2402/Meister or Failure

Meister or Failure
Date of Scene:	13 March 2025
Location:	Port Warehouses
Synopsis:	The time has come for Rashmi's final test to become a meister, and she has no choice but to face off against Chrono in a battle that determines not only her rank, but if Nicomachea will survive both this battle, and coming ones. Success will prove she has what it takes, failure will mean the destruction of one of her greatest friends... Can she pull it off? Yes. Yes she can.
Cast of Characters:	Chrono Harlaown, Rashmi Terios

---

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
The time had come. When Rashmi had sent the message she was ready, along with the specs from Nicomachea that showed she had done it as required... rebuilt entirely...

He'd sent her a location. Lots of warehouses. And Chrono was hovering in the center of it, his arms behind his back, eyes closed. In meditation it semeed.

And then she arrived and his eyes opened, though he didn't look at her. "Rashmi, Nicomachea. Once this test starts, it will not be able to be stopped." He twirled his staff in hand, before lowering it to his side. "I'll be testing your durability, speed of response, and power. If you are not ready for this, both of you, you *will* be destroyed, Nicomachea. I will not be able to hold back or reduce my strikes for this test. So I need confirmation, from both of you, that you are ready. The test will not be long... but it *will* be incredibly intense."

"You may make the barrier when you are ready. If at any point the barrier goes down or Rashmi has been critically injured, the test will fail. If you are destroyed... obviously, this is a failure."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
While this final test was a source of no small amount of anxiety for Rashmi, the events of the last couple of weeks gave her a *great* amount of confidence in her workmanship. While ordinarily field trials would probably be suspended until this final test was complete... Earth is far from an ordinary world, and Rashmi had already faced one impending apocalypse in the course of her 'field trials.'

But that was with backup. And *without* facing an incredibly talented Enforcer whose *mission goal* was to destroy what she had painstakingly created. Here, it was just the three of them.

<< *BONG!* >> << MISSION PARAMETERS ACKNOWLEDGED, >> Nicomachea replied. << THIS UNIT LOOKS FORWARD TO A SUCCESSFUL TRIAL. >>

At this, Rashmi smiles. "Don't worry, Chrono," she says, adjusting her glasses. "We'll do your training proud." Her smile grows cheeky, and she tips Chrono a wink "...Oh, and your mom wants to know when we're going to get engaged."

And with *that* opening sally, Nicomachea prepares the battlefield.

    << *BONG!* >> << TIME-SPACE BARRIER >>

The Barrier that spreads out isn't the normal green-black staticky field, that casts an eerie pall upon the world. Realigned to be more in tune with her mana, and thus just that little bit more efficient, the Barrier carries the color of her mana signature with it, painting the empty world in warm, golden hues.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR FLASH >>

...And just like that, she's a couple dozen meters to Chrono's right, flying down toward the warehouses in a wide, looping arc.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
In many ways, this was a trial for the enforcer. He really wasn't one to hold back in training, at least more than normal. But to actively *try* to destroy his girlfriend, not to mention the work she had spent so much time and energy on? To know that, if she failed... she might lose her magic, at least for a time?

Competing with the awareness that if he failed to test her fully, she might not be ready when someone who came at her with intent to end her attacked. And she might be hurt.

And in those thoughts... She entirely threw his game off by asking *that* question. "W-w-what?!" he asked, his face going scarlet and jerking. Oh. That clever girl. He glanced towards her and... "I'm not sure. I'll need to look into earth and japan's customs to engagements. Am I supposed to ask you, or are you to ask me? Do I need to fight your father or mother in honorable combat?"

Ah, the belkan approach.

            <<Stinger Snipe!>>

Of course, it wasn't enough to just say that, no, he had to launch his counter attack. And there'd likely be some alerts from Nicomachea then. Because it wasn't one sniper, not two, not three. Not even five or eight. Twelve of the little blue orbs appeared around him in a circle...

