Libra's Lament, a Magical Girl Quest [Complete]

You exchange a look with Eva, then nod at Ignition Sentinel and all of you transform before taking to the air. Ludger sits in your backpack as usual, just to make sure the zombies do not try to eat him or something like that.

You can tell he is watching what you are doing, though. His little snout is lying on your shoulder.

This is... actually a pretty good thing to do, you can practice shooting at things that move and no one gets hurt. This is good.

Looking at the ripped uniforms, though... that man had one of those, too, and... no, not thinking about that. You shudder and shake your head, then aim your scepter at the first zombie. "Scorching Sunlight!"

They are not moving fast at all, so you can easily aim the beam right at its body.

(Scorching Sunlight: +640 Base Damage, +44 dice = 684 Total Damage
Zombie Nightmare: +250 Base Resilience, no dice = 250 Total Damage Reduction

434 Final End Damage

Zombie Nightmare Health: 1,000 - 434 = 566

Zombie Nightmare armour damaged and burning)

The beam hits it right in the chest and it stinks horribly. You can see the scraps of clothes catch fire and... it just does not care for the hole in its chest. All the Zombie Nightmares turn to look at you in the air and shuffle closer.

Eva throws her scepter at the same one you attacked, but it only clinks off its head and does nothing.

(Zombie Nightmare Health: 566 - 10(Burn) = 556)

They come to stand almost below you, staring upwards and... huh, maybe they do not know what to do with all of you in the air?

No matter, you point your weapon downwards and cast again.

(Scorching Sunlight: +640 Base Damage, +17 dice = 657 Total Damage
Zombie Nightmare: +250 Base Resilience, -162 Armor Removal, no dice = 88 Total Damage Reduction

569 Final End Damage

Zombie Nightmare Health: 556 - 569 = -13)

Your second beam hits it from above and pushes right through it from top to bottom, making the ugly thing disappear in greenish black dust.

Only there are still some more and Eva pokes you and then you see more wandering over the hill. From where you are in the air now, you can see a lot more.

"Um... miss Ignition Sentinel?"
Your sister points at the hill and the other girl looks, too. You see her ears flick once, but then she shrugs and rises a bit higher. "It doesn't matter. Just fly a little higher and continue, this is good practice."

They are walking faster now, a dozen and two dozen and more... some are climbing on top of each other to reach you, but they only make a big pile you can shoot at.


You are not sure how often you used your Spell by now, but you got the hang of how to aim pretty quickly. Now you have some fun shooting at different parts of the zombies that are still crawling on the ground. At least a dozen are already gone, but there are so many more...

You just shoot on and see how long it takes until they are all gone; Ignition Sentinel just watches.

The zombies never even thought about throwing stones or something like that... weird. Maybe they are just really dumb.

"Moon?"
Eva turns to look at Ignition Sentinel, while you carry on with the light. It feels... weird to cast so much.

"You don't have any ranged attacks, right?"
It should be tiring, but you actually feel pretty normal doing this; as if you were made to cast Spells like this.

"Um... no. I can throw my scepter and call it back, but that doesn't do much."
But your sister did get tired from healing before, right?

"I see... climb five hundred metres and drop it from there."

Okay, your hands are tingling a little, but the feeling is not really bad. It feels more like a rush of more light trying to get out but finding no way... or something like that. A lot of light, actually... you probably do not want more to get out at once, or things will get weird.

After shooting two more zombies dead, you finally notice that your sister is... above?
Looking up, you can barely see her glow in the distance and only because there is a cloud behind her.

Then something comes falling and you watch it with interest.

(Moonlight Scepter: +50 Base Damage, -20 Barely Competent, +1300 free fall, +1dice = 1,331 Total Damage
Zombie Nightmare: +250 Base Resilience, no dice = 250 Total Damage Reduction

1,081 Final End Damage

Zombie Nightmare Health: 1,000 - 1,081 = -81)

It rushes past you too fast to see what it is and hits a zombie... and smashes right through it without stopping. The monster dies and becomes dust just like the others.

Eva pokes you with happiness and you poke her back, then get back to shooting. This looks like fun. Your sister brings her scepter back into her hands and drops it again, too.

