You sigh. Of course… why not? It's not like the last month or so of your life was going to let you off easy. "So long as we can bring this out of town so we don't hurt anyone."
Sin looks at you with a raised eyebrow. "That's a first. A lot of magical girls would happily jump right in regardless of where they were." The older girl grins brightly, "Just for that, I'll agree! Fighting in the middle of town is a bad habit a lot of us Magical Girls could afford to break! Especially in the higher tiers."
Wait. Really? You look askance at James who nods grimly after a moment.
"She's not wrong. It's usually a pretty small problem all things considered, but Magical Girls are notoriously bad at moving their fights somewhere where collateral damage is less of a concern." He sighs heavily. "Support Teams usually have the task of trying to teach their charges why fighting in the middle of an intersection is a bad idea. I'm actually pretty grateful that I haven't had to do so myself, because it tends to result in a lot of unnecessary paperwork."
His elaboration causes the Horse(wo)men to all shuffle awkwardly as War blushes.
"I…" You brain blanks on a response to that. "Never mind. Let's just get somewhere Sin can have her spar."
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
"This place is good."
'This place' is a spot roughly a mile outside of the town itself. There's some trees, but it's mostly an open space with hills and more trees in the distance. And what looks like a highway, but you couldn't be sure from where you're standing.
"So." Sin turns to everyone else. "I personally suggest a bit of space just in case, but it's not mandatory. Just understand if someone gets caught up in an attack, I'm not going to be held responsible. Fair warning."
"It's okay. The rest of us need a bit of practice not splattering in a high impact zone." James snarked back, earning a few chuckles from the rest of your team while the Horsemen looked at them like they were crazy.
To be fair though, after what they've been through the last few missions, you'd be worried if they
weren't a little bit crazy.
"Alright then…" Sin weapon mutters disbelievingly. "Ready Solid?"
"Ready!" You jump back for a bit of distance even as the spectators scatter for good spots to watch. And instead of moving to another spot, Sin WEAPON simply raises a hand.
Then she rotates it clockwise.
Brilliant red light burns into existence as her hand passes through air. Symbols that mean nothing to you but are vaguely familiar (Sanskrit?) form from that light. But at each hour position of a clock face, a large burning numeral from the arabic numeral system would appear.
"Wha…?" You try asking but trail off as Sin completes what you suddenly recognize as a Brandcraft array formed by nothing more than her own magic mid-air. The individual layers are so dense in instruction that from a distance it would look like a solid red bar. Then the clock hands appeared before spinning rapidly around the circle as the entire thing seemed to fold over and onto Sin. "Oh shit!"
"
Hastegun!" And suddenly a red-glowing knee was drilling into your face.
Power bursts into your wings as you feel the grass caress your back. A flicker of a platform and your position is righted almost instantly. The turf is shredded by your feet as Sin WEAPON becomes an electric bolt of red light that races to you from across the field almost as fast as she had launched you with her initial blow.
With a boom of displaced air you go from skimming the grass to spearing into the air up and away from your opponent. "How fast
are you?!"
A loud bang sounds off and you watch as a chunk of the ground Sin had been racing across practically explodes beneath her feet… and she's just as suddenly arcing through the air at you. "What is your
face made of?" She shouts right back.
"Indestructium!" Is your reply as you lazily float out of the path of her arc…
Just for another bang to correct her course right into you.
…
Did she really just use the
recoil of her guns to adjust mid-air?
The arms and legs latching around you like some kind of demented attempt at imitating a face hugger say 'yes' to that. "Pro tip, if your opponent does something you didn't expect, don't just float there, 'kay?" Sin weapon glows red as she smiles at you.
"Thanks for the advice." You huff. "Now can you get
off?" You attempt a punch, but a twist of her hips allows Sin to bend out of its way. But it also causes her to put extra weight on the knee she had used to punt you across the field below. The reason you aimed at it? It was rapidly purpling into a brilliantly colored bruise and visibly swelling.
