237/Monarchs vs Monarchy

Monarchs vs Monarchy
Date of Scene:	14 August 2023
Location:	Penguin Park
Synopsis:	Starfall Omen creates a swarm of butterflies to sneakily drain the energy of the people in Penguin Park. When things go wrong, she panics, and uses the butterflies to create a Perfect Bit. Runealy and Loretta are in the area and defeat the youma, claiming a portion of the energy it gathered.
Cast of Characters:	Lana Voselle Miata, Runealy Waldia, Loretta Bein

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Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    It's a nice summer day in Penguin Park. Kids are playing on the playground as their parents watch on. The nearby zoo is busy with visitors. A few museums are close by, too. Every once in a while, someone gets tired and has to take a seat, but that's normal for summer heat right?

    Lana Voselle Miata is sitting on a bench in Penguin Park, close to the pond with a shrine in the middle, sitting underneath a cherry blossom tree. Her head is tilted slightly back as she watches the butterflies, of which there are many. Occasionally she lifts up her hand, and one of the pretty bugs lands in her palm for a moment before flying away. There are, actually, a lot of butterflies flying over the park, though many of them are spreading to nearby areas. They flitter back and forth between the nearby zoo, the playground, the museums; though the park seems to have the highest concentration of them.

    Maybe that stands out, maybe it doesn't. Those without magical sight don't even seem to notice anything weird about it. Occasionally a butterfly hovers around a random person, lands on them, and flitters away as if its nothing. The only odd thing is just how friendly these little insects are.

    Lana eventually gets bored watching the fluttering bugs, and starts messing with her smartphone. She's not tapping on it very much, but instead drags her fingers across the screen, as if she's reading something. That said, certain individuals might not be able to pick up on the subtle difference.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune has been pacing through the park, favoring her school uniform despite the season. She regularly alternates between facing Loretta while talking, and looking around their surroundings. Her tone is low and serious, despite the park's lighthearted design. "Since our arrival, I have found scant little makes sense in Tokyo. Even their smallest districts are massive, and as prone to demon attacks as any other." She uses the wrong word for Tokyo's monsters, through force of habit.

"Even their fauna is strange, such as..." She points at the giant penguin-slide, "...that. I presume it is themed on some kind of bird, yet I have not seen a single one of them in this city. ...Which is a shame," she admits in a suddenly softer tone.

"They... are quite..." The alien princess searches for an eloquent word for her feelings, and fails. She settles for "...adorable."

Loretta Bein has posed:
    School uniforms fit in a lot better than anything else Loretta might normally wear, so she's chosen to continue wearing the Radiant Heart Academy uniform as well despite the fact school is out of session. She walks beside Runealy, a new pair of glasses settled upon her face. Her eyesight had never been bad to consider getting it checked in Waldia, but standardized testing showed a minor farsightedness that was easily corrected for. It had made reading for long periods of time easier for her, so naturally she now kept them with her at all times, even if not strictly required.

    "It's a much vaster place than I'd ever imagined. I've been reading a lot about Tokyo and this new world, but it's taking longer than I'd hoped to sink in. To think it's only one city of many..." She shakes her head, "With as many Demons as you speak of, it surprises me this world has not been entirely overrun. If every city has as many Demons as this one, there may be as many on this world as behind the Barrier." There aren't, of course, but Loretta has no way of knowing this.

    Her head turns towards the Penguin slide and she nods. She's quiet, studying the animal represented for several moments, making a mental note to check up on the strange birds the Princess seems to favor. As she does a small group of butterflies flies in front of her face, and she briefly startles with an, 'Oh!' before laughing, "There is much beauty in this world, isn't there? I've read many tales of wonders, but seeing such things for myself is another thing entirely."

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Lana finds something funny on her smartphone and chortles. It's a low laugh, but there's something subtly haughty about it. Another butterfly floats nearby, and she suddenly lifts up her hand to let it land. Something... small, seems to sparkle in it. Probably very easy to miss if one isn't looking directly at her. The inset flits away and she seems to put her hand in her bag for a moment before going back to her phone.

    The butterflies flitting in front of Loretta's face certainly are pretty. Brightly colored blue and green with an outline of black. She might not have the localized knowledge needed to know that this species is not typical for this region, or even this planet, but she's close enough to see the way its wings subtly bend as they flap, and maybe even the small specks of pixie dust that fall off it. They seem completely unfazed by her presence. Other such bugs might flee from what it perceives as a potential predator.

