2208/TCOS: Bauer

TCOS: Bauer
Date of Scene:	07 January 2025
Location:	Plot Room 2
Synopsis:	The first of the five Knights of Trial is located after a bit of searching, and after examining it, a plan has been put into place to see about luring the Prinzessin Der Nichts to the statue it inhabits so it can be defeated and the gemstone within it sealed.
Cast of Characters:	Aloisia Stauss, Zephyr Windstar, Sequoia Maybach, Wako Agemaki, Hinote Kagari, Rashmi Terios, Sugata Shindo, Molly Skyline, Amanda Faust
Tinyplot:	The Crown of Succession

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Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Through work to descipher the information that Unaufhaltsame Schwester had managed to send out, finding the first statue that the Crown was linked to became significantly easier. Towards the edge of tokyo, the statue was standing in the middle of an overgrown field in an abandoned schoolyard.

A likely once-regal knight standing with her lance stabbed into the ground. Finding her had actually happened before, however attempts to recover the gemerald from it had proven difficult. It resisted simply being stored, attacks seemed ineffective on it in the statue form... and simply attempting to pull out the glittering emerald from the statue's lance had been similarly fruitless.

On the /upside/ getting the Prinzessin Der Nichts to go anywhere was /also/ similarly surprisingly easy! ... Just snipe her from a distance and fly/run away while she chases you, since she's on autopilot and her ranged attacks are fairly limited, the tactical difficulties that NORMALLY would be a problem are significantly reduced from the Prinzessin being largely just autopilot, at least at the moment.

Upon the Prinzessin Der Nichts getting brought within a certain distance of those already-waiting at the statue, things began almost immediately, cracks beginning to form in the statue as a voice 'speaking', which seemed to automatically translate into the native language of those listening, though it was obvious that it was speaking Belkan.

<<I am the glittering emerald. The Pawn which represents the strength of the many, those knights who shall serve under your rule. Show that you are worthy to lead us.>>

Crack crack... crack... SHATTER.

And the knight pulls her lance from the pedestal she was standing on, her shield lifting into a defensive posture as she sizes up the gathered forces. There's a moment of clarity and almost... playful friendliness. "Huh. Guess you already understand the strength of the many, this should be quick if you're working with your al--"

Before the corruption that had similary taken over the Prinzessin Der Nichts overtakes the knight in front of them, her voice cut off-mid-sentence as sickly green lines spiderweb from the emerald in her lance and over her body, her shield arm going slack for a moment.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    < Incoming. ETA 2 minutes. > is the warning Zephyr gives as she flies in to land with a skid from her turn 'pulling' the 'boss' where she's needed. "What's the plan?" she asks, hefting her Device. "I can probably turn her away again while you deal with..."

    And then, Emerald wakes up. "Uh... deal with that."

    It's almost like they have a new friend... but then the corruption takes over and she deadpans. "This is getting out of hand. Now there are two of them." she says. "I'll try and keep the Princess distracted! Someone might need to switch out with me if it gets too hot."

    She lifts back into the air, "Tenraikaze, Shift up." < Shift Up. Gear Second. Mistral Storm. > As she turns to head back out, her Device shifts into its more 'ranged oriented' form, three small drones orbiting around her as she flies.

Sequoia Maybach has posed:
    "I feel like I've missed a bunch. What are we doing at an abandoned schoolyard in front of a statue for, again?"
    That would be Sequoia Maybach, who feels like she has missed some things here!
    The girl is already in her Knight Armor, white cloak fluttering lazily behind her as she hoists her riot shield shaped Device in one hand.
    Then the statue turns out to not be a statue but a person.
    "Oh."
    You know what she's not even going to question it as she raises her shield when the corruption takes over the statue Pawn person.
    But then she bites her lip. Aloisia- or the Prinzessin is on course right now.
    "... I'm going with you." She says turning to follow after Zephyr.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"Be careful!" Ginga Otome calls after Zephyr and Sequoia. It's all the attention she can spare for them and the Prinzessin Der Nichts for the moment. Emerald might not be attacking yet, but Wako has no doubts about where this is headed.

She's already hanging in the air, surrounded by a faint glimmering halo of pink light. "I think I can purify her," she tells the others, "but I'll have to be able to hold a shield around her long enough--"

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir did some detective work, helped figure out where the first stone was. Now to actually go and get it.

Okay he didn't know what he expected but it wasn't that. He strokes his chin trying to puzzle out how to get that stone...

Oh. Oh they need the Night Princess. Oh that's bad.

When the statue wakes up, he tries to talk but corruption takes over before that and before things can get more heated, he draws two pistols. These...don't look like his normal ones. They're silver .45, with Ivory grips, inset with the ace of spades logo.

"Ace in the Hole!" he calls out.

He fires a barrage of highly pinpoint magical blasts from the pistol at the statue, before he lowers them, frowning.

Okay, others are on The Princess. Good.

Well, good in so far as someone is handling the bigger threat while they handle the smaller.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
This is not the best plan -- kite the Prinzessin to the statue, to activate it so that it can then be sealed -- but it is the best of the not-best plans. Besides which, there's not likely to be any *other* way to awaken the gem, so...

And for a moment, the statue's 'speech' gives a glimpse at what once would have been, and what *should* have been, a reasonably friendly gauntlet of trials by combat, and when the corruption takes hold Rashmi's heart falls.

    << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

<< Wind Dancer, Weisser, keep together as much as you can. But I have a feeling that however much fighting *we're* gonna be doing, it's *Alo-chan* who's gonna be taking most of the attacks. Since, y'know... it's her trial. So if she comes back in, we back her up, okay? Maybe it'll help if we actually follow the rules of this whole production? >>

And as Pulp Noir pulls the pin on the encounter, Rashmi skips back in the air, a Midchildan seal spreading out under her feet.

    << *BONG!* >> << EXA BARRET -- BOOST UP >>

Happily, *all* of her allies at this moment have some kind of a ranged option, and it seems the best opening strategy is to just, to paraphrase Hannah-chan, 'alphastreik the Sankt out of it.' Thus, Rashmi bobbles in the air a bit, as a half-dozen ranged-boosting wisps speed out toward those mahou remaining behind to fight the Emerald.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Ginga Kingu is in the air beside Ginga Otome - a new development, but the only way to get accustomed to something new is to practice, so he's been taking every chance too practice. His glow is an equally pale blue, around the feet of his white-and-gold thigh-high boots, energy from the soles.

"If it looks like this will take too long, I'll tag in for one of them," he says, eyes flicking to where Zephyr and Sequoia have launched themselves. "But until then -"

And he reaches for his chest, summoning the white Star Sword from within.

"Star Swordo - Diamante!"

And then, after Pulp Noir's barrage is done, he darts in flying towards Pawn from above and striking in lightning fast blows. Rashmi's boost up only makes him faster, moving almost as swiftly as Taktuo would.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Starcrash, deploy Time/Space Barrier." Molly is alongside Rashmi, already in her Tiefling-inspired Barrier Jacket with her staff in hand.

<< AFFIRMATIVE. DEPLOYING BARRIER >>

A bubble of slightly more greenish color radiates out from the artillery mage, shifting the surroundings -- and the impending combat -- over just a little bit, dimension-wise, so she hopefully the real world doesn't have to pay the price for what's about to happen.

<< Doesn't that assume that the rules of this trial haven't also been corrupted? I mean, what if Aloisia's win-condition is 'eliminate all combatants regardless of who's side they're on'? >> The purplenette takes to the skies, sticking close by Rashmi for the time being; partly to protect her friend, and partly because there's no reason, in her mind, for either of them to get particularly close. But, hey, if they're opening up on the statue then she might as well get started.

"Starcrash, charge Solar Beam, twenty second duraction, maximum thermal output." No need to start small, either, but the safety protocols can stay in place for now. Besides, she just got boosted.

<< ARMED >>

Molly takes a moment to note the trajectories of everyone on her Battle Visor; her friends and allies, all highlighted in blue, the statue in red (designated 'EMERALD >:(' ) and Aloisia, designted 'Prinzessin Nichts' in yellow. And when she's got the right opening,

"Fire!" And a searing, almost white beam lances forth from her staff, keeping it trained on the statue for the entire duration as best she can.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Magical Rocket Girl Red is waiting by the statue as Zephyr and Aloisia approach. As soon as the statue starts cracking, she conjures a giant recoilless cannon and announces, << Firing >>. Fortunately she's using whatever telepathy is lent out; as the word would otherwise be drowned out by the explosion launching almost 7kg of lead cannonball at half a kilometer per second in hopes that an abrupt transfer of momentum will occur -- any damage from the mechanical stress and shock is a bonus, but Amy's back-of-the-envelope math suggests that a wholly inelastic collision will buy them a couple of seconds while the Prinzessin and her device fight the knockback. At least, if the prinzessin were a spherical cow massing 60kg or so...

    Modeling reality with simple math runs into enough problems even before magic is involved... Anyway, solid slugs seemed to do something before, so that's what Amy opens with.

    When the statue /speaks/ and cracks to reveal (apparently) a person. Amy's eyes widen in surprise. "The Sankt Kaiser imprisoned people to be part of this crazy test?! Listen, stand down or fight at our side and we'll free you, this insane scheme to rule the galaxy under whatever that thing is turning the heir into has got to stop! Please!"

    While her words plead with the statue nearby, her eyes follow the Prinzessin, as she goes back to her normal-size shoulder launcher and fires a couple shots with projectiles that burst into clouds of flechettes, less in hopes of actually damaging the Princessin so much as giving them something to dodge.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Being peppered from a distance, attacked by an enemy she can barely see was a frustration for the Prinzessin Der Nichts, not that it showed on her face, still, the way she was flying almost conveyed a sense of urgency as she darts through the sky towards the Wind Dancer, flying by holding onto the handle of Konigsende, her body almost... not quite flapping, but almost more being dragged along than actively driving the weapon.

Almost as if it was a situation where it had stopped caring about giving the illusion of what was the central force of the Prinzessin. Luckily, there was still a bit of breathing room, those two minutes. And a lot can happen in two minutes, especially when you're face to face with your objective already.

Also when there's a giant cannonball and flechette rounds launched towards you to send you off-course and cause a small amount of damage, the cannonball... mostly missing simply due to the speed at which she was moving, but flechette rounds proving to be MUCH harder to evade and sparking off of Konigsende and Aloisia's armor, at the very least.

