With Y defeated, the old men of the group could afford to take a breather. Of course, there was the mystery of Y's statements, but those could just as well be the ramblings of a madman hellbent on Neon Genesis Evangelion-ing the world. If they heard more about an 'Endless Now', they'd keep wary of it, but until then, they had a Guardian to slay. This would be Geralt's third Guardian down, now, from the Ender Dragon, to the Orphan that resided within him, and now this...mechanical...thing. As they turned to get ready to attack, the Seekers paused at the sound of...something...from behind them?
The arrival of Happy Chaos and his merry band of murderers made Zenkichi sigh. This was every 'misguided villain' trope wrapped up into one bundle of insanity. Save humanity by turning it all into one giant gestalt, check. Turn back time to undo my horrible mistake? Check. And then there was Chaos himself, and his motivation sure fit his name. Though, neither Zenkichi nor Geralt were convinced he was as dedicated to that idea as he let on. Surely he had some goal, beyond entertainment? If not...why was he chosen as a Consul? It didn't make sense. Though...it didn't have to. They were enemies, and they had to be stopped. What was unfortunate was the choice of allies that C had brought with him. Jetstream Sam, Karen Travers, Mephisto, and Nox.
Something gave Geralt the vibe that of all the threats in front of them...Nox might be the most dangerous. Travers was a world-class warrior, with psychic powers to boot, and he'd heard Sam gave Sakura and Roxas a hell of a hard time, but there was something about Nox that raised his hackles. The warning they'd received about him, specifically, as well...it all added up to a very disturbing picture. Geralt didn't have time or an opportunity to give a warning before Goldlewis barreled forward, brash as always, and was stopped short by the magic circle Nox produced on his arm. Geralt ripped his steel blade from its sheathe as Nox's own Pendulum sword pierced Goldlewis. By the time he'd taken a few steps forward, it was too late. Goldlewis was gone.
Identity: Ardor Blossom Star- An E.G.O. Identity. Replaces all equipment with and orange coat, orange-and-black-striped short dress, black leggings, and boots alongside flaming moth wings, granting the ability to lob explosive fireballs at enemies. The fireballs can cause Burn, and if she puts more power into them, she can launch more fireballs albeit with a random spread. If she strikes an enemy she burned, it will cause an explosion of three more explosive fireballs that fly in random directions
Geralt Transformed. But not into the riot-shield wearing LCCB Assistant Manager that might have started to become somewhat familiar to the other Seekers. No, rather than donning riot gear, Geralt's transformation gave her a cute outfit and flaming moth wings. She screamed in fury as her body transformed, fireballs launching from her at Mephisto and Nox, while a Bombing Flight appeared right beside her, making a beeline for Goldlewis' killer. She cast the Sign of Quen to protect herself, flinging more fireballs from where she stood.
Zenkichi, on the other hand, was silently freaking out. He just killed Goldlewis without breaking a sweat. Oh crap that's not good! Still, he did he best to stay calm, summoning his sword and jumping in to help the Street Fighters against Karen. With Valjean at his back, he was confident he could give the girls some breathing room, but just in case, he gave himself a boost with Sukukaja. This guy was fast, and Zenkichi didn't want to be caught on the backfoot. His sword cam down heavily, forcing Karen to give ground. The Septentrion wasted no time in activating Cryokinesis and firing a blast of ice at the Phantom Thief, but Zenkichi managed to dodge the attack, rushing back in.
Seeing that his opponent had given himself a boost, Karen followed in kind and activated Hypervelocity. Zenkichi grunted as a fist planted itself into his cheek, but between his own speed boost and his durability, he managed to tank the blow. Retaliating with a series of quick slashes to try to regain a bit of vitality, Zenkichi found his attacks dodged with simplicity by Karen, so he changed tactics after a few missed swings. Zenkichi swung his sword, and when Karen dodged by backstepping, Zenkichi stomped to help cancel his momentum, then pushed off the ground and thrusted forward, launching at Karen with a burst of speed that only Sukukaja could manage. The unorthodox follow-up caught the Septentrion by surprise, and pushed him back a bit with a grunt. As Karen stood back up, Zenkichi capitalized on the moment with a quick cry to Valjean. "Megido!" Balls of Almighty energy appeared and exploded all around Karen, buffeting him with magical damage as Zenkichi smirked a bit.
Nox responded to Geralt's bombardment by teleporting to her, lashing out with the minute hand Pendulum Sword, which Geralt simply backstepped away from to dodged. She flung another fireball at him, forcing him to dodge the projectile as she backed away further. In this Identity, she was definitely more of a ranged combatant, and having an enemy that deadly this close was stressful. Mephisto, in the back, was barely singed by the surprise fireball, and did not take the bait, instead focusing on monitoring his allies for damage.
Nox ran at Geralt, swinging his sword into Geralt's Quen shield and sending her stumbling back a step, only to take a fireball directly in the face. He retaliated with an energy blast that pushed Geralt back, before turning to the Guardian. "Our goal does not change. We must claim the Guardian's Spirit."
With others taking some of the aggression from Y, and even Midna pinning its arm down for a bit, both Geralt and Zenkichi were able to avoid most of the Consul's attacks. That did not mean they came out unscathed from the barrages he put out, but they managed to dodge the lasers. Geralt did find herself on the receiving end of a wide-swinging arm, knocking her a solid twenty feet before she even realized what happened, but the Hateful Flesh proved sufficient as a brake, sending sparks flying and a grisly screeching noise as its blade dug into the platform she was standing on. When he shifted away, she was forced to move, running and leaping to another platform to try and get closer.
Zenkichi, himself, was forced to dodge a few laser blasts, as Valjean's attacks proved to irritate Y, though not nearly as much as Midna chaining him to a platform. That bought him some time to fire off a Triple Down as well as reload his revolvers, though he stowed them right away, saving them for another moment. When Y shifted away from Geralt's direction, Zenkichi found himself with an opportunity, following Goldlewis' lead and leaping onto their foe to take a few swings. Anybody unlucky enough to be stuck with the two of them when Y broke free found themselves hanging on for dear life, but then Y decided enough was enough. His ribcage opened, and from it came that same vortex that nearly sucked Zenkichi in to his death before. "Oh come on, NOT AGAIN!" He cried as the Seekers were pulled into the void.
Groggily forcing himself to his feet, Zenkichi looked around and groaned. "Now what the hell is this?!" He exclaimed, before getting a good look at the core. "Oh my god it's his weak spot." He laughed. "He actually sucked us in to his weak spot. Wow." The others by that point were getting up and getting their own bearings, and Sandalphon explained in less video gamey terms that they were probably inside Y, and that if they didn't beat the shit out of his core here, they'd probably be absorbed and killed. Fun times.
"Then let's kill him." Geralt simply added, lashing out with the Hateful Flesh to shatter a circuit lance that tried to impale her, switching to the LCCB Assistant Manager Identity and returning fire while hunkering behind her shield. As the wire frames appeared, Zenkichi practically lit up.
"Oh, hey, a bunch of mooks! That's my specialty!" He cheered, gleefully swinging his greatsword through a pair of wire frame phantoms as another landed a kick to his chest. He steadied himself against the blow, before retaliating with a hefty overhead swing and crushing the phantom into the ground, three more taking their place as he, Susie and Midna made sure their heavier hitters weren't interrupted.
Geralt's turtling strategy had proved to be a mistake, as a series of purple lines stretched along the geometric ground before lancing upwards and into her, drawing some blood and completely bypassing her shield. She transitioned to moving laterally, still hiding behind her shield, but keeping mobile to avoid such an attack again as she patiently fired shot after shot into the core. While she wasn't dealing any massive hits, the fact that she could react to the spears to protect herself while walking over and around the ground-based circuits that tried to get underneath meant that she was able to keep up her fire fairly steadily while they whittled at the enemy.
As the battle raged on, both Zenkichi and Geralt found themselves flagging. Each heal from Sandalphon, and each pass from Blazermate before she had to peel off and heal somebody else, was like a fleeting breath of air to a drowning man. Even the Hateful Flesh could not fully affect the Legions now that Geralt was cleansed of much of the Redshift she'd received (and the Blue Evolve), which made her progress much slower than it could have been. The massive cleaver still kept the Akira clones further back than they might have liked, but with X-batons that could transform into blasters, even that couldn't keep her safe from them.
Strikers were summoned, Signs were used, and Zenkichi threw in some serious AoE with Triple Down, Megido, Megidola, and even One-Shot Kill due to how close some of the clones were. They did their best to scatter whenever Zenkichi's gaze turned on them after the first couple of attacks, but the fairly wide areas of his skills meant that Zenkichi soon found himself a priority target, aside from the medics. Which was another problem, because it prompted Geralt to transform to her LCCB Assistant Manager Identity and take the defensive. This, of course, prompted a full-out assault from a half-dozen Akira clones, which chained her down and pummeled hier practically into oblivion. A careful application of Aard once she was free sent the closest ones stumbling, which Zenkichi followed up on by frying a pair with Megido while the others backed off to regroup. Geralt quickly shot the Spirits left behind, ignoring the items they turned into and firing on the clones.
Hayato's appearance marked the turning point of the fight, though for a moment it looked as though the young Neuron officer proved to be no match for the sheer number of clones at Y's disposal. Then, however, he fused with his own Legion, becoming a monstrous-looking hybrid and once more unleashing a brutal series of attacks on his sister's clones. "Damn, kid..." Zenkichi muttered, dodging out of the way of a Sword Legion's blades and returning his attention to survival.
And after a short while of the Hayato fusion slaughtering clones, Y decided that enough was enough, and called them off. Panting, Zenkichi leaned on his sword while Geralt summoned the Judicator to provide extra healing while the Seekers regrouped in the moment of peace. It didn't last long, however, as Y had the clones start executing one another, making Zenkichi pause. Geralt, however, had an idea of what was about to come, and turned her gun on the Spirits with a cry of "Stop him! He's going to Fuse!"
It was futile, however, as the Spirits barely lasted moments before being corrupted, and fusing into masses of red matter that proved rather difficult to destroy. As Y sucked all of the Spirits and red matter into himself, Zenkichi sighed and shook his head. "Ya know, all this becoming one stuff is reminding me of an anime I watched as a teenager. It didn't work then, buddy, and I doubt it'll work now." Zenkichi chided, reloading his revolvers. The sight of the corrupted, massive creature made him hum. "You remind me of the last fake god I killed. Guess you'll be number 2, then." He stated simply, unloading his revolvers into the Soul of Ambition before pulling out his greatsword. "Let's do this!"
Geralt began firing her pistol at the Consul formerly known as Y, building up Tremor stacks (not that she was sure they'd even do anything) as she walked forward, unloading her pistol and running to the side to avoid a burst of lasers that were fired at the Seekers. "Don't think this is gonna do much..." She relented, transforming back into her normal identity, and pulling free the Hateful Flesh once more. Hopefully this thing would be more vulnerable to it, like the Chimeras were. Geralt rushed to the edge of the hallway platform they were on and leapt to a floating piece of debris, swinging the Hateful Flesh out on its umbilical tether to slash at the Soul of Amibition, before retracting it and pulling forth a glob of explosive flesh and tossing it into the monster's side. She summoned Fizz as well as a flight of Bombers, instructing the Striker to avoid damage as a priority as she moved out of the way of a swipe of the thing's limb.