    A couple of butterflies land on someone's shoulder nearby, and almost instantly that person gets sleepy. Incredibly so. They sway where they stand, and suddenly stumble towards a nearby lamppost, leaning on it while they struggle to keep their eyes open. Lana glances in their direction and mutters under her breath. "Foolish creature, you're supposed to be subtle! Subtle!"

    Some of the butterfly hovering in front of Loretta attempt to land on her in one way or another, on top of her head, her shoulder, an outstretched arm or anything else. Nothing bad happens... yet, but this is still strange behavior.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"I can scarcely imagine more cities such as this, let alone all of them being in such danger..." Rune shakes her head a few times, and shifts the topic to something on a much smaller scale. "Though... forgive my commenting on this, but I noticed the corrective lenses? Had I known you have need of them, I would have arranged for them with all due haste!"

She may be overestimating Loretta's need for glasses, as she uses Loretta's comments on Tokyo's beauty to build on this. "So it would seem!" Her gaze sweeps to follow the butterfly too, before returning to Loretta. "And now you can witness it all the more clearly, I hope!"

Wholly unaware of the connection between Lana and the butterflies, Rune starts to say something as the latter begin to flit around her friend... then quiets down, deciding not to disturb this. It may be strange, but it looks harmless and peaceful enough - something that shouldn't be interrupted.

Loretta Bein has posed:
    As her glasses are mentioned Loretta reaches up and touches the black rim, "As would I! It seems foolish not to realize I had more trouble reading than average, even if it's a minor fault, but I never would have guessed it. Being able to read so long without strain is a great improvement." She gives a warm smile when returning her focus to Runealy after the butterflies pass, "That I can. And just as importantly I can more easily look up all these wonders we see before us." The girl is clearly in for a minor revolution when she realizes what smartphones, internet access, and immediate encyclopedic lookup can offer.

    She continues walking along as Rune quiets, taking in more of their surroundings. She considers a moment before saying not quite under her breath, "Were these beautiful flying insects so common before today? I can't say I remember seeing them in the park before, but they're quite prevalent." She almost comments further on how nice everything looks with them around, but something she can't quite put words to keeps her from it. She knows they're beautiful, but for some reason she finds herself not thinking it's good to have them around.

    Soon she too is introspective, trying to search her own thoughts and feelings for why that might be.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Another person passes out. Lana suddenly stands up from her bench, looking in their direction. A lot of people are getting tired, all of a sudden, and she's starting to panic. This is not how this is supposed to go! Kids are suddenly taking naps in the swing, parents are leaning against each other on the bench, and some people are just collapsing in the middle of the field. Lana watches all this happen and stares with incredulity. She likely didn't stand out before, but she does now, being the only one unaffected.

    Lana mutters to herself. "How did this happen? They aren't supposed to drain this much, and they aren't supposed to double tap a single target... unless..." She snaps her fingers. "They've run out of untapped targets. I never even accounted for that!"

    She rubs her forehead to think for a minute, seeming simultaneously very concerned about all of the collapsing people around her, yet unconcerned about their health or wellbeing. She looks inside of her bag to check something, puts her cellphone up, and pulls a necklace with a spiky pendant out from her collar. She wanders towards the nearby trees, seeking to hide among them.

    Suddenly, the butterflies get a lot more... aggressive. The blue and green of their wings suddenly turns red, and they attack and swarm anyone left standing, draining them within seconds before flittering off. Loretta and Runealy also get attacked this way, as the suddenly hostile insects try to steal their energy.

    Far above, many of the now-dark looking butterflies are swirling overhead, joining into one fluttering cloud of sparkling red.

    Lana might be jumping the gun here, throwing away stealth when no one is even trying to stop her yet, but that's what happens when you're paranoid and terrified.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"I had no idea reading pained you at all..." Rune decides to risk disturbing the butterflies, curiosity overwhelming her. "Tell me, how did you discover this? I had not thought to ask whether you needed them."