And then something comes running up, using the zombies as a springboard. It looks rotten like them, but bigger and with weird things growing from its arms and legs, making them bigger... and you can not see any more as it comes flying towards you-

(Intercept

Slicing Arms: +8000 Base Damage, +1600 Rain of Blows, +1600 Rain of Blows,+1600 Rain of Blows,+1600 Rain of Blows,+1600 Rain of Blows, - 3000 in the air, no dice = 13,000 Total Damage
Pulsar: +5500 Base Damage, +1861 dice = 7,361 Total Damage

Greater Zombie wins, 5,639 damage gets through

Ignition Sentinel: +6500 Base Resilience, +1410 dice = 7,910 Total Damage Reduction

no damage)

(Ignition Aura
Greater Zombie Health: 25,000 - 750 = 24,250)

-and Ignition Sentinel is in front of you, her heat aura cooking the air before your nose and making you flinch back. The large claw smashes her blade away, but she deflects the strike after it lost so much momentum.

Then the zombie starts falling to the ground and you watch it reach out for you without any chance to come flying back up.

"Come on, we need to get higher."

You follow the older girl up into the air and poke Eva with calm; you were scared for a moment there, but everything ended up being okay. Everyone is okay and your sister flies way too far above to be at any risk. You think... these things can not fly, after all.

But what do you do about that thing pacing around the other zombies?


You hear a low sigh from your companion and see her watching the new zombie, too.
"I never saw that before... but this is not for me to do right now. You're safe up here and I'll protect you if it has a way to reach us, so see if you can kill it."

Ludger yips encouragement into your ear and you start grinning while lining up your weapon. "Okay then, here I go! Scorching Sunlight!"

(Greater Zombie Health: 24,250 - 250 Burn = 24,000)

(Scorching Sunlight: +640 Base Damage, +42 dice = 682 Total Damage
Greater Zombie: +1250 Base Resilience, no dice = 1,250 Total Damage Reduction

no damage, Greater Zombie armour damaged)

It just washes around the zombie and does nothing... except for breaking the skin on its armour, or whatever that is.

"Try again."
You hum and raise your scepter again, having the same idea. Maybe now?

(Greater Zombie Health: 24,000 - 250 Burn = 23,750)

(Scorching Sunlight: +640 Base Damage, +40 dice = 680 Total Damage
Greater Zombie: +1250 Base Resilience, -812 Armour Removal, no dice = 438 Total Damage Reduction

242 Final End Damage

Greater Zombie Health: 23,750 - 242 = 23,508
Burn: 2 Stacks)

You get through this time, setting the zombie on fire even more. This is good! You can do it!
Eva cheers from up there, you can not even hear her from that far away... but you can feel it. This is nice, you are safe and can do something good and learn and... this is pretty tiring after a while, but you do not mind.

You exchange a smile with Ignition Sentinel and get back to shooting


(Greater Zombie: 2,253 Health, 3 Stacks Burn)

It took you a few minutes, and the stench is coming up, but now you almost have it! The zombie does not even try running away, it just jumps upwards time and time again, never making it up to where you are.

Heh, this is actually...

(Slicing Arms: +8000 Base Damage, ignore Rain of Blows, no dice = 8,000 Total Damage
Zombie Nightmare: +250 Base Resilience, no dice = 250 Total Damage Reduction

7,750 Final End Damage

It's dead (,Jim))

(Unspeakable Grinder
Greater Zombie Health: 2,253 -> 25,000
Burn removed)

...pretty easy?

It just casually crushes one of the normal zombies to paste and then... and then all the charred flesh grows back, the fire goes out and everything is... just like it was in the beginning?

WHAT?!

That's not fair!

You grit your teeth and look down at the stupid zombie. It just stands there and looks all smug and 'Oh look at me, I get better even when you shoot me a lot'! Grr.
Not with you, you will win this!


After half an hour, all the normal zombies are gone and you breathe a little more heavily. Your hand aches from the energy rushing against the inside of... something. No idea where it comes from. You can see your light flicker stronger and weaker with every breath, but that is fine. Only the stupid zombie is still there, trying to throw things at you.

(Stone: +5 Base Damage, +500 Hard Throw, -420 Target Out of Range, no dice = 85 Total Damage
Primordial Sun: +65 Base Resilience, +20 dice = 85 Total Damage Reduction

no damage)

Another stone plinks off of your shoulder and you feel pretty good about that. Being hurt hurt!

Eva had to stop dropping her scepter when the numbers went down, though... she just did not hit anything anymore. You still poke her with thanks while she lowers herself next to you again to look. Ignition Sentinel is still watching, her sword ready.

"Hey, mister zombie! You're alone now!"

No reaction, but it feels good to tell the thing off. You switch your scepter into your right hand and Eva floats closer to stroke the left; she can tell that it stings a little... or maybe you are projecting that to her? Not sure, does not matter.

All that matters is to show the meanie down there some more light!