"Sorry, can't let you hit that until I get Hero to look at it!" Sin chirps brightly before unwrapping her legs and letting them drop, almost causing you to elbow yourself in the side. As you're recovering from that little embarrassment Sin drops a few feet and latches onto your foot, causing you to spin a bit. The spin in turn gives her the momentum she needs to swing herself around and flip into the air just as you try hitting her with the Panzer Blade again. As soon as your weapon is past though, she is suddenly balanced on your front, one foot on your abdomen and the other pressing into your collar bone. "Let's see if this works!"
Uh oh—
The sound is indescribable. It is as if a hundred or more high caliber guns are firing on full auto all at the same time, almost as if the air itself is being torn apart by her attack as a literal wall of lead slams into you hard enough that the smidgen of focus you give to power your ability to fly flickers.
Sin jumps off you as you take a short tumble back to the ground. Thankfully though, you don't impact it as you recover half way down and manage to land on your hands and knees instead of your face. (Again.)
"Holy shit..." You force yourself back to your feet as Sin lands. "What the hell are you
made of, girl? That normally caps pretty much anything." The older girl is kneeling in the grass and mud your short fight had made of the field before you had taken to the air. Her injured knee is now a ripe purple as one of her hands drops the gun it was holding to prod at it, checking for the extent of the damage.
"Like I said..." You grunt, heaving for breath as you attempt to get your heart rate back under control. "Indestructium." Your not-so-calm declaration earns a laugh from the other girl. "What about you? How are you so fucking fast?"
"It's my brandcraft array." Sin offers up. "It accelerates me by a factor of ten. Took a
lot of work to get it to operate properly without killing me: being perforated by air sounds funny up until it happens to you." That actually does sound a bit funny, but…
"If you're accelerated, then how are we talking like this?"
"One of the many things I managed to work out for it. It accelerates my mind and body when I'm acting, but a few extra clauses let me talk to people so long as I'm not actually doing something. I've been working on it since I originally became a Magical Girl… though it wasn't until Gaia offered to make me a WEAPON that I actually dared testing it." She trails off in a hiss as her fingers find the core damage to her ligament. "Want to call this a draw? Thanks to this knee I won't be able to beat you without summoning one of my Avatars. And using our spells doesn't seem like a sporting thing to do since all we wanted was a spar."
"Yeah," you agree. "Let's call it here. After that last attack, I really don't want to see what you've come up with to actually hurt me." You take a quick scan to find where the spectators of your little event got off to so you could wave them over. Aquilla is the one to wave back as you return your attention to Sin. "Will your knee be okay?"
"It should, but I'll wait until I can talk to Hero about it. She's actually taking doctor classes!"
You raise an eyebrow at her, "Doctor classes?"
Sin fidgets awkwardly for a moment as your team and the Horse(wo)men finally stroll up. "...Okay, she's trying to get her Nurse certification, but still!"
"I don't know what to say to that, but all the power to you… what?" The last is directed at Death and her sisters who are all staring at you as if expecting tentacles to suddenly sprout from your hair or something. "Do I have something on my face?"
They collectively look to your team, leading Samael to snrk. "Oh yeah. You get used to it. After a while it even starts getting funny."
"...Whatever." You shake your head as Gabriel joins Sam in his chuckling while the sisters all look at you even more akanstance than they had previously. "Would you like a ride? Hero is staying at Ataraxia, so it'll be a shorter trip… actually,
can she ride with us?" You point your last question to James who nods his head a bit.
"It's… not against the rules? Normally Counter Force forces are meant to give aid to Magical Girls who request it. Can range from anything from a ride to a boost over a fence really. But I don't think anyone ever considered one of the WEAPONs asking for some." He shrugs. "I don't see any harm in it, since it looks like they're firmly on our side for the foreseeable future."
"Really?" Sin weapon brightens up. "Yayifications!" Oh dear lord, she threw her hands up in the air and everything.
"How do you
function?" Sin simply gives you a raised eyebrow in response. "
What?"