Zenkichi, meanwhile, jumped to a different platform and paused to take a breath. This thing was big, huge, and dangerous. Exactly like the Demiurge. All he had to do was bide his time, avoid damage, and take whatever opportunities this thing gave to hit it. He played a more patient game than Geralt, given his lack of ranged options besides Valjean and his nearly-depleted revolvers, silently cursing that he didn't have more to work with. It'd come in time, though. Until then, he had to make do with what he had, ordering Valjean to launch a One-Shot Kill at their enemy.
Lvl 12 Geralt (126/120) +20 fight XP +9 collab XP + 8 collab XP -> Lvl 12 (155/120)
Lvl 5 Zenkichi - (57/50) +20 fight XP + 5 collab XP + 8 collab XP -> Lvl 6 (42/60)
Word Count: 920 words
"Not gonna lie...should've seen it coming." Zenkichi admitted to Goldlewis as Blazermate tended to their wounds. "He always did have a big head. Of course he'd come running to 'stop the evildoers' once word broke that somebody busted into Arahabaki. But we got him. Good thinking on sending his own fist back at him, there." Stretching his aching muscles, Zenkichi let out a sigh of relief. "I am looking forward to a long night's sleep tonight. Thanks for the heals. And don't worry too much about Konoe, he's...had a change of heart, you could say." Zenkichi added in explanation of their possibly former enemy's presence.
Sighing, Geralt reintroduced herself briefly, just making sure everybody could keep track of her with this new appearance. "Think you were right, Goldlewis. It's not gone, but that tension, that feeling I was describing is a lot less intense. I feel calmer, more sure-headed. Though I'd have preferred to remain a man, I think." The scowl on her face as she remembered her...new situation showed just how much she'd have preferred to remain a man, but what was done was done. Until they rescued Peach or found another Spirit to fuse with to tip the balance back to male, she was going to remain a woman.
When the Seekers reached Karen, Zenkichi jerked his head to prompt Konoe to make his presence known. "Konoe here tried to keep us from getting further inside. I'm sure he has plenty of information that you'd find useful, and that he'd be more than willing to give you, to help make up for his crimes." The man in question took a deep breath, nodding resolutely.
"Anything I can do to help, Major General. I'm responsible for so much of the misery plaguing this city...it's time I make things right." Konoe declared, walking over to the side, a good distance away from Karen, and kneeling down. "If you have handcuffs on you, I won't resist."
"We might not have needed you to get through the wall, but there's still plenty you can do to help in the cleanup. Tell him everything about your plots and schemes, and it might just make things a lot easier to get sorted once this is all dealt with." Zenkichi told Konoe, fixing the man with a hard look.
As the Seekers descended further into the core of Arahabaki, both Geralt and Zenkichi were astounded by the sheer scale of the underground structure. They'd already gone down quite far, and it still seemed to go much, much further down. How deep inside the world were they? How much further did Arahabaki go? And what was housed in its depths, serving as Galeem's Guardian?
Their ruminations were halted by the appearance of both Master Hand and Consul Y. Geralt immediately drew her steel sword upon seeing the hand, but Zenkichi was just confused. The others' warnings, however, had him take the threat seriously, and he drew his greatsword as his Phantom Thief attire appeared.
The pods opening behind them made the pair spin around, eyes widening when they recognized the woman they'd fought on the helipad, with Zenkichi muttering, "Cloned...Legios? That could have been real friggin helpful before all this." Geralt, meanwhile, changed out her sword for the Hateful Flesh. Even if she couldn't see them very well, she remembered that this thing could still hurt them. Casting Quen, she sighed.
And the fight was on. Zenkichi threw a Rakukaja Sandalphon's way to keep her up, while Geralt took up a defensive stance, wide swings of the Hateful Flesh keeping the Legios back. They tried to punish the delay between swings, but Zenkichi stepped in, a hefty upwards slash knocking aside a blow from a Sword Legion, only for an Arm Legion's punch to send him stumbling back while Geralt was ensnared in ethereal chains. "Dammit!" She cried, struggling against the bindings.
"Got your back! Triple Down!" Zenkichi called, Valjean's gun attack forcing a few of the Akiras to back off, though a couple took the hit and wailed on Geralt, easily breaking through her Quen shielding as she grunted. Once the chains broke, however, she retaliated with a vicious spinning attack, the blade of the Hateful Flesh dragging right through a Beast Legion. Even the Siderite blade failed to find true purchase, however, and the wounded creature kept up the assault while Zenkichi found himself similarly pinned.
Geralt roared, lightning crashing into the battlefield and zapping one Howard clone, leaving her open for a follow-up shot from Geralt, who leapt at her and crushed her beneath a brutal overhead swing. She slashed out at an Axe Legion, which blocked the attack and retaliated with a slash of its own, knocking Geralt back. "Damn, these things are a pain!" She groaned as Zenkichi drew his revolvers and forced back a pair of approaching clones.
"You can say that again!" Zenkichi agreed, quickly swapping his guns for his sword, breathing a little heavily now. "Feels like there's no end to these damn things..." He grumbled as he parried a Sword Legion, only for the second blade to slide along his gut, drawing a pained groan from him. He rolled under a follow-up swing and lashed out at the clone controlling it, batting her aside with his large weapon and having to immediately block a blow from an Arm Legion. "Anybody got any bright ideas?!" He called to the others, dodging a backhand from the same Legion.
”Goldlewis-san! Susie-chan! Glad you’re okay.” Sakura said, happy to have met up with some other Seekers in this big place full of enemies. ”I don’t think things are going to get any easier. For them!” Sakura punched her palm. ”Haha.”
When the next drop pod fell, Sakura got into her fighting position. ”You don’t know what you’re talking about!” She said to Akira. ”Once we destroy the Guardian, everything in Midgar will change: I think that’s what you’re all so afraid of.”
Then, a very very big drop pod fell, and Sakura was blasted back with the others. Landing on her back, her bare belly spasmed as she sucked in a few shallow breaths before gasping. Pushing herself up onto her elbows she winced in anticipation as the cyberknight got onto his cybermech. ”Hoookay…one last big robot to close out the week.” Sakura said, pushing herself to her feet.
While Konoe was monologuing and dramatically walking to his mech, Zenkichi quickly turned to the others. ”Okay, quick notes. Electric and nuclear damage, if any of you have that stuff, is gonna hit his mech extra hard, Don’t bother with wind, psychic or holy damage. Thing’s gonna completely ignore it. And, if possible, I’d like to take him in alive. Though, that might get complicated once we unlock the door to the Guardian, he’s one of our ways in. That, and he’s from my world. My problem…”
Sakura just nodded. While Ryu-san’s fireballs could be electric, Sakura’s owns were more fire and light based, so that would be no help. She’d just have to try to find the weak points of the mech and wear it down, while avoiding being squished.
Susie could help with the damage types this thing was weak to, but only if someone supplied her with that element for her weapons. Otherwise she was just stuck with her blaster. ”I only have my suit, my blaster, and whatever elements you can give me. ” Susie said, stating this fact.
“Nuclear?” How was that a damage type? How did Zenkichi even know all this? Goldlewis guessed he’d have to chalk it up to him and Konoe being from the same world. As for what ‘damage’ he put out, Goldlewis couldn’t rightly say. Physical, definitely. Fire, probably. Explosion? Laser? Well, there wasn’t a lot of time to think about it when staring at a gigantic war machine, outfitted with enough futuristic black tech to make the leaders of Zepp blush. And even when they managed to scrap the Zephyrus, Goldlewis couldn’t help but assume that Konoe wasn’t just some upjumped businessman anymore. Taking him alive would be no easy feat, but then again, when had this ever been easy?
Sakura took off at a sprint, moving around to the left of the machine while Goldlewis covered her with a torrent of Skyfish bullets. She figured if they could surround it, it’d make their job a lot easier. The moment of truth! Sakura leapt forward and aimed to slam both her feet into the knee joint of the mech to see if she could damage it through its armor at all. ”Hiyah!”
The blow left a distinct dent in the armor, and the whole mech shifted slightly, automatically adjusting to stabilize after the impact. That one interaction gave Sakura the confirmation she needed: that her martial arts could damage the Zephyrus at all. Of course, it would take a lot more where that came from, and Konoe wasn’t planning to make it easy for her. Sakura gasped happily nonetheless. Her feet still braced against the dent in that stretched moment, she bent her knees and pushed away, flipping back and landing on her feet. His mech lifted one leg and went to bring it down on her, a familiar maneuver she’d seen from the Sectopod last night, which forced her to dodge away or be crushed. ”Woah!”
After that, though, Konoe planted his robot’s feet and fired up the crimson energy core in its chest. A radiant beam blazed forth, blasting the ground to create a circular area of constant, concentrated heat damage. As if that wasn’t enough, he immediately made it everyone’s problem by suddenly boosting forward without moving the Zephyrus’ legs at all; it just slid atop a thin, ultra-dense cushion of air. Sakura preemptively dodged when she saw the core heat up, not looking to get burned, and she had to dive out of the way with a shout when the entire thing surged forward. In that moment it became clear that this machine wasn’t in the same league as the clunky Sectopod after all, but a work of art bordering on fantastical.
Zenkichi summoned his regular greatsword as Sakura shot forward, waiting for Konoe to make a move. He remembered the fight against the giant mech pretty well, but it was a damned shame that the conveniently-placed railguns weren’t around like last time. Oh well. A simple stomp to start the fight, then a quick follow-up sweep of that annoying laser. Leaving no time to change strategies, the Zephyrus shot forward, forcing him to dodge out of the way or be trampled.
”Yep, still a giant pain in the ass…” He muttered, taking a few swings at the mech’s leg once he closed the distance, thinking things over. He could buff one of them with any of the kajas, and somebody else with Heat Riser, but the question ultimately came down to who got what. In the meantime, though, he could still deal some damage. ”Valjean! One-Shot Kill!” He called to his Persona, intent on dealing some serious damage.
When threatened by the mech’s giant laser Goldlewis hastily stowed his minigun and hustled away from the others, ensuring that the beam’s area of effect couldn’t get everyone even if Konoe moved it around. He jumped and airdashed over the crimson splash to smack one of the walker’s thighs with his coffin, and upon landing he hopped backward just in time to see Valjean plug the Zephyrus with a super-sized spectral bullet that seemed to drill straight through its target. It left no hole when it vanished, however, and Konoe showed no signs of stopping just yet. Red emitters on both of his mech’s feet began to glow, and two much smaller beams shot out at knee height to sweep across the battlefield as the Zephyrus turned. Their speed caught Goldlewis by surprise, and the blast of ionized gas took his legs out from under him. “Damn it!” he growled as he scrambled to his feet. “That hurts somethin’ fierce.”
