Libra's Lament, a Magical Girl Quest [Complete]

Naron · Nov 20, 2017

Primordial Moon: New Ability

All is Equal
-Negate all damage multipliers up to x5 at will

Primordial Moon: New Ability

All is Equal
-Negate all damage multipliers up to x5 at will

Primordial Moon: New Ability

All is Equal
-Negate all damage multipliers up to x5 at will

[X] [Stay] Wait for Iron and Mirror (at least three weeks)

[X] Explore why Rico gets brighter by day and you at night

[X] Maybe someone here wants to train with you?
-[X] Soul Queller

[X] [Thoughts] It is never wrong to have hope
-[X] [Thoughts] No one deserves to be hurt
-[X] [Thoughts] Bad things are sometimes done for good reasons.
-[X] [Thoughts] We are all people, even when some people are scary or strange.

Now that you are clean and had food, everything is much better. Ludger looks a lot happier, too... probably because he is out of the bath again.

There are a few other girls in the center room right now, playing games or just chatting with each other... but no Knight and you can not see Red or Purple, either.

"Dragon, where is Knight?"
The older girl shrugs and combs her fingers through her hair again, the tail slowly bobbing up and down behind her; Eva still wants to pet it. "No idea, I guess she's still in the main building down the street."

"A-And Red and Purple? Where are they?"
Eva is curious about it, too; but for some reason, your friend gets a little pink around the cheeks and looks away. Dragon slowly plays with the ends of her gloves. "Um... uh... you mean Ruin Red and Ruin Purple, right?"

"Yes?"
Of course you do, that is obvious... or do they have another Red and Purple here? Dragon squirms around a moment longer and then shrugs again. "No idea, maybe they turned in early?"

...curious. You think about pressing the issue, but there are other things you are more interested in at the moment. "Okay... we can still go out, right?"
"Huh?"

Dragon throws you a glance and goes back to normal; Eva does notice a few other girls looking your way... maybe they are curious? "I don't think there's a problem with that, we don't really have a curfew. Anything in particular you want to do?"

"Nope~"

Eva giggles at Dragon's huff and you grab her hand before pulling her along. "Let's go, Moon!"

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

The moon is pretty bright today and the stars are nice, too; it is a little hard to see them properly with how bright your sister is, though.

That is why she is sitting on the ground far below while you hover a few hundred metres in the air, completely invisible from the ground; even your silvery wings seem more like stars, you can tell from Rico looking your way. You lie on your back, arms spread and looking at the sky.

It feels really nice, the light around you almost touching you; your glow is stronger at night, that is now good to see. In fact, you can almost feel the light gathering all around and slowly sinking into your skin.

You feel tingly all over, relaxed and... not happy, you need big sister nearby for that... but this is nice; Rico is quiet and you can tell she is lying on the ground, looking up at you.

So peaceful.

Everyone has hopes and dreams... you are not the only one and you know it. All of them are trying to make them come true; some are bad, but not the people behind them. You refuse to believe that. There is always hope and everyone deserves being happy.

Your scepter slips out of your fingers and starts hovering next to you... weird, since when could it do that? You make it fly up and down a bit, then back into your hand. Gloved fingers grasp for the metal shaft and you can feel the light around you resonating, magic tingling in your whole body asking to be let out.

Hm...

"Soothing Moonlight!"

A handful of streams coil around the tip of your scepter as you speak, grasping for nothing because there is nothing to aim at when you let go of them... but you can feel more magic rushing in. Where you had to wait with casting for a while after each time, maybe with this...

More light sinks into your form and you continue to wonder.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

Forsaken, the Darkness drawls: "No such thing as kindness exists in man."
Broken, the Dream laments: "We can never be whole again... and yet I so wish for it..."
Abused, Magic whispers: "They will never stop hurting."

Without hesitation, the crying Earth decrees: "If the future is shrouded so dark, then I will cast it away and forge it anew!"

Countless voices scream in response.
Truly, hell was built on good intentions.

Waking up is weird... but you have Eva hugging you tight, so it is fine. She is still sleeping, her body still shaking a little from taking in so much light last night; you felt a bit of what she felt and it was really relaxing, like a warm hug all over.

You look around the small bedroom; there are no other girls with you, Knight said it was better to leave you separate for some reason. At least for now.

There are no other girls your age here, so you figure that the older ones do things you're not doing yet. No idea what, though.
Or Knight wants to make sure you get to sleep properly? The bed was not bad, but you miss your own a lot. Being cuddled together with Eva was nice, even though you did not really needed to this time.

While you were flying with Igni, you had to sleep on the ground; your friend let you use her as a pillow without saying anything, but you could tell it was not good for her so you stopped letting her.

You feel good after lying around on something soft again, Eva slowly blinking herself awake next to you. She gets up first, letting you lie around while she walks around the place. Heh, you can bundle up in the blanket and still get to see what is happening. Ludger stays in the little basket they found for him to sleep in, too.

"Hey Sun!"
You see your sister's head turn and find Dragon sitting at one of the tables, with a big bag by her side and some papers in front of her. Oh wait, that is a map.

"Ah, miss Dragon. I am Moon, though..." "Oh, sorry."
Eva makes her way over to the older girl and looks at the map from next to her; you can see how her eyes flash over to the tail time and time again; heh. If you wanted to, you could take Eva's hand and make her pet the tail, but that would be mean.

Maybe you do it later.
Eva pokes you a few times... oh, she noticed what you thought about. Aww...

"What are you doing?"
You stop pouting and nestle further into the warm covers while listening; Eva is as curious about this as you are, so maybe something interesting will happen?

"Thinking about our route, actually. Uh... we kind of didn't tell you, did we? Knight wants us out there doing something, so we'll be gone for the next two weeks."

Neither of you wants to know what this 'something' is. You can guess it anyway... and you do not like it at all. At least they will be back before you leave, so you can actually say goodbye at the time.

"Anyway, what are you doing here? And where is Sun?"

Eva giggles a little and pokes you with lazy, but this is entirely unfair; you still hate getting up in the morning.
"She's always groggy after waking up... I wanted to help in the kitchen."

Ah, right. Knight said that everyone helped out here, so you would get to do a few things in exchange for staying here, too. Just things like that, helping out a bit. You think about sleeping another three hours or so anyway, but you want to do stuff... and it will not work with all the things you get from your sister.

"I see. Honestly, half the girls here are like her; good to hear you're one of us early birds, then.

Dragon leans over to pet Eva's hair; your twin giggles and you roll your eyes before crawling out of the covers, giving Ludger a sleepy look and sighing in woe. Then you pay no more attention to what they talk about, get dressed and wander over to the big bathroom to wash your face and wake up some more. There are a few other girls there and you are not the only one groaning about having to get up so early.

Actually, what time is it?
...on second thought, you do not even want to know.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

So you had breakfast with a lot of other girls, waved Dragon and Igni goodbye, walked Ludger -weird to do that without a leash, but he was good- and helped carry a few things.

Now you have noon and afternoon to spend, but there is something you really want to try first.

With what Eva did yesterday, you are wondering. There is something with the sun and you, something interesting. Walking out of the dorm already makes you feel a little tingly under the warm light... even though it is pretty cold today. You shiver and transform, Eva doing the same.

Then you two fly upwards, your sister a bit behind you; looking right at the sun is nice, it feels warmer. As if it was actually summer.

You do the same thing Eva did and float around; heh, lying down on air is pretty nice.

With a few deep breaths and another glance at the bright eye in the sky, you close your own eyes and let the light flow around you. It tickles a bit before slowly flowing through your skin and filling you with a nice warmth.

Eva's light felt like a warm hug, yours feels more like a hot bath. Less comfy, but easing your muscles a lot more. Your sister hums in your thoughts and you shoo her, enjoying the sun on your belly.

People do bad things at times, yes. People are scary at times... but they are not just evil. You get that now. Some people just hurt so much they see no other way.

And you want to help. To try your best to make sure everyone can be happy in the end. Your family's faces flash in front of you, reminding you of where you are. Not with them, that is. You want to see them again, your mother and your big sister. You will see them again.

But right now, you are filled with light and know it wants out.

Huh? Why is there a-
"Hey there."
-shadow. You open your eyes and blink up at Soul a few times, the older girl flapping gently a bit above you; the sun behind her makes her shine, but you can still see her well. She is smiling.

"You know, sunbathing at three hundred metres above the ground is new. You're pretty lucky you don't actually have to keep yourself in the air like I do."

"But we didn't get pretty wings."
You shift back into a standing position while answering, Eva nodding while floating next to you; why did she not see Soul? I had my eyes closed, too. Oh.

"Pretty? Huh, I guess... you do have wings, though."
"But those are cute, not pretty!"

Why do you always have to explain obvious things to people? Soul just stares at you for a moment, then she snorts and shakes her head. "Okay, fine. Do you have anything to do?"

When you both shake your heads, Soul comes down to eye-level with you and holds out a hand. "Then how about some training? I heard you're new."

That is... "That's really nice of you." Eva!
You nod in agreement with your sister, even if she cut off your own thought just like that. However, you are still so full of light... where is... ah, there.

Soul raises an eyebrow and smirks at you before turning around and flying towards the training field. You follow her. But when you are halfway there, you try using all the light.

"Scorching Sunlight."
A beam rushes from the tip of your scepter, sucking out the light you already had... but not all of it.

(Scorching Sunlight: +2560 Base Damage, +76 dice = 2,636 Total Damage
Wall: +150 Base Resilience, no dice = 150 Total Damage Reduction

2,486 Final End Damage

Wall Health: 700 - 2,486 = -1,786)

It hits one of the few walls still standing and explodes it into thousands of little pieces. Light trickles in again, but you just aim elsewhere instead of waiting. "Scorching Sunlight!"

Another beam comes and plows through the ground before puffing out; you can feel more of the light going away, but this... this was a weird feeling.

When you reach Soul, the winged girl winks at you. "Nice show there, Sun. That looks promising, so make sure to train well."

"'Kay!"

She giggles for some reason, then pushes her sword into the ground; the concrete gives without much protest, a few cracks now around the blade. "Okay... you're new, so we should start slow. Try tapping me with those staves."

Huh? What? That is no training at all, that is playing tag!

You pout at Soul and cross your arms. "You're not taking us serious!"
Eva looks between you and her for a moment, then she nods slowly and makes her lower lip wobble a little. You can tell she does not feel like pouting, though.

"Now, now... it's more like... uh..."
Soul sighs and walks closer to you, waving her hands around. "I don't know how good you are, but I know I'm one of the strongest girls here."

Now she stands right in front of you, still babbling: "But I don't want to hurt you girls by over-"
"..."
"..."
"..."

Soul stares down at your pleased smirk, then at your scepter tapping her belly. She looks back at you and you can see how she tries not to smile; every time she wants to frown, the corners of her lips curl back up. Eyebrows rise and fall and in the end, Soul sighs and ruffles your hair. "You sly little devil."

You let her this time; you know you earned the messy hair. Eva giggles openly now.

"Okay, you made your point. Go get ready, we start out with an actual spar."

Soul lets go of you, walks back and pulls her sword out of the ground. When she turns around, she holds it ready and pointed at you. "Try to tap me again."

So you do; you both charge at her together and swing, just like you practiced to.

(Sunlight Scepter: +22 Base Damage, +99 dice = 121 Damage
Moonlight Scepter: +170 Base Damage, +21 dice = 191 Damage

312 Synchronised Damage, +156 Advanced Connection = 468 Total Damage

Target is not there.

No damage)

You move together, swinging in from both sides so you can definitely hit her... but Soul just leaps over both of your swings and gets back to the ground after you passed her. When you turn to look, she has this knowing smirk on her face.

You try to hit her again and again and again and again and a lot more agains, but Soul just steps around, above or below everything. She is so fast you can barely see her at some times.

Then, after a while of this going on, she flips over your latest attempt and kicks you in the chest; you go flying with a pained groan and only barely manage to not land on your back, but Soul slides around Eva and brings down her sword.

(Soulsword: +2000 Base Damage, -1000 Blunt Side, dice suppressed = 1,000 Total Damage
Primordial Sun: +105 Base Resilience, +67 dice = 172 Total Damage Reduction

828 Final End Damage

Primordial Sun Health: 1,100 - 828 = 272)

You hit the ground with a shriek, pain blossoming from your stomach where she hit you. Tears come to your eyes, but you blink them away and get back up-

(Soulsword: +2000 Base Damage, -1000 Blunt Side, dice suppressed = 1,000 Total Damage
Primordial Moon: +155 Base Resilience, +15 dice = 170 Total Damage Reduction

830 Final End Damage

Primordial Moon Health: 850 - 830 = 20)

-only to hear Eva cry out in pain; you can feel a stinging in your side for a moment, but then it goes away and your sister is on the ground, too.

Ugh, that hurts... not as bad as what happened before, but it still hurts.

Soul stands before both of you, her sword lowered. "See? I haven't even started. But I don't mind teaching you a few things if you want. You can ask Knight, too. She usually isn't around for long periods of time, but she never minds helping out."

You both get up while she talks; there is no need to look at each other, you know what you want.

And your defiant looks tell Soul the same; she shrugs and gets up again. "Alright, just keep in mind what I said."

"Soothing Moonlight."

A wave of pleasant feelings rolls through you and takes the pain away, making you sigh. Soul turns to look at your sister before nodding and grimacing. "So Moon is a healer... I see."

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

A few hours later, the two of you sit at one of the tables and have dinner; your everything hurts from exercise, even after Eva healed away the pain from being hit over and over. Soul was really, really mean...

But you kind of made her hit you over and over because you refused to stay down, so you can not even blame her. But you want to...

Ugh... and you don't get what Red was talking about; when she saw you and how disheveled you were -still transformed, you really do not want to feel all this without your suit-, she said something neither of you heard and was dragged away by Purple.

Dragon and Igni are not here, either.

So... what do you do now?

Choose one thing to do for the evening:

[] [Evening] Go to bed early, you are somewhat tired

[] [Evening] Look around and maybe meet someone new

[] [Evening] Maybe you can do something with your Affinities?

[] [Evening] Go find someone to talk to
-[] Someone in particular? (Write-in who)

[] [Evening] Write-in

You have time to spend. Due to the fact I could easily push out 100k words on just your stay here if I wrote out everything, we will do a mix of timeskip and regular chapter.

What do you spend your time on while in New York? Pick three:

[] Training with Abyss Knight
(Unlocks Skilled)

[] Training with Soul Queller
(Unlocks Skillfull Dodge)

[] Working on magic
(Chance for new Spells)

[] Exploring
(Events)
(Of note, Events need not be positive)

[] Playing
(Does nothing productive)

[] Getting to know the girls
(Unlocks more data on character sheets)

[] Write-in (Maybe add a quick line about what you expect it to do)

[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it

=====

+4xp Filled with Light
+1xp Raised Morale (only Eva)
+4xp Goodbye for Now
+10xp Got Your Butts Handed to You
+5xp On a Silver Platter
+2xp Repeatedly

EXP Gained: 25 + 26 = 51
Total EXP: 181

=====

(New Shop-Items Unlocked: Sun, Moon)

Naron · Nov 27, 2017

[X] [Evening] Maybe you can do something with your Affinities?

[X] Training with Soul Queller
[X] Training with Abyss Knight
[X] Getting to know the girls

You ponder for a moment, but what Truth told you is still on your mind. Or rather, what everyone told you.

Rico perks up over your thoughts and mood; with all the training you did, neither of you feels like doing any more work. But... just sitting under the moon and thinking a bit, that sounds nice. All your aching muscles can relax then.

So once you are done eating, you get up and wander back outside, looking around for a nice place to sit. You find an open street just a few corners away, the houses at some point broken down entirely to form a large gap. Ludger does follow you, but he stays away and leaves you be.

This is where you sit down, neither of you transformed. Rico puts an arm around your shoulder and you rest your head on hers, the warmth of your bodies mixing where you touch. Comfortable like this, you let your thoughts wander.

Aside from the Affinities for sun and moon, you have Love and Determination... and big sister said that the Affinities are really important for your magic. It is difficult to think about how you could make a love-spell, though... or how Rico could make something out of determination.

They feel right, though. You feel happy being around people, tending to them and caring for them. Rico is always right there, not backing down from anything. Even if she goes and gets herself hurt.

Then there is Balance. Your growth-Affinity.
Balance. That means to make sure something stands properly without falling over to one side, right?

Rico pulls a loose stone from the ground and puts it on its edge; it tips over to the right and clacks back to the ground at once and your sister pouts for a moment.

But why is this your growth? And what does it mean?

You both try making the stone stand on its side, but it does not want to. Then you try turning it onto the other side... that is easier, now it actually stands because it has a flat part there.

So... does Balance mean to find a balance?

Rico takes the stone again and hits the mean side against the ground a few times until it breaks, then leaves it standing there on the almost flat part she just made.

Or does Balance mean to make one?

Huh.

You can feel something crawl deep within you, responding to your musings. But you have no idea what its answer is. Or maybe you are just sleepy...

