A sense of calm descends on you. The glimpse of reinforcements gave you a clear idea of how this battle was going to go. First you were going to unleash the power you had gathered.
Starlancer's eyes go wide, "No!"
With a snap her spear whirls around her hand and shoots out at you. The thrown weapon doesn't even have to travel its full length to hit you from her outstretched hand. You don't waver, releasing your spell even as Starlancer tries to backpedal away.
"
Wave Force!"
(Mythril Spear: 5600 Base Damage, +314 Dice, +200 Point Blank, +300 Legendary Power = 6414 Damage
Magical Girl Summit: 680 Resilience, Dice Negated, +962 Reactive Field, -100 Casting, +500 Resistant to Darkness Effects, -300 Hostile Legend Effect = 1742 Damage Reduction
4672 End Damage
60 Ceaseless Warrior
1869 Final End Damage
Magical Girl Summit: 3811 - 1869 = 1942 Health
+1 stack of Ceaseless Warrior! (2 bonus ATP)
Wave Force: 6400 Damage, Dice Negated, +1040 Spell Boost, +200 Light of Discovery = 7640 Damage
Magical Girl Starlancer: Unstoppable
7640 End Damage
50% Polaris Armor
3820 Final End Damage
Magical Girl Starlancer: 7311 - 3820 = 3491 Health)
A plume of bright light rips its way into existence, flowing from the end of Starlancer's spear, still stuck to you, to its wielder. Magic spills out of her in a mighty attempt to keep her whole -- successfully, as she stumbles to the ground without blood spilling from her body. Sparks of every color dance around where raindrops were destroyed by your attack. Behind you the armored demon chuckles.
The reinforcement of your target kept them quite intact. Blood dribbles down from her nose and ears, and lines of bruises criss-cross exposed skin. She starts to reach into a pouch by her hip, then stops.
Starlancer shakily rises to her feet and summons her weapon back, "Do something!"
"You appear to have things well in hand. We believe in you." Castor mocks.
"You shitty piles of shit!" Starlancer screams, "You're going to get yourselves dead without me!"
There's another tense bout where Starlancer tries to get out of your range without leaving the pair of demons behind. Both of you not daring to attack the other or let their guard down. You might have pushed to gain advantage if you hadn't wanted to stay near your improvised flare.
You jump back when you see the dragon leaping to where the aftereffects of Wave Force were still glowing.
"What's taking so long? We want blood!" shouts Castor just as the ground shakes under the landing dragon.
"She has a retaliation attack!
Guardian Touch!" you say.
"She's been driven crazy! Stop her!" yells Starlancer as she drops her spear and holds her arms up.
The green glow around the dragon flickers, darkness trying to strike her down.
(Dark Lance: 2000 Base Damage, +598 Dice, +500 Blood Bond = 3098 Damage
Dark Lance: 2000 Base Damage, +598 Dice, +500 Blood Bond = 3098 Damage
6196 Total Damage
Prince of the Sky: 2100 Resilience, No Dice, +680 Guardian Touch, +40 Damage Shield, +2551 Wonderwall = 5371 Damage Reduction
825 End Damage
50% Draconic Privilege
413 Final End Damage
Prince of the Sky: 12200 - 413 = 11787 Health)
The effect is little more than the dragon becoming angry. With a shake the three Magical Girls gripping the transformed monster land near you and the dragon lunges for Pollux. The combatants exchange blows, but neither seems able to harm the other.
"How dumb do you think we are?" Steel Monsoon says in a flat tone.
"Fight them you coward bitch!" screamed Castor from where he was shuffling back from his brother's battle.
"Wait! Those demons want us to fight. We should deal with them first!" Flawless Paladin pleads.
Steel Monsoon stays resolute, "Magical Girls fight to the death. Your side made that the rule. Now pick up your spear and die."
Starlancer goes pale, "I-I'll drop my transformation and surrender if Summit drops hers!"
You've already extruded a couple of panels: "She can call in help from the UD's position across dimensions if I'm not close enough to stop it. She has an escape method that I am also blocking."
Flawless Paladin doesn't seemed to have noticed your panels and is edging to interpose herself between the group and Starlancer. The latter individual fumbles through the pocket on her hip with one hand while holding the other in a conciliatory gesture.
She notices the expression on Steel Monsoon's face growing minutely grimmer and reacts instantly. In less than a quarter-second her spear appears, is somehow spun in place rapidly, and is thrown at Steel Monsoon.
Your Panoply is there to deflect. The spear-turned-projectile skitters up and over the heads of your group.