"This is insane," War sighs loudly, "The four of us will stick around for a few days before reporting to the CF base up north. If we find anything weird, or our elusive blank spot shows up again, we'll send a message."
"That'll be fine." Sin agrees even as you shrug to James. "Shall the rest of us get going then?"
"Yeah, I'll call up our Skybound and we can leave… feels like this day's taken long enough as is."
"I hear that!"
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
It was on the way back to Ataraxia that Aquilla asked something that you had never thought to ask yourself. "Hey, Sam."
"Yeah?" The mage sat straighter.
"You're engaged right? To a succubus?" Her question earned the attention of everyone else in the transport, even Gabriel turned in the Skybound's open doorway enough so she could hear better.
"Uh… yeah." Samael replies a bit confusedly. "What do you want to know?"
"Well… it's just demonic defectors aren't actually that common. So the fact you've married one kind of sticks out, and I'm really curious how that happened."
"Ah, that makes sense." Sam nodded to Aquilla. "Well… we actually met back when I was still in highschool. She was on an infiltration assignment hunting Magical Girl identities before… well. Shit happened. Thing is after the dust settled, she tried going back, but learned the mission itself was a ploy by someone up in the UD's hierarchy to get rid of her because they wanted to replace her with someone more in line with their own agenda."
"... Wait." You frowned in consernation, "they sent her on a suicide mission so they could give someone else her job?"
"More or less, yeah. So when she got back, someone else already had her job and everyone assumed she was dead. Was so pissed that she decided she didn't want to try getting her job back and came back to Earth. I decided to help her with the Integration Program so she could apply for citizenship, and I proposed to her right before… well." The air in the gunship suddenly gets awkward as the reminder filters through the human members of Team GEAR. "But yeah, she lives in Egypt helping the Pillar construct the new Library of Alexandria."
"Library of Alexandria? They
do remember what happened to the last building that held that name right?" Michael asked worriedly.
"Wait, Library of Alexandria? What happened to the previous one?" Lucky chimed in.
"It was the first Library humanity ever built, or something like that. It was
really famous and stored knowledge from all over the world," you explained. "But someone got jealous and burnt it to the ground. Scholars these days still debate over how much knowledge was actually lost and what kinds of effects it would have had on our technological progress if it was still around."
"And they named the new Library after it?"
"It started as a joke, but was eventually accepted due to a lack of better names." Sam shrugged. "Either way, they've been collecting Magical Research both government funded and independent in order to fill it up. Literally the greatest concentration of Human Magical Knowledge in the LDC. And Lily is the head librarian."
"That sounds amazing," Lucky sighed, "I wish we could visit. Just think of what we could learn."
"I know right? The good news though, in order to keep the catastrophe of the previous Library from repeating itself they're planning on copying everything and opening up different branches everywhere they can. There's even talk of opening a branch in Sapia or over in Caldersa."
"Snrk." Aquila snorted. "That Caldersa branch is a go. No way the fairies wouldn't jump on that. Not so sure about the branch in Sapia."
"Sucks for them, then." Lucky chirped. "Do you have any idea how much human Magic could help the rest of the LDC? Even if we can't directly replicate it?"
"Oh I know." Aquilla agreed, "It's just they're more likely going to have to build a branch on one of the other core worlds or somehow afford enough to eject another library. And that I'm not going to bet on because there's politics involved. Especially for Sapia; organisations there have held their place for a thousand years or more."
"Good point."
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
"I've already got someone looking for Gaia and Hero WEAPON, so they should be to the airfield just after you guys arrive," Basilicom announces over the team's communication channel.
"Barring something exploding overnight, that should be the last of what you need to worry about. Also, word is Carnage is at the airfield again as well, doing something with her dragon."
"Sounds like fun. I'll leave that to you Nepgear." James shamelessly shrugs it off on you.
"Alright…" You sigh as the Skybound finally touches down in Ataraxia's airfield among several dozen other gunships. "I'll catch up to you guys later in the tent then." Your second in command simply waves over his shoulder as you watch your team make their own exit.