Sakura was lucky in that the beam was closer to Goldlewis than her, so she managed to get her quick feet into the air, eyes widening as it sliced just beneath her. She landed on one leg, teetering. ”Woah!”
Susie meanwhile had gotten airborn with her transporter and took potshots at this thing with her blaster to see if it did any damage at all. This kept her safe from the laser that would’ve been difficult to avoid otherwise. She wasn’t sure how badly Goldlewis was hurt. But she saw he had taken a lot of punishment before, and summoning their only method of healing this early wouldn’t be a great idea.
Zenkichi, having recognized the attack, was quick to react, hopping straight up into the air and over the sweep, though he grimaced when he saw Goldlewis get wiped out. ”Uuuuhhh, right, that’s my bad! He’s got missiles, too! Heat-seeking, of course, because he spared no expense in actually making his psycho robot!!! And he can shoot the fist off like a rocket! You can dodge the missiles if you’re quick, but if you don’t see the fist coming, better guard it!” His piece said, he rushed in for a combo of swings, deciding to give Goldlewis a hand to make up for his mistake. ”Rakukaja!’ He called out, really making him the Secretary of Defense.
”Of course it has missiles and rocket fists…” Susie muttered.
That was a lot of information to receive and act on in the midst of battle as lasers flew left and right, but Goldlewis felt bolstered by both the advice and the defense buff. “I owe you one!”
“How do you know all this!?” Konoe roared in disbelief, his voice amplified by the Zephyrus. “Well, knowing is one thing. Let’s see you use it!”
Sakura strafed to the side, trying to keep the mech in the middle of all of them. With this thing floating along the ground, she wondered how effective attacking its legs would really be. Closing the gap she leapt forward and tried to latch onto the mechs back, grabbing onto some of its many details for a grip. Headband trailing behind her, she looked for something sensitive to start smacking, such as some boosters on the back to prevent it from pushing itself forward so fast, or maybe some kind of weapon compartment. She began to slam her fist into it to dent the armor and create gaps to work her fingers into it to rip something off.
On the mech’s back Sakura not only found its propulsion systems in the form of two giant thruster jets (that her current handholds left her dangling in front of), but also found a blind spot where neither the arms nor lasers of the Zephyrus could seemingly reach her. For the moment Konoe focused on Zenkichi and Goldlewis, firing off a rocket punch at both. Approaching with his coffin as a shield, the Secretary of Defense was big and strong enough to knock the giant fist aside with only chip damage, then let out his chain’s slack and swing the coffin around for a hefty wallop. The sheer size of this thing meant that he could only hit the foot, but he reasoned that if he hit it enough, it would fall. Recouping what momentum he could after the impact, he delivered another mighty strike just as the hands of the Zephyrus reattached.
Then Konoe commanded the Zephyrus to jump into the air, propelled by jets of superheated gas from its afterburners. Though surprised to see the hulking contraption even get off the ground, Goldlewis got a sense of what was coming and jumped, only to be clipped by the mech’s body mid-descent. It struck him and bounced him off the ground as it slammed into the ground, his arms flailing until he came down on his back. Thanks to Rakukaja, though, Goldlewis could take it. Zenkich probably knew to jump over the shockwave (and not toward the mech), so he was more worried about Sakura, both in terms of getting blasted off and then violently jarred loose.
Staring at the thruster jets, Sakura grimaced and scrambled up closer to its shoulders, leaving the blindspot. She tried kneeing at the thrusters to keep up her damage, but it was pretty awkward so it was just relying on her brute strength. Sakura had yelped when she felt the mech taking off, and hung on for dear life as it soared upward. Having found its blindspot she was expecting it to try and back up into a wall to squish her, not something so dramatic as this! Her stomach dropped, and it began to descend. In a panic, she figured letting go and trying to land on her own two feet was better than crashing into the ground. For a moment she was in freefall, feet pointed straight down, arms out to the side. The moment before impact was punctuated by a sharp cry from the brunette before the shockwave blasted her. A breathless Sakura was sent flying before going into an uncontrolled tumble. With a final skid along the floor she ended up winded on her back. ”Itai…” She complained quietly, pushing herself back to standing.
Zenkichi, unfortunately having been mid-charge as the rocket fist was launched, managed to block the attack, though the sheer force of the giant mech-fist did some solid chip damage. It also pushed him back a few feet as he grit his teeth and dug in. ”Oh, I know all about you, man! I know about your plans, I know about your twisted hero fantasy, and I know what you’re doing to people because you think it’ll let you control them and wipe out evil! It’s not gonna work! People have to be free to make their mistakes, to choose to do the right thing!” While he knew he wouldn’t be able to talk down the big bad guy like in some Shounen anime, Zenkichi was still righteous enough that he had to try.
Unfortunately, he also had to jump to avoid the giant blastwave, and grunting midway through his heroic speech definitely took some of the oomph off of it. With Sakura getting pretty seriously wounded by the Zephyrus’ slam, Zenkichi took a quick breath and turned to the Street Fighter. ”It’s coming back, Sakura! Heat Riser!” Once more using his greatest buff skill, Zenkichi let out a little sigh. He’d definitely need a breather after this fight, even if just for a couple minutes. He was putting down a lot of buffs, and there was still a Guardian to face after all this. Rushing back in and wasting no time, he put the pressure on the Zephyrus to keep it off the others.
”Arigato!” Sakura exclaimed, hopping up and down and grinning.
“People are fickle,” Konoe declared. “Given the chance, they’ll choose wrong every time. Those that cannot help themselves need someone to help them!” As Zenkichi attacked him, he struck back, launching lasers to make the detective ease off. “The Ever Crisis is proof positive. Even with such evil right on our doorsteps, people would rather hurt one another! It has brought Midgar to our knees; only united can we stand!”
With Zenkichi’s help, the Seekers rallied, ready to go another round. Goldlewis couldn’t lie to himself, though; this titanic machine was a pain in the ass. It was beefy enough to shrug off his attacks with impunity, and for someone like Goldlewis, that was a problem. His whole gameplan came down to overwhelming his opponent’s defense with crushing, guard-breaking blows and then making every hit count with punishing combos. Against this foe, he couldn’t get started. Still, he wasn’t helpless. Keeping his distance, he sent out a Thunderbird to fly at the Zephyrus and explode against the glass of Konoe’s cockpit. Instead, the self-proclaimed hero swatted it out of the sky with the back of his mech’s hand. Goldlewis groaned. Maybe Zenkichi had been right about those damage types. “Where’s Giovanna when you need her,” he muttered, missing his coworker’s green lightning. Not even the spirits he had would be of any use, as far as he knew. With no other options, he charged in to help Zenkichi in melee range.
Meanwhile, Konoe kept talking as he shot and stomped. “Maybe you don’t believe me. Maybe you too have lost hope! But the night is darkest before the dawn. Justice CAN prevail! It WILL prevail! The people just need someone to remind them that they can do better. Be better!” He paused, spreading his arms wide as the missiles in his mech’s great wings flashed red, arming themselves. “And here I am!”
”Okay, sounds good!” Sakura answered with a verbal shrug. She didn’t really have anything against this guy, he was just in charge and trying to stop them from destroying the Guardian. And with Galeem here it was impossible to talk him down. The only conversation here would be a conversation of strength and skill. With Zenkichi’s Heat Riser on her side Sakura would be remiss if she didn’t push the offensive. Feet nearly blurring as she sprinted forward, she looked to slide underneath the wing and launch a mighty upwards kick into where it joined the main body. She floated in the air and delivered a few slicing spin kicks before blasting herself a short hop away with a mid-air ”Hadoken!” And as soon as she landed she would dash back in and do it all over again. As long as Heat Riser lasted she would attack.
”Man this guy’s head is still so far up his ass…” Zenkichi muttered as the three melee Seekers wailed on the Zephyrus, not holding anything back. ”But we just gotta keep on him. This thing ain’t invincible!” He cheered, trying to keep morale up.
Susie knew her business suit was smaller than this thing, but she might have to use it given what was going on here. She moved into midrage to summon her stryker, Deckard, who did what he did best, throwing out healing potions for people to drink for some healing and trying to throw a triangle of sealing under the enemy to root them, but mostly the first thing. Seeing as the mech hadn’t moved much this fight, Susie doubted if that rooting ability would even help, but at least there were potions about for healing.
When Konoe’s missiles armed themselves, Zenkichi might have realized what would happen were his attention not on hacking away with his greatsword. Sakura also focused on offense, her eyes on potential targets rather than enemy weapon systems. Only Goldlewis caught on in the nick of time. The big man naturally commanded a lot of space when he fought, and the situational awareness honed over the course of many deadly battles could never be turned off. “Incomin’!” he hollered, hopping back to raise his Wall of Light. “Get behind me!”
Susie herself had moved back a bit before pulling out her cow mangler to shoot at the mech with her own energy rockets. That was when Konoe unleashed an immense barrage of bright red heat-seeking missiles, flying en masse from the wings of the Zephyrus in spectacular fashion. “Justice will find you!” When her cow mangler clip was empty, Susie hopped into her business suit, eating several rockets while doing so, using the suit to block the next two. She then unleashed her own rockets from her suit, and soon it was a stalemate of rockets colliding with rockets and causing a fireworks show in the sky. Her two sets of shields really dampened the rocket damage she took, otherwise that would’ve really hurt.
Though she defended herself as best she could, only two places were safe from the inundation of missiles: directly behind the Zephyrus, and directly behind Goldlewis’s energy shield. Even then, the massive damage output quickly put his Wall of Light out of commission, just before the barrage came to a close. He returned fire with the Skyfish, bullets pinging off Konoe’s cockpit. Konoe fired up his mech’s main laser, then scooted backward, forcing the Seekers to scatter. They were definitely doing damage, but it was slow. None of them had the type advantage they needed. Meanwhile, Konoe had everything going for him. Goldlewis knew he needed a breakthrough.
Zenkichi was quick to react once Goldlewis made the call, though his missing the initial trigger meant that a couple missiles tagged his rear as he dove for cover behind the Wall of Light that Goldlewis had so kindly put up. ”Thanks for that one…” He groaned in appreciation.
“All these damn weapons,” Goldlewis grunted as he broke off from the others to try circling around. “I ain’t winnin’ this arms race…” Wait…arms! Just like that, he had a brain wave. He gunned it, going for a conspicuous flanking maneuver. Konoe saw him and lifted his walker’s fist, firing it off on blazing rockets. As it zoomed toward Goldlewis, he came to a stop and got ready. If this was going to work, timing was everything. When the fist got close enough, he lashed out with a Behemoth Typhoon, clipping the metal knuckles. That impact didn’t stop the rocket punch, but it did allow Goldlewis to perform a red Roman Cancel, briefly slowing time for the fist while he phased around to its side. His burly arms clamped down around the flying arm, followed shortly by arms from inside the coffin. Taking notice, Konoe amped up the thrust, trying to recall the arm before his foe could damage it. As the fist dragged the veteran along, swerving to one side and then the other, Goldlewis dug in his feet, and the UMA reached out more arms to help prop its partner up. Together they maneuvered the fist around, straining against its power, and when they had it pointed at the Zephyrus they finally released it. The fist shot off at a tremendous speed, and though Goldlewis promptly fell on his ass, he scarcely felt it thanks to the satisfaction of seeing Konoe’s own fist strike his mech square in the center.