(Mythril Spear: Attack Negated by Inhuman Skill!)
Thankfully Steel Monsoon isn't hesitating, she lunges to her left while handling her oversized cannon.
The spear vanishes from above you and is once again in Starlancer's hand.
"
Symphony of-"
"
Twilight!"
"
-Screaming Steel!"
A wave of glowing bullets sing as they leave the muzzle of Steel Monsoon's weapon.
(Twilight: NA Base Damage, +92 Dice = 92 Damage
Prince of the Sky: 2100 Resilience, No Dice, +680 Guardian Touch, +40 Damage Shield, +2551 Wonderwall = 5371 Damage Reduction
Attack Ineffective!
Guardian Touch has been removed!
Wonderwall has been removed!
Symphony of Screaming Steel: 1000 Base Damage, +455 Dice, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, -800 Holding Back = 3155 Damage
Symphony of Screaming Steel: 1000 Base Damage, +455 Dice, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, -800 Holding Back = 3155 Damage
Symphony of Screaming Steel: 1000 Base Damage, +455 Dice, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, -800 Holding Back = 3155 Damage
Symphony of Screaming Steel: 1000 Base Damage, +455 Dice, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, -800 Holding Back = 3155 Damage
12620 Damage
+5075% No Kill Like Overkill
653085 Total Damage
Magical Girl Starlancer: 990 Resilience, +458 Dice, +990 Defensive Roll, -500 Shit!Shit!Shit!, -200 In the Jaws of Death = 1738 Damage Reduction
651347 End Damage
50% Polaris Armor
325674 Final End Damage
Magical Girl Starlancer: 3811 - 325674 = -321863 Health
Overkill Bonus! +5100% extra damage for Steel Monsoon!
Grounding Stones Check: 1
Magical Girl Summit: 301
Flight Unaffected
Prince of the Sky: No Dice
Flight Disabled)
You can't see what happened to Starlancer through the curtain of bullets and haze of explosions. You can't hear her reactions, whatever she felt might have been fitting. You can, however, sense the speech carried on radio and the lightest part of your magic returning.
"This is Summit. I am severely damaged, but the Dark Magical Girl that ambushed me is defeated." you transmit.
Happily, you have recovered the ability to fly with your magic. A rearrangement of your Panoply brings the patches that are still coated with invisibility together and you Shift upwards while Steel Monsoon continues to enact her music of Ruin.
The next phase might not be possible if you wait too long. The way Castor and Pollux shared their sort of invincibility may have been guided by tactical considerations, or there might be a range limit. In either case you want to move Castor further away from his brother, it gives Steel Monsoon a clear shot with her spell and may prevent Pollux from making an annoying invincibility loop.
As you fly towards your new target you take in just how powerful Monsoon's attack was. A rough curve a mile long is glowing from heat and deep gouges have been blasted into the rock. There's no trace of Starlancer or her magic, nothing backlit by the destruction as belonging to or being her.
The fight between a huge dragon and a ragged bit of darkness doesn't seem to be favoring the allied dragon. A blast of flame doesn't faze the demon, but the retaliatory blast of darkness leaves the dragon bleeding.
(Fireball: 4200 Base Damage, +2790 Dice, +200 Dragonic Ire = 7190 Damage
Pollux: Immune to Spells
Dark Lance: 2000 Base Damage, +93 Dice, +500 Blood Bond = 2593 Damage
Dark Lance: 2000 Base Damage, +93 Dice, +500 Blood Bond = 2593 Damage
5186 Total Damage
Prince of the Sky: 2100 Base Resilience, No Dice = 2100 Damage Reduction
3086 End Damage
50% Draconic Privilege
1543 Final End Damage
Prince of the Sky: 10087 - 1543 = 8544 Health)
The ninja girl (Deception, Light, Myth) darts in and, with a series of mind-bending moves, very nearly strikes the shadowy demon three times in the span of a heartbeat. The shade ignores her and stays focused on the dragon.
Good. You don't want to suffer another hit from his spell.
"
Ramming Speed!"
To Castor you must have appeared out of nowhere. The screaming metal of Steel Monsoon's spell still echos and you have the remnants of an invisibility potion coating you Panoply. You strike him like a falling building.
(Ramming Speed: 1700 Base Damage, +208 Dice, +1507 Spell Boost, +100 Death From Above, +10 Surprise = 3525 Damage
Castor: 2100 Resilience, No Dice, -1575 Juggernaut, -500 Can't Act = 25 Damage Reduction
3500 End Damage
Castor: 25000 - 3500 = 21500 Health)
He's sent flying by the impact, all the speed you possessed used to accelerate the armored monster. For all of the force Castor doesn't appear too injured, a leg catches the earth and sends him tumbling to the ground a little over twenty meters away.