Then Loretta raises a very good question. "I believe I have seen them in ones and twos, infrequently. Not in such numbers, nor... hmm?" She's starting to notice far too many people are falling asleep around them. A few people doing it wasn't too weird. Several people doing it is odd. Nearly everyone around them having passed out by now is not right.

The princess goes tense, looking around for a cause... only to have her attention abruptly brought back to Loretta. Rune's eyes go wide, starting to flail her hands and arms at the swarm near her friend in an attempt to clear them away! This lasts for only a few seconds, before Rune is also attacked... prompting startled shrieks as Rune begins backpedaling and flailing at her own butterflies!

This isn't really doing much to stop the swarm. For each one Rune clubs aside, a few others make contact; thin strands of green sparkles flow out of the princess and into the butterflies. She lets out an alarmed, pained gasp as this begins... and Rune decides to do something about it. "Loretta, with me! Summoning Princess' Tiara!"

Energy audibly hums as jeweled headwear appears in-hand. "The Line of Succession..." One hand passes the tiara to the other, which brings it to her head in the same motion. "...Transform!" A flash of red light engulfs Rune. It fades a few seconds later, and when it does she stands in magical dress with staff in hand... staring up at the butterfly swarm overhead.

Loretta Bein has posed:
    Loretta lifts a hand and tries to wave it in a gently dismissive manner, "It wasn't painful, merely more taxing than need be. It'd hardly be an issue at all for someone who reads less. For me, though?" She doesn't feel the need to elaborate, simply gesturing. Runealy surely knows her well enough to at least know that reading is what she spends the vast majority of both her work and free time doing. "As for how? The Literature Club mandates testing for all members for just this reason. Apparently this is also normal at certain intervals for all younger schoolchildren. It seems like a very wise policy."

    Her eyes briefly flick over towards Runealy. Part of her wants to see if the Princess would immediately pick up on the positive implications implementing such a wide, simple, and effective policy could have on a population.

    She might not get the chance, though, as the princess realizes something is amiss before she does. It's not that she hadn't recognized the people in the park becoming tired; it's that she's so used to unusual things that she doesn't recognize it's actually unusual for Tokyo itself. Nominally fragile and tame butterflies turning and attacking after changing color, though? That's impossible to miss.

    "Kh...!" she sounds while sucking in her breath as a butterfly lands on her and takes away some of her energy, wisps of green wind flowing from her, converted to sparkles, and drawn away. "U-understood!" She reaches into her pocket and grasps her Diary.

    "To protect the past and future," Green winds swirl around her, obscuring her form. They're powerful enough to force any more butterflies swarming around her away. Briefly just a shadow in the swirling green she raises both arms and the magical winds flow into her hands, the pole of her weapon appearing between them. With a flash and a blast of wind rushing away from her she reappears, transformed a holding her now fully formed scythe, swinging it around and holding it in a battle stance, "I am Guardian Lore!"

    As soon as she's transformed she springs into action, leaping up towards a group of butterflies and slicing her scythe blade towards them. Only a single one is caught and cut by the weapon itself, but the others in the group are caught and battered by the glowing magical wind that surrounds and trails behind the weapon's wide arcing swings. It only takes a moment for her to realize the difficulty of this given the number of butterflies swarming above.

    "Single strikes won't be effective! We should try to use wide-area attacks." It might make her sound smart, but it's learning by failure, in her own mind.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Once Runealy and Loretta henshin into the Red Princess and Guardian Lore respectively, the butterflies start to back off. Now they sense danger, in the form of two magical girls rising up to oppose them. They flutter at a distance, circling around the two as if they were a pack of wolves looking for a chance to strike. Individually butterflies are easily felled, and like any flying thing they are subject to magical turbulence in the air. They are almost surprisingly delicate, not optimized for combat, but they are still magical enough to survive Runealy's flailing. At least until she henshins.

    Far above, more and more butterflies gather from nearby, joining the ever growing mass in the air. The strange cloud of butterflies suddenly flairs up with a green magical aura, and shrinks lightly before sprouting large red butterfly wings. The smaller butterflies are busy merging into one larger creature. The sparkling pixie dust falling from it hits the ground and bursts into flames. The mega-butterfly is still forming.

    Stepping out from behind the trees is Starfall Omen, watching with her arms crossed. "So, there were a couple in the area after all. Seems like they're everywhere," she mutters. She doesn't approach them yet. Better to see what they're capable of.

