Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)
- Thread starter Silently Watches
- Start date
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
I went ahead and changed it anyway. I don't know what makes the bracket version more efficient, but I'll take Xon's word for it.
Nah. If you die here, I don't get to do Arc 13, and by golly I'm doing that arc whether you like it or not!
- Location
- Ural, Russia, Earth
Calamity's Knight Armor was improved to Plot Armor.
Excellent time to join Impact team and punch Levi in the face repeatedly.
FailLord
2050 lb bombs?
- Location
- very high up
While spamming high level spells
Oh, just because we won't die in this fight doesn't mean we'll 100% avoid bad things happening to us or those we (IC) care about, imo.
Indeed. As a reminder Sam is, somehow, considered expendable so odds are a "CW would die" event on the table is replaced with a "Sam dies for CW" event.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Oh yes, I am in a very target-rich environment when it comes to QM retaliation.
Keep playing like you don't have assurances of MC plot armor, and Leviathan doesn't get serious and start exploding characters you like.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Two updates. First, I for some reason that I seriously honestly don't know went checking the Nanoha wiki, and apparently the canonical spelling of the petrifying spell is Mistilteinn. So that's fixed now and we'll see how many times I misspell it
Second, my muse must have smoked some reeeaaal good shit because the chapter's… done? Needs some proofreading because I'm sure I missed something somewhere, but it might be up as early as tomorrow afternoon.
Second, my muse must have smoked some reeeaaal good shit because the chapter's… done? Needs some proofreading because I'm sure I missed something somewhere, but it might be up as early as tomorrow afternoon.
- Location
- Georgia
Two updates. First, I for some reason that I seriously honestly don't know went checking the Nanoha wiki, and apparently the canonical spelling of the petrifying spell is Mistilteinn. So that's fixed now and we'll see how many times I misspell it
Second, my muse must have smoked some reeeaaal good shit because the chapter's… done? Needs some proofreading because I'm sure I missed something somewhere, but it might be up as early as tomorrow afternoon.
When reading through the back logs, I noticed the mispelling. Later on, you noticed it, too, and said you fixed it. I did not check the character sheet to see if you fixed it correctly, though. Not that I've ever fixed an error with a new error before.... =P
Thunderstorm 12.3
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
[] Damage plan
-[]FULL POWER TOTAL DESTRUCTION. It works for Nanoha!
Thunderstorm 12.3
The glow of the teleporter fades away to reveal yet another rooftop, though this one is being pounded by rain that comes down in sheets. Unlike Canberra, where daylight still reigned and the clouds are limited to the horizon, Sydney's skies are smothered by the storm. You blink away the rain that is already trying to soak you to the bone. «Storm, any chance you can keep the rain off me?»
Instantly you get the feeling of something sliding across your skin, and the rain runs down your arms and legs without touching you.
«I love you,» Samantha projects, and you turn around to find her scowling with her hair plastered to her face and her tail sodden, «but right now, I really don't like you.»
"Get into position!" Legend shouts.
A tap on your shoulder pulls your attention from the surroundings, and you turn to find a familiar blue cloak and bodysuit. "Can I get a ride?" asks Cailleach.
"Sure." You give her a second look and then another at your arms. You are well aware of the other girl's dimensions thanks to dancing with her at that party the Beasts crashed a few months back, and even though she's thin, you are no brawny weight-lifter, nor do you have a spell to increase your strength. Thinking about your spells, though, another idea crosses your mind. Code spinning into existence, you have enough time to pass on a quick warning. "Don't panic."
"Don't panic about— Whaaa!"
The other girl floats off the ground thanks to your telekinesis, and you grab her in a princess carry as you take to the air. She clings to your neck for a long moment before visibly forcing herself to relax. "Don't. Do that. Again," she grits out.
You give her a sheepish smile. "Sorry, but you asked for a lift. This is the only way I can pick somebody up and carry them."
"If you dislike it that much, say the word and Calamity Witch can drop you," Samantha says with a smile.
Cailleach whips her head around to stare at you, her wide eyes visible even with her domino mask and heavy hood. "She's joking," you assure her. "I'm not going to drop you."
The streets below you are little more than blurs, but even so you can see enough to know that the streets are clogged with the assembled mass of the city's inhabitants. No doubt they are headed to shelters similar to those found in Brockton Bay and Philadelphia, and no doubt just like your hometowns the people here do not care about heading to the shelters in a nice orderly fashion. The honks drifting up from the streets are proof enough of that; cars are not permitted in shelters, not in the US anyway, but that never stops some jackass from doing anything he can to keep his way-too-expensive sports car out of the water if the city is going to be flooded. Some things never change.
You find a building close to the harbor's edge and set the villainess down. As she adjusts her cloak, Samantha asks the question that is on your mind as well. "Are we going to see Jotunn and Solaire here too?"
Cailleach hesitates for a single crucial moment. "No, they stayed home to make sure no one violates the Truce or does anything stupid like that," she says in a voice that is far too controlled to be honest.
"So how come you came out here instead of staying with them? And do they know you came in the first place?" you wonder.
She shrugs. "Somebody's got to help fight Leviathan. They understand that."
«Understand, maybe, but that's far from the same thing as approving,» Samantha points out.
You send her a mental nod of agreement. «This is the same girl who unmasked herself to me because Kayleigh accidentally spilled my identity to her and she wanted us to be square. The same one who patrols her gang's territory to keep things safe, so she claims at least, though she all but admitted nobody else in Winter Hill does the same. It doesn't really surprise me that she's the only one who would volunteer to come.» Putting Cailleach's maybe-heroic leanings aside for now, you instead change the subject to something a little more relevant and less personal. "What's your plan for Leviathan?"
"I'm going to use my ice bombs to lock his legs in place if I can. If that doesn't work, at least I can make icebergs for the Brutes to smack him with." She shrugs. "That's about all I can contribute. Makes me wish I had something that could actually hurt the bastard for a change."
"Trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be."
Cailleach slowly turns to stare at you. "You think you can actually do something to him?"
"Might," you caution her. "I have a spell that might let me do that, but it's dangerous to everyone, not just Leviathan. If I use it, hundreds of thousands of people—"
"City population 4.6 million, Mistress."
