KoL

Grimoiric Heart

"Acting as a team, huh?" Eins, or rather Drossel, said to herself as she looked at the other girls scrambling into action. "It's not like I'm a part of that. In fact, I probably shouldn't even be mixed with them. But, since I'm here... I might as well try to have some fun. It's been a while since I got to stretch my legs, after all," she thought as she stood on the sidelines while the rest of the girls formed their plans, gave pep talks, and even tried to use some of the junk spread through the arena to their advantage.

"Hey--"

And just before she could do anything, the exercise ended because the other girls were incapable of proper coordination. Or at least that's what Valeria seemed to think. Eins wasn't built for fighting, but even she felt a little bummed that the only chance she had in a while was cut down so shortly.

"Anyway, I guess it's time to peddle my wares." Eins dusted off her coat and approached the newby magical girls right after Valeria dismissed their class before they could truly scatter around. "Excuse me, please. I know you want to have some debriefing with the girls, but I hope you don't mind if I at introduce myself before that. Right, Miss Valeria... erm, Val... Ma'am?" Eins tried to find the best way to get around Valeria's spiky shell as she kind of interrupted the post-class activities to peddle her wares.

"It's kind of a bummer what happened, right? Getting the exercise cut just when you were trying to figure it out," she said as she circled around the group. "By the way, I guess I should introduce myself, right?" She added with a sheepish smile on her thin lips.

"I'm Eins Reinhardt, but I guess you can call me Magical Girl Drossel, the Tuner." Eins introduced herself with a gracious curtsy, while the nutcracker soldier that followed her raised his gun in a salute. "It would be my pleasure to help you girls get a little more in touch with your grimoires. If you wish, of course," she added with a beaming smile on her lips.

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Grimoiric Heart

@Majoras End

She's fine, I think. You can move your character to the CS tab and begin posting whenever you are able to.

Grimoiric Heart

I'm here, just trying to fine the motivation to do things at the moment. If you don't mind waiting, I'll gladly be put on the backburner. If not, completely understandable.

@Siber

No worries.

Tower of Fable

"Oh, is that so?" Erika's voice was full of amusement as she replied to her cousin after listening to the whole explanation. The whole idea was very interesting for her. Erika almost felt an urge to go back in time to verify all this, but that would likely spoil the fun.

Instead of that, she drew her sword. This whole chaos was beginning to bother her as well, and Esa was almost done with her analysis of the source code around them. "I don't think you have to worry about that, really. That wouldn't come here just because of something like this."

"Anyway, I guess I'll do this my way while you handle the rough bits," Erika concluded right as Katie was dragged into the fight once again. She had no side to pick in this conflict, but there was no way she would let this fusion, no matter how dramatic and beautiful it was, end up hurting her beloved cousin in any serious way. A little love bite here and there, sure, but no dismemberment or stuff like that.

While Katie got back into the fight directly, Erika decided to put her talents — uniquely fit for this situation — to better use. With a swipe of her hand, she unleashed her blade's true form. Just the waves generated by the motion were enough to dispel significant portions of the corrupt data vortex. Annihilating a couple Nephunas and probably throwing off some of the other's moves in the process. That would serve them well, though, with that lack of coordination, a third party throwing a span in the works was the least they deserved.

"I'm sorry, but in this realm, I might as well be the one who has the ultimate power," Erika said to no one in particular as she teleported through space, reaching the well-protected core — or rather, its kernel — with the speed of thought. All of the multiple layers of the firewall protecting it crumbled apart with a single strike, probably throwing some of Akiko's copies away from their objective. "So much raw data is nothing like the hearts you are used to twisting. If you try to touch it, you'll probably have a really bad time."

— ※ ※ ※ —

While Erika was taking care that Katie's allies don't kill themselves in their attempt to not get killed, Farris was taking care of the real reason they were in this mess, to begin with, and what would actually be the cause of the destruction of Katie's allies, if left unchecked.

"I bet you are thinking you are a really big boy now, huh? Feeling great with your power high," Farris said in a disinterested tone as she appeared in Thomas' path right after he dispatched Nephuna's ghostly apparitions. "Not even paying attention to the fact the girl you were trying to avenge came back a moment ago. No, actually you don't even care if she's alive or dead, don't you? You just want an excuse to use that power and feel good about yourself," she added as she raised her shield and took the strike meant for Nephuna.

The power of the Golden Eyes was great. However, even as it tried to erase the girl's shield — no, her very self — from existence, it met with an equally unbelievable resistance. Even if a layer of the static time crystals that composed her shield and weapons broke, Farris kept summoning another and another to wear down the force behind Thomas' strike. An unstoppable force, encountering an immovable object, a time-honored paradox, whose answer was about to be found out.

Once she was sure the boy was right into her reach, and no dodge could be done unless he forsook his attack, Farris switched to an offensive counter. "If you really call yourself a man, then just..." Her own eyes flashed with a golden hue similar to Thomas' as she twisted her wrist and aimed a powerful strike with the pommel of her sword at his jaw "... GRIT THOSE TEETH AND BEAR IT LIKE ONE!" She shouted, her voice echoing through the digital void.

