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Author Topic: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Yuki Is (Not) Fine  (Read 208278 times)

Empiricist

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4230 on: April 11, 2021, 09:06:37 am »

Kouta
Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Destiny]

A stranger's memories ripples through your being. Words that have lost their meaning. Yet somewhere, somewhere within you, you know they are important.

The vessel does not move. He simply stands his ground and lets loose his arrows. Firing away in the peripherals of your consciousness as you turn your attention skyward.

Strictly speaking there is nothing in the storm. Nothing but clouds and thunder, wind and rain. Yet there is something else too. Possibility. Potential. The storm, it too is part of the infrastructure in a strange way. And infrastructure gives rise to more infrastructure. You reach in, deep within and focus. It begins to form, it was always there. It is called, it was waiting. You constructed it, you are conjuring it.

Past and present blur. Possibility and impossibility. Burning steel and thunderbolt iron. Hellfire and magic. The wrath of the boy given form. His resolve crystallized. The heart of the storm descends.

You watch the fight unfold below in the edges of your mind. The arrows strike true, blasting apart the blade as it is swung. Broken fragments scattering, and falling to the ground as swords. Perhaps if circumstances were different they would have stuck into the ground, a field of blades embeded by the blade. But of course, it is not regular ground here. And though the Aramitama acts now to reclaim it, most of the roof is still stained by the abyss. The fragments sinking into its depths as Argyros sweeps to the side, riding a wave of its own blood, twin machineguns forming in hands once more. A grenade slams into one. An arrow into the other. Before they can even fire, both weapons are destroyed.

Not that it stops the Aramitama. It leaps upwards, spinning as its molten blood spirals around it, reforging into lances of metal, and firing forwards.

It is here now that something unexpected happens.

The other boy, Yuri, he grabs your vessel and uses it as a shield, a fusillade of lances catching Kouta in the chest.

"дерьмо́!"

Surprised is not the right word here. Yuri does not look surprised. But he doesn't look too happy about it either.

Kouta is very badly hurt. But that's it. The strength of his armor, the force of his vitality. It has grown only greater, neath the influence of the crown. The other boy produces his own healing potion and jams it into Kouta's neck, healing him back up before swinging him behind right as Argyros tosses one last fan of lances at the pair.

The scent of burning flesh shocks you back to reality. Yuri's flesh, burning. In his hand is one of the lances. He caught it. Used it to the parry the rest. He looks back at you apologetically as he produces a cigarette with his free hand, lighting it with burning lance before finally dropping the weapon.

You tell him you two need to run. He nods and follows your lead. You don't mention why. You don't have the time. The Aramitama reforges its machineguns. There is nothing to be done here. It doesn't have the time. It just doesn't know it yet. It raises the weapons.

It is at this moment, that the GBU-39 detonates. A flash of hellfire and lightning. You activate your thrusters, spinning round to grab Yuri as you're thrown off the roof, wings spreading as you take back control of your trajectory, swooping back into the fray.

The roof is uh. Yeah it's not there anymore. Where the Aramitama stands is now just a pile of rubble and debris. No one else up there at this hour - you were sure to check, you weren't that far gone. Friends, they're in a lower floor.

Aria waves as you land.

"You've got to teach me that sometime!"

You're not sure if you can. Still save for all her ink being annihilated she looks fine. Better than fine actually - she seems to have healed in the interim.

The Aramitama meanwhile, yeah, it looks like it could use some healing. A lot of healing. It's bleeding from its well, everything. And something tells you the wound you inflicted was mortal. But it's not instantly fatal either. And right now with its quicksilver bolstered by the massive amount of molten metal spilling from its form, it wants nothing more than to devour more souls. To make the wounds less than mortal. It has no behind that visor and yet you can tell in that moment as your gazes meet, that it will not stop til you bleed it try.

You feel your exhaustion wash over you and you feel yourself begin to slip away again. The madness beating in your chest. You need to turn it off. Power... you have enough power now.

Born of the storm, rumbling with the sound of promised thunder, it descends into view, its airframe arcing with a corona of electricity. Your latest weapon - a JASDF Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.

Aria thrusts her cleaver forwards. A forward lurch, doesn't really seem to end as she's seemingly dragged forwards blade-first by an invisible force, the tip of her cleaver sinking in the floor and staining it with the encroach of the abyss as she rushes forward. Yuri hops onto the back of her suit, readying his handgun.

On the opposite side of the building. The Aramitama forms all around it spears, blades, and guns, forged from its own molten blood and seeking to gun all three of you down.

Somewhere inside the F-35, a gatling canon begins spinning up.

Finish the fight.

[Now Playing: Blow Me Away]

Spoiler: Known Hypers (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: April 11, 2021, 09:25:20 am by Empiricist »
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Twinwolf

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4231 on: April 11, 2021, 07:52:07 pm »

No. She refused flat out. "...Yes, it did hurt, a bit." Yuki conceded. "I've had worse. I haven't been a good friend, have I? But I'd be worse than that if I abandoned you like this."

She was dangerously close to thoughts she didn't want to have. Feelings she refused to acknowledge. But this fit in with her framework didn't it? The dramatic confrontation to bring a friend home? Right? She told herself it did, at least. "You've helped me a lot. One hurt isn't going to make that go away."
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Chevaleresse

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4232 on: April 12, 2021, 06:19:30 am »

Kouta

Another thought, unbidden, echoes from afar. Just a bit further. The vessel raised his bow once more, aiming a staccato burst of shots at the center of each weapon the foul creature summoned. Any more power and he risked hitting his two allies during their charge. He ordered the vessel to move back as it fired, towards the edge of the building. Halfway through the hail of "arrows," he began the final assault, cannon roaring forth and spitting fifty rounds per second into the trespasser's frame.

I can't go any further. I need to come back now. The words came from afar, but he knew that they were true. "Assault Module." The jet would have to finish the fight; if he tried to push his body, his power any more, he might lose himself entirely. This would have to be enough.

Assault Module after attacking.

Noriko

"I. . . It's not just you, Yuki. I don't know if I can even speak to Faith again, let alone Minato. I can't force myself past all this." Noriko shook her head. "I tried to, I really did. I don't want to lose you as a friend, but I just. . . I can't do this any more. I'll find a way to do things on my own, like I always have." The statement was laced with bitterness and hurt. "So just. . . don't make this any harder than it has to be." She took a few steps away before pausing. "Goodbye, Yuki." Then, Noriko continued, walking out of the safehouse and into the night.
« Last Edit: April 12, 2021, 06:27:52 am by Chevaleresse »
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Empiricist

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4233 on: April 12, 2021, 12:01:47 pm »

The storm continues to rumble overhead, black clouds roiling like the fears and sorrows churning in your heads. But for the better or worse, the world continues to turn stopping not for a single soul.

