The opening shot was fired by Mami, her muskets firing in sequence one by one on the girl who was her opponent. Wakaba MIrai had made straight for Kyouko, so that left Mami with the black-haired girl, the one who looked like Kazusa Michiru but wasn't. In the brief second between when Mami's muskets were discarded and when her new volley was ready, Kazumi charged, swinging wide with the long black weapon in her hands. It wasn't quite a spear - more like a staff with the arms of a cross near the head - and it came down like a hammer. The roof splintered from its blow as Mami jumped out of the way. "Sorry!" Kazumi shouted, as Mami landed on the roof of the building next door. "I promise this'll go a lot smoother if you just stand still!"
"How curious," Mami said, calling on another volley of muskets, which opened fire as soon as they were ready. "Are you concerned about the collateral damage, or about me?"
"Yes!" Kazumi swung her staff around, catching Mami in the stomach. Despite the crunch that resounded as the staff crashed into Mami's ribs, it was Kazumi who was wincing the harder of the two from that attack. "I don't want to hurt you! I just don't want you to hurt my friends!"
"Mami!"
Kyouko turned her head as the impact of Kazumi's attack echoed, but her moment of distraction was enough for Mirai to take the lead, dealing a punishing blow to Kyouko as she yelled "Keep your eyes on me, moron!"
"I'm fine, Sakura-san," Mami said as she scrambled to her feet. Her breathing was harsh - that attack had definitely broken at least one rib, she was sure of it - but she wasn't about to let a few broken ribs slow her down. "Keep your eyes on your own battle!" It wasn't as though she was missing her shots; each one had found their mark on the black-haired girl. But like the other girl Mami had shot at, the black-haired girl's body kept regenerating with every shot Mami took.
Mami called on another musket, but Kazumi swing her staff, knocking the weapon's shot far off into the distance.
But at this close a range... Ribbons wrapped themselves around Mami's leg to form a turbine-powered greave, and with a cry of
"Turbina Dinamo!" she kicked, sending Kazumi flying high into the air. With her opponent airborne, Mami opened fire, but rather than letting her body absorb the hits, Kazumi swung her staff in a wide arc, blocking each bullet in sequence before landing, and charging Mami with her staff. A ring of muskets formed around Mami as the two dueled, muskets firing in sequence as Kazumi blocked or tanked each shot made on her.
On the building beside them, Rider clashed spears with the enemy Lancer. Rider was faster on foot than his opponent, but she was far and away more flexible, more fluid, able to bend her body to avoid his strikes in ways he had never seen before, save perhaps from his master and her allies. Rider struck with all his speed, but the enemy Lancer gave him no opening to exploit that speed; and unlike him, she wasn't limited to just the one spear. As soon as he had struck, her fingers traced the
Tiwaz rune, and she called down another three spears to prevent him from reaching her. She wasn't so much throwing her spears as she was launching them, as Caster might with swords from his Gate of Babylon. Rider parried with his shield, but spears found their way around to his backside. Rider spun around, taking the hit but preventing the spears from penetrating his heel.
She really was able to harm him, huh?
Crimson bullets soared over the battlefield, homing in on the enemy Lancer, but with little more effort than the wave of her spear each of his shots was knocked aside. Without missing a beat, she swatted Archer's arrows from the sky one by one, all the while weaving in and out of Rider's strikes as though it were nothing to her. The enemy's Saber and Rider had yet to show themselves, but with Archer off providing fire support, Saber guarding the otherwise-useless master of Assassin, and Rider and Berserker being kept busy with their own battles, Rider didn't know if their team could even handle those opponents appearing. Spears clashed, and Rider brought around his shield to bash the enemy Lancer's face in. Instead, she used his shield as a springboard, leaping high into the air and avoiding the next thrust of his spear, before tracing the
Tiwaz rune once again and calling on spears of her own to rain down. Their bodies were a blur of colours as they clashed, spear and shield and spear in constant flux.
Mami had no trouble ignoring the fight between Rider and the enemy Lancer, but Kazumi made the mistake of diverting her eyes for just a moment to watch the clash of spears between her servant and her enemy's; in that moment, Mami struck. A volley of musket-fire overwhelmed Kazumi, a swift kick disarmed her of her spear, and a flick of Mami's wrist called forth a trail of ribbons marked with crimson
Berkano runes along their length. In seconds, Mami had Kazumi immobilised within her ribbons. The black-haired girl struggled against the bindings, but the
Berkano-laced ribbons were too strong for her to break free of.