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Grimoiric Heart

@Siber

She's looking better now. As @TheWendil said, let us know when you have finished her revised CS so that we can give her proper second look.

Grimoiric Heart

@Siber

Hmm, I don't know... This character concept isn't striking a chord with me for a couple reasons:

- Her appearance while transformed is little too inhuman, that's very out of sync with just about everyone, even the antagonistic girls.

- Her emotion manipulation powers would be kinda ok for villain, but they are both inappropriate for player since that can cause OOC issues, not to say anything about being quite pointless against the Pageless since they have no emotions or a mind of their own. That said, this could be reshaped to a more interesting ability, though. Maybe something to do with darkness would be fine.

- The main prolem is her grimoire. Excuse me if I'm just being ignorant, but I don't think I ever heard of that story before, and grimoires shouldn't just be created in a vaccuum like even alters have some basis on some prior existing story after all. Also, the rank is a little too high even if it's an existing story, since it doesn't strike me as something that important.

Grimoiric Heart

"Thanks for the help," Eins said after being rescued from her predicament by none other than the (in)famous Charlotte. "I thought I was a goner for a second," she added as she patted the dust and ash off her outfit.

"I don't think I'm gonna be that much help in combat training. I just came here to see if anyone needed some tuning to their grimoires. After all, I heard the new blood got into a pretty fierce battle not long ago and I thought I could useful somehow," Eins said, however before she finished her explanation, Charlotte had disappeared into the ether yet again, leaving everyone around in the care of a certain military lunatic and her Serial-Numbers-Filed-Off Danger Room.

"Oh well, I suppose, stretching my legs every now and then won't break them. Plus, I might be able to see what those new girls are capable of first hand," Eins —or better, Magical Girl Drossel, the one holding the grimoire of the so beloved tale of the Nutcracker and the Mouse King— said in a resigned voice as she followed into the battleground, staying a couple steps behind the newcomers, checking them out with a keen look in her eyes.

Tower of Fable

"Ahh! This love and this hatred boiling deep within them as they try to fight their fate and everything denying them. It's so tragic and so beautiful at once," Erika declared as she laid eyes on the battle. She better than anyone else could judge and assess Nephuna's actions and their outcome. Only eyes that could see beyond time and entropy could interpret all this data in any meaningful way.

"Why would I want to— Fine, just go on ahead without letting me answer. How very typical of you," Erika said after Katie left her hanging.

Erika's attention was momentarily diverted by someone who seemed to have no concept of respect for others' privacy. All that Akiko would gather from her ability however was endless reflections of herself, the more she tried to peer into the depths of Erika, or her Vassal's, past the more it would feel like she was losing herself in an endless maze of kaleidoscopic colors and shades until the very world, or perhaps her own mind, was broken with the thunderous roar or a million pieces of shattering glass as she was snapped back into reality. If Akiko, or anyone else for that matter, ever cared to look in Erika's direction, they would see the same kaleidoscopic gleam shine into her eyes for but a brief moment, whenever the light reflected into them from the right angle.

"Now then, how about we attack this problem's kernel? Can you decipher it, Esa? I think I know what they are trying to do, but I need to be sure before I try to tamper with this place's foundations."

"I'll... need a bit of time, with all this interference," Esa replied as her eyes darted around the endless stream of code with machine-like speed and precision.

"That should be easy. Just—" Erika began answering but was soon interrupted by a serious voice coming from behind her.

"That won't do. We can't meddle with causality here. There's too much at play," a dark-skinned, silver-haired girl said as she stopped by Erika's side with a grave look in her eyes.

"Ok, fine," Erika sighed as she glanced back at the battle, eyes darting between the many involved parties, especially "Kanbaru" and Thomas, or rather the one following him. "Then we'll wait until the time is right. But if it ever looks like they are actually going to be destroyed for good I'll do it anyway. In the meantime..."

"Hey! Can you fill me in on why everyone is so murder-happy around here? Like, I'm trying my best to not just join them and fight against you all, but I'd like a little context first if you would," Erika asked as she teleported beside Katie right as her cousin was about to pound a Nephuna. "You know we valkyries are a little weak for the whole love and anguish thing, don't you?"

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Grimoiric Heart

<Snipped quote by TheWendil>

It's my school now.

@ShadowSunRisen

Lilian: "Thanks, dear. I was really in dire need of a vacation." Passes on all the paperwork for the newbie before bailing out.

Grimoiric Heart

"Kof... Kof... I don't think that has anything to do with being German. Then again, everyone in my family would do the same so... Kof!" Said a voice coming from the ruined room. "By the way, I might need some help. I'm kinda stuck here," she added in a slightly embarrassed tone.

With the dust settled properly, it became evident that the girl in question was trapped under some of the rubble and perhaps a desk or two. "Why do I even have to be here anyway? You can't expect an artisan to be as good at dealing with these kinds of things as a fighter like you."

Eins was wearing a very tidy and proper uniform along with a lab coat until just about a minute ago when everything got into quite literal flames leaving her in these undignified circumstances. Hopefully, some good-natured soul would come to her aid soon, otherwise it would be quite complicated for a girl with such a weak constitution to get herself free.

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