[X] Split the team. Artillery should bombard Langstenacht from the mountains, while an assault team crosses into the ice field.
"Keeping everyone together means leaving us as a single, large target. Here's what I think we could do," you say with a glance to Takane, "and check me on this."
The first half of the Mitakihara siege begins as Langstenacht screeches in rage, an inhuman, warped squeal that echoes with the cries of a forgotten cult leader. It raises two hands to its face, the howl of wind turning into a singular, massive sphere that grows and grows and
grows. Bony fingers barely hold onto it, the wind lapping at the tips and shredding pieces of material away before it finally...
Lets go.
The sphere drifts forward slowly, a building-sized ball of wind and frost that shakes wildly as the cold inside fights against the warm outside. It easily engulfs where the Mitakihara team stood, the ice biting into the mountain as wind shreds rock like a massive angle grinder. Molten earth sprays upwards before being flash-frozen into stone.
And then the sphere finally explodes. The entire front of the mountain range is blasted away. Spikes of ice are thrown into the sky at Mach 2, parting the frozen clouds before they quickly cover the sun back up. The air turns frigid, the ocean below Langstenacht cracking and rippling as chunks of it are torn apart, as sections of it rise and are locked in place. It's almost as though the ocean itself is made of frosted basalt cliffs, segmented and jutting out of the ground at odd angles.
Langstenacht hisses as it stares at the spot where the group once was. It is not so short-sighted as to believe that it would
kill the magi before it, oh no. It raises its fist again, hand like a spear, ready to plunge.
And it's then that artillery ripples across the body of Langstenacht. Yellow shells, laced with purple, all shower Langstenacht's body. Rapid-fire shells rain down across it from a myriad of cannons along the wall of Kasamino.
It raises its hands in preparation to strike again, this time towards a crowded city of innocent people.
[=]
"So as soon as we notice Langstenacht moving to attack us, we can reposition with Homura more or less instantly." You move your hand across the map projected on the table in front of you. "They can bring us to an immediate flanking position, as Langstenacht either attacks or is shelled by artillery."
"That brings up another question." Takane raises her hand. "The artillery could just become a new target for Langstenacht. I would doubt that it lacks ranged options."
"Well, then we just have to improvise," you say. "If Langstenacht moves to attack the artillery team, or, god forbid, Kasamino, then we can distract it up-close."
"I don't think we should keep the artillery close to Kasamino," Kyouko mutters.
"We're not." You smile. "We're keeping
one artillery piece close to Kasamino."
[=]
Shelling immediately interrupts from another direction. A wave of rocket launchers fires from over the mountain as mortar shells and artillery cannons and white phosphorous
rain down upon Langstenacht. Ice breaks, smoke bursts, and flames rip through the sky as the Witch of Entropy raises a knife-hand once again and
plunges it into the mountainside.
Then it plunges another. And
another.
Three hands pull at the mountain rage between Mitakihara and Kasamino, then
rip. The entire field is torn aside, infrastructure irreparably damaged, mountains ripped in half before they collapse into the open bedrock below. Magma threatens to bubble up before the cool winds of Langstenacht freeze all of it into solid obsidian. From behind the mountains there is Homura Akemi, still loading a cannon; this time a single, ancient artillery piece from World War I that probably belonged in a museum more than any modern battlefield.
And in a flash, it fires.
The shell doesn't even make it to Langstenacht's face. It bounces across the mountainside and off into the ocean behind it.
It responds by tearing free the top of the mountain to its left away and
throwing it.
The ground ripples and shatters as the old amusement park that Minako once trained in is obliterated, turned into a red-hot crater before flash-freezing into a billowing sculpture of smoke and ice.
Surrounding a single, massive cruise missile.
[=]
"Do you think there's a chance we can actually scratch Langstenacht?" You raise your head. "I'm still trying to think of whether or not we can beat it like we did Walpurgisnacht."
"The endgoal shouldn't be to just
beat it," Minako immediately speaks, and you turn to face them. "I mean...we can't
really destroy it normally."
"Let's try that after everything
else has failed."
"I don't think anything else is going to
work, mom."
"We don't
know that!"
[=]
The cruise missile rams into Langstenacht's chest. It tears through the dress, through the ribcage, embedding itself in the back of the Witch of Entropy's spine. The engine
roars, pushing her backwards by a kilometer, metal gears grinding against ice pillars and columns.
And then it tears the missile out. The engine dies as it's directly pulled from the fuel, flames
immediately engulfing the structure as the weapon detonates against its chest. A fierce explosion, but
not fierce enough.
[=]
Your name is Minako Miki-Sakura. And you're trying to get your mom to
listen.
"Did
anything work against Walpurgisnacht?!"
"When we tried hard enough,
yes! Yes it did!" Your mom stands, proud, covered in armor, and your powers tell you she's
terrified. "We don't need to send you
directly at it to beat it! I'm not about to send my child on a
suicide mission!"
[=]
Langstenacht flash-freezes the explosion once more. It screams once again, teeth chattering against each other. The ice ripples again, pillars shifting in and out of the ocean, water splashing only to be frozen into little droplets of ice in midair.
Gunfire ripples from several different directions, some from Kasamino, some from behind the ruined mountains, and now some from what is left of Mitakihara as a number of magi approach.
Except there's a new problem, as Sayaka quickly realizes.
She charges ahead, through ice and snow; as a magi there is
no problem with the cold.
But Langstenacht is not a witch of frost. It is a witch of
entropy.
As Sayaka and her crew charge ahead, they quickly realize that Langstenacht
destroys energy. As she moves on ahead, as her wife moves beside her, as Akane tears a chunk of ice and tosses it towards Langstenacht, she realizes that her armor is beginning to flicker.
She turns upwards, Langstenacht looming overhead as she digs her heel into the ice.
Her soul gem's glow is beginning to stutter. Her arm feels heavy for a second before she pulls it backwards.
"Shit, shit,
shit."
"Sayaka!"
Sayaka whips her head to the side to see her wife, with two of her ten arms already beginning to fade. Her vision blurs as she turns to see several other magi already experiencing the same thing. She turns towards Kasamino again.
And it's then that there is another blast of ice and frost. The wind picks up. The ice field grows, stretching out into the bay. A little chunk of it begins to find its way into Kasamino. Citizens unlucky enough to be too close to the waterfront begin to feel lethargic. Some, previously full of energy, fall asleep on the spot. Others feel a powerful fatigue. Still others simply stare at the ceiling, wondering why they cannot move.
And anyone watching the spectacle outside collapses.
[=]
Your mom is terrified, rightfully so. She loves you, right? And why wouldn't she? She is your
mother. She and Kyouko raised you in a world that was designed to kill you and people like you. They made a nook for you and everyone like you.
But now, that safety's gone. You can't rely on it anymore. And you shouldn't have to.
It's the endgame. You can convince your mom to give you a functional plan...
Or perhaps...
[] Convince your mom. (Write-in a plan and something to say)