Before they spread out in all directions. A few of them went straight at her and her device, while others went through he battlefield... and she'd likely realize why the warehouse had been chosen. Poor Nicomachea was being *bombarded* with information as the orbs flew about, knocking over and destroying things, tearing apart the warehouses, sending more debris into the air, which then the orbs used for cover... ten thousand data points on the device's scans, now, and it had to manage which ones were threats, which ones were cover for upcoming orbs... and which ones were going to attack him and Rashmi from a dozen different angles RIGHT NOW GO GO GO GO GO GO!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
As Nicomachea is so fond of saying, he is *purpose built* to analyze, collate, and disseminate helpful information. And with his upgrades, that hadn't changed at all. A holographic screen *bwips* to life in front of Rashmi's face, tracing a flight path that allows her to avoid the initial assault of Stingers and projecting best-guess trajectories. Hugging her Device close to her chest, Rashmi loops over one projectile, dips under another, and uses a handy building as cover for the next few.

The purpose of this trial is not to go on the attack, but defense and avoidance... But one could easily say that disrupting Chrono's *ability* to attack is simply pre-emptive defense?

Thoughts for later.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR FLASH >>

As she swoops in between buildings, her rapid-movement spell sends her crashing through a window, into a warehouse proper. Soaring between the shelves, she comes to a halt just long enough to reorient, and throw up a Shield to deflect a Stinger that was too close to her tail, and shoot to one side.

Visual cover makes it hard to target, and if the trail of destruction is easy to follow... it's harder to find *her* to target with anything more than Bombardment spells.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown held up, high above, watching as, well, he couldn't see her anymore. And he wasn't even trying to find her anymore...

Now? Now she was in a building. And he knew which one. He didn't know where, but the orbs were circling around in all directions, working to impede her and destroy everythings, leaving carnage in their wake...

Meanwhile, Chrono was flying high above, gathering her mana, readying to launch an assault that, frankly... Well...

And then, throughout the warehouse, dozens of binds started to spring up, interspacing throughout the warehouse, all to slow her down even more... And worse... blocking off her exit FROM the building.

Something was coming. Something big...

Rashmi Terios has posed:
When one spends enough time in combat alongside Chrono, one becomes extremely well aware of his fondness for Binds. Which is, tactically, a very smart move; if the enemy cannot avoid your attack, or raise a suitable counter, that enemy is vastly less likely to win.

Which makes her little gambit of enclosing herself within narrow spaces a bit of a strategic error, in retrospect.

No help for it... If he's laying a Bind minefield, he's also preparing for something else; something like, possibly, deleting most of the warehouse to get to her. ...Welp.

Coming to a halt for just a moment, she arrows upwards, a trio of Barrets crashing through the warehouse roof, as she slots a module into place; this, definitely, will be a *true* test of the efficacy of her upgrades, and as she launches up into open air, she activates the spell.

    << *BONG!* >> << BLAZE INDEX: SOLAR SHIELD -- GLACE SHIFT >>

Rashmi curls up into a ball as a globe of thick, spiky, irregular golden ice surrounds her... and a moment later is covered in a whirling ball of flame.

Chrono only has the one Bombardment spell, to her knowledge, and her answer is to layer both of her defenses into one spell; fire to redirect and attenuate the flow of fire from the Blaze Cannon, and ice to foul up the hydrodynamics of the fire itself, while protecting her from the Blaze Cannon's hellish temperatures.

Finally, as a last line of defense, she's curled herself around Nicomachea; *he's* the target of this exercise, and *must* be protected.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Rashmi likely felt pretty amazing right now. Like when you go to a test and you've spent all week studying it, knowing that you have the material down pat. She would rise so high...

Which made the next moment likely so, so devastating. The moment you realized you studied the wrong chapter. It was true, Chrono really only had the one bombardment spell... But it was not his most destructive, or powerful spell.

            <<Stinger Blade Execution Shift>>

The sky began to glow an ominous blue as dozens, then hundreds of stinger blades appeared in the air... Spinning... and then descending on her. A spell so powerful he only used it against the most powerful of opponents, like Precia.

It wasn't one, powerful blast she'd need to fend off. It was a flurry, a borderline maelstrom, of magically enhanced swords. Over and over and over. Raining down on her without mercy, with vengeance, with authority and destruction. Leaving naught but carnage and suffering in their wake. In short, without any chill.

Well, he had warned her it would be a short, but intense, battle... Could they endure this? Could they SURVIVE this?