Sadly though you don't find Carnage first. Or, well, technically you do, but the bloody Magical Girl is actually with Gaia and the WEAPONs. It is when you find them though that you learn something that
really tossed you through a loop.
"Hope, I swear to god
I will stab you."
"But Liz! It'll be faster if I just shoot myself and respawn!"
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT HOPE!"
Namely when you look at Hero WEAPON who is standing off to the side and ask, "What exactly is this?"
She responds with, "Sin's cousin is trying to convince her to just wait the week for her knee to regenerate on its own instead of blowing her brains out for the three day respawn."
You blink at Hero. Then turn to look at Carnage who had just realized you're present. "... Sin's your
cousin?"
Sin WEAPON and Carnage look at each other before Carnage glares at her then at you. "
Yes."
"That is… not something I saw coming." You state plainly. "What exactly is going on?"
"Liz won't let me just shoot myself so I can let my leg fix itself." Sin -apparently named Hope- chirps happily.
"You are
way too eager to commit suicide, Hope." Carnage snarls at her cousin.
"Oh hardly." Sin rolls her eyes. "Between being down a week for my knee to heal naturally versus waiting to come back to life in three days I'd rather the latter."
"Um…" Your voice causes the cousins to both turn to you. "Hope…? Maybe you should consider the fact not everyone is as blase' as you when it comes to dying? So… just humor Liz? Please?" You shrink back in embarrassment towards the end of your request, hands fiddling with each other.
"... Oh alright. Fine. I won't just randomly shoot myself while I'm here." Sin rolled her eyes in annoyance even as Carnage sighs in relief. "Jeeze, you guys are no fun."
You gently pat Carnage on the back as she turns to leave the two WEAPONs with their patron. "Sorry you had to see that Nepgear." The older Magical Girl groaned in exasperation. "Hope is… difficult to deal with at times. She also forgets that our entire team died or…" She waved her hand in her cousin's general direction.
"It's alright Carnage. I… kind of understand. I never had to deal with that but…"
"Yeah. We weren't really the most stable group even when we were all alive. Though Hope is the only one that sold her soul." Carnage runs a hand through her hair before shaking her head. "Whatever, it's far too late to deal with this. See you in the morning, Nep?"
"Certainly," you agree immediately. "Sleep tight Liz."
Carnage pats you on the head as she leaves for her own tent. And considering how dark it is, you decide to head to bed yourself.
The trip back to Rei's tent is uneventful and boring as expected, no one coming out to intercept you. At the tent itself, the only one present is Lucky who has already changed from her armor into a dark grey sleeping gown and is reading a book you don't recognize. "Hey Lucky, anyone in the shower?"
"It's open. Everyone is out dealing with some last minute stuff."
"Alright, thanks Lucky." And with that, you grab your own bed clothes and duck out to the shower cubicle. A quick shower later, you're slipping back into the tent… where you find San and Rei in Rei's bed together.
Rei is wearing her usual thin top and shorts, but San is instead wearing… less than you'd expect. And it also doesn't help the fact with the skin she was showing you can easily notice that despite how pale she is, San can tan
really well. "Uh…"
"Yes Nepgear?" Rei's smirk is knowing.
"Should… I find somewhere else to sleep tonight?" You ask, trying to fight down the growing blush. Rei's deepening smirk though tells you it's a lost cause though.
"Nonsense." The Golden Goddess pats the bed between her and San, who was actually laying on her stomach and looking away from you. Gabriel, who is in the kitchen, kept her occupied with talk about cooking. "Your king demands you take your spot, pet."
"... Alright." You silently curse the fact you're so weak that Rei can push you around as easily as she does. Though the fact she's also able to bait her traps so well doesn't help. "Just remember it's been a long day and I'd like to get
some sleep."
"No worries~" Rei replies as you clamber onto the massive bed in between the sisters.
Good news? You got some sleep. Bad news? Not quite as much as you wanted. Stupid Rei.
