[X] Plan: Do Not Wreck The Home (part 1)
"Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure Rider would be more than happy to fight both the servants you and Mikuni brought with you if I gave the word."
Your eyes dart over to the egghead table where, sans Hitomi, the smartest members of your combined teams are working together to solve an important puzzle. Kanna Niko is leaned over her laptop, while Lancer and Assassin stand over her, one on each side, as Kanna Niko explains to them the more technical aspects of her program and what she needs from them concerning their familiars. Beside Lancer, Oriko also looks on, taking notes with her phone and occasionally asking Kanna Niko questions.
You, for your part, are seated at the operations table – you're glad the Saints brought in a second table just for Kanna Niko to work on, so she and her fellow eggheads can work in peace without being distracted by whatever else is going on – and are seated across from Asami Saki and Wakaba Mirai. You've just asked Wakaba Mirai if she would be willing to undergo another test run of her Mystic Code, this time with Kazumi present in order to test how her impressive store of mana changes any of the more involved calculations that all go over your head whenever Hitomi or Oriko try to explain them to you.
"While I'm sure he would, that's quite all right," you say to Wakaba Mirai. "Besides, while I'm sure Assassin would be up for a good fight, she and Lancer have other things they came here to do."
Apparently, Assassin doesn't take very kindly to you making that decision for her. She doesn't snap at you, but she does shoot a very disapproving glare in your direction. "I would prefer you not decide things for me without speaking to me first, master of Archer," Assassin says to you. "Unfortunately, I am forced to agree with you on this. As much as I would love a good fight, especially against that one's Rider servant, I came here to get some work done."
Assassin snorts, and plants her hands on her hips. "Since I've already done the work of making these stupid familiars, there's no point in letting that effort go to waste," she says, "Especially not after you've wasted me so much already."
"So that's that," you say to Wakaba Mirai, accepting Assassin's criticisms of you while choosing not to engage her any further. She's right; you don't see a reason to dwell on that. "But I'm more than willing to have a practice fight with you. I've got something of my own that I'd like to further test, so this should be a good experience for us both."
Wakaba Mirai looks to Asami Saki, as if to seek confirmation from her. When AsamI Saki nods her head, Wakaba Mirai says "Well, if you're sure. But don't come crying to me when I beat your ass."
"Mirai, don't be rude," Asami Saki says. "There's no reason for it."
"I'm just trying to give her fair warning," Wakaba Mirai says. "She's a ranged attacker who uses ice arrows. I'm a close-range fighter who uses fire. There's no contest between us. I just don't want her to think I'm being unfair about the risks involved in fighting me."
"I'm well aware of the risks involved," you say to Wakaba Mirai. "But I'm willing to take them."
You follow Wakaba Mirai as she leads you out around to the back of the warehouse that's serving as their base. Asami Saki follows closely behind the two of you, and Kazumi goes with you as well. There wouldn't be much of a point to testing her enormous store of mana's impact on Wakaba Mirai's Mystic Code without her.
You and Wakaba Mirai take your positions at opposite ends of the training grounds.
Actually, this isn't a bad location to put up a more permanent training ground once this whole mess with Sidonia is taken care of and the Pleiades Saints have moved back into their own, permanent base of operations back in Asunaro. You'll have to remember that, assuming you can ensure that nobody else comes this way who could spy on you.
"Got any particular rules you want to attach to this?" Wakaba Mirai asks. "Or are we free to do whatever the hell we want?"
"Within reason," you reply. "Obviously, we're not trying to kill each other; we're trying to test your ability to remain adequately fuelled in combat. Obviously, if it looks like you're having trouble with that, or one of us sustains an injury that prevents us from continuing, we'll call the match off. Otherwise…?" You look over to Kazumi and Asami Saki, as if to ask them for their input.
"I'll also probably stop the match if it looks like Mirai's doing really well," Kazumi says. "We just need to know that she can keep herself going. So if it looks like she's doing a good job, there's no need to keep things going for longer than they have to, right?"
Asami Saki decides to speak up before you have the chance to. "Frankly, I think Mirai could use a chance to blow off some steam," she says. "Sure, that fight with Sakura was good for her, but I think she'd appreciate another go at it with someone else; especially if they'd offer her a different sort of challenge than Sakura did."
Considering that Kyouko's bout with Wakaba Mirai was a pure fistfight, you're sure you'll be more than capable of providing her with a different sort of challenge. "Well, I'm all ready whenever you are," Wakaba Mirai says to you. Her clothes melt away as she changes into her battle costume, and she says to you "So come on, show me what you've got."
You don't announce yourself; you let your actions speak for themselves as you take off, drawing your bow and getting off two arrows before Wakaba Mirai is ready for them. She quickly brings out her sword – you've never paid attention before because she's quite fast on the draw, but what actually happens is that Wakaba Mirai flicks a heart-tipped wand from her sleeve into her hand, and converts it into the form of a sword almost instantaneously – and brings it up, blocking your arrows before retaliating with a jet of flames.