Castor starts yelling something.
You yell something of your own to Steel Monsoon's radio, "Use that again!"
You've risen back into the air and extruded your Panoply to form an arrow pointing at the prone demon.
Monsoon's response is swift.
(Symphony of Screaming Steel: 1000 Base Damage, +85 Dice, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, -900 Short Controlled Burst = 2685 Damage
Symphony of Screaming Steel: 1000 Base Damage, +85 Dice, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, -900 Short Controlled Burst = 2685 Damage
Symphony of Screaming Steel: 1000 Base Damage, +85 Dice, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, -900 Short Controlled Burst = 2685 Damage
Symphony of Screaming Steel: 1000 Base Damage, +85 Dice, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, +250 Danmaku, -900 Short Controlled Burst = 2685 Damage
10740 Damage
+5100% No Kill Like Overkill
558480 Total Damage
Castor: 2100 Resilience, No Dice, -500 Can't Act, -500 Sprawled on the Ground = 1100 Damage Reduction
557380 End Damage
Castor: 21500 - 557380 = -535880 Health
Overkill Bonus! +5125% extra damage for Steel Monsoon!)
Monsoon lets out a shout and a quarter second gout of steel and fury. Once again nothing is left of her target.
Behind you the acrobatic Magical Girl acts as if on cue and slams her daggers into the neck of the ragged shadow demon
(Spurs of the Thorn Prince: 700 Base Damage, No Dice, +700 Go for the Throat! = 1400 Damage
X16 Backstab!
22400 Damage
Pollux: 1800 Resilience, +679 Dice, -100 Weak to Light Effects = 2379 Damage Reduction
20021 End Damage
50% Out of Phase
10011 Final End Damage
Pollux: 17000 - 10011 = 6989 Health
5005 Murder Effect Added to Pollux)
Pollux lets out a mighty screech and spills darkness over the girl, who vanishes in a puff of smoke.
It doesn't help him.
Pollux keeps screeching as tendrils of light crawl over his entire self. Bits cracking off as the inimical magic invades the unfortunate demon. In short order he's nothing more than a smoking pile of ash.
Steel Monsoon sends a quick glare at Flawless Paladin before grabbing her radio, "This is DIFFICULTY SPIKE. I've got Summit here. Area cleared."
"Starlancer killed Cook." you add.
The Dragon disappears and a short girl appears to replace it, "I still can't fly," she scowls slightly at you, "Did you do something?"
"Starlancer, the girl I was fighting, called in a stone that prevented me from flying. She affected my magic to keep me from throwing off the effect." you explain.
"We should move." Flawless Paladin interjects, "The Dark is going to get its act together soon and sic some Furies on us if we don't."
"Furies are quick, if I'm not ferrying you it's a lot like we're standing still. Summit should take us to the stone thingy and break it so we can leave with some speed." the dragon-turned-girl countered.
Steel Monsoon conveys the gist of what's being said over her radio.
"Bad idea. All the demons that were waiting for that big-ass worm to pass are going to be running at us right now, we don't want to head closer." Flawless Paladin says.
"How many Furies do they have?" you ask. If there's only a dozen or so….
"Four or five, we think. Enough to stun all of us and probably have one left over to flay us -- not that it matters if we're stuck reliving our worst memories until something else kills us. The UD keeps them on hand to stop Magical Girls." Flawless Paladin replies.
You catch the transmitted response to Steel Monsoon and have a sense of satisfaction as you wait for her to pass along the order.
"Mohammad confirms Summit killed five Furies and incinerated a large chunk of demons. Summit will lead us to destroy the anti-flight rock, recover Lysander's remains to keep his armor secure, and fly back to base on Monster Keeper." Steel Monsoon passes along.
----
For once everything went smoothly. The stone exploded into powder when Steel Monsoon kicked it. There wasn't anything besides lesser demons sniffing around where Cook has fallen. And soon you were flying back with a rather grim cargo.
Which turned into walking back when Monster Keeper ran out of time for her transformation. Giving another reason why you were being sent back. Her available time was less than a tenth of what you were capable of sustaining, and the drain had her stumble to the ground and pass out after landing. This left you carrying Cook's body under one arm and Monster Keeper on the opposite shoulder.
"When Steel Monsoon passes out you should carry her." Flawless Paladin jabs a finger your way.
"I still have a few minutes. How long for you Summit?" Steel Monsoon rebuts.
