2564/Monsters Come In Threes

Monsters Come In Threes
Date of Scene:	28 May 2025
Location:	Plot Room 2
Synopsis:	Seriss is back, this time with a Youma that's specifically desicned to be a horrific sort of obstacle course, that shoots rockets and lasers. This is fine, as she tests her third creation, right?
Cast of Characters:	Molly Skyline, Aloisia Stauss, Amanda Faust, Rashmi Terios, Ikiko Hisakata

---

Molly Skyline has posed:
It's late at night in Tokyo; but luckily for the people who keep such hours that they're still awake at two o'clock in the morning, this is a city that never truly sleeps. Ordinarily, one likely wouldn't consider Seriss Nyx to be one of these people -- she can do what she wants when she wants, there seems very little need to inconvenience her own sleep schedule -- but tonight is different.

Tonight, Seriss stands outside what had been a crowded movie theater; the movie is finished, and now the parking lot is full of unconscious people, all while Seriss wanders among them, strolling with a metal cane she's picked up from somewhere along that line that she pokes people with as she goes.

"Well done, Lachesis," she comments to the hovering monolith that follows along behind her. The monolith screeches a nerve-scraping reply, that doesn't seem to phase Seriss.

"This was a good place to come for energy collection; we shall have to perform more of these little outings." She stops, giving another passed out movie-goer a poke with her cane, before tossing it on the ground between a couple of cars. "You may begin your search."

Moments later, across the city, the Mahou of Tokyo will feel a powerful dark energy pulse sweep across the city. It is much like what has been felt before, but... stronger. Like it will reacher further into the countryside than the previous ones.

"Excellent," comments Seriss. "You are the greatest of my creations. ...Now we must prepare for our foes."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Earlier had been somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster. One that had actually exhausted Aloisia and she'd ended up passing out, so when she received the notification from her devices to wake her up, Aloisia had been dead asleep.

Look it's exhausting helping someone move.

It wasn't long after that pulse that Aloisia had gotten up and out of the bed, her old habits making for her getting ready in around 3 minutes flat and out of a window. Her arrival was heralded by the crackle of plasma and sound of rocketry as she comes flying to the area, her feet locked into the side of the lance, and her arm wrapped around one of the other people consistently at these encounters, shield acting as a buffer for them against the winds from the high speeds and keeping her securely held against her side.

Once they were near the location, she would pause a half-moment to let Rashmi take over her own flight, before lifting her shield up above her head.

<GERFANGNIS DER MAGIE.>

Her Device held over her head as she unleashes that belkan barrier over the area to phase out those already knocked out and ensure their safety, at least for the moment.

"Hallo, mein possessed freundin."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    She tried to get to bed earlier, she really did.

    But Amy finds herself tossing and turning. Her mind stuck on the future -- or lack thereof -- and what awaits her and her fruends. Can't sleep. Anxious mind and nervous bladder. One can be dealt with, at least. Get up. Take care of business. Return to bed. Her mind runs in circles, tires itself out. And just as she finally begins to drift

    BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP

    "Oh god damn it." She growls in frustration and punches the bed, then rolls out of it. Doesn't bother checking outage reports this time. Shuts computer down so the UPS won't keep beeping at Mio and Pin. Just walks right up to the roof in PJs and slippers and henshins.

    Rocket Red is in the air, flying up high enough to see where the center of the darkness is.

    Rashmi's contact is interrupted by an annoyed << Where is she THIS TIME?! >> before she can get her message out.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi was not in a great frame of mind.

It had been a long day, and *just an hour ago,* she had finally rolled into bed after a long fight and a longer post-fight meal. Nicomachea had, in fact, taken entire microseconds to ruminate on whether to wake her up in answer to Seriss' signature rolling through the city.

But in the end, his alarm drove her out of sleep, out of bed, into henshin, and after a moment's coordination with Festungseid, positioned outside her own dorm window, hovering in place as a half-awake henshined lump of -_- awaiting pickup.

That she was picked up *on the wing* at least helped her to wake up a little more. Amy's furious question is answered with << Aaaaaaaaaa Kristalritter's driving aaaaaaaaa >>

And after a bit as Aloisia's flapping banner, trying to neither scream nor let go, she tumbles away when the Device slows enough to allow her own Flier Fin to keep up. With a quick slap of her cheeks and a deep breath, she glares down at Seriss -- easy to identify, surrounded by unsoncsious bodies -- and squints.

"TWO. O'CLOCK. **IN THE MORNING.**"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Another day, another patrol for Cute Wolf Tsukiko. A bit of an ill-timed nap earlier in the day meant waking up at a ridiculous hour, and Ikiko had figured that, well, might as well patrol.

So she was already awake and a-field when the pulse rolled by, and while the exact direction was hard to determine without triangulation, the mage-rockets blazing through the air -- one of them a rather familiar shade of red -- worked well enough for a guide to where the trouble was.

There's a bit of the mental equivalent of throat-clearing to let Nicomachea know that she's awake, on-duty, en route, and ready to be patched into the comms net. << Not quite there yet; what's she doing this time? >> the wolfgirl asks once she's added to the call.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"They're early. Interesting." As the Belkan Barrier goes up Seriss doesn't immediately respond to Rashmi or Aloisia, instead speaking to the weird monolith floating in the air behind her. "Open fire."

<< ## LImINaL aSSAUlT ## >>

A collectiong of mismatched eyes open all across Lachesis' surface, and together they search for targets, all of them eventually looking on to Amy, Aloisia, and Rashmi; the three who have arrived so far. Collectivaly they take on a purpleish glow before discharging beams of dark energy lasting several seconds, variously targeted at the three approaching Mahou.

"Let's see if that holds them off for a moment," Seriss muses, as she takes the jewel off her earring and expands it into the staff form of Cygnus Lich. "Where is the other one..." she sighs, and shakes her head. "Cygnus, deploy Neutron Wall."

<< AFFIRMATIVE. DEPLOYED >>

A globe of energy appears and vanishes around Seriss as her Barrier Jacket forms, armor plates snapping into place as they materialize. "lachesis, deploy your creation, we shall simply hope the one it is intended for makes an appearance."

As the monolith fires a blob of dark energy at the ground and a big pit crumbles away in the middle of the praking lot, causing a couple of cars to tumble in with it (luckily no people), Seriss smiles, starting to amble forwards with her staff resting on her shoulder. "You're early," she calls upwards, "Hello, you three. I'm sure if you arrive so punctually during school hours your teachers will be impressed." She gestures to the parking lot around her, "But come now, aren't heroes supposed to be ready to go twenty-four hours a day? But yes, I understand the inconvenience. You've even forgotten to put up a barrier before I can start damaging the premises. Most unfortunate, but it appears you are in luck as your friend has done it for you." She quirks an eyebrow at Aloisia, and clucks her tongue, "You should learn to let go of what you cannot have, you know. I am not 'possessing' this body. I own it."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    BEEEEAAAMMMMMM
    Amy dives one way, her rocket another as the attack glances it, both dropping behind a building for cover.

    Amy comes around one side of the building, surfing on her rocket. "Please. As if that'll mean a thing to colleges and employers. I thought you were smarter than other adults."

    Whisle she's bantering, anti-tank mini-missiles swerve around the other side of the building across from the movie theater, and home in on Seriss only to swerve toward Lachesis at the last second while Amy fires non-explosive rocket-bullets at Seriss to pull her attention back for a fraction of a second. "It's always the same old thing with you. Drain energy this, experiment that, new monster this. You talk and talk but you never show any progress towards this amazing goal of yours. Your boss is already dead, remember? You're just lingering on without purpose. You should give up already. At least Molly has a future."

    Amy is frantically improvising banter, trying to sound like she is at all confident and in charge and not flying by the seat of her suit.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Huh, everyone seems extra grumpy this morning. Between the annoyed/grumpy callout from Amy and Rashmi's comment, she glances between the two, confused for a moment --before realizing that the two of them had very different life experiences and training and getting up in the middle of the night randomly isn't usually something mahou have to do unless they're actively patrolling.