You dodge and ready your next arrows, but Wakaba Mirai isn't giving you any time to loose them. She twists her sword, sending her flames chasing after you like a serpent. You're forced to turn, loosing your arrows into the maw of her column of fire. Your arrows explode once they've entered the column of fire, creating an explosion of steam that temporarily obscures the battlefield.
You know what to do in this situation. You quickly invoke Isa, and launch yourself into the air above the cloud of steam, searching for your target. There! As soon as you have Wakaba Mirai in your sights, you loose, sending your arrows down onto her. Your arrows impact, splashing their ice all over her arm. You see the scowl on her face as you land, and you ready another arrow for a quick follow-up shot. You take the shot.
Your second arrow lands, but the sound of its impact isn't the sound you're accustomed to hearing. It sounds softer, and when you see just what your arrow hit, you understand. Wakaba Mirai has a teddy bear wrapped around her arm by the stubbly little stumps of its arms and legs. That's already an unusual sight to see, but it gets even better – or worse; more disturbing, really – when she gives her arm a casual flick, and four jagged claws spring out of the top of the bear's head, shattering the ice encasing the stuffed armament.
"Bear claws!"
With those two simple words, Wakaba Mirai's teddy bear gauntlet springs forth. Its head detaches from the rest of its body, surging towards you on a length of black chain that's wreathed in claws. Oh good lord, you think as it hits you. Not the claws, of course. You invoke Isa and launch yourself into the air on a pillar of ice, which is quickly shattered by Wakaba Mirai's teddy bear-claw-weapon. But the realisation that "You stole that attack from Kirika!"
You quickly nock back and arrow and loose it in mid-flight, only for Wakaba Mirai to deflect it with her teddy bear armour. "I don't know what you're talking about!" she shouts, swinging her armament around and almost catching you with its mass as you land. You manage to clear the hurdle, and ready another arrow on your bow. "I came up with this attack completely on my own!"
"Then why does it look exactly like Kirika's own clawed chain attack?" you counter, before also countering with another ice arrow.
"Pure coincidence!" You don't believe Wakaba Mirai for a second, and her boast only serves to further solidify your conviction. "But I won't complain if I get to beat her younger sister with it all the same!"
Wakaba Mirai charges forward, smashing her bear claws into the concrete where you were standing, and she turns towards you with fire in her eyes as she rips her claws free, bringing with them a chunk of concrete, which she throws at you. You loose your arrow, turning the chunk of concrete into a chunk of ice, and you fling yourself into the air again as Wakaba Mirai brings her weapon around, tearing through the pillar of ice and spraying ice shards in all directions. You ready another arrow for when you land, but this time, Wakaba Mirai doesn't swing her weapon at you. Instead, she turns her sword on you, unleashing a torrent of carmine flames.
You dodge, and loose another arrow at her, but she brings up her bear claws instead. Your first arrow coats the weapon in ice, and your second arrow shatters it, but Wakaba Mirai doesn't miss a beat as she turns her flames on you again. She flicks her now-bare wrist and flings the headless teddy bear corpse from her arm, directly towards you.
You loose your arrows at the headless bear, catching it and splashing ice over the body of the bear before it can, gosh, explode all over you, or something. Wakaba Mirai taps her heel three times against the ground, and the headless, frozen bear explodes in mid-air, sending shards of ice flying out in all directions. Her flames curl around her and intercept the ice as it falls, but you are forced to take cover, raising up a barrier as shards of ice like glass rain down on your position.
That isn't all Wakaba Mirai's hell tap did; with it, she's summoned seven more teddy bears to her side. "All right, try this on for size! Bestia Refare!"
The seven teddy bears contort their bodies – it's a disturbing sight, one which you are glad you don't have time to pay attention to before Wakaba Mirai sends another torrent of flames towards you, forcing you to dodge and keep your eyes on her and her alone – and join together to form a bear. Not a teddy bear, with its cartoonish proportions, but something resembling an actual bear, only one that's been constructed from fabric and stuffing. It opens its mouth, lined with razor-sharp teeth, and lets out a silent roar from its stuffing-filled mouth as it charges you.
You're quick on the draw, readying another arrow, but the bear is just as fast. It swipes at you with its paw, which is packed with seven jagged claws, and you have to quickly break your aim in order to invoke Isa, placing a barrier between you and the bear which the bear easily tears down. But that delay has given you just enough of a lead that you can take aim, and you loose.
Your arrow makes contact with the bear's forelimb, coating it with ice, while your second pierces through the frozen limb, shattering it. You go to draw back your bow with another arrow, but the bear lunges at you again, forcing you to dodge. Wakaba Mirai swings her sword, sending a column of fire towards you as she stamps her heel against the ground.
In a flash, more teddy bears spring up from the ground, creating an impenetrable wall behind Wakaba Mirai of bears as far as your eyes can see. She points her sword in your direction, slinging more flames which force you to dodge, as one bear among her host advances, leaping to join with her massive bear and reforming the destroyed arm. The bear lets out another silent roar, and swipes at you with its reformed paw, again shattering the barrier of ice you have to quickly erect between it and you.