“GAH!” Konoe yelled, his voice almost drowned out by the noise of the terrific collision. It did a lot of damage, leaving his main laser emitter cracked. “Villains!” he cried, getting his machine under control. “You’ll pay for that!”
”Oh, damn, good call!” Zenkichi cheered as Goldlewis turned one of the Zephyrus’ own fists against it, Zenkichi tried to get a look around at the arena they found themselves in. Eyes narrowing at a battery lantern hiding in the corner of the place, Zenkichi made a break for it, pausing once he reached the lantern. ”Now…just gotta…here we go!” Muttering to himself as he looked the thing over, Zenkichi took a big swing with his greatsword, carving through the lantern as if it were made of paper mache, and hefted the top part, still sparking as the high-capacity battery inside poured its energy out. ”Get down!” He warned the others, and in a moment right out of a damn anime, tossed his projectile up, summoning his greatsword again and slamming the flat of the blade into it, launching the lantern-and its discharging battery- directly at the Zephyrus for a concentrated blast of super-effective damage.
He wasn’t alone. At that point Sakura had gotten the idea. Not that anyone did, but much like Konoe Sakura didn’t play well with electricity but once she saw Zenkichi go to town the environment, she let go of her reservations. As long as it didn’t blow up in her hands she’d be fine! ”Chance!” She ripped a battery lantern from its post and flung it towards Konoe.
Well, seeing what Zenkichi was doing, Susie decided to do the same. But she had an easier time than the guy pulling out the lanterns, and their batteries, from the grund with her mech suit and tossing them like missile javelins at Konoe, able to throw two since she could easily one hand them with her suit. It would be nice if she could just imbue her rockets with electricity, but thats not how her tech worked so this was the best compromise.
Now that they were using the environment -not to mention the Zephyrus itself- against their opponent, the Seekers were getting somewhere. Their barrage of brute force and lightning turned the tables, overwhelming both mech and pilot, and before long its systems couldn’t take anymore. All of a sudden Konoe’s controls stopped responding, and the Zephyrus sank to the ground, jerking around feebly as sparks flew. “Scoundrels!” Konoe seethed, fighting the controls as he tried to coax his mech back up. In this state it was a sitting duck, ripe for an all-out attack.
Sakura had been saving up her meter for this. ”Shinkuuu…” She charged up a mega blast of ki energy that began to swirl in her palms. Her hands shook as she struggled to contain the energy before they evened out, the vortex becoming a calm sphere. ”Hadoken!” With that, a fireball three times the size as normal shot out from her extended hands and surged towards the base of his mech.
Zenkichi leapt in, Fury activated and greatsword swinging as fast as it ever had in his hands, tearing chunks out of the weakened metal of the mech. Each blow did further damage as shockwaves of Almighty energy exploded from the tip of Zenkichi’s blade, carving through the Zephyrus.
With the Zephyrus offline for a bit, Susie could fire her missiles at the thing without them getting deflected or shot out of the air, hitting it with her own missiles. They were pretty bulky things too, so that was her contribution to this attack, but unlike the other members of her group, she didn’t have a ‘super’ move like the others.
The Zephyrus reeled, its limbs and joints moving in ways they’d never been designed to. Its weapons had been broken, and its armor shattered. Only the loudspeaker seemed to be working, and it broadcasted Konoe’s bewilderment with satisfying clarity. “But the hero can’t lose!” With a final mechanical groan, his once-splendid mech fell to its knees, only kept from crashing cockpit-first into the ground by a planted fist. It wouldn’t move an inch no matter how much Konoe struggled, seemingly still in denial. “He must be victorious! Work, damn it-!”
From the cracks in his armor, bright light began to shine. He stared at it for a split second as the glow built up, and the next moment, the Zephyrus exploded in a massive fireball consuming the entire center of the arena.
Goldlewis held up his forearm, shielding his face from the heat -and flying pieces of scrap- as the flame gave way to smoke. “Damn. He put on a mighty brave face, but I guess that thing looked a whole lot stronger than it was.”
”Don’t count him out just yet…” Zenkichi muttered, not letting his guard down. ”He’ll still have gas in the tank for round 2, just watch.”
Susie stayed out of this conversation, she really didn’t care. Good and evil weren’t really things, just opinions.
Just then, a voice issued from the burning wreckage. “A hero must stand his ground.” Through the flames strode Konoe, his gilded armor soot-stained but unbroken. “He must not let evil overcome him!”
Goldlewis clenched his fist, getting ready for another round. “You ain’t the hero of this story, hoss. If good beats evil, let’s see who beats who.”
“Hmph!” Konoe took a shining beam saber in both hands, leveling its tip toward his foes. Around him, the ground churned with inky-black tar, producing a trio of shadows, that grouped up around Konoe and posed like action heroes. “You see? Justice is on MY side. Let’s end this.”
”Justice always wins!” Sakura shouted, trying to join in. ”...Just kidding, heh.” She rubbed her nose and got into a fighting stance, ready for phase two. ”Now we gotta deal with these jerks again.” Sakura said. ”Four on four, and we already know they aren’t as good as we are. Let’s do it!”
Sakura rushed forward, looking to take on one of these shady guys for what she figured would be an easy win. She would open up with a sudden kick to the knee before following up with a ”Shenpu!” A spin kick that would leave her right in her opponents face, ready to throw some vicious elbows. Her pre-emptive strikes racked up a respectable amount of damage before the G-man could transform, but once his hat flew off his body melted in a burst of tar to reveal his true form, a demonic Sui-ki with eight horns and a double-sided bludgeon, capable of ice spells and physical attacks–though not as good as Sakura’s.
Zenkichi, on the other hand, drew his revolvers and stood back, calling on Valjean while the enemy was still grouped up. ”Now, Valjean, hit em with Megidola!” Valjean was quite adept at avoiding allies from experience, so the blasts stopped short of Sakura, but still managed to hit the other Shadows, and more importantly, Konoe himself if he didn’t move quickly. The monarch was already in motion, having launched toward Goldlewis to lock the big man down with rapid laser slashes, but Valjean’s magical warhead caught the other three shadows in its blast. They quickly transformed, dissolving into a Fortuna, Ganesha, and Eligor, and while all looked shaken, the war-hungry horseman seemed very hurt.
Against Konoe, Goldlewis was on the backfoot from moment one. That monarch might have looked like an ordinary businessman before, but with that armor on and sword in hand, he moved and fought like a superhero straight out of the comic books. His sword slashes came hard and fast, and they demanded just about everything Goldlewis had just to block his onslaught, let alone strike back. The strikes Konoe landed never led to a combo, but they hit the veteran where it hurt, and he could sense that if his opponent seized the momentum things might go south in a hurry. “Go to hell!” Spending half of his burst, Goldlewis pushed forward with a Wild Assault, armoring through a flurry of laser strokes to beat Konoe back and knock him down.
”Deal with the shadows!” Zenkichi called to Sakura and Susie, unleashing a hail of gunfire on Konoe from the side to push him off Goldlewis for a moment, before rushing in with Closing Statement at the ready. ”He may be tough, but he’s far from invincible! We’ve got this, man!” He cheered, swinging for a combo on Konoe.
”Un!” Sakura yelled out an affirmative as she crossed her arms in front of her, the oni’s club slamming into her forearms. Shoving it to the side she slammed her fist into the demons armored chest, causing him to slide backwards as he grounded himself. Raising his club he brought it down and sent a wave of ice Sakura’s way. She jumped over it. Frost was one of her elemental weaknesses, freezing her stun meter and making concussed far more easier. Today just wasn’t her lucky day. Still, a shapeshifting G-man could never take her out! She landed and met an iceball with her fireball, the two clashing mid-air in an explosion of chunks and steam. Sakura charged up the next one and it blasted clean through Sui-ki’s next iceball. As he sidestepped it, Sakura rushed forward. Sui-ki reacted with a warding swing towards her chin but she saw it coming and stopped on a dime, smacking the club to the ground. Sui-ki still held on but was open to Sakura’s advancing spin kick towards his face. It spun him around and Sakura grabbed his shoulders, hurled herself feet first into the air around him, and then used the gathered momentum to roll forward and toss him a considerable distance.
Susie meanwhile approached a little bit, but mostly stayed at range firing off her missiles at the elephant looking Ganesha. He was a wide target, so she figured he’d be easy to hit. Her missiles were also quite cartoonishy large as well, so it was a sound idea. Said elephant shadow wasn’t the most agile as Susie thought, eating quite a few missiles as it approached Susie. On top of the damage he took while forming, it was a testament to how tanky he was that he took a large amount of firepower before he got into melee range of Susie.
Activating his charge ability, Ganesha rushed at Susie upon getting into range before striking her business suit, the smoke from her missiles clouding his accuracy. While inside the smoke cloud however, he unleashed his ability to discharge a ton of radiation in order to hit Susie regardless of her blocking or not. It was a good thing she was a robot, otherwise this could’ve had some super nasty lasting implications. Still, Ganesha wasn’t looking so well after taking all that damage, but now he was in melee range where he could do things.
As Sakura and Susie dealt with the G-Men, Zenkichi kept Konoe occupied, tanking laser blade hits while pressuring his archnemesis. ”Goldlewis, think you can back them up so those G-Men don’t start hitting us from the side? I can keep this guy busy a minute.” He asked the Secretary of Defense, before buffing himself with Rakukaja. Between his own sustain from Vampiric Strikes and the defense boost, he could last at least until the Shadows were taken care of.
“Fine by me!” With Susie and Sakura taking on one shadow each, that left the other two to back Konoe up, but the boss man himself demanded both Seekers’ attention. If Zenkichi could hold down the fort, then Goldlewis would get the others off his back. After throwing a Thunderbird at Konoe to help keep him engaged, the veteran charged toward Fortuna and Eligor, and once they registered the challenger both turned to face him. “Come get some!” He couldn’t fight just one, so he’d need to occupy them both, even if that cost him.
As Fortuna whipped up wind magic to cast Garudyne from what she thought was a safe distance, Goldlewis lifted and hurled his coffin right at her. “Go long!” The massive object counterhit her with remarkable force, dropping her to the ground in a half-conscious heap. Goldlewis immediately turned his focus to Eligor as the horseman unleashed Maragion as a wave of roaring fire. He jumped up and airdashed over the inferno, coming down with a double knee against the head of the knight’s steed. To someone smaller the horse might have been an intimidating wall to get past, but Goldlewis only saw a target. He fired off a couple heavy slugs, pounding the horse’s head like a punching bag. Eligor aimed his spear and took a stab at the veteran’s head, but Goldlewis deflected his thrust with the horseshoe on his glove, then lifted his leg. Any southerner worth his salt knew a thing or two about horses, and when it came to horses Goldlewis knew just how catastrophic an injured leg could be. He hit the horse’s knee with a door-buster kick that left it reeling. Eligor could have steadied himself as his mount began to fall, but he went for another stab instead, sinking his spear’s blade just beneath the veteran’s collarbone before the weapon snapped. Goldlewis clenched his jaw, grabbed the horse, and wrestled it to the ground. The demon knight found his leg trapped -maybe even broken- beneath his steed, and after pulling the upper third of the spear from his shoulder, Goldlewis plunged it down to finish the knight off.