...
(Greater Zombie Health: 1,434
Burn: 3 Stacks)

You just let the thing burn down now, it just wails up at you with some weird gurgling sounds. At least the wind picked up and takes the stench away.

"Haha, I win! Take that!"

You raise your scepter above your head and share joy with your sister. This was the first time you actually won something, was it not? All the other times, you just got hurt....

Urgh, better not think about it now. You look over to Ignition Sentinel, who has her head turned away and is... uh... oh, she is looking at the field the zombies were on.

(Greater Zombie Health: 1,434 - 750 (Burn) = 684)

There are little holes in places and some parts of the grass are burned black, but... you actually kept your Scorching Sunlight on target pretty well. Using it so much helped you find a good way to aim the beam properly.

You call out to her: "How was that, miss?"

"Acceptable," is her response before she points downwards with her weapon. "You should never allow an opponent any chance to get back up. This once is fine, but you should keep that in mind."

Oh... she is probably right. But you are still happy it worked out!

(Greater Zombie Health: 684 - 750 (Burn) = -86)

It finally turns to dust and the fire flickers out. You won!

But before you can hug your sister, the dust... grows back together and turns into two of the normal zombies. You can only stare at the new monsters looking up at you, all smug just like the other one.

Grrr!
Stop giggling, Eva!
Sorry...

...

You huff and take down the new zombies, too. At least they do not take long, so you can finally land again, with your sister right behind you; Eva takes your weapon and makes you sit... which you do with a grimace. Your hands are stinging a lot from the magic.

Ignition Sentinel lands and detransforms a bit away from you. "We will extend our break for another hour. Rest up for now."

""'Kay!""
"Woof!"

Ludger licks your cheek from over your shoulder and you squeak a little over the slobby tongue. Then you just let him out of there and cuddle the corgi. That is nice... and fluffy... and warm.


You went a little further until nightfall... and the morning after, you could soon smell salt in the air. The ocean was there and you reached it without ever being close to other humans; Ignition Sentinel said you went around larger cities, so no one bothered you.

There was a pair of Magical Girls manning some kind of outpost at the cliffs, with some neat machines in their base and a boat for you to take. You did not see them do any magic, though... that would have been great. They just talked to your guide about nothing important for a while, then the smaller one squealed about Ludger and you let her pet him.

And then... well, you were put on the boat and set off; it would take a few days, but you had some space to sleep and do things.

You never really thought you would be going that far away from home... but you have Eva and Bianca will definitely make sure your mother is okay.

So you concentrate on what is going on right now... or rather, not. Nothing is going on. Nothing has been going on for four days.

You are on a boat in the middle of the ocean, with nothing but water and fish around you. Your dog is napping by your feet, your sister leaning against your side while reading a book... and Ignition Sentinel at the front, driving.

This is boring.

You tried thinking about your magic, but there is nothing else happening right now; once the throbbing in your hands and arms went away, everything was normal again. Eva has no idea what else you could do with the magic right now, either.

So you poke your twin and get up; there is only one interesting thing on this boat and you want to find out more about her now. This time, she can not stay away from you.

...
Okay, she could just fly off, but she would not do that.

The two of you sneak past the open door, your target's back in sight already. Eva is to your right and both of you are almost- "You shouldn't try to sneak up on me."
Aww...

You stand normally and pout up at the older girl. At least she is smiling a little bit? That is good. "How did you see us?"
"The window."

Huh?
You look at the window, too... and it reflects Ignition Sentinel's eyes looking right back. That works?

Ah, bad Rico. No getting distracted.

Eva pokes you out of your thoughts and walks up to look out of the window, but she can barely reach high enough. You tiptoe on the older girl's other side and sneak peeks over all the weird buttons and stuff, but there is only water. One of the screens shows a map, so she probably drives with that.

"What do you want?"
"Um..."

Eva fidgets a bit and turns her eyes down, but then looks up again. You both got to like Ignition Sentinel over the time you were with her. She does not say much, but she has been looking after you all the time.

"Um... we want to talk to you?"
"..."

Uh... okay, this is weird. Why is she not saying anything? Her face is all cold and... wait, no. Her jaw is all tense.

"I mean, uh... we were curious and... and you look troubled sometimes and big sister said it helps to talk about it... so..."
"I see."

The older girl turns back to the window and does something to the console, but you have no idea what it is. "Don't worry about me, I'm-" "You're not fine."

You cross your arms and look upwards sternly. She tries to keep whatever it is a secret from you, but it is not hard to see something is wrong. Ignition Sentinel's own gaze gets colder before she pushes another button, turns and takes a step your way.

