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The axe slips off from her hand. Her shieldarm becomes limp. Her rage cools and dissipates. The ice saps what little strength remained in her and she fell down. Her back was leaning against the wall as she collapses to the floor, the armor making an audible sound as its lower parts connect to the floor. An armored opponent is lost the moment they can no longer stand. Only clarity remains.

She lost.

In this moment, everything she knew about heroes, justice and good versus evil became shattered. Useless. Yet, it was all she knew about how the world should function in her mind. And she knew from these tales, now is the time a miracle manifests itself.

What would be a greater miracle than Djedre finally becoming one with the Argenteolus bloodline?

She channels her memories of things she'd prefer to forget. Countless hours of being taught magic, trying to put the lessons into practice and being chastised and ridiculed whenever she was unable to. Countless hours of feeling worthless. Subhuman. She slowly raises her empty hand, towards Arnvidar. Her memories became more livid. The words of Cure. The flow of Cure. The formulae of Cure. She learned it all. She buried these memories, but now, she can clearly see them again. Everything she could know about basic spellcasting, she already knew. And as simple as such a spell would be, right now, it would be the miracle she'd need.

"... C... Cu..."

She stops. It's the miracle she'd need. But it would mean rejecting everything she'd believe in. Nothing learned. Nothing gained. She'd gain her family's respect, maybe. But it would be a shallow love at best. She'd be in her golden cage once more, with eyes on her even sharper and more vigilant than before. It's a miracle an Argenteolus would want for their sake. But a miracle Djedre would not want.

Her open, outstretched hand forms a fist, index finger extended, pointing at Arnvidar.

"Cu... Cursed you will be... and your families... and your... children... by my... brother... Wylanth... if that man... or I... perish..."

And as the ice breaks, the remainder of her conciousness finally escapes her weak grasp.

She didn't become a hero.
She didn't become a legend.
She didn't become someone lauded by bards and studied by historians and hopeful children alike.

But she becomes something much more than that by sacrificing all of it.

She becomes Djedre.

TRAINEE LEVEL 2!

Doesn't gain stats this time.

46, 34, 25, 49, 32, 12, 98
Azusa gains HP, STR, SKL, DEF, RES.

74, 30, 42, 5, 50, 23, 21
Haruhi gains STR, SKL, LCK, DEF, RES, SPD.

93, 60, 81, 4, 25, 57, 41
Kenji gains LCK, DEF, SPD.

88, 24, 19, 14, 86, 36, 67, 33
Nonoka gains STR, MAG, SKL, SPD.

93, 80, 41, 36, 54, 61, 21
Ryuuji gains SKL, SPD.

32, 52, 84, 99, 31, 79, 35
Sumiko gains HP, MAG, DEF, SPD.

73, 50, 76, 17, 5, 82, 55
Susumu gains MAG, SKL, DEF.

33, 54, 11, 30, 69, 12, 10
Tatsuya gains HP, SKL, LCK, SPD.

83, 61, 38, 80, 31, 98, 27
Tomomi gains STR, SKL, SPD.

54, 36, 48, 35, 59, 16, 8
Yumiko gains HP, MAG, SKL, RES, SPD.

The tasty teriyaki treat to trounce troubling thoughts, truly.

Ryuuji regains 9 HP! (New HP: 18)
+4 EXP

And with the invigorating powers of the meatball, Ryuuji reaches his father's potential for a split-second as he puts the baseball bat-wielding opponent into serious pain without taking a sweat. Not taking a counterhit also helps.

[Sumiko is Daunting!]
Hit/Crit: 113/8
Hit! (70)

Ryuuji deals 8 damage. (New HP: 10)

Batter A retaliates!
Hit/Crit: 71/0
Miss! (86)

Ryuuji strikes again!
Hit/Crit: 113/8
Hit! (51)

Ryuuji deals 8 damage. (New HP: 2)

+4 EXP

Meanwhile, Yumiko's attempt at hitting an unarmed opponent with a stick proves to bear far better results.

[Sumiko is Daunting!]
[Satō delivers a Lightning War!]
Hit/Crit: 84/4
Hit! (74)

Satō deals 9 damage. Grunt B defeated! "EGADS!"

+10 EXP

Haruhi, her petite frame belying her tremendous energy, jumps into action and sends the Batter reeling and crumbling to the ground.