    The swarm of smaller butterflies flit around Rune and Lore. Once in a while, a couple of them dart in, trying to get in a quick energy drain before quickly flitting away again. It's clear, despite their frailty, that they intend to fight.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune does pick up immediately on the personal implications - a royal librarian would be doing a lot of bookwork! The policy implications sink in too, but there simply isn't time to discuss them right now; they get silently filed away as an idea to bring up with her father sometime, once the Knights and Rune are back on their homeworld.

For now, the butterfly swarm is a much bigger problem. And in some ways, a smaller problem. Too small to hit effectively one by one, as Lore points out. The Knight's advice is met with a confirming "Mm!", then Rune's boot wings glow with a silver-blue light that hurls her back and aside from the diving butterflies.

She was paying attention to Lore's suggestion, and tries not to pay too much mind to the individual butterflies chasing her. Instead, she aims up at the overall swarm. The princess' staff launches its orb-tip up at the butterflies, then splits in mid-flight to turn into a wide spray of smaller emerald sparkles!

Loretta Bein has posed:
    As the smaller butterflies swarm around her Guardian Lore takes swipes at them with her scythe, spinning and twirling every now and then to help conserve motion. It's more defensive than offensive, trying to destroy or keep away any butterflies that try to get near her. It mostly works, though she fails to recognize the falling dust as a threat, letting out a gasp of pain as magical flames briefly light up over her form.

    Wincing but undeterred she watches the flightpath of Runealy's attack, only for her eyes to widen. "They're... merging!?" The thought of fighting a swarm was already worrying, but fighting something that large?

    Without thinking more Lore goes on the attack, with a wave of her hand a glowing green sigil forms on the ground in front of her, followed by another higher up, above the giant butterfly. She jumps onto the first one and leaps, spinning her scythe around with green magic trailing behind the blade, again swirling it defensively to try and keep the smaller butterflies from interrupting her attack. She shoots up past the large 'demon', hitting the second sigil above it.

    Her motion immediately changes, boosting her downward from above. She grits her teeth and lets out a cry while attacking, swinging her scythe with both hands while shooting past the creature at high speed, trying to tear a large gash open along it's side. Still hurtling towards the ground all the effort has her continuing to spin. As she hits the ground a burst of green magic flies out from around her and with another grunt of exertion she flings her scythe back upwards. It spins as it goes, blade and pole both surrounded by her green wind magic, flying in a high arc to continue the attack on the still forming giant butterfly.

    It's a pair of powerful attacks following up on Runealy's, but for the moment Guardian Lore is now grounded, recovering from strain of effort, and without her weapon in hand to defend herself until it finish it's high arc and returns to her like a boomerang.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Runealy's wide sparkly attack does its job, tearing apart the smaller, weaker butterflies in droves. Loretta also does work, despite taking damage at the same time, keeping the bugs away and punishing any which flitter too close. Broken shiny red wings fall through the air in fragments before vanishing into flakes. Each defeated bug leaves a tiny little stone behind, which drops harmlessly to the ground. Even from this, the swarm is considerably thinned, and the smaller butterflies are backing off for real. As they break off, they flitter upwards to join with the mega butterfly still forming in the air above the park. A few of the smaller insects remain, but they are almost inconsequential without numbers.

    The large butterfly monster flaps its large heavy wings, and the sound of it can likely be felt as well as heard. When Loretta strikes the large beast, she finds it to be... quite a bit more resilient than the smaller versions. As her blade tears open a wound in the side of the monster, the injury becomes a swarm of butterflies, knocked loose by the Guardian's attack.

    The wings kick up the air, and its sparkling pixie dust is dragged into the whirlwind, creating a dangerous barrier of swirling fire. The flaming dust spreads and scatters wide, covering a wide section of the park's open field and setting it on magical fire.

    Starfall Omen waits in the distance, arms crossed, watching the magical fight. She's taking mental notes on the fighting style of Runealy and Lore. After all, if she can't really sneak past them, she's going to need to learn to fight them.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune keeps her eyes on the sky, both because she is genuinely impressed by Lore's dive-slash... and to avoid making any more attacks while her friend is up there. The moment passes, and the princess is tempted to resume her assault when it's only Lore's scythe in the air.