Night gives way to day, rainfall to morning light.

For better or worse, there is always a tomorrow, and for most of you that means school.

Faith
So the funny thing about rage is that it can burn hot or it can burn cold. When it burns hot, it burns real hot. Hot water enough to consume people. Hot water enough to consume lives. It can be uncontainable, uncontrollable, unintelligable. An explosion. When it burns cold, it turns long. It becomes insidious, calculating, haunting. Always there, always waiting, just for another spark to bring it back to the the forefront. Always waiting for that opportunity to arise, to do something, to become more than just a spectre lurking in the edges of one's mind.

The thing about burning hot is that it always burns out, one way or another. And yesterday you burned hot.

Were Noriko's actions excusable? Absolutely not. They were selfless, reckless, childish. The magic charge alone was enough to take out an entire squad of Hunters, inhuman beings, tougher than any normal person. Better armored too. If that had gone off, if that had detonated near Hanzo, they'd be scraping him off the other side of the building. And the victims, the missing people... Sakurako, Sakurako's bleeding naked form burned into your mind, she, she got off lucky. She escaped. She was saved. God knows what awaits the others.

They weren't her lives to risk. But right now, though you feel justified, though you feel vindicated by your hindsight, you can't bring yourself to hate her. You simply can't stay angry.

You burned hot. You burned out. And now all really feel as she crosses the gates, is guilt.

Grow up.

You really struck a nerve yesterday didn't you?

Grow up.

You didn't mean for it to go that far, you didn't think it would go that far. But it did.

Fuck.

You can't let this go. Not like this. It's not too late to, well, maybe not mend things, but get some closure maybe? For whose sake you're not entirely sure. You've, got some ideas. Your mind didn't stop thinking just after the argument after all.

Good ideas? Bad ideas? You're not entirely sure, but as you've learned, running and hiding does little. Just gotta hope she's in the mood to talk.

Minato
So, you fucked up. Again. That's been a happening a lot recently hasn't it? Or rather you're learning about it recently. Your friends have Awakened. All those things you wanted to say but could not say, all those words you wished you could have spoken, you can speak them at last. The time for secrets has passed. So why is it then, that it feels like you were the one in the dark? Why is it that you are the one whose world was torn out from under you?

You feel again like when you first Awakened. Before you truly grasped geometry of warfare. Before you truly understood the principles of magic. Things are simply happening around you. A grand farce plays out but you haven't the knowledge to be an actor, you haven't the know-how to steer what comes to your way. You are simply adrift.

This can't continue. There are conventions to learn and deficiencies to be corrected, you are beginning to see that now, but who the hell do you even ask?

Noriko
You arrive a little later than usual. It was a long night. It was a long morning. You weren't sure whether you should even show up today. You haven't had much sleep, and though Godslayers shouldn't need much you feel dead tired. It wasn't just the argument. Okay it was mostly the argument. But last night Kouta became Awakened. He's an Irregular to be precise. The hazy catch-all term for things like liches and cyborgs, things that hadn't the sense to remain as what they were. Turns out while you weren't the only one foiling a kidnapping.

Three squads dead, an Aramitama exsanguinated. He's a fair bit sturdier at least. Precautionary scans show nothing concerning, but Sanctuaries have become a bit more troublesome for him. He loses his new powers when he's inside one without permission, apparently it all comes from a tether of sorts. He said something about making a contract with Sendo, the city itself; the AI are still looking into that.

Oh and he's gotten closer to a classmate. You'd be happy for him, but well, said classmate happens to be son of an Aramitama-turned-supervillain. And apparently just happens to have bombs planted in other people's cars, which is like 1.5 Shefs on your sketchiness scale.

Just a whole other set of worries in your mind as you cross the school gates.

Kotone nods reassuringly as you pass the threshold. It's nice you suppose, having someone by your side. Still feels weird as fuck though.

Yuki
Smile. You weren't crying.

Smile. Your mother loves you.

Smile. Everything will be alright.

Shef
Leone places the dossier down, another addition to the spread of papers scattered across the table. Floorplans and transactions, schedules and assorted notes. This latest contribution will be your cover.

Not quite as comprehensive as the legends you prepare for each other, but this is more just a fallback anyways. If all goes well, no one will care to ask.

"I still think you could've gone for 'NHK guy'."

She slides two grenades over.

"I know you asked for smoke, but these should be more discrete. A flashbang effect achieved through curses, it only seems bright and loud to the people hit by it."

She glances at the clock.

"You'd best be going now. Have a nice day at work dear~"
« Last Edit: April 14, 2021, 03:13:23 am by Empiricist »
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Strider03

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4234 on: April 12, 2021, 05:41:46 pm »

A small choking noise escaped the man's throat, but he did not comment on the term of endearment. Staring out over the assembled information, Shef had to admit that Leone had gone above and beyond what he'd asked. "Still surprised you agreed to this at all."

The cover, floor plans, the flash-bangs, it might appear to be overkill. But Shef had been stung by unpreparedness plenty within the past months, to say nothing of his previous career. And yes, he ought to head out now. He had a six hour window of confidence, and no certainty of how quickly he could be in and out. It would entirely depend on the situation.

"See you."

Following a few particularly chosen public transit trips, Shef found himself approaching the location. It might be putting it kindly to call the five story building he stood before decrepit. For now though he approached at a leisurely pace, timing his arrival such that he could portal past the main gate without any stray looks. Not that there were many people around to look. In similar fashion, the front door was bypassed, and the man found himself cautiously ascending the stairs. No interference yet, the place felt practically abandoned.
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Within that world, she was God. But here, outside of it, her name was Yoake o-Shiri. That was unimportant. She was a Godslayer. That too was unimportant. But what was important, was that she had a motherfucking boat.
And by God, was she going to use it.

"But deceleration is for pansies. We're headed for the stars. Bye, Burnsie. Bye, Mission Control. Bye, Sol. See you at heat death" -Blindsight

Empiricist

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4235 on: April 12, 2021, 05:57:05 pm »

Shef
"I am your guardian angel, what else am I to do? I suppose I could warm your bed, but you-"
See where this conversation is going and get the fuck out.

So far so good. You release your aura, suppressing the killing intent and focusing on the sensing. Neighbors are out for the day. You aren't expecting magic, you don't sense any either, but just in case you wait for your powers to reboot, you wait for the exhaustion to fade, leaning against the wall looking for all the world to be just some guy distracted by his phone.

You're ready now. You've gone this far. Once you go in, there's no going back.
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Strider03

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4236 on: April 12, 2021, 08:08:13 pm »

A deep breath serve the joint purpose of recuperating his strength, and mustering his resolve. The contents of the room, vaguely discerned through this emitted aura, were in line with what he and Leone had guessed at. Nothing unexpected. With exhaustion departed and resolve mustered, Shef knocked three times on the door. Not particularly loudly, but plenty audible to anyone who might be inside. A sullen silence lingered after. Another set of knocks. The continuing lack of a response was while perhaps concerning, not entirely unexpected. Once again, the intel had indicated that a response was. . . somewhat unlikely.

