 dice = 2,957 Total Boost

Damage increased.
Damage Barrier up.)

A well of power surges through you, strengthening your muscles to a point where you feel you could uproot trees and punch through concrete. It is nothing like you ever felt before, the Paradox Charge being yours and yours alone.

You stand idle for a few moments, flexing your hand in surprise.

(Warbook Firestorm: +450 Base Damage, +563 dice, +5607 Spell Boost = 6,620 Total Damage
Warbook Firestorm: +450 Base Damage, +560 dice, +1133 Spell Boost = 2,143 Total Damage

8,763 Unified Damage
32 Hell's Foot Soldiers: +50 Base Resilience, +6 dice, -25 Sea of Flame = 31 Total Damage Reduction per piece
Vakaun: +100 Base Resilience, +20 dice, -50 Sea of Flame = 70 Total Damage Reduction

Hell's Foot Soldiers: take 8,732 4,366 damage and burn to death.

Vakaun takes 8,693 4347 damage.
Vakaun Health: 2,500 - 4347 = -1847
And he burns, too)

The Fairies take this moment to take to the air and leave behind a field of ash where the man's fire hit. The pained scream that follows is one you recognise but do not have time to assign to anyone; you do not really have to, either. Seconds after the Fairies took off, a pair of whispy arms slings around the man and draws him into the crowd of Hell Beasts that closes in. Maya, exploiting the fact he was so focussed on you.

That changes your target; only two Fairies are left in the fight, and both of them try to escape. You already know what to do, and feel your friend's hand close around your spear's shaft without hesitation. You need not nod at each other, she already understood and agreed with you.

You immediately aim for the closer fairy, this one with dark skin, and lean back; Aetheric Tide has a good form for throwing and you actually practiced that a little bit before creating Argent Star. Your muscles thrum with magic enhancing them, Paoras jumps the moment you move, and in a moment of perfect coordination, you throw your weapon after the fleeing Fairy.

(Aetheric Tide: +540 Base Damage, +46 dice, +2957 Paradox Charge = 3,543 Total Damage
Nox: +50 Base Resilience, +1236 dice, +3274 Warbook: Barrier, -750 Barrier Weakens, -500 Slowed by Casting = 3,310 Total Damage Reduction

233 Total End Damage
Sanctuary (x2): 466 Final End Damage

Nox Health: 150 - 466 = -316
Not really splotch)

The Tide darts through the air in an almost straight line and impacts her flickering shield; whatever she casts, it is slowing her down enough to make it a clear hit. And as powerful as Fairy magic allegedly is, killing the caster apparently weakened her shield somewhat. Your weapon pierces through it and impales the target, the force of the attack throwing her much further up into the air.

An instant passes in stunned silence, then the tide of mana held in her small body lashes out.

(Petrification wave
One turn of casting completed before interruption. Area of effect: 50m

Nox's remains petrified.
2 Hell Beasts petrified.)

You can almost taste the water and feel the heat, the earthy scent almost claiming your nose as wind howls through the area above. Two Hell Beasts that were already diving are turned to stone because they were too close; one of them swerves and impacts the other Fairy before she can get her bearings, crushing her underneath its petrified bulk and releasing another shockwave some ways away.

That one does not hit you either, the Hell Beast's body having caught some of it. Nonetheless, the vegetation turned to stone until a few metres in front of you; it was close.

The feeling of enemies being nearby fades and only now do you smell the burnt flesh from where all those Demons were burned to death.

Silence holds for another long moment as everyone comes to a stop. You sigh in relief and relax, but then jump when the troops begin to roar. Turning, you can see them shouting in triumph, many gazes lying on you. The Demons cheer and Paoras smiles as she takes your hand; her magic retreats and you are once more yourself.

"I didn't know you're that fast," your friend tells you earnestly. You just shrug at that, though the continued cheer makes you blush a little.

They are celebrating you.

This never happened before, and you do not know what to make of it. It does hammer in one thing, though; the fight is over. You won.

Your shoulders sag in relief and you turn to behold the battlefield again; you just fought here, yet received barely a scratch. Both you and Paoras have blood and crystal shards on yourself, but it does not really register. Not even a minute, that was how long this fight lasted.

Some Demons are quickly darting around the empty field, and one picks up your weapon; she runs back and slides to her knees in front of you as she offers it up, making you feel a little weird. "Thank you." You still thank her with a steady voice when taking what is yours and snap it back into Handle mode; the magic empowering your muscles immediately fades away.

Then you point at the petrified Hell Beasts before the Demon could retreat, curious. "Do you know if that's permanent?"

She shakes her head. "Ah, no. It depends on the source how long it takes to wear off, but petrification is usually not permanent." You nod and she slides away with another bow. At least you know that even if this had hit you, it would not have been your death.

Once that is done however, you start to look around for where Maya went off to; Paoras stays by your side and looks around. It takes a minute, but you soon find someone who saw her and get directions.

She is sitting at the small crater where the firestorm hit, busy talking to Epsilon Aaron who apparently just showed up. You note her tearstained face and the fact the Fairy is lying on the ground, unconcious and with his wings torn off. Yet he is still alive for some reason.

Paoras immediately runs to hug her mother, careful not to squeeze her belly, and the Succubus embraces her daughter just as readily. The Dark Star floats in front of them and waits; you are not sure what Maya tells her as you are still too far away, but it brings tears to your friend's eyes as well. She is still crying when you reach them, a distraught Maya comforting her.

"It is a bargain, then," is the first thing you hear. Demon and Dark Star shake hands, the former wearing a grim expression that does scare you a little. Then the researcher picks up the broken Fairy. "I will prepare the measures of containment." They fly off with these words.

You awkwardly step closer at first, but upon seeing you, Maya readily offers you one of her arms to join the hug; you are not sure this is okay, but do it anyway. Perhaps it offers her comfort, and you feel like having someone close would be nice for whenever the adrenaline wears off.

Yet you can not stop yourself from asking: "What happened?"

She is quiet at first, tears rolling down her cheeks; the arm around your shoulder squeezes almost uncomfortably hard for a moment. "They got my oldest," is what she finally whispers. You take a deep breath at that and hug her tighter. So she lost a child, and Paoras her big brother. Yes, that explains that.

"And the Fairy?"

"Don't worry about that one," she tells you with a grim smile. "He took one of mine, so he will give me more."

You freeze at that, though she does not seem to notice. Sometimes, you really hate that you can not keep your nose out of such things. And as much as you want to berate Maya, you do not feel she would listen to you. You would not if you were in her shoes, either.

In the sanctity of your own mind, you lament why the world can not be black and white. Now you actually have to think about where you stand again.

-------------

First Arc, "Stranger in a Strange Time", is complete.

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+300xp Survived a Fairy Death Squad
+450xp Defeated a Fairy Death Squad
+600xp OBLITERATED a Fairy Death Squad
+400xp The Blitz is in Your Blood
+150xp Killed Three Fairies
+100xp Saved a Bunch of Guys by Winning so Fast
+300xp Completed Arc 1

EXP gained: 2,300
Total EXP: 2,316


(Spell Synchronisation tab unlocked on main character sheet)
(New Shop Item unlocked)