Several things deter her from it. First is the surprised realization that Lore is correct: "It is as you say! Several tiny demons are forming a massive one...!" This is something the princess has never heard of in her life; she silently presumes her mother would have mentioned this sort of thing at some point if the monsters back home were capable of it.

Next, the fire spreads. Rune is able to avoid being incinerated, but dust particles cover a wide area and a few bits of it do land on her... and ignite. "Ahh, ahh, sss--!" Inarticulate shouting, as Rune flails with her free arm to pat out the flames.

As she works on this, Rune sprints toward Lore. "The blaze spreads! I would not be separated from you, if it can at all be prevented!"

More interested in linking up with her friend now that there is a very real risk of fire dividing them, Rune's assault is weak; she flicks her gaze up at the butterfly, tiara gems lighting up to fire a stream of tiny emerald sparkles up at it. This is the best she can manage while distracted, though it amounts to tossing up a few jabs at the monster.

Loretta Bein has posed:
    Guardian Lore doesn't have time to think about the effectiveness of her strike, not when fire has suddenly burst all over the field. A few more bits land on her and cause her to wince, but the heat of it is oppressive. A part of her is briefly worried the entire field is suddenly going to ignite and when that fails to happen she lets out a little sigh of relief.

    "Princess!" She shouts out upon hearing Runealy's pained cries, catching her returning scythe and then moving close to her afterwards. "I understand. In that case, let's try to stay together and fight from afar!" She flings her scythe again, sending it once more flying upwards towards the large butterfly, trying to send the swirling blade through it's wings. This time though, there's only enough wind magic to guide it. "I... think I might have a plan, Princess!"

    Again she'll catch her returning scythe, but this time she plants it in the ground, using it to help support herself. "Since it's relying on that dust... try to hit it with strong direct attacks, Princess!" Gathering her strength she takes in a deep breath and then holds out her hand, waiting for the next assault of dust and flame.

    When the eventual attack comes she gives a continuing shout of, "Haaaaaaah..!" gripping tightly on her weapon while pouring all of her energy and effort into a large burst of wind towards the butterfly. On it's own it won't do much more than buffet it, but if the creature is fighting with a lot of easily drifting motes, it might find it's own dust flying back at it to ignite itself!

    Whether that's even possible, or effective if so is entirely up in the air, but even if it does little more than provide protection she's hoping Runealy can take advantage to lay down heavy focused fire with her wand.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    The stream of emerald sparkles impacts the mega-butterfly, the true form of Lana's Perfect Bit. Each impact smacks into the giant beast, causing a tiny broken butterfly to fall down from each magical bullet wound. The attack certainly draws the creature's attention, which might work out well for Lore's tactic.

    The scythe tears through the large red wing, ripping a hole right through it. More dead butterflies fall out from the wound, each one turning into flakes and vanishing. The monster lists to the side and struggles to fly, but the wound quickly closes as other flying insects move to take the place of the fallen.

    It begins to fly a little higher into the air, recovering slightly from the attack before getting hit with the next. The buffet of wind in of itself doesn't do much, but Lore is right to suspect that the butterfly is no more immune to its own fire than an archer is to arrows. The dust impacts the Butterfly Perfect Bit, and if there's anything that's effective against tightly packed swarms it's fire. More tiny insect parts fall from it like debris as it starts to drop closer to the ground, fluttering more desperately as more and more of its mass is stripped away.

    Some of the fiery pixie dust moves past or under the Perfect Bit, burning the ground behind it. The fire covers a wide area, but it doesn't stick around. It's a quick flare-up before it dissipates. Mostly because Starfall knows that if she causes a giant raging fire in the middle of Tokyo, she's going to catch a lot of heat that she doesn't really need right now. The last thing she needs at this point in the plan is for a lot of angry mahou to be searching for Her, Specifically.

    Starfall frowns as the battle rages on, staying still next to the cherry blossom tree. Omen is pretty sure that the youma will fall soon. She spends a lot of time glaring at the Red Princess and Guardian Lore, studying their tactics and remembering their appearance. How would she build a Perfect Bit to counter them, she wonders?

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Despite Rune misunderstanding how these flames work at first, she is at least listening to Lore's advice. "I do not entirely understand, yet I shall trust your insights!"