You don't step backwards, so in the end you have your face right in front of her tummy and can not really look at her without tilting your head back a lot. It does not matter, you will not back down. "And keeping it all in is wrong."

You would not know what to do without Eva... after what happened with that soldier, you felt so... so bad and cold and empty. You probably would have tried just ignoring it, but your twin is in your head and she helped you a lot with this. You are better now, so you should at least try to make your new friend better, too.

"You should be careful what you say, Primordial Sun. I'm not at the point where I hit a child, but other people might. Not everything can be solved by talking about it."
"Like you girls killing lots of innocent people?"

She flinches back at your instant response... and even you are a little surprised at what you said. But you can't back down, so you just huff and lower your arms before trying for a nicer expression. "You're my friend, so I want to try helping. Why can't I?"
"Me too!"

Eva comes to stand next to you again and you both wait for Ignition Sentinel's... no, Igni's response. It takes her a while of thinking before she finally sighs and slumps to the ground where she stood. "Keep that sharp tongue of yours under control, Sun."

She motions you over, so you come to sit by her side and wait. Igni takes a few deep breaths before cracking an eye open and looking at you. "I... If it weren't for Moon, I would be dead."

Huh... that is true, but what does that... oh.
You shudder at the memory of your burning side and hug Igni's arm. "So you can't stop thinking about it?"
"...yes."

Eva wraps around your friend's waist and she holds you both tight. It is no Bianca-hug, but still okay in your book. "I... that never r-really happened to me before. Not like this. I... I never really thought about dying for real..."

It is hard for her to speak, you can tell. Every word comes slowly, with slight stutters and pauses and everything. You just let go of her arm and cuddle closer to make her relax. Igni is stiff all over.

"It's okay... I had that, too. But you're alive, right? I made you okay."
Your sister is a little shamey, though... why?

Oh, she was thinking about grabbing you and running away... oh. That... oh.
You just flood her with warmth in return; it does not matter, she did not do it after all.

"I guess so... thank you, again."
"It's okay."

You just sit like this for a long while, the boat rocking gently on the waves. Igni relaxes, too.
Some time later, she speaks up again: "It's sad that it won't last."
"...huh?"

You blink the sleepiness away and look at her, but the older girl is watching the ground and does not turn her eyes anywhere else. "You're too young for Yggdrasil. Unless you insist on joining, Knight will send you along to Kibo. And I made my decision."

Abyss Knight will just let you go? How is she so sure about that?
Eva keeps thinking about that, so you push it aside and focus on your friend. She said she made a decision... to fight? To kill? Both?

"You're too young to understand", is what she says before you can ask. "I... I heard what Moon said before, that you want everyone to be happy. But I can't believe that anymore. Not after those other girls I saved... humans are terrible things, who even turn against each other for the slightest reason."

You think about asking what happened to the other girls, but the smell of fire and half-remembered screams tell you not to. You already know what people do to Magical Girls.

A shudder goes through your body, but you do your best not to show it. Instead, you cuddle closer into Igni. "That's okay. I won't hate you for doing what you think is right. But... why are you so sure people can't get along again?"

She snorts in return and ruffles your hair, much to your annoyance; you just brushed it and now it's messy again!

"Because they fear us too much."

Igni sighs and cradles you both closer, her voice going down to little more than mumbling. It is pretty warm and comfy here... "Whenever I use my magic, I'm surrounded by an aura of fire. Anything and everything close to me burns and dies; someone without magic would fear me for that alone, so even when I'm a sentinel, a guardian... even then, I can't protect anything."

You wrap your arms around her head and try humming like Eva and Bianca do for you when you feel down; your sister loops around your arms and pets Igni's head.

You have no idea how it feels like to have this kind of power... but you know what it feels like to be sad.

So you just hold on to your friend... and slowly drift to sleep yourselves

---

What are the twins dreaming of? Choose Two:

[] The Mother
[] The Glutton
[] The Heiress
[] The Monster
[] The Goddess
[] Stalingrad
[] Reluxus
[] Memories of LIGHT


[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it


+305xp Zombie Nightmare x61
+20xp Rod From God (Only Eva)
+50xp Greater Zombie
+25xp You Were Not Supposed to Kill That
+50xp Stubborn Enough to Kill That (Only Rico)
+25xp Flawless Victory

EXP Gained: 425 + 455 = 880
Total EXP: 900


(Unlocked Level 3 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Ignition Sentinel)


Soo... this is what happens when those guys are off on their own. Have fun with the EXP.
And no, none of the choices for this one are obvious in who or what they are about.