Unfortunately, purifying and holding a shield around Emerald will not be particularly easy, as the darkness seems to complete its infusion, and her shield snaps up into place. A crackle of magic, and a series of Belkan magical circles appear in the field around them, swirling in place as Emerald begins to glow...

And then... disappears, several motes of corrupted emerald light shooting towards each of those magical circles, and there is suddenly 8 copies of Emerald rising from those magical circles instead.

And a barrage of pinpoint magical blasts is unleashed, spread out over several of the clones and striking at vital locations with less visible armor! Each copy of Emerald still stands strong, but falters slightly in the face of that barrage, showing pain and raising their shields more defensively. Shields they were glad to have as Ginga Kingu came flying in from above to strike through the group with lightning fast blows, though to their credit they have the tactical intelligence to spread out and start to dart around the battlefield as Kingu engages in melee, though it's not...

Just evasive.

As it's almost immediate, after each of Kingu's strikes, another one of the Emerald's attempts to strike him with a magically-enhanced strike from the lance, their individual attacks not particularly strong, but clearly this is a 'hey trying to do everything yourself is dumb' trial more than anything... at least with Emerald.

After the counter-attacks the 8 emeralds would spread out in a wide-spread and purposeful circle. One of which gets focused by the white beam lancing forth from Star Devil's staff. A focused, trained blast that consumes one of the Emerald Pawns.

Which is simply. Gone.

Luckily for Amy, it wouldn't be too hard for someone with a Device to perform a scan and tell that these are more like an imprint of a knight, not one imprisoned in a statue. Which arguably makes them more dangerous because they're effectively, purely, a Device in their own right. Sort of. Kind of.

Meanwhile, the cloned statues quickly pull out slings to spin rapidly and start to unleash a series of magical bullets towards the gathered Devicers, each attack relatively weak, but simply relying on numbers and shooting from different angles to make evasion difficult and build up the damage over time as it is almost like being trapped in a cage of magical bullets!

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    <Got it Page Mage... Weisser, follow my lead.> Wind Dancer sends, juking around as Amy fires off a couple of shots to slow down the oncoming Princess. The Enforcer skids to a stop and expands a spell seal, directing her Bits into formation. "Saturation Form." < Storm Bits. Saturation Form. Impulse Barret: Sirocco Shift! > The bits all form a spell seal, and more form in the air, producing their own spheres of compressed mana. These spheres begin to 'boil' as they draw in ambient air, infusing it with mana. "FIRE!"

    Like rifle-shots, these spheres lance out, tracking after the headlong trail of the Prinzessen, each shot exploding like a flak shell even if they don't strike directly.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Red-chan! >> Rashmi calls out over the command net. << I know you're upset, but, *training hologram.* Trust me, Nicomachea's dome something similar for me! >>

While not the more nuanced interpretation that her Device's data is showing, it should ping off her friend's sci-fi knowledge enough to get the point across.

As Star Devil sets up the Barrier, Rashmi hoists a thumbs-up in her direction, then... panics just a little as one become eight, eight becomes seven, and seven become *a whole bunch of sling bullets. And a simple shield can only deflect from one direction, which means that for a moment, Rashmi is wincing and hissing in pain as shots come in off the wrong vector... but still she flies toward the closest pair or trio she can find, and curls up.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD -- RED SHIFT >>

A jittery, unstable-looking sphere of energy resolves around Rashmi, and the moment one of the incoming conjured bullets touches it, the Shield explodes with many times the kinetic force that shattered it; a space-clearing gambit, meant to knock a hole in the fire (and perhaps the sligers themselves) and give the group a moment to breathe.

    << We're gonna need to wear it down before we can properly seal it! >> Rashmi calls out across the net. << Teamwork is the challenge anyway.... Otome, Kingu, got something for multiple targets? Noir, covering fire would be *awesome,* Red and Star Devil... well this is pretty well your wheelhouses, have fun!>>

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir is able to hit multiple targets with this attack, and when the attack is done, he frowns and draws the pistols back as he lets Sugata move in now and get closer. But there's many more now. He takes this in and processes the information...

Oh crap, they're all 'real'. He jumps back and draws his right pistol up as he starts tracking one... then another... and he fires into one. And another.

That doesn't make sense with that logic. Is the gem splitting? If not. That means only only ONE has the 'real' gem.

But which one?

He fires into the images of the knight as he frowns, hoping he isn't wasting the boost Rashmi had given him moments ago. "One of these knights have the real gem. That's the one we need to concentrate on. The others are real too but..." he says.

"Hrrr..." he says, turning around quickly, coat flowing after him as he traces another knight.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly gasps alongside Rashmi as the sling bullets hammer away at her barrier jacket, leaving little dents and bruising her underneath. "Starcrash, Aurora Barrier!" she shouts, as she angles up to get away from Rashmi's immediate vicinity, so that when sling bullets start getting deflected -- and they do -- they aren't going near her. At least for as long as her shield lasts, which won't be super long.

<< Alright everyone, nobody get near the Emeralds! >> she transmits, << No point holding back right this moment, I'm gonna do a big one. >>

Molly puts up with the bullets blasting into her shield, which quickly raise a warning on her battle visor, which she promptly ifnores. "Starcrash, overchrage Stellar Buster. Disengage safety protocols. Maximmum kinetic output."