She watches to see what will happen with the winds, and only then does the idea become clear to Rune. She might be completely unaware of their spectator, but the princess is excited to announce what's going on with Lore's plan: "Splendidly done! It can scarcely assault us, let alone continue its flight!" Fire-dust is still falling, but most of it isn't near her or Lore.

The princess' eyes narrow as she tracks the monster's descent, realizing that Lore's wind storm seems to be giving her the best opening she can imagine in this situation. "...There!" Rune's staff launches a new orb-tip at the diminishing butterfly, and the staff grows another tip that is immediately sent flying as well. This happens twice more, before Rune's barrage ends!

Loretta Bein has posed:
    As far as Guardian Lore can tell the Perfect Bit isn't managing to counterattack effectively while she channels the power of the wind. She's rapidly tiring, but even so she's not about to let up when their tactic seems to be working. It's the first time she's considered focusing on using her magical winds without the aided focus of her scythe, and it seems to be working.

    As Runeally takes her advice and attacks she grips her planted scythe tighter, more and more wind swirling around Lore and Rune both and blowing harshly upward. When Runeally's attacks strike she digs into her last reserves of energy, sending powerful buffeting green winds up with the wand strikes, ready to catch any dust and embers that may break free and send them straight back into the Perfect Bit. Her outstretched hand shakes as her hair blows wildly in the magical wind, and through gritted teeth she barely gets out, "Just... a little... longer..!"

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    The sustained wind is too much for the Butterfly Perfect Bit. It constantly tries to reform itself, widening its wings, rearranging its constituent bugs; but nothing it does works. Just as its massive wings start to be good enough to allow it to gain a little bit fo height, the princess's first orb tip impacts the already weakened body, tearing a hole into its body. Three more orbs hit the monster, one after another, tearing it apart further, breaking off large chunks of its body, before the final fourth hit strikes something important deep within the monster's body.

    There is a loud snap as things are suddenly over. The combat stops, and things are still for a moment, before the giant butterfly start to dissolve into nothing. Without their main body, the remaining tiny evil butterflies who didn't merge with the main body also soon fade into nothing.

    On the ground where the main monster used to be, there is a shining blue core filled with energy.

    From where Starfall observed the fight, she frowns. "Shame," is all she has to say regarding the death of her minion. Looking at Rune and Lore, she decides to take a few steps towards them. She shouts, "You did well to defeat my Perfect Bit, but don't take your luck for granted. Next time, I will not make it so easy on you.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"You have sustained it long enough! The battle is ours!" Rune calls to Lore as the butterfly-swarm Bit fades away. "A superb effort and an equally well crafted tactic; well done, Lore!" The princess is quick to offer praise in a high, excited tone.

Any further praise will have to wait, as someone approaches. "Who are...?" Her voice trails off, as Starfall Omen offers dark praise and a threat. A chill runs through Rune as she stares at the newcomer, asking in a gasping voice: "You summoned this demon, then?!" Not quite right, but it's Rune's best guess. She hurriedly considers the situation... remembering that the last few times she has attacked someone leading various enemies, it has gone very poorly for herself.

The blue core lingers on the ground. Rune notices it in her peripheral vision, and realizes it is the first sign of progress she has seen in her entire time on Earth - it might be a sort of energy she can take home to help restore her world's demon-sealing Barrier, and all that stands between her and it is someone who may or may not attack her or Loretta.

Fear clashes with hope, and in the end... the princess ends up repeating her late mother's advice. This time, she says it aloud: "Hesitation will spell someone's demise - yours, or an innocent person's!"

The quote gives Rune enough nerve to take the risk, despite Lore's fatigue. Her arm makes a snap aiming motion at Starfall Omen, as Rune launches another staff-orb!

Loretta Bein has posed:
    The wind continues for a short time even as the Butterfly Perfect Bit begins breaking apart and dissolving, just in case any of that magical dust that erupts into flames reappears. It peters out afterwards, perhaps appearing as if Guardian Lore ended at the right moment, though the truth of it shows as she drops to her knees, hugging onto her scythe with both arms to keep from dropping to her hands as well, breathing heavily nearly to the point of gasping for air.