You point at the head of your staff when Cailleach looks around to find the source of the voice. "Fine, millions of people might die. It isn't something I can use with impunity."
You do not know what kind of reaction you are expecting, but her scoff certainly is not it. "Let me let you in on a little secret." She motions for you to lean closer, and when you do she continues, "This is an Endbringer fight, Calamity Witch. If we don't drive him off, millions will die. Not much of a choice, is it?"
Spoken like someone who does not have the full story. "And when that choice involves the equivalent of setting off a nuclear bomb in the middle of a metropolis?"
"A— Wait, what?" She blinks at you. "A nuke. Are you serious?"
"Deadly serious."
"Oh." She shrugs, the motion hindered by the sodden cloak around her shoulders. "Might still be worth it. I don't know. It all depends on how much everything goes to shit. With an Endbringer, that's about the only thing that's guaranteed."
That much you can agree with. You turn to look in the direction of the harbor and the rain still straining to overwhelm the defenders. The cold does not bother you much now that your Barrier Jacket is impermeable to water, but the shiver you see run down Cailleach's spine is proof you are the only one with such a benefit. A wave of your hand, and two Flare Shooters appear. One floats to Samantha and the other to Cailleach, and you smile as the other teen sighs in gratitude at the warmth pouring off the fireball.
The world darkens more than you ever would have thought possible as the day finally gives the rest of the way to night. Though the streets are filled with lights, they are struggling to shine through the gloom. It is a morbid background for the fight that is about to occur.
Thankfully, a few hints of humanity can be seen here and there. Purity, of course, shines with all the brilliance of a nightlight in a child's bedroom, and Legend is wreathed in a similar halo, though his is a rainbow of color to contrast her stark white. Bursts blue pop asynchronously to mark the teleportation of Tinkers setting up weapons of mass destruction. Then there are Dragon's ships, the Ladon backlit from the shields it is already projecting to ward off Leviathan's imminent tidal waves and the Pythios sitting above the city with lightning crackling off the spoked wheel spinning on its back. Here we stand, the lights seem to shout, and the darkness will not win so long as one of us still draws breath.
It is an awe-inspiring sight.
Unfortunately, it is met with a response.
A rumble fills the city and distracts you from your rumination. Cailleach looks around as well, and both of you swing around when a loud clang comes from the street. Something dark flies through the sky, and only when it lands on the ground in the wimpy puddle of light from the streetlamp do you recognize it as a manhole cover. The storm sewers, you realize; Legend had worried about Leviathan turning them to his advantage, and it is clear he was right to be afraid. Screams and crashes from farther inland reveal how quickly the surge is progressing.
"Wave inbound," chirps the others' armbands.
You watch a surge of water twenty feet high crash against the assembled barriers of the defense group. The shields shudder at a few points here and there, but the wall holds. Unable to progress farther, the water retreats back to the sea.
In its wake stands a monster. Thirty feet tall, a tail even longer than that agitating the ocean's surface. Water runs down and up and around its dark green scales. Overlong arms hang down from hunched shoulders to let its hands trail in the water next to digitigrade legs like those of a wolf. Letting your eyes trail up past the tapered waist and hip and shoulders, you find a snouted head with four eyes, three on the left and one on the right and all glowing with hatred for humanity.
Leviathan has arrived.
A single moment stands as the city's – the world's – defenders stare down the Endbringer, and then the clock ticks again. A ripple in the night streaks like black lightning and slams into Leviathan's chest, and with a quick shift in direction Alexandria powers upwards to pummel his head. The rest of the airworthy Brutes chase after her, fists and feet and weapons desiring nothing more than to beat the Endbringer to death.
Leviathan makes it obvious he has no intention of taking their punishment lying down. Faster than anything you have ever seen he moves, not running or teleporting but something in between. It is more like like a slide, as though his legs are there only to hold him upright but not for mobility in the slightest. In his place stands a mass of water that crashes down on the pursuing capes.
"Multiple down, AW-2," the armbands and your Device call out. "Chrysalis, Daredevil, Dauntless, Firebrand, Glory Girl, Meteor Man, Ogre—"
You are already on the move, Samantha coming right after you. "Storm, stop the casualty report. It's just a distraction. Don't relay it unless it's someone I know or they're right below me where I can get in and out to them."
«Affirmative. Will restrict report. Will mute wave alert unless Mistress in proximity.»
Good. Now you can focus. "Let's see if we can't blind him first before we bring out the big guns. Flare Shooter, Burst mode. Maximum shockwave and heat." You look down at the red gem and continue, "All spells set to lethal until Leviathan retreats."
«Lethal force confirmed. Endbringers classified as Belkan war machines. No mercy.»
If it makes Perfect Storm feel better to think it is continuing the fight against Galea's ancient enemies, you are not about to stop it. A sweep of your staff creates twelve orange fireballs, and you fling them in trios at Leviathan's eyeballs. It is his fault that they glow in the night, making perfect targets for bullets that will never lose their targets. Leviathan slips away again, more water following him, but the bullets give chase. "Clear the way!" you shout when some Brutes put themselves between you and the Endbringer, and one of them is clipped on the elbow by a bullet and screams as the tennis ball-sized sphere explosively expands to the size of a beach ball. The man falls for several feet before being enveloped in a blue glow and teleported back to Canberra. Hopefully the healers can regrow his arm and, you know, keep him from bleeding to death.
No matter how fast Leviathan is, he has to stop at some point. When he does, the bullets are still on the move. They hit their targets and explode. The Brutes on the ground choose that moment to converge on his right leg and start pounding on it to try dragging him to their level. Leviathan actually does drop onto that knee, but it is just a trick; where he goes, so too does his echo. Tons of water hit the ground and are illuminated from below by Dragon's teleportation.
The sky above is lit by the bolt of lightning the Pythios breathes out onto Leviathan's hunchback. The Endbringer trembles at the no doubt millions of volts pouring through its body, and as if that was an agreed upon signal, cannons of Tinker make roar and send explosive shells and laser beams and who knows what else at it. The fury of their attack is impressive, but the damage done is negligible. The best thing about it is that when Leviathan skates away again it is only a short distance, as though he needs to catch his breath.