<< AFFIRMATIVE. CHARGING. WARNING: REPEATED USE NOT ADVISED >>

"Yeah Okay, don't melt your components again, I got it."

<< ARMED >>

"Fire!!" Molly targets one of the Emerald Pawns, picking one as... reasonably close to other ones as possible, and unleashes a brilliant, unstable beam of crackling energy. The vents in her jacket and staff open up, releasing a hiss of steam, whlie her staff starts to glow at the business end. Where the beam hits, it lets off an explosion, blasting a crater in the ground and sending a lot of debris flying.

<< FIFTEEN SECOND COOLDOWN ADVISED >> suggests Starcrash.

"I'll do what I can."

Sequoia Maybach has posed:
    With telepathy set up, Sequoia moves to follow Zephyr.
    <Got it.>
    No sooner than Wind Dancer is in position, Weisser Ritter takes a stance in front of the other mage, shield at the ready, to be a one-girl-phalanx in front of Zephyr for when the Prinzessin gets into attack range.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
The Boost Up takes effect, and Wako flicks Rashmi a quick and cheery salute.

And then, in what seems like the space between one breath and the next - there are eight Emeralds, and the air is saturated with magical fire in all directions.

<< I don't think she can hear you, Red-chan. >> An inarticulate noise of exasperation leaves the Galactic Maiden as a hail of shots begins sparking off her shield. "Aaargh, why does everything have to be difficult! Sugata-kun - let me borrow your speed for a second!"

She doesn't wait for any kind of acknowledgement, just throws out both hands already glowing dawn-bright. "Cascade de Soleil!"

Bright sparks of rosy light, traced with gold from Rashmi's enhancing magic, scatter from her fingertips to rain down on the Emerald Pawns in all directions.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Rashmi gets a scan that indicates that this is a gamma fork-- err, an AI imprint, and Amy is a mix of disappointed that it can't be swayed, relieved a person hasn't been trapped, and astounded at the continued insanity that is her life. "We're fighting mobile dolls?! Why is a plot about autonomous weapons in my magical girl show?!"

    Amy's not under attack yet -- she throws her hands out to the side in a 'oh, /come on!/' gesture. "If we're doing mecha plots how come it's never one where I get to be a pilot?! I've already got the outfit!" She waves a hand over herself, it kind of is mainly the skirt and cloak that keep it barely on the magical girl side of the line.R
    If she's able to crack jokes, she is far from despair, that's good!

    The red Puella Magi takes a breath and sighs, before turning towards the Emeralds. "Alright then. I can't go letting an imitation put in a weapon beat a real person, now can I?" and holding her hand out in front of her imperiously. "I am the better warbot!"

    And a salvo of mini-missiles just appear above and behind her shoulders, each homing in on a seperate Emerald! Amy then crosses her arm across her body and makes a horizontal sweeping motion to uncross it as she follows up with a second salvo.

    "Man... as messed up as this Prinzessin Nicht stuff is... if Ancient Belka knew about Puella Magi they really would try to mass produce uh, huh..."

    And then Amy startles slightly and looks around in alarm. "Oh f***, please tell me he didn't hear that..."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Fighting one statue abruptly becomes fighting eight, an unpleasant flashback to Takuto, Wako, Jaguar, and Tiger being surrounded by Mermiadoll in the forest outside his home. It's not as bad, of course - there are allies around, and these statues aren't attacking as ruthlessly as Mermaidoll had, clearly being more focused on the testing aspect of this encounter.

Which is why he bails off, flipping back into the air and pulling back to observe their motions.

Rashmi calls out, asking if they have any way to reach multiple targets. <<Of course we do.>>

Ginga Otome calls and Ginga Kingu answers, flying to the base of her shield and gripping at the energy - and then he's zipping her through the air, giving mobility, making sure that there's no space for the Emerald Pawns to escape the bright sparks of rosy light raining from Ginga Otome's fingers.

"Is this your idea of a show?" He asks Amy as they zip over her head.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Sirocco Shift!

A series of explosions in the sky as Prinzessin Nichts starts bothering with evasive maneuvers, having decided damage levels were unacceptable to continue ignoring the attacks as those explosive shots begin to burst in the air around it, though now its shield was lifted defensively, occasional bursts of that magic-erasing feld des nichts flashing in the sky as she flies towards the source of the oncoming attacks!

Which likely results in more of the sky becoming that flying zone of explosions and black spheres. As Prinzessin Nichts darts in towards Zephyr to begin to counter-attack, once more, Weisser Ritter was there. Right in front of her.

Once more, Weisser Ritter might be regretting that, as there is that twisted ping.

<<NICHTS VERSTREUEN>>

And a scattering blast of that twisted darkness-sheathed red energy is launched towards the one-girl-phalanx, a peppering of cutting energy that gradually gets more concentrated as Prinzessin Nichts goes in to attempt to spear Weisser Ritter. Because she was in the way of her target.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
The unfortunate thing about many attacks is if you have something to counter them and send them /back/, they become significantly less effective, as the Solar Shield sends a shockwave of force back into the attacking Emeralds. Luckily for /them/ their individual attacks aren't individually powerful, so the actual returned damage is ... probably less than ideal, really. But it does get the space desired as the 'web' breaks and they start dashing around the battlefield again, once again following that original pattern of taking advantage of attacks to counter-attack with a different 'Emerald', possibly a part of the training to force the would-be-ruler to watch their back. Or rely on allies to cover their back.