    She almost freezes when she hears Starfall Omen calling out to them, making it clear she's the one who created the creature. She'd be shocked to stillness if she wasn't gasping for breath. While Guaridan Lore hadn't worn herself down to the point of passing out or becoming unable to maintain her henshin, she's only a thread's width away from it. She'd completely exhausted her energy reserves, and can barely manage to lift her head to look in the direction of the Device User.

    It's an important lesson she'll have to remember. She's rendered herself defenseless before knowing a fight was actually over. If Starfall Omen attacked her now, she'd be in real trouble.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    "Summon?" repeats Starfall Omen, in response to Runealy. She slowly shakes her head. "Oh, no. I didn't draw this out of some hellscape or anything like that. I created that creature to carry out my will. It had its flaws, but..."

    The Red Princess launches another staff orb. Starfall raises her own Belkan Device and summons a wall of overlapping round shields, then channels darkness into them, absorbing the impact. Starfall sighs and shakes her head. "Do you really think to--"

    Starfall pauses, then considers this for a moment. Why would they attack her unless they had a plan for victory? Could there be another one of their number, hiding in the shadows to jump her? Can she take the risk, knowing that death comes in an instant?

    With a frown, Starfall changes her mind. A blue swirling portal opens up behind her, and she turns to walk through it. The wall of loosely overlapping round shields stays in place, covering her exit until the portal closes behind her.

    As for the core, well, it's still there and its shiny. Starfall didn't have the option of teleport stealing it or something like that, apparently.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"A creation all your own? What manner of sorcery could allow such a thing?" The idea of a person creating a 'demon' is baffling, and Rune voices that confusion even as Starfall's shields stop the princess' attack. When Lana withdraws, Rune at least has the sense not to try to pursue.

Ultimately, Rune had none of the contingencies or plans Lana worried about; she simply applied her mother's advice in a context the late queen likely would not have intended it for, taking the risk of starting a fight while she was somewhat tired and Lore was clearly exhausted. The princess will be second-guessing herself all night with 'what if?'s, wondering whether Starfall Omen would have attacked Lore or not if left alone... or what would have happened if Starfall claimed the energy core.

There were so many ways this could have gone wrong, and when Starfall withdraws... Rune admits as much, as her body sags with relief and fatigue. "I am not certain I should have done that... I might have put us both at risk, and you in particular." Her staff vanishes as she faces Lore with lidded eyes, walking over to offer support to lean on. "I saw our prize, and lost heed of the situation...!" Her sentence ends with a breathy gasp.

Loretta Bein has posed:
    Loretta notices the shields intercepting Runealy's attacks, and there's relief as Starfall Omen decides caution is the best option and leaves. By the time she's gone Lore has managed to pull herself back up to her feet, and she accepts Runeally's offer of support, leaning against her with a hand on her shoulder, using her scythe like a walking stick with the other. "Thank you, Princess. I'm glad my plan worked... but it was foolish of me to wear myself out so completely before knowing we'd be safe after it's defeat."

    Unsaid is her own second-guessing. If the plan hadn't worked, what then? She'd have been out of energy with two enemies around. Would Starfall Omen have come to the aid of her creation if she realized how easy it would be to disable her completely, then fight Rune two on one?

    "I think... we both have a lot more to learn. I made mistakes, but I'll choose to learn from them while I can still say we've escaped battle victorious." Then, she manages to put on a bit of a smile. "Fighting is difficult and frightening... but I am glad we were here. I fear to think what might have happened to all these people without our intervention. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help, Princess."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"If there is fault to assign, I bear the greater share of it." Rune tries to guide Lore toward the energy core. "For all practical purposes, that was your first real test, was it not? I could scarcely ask for better, regardless of how you paced yourself. The park is not ablaze. The citizenry is not ablaze, as you have noted. And you provided an opening for us to secure..."

Rune's voice trails as she kneels down to retrieve the core, holding it up close to Lore's eyes before finishing her sentence: "...this. I do not think it shall be enough on its own to compensate for my inability to restore our Barrier properly. Yet it is a first step. If we continue to take these steps, perhaps we shall still save our world!"

In other words, Rune has no plan of destroying the core and returning its energy to the people here. She does plan to watch and wait to make sure someone arrives to tend to those who have 'inexplicably' fainted, but she firmly believes this stolen energy will help prevent a demon apocalypse... and she is not giving it up.