It is enough of an opening for a twisting double-helix of pure white light to join the Pythios's second barrage. Purity's onslaught is followed by hundreds of streamers as Legend joins in the attack. A chunk of ice is hurled at Leviathan's head at ridiculous speeds and knocks him forward, and Alexandria's black outline dips down to grab the tip of his tail and yank it upwards, tossing the Endbringer upside down and onto his back.
Leviathan does not take this lying down. Even as the ghostly knights you recognize as Crusader's converge upon the Endbringer, water swirls upwards in a waterspout to meet the clouds. The twister shifts from where Leviathan stood to crash into a nearby building where a Tinker cannon was placed, and another blast of water surges up the street deeper into the city.
Your blood runs cold. The storm sewers he backed up. He really is using them as a highway of sorts, one that allows him to go farther and faster than what should be possible. With the knowledge that Sydney has five million people, there is no chance everyone is in the shelters yet, even with a head start of twenty minutes or so.
Leviathan and his water is moving in a straight line away from you. You drop your altitude so you can hold your staff parallel to his course. Four gunshots sound from the end of your staff, and a miniature sun forms faster than you have ever cast it before. The beam of Solar Wrath is tight, less a cone of devastation and more the beam of a magical laser, and the brilliant daylight pierces through the rain to slam into Leviathan's back.
Again the monster is knocked out of its normal routine, and you jet towards him with more Flare Shooters forming around you. They will not be worth anything to damage him, but if you can give him something to chase, maybe you can land another Solar Wrath—
Leviathan spins on all four limbs, his tail scything through the air. Instead of following his body, his echo is flung at you in a crescent. Before you can see whether your Barrier Jacket or his attack is stronger, something hits you on the back and forces you nearly to the waterlogged ground. The crescent of water instead hits a bright blue scribble and vanishes. The cape behind the scribble looks down at you and nods, and you send Myrddin the same in response.
The cape who actually hit you lets go, and you turn around to find yourself staring at a one-eyed helmet. "Don't do something stupid like that again," Alexandria demands. "I might not be there to save your ass next time."
"Noted," you answer with a gulp.
Leviathan is charging your way now, but without warning he stops in his tracks. Literally, he stands with one leg held out as though skidding to a stop and his other behind him, his tail curled up and ready to lash out. There is no reason he should be so still and so unbalanced.
"You've got ten seconds. Make them count," says a familiar voice from Alexandria's armband.
You smile to yourself. Undoubtedly Maclibuin had to twist Epoch's arm hard to convince him to join the fight, but thank goodness he did. «I'm open to any ideas,» you tell Perfect Storm.
«Few options. Ragnarök may destroy defense. Mistilteinn could petrify target. Used against certain war machines, no direct damage—»
"Do it."
Alexandria looks at you strangely at the seeming non sequitur, but you are already up in the air again. Following Perfect Storm's directions, you close the distance to a relatively short sixty feet and raise your staff in the air. Seven points of light gleam like stars in the night.
After a second or two, those stars fall as shafts of white light.
Perfect Storm timed it perfectly. As soon as the glowing spears hit Leviathan, he starts to move again before jerking to a halt. You know without looking that the capes are staring at the effect of your spell as much as you are. Where the spears landed, Leviathan's skin is no longer dark green but a light grey like stone. That grey is also creeping over more and more of his hide, and Leviathan clearly does not appreciate it. The Pythios and the Tinker cannons roar again, and while they do send black blood flying over the buildings they also break the stone enough for Leviathan to move again. Chunks of stone fly away as he makes his escape from your vicinity, and the brief glance you get of him shows him to have irregular sections of flesh missing before he vanishes down a side street.
"Calamity Witch!" You look up to find Legend floating higher up, and you rise to meet him. His eyes are focused on the section of the city where Leviathan disappeared, but you feel his attention move to you. "That attack you just used. Can you do it again?"
You nod and flick your staff to open up the revolver-like chamber just below the head. Empty bullet casings, bought for cheap online to store your mana within, fall out before wafting away in orange sparks as Perfect Storm seals them away to be reused later. "I need to get close to hit him, but I can do it." If you burn a few more cartridges, you can hopefully cast it fast enough you could do it on a flyby rather than hovering there as though asking to be swatted out of the sky.
"Fantastic. You, Purity, and I are airborne," he explains, "and if we get a flier to grab him, we'll have Breakdown too. The four of us can hit him together while he's trying to shake free."
"Together and targeting the same place," you mutter, to which Legend nods. "The base of his tail."
"Now's as good a time to try it as any."
"I'll get golden boy," Samantha says.
Rather than give either of them an answer, verbal or otherwise, you shoot higher into the sky to try finding the hiding Endbringer. «Send a message to Lanster and Erga, Storm. If they can hit Leviathan as hard as they hit me, I need them to get over here.» You then fly over to that region of the city and glance around. Not there, not there, not—
What is that bit of water doing?
You fly backwards without bothering to turn around, and that is all that keeps your body in one piece. Leviathan lunges out from between two buildings at a right angle to the swirling whirlpool he formed in another intersection, his claws missing you by mere feet. A fraction of a second longer, and you would be a smear on his hands.
Too bad he is now right in front of you. Cartridges fire again, and you thrust your staff upwards to conjure another set of glowing spears. While they are falling, you throw another set of Flare Shooters to distract him. Leviathan swipes at the bullets and is impaled by the spikes.
Moving skyward once more, you fly past him and find five people soaring to a stop behind his back. Samantha has Breakdown in her arms, just as she promised, and joining the group is Erga. In his hands is a gigantic gun that looks like he plucked a cannon off a pirate ship and spruced it up to look high-tech. "Lancer has the bigger boom," he tells you, and you can hear the difference from the norm in how he says Lanster's name. As convenient aliases go, it is far from the worst you could think of. "She can't fly, though, so you're stuck with me."
"Whatever, just hurry!" you snap.
Purity glows brighter, and Breakdown takes on a shine of his own. Legend spreads his hands to reveal a hundred potential lasers. A bright blue cannonball swirls together inside Erga's gun. Consuming more cartridges, you flip and spin into position around the sun that hangs already formed. Your aim is true.