[Sumiko is Daunting!]
[Haruhi is Overeager...]
Hit/Crit: 96/7
Hit! (38)

Haruhi deals 8 damage. Batter A defeated! "In Kishibe High, small girl surpasses meeeeeee!"

+10 EXP

Overall, the Souban's gang was in good spirits as they laid some cans of whoop-ass on the Thronetoppler Gang before they could even mobilize for what Hashimoto declares to be the "Lobster Dance". However, said stratagem is still unfolding nonetheless now...


As the northern group goes into position, one of the grunts from the eastern group elbow-checked the other one and nods his head towards Tomomi with a smirk before running straight at the latter.
"Ain't no playground for nerds here, nerd!"

The other grunt and the batter reach out for the one running in, visibly speechless. Then visibly angry.
"You're ruining the left pincer, dude!"

Grunt D got provoked!

[Sumiko is Daunting!]
Hit/Crit: 77/0
Hit! (16)

Grunt D deals 5 damage. (New HP: 11)

Tomomi retaliates!
Hit/Crit: 89/1
Hit! (10)

Tomomi deals 6 damage. (New HP: 12)

+4 EXP

The batter scoffs at his ally as he goes on to vent his frustration on what really matters for him right now: Dealing with the Souban.

[Sumiko is Daunting!]
Hit/Crit: 61/6
Hit! (20)

Batter C deals 8 damage. (New HP: 15)

Souban cannot retaliate...

+2 EXP

Quite an effective swing too.

The remaining Grunt moves forward and lightly bows as he approaches Sumiko.
"Please understand that this is a turf war. Under any other circumstance, I would have prevented harm from coming your way. I'm sorry for what I'm about to do now, Kishibe lady."
With the apology presented, he raises his foot and aims for a kick.

[Sumiko is Daunting!]
Hit/Crit: 67/0
Miss! (77)

Sumiko retaliates!

Hit/Crit: 84/0
Hit! (78)

Sumiko deals 7 damage. (New HP: 11)

+4 EXP

The delivery boy, a half-eaten sandwich being carried in his mouth, rushes over to the grunt that approached Sumiko just now.
"Donf feh showwy foh hihin w wown!"
A truly inspiring quip muffled by the sandwich followed by a sandwich from his plate getting shoved into the grunt's mouth. The latter choked for a second, but soon seems to feel better about himself afterwards.
"Your words always inspire me to give it my all. Thank you, Jiro-kun."
"Uw wephon."

Delivery Boy heals Grunt E for 13! (New HP: 18)

84/100 EXP

Lucy took the opportunity to also pat Largo's biceps.

"O-Oi... Too close..."

In the end, even the biggest muscles in the world wouldn't help Largo escape from being an Oni.

"Ain't pounded me yet though. I'm starting to lose hope."

Lucy sighed deeply and forlornly.

"Give me a break. Whom haven't you told about your fixation on me tonight?"
"Now's not the proper time for it, but we need to have a talk about that soon. It's getting on my nerves. It might hurt our synergy as a team if that goes on."
"And the last thing I want is someone from the Warriors getting hurt because I hesitated for a second to protect them because they annoyed me before..."

EXP is slow and this campaign is planned to be a boss rush campaign which naturally has less enemies than the average FEF.

All EXP gain is doubled from now on. This rule will also be retroactively applied to already-earned EXP.

"Oh, you'll bring them a show they'll never forget? How'll you do that? Will you...beat me with that sword? Slashing away my armor to try to get at the squishy parts beneath?"
"Hailing blow after blow upon me as I stand here, helpless, unable to fight back, suffering all that exquisite pain...."
"Maybe you'll taunt me a little, to make it sting a little harder and then you'll keep going relentlessly, pounding me into the ground....oh Goddesses!"

Don't insult her... It'll only encourage her...
"Continue talking like that and I'll apply my sword straight to the back of your neck so you won't get ANY satisfaction!"

[OoC Note: kj stated on Discord to deploy to A9]

"The Kishibe-style job interview is now in process. Don't rely on me doing all the heavy lifting, otherwise what's the point of gathering you all here? Heck, just this once, treat me like some lackey to order around, I'll allow it. Wanna see if you got guts and quick thinking in the heat of combat."

"Hurhurhur! Putting yer fate in hands that aren't even callused? Truly a dawg, getting ordered around. C'mon, make him wag his tail and play fetch, dweebs, maybe amusing the future Souban makes him a bit more merciful towards yer!"

"Already talking about himself in third person. Good. That's where they're the weakest. It's Go time!"