At that point, Fortuna had not only recovered, but slipped away from the UMA’s attempts to grab her. She cast Matarunda, hampering her enemy’s attack, then Concentrate to amp up her own magical power. All that setup allowed Goldlewis to close in, but the question was whether or not he could deal with what came next. Fortuna cast Vacuum Wave, unleashing a huge tornado out of nowhere. Much too big to avoid, Goldlewis stopped and blocked as best he could, the wind carving into him. After a moment it broke his guard, blew him off his feet, and whipped him around and around as he yelled bloody murder. “Aaaaaaaaah! Why the-! Hell’d I-! Use my-! Goddamn! Burst!” Then, just as quickly as it began, the windstorm stopped. As the pain and disorientation receded, Goldlewis found himself in freefall above the arena. Fortuna was beneath him, using Concentrate again. He knew another cyclone like the first one might be the end of him, but he had an idea. As he fell, he used his airdash to move directly above her, then fell upon the shadow with the mother of all body splashes.
Ganesha and Susie were in a bit of a brawl themselves, giant mech vs giant elephant. Both were fairly slow in how fast they could move, so it was more a matter of who could overpower whom. A battle that was going mostly in Susie’s favor whenever Ganesha didn’t have his Charge available or his radiation burst ready. He was a tanky guy though, so while Susie could lay into him outside of these moments, he was built to take the punishment and distract the mech lady from coming at his boss.
Eventually Susie got tired of this glorified slapfest, and grabbed another lamp post from the ground to use as a weapon. This electrified melee weapon started to put some real damage into Ganesha, who’s regeneration couldn’t keep up with the attacks from what was his weakness. In an attempt to save himself upon his Endure ability activating, he discharged a large area of radiation damage to get Susie off of him and possibly recover. While this did do a fair amount of damage to Susie, wiping out her shield and hitting her directly, knocking her away didn’t really save him when she threw the light post at him, zapping him and finishing him off.
Sakura did her part, avoiding several frost blasts of the frost oni, before jumping on its back and bringing her elbows down on its skull over and over again. The two fell to the floor and Sakura pushed her enemy back with a series of kicks and ducking under swings. There was a big blast of blue energy from Sakura’s hands.
While Susie, Sakura and Goldlewis were taking down the Shadows, Zenkichi and Konoe clashed. ”I know you can’t stop, but I just wanted to say that I would’ve tried to save you. If I knew. I’ve thought a lot about what you said last time we fought. I still think your way is wrong, that people have to have the right to choose. That your beliefs are the result of the things you’ve endured, the pain you’ve suffered. But even knowing all that, all the hurt you’ve caused…I would’ve tried to save you, if I were there.”
Zenkichi broke the clash, stepping back as Konoe stared at him. “I don’t know how you know so much about me, or what you think you know about my past, but you are right that I can’t stop. I won’t stop until all this world is rid of the evil that plagues it!” His declaration came with a new attack in his arsenal beyond just using his beam sword: Konoe held out his hand dramatically, and Zenkichi cursed as he dodged out of the way of the laser that burst forth from his palm, sweeping in an arc past him. Luckily, he couldn’t sweep the whole battlefield and take the others by surprise, but the range on that one caught him off guard.
Zenkichi rushed back in to meet Konoe mano e mano, Closing Statement slashing out in a short combo that Zenkichi finished with a push kick to make some room. Pivoting around Konoe to get closer to a piece of the Zephyrus’s wreckage, he baited out a Cross Slash from Konoe, jumping over the blade and onto the chunk of steel, then in a feat of acrobatics, performed an aerial front flip, landing on Konoe with an overhead slash boosted by gravity. He managed to catch the former Monarch by surprise, slamming him into the ground brutally, only for Konoe to recover with a leg sweep, knocking Zenkichi to his own butt before leaping backwards.
“This is the power to annihilate the wicked!” He shouted as energy began to build up around him, extending outwards and sucking in Zenkichi and anybody else within a wide area around him.
Goldlewis, recovered from his fight with the shadows and headed over to help, found himself sliding across the floor despite his remarkable weight. “What in the-”
In the same boat, Sakura was equally baffled, her feet giving out from under her as she scrabbled for purchase on the smooth floor. ”H-huh?!”
”Oh crap, oh CRAP! Guys, don’t let him suck you in!” Zenkichi shouted as he tried to dig his sword into the ground and prevent himself from being pulled in. He could feel his blade being dragged along as well, however, and after about five seconds of the suction field being up, Konoe triumphantly shouted and cast his ultimate attack.
“MEGIDOLAON!!!” Came the battle cry as a line of energy seemed to descend from the very heavens, detonating in a huge explosion that left Konoe himself completely unharmed, but dealt massive Almighty damage to everybody caught in the explosion, Zenkichi included.
Though repeated backdashes helped slow Goldlewis down, he couldn’t ultimately stop himself getting dragged into Konoe’s vortex. Unable to find a foothold or stop himself with an embedded blade, and unwilling to attempt an interrupt, he could do little but get ready to spend some tension on Faultless Defense as he braced himself for whatever the monarch had in store. A moment later the Megidolaon dropped from the sky like his own Burn it Down, only to erupt into a gigantic outburst of ungodly power. Normally Faultless Defense could eliminate the chip damage from even the strongest overdrives, and here it certainly helped, but even so Goldlewis couldn’t take that standing. He bellowed like a wounded beast as the blast threw him to the ground, down but not out.
Yelling, Sakura emerged from the blast and tumbled along the ground. She came to a stop. Chest heaving, she rolled over onto her belly and pushed herself onto her hands and knees, but if she was being honest that took a lot out of her. She was tough but not as tanky as Goldlewis and with no Faultless Defence to cushion the blow. Sakura dropped to her elbow and then flat against the floor, resigning herself to just riding the aftermath of that big hit out on the ground. ”...itai.”
Standing up with a groan, Zenkichi sighed. ”That’s my move, man. Not cool.” He grumbled, hefting his sword and approaching Konoe. ”But fine, two can play at this game. Valjean. Heat Riser. On me.” As the omnibuff gave Zenkicki a hefty boost to his attack, defense and speed, he ran in with a yell, knocking aside Konoe’s beam sword slash with a swipe of his own, keeping his momentum going and shoulder-checking his old boss. Konoe managed to keep his feet under him, but Zenkichi activated Fury and bashed him in the face with the butt of his sword, following it up with a sweep. Every second drained his already-battered vitality, but as long as he kept up the offense, he could buy himself time for the others to take shots at Konoe. Goldlewis joined in, first with a barrage of bullets from his Skyfish to lock Konoe down, then charging it to help corral the monarch with Behemoth Typhoons. Each battering blow that he landed dealt appreciable damage to Konoe’s armor, softening him up for Zenkichi.
“Ngh…I won’t accept defeat….the hero has to win. Justice has to win!” Konoe bellowed, guarding and gritting his teeth as Zenkichi and Goldlewis beat into him, unable to put forth a counter-attack for fear of taking a heavier hit.
”Yeah. That’s why we’re kicking your ass, if you hadn’t noticed.” Zenkichi replied coolly, sliding his leg behind Konoe’s and pushing the other man, knocking him to the ground. As he struggled to get up, Zenkichi’s foot slammed into his chest, and his sword buried itself in the ground next to the man. ”Akira Konoe, you are under arrest for crimes against Midgar, against Japan, against this world and all others.” Taking a deep breath, he looked over at the others. ”Trust me?” Nodding to himself, he reached deep within, pulled out a Friend Heart, and shoved it into Konoe. He had to trust that his conscience would reign supreme. If not…well, he’d probably just gotten them all killed.
As memories of disparate lives flooded into Akira Konoe, his eyes opened in shock and confusion. He lay on the ground, breathing heavily and staring up into Zenkichi’s face. “You….I….what have I done…?” He panted, looking around. He saw Goldlewis watching in mild astonishment. “What…what happened?”
”What happened is that everything you did in Japan, you did again. You made innocent people into your pawns, stole their free will and used them to consolidate your own power, all while playing into the hands of an even more diabolical manipulator. I’d be amazed if I didn’t do the exact same things as last time when Galeem brought me here. Give it a couple of minutes while you start remembering, but we have to get moving soon. We have a way of freeing Midgar from that monster, but we need you to get us in the door.” Konoe practically jumped at the chance to make up for his crimes, and as Zenkichi removed his foot from the man’s chance, he raised himself to his knees and bowed.
“Of course! I…you…you’re the man that arrested me last time, aren’t you…? I am so sorry, for what I did to everybody, your daughter included.” Konoe’s voice wavered, but he took a deep breath and raised his head, nodding. “If I can help, I’ll do whatever you need me to. Anything to repent for my crimes…”
Zenkichi sighed. ”Now’s your chance to be the hero. For real.”
After the detective seemingly resolved the situation, Goldlewis couldn’t help but shake his head, impressed. “Well, ain’t that a kick in the pants,” he muttered. “I guess this is just round two for you, after all, but you got some serious guts to stick with it.” He wasn’t sure if he believed Konoe’s words. Could someone just see the light and repent, just like that? It seemed too easy. But the man seemed powerless, and if he could be an asset, Goldlewis didn’t plan to refuse. “Nice goin’.”
Sakura groaned and pushed herself up to her feet, laughing through her heavy breathing. ”You did it, Zenkichi-san!” She ran up and hugged him from the side. In Sakura’s experience, it really was that easy about half the time. She skipped up to Akira and nudged him in the shoulder.
”You’re really freakin’ strong! Or, I guess, smart? I know I couldn’t pilot that thing. Welcome to team good guy!” She congratulated the armored man.
Seeing the fight over, Susie got out of her business suit and dusted herself off. ”Well either way, we have more work to do. Shall we continue?” Finding one of those healing stations would be nice, sos he could save her striker for another fight that was inevitably to come.
Zenkichi gave Sakura a little pat on the head, looking over at Goldlewis. ”I was banking on Galeem pulling us from the same time, where Konoe had…well, let me put it this way: he gave up a multi-billion dollar business on national television, confessed to all his crimes, and was about to leave his headquarters to turn himself in when we rolled up to arrest him. And after that, we found out that even he was being manipulated by something more powerful. I still can’t forgive him, but…I had to give him a chance. Besides, he’s our literal key in there. Our chance to save everybody. Maybe not from everything, but at least from being brainwashed.”