Rashmi Terios has posed:
If Rashmi's miscalculation has one saving grace, it's that her shields are still shields, and ice is still thick and requires work to chip through; especially when the magic of the flame skews direct thrusts outward. It's not a *guaranteed* defense, but it will definitely buy her enough time to set up something... more.

    << *BONG!* >> << AREA INDEX: SOLAR SHIELD >>

The average Shield spell is a disc wide enough to protect one person. In a pinch one can expand it to cover two or three, but the cost-to-defense ratio tends to make it an emergency measure.

Rashmi figured out a way, with no loss of mana efficiency, to spread her Shield out to a twenty-meter circle, and this is what answers the Stinger Execution. A wide, wide golden disc spreads out in front of her, followed by three more -- normally sized -- in closely-spaced layers between her and her highly-degraded ice shield.

Which is almost immediately banished in a whirlwind of disintegrating shards of light, as she flies down and away before the punishing assault succeeds in penetrating her shield array.

No one Devicer can expect to withstand such a dizzyingly-dense attack. It's simply *designed* too well to overwhelm any standing defense. But with a big enough umbrella, one can at least hope to have the time to break away. And she does... almost.

The greater Shield shatters, and Rashmi takes several glancing hits and one *solid* strike directly in the middle of her back, which pull a startled, pained scream out of her throat and knocks her straight into a brick wall.

But she's had hits of a similar magnitude, and *recently.* Reorienting through the pain is a skill one simply builds, if one is to have a long career as a magical warrior.

Time for a little pre-emptive defense.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRAGE >>

A stream of Barrets reaches skyward, and while not perhaps the overwhelming assault of an Execution Shift... one *has* to acknowledge the threat of a dozen Barrets set to fire and resummon in rapid-fire mode, the stream walked to follow Chrono's flight path.

Guided by some very helpful information on where Chrono's flight path might go, and where to lead her fire to.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown was, admittedly, left panting as the swords rained down... There wasn't really a more powerful spell than that for him. At least, not without her boosts. And as the shield finally cracked and broke, she... She was hit. Knocked into a wall. It hurt, but the device... was holding. She was holding up. As the assault... well...

It was still coming. There were a LOT of swords. So many of them raining down at her. But she was enduring it... If she could make it through this assault, if both of them could? Then they'd succeed. As they rained down, they were taking out all in their path, including that brick wall she'd helpfully dented.

And then she launched her own counter attack. His eyes widened none the less, though he hadn't expected another attack back. He grinned, none the less. And he didn't try to dodge it... Instead, he held out his hand and formed a shield of his own. Circular, powerful... But not nearly powerful enough for this assault. Three orbs hit it, then the fourth pierced, glancing through and catching him in the shoulder. Then another in the leg, another in the chest. He veered back, slightly, panting as the attacks knocked him back slightly. Heh. Good girl. Never just LET them hit you...

She hit a lot harder than she used to, even. Those stung... But now? It was the final moment. Could she endure the last attack? He leveled his staff towards her...

            <<Stinger Ray!>>

Compared to the swords? It wasn't much. It was just... a bunch of machine-gun like blasts towards her. But that wasn't what made it so dangerous. It was a shield piercing attack.... and the rest of the swords were now falling, all at once.

... Could she make a shield that could endure being softened up by that attack... AND then survive the remaining dozens of swords? Could Nicomachea do it, without being damaged himself?

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Oh.

Oh *no.*

She'd miscalculated how long the Stinger Blades could be supported, *and* is now throwing shieldbreakers.

Nope, nope, gotta run.

<< SOLAR FLASH >>
    << SOLAR FLASH >>
    << SOLAR FLASH >>

Soaring away at right angles from the murderous rain, she uses her rapid-movement as defensively as possible; using it to jink, stutter, and take sharp corners as she works hard to put as many buildings as possible between her and the ungodly assault raining down from above, to turn direct hits into painful clips that are visibly wearing away at her Barrier Jacket, and no few of the swords are chipping away at Nicomachea. And she, like Chrono, is breathing hard; without the mind-numbing terror of Things That Should Not Be, and flying solo, she's been working harder than she has in a long while at simple output and skull-sweat. There's not much left in her tank...