Boom! A shot from Pulp Noir at the knights as they dart around, no particular knight seeming to be holding back or avoiding going into combat for too long -- almost as if none of them were individually that importantly, though every so often they do seem to intentionally dart next to each other...

Ah, they're passing off the emerald so no one of them gets overly targeted.

This is less of a problem when /all/ of them are being targeted by the Star Devil, which unleashes a blast towards the statues as several of them were nearby each other, eliminating another one of them with the Stellar Buster, as another two take significant damage, two of them missing arms which were now crumbled statue bits on the ground, though not stopping their relentless attacks.

Perhaps a small blessing, they don't seem to be re-splitting at least... though the two damaged ones /do/ rejoin into one whole one, knocking the numbers from 7 down to 5.

A 5 that are moderately glad of their tendency to /mostly/ spread out and go for geurilla-style tactics instead of being all together as that scatter-shot of Cascade De Soleil is unleashed upon them, raining down upon them! ... It doesn't stop them from all getting hit, but it does reduce the chance of getting hit by shots focused on the other statues, their armor and shields starting to look ragged from the various oncoming attacks. Chips out of one's shield, a hole in another from a bullet...

A missing shield from an oncoming barrage of mini-missiles from Red, the statues bringing their shields up to protect themselves from the worst of the blasts!

Something made harder by Ginga Kingu helping out with the mobility and different angles that they have to defend from /other/ attacks with.

Eventually Emerald seems to get tired of darting around, the group of them darting together briefly into a defensive formation, shields up as their lances all glow together.

The clopping sound of horse hooves can almost be heard as a magical circle appears underneath them, before they all dart together in unison through the group of Mahou, piercing through them with energy lances that are turned to shove the targets down to the ground in passing, some of them even darting into the air to treat the flying targets much the same way! ...Though it's more of a rough shove down in their case, rather than an attempt to spear them fully to the ground.

A possible opening to hit them all at once in that brief moment before they spread out again!

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir catches the hand off. Like two ships, passing in the night in the Chicago River. Now, Hinote has never been to Chicago in America so he has no idea why this thought enters his head but he's blaming Tracy.

He curses under his breath as he draws his arms up to brace the incoming attack and---he's slammed down to the ground as Emerald Knight there, the Pawn, slams through him and he coughs viciously on the ground before he has to pull himself up.

Okay, that smarts, his entire body hurts now. He shakes it off as he pulls his fedora down.

He watches for now, trying to keep up and---

Spark! Right there---- when they're all together..!

Pulp Noir draws his fist back, glowing with a brackish aura as he throws himself into it.

"The Big Goodbye!" he calls out.

Throwing a powerful punch forward, he attempts to charge that energy into The Pawn's shield, trying to crack it and destroy it outright, to try to give her something less to hide behind, with the powerful, barrier busting attack.

Sequoia Maybach has posed:
    There are many things in life that Sequoia Maybach is going to regret.
    Standing in front of an attack intended for an ally is never one of them.
    Even as the Prinzessin approaches, even as that ping hits her ears. Even as that scatterblast of dark-red energy comes for her--
    <DUNKLE SEELE PARRIEREN SIE!> Her Device advises her.
    "Zephyr this is going to suck, for me. Get ready!" She calls out over her shoulder as the attack comes and--
    She summons a layer of magical shielding in front of herself-- and another and another and another and another.
    The layered defense shatters one by one and as the last one cracks and shatters like glass, Sequoia SWINGS HER SHIELD OUTWARDS to deflect as much of the attack as she can.
    The force of the energy and blow still hits her as she grunts.
    "--Now! Switch!" She snaps, giving Zephyr her chance here as she's blown aside from the force of the Prinzessin's attack.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
If Rashmi has learned one thing about Pulp Noir, it's that he has *amazing* deductive instincts.

Unless a whiteboard is involved. Then it's... kind of a coin toss, thanks to Tracy. But in a fight?

When the emerald lance rises up to swat Rashmi to the ground, she hits, and *hard,* but rallies in time to see the Chara Bearer mark his target, and trusts in those instincts.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BLADE >>

Five Barrets resolve over Rashmi as she climbs to her feet, lengthening into swords made of golden light, that then launch toward the single Emerald.

Five shieldbreaking shots, to back up Pulp Noir's shield-busting fist.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Is this her idea of a show? "I mean, uh... look, have you never seen a magical girl story? Oh right you are literally a mecha pilot, uh... life is weird." Amy kind of loses track of whatever she was going to respond with as... is that the sound of horses? Instincts tell Amy to get off the ground and a sudden pillar of fire changes her outfit to her super 'Un-chain' mode as she demonstrates that her body, at least, is not weighed down by gravity as she rockets into the sky!

    ...Only to get clipped by an energy lance and sent tumbling downward! But she spreads her arms and legs and arrests her movement, missile racks appearing on arms, legs, and shoulders! "I told you, Emerald, I can do it better!"

    "Un-chain! Take this! My love, my anger, and all of my sorrow! Mahou Missile Massacre!"