"I'm terribly sorry about this, dear," Mami said to Kazumi, reaching for the crimson bauble hanging from her right ear. "This will only hurt for a moment." Mami tugged, ripping the Soul Gem from Kazumi's ear. Mami didn't smile as her eyes locked on the thin trail of crimson trickling down Kazumi's earlobe, but as long as her opponent wasn't going anywhere, she felt comfortable pocketing the Soul Gem.
"
G̸i̷v̵e̵ ̶t̴h̸a̸t̶ ̷b̵a̸c̵k̷.̵.̶.̴" Kazumi growled, struggling even harder against her bindings. "
G̷̥͓͝i̴͉̇v̷̝͊͗ę̶̝̏͠ ̸̯͍̀̆ḭ̴̥̀͑t̷̟̍ ̸͖̖̅͋b̴̖̞̌ä̵͙̈́c̸̢̻̋k̸̢͕͑!̵̡̇̄" Before Mami could reinforce her bindings, Kazumi had ripped herself free, grabbing for her staff before leaping on top of Mami. "
T̸͖͔̈́h̶͖̻͍͆̚a̵͖̣̅̾ṱ̸̊̈͠'̷̬̝̀̀ş̵͙̉͝ ̸̖̱̱͑̓̕m̵̢̋̾̎ḯ̸̟̖͘ń̷̘͖͇ḕ̶̡̲̚!̴̠̠̅͠ ̵̜̠̌G̵̢͍̊í̷͓̘v̶̡͕̼͑e̷̟̺̐͘ ̷͕͈͓̂i̴͈̾̆͂t̸͕̓ ̷̡̔͌̈́b̴̳̪̿̈̆͜a̷̘̗͒c̵͔̅͒k̶̳̞̝̀ ̶̺͆͂t̵͔̫́̂̈́o̷̗̜͑̆̑͜ ̷̛͕̏͘m̴̦̭͆e̷͔̮͑!̷̨̬͆" Kazumi's charge knocked Mami to the ground, pressing her staff tightly against Mami's chest to keep her pinned down. Wild mania filled Kazumi's eyes; she leaned in, biting down on Mami's ear. Sharp pain shot through the right side of Mami's head, and something wet stuck to her cheek and the side of her jaw. When Kazumi reared her head up, Mami could see a piece of her ear clenched tightly between Kazumi's bloodstained teeth.
Kazumi spat Mami's ear out and leaned in again, biting her neck this time. Mami felt Kazumi's teeth break the skin, but before she let the girl tear a chunk from her neck, she called on a volley of muskets, forcing Kazumi back and off of her as her guns expended their ammunition. She clamped her hand down on her neck, but that did little to staunch the bleeding, and left Mami with only one hand with which to fight back.
It's not like she'd actually die if she bled out. Throwing caution to the wind in the name of finishing the fight quicker, Mami eschewed putting pressure on her neck wound and called on a volley of muskets for each hand.
Mami readied her guns to fire, as Kazumi brought her staff up. "
L̸̙̦͆͝ĩ̸̙͍̟̈́̇m̸̭͓͈̿̓̈́̐ì̵̡̠̓ţ̸͔̱̝̐̈̚͝i̶̩̜͍͆̍̈́́ ̵̫͒͌͛Ȅ̶̝̽̀̇s̶̺͉̥̞̐̚-!̷̦́̆" Her screaming was unintelligible, but something strange happened in that moment; white flakes of snow, falling from the sky.
No, those weren't snowflakes...
Petals of white drifted down from the sky;
Archer's work, no doubt, Mami thought, paying the petals no mind.
Her opponent, on the other hand...
Unlike Mami, Kazumi was completely enraptured by the falling petals, only somewhat snapping out of it once the novelty had worn off. The look of wild mania had yet to leave her eyes, but in the brief moment in which she was calm Mami did all she could, lashing Kazumi in several layers of
Berkano-laced ribbons. "I'll have to remember to thank Archer for the assistance when this is all over," Mami said, stifling a grimace as her injured ear and neck throbbed with pain. The side of her face and much of her shirt were stained a deep crimson, but she didn't have the luxury of paying any mind to her appearance at the moment. This was-
"Ooh-" Mami caught herself as her body listed; she couldn't afford to go falling unconscious in the middle of a fight. "Now, what to do about you...?"