*ping!*

...But she has a *second* tank she hasn't used. "Verbal Command," she says quietly as she eels behind another brick wall, slotting yet another module into place. "Accumulator Purge."

    << *BONG!* >> << COMMAND INPUT EXECUTE. PURGE CHANNELS GREEN. ALTERNATE GRIMOIRE LOADED. AWAITING COMMAND >>

"Bind Index," Rashmi says, as she pops up from behind a smokestack. "Solar Buster."

    << *BONG!* >> << BIND INDEX: SOLAR BUSTER >>

Rashmi had to work rather hard to develop a finisher that she can use; while never a patch on what Nanoha can throw out willy-nilly, it is still very much a Bombardment-class spell, which means a coruscating stream of energy, focused into a beam as big around as a coffee cup, with all the attendant striking power and subsequent explosions one would expect out of a Bombardment spell.

....Only this one carries a *payload,* a Bind that continuously applies for as long as the beam is active.

So if he manages to get hit, at least Chrono won't have to worry about falling out of the air?

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Ah, there it was. Another dawning moment of 'This world is so, so many layers of buuuuullllllllllllllll shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit! It was almost comforting, in a strange way.

Also he was going to die. The remaining swords blinked out and he held out his staff...

            <<Subzero Boundary!>>

There was also a little message sent to Nicomachea.

Mission: Successful.

They'd done it! THEY'D DONE IT!

And Chrono was going to die. Ice formed out from his staff, forming a thick barrier outwards and then back, enveloping him in a shell of icy shield, not even attempting to use the offensive part of the spell...

... Even then... when the assault stopped? He had a bit of frost on him... his uniform was torn up in a dozen spots... And his gauntlets, as always, were pristine. His device had a few cracks, though. Not too much damage, but definitely showing the wear and tear of that attack.

"... Congratulations," Chrono said... before slowly drifting down.

Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow owwwww.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
    << *BONG!* >> << MISSION COMPLETE >>

Perhaps Nicomachea could be forgiven, a moment of cheering for his Master. After all, her success kept *him* intact, too.

Rashmi glides out to Chrono, to meet him when he touches the ground, and she is... rather a bit worse off, than he. The armored parts of her new Barrier Jacket had some broken bits, and several cracks, the emitter on her chest spiderwebbed by a chance Stinger Blade. Her uniform is half-shredded, revealing the white and black bodysuit that is the last layer of defense. And Nicomachea...

He took hits. No one can say Chrono's assault wasn't a *serious* threat to the Device's existence, and his self-repair module will need a good few days to fix the damage. But the both of them are still upright, and moving toward him. And as she reaches her boyfriend's position, she shows the last bit of her training -- the first lesson -- and holds out a palm toward the ground.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR HEAL >>

A spell-seal spreads out beneath the two, projecting warm, soothing light upwards, and Rashmi takes Chrono's hands, grinning widely through the lessening pain. "I did it..."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
"I imagine you feel as bad as I look right now," Chrono said with a chuckle. However... When she took his hand? He stepped in and stepped on his tippy toes, giving her a great, big kiss. "You did spectacularly, Rashmi. I'm very proud of you... and I guess I'm proud of Nicomachea, too." There was just a teensy, tiny hint of teasing to his tone when he said that. "I know this wasn't easy. And... I won't apologize for being hard on you. Because... I'd never be able to forgive myself if I'd held back and one day you got hurt."

"... But I'm so, so proud of you, for making sure I didn't have to." He said, before wrapping his arms around her neck and holding her close. "Congratulations, Meister Rashmi Terios..."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Successfully rebuilding Nicomachea was a moment of triumph. Surviving this trial, a moment of victory. But when Chrono got on his tiptoes and kissed her? Everything else swept away, and a private corner of Rashmi's mind began to work on the question of what would she *not* do for another kiss?

When he came back down to ground, she rested her forehead against his, unable to wipe the silly grin from her face. "It's like I always say," she murmurs. "You make me better than I ever could have by myself... And I'm pretty sure I'd never have gotten this far without you giving me that push."

"So thank you, Enforcer Chrono," she murmurs, ducking her head down to give him a kiss in return. "Thank you for *everything.*"