It is high time to make this son of a bitch bleed.
"Fire!"
All of you respond to Legend's order. White and gold and pink and blue and orange fly out, their force combining in a single beam that would love nothing more than to scour Leviathan's very existence from the face of the earth. Water explodes around the Endbringer. The beam slices through the mist.
The road on which Leviathan once stood is eradicated, but the monster himself skates out of sight. At least he is headed towards the harbor, for what little comfort that is.
"Damn it!" yells Legend, the curse utterly at odds with his public persona and the type of man you have dealt with before now. You have never dealt with him during an Endbringer fight, though, and that makes all the difference. "We almost had him! What the hell happened?!"
"He's a clever one," Erga says, and you turn around to find him watching a holographic screen while the barrel of his cannon collapses inwards to become a shotgun. He tosses the screen your way. Catching it, you give it a look and feel your eyebrows rising as Leviathan becomes his water echo just before the attack reaches him. "He blew off the outer layer of his hide into a layer of water to rip the stone off him. It was a clever plan," he tells you, "but it couldn't reach deep enough fast enough. You were only petrifying the surface."
"He won't fall for the same trick again," Legend says in a frustrated voice. "Like I told you earlier, he may not be as devious as the Simurgh, but he isn't stupid."
'If we don't drive him off, millions will die.' Cailleach's voice echoes in your head. Right now, Leviathan can go nearly anywhere in the city he wants thanks to the flooded storm sewers, you have no idea where he did go, and something you had hoped would give you an edge has proven to only buy you a few seconds if that. You do not want to use Ragnarök in the middle of a populated city, but…
«Perfect Storm, I need you to be honest with me.» The Device beeps. «Based on the thickness of the walls in a typical Endbringer shelter back home, or what they built here if you can get the records, what are the chances we kill everyone in the city by shoving Ragnarök up Leviathan's ass?»
«Accessing… Public records indicate walls sixty centimeter in depth. Concrete. Project minimal casualties.»
"So long as the contractors actually made them that thick and didn't cut corners," you mutter. "And that's just the people in the shelters. Anyone who's still outside will be completely exposed." Not to mention that the shelters back home in Brockton Bay could only hold about a third of the city's population at a time. You have not checked the exact number in Philadelphia, but you know it is a national problem. There just are not enough shelters for everyone. The chances of Australia being different are so low it is laughable.
If you fail to drive Leviathan away, though, he can continue attacking the aquifer and sink the city. Those shelters will not keep the people within safe from drowning.
Can you condone using Ragnarök? Do you have an alternative? You don't know, and you don't have enough time to figure it out.
Mana overload at 48%. If 100% reached, will develop stage 1 mana poisoning.
+1 training to Mistilteinn (2/4 Adept).
Considering Nachtwal could break out of Mistilteinn, it isn't out of the realm of possibility for an Endbringer to do the same. That 3 you rolled for Teamwork really hurt the chances of it taking longer for Leviathan to adapt, though.
Now it's decision time. Thanks to Leviathan's mobility (helped in no small part by his critical success), he is in the middle of Sydney. Ragnarök was mentioned as a possible tactic, but I need a formal vote.
[ ] Fire Ragnarök
[ ] Don't fire Ragnarök
If you don't want to fire a nuke into Sydney, a plan for just what you want to do instead would be greatly appreciated.
-[]FULL POWER TOTAL DESTRUCTION. It works for Nanoha!
Thunderstorm 12.3
The glow of the teleporter fades away to reveal yet another rooftop, though this one is being pounded by rain that comes down in sheets. Unlike Canberra, where daylight still reigned and the clouds are limited to the horizon, Sydney's skies are smothered by the storm. You blink away the rain that is already trying to soak you to the bone. «Storm, any chance you can keep the rain off me?»
Instantly you get the feeling of something sliding across your skin, and the rain runs down your arms and legs without touching you.
«I love you,» Samantha projects, and you turn around to find her scowling with her hair plastered to her face and her tail sodden, «but right now, I really don't like you.»
"Get into position!" Legend shouts.
A tap on your shoulder pulls your attention from the surroundings, and you turn to find a familiar blue cloak and bodysuit. "Can I get a ride?" asks Cailleach.
"Sure." You give her a second look and then another at your arms. You are well aware of the other girl's dimensions thanks to dancing with her at that party the Beasts crashed a few months back, and even though she's thin, you are no brawny weight-lifter, nor do you have a spell to increase your strength. Thinking about your spells, though, another idea crosses your mind. Code spinning into existence, you have enough time to pass on a quick warning. "Don't panic."
"Don't panic about— Whaaa!"
The other girl floats off the ground thanks to your telekinesis, and you grab her in a princess carry as you take to the air. She clings to your neck for a long moment before visibly forcing herself to relax. "Don't. Do that. Again," she grits out.
You give her a sheepish smile. "Sorry, but you asked for a lift. This is the only way I can pick somebody up and carry them."
"If you dislike it that much, say the word and Calamity Witch can drop you," Samantha says with a smile.
Cailleach whips her head around to stare at you, her wide eyes visible even with her domino mask and heavy hood. "She's joking," you assure her. "I'm not going to drop you."
The streets below you are little more than blurs, but even so you can see enough to know that the streets are clogged with the assembled mass of the city's inhabitants. No doubt they are headed to shelters similar to those found in Brockton Bay and Philadelphia, and no doubt just like your hometowns the people here do not care about heading to the shelters in a nice orderly fashion. The honks drifting up from the streets are proof enough of that; cars are not permitted in shelters, not in the US anyway, but that never stops some jackass from doing anything he can to keep his way-too-expensive sports car out of the water if the city is going to be flooded. Some things never change.
You find a building close to the harbor's edge and set the villainess down. As she adjusts her cloak, Samantha asks the question that is on your mind as well. "Are we going to see Jotunn and Solaire here too?"
Cailleach hesitates for a single crucial moment. "No, they stayed home to make sure no one violates the Truce or does anything stupid like that," she says in a voice that is far too controlled to be honest.
