To make people actually remember, here's it once for posterity: Minako is nonbinary and uses they/them. This message will be pinned so you people stop getting it wrong and pissing me off. If you get it wrong in the future I'm going to be much less nice, considering you have to scroll past it just to read the quest.
Well Fire Cowboy is a cool aesthetic. Shame she won't be around long. Kinda annoyed to do this because things still don't all add up, but I think Mami is about to find our answers.
Additionally, I have no idea if Emiko is just a massive dick, but I'm finding myself disliking her more and more. Still though, I can't help but feel like we should at least try to capture or disable her.
The mama bear instincts and the Difficulty 3 roll are concerning, but I think it's worth a shot. So for Sayaka:
[X] Nonlethal. (Difficulty 3) (Changed in later post.)
With Mami, I really think biting the plot hook is necessary. Be cautious, maybe bring support? For Mami:
[X] Go upstairs. (???)
Optionally, we might want to:
-[ ] Bring additional support.
-[ ] Information gathering.
This is super tense, and these might be the worst options possible. I understand why we would want to kill Emiko off too, and might switch my vote after some thought.
(Also, the art for this update kicks ass, just saying.)
I'm going to be completely honest, the fact that you complain with every other update is extremely grating and it makes me wonder why you're still here.
I'm going to be completely honest, the fact that you complain with every other update is extremely grating and it makes me wonder why you're still here.
Not sure if it's intentional or not, but dang is Emiko easy to hate. "Greater good" is a term for use in hard, monumental decisions, not "I changed my mind about letting you live because you actually put up a fight." Makes me very eager to see whether she changes her tune when Sayaka doesn't hold back.
A lot of people going for the kill. I do suppose Emiko is Tokyo 6 level "bad news," and needs to be put down for the protection of our child. With that, and the forum consensus in min, I'm changing my vote to the following.
A lot of people going for the kill. I do suppose Emiko is Tokyo 6 level "bad news," and needs to be put down for the protection of our child. With that, and the forum consensus in min, I'm changing my vote to the following.
I'm not even sure she is. Minako may simply not be up to the task of fighting anything tougher than beginner or intermediate megucas, and Emiko actually going in for the kill on them could just be one of Sayaka's berserk buttons.
Of course, if Kyouko had shown up instead, it's likely the vote would have been about how, not if, Emiko dies.
It's less the whimsical nature of it and more the self-righteous tone used to justify it that gets me. Plenty of writers create wanton killers just to be edgy or grimdark, so that quality on its own tends to inspire more apathy than hate. But going after a kid with such a flippant attitude and not only seeing that action as right, but flaunting that value in front of their parent presses so many of my buttons. Which, when actually layed out like that seems much more obvious, but still.
Emiko can go die in a hole. Or better yet, drown in her despair. At least then she could do some good as gem-cleaning material.
I don't really like going for the kill, but with how good she is at healing herself and considering how much fire she's throwing around all over the place there might be a lot of collateral if things get drawn out.
Your clothes flash a bright yellow as a hat materializes over your head. It has a slight tilt to it a wide-brim at an odd angle thanks to your newfound hairdo, but you could never keep that hat on straight anyway. You flex your fingers and a fat, long blunderbuss emerges in your hands.
You check it, a quick flick downwards to see a magical shell loaded in the barrel, but you already know it's loaded. Instincts die hard.
You trace your palm against the wall, slowly moving forwards as another magi transforms behind you. Kirika follows, two claws on her hands as you both creep up the stairs.
You freeze as you round a corner at the top of the stairwell. The hallway is pitch-black, the walls are bare and the lights switched off, save for that last light at the far end. The only other door on this level is the one to Tatsuya's room, locked tight and shut. You and Kirika keep yourselves out of sight as you hear two voices speak.
"That bitch took my fucking powers." You hear someone at the end of the hallway, where a light shines from inside the locked door. The thing is unhinged, and inside you see a pitch-black shadow shifting around the swinging light fixture. "They've been keeping me trapped in here."
"Cozy for a prisoner. Have you not tried to escape?" the shadow speaks, a voice like smoke and haze whispers. It drifts across the air, before it presses a hand into the table.
"Of fucking course I have. I have the strength but all they do is pass me soul gems that I can't even use. I press it and it doesn't hatch."
"What do you mean that it does not hatch? Must we kill you, and replace you with one who is not broken?"