With the gauntlet of obstacles behind them, Geralt walked forward with Sandalphon to greet the defenders who were coming to block their progress further. The Witcher wasted no time in drawing his steel blade and casting Quen, eyes narrowed at the enemies before him. The one with the machine like Hal’s drone near her was either a coordinator or a serious threat herself, and he didn’t like not knowing which it was. The woman with the gauntlet he should be able to outreach and avoid more easily than the one with the mace, though he could likely fight her like he did Imlerith. Finally, the one with the twin pistols would be a hassle.
He started with an aggressive dash, to bait out an attack from Ishmael which he could parry and use to get into her guard. His target moved toward him to help close the distance, but despite her opponent’s impressive stature, her expression didn’t waver, and her composure did not break. She put up her guard when he got into range, then when he didn’t attack, took the initiative herself with a shield bash. If hit it would inflict Blunt Fragility, increasing his susceptibility to impact attacks, even if it didn’t shatter his Quen shield. Even if it meant taking damage, she needed to keep Geralt’s attention, so she continued her assault with big swings from her mace.
Behind her, Nao immediately moved to assist. PDA in hand, she sent her VIGIL drone out to fly toward Geralt’s position. A hit would just deal some damage and knockback, but she gave it the halt command beforehand. It stopped and projected a triangle-shaped field of unstable energy instead, which would remain for the next three and a half seconds, growing in size and power as it did. Right after, she sent a round proximity drone to hang out nearby, ready for Ishmael to touch if she needed it.
While those two set up a gameplan to stall Geralt, Leanne and Parvati went on the offensive. They split to either side of Ishmael, circling around the Witcher to attack Sandalphon. “Yoo-hoo!” Leanne called as she leveled her pistols. At this range Sandalphon had the accuracy advantage, so when the bioroid started blasting the archangel returned fire. Shooting from the hip in a sideways firing stance, she got off two ether bolts while taking a handful of low-caliber rounds in return. Her first missed, but the second hit Leanne’s shoulder, making her wince. By that time, though, Parvati sprinted into Sandalphon’s peripheral vision, too close for comfort. Knowing she couldn’t take aim in time, the archangel flipped her gunstaff in her hands, then turned toward the assassin with a swing at Parvati’s head.
Her opponent went low. “Hup!” Like lightning her gauntlet, Office Supply, struck the side of Sandalphon’s knee in a ruthless hook punch, and the archangel buckled. She went down on one knee, her gunstaff planted for support, but she wasn’t done yet. Sandalphon took her weapon in both hands and jabbed its barrel toward her attacker, then swung it horizontally. Parvati coolly sidestepped the first blow, then dipped back from the second. “Ha-at!” Planting her foot, she jumped forward and delivered a cross to Sandalphon’s jaw that jolted her head sideways. She saw stars, her pupils turned to X’s, and when her vision cleared she could see Leanne a dozen feet away with both pistols aimed at her chest. Leanne winked, then fired, and the bullets knocked the kneeling archangel flat on her back.
Geralt backstepped the shield bash, taking his sword in two hands and swinging at the side of Ishmael’s shield to batter it aside. When the VIGIL drone approached, Geralt watched it warily, keeping away from the machine’s energy field, losing the chance to capitalize against Ishmael and cursing as he parried a swing of the woman’s mace. Around that time, he saw Sandalphon being knocked on her ass and sighed, quickly barking out orders for his Strikers. “Judicator!” He shouted as the massive eldritch horror appeared between Sandalphon and Leanne, screaming to induce stress in both of the angel’s attackers. “Zero, gut the brawler!” he called to the assassin Striker, which dashed at Parvati with katanas at the ready.
He pulled away from Ishmael as he did, egging her to chase, as he quickly shifted from sword to crossbow, taking a shot at Leanne before turning back to the shield knight and drawing Igni, focusing it into a stream of fire to force her behind her shield, and superheat the metal.
The shrieking abomination took both ladies by surprise, preventing any finishers on Sandalphon as they flinched away from the wretched abyssal terror. With her focus wholly occupied, the last thing Leanne expected was a crossbow bolt, and Geralt was practiced enough with his weapon that he placed his shot even in haste. “Oww!” the bioroid whined as the bolt sliced a gash through the top of her thigh, making her stumble for a moment longer. Meanwhile, Parvati whirled to face her new attacker, eyes narrowed. She dashed away from Zero, then reached out as if grabbing something and yanked it to use Customer Service. Doing so precipitated some sort of silvery glint in front of her, but even if the striker could recognize what had happened, its action had already been decided. The next second Zero bulled straight into a web of slicing wires, and not only did Office Supply boost their damage, it also made them cut into the ninja’s attack by 20%. His efforts went into cutting through the wires instead, and by the time he vanished he’d transferred some slices back to Geralt as well.
Right now though, the Witcher had other problems. When he shifted his focus, assailing two of her allies at once with different summons, his seemingly unremarkable opponent took action. “Pay attention.” Her body shimmered, changing slightly, as if some subtle shift in past events overlaid the World of Light with a slightly different reality. Suddenly Ishmael was decked out in riot gear, her round shield replaced by a tower shield of polycarbonate plastic, and her mace replaced by a pistol. With her target protected by Quen, precise aim wasn’t necessary. She pounded his shield with Quake Rounds, then raised hers to absorb his Igni while backing away. Seeing this, Nao sent out a new sentry drone, and when Ishmael backed into the triangle, it launched her forward at a breakneck pace. She burst from the flames back in her default form, then went low with a high-impact slide kick.
At the same time, Nao threw a proximity mine to Leanne to heal her, and Sandalphon was on her feet as well, and ready to even the playing field. With a slam of her gunstaff she cast Angelic Praise to send out divine ripples, healing her team for 51% followed by another 13% every 3 seconds for the next 15 seconds. Being in Concentration protocol, she also gained Rapid Analysis. This skill certainly did the trick, but the fact that she’d been forced to use it early might be a problem.
The impact of bullets against his Quen shield was the first sign that something was wrong, given that Leanne was not looking at him and also just recovering from being shot. The second sign was the fact that Ishmael looked completely different. Her completely tanking Igni while backing off wasn’t the worst outcome, however, the hits she’d snuck past earlier, the damage carried over from Zero being hurt, and finally the shots she’d taken with her pistol had managed to crack Quen, leaving Geralt less protected now.
Until Ishmael was suddenly flying at him, boosted by an explosion and sliding along the ground to topple him. Geralt wasn’t quite able to dodge out of the way in time, so he instead crouched while stowing his crossbow, ready to catch Ishmael’s slide with his own claws and grapple her. He wasn’t able to defend Sandalphon from the others just yet, though, and he kicked out at Ishmael to break off from her and get back to his angelic teammate. Scrambling up and drawing his steel sword, he slashed out several times at Parvati while trying to keep her at sword’s length.
The slide hit with more force than Geralt anticipated, partially crushing his claws and inflicting three stacks of Tremor. While that injury would be soothed by Sandalphon’s power, it made him unable to get a good grip on his target. Even if he couldn’t grapple Ishmael, though, he could definitely deal her a kick as she tried to rise that knocked her back down and gave him a moment to his own devices. Parvati fled the moment he went after her, and off to the side, Nao moved to keep her ally in range. As Geralt chased Parvati down, Nao sent another sentry drone that separated her from Geralt with a triangle facing him.
Ishmael stood, a frown engraved on her face. “Ignore me at your own peril.” She shifted again, adopting a different identity. In a flash she changed into sailor attire, after reeling back, she hurled a snagharpoon over three feet long at Geralt’s back. In addition to piling up three more stacks of Tremor, it would cause Tremor Burst to turn all that Tremor into stagger, debilitating Geralt enough that Ishmael could start reeling him with her snagharpoon’s rope like a beast from the sea.
Able to focus on Leanne, Sandalphon was able to give a better account of herself. When the archangel received a Warning Shot she found herself marked, with both her attack and her evasive ability diminished, but she returned fire with a well-aimed ether bolt to Leanne’s leg. Though that first hit just slowed the bioroid, the second dropped her, and Sandalphon spotted a chance to finish her off. Just then, Parvati revealed why she’d been so willing to cede ground whenever attacked. “Quickly!” She used Speedy Precision, drawing a wire to slash Sandalphon despite the distance between them.
As the archangel bled from fresh cuts, she saw both Leanne recovering and Geralt harpooned, and had to make a decision. Rather than go for Leanne, she turned toward Ishmael and unloaded suppressive fire. While Ishmael staunchly refused to let her quarry go, she did take a few hits. “...Pain in the ass.”
Geralt stepped away from the triangular field projected by Nao’s drone, a low grumble in his throat at being constantly harassed and dodged. It was getting frustrating, but he took a deep breath, only for the snagharpoon to crash into him and grab hold while staggering him. Unable to properly keep his balance, he felt himself being dragged backwards towards Ishmael and sighed. Fine. If she wanted to die that badly, he’d oblige her.
He turned violently, grabbing the rope with one hand and slashing at it with his blade using the other to try and sever it with his enhanced strength. He then summoned the Judicator once more, this time ordering it to heal Sandalphon, and quickly fished around in his bags for a Grapeshot bomb, pitching it at Ishamel’s feet to harm and stumble her.
Finally, he gave Ishmael what she wanted, running right at her and planning to use his speed, strength and size to bowl her right over and pin her into a grapple.
The sudden slack of her rope being cut sent Ishmael off-balance, and the spray of grapeshot against her unarmored body and scrap-metal shield only made things worse with an agonizing blast of metal shrapnel. “Argh!” She gritted her teeth, squinting as Geralt charged. This was where the going got toughest, the dark before the dawn: when her opponent’s anger drove him to pull out all the stops. As he rushed toward her, she changed identity again, switching from her most fragile version to her most formidable. The moment before the Witcher bulled into her, she exchanged her sailor garb for a huge, heavy suit of teal slime, her long hair stained the same color, and she tried to use Corrosive Splash. Instead Geralt tackled her and the two went down. Having lost the clash, Ishmael dealt no damage, but that very loss delivered her assailant a five-stack of both Tremor and Rupture, and regardless of outcome, it heightened Geralt’s aggro. Ishmael struggled beneath Geralt, trying to protect her head with her new shape-shifting baton. Between the aggro and the slime he was here to stay; now she just needed to survive.
Though she didn’t express it any more than usual, Sandalphon wasn’t happy to receive healing from Geralt. It wasn’t just that support was her role; the lingering heal-over-time from Angelic Praise would have been enough to patch her up anyway, so now its aftermath was wasted. She couldn’t really blame him since he couldn’t possibly know how her miracles worked, but the waste still perturbed her. Still, she had bigger problems right now. The moment Geralt got distracted, Parvati used the sentry drone Nao laid down to launch herself instead, speeding back toward Sandalphon. Leanne was up too, also closing in to negate the archangel’s range advantage. They were right back to where they began.
Sandalphon had no intention of letting history repeat itself, though. Raising one fist across her chest, she turned to face Parvati. Seeing something new, the assassin slowed up just enough to be ready to dodge. Then Sandalphon abruptly pivoted, casting her hand -and a Frost Lock- to Leanne instead. That icy cluster took the bioroid by surprise, freezing her in place right as she took aim with her pistols, and as Parvati closed in the archangel vaulted high into the air. There she floated, well out of her foe’s melee range. Of course, Parvati extended her hand to cut from afar with Speedy Precision again, but she didn’t expect her opponent to start shooting on the wing. An ether bolt struck her in the right bicep, eliciting a cry of pain as Parvati’s PDA clattered to and smashed against the ground.