Shef double checked the address and time—4C, 9:30 AM—as he did not particularly care to go breaking and entering into the wrong location. It did not matter that he was confident of being able to get out if a mistake was made, it was a matter of principle. And so, immediately after confirming the location, and demonstrating a somewhat appalling lack of principles in the process, Shef opened a portal through the door, entering into Yuki's apartment.

A small announcement of his presence would do. At a level somewhere between soft and conversational, he said, "Hello."
« Last Edit: April 12, 2021, 08:12:31 pm by Strider03 »
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Within that world, she was God. But here, outside of it, her name was Yoake o-Shiri. That was unimportant. She was a Godslayer. That too was unimportant. But what was important, was that she had a motherfucking boat.
And by God, was she going to use it.

"But deceleration is for pansies. We're headed for the stars. Bye, Burnsie. Bye, Mission Control. Bye, Sol. See you at heat death" -Blindsight

Chevaleresse

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4237 on: April 12, 2021, 10:30:01 pm »

Noriko moved through school in a strange mix of dazed and alert, mentally exhausted but still on the lookout for the others. She still hadn't sorted out last night despite her lack of sleep, the thoughts and worries tangling together into an incomprehensible knot that only got tighter when she tried to tease it apart. Kouta, Yuki, Minato, Faith, any one of them would have been a maelstrom in her head, and they were all there at once. Noriko was doing her best to avoid all but the first on the list; she wasn't ready to speak to them, at this rate she wasn't sure she'd ever do it.

"Just gotta get through today, right?" She glanced at Kotone, the exhaustion showing clearly in her eyes. "Thanks for still bring around, by the way." Her tone had less relief and more concern to it, her thoughts mixed on whether it was actually a good thing.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2021, 06:18:30 pm by Chevaleresse »
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GM of Trespassers V2.
I'm writing a science fantasy story. Mostly hiatused due to life stuff.
If you like my work, consider becoming a patron. (Since apparently people think this is a requirement: no, my game(s) are free to play and always will be.

Empiricist

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4238 on: April 13, 2021, 05:51:43 pm »

Kouta
Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Blow Me Away]

The air rests heavy with dust and rain, light and gunfire. Around the Aramitama the air hemorrhages, with spears, with swords, with machineguns. By its hand they are made. By yours they are unmade.

Steel shatters, scatters, as you bring your vessel to bear; particle beams decaying, detonating in the constellation's midst. Argyros' final defiant roar reduced to little more than a whimper.

A faint signal ripples through your consciousness. Small, insignificant. Surprise. Source is your vessel. Turns out you just strafed him off the building. He can still fire from there. Better yet he now has the entire building as cover. You reach in and deployment his wings. No need for course correction, just lowering his terminal velocity. Removes the need to account for acceleration.

You need to stop.

Signal source unknown. Signal purpose unknown. Tracing source. Source traced. Source is, yourself.

You need to stop.

Why? Why do you need to stop? Why are you telling yourself to stop?

Yourself. Who is yourself?

What does this mean? Why does it matter?

Yourself. Yourself?

Who are you? What are you? Why do these words hold meaning to you? Why do they mean something?

The answer comes from your vessel. The faintest of answers. Rippling through your consciousness, through your mind. It echos, echos from your infrastructures, multiplying, a thousand signals coalescing to one. To one singular voice. Your voice.

I am Kouta.

Assault Module engaged.

You are falling. From the building. From the heights to which you ascended. To go from something so large, so small, it's disorientating. Oh God is it disorientating. To return to a human frame of mind.

But oh boy is it good to be back. To remember who you are. To remember why you fight.

You swoop forwards, crashing in through a window. You then proceed to kind of just roll around until you aren't resting facefirst on broken glass, the world spinning too much for you stand up. Or at least want to. The glass didn't hurt, but it wasn't comfortable either. Lying down here on the carpet. That, that feels much better.

Resting in this position, you reach up and interface with the jet, viewing the world through its own sensor suite.

You're pretty sure F-35s usually don't sense the world so vividly. But you're pretty sure they usually don't don't crackle with lightning and spontaneously spawn out of storms so you'll chalk it up to your powers.

With its saturation fire a fair ways off from actual saturation, Argyros has failed to thwart your teammates' approach. Surfing on a tide of its own blood, it rushes to the side, stray shots rising from the ground to join its mass as it narrows its cone of fire, compensating for its decimated arsenal in the despite you've given in.

But Aria didn't charge in without a plan. Swerving into an interception trajectory she flips upwards, and comes down boot first. Ink, impact, and reinforcement. All three spread across the ground. The floor shatters, but not naturally. It is not dust that rises, but rather tiles, massive tiles of reinforced ink-stained concrete, colored by reinforcement, delineated by its absence, and cleaved up by the impact.

The incoming fire slams into the makeshift bulwark and Aria slams into it herself, sending it tumbling forwards.

Aria and Yuri, they are nowhere to be seen.

They are in the tile you realize. Inside the endless abyss painted upon its surface.

Which means as the tile closes in...

Aria erupts out, riding a deluge of ink. The Aramitama raises its weapons to try and blast her away but Yuri has his own tricks, tossing out a pair of small devices, catching the incoming fire in the hexagonal fields they emit. Aria lunges through, the Aramitama halting her cleaver only barely with freshly forged shields. It reshapes its remaining weapons into a another shield array. It has no choice. It is either that or facing the deluge of fire your plane now spits down upon them.

It tries to disengage, but the ground beneath it has been stained by Aria's ink and as it turns out, it's not just there for her tricks. It's perfectly serviceable as a weapon, eating away at Argyro's metal, armor, and existence.

Its shields will not save it from the eldritch depths. Nor your gunfire as it turns out.

The lightning crackling across your plane? Not for show as it turns out - the bullets carry an electric payload. And it turns out the shields are conductive. At the very least for lightning.

The Aranitama's last moments are spent pinned under the exact kind of saturation fire it so loved. Its body is consumed by the abyss. All that remains is its shard, splitting in three and distributing itself to your team.

You put an arrow in the Tactical's head for good measure.

The battle is won.

Your friends are safe.

How the fuck do you land this plane?

Noiko
"Anything for you Onee-sama!"

Oh hey your friends are, er- former friends, presently you're not sure what they count as. Probably not friends. Not anymore anyways.

Point is they're here, and at least one of them you won't be able to avoid.