Also there was a third, new person that Aloisia hadn't encountered yet patched into the comms. Neat. Festungseid quickly triangulates roughly where that comm came from to make note of where Tsukiko was and get a good idea of what she looks like so she can keep an eye out for her in the fight. Something about that mental voice just gave off a vibe of cuteness. She wasn't sure why.

Liminal assault.

"Not feeling conversative today? You must be tired too. What are you doing out this late, you should be resting in bed, dreaming of evil sheep and what you do after you achieve your plans."

<STORUNGSNETZ.>

As those eyes open, Aloisia turns her shield forward towards Lachesis' surface, a series of crystal spikes being shot out to attempt to shoot towards each of those opening eyes. After more than one attaches, it would also immediately unleash a crackling pulse of plasma, more of a stunning shock than an actual attack, intent to create a spiderweb of disrupting lines.

"Ah there's the conversation we know and love."

Aloisia, in spite of having just woken up less than ten minutes ago, seems oddly chipper.

Probably because of what happened earlier. She might still be riding that high.

Even as she's flying around to avoid the worst of those shots that make it through after her disruption web, her rocket starting to bring her flying closer at high speeds afterwards. Moments before she impacts with Lachesis, she would leap off of the rocket lance.

<SCHWERER AUFPRALL.>

And is propelled forward by a sudden burst of energy from behind to unleash a heavy KICK to the back of that rocket lance, as a magical circle appears at the back of it.

It is an incredibly simple counter-attack:

Stab it *really hard*.

"Ja, ja. But you still possess a body that was not originally yours, you know? You also assume that was not the plan."

If she puts up the barrier, Rashmi can save /that/ energy to further boost her, or others. It was just tactically more sound. Especially since she was a little bit more fresh than Rashmi was.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Good to hear you, Tsukiko-chan, >> Rashmi's tired-yet-slightly-more-reasonable mental voice comes in over the comms. << Kristallritter, Tsukiko-chan's other specialty is speed. >> 'Other specialty,' because the first is apparently also audible. << ...Might be worth seeing if the two of you are feeling up to pinball tricks? >>

"Lady you don't 'own' that body, you're *squatting,* and since *I know she's still in there* you're also a *cosmically* awful roommate!"

Anything else she was about to say is cut short by the sound of screeching ice, as Lachesis opens its many horrible eyes, and unleashes many horrible beams. While she knows that less than half a mater of magical ice is hardly going to block the attack entirely, it *does* offer her tactical options... like setting a series of flash-steps to activate just before the beam digs all the way through, when the attacks can be fully plotted out.

And with a trio of golden flashes, Rashmi finds herself fetched up against the same side of the building Amy is at. Looking down at the Puella, Rashmi raises her eyebrows.

<< Also holy heck Amy, that was *savage.* >>

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Entering into a Barrier from the outside, especially when traveling at speed on foot, has roughly the same feeling as stepping up onto a ledge, except for the fact that the 'up' is actually a direction that's somewhat non-Euclidian. Still, with the comms (and the blasts!) guiding her, Tsukiko arrives, approaching from the side of the fray.

<< Hi! >> the wolfgirl says to the unfamiliar friendly face with a brief wave, quickly glancing back toward the chaos. Eye-studded monolith floating over a large, darkness-tinged crater, and Seriss being Seriss... hmmm, where to start...

Well, when in doubt, circle cautiously at speed, and keep an eye out for any opportunities to strike when the attention of the foes is split!

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I assure you I do own this body," Seriss replies with a hint of exasperation in her voice, all while Amy's rocket bullets impact her Neutron Wall, with a series of resounding impacts, drawing a raised eyebrow from the evil sorceress. "And I am not sharing it. The weakling who had it first will be gone soon enough -- permanently, this time." Moments later the missiles come streaking around, only to encounter a similar energy shield around Lachesis; but as they explode the monolith is briefly knocked off kilter and takes a moment to right itself.

"Not today, my sweet," answers Seriss to its file-against-glass sounding complaint. "No need to kill any of them today. We will observe only unless they continue attacking us."

"Amusing of you to think Molly has a future," Seriss continues, while Aloisia's plasma assault disrupts Lachesis' attacks, finally causing the repeating beams to come to a halt amidst screeching complaints. "She's dead, my dear child. Don't be so bitter about it; it's unbecoming, especially since you are one of the ones who let her die."

Seriss can't help it, and she laughs as something starts crawling out of the pit; bright pink and white portions of it (the colors of the cars that fell in) seem at odds with the rest of its blackened chitin as a number of spindly, multi-joined limbs haul it up out of the ground.

...Legs.

It's a colossally proportioned spider, with purple smoke issuing from a multitude of barnacle-like vents on its Thorax.

"Arise-- Oh, hold on." Seriss cants her head to one side, watching as a fresh combatant enters the barrier; and a slow smile forms on her lips. "Oh excellent, she did come," Seriss observes as Tsukiko enters the battlefield. "Where was I? ...Oh, yes; Arachne. Show these miserable fools what you are made of. And what the world is made ot, while you're at it."

As Arachne emerges fully from the pit, it contracts, almost like it is hunching over with effort before its vents overflow, and a thick, oppressive purple smoke billows out of it; the cloud expands rapidly to fill the immediate area adn then just... keeps going, geting bigger and bigger and concealing more and more of the surrounding area.

"Don't worry, that smoke will clear," calls out the sorceress, over the sound of something wet and horrible.

"But in the meantime... do watch out for the webs."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I am gonna *punch her so hard* and it's gonna be *so satisfying,*" Rashmi murmurs, tipping her head back to let it rest against the wall, raising her glasses to dig the sleepies out of one eye. << Nicomachea, I want a map of the area under the Barrier; update with web patterns as they come up. That thing... looks like a *nightmare,* hopefully tracking its energy signature'll be easier than forgetting what it looks like... Also, obviously, scan the creature for a weak spot because *there is always a week spot.* >>

Trying to stifle a yawn -- what kind of monster only lets a mahou get one hour of sleep?! -- Rashmi gently knocks her head against the wall, trying to wake up her brain to get strategies a-formin'.

<< Tsukiko-chan, stay up on the rooftops until the smoke blows away. Speaking of... Red-chan, Kristallritter-chan, ideas for doing that? >>

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Tsukiko is introduced to Kristallritter, who responds with a chipper, <<Ah, hello, Tsukiko-san. I am Kristallritter, my specialty is breaking through shields and providing my own. We can indeed do pinball tricks.>>

And she didn't even necessarily need to do that much coordination for that, as she glances towards Tsukiko to gauge her location. Circling cautiously at speed it seems. She makes a few calculations, as a series of magical circles begin to spark into existence around the battlefield.

<SPRUNGFELD.>

A series of crystals sprouting from those magical circles with a crack, each one enchanted with a 'rebound' effect on them that allows for enhanced jumps that activates when feet /leave/ the crystal so that it doesn't cause uncontrolled bouncing for ease of Tsukiko to move around the battlefield.

Well and anyone else who wants to use the crystals too, but it was made with Tsukiko in mind. It might be good for Amy too though to let her save magic on flight.

"Honestly, the fact you protest so strongly is what tells us that you're not as far along in that as you claim to be." Aloisia responds to Seriss relatively calmly. Okay she /did/ just do a flying kick onto the end of her lance so it's a little bit more out of breath than it might normally be, but emotionally she seems... reasonably calm, as the lance is recaptured by the knight.

Aaaand legs come out of the pit.

Honestly she knew she should probably drop a bombardment attack on that pit the moment it opened, but shutting down Lachesis had been a priority as it continued to shoot those lasers.

Also there was oppressive, purple smoke that was filling the barrier.

<<Festungseid is scanning the smoke right now, checking for poisons and other hazards from the smoke iteself.>>

Aloisia reports, as her Devices do just that. And then... well. She leaps back onto the device, flying above where that spider had appeared... though listening to those wet sounds as she flies and the bottom of her shield splits open, the crackle of plasma audible.