Rico squeezes you a little tighter against her and pets your head while you hug her side and nuzzle her cheek. This is your Affinity, no matter what it means. You will have to find out what it does later.

Right now... you yawn and slowly help your sister help you up. So tired...

But when you get back to the dorm and fall into your bed, the aches in your arms and legs and tummies, and backs and... and lots of other places grow stronger again, making you wince.

This was a hard day.

But... you feel good, too. Soul was definitely surprised and happy with how well you did. Or... uh... how long you fought back, maybe?

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

You get started the next morning, right after breakfast. After having to help out with some stuff, you went to find Knight and asked her to teach you things. She seemed surprised at first, but said yes and took you out to train.

You started slow in your training with her, Knight giving you tips on how to stand and how to swing better. Heh, you got the hang of it after a while. But then she started having you do more and more and you sparred a bit and she is really, really strong. Nothing you did had any effect on her.

After that and some lunch, you went to find Soul and asked her for more training, too. She was even more surprised than Knight, but helped you out like the nice older girl she is.

Now in the evening, both you and Rico sit on the floor... hurting all over again. Soul stands right in front of you, her sword held low in one hand and sheepishly petting your heads as you groan and try to move.

"Sorry about that... you two are pretty stubborn, you know?"

Rico glares at her, but Soul only giggles and sighs. "I guess you'll be back tomorrow?"
This time, you both nod; even though your neck hurts from doing so. "Figures... but okay, I don't mind. You have to share with Red, though."

Not that either of you would mind that; Red is a nice person from what you saw, even if she does weird things.

Soul looks up at the orange sky and back to you, then she shakes her head again... but this time with a smile. She folds her wings and sits down before you, then scoops you both up so you can lean against her. "You should sit and recover for a while... mind if I keep you company?"

You just snuggle against her side and hum in response, Rico does the same on her other side. Soul is warm. And comfy. "I take that as a no."

You just sit together and enjoy the evening sun for a bit, happy as you are while your muscles burn all over. It starts to get better after a while, though. Not good-better, but not-as-bad-better.

"Soul?"
"Hm?"
Rico lets go of her a little so she can look properly, but you stay nestled into the older girl's side; you can see through your sister's eyes anyway. "Why are you here with Yggdrasil?"

"Oh..."
Her arm around you grows a little tense, but she relaxes quickly and draws you in a little closer. "I guess... I don't really have a reason. I'm not a member, either. It's just, Knight helped me out when I needed the help and gave me a place to stay. I could go to Kibo, but these girls are all so reckless... so I'm staying here to make sure the city is safe. I'm a sentry, if you want."

"A sentry?"
"Uh... a guard, basically. My job is patrolling the place and keeping it safe when the other girls go out to... uh... hunt."
"Oh."

That sounds nice... better than having to go and hurt people. You like the idea. And it means that Soul does not like hurting people, either. She is a nice person after all.

"That's really nice of you."
Rico hums in agreement and snuggles close again. Soul just chuckles and gives you a squeeze. "I guess so."

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

Another morning goes by with Knight; she just bops you on the head with a gloved hand whenever you try hitting her, making you lose focus and miss the swing.

During one break, Rico decides it is okay to be a little curious and sits next to her... but Knight shuffles away without saying anything. Rico wants to shuffle after her, but you poke her to make her stop. No one said anything about that kind of thing, but you are sure it is not okay to bother her.

"Are you okay?"
So Rico just talks instead, that is fine. You continue lying on the ground and having the faint sunlight dry your sweat; it is cloudy today, so there is not much. At least it is warm outside.

Knight stays quiet for a while, your panting being the only sound around aside from a few birds. They are not the only animals though, you saw some cats and dogs before, too... they looked so thin.

You get your mind back to the present when Knight speaks up: "I'm fine. Just... please don't touch me."

Huh... weird.
You turn your head a little so you can see her from where you lie on the ground, but with how her skin glows a little while transformed and all the shadows dancing over her armour and the mask on her face, you can not tell what she thinks.

It would be mean to continue asking, so Rico stops and stays where she is. "Okay."
"Thank you."

Neither of you speaks about it again, but Knight soon gets up and has you continue the exercise.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

It is raining... and not just a little bit. A week passed since you came here and it was really, really tiring. Rico took it a bit better than you did with how much she likes sports anyway, but she is happy about the forced break anyway. None of you want to swing weapons around inside.

There are not many people around today; most went out of the city to do something you do not want to think about overly much. It is... not easy to know what they are doing and not say anything about it, but you know that would not change anything.

So instead, you focus on the dog you are petting to get your mind off of this. No, wait... Rico is petting the dog, you have him curled up on your lap.

The constant patter of raindrops hitting the roof makes you sleepy, too... that is until you see Ruin Purple striding out of her room and up the stairs with quick steps. She and Red and Knight are the only people around today... and Soul, but Soul is sleeping the day away until the rain stops.

Rico perks up, too... and after a moment, you slowly hush Ludger out of your lap and tell him to wait. Then both of you transform and follow Purple outside. Flying right above the ground is fun, you make no noise following the older girl around... but the rain comes pretty strongly and hits you all over. And the lingering pain in your muscles makes you wince anyway.

It takes a minute or two before you are both soaking wet and so is Purple... but this is harder to see because she has armour. It glistens a little, much like your own.

One turn, two turns, three turns, down the street... huh, she stopped.
"Why are you following me?"

Then she turns around and looks at you with a frown; was that wrong?
Rico hovers closer and looks up at her. "You shouldn't go out when it rains. Is something wrong?"

You come to stay next to your twin while Purple looks at her. Then the older girl closes her eyes and wipes some water off of her forehead. "No, I just need some time to cool down. Red can be... tiring at times."

Huh, you get that. Playing with Rico used to tire you out, too. Ignoring her pouting at you, you give Purple a little nod. "That makes sense... but why are you out in the rain?"

You have to be a lot louder than normal to be heard over the falling water, but Purple hears you and looks around at the broken streets and buildings. Her hands open and close a few times, but then she lowers her head.

"...you know what? Fine, we did have a fight. Not about anything serious and it happens once in a while... but I don't want to stay around until we both calmed down again."

Oh.
So they are mad at each other? And Purple is going away to come back later and... that is weird. You take another glance at Rico and try to remember, but there was never a time where you got really mad at her.

Or she at you.

You really do not know what to say to that, so you do what feels right; moving forward and giving Purple a hug around the waist. You barely get your arms all around her with how bulky her armour is, but she does not stop you. After a moment, Rico hugs her, too.

Purple sighs and lets you stay like this for a while, ignoring the patter of the rain on your heads, shoulders and backs. It clonks funnily on her armour, though. "It's nice of you to try cheering me up, but I just need some time to myself. Thank you."

You take the hint and let go, allowing her to walk away alone. Once Purple vanished around a corner, you turn to your sister and wonder... maybe you should make sure Red is okay, too? She is always so happy and cheerful when you see her, but so is Rico and you know how she gets when she is down.

So you wander back through the rain, shivering a tiny bit about the cold water running through your armour and finding a way into it somehow. It is okay though, you just detransform once you are under the roof and all of it is gone.

When you enter however, Red is sitting at one of the tables and... oh, she has Ludger wrapped in a hug. Okay, that is fine, too. You smile at your dog and go do something else, he has everything under control.

Maybe you can finish that book today?

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

At least you start to get the hang of it. Soul is a hard teacher, but she is good, too. You are way too slow to dance around everything like she does -and not at all as pretty while doing it-, but you and Rico slowly start to get around a few of her swings.

Red is with you, too; she takes lessons from Soul and helps you train, going slow so you can tell when to jump away more easily. Rolling is made a little easier because you can fly.

It is exhausting, especially after the sessions with Knight, but you feel good being able to make it. Your muscles hurt less and less.

"Okay, time for a break."
Both of you and Red sink to the ground with happy sighs, a smiling Purple watching the whole thing from the sideline. It looks like they get along again after what happened yesterday.

"I'm happy that you made up."
"Hm? What do you mean?"

Red gives Rico a curious look and your sister tilts her head in response. You help her. "You and Purple had a fight, right?"

Purple's smile grows a little smaller and a hard line shows up around her eyes while Red blinks a few times and then shrugs. "Eh, that kind of thing happens once in a while. Don't think about it too much. Besides, the -ouch!"

Whatever she wanted to say, Soul hits her over the head with the flat side of her sword and gives her a glare. "I can guess what you wanted to say there. Not around children."

She does open her mouth again, but a warning glare from Soul makes Red stop and sigh. "Alright, fine. You're no fun, you know?"

"You, uh, you know we can hear you?"
Soul turns to you and shrugs, even though the fact that girls just a bit older than you are keeping secrets like this makes you a little... uh... not sad, but angry is too strong. Miffed? Maybe. Rico folds her arms like big sister does to back you up.

Unfortunately, it just makes Red grab you and pull you both into a strong hug. "Aww, so cute!"
She squeals as you try to break out of her arms, but she is so strong you do not have a chance. In the end, you both resign yourself to the hug. Rico is still pouting, though.

Now that you are so close to her, though... huh. "You smell weird, Red..."

Rico can see Soul's eyes narrow over your shoulder and the winged Magical Girl leans in a little until she can smell this weird scent, too. You do not think you ever smelled anything like it before, a bit sweet and... nope, still weird.

But Soul quickly snaps back and focusses on Red. There is a low rumble in her chest and she slowly lets go of you. "Uh... I kind of forgot to shower this morning. We were too busy making up."

Once you brought some distance between yourself and her, you notice all three girls blushing, Red a little, Purple some more and Soul a lot.

Teenagers are weird... why would they blush over getting along again? Or maybe because Red is smelling?

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

"So, how do you like New York?"
It is just the two of you in the kitchen today; Rico is helping with cleaning up the common room while you are here and prepare breakfast. Your newest friend is nice, though.

Grace always cooks meals and helps the other girls; you liked her ever since meeting her for the first time two weeks ago. She even told you her actual name, though that was mostly because her Magical Girl name sounds weird. Paramount Merchant...

You have no idea what it means, to be honest. But she is a good person and takes care of you... and Rico, too, when she and Ludger come to sneak some extra food.

"It's so big... but so empty, too."
"Mhm, I know what you mean. Used to be a great town, though. I was born here."

She sounds a little sad about it, so you try to find something else to talk about. "It looks still really big... but there are no fields like in Verona. How did people get their food?"

It is mostly the boys working on the fields, so you rarely went there, but you know there were wide fields around your hometown. Grace shrugs and stirs another pan as you move around. "I was too young to get it, but I think food production was centralised elsewhere... and then they just sent it here."
"Ohh!"

That makes sense!
But then... "Where do you get your food from now?"

Your friend pauses for a moment to taste-check the scrambled eggs, then shrugs at you. "Kibo, that's all I know. They built our fancy dorm, too."

Her words make you think a little while cutting the bread. Rico is curious, too. "Kibo helps you a lot... I thought you wouldn't like them much and they wouldn't like you..."

"I guess so."
Grace frowns your way, her brows scrunched in thought. "But us Magical Girls have to hold together in times like these, you know? Bickering about who is right won't make anything better, so we just... get along. All of us keep our eyes open for new girls and stuff, so that we can save as many as possible."

That makes sense, too. You feel a little better now... at least the girls all get along with each other, that is a start.

"I like that."
"So do I... and we're done, let's get this started!"
"'Kay!"

You go ring the bell that tells everyone breakfast is ready; Rico explodes into the room to help carry stuff just a moment later. She has been waiting by the door for a while now... even though the ringing hurts a little, she waited right next to the speaker.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

Just a day later, Igni and Dragon return. You can see them drive by in an old-looking car with its paint already falling off; it is nowhere near as pretty as Bianca's car, but it drives... and it is loud. A car.

Knight waves towards the two girls inside, one of them clad in a full body robe with a veil... why is Dragon wearing something like that? The car drives by and your teacher motions for you to come along; training does not wait.

You do see your friends walking up to the training field after a while, though. Dragon is transformed now... and she looks as friendly as usual, not counting the horns and tail. Knight pauses and your scepters bounce off her armour without any effect. "Good to see you two back."

"Good to be back! How's it been here?"
They have trouble speaking while you try to at least make a dent in Knight's armour, but nothing happens; the noise your weapons produce is loud and after a while, Knight pokes you with the hilt of her sword to make you stop hitting her chest. Right in the side, where you are ticklish. Squeaking backwards, both you and Rico pout up at the blonde.

And Dragon is laughing at you. "You're having fun?"
First you think she is asking you, but then you notice the faint smile on Knight's face. Huh, she is having fun training with you?

Knowing that makes you feel a little warmer; so doing all this does make a difference after all.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

This evening, you decided to play with Dragon. You never really got a chance to talk to her before, so now that she is back, you can do that. The four of you -you, Rico, Dragon and Ludger- are on one of the couches, with your dog lying square over your and your sister's laps. The older Magical Girl is stroking his head.

Everyone here loves Ludger... except Soul, Red and Knight, but that is fine. Dragon coos a little and you can see how relaxed she is; her tail bobs back and forth and... okay, you had enough of that.

"Dragon?"
"Hm?"
"Um... can I... can I pet your tail?"

Her half-lidded smile grows a little dim and the scaly thing stops moving; your hopes fall already, but you still give her your best puppy dog eyes and wait. Dragon looks at you for a long while, her hands hovering over Ludger's ears. Then she sighs and the tail snakes next to you. "Fine, but... be careful. It's sensitive... and I normally don't let people touch it."

"Okay."

You carefully reach out and run a hand over the green scales; they feel smooth and warm under your fingers. It twitches a little, too. After a moment of thought, you rub your cheek against the tail to get a better feeling. Yes, this is warm.

Dragon and Rico giggle and you know your sister thinks it is funny, but you ignore them both.

Then the tail snakes around and... around your throat?
Wha-?!
"Oh shit, sorry!"

It barely squeezes before darting away so fast that you are pulled sideways. Gloved hands catch you before you can fall and you are pulled against Dragon's chest. "Oh no no no... sorry Moon, I didn't meant to..."

You blink a few times and try to understand what just happened. Rico doesn't get it, either... why is Dragon mumbling apologies and hugging you so tight and- is she crying?

You try to raise an arm to her shoulder, but you only get to push against her breast from where you are. "'s okay, I'm fine..."
Your words are muffled. Rico gets up and helps you by putting a hand on Dragon's shoulder, squeezing a little. Until she sighs and lets you go.

"...sorry. I shouldn't have done that. You're not hurt, are you?"

You shake your head and the older girl sighs again, this time with a lot more... relief? "Great... but you're not going to pet my tail again. It's too dangerous after all."

Dangerous? Why... wait, it was going around your throat and squeezing... oh. Your eyes widen a little over the realisation just what almost happened; the tail wanted to strangle you? "Why is it dangerous? You're nice, you wouldn't hurt me."

"Heh..."
Dragon laughs and wipes her eyes, then she gives you a resigned look. Her shoulders slump and the girl looks... a lot less happy. "That's what you think, I guess... but I'm a dragon, at least partly. Sometimes, I just get the urge to kill people for no reason. Just because I can... and... and I can't control the tail that well, it just... does."

She gets faster with each word until she stops entirely, slumping over further and hiding her face. "I can't control it at all... and once I lose control, I would hurt anyone as long as they're in my way..."

You do not need to even think about what to do. Rico calmly strokes Dragon's back and you hold her hands. "It's okay. It's not your fault."

"Pff, that's what everyone says."
She sounds so bitter that it hurts you to hear, but Dragon does not say any more. She just lets you comfort her.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

In the end, it takes Iron and Mirror almost four weeks to show up. You are done with this terrible training... but you are happy with your success... and you can even use Soul's sword, too! She let you hold it for a bit and you were not horrible with it!

But this is not what this is about; when the Mementos do return, you already wait for them. And tacklehug them both.

"Whoa, hey there! I didn't think you'd be still around."
Mirror holds you up while Iron has Rico clinging to her waist; Knight lets you be and waits while Rico chatters to the older girls: "We've been waiting for you! What took you so long?"

And then a calm giggle from behind them makes both of you turn to look. "That would be me."

She stands right next to a corner over there, a stack of cards sitting in her hand as she looks you over. "So many new faces... it was great luck that we met on the way. Nice to meet you all, I am Magical Girl Hand of Fate."

She curtsies in her short skirt -that makes sense, summer came around by now-, and you try to do the same but fail badly. Mirror chuckles and ruffles Rico's hair again, much to her dislike. Knight gives the new girl a nod. "Nice to meet you, too."

Now that you saw them again, this will be your last day in New York. Your training with Soul and Knight is over... so what do you do with the rest of your day? Choose two:

[] Spend time with Iron and Mirror; you have been waiting for them a long time!

[] Hand of Fate looks interesting, maybe she wants to play?