"Tch."
Watching Assassin's sister deflect your arrows as though they aren't even worth her time is really grating on your nerves. First, there's the fact that Scáthach shouldn't even be possible to summon as a servant. Second, even though her sister would be the first choice to fight her, there's the slight Geis problem that prevents just that from happening. Third, the second problem means your team is down one servant when it comes to countering Scáthach in the future;
and by the look of things, you're going to need a servant who can counter her. You feel a phantom pain in your heart as you gaze upon the spear in her hand; it's another Gáe Bolg, no doubt about it;
and for some reason, she has the ability to make multiple copies of it.
You can see Homura, doing you proud as she uses the skills you taught her to keep the leader of the Pleiades Saints at bay. So far, the enemy's Saber hasn't shown himself; that's good, and it problably won't change until Homura goes in for the kill - or for her Soul Gem, as the case may be - so hopefully you've still got time before you have to worry about Sigurd appearing. Oriko had been supporting Homura as well, for a time, until she suddenly rushed off towards the hole the orange-haired girl had tackled Kirika into. Speaking of Kirika, you can see her and the orange girl tangling through one of the holes their Berserkers have made in the course of their own fight. Berserker was right; Kirika really has been improving. She's gotten some good hits in, but so far nothing she's done has gotten though the black armour the orange-haired girl's skin is covered in.
Meanwhile, Kyouko and the master of the enemy's Rider are going at it -
again - and thankfully the enemy Rider hasn't made an appearance either.
That's good.
That's not good. Your eyes widen as you see Kirika suddenly freeze up, moments before the orange-haired girl blows through one of Oriko's barriers;
and straight through Kirika's chest. That's your daughter. That's Homura's Big Sis and Minako's little Halloween pumpkin; and now there's a hole through her chest. Your hands clench;
and if that weren't bad enough you see Kazusa Michiru - or whoever it is that looks like her - has seemingly gone berserk and, after tackling Tomoe to the ground, is attempting to eat her like a feral Dead Apostle.
Things have taken a turn for the worse in no time at all, and you'd be damned if you don't do anything to save your eldest daughter and her teammate.
"Trace, on!" You've got in mind a certain weapon for this; you hope it works.
It has to work. You envision the sword of Chevalier d'Eon, working the Projection into your preferred form which you nock upon your bowstring.
You're sure the morning news will have something to say about this.
"Fleur de Lys!"
You turn your head just as a million white lily petals fall from the sky, burning their beauty into your vision just long enough for it to matter. "What was that?" Asami saki asks.
"That was probably our Archer," you say. "I'm not sure what all of that was about, but I trust Archer not to do something like that without a reason."
"Uh-huh." Asami Saki nods;
strange; you two should be fighting right now, shouldn't you?
You're glad you aren't fighting when an urgent message reaches your mind's ear.
"Akemi-san, there's two girls down here with Kirika and I," you hear Oriko's voice saying from inside your head.
So that was why she dove after Kirika earlier. Does that mean something's happened to Kirika? "They... They've got Kirika's Soul Gem, and she's too badly injured to move on her own."
Oh, fuck. This is just what you needed to hear, that the Saints have one of your team's Soul Gems in their possession; and it's the one belonging to your Big Sis, too.
Mom is going to kill you if she finds out.
"How about we make a deal," Asami Saki says.
A deal? Wasn't this the girl who just a few nights ago was talking about this being a war of extermination? "By now, I'm sure you've heard that your little serial killer friend is currently without a Soul Gem, no? Well, one of ours is currently without a Soul Gem as well. So, let's make a trade. Hers, for Kazumi's; how does that sound?"
[ ] Accept the deal
-[ ] and leave Asunaro
--[ ] What do you do after returning home? (write-in)
-[ ] but keep fighting
--[ ] What's the plan if you decide to keep fighting? (write-in)
[ ] Reject the deal
-[ ] What do you counter with? (write-in)
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