Might as well see if Estus works on us too, right? At worst I'd expect it to do nothing, but it'd be rather convenient to be able to heal without burning magic so I figure it's worth a shot. Cutting off our sense of pain could potentially help, but I'd rather not learn what the inevitable penalties of such an ability are in the middle of a boss fight; bad time to try new things that are quite likely to have negative effects, you know?
[x] Battle plan
-[x] Fight the demon while Oscar deals with the archers
Kirika would, if unable to kill the thing herself, probably be able to at least survive until the archers are dead and Oscar can re-join the fight. I'm not sure the same thing could be said about Oscar, so sending him after the archers and at the very least keeping the big guy busy ourselves is probably the best option here.
[X] Drink some Estus
-[X] Put it back in the bag
[X] Battle plan
-[X] Fight the demon while Oscar deals with the archers
Got directed to this quest from Blue Ash, and I'm enjoying it a fair bit thus far. Not sure what it is about this sort of thing, given I know nothing about PMMM but what I've learned via osmosis here.
I can't help but suspect the running joke of archers interrupting us is only going to escalate once we get into Anor Londo though, heh.
[x] Drink some Estus
-[X] Put it back in the bag
[x] Battle plan
-[x] Fight the demon while Oscar deals with the archers
Shoving your hand into the little bag tied to your waist, you pull out the bottle of Estus. This stuff seemed to do a good job at healing Oscar when you found him, so it's time to see if it works on you as well.
Throwing your head back, you drink a good quarter of the bottle's contents. You feel the burning, yet comforting warmth run down your throat and start to feel an oddly fuzzy sensation spread through your body. The holes in your back and chest become warm and little embers float out from the gaps in your clothes where the bolt tore them.
It takes you a moment to realise the embers are actually coming from the injury, and that the hole through your chest has been almost completely healed. The skin and muscles feel tight to move and you have to take deeper breathes than normal to breath, but otherwise you can certainly fight like this.
Oh, and your lung is still full of blood. Turns out the Estus doesn't magically clean up the mess an injury caused.
You spend a few moments coughing up as much of that blood as you can before finally being able to speak. "Oscar's go kick those archers' butts. I'll deal with this big goat thing."
Oscar gives you a concerned glance. "Are you sure? This creature-"
The monster in question lets out another loud roar and leans forwards with its bony head down. After a snort and kick of its hooves, it begins charging down along the wall like a rampaging bull.
"Oscar, move!" You growl, shoving the Estus back in your bag and stepping out in front of your knight companion. You hear his heavy footsteps and armour rattling back towards the tower behind you, letting you know that he did actually listen to you.
With Oscar making sure those damned archers don't keep shooting you, it should be just you and the monster. Just how you like it. You summon your claws again and lick your lips. Alright, ugly. Let's see what you got.
The demon charges closer and closer, covering the length of the wall within seconds. To slow him down, you focus your magic out in front of you, giving you a few more seconds to prepare.
Behind you, you can hear that Oscar's still not off the wall. In other words, you can't just leap over the charge or it'll probably just keep going and crush Oscar. You could probably try cutting its legs out as it runs at you, but it looks like it has some pretty nice momentum. Only one thing to do, then.
Cracking your neck and spitting out another wad of blood, you brace your feet against the wall beneath you. In your head, you count down the distance from the demon.
Three… Two…
One…
Just as the demon comes within a few metres of you, you leap off the ground towards it. You bring your feet up and kick into its head, almost as if you were crouching against it. You feel your legs strain with the force of the collision, but the demon falters slightly. Even so, it doesn't stop.
Next, you dispel four of your six claws and flick your hands out to the side. Each remaining claw flies out from your cuffs, a chain of claws trailing behind them. Both chains hook around the battlements of the wall and go taut when you pull on them.
The demon's charge slowly comes to a stop, although it continues to try pushing through you. You feel your arms and knees tearing and healing over and over under the pressure of holding back this massive beast. Magical girls are stronger and more durable than normal people thanks to the healing, but you've always focused more on speed and underhanded tactics over brute-forcing your battles, so this isn't exactly the easiest thing for you to keep up. Even so, you hold on to your claws with all your might.
Finally, just as it feels like your arms are going to be torn off, the demon gives in with a snort.
You let go of your chains of claws and push off the demon's head, summoning another set of claws as you land. For a moment, you and the demon lock eyes and remain staring at each other. The demon snorts again after a few seconds and lets out a bellowing roar. It pounds its axe against the ground a few times and snorts again. Grinning at this obvious challenge, you lean forward and brace to charge.