You launch yourself into the air on another pillar of ice as Wakaba Mirai tries to trap you in a pincer between her massive bear and her flames. It fails, and you're launched successfully into the air as her bear's paw swipes through the pillar of ice. But as you survey the most likely landing zone you realise that your options aren't looking so good. Wakaba Mirai sees it too; and she advances, positioning herself where it looks like you're about to land. You have to act fast.
You twist your body around, and loose an arrow downwards. Your shot strikes a nearby teddy bear, giving you a perfect platform to land on as the swing of Wakaba Mirai's sword misses you, decapitating the head of her frozen teddy bear instead. "You'll pay for that!" she screams, lashing out with her sword and with the bear claw strapped to her wrist, but all you have to do is leap into the air again, freeze another teddy bear on your way down, and repeat, giving you a clear path to safety as Wakaba Mirai tears through he own force to reach you.
Once you've run out of teddy bears to use as platforms, you give one final leap, loosing an arrow of ice to clear a landing zone for yourself- But Wakaba Mirai sees it coming. Her monster bear is waiting for you, and as soon as she sees the opening you've made for yourself, she readies her sword, letting flames wreathe themselves along its length.
You've got no other option.
Now's the time to use them.
This is going to hurt.
You've built up more than enough Grief exerting yourself during the course of this exercise, and now it's time to let that Grief loose. You've only got a few moments to concentrate. You visualise what form you need that Grief to take the shape of, and you invoke Inguz.
Wings of black burst from your backside, setting your nerves alight with fire as they tear through skin and the fabric of your costume. Quickly, you shut off the pain receptors in your back and shoulders, and force your wings to lift you upwards. Because you've lost sensation in your backside, you have no way of knowing if your wings are behaving the way they should or not, until you see yourself rising up above Wakaba Mirai's teddy bear army. She's wearing a stunned expression on her face, which she quickly wipes away and replaces with one of determination.
"So you can fly now," Wakaba Mirai says to you. "Big deal. You've just made yourself an easier target!" She raises her sword, and points it at you as she declares "Ursa Major!"
Pink arrays form in the air above Wakaba Mirai, seven in total in line with her sword which take the shape of the Northern Dipper, and they fire on you, shooting seven pillars of carmine flame which all converge on your location exactly.
Isa.
Twenty Isa runes appear in a circle at your back, dotting the jagged, flexing points of your Grief-bound wings, and you meet Wakaba Mirai's seven infernos with an equally powerful blast of ice. As the two attacks meet they erupt in an enormous cloud of steam, completely blanketing the battlefield and obscuring you and Wakaba Mirai from each other's vision. That last attack would have left you spent, but your Inguz rune is automatically converting your accumulated Grief into more thrust for your wings, keeping you airborne long enough for the steam to clear.
Wakaba Mirai is still standing. Her sword remains wreathed in flames, and although the steam explosion appears to have scalded her quite fiercely, her regeneration module is knitting over her burnt flesh with clear pink skin. Her teddy bears are not quite so lucky; each one is wracked with burns, or missing limbs altogether from where the pressure of the expanding steam cloud tore them off. Even her largest bear has suffered some pretty extensive damage, but not enough to bring it down.
You draw back the string of your bow, and Wakaba Mirai readies her sword for another blow, when- "Stop!"
Kazumi steps out onto the battlefield, and you and Wakaba Mirai both turn towards her as she interrupts your duel. "What do you think you're doing, Kazumi?" Wakaba Mirai snaps. "We're still fighting." She cranes her head up towards you, adding "Aren't we? I mean, I'm still good to go if you are."
"That's why I'm stopping you," Kazumi says. "You're clearly not having any problems; you'll just hurt each other if you keep going."
Do you
[ ] Agree with Kazumi; Wakaba Mirai has proven that her Mystic Code works
-[ ] What is your evaluation of Wakaba Mirai's Mystic Code?
--[ ] It's working as intended; no need to change anything
--[ ] You're satisfied with the results, but think it could do with some fine adjustments
-[ ] What should you do afterwards?
--[ ] Check in with Lancer, Assassin, and Kanna Niko; how's their work coming along?
--[ ] Check in with Archer; how are things going for him?
--[ ] Leave Kazumi in charge here, and go join up with Archer to help set anchor points
--[ ] Go to school; you'll be late, but you can still help Hitomi and Nurse Ortensia hypnotise people
[ ] Don't agree with Kazumi
-[ ] You're satisfied with what you've seen so far, but you want to keep going until either your or Wakaba Mirai are exhausted
-[ ] You're unsatisfied with the results you've seen so far; you think Hitomi and Oriko should rework Wakaba Mirai's Mystic Code for a different power output
-[ ] After seeing what Wakaba Mirai is capable of, what's your revised plan of attack? (write-in)
[ ] Other (write-in)