[] Go to bed early, you are still sore from all the training

[] Go with Knight; she said something about talking to Kibo

[] Now that you are leaving... maybe you can use the training field one last time for trying to make some spells?
-[] Write-in if you want to ask someone for help

[] Explore New York!

[] Write-in

[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it

=====

+10xp Met Magical Girl Paramount Merchant
+10xp Whipped into Shape by Abyss Knight
+10xp Whipped into Shape by Soul Queller
+15xp Your Sister's Sisters; No One Else Is That Insane
+18xp Raised Morale
+50xp Met Magical Girl Hand of Fate
+150xp The Power of Ruin

EXP Gained: 313 + 313 = 626
Total EXP: 807

=====

(Conditions for Shop Item fulfilled)
(Unlocked Level 1 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Soul Queller)
(Unlocked Level 1 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Ruin Purple)
(Unlocked Level 1 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Ruin Red)
(Unlocked Level 1 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Paramount Merchant)
(Unlocked Level 1 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Dragon Maid)
(Unlocked Level 0 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Hand of Fate)
(Shop Item Unlocked)

=====

Of note, I went over previous chapters and realised... you should have gotten a little more EXP from meeting Abyss Knight. So I put another 150 on the count here. Knight is in the top ten after all.
On a sidenote, taking both training actions brought you a neat little extra.

=====

Sun & Moon: New Ability

Discipline
-No skill-based malus from using unfamiliar weapons; any familiar weapon used deals an additional 25% of its Base Damage

Sun & Moon: New Ability

Skilled
-Sacrifice four moves to negate an opponent's action

Sun & Moon: New Ability

Skillful Dodge
-Sacrifice four moves to dodge an attack

Sun & Moon: New Ability

Discipline
-No skill-based malus from using unfamiliar weapons; any familiar weapon used deals an additional 25% of its Base Damage

Sun & Moon: New Ability

Skilled
-Sacrifice four moves to negate an opponent's action

Naron · Dec 1, 2017

Existence Bonus Unlocked.

Primordial Sun: Weapon Upgrade

Sunlight Scepter
Level 5 -----> 6 -----> 7 -----> 8
Base Damage: 22 -----> 27 -----> 33 -----> 41
Magic Modifier: 154 -----> 277 -----> 498 -----> 896
Attacks Per Turn: 2
Affinities: Sun
Ability: Modifier Save | Knockback

Primordial Sun: New Ability

Radiance
-Once per turn, either increase the damage of your attack by 50% or reduce incoming damage by 50%.

Primordial Sun: Weapon Upgrade

Sunlight Scepter
Level 5 -----> 6 -----> 7 -----> 8
Base Damage: 22 -----> 27 -----> 33 -----> 41
Magic Modifier: 154 -----> 277 -----> 498 -----> 896
Attacks Per Turn: 2
Affinities: Sun
Ability: Modifier Save | Knockback

Primordial Sun: New Ability

Radiance
-Once per turn, either increase the damage of your attack by 50% or reduce incoming damage by 50%.

Primordial Moon: Ability Upgrade

Lunar Blessing
Level 5 -----> 6
Maximum Health: 850 -----> 1,000

Primordial Moon: Ability Upgrade

Lunar Blessing
Level 5 -----> 6
Maximum Health: 850 -----> 1,000

Primordial Moon: Ability Upgrade

Lunar Blessing
Level 5 -----> 6
Maximum Health: 850 -----> 1,000

Sun & Moon: New Ability

Complete Connection
-Anything that one experiences, the other knows about, making them more difficult to surprise. The twins are capable of auto-synchronising attacks against the same target; Total Damage from such synchronisation is doubled
-Capable of pooling ApT for using Skilled, Skillful Dodge or any of their derivatives

Sun & Moon: Ability Removed

Advanced Connection
-Sun and Moon are capable of auto-synchronising their attacks against the same target; both sides know what the other sees and hears. Negates pain-backlash and emotional resonance. More difficult to surprise. Synchronised attacks deal 150% Total Damage.

Sun & Moon: New Ability

Complete Connection
-Anything that one experiences, the other knows about, making them more difficult to surprise. The twins are capable of auto-synchronising attacks against the same target; Total Damage from such synchronisation is doubled
-Capable of pooling ApT for using Skilled, Skillful Dodge or any of their derivatives

Sun & Moon: Ability Removed

Advanced Connection
-Sun and Moon are capable of auto-synchronising their attacks against the same target; both sides know what the other sees and hears. Negates pain-backlash and emotional resonance. More difficult to surprise. Synchronised attacks deal 150% Total Damage.

New Shop Item unlocked.

[X] Spend time with Iron and Mirror; you have been waiting for them a long time!
[X] Hand of Fate looks interesting, maybe she wants to play?

You wave cheerfully at the new girl. "Hey there, I'm Sun!"
"And I'm Moon!"

"Can we play with you later?"
Hand of Fate looks back and forth, then offers a small smile and nods. Yes!
Great work, Rico!

You blink away the haziness that comes over you for a moment, pushing back the weight from Eva a bit. She is so heavy...
Hey!
But it's true, you're all heavy lying on me! And you flop like a fish!

Boo, you're so mean, Rico...

"Actually", Hand of Fate interrupts your mental bickering with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Would you like to play right now? I'm planning on having a match with everyone in this city anyway."

A match?
Like a fight?
Or maybe a race?

"What do you mean?"
That was Eva, voice steady just like she should... no wait, that was you. "What do we do for a match?"

You can see the others watching, too. Iron and Mirror exchange glances before shrugging. "It's interesting, I guess. The two of us both won."

"That you did", Hand of Fate notes with a weak smile. Then she offers you a single card from her deck. "What do you think, girls? It will take just a moment."
Huh... you look at the Mementos for a moment, but Mirror gives you a thumbs up and nods. Iron stands with her usual expression.

It could be fun.
Of course it will.
Okay, in three.
One, two...

You both grab the card... but nothing happens. The older girl looks down at you with an interested expression. "Both at once? Oh, why not. Set the Board."

And the world around you changes.

Huh?
What?!
Everything is dark for a few moments, then white mist snakes all over the places... only to become opaque and reveal walls of grey a bit further away. Both of you sit on a large chair, holding hands.

Opposite to you at the massive wooden table sits Hand of Fate, with her weird deck in hand. The smile on her face is genuine and she opens her arms wide to encompass the featureless place around you as it becomes a garden. "Welcome to the game. Granted, you will only lose a moment on the outside, no matter how long we play in here."

The scent of flowers and freshly cut grass fills your noses, but you are too busy looking at all the things. No wait, Rico does that. You keep an eye on the older girl; you never saw anything like this before. "What did you do?"

"Hm?"
Hand of Fate points at your surroundings in question, but then she shrugs. "It's my magic, I can create this wherever I want it to be. Having some privacy is nice. Hungry?"

You both shake your head and the girl shrugs, then she has a plate with a piece of cake appear out of nowhere. "Alright then, just tell me when you need anything."

You do not bother her while she eats and join Rico in looking around instead. It smells like your garden, but you can not see or hear any insects. No flies or bees or bumblebees or spiders...

No spiders! Eva, stop!
But spiders are cute...
Nope, they aren't!
Aww...

Rico is a spoilsport. You really don't get why she doesn't like spiders.

The clinking stops before you get to look at more or pluck some of the flowers; with her plate vanishing, Hand of Fate wipes a few crumbs from the table and then pushes two glasses of juice over to your side. "Anyway, let's start with the rules."

Her smile vanishes and she intones with a heavy voice:

"First, once The Game is over, no matter the outcome, neither party will speak about its specifics to another.

Second, neither Magical Girl Hand of Fate nor her opponent's can receive damage while The Game is in session.

Third, no Abilities are functional in this realm.

Fourth, neither Hand of Fate nor her opponents are allowed to attack the other side. Addendum: when one side is found cheating, they lose their protection and may be attacked at will.

Fifth, no time passes on the outside while The Game is in session."

She grows quiet after saying this and you quickly nod once she looks at you. Those rules sound easy enough to keep in mind. No attacking and no cheating and no telling others when you get back out.

"Good to see you understand. It's useful, too... I can play with my opponent's when in battle, after all. Some think attacking me is a good idea before even listening to the rules."

She slowly shuffles the cards she put on the table before, keeping her eyes on you at all times. "We won't take particularly long, though... there is just one Queen in the deck, so you have only one floor to clear."

That makes no sense.
She talks so weird.

The other girl pauses at your confused expressions and sighs. "Sorry, I sometimes forget... give me a moment."

She brings tokens into order and shuffles a few more times, then sets the cards down before taking a sip from her juice. You do the same and -orange! That's orange juice! Cold and sweet and nice!
Rico...
Sorry.

You take the moment to take another look around; there is a blue sky where grey walls were before, the meadow seems to go on endlessly. But the sun above is fake, Rico can tell. There is no light for her to take in.

"This is my Black Deck."
You turn back to your... opponent and watch the cards she is pointing at. They are a dark brown with black rims and four shimmering diamonds on the corners. "In here, the cards draw from your past experiences. On each floor, a number of cards is drawn and will put you into a situation of your past, only that it will go differently based on the choices offered."

She gently picks up half the deck and then turns the card on top of the half on the table, revealing... the creepy spider-thing. "Oh my, whatever that is... anyway, you will choose an option each time a card is given and proceed through the game. You can surrender at any time if it is too much for you."

Surrender? Like giving up?
Why would you have to do that?

"You said there's a queen?"
Rico watches Hand of Fate now, so you look at the cards and the spider-thing and then all around you again. Then you take another sip from your juice.

"The Queens are... peculiar in their existence; I may tell you where they originate from... if you win, that is."

She gives you a smirk and winks while her shadow starts moving and grows upwards from the ground; it wobbles a lot before taking a solid form... becoming a girl. With a scythe.

"...she's standing right behind me, isn't she?"
Hand of Fate rolls her eyes, with the other girl doing the same a moment later before laying a hand on her shoulder. "Greetings, children. I am the Queen of Darkness, forebearer of the court that shall soon be... pfft..."

She snorts before breaking into a giggling fit, dropping her scythe in the process and having to support herself on the table to make sure not to fall. "Ohoho god, never thought I'd get to be all high and mighty like that..."

Hand of Fate sighs before motioning for her. "Right now, she's the only Queen in the deck. The rules allow only for a fixed number of floors that depends on the number of Queens, so you're only going through one regular floor. Plus the last floor, but I will leave that for later."

Uh...
Um...
What is going on?

Your opponent rolls her eyes again and you think you can see a vein throbbing on her temple; the armoured girl finally stops giggling and straightens up again, offering both of you a smile. "I'm looking forward to meeting you later. Until then."

And she turns all black and shadowy again, then flows back down into the ground. Hand of Fate sips from her own juice again and holds up the glass for a moment. "Hm... maybe I should have spiked my drink..."

...why would anyone want to put spikes in their juice? That would hurt a lot, would it not?

"Anyway, let's get started."
The cards start taking off from the table and woosh through the air, forming a circle and then flitting around each other for a bit before coming back together and setting down. "One floor to go through, one event of your past to revisit... I wonder, how strong is your conviction?"

Hand of Fate offers a weak smile as a tiny figure appears on the table, with four cards shifting around it. It is miniature of Eva and you, standing in the center of the cards now. "Take your pick."

The other Magical Girl leans back and crosses her arms in front of her chest, saying no more as she waits for you. Rico looks at the table and so do you. One out of four, but which one?

Can you find out what is on the cards without choosing them? Probably not.
Up, down, left or right?
Just pick what you like, Rico.
Okay...

Your sister takes the figure and carefully puts it down on the card closer to Hand of Fate, who nods slightly. The other three cards start to burn and vanish, their ashes coming together where your figure stood before and forming what looks like a staircase.

Then the last remaining card floats through your figure, right upwards, and turns around for you to see... the sight makes you grow a little cold.

Anastasia's face is looking back at you, scrunched in pain.

"Very well then."
Hand of Fate scrunches her eyes at the card before intoning again: "One fine day as you sit in class, you notice the girl behind you, the same one you are bullied by, clasping her stomach in pain. Before anyone in the room can react, she utters a transformation phrase and turns into a Magical Girl."

Another three cards appear in front of you now, each of them with a sentence written on it.

1) You scream and try to get away.
2) You quietly leave the room.
3) To protect those around you, you transform as well and fight.

Huh?
"Is... is that what we can do?"
"But I want to help her!"

Your fear and Rico's anger don't bother Hand of Fate, she just keeps her hands folded and shrugs. "I told you before that the game has you go different paths. I didn't make these options, either... heh, I'm just the one offering to play."

I don't like her anymore.
But she said it wasn't her?
So what, I don't like this.
Rico...

You look at the cards and try to think of something. She said you can surrender, right? But... but this is just a game, so... running away just because you do not like it is bad.

I don't want to leave Ana...
I don't want to fight her.
What do we do?

"Take your time, the cards have patience."
You look back to Hand of Fate and see her mixing something into her juice, but the bottle vanishes before you get a good look at it. She takes another sip, shudders and nods in appreciation.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

You almost manage to make a choice. But then you think about it again and stop. It happened more than a dozen times by now, you have no idea how much time passed since the cards were laid out.

All of these are bad!
You sigh sadly and look back up to Hand of Fate; she refilled your glasses and gave you a few cookies some time ago and is otherwise watching you quietly. You have no idea what her gaze is about, it is not warm and not cold. Just... maybe curious?

Maybe you can just have her shuffle the cards and choose one at random?
But then it would be no choice you made. This game is about what you would do, right?

Eva, what would we do if we hadn't thought about helping her like we did?
Huh... not fighting, I guess?
Hum... but we wouldn't run, either.

You glance at each other for reassurance and then back down at the cards. Rico just realised that... fighting does not mean killing. Fighting her to make sure she does not hurt anyone sounds like the thing you would prefer doing.

So you slowly tap the third card and make all three vanish in fire again. The main card that hovers in the air starts to shift, turning Ana's face a little more pale and her hair white while smoothing her out some more. Her Magical Girl form...

"You quickly transform as well, stunning the upcoming panic into a deadly silence as three Magical Girls now stand within the classroom. The other girl stares at you wide-eyed and slowly falls over backwards while crawling away. Before you get to say anything though, the screaming starts in earnest and your classmates flee the room."

Another set of cards appears in front of you.

1) Attack the girl anyway.
2) Help her up.
3) Flee by yourselves.

Oh. Thank goodness you were right.
Before Rico's hand can tap down on the second option however, Hand of Fate sighs. "You know, it's pretty creepy how you can sit there and do this without saying a single word. How do you communicate? Or... are those weird twin powers actually there?"

Weird... twin powers?
I don't know what she means. Maybe our magic?

You both shrug and Eva... uh, you explain. "Our magic lets us feel what the other feels and talk in our heads. It's great!"

You get a measuring glance from narrowed eyes in response, though. The other girl taps the table a few times with her index finger before responding: "Weird, this place is supposed to suppress that kind of thing. I guess there are exceptions to that rule. Thanks for telling me, anyway."

She leans back again and watches as you tap the option for helping Ana, you wanted to do this all the time anyway. The card vanishes just like before and the one hovering in the air changes again, now showing an empty room with three people inside of it. There is screaming coming from everywhere this time, though. Hand of Fate nods slowly and continues.

"You walk over to the scared Magical Girl and offer your hand. She crawls away a moment longer, wide eyes on you all the time. But then she blinks and slowly reaches out, as if she could not believe what was happening. You pull her up and tell her now is not the time to stand around talking, you have to..."

1) Flee
2) Fight

Uh...
This is better than you thought it would go, but... where is the option to go find Bianca? Why can't you go find her? Why is the screaming still there?

Ugh... you quickly tap the first option, no fighting other people for no reason. There will be someone to pick you up, it will be fine.

The screams grow a little weaker once Rico taps the card, but now there is the sound of shoes tapping on the ground. Hand of Fate gives you a slow nod before squinting at the card again; now it shows a dirt path leading into a forest.

"She does not resist as you pull her along, following you without care as you run out of the building and through the streets. People that see you panic and flee as well. There are a few soldiers in the distance, but you move faster than them and out of the city. At the end of the day, when the sun sets, the three of you are still together in a forest you don't know. Your old life lies behind you."

No more cards show up; the one that hung in the air gently comes back to the table and becomes... greyed out? Something like that, it keeps lying below your figure now. The ashen staircase shines a little bit and Hand of Fate nods again. "It seems that was a short journey after all. They are never uniform about how long the thread they follow is... no matter, go on."

She motions for the staircase... and you hesitantly take up the figure. Could your story with Ana have gone that way? Would you have sacrificed everything to help her?

Are you that good a person?
You don't know and that scares you. Now that you know more about her, you definitely would have... but back then?

Letting out a shuddering sigh, you set the figure on the stairs and see it swallowed by the ash. Rico rubs your shoulder and warms your thoughts, you are done with this now. At least you hope there will be no more cards like this one.

But then the sky darkens until it is pitch black and a set of candles light up left and right of the table, Hand of Fate offering another smile while straightening up. "A short journey indeed. Yet it always comes to an end as you approach the court."