The two of you watch each other for a few seconds longer, then the demon moves first. With a roar, it charges forward with its axe held out to its right, ready to sweep across at you. You don't back down, charging forward as well, bellowing a warcry of your own.
When the two of you meet, the demon swings its axe at you horizontally and you position both sets of claws out to catch it. Your arms strain under the impact and you slide almost a full metre before your feet find enough purchase to hold, but you manage to withstand the attack.
The demon tries to push through your block, but you use that to your advantage. Angling your claws, you direct the axe down and let it carry on as you jump over it. You spin mid-air, slashing your claws across the demon's bony head as you go, and do a little somersault before landing back a few metres away from the demon.
A big trio of gashes cut deep into the thing's bony head, but the frustratingly small amount of blood makes it obvious that your claws didn't get far beyond the bony shell. The demon itself doesn't seem too bothered by the wound either, as it stops its hoof and beats the shaft of its axe against its chest with a roar.
Behind you, you hear the thump of a body hitting the ground and Oscar calls out "Kirika, lure the beast back to the tower!"
-------------------
[] Go with whatever Oscar's planning. Lure the demon back!
As for the actual fight, well I wasn't exactly expecting chain wall Kirkia but I guess it worked? Honestly I didn't even know she could do anything like that, but to be fair the majority of my knowledge on Kirkia as a character is from PMAS. Might be a good idea for us to keep in mind how Estus works for Kirkia compared to a normal undead as well, what with the blood in the lungs thing.
Kirika is shown to have a few trick regarding how she uses her claws in the Extra Story manga. In typical manga/anime fashion, both that I'm aware of have names: "Stepping Fang" is launching/throwing her claws like a projectile and "Vampir Fang" is a chain-whip kind of thing made out of her claws.
I also laid out a summary of Kirika's abilities that I'm aware of (not including anything from Magia Record) for my other quest, which I'm mostly sticking to for this quest as well.
Kirika Kure
Wish: To keep changing to be suitable for Oriko
Weapon: Claws (3-5 on each hand)
Magic: Slow down time around her or of a specific target
Fighting style: Highly aggressive, extreme close range.
Magic Abilities: Slow Time – Slow down the area around her or a specific target. She can also slow how others perception of her. Stepping Fang – launch her claws at high speed. Vampire Fang – Extend her weapon into a long, powerful whip made out of claws.
Weapon enchantment – Capable of enchanting everyday objects with magical properties, increasing their effectiveness against magical foes.
Barrier creation – Create a protective barrier in the form of a checker-pattern of black diamonds. Despite the large gaps, nothing may pass through unless using exceptional magical force.
Magical healing – Injuries will heal overtime at the cost of magical energy (amount depends on the scale of the injuries). Also able to heal others, although only to a small degree.
Enhanced body – Healing and removal of the soul results in a lack of subconscious self-preservation limits. Body can push itself beyond safe limits due to passive healing. Does not cost any magical energy.
Pain shut-off – capable of shutting off any sense of pain. Not used unless in extreme situations.
Strengths:
Extremely high speed and agility (enhanced further by her magic)
Extremely high damage
Strong focus on fighting Magical Girls
Of course, there will be some differences, since the situation Kirika's in here is pretty different to that of PMDM, namingly Oriko's presence or lack thereof. Also, while I believe all magical girls can enchant weapons and create barriers, the power and practicality of them vary in the same way their healing ability does.
Guess I shouldn't be too surprised then that Kirkia can pull some crazy bullshit you wouldn't expect with her conjured weapon; not like Mami and Kyoko don't already have things even in the original anime like "so I create functional muskets out of ribbons" and "defensive walls made of spears".
[X] Go with whatever Oscar's planning. Lure the demon back!
-[X] Keep it focused on you. If Oscar's planning something then he will probably need the distraction.
[X] Go with whatever Oscar's planning. Lure the demon back!
-[X] Keep it focused on you. If Oscar's planning something then he will probably need the distraction.
[X] Go with whatever Oscar's planning. Lure the demon back!
-[X] Keep it focused on you. If Oscar's planning something then he will probably need the distraction.
[X] Go with whatever Oscar's planning. Lure the demon back! -[X] Keep it focused on you. If Oscar's planning something then he will probably need the distraction.
[X] Go with whatever Oscar's planning. Lure the demon back!