"So how come you came out here instead of staying with them? And do they know you came in the first place?" you wonder.
She shrugs. "Somebody's got to help fight Leviathan. They understand that."
«Understand, maybe, but that's far from the same thing as approving,» Samantha points out.
You send her a mental nod of agreement. «This is the same girl who unmasked herself to me because Kayleigh accidentally spilled my identity to her and she wanted us to be square. The same one who patrols her gang's territory to keep things safe, so she claims at least, though she all but admitted nobody else in Winter Hill does the same. It doesn't really surprise me that she's the only one who would volunteer to come.» Putting Cailleach's maybe-heroic leanings aside for now, you instead change the subject to something a little more relevant and less personal. "What's your plan for Leviathan?"
"I'm going to use my ice bombs to lock his legs in place if I can. If that doesn't work, at least I can make icebergs for the Brutes to smack him with." She shrugs. "That's about all I can contribute. Makes me wish I had something that could actually hurt the bastard for a change."
"Trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be."
Cailleach slowly turns to stare at you. "You think you can actually do something to him?"
"Might," you caution her. "I have a spell that might let me do that, but it's dangerous to everyone, not just Leviathan. If I use it, hundreds of thousands of people—"
"City population 4.6 million, Mistress."
You point at the head of your staff when Cailleach looks around to find the source of the voice. "Fine, millions of people might die. It isn't something I can use with impunity."
You do not know what kind of reaction you are expecting, but her scoff certainly is not it. "Let me let you in on a little secret." She motions for you to lean closer, and when you do she continues, "This is an Endbringer fight, Calamity Witch. If we don't drive him off, millions will die. Not much of a choice, is it?"
Spoken like someone who does not have the full story. "And when that choice involves the equivalent of setting off a nuclear bomb in the middle of a metropolis?"
"A— Wait, what?" She blinks at you. "A nuke. Are you serious?"
"Deadly serious."
"Oh." She shrugs, the motion hindered by the sodden cloak around her shoulders. "Might still be worth it. I don't know. It all depends on how much everything goes to shit. With an Endbringer, that's about the only thing that's guaranteed."
That much you can agree with. You turn to look in the direction of the harbor and the rain still straining to overwhelm the defenders. The cold does not bother you much now that your Barrier Jacket is impermeable to water, but the shiver you see run down Cailleach's spine is proof you are the only one with such a benefit. A wave of your hand, and two Flare Shooters appear. One floats to Samantha and the other to Cailleach, and you smile as the other teen sighs in gratitude at the warmth pouring off the fireball.
The world darkens more than you ever would have thought possible as the day finally gives the rest of the way to night. Though the streets are filled with lights, they are struggling to shine through the gloom. It is a morbid background for the fight that is about to occur.
Thankfully, a few hints of humanity can be seen here and there. Purity, of course, shines with all the brilliance of a nightlight in a child's bedroom, and Legend is wreathed in a similar halo, though his is a rainbow of color to contrast her stark white. Bursts blue pop asynchronously to mark the teleportation of Tinkers setting up weapons of mass destruction. Then there are Dragon's ships, the Ladon backlit from the shields it is already projecting to ward off Leviathan's imminent tidal waves and the Pythios sitting above the city with lightning crackling off the spoked wheel spinning on its back. Here we stand, the lights seem to shout, and the darkness will not win so long as one of us still draws breath.
It is an awe-inspiring sight.
Unfortunately, it is met with a response.
A rumble fills the city and distracts you from your rumination. Cailleach looks around as well, and both of you swing around when a loud clang comes from the street. Something dark flies through the sky, and only when it lands on the ground in the wimpy puddle of light from the streetlamp do you recognize it as a manhole cover. The storm sewers, you realize; Legend had worried about Leviathan turning them to his advantage, and it is clear he was right to be afraid. Screams and crashes from farther inland reveal how quickly the surge is progressing.
"Wave inbound," chirps the others' armbands.
You watch a surge of water twenty feet high crash against the assembled barriers of the defense group. The shields shudder at a few points here and there, but the wall holds. Unable to progress farther, the water retreats back to the sea.
In its wake stands a monster. Thirty feet tall, a tail even longer than that agitating the ocean's surface. Water runs down and up and around its dark green scales. Overlong arms hang down from hunched shoulders to let its hands trail in the water next to digitigrade legs like those of a wolf. Letting your eyes trail up past the tapered waist and hip and shoulders, you find a snouted head with four eyes, three on the left and one on the right and all glowing with hatred for humanity.
Leviathan has arrived.
A single moment stands as the city's – the world's – defenders stare down the Endbringer, and then the clock ticks again. A ripple in the night streaks like black lightning and slams into Leviathan's chest, and with a quick shift in direction Alexandria powers upwards to pummel his head. The rest of the airworthy Brutes chase after her, fists and feet and weapons desiring nothing more than to beat the Endbringer to death.
Leviathan makes it obvious he has no intention of taking their punishment lying down. Faster than anything you have ever seen he moves, not running or teleporting but something in between. It is more like like a slide, as though his legs are there only to hold him upright but not for mobility in the slightest. In his place stands a mass of water that crashes down on the pursuing capes.
"Multiple down, AW-2," the armbands and your Device call out. "Chrysalis, Daredevil, Dauntless, Firebrand, Glory Girl, Meteor Man, Ogre—"
You are already on the move, Samantha coming right after you. "Storm, stop the casualty report. It's just a distraction. Don't relay it unless it's someone I know or they're right below me where I can get in and out to them."
«Affirmative. Will restrict report. Will mute wave alert unless Mistress in proximity.»
Good. Now you can focus. "Let's see if we can't blind him first before we bring out the big guns. Flare Shooter, Burst mode. Maximum shockwave and heat." You look down at the red gem and continue, "All spells set to lethal until Leviathan retreats."
«Lethal force confirmed. Endbringers classified as Belkan war machines. No mercy.»