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
It starts slow and low. A gradual buildup to volume that easily drags even the deepest of sleepers from Morpheus' embrace. But as soon as it registers, everyone that has been bunking in Rei's tent are leaping from their beds and sprinting for their armor. Or at least, Team GEAR is. You, Rei, and San instead of going for armor throw on enough to protect your modesties before the three of you are flying from the tent and down the early morning walkway.
The raid sirens have whipped the entire base into a frenzy. The thunderous sound of steel clad elven feet fills the air, even as hundreds of angels and fairies take flight. Human soldiers flood from their sleeping tents, even as you watch seemingly random collections of magical girls mix their way into the chaos as they try to hunt their own answers.
Either way though, many begin to notice Rei and San, and as soon as they do a river of girls begins to form. And part of you is struck by how young you all look. With only a handful being older than eighteen. Eventually though, the mass congregates outside of the central command building where Commander Mason is already atop a tank that had been driven over in a hurry.
"Alright, all magical girls listen up!" His powerful voice immediately silences any conversation of the gathered child soldiers, though the chaos of the rest of the base is still audible but muted by the press of bodies. "The Unified Darkness has initiated a two-pronged assault. We have reports of Goddess Red attacking Milidia, and Goddess Grey hitting Valhalla! We've got groups moving to intercept the forces deployed with them, but as of this moment, Ataraxia and Earth is the only location with MG Forces to spare! Most of you are going to be sent to Milidia to help hold the Fortress and close the Hell Gates feeding reinforcements!"
You can see the hope literally drain from nearly all the assembled girls at the thought of fighting a Goddess… "I'll deploy with them!" Hope that is instantly restored by the White Goddess' call. "I can engage Red's Army while everyone else focuses on clearing the Demons and closing the Gates."
"I'll have to veto that." Mason brutally kills the spark of hope. "You're going with Goddess Gold to face Goddess Grey on Valhalla."
"What? Why?!" A horrified San demands, "you
need either me or Rei there!"
"Under normal circumstances you'd be right… but the events of the day before yesterday changed things." The despairing Magical Girls all perk up at that. Even Rei, who had been silently glaring at Mason takes a renewed interest. "The Unified Light, and the Counter Force specifically, are currently in a position that we have never been in before… namely the fact we've recently had the entire Old Guard returned to us through an error in the Darkness' judgement." Looks turn thoughtful at that information, and out of the side of your eye you see Rei shoot you a look. "But more than that… the Drives have reassembled. All Five of the Guard. And all three of the Drives… And two of the Goddesses."
The sun breaks the horizon, and the sirens begin to fade to silence even as Mason's form is backlit by the dawn. "As of this moment, the Counter Force has never been stronger… and the events of Operation Soul Collector have revealed that we have a chance to climb even higher." Free Mason, veteran of Hope, grins a bloodthirsty grin. You feel Rei and San both tense beside you. "Orders have come down from the very top, Girls: Goddess White and Goddess Gold aren't being deployed to neutralize Goddess Grey. If we're right, and all signs point to yes, their orders are to capture Grey in preparation to free her from the hold of the Darkness."
It takes a moment for the information to process. But as soon as it does, the cheers are rapturous. "As of this moment," Mason shouts over this din of cheers, "the Three Drives and the Cores are mobilizing to Milidia in order to engage the Army of the Apocalypse! The Old Guard are preparing to deploy to Valhalla in support of Goddess Gold and Goddess White! Our orders are to capture our Goddesses and drag them, kicking and screaming if we must, back into the Light! Now get your asses in gear, and get to the gunships!"
The cheering doesn't stop even as everyone present storms away towards the airfield. Everyone but you and the two sisters you had been standing next to.
"... This is really happening. Isn't it?" San's question comes across more than a little stunned. And Rei looks like someone's slapped her with a rubber chicken. You look between the two of them before giggling, the sound of which drags them back to reality.
"This is definitely happening." You nod firmly, placing hands on your hips. "Ichi and Ni. They're out there. We just have to bring them home, right?"
