[X] Defeat the Final Boss.
- [X] After letting it hit you.
- - [X] It passes. Tell Shari how it could be better.
You grin at the simulacrum as it backs away from you, and as it flies higher and farther, more magic circles appear between it and you. Then it stops and raises its staff. "Come on, come on!" Your grin widens - you want to see just what this thing can do, after all - and then the staff swings down and a short beam of energy shoots into the first magic circle, followed by a swirling torrent of scintillating crimson energy. You lean forward as much as you can. The torrent funnels through the magic circles, narrowing at the first circle and gradually widening before abruptly constricting in the last few, so what slams into you is a highly-concentrated blast of energy only a little wider than you are tall. And it hurts, far more than a Master Spark, even more than the attack that laid you low when you had a rampage the last time you were here. The bindings dissolve under the strain and you're hurled to the floor of the arena, too numb to properly evade. Bones break as you slam into the ground and tumble - legs, shoulders, arm, jaw - and you lie still for a moment. Somehow your clothes weren't completely destroyed by the onslaught.
You twitch your head to the side as you remember that, yes, you're in the middle of a fight, and then you wrench your body to the side, spinning and flailing - but you avoid the spear of blazing energy that was aimed at you. "Flandre! Flandre, just stay right there, I'm shutting it down!" You jerk your head up and look around wildly for the owner of the voice.
"No! Don't you dare!" The Final Boss is still up there, but it hangs motionless against the sky instead of attacking.
"But … but, Flandre -" An image appears in the air in front of you - a young woman with long brown hair and glasses, a horrified expression on her face. "You're hurt, we need to get you to a hospital -" She flinches as you snarl and lash out with a claw, breaking the partially-healed arm.
"No! I'm not finished yet. We're going to keep fighting!" You drag yourself closer to the image and turn your better eye toward it, glaring as you try to figure out who this person is and where she could be. Another young woman - taller, with long dark hair - steps behind her and puts a hand on her shoulder. The first girl nods jerkily.
"Re- … reinitializing the combat program. M-Maximum aggression." You grin and cackle before throwing yourself to the side. Where is your gift …? You slip to the side as thin spears of energy rain down on you, some closer than others but none managing to solidly connect, and then you drop to the ground and 'skate' toward your precious gift - and then you put it away and hurl yourself upward toward your opponent. Apart from the spears of red energy it still hurls down at you, two other spells are active; an orb of magic surrounded by a spinning band that seems to be drawing energy into the orb, and a triangle with crackling orbs at the points. Seemingly aware that its spears are ineffectual, despite the closer range not allowing you to dodge as consistently, your opponent switches to a support mode, throwing up circular barriers and trying to restrict your movements by trapping you within caging bands. In response, you begin radiating power, your aura burning away the binding spells before they can stop you, and the barriers you can't go around you split apart and bash through with your claws.
The triangle fires before you reach your enemy, three beams of twining red and silver, but you're simply too close. One beam clips your leg, spinning you away, but it's far from a problem - you simply throw yourself at your enemy, slamming into it and finally, finally rending it with claws and wings. It tries throwing you off, using its magic to bash you with shields or strike you with a burst of energy, but this is your domain, and this thing with the temerity to look like your sister doesn't have any of her talent, skill, intelligence, ruthlessness, or brutality. And when you finally reach into its mouth and pull its lower jaw off, it finally simply fades away along with its spells. You look around suspiciously for a moment, then shake yourself, remembering where you are and what you're doing, and look down at your clothes. "Tsk, tsk." Fortunately, you still have some of those dresses you acquired so long ago, and after changing into one of them you glide down to where Satsuki and the Mid-Childans are waiting. Wendi and Nove back up warily - of course, nowhere near far enough to actually stop you from gutting them if you feel like it - and Shari wobbles as her eyes dart across your body.
"What - but, you were -?" You giggle and shake your head. Is she still going on about that?
"Well, Shari, I guess it deserves a passing grade." She blinks and focuses on you, and you laugh at her confused whine. You settle down on the railing and smile at her. "Of course, if you're actually going to keep using an image of my sister as your 'Final Boss,' it needs to actually be a little bit like her. Are you ready to take notes?" Shari still looks very bewildered, and Ginga clears her throat.
"Um, maybe it would be better if Shari got some rest? I could take the notes for her." You frown at her, but before you can respond Shari shakes her head slowly.
"No … no, it's alright, Ginga. This … I'm fine, really." Ginga doesn't seem convinced, and Shari is definitely still paler than she should be - but if she's willing, you're ready. She turns back to you and bows politely, if a bit unsteadily. "Um, I'm sorry if it failed to meet certain expectations. Hayate gave me the appearance and explained a bit about what she wanted it to be capable of - at its most dangerous, it's supposed to be a challenge even for S-ranked mages." You smile and bob your head up and down. … You should see about securing a supply of blood soon, even if you don't really need it desperately. Coffins are such wonderful things.
"Yep. So, the first thing - it isn't at all capable in melee combat, but it should be as skilled in melee as it is with magic, and quite comfortable integrating them seamlessly." Shari frowns at you.
"Well … I mean, it's supposed to -" She cuts herself off when you raise a hand, gesturing for her to stop.
"If you want to make a whole different appearance, you can do whatever you want with it. But if you're going to use my sister's form, it has to be done right. What you already have is passable, but it's very different from what she's actually capable of." She nods after a moment and you smile. "Good. Second, it's using the wrong number of magical attacks at a time. If it's using something powerful, it should only be using one at a time, but it should be really accurate and very fast to track and recover. If it's using weaker attacks, they should pretty much all be like that danmaku storm with all the daggers." Shari frowns but nods, and her fingers fly over the keyboard in front of her. "Hmm … probably the biggest problem is that it's so slow. I don't mean physically slow - I mean, it is, because my sister is faster than I am - but I'm referring to its reactions. It should be completely impossible for a lone individual to surprise it or make an attack that the Final Boss can't block or shield. Even a team shouldn't be able to blindside it completely, not unless the team has some kind of stealth operatives. Unless you're in a team, you shouldn't be able to take it down without resorting to brute force, and even in a team, brute force should be the most reliable method." She looks at the screen and nods.
"So … heightened reaction times, overcharged magic, fighting ability. Anything else?" Nove snorts in irritation.
"Why not just make her invincible?" Her sisters frown at her and you shake your head.
"Because I'm trying to be accurate. My sister isn't invincible, but she is five hundred years old, extremely skilled, both at magic and with weapons, and she's very powerful. If there's any cheating going on, she'd be able to do it herself." You turn back to Shari. "There are a few other things, but I don't think you can actually do anything about them - your magic system uses magic circles a lot more frequently than she does, and it doesn't seem to have as many esoteric effects. In addition to attack spells, she's also fond of illusions and sense-obfuscating spells." She nods, but she doesn't seem fully occupied listening to you; something else is occupying her mind. Well, that's fine; as long as their Final Boss doesn't embarrass Remilia, it's alright.
What do you do?
[ ] Take Satsuki inside for more lessons.
- [ ] Continue Etiquette.
- [ ] Politics.
[ ] Work with Satsuki on combat skills.
[ ] Other?