<<Try to get clear of the smoke just in case. Charging plasmabolzen to see if its explosion will blow some of it away and get us some visual.>>

<<30 percent.>>
<<50 percent.>>
<<70 percent.>>
<<90 percent.>>
<<Firing in three.>>
<<Two>>
<<One>>

<PLASMABOLZEN.>

The crackle of energy grows louder as the molten sphere of plasmabolzen charges and then ... for one of the few times she does it, she launches it downwards into that smoke at full power.

"Burst."

Around 10 feet off of the ground -- if it didn't impact the giant spider first -- the plasma sphere would then EXPLODE into a roughly 30 foot sphere of electromagnetic energy and burning plasma.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Rashmi compliments Amy's verbal venom! << Huh what really? I do not know what I'm doing, I kind of flail with my mouth when force doesn't work, you know? >> Shit, what did she say again? If it was so good she'll have to remember it for later. Seriss is a squatter? No, that was Aloisia's. F---.

    Seriss isn't bothered, anyway, and up comes a spider. Amy launches thermite grenades at it, and then as it spews smoke she summons her helmet to keep it out of her eyes and lungs...

    And then Seriss reveals the trick: While they're blinded (damn it, it's like she learned what Amy keeps doing to her and copied it!) there will be webs they can't see. Amy comes to a stop, luckily not running into a web but revealing her position as her rocket crashes into a parked car and flings her free (she somersaults and lands on her feet, perfectly, and there is no one to see.)

     << I'm an explosive summoner not a wind-controller! >>

    << ...I'll see what I can do. Don't be near it right now! >>

    FwooshPFFF.

    FwooshBOOOOM

    Besides a large explosion directly blasting the monster (if it didn't move), everyone feels the shockwave from where they last saw the monster, and nearby smoke gets moved around, creating a more concentrated central area and a less-concentrated area around it that might *slightly* improve visibility, briefly, near the monster.

    << ...That didn't do as much as I hoped. Maybe I should've tried to set the webs on fire? But I don't know where they are... >>

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
<< Got it, >> Tsukiko replies to Rashmi, veering towards the bouncy crystals to use them to quickly get up to the rooftops -- it's a good idea to get a sense of how they work before trying to use them in more direct combat, after all!

Still, the crystals are easy enough to figure out the oomph that they give, and the wolfgirl makes it up to the rooftops with no problems (aside from having to gauge landing distance through the smoke). << Low visibility, and entangling patches? Definitely not a good combo for me, >> she grimaces.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Your work here is done, Lachesis. You may retreat."

All that can be heard from within the smoke is the screeching reply from Lachesis, presumably just before it disappears. Seriss herself falls silent, for the moment; and amidst the thundering explosions created by some of the Heroes, it's extremely hard to pinpoint her location. The Device Users will find that their sensors are being interfered with, and show a lot of static -- like in old Science Fiction movies when you'd see nothing but snow on a display screen, though mostly it's just reduced range.

Still, the explosions caused do have an effect on the dense fog, briefly creating pockets of clarity before they fill in again. Aloisia's Plasmabolzen scorches one side of Arachne, while Amy's following blast reveals that it is on the move, though she still catches it one the edge of the blast.

It's hard to tell what's going on inside, but it's not entirely difficult to know when you're being attacked. A swarm of missiles streak through the fog, visible from the glowing jets propelling them as they target Amy and Aloisia; each explodes into dark-energy blasts as they either find their target or at least come close, though for the moment they only target those two.

The rooftops, for the moment, remain clear as the fog fills in the streets below. And then, up from the smoke arises Seriss, borne up on translucent red wings, to land in a crouch not far from Tsukiko.

"What will you do, speedster?" she asks, in a pleasant tone of voice. "Your friends are in trouble. I doubt they can beat this one without you. Your fight is down there, not here," she gestures down into the impenetrable fog. "But there are webs, and Arachne hunts." She claps her hands together, "Exciting, don't you think? I am so intrigued. How will you solve this problem?"

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
The explosions have... a mild effect. Sure, it created pockets of visibility that showed that the Arachne was moving, but with her general range of 'short' and without a huge amount of area attack options, she had to muse on things a bit. Hmm. This is a rough and dangerous situation, that's for sure. And her sensors are being disrupted along with that. Which means that it'll be harder to map and track its movement.

On the upside, its /attacks/ are a bit easier to track because it's shooting missiles through the smoke. "...A bit of a sloppy oversight, even if you didn't think we'd be able to handle it." Aloisia comments under her breath.

Which means it's probably just an afterthought in case of them doing exactly that, which is staying out of range and bombarding them. She takes a soft inhale and closes her eyes.

<<Rashmi, you're more precise than I am with barriers; do you think you could coat Tsukiko's feet with a barrier that keeps her from touching whatever she steps on directly? It should mitigate the danger of the spiderwebs.>>

Meanwhile those missiles and dark energy were blasting towards her, and while she turns her shield towards it, she doesn't... otherwise activate an obvious spell to defend against it, just using her shield as exactly what it is, letting those explosions strike her for the most part as her devices start to charge energy again. The devices starting to disassemble themselves as she starts to drop from the sky into that fog.

Which conceals what happens next.

<WALKUREN> <MODUS.>

While it's not visible, her two devices have combined together into one massive lance, and crystal wings have burst from her back, her armor reduced... as the shield starts to rapidly spin along the length of the lance, crystaline teeth rotating rapidly along its length as she darts through the fog towards the last known location of Arachne, listening for any sounds...

Intent on attempting to just stab into it with the magical equivalent of a lance-chainsaw.

<KRISTALLSAGE.>

And once she finds Arachne? She intends to stick to the damn thing like glue and start CRACKLING with obvious, glowing plasma energy.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Oh right, it's big. Amy fires an anti-tank shot where she thinks it is when she hears attacks hit -- but then she of all people recognizes the sound of missiles -- coming for her. She reflexively rocket-jumps out of the way -- and too late, remembers why that was a bad reflex here as she leaps right into the webbing over some parked cars.

    On the bright side, she hears the missiles explode where she just was, but if she attacks now, she won't be able to escape retaliation!

    << Uh... guys? I'm stuck... >>

    Wait, can't spiders sense things caught in their web? The thought of it makes her try to pull away from the stickiness stuck to her back. Crap.

    It's several precious seconds before she remembers-- << I'll see if I can burn it... >> and small explosions splash ignited incendiary powder over the strands near her. Please let this work, she thinks...

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"So you're a *terrible roommate,* making a *spider monster?!* SHE DESERVES BETTER THAN *YOU* IN HER HEAD!" Rashmi thunders, then pausing to regulate her breath and heartrate. Then Aloisia chimes in with her question.

<< Uuuuuuh... Tsukiko-chan how are you at... surfing? Because I don't think I can do individual feet *and* give you traction... >>

Tapping her lip for a moment, she considers. << Amy-chan... can you do *flares?* Because that smoke's jamming sensors, so tracking it's gonna be trickier than usual, even if Alo-chan's gonna be her own signal... I don't think I can lock on in that jamming. >>

Flying up to the rooftop level, Rashmi orients on Tsukiko... and spots Seriss not far off. "GET AWAY FROM HER."

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD >>

The first shield interposes tself between Tsukiko and Seriss... And the second one snugs in under the speedster, in a much more skateboardy shape than the usual, giving her room to 'kick' and propel herself.

Aaaaand then Amy reports being stuck. << On it! Heading to you! >>

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
    What will you do, speedster?

Tsukiko's eyes first widen as Seriss arrives out of the smoke and lands nearby, then narrows at the question asked. Up here, there is Seriss, strong and practically right in her face. Down in the streets, there's obscuring smoke and immobilizing webs... and in the back of her head, there's the chatter on the comms, sounding rather distant as Tsukiko focuses on what she's currently facing.

    What will you do, speedster?