"... You're right." Rei suddenly agrees, a fire lighting itself in her eye. "I gave up hoping years ago, but the chance is there now. We just have to reach out and grasp it. It won't be easy, Ni and Ichi are our sisters after all, but the possibility exists now."
You suddenly feel a pair of arms wrap around you as San gives you a hug. Surprised, you can do little more than reach up and pat her forearm even as she whispers into your hair, "... Best defeat I've ever had. Thanks Nepgear."
"No problem San." You reply softly. "Now you guys better get going. I need to go catch up to my Team for the transfer."
"Right." You pretend you don't hear San's sniffle as she pulls away. "Good luck, and don't get yourself killed."
"Hah, me? Killed? Didn't you know, I'm indestructible!" You boast back before turning to sprint after the mass of girls that had left you behind.
You transform along the way, and find Team GEAR waiting for you around the Skybound you had taken the previous day, fully armored, though Lucky and Aquilla are both forcing down yawns. "Everyone here?"
"Yeaup," James confirms. "Load up, we have an in-flight announcement waiting for us."
You nod, but take a quick look around. You see Thorn Warden and several others all climbing into a Skybound together, while Fable Heart and what you assume is her team climb into a third. Then a Familiar girl in red garb runs past you to Thorn Warden's gunship. She joins them with a wave to you.
Shrugging, you climb in after Lucky and place yourself in the doorway leading to the Skybound's cockpit.
"Good morning everyone! I am Flight Control Three, but you can just call me FC. Now, you all might be wondering what this is about, but don't worry because it's my job to explain to you what's about to go down.
"Namely, you're about to embark on your first ever Trans-Portal Assault! What is a TPA you ask? Well, it's where we send a bunch of poor schmucks, namely you all, through a portal straight into battle! Why haven't I ever heard of TPA's you ask? Well, it's because if we have a choice in the matter, we don't do them.
"Why? Because we have no fucking idea whats on the immediate other side of the portal! Fairy Portals can be seen through using the Mark 1 Eyeball, but everyone else has to deal with some opaque shit. Even worse is the fact radar and lidar don't work either! So when we open a portal, everyone on the other side can just start shooting shit at it and we wouldn't know until we go through! As you'd expect, these assaults have a pretty insane casualty rate. So if you girls have anything that can make your transport a little tougher, I suggest you layer that shit on as much as you can!
"So good luck out there, and hope you guys don't die!"
As the radio cuts out, you clamber forward a bit more to tap on the pilot's shoulder. "You think you can get us in front of everyone so we can exit the other side first? I should be able to clear the entry zone for the assault."
The bug-eyed helmet nods at you, even as other gunships begin to take off-the one carrying Thorn Warden and his team actually gains a massive shell of overlapping barriers as you watch. "Yeah, I can do that… though if I die I'm going to haunt your ass."
"That's fine. Just make sure we get through first!"
"Solid Core, the fuck are you doing?" James calls from the back.
"I'm going to glass the other side as we go through," you reply, squatting down in the little walkway so you can brace yourself and focus on the gunship itself.
"I hope you know what you're doing…" Lucky mutters as the airfield is bathed in a brilliant white light from the opening portal to Milidia. Sadly though, you can't focus on it as you begin to pour your energies into the Skybound around you.
Going through the fresh portal to Milidia is nothing like going through the commercial one that linked to Heaven. Without the stabilizing bridge elements, you can almost
feel the walls of the torn dimensional barriers pulling back together around you. Your eyes snap open as the feeling passes.
Your gunship isn't the first through. The enshelled transport that was carrying Thorn Warden's group has nowhere to go as the corrupt flesh of a Spawn of Mayhem stretches itself into the air, thinning itself out into a net that literally tears through the leading gunship as if it was made of paper, dissolving it into a ball of fire that crashes to the ground ahead of your own transport.