"Fuck you for suggesting that," the woman hisses. "And no. Fuck me, I haven't even been gathering grief, either. There's nothing for the seeds to feed off of."
"...Mysterious. The Miki-Sakura child has powers beyond their under-"
"Call her what she is."
"They," the shadow murmurs. "I am not as petty as you."
"Oh, hardy-fucking-har."
She stumbles to her feet, quickly pulling a weapon out of her palm. Even without her 'powers', as she said, she's still a fully-capable magi. As dangerous as they ever are. You keep the blunderbuss to your chest.
"We haven't much time. Emiko's distraction is about to fall apart."
"Yeah, can't lose your girlfriend or fucking else-"
The shadow hisses. "I could simply leave you here. Find where they hid your gem and crack it. But under the supervision of Lady Rin, I have elected to bring you back. I chose this task because I believed you worthy for the cause. Do not make me regret that kindness."
As you creep up, you hear a whisper in your head.
'Stay back,' Toji says. 'Help's already on the way.'
'There are other magi in the building, too. We can overwhelm them.'
'We don't know their intention, we're outgunned, and I am not about to let you risk your life when there are other magi just a few minutes ou-'
You raise your gun and turn the corner. "Don't move."
The woman rolls her eyes as she glares at the shadow. "This is why you shouldn't have knocked the fucking door down."
"Cowardice is usually a working deterrent."
The shadow wisps its way in front of you, before a magi materializes out of it. She steps out of the wall, a creeping hand across the ground as the smoke creeps across the floor. She presses further, standing up to her full height out of the shadow of the other magi.
"You shouldn't have come here." She lurches forward, hands outspread. She pulls a scythe out from her neck, the blade sloooowly inching its way from her back and over. "You should have stayed downstairs and..."
"Masaki," Kirika mutters.
"Ah. So you do remember me. The Miki-Sakura child's power works against Rin's power, too. No wonder she wants them." She runs her fingers across the scythe. "And where you are, Oriko must be, too..."
"Fuck that turncoat. We need to get the hell out of here."
"Turncoat or no, a clairvoyant is an asset." A pause in her speech. She's talking mentally to the woman behind her. "Surely you must recognize that, Iruka."
"Ah..." The woman (Iruka, as Masaki has named her), nods. "Ah, I think I get it."
Kirika's teeth clench shut. She slides her claws against one another as she takes a glance. "You won't fucking touch her."
"I don't think you'll have a say in the matter."
The woman with the scythe raises the blade, just beneath the lightbulb in the room behind her. A split-second reaction; you know exactly what she's about to do. Your soul gem glows bright, and Kirika's does the same. You raise the blunderbuss, finger on the trigger, discipline be damned.
The lightbulb shatters. You fire your gun. You're alone in the pitch-black, with nothing but the glow of your soul gem on your hat and a hoarse scream from Kirika as you're both knocked backwards through the wall of the apartment complex.
[=]
[X] Go for the kill.
Your name is Sayaka Miki-Sakura, and your leg melts into slag in the woman's torso. You slice through your thigh, immediately cutting it away as you press your left gauntlet into the stump and yank. A brand-new leg and armor slam into the earth as you grip your shoulder and realign your arm. Your clavicle reforms, your shoulderblade regenerates, your pectorals knit themselves back together, and your shoulder rolls as you grip a brand-new saber tighter than a vice.
The woman on the ground rises, flame licking the roof of her mouth as she yanks a sawed-off shotgun out of her throat. She spins it once and fires.
The shots bounce off of your armor as you whip the blade over your head. You create a new shield, but this time, you plunge the blade into the handle. A transformation later and you rip through the ground with a blade the size and weight of a car.
Emiko's unprepared for it, the blade plowing through her leg, up the length of her torso, and re-emerging out of her shoulder. Half of her body is blown upwards, the other spiraling away before she hits the ground hard.
Now the last half of her body is coated in flame. The other is threatening to meet the rest. Her eyeballs boil in their sockets, the saliva on her tongue evaporating before they're all replaced by yet more flame.
"I am every bit as durable as you, Miki-Sakura!" she roars. Flame drips onto the ground, blood sizzling and boiling as she fires again. "I am the Enforcer! I am the Arm of Lady Rin's Law!"