You don't know what Oscar has in mind, but it's worth a shot to see. Keeping your focus on the demon, you slowly back away towards the tower you came up from. The demon eyes you in turn, taking large steps forward like a cat who's cornered its prey.
It eventually gets bored of the stalking, though, and lowers its head for another charge. As it kicks its hooves and snorts, you focus your time-slowing magic at it and use the extra few seconds to gain more distance and prepare to run.
The demon lets out a roar when it begins to move, and you throw two of your claws in his direction as a parting gift. You turn and drop into a sprint in the same motion, aiming for the doorway back into the tower.
The wall shakes under the demon's heavy steps and you can hear its growls right behind you. Even with your magically enhanced speed, the demon is having no trouble catching up with you without your magic slowing him down.
Soon, you start to feel the thing's vile breath on your back. It's right behind you and-
The demon collides with the doorway with a loud crash as you leap through. The stone gives slightly under the force of the impact, but nonetheless holds. Turning from your landing position, you see that its head could easily have fit through, but the overly large horns are far too wide for the doorway. The tips of said horns have stabbed through the wall on either side of the doorway.
The demon growls and pulls its horns out, taking a few steps. A warcry of sorts roars out from above as Oscar jumps down off of the tower. With his sword held down with both hands, he brings it down on the back of the demon's neck. The beast notices the knight a second before he lands his attack and raises its head to see what the commotion is, but Oscar's sword finds the big gash you cut into the demon's bony head.
The demon roars in pain as the sword embeds into its head almost to the hilt. It stumbles, dropping its axe and leaning against the battlements. It lets out another roar, but its slurred and comes out more as a sickly choke than an intimidating howl. Oscar braces against the thing's head and goes to jump back off it.
The sword doesn't budge.
Cursing, Oscar yanks on the sword, causing the wound in the demon's head the spray blood, but it still remains stuck in the demon's head. Said demon howls in even more pain at the attempt to remove the blade and begins shaking its head violently. Oscar holds onto the sword for a while, but is soon thrown off.
You rush forward to catch him, but you're not quick enough even with your magic to slow him down. He passes just out of your reach and falls over the outer edge of the wall.
You don't have time to do anything more than curse before the demon roars angrily behind you and charges in a blind rage. You quickly sidestep the now clumsy beast, slashing it across the leg and stomach, and it doesn't stop when it hits the battlements.
It breaks through the stone and its momentum carries it forwards over the edge. It's furious howl echoes up as it plummets to its death.
*Taurus Demon defeated*
Your claws disappear as you take a few deep breaths and suddenly the adrenaline of the fight starts to fade. Your body feels numb from all the heavy impacts you've withstood and your legs give out under you.
"Fuck!" You hiss in frustration. "Damn it, Oscar! What the hell was that?!"
"K-Kirika!"
You look up at the sound of Oscar's voice. He's nowhere to be seen, but you swear you heard him!
"Gah! Kirika, help!"
You scramble over to the edge and find Oscar clinging on to a protruding bit of the wall, just below the ruined battlements. He must be stronger than he looks if he managed to keep himself from falling while wearing all that heavy armour.
He looks up at you. "Finally! Help me up, I can't hold much longer!"
You manage to pull him back up onto the wall by carefully hooking your claws under his armour and yanking him up, and you both collapse on the ground once he's up on flat ground.
Oscar heaves a sigh of relief. "That was quite the close call. I don't think I'll be doing something like that again."
"It was pretty awesome, though." You reply, laughing. "Hah! I thought you were just some boring old knight, but it turns out you're pretty cool after all."
"Yes, well… That was certainly enough insane stunts for me for one day." He says, pulling himself up off the ground. He walks over to the edge and looks down with a sigh. "That sword was a family heirloom. My father gave it to me when I became a knight."
You get up and pat him on the shoulder. "We'll, uh… get you a new one."
Oscar stands there for a few moments, then nods. "Indeed. I suppose there's nothing we can do about it now…" He replies with a sigh, shaking his head. "Better it than my life, I suppose."
Even after saying this, he continues to stare down into the seemingly endless drop below where the demon fell with his sword.
-----------------
[] Move on along the wall
[] Head back to the merchant to buy Oscar a new sword
Well, found or made out of the souls of powerful beings. I should redefine 'good', though - I meant in the sense of 'not a piece of literal trash'. Dunno how many, if any, souls we got for killing Taurus Demon here.
