Joker pulled the trigger, firing yet another bullet behind him. Releasing the magazine, he pocketed it into his cloak...and pulled it out again, slipping it back into his handgun.
Fresh rounds, he mused with confidence, ducking around a tree to dodge the Acolyte. Literally; his Shadow had
thrown him like a missile; yet, because the Acolyte's A.T. Field was still a
force within the Metaverse (
breaking all the 'rules', what else is new...), the berserker wasn't reduced to paste. "I can aim better in my
sleep!" he taunted, firing yet again at the hulking Shadow. Despite the relative aplomb with which he was moving...the back of his mind was relatively frantic.
Come on, I've caused enough of a racket by now!
The slight bit of betrayal in his own thoughts would be deadly: 'you should be getting hungry by now'; 'get a snack'; 'how far have you run?'; 'man, you might get a cramp soon'; 'you
know you wanna go OM NOM NOM.' Stuff like that, because it was hard to keep going on sheer willpower alone. (He was used to having a Dr. Salt NEO or Big Bang Burger to pull out of his pocket, and
food could do crazy things in the Metaverse...)
There was a bit of light in the distance, amidst the thick batch of cedars (because
seriously, some parts of this forest felt like a freakin' jungle!); darting for it, he tried to get some semblance of his overall location (an exercise in futility, because everything around him
looked the freakin' same); gazing at the rhythmic sky, he noted a bit of smoke rising from one direction.
Nishiawakura's in that direction then. As the trees behind him cracked and tumbled, he raised his pistol and took aim, firing repeatedly. "Come on come
on..." The Acolyte and their Shadow kept charging. "Come
on!"
Right as the monstrous duo emerged into the clearing...salvation rained down from above.
xxxx
/Gaghiel's Domain/
Mari Makinami — known as 'Sister Mary' by most — had gotten used to devoting the majority of her thoughts and will to her prayers, to the point where a part of her could detachedly observe events around her. (One of her fellow novitiates had once likened it to 'voluntary simultaneous split personality disorder', which Mari had privately found rather hilarious. Their superior, in her wisdom, had considered it to be denigrating against those who suffered from the disorder legitimately, and had subsequently forbidden such jocularity.) As such, while her lips moved with practice and intent ("
-invocarem exaudivit me Deus justitiae meae-"), her conscious mind observed the conflict against Gaghiel with lidded eyes.
Rei Ayanami and Unit-00 still stood stalwartly, warding away the jets of seemingly-sentient water that shot at their position; meanwhile, Asuka and Unit-02 hung onto the Angel's flesh for dear life, cutting away at its skin with knives forged from the young girl's soul. The gargantuan creature ripped and roared, spinning and rolling and diving beneath the turbulent waters of the stormy vortex. All that being said...the sensation of the water beneath them was hostile, even alien. ("
Dominus exaudiet me cum clamavero ad eum. Irascimini, et nolite-") Privately, she wondered as to whether Asuka or Miss Ayanami would find an opportunity to deliver a killing blow.
There was a brief flicker of A.T. Fields intermingling along Gaghiel's back; that brief bit of metaphysical force was enough to loosen Nigoki's grip. A snake formed entirely of water blasted from the sea, smashing Asuka and her Evangelion into the air as though they were rockets.
With a surprisingly agile maneuver, the Angel erupted from the water, mouth wide...and with a horrific
SNAP that sent fearful tremors through Mari's heart, bit down upon its enemy. Only the smallest of gaps revealed that Unit-02 — feet propped against the bottom jaw, hands straining against the upper teeth — had kept the voracious Angel from devouring them whole...
xx
Asuka's current spiritual state: between the rushing waters and the Angel's jaw, withstanding ludicrous amounts of force.
Asuka's current mental state: anger, a dash of panic, and several pounds worth of
frustration.
Asuka's current train of thought: lots and
lots of Germanic slurs, with a few English and Japanese ones thrown in for good measure.
xx
...but just barely, as the monster began to thrash, aiming to pulverize its prey with sheer momentum. Grimacing, Mari looked towards her current protector and yelled, "Miss Ayanami,
help her!" When the blunette briefly gazed back at her, she added, "she's
INFINITELY more important than I am.
HELP her!"
"...very well," murmured the girl. With a seamless movement, she clambered atop Zerogoki's shoulders; the spectral warrior then took off running,
leaping off of Mari's stationary A.T. Field. With one great jump, Ayanami and her Evangelion were upon the Evangelion's back, unleashing some manner of icy attack (Mabufudyne, probably?) across the thick flesh-
"
And so the utilitarian nature of the lilim is made manifest. I accept your sacrifice!"
With those words, Gaghiel made its will manifest, as a triad of watery jets fired towards Mari's position from the sea.
Even as her mouth continued to move in prayers, that separate part of her mind couldn't help but wince.
Well this is a lame way to go...
And then...without warning, salvation came down from above.
xxxx
/Outskirts of Nishiawakura, the Metaverse/
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2R0tz6bHE4
Salvation came in the form of
God's Hand.
Unannounced, the titanic fist rocketed down from above,
crushing the Acolyte's Shadow. Focused as he was on Joker, the Acolyte's Shadow was hit in the back of the head; unable to dodge (much less defend) itself, the hulking monster was
plowed into the ground, head reduced to shadowy mist.
As a puppet cut from its strings, the Acolyte immediately slumped to the ground, courtesy of a very abrupt mental shutdown.
...whew. Lowering his handgun, Joker looked upward with a wry yet grateful grin. "Was
wondering who was going to respond."
Sitting atop Seiten Taisei's cloud, Ryuji Sakamoto couldn't help but snort. "Well, dozens of
gunshots kind of stick out, even in the Metaverse...especially for a relatively sleepy village like this."