Mist comes up and clouds your vision... when you can see again, you are standing in a pit of sand with high, black walls to all sides and a chained ceiling. Before you stands the Queen of Darkness, her face calm and devoid of emotion. You can feel your magic bubbling back... so you guess you can use it again.

Before you can do anything else however, Hand of Fate's voice echoes over the battlefield: "As it is, there is only one Queen present. She shall be your downfall nonetheless."

The Queen of Darkness keeps her eyes on you as she caresses her scythe lovingly. "Don't worry girls, I'll eviscerate you gently. You won't die in here even if you lose, anyway."

Then she moves into position. Ah, what do you do?!

[] Write-in a battle plan

[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it

[X] Spend time with Iron and Mirror; you have been waiting for them a long time!

=====

EXP Gained: None
Total EXP: 5

=====

(Our Thoughts changed)

=====

...Surprise?

Naron · Dec 4, 2017

[X] Plan Fight Metaphors With Metaphors
-[X] The path this game has been taking is wrong. If the chains of fate say that you're only options are to be a monster, you'll just break those chains. You don't want to hurt anyone, but you refuse to let anyone hurt those you love.
--[X] Sun: Cast Scorching Sunlight at the chained ceiling. Shatter the chains and bring light to this world of darkness.
--[X] Moon: Stay close to Sun, don't get separated. If anyone gets hurt, cast Soothing Moonlight on everyone.
--[X] If the Queen tries to attack, use your quick reflexes and the skills you've learned from training in order to block and dodge. Use your mental connection to time things so that Sun can knock the Queen away when she's being blocked by Moon.

[X] Spend time with Iron and Mirror; you have been waiting for them a long time!

This is wrong. All of it.

You don't need to look at each other to know how wrong this is, how you do not want to be forced into one mindset. If what you saw in the game up until now was another way your past could have gone... then that means you are capable of changing things.

Hand of Fate plays a game... so you just need to change the rules to win.

You straighten your arm upwards, making the woman before you stop with a confused look. "Scorching Sunlight!"
A beam of bright light races from its tip to meet the ceiling; it is full of chains, so maybe those stand for something.

(Scorching Sunlight: +2560 Base Damage,+73 dice = 2,633 Total Damage
The Ceiling: +0 Base Resilience, +2633 Edge of the World = 2,633 Total Damage Reduction

No damage)

A surprised snort comes from the Queen of Darkness -the ceiling does not even have scorch marks!- before her arms start seeping with black mist. "Heh. Night has Fallen!"

The mist rockets towards you fast; Eva tries to dodge out of the way and you flare your light into a bright flash...

(Night has Fallen: +500 Base Damage, +320 dice = 820 Total Damage

Radiance: Total Damage vs. Sun: 410

Primordial Sun: +105 Base Resilience, +279 dice = 384 Total Damage Reduction
Primordial Moon: +155 Base Resilience, +50 Attempted Dodge, +50 Radiance Effect,+36 dice = 291 Total Damage Reduction

Sun: 36 Final End Damage
Primordial Sun Health: 1,100 - 36 = 1,064

Moon: 529 Final End Damage
Primordial Moon Health: 1,000 - 529 = 471)

And your powerful light sears through the mist, dispersing what would have hit you so much that most of the rest just rolls over your armour and skin without doing anything. A few stings here and there, but -Eva's in pain!

Hurts!?!

Your light did not protect her and -god is that me?
Her skin is red and bleeding everywhere and you can feel the stinging all over your body and -watch

(Light Eater: +500 Base Damage, no dice = 500 Total Damage
Primordial Moon: ~~+155 Base Resilience, +5 dice = 160 Total Damage Reduction~~ Unstoppable

500 Final End Damage

Primordial Moon Health: 471 - 500 = -29)

out...
Eva is still there, but you see her head roll over the ground, the Queen of Darkness standing over her limp body.

(Two Minds Joined in Harmony: Primordial Sun Health = 0)

And then everything becomes dark...

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

You do not know how much time passed when you wake up. The first thing you see is yourse-Eva. A healthy Eva with her head still on her shoulders...

Eva, Warmth, sadness, Rico, relief, hug, Eva, happy, Eva, hug, love, Rico, don't scare me like that!

A thousand thoughts and more pass between you in an instant; no hug in the world could compare. Eva blinks back at you without letting up on the mental exchange, but another voice has you snap out of it. "You lost."

You are back at the meadow, just a few metres aside from the massive table. Hand of Fate is looking at you calmly and the Queen is where you sat before... is she pouting? Why is she pouting?

Then her words sink in and you slump over. You lost...
My fault.
No, Eva...

Both older girls are holding mugs now and each of them holds one more out to you. You are still sad that you lost, but... it smells like hot chocolate. So you get up and wander over, Eva trying not to be too close to the girl that just... that just...

"What was that about?"
Huh? The Queen looks at you with narrowed eyes. "You were supposed to fight, not destroy the arena."

Uh... you were?
Whoops?

"Um... nobody really said that?"
Now she blinks at you without comprehension before turning to Hand of Fate, who... tries to sink into her seat and blushes. "I uh, may or may not have forgotten to actually say it."

...

You stare at each other for a long moment, a faint breeze blowing a tumbleweed past the table. Then the Queen groans and slams her head onto the table, spilling all the hot chocolate over the cards and tokens and herself. "Seriously? Fucking seriously?! We've been over this, you have to tell people the rules! I didn't get a proper fight just because you fucked up... ohhh..."

You listen to her ranting at Hand of Fate for a while longer, the Magical Girl weakly defending herself -"The other two understood it any-" "Those two weren't children you idiot!"- and sip from the hot chocolate. It is nice and sweet and you slowly calm down from what just happened.

It is... okay. You are both okay.
It still hurt lots.
I know...

It will be alright in time, you are sure of that. The sugar helps and... at least no one got hurt permanently.

In the end, the Queen is breathing heavily from how much she was screaming at Hand of Fate... who is hiding her face and shivering under the verbal assault. You watch her settle down and put a hand over her eyes, then she shakes her head and looks at you. "Anyway..."

She takes note of your half-emptied mugs and offers you a smirk before continuing. "It's a little late, but might as well. The Game has two stages, the first one a game of the mind; one has to be strong enough to go through their painful past again, or they lose. The second stage, the battle, is just that."

"A strong will is meaningless when bound to a lacking body, just like great strength is meaningless when commanded by a weak will."
Hand of Fate smiles humourlessly and leans back in her chair. "You were supposed to fight and win; no one actually dies in here... sorry, I should have said that sooner. The game won't take back its result, though."

So... you really thought about it too much.
Aww...

"And in the end, only Hand of Fate herself is happy."
The Queen joins the weird smiles all around with a raised eyebrow at her Magical Girl... Fate works her jaw for a bit before sighing and shrugging. "Yeah, true. I feel really bad about it now, but I'm just so happy there's so many people to play against. There is nothing like the first game."

Her eyes shine with open happiness while the Queen rolls hers and turns back to you. "Anyway... it's sad I couldn't show my party trick, but... no hard feelings?"

She offers Eva a hand... should you...
I don't mi -but she killed you? -but not really.
Uh... okay, I guess.

Eva gently grasps her hand and squeezes. "Okay."
The Queen nods and holds on a few seconds more, then she lets go and sinks into the shadows. "Anyway, time to go. Nice playing with you, girls."

""Goodbye!""

Once she is gone, Hand of Fate sighs and looks at her messy table before making it vanish just as easily as all the other things appeared. "I guess that's it. Really, sorry about that."

She gets up and offers you one last smile. "I will go back to the other personality you saw before; I like being the dealer more than... a ditz. Anything you want to talk about before we go back?"

Anything?
Yes, there is one...
But is that okay?
mh... eh, might as well try, right?

"Who is the Queen of Darkness?"
Your question only makes her smirk and fold her arms, though. "Sorry, not telling. You didn't win, after all."

Aww... but that wasn't fair!
No changing it... how about...

"What is that trick she mentioned?"
Now Hand of Fate's gaze goes to Eva and she seems to think about what to say for a moment, then she shrugs. "Y'know, she has a giant Fu- eh, Screw You against people stronger than her. If you kill her too fast, she comes back and gets a lot stronger in the process."

That sounds... weird.
And pretty mean.

You sigh at all the neat abilities other people have. Having something like that would be great, too.
On the other hand, you have a lot of nice stuff yourself. That first attack did basically nothing to you... only Eva got hurt a lot. Maybe you can work on that somehow...

"Well... I guess that's it?"

You nod at Hand of Fate and she nods back. "Alright then. Off we go."

Mist comes up again, the flowers turning to dust and all this formless grey slowly fades out. You stand in New York again, around you Abyss Knight, Iron Memento and Mirror Memento. And Hand of Fate, of course. The other girls are looking at you expectantly.

"So, how did it go?"
Mirror winks at you, but you just pout back and look away. Hand of Fate chuckles before motioning for the two of you. "Alas, it should not be. They lost."

And she looks so smug again.
It is just an act, Rico.
Still!

You pout some more and Eva runs over to take Mirror's hand, then pulls her away. You slowly move to get Iron, too. "Come on, we're playing with you now."

No, no looking back, Rico! Urgh, now you saw all the amused smirks...

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

"Here."
Iron is transformed and... oh. Right, you did leave some of your clothes with her. ""Thank you!""
After you both took your things back, Mirror pokes you-wait, Eva on the head. "Heh, you liking it here? You've been smiling more."

"Hehe."
Eva just giggles and folds her shirt properly. "It's nice, I guess? We're leaving soon, though... sorry about that. We wanted to see you once more at least."

"Aww, how sweet of you."

Mirror ruffles your twin's hair; the sight makes you smile some more. Finally she gets out of her shell.
Hey!

You giggle at her pout and poke her side, then you have to flee around Mirror so she can not catch you.

Come back!
Nope~

Neither of the older girls stops you; Eva gets bored of running after you a bit later, so you can stop too and look around the place for things to do. Not that there is much, but...

Then your tummy growls. And your own tummy growls, too. Mirror smirks a bit wider while Iron measures both of you. You only had some drinks and it was at least another hour with Hand of Fate, so...

"I suggest we acquire food."
"Can't argue with that. I'm pretty sure Grace has something for us. You coming?"

Playing or food... playing or food.
We should go eat.
...probably.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

"What did you do the last few weeks?"

Mirror takes another bite out of her sandwich and motions for Iron, who explains curtly: "We traveled to New York per foot. Notable events consist of encountering an anormal creature -black with red eyes, wolf-like and about as big as a human- as well as meeting Magical Girl Hand of Fate."

She stays quiet after that and you both want to sigh. That would be rude, though. Iron is still Iron after all.

On the other hand, there is something that interests you a bit. "Mirror?"
"Hm?"
"Why are you always untransformed?"

You look around at the other Magical Girls around you. "Everyone else here is transformed all the time, I mean."

The older girl shrugs and wraps one of her bangs around her finger in thought. "I... don't want to, is all."

You watch her fiddle with her hair and how the finger is shaking a little. Grace watches Mirror, too... and, almost impossible to notice, Iron is shaking her head in your direction. She does not want you to ask any more, so you stay quiet. Nice going there, Rico...

It is fine, you could not know.
Meh.

"Can we go play now?"
And that was Eva again; everyone is done with their food, so... heh, that will be great.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

The Light is fading, the Dark returns.
Life is passing and Death holds court.
Peace is crumbling and War arises.

Libra

At the end of War, there will be Peace.
Death gives way to new Life.
Dark brightens as Light grows.

Your eyes crack open far too early, but you get up anyway. The soreness in your limbs is more manageable now and it will get better as more time passes. It was worse after you played with Iron and Mirror; just some tag and hide and seek... it was nice to just do something simple again. The others liked it, too... you think.

Nonetheless, today is the day you leave. Knight did things and told you someone would come to get you at around twelve, so... there is one little bit of time left. Eva groans and rolls over in bed, stealing the blanket away. You giggle at the sight and pet Ludger good morning. He yips and wags his tail, but does not leave his warm basket... hehe, everyone is lazy today.

Aside from saying goodbye to everyone however, what do you do? Pick one:

[] Go back to sleep and join the lazy-train; you earned it after all the training

[] Cuddle Eva awake

[] Cuddle with Ludger

[] Read a book

[] Write-in

[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it

=====

+5xp Your First (Not Real) Death
+50xp Lost The Game
+1xp Learned a New Swear Word
+5xp Reunion with the Memento's
+2xp Raised Morale

EXP Gained: 63 + 63 = 126
Total EXP: 131

=====

(Unlocked Level 2 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Hand of Fate)
(Unlocked Level 2 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Mirror Memento)

Naron · Dec 12, 2017

Primordial Moon: Ability Upgrade

Protective Silhouette
Level 5 -----> 6 -----> 7
Base Resilience: 155 -----> 185 -----> 215

Primordial Moon: Ability Upgrade

Protective Silhouette
Level 5 -----> 6 -----> 7
Base Resilience: 155 -----> 185 -----> 215

Primordial Moon: Ability Upgrade

Protective Silhouette
Level 5 -----> 6 -----> 7
Base Resilience: 155 -----> 185 -----> 215

[X] Read a book

You grumble a little as you work yourself out of the covers... but that book Rico reads is nice. A story about an ordinary girl just like you being thrown into a world of magic. It feels... weird with how familiar it reads.

You just woke up properly a few minutes ago, to a nice morning without a strict schedule. Your twin lies on her belly with a book in front of her, continuing to read through the pages as you yawn and turn around a few times.

At least the room is warm, so you do not freeze after throwing away your blanket. Warmth trickles from Rico, too.

Once you are done changing however, you crawl back onto the bed and lie down next to your sister with another book... right, Truth gave it to you just a few days ago and its title sounds weird. Nathan the Wise.

She also gave you a dictionary for some reason, but you find out what for soon enough; this book is hard, not the nice and easy stories like what your mother and big sister used to give you before. Nothing like the fantasy novel Rico has.

In the end, your sister even put her book aside to help you with yours; she has the dictionary and you slowly scan each page, drinking in the story of the friendly old merchant, his daughter, a crusader and more characters.

You do not get even halfway done before you have to get up and prepare for the next journey, but you grow to like the story. It is hard to wrap your head around and even harder to understand with how many words you do not know, but... the kindness and wisdom of Nathan call to you. He is someone you would like to be, who can solve conflicts with but words.

You hope you can finish the book soon.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

Saying goodbye to everyone does take a while; you have to run around and find all of them first. The hugs are great, though... almost all the girls you met here smile a bit more than last month, too. That makes you more happy than most other things, promises to meet again or somesuch.

When you finally wander into the headquarters, it is half past eleven... and there is Soul! You did not find her anywhere, so this is where she was. Her wings are folded and she is talking with someone you have not seen before.

She looks older than most other girls you saw up until now... but she does smile and move her hands a lot, so it is okay. There is some weird, sweet smell in the air around her, though... but no additional eye or lacking eye or more arms or anything... although she does have a tail... and wings.

The wings are a little cute, even though they look leathery.

Maybe she is bringing us to Kibo?
Maybe...

You hurry over to where the other two girls are -oh, Knight is sitting in front of a computer nearby, too- and tacklehug Soul first. She saw you coming though, so she catches you and holds you tight. "Soul! We'll miss you!"

Rico giggles in the back of your head, but you shush her. Soul giggles, too. "Likewise, Moon. It's a little sad that you're leaving already, but I guess some things can't be changed."
She then proceeds to let you down and accept Rico into a hug, too. "Same for you, Sun."

"Heh."

The other girl looks you over with a friendly smile, then her eyes fall down to Ludger and she blinks. Her weird expression is gone very soon, though; she clears her throat and offers her hand. "So I'll be transporting the two of you, nice to meet you both. I'm Autumn's Dream, just cut it down to Autumn and we're set."

She talks in Italian, that is nice; you did not meet any Italians ever since leaving home. Autumn's Dream...
We heard that before, Eva. Really?
Yes, I'm not sure where, though.

Huh, weird. Rico scrunches her brows in though while you shake Autumn's hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Primordial Moon and my sister is Primordial Sun.

Ah! I got it!
"You're one of the Four Seasons!"

The older girls give Rico a confused look while you think back and remember. Right, Bianca told you about them before. That was already so long ago... but why is someone that strong coming to get you?

"Yes, I am. It's nice to be recognised for once."
She flashes you a smile and shakes Rico's hand too, before closing her eyes for a moment. "I think I'm good to go if you're ready. It would be a bit earlier than scheduled, but... eh, whatever."

Soul hums in thought and gives you a pointed look. "Yeah... do you have everything? We're not going to send your stuff after you, just so you know."

You actually checked your backpacks just before; they are filled with things, but you have them with you. Ludger sits at Rico's feet as you present them and nod. ""We're good!""

For some reason, Autumn shivers over this and cracks another smile after raising an eyebrow at you. "Oh boy, you've got the creepy shtick down. Can you do that again?"