If it makes Perfect Storm feel better to think it is continuing the fight against Galea's ancient enemies, you are not about to stop it. A sweep of your staff creates twelve orange fireballs, and you fling them in trios at Leviathan's eyeballs. It is his fault that they glow in the night, making perfect targets for bullets that will never lose their targets. Leviathan slips away again, more water following him, but the bullets give chase. "Clear the way!" you shout when some Brutes put themselves between you and the Endbringer, and one of them is clipped on the elbow by a bullet and screams as the tennis ball-sized sphere explosively expands to the size of a beach ball. The man falls for several feet before being enveloped in a blue glow and teleported back to Canberra. Hopefully the healers can regrow his arm and, you know, keep him from bleeding to death.
No matter how fast Leviathan is, he has to stop at some point. When he does, the bullets are still on the move. They hit their targets and explode. The Brutes on the ground choose that moment to converge on his right leg and start pounding on it to try dragging him to their level. Leviathan actually does drop onto that knee, but it is just a trick; where he goes, so too does his echo. Tons of water hit the ground and are illuminated from below by Dragon's teleportation.
The sky above is lit by the bolt of lightning the Pythios breathes out onto Leviathan's hunchback. The Endbringer trembles at the no doubt millions of volts pouring through its body, and as if that was an agreed upon signal, cannons of Tinker make roar and send explosive shells and laser beams and who knows what else at it. The fury of their attack is impressive, but the damage done is negligible. The best thing about it is that when Leviathan skates away again it is only a short distance, as though he needs to catch his breath.
It is enough of an opening for a twisting double-helix of pure white light to join the Pythios's second barrage. Purity's onslaught is followed by hundreds of streamers as Legend joins in the attack. A chunk of ice is hurled at Leviathan's head at ridiculous speeds and knocks him forward, and Alexandria's black outline dips down to grab the tip of his tail and yank it upwards, tossing the Endbringer upside down and onto his back.
Leviathan does not take this lying down. Even as the ghostly knights you recognize as Crusader's converge upon the Endbringer, water swirls upwards in a waterspout to meet the clouds. The twister shifts from where Leviathan stood to crash into a nearby building where a Tinker cannon was placed, and another blast of water surges up the street deeper into the city.
Your blood runs cold. The storm sewers he backed up. He really is using them as a highway of sorts, one that allows him to go farther and faster than what should be possible. With the knowledge that Sydney has five million people, there is no chance everyone is in the shelters yet, even with a head start of twenty minutes or so.
Leviathan and his water is moving in a straight line away from you. You drop your altitude so you can hold your staff parallel to his course. Four gunshots sound from the end of your staff, and a miniature sun forms faster than you have ever cast it before. The beam of Solar Wrath is tight, less a cone of devastation and more the beam of a magical laser, and the brilliant daylight pierces through the rain to slam into Leviathan's back.
Again the monster is knocked out of its normal routine, and you jet towards him with more Flare Shooters forming around you. They will not be worth anything to damage him, but if you can give him something to chase, maybe you can land another Solar Wrath—
Leviathan spins on all four limbs, his tail scything through the air. Instead of following his body, his echo is flung at you in a crescent. Before you can see whether your Barrier Jacket or his attack is stronger, something hits you on the back and forces you nearly to the waterlogged ground. The crescent of water instead hits a bright blue scribble and vanishes. The cape behind the scribble looks down at you and nods, and you send Myrddin the same in response.
The cape who actually hit you lets go, and you turn around to find yourself staring at a one-eyed helmet. "Don't do something stupid like that again," Alexandria demands. "I might not be there to save your ass next time."
"Noted," you answer with a gulp.
Leviathan is charging your way now, but without warning he stops in his tracks. Literally, he stands with one leg held out as though skidding to a stop and his other behind him, his tail curled up and ready to lash out. There is no reason he should be so still and so unbalanced.
"You've got ten seconds. Make them count," says a familiar voice from Alexandria's armband.
You smile to yourself. Undoubtedly Maclibuin had to twist Epoch's arm hard to convince him to join the fight, but thank goodness he did. «I'm open to any ideas,» you tell Perfect Storm.
«Few options. Ragnarök may destroy defense. Mistilteinn could petrify target. Used against certain war machines, no direct damage—»
"Do it."
Alexandria looks at you strangely at the seeming non sequitur, but you are already up in the air again. Following Perfect Storm's directions, you close the distance to a relatively short sixty feet and raise your staff in the air. Seven points of light gleam like stars in the night.
After a second or two, those stars fall as shafts of white light.
Perfect Storm timed it perfectly. As soon as the glowing spears hit Leviathan, he starts to move again before jerking to a halt. You know without looking that the capes are staring at the effect of your spell as much as you are. Where the spears landed, Leviathan's skin is no longer dark green but a light grey like stone. That grey is also creeping over more and more of his hide, and Leviathan clearly does not appreciate it. The Pythios and the Tinker cannons roar again, and while they do send black blood flying over the buildings they also break the stone enough for Leviathan to move again. Chunks of stone fly away as he makes his escape from your vicinity, and the brief glance you get of him shows him to have irregular sections of flesh missing before he vanishes down a side street.
"Calamity Witch!" You look up to find Legend floating higher up, and you rise to meet him. His eyes are focused on the section of the city where Leviathan disappeared, but you feel his attention move to you. "That attack you just used. Can you do it again?"
You nod and flick your staff to open up the revolver-like chamber just below the head. Empty bullet casings, bought for cheap online to store your mana within, fall out before wafting away in orange sparks as Perfect Storm seals them away to be reused later. "I need to get close to hit him, but I can do it." If you burn a few more cartridges, you can hopefully cast it fast enough you could do it on a flyby rather than hovering there as though asking to be swatted out of the sky.
"Fantastic. You, Purity, and I are airborne," he explains, "and if we get a flier to grab him, we'll have Breakdown too. The four of us can hit him together while he's trying to shake free."
"Together and targeting the same place," you mutter, to which Legend nods. "The base of his tail."
"Now's as good a time to try it as any."
"I'll get golden boy," Samantha says.
Rather than give either of them an answer, verbal or otherwise, you shoot higher into the sky to try finding the hiding Endbringer. «Send a message to Lanster and Erga, Storm. If they can hit Leviathan as hard as they hit me, I need them to get over here.» You then fly over to that region of the city and glance around. Not there, not there, not—
What is that bit of water doing?