A slightly feral grin crosses the wolfgirl's face. "Trust in the strength and ingenuity of my friends," she declares, standing up straight, not breaking her defiant glare at Seriss. "And I'll do what I can, where I can!"

That last is said with a snarl as Tsukiko starts to move towards Seriss with very violent intent, only to be interrupted by the pair of shields from Rashmi. There's a brief moment of rather confused blinking, then the wolfgirl looks at the shield on her feet, then glances towards where the bouncy crystals were last seen.

"Lucky you," Tsukiko snorts with a simmering anger towards Seriss, then kicks off with the 'skateboard' to slam into the blocking-shield with a stomp-launch to propel herself towards the smoke and the bounce crystals -- and if the blocking-shield gets shoved into Seriss' face in the process (unlikely, given the sturdy nature of Rashmi's shields), so much the better!

Molly Skyline has posed:
Seriss looks positively delighted, when it seems like Tuskiko might actually attack her directly. She straightens from her crouch on the edge of the building, eyes glancing towards Rashmi just briefly before locking back on the speedster. "Cygnus, charge Dark Barrage, three hundred homing barrets. Lock target on the speedster."

<< ARMED >>

While she's arming her spell, Rashmi is busy raising shields to keep her and Tsukiko seperated, and the Dark General's demeanor shifts to one of disappointment. She casts an offended look in Rashmi's direction, and shakes her head. "You really ought to know better than to butt in like that. Do you not trust your friends to stand on their own? Not anymore you don't, I suppose. Fair enough. But, still; Cygnus, shift target to Rashmi."

<< AFFIRMATIVE. TARGET LOCKED >>

"Fire."

While a small avalanche of dark energy barrets are being levelled at Rashmi, down below in the oppressive fog, Amy is correct about one thing. Spiders do hunt by sensing things in their webs. Amy will catch sight of it, just at the last second; something huge plummeting through the air. Arachne lands right in front of her with a thunderous impact, just as her incendiary powder is going up in smoke. It doesn't affect Arachne, but the webbing around Amy is burned to the point of snapping.

Which may be a very good thing, as all eight of Arachne's eyes turn upon Amy, taking on a bright orange glow as they charge and fire. Eight seperate beams of overwhelming heat, hot enough to melt a hole straight through the asphalt and into the ground.

The impact is enough to garner Aloisia's attention; and once she has the way of it, the light from the heat beams is enough to help her zero in on the action, but there's still the matter of webs becoming increasingly thick between buildings. She can cut through them with her lance, but it takes time; for at least a few more moments, it seems Amy is on her own while her friends are on their way.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Tch, getting to the spider was proving easier said than done as the teeth of her saw catch on some of the webbing and slow for a moment. Her best option for dealing with the webbing was her plasma, but the conversion cost of it was too high for a long, drawn out thing like that. "Tch. Fine."

She really wishes she had fire conversion compatibility right now, it would have been easier and more effective, but, well. It's not worth getting upset about.

"Festungseid."

<PLASMASAGE.>

Her technique doesn't significantly change as she makes her way towards Amy and that spider, the main difference that now the spinning blades of the lance start to crackle and glow with that superheated energy to cut through that webbing faster and leave behind a burning trail of molten web and asphalt as she cuts along the ground towards that source.

<<Be careful if you follow the glowing trail -- it's hot.>>

She was really glad she was more or less riding the handle of the combined devices like some sort of horrific saw monocycle.

<<Is everyone still doing alright?>>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Adrenaline pumps through Amy's veins as she hears the twisted voice of her friend Molly ordering attacks on her other friends. All she can do is struggle against the web and try to set it on fire, though...

    Thank goodness the spider isn't a speedster. Amy has just enough time to burn the webs next to her, dropping to the asphalt just after the giant spider monster lands in front of her.

    It focuses eyes on her and she rocket-jumps away barely in time, before seeing eight beams shine through the smoke at where she just was.

    ...Is that the sound of asphalt sizzling and popping like butter? If that'd hit her...

    Rashmi had a plan, and Amy executes it: She fires a canister over the monster that explodes into a shower of flares -- the ones that hit the ground, she'll unsummon, but any that land on top of the monster? Until it shakes them off, at least their light will give some indication of the hunter's location.

    Only after she lands does she remember why dodging like that was a bad idea: She's surrounded by webs. Incredibly, she didn't get stuck again, but--

    Around her in the smoke, she can see them, and knows there are more out there. She's not stuck to web right now, but... isn't she kind of stuck another way? If she moves, she'll almost certainly alert the monster and have to burn more web -- and this time, it might crush her before she can do that.

    What to do, what to do...

    << I'm free. I shot flares at it, but... if I move, I'll probably hit the web again... It's got some kinda eyebeam attack that might be as bad as Seriss's spells... >>

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The good thing about thermite is, it is *bright.* Which means that it makes locating Amy a *lot* easier. The good thing about homing Barrets is, it's still possible to outfly them, and out*think* them. In this case, by trundling away at her top speed the moment Seriss says 'Shift target to' and scraping the top of the fog as the Barrets roll in.

A Shield is summoned behind her and locked into the sky to absorb fire. Then another, a few moments later. And another, and another, and the moment she spots the thermite fire, she banks and drops *into* the fog; perhaps its sensor-jamming effects will winnow the threat away yet more? If not, well... she can *absolutely* buzz the spider when she finds it, and drop down behind it.

<< The web... That's it! Tsukiko, Kristallritter! Link up and *start bonking the webs!* We'll follow it to you! >>

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
The focused glow of the spider's eyebeams makes for a decent, albeit short-lived, targeting focus, allowing Tsukiko to drop in and try using the 'skateboard' as an oversized shoe to stomp on the spider's head before bouncing away, clearing out before the barrage of flares.

Navigating from bounce-crystal to bounce-crystal when you're having to rely on commnet IFF pings and hauling an oversized foot attachment in the process, but the wolfgirl is getting the hang of it. Rashmi's advice is noted, and Tsukiko starts veering in the direction of the plasma-lance, using the bounce-crystals for main elevation and the 'skateboard' to skip across the top of any webbing along the way, like a stone thrown across the water.

Ungainly? Sure, probably, but that does mean more web-threads get twanged along the way, which means more attention from the spider...

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Discontinue homing."

<< AFFIRMATIVE >>

Seriss watches as Rashmi flies away, and finds a means to redirect her own barrets towards her latest monster. A few of them do impact it, but Arachne shakes it off; and the rest of the barrets still in flight just continue in whatever direction they were going, peppering the sides of buildings with exploding dark energy strikes.

Amy's flares land on Arachne, and a number of them stick, after Tsukiko has stomped on its head and caused the entire creatre to hunch down afterwards. With fires burning all across its back, the monster responds with a swarm of dark energy mini-missiles, all targeting straight for Amy. While that small cloud of ordnance is underway, Arachne leaps away into the smoke -- though visible from much further away, now -- as it dashes off after Aloisia and Tsukiko, trying to catch up to either one each time it feels them breaking its web. Each time, it is just a hair too slow; but each time it compensates by firing eight parallel beams of steel-melting heat after where it thinks they are or at least might be.

"I applaud your creativity." Seriss appears out of the dense mist, her wings keeping her hovering not far off from Rashmi. "But really. I want to see what the Speedster does, I already know how you operate. Cygnus, charge Dark Impact."

<< ARMED >>

"Fire." From Seriss' staff, a powerful blast of dark energy is directed at Rashmi; not so much a barret or a beam but just... a single, rapid burst of energy, enough to send a car flying through a concrete wall.

All the while, Arachne continues its hunt; and each swarm of mini-missiles fired at Aloisia and each blast of heat beams levelled at Amy or Tsukiko gets just a little bit more accurate, even while the density of webs is being steadily decreased.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD -- GLACE SHIFT >>

Amy might be surrounded by webs, and Rashmi's targeting might not be the best in this fog... But if you make a shield big enough, luck says you're more likely than not to cover your target. In this case, the largest bubble Shield that Rashmi can summon unaided -- about fifteen meters in diameter -- closes over the general space she's pretty sure she saw the flare launch from.