What does she mean?
Maybe talking at the same time?
Huh...

""Like this?""
Soul and Knight watch you as you talk... and Ludger yips in confirmation before nudging Rico's leg. ""Not now, Ludger. Sit.""

He sits and waits patiently; Soul shakes her head for some reason and exchanges a look with Knight, but you pay more attention to Autumn for now. The smell is still there, weird and all. You can not tell what it is, but it does not feel nice.

"Um... what's that smell?"

The other girls grimace where they think Rico can not see them and Autumn shrugs while moving around you. "You girls are a little young for the full explanation, but... this is how the end of a life smells."

Wait... death has a smell? How does anyone know that and why?

"How can death smell? And why do you smell like it?"
She leans against the wall next to the door and offers another shrug, but her eyes are narrowed a little and her jaw is a little more tight than before.

"Death," Knight offers after a few moments of silence, "leaves behind a body. It decomposes over time, bit by bit until there is nothing but dust left. While it decomposes, it smells like this."

Decomposing... huh... maybe like falling apart? You have to check your books later. Autumn does not look happy with the topic, though... and she did not say why she smells that way yet.

"How old are you two?"
"Um... we're ten?"

She works her jaw a few times before outright nailing Knight with her look. "Then why, pray tell, Abyss Knight, do you think a pair of kids should know this in so much detail?"

Knight just shrugged, though. "They're pretty mature for their age; I sometimes forget those two are still that young."

"She's right," Soul adds; much to your delight, people think you are older than you actually are. That is new and great. You both beam at the praise and the winged girl gives you another look, her black wings folding a little further while she starts smirking. "They're mostly kids when it's about playing, but they can be pretty mature when they have to... but only then."

""Hey!""

You both pout at Soul and... Autumn shakes her head, but you can see the smile she tries to hide by turning it away. "Okay then, fine. I still don't like that kinda topic brought up around kids. Anyway, are you two ready?"

You nod at her and Autumn nods back, then turns to look at the other Magical Girls. "That's that, I guess. Just give us a call if you need anything else, I'm the pack mule anyway."

"Will do."
Autumn and Knight shake hands... huh, you did not say goodbye to Knight. But you can not go and hug her, she said not to touch her after all.

How about Ludger?
Oh, great idea, Rico!

"Knight!"
Rico hurries over while you pick up the corgi; Ludger does not try to wriggle out of your gasp, he just yips and pants happily over whatever you are doing. The other girls are looking at you and Knight becomes pretty confused when you hold the dog out to her.

"We can't hug you goodbye, but you never said Ludger can't touch you."
Both winged girls are having this weird smirk now, but you ignore them; you can not really see Knight's eyes, but her face is all relaxed and she smiles now.

Then she takes Ludger out of your arms and holds him against her chest for a few seconds, carefully stroking the back of his head. "I guess."

Her voice is oddly quiet, but she does not say any more on the topic; when she lets Ludger down so he can walk back to your side, the smile is still there. "Good luck, you two."

You almost start saying 'you too', but then you remember what exactly Knight is doing and stop yourself. Rico beams once more and nods. "Stay safe."

You follow Autumn outside onto the open street, where she has you pick up Ludger and take the others' hands. Once that is done, the older girl puts one of her hands on your shoulders and takes a deep breath.

"Transfer."

Then she pulls you and... everything changes around you, the city vanishing in an instant, replaced by a wide field, empty of people. You can see some flowers and a tree or two, but otherwise it is just grass. It smells different, too.

...and it is cold, with the nightly wind crawling under your shirts. Colder than summer is supposed to be, anyway. You can see the... no, a moon up above; its light does nothing to you, though. This is not the same...

Where are you?

And why is Autumn sweating like that? She let go of you and sunk down to the grass with a sigh. "Sorry, I just don't like New York... never stay longer than I have to. I'll explain what's happening now, if you don't mind?"

You nod quietly and sit down in front of Autumn, with Ludger between you. The older girl folds her wings around her body and wipes some sweat off her brow first. "Okay... technically, we're not on Earth right now. My magic can't teleport me directly to where I want, I have to take a detour through another dimension first. As far as I saw, this one's empty so we should be safe here."

So... you teleported, but did not teleport? This place is not on Earth... huh. You are not sure if you like that.

It looks peaceful, though... and yet, it feels as if something horrible could happen here... you just do not know what, when, or how. It feels weird.

"Anyway... I need to rest up a bit before I make another jump, especially because I had to make two to get to New York to begin with. Fourty minutes to one hour and we can get going. So... anything you want to ask?"

Hm... you exchange a glance with Rico -she started petting Ludger-, but your twin has nothing right now. You think a moment longer... wait.

"How did everyone understand you?"
"Hm?"

That... makes no sense, now that you think about it. You did answer Autumn in English, but...
"You speak Italian all the time, but Knight and Soul don't know our language at all."

Autumn looks at you in confusion for a long moment, but then she blinks and her face lights up in understanding. "Ohh! That's what you mean. Heh, sorry to disappoint, but I don't know a single word of Italian myself. Have to ask the others if they do... anyway."

She seems to enjoy your confusion; you definitely heard her talk in Italian before. She is doing it now, too. "See, we have this girl in Kibo... she's a pretty great one, maybe a bit egocentric. Anyway, she can build all kinds of machines for us. Back when we started out, talking to each other was not that difficult... but not everyone is actually good at English, so we had her make us some translation devices. I'm actually talking in Russian this whole time, but it sounds like Italian to you because that's the language you understand best. Neat, huh?"

Whoa...
...that sounds so neat...

But you are also curious. "How does it work?"
Autumn gives you a wide grin and shrugs. "Not the slightest idea. No one knows."

Then she laughs over your dumbfounded expressions and you pout at her.

But...

+3xp Education is Important
+125xp Met Autumn's Dream
+1xp That's Not My Moon! (Only Eva)
+15xp Fields of Hope

EXP Gained: 144 + 143 = 287
Total EXP: 308

...somehow, you feel...

=====

(Unlocked Level 0 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Autumn's Dream)

...really weird...

. . .
?
. . .
.....

.....

The reflection gains balance

Naron · Dec 12, 2017

Silence reigned and no one dared to speak up first.
They had done their best to stay as far away from Earth as they could, leaving the humans to their own devices; seeing how the Unified Dark did the same, there was no problem with that.

It actually helped the Unified Light that one of its sides was mostly protected by this untouchable dimension... if not for the one human warrior that fought in the Eternal War. One of those... "Magical Girls" had joined the darkness and wreaked havoc among the light.

The prodigies of the disciples? Crushed where once the Fairy Home Realms burned.
The might of elven armies? Ignored while she destroyed its commanders with impunity.
The radiance of angels? Broken, alongside with Archangel Uriel.

The monster single-handedly fought back the expanding front line... but now she was gone. No reports of another appearance anywhere for a full two years.

Two hundred years of work to come back after near extinction and push anew... undone in a hundreth of that time... but now she was gone and scouts reported that the war on Earth was over.

It was the numbers they brought back that had the room quiet.

Estimatedly, there had been several billion humans living on their world. Now, five years later... only a few hundred million were still alive. These numbers were usually what the UL and UD lost within several decades, while fighting over several dimensions and front lines.

"This was... outside of our expectations."

It was the Arch Disciple who broke the silence; they called itself Blue for the mere reason that they appeared as a bluish cube to others, hovering in the air with a faint elegance. It was impossible for any non-divine race to grasp their true forms, so the Disciples of the Word were always only perceived as shapes and colours.

Yet, Grand Archangel Michael could not wish for better; ever since the fairies were lost to the war, these beings had fielded the powerful magical assistance they needed to support the war effort. They just appeared one day, offering their assistance in exchange for knowledge. They were few, but powerful.

The other person in the room had their face cast in shadow, either from the lighting or from the news. They were making progress in stopping the renewed invasion of dark again, with their strongest force no longer in the field... but with all those losses, it was not assured they would be able to reclaim enough territory.

The Elvin Empire's Grand General had been working harder than even Michael himself, drilling the troops harder than ever before to prepare them. They had few champions left to seek battle with the enemy's greatest, so everyone needed to be their very best.

The question was whether this was good enough.

"Now that their war is over", the elf finally asked no one in particular, "what will the humans do now?"

Michael rubbed his forehead in thought, wondering about the same thing for a moment. They would probably rebuild their community first, just like the Unified Light had always done after a major push. What they would do afterwards, though...

"Shall I dispatch a group of observers to gauge the humans' plans?"

The Arch Disciple seemed to watch them both... and it honestly was the best plan they could go with. There were no troops they could spare for a garrison near Earth and any other scout would be found out sooner or later.

Michael nodded slightly. "Please do so, Blue. We need to know if they have any tendencies to join the Unified Dark completely."
It would spell the end, but they would try to at least resist.

"Very well, it shall be done."

If just the Serene Seven were still with them... but those turned to philosophy after their joint apotheosis; with their domain, Serenity Sphere, protecting another side of the UL's territory due to the ban on troop movements through it, they would not need to stretch themselves too thin... yet the UD had no need to do that, either.

At least the amounts of places a surprise attack could come from was limited somewhat.
Michael leaned back as far as his folded wings allowed, allowing himself a sigh.

All of this was a mess.

+250xp A Twofold Heart Beats
+25xp Still Not Dead

EXP gained: 275 + 275 = 550
Total EXP: 858

Naron · Dec 12, 2017

.....

The reflection lost its balance

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

"Thank god! What happened?"

Huh? Uh...
You blink up at a hazy Autumn a few times until your eyes start to focus again. Eva is right next to you... and you both lie on her lap, at least your heads. The wind is chilly and... and you are so sweaty it is really, really cold.

Eva shivers a little and you both sit up... and then a happy Ludger jumps in your face. You giggle as he licks you and try to get him to stop, but he yips and just continues. Eva turns to Autumn in the meantime: "What happened?"

"That's what I want to know," is what she grumbles back. "You two just slumped to the ground that I thought you died... you can't do that kind of thing, you know?"

You... did that? Weird, the last thing you remember is -AngelWarDeathLightDespairHope-... uh... you better not try remembering everything just now. Your head hurts a little from taking all of this in.

Angels are pretty, though.

"Woof!"
Now your face is all icky, but at least Ludger stopped and stays pressed close to you. If you just fell down like that... he was worried, too. Aww.

You scratch his head and coo at him, he is a good boy after all. Autumn shakes her head while Eva fidgets a little. "We're sorry, Autumn... I think we both fell asleep for a bit there. It was really weird and I remember everything."

It is really cold now, though. You put down your corgi and offer an apologeptic smile of your own before shivering again. "Is it okay if we transform? I'm cold..."
"Hm? Oh, yeah, sure. Go ahead."

Autumn watches you both transform and nods slightly at the sight; both you and Eva shine brightly now, your sister more subdued than you. It is warm now, the air no longer able to do anything to you.

Both of you settle next to the older Magical Girl again, ignoring the smell coming from her and snuggling up for more warmth. She snorts quietly before wrapping her arms around you. "Seriously... you're both little sisters, aren't you?"

She said that really weird.
What does she mean?
I'm not sure.

"Uh... yes? How do you know?"
She gives Eva a look, a big-sister-look. "Because I've got a little sis of my own... and from all the other girls I've met, only very few without older siblings come to cuddle with me just like that."

Oh... heh. You are doing that a lot, are you not?
You fidget a little guiltily, but the arms around you just squeeze tight. "Not that I mind. You miss your big sis?"

""Yeah...""

You both mumble the response, not really willing to talk about it. Bianca is great and... and she must be so worried... you are not really happy about that.

Autumn does not let go, though; she holds you and sighs. "Figures; no matter how mature they say you are, you're still kids."

Neither of you speaks anymore; you just sit together under the moonlight, enjoying the fresh air and listening to the wind and small critters bustling around.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

After a while of just sitting together, Autumn finally lets go and gets to her feet. "We should go now... your little stunt already cost us a few hours."

You smile sheepishly while picking up your things and Ludger... and then the journey through time and space happens again.

Only... when you land, everything is terrible. There is shouting and sirens and you hear guns and it is dark.

"What the hell happened here?!"
Autumn is turning around to look this way and that, but the plaza you landed on is empty... except for two dead bodies that used to wear some kind of suit. No girls, though... at least you think so.

The older girl looks back and forth between you and wherever the screaming is coming from and mutters under her breath. Her scent becomes stronger and fans out over the metal and stone buildings. "Where is everyone...?"

Ludger hops down from your arms and stands ready, waiting for what you want him to do; he seems alert all of a sudden.
You look at each other.

Kibo is under attack. You might want to do something. This time is plan-voting, please compose your votes accordingly.

[] Go hide somewhere

[] Explore
-[] The east (rifle fire, things crashing and breaking, screams)
-[] The west (infrequent gunshots)
-[] The south (heavy stomping and inhuman screams)
-[] The north (nothing)

[] Stay with Autumn (she will go east)

[] Write-in something else

[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it

=====

Allies:
-Primordial Moon: 1,000 / 1,000; ready; (Flight lvl -1 due to carrying baggage)
-Primordial Sun: 1,100 / 1,100; ready (Flight lvl -1 due to carrying baggage)
-Autumn's Dream: Unharmed; confused
-Ludger: 120/120; ready
-Others: ???

Enemies:
-???

Surroundings:
-mostly superficial damage to the city; cracked/broken walls
-light sources are switched off
-no visible fires or smoke

Active Auras:
-Autumn's Dream, All Life Succumbs: All enemy attacks have their Total Damage reduced by 950

Time until the next Season takes to the field: 15 turns

=====

+20xp First Steps in Russia
+10xp Landed Right Amidst the Action

EXP gained: 30 + 30 = 60
Total EXP: 918

=====

Things are starting to pick up speed now; welcome to chapter three.
As an aside I realise that I just posted five times in a row, counting the posts before those three parts of the Update.

Naron · Dec 18, 2017

Primordial Moon: Ability Upgrade

Protective Silhouette
Level 7 -----> 8 -----> 9 -----> 10
Base Resilience: 215 -----> 245 -----> 275 -----> 305

Primordial Moon: Ability Upgrade

Lunar Blessing
Level 6 -----> 7 -----> 8 -----> 9 -----> 10
Maximum Health: 1,000 -----> 1,150 -----> 1,300 -----> 1,450 -----> 1,600

Primordial Moon: Ability Upgrade

Protective Silhouette
Level 7 -----> 8 -----> 9 -----> 10
Base Resilience: 215 -----> 245 -----> 275 -----> 305

Primordial Moon: Ability Upgrade

Lunar Blessing
Level 6 -----> 7 -----> 8 -----> 9 -----> 10
Maximum Health: 1,000 -----> 1,150 -----> 1,300 -----> 1,450 -----> 1,600

[X] Plan: find out what happened
-[X] Stash your stuff in the first half decent spot you see, it'd only get damaged in a serious fight anyway.
-[X] Stay with Autumn (she will go east)
-[X] Inform Autumn that we can heal
-[X] Ask her what's going on.
-[X] Heal friendlies you come across.
-[X] assist as the situation dictates.
-[X] Protect your new home.

(Summer's Dream inbound: 15 turns remaining)

"Wait!"
You quickly pass your things to Rico and dart over to Autumn; thank goodness she stopped and turned to wait for you.

Your sister puts your things down against one of the front walls right next to a small staircase leading up to the door; it should be safe there. "We can help."

The older girl stops for a moment, her wings swinging in the breeze... but she does not say anything against you being there and nods. "Okay."

(Summer's Dream inbound: 13 turns remaining)

Both of you and Ludger quickly catch up with her, then run by her side and down the street. Or... she and Ludger are running while you fly. Maybe you should tell her what you can do? That might help.

"Moon can heal."
Aaaand Rico was faster than you. Mean Rico.
Heh... sorry.

She does look back over to you with another nod, her face scrunched up a little and the scythe firm in her grasp. "Alright, good to know. What about you?"
"I can do... spells?"

Neither of you is really sure what to say there... being good at hurting people does not sound like a good thing and you have not figured out anything else about your twin just yet.

(Summer's Dream inbound: 12 turns remaining)

You rush down a pretty long street and the buildings become less dense; now you can see meadows and a river to your left... and some more grassland to your right, with buildings in the distance on both ends.

The river seems to bound around to meet the street somewhere ahead and there are some buildings built on top of it, too. Other streets lead from where you are going to the other buildings left and right.

You can not really see much of the area properly because of what little light you have and Rico has it worse, but there is a lot of wild growth all around.

The sound of guns shooting becomes louder as you make your way to another big plaza.

(Summer's Dream inbound: 7 turns remaining)

The light is on over here, shining onto a bloodied battlefield. More than a dozen of the weird people in green suits are spread out over the place. One more lies dead on the ground right in front of you, blood slowly trailing down -the others are still fighting.

And in the middle of them all, the opponents barely managing to stop her from swinging with careful salvos, stands a girl that looks tiny compared to the soldier in front of her... but her fists are as big as their large sword.