You fly backwards without bothering to turn around, and that is all that keeps your body in one piece. Leviathan lunges out from between two buildings at a right angle to the swirling whirlpool he formed in another intersection, his claws missing you by mere feet. A fraction of a second longer, and you would be a smear on his hands.
Too bad he is now right in front of you. Cartridges fire again, and you thrust your staff upwards to conjure another set of glowing spears. While they are falling, you throw another set of Flare Shooters to distract him. Leviathan swipes at the bullets and is impaled by the spikes.
Moving skyward once more, you fly past him and find five people soaring to a stop behind his back. Samantha has Breakdown in her arms, just as she promised, and joining the group is Erga. In his hands is a gigantic gun that looks like he plucked a cannon off a pirate ship and spruced it up to look high-tech. "Lancer has the bigger boom," he tells you, and you can hear the difference from the norm in how he says Lanster's name. As convenient aliases go, it is far from the worst you could think of. "She can't fly, though, so you're stuck with me."
"Whatever, just hurry!" you snap.
Purity glows brighter, and Breakdown takes on a shine of his own. Legend spreads his hands to reveal a hundred potential lasers. A bright blue cannonball swirls together inside Erga's gun. Consuming more cartridges, you flip and spin into position around the sun that hangs already formed. Your aim is true.
It is high time to make this son of a bitch bleed.
"Fire!"
All of you respond to Legend's order. White and gold and pink and blue and orange fly out, their force combining in a single beam that would love nothing more than to scour Leviathan's very existence from the face of the earth. Water explodes around the Endbringer. The beam slices through the mist.
The road on which Leviathan once stood is eradicated, but the monster himself skates out of sight. At least he is headed towards the harbor, for what little comfort that is.
"Damn it!" yells Legend, the curse utterly at odds with his public persona and the type of man you have dealt with before now. You have never dealt with him during an Endbringer fight, though, and that makes all the difference. "We almost had him! What the hell happened?!"
"He's a clever one," Erga says, and you turn around to find him watching a holographic screen while the barrel of his cannon collapses inwards to become a shotgun. He tosses the screen your way. Catching it, you give it a look and feel your eyebrows rising as Leviathan becomes his water echo just before the attack reaches him. "He blew off the outer layer of his hide into a layer of water to rip the stone off him. It was a clever plan," he tells you, "but it couldn't reach deep enough fast enough. You were only petrifying the surface."
"He won't fall for the same trick again," Legend says in a frustrated voice. "Like I told you earlier, he may not be as devious as the Simurgh, but he isn't stupid."
'If we don't drive him off, millions will die.' Cailleach's voice echoes in your head. Right now, Leviathan can go nearly anywhere in the city he wants thanks to the flooded storm sewers, you have no idea where he did go, and something you had hoped would give you an edge has proven to only buy you a few seconds if that. You do not want to use Ragnarök in the middle of a populated city, but…
«Perfect Storm, I need you to be honest with me.» The Device beeps. «Based on the thickness of the walls in a typical Endbringer shelter back home, or what they built here if you can get the records, what are the chances we kill everyone in the city by shoving Ragnarök up Leviathan's ass?»
«Accessing… Public records indicate walls sixty centimeter in depth. Concrete. Project minimal casualties.»
"So long as the contractors actually made them that thick and didn't cut corners," you mutter. "And that's just the people in the shelters. Anyone who's still outside will be completely exposed." Not to mention that the shelters back home in Brockton Bay could only hold about a third of the city's population at a time. You have not checked the exact number in Philadelphia, but you know it is a national problem. There just are not enough shelters for everyone. The chances of Australia being different are so low it is laughable.
If you fail to drive Leviathan away, though, he can continue attacking the aquifer and sink the city. Those shelters will not keep the people within safe from drowning.
Can you condone using Ragnarök? Do you have an alternative? You don't know, and you don't have enough time to figure it out.
Mana overload at 48%. If 100% reached, will develop stage 1 mana poisoning.
+1 training to Mistilteinn (2/4 Adept).
Considering Nachtwal could break out of Mistilteinn, it isn't out of the realm of possibility for an Endbringer to do the same. That 3 you rolled for Teamwork really hurt the chances of it taking longer for Leviathan to adapt, though.
Now it's decision time. Thanks to Leviathan's mobility (helped in no small part by his critical success), he is in the middle of Sydney. Ragnarök was mentioned as a possible tactic, but I need a formal vote.
[ ] Fire Ragnarök
[ ] Don't fire Ragnarök
If you don't want to fire a nuke into Sydney, a plan for just what you want to do instead would be greatly appreciated.
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serra2
Himouto! Sylvanas-chan
[X] Don't fire Ragnarök
-[X] Have Epoch stop Leviathan again in coordination with Alexandra to have her ready to hold it down.
-[X] Temporal Sludge on the stopped Leviathan
-[X] Mistilteinn again. But focus on one limb/extremity per spell to try to petrify that bit entirely instead of trying to petrify the body.
-[X] Solar Wrath with cartridge to do as much damage as possible on Leviathan and try to blast him back out the harbor.
-[X] Get Phantom and Breakdown together to try to target Leviathan's core in coordination with Epoch to give them the opening. Calamity Witch will keep up fire to distract Leviathan.
-[X] Samantha acts as emergency escape for the more squishier capes.
Yeah, firing a nuke in the middle of a city is not something you try to do off the cuff with zero prior planning, and that's not even counting any other issues we might run into while using it.
As for other tactics, our CC abilities seem to be very effective so far. Try and focus on those for now.
-[X] Have Epoch stop Leviathan again in coordination with Alexandra to have her ready to hold it down.
-[X] Temporal Sludge on the stopped Leviathan
-[X] Mistilteinn again. But focus on one limb/extremity per spell to try to petrify that bit entirely instead of trying to petrify the body.
-[X] Solar Wrath with cartridge to do as much damage as possible on Leviathan and try to blast him back out the harbor.
-[X] Get Phantom and Breakdown together to try to target Leviathan's core in coordination with Epoch to give them the opening. Calamity Witch will keep up fire to distract Leviathan.
-[X] Samantha acts as emergency escape for the more squishier capes.