    Dozens of tiny missiles launch from those racks, ripple firing and flying every which way then roboteching in zig-zagging paths to keep Emerald's defense algorithms guessing before homing in on the remaining copies from all angles!

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Zephyr maintains fire all the way in, until the explosions of her barrets threaten to damage her and Sequoia.

    Her shield speaks, and within that breath she nods. "Tenraikaze. Drive Max!" < Maximum Drive. Tempest Mode. > "One chance Dee... You know what to do. < Understood. TEMPEST GLAIVE! > The three bits expand by two, five drones now surrounding the Enforcer... they then shift as they reattach to the Device, three of them locking into place on the counterbalence side from the blade. The other two settle against the mage's main-hand forearm, all five beginning to rotate rapidly, spalling off ribbons of purple mana, slowly fading to white as they spin up to max.

    The handle of Tenraikaze expands, and the blade reinforces with boiling mana... Zephyr shifts her stance, and as Weisser calls 'SWITCH!' she darts in, kicking off in a burst of speed. < BLITZ DRIVE: STUTTERSHIFT >. Coming in around the Prinzessen's open side. She's mid-spin, three quarters around to bring that axe-blade down into the open flank of the corrupted Knight, the edge of her axe exploding out like a shaped charge, trying to overwhelm the Princess of Nothing's defenses.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly sighs audibly. "Re-engage safety protocols," she almost grumbles, while watching a little progress bar on how long she should wait before casting another spell. Why does she have to wait?! It's not as if she hasn't overcharged Stellar Buster before.

<< AFFIRMATIVE, RE-ENGAGING >>

...Oh, that's right, she hasn't done that before while boosted by Rashmi. Yes, that definitely made a difference. The attack was bigger of course, but so were the consequences.

Ten seconds, nine seconds, eight seconds... this is a really long time to cool your jets in the middle of combat. Meanwhile, the Emeralds are recombinging, and then--

"AUGH!! What the bloody he-AUGH!" Molly finds herself getting pummeled into the ground by the lance, making her fall straight out of the sky and slam into the ground; her Aurora Barrier is broken by the lance, and she's still on her spell cooldown, so when she lands -- Starcrash erects a simple shield around her, absorbing the brunt of the impact. And adding a couple seconds onto the timer.

Which is fine, as the artillery mage needs a moment to cleanr her head anyway. She shakes her head, laying on the ground, and pats a couple of places once she can move aganin, to make sure nothing's broken. It isn't, but her ribs sure feel abused, as does her leg.

Four. Three. Two. As Molly is standing herself up, the timer hasn't even made it all the way down to one when "Starcrash charge Eclipse Barrets, homing after two second delay, forty barrets, lock target on Emerald."

<< ARMED >>

Molly half-crouches and launches, taking off into the sky once more and flying up and away from Emerald. "Fire!" she shouts as she executes a midair pirouette, spraying her barrets in all directions; they fly off around her before their homing kicks in and they rocket towards Emerald, coming in at almost random intervals and, hopefully, leaving a debilitating build-up of ice when they hit.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
There are what seems like a million things happening at once, and Wako is honestly a little dizzy from the speed with which Sugata just slung her around. Even so, it only takes a quick exchanged glance to put them on the same page.

She puts a hand down to pull Ginga Kingu up - dropping down out of the halo of her own shield as she tugs him into it.

And, just as Weisser Ritter's shields are splintering under the Prinzessin Der Nicht's assault, Ginga Otome hauls off and slams both hands into the sphere of pink light, rocketing her fellow Star Driver towards where Zephyr and Sequoia are fighting for their lives.

"AURORE AUSTRALE!"

Spinning in the air, she unleashes a wave of dawn-pink light downwards to where the Emerald Pawns are converging - a broad curved shield meant to trap them like insects under a cup, long enough for her to flood it with purifying energy.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
There's another glance, silent communication, and then Sugata drops into the bubble as Wako drops through it, arms spread, Diamante disappearing, as Wako flies up for a spike -

And the perfectly round shield-bubble goes flying, Sugata inside it like a launched missile, headed directly for the Prinzessin.

The battle is on two fronts after all, and they can't afford to lose the one out of desire to keep the other. The only thing to do for it is to keep the fight up on both ends!

Zephyr is attacking an open flank. Ginga Kingu is flying for the direct approach, hoping to keep her aggressive retaliation focused away from Weisser Ritter.

"Star Crash!"

Diamante's shining white energy appears once more, in his hands, and just before the shield-bubble would strike the Prinzessin, he pierces it with the shield, so the strike becomes a stab with tremendous momentum.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Barriers go up to stop the scattershot of energy, layer after layer shattering, breaking, busting apart... and then... at that last moment...

CLANG!

Shield meets the side of the lance, which is knocked to the side, causing a brief moment where the impassive face is staring blankly into the eyes of Weisser Ritter.

...Is that the slightest smirk?

The momentum of the lance being knocked aside is used to follow up with a simple counter attack.

Weisser Ritter was open.

There was a shield coming straight for her face, luckily lacking a burst of energy. Just pure concussive force.

Once chance, Dee. You know what to do.

In those moments mid-twist, mid-bash, there was a threat immediately behind her, swinging a high-damage attack towards her.