"One hour, 27 minutes, and 18 seconds." you relay your chronometer's countdown. Once you reach five hours, 55 minutes, and 55 seconds your transformation abandons you and forces you to re-activate it.
Steel Monsoon and Monster Keeper must be fairly new. You haven't passed out from running out the timer on your transformation since your first few months as a Magical Girl. That would have gotten you killed from exposure to the chill of your prison or from a stray blow from a search party.
You hope Monster Keeper figures out how to fight off the energy drain soon. Having less than half-an-hour of combat time would make it hard to fight alongside her in a sustained battle.
The path to the main fortress of Milida is a wreck. The spikes of obsidian have all snapped, and some can still be seen embedded in the higher places next to streaks of gore. Spherical chunks have been removed from the ground in many places and the main wall has been partially demolished to isolate a chunk that burns with black flames. Groups of Fairies, Elves, and Humans are pushing some of the debris around the wall into piles.
There's a hub of activity around the corpse of the gigantic worm. Chains attached to floating platforms of rock were apparently used to drag it through the larger gap. Dozens of Fairies fly around it while a trio of human Practitioners draw necromantic inscriptions to encircle its head.
That's probably not what the demons wanted to happen to the beast. The thought of a zombie giant worm trampling demons graces your mind for a bit.
"How long did it take you to get it accurate to the second?" Flawless Paladin asks flatly.
"Not long. Once I absorbed a clock I could tell time pretty accurately."
"That sounds like a bit of a pain. Anyways, do you think the UD will turtle up again or send out waves again." Flawless Paladin asks.
"I hope they send waves into Overseer's deathtrap." Steel Monsoon replies.
"Again?" you ask for someone to clarify.
"There's a girl that makes dwarfs to do stuff for her." Flawless Paladin explains, "She made a big underground city out of them and used them to help keep the eastern path, Hero's Overlook, fortified. But after a while her dwarfs stop being able to tame the monsters they dig up and great titans of darkness took over the city."
"Which worked out great since the big monsters hate everything, including demons." Steel Monsoon chimed in.
"So when Overseer said to run the demons kept trying to send in swarms of wimpy demons to wear us out at the overlook, but this made something mad and it chased them back to their fortress. The UD lost some powerful demons killing that one and locked themselves in to think things over. Now, they tried to be clever and we smacked 'em, so there's a chance we still get vacation time."
"Black said the vacation time is because we don't need to guard the overlook. We should be fine for shifts even if the Dees attack night and day." Steel Monsoon recites.
"I wouldn't leave if we were actively being attacked." you say. The Counter Force wouldn't send you away in the middle of a siege, would they?
'We've got them bottled up. Establish a perimeter at Line G and put turrets on the known tunnel exits. Laurence, I'd like you to take Felix's group and escort Abby as she collapses those tunnels. I'm returning all Magical Girls to standard duty schedule.'
You pick up on Commander Black's broadcast and hear bits of it through Steel Monsoon's radio as you reach the debris scattered around a gap in the wall. You see Reinforce sitting on a large chunk, as your view of the interior widens. She points at all of you then throws her hand behind her shoulder.
A few of the cleaning crew catch the gesture and instruct the rest of their group to keep ignoring you. A fairy gives you a thumbs-up.
You don't feel that you've earned any praise. A man is dead and the equipment you signed for has a number of holes through it, and not small amount of your blood.
This is going to be trouble.
----
DIFFICULTY SPIKE has withdrawn to give its members time to recuperate. You have some time to spare.
Choose two:
[X] Visit Moral High Ground to see how everything turned out.
[X] See if Magical Girl Night Sky is willing to spend some time teaching magic.
[X] Brag about fighting a Legend solo and surviving.
[X] Practice with your new abilities.
[X] Have a medic check you over.
[X] You have a thought for using brandcraft to make the ice-cream machine work…
[X] Find Machine Code and see what she's up to.
[X] Get some rest, you're twitching from all the forced healing you've done to yourself.
Merit: 7 + 3 (Special Defense Actions) + 3 (Castor, Pollux, and the Asura) + 4 (Starlancer) + 2 (Furies) - 2 (Mission 'Failure', death of Lysander Cook) = 17 Merit
Notoriety has increased! 41%
+200 Killed Starlancer
(Never Found the Body…)
+200 Killed Castor and Pollux
+11 Killed 11 Demonic Footsoldiers
+50 Class Four Qualified
+100 Participated in a major Magical-Girl-led attack
869 + 561 = 1430 EXP (Someone should be mentioning Protagonist Syndrome soon
)
[X] [EXP] Plan?