Two on the other side of the plaza notice you showing up in their friends' backs and shout, but they are far too slow for Autumn... or you. All three of you swing, she for one soldier and you for the other.

Your target only barely manages to turn their head before your scepters hit them in their armoured face.

(Forever Fall: +9600 Base Damage, +2400 Surprise!, +500 Hostile Legend Effect, +3195 dice = 15,695 Total Damage
??? Soldier: ~~+1020 Base Resilience, no dice = 1,020 Total Damage Reduction~~ Unstoppable

15,695 Final End Damage
??? Soldier Health: 7,650 - 15,695 = -8,055)

(Moonlight Scepter: +170 Base Damage, +42 Discipline, + 85 Surprise!, +765 In Your Face, +35 dice = 1,097 Total Damage
Sunlight Scepter: +41 Base Damage, +10 Discipline, +20 Surprise!, +765 In Your Face, +859 dice = ~~1,695 Total Damage~~ 2532 Radiance

3,639 Synchronised Damage, x2 Complete Connection = 7,282 Total Damage

??? Soldier: +1020 Base Resilience, -510 Blindsided, no dice = 510 Total Damage Reduction

6,778 Total End Damage

??? Soldier Health: 7,650 - 6,778 = 878)

Light explodes from Rico's scepter a moment before you hit simultaneously. The soldier is really light, you streak away to each side, but the swing of your scepters sends him flying twenty metres until he comes to land right next to the two figures in the center of the plaza.

They do not stand up again, but now everyone knows you are here; everyone saw the flash and -ugh, Autumn cut her target in two and its yucky and -focus!

(Summer's Dream inbound: 5 turns remaining)

You eep and throw yourself behind the cover the soldier had been using before, a hail of bullets streaking right over your heads while Ludger barks and stays down with you. People shout in some weird language and you can hear... a snort?

"About damn time! Get your ass over here! And don't you dare running!"
Peeking over your cover, you see the fist-girl turn to her opponent while Autumn dodges over a storm of bullets with a quick roll into the air.

The other girl is tense like a coiled spring and has another trail of bullets just ping off of her chest as she rushes towards her opponent. The large fist cracks a few times and then rushes forward almost too fast for you to see.

But the soldier with the sword is prepared, he moves in to block and deflect the strike...

(Intercept!

Dragon Cleaver: ~~9000 Base Damage, no dice = 9,000 Total Damage~~ Unstoppable
Essence of Pain: +33600 Base Damage, +42000 Godlike Strength, +6750 Overwhelm, +500 Hostile Legend Effect, +1035 dice = 83,885 Total Damage

83,885 difference, Essence of Pain wins; Sunder breaks Dragon Cleaver

Essence of Pain: +83885 Intercept Damage, +83885 Punch Through, +83885 Avatar of Might, +104856 Godlike Strength, +500 Hostile Legend Effect, +1297 dice = 358,308 Total Damage
??? Lead Soldier: ~~+10,460 Base Resilience, no dice = 10,460 Total Damage Reduction~~ Unstoppable

358,308 Total End Damage

The Insurmountable Gap Triggers!

??? Lead Soldier Health: 78,450 - 716,616 = -638,166)

He might as well have opened his arms and embraced the fist for all the good it does him. The tiny attacker crushes past his intercepting weapon as if it were not there. Where her fists crashes into mere mortal flesh, there is only one result this could take.

What is left of the soldier goes flying high and the impact sends a wave of dust and debris flying outwards; it rushes over all of you and almost as far as the new corpse flies. It lands somewhere out of sight with a wet sound, leaving a trail of blooddrops everywhere. Urgh, even you got a few on your face and the soldier was not even flying your way!

(Summer's Dream inbound: 4 turns remaining)

Ah, that one is aiming at Ri-

(Assault Carbine: +3000 Base Damage, -950 All Life Dies, no dice = 2,050 Total Damage
Assault Carbine: +3000 Base Damage, -950 All Life Dies, no dice = 2,050 Total Damage

~~4,100 Total Damage~~ 2050 Radiance

Primordial Sun: +105 Base Resilience, +500 In Cover, +859 Modifier Save = 1,464 Total Damage Reduction

586 Total End Damage
Primordial Sun Health: 1,100 - 586 = 614)

-co.
You saw it on time and she barely manages to pulse her light again; it brings some of the bullets punching through your cover off-course, but the rest still rips through her side and splashes blood over you and your dog.

Your sister screams and you can feel the pain coil through her belly, but help her suppress it and quickly aim your own scepter. "Soothing Moonlight!"

(Let me spare you the calculation
Primordial Sun Health: 1,100)

It goes as fast as it came and Rico lets out a shaky breath before rolling away from the destroyed wall you are hiding behind... right into the blood of that person Autumn got to earlier. Ludger follows after her and takes up a guarding position, his belly almost on the ground with how low he is crouching to jump at anyone trying to come for you.

"Attacking children, really? Rigor Mortis!"

And with just that, the sounds of battle end. You wait for a moment but nothing happens; when Rico peeks above her cover again, you can see the soldiers slowly dropping to the ground like half-filled sacks. Whatever Autumn did, they do not move.

The unknown girl looks around while shaking out her arms -she is sweating a lot and her little black dress is clinging to her tightly. Muscles roll under her skin and the large hands whir constantly even after she sets them down to rest her arms.

"Whew... thanks for the help. Those guys were pretty smart, kept me from gathering momentum."

(Summer's Dream inbound: 2 turns remaining)

"Don't mention it."
Autumn is looking around the fallen and then quickly walks over to the soldier you two beat down; turning him around with her feet, she shows all of you that his helmet is shattered... but he is still breathing.

"Huh, guess we have a few prisoners."
"It seems so. Are you girls alright?"

""Yes!""

You echo back at her without even thinking about it and the other girl throws a quick glance over to where Rico is still looking over the wall -you keep watching the area behind her back-, but quickly turns back to the larger building next to her; it leads to the one connected to the river.

"No time to chat right now, we need to check the generator and find out what they did to cut our power. Mind doing that for me?"

(Summer's Dream inbound: 1 turn remaining)

You can see someone running towards you, a pretty girl in red with a large staff in her hand. Rico continues watching the two girls and their swishing tails... wait, did they do that before? They look a bit like cats that way.

"Who's attacking?"
"No idea. Chi is back at the dorms and keeps the other kids safe, but-"

She is interrupted by a loud crash from where you heard all the non-human shrieking and creaking before, followed by another wail. "...what is Flower doing over there? How many went to her garden?
...no, no time for that."

"Autumn, Strength! ...and who are you two?"

The girl in red reached the plaza, too.

She is panting from running and you look up at her with curious eyes. Pretty and strong is what she looks like. Not creepy at all. And she called that other girl Strength... oh.

"Those two are Sun and Moon, the girls I brought from New York. I'm checking the generator now, you help Strength. Girls, that's my friend Summer. Get along with her."
""'Kay!""
"We'll have a talk about you telling me what to do, but fine."

Summer smirks, but it soon melts into a weak smile towards you... then she cringes -Rico is still covered in blood. You point at the corpse and your sister towards Autumn, even though the girl is already running off; Summer nods and looks at you with interest again. "Hm. You two should go to the dorms with Strength, I can't keep babysitting. Need to find Ana anyway... or maybe..."

She mumbles a little more while you take a moment to decide what to do. Ludger patiently waits.

[] Go with Strength (??? A Bringer of the End descends ???)
(She will bring you to the north; once you reach the place, it ends the encounter)

[] Go with Summer (she will go south)

[] Go with Autumn (explores buildings)

[] Go north by yourself (ends the encounter)

[] Go west (no more noise)

[] Go south by yourself (The nonhuman wails get louder)

[] Write-in

[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it

=====

Allies:
-Primordial Moon: 1,600 / 1,600; ready
-Primordial Sun: 1,100 / 1,100; ready, covered in blood (your own and others) [Modifier roll of 859 saved]
-Autumn's Dream: Unharmed
-Summer's Dream: Unharmed
-Transcendent Strength: A few scratches already healed, angry
-Ludger: 120/120; ready, covered in blood (others)
-Others: ???

Enemies:
-Soldiers, unknown occupation
--7,650 Health, 1,020 Base Resilience; weapons: Carbines and Assault Rifles
---7 dead, 8 captured, ??? active

-Elite Soldiers (Squad Leaders), unknown occupation
--78,450 Health, 10,460 Base Resilience; melee weapons
---2 dead, 0 captured, ??? active

Surroundings:
-mostly superficial damage to the city; cracked/broken walls
-buildings are mostly made of metal and glass, but there are some made out of bricks
-light sources are switched off, reason currently under investigation
-no fires

Active Auras:
-Autumn's Dream, All Life Succumbs: All enemy attacks have their Total Damage reduced by 950
-Summer's Dream, All Life Prospers: All allies regain 1,000 Health each turn.

Time until the next Season takes to the field: 20 turns

=====

+50xp Knocked Out a Guy in One Hit
+200xp Met Magical Girl Transcendent Strength
+20xp Broke The Tie
+10xp It is Always Rico Getting Hurt
+125 Met Magical Girl Summer's Dream

EXP gained: 405 + 405 = 810
Total EXP: 1,188

=====

(Unlocked Level 0 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Summer's Dream)
(Unlocked Level 0 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Transcendent Strength)

=====

And here we have Rico, rolling almost the maximum on her MM at the first attempt.
Who was it that said the dice hate you when it counts?

Adhoc vote count started by Naron on Dec 18, 2017 at 11:42 PM, finished with 2268 posts and 8 votes.

3 people have voted
[X] Plan: follow Strength carefully
-[X] Go with Strength (??? A Bringer of the End descends ???)
-[X] Stay at a (hopefully safe) distance
-[X] Keep her healthy
-[X] Scorching Sunlight if she encounters an Elite Soldier or sth stronger
--[X] Armor Removal will help her, even if we do not deal damage.
-[X] Try to keep the rabble off her
3 people have voted
[X]EXP Plan: veil and sunshine
-[X] Incandescent Armour (300)
-[X] Veil Of the Lunar Goddess (500)
-[X] Scorching Sunlight 7 -> 9 (150)
-[X] Sunlight Scepter 8 -> 10 (170)
-[X] Total: 1120 EXP, 68 EXP left
- LightLan
- Faraway-R
- Jrin
2 people have voted
[X] Go with Strength (??? A Bringer of the End descends ???)
- D-san
- Mellithae
2 people have voted
[X] EXP plan: Stronger Every Day (1185 EXP)
-[X] Veil of the Lunar Goddess
-[X] Otherworldly Radiance
-[X] Incandescent Armor
-[X] Advanced Catalyst
- kinigget
- Mellithae
1 people have voted
[X] Go with Autumn (explores buildings)
- kinigget
1 people have voted
[X] EXP Plan: Lunar Gaurdian
-[X] Veil of the Lunar Goddess
-[X] Otherworldly Radiance
-[X] Shining Protector
- DarkKing98
1 people have voted
[X] Go west (no more noise)
- Jrin

Naron · Dec 22, 2017

Primordial Sun: Spell Upgrade

Scorching Sunlight
Level 7 -----> 8 -----> 9
Base Damage: 2,560 -----> 5,120 -----> 10,240
Magic Modifier: 155 -----> 180 -----> 205

Primordial Sun: New Ability

Incandescent Armour
-Add 50% of your Magic Modifier to Damage Reduction

Primordial Sun: Weapon Upgrade

Sunlight Scepter
Level 8 -----> 9 -----> 10
Attacks Per Turn: 2 -----> 3
Base Damage: 41 -----> 51 -----> 63
Magic Modifier: 896 -----> 1612 -----> 2901
Affinities: Sun | Balance
Ability: Modifier Save | Knockback | Detonate

Primordial Sun: Spell Upgrade

Scorching Sunlight
Level 7 -----> 8 -----> 9
Base Damage: 2,560 -----> 5,120 -----> 10,240
Magic Modifier: 155 -----> 180 -----> 205

Primordial Sun: New Ability

Incandescent Armour
-Add 50% of your Magic Modifier to Damage Reduction

(Detonate applies your damage to the surrounding area, reaching about as far as a common grenade)
New Shop Item Unlocked!

Primordial Moon: New Ability

Veil of the Lunar Goddess
Even in the darkest of nights, even if you can not see me, I will watch over you.
Level 0
-Increases Maximum Health and Base Resilience.
-Total End Damage below 25% of your Maximum Health is nullified; immune to mind-altering effects.

Reevaluating Base Stats:
Maximum Health: 100
Base Resilience: 50

Redistributing EXP:
Veil of the Lunar Goddess
Level 0 -----> 1 -----> 2 -----> 3 -----> 4 -----> 5 -----> 6 -----> 7 -----> 8 -----> 9 -----> 10 -----> 11 -----> 12
Maximum Health: 100 -----> 170 -----> 289 -----> 491 -----> 834 -----> 1,417 -----> 2,408 -----> 4,093 -----> 6,958 -----> 11,828 -----> 20,107 -----> 34,181 -----> 58,107
Base Resilience: 50 -----> 100 -----> 150 -----> 200 -----> 250 -----> 300 -----> 350 -----> 400 -----> 450 -----> 500 -----> 550 -----> 600 -----> 650

Primordial Moon: Ability Removed

Lunar Blessing
Level 10
-Increases Primordial Moon's Maximum Health

Maximum Health: 1,600 -----> 100

Primordial Moon: Ability Removed

Protective Silhouette
Level 10
-Increases Primordial Moon's Base Resilience

Base Resilience: 305 -----> 5

Primordial Moon: New Ability

Veil of the Lunar Goddess
Even in the darkest of nights, even if you can not see me, I will watch over you.
Level 0
-Increases Maximum Health and Base Resilience.
-Total End Damage below 25% of your Maximum Health is nullified; immune to mind-altering effects.

Reevaluating Base Stats:
Maximum Health: 100
Base Resilience: 50

Redistributing EXP:
Veil of the Lunar Goddess
Level 0 -----> 1 -----> 2 -----> 3 -----> 4 -----> 5 -----> 6 -----> 7 -----> 8 -----> 9 -----> 10 -----> 11 -----> 12
Maximum Health: 100 -----> 170 -----> 289 -----> 491 -----> 834 -----> 1,417 -----> 2,408 -----> 4,093 -----> 6,958 -----> 11,828 -----> 20,107 -----> 34,181 -----> 58,107
Base Resilience: 50 -----> 100 -----> 150 -----> 200 -----> 250 -----> 300 -----> 350 -----> 400 -----> 450 -----> 500 -----> 550 -----> 600 -----> 650

Primordial Moon: Ability Removed

Lunar Blessing
Level 10
-Increases Primordial Moon's Maximum Health

Maximum Health: 1,600 -----> 100

New Shop-Item Unlocked!

[X] Plan: follow Summer carefully
-[X] Go with Summer (she will go south)
-[X] Stay at a (hopefully safe) distance
-[X] Keep her healthy
-[X] Scorching Sunlight if she encounters an Elite Soldier or sth stronger
--[X] Armor Removal will help her, even if we do not deal damage.
-[X] Try to keep the rabble off her

(Spring's Dream inbound: 20 turns remaining)

"We go with Summer." "We want to help."

Eva is starting to feel whoozy for some reason, so you are the only one who sees Strength shrug in response; the older girl offers you a wide smirk and turns towards the way you came from. "Fair enough, but be careful, yeah? Sorry I can't introduce myself properly right now, but we've got stuff to do. Catch you later."

Strength crouches down and presses her hands onto the ground before you can answer, then she pushes herself forward and rushes down the street. She is far away and out of sight before Summer could even say anything... but she does not seem to do it, anyway.

The second Season is already wandering off, warm air wafting around her and filling everything. "I don't mind if you think you're good enough, but you better not slow me down. I don't have time for that."

Mean...
So mean...

You quickly nod at her and get up to run along, Ludger right after you; it might get dangerous though, so you keep your distance to not get caught in whatever might happen. You feel a little bad to make her your shield, but she is probably stronger than you.

(Spring's Dream inbound: 18 turns remaining)

But while you rush over the street, you can feel something weird happening with Eva. Her gleam is flickering, fading out and getting brighter... and then it stops, receding back below her skin. The shadow over her face peels off and...

"Eva?"

And then light explodes from her and brightens the night, even making your own shine appear like a little lightbulb for but an instant.

When it returns to normal and coalesces around your twin, there is nothing hiding her anymore. She shines brighter than ever before either way, her eyes ablaze with the same light. Even when it flickers out and back to normal not much later, too... you never saw anything that great before.

I feel so weird. So... full?
You can sense how much power starts to glow in your sister, gently connected to your own light.

A shiver goes through you and your gaze is drawn upwards, to the moon. Is it shining brighter than usual? Is it... blue?
You blink and it is back to its usual white. Huh. Did you imagine that?

Uh... where is Summer?
Hm?

You look around and the older girl is nowhere to be seen; there are flashes coming from up ahead, though. Night becomes day between those buildings, but whatever happens is hidden from your eyes.