Striking true. Black and red energy crackling as an explosion rocks out through Prinzessin Nichts.

From the sky, pieces of Prinzessin Nichts are raining down to the battlefield below, shattered fragments of armor and ... something else.

As the energy clears, there is a chunk of Prinzessin Nicht's side missing, though it was beginning to seal over and 'fill' back in, as that telltale pulse of a heartbeat that accompanies the Prinzessin Nichts charging up energy by draining Aloisia rings out in the immediate area. Red energy pulsing along veins into the corrupted Device.

----

The Emerald-bearing copy of the Emerald Pawn is singled out by Pulp Noir, a brackish aura glowing around him as he punches that energy THROUGH the central pawn that was at the front of the formation, as five glowing energy blades shoot through to pin down the group and force them to be unable to scatter, leaving a wide opening!
For dozens of tiny missiles to rain down upon the pinned down Pawn, explosions rippling out around them as they break down!

...They don't really have much of a comeback for the comment of Amy being able to do things better, really. Mostly because they're not talking.

ARMED

FIRE.

More barrages of energy launch down on the pinned down pawns, ice building up as they take more and more damage... one falling... two... ... and then?

Aurore Australe!

A curved shield covers them, and the purges the area with purifying energy, clearing the corruption on the Glittering Emerald.

<<Congratulations, challenger. You have been found worthy to rule the Many. May you rule fairly and evenly upon the Many and the Few equally. Seal the Emerald, and claim your prize.>>

And as the statue crumbles away, the emerald is left, along with the lance that was the Device that had been used.

No longer functional, an incomplete device, but an excellent source of parts.

----

In the sky above, that corrupted beating of Aloisia's heart rings out louder, and louder, and louder from above.

<<LOSCHKANONE>>

STAR CRASH!

As Prinzessin Nichts had attempted to dart up to get an angle to shoot a massive cannon ball at Wind Dancer as well as aimed to strike the ground in the center of the group, Ginga Kingu is approaching at just the right timing.

And a high-momentum STAB strikes Prinzessin Nichts, sending the aim of that cannon wide as it fires, shooting at the unfortunate nearby school building instead of in the center of the group, an explosion of darkness leaving very little more than rubble in its place.

None the less buying precious time to gather the emerald and the Device and run or form up to fight Prinzessin Nichts.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Tenraikaze registers a solid impact. Vents open and spit out mana-infused steam, venting heat from the attack. <Guys, if you're done down there, grab the thing and RUN!> she transmits. <I'll grab Weisser, will advice on medical attention when we're out of the danger zone.>

    Zephyr turns in mid-air, forming a platform spell seal to push off from. She aims down toward where Sequioa landed, zipping down as fast as she's able without using her movement enhancement... that takes a lot of power and she's running a bit low after that output level.

    < Diverting power to Movement Systems. Offensive Grid: Offline. Defensive Systems: 50%. >

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Roger! Also take her to Mamoru's, use the rooftop door at the ***** Building. >> Rashmi thinks back at Zephyr, darting down to take possession of the lance. << Star Devil! Seal the crystal, and we can scatter! You remember how to do that, right? >>

As she grabs hold of the Device, she bobbles a bit in midair. Look, lances are heavy and unwieldy to an untrained wielder, and Rashmi is nothing if not untrained in the arts of cavalry. But oh *boy* is she gonna be needing the parts, now that she has her Meister qualifications to complete.

<< Guys, the moment Star Devil seals it, scatter, okay? And *good work* everyone. Seriously. >>

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly rushes straight for the ground, only righting herself at the last possible moment so she can land hard and go down in a crouch, but land and not, y'know, crash. Nevermind what her device is named, crashing isn't ideal. Well, most of the time, sometimes it's ideal. You never know.

Now is not the time for introspection; Rashmi called her out to seal the Emerald, so she's gotta do this quick so everyone can scatter, right now they're all protecting her. "STARCRASH!" she declares uproarously, straightening to her full height and doing a little flourish with Starcrash before pointing the business end of the staff down at the jewel. "Register: Crown of Succession Emerald!"

<< AFFIRMATIVE >> Announces Starcrash. << SCANNING. SCAN SUCCESSFUL. CROWN OF SUCCESSION: EMERALD. REGISTRY COMPLETE >>

"SEAL IT!!"

Starcrash glows with a fierce light, and the Emerald lifts up off the ground; it rockets through the air, orbiting around Molly three, four, five times, before vanishing into her device's secure storage.

<< OKay I got it!! >> she alerts everyone, before she snaps her fingers; casting Neutrino Rush instantly moves her up into the air and she kicks her wings into high gear, picking a direction and taking off as fast as she can.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Pulp Noir finally comes to a stop and shakes his hand. Because that's the first time he's done that. He winces and just relaxes as best he can as he 'whews'. He then eyes that Emerald. Ohhhh. No. Nope. He isn't touching that. He isn't touching a maybe corrupted gem with his bare hands. He knows better.

"Hey someone, can they handle this quickly before you know who gets ahold of you know what?" he asks.

Okay so Molly will handle it. He goes ahead and leaps back away to give her the space.