And hard light turning into spiked ice is *no* respecter of webbing.

"We don't *fight alone* you idiot!" Rashmi shouts back... realizing that taking attention off herself will only redirect it elsewhere; probably Amy. And so, she screws up her courage... And raises a *single* round Shield to cover herself.

To her credit, it was tuned for maximum standard kickback, which mitigates the force somewhat... But, oh, she *eats* that blast, and is propelled down the street until a strand of webbing catches her.

Thankfully a web, and not the bus just a few dozen meters behind it... or the building near *that.*

And luckily, she's a Devicer, who doesn't need to be *unbound* to use her magic.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR FLASH >>

Maybe she's leaving a few shreds of Barrier Jacket behind when she flash-steps up and toward Seriss, ending in a spot free of webbing. If so, at least it'll more closely match the absolutely shredded vest and chipped armor over her front.

"Besides which, this is a *stupid* trial. If you wanted to see her go all-out, you should have made it a race."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
     Mini-missiles are launched at Aloisia, and she opts to turn a corner when it does... though with even more spells being cast around -- even with the disruption, there was no way she wasn't seeing that constant barrage that Seriss is shooting off.

...Yeah she absolutely is making a stupid plan as she continues to harass that webbing, her chainsaw being used a bit less to cut the web and more just to tear at it a little and continue to lead the spider... until she's approaching Seriss.

At which point the chainsawing cuts off to silence.

And her use of magic drops off to just the base output of her Knight Armor.

Her movements slow to a much more careful walk to avoid the webbing, as she strongly doubts the spider can track her well.

Part of this is because she had used a lot of energy already, other reasons were to protect herself by taking cover inside of a building as well as quickly make her way to nearby Seriss.

... And then once Seriss shoots off another spell, attack a web on the opposite side of her from the spider, banking on that increased accuracy.

To try to get the spider to unleash its attacks on Seriss.

And this is a pattern she starts to work on repeating, moving surprisingly stealthily for carrying a giant lance.

...Something likely helped by that heavy smoke.

Hopefully the spider is dumb.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    She's so tired of this...

    Missiles. Headed her way. But, the webs. She hesitates... too long. Trying not to hit the webs, she jukes out of the way of a direct hit, only to get caught in the blast, "AGH!" and knocked into webbing.

    So tired of this. Will they just keep fighting Seriss, again and again? While more friends are lost, or possessed, or give in?

    ...That was always the plan, wasn't it? She'll fight until she dies. And every nice moment or magical moment she gets in between--

    --Hannah, sweeping her off her feet--

    --Going out to eat with her friends--

    --Talking with Rashmi, Molly, and Setsuna about RPGs--

    --Having a moment of connection with Mamoru in the halls of Chanteur--

    --Watching movies with Taro--

    --Seeing the dreamworld, and KiraKiraFantastica, and the mermaid kingdoms, and the past, and the future--

    --watching a movie with Veronicat--

    --making that silly video when she was a doll, Hannah giggling as Lyra snuffles tiny Amy--

    --shopping for her first yukata with her friends--

    --and so many others--

    --They're a precious bonus to be treasured, but they're not what life is about.

    ...She can't stop feeling sorry for herself, but she can stop feeling pain. The webs around her collapse from Rashmi's spell, and she burns them off of herself, and directed explosions of incendiary powder around her burn more so she won't step in it, and she conjures a large missile launcher and points it in Arachne's general direction. And she fires large missiles, like from a fighter plane, and she keeps firing even as the beams come closer. She can't feel the heat of the melted pavement feet away from her.

    "She. Will have a future. We will be thorns in your side as long as you live. As we suffer, so will you. This battle never ends, for either of us."

    And she sounds really grim but also maybe sometimes she just needs sleep. Emotions. Sometimes they're like a rollercoaster.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Tsukiko takes advantage of the thinning webs to spend more time down in the smoke and changing direction more often before surfacing, and even trying the occasional 'swipe from the wrong vector' when she passes a bit of webbing -- make the press feel like it's going that way while she heads this way instead.

The sudden lack of noise from Kristallritter is noted, while the commsnet tracking indicates that she's still moving. A grin crosses the wolfgirl's face -- sometimes, the best form of stealth is from someone who has usually been noisy, as they now dip below the notice of others. Often a great option for hunting, especially in teams!

But for now, Tsukiko will focus on not getting fried.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Please." Seriss sighs. "A race would only test her speed and I already know she's fast. I wanted to test her manouverability. I wanted to see how she'd handle stress. This is much more interesting, I'm sure you'll agree."

While she's speaking, a collectiong o mini-missiles scream in on Rashmi's position -- or at least, where she was before flash stepping away. The bust she almost hit is now annihilated by a series of explosions, while Seriss clicks her tongue in disappointment.

"Arachne, your targeting needs work," she calls out. "You need to speed up your missile strikes, or make better use of your heat rays. Perform better!"

Where the fog is interfering with everyone else's sensors, it isn't with Seriss' of course. She can see where everyone is just fine on her battle visor -- but that doesn't mean she's paying attention to all of it. Where's Kristallritter? Who cares? What's she going to do, anyway? This remains Seriss' attitude right up until a swarm of mini-missiles hammer at her shield. The first few make impact and explode; after snapping her fingers she vanishes into a burst of shadow and reappears a few meters away, leaving the last couple of missiles to keep going towards Aloisia.

"Well aren't you clever," she muses, snapping her fingers once again, this time materializing uncomfortably close to Aloisia. "But they're Dark Warheads, which are much less effective against me than you. But, still; Arachne, be a peach and find firing solutions that don't involve shooting me in future."

Arachne, it seems, takes this to mean a change of tactics. A fresh swarm of mini-missiles fly off in all directions; but instead of homing in on someone they really do just go in all directions, each trailing a strand of dark webbing behind them. Where they hit the sides of buildings and whatnot, they burrow in, chewing into metal and concrete to generate a fresh, more vertically aligned spiderweb, that the Youma scuttles backwards up and into, until it is perched a few dozen meters up off the ground. For just a moment, the sounds of battle relax, as eight eyes scan the ground below, and it burns with the last vestiges of Amy's firey attacks still clinging to it.

There she is.

Arachne's eyes lock on to Tsukiko and fire, unleashing eight sustained beams of raw heat that chase the speedster, trying to move fast enough to walk them into her while scoring a deep channel in the asphalt behind her.

"Charge Dark Impact and fire."

<< AFFIRMATIVE. FIRING >>

A heavy blast of dark energy is dispensed in Aloisia's direction; Seriss snaps her fingers to disappear again, reapparing new Amy. "I am her future," she corrects, speaking amicably. "She had her time and died. Now it is my time. You really should focus on the battle and not trying to irritate me, you know. you have friends who need you to perform."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
"I was hoping it'd choose the lasers this time, really."

Kristallritter's almost playful response, in spite of the stressful situation she seemed to be almost more like she was... playing... with Seriss, instead of taking her seriously. At least that was the way that she was carrying herself, one could almost see the grin through the smoke -- even if it wasn't really possible right at this moment.

Still, the missiles /were/ still going towards where she was, and that was somewhat of a problem, especially the form-switch traded some of her defensive capability for more offensive capability. Still, she /did/ confirm one thing from this.

The spider can't see in the smoke either and is relying mostly on the webbing to find targets. Hm. Well, she's...

Consumed in the blast, if only for a minute.

Ah.
That familiar prickling of dark energy.
Like thousands of barbed insects crawling under your skin as the surface burns.

But with the fact that Seriss was focused on Tsukiko -- what the heck happened since last time she saw Seriss for her to be this focused on this new girl? -- it meant that she had been doing her best to keep track of Tsukiko, and luckily Tsukiko had been providing a large number of 'pings' for her to track, from using those crystals she'd set up to that barrier skateboard that was giving off a near-constant boost of energy.

Also she was right by Arachne, so it wasn't exactly subtle in how it was activating.

Eight sustained beams were shooting and tracking after someone.