Yeah, firing a nuke in the middle of a city is not something you try to do off the cuff with zero prior planning, and that's not even counting any other issues we might run into while using it.
As for other tactics, our CC abilities seem to be very effective so far. Try and focus on those for now.
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- Location
- New Jersey, USA
I don't think any of us truly want to fire a nuke into Sydney.
lancelot
Completely worth it
Can we pull a Nanoha, and charge it up, and have Sam teleport us right at his feet and fire up into him letting the beam carry him off for a bit before it goes off?
Tale Swapper
(Unverified Madman)
- Location
- Lost Among a Sea of Imaginings and Dreams
[X] Don't fire Ragnarök
If we're going to fire off a nuke, we should probably let people know before we pull the trigger. And, for that matter, if it doesn't work, (for one reason or another) we'll be a sitting duck.
I'd argue that we move out, cover the exit, and keep harassing Mr. Waterworks until he goes to leave, then drop our nuke spell on his ass. We might be able to use Temporal Sludge to allow others to get in some good hits...
If we're going to fire off a nuke, we should probably let people know before we pull the trigger. And, for that matter, if it doesn't work, (for one reason or another) we'll be a sitting duck.
I'd argue that we move out, cover the exit, and keep harassing Mr. Waterworks until he goes to leave, then drop our nuke spell on his ass. We might be able to use Temporal Sludge to allow others to get in some good hits...
RoninSword
Sky God
- Location
- Canada
@Silently Watches If we want to fire ragnarok, but want to do it by trying to herd Levi to the coast, which would we vote for?
- Location
- USA
[X] Fire Ragnarök
Delighted to see Mistelteinn in action, doing about as much as we could hope for with it. Even if it just holds him still a bit to deal with it, and he treats it as a must-dodge attack, thats still huge in a fight like this. A bit sad that after the combo-beam he saw fly at him AND the petrify he's still not reached his run-away threshold. Actually misread the chapter at first, thinking he was fleeing.
Is it possible to ask Legend and/or Erga about Ragnarok, basically just "have nuke-level weapons been cleared by the Australian government for this fight" or whatev? Would also hope in getting them to provide a flyer to transport Teana, the way Sam did for Breakdown.
Having brought up the topic with a scary not-boast, and with Cailleach making an honestly good point about it, I do want to see us use Ragnarok on it... but not sure it would take Taylor in a direction i'd prefer character wise (I want her and her friend-team to go join TSAB
) , and theres the strategic question of whether using it under-manned means we may need a new strategy the next time.
Whatever happened to that one cape (EDIT: Phantasm) that let us see Simurgh's core , anyway? Are they at the fight to bring in on this? I think it would probably be the best shot at bypassing his armor if we do go full-breaker....
Really, the question Taylor needs to answer is "Am i willing to sacrifice Sydney to strategically hold back a trump card for later, on the (high) chance of it being more useful then?" . Particularly if Teana and Erga are using their own Breakers (if he has one) and are not in on our plan to hold back.
Delighted to see Mistelteinn in action, doing about as much as we could hope for with it. Even if it just holds him still a bit to deal with it, and he treats it as a must-dodge attack, thats still huge in a fight like this. A bit sad that after the combo-beam he saw fly at him AND the petrify he's still not reached his run-away threshold. Actually misread the chapter at first, thinking he was fleeing.
Is it possible to ask Legend and/or Erga about Ragnarok, basically just "have nuke-level weapons been cleared by the Australian government for this fight" or whatev? Would also hope in getting them to provide a flyer to transport Teana, the way Sam did for Breakdown.
Having brought up the topic with a scary not-boast, and with Cailleach making an honestly good point about it, I do want to see us use Ragnarok on it... but not sure it would take Taylor in a direction i'd prefer character wise (I want her and her friend-team to go join TSAB
) , and theres the strategic question of whether using it under-manned means we may need a new strategy the next time.Whatever happened to that one cape (EDIT: Phantasm) that let us see Simurgh's core , anyway? Are they at the fight to bring in on this? I think it would probably be the best shot at bypassing his armor if we do go full-breaker....
Really, the question Taylor needs to answer is "Am i willing to sacrifice Sydney to strategically hold back a trump card for later, on the (high) chance of it being more useful then?" . Particularly if Teana and Erga are using their own Breakers (if he has one) and are not in on our plan to hold back.
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Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
[x] Fire Ragnarök
Better they die in the blast that kills Levi than just dying to Levi himself as he makes another getaway.
Better they die in the blast that kills Levi than just dying to Levi himself as he makes another getaway.
Ugh that crit roll for Levi really hurt us. Damn it.
But Ragnarok is still a no go until we've got enough mages that can completely kill a Endbringer in one go.
We've seen how quickly Leviathan reacts to Mistiltenin. We don't want to give Levi any chance to react to Ragnorak. And that means we need to have enough mages to spam the spell 30 times in quick succession.
But Ragnarok is still a no go until we've got enough mages that can completely kill a Endbringer in one go.
We've seen how quickly Leviathan reacts to Mistiltenin. We don't want to give Levi any chance to react to Ragnorak. And that means we need to have enough mages to spam the spell 30 times in quick succession.
LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
@Silently Watches, are there enough mages currently available to drag Levi into Recursion Field?
Additionally, is Phantasm in Sydney right now? 'Cause firing Ragnarok on a parallel world seems way less dangerous.
Additionally, is Phantasm in Sydney right now? 'Cause firing Ragnarok on a parallel world seems way less dangerous.
RoninSword
Sky God
- Location
- Canada
Didn't he say that Recursion Field of an EB need something like 10 mage?
FailLord
2050 lb bombs?
- Location
- very high up
[X] Don't fire Ragnarök
Lets not instantly go to the nuclear option as we will be out of rungs on our ladder of escalations if we do.
Also random nuclear strikes will usually destroy any semblance of order and teamwork for the defending party which would suck if Leviathan were to survive it.
Lets not instantly go to the nuclear option as we will be out of rungs on our ladder of escalations if we do.
Also random nuclear strikes will usually destroy any semblance of order and teamwork for the defending party which would suck if Leviathan were to survive it.