(Spring's Dream inbound: 14 turns remaining)

You get running again; there are lots of large domes here, arranged in wide patterns and with some of them connected by runways further above. The streets become more disrupted and -is that blood?

You quickly ignore the red and purple splashes all around... and then you come to a large courtyard, with Summer in its center and... molten earth in several places. The Magical Girl does not even have a scratch and carefully looks around, but there is no one else there.

She turns to you once you come closer though... and you can see her eyes widen from where you stand.

Not good!

Whatever it is, it is behind you. Both you and Eva leap to the sides and speed up with your wings, a big explosion ripping up the earth where you stood before.

You land on your belly and scrape along, Eva does the same some way behind you and Ludger barks from where you came -oh good, he is safe.

"No, you won't! Fallen-"

(Dragon's Maw: +22,500 Base Damage, -950 All Life Dies, no dice = 21,550 Total Damage
Primordial Moon: +650 Base Resilience, + 10 dice, -650 On The Ground, -495 Juggernaut = 485 Additional Damage

22,035 Total End Damage

Primordial Moon Health: 58,107 - 22,035 = 36,072)

It hurts!
"-Ember!"

Pain erupts from your sister in time with the wave of hot air rolling over you and you can feel your whole body tingling. Then another wave flies by, this one made of radiant light much like your own.

(Fallen Ember: +34500 Base Damage, +8910 Avatar of Regency, +12152 Spell Boost, +12152 Avatar of Regency, +12152 Avatar of Regency, +500 Hostile Legend Effect, +31682 dice = 112,048 Damage
Fallen Ember: +34500 Base Damage, +3594 Avatar of Regency, +19570 Spell Boost, +19570 Avatar of Regency, +19570 Avatar of Regency, +500 Hostile Legend Effect, +23680 dice = 120,984 Damage

233,032 Total Damage
??? RPG Carrier: +14160 Base Resilience, +1000 in cover, -7580 Unstoppable (False), no dice = 7,580 Total Damage Reduction

225,452 Final End Damage

??? RPG Carrier Health: 106,200 - 225,452 = -119,252)

The light makes everything bright, the rubble and grass and so much blood Eva!
The sight burns itself into your eyes even when you can feel the wave of searing heat -hurts- at your side, where a part of one building is molten to the ground. Half her skin is burned away and the flesh beneath charred black. Light flickers around her form.

You quickly get to your feet and stumble over to your screaming sister; her voice is thick with tears and oh god her everything is covered in blood and there must be so much broken and-

(Spring's Dream inbound: 13 turns remaining)
(All Life Prospers: Eva Health: 36,072 + 1,000 = 37,072)

-it gets a little weaker. The air was warm before, but now it becomes even more; you can feel it soothe Eva's pain with every shaky breath she takes.

Urgh, you want to hug her and make the pain go away, but -pain!- you know that will only make it worse. Why can't you do anything?

Summer is by your side really quickly and gives Eva a quick look before tapping you with her staff. "I'll go ahead by myself, you watch over your sis. She'll be back up in a few minutes, okay?"

Your own eyes sting with unshed tears; you want to cry, you really want to. Seeing your twin like this hurts more than anything you ever had to feel before. But crying will not help right now, so you look up at Summer and try to get the shaking out of your voice. "Promise?"

"Promise."
She says it without even thinking and offers you a wider smile. Eva whimpers and curls up into a little, shiny, bloody ball. But you trust Summer.

"Okay."
You slowly wipe your face and force yourself to stand, Ludger by your feet in one moment and quickly taking position by Eva's side the next. He is a good dog and you have to pet him a lot when this is all over.

Summer nods at the sight and turns around before running off towards the largest domes you can see around without another word.

(Spring's Dream inbound: 12 turns remaining)
(All Life Prospers: Eva Health: 37,072 + 1,000 = 38,072)

You make sure to look at as much of the surroundings as possible in-between trying to soothe Eva and make her hurt less. Wounds close slowly and you can feel the stinging from her end grow weaker.

The building that your attacker was on lost one of its walls... Summer cut through it in a diagonal slash, as if she swung a big sword. There is nothing left of what she cut off though, just a weird smell and ash. No fire, either.

Nothing moves, but you keep up your quiet watch. There is something really big lying near one of the walls, with a lot of holes in it... and it looks gross just from what little light you have to see it. But it does not move and you have to keep watch.

(Spring's Dream inbound: 6 turns remaining)
(All Life Prospers: Eva Health: 38,072 + 6,000 = 44,072)

It gets better after a minute or two, just like Summer promised; Eva's wounds close and all the pain in her body grows weaker; weak enough for her to think straight again.

Urgh, it still hurts...
There there, I'm here.

Your sister lies still and slowly takes her scepter from Ludger; he went and brought it back after she dropped it before. Eva is quiet and you try your best to keep her mind warm. Don't think about it too much.

You already learned that lesson... thinking back to how much it hurt does not help.
You're right.

While your sister takes up her scepter and starts healing herself, you return to watching everything. No one hurts Eva any more.

But the only thing you do hear now is the sound of someone walking and... sobbing? Yes, there is someone crying.
Turning to the path Summer took earlier, you can see her closing in on you again.

(Spring's Dream inbound: 3 turns remaining)
(All Life Prospers + Soothing Moonlight: Eva Health: 44,072 + 3,000 +6,700 = 53,772)

Only when she comes closer do you see it. And smell it. That irony scent you had to smell so often the past few weeks... Summer is sprinkled in blood, half her face and clothes is a deep red and there are... bits clinging to her robe.

And she carries a just as bloody girl in her arms, small and with bright leaves growing from her body. She does not react to you and continues to cry into Summer's shoulder... thank goodness, you thought she is dead.

The older girl does not say anything, she only grimaces your way and then takes a look at Eva before nodding. Your sister is fine on the outside again... and most of the pain on the inside is gone, too.

"Nothing happened."
You tell her anyway, even though she can probably see it.

"Mhm, that's good. I guess we got most of them... serves them right for barging in."
She holds the other girl tight and rolls her eyes before looking back and forth between you and her, contemplating... but not saying anything in the end.

Huh, what was that about?

(Spring's Dream inbound: 1 turns remaining)
(All Life Prospers + Soothing Moonlight: Eva Health: 58,107)

You decide not to ask. At least not about what she is thinking. "Why is there blood all over you? Are you hurt?"

Summer shrugs, or at least tries to. It does not really work with a crying girl in her arms. "Not really, the plants just make a giant mess if you hit them... and those fools hit them a lot."

You tilt your head and try to make sense of it, but there is none. Eva has no idea, either. She is back to her feet by now, though... actually, all of you are caked in drying blood now. Eww.

Then you feel something lift you... not really, but you feel so light all of a sudden; as if you could do everything and have time left. Eva stretches and Ludger shakes himself... and Summer smiles. "It was about time for her to wake up."

"For who?"
She turns back to you while shifting the girl a little... the sobbing has grown quiet by now, too. "Spring, of course. Who else but a Season could produce that kind of effect?"

Huh. So three out of four are now there?
"Um... why are you appearing one after the other?"

There is silence for a while and you decide that you rather ask something else, so you point at that thing by the wall right when the lights flicker back on. "What's that?"

The girl Summer holds has been looking up at your previous question and you can see her swollen face for a moment... then she turns, sees whatever that mountain of flesh is... and sobs before curling up again.

Summer looks over there, too. Then she sighs and carefully strokes the girl's back, the staff still in her hand. "That... was one of Flower's friends. Let's go, we should get over to the dorms."
Then her eyes wander over to you. "Or do you still want to help out?"

[] This is enough; go to the dorms with Summer
(north [no noise, confirmed Magical Girls; safe zone])

[] Help Spring look for survivors
(south [quiet])

[] Comb through the city to look for enemies hiding
(east [no more noise, no further data])

[] Make sure Autumn is safe
(west [cleared?])

[] Write-in

[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it

=====

Allies:
-Primordial Moon: 58,107 / 58,107; okay, covered in blood (your own)
-Primordial Sun: 1,100 / 1,100; ready, covered in blood (your own and others) [Modifier roll of 859 saved]
-Autumn's Dream: Unharmed
-Summer's Dream: Unharmed, covered in blood
-Transcendent Strength: ???
-Ludger: 120/120; ready, covered in blood (others)
-Budding Flower: Unharmed, breakdown, covered blood

Enemies:
-Soldiers, unknown occupation
--7,650 Health, 1,020 Base Resilience; weapons: Carbines and Assault Rifles
---7 dead, 8 captured, ??? active

-Elite Soldiers (Squad Leaders), unknown occupation
--78,450 Health, 10,460 Base Resilience; melee weapons
---2 dead, 0 captured, ??? active

-RPG Carrier, unknown occupation
--106,200 Health, 14,160 Base Resilience, weapons: rocket launcher
---1 dead, 0 captured, ??? active

Surroundings:
-mostly superficial damage to the city; cracked/broken walls
--gardening domes were hit harder
-buildings are mostly made of metal and glass, but there are some made out of bricks
-light switched back on
-no fires
-noise is mostly gone, the city is quiet

Active Auras:
-Autumn's Dream, All Life Succumbs: Enemy attacks have their Total Damage reduced by 950
-Summer's Dream, All Life Prospers: Allies regain 1,000 Health each turn.
-Spring's Dream, All Life Wakes: Allies gain +4 ApT

Time until the next Season takes to the field: 12 turns

=====

+15xp (Got) Caught (In) The Ambush Meant For Summer
+5xp Now You Got Hurt, Too (Only Eva)
+10xp Saved Budding Flower
+5xp Met Budding Flower

EXP gained: 35 + 30 = 65
Total EXP: 133

=====

(Unlocked Level 0 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Budding Flower)

Naron · Dec 31, 2017

[X] Plan: What Eva does best
-[X] Help Spring look for survivors (south [quiet])
-[X] Eva Takes the lead
-[X] Keep an eye out for hidden enemies
-[X] Eva heals anyone injured they come across

(Winter's Dream inbound: 12 turns remaining)

You return her look with determination. "We want to help as much as we can."
Summer... smiles. You do not know why, but she does.

"Alright then. And what exactly do you want to do?"
You fall into step by her side, quick but not yet running down the streets towards... uh... is that the central plaza again?

To be honest, you really want to wash off all that sticky stuff and cuddle your sister for a while. Thinking back to that burning pain makes you shudder again despite the warmth rolling over you from Rico.
But there are still people that need help.

"You said Spring is here, right? We can go help her do stuff."
Yes, just like you 'helped' Summer?

"Mhm... that would be good, having another healer to back her up."
Then Summer's gaze stops on your own face -oh, you're frowning. It does not go away fast enough, she definitely saw that. That is not good.

"You did well back there, even if that went pretty bad."

Her words are calm and she gives you a stern look when you blink up at her. "That ambush was meant for me... or someone as strong as me. It really wouldn't have killed me, but that guy might have stopped me long enough to not make it to Flower in time. If nothing else, you getting hit instead of me saved her life."

Oh.

(Winter's Dream inbound: 11 turns remaining)

"So if nothing else, you can be proud of being alive and well after getting hit by something of that caliber."
Her words are... not soothing, but they make you feel a little better. The girl in Summer's arms peeks down at you and Rico smiles up at her while you mull it over. If it means you helped someone... it is not okay to get hurt like that, but not as bad as before.

And then another girl comes running down the road, right towards you.

You only take a single look and know she is Spring. She has to be.
So pretty!

And when she comes closer, you can see her smiling as she slows down and lowers her dress back to the ground. "All clear?"
"All clear."

Summer smirks down at your awed expressions, but... Spring starts frowning while looking over you. "Oh dear, all of you need a bath after we're done here. Should I-" "Nah, I'll take Flower. Those two want to go with you, so humour them. Moon has healing magic, so you'll like the help."

"Is that so?"

(Winter's Dream inbound: 10 turns remaining)

Spring's expression wanders from frowning to surprised to... happy, maybe? She smiles again and her eyes seem to shine a bit while she waves for you to follow her, the flowers on her arm jiggling a little from the motion. "Come along then, girls. We're looking for survivors."

""'Kay!""
"Woof!"

Ludger yips again and happily trots after Spring. You giggle at the sight and follow her, too.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

(Winter's Dream inbound: 5 turns remaining)

You were going fast, rushing through the streets and checking the few bodies you found. You have no idea how Spring can run that fast in a dress, but she does.

But there is no one still alive... you checked all the places where things were broken, and... the only place left is the big dome ahead and it stinks terribly. Ludger whines and Rico can smell it, too. This is... like Autumn, but really, really, really really bad.

It looks horrifying when you walk through the broken door; there is blood and bits and ugh everywhere! It smells irony and sweetly and you almost choke on how full the air is with that stink. Spring shudders, too... but then she shakes her head and carries on.

You follow her like you said you would, Rico taking your hand.

Inside is... worse. Flesh lies everywhere and you can see some stumps of it still in the ground. Hundreds... no, thousands of flies are all over the place.

At least there is only one group of bodies... and a large, free area that looks a bit molten. Was that Summer?

You quickly rush after Spring and -what's that? It is big, like really big. Bigger than your house and probably dead and... also decomposing, just like everything else. But it is also slimy and... and one of its arms -no hands, is that really an arm?- still holds on to a human arm.

(Winter's Dream inbound: 4 turns remaining)

"A survivor!"
Rico called it; she goes on to the next to check their pulse like you saw Spring do while the both of you huddle over the person... ow, she only has one arm and one leg and lost a lot of blood.

It makes you sad to see someone hurt like this... but then a kind light starts to glow when Spring gently lays her hands on their head. "Revitalise."

(Revitalise: 32,000 Base Damage Healed, +~~4735~~ ~~4712~~ ~~17789~~ ~~dice~~ 35578 Avatar of Nature = 67,578 Total Damage Healed
??? Soldier Health: 5 + 67,578 = 7,650 max + 59,933 Overheal = 67,583

Body Modifiers removed, debuffs removed)

You can see it happen within the blink of an eye, wounds closing and even limbs regrowing. There are no clothes on those, but they are fine and that person looks alright now. You do not even have to do anything, but... this is what magic can do?

You want to do that, too.

The older Magical Girl giggles once she looks at you and nudges you to follow, which you do. But you already know all the others are dead, Rico checked.

Once your sister gets to shake her head at Spring, she nods and goes to pick up the one person you saved. "Let's go, girls... this is no place to stay."

You try to keep pace with her on the way out. "Can you teach me how to do that?"
Her eyes flick down to you and Spring giggles, how mean! You just want to learn how to heal like that, too!

"Ehehe, I don't mind giving you a hand if we have some time. Just... remind me of that, yes? I'll probably forget it."
"Okay."

(Winter's Dream inbound: 1 turns remaining)

The city is still quiet when you leave the dome, but both of you take a deep breath of the fresh air. Spring does the same and sighs. "Poor Flower... that was her home back there."

So you were right with that thought.

"I'm sure she will be okay."
You offer Spring a smile of your own and she nods in return, but you can see that little bit of a frown on her face and the spark of sadness in her eyes.

"Yeah, you're right... it will take her a while, though. Let's... hm."

She pauses when a chill creeps past the three of you. What is that? You did not even shiver, but there was definitely something...

"Looks like Winter is up."

You are almost out of the place again -Spring said you only need to check where people fought- when the older girl stops. You can see the vine on her arm wiggle a bit... then she sets down the soldier and gives you a look. "What do you girls say about catching some bad guys?"

That sounds great! You both nod and ready your scepters, but Spring just raises her hands to make you wait and looks up... there is nothing, though.

"See, this is how we will go at it: I will fly up there and wait until they shoot at me. Once they do, you two fly over to where they shot from and knock them out."

Huh?
But...
"You will get hurt!" "I can do that!"

Spring turns to Rico first and offers her a wide smile before patting both of your heads. "No need, I'm sturdy. I couldn't forgive myself if I let you do this. Just make sure you catch them, yes?"

You don't like that.
Not at all.

But you said you would do as she says. So you nod.

"Good girls. Revitalise!"

(Revitalise: 32,000 Base Damage Healed, +~~15411~~ ~~30666~~ ~~7541~~ ~~dice~~ 61332 Avatar of Nature = 93,332 Total Damage Healed
Spring's Dream Health: 46,200 + 93,332 = 46,200 max + 93,332 Overheal = 139,532)

She lays hands on herself and starts to shine; her flowers open and bloom before she offers you another smile while Rico tells Ludger to sit and wait for you.

"Ready? Here goes!"
And then her flowers begin to shine a bit before she leaps off and dashes into the sky. It only takes a moment until a bright beam hits her.