And dark impact is unleashed towards her. But this time...

She was on the move by the time that spell was shooting towards her, once more riding that combined device -- which had split into two and she was now riding the shield in the center of it like she was piloting some sort of space fighter -- up and towards the Arachne's position.

She was aiming to come up somewhat more towards the back and side of it, with simple intent.

<ROTE> <LINIE.>

Aloisia leaps off of that 'fighter' jet, pulling off the handle of the Device -- which was apparently a small short sword, just in case -- as the rest of the device charges up energy, combining back into a lance configuration, though the 'wings' of the shield were beginning to rotate quickly as a sort of drill configuration.

...At which point it would shoot forward at high speeds with simple intent to shoot THROUGH Arachne -- or at least some of its legs -- while Aloisia did a controlled free-fall.

Until the device could return, she was just holding onto that short sword to cut herself free of the webbing she semi-intentionally let herself fall onto.

That's what Kristallritter is going to do.
Be a general pain in the rear.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Nope," Rashmi insists. "Stupid test, stupid monster, all it's good for is being scary." With that, she darts off after the spider, tracking in on the glow from its asphalt-melting beams. Where's Tsukiko, where's Tsukiko-- there! << Tsukiko-chan, >> she calls as she rises further into the fog... just enough to allow her to track the beams' glow. << On my mark, get up above the clouds! I'll give you a good boost again, so you can take the fight back to Arachne! >>

Oh please let this work, please let this work... << Everyone else sound off! Where are you, what're you doing, and what do you need? >>

<< Five... four... three... two... one... MARK! >>

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Aloe's response to Rashmi's call of what're they doing and what do they need is.

<<I'm just hanging out for a moment.>>

Slightly sticky thumbs up.
...Along with a location ping.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
The ever-persistent eye beams are definitely forcing Tsukiko to get more creative with her movements, jinking more frequently and focusing on not hitting any of the webs -- there's already too much focus on her for her liking! And even with all of that, those beams are getting way too close, as some of the scorch marks on the 'skateboard' can attest.

<< Noted, >> the wolfgirl replies on the commsnet, minimizing any changes to her current evasion routine to avoid tipping off the giant spider. Finally, during the last half-second, she tenses up just long enough to leap nearly straight up at the call of mark, a significant change in how she had previously been surfacing out of the clouds.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is annoyed, again, at the way Seriss talks about Molly -- but she also grins spitefully. "So it is irritating you, or you wouldn't need to tell us to stop."

    "Her future, huh? So this is your future, to be annoyed by magical girls until the end of your days? Sounds lame. Molly will do much better."

    While Amy runs her mouth, the spider switches targets, the beams lighting up the smoke again as they suddenly fire at someone else.

    Amy has no time to worry about who, only to fire at the beams' origin -- a cluster of explosions rains down on the spider's face, and burning incendiaries, and smoke that burns eyes and throat or whatever it is spiders breathe through.

    Rashmi has questions. << In your shield. Incendiaries out. Riot gas out. EFPs out. >>

    Like she used on the black hole monster and on Esmeraude, Amy creates explosions that send hyperkinetic, explosively-shaped giant bullets at the spider, though she fires a few in sequence rather than one big one, aiming to knock it around or pierce through it.

    Large explosions conjured so close to her burn her costume and her skin a bit. She can't feel it.

    Corruption pours into her soul gem, and it's more than a sixth darkened now.

    << ...Can your sensors tell how any of these attacks are working. What's most effective. >>

Molly Skyline has posed:
Seriss' wings carry her upwards, to a vantage point above the fog where she can observe whta's going on more easily. She picks a ledge at the top of one building to land on and crouches there, watching as Arachne's strategy plays out against the Mahou's. And of course, Spiders are not really hunteres; they just wait for their prey to come to them, which is exactly what Arachne is doing (albeit with missiles and lasers). Amy goes unanswered, as Seriss relocates herself.

She watches as Tsukiko emerges from the clouds, and arches an eyebrow upwards, noting that Rashmi is rising upwards as well. It makes sense; getting fired on by a foe you can't see very well has serious downsides attached to it.

"I'm curious to see how you plan on actually winning," she inquires from where she is crouching. "It's not as if you lack firepower, even though bringing it to bear is something of a problem."

Seriss watches as Arachne unleashes a furious swarm of mini-missiles, mainly targetting Amy with a few of them veering off to go after the other three girls -- and then Aloisia's draill lance rockets through the fog.

And goes straight through Arachne's thorax with an ichor-spraying crash, severing a leg in the process.

Arachne shrieks, and turns its hellish eyes on Aloisia to fire its beams at her while she continues her descent; and then Amy's barrage of ordnance hits, hammering away at the already damaged Thorax. As the explosions echo in the air, it seems the swarms of mini-missiles have come to a halt, and at least half the vents that were spewing fog have stopped working. (The fog isn't thinning out any, it's just not really being added to anymore.)

"Ahh," Seriss muses, "Self-sacrifice for the cause, a worthy strategy I suppose. But your friends will now have to make sure you don't end up like sweet Molly."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< I mean, no, >> Rashmi has to truthfully answer Amy's last question. << This fog's *made* to mess with Device sensors. But it *sounds* like you're doing pretty good? >>

Climbing out of the fog, Rashmi *grins* as she spots Tsukiko pop up, and slots one of her 'bookmarks' into place on Nicomachea. << All right, Tsukiko-chan. Apparently you're the star of tonight's insanity, so... >>

    << *BONG!* >> << BURST INDEX: STRIKE -- BOOST UP >>
    << *BONG!* >> << ACCEL -- BOOST UP >>

A pair of wisps *bwip* into existence, and streak toward the dilute werewolf-mahou, in the hopes that they can reach her before gravity takes her into the jamming fog. If they do, then not only will she have a short but *dramatic* boost of speed, not only will her next attack hit that much harder... There's also *force* humming behind that attack enhancement, and the feeling that whatever gets hit will *feel* that impact, magnified by a factor of lumber-truck-on-the-highway.

<< *Go for the eyes.* >>

With that, she banks down to throw up a shield around herself. << Alo-chan! D'you see my shield, and in what direction! I'm coming to get you down! >>

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Arachne shrieks and turns on Aloe as those eyes start to glow.

<<I'm going to be a bit toasty in a moment.>>

<KRISTALL><MODUS.>

At the last moment before the lasers begin to fire, the lance rockets back down to connect with the short sword in Aloisia's hand, and the shield rebuilds itself with a THUNK onto Aloisia's arm, her armor rebuilding itself to its more heavily armored mode.

"Self-sacrifice? No, no. I'd not put Rashmi through something like that. I am Aloisia Harlaown afterall. I am the indomitable sister who shall not fall."

Aloisia responds, as that laser starts to fire, and she turns her shield to face it.

<KRISTALLWAND.>

"Tri-layer."

Three layers of magical circles appear between Aloisia and those oncoming beams, crystal shields that cover Aloisia and shoot back behind her in the form of crystallline wings pop into existence as that laser fires on her and she.

Endures.
Even as the web around her burns.
Even as the first layer of wall breaks.
<<Don't come to me. It's focused on me. I'll hold its attention as best as I can.>>

And Aloisia is beginning to move TOWARDS the spider, even as the second layer breaks.

<KRISTALLSPLITTER.>

And she moves the lance below her shield, below where those lasers were firing down on her as she pours energy into that shield.

Oh this is going to /hurt/ later.

And unleashes a barrage of crystal spikes towards Arachne's face from that lance, which was rotating like some sort of weird crystal-firing minigun.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Oh, they are definitely making progress!

    But a swarm of minimissiles rains into Amy and reminds her why standing in one place and shooting over and over only works in anime stock footage.

    It doesn't hurt, of course, but being knocked off her feet forces her to pay attention and glance down at her costume, now torn in places, showing bits of bruise and blood. She closes her wounds and refreshes her costume but doesn't fully regenerate.