((By which I mean Faith, since y'know, same class.))
« Last Edit: April 13, 2021, 06:08:07 pm by Empiricist »
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Empiricist

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4239 on: April 16, 2021, 09:31:34 pm »

Optional Battle 4 - Ghosts of Wonderland

Shef, sometime in the past
It was an emergency job. A leyline Sanctuary went silent. No idea why. You accepted the job, because you clearly haven't made enough bad life decisions. Packed a second gun, some plastic explosives, and three healing potions.

Leyline location was unremarkable, just off-center of a busy intersection. The Sanctuary not particularly impressive either, basically just a series of concrete rooms, well-maintained save for how all the security drones have been destroyed. No sign of a struggle, all damage dealt by point-blank or internal explosions. Lowish yield. Reminds you of what Minato does to his enemies now, but to a somewhat lesser extent.

You're a ways into the facility now, halfway through the current room, a long chamber with concrete floor and a low ceiling covered entirely with panels of lights.

What happened?

Why are you falling?

You catch yourself. You don't remember your knees buckling. You don't remember popping any of your caches, let alone all ten of them. But there they are, all open.

There's a figure here too. Closing in fast. Their raven hair cut short, their face obscured by a white mask, smooth devoid of any topological features, not even eyeholes, the only feature a magical circle inscribed upon it with black ink, slowly spinning and shifting. They're dressed with a grey suit, grey gloves, and navy long coat. Your enhanced sight reveals that their mask, coat, and boots are all enchanted. Their gloves are Regalia.

[Now Playing: Emiya -Time Alter-]

They're charging at you now, closing the distance real fast. Two knives appear in their right hand, conjured by their Regalia most likely, and they toss them at you as they charge forwards.

Your comm link has gone dead.

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

Knives, no visible eyes, a lot of probably armored regalia, and quite fast. Also trying to kill him, but that was a given.

Rather unwilling to try to stand back up right into the path of oncoming knives, Shef conjured a portal behind himself. The aperture would snap shut, depositing him on his feet off to his assailants side, and ideally cutting off the knives. Prior to this though, he needed to perform a half second experiment. A flash of light, and a command. Well, two commands. One for the assailant to raise his left arm straight out to the side, and the second for the assailant to recall one of the knives.

Ideally he'd know if the enemy was susceptible to his manipulations with this.

Burst of suppressive fire with MP7, requiem to raise arm and retrieve one (1) knife. Fall back through portal and activate Tighten the Noose[5].
[1+3] 4 [5] 3 6 1 2 4 1 4
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Emiya -Time Alter-]

The MP7 portals into your hand, opening fire as you withdraw. Problem - he's gone. Moment you pulled the trigger the man straight up vanishes. Portal closes catching the knives (fuck they're fast) as they're coming through as you reorient in what would be a flanking position. You let out your Requiem still as a precaution but if it did hit him him retrieving the knives ain't on the table (maybe he resisted, maybe he just had no way to retrieve them, you felt no feedback at all).

He's also right in front of you.

There's no way he could've moved this far with his running speed, especially if he made any evasive moves against your spray. If he's a teleporter he shouldn't have been able to react to your reposition. Assuming it's a simple aim and fire thing (albeit with delay in this case). Dash technique hidden under cloaking? The possibilities race through your mind as he seems to crouch low, another knife materializing in his hand as he goes for a thrust.

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

Shef sucked in air through his gritted teeth with a hiss, processing the enemy's new position. Teleportation, dash faster than he could see, precognition, time stop or similar, illusions, some form of positional lock on, too many options for what could be going on. And in addition, he'd not gotten any intel on requiem susceptibility. He could try that again. It'd be revealing his hand, but he wouldn't be able to rely on the ability unless he knew if it could act through the mask.

Shef steeled his will and fired off another command, this time to hesitate on the stab. This might give him the reprieve to conjure one of his knockback rounds, and trigger it's detonation before he got stabbed. And if that defense worked, he could catch the enemy in a portal, maybe. Might give him some intel on the enemies mobility tool.

Requiem to fumble the knife. Expulser [3] round to push the enemy backwards, portal behind set to snap shut immediately (the effect of Tighten the Noose). Another burst of MP7 fire.
[4] [3] 6 1 2 4 1 4 6 2

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Emiya -Time Alter-]

Your Requiem flare to life, flashing through your glasses and burning into your assailant. And for the briefest of instants you feel something push back. Magic resistance. It halts. They don't try to brute force it, that would take time, and you wanted to stall one way or another. Instead they go with the flow, accepting your command and working with it.

They drop the knife continuing their attack not as an upward thrust but as a light slap, forcing your MP7 away from them as you pull the trigger. You open portals to redirect the fire, readying your expulser as they pivot, bringing the lower palm of their other hand against your throat.

You notice three things.

First, in their knife hand they're now crushing a ghostly syringe, a spirit injector like the ones Satoshi uses.

Secondly their fallen knife is detonating, steel unraveling into raw concept and explosive energy, sort of like Minato's regalia but a bit lower in scale.

Thirdly, their coat's enchantment has kick in. All across its surface, diagrammatic inscriptions reveal themselves with a golden glow as magic pours into them. Theurgy most likely. It's powered by the wearer but the actual magic is being invoked from a spirit or deity.

What does this do?

As it turns out, it redirects kinetic energy.

The bullets striking him. The knife detonating next to him. The expulser you've just shot at him. All that kinetic energy dispersed and refocused. Refocused into that strike.

It's like taking a sledgehammer to the throat. The shockwave shatters the lights above you and you find yourself reeling backwards quite hurt and suddenly unable to breath.

Your foe meanwhile gets launched backwards, their coat unable to redirect all the impact from your attacks, launching them at a diagonal angle thanks to a combination of the expulser blast and the MP7 impacts. You notice that the ground where they were standing has shattered too. Excess force likely having been directed into it.

You can't really gauge their status too well. You're guessing they still took some damage from that exchange, but they've come out on top. For now. You clamp your portal shut on their midsection trapping them in place. They brush their hands experimentally against the side of the portal, not really struggling or fighting back.

They're gonna try something. You just know it.

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

Couldn't breath, his windpipe was crushed, albeit not completely and perhaps temporarily. Shef wouldn't let that stop him. Two small portals, leading from the space behind his back into his lungs, an emergency boost of oxygen. It'd feel weird, and it'd likely be extremely unsanitary for anyone not awakened. However he hoped that benefits gained from his status as such would make this feasible.

The enemy could resist his control, and would absorb kinetic energy through it's garments. Two major issues given that the majority of his arsenal was kinetic focused or vectored via them. Priorities now were dealing damage beyond the coat while he had the chance, and getting some of his control bullets in them. The first seemed more pressing, since the limits of this beings resistance to his control were uncertain. He could keep tossing out requiems forever though, and if it tired them out mentally, so much the better.