"You're another goddamn bully." You block the shot with the flat of your blade, whipping it around your head. "You're the enforcer to a fascist. The arm of a megalomaniac who doesn't know how the fuck to leave well-enough alone."
You slam into the ground. The force screams through the concrete, running a crack through the road that shakes cars, tears through the sidewalk, and knocks over a dumpster.
She fires again, and this time the shot catches you in the mouth. Flame rips through your jaw, knocking it out of your face and sending shards of burning flesh onto the ground. You ignore the pain as she tries to go for another shot, only for you to grip the front of her gun tight enough to bend metal. Her finger's already moving as she pulls the trigger.
The shot blows backwards, tearing through her one remaining shoulder. She takes a flame-arm and rips that one away, too.
A woman, now more flame than human, leaps backwards as the world around her glows red-hot. Asphalt bends. Cars melt. The streetlamp overhead bends back as she plunges her hands into the ground.
Emiko pulls up a cannon, an ugly, black metal tube on two ornate metal wheels with one hand on the rear. She slams her arm into the base, hard enough to crater the ground.
"IF YOU TRULY BELIEVE THAT, THEN KILL ME!"
The shot glows a bright red in front of you.
"STRIKE ME DOWN WHERE I STAND! DO IT!"
You press your hand into your face. Your jaw comes back as you jam your foot down onto the top of the cannon.
"Wish granted."
The shot fires directly into the street with enough force to collapse it. And as Emiko looks up, her arm still elbow-deep in the base of the cannon, your blade connects with her soul gem.
The top half of her head is knocked clean off as the gem shatters into a million pieces. Her flesh is ripped from the flame; half of a torso, most of a head, and a single leg slide backwards across the ground before slamminh into the overturned dumpster. The corpse is still smoking.
The smell hits your nose. You're used to it coming from your own cooking flesh. But then it just hits you that you annihilated someone else.
You haven't had to kill for three years.
You stare at the corpse for another several seconds. The adrenaline rush drains from your body. The feeling of righteous anger ebbs and drains from your veins. And all that's left is the realization that you just killed someone again.
You vomit onto the ground.
[=]
Your name is Mami Tomoe, and just before you were thrown completely out of the building, you had a moment of serendipity. To your right, Kirika has lost her right arm. To your left is a shower of red brick and pieces of rebar. In your left hand, you hold a blunderbuss.
Your right is free. You throw it forwards.
The ribbon wraps around a piece of structure. You pull, the force enough to pull yourself back around and slam you back into the wall. Kirika keeps falling, ultimately crashing into a nearby water tower. The top is dented with a loud CLONK as she watches you begin to run up the edge of the tower.
The two adult magi look out into the night. The first one, the hostage from earlier, immediately takes off, leaping through the night on her way back to the bridge.
The second, the shadow magi, leans out of the building to watch, before she turns her gaze towards you.
She narrows her eyes then she turns backwards and walks back inside.
You're pretty sure you know what she intends to do.
[] Go back inside.
-[] Fight the magi. [DIFFICULTY 2] YOU ARE A CHILD.
-[] Try to reach Oriko. [DIFFICULTY 1] You know this building better than this hostile magi.
[] Wait for the adults to handle this. [DIFFICULTY 3] You are leaving Oriko to the mercy of this magi.
You press your hand into your face. Your jaw comes back as you jam your foot down onto the top of the cannon.
"Wish granted."
The shot fires directly into the street with enough force to collapse it. And as Emiko looks up, her arm still elbow-deep in the base of the cannon, your blade connects with her soul gem.
The top half of her head is knocked clean off as the gem shatters into a million pieces. Her flesh is ripped from the flame; half of a torso, most of a head, and a single leg slide backwards across the ground before slamminh into the overturned dumpster. The corpse is still smoking.
The smell hits your nose. You're used to it coming from your own cooking flesh. But then it just hits you that you annihilated someone else.
Now this scytheguca... does she have darkness powers or something? She just turned off the lights and bam, two meguca through the wall. Well, almost two meguca. Two meguca sans an arm.
Whatever she can do, she keeps alive the most important SayakaQuest tradition.
Also.
[X] Go back inside.
-[X] Fight the magi. [DIFFICULTY 2] YOU ARE A CHILD.
Knowing that reinforcements are coming, I feel engaging might help better than fetching Oriko.
Also also.
Is Oriko sleeping through all this shit?
Because if not, she probably can see what's happening.