Ishmael’s continuous changes meant that she was an unpredictable opponent. Unpredictable opponents were dangerous. They both had the other exactly where they wanted them, but Geralt had a few more tricks up his sleeve as well. Grimacing through the tremors, he hooked Ishmael’s baton on the crossguard of his sword and made the Sign of Axii before Ishmael’s face, flooding her mind with psychic energy. Taking the distraction that the magic created, Geralt dropped his sword at his side and drew his hunting knife, stabbing it down at Ishmael’s throat to kill her.
“I’ve got your back!” Before the knifepoint descended, Nao’s proximity drone hit Ishmael and burst with a wave of repulsive force. It both healed her and knocked Geralt a few feet away, saving the tank’s life. She knew he wouldn’t stay back for long, though. “I never let a teammate down,” she stated, hurling VIGIL into the mix. The sentry drone shot out to set up behind Ishmael, the triangle pointed back toward Nao for the purpose of getting her teammate to safety. For the moment though, the redhead’s mind was still addled by Axii as she attempted to rise in her ponderous suit.
Behind them, Parvati took off running to avoid more shots from Sandalphon, one hand on her wounded arm. After another moment Leanne unfroze, shaking off the ice crystals with a shiver. “Talk about the cold shoulder, goodness me!” She took aim and shot up at the floating archangel, her smile murderous. “We’ll have to knock you down a peg or two.”
Still gliding but now peppered by bullets, Sandalphon began to circle around to throw off her attacker’s aim as she returned fire. Neither could really hurt the other like this, but the ineffective firefight gave Parvati the chance to put her weapon skill to good use. Thrusting out her gauntlet, she executed Risk Elimination, and around the airborne archangel closed a snare of razor wires. They bound her tight, pinning her arms and gunstaff against her body, and with a big tug Parvati yanked her out of the sky. Sandalphon landed in a heap, still bound and bleeding thanks to the wires, and Leanne saw her chance. “Sit tight now…” The bioroid submitted a Headquarter Support Request, and from the sky a handful of spotlights locked onto Sandalphon’s position. A moment later a deluge of red canisters began to rain down across a wide area with Sandalphon in the middle. “This will all be over soon~”
Shaking off the repulsive blast that separated him and Ishmael, Geralt was poised to leap in and press the advantage, but the sound of Sandalphon crashing to the ground took his attention elsewhere. Seeing the angelic support battered, bloodied and at risk of being killed by whatever was in those canisters made Geralt’s eyes narrow into catlike slits as his protective instincts flared to life.
He screamed, jaw distending well beyond what a normal human’s would be capable of, and from nowhere a torrent of lightning crashed into the ground, spreading out in waves and threatening the defenders of Arahabaki if they didn’t make an effort to avoid them. Ishmael took the hit, but had the durability to sustain it, while Nao evaded the electric tide. Parvati had the reaction speed and agility to jump, but Leanne got electrocuted. As Geralt’s jaw clicked back into place, he sprinted back Sandalphon’s way, thunderously loud steps heralding his approach as he leapt to the angel’s aid, roughly hefting her into his arms and running her out of the area of the red canisters. He used his knife to sever the razor wire, then quickly tried to unwrap his ally. “Sorry about that, saw an opportunity to put her down, but it didn’t quite pan out. I can call back the Judicator if you need more time to charge your magic.” He offered, standing to put himself between Sandalphon and the lady defenders.
“Thank you,” his teammate told him. The spot where she’d fallen had been carpet bombed, disappearing beneath a horrific maelstrom of vivid green flame, and everyone could feel its chemical heat. With Parvati’s wires cut through, they were slack enough for Sandalphon to brush off, and to her credit she managed to ignore the lacerations. Relief would be coming soon, after all. No use agonizing about it in the meantime. Seeing that Geralt was fine, she turned her attention outward as she rose -somewhat shakily- to her feet. The Seekers’ enemies were gathering around them, more or less surrounding the two. Parvati rolled the shoulder of her injured arm, a cold look on her face. Leanne couldn’t hide her pain or frustration as well as the archangel, so she reloaded her pistols with an indignant scowl. Nao stood close to Ishmael, who’d gotten the moment she needed to recover. “Let us begin anew.”
Before they could take initiative, Sandalphon unleashed Angelic Wings, surrounding her and Geralt with rotating screens of miraculous water. While they looked like shields, they weren’t, and after a brief moment the skill went off to restore both herself and Geralt completely. It also purged her bleeding and her teammate’s Tremor, then boosted their maximum health by 20%. Seeing this, Nao raised her voice. “Take them down!” The moment the ‘shield’ went down, the quartet attacked. Leanne started shooting, not caring who she hit. Sandalphon ignored her and took aim at Parvati, trying to prevent more Customer Service wire traps. Nao made up for Ishmael’s lack of speed by shooting her forward with a sentry drone, and the tank came in swinging at Geralt with her Tremor-inducing, slime-coated bludgeon. It changed shape as she attacked, growing longer and thicker mid-swing for greater momentum and impact, then shrinking to decrease endlag and startup. Each strike would build aggro, but with Nao in her corner, Ishmael knew the odds were on her side.
Geralt drew his lightning katana in response to Ishmael’s new, transforming weapon. With his steel sword still where he’d left it, he was forced to use the less-familiar weapon, but he would not be deterred by that. Witchers might have preferences, but each was familiar with a wide variety of weapons. He was ready for Ishmael, and as she approached and attacked, Geralt replied in kind, his blade flashing out with cold precision. He couldn’t properly parry the weapon, as its shape would change, but he could trade blows for a moment to give the wrong impression. He concentrated for a moment, summoning a bombing flight of Abyssals to attack both Ishmael and Nao, forcing the healer to either choose or split her concentration, while hopefully providing a distraction against the tanky warrior.
He wasn’t done, yet, though, as Geralt used this opportunity to shift his katana into one hand, grabbing his knife with the other and trying to use it to break into Ishmael’s guard. He could feel the damage he was taking, so he pressed the offensive.
New weapons in hand, Ishmael and Geralt clashed with renewed vigor in a sloppy mess of weighty blows and squelching ooze. The suit of remarkably viscous slime just about negated blunt attacks while resisting slashes, so with just one hand on her bludgeon while she raised the other in front of her head as a living shield, Ishmael was a tough nut to crack. The knife pushed through though, and that definitely hurt. And on each impact, the katana’s lightning coursed through the slime, making her wince. When Geralt deployed bombers, she couldn’t initiate enough of an offense to stop him, and suddenly her healer was in danger. “Nao, look out!”
The sight of the Abyssal squadron, like a fleet of demented toy planes, took Nao aback. She breathed in sharply as her heartbeat quickened. With her lips pursed she sent out VIGIL, knowing it wouldn’t achieve much. Her drone destroyed one incoming bogey, but the rest shied away to avoid the ensuing blast. Unable to think of any other option, Nao waited for the planes to descend on her with her heart pounding. “This is the power…” Then she used Lifeline, blinking right next to Ishmael. On arrival the ensuing burst of ghostly energy turned her Elusive and restored half of her teammate’s stagger, while most of the bombers exploded behind her. “Of Clarion!” In terms of positioning and expenditure this was a risky gambit, but Nao had no other choice. She was all in, and the proximity drone she laid down for a burst of healing was confirmation.
Ishmael couldn’t afford to waste this chance. “Enough.” She changed identity again, adopting a high-tech suit of armor and a heavy rod that blazed orange, like the almost crystalline horns that sprouted from her head. “Rrrrgh…” Ishmael clapped a hand to a face scrunched up in pain, then charged Geralt with Flaying Surge to bring her Mind Staff down. “Let’s end this.”
Meanwhile, Sandalphon dealt with the other two as best she could. After stopping Parvati, she turned her aim on Leanne. Even as bullets pierced her body, she held firm and aimed true. The next second, a headshot flipped Leanne onto her back. As the bioroid hit the deck, squirming as she held her eye, Sandalphon whipped back toward Parvati, but the assassin was already here. Her gauntlet slammed into the archangel’s stomach and doubled her over, followed by a jumping knee to Sandalphon’s face that broke her nose. As she reeled, Parvati swept her leg and took her down. In a flash wires closed around her arms, head, and neck, and the assassin seized them for a final, deadly pull.
Focused on the kill, she realized what Sandalphon’s extended hand meant a little too late. In an instant Frost Lock flash-froze her, and the archangel coolly planted the barrel of her gunstaff against her would-be killer’s chest. Then she pulled the trigger until the ether bolts punched through her foe’s body and out the other side. After a moment she ceased, firing no more than was absolutely necessary, then tried to extricate herself from the wires. Parvati did not move to stop her–there wasn’t anything left beneath the ice to move. Just a statue of frozen ash.
Another transformation meant Geralt was dealing with yet another fighting style. This time, Ishmael brought out armor with what looked to be a strange energy pack on it, powering her mace-like staff. Dropping his knife, he took the katana in both hands, returning to a fighting style more suited to his skillset. Ishmael’s staff came down like Imlerith’s mace, energy crackling along it as Geralt met it with the flat of his katana, pushing the weapon to the side and trading follow-up blows. Ishmael’s armor insulated her from the katana’s blade and most of its lightning, with Geralt coming out of the exchange worse off as Ishmael crashed the staff into his side, the blunt force transferring through the plate, which inflicted Sinking and gave Ishmael Charge.
As they turned back towards each other, Geralt grunted and lifted his hand, backstepping while casting Aard to push Ishmael, and hopefully Nao given how close she’d gotten, off balance. The sign knocked Ishmael back a bit, but passed through Nao thanks to Elusive–though it still convinced her to back off, as that protection wouldn’t last much longer. He stepped in, katana flashing for Ishmael’s face, the only unarmored part of her body now, and put his weight behind the swing, aiming not for his opponent, but behind her. Through her. This was an all-or-nothing attack, and if it failed, he prayed that whatever mysterious force had been preventing his death was still in place. If this failed, he’d be exposing himself to counter-attack from both Nao and Ishmael.
Normally his opponent would have composed herself to strike back, but the terrible headache that had been afflicting Ishmael since she assumed this identity picked the worst possible moment to flare up. The redhead reeled, stricken by the agony that was the price for this superpowered form, and Geralt’s life-ending slash closed in. Nao saw this, realizing instantly what was going on, and what little she could do to help. “Ishmael!”
Nao threw herself into her teammate, tackling her out of the way. Geralt’s blade hit her back, cutting to the bone. She cried out in pain, and the two went down in a heap. The next moment, her sentry drone deployed to launch them both backward, away from the Witcher. Wincing, Ishmael sat up to find her teammate grievously wounded. “Nao!” she moaned. “Why?”