… And honestly, had this all happened a mere week ago, you probably would have instantly curled up into a panicked ball at the sight of the monster's countless eyes and mouths. But now is now, and a week has long since passed. So instead of fear, all you feel is a cruel satisfaction as your Light bursts through your gunship.
"
Core Purge!"
And like so many times before, you hang in the sky as a great star. Your light washes over the Spawn, setting it ablaze even as it disintegrates before the purging light.
"This is Skybound Nine! Ataraxia Reinforcements are coming through, and the road it clear!" Your pilot's voice is filled with both relief and surprise, as if he had expected to die like the other gunship… though considering how sudden their own end had been you don't really blame him. So instead of calling him on it, you turn and clamber into the crew area where the rest of your team is.
"Team! We're jumping ship, so lock and load!"
"'Bout damn time!" Michael shouts as Aquilla pulls open the hatch. "This'll be the first time we've done something like this since Starborne."
"What happened on Starborne?" Aquilla shouts back.
"'Twas a silly mission," is Gabriel's response, "we don't talk about it."
"Alright then…"
You turn around enough to shout to the pilot, "Feel free to hang in the sky and keep the way clear for the rest of the gunships!"
"Fine! Just don't get yourselves killed!"
You stick your tongue out before following Lucky through the hatch.
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
Outside, Milidia is in chaos. Lines of trenches hold a steep valley against a seemingly endless tide of demons and monsters that are attempting to drown the defenders in corpses. The sky is filled with Angels and Hell Beasts that struggle for dominance while a literal rainbow of colors denote dozens of Magical Girls that are mixed into the slaughter.
And it is into this chaos that your Team leaps from their transport.
Almost immediately, you lose track of them as a Hellbeast that had been aiming for your ride unintentionally slams into you instead. For several seconds, you tumble as the surprised demonic flyer tries to push you off. But before it can separate from you, your Panzer Blade ignites, and the pane of light from Celestial Severance cleaves it in half.
Then you're bouncing off the ground with a crash that crushes another demon beneath you as a frantic blast of force from your wings allows you to avoid crushing a Fairy mage that had been fighting him.
Skidding along at speed, you dodge a human tank that is blasting away at a group of skeleton soldiers fighting what looked like a small horde of zombies. Just past them, your Purifier Beam lances out to blast another Spawn of Mayhem that had been trying to reach up and tear a group of Angels from the sky, the pure energy setting the beast alight. But you cannot stop and focus on it, for a massive demon with hands larger than you are comes at you.
A flick retracks the magnifiers of your weapon, it's blade focusing down into a fine line as you leap into its attack, dodging past crushing fists so your blade can bite deep into its flesh to almost separate an arm. But there's no time to stay and fight, and in moments you're already past it.
It is at the moment you finally see your Team again. James, Gabriel, and Mike together form a silver-white spear that tears it's way through the horde of demons before them. Sam and Aquila chase behind, gunning down anything that does not immediately die to those in front with a bullet or arrow. Lucky flies just above them, trails of magic about her as she smashes anything the others cannot simply steamroll with her spells. Their advance stalls as a massive beast erupts from the ground, a vast wall of Flesh and Hate that chills you to the bone to witness.
… But you refuse to hesitate. You dive, racing along the path of carnage that had been left in Team GEAR's wake. A meteor of Light, you slam into the head of the beast that had come to confront your friends, the light from your Celestial Severance cleaving the head from the vast neck that had held it aloft.
Yet as you're recoiling from your attack, a second head erupts from the ground. Titanic jaws rise into the air to swallow you whole, even as you twist in place in order to fight back-
Then the Spear appears, and the World Shatters.
The pulse of force that travels through the air knocks Angel and Demon through the sky. The ground almost reacts like a liquid as stone shatters into dust and dirt is sprayed into the air. The beast, which had been hiding most of its body under the ground, is revealed in its entirety as the head struck by the spear pulps beneath the force.
"Sorry we're late." You help Aquila pull Gabriel to her feet as Sega descends from the sky, the aura of her power banishing the dust Alex's attack had kicked up. "Turns out Hospitals don't have people who can make portals on hand. You guys okay?"