<< Scatter. Got it. Run away from Aloisia there. >>

Sugata Shindo has posed:
A massive cannonball goes flying off to the side, bringing down a barrier replicated school building instead of one of his allies. Ginga Kingu looks into the impassive face of the Prinzessin he has stabbed, having felt the rush of energy that indicated she was draining her host -

And offers a jaunty wave and a smirk, before flipping backwards and soaring away, air-skating through the air, a faint trail of blue-white energy escaping his shoes as he leaves her in the dust.

Below, where Emerald Pawn was defeated, is Wako, and as Ginga Kingu dives towards her, he reaches out to catch her hand and tows her into the sky.

"Now I see why you liked doing this," he tells her with a faint smile, "It's fun to be the one carrying you through the sky."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    They did it! Amy smiles in triumph...

    But, it is too dangerous to relax just yet.

    Others can better handle sealing the gem and transporting others quickly. Amy, however... << I'll try to knock her away from us! >>

    The prinzessin demonstrated how easily she can dodge an unguided projectile. Explosives seem to be absorbed by her defenses. But...

    Amy dismisses the missile racks and conjures her launcher again, this time with a rocket attached to the front of it. << Fire! >> The initial explosion gets it to speed, but then the guided rocket can home in on the Prinzessin. There's no explosive warhead -- it will just hit hard and then try to keep pushing her away!

    << Alright, I'm outta here! >> And with that, Amy flies after the others! She'll want to land or be carried soon due to her flight burning magic, but... she can worry about that when she's a bit further from the Prinzessin!

Wako Agemaki has posed:
By the time Sugata reaches her, Ginga Otome has her hand outstretched, ready to catch his as he dives to meet her.

"See?" she laughs as he pulls her upward, air rushing past both of them. "Though it's not fair you both can fly so much faster." A quick glance back towards the Prinzessin, and Wako makes a wry face. "Not that I'm complaining right now..." Speed is rather important just at the moment.

<< Thanks, everyone! >> she calls through the telepathic network. << Great work - now let's all get away safely! >>

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
     Register: Crown of Succession: Emerald!

A somehow-familiar emerald energy glows from the Emerald of Succession, being gathered into and then sealed within Starcrash, not fighting the sealing at all as it is absorbed and sealed away.

There is a *PING*.

Scan Detected.

Prinzessin Nichts is not looking at Ginga Kingu as he looks at her face, giving that jaunty wave and smirk. No, she is simply staring down at Star Devil, an unwavering gaze that follows after her for a few moments... and now? Now there was nobody in her way.

And she would start to rocket towards Star Devil.

Luckily, there was someone already on the defense from potential retaliation as Amy Faust brings out her launcher, shooting an intercepting missile towards the Prinzessin Nichts attempting to go reclaim a part of her Crown from Star Devil... getting closer... getting closer... and then... CRACK!

Shield and missile meet, sending Prinzessin Nichts off-course and allowing enough time for everyone to get at least far enough away to no longer be under a significant threat.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
<< Running Away Now. >> says Pulp Noir into the network as he mutters. << "Away, Fading like a figure into a foggy night at the warehouse shipyard..." >> he says finally, as he winces at his own words, cringing hard before he runs.

Indeed taking off between abandoned school buildings, as he lets others more capable at the moment slow down the Princess.

He draws his hand to his fedora as he picks up the pace. He's fast, at least. So there's that. Just not like lightning.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Zephyr lands next to Sequioa's prone, limp form, gathering her up in both arms as her Device turns to Stand-by mode. She gathers her legs underneath her, and launches off at an angle from the engagement zone. <Mamoru's place, got it. I'll catch up with you later.> she sends back to Rashmi. "Get the coordinate's Dee?" < Recieved. Generating path. Displaying. >

    The aerial mage gains altitude, and begins a gradual banking turn as she pours on speed to clear the zone.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Tucking the lance into Nicomachea's storage, Rashmi pauses long enough to cast a long look at Aloisia... and the dark possibilities inherent in how Alosia recovered from damage, or moved at the behest of 'her' weapon.

Then, with a sigh, she turns, wings flickering into existence at her ankles.

"We'll get you free somehow, Alo-chan," she says under her breath, as she jets off into the night.

And she *will.* If there's one thing Rashmi never, ever wants to do, it's to truly lose a friend to the darkness.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly doesn't look over her shoulder. She doesn't need to; her Battle Visor pings alerts that Princessin Nichts is on her tail, at least until Amy with a missile, which buys her some breathing room. << Thanks, Red! >> she calls out as she continues to accelerate.

"Starcrash... charge Solar Barrets," she instructs. "One hundred barrets, but remove all thermal output. Photon bursts only, variable EM spectrum, fire in a randomized spread."

<< AFFIRMATVE. WARNING: ATTACK WILL DEAL NO DAMAGE. >>

Molly grins. "That's the idea. Detonate all barrets once deployed. Fire!"

A series of glowing barrets launch from Starcrash while Molly is flying off, dispersing out in all directions around her; a hundred of them, well more than double what she's ever cast before, but doable this time given how absurdly low energy they are compared to most of her spells. Once all of them are out, flying off in all directions... they simultaniously explode, producing an array of multi-colored bursts of blinding light, lasting for a few seconds; as the light is dieing down Molly drops the Time/Space Barrier and snaps her fingers, disappearing into a brust of light herself and reappearing where she can curl around an office tower and continue her escape.