    "You know that's not how this works. I don't end up 'like Molly'. If I fall to you you'll be trapped in my Labyrinth and hunted, and we'll see if you can hold onto that body then..." A frown flickers across her face. If that happened, she doubts her Witch would-- she doubts that as a Witch she would spare Molly.

    She was in the middle of bantering. She rallies. "You're never the scariest thing on the field as long as I'm here. Remember that."

    Rashmi has boosts and Ikiko is the star. << Go for the eyes, Boo, go for the eyes! >> Amy cheers Ikiko on!

    She's never played Baldur's Gate, but she's read Megatokyo.

    Amy is standing now. She must've gotten up on reflex, she doesn't remember thinking about it. Thinking to maybe not burn through energy quite so fast, she switches back to a smaller cannon -- a shoulder launcher she can easily carry with her magic strength. Cannonballs slam into the monster, slightly more than half as massive or as fast as the ones she used to slow the Prinzessin, but they keep coming as she spams shots at the spider. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! goes the report of the recoilless cannon on her shoulder.

    And the talk of self-sacrifice has brought her awareness out of that dark funk a bit, desite her warning to Seriss -- she's once again on the alert for incoming attacks, confident that in the spider's current state she can burn any web she hits dodging before it can catch her--

    --She hopes.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
The boost-wisps connect with Tsukiko in a timely manner, and she emotes a highly-pleased grin across the commsnet to Rashmi.

Seriss, on the other hand, gets half an eyeroll and an exasperated sight from the wolfgirl. "LIKE I SAID," Tsukiko yells before going silent once more as she dives back into the smoke, using the speed boost and the bounce-crystals to build up momentum, albeit in disjointed and chaotic vectors.

And while the 'skateboard' and the bounce-crystals aren't particularly condusive to launching a Silver Wolf Tackle, their combination does allow for a high-torque hybrid of an axe-kick and a buzzsaw, using a deliberately off-center launch from one of the bounce-crystals to dizzyingly spin head-over-heels forward, slamming the 'skateboard' into the side of Arachne's head with the force of a runaway freight train.

    A pause, as she regains her bearings...

"TRUST IN THE STRENGTH AND INGENUITY OF MY FRIENDS!!!" Tsukiko finishes bellowing at Seriss, her defiant glare somewhat undercut by the effort it takes to focus in the right direction.

Molly Skyline has posed:
The fog is starting to dissipate. The barrier doesn't keep the wind out afterall, and with Arachne no longer able to keep spewing the stuff out as effectively the air is slowly clearing up, enough that where before one wouldn't have seen anything they now get a hazy idea of what's going on.

Unfortunately, this means that Arachne, wounded and desperate, has a much better view of everyone else and doesn't need to rely so heavily on the webs for targeting.

The monster shakes itself, heedless of the ichor pouring out of the bit hoels in its abdomen, and shrieks with fury; about half of its thorax still works, and fresh volleys of missiles come streaking out, curving their trajectory through the air to go after Amy and Rashmi, while its eyes focus on Aloisia, glowing almost to the point of melting as they fire on her.

Too late, Arachne recognizes the incoming danger from Tsukiko; it fires a volley of mini-missiles to try and intercept her, while the beams from its eyes cut a swath across the buildings opposite the street as it tries to bring those to bear too.

But it is too late, as Tuskiko slams her makeshift 'skateboard' into th eside of Arachne's head; with a sound of tearing flesh and squealing metal, a spray of ichor marks the head being knocked completely loose, to tumble down to the ground below.

This is not the end of Arachne. The remnants of the spider, gushing goo, flails its remaining legs as it struggles to find footing in the web; and ultimately it finds it, albeit clumsily. The vents stop giving off fog entirely; but mini-missiles keep firing, albeit untargeted now, flying off in all directions to hit buildings and explode.

"Well, that was excessive." Seriss smiles, straightening from her crouch and stretching. "Go on then, you should finish her off. ...Cygnus, refresh the Neutron Wall and arm Dark Barrage, Magnetar Shift for five hundred barrets, just in case."

<< AFFIRMATIVE. DEFENSES DEPLOYED. ARMED >>

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Crack... crack... crack... that final layer of crystal wall breaks right before that skateboard impacts the giant spider, something that Aloisia was fairly grateful for, as her shield is glowing almost as much as the spider was, and her arm that had been holding it was definitely burned right now.

Also there's a bit of smoke coming off of her and her armor.

But that's fine, she's alive. Wounds can heal.

And then Seriss starts arming her defenses and Dark Barrage.

And she gives a long-suffering sigh. "You know, the dark general is supposed to summon the youma and then fuck off, normally."

She points towards Seriss Nyx through the clearing haze with her lance. "So go away."

And then Aloisia turns towards the spider youma to calmly walk towards it. "I will do this. Your hands should remain pure of such an act." She says as she continues that slow walk towards the flailing spider and its wildly-firing mini-missiles, her shield lifting occasionally to defend against the random mini-missiles, as the tip of her lance begins to glow, the end of it splitting open to reveal a crystal spike in the center of it.

<KRISTALLSPITZE.>

And she brings her lance towards the remains of the spider, placing it against its face in a moment of calm, before...

"Release."

And that spike, burning with plasma, is launched forward, intent on providing a mercy finisher to the youma.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
With the fog beginning to clear, Nicomachea can give Rashmi at least a partial picture of what's going on inside the Barrier. And what is going on is...

*So* many missiles. Luckily, Rashmi regularly trains with *Chrono.*

And if that won't teach you how to avoid utterly excessive weights of homing fire, nothing will.

Noticing that Amy hasn't actually moved much from her previous position, Rashmi's first stop is there... And just Scoops Amy up on the wing. << Sorry about this, Red-chan, >> she says through the comms net, << But believe it or not I've trained for this. Nicomachea: Plot an evasion vector, two centers of gravity. >>

While, unfortunately, Amy can't *see* that what comes next is planned, Rashmi is in fact maneuvering through alleys and taking narrow gaps *on purpose.* It's all according to the fly-by-wire HUD projected onto her visual cortex.

Yes, even the several moments where Amy is swung around like a sack of potatoes.

And as the cloud of homing death gets winnowed away, Rashmi swings Amy up in what *would* be onto her shoulder, were she vertical, but in reality she's simply providing Amy with a steadying seat from which to fire at the missiles behind her.

<< Knock em out the sky, Rocket Red! >>

<< Also, >> she says, her voice much more subdued, << It was always going to end in a mess, Alo-chan. *None* of us are *that* pure. >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Ikiko is shouting dramatically and cutting the monster's head off, all's right with the world!

    And then suddenly she's moving, fast, and it's disorienting. Why--

    Rashmi's telepathy is crystal clear, as Amy's mind catches up to events. Upon hearing Rashmi trained for this, she sends a sort of telepathic equivalent of a thumbs-up or a grunt of assent.

    Amy never liked rollercoasters. She tries to dull the connection further for a moment, and she can't really, but it's easier to ignore the already-dulled sensations, and she hangs limply in Rashmi's arms, not causing any troublesome movements.

    And then Rashmi's calling to her and she's suddenly un-limp, red eyes scanning the skies from behind her visor. << Fireballs coming online, B.A.... Uh, I mean head vulcans? No, counter-missiles. >>

    With Rashmi handling the movement, and the monster down, Amy can focus entirely on the missiles chasing them. Micro-missiles the size of magic markers are conjured and robotech out to hit each missile precisely, magic boosting the shaped charges to more effectiveness than their size should allow to punch holes in missiles and disable them.

    << Oh, I like this teamwork! This makes things much easier! >>

    Any swarms of unguided missiles coming their way get blown out of the sky or at least off-course by high-explosive minimissiles, deflecting them away from herself and Rashmi. She's so focused on that she startles a little at the telepathic words, not really having been paying attention to what was spoken out loud.

    << Huh?? What??? I mean, um, no, I suppose not... wait, a mess, what? >>

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
With the combination of the Accel boost and having not used Silver Wolf Tackle, Tsukiko is still pretty fast on her feet for being this late in the fight. However, her agility is pretty much shot from the dizziness of the pinball-buzzsaw-axekick, and the 'skateboard' isn't helping much in that regard.