“Stop using Reindeer,” Nao hissed through clenched teeth, using a proximity drone on them to staunch the bleeding. The two were definitely on the back foot now, and on the other side of the battlefield she could see that Parvati had been killed while she’d been distracted. Nao didn’t have a lot of fight left in her. Ishmael did, though, and she could channel her pain into anger. With one arm around Nao’s shoulder she rose halfway and lashed out at Geralt with Mind Whip to trigger his Sinking in a burst of sanity damage and break his poise.
Behind him, Sandalphon was still trying to get free. The wires from Parvati’s final Risk Elimination bound her tightly, and excessive haste would only cut her more. Her careful approach gave Leanne all the time she needed to get up and stagger over, one hand over her left eye and the other holding a pistol. “That hurts, you know,” she snapped, glancing at Parvati’s remains. “Dearie me. You might look like an angel, but in the end you’re a killer just like us, hm?” She came to a stop, her expression cloyingly saccharine, and took aim at Sandalphon’s head. “I suppose I’ll be taking revenge now. Bye bye~”
The archangel threw a Frost Lock at her. It would take two of them to freeze Leanne this time, but she didn’t know that. She jerked away from the icy cluster, firing prematurely. The bullet grazed Sandalphon’s arm as she twisted, throwing off the wires despite the extra laceration in order to swing a long leg around and sweep Leanne’s out from under her. Now it was a race to see who could get up first.
Geralt was caught off-guard by the save from Nao, though the grievous wound he inflicted in turn made up for it. Whatever had caused Ishmael to falter had turned the fight in his favor, though when the pair rose and healed up, her follow-up blow had plenty of time to land, sending the Witcher reeling this time. He staggered to his feet in time to catch another blow to the chest, which sent him into a roll. As he lifted himself to his knees, he saw Leanne and Sandalphon struggling to their feet as well.
“F-Fizz…” He muttered, pointing towards Leanne as Ishmael’s staff was raised. “Kill her.” He ordered as it crashed into the back of his skull, sending him crashing violently to the floor.
Before his light faded, his striker surged forth. The abyssal trickster dashed into and through Leanne with Urchin Strike, and the wounds left by his seastone trident as he stabbed in quick succession bled for several seconds. Leanne stumbled, unable to rise. She shot wildly at Sandalphon as the archangel rose to her full height, but she couldn’t place anywhere near enough rounds to stop her. Sandalphon whacked the bioroid with the head of her gunstaff, laying her out, clamped down on her neck with her heel, and planted her weapon’s barrel on Leanne’s head. “Go in peace.”
She did not pause to scrutinize her handiwork, but immediately cast her newly refilled Angelic Praise. Her own wounds disappeared, and if Geralt had yet to cross through death’s door, he’d be pulled back from the brink. When Sandalphon turned to look, she saw Ishmael in her normal identity, panting in relief, and Nao still on the ground as she sent a proximity mine her teammate’s way. “Damn it,” the healer rasped, shaken by the demise of another ally even if they hadn’t known one another. Her failure didn’t hurt as much as her injury, but it wasn’t far behind.
Getting used to death was…rather morbid an idea. Nonetheless, Geralt was getting used to dying. This was…what, the fourth? Fifth? Time he’s died thus far? Or come close to it, if he wasn’t truly dying here. He rose to his hands and knees, taking a slow breath, before rising and sheathing the lightning katana. He drew Odysseus’s Bow instead, nocking an arrow and loosing it at Nao. He followed up with more as he backed up, trying to trigger the magical bow’s chain lightning as much as possible, either hitting Ishmael or Nao, whoever he could.
After what Ishmael did to Geralt, none of the women -his teammate included- expected him to rise again. But rise he did, and the position Ishmael had taken to defend Nao from Sandalphon did not cover her against the Witcher. Appalled by the sight of him hauling himself upright, Ishmael was just a little too slow to intercept his arrow, and Nao’s stamina hadn't recharged enough to evade. It slid right past her outstretched shield and lodged in Nao’s sternum. In shock, she fell without a sound.
“Nao!” Shifting into her riot gear, she dashed to position herself in front of her teammate. She glanced at Sandalphon, who seemed to be standing by in support mode rather than attacking, then back at Geralt with her face tight. “Don't die on me,” she hissed, standing firm to return fire with Quake Rounds as the lightning arrows pounded both body armor and shield. The moment she realized that the chain lightning between her and Nao was only hurting the healer further, Ishmael did the only thing she could. With uncommon urgency, she charged while shooting to try and knock Geralt down.
Seeing Ishmael charge, Geralt quickly stowed the bow and drew Quen, a few of her shots making it through beforehand, while the rest crashed against the magical barrier. As she got close, he drew the lightning katana again, ready to meet her in melee now that he was refreshed, and Nao was wounded and unlikely to be able to assist. He swung to stop her charge, and stood his ground defiantly.
The katana might not have much brute force by itself, but with Geralt’s size and strength behind it, the blade’s impact with Ishmael’s riot shield was enough to crack the polycarbonate and stop her cold. Shaken by the blow, the redhead fought to defend herself with only her damaged shield standing between her and death. As she weathered the onslaught that followed, she dared to look over her shoulder to check on Nao. To her horror she saw Sandalphon approaching the fallen healer to finish her off, expressionless but moving with purpose. Ishmael narrowed her eyes and turned halfway around, leveling her pistol at the archangel as she paused over Nao’s body. The gun clicked empty, and for a brief moment her eyes widened in dismay. Then a mighty blow from Geralt struck her across the back, shearing through her hair and into her suit as it bowled her over sideways.
Ishmael tumbled, her useless gun sliding across the ground. She fell in a heap, crushed by both the Witcher’s strike and the weight of her failure. Spitting, she planted her shield and used it to pick herself up. “Well. If there’s nobody left to protect, my mission is simple.” She began to change, but not in the same way that she changed identity. Reality itself seemed to waver within a spherical area around her, not overlaying the one the Seekers knew, but pushing into it. For a brief moment the woman disappeared, encapsulated by a vision of a bright pink shoe on a satin bed. Then the vision melted away to reveal Ishmael, not just wearing the shoes but wrapped in pink ribbons, even her shield and the enormous metal anchor that trailed behind her like a flail. Her eyes looked cloudy, a rosy pink, and her stoic demeanor had been replaced by a crazed smile. “Let’s finish this…” she croaked drunkenly. “Before it swallows me whole.”
After confirming that she didn’t seem to be in immediate danger, Sandalphon looked back down at Nao, then knelt over her. Leaning on her staff with one hand, she placed the other on her chest. “This world needs fewer killers,” she said as she created a Friend Heart. “And more healers.” She placed it on the woman’s heart, and in an instant her agony had ceased. As she lay there, physically restored but mentally overwhelmed, Sandalphon turned her gaze back to Geralt and Ishmael. Then she stood, ready to assist.
Geralt watched the strange vision appear, brow furrowed. “Huh.” As the woman he was fighting was revealed in a strange new form, he frowned. That…was not right. Especially not on a battlefield like this. Watching Sandalphon spare Nao out of the corner of his eye, the Witcher sighed. He kept his katana at the ready, but took a half-step back, looking Ishmael up and down. “You wouldn’t happen to know, Roland, would you?” He asked simply. “Remind me of him a bit.”
Ishmael’s reaction was to swing the anchor at him, forcing Geralt to take a step back, raising his katana to deflect the blow. As he did, however, the ribbons attached to her reached out seemingly of their own accord, grabbing his arm. He was able to yank free, but the distraction cost him a moment, which Ishmael used to bring her anchor around and swing again. Grunting, Geralt took the hit, Quen shattering violently as he was staggered by the heavy blow. Sandalphon fired a shot that slammed into the drunken woman’s back, but she kept coming.
Geralt brought his sword up and along Ishmael’s side, while Sandalphon continued her sniping. Ishmael’s ribbons lashed out at Geralt as she lifted the anchor, grinning wickedly and swinging it overhead like an executioner’s axe. He was able to bring his own sword up in time to deflect the blow, but the impact sent aches through his arms, even with his strength. Between the weight of the anchor and Ishmael’s own enhanced abilities in this form, she was proving to be a dangerous opponent. Geralt wrestled his arm free and cast Igni, sending a concentrated stream of flames into Ishmael to try and burn the ribbons off her.
Burn they did, but an instant later they were back, and Ishmael prepared to swing her anchor at Geralt once more. A frost lock exploded against her back as she wound up, freezing Ishmael in place. Geralt took a powerful swing at her head while she was vulnerable, but the ribbons wrapped around her seemed to shift despite the freezing, thickening to shield her from what could have been a lethal blow. Geralt grunted in frustration, swinging again while Sandalphon took a shot at Ishmael’s back.
The freeze didn’t last very long, and soon Ishmael was back to swinging her anchor around. Each hit sapped Geralt’s strength a little, and her ribbons kept grabbing at him, slowing him down and making each follow up attack easier for Ishmael to land. The shots Sandalphon was taking were doing their own work, but Geralt found himself flagging again. He raised his hand to cast Quen, and as soon as he did, more ribbons snared out to grab him.
Seeing her ally visibly slowing caused Sandalphon some concern, even if she was not one to show it. Her Angelic Praise was not quite charged yet, so she took careful aim and waited for an opportunity to hit Ishmael’s head. When it came, she took her shot, the ether bolt slamming into the side of Ishmael’s skull and staggering her for a moment, which Geralt took to free himself from the ensnaring ribbons and quickly get away from the drunken woman attacking him. Now that he was able to get a better look at Ishmael, she seemed to be even more heavily covered in those ribbons.
Ishmael did not take kindly to his retreat, and rushed forward to prevent his escape. “Not…getting away from me.” She slurred, swinging her anchor at him aggressively. Without the ribbons on him, Geralt was able to deflect the blow somewhat, taking weaker slashes at her with his lightning katana.
Another Frost Lock hit Ishmael, fresh off its cooldown, but this one didn’t freeze her. It would take more this time, so until Sandalphon could apply more frost, Geralt was on his own. But no, that was acceptable. With how Ishmael’s frenzied strikes weakened their target and built up momentum, every second that passed meant that the scales tipped farther in her favor. Those ribbons were the main issue. Acting like they had a life of their own, they moved when Ishmael herself did not, both protecting her and impeding Geralt for her. When he attacked less, they bound him more. Could they do both at once?
After Ishmael’s next anchor smash, Sandalphon blinked to Geralt’s side. She reached out and grabbed the pink ribbons, provoking them into a reactionary move. They lunged like snakes and began to constrict her. Just as she planned. These anomalous ribbons might be dangerous, but like their host they lacked critical thinking. In taking the easy prey, they’d left Ishmael exposed for the real hunter to go in for the kill.
Geralt nodded at Sandalphon, exhaustion evident in the languid movement of his head, but upon seeing his opening, he pushed himself and took the opportunity for what it was. If he couldn’t finish Ishmael here, their proverbial goose was cooked. His katana flashed, splitting air and flesh alike, and a spurt of blood from Ishmael’s face marked the beginning of the end, as a pained grunt escaped the drunken sailor. Blood flowed freely from a cut