"Yeah," You look up past your sister. Uni and Rev, Judgement Core and Drive, are floating behind Juggernaut Drive as she uses a wire that had been attached to her spear to real it in. "Sorry, the last minute or so has been
really hectic."
"Don't blame you, we just got here and almost got tackled by a Hell Beast…" Sega's reassurance trails off as you blush and start rubbing at the back of your neck. "Wait, did you…"
"We jumped out of our transport and she immediately got tackled by a Hell Beast." James confirms.
"A-anyway!" You cut them both off immediately. "Big invasion, what are we doing?"
"Well…" Alex frowns, twirling her spear in hand. The force of which kicks up enough of a wind to blow about your hair. "We can probably crush the army coming through and hold them closed… but I don't know for how long considering that thing didn't die when I hit it…" She says the last with a glare directed at you.
"We're going to have to close the gates." James buts in before someone can start bullying you. "We can probably handle it… and if we need any help, we can just recruit some Magical Girls along the way."
"Probably. But if we want your team to have the best chances of success, Anastasia should go with you." Rev chimes in.
"But we lack super-wide range attacks," Sega refutes. "While we can hold the line on our own with Uni's help, we won't hold it nearly as well if we keep Nepgear."
"While I'd like to say I can do fine on my own, I kind of have to agree. I can only hit so much of the battlefield, sis," your fellow Core tells her sister. "So I'd appreciate the help."
So, it was up to you again. Either stay and help your sister hold Ni's army at bay, or follow James and get those Gates closed… No pressure, right?
"How exactly are we even planning to assault the gates?" You ask, trying to ignore the pressure that was once more focused on you. Because seriously, this time you're not the only one. "Red is no tactical genius, but even a complete idiot with two braincells to rub together won't leave those gates unguarded."
"We're going to rush the gates head on," Alex states plainly. "Two teams, the Line Team rushes the gates, smashing as much as we can in a straight line in order to draw as much attention as we can. Hopefully it'll create enough chaos to draw the guards off the gates by convincing Goddess Red that our attack is the real attempt to close them."
"And while that's happening, the Assault Team swings around past the Unified Darkness' forces using the chaos as cover," James takes over, pointing to the side of the valley that was debatably less wrecked than the rest of it. "With all the angels, demons, and fairies in the air if we're quick about it we'll be able to get close enough to the Gates to pop some caps into the Gate Demons."
"Gate demons?" You and Uni ask simultaneously. You look at the other Core, who is now glaring at you in annoyance.
"Hell Gates are opened by Gate Demons," Rev cuts in before a fight can start, "they're these speedy little fucks that have to bury themselves a bit into the ground in order to root a new Hell Gate. Kill the demon, the gate closes. Which tends to be simple enough considering they can't move while supporting a Gate."
"So, Line Team or Assault Team?" Sega asks you, a firm look of determination on her face. "I'll trust your decision."
-Operation Charon-
Objective: Close the Hell Gates
Optional Objective: Keep the Local Garrison Intact
Failure: Milidia is Overrun
Status of Team Gear:
Nepgear: Ready
James: Ready
Samael: Ready
Michael: Ready
Gabriel: Slightly Tired, Can only cast a spell every other turn
Lucky: Remnants of Headache Cosmic, Reroll Magic Modifiers at random
Aquila: Slightly Tried, one less Attack Per Turn available
Status of The Fragments of Peace:
Solid Drive: Active
Juggernaut Drive: Active
Judgement Drive: Active
Judgement Core: Active
[] Hold The Line (Take Direct control of Team GEAR)
[] Join The Assault (Keep control of Anastasia)
+50xp Sparred with Sin WEAPON
+100xp Sin Broke Her Knee on Your Face
+25xp San Joined Cuddle Times
+50xp Trans-Portal Assault
+225 EXP = 2,735 Total EXP
(Character Sheet Unlocked! Juggernaut Drive, Level 4!)
-Standby for Basilicom Transmission-