Still, she has her wits and her speed about her, so the wolgirl faces the frenzied barrage of unguided mini-missiles by...

    ...hoisting the foot-mounted shield behind her with a yelp and scrambling for hard cover like a one-leggéd cockroach when the lightswitch goes on.

Dignified? No.
    Effective? Barely.
        F's given? Absolutely none.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Seriss observes dispationately, as the heroes fighting Arachne manage to largely evade the last volleys of mini-missiles, and Aloisia in particular delivers a finisher to the headless Youma. As the metal and flesh carcass is rent open and plummets out of the sky, legs on either half twitching ineffectively as it hits the ground, Seriss just...

Smiles.

"Well wasn't that entertaining," she declares, resting her staff on her shoulder. She snaps her fingers, and the remaining smoke and webs all turn black and disintigrate away, leaving the streets entirely clear (if still rather devestated from the battle).

"Now now," she comments, fixing her gaze on Aloisia, "Let's not get excited. You don't want to fight me -- that's not a battle you can win. But, don't worry, you'll get your chance to find that out before you know it."

The dark sorceress walks along the edge of the building she's standing on top of, looking down to survey the damage done, and the corpse of Arachne, slowly dissolving into black, tar-like goo. "But. Arachne pleased me. ...I'll have to remember some of her design features for another monster... Mmmm, yes. Would you all like that? I do hope so."

Looking back up at the heroes, Seriss lifts her free hand. "Until next time," she taunts, before snapping her fingeres and vanishing in a burst of purple light.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I mean," Rashmi says into the empty Barrier, "not really?"

With a sigh, she shakes her head, twisting her head to smile up at Amy as best she can. << That was *really* good work Red-chan, thanks a *lot.* How's everyone else? Need patching up before we get back to our beds? >>

Because if it wasn't for her magic, Rashmi would probably be half-ready to just shut down now that the adrenalin has done its work...

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
<<There is a difference between fighting something and defeating or destroying it. And finishing off a mostly-defenseless and downed enemy.>> Is Aloisia's quiet response to Rashmi, her tone similarly subdued. Her gaze flicks around, glancing towards her various allies and taking stock of their locations and situations, just in case anyone needs any last minute protection.

...And then Seriss talks. And she gives, just. A long, tired sigh.

"What part of 'go away' did you interperet as 'I want to fight you'? If I wanted to fight you I would either be challenging you to a duel in broad daylight or directly aggressing you beyond the mild test that I did on your youma to test its intelligence."

There's a very slight shake of her head as she watches Seriss disappear in that blast of purple light.

And then she calmly walks over to Rashmi, moving her shield to hook it onto her lance.

And then holding up her burnt arm towards her.

"...I did not have many other good options at the time, but i do not recommend tanking heat rays."

She must be tired, she's being really indirect with that 'I need healing'.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is tired and has no more to say to Seriss... but to Rashmi?

    Amy beams at that smile and being told how much she helped. One might almost imagine the attitude of a dog wagging its tail...

    Her cheery mood is a bit at odds with the contents of her response to the follow-up question: << Oh, lots! I got hit by missiles and exploded back there. I just fixed my outfit and stopped external bleeding so she wouldn't see. >>

    She, too, feels like she could just collapse here and sleep but knows she probably shouldn't.

    That must be why she manages to be so unaware as to look at Kristallritter curiously and mildly worried. "Doesn't that hurt? I have my first-aid kit, but there's not really much mundane medicine can do for burns except keep them from getting infected while they heal naturally."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
<< I could use a milkshake and a nap, >> Tsukiko replies to Rashmi before wobbling back out to join the others. "And I'm not sure in which order," she adds off of the commsnet.

The wolfgirl grimaces a bit at Kristallritter's injuries, very glad that it was the tanky Devicer who tanked those eye beams and not herself, and then gives the toasted knight a gentle and very grateful hug.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Between Aloisia reporting *tanking fire beams* and Amy cheerfully reporting that she got hit lots, and Rashmi's own scorched self and damaged Barrier Jacket, Rashmi sighs. "Well it's two-thirty in the morning," she says, still salty about that fact, "so there's no milkshake, but there *is* a taiyaki cart between here and the Academy that still stays open around this time..."

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR HEAL >>

A complicated magical seal spreads out to encompass all the mahou present, and while the warm, sunny glow that projects upward *does* help... It's the kind of help that one gets if one needs to keep fighting for a bit, or at least get to the infirmary under one's own power.

"That said, if anyone *wants* to stop there, I'll buy. Tonight was *rough,* but each and every one of you was *absolutely necessary* in making it survivable.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
'Toasted knight' is probably a good description of Aloisia, she'd tanked a few hits that left her pretty toasted indeed, but the arm was definitely the most unpleasant one. "Yes, it does hurt." Aloisia responds to Amy. "It's beyond the threshhold of pain that I generally deem necessary to bring up instead of just sleeping off." And then Kristallritter is given a hug by Tsukiko, who does get a return hug, albeit a somewhat mildly confused one-armed one.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you too." Is the knight's bemused response to said hug. "I am Aloisia Harlaown, also known as Kristallritter -- the Crystal Knight, in your language." There is a gentle headpat after that. "You made excellent use of my rebound walls."

And then that solar heal is unleashed and that sunny warmth spreads over her body -- which causes mildly mixed feelings because it was pleasant but man it would have been nice if it was a cool healing right in that moment -- causing Aloisia to give a soft, relieved exhale. "That is much better, thank you very much, Rashmi." She says with a little bow of her head.

"A snack sounds good to me." And once she's /extra sure/ it won't cause problems for her to drop it.

She /finally/ drops her barrier and knight armor.

...It's hard to get taiyaki if there's nobody to sell it. And if there /is/ someone to sell it that's an awkward situation that she'd frankly rather not deal with right now.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"They were very useful!" Tsukiko beams back at Kristallritter, her tail wagging slightly at the headpat. "I'm Cute Wolf Tsukiko, a very dilute werewolf. Also..."

There's a brief silvery glow as the wolfgirl drops her henshin. "When not hopping across rooftops in the moonlight, I'm Ikiko Hisakata, first year middleschooler at RHM and member of the Animal Care Club," Ikiko finishes with another smile.

"And taiyaki would be great, even if I have to wait a bit to let my stomach settle from the dizziness," she adds to Rashmi.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Kristallritter's response is concerning. Amy's eyes widen. "At least take some pain meds! Although I don't know if they'll help much." She considers offering Pluto's special sparkly pills, but decides that if Kristalritter is able to move this much she probably shouldn't resort to those.

    (She still doesn't know it's just ibuprofin with edible glitter on it.)

    "You shouldn't just... be in pain like that and not say anything! I can turn it off, and I'm still asking for healing... admittedly it's a bit more complex than that, since--"

    Solar heal! ...Amy can't feel it, but her sense of 'ways she can spend magic to regenerate her body' lessens slightly, so she takes that as progress. << Thanks! >>

    << A snack... mmh... maybe, but I kinda just wanna sleep. If everyone else wants to sleep I'm fine skipping it. >>

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
"Hm. Ikiko. I'll keep an eye out for you at school and make sure to say hi." Aloisia responds with a small smile. "If you need help with anything, feel free to let me know. It doesn't have to be magical, either." Look, it's hard not to want to protect the Cute Wolf. She is literally the Cute Wolf and it is a very accurate description. Also she is smol and possibly causing reflexive big sister instincts to pop up.

And then Amy seems to panic about her comment and she just... laughs.

"I have a high pain tolerance, but I am not some sort of robot or something. I do take pain medicine. Do not worry, I'm not /that/ ridiculous. I just wouldn't bother someone to use their magical energy over anything below a certain point. It is not worth it to make an already tired person use their energy over scrapes and bruises, ja?"

Aloisia nods, before continuing on towards the aforementioned taiyaki cart.