"That was kind of the plan."
"Apparently," dryly said Ryuji, gazing at handgun in his right hand and the dagger in his left. "Where'd you get the pistol?"
"It's just a little squirt gun in the real world."
"And your big shiv?"
"Just a pocket knife."
"...cognition's a hell of a thing. How'd you
get here?"
Joker shrugged. "Same thing as yesterday. Could feel a hole open up in reality near Sojiro's place, right as an Acolyte came for a visit. Figured it would be best to distract it until I came across someone with more firepower."
"Probably could have used your Persona —
whatever it is — to finish the job."
"Yeah, I
could...but then this whole town would probably get wiped off the map."
Followed by the entire world, but no need to say anything about that.
Ryuji snorted. "I'll believe it when I see it...anyhow,
I'm gonna take you back to Sojiro's so I can get back to work. Be grateful it was
me who found you instead of Katsuragi or Kurosawa."
When the sensation of his Social Link with Ryuji Sakamoto (unopened, but just
waiting to be freed) served as a clarion call in the back of his mind (much like Sojiro and Zenkichi were), it had been fairly easy to direct his path through the woods to where Ryuji was 'roughly' stationed. (Not that he felt the need to spoil
that bit of information.) "Guess I'm just lucky."
"
Now you're pushing it...by the way, you've got a pretty interesting Metaverse wardrobe."
With a nostalgic smirk, Joker stuffed his gloved hands into his pocky. "You
jelly?"
Unlike the teenager from an entire lifetime ago, the seasoned adult felt no need to pretend. "Heh, a
little bit. For a dumbass punk, you've got style."
xxxx
/Gaghiel's Domain/
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH8oiuGGJzA
Salvation came in the form of a buff bird-man in a purple tuxedo...with a red mohawk?
Wait, WHAT?
"
Ha HA!" boisterously chortled the stranger, landing in front of Mari just in time to bat away the jets of water with gloved hands. "
You'd dare bring the water to bear against the likes of ME? You might as well turn the sky against the wings of the eagles! Speaking of which...Gryphon! WINGS OF FURY!"
Without warning, a masked gryphon descended from above, flapping his shining wings; glowing green fists of energy — empowered wind made manifest — rained down upon Gaghiel's head from above.
Sufficiently distracted by the newcomer, Nigoki slipped out of the Angel's mouth, using its momentum to slide past its sleek skin; finally regaining control, a heavily waterlogged Asuka willed her Evangelion to kick off of the monster's side, vaulting back towards Mari's stationary A.T. Field. Sparing a glance to Mari (eyes impulsively softening as the girl realized she was okay), Asuka immediately demanded "who're you?!"
"
A comrade from a long ways off, my dear; you may call me Mister P!"
Asuka blinked, even as she idly squeezed the water out of her long hair. "...wait, the one in those classified reports that had Katsuragi's name on 'em?
That Mister P?"
"
The very same, I presume."
"...huh. They mentioned a mustache."
"
I've since shaved."
This conversation became incredibly weird VERY quickly, idly thought Mari; not one to look a gift horse (or
bird) in the mouth, she spoke aloud. "My humblest gratitude for your timely intervention, my good sir."
"
Think nothing of it! I knew the First Child was going to be reinforcing you today; however, a battle in the middle of the ocean is fraught with peril! No need to leave the deck stacked unfairly against you."
The reasoning was sound; however, judging by Ayanami's fierce glower as Zerogoki leapt back upon Mari's 'soul boat' (soul floor? Spirit raft? Eh, she'd work on the name later), the girl was not of the same opinion. "I...
assumed you would be back in Japan to assist the Third Child if necessary."
"
Ah, the lad's doing fine on his own! He's got lovely comrades to help him against Armisael."
Mari never recalled a time where the First Child ever looked angry. However, her eyebrow was visibly
twitching. "Did...you say...Armisael? You left him to face the likes of
ARMISAEL...?" she slowly ground out.
"Whoa,
easy there First," remarked Asuka, who found herself in the
odd position of being the one to ease
Ayanami's temper. "Don't know who this 'Armisael' is, but we have a fish to fry first!" she said, pointing towards the monstrous fish that was still being harried by Gryphon's long-range attacks...that is, until waterspouts spawned from the side of the whirlpool, forcing the bird-man's Persona to back away out of safety.
"...we
will speak about this later," promised Rei, her red eyes simmering with a strange fury that was...otherworldly. Sister Mary tamped down on the impulse to call it an expression of 'divine wrath.'
"
Finish the fight first, then you can complain to your heart's content!" With an extravagant flex (and
wow that tuxedo fit quite...well...
ARGH, one more thing to list the next time she was in the confessional), Mister P stood protectively in front of Sister Mary. "
The Angel won't wait forever."
"
INDEED!" boomed the angry Angel, its A.T. Field visibly churning through the water around it; the winds began to pick up, to the point where they were now in the eye of a living storm. "
I will crush you and scatter your remains to the depths of the seas!"
Rei shot a look towards Asuka; without a word, the redhead simply nodded, before the technicolor duo turned towards their opponent. Jumping atop their Evangelions, the First and Second Children wordlessly returned to the fray.
Mister P, mohawk somehow standing tall amidst the deluge, held up his fists; right as Gryphon landed behind her, creatures formed from autonomous water — looking akin to sharks with
legs — clambered upon her A.T. Field. "
I hope you don't mind getting soaked, little missy!"
"I've dealt with worse," she solemnly said, trusting in the strength of her new (and undeniably
strange) protector.
God works in mysterious ways, indeed, she couldn't help but think with a wry smile before returning to her prayers.
As storm and conflict ripped and raged and roared around her, Sister Mary was the picture of serenity.
No Maruki. No it is not.