(Sky Ruler 1&2: +8000 Base Damage, +2000 Danmaku, +2000 Danmaku, +2000 Danmaku, +2000 Danmaku, +2000 Danmaku, +2000 Danmaku, +2000 Danmaku, +2000 Danmaku, +2000 Danmaku, +2000 Danmaku, -950 All Life Succumbs, no dice, x6 Anti-Air = 162,300 Total Damage per piece

324,600 Unified Damage

Spring's Dream: +13200 Base Resilience, +13200 A Sister's Love, +53 ~~138~~ ~~962~~ ~~dice~~ 1924 Avatar of Nature = 28,324 Total Damage Reduction

296,276 Total End Damage

Avatar of Nature (90%): 29,628 Total End Damage
A Sister's Prayer (50%): 14,814 Total End Damage

14,814 Final End Damage

Spring's Dream Health: 139,532 - 14,814 = 124,718)

A myriad of bright beams hit her straight in the chest and the sky roars... but you can see that it does nothing to Spring, simply soaking into her skin where they hit her without a trace. Knowing that she is safe, you quickly fly up and towards where the beams came from.

Rico sees them first, moving slowly... one is swinging their weapon around!
You can't just... you have to... "Scorching Sunlight!"

Rico pulses more light at the same moment and the ray of light flies towards its target. It grows bigger than before, even more so with the additional power from your sister.

(Scorching Sunlight: +10240 Base Damage, +117 dice = ~~10,357~~ 15,545 Radiance
??? Anti-Air Gunner 1: +8860 Base Resilience, no dice = 8,860 Total Damage Reduction

6,685 Final End Damage

??? Anti Air Gunner 1 Health: 66,450 - 6,685 = 59,765

Burn: 1 Stack
Armour damaged)

Just like with Summer's Spells before, night becomes day for but a moment. The soldier's armour melts away from their body when the light impacts them and throws them backwards. The other one can not even react in time when you dart past them and swing for the one that only just managed to get back up.

(Moonlight Scepter: +170 Base Damage, +42 Discipline, +45 dice = 255 Total Damage
Sunlight Scepter: +63 Base Damage, +15 Discipline, +2464 dice = 2,542 Total Damage

2,797 Unified Damage, x2 Complete Connection = 5,594 Total Damage

??? Anti-Air Gunner 1: +8860 Base Resilience, -5759 Armour Removal, -4430 holyshitwhatthefuck, no dice = 1,329 Extra Damage

6,923 Final End Damage

??? Anti-Air Gunner 1 Health: 59,765 - 6,923 = 52,842)

The soldier has no chance to get out of the way, you just smash your weapons into their chest and... Rico's scepter pulses even more light.

(Moon gets hit by Detonate

Sunlight Scepter: +63 Base Damage, +15 Discipline, +2464 dice = 2,542 Total Damage
Primordial Moon: +650 Base Resilience, +46 dice = 696 Total Damage Reduction

1,864 Total End Damage
Veil of the Lunar Goddess: Attack Negated

No damage)

But it just washes over you like nothing, tickling a little. The soldier is thrown over the edge of the building and falls...

(The Ground: +0 Base Damage, +30000 Gravity is Your Head's Friend = 30,000 Total Damage
??? Anti-Air Gunner 1: +8860 Base Resilience, -5759 Armour Removal, -200 Incoherent Screaming = 2,901Total Damage Reduction

27,099 Final End Damage

??? Anti-Air Gunner 1 Health: 52,842 - 27,099 = 25,743
Knocked out)

You can only hear them screaming as they sail down. But the other one-

(Reaper's Crest: +11250 Base Damage, +11250 A Sister's Love, +212 dice, +3712 Back Attack, +500 Hostile Legend Effect = 26,924 Total Damage
??? Anti-Air Gunner 2: +8860 Base Resilience, -350 Did Not See it Coming = 8,510 Total Damage Reduction

18,414 Final End Damage

??? Anti-Air Gunner 2 Health: 66,450 - 18,414 = 48,036
Frozen)

-freezes in place when a dagger suddenly sticks in their shoulder and a girl becomes visible behind them. Blood oozes out before freezing solid and you feel the cold even over where you stand. At least Rico is warm...

She gives you a quick look before pulling out her weapon and turning to the side, where Spring lands with a bright smile. "Any others?"

"Nope, none."
Spring turns to you and gives a thumbs up. "Nice work, girls. I think your dog ran over to the guy you threw over the edge."

Then she looks at the person still with you... huh, they are not moving at all, but you can see them breathing shakily.
"Hm... say, would you mind taking care of this one? I have to look for the other one."

When she sees your looks, she offers another smile. "Just take off his gear and patch him up; you make sure they don't get hurt, Winter."
"No problem. There don't seem to be any more of them either way."

So she is Winter's Dream...

Heh, now you met all four of them. In just a few hours no less. But... work. You can be happy later.

Rico already goes about wrenching the large gun from the soldier, using her scepter to pry it out of their hands.
There are some cracks in the armour now, but that is probably fine. "Soothing Moonlight!"

(Soothing Moonlight: +2167 Base Damage, +61 dice = 2,228 Total Damage Healed
??? Anti-Air Gunner 2: 48,748 + 2,228 = 50,976

Freeze cured)

Your light washes around the stiff form and the cold goes away, letting them move again. Winter is right behind you and keeps an eye on the soldier and they... slowly put their hands in the air?

What does that mean?
No idea.
Huh.
Weird. People are weird.

You look to Winter, but she just nods back at you... so you continue healing. Ugh, this will take a while...

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

(??? Anti-Air Gunner 2 Health: 66,450)

This is so frustrating... you needed so long to finish this up that Spring got back with the soldier you defeated, healed them up and got the other one she laid down earlier up where you are now, too.

Rico used the time to get Ludger... he is currently sitting on top of one of the unconcious people as if he beat them himself. Aww...

You also notice that there is a big black spot on the ground where you hit the other soldier; none of the other girls said anything about it, but it bothers you. Was that the light from Rico that tickled you?

"Things got a lot easier once you showed up."
That is Spring talking to Winter; the older girls are keeping an eye on things, but there is nothing happening.

But that brings you back...

"Excuse me?"
"Hm? Yes?"

Bah! Rico, stop doing my ideas first!
Uh... sorry?
You're not sorry!

You poke your twin a few times while she looks up at Spring in open curiousity. "Summer wouldn't say... why were you showing up one by one?"

Both girls immediately look away and... Winter blushes a little? It is hard to see with her hood on, but Rico produces enough light to notice.

"Ah, well..."
Spring blushes, too. What is going on now?

"...Summer and I went out drinking yesterday and Spring always takes a while to wake up. It's not... the most glorious of reasons."

Drinking? Drinking what?
Probably alcohol.
Oh.

"Oh, I thought it was something weird again. Rico is groggy in the morning, too."

Hey!
Ehehe, that's what you get for stealing my ideas.

You giggle over the look Rico throws at you and Spring does the same. Winter just... no, she is not frowning. You look for the corners of her lips and see them curled upwards; so she just does not smile much, like Bianca.

"We should get going... most of the area should be clear, but we have to wait until we find Ana before we can do a proper sweep."

Huh, Ana... funny, that's the same name you call Anastasia by.

"Yeah."
Spring gives everything one more look before turning to the soldier that is still standing there and watching you. "I hope you don't intend to make this difficult. Please turn around and move your arms behind your back."

The soldier does as told without a word and the vine around Spring's arm coils before darting towards them. It quickly winds around their wrists a few times before pulling taut. "Wonderful. Please follow my directions. Winter, pass me one of the others."

The other Season does as told before picking up the third soldier by herself, then she waves for you to follow them.

. . .
Line Break Recognised
. . .

You went for the central plaza first after telling Spring that you have to get your things. Now that it is safe, you do not want them to just lie around. After picking up the backpacks, you carry on in the direction you never went... or... okay, one of them.

And then there is a spider and Rico is two metres in the air with a squeak.

Rico! It's just a tiny spidy!
No!
Aww...

Spring looks where you are looking and giggles. "Afraid of spiders, aren't you? Come here, little one!"

And then... the spider scurries over to Spring, climbs on her hand and sits on one of the roses as if it was normal. Ohh! You want to hold one, too.

No, Eva! Don't, I don't wanna feel that!

You snicker inwardly and continue following the older girls... only to find more and more spiders hiding all around. They sit in small holes and and under leaves and there are a few strands of webs along the ground. Rico really does not like that.

Eww...

Ludger yips happily and shuffles around some leaves, making the spiders scatter. A few keep sitting where they are and he sniffs them before yipping again and running back to you. Wait, that one was pretty big... almost as big as his head.

Huh.
"What's with all those spiders?"

Before anyone can answer Rico's question, you round a corner and a huge spiderweb comes into view. The threads connecting it to the buildings are as thick as your arms and... there is a lot of girls sitting below it, looking your way with -so many people!

SO MANY SPIDERS! WHY!
Rico...

You shake your head from how loud your sister screams in your head. Light flickers over her scepter, but you keep her from casting spells at the little spidies. You can see the girl Summer saved earlier over there, too... but she is huddled over and does not look up.

Then you notice the soldiers wrapped into the web in several places. Spring even leads the one she has bound over there and... wait, how did you not see the girl up there?

"Thanks, Chi!"
"Not for that, Spring. Prison of Silk!"

And as you watch, she shoots a long stream of spiderwebs at the soldier that wrap around them and tie them up neat. Then she connects the threads with the big one and lifts them up there to the others. The same thing happens to the two unconcious soldiers.

Winter turns to you in the meantime: "This is Magical Girl Chitin Dancer, our seamstress. Every spider in this city is hers, so please treat them well."
"Urgh..."

Rico, be nice.
But... but spiders!
But they're nice spiders!
I don't believe it!

You sigh over her stubborness before picking up one of the bigger ones and putting it on your head.

See?

It just sits there and taps around a few times. Rico looks down from where she is in the air. After a few seconds, she comes down a little bit.

Don't be afraid, the miss makes them be nice.

A bit more and a bit more... until your sister is standing on the ground again. You know you are still being watched by a lot of people, but that is alright.

Then the clacking of heels on the ground makes you turn to where Summer and Strength are walking down another road. "Looks like the others beat us to it. Who is missing, Chi?"

The girl in white looks up from her newest catch and takes a few steps on the web without much thought to it. "Hm. Give me a moment."

Spiders start wandering around while Strength and Summer turn to you. Strength opens her mouth to say something, but then she just... stops. Her eyes are wide all of a sudden and she is staring at... you?

"Is some-"
Strength whimpers and stumbles backwards, falling onto her butt and still crawling away from you. She is so pale all of a sudden and -did I do something?

"Strength?"
Everyone noticed, but Spring is the only one who says anything. She slowly inches to the shaking girl and touches her shoulder, only for-

(Essence of Pain: +33600 Base Damage, +1609 dice, -16800 Kneejerk Reaction = 18,409 Total Damage
Spring's Dream: ~~+13200 Base Resilience, +13200 A Sister's Love, +53 138~~ ~~962 dice 1924 Avatar of Nature = 28,324 Total Damage Reduction~~ Unstoppable

18,409 Total End Damage

Avatar of Nature (90%): 1,841 Total End Damage
A Sister's Prayer (50%): 921 Total End Damage

921 Final End Damage

Spring's Dream Health: 46,200 - 921 = 45,379)

-Strength to hit her in the face with a shriek.

You saw her crushing a person with a single punch before as if it was nothing... but this time, her fist only hits halfway and does little more than graze Spring's skin a bit... and Strength shudders before blinking at Spring and then everyone else. "What... oh shit, sorry."

She quickly lowers her arms to the ground and leans closer to check on Spring while you hide behind Winter just in case, but... Spring just waves it off and heals what little damage the other girl did away.

"It's okay. What was that?"
"...I... bad memory, nothing else. Sorry."

Spring looks like she wants to say something, but she keeps quiet after all and nods. Then Strength looks at where you are peeking out from behind Winter -who does not seem to care either way. "Hey, uh... sorry about that. Come on out, please?"

Rico giggles at how sheepish she sounds all of a sudden. Huh... all the tension is gone again. You slowly come out of your hiding place and have Strength blink at you a few times before she shakes her head and mutters something to herself.

"...Ana and Arc are still missing, everyone else is accounted for."

Chitin Dancer chimes into the sudden silence and makes everyone turn back to her. Spiders crawl under her dress and up her legs...

Eww.
Rico!

"Wait, Arc too?"
The mood suddenly shifts further and you can see Spring, Summer and Winter tense. Who is that girl? Another strong one? What do you do now, should you go looking for them?

Then... Rico sees something.
"Found them."

Eva!
Ha!

You try your best not to smirk while pointing down the road where another figure comes walking... with a girl in her arms. Everyone turns almost as one and Strength almost explodes forward, bringing herself to halt next to the stumbling girl.

Wait, now that she stands under a lamp...

This is Anastasia. Your friend is here, too!
But why is she crying?

You make your way over with the Seasons while Strength carefully takes the girl in her own large hands... no, just one hand. She strokes your friend's back with the other one.

Ana is covered in blood -just like all of you are- and her belly is all swollen and her cute outfit is ripped everywhere and she is still crying and -you stop. Spring made it there first and swept her in a hug already. Ana sniffles and hugs her back... you better leave her be for now. She did not even see you yet, so it can wait.

Summer and Winter have already turned away to do something back where all the other girls are.

You leave Rico and Ludger to wait, then go help Strength look over the other girl. She is not transformed, unconcious and does not look good.

With light flowing through your scepter, you make sure that she is not actually hurt -thank goodness. The bruises go away and you can feel that she will be alright, so you offer Strength a smile and a nod. She still eyes you with this weird look, but that is okay.

The spider on your head crawls down to your shoulder and then onto your arm towards... oh. You extend a hand to Strength's shoulder and the little one wanders over there quickly. Heh, it is cute.

Is not!
Is too!

"T-They tried t-to take her away..."
Ana does little more than whisper, hiccupping from suppressed tears and still hugging Spring.

You look back to the unconcious girl and then to Ana. She protected her?
"...I see."

Strength thinks about something after saying that... and Spring starts petting Ana's white hair. "There there, it's okay. You protected Arc, right?"
"Yes..."
"And you did good. How about we finish this up and get everyone a nice long bath?"

You can not see Spring's face, but Ana has her eyes closed and still grips her dress hard; how did it not tear yet?

"...can I have the ducky?"
"Heh, sure."
"Okay..."

Spring giggles a bit and turns to the others -when did Autumn get here?
"Girls, you're on cleaning duty for now. I'm sorry we have to cut the night short, but there's a lot of work for us come morning."

There is chorus of "Okay"'s and all the girls get moving. Strength leaves the other one -Arc- with a sinister-looking girl that has a big thing of blue and black steel flying around herself, then she walks off into the building. Summer, Winter and Autumn do the same after a moment of exchanging looks.

You can see two of the girls comforting the one you met earlier. They stroke her back and keep her warm and... they are really nice to people here.

What should you do?

"Do you want to come too?"

Spring looks at you now... and Ana does, too. But she does not seem to... oh, you never told her you are Magical Girls too, did you?
But... should you go bathing now or later? Maybe you should bring your stuff somewhere first? Or can that wait?

Huh...

City of (Broken) Dreams - Mission Report

Attackers Neutralised: 129/150
Attackers Captured: 21/150
Attackers Escaped: 0/150

Magical Girl Transcendent Strength: Intact
Magical Girl Autumn's Dream: Intact
Magical Girl Summer's Dream: Intact
Magical Girl Spring's Dream: Intact
Magical Girl Winter's Dream: Intact

Magical Girl Primordial Sun: Intact
Magical Girl Primordial Moon: Intact, but shaken
Ludger: Has never been better

Magical Girl Budding Flower: Recovered Alive, dearly shaken
Apocalypse Birdie 1,2,3: Dead
The Hound: Dead
Magical Girl Grand Architect: Recovered Alive, traumatised
Magical Girl World Eater: Intact, but severely traumatised

"What can I tell you? We fight because there is no other way. Everyone is fighting today and tomorrow and the day after, that's what is for us to change. If we fight, the day after tomorrow might go around without battle. Even if it hurts, we must not stop; we are hope for our people, you two and I. War is something where no one wins... but if we win it fast enough, everyone loses less."

-Magical Girl Transcendent Will, 'For a Better Future'

Mission Rating: Good

[] Go join the other girls

[] Get settled in first

[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it

=====

+125xp Met Spring's Dream
+10xp Senpai!!! (Only Eva)
+25xp 1 ??? Anti-Air Gunner
+125xp Met Winter's Dream
+100 Met all four Seasons.
+10xp Met Chitin Dancer
+10xp Dodged a ~~Bullet~~ Fist
+15xp No One (Important) Died!
+30xp First Mission Complete

EXP gained: 440 + 450 = 890
Total EXP: 1023

=====

(Unlocked Level 0 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Spring's Dream)
(Unlocked Level 0 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Winter's Dream)
(Unlocked Level 0 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Chitin Dancer)
(Updated World Eater's Character Sheet)

=====

You actually beat someone there; although you mostly just assisted, gravity did most of the work. That and the fact their capabilities were crippled beyond good and evil by the Seasons.

Libra's Lament, a Magical Girl Quest [Complete]

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