Backing away on foot, pop another requiem, again for them to slow whatever they're doing. Summon RAM in other hand, fire two rounds with portal to impact back of the enemy's head, followed by Tracer [R] adapting to however they attempt to dodge the initial shots. If they break free, hold off the Tracer, and just fire a few more regular shots aiming back of the head.
[6] 1 2 4 1 4 6 2 3 5

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Emiya -Time Alter-]

Two portals open, bypassing your throat. It's strange. Unpleasant. Feels like shit. You'll live. You Requiem again, this time feeling far more resistance crashing against you. He can't accept condition eh? You conjure your Regalia and pull the trigger.

You catch your fall into into a crouch locking on and putting another two-round burst at the man. It happened again. One moment you were pulling the trigger, the next you find yourself half fallen over, your MP7 on the ground, and your portals gone. Some kind of cognitive effect maybe. But you didn't feel anything. Didn't see anything either.

The moment you pull the trigger the man seems to vanish again, if only for a split second, suddenly now tumbling on his side a few meters away, chest rising and falling. He's panting. That little trick must be quite tiring for him to pull.

Your MP7 portals back into your hand. He steadies himself into a crouching position, tossing a knife your way.

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

There it was again, whatever it was had set off his cached portals at the start. Shef was by this point fairly certain that it was no teleport, as he saw no reason for an ability like that to leave an opponent unbalanced, and to cut off his portals. Could some kind of mental lockdown, nullifying his ability to output magical energy and turning off his brain somehow? Maybe time manipulation, Yoake mentioned that in passing at some point.

But that had the option of being general or targetted effect, and the distinction mattered. Could be something else, even weird causality manipulation. Backtracking and choosing an alternate series of events? Now was the time to test, or at least, set up a test.

Portal up for the knife, return to sender. Requiem to tell the guy to take it to the face. Not gonna do anything, but worth seeing how his regalia reacts. Meanwhile pop a healing potion from behind the portal, and set down a small bit of magic C4 with a timed detonator (with convenient display) set to 5 minutes.
[1+1] 2 4 1 4 6 2 3 5 3

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Emiya -Time Alter-]

You snap open your portal and pop your Requiem, holding him in place as the knife approaches and... There's an explosion as your feet. Blowing your legs out from under you. You pop a portal open as you fall, landing back on your feet if a bit unsteadily.

You didn't notice that attack at all.

Great. More tricks. Your opponent meanwhile manages to blow the redirected knife early, blocking the edge of the blast with his arms and skidding back a short distance.

You pop a potion and drop your timebomb as two more knives fly out at you.

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

Now, he simply needed to force the enemy to trigger their ability. The intel seemed like it would be worth shutting down his command abilities, so Shef began forcing that perceptive aura that he'd noticed in Kingshaven outward, filling it again with his will. Not oppressive, just presence. He'd definitely be able to learn something from this.

Energy output in overdrive, Shef popped another portal for the knives, and began to run. If the explosion that'd snuck up on him last time was point conjured, this might make it just a tad harder. If not, he'd probably get hit by it again. However, he himself would either be hitting his target, or forcing him to expend another dodge, due to the combination of RAM and MP7 fire coming in, vectored through two portals to aim for his adversaries head. All the while, waves of aura pounding in the message that his enemy did not want to be hit by this and that he must avoid at all costs.

Instinct [6] and make the enemy nervous about getting hit, portal to dodge knives, run and gun.

[2+2] 4 1 4 [6] 2 3 5 3 3

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Emiya -Time Alter-]

You extend your aura applying your command through it. This time he does not resist. You open fire and once again the moment you pull the trigger he vanishes. Full on vanishes, straight out of your sensory aura too. There's an explosion. Another conjured knife. He reappears a split second later. Clock doesn't skip. Is he pulling a Minato? Propelling himself with the blast?

If so he must still be physically there right? But if that's the case how is he hiding from your aura? There's something seriously wrong here. You try locking onto him but right before you draw a bead he repeats the trick again. And again. A total of five times in fact. Seems unlikely he'd be able to keep this up, just in terms of knifes being expended. But he doesn't need to - he's rapidly closing in.

MP7 clip is running low. He doesn't quite close the gap just yet, opting instead to maintain his distance for now. Watching. Waiting.

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

That was some confirmation. First, the weird falling thing where all his portals went off, that wasn't tied to the dodge technique. They could be used simultaneously probably, but the maneuverability seemed to be some kind of knife detonation assisted by the kinetic redirect, with cloaking of some variety. He should be capable of being hit in the interim period.

This was concerning, because it meant that the clock hadn't confirmed whether Shef's blackouts were prolonged or not. It had only confirmed that his enemy had cloaking and blast propulsion. Current suspicion was also that he could also cloak the knives. But why not do so permanently? Seemed taxing, might be speed related, Shef noted. Of course this wasn't complete confirmation. The cloaking might just be extremely short duration, meaning it was best used for speedy maneuvers.

Still, the blackouts were worrying. For now, he'd need to stall till he came up with a new plan

Expulser[3] down the main approach line. Requiem to dodge, empty the rest of the MP7 mag and a few RAM shots in the area around the Expulser where Shef thinks this guy will dodge. Conjure a portal to open distance a little bit.
[4] 1 4 2 3 5 3 [3]

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Emiya -Time Alter-]

You fire off your bullet and your Requiem telling the man to dodge. He does so gladly, doing another precautionary flicker as he launches himself one of the sparser areas opting to take a few more MP7 rounds than brave the RAM's shot. The rounds slam into him and actually launch him a good distance backwards. It's the coat. It's dispersing the impacts to reduce the damage, in exchange for making them throw him around a whole lot more.

Dispersal and redirection? That's a little complicated for a coat like that isn it? A little too complicated given that it's well, it's static. The magic in it ain't changing, the theurgical effect is, but the actual magic of the coat, the inscriptions and everything, the part that actually call down the effect, the part that sends the signal, it's been the same both times.

Still you're sure you've done some damage to him in that exchange. He's hurt, and as you've suspected that kind of cloaking trick might work well when you're trying to draw a bead on him, but if you just hose down the whole area there's no aim to throw off. Your MP7's mag falls out, and a fresh one unclips from your belt, falling down into a portal and up into the weapon.

Between impact of the bullets and your portal you've opened the distance up a decent amount.

Wait.

Why is there a knife in your-

The explosion doesn't hurt that much more than the one that hit your legs earlier, but it still hurts, blasting into your chest and throwing you backwards, scarlet droplets scattering in your wake. You're bleeding. Bleeding from your chest; cartoonishly almost, blood spraying as if pressurized, and the bleeding ain't stopping.

Okay, so that knife was probably cursed. And probably not tournament legal. Lovely.

Okay so, you're currently sailing backwards, the gap has only increased further, you're now somewhat hurt and more importantly, bleeding. Not really at risk of bleeding out (yet another benefit of your supernatural endurance) but it's an annoyance nonetheless.

The man tumbles to a halt, readying two knives but not really doing much right now save for getting into a better stance and preparing to dodge. You think. Guy's hit you twice without you even noticing the attack. Bit of a concern normally. Even more now given that you should be able to see magic.

The time bomb has not skipped a single second.

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

Lovely. Things weren't going to go well with this. Shef had a brief flash of inspiration. . . pop out the lights? But no, no guarantee of that working and he'd already blown his aura up. He'd be in the dark himself as well. He could take a page out of Evi's book. If he could expose the movements even if not the person, he'd maybe be able to avoid these knives. Maybe. At the very least there'd be debris to toss at the guy.

Smack a remote detonator on the rest of the C4, toss it out in front, and detonate when its on the ground. Ram rounds into the ground about midway between Shef and the enemy, Rapid Fire[4] for saturation. He wants dust, if not to coat that which is cloaked, at least to reveal it via it's absence.
[1] 4 2 3 5 3 6 1 5 [4]

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Emiya -Time Alter-]

You toss the plastic explosive and blow it putting up a plume of debris and opening fire.

And it just straight up doesn't work. The fucker still straight up vanishes anyway and you can only pinpoint the location of the blast he's using to launch himself, not actually where the fuck he is. It doesn't make sense.

There's a knife in your MP7 now. In its magazine to be extact. Two injectors worth of energy in it. You don't even bother dropping it focusing simply on pulling the trigger a few more times and as the knife and magazine blow you see a stray RAM round punch through his side. The fruits of your persistence you note with some degree of satisfaction as your world fills with heat and light.

* * *

[Now Playing: Nothing]


"Nana? Hey Nana?"

Huh? Oh. Right. You spaced out again. That's been happening a lot lately, not that you care to admit it.

No, no, you were listening. Just, tired. You've been busy, y'know, with your part time job and everything. That's certainly one way of putting it.

"Oh really? What was I talking about then?"

Uh... well you just had English class so it's probably that (right...?)

* * *

Ow! Ow! Ow! Not the face! Ow!

Pouting, Ami lets go of your cheeks.

"Geez Nana, I get you're tired but could you at least be honest?"

Yeah that idea sounded better in your head. It's just, ugh, (what is wrong with you?) you can't tell her. Not in any way she'd process at least. So you lie. You smile and say that you got a part-time job somewhere. Something real boring, a service job near your home. Something involving ketchup. Helps explain the stains. You're a bit of a dojikko right? Were anyways. The white lies snowball and before you know it you've made a habit of lying to your only other friend. (God you feel guilty).

Okay, it's not just that, there's something else, it's always hard untangling your own thoughts, but if it really is what you think it is... well, you'd rather not think about it.

"Okay fine, but don't do it again or you'll be sorry~!"

Well that's a terrifying smile. You promise. Least your words promise that. You? You're promising more you won't get caught. Another white lie beneath the sakura trees. If you had to be honest, you might've picked this school just for the trees. Okay not really, but they were a big part of the tiebreaker. Father, didn't give a damn (when does he ever?) and you, well you you saw the sakura in bloom and thought it looked like really romantic, like something out of an anime (talk about embarrassing).

They seemed brighter back then.

* * *

"Shef?"

"Shef?"

"Shef? Can you hear me?"

What the fuck was that? That ma- er, girl? She bleeds, memories? Photos too apparently. You see them flowing out of the wound instead of blood. Your MP7's been blown to shit, you've been blown to shit, and your shirt's fucked. Blood is dripping down your head covering one of your eyes and the arm on the same side, the one holding the MP7, is broken and bleeding. Checking the timebomb, you see that whatever the fuck you just experienced, while disorienting as hell, hasn't actually taken much real time at all.

"Comms were jammed. I suppose putting a hole through her disrupted it."

You see some kind of energy begin to flow into the girl as she steadies herself and goes on the approach, seeking to close in and engage in melee again.

"Dodge now! Use that kinetic round if you can. Chain your portals to keep changing directions. Reactive defenses are ineffective."

[Now Playing: Update With Gunfire]

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

". . .I see." Shef groaned, pulling his good arm, and portalling out his RAM for a potion. Multitasking a bit, he was conjuring the recommended Expulser round near his chest, to blast him through a random series of portals. Ideally he'd keep that broken up concrete between himself and the enemy but that was certainly optimistic.

"Definitely having a bit of trouble figuring out what she's doing to me." If she was full of memories, could she be affecting his, maybe cutting out short term memories or something? Too specific of a power though, it seemed to Shef.


Expulser[3] through a set of fairly random portals. Pop a potion.
[4] 2 3 5 [3] 6 1 5 5 2
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Quote from: Caellath (on Discord)
<Caellath>: Emp is the hero we don't need, deserve or want

Empiricist

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4240 on: April 16, 2021, 09:32:18 pm »

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Update With Gunfire]

You pop the Expulser and launch yourself through a series of portals.

"Information manipulation. Erasure is her specialty. She can hide the existences of her attacks."

A knife pierces where you were but a second ago. You never saw her throw it.

"Like that."

"It's hard to fight her with reactive defenses and aim. You need proactive defenses and saturation fire. Don't bother with the debris though - it's hard to hide from someone like that."

You pop your a potion. You're still quite hurt but it gets rid of the actual wounds and your chest is no longer spraying blood at least. Issue is you can't seem to find the other one. Did the blast destroy it?

"Psychological attack meant to unbalance. You've still got one left."

Sure enough a few moments later you realize the final potion is still where it always was.

Energy flows into Nana Alter and you see her begin to move with renewed vigor. Something to counteract exhaustion maybe? You've managed to dodge the knife but she's steadily closing in.

"You need a breather. I suggest doing that high velocity bullet attack. Prepare all the portals in advance and give them an inbuilt power supply. Enough for three seconds or so. Cut off her approach."

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

"This someone who's been around a while then?" Seemed like none of what he'd been considering had been even close to accurate, save that yes, they're method of evasion and the cloaking were in fact, distinct.

He'd take the advice, no better ideas sprang forth from this newfound intelligence.

Enforcer[R] with energy supply. Fire a few regular shots as well, and keep portalling.

[2+2] 3 5 6 1 5 5 2 5 6

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Update With Gunfire]

"I was once human."

Now this, this was more taxing than usual. All portals had to be prepped from the get-go, with enough power supply to last per Enn's (or as you're learning, Nana's) specifications. The portals snap open. You pull the trigger.

You catch yourself as you portal away a knife thrown straight for your head. Sure enough this time your portals hadn't closed, they've simply drained their energy reserves and you can see that your timebomb seems to have skipped ahead by three seconds.

"Complete erasure of all information in the area. Taxing to use though."
"If I recall you named it「Kin-"
"H-hey! Now's not the time for that!"

Acquired 1x Embarrassing Secret

You take a breather as Nana Alter maneuvers around your little kinetic killzone, you're still tired but you're not really exhausted no more. She launches towards you and into the air with that flicker trick.

"That's not just for dodging. Those boots speed her up when she's unobserved."

She seems to be aiming to rush you down right now. But it's sounding like there could be knives en route and you wouldn't even notice. Gotta be proactive about your defenses.

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

"Oh, what did you call it? Need to know for tactical purposes, must have something to call it by when she uses it again, you know." What an unpleasant power though, nullifying all of what were, essentially, his attempts to gain information about it.

Perhaps this would be easier for someone with a bit more spread to their attacks. Someone capable of saturating the entire area around this reincarnation—maybe? Specifics didn't matter—of Enn. He might be able to do something about that though. A few pulls of the trigger to loose some scattered shots, and a dissuasive portal somewhere in her line of approach. It wouldn't appear close enough to her to surprise her, and might not even truly be in her planned line of approach. But it should provide some minimal distraction, as Shef dove through the long line of connected portals stretching off into the distance. Towards the entrance to this room. Even if the doorways of entries were wide, they wouldn't be wider than the room itself, and would provide a narrowing choke point.

If she chose to follow, passing through that choke point would be essential, and he'd have a much better chance of saturating it. If she didn't choose to follow into the next room, he'd have no qualms about bombarding from afar.

A few shots around the assailant, and a portal to get in their way. Room to Breathe[4] aiming to head back to the entrance of this room, shutting portals quickly behind.

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Update With Gunfire]

"Full Era-"
"「King Crimson」"
Enn sort of just releases a noise akin to a balloon slowly deflating.

Nana Alter spreads her coat like a pair of wings catching your shots around her and using them remain airborn, evading your portal and you quickly disengage. You run, portal through portal skipping through the space towards the entrance. A spinning knife flies into your path. She fired around your portal? Must've used the blast from a second knife to fling it.

Fuck it. You take the blast head on and snap another portal open behind you using it to redirect you back forwards and throwing you out the entrance. You're quite hurt now but you've still got a healing potion remaining and you're far away enough from the choke point that Nana Alter won't be able to just "King Crimson" your ass.

You're in a narrow hallway now, it extends back behind you back a decent ways into before opening up into an office space. Nana Alter has conjured another Spirit Injector. You can't read her movements at all and if she charges she can probably hide it. Just gotta cover that possibility pre-emptively.

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

"King Crimson? That's a band, right." Taking the knife was worth it. This position would be significantly better. He couldn't dodge as well, but limiting the enemy's approach would be far more significant.

As Shef passed by the entrance, energy flowed into his gun, setting up a tracer round. Yet the propulsion was entirely neglected, as well as the quick fire portals. In their place, the store of energy was fortified, set to contain itself within the bullet until Shef failed to put some small maintenance energy in. And even then, the bullet would remain inert for about a second after that. This done, the bullet silently dropped from the gun to the floor, and was kicked to the side as Shef passed.

Now a significant distance down the hall, Shef opened fire towards the entrance, hoping to catch his assailant on the approach. As much as he could, he would continue to move, and summon small portals near directions of approach for the knives.

Tracer[R] but with adjustments, leave it close-ish to the entrance. Regular shots down the hall, keep moving, and a portal where Shef hopes it might catch a knife. Also Requiem to hesitate and eat lead.
[6] 1 5 5 2 5 6 1 2 4

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Update With Gunfire]

You drop your little surprise and retreat, portals opening to cover possible attack angles, RAM laying down a steady spray of suppressive fire.

Nana Alter vanishes. Here she comes.

Moments past. She's still gone. Then you see it.

Her. She's in the hallway. A hole blasted through the corner she blew through on her way to reach you. Her mask had been shattered by a stray round to reveal a youthful face you do not recognize. You blow the tracer and unload on her.

* * *

Contrails tear through the air more real than real. A flash of light. The caress of burning lead. The echoing crack. You're missing your mask already. You pop your cloak pulse thundering in your ears, breath burning in your lungs. You push through the exhaustion swinging yourself to the side and blowing two of your knives. A burning blast dispersed into a hard shove to your back, neon lights streaking through your vision, cold air whistling across your body, wind laden with moisture and gunsmoke. You hit the ground with a jolt, a dull thump spiking from your heel up to your skull as you take off running.

A flash of steel greats your approach. The world turns upside down as you flip backwards kicking the rifle upwards as it discharges, a deft swing of your arm sending a blur of steel into the figure's chest. You land on your knees. Pain. Reverberating through you. Somewhere in the peripherals of your consciousness, barely registering through the adrenaline haze. You let it wash over you as you kick off, re-engaging your cloak as you fly across the asphalt coming the distance in an instant.

You tear the blade out in a shower of scarlet, clambering over the Aramitama's chest and wrapping an arm across their throat. You take a blow to the head somewhere along the way. A dull throb to go with the thumping in your chest. You'll live. They won't. You detonate the knife. Radiance unlike any other. The color of steel, as color defined by steel, a color without color, an imaginary unreal thing. The unraveling of the physical, of the material, of the corporeal into raw concept and burning energy. Energy refocused along your coat, your arm an explosive guillotine.

The darkest of shadows to go with the brightest of lights, their body collapsing into smoke, into darkness, into nothingness. All that remains is the shard, scintillating, ineffable. You claim your reward and leave.

You walk step by step, stagger breaking into a stride as the exhaustion begins to fade. The weather takes a turn for the worse, greycast skies turning into a sudden downpour, it soaks into your clothes washing away the pain and the ache, the adrenaline and the colors.

You walk "home", alone in the numbing rain.

* * *

This doesn't get less disorienting does it? Well especially not when the sight that greets you is Nana Alter's fist crashing down upon you.

You just, fucking crumple, blood spraying out your mouth as she just slams you into the ground putting you at bottom of a respectably-sized crater. Okay yeah, that definitely fucking hurt. Your opponent ain't looking too hot either, even with her coat boosted the way it was she's taken multiple bullet wounds to the torso, photos steaming out of the holes and filling you with strange second-hand sensations. Scattered memories and half-remembered sensations. Her leg's broken too.

She is not in a good state and you feel like that memory you experienced has given you a much better read on her now.

Just gotta seal this deal.

"She's about to use「King Crimson」. Three seconds. Survive it or stop her."

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nana Mochizuki (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

Well this was awkward. Or it might have been be if not for the fact that he was about to be murdered. The jumbled thoughts flying through his head, his own but not his own, those hadn't been what caused this. Shef had just not managed to delay the approach down the hall long enough, or Nana had simply been willing to accept any consequences for that charge. Or both.

Now he'd be doing the same thing. Survive the next three seconds, no matter the consequences. He flared his requiem, ramping up the output as far as he was capable without preparation time. No thought for his ability to use it later, only the drive for his enemy to hesitate. He needed an instant to create his exit, a knockback round, and two portals. One to let himself out, and the other to deprive his opponent of that force which she would so readily use against him.

Once he was flung down the hall, he'd summon a portal, energy pumped in to keep it going through the entirety of King Crimson. Hopefully.

Requiem as strongly as possible, even at the cost of gimping it for a few while afterward. Expulser[3] at Shef's chest, with a portal between him and his assailant, leading to the ground. Portal behind back to be launched out of down hall, snap shut after passing through. Portal shield [6] to cover hallway with 3 seconds of backup power

[1+2] [5] 5 2 5 6 1 2 4 [6]

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Update With Gunfire]

You put everything into this one. Your glasses burning with the stolen light of a forgotten stars. What hits your foe is less a compulsion and more a physical force. Your lens shatter. Your expulser goes off.

Next thing you know you're collapsed on the ground, a portal shield covering the portal behind you and an utterly exhausted Nana Alter. Her gloves burn with energy. She's overloading them, putting everything into her next attack. A barrage of knives. One last attempt to put you six feet under.

Gun her down.

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nana Mochizuki (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

Well, it had worked, he was alive. Now to ensure the same could not be said of her.

Rapid Fire[4] and a portal near himself to redirect some of the knives. Continue to retreat erratically.

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

[Now Playing: Update With Gunfire]

You adjust your portal shield, pulling it back and splitting it into four smaller portals. Aiming down gap in their formation you open fire, unloading on Nana Alter. She responds in kind, gloves burning with energy as she unleashes a flurry of flickering blades, unstable indistinct fragments that unravel even as they leave her grip.

Bullet meets blade, annihilating in brilliant flashes of light and color. Course you've got the advantage here, her Regalia was never meant for this kind of thing and even overloaded it can't match the RAM's rate of fire bullet for bullet, let alone when she needs to thread the needle just to even hit you.

Soon enough your shots strike true, punching holes through your target.

* * *

[Now Playing: Nothing]

"What were you thinking?!"

(Ah... you really messed up this time.)

You are standing at Winter's doorstep. The closest thing she has to a doorstep. The closest thing you can do to standing now.

You cannot see. You cannot hear. You cannot breath.

Yet you feel. You feel nonetheless.

You who are no longer human.

(Did you think she would be happy?)

(Ah... you get it now.) The life you so carelessly wished away. It's the life she wanted wasn't it? The simple mundane life. The life she could never have. (You really are an idiot.)

Ah the world's spinning (guess you can still feel that). Spinning spinning spinning.

Anxiety. Panic. Fear. Possibilities course through your head. Insubstantial. Half-formed. Holding naught but their own existence. Your mind racing with no direction. (Ah... what do you say? What can you say?)

"Come" her voice softens "I'll scold you inside."

You take her hand and cross the threshold, your world filling with light.

* * *

Eugh. Well, that's enough teen angst for one day.

Target's dead. Or whatever passes for death for a collection of memories anyways. Its fallen form decays, disintegrating into photographs and scattering to the wind. All that remains are some disjointed thoughts and lingering sensations. You take out your final potion and drink it.

Mission complete.

[Outro: Hey Alice]

I wish I could say I did it for love.
I wish I could say I did it to be with Winter.

But in truth, I did it because I was no longer human.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2022, 08:57:22 pm by Empiricist »
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Chevaleresse

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4241 on: April 17, 2021, 07:52:03 am »

Kouta

The boy slumped against the wall, exhausted on every level by the whirlwind of events that had just occurred. Not that there weren't still a few lingering issues. "Is there, um, somewhere I can put this?" He'd conjured it - if it counted as him at that point - to take down a dangerous foe; there weren't exactly plans made for the logistics around having an advanced multirole fighter just sort of floating around in a holding pattern. "I don't think I can just make it go away."
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Empiricist

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4242 on: April 18, 2021, 09:55:07 am »

Kouta
"We can try clearing a road. How much runway do you need?"
Well you have no idea how to land this thing in normal circumstances let alone in the middle of a city during a storm and no length of runway is going to solve it. No length of runway in a commercial district anyways.

Any other options?

"Fly it out and ditch it in the ocean?"

Okay that would definitely be easier. Crashing it. Crashing it is easy.

Aria's voice filters through your comms "How long can you keep it up there?"

Well you're pretty out of it, but you could probably still keep it circling for a while. Why?

"I've got an idea!"
You shift the plane's flight pattern, bringing the smashed top of the building back into view. Aria's planted her sword back down is just sweeping it across the the floor, painting it with ink. You see Yuri approach her.

"Your friend-" "Classmate." "-wants to know how the hostages are."

You shift your focus to the building's security cameras. They've moved, but not too far down and are hiding under a desk. Mrs. Kato is phoning the police you think. Wait police? How do you know? Oh, you kinda just instinctively traced the call to a nearby cell tower, you're pulling audio out of that. Huh. Good to know.

Okay they currently wouldn't know it, but there safe. "Kouta says they're safe!"
You see Yuri nod affirmatively, walking over to the edge to sit down and finish his cigarette.
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Twinwolf

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4243 on: April 18, 2021, 03:39:21 pm »

Yuki

Yuki was fine. She was fine. She went through the day as normal - only those people who knew her would really be able to tell that there was even an undercurrent of anything out of the ordinary, and those were few and far between.

It was all fine. It would work out. That was how these stories worked. Even if it was probably somehow her fault again like it always was. It would be fine. Just fine.

Yuki's home

There was no acknowledgement of the entrance. Maybe nobody was home?
« Last Edit: April 18, 2021, 05:07:59 pm by Twinwolf »
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Strider03

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Re: Tengoku no Owari SI IC: Murder on the Dance Floor
« Reply #4244 on: April 18, 2021, 05:19:38 pm »

The thought had, of course, passed through Shef's mind. Leone's intel had indicated that grocery purchases were fitting for two people, along with other clues. But still, there could be no certainty there as to what was really going on. Even if his aura based sweep of the apartment had misled him and there was in fact no one there, Shef stepped forward, committing to this choice. The phrase in for a penny, in for a pound whispered tantalizingly in the back of his head.

As he approached the opening into the living space, his eyes swept over the furnishings, not merely appraising value, but also cleanliness. Yuki had let slip some small indication that she was in financial straits, and well she was working too jobs as far as Shef was aware. Concluding his appraisal, his gaze swept towards the couch, uncertain of what precisely he would find there.
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Within that world, she was God. But here, outside of it, her name was Yoake o-Shiri. That was unimportant. She was a Godslayer. That too was unimportant. But what was important, was that she had a motherfucking boat.
And by God, was she going to use it.

"But deceleration is for pansies. We're headed for the stars. Bye, Burnsie. Bye, Mission Control. Bye, Sol. See you at heat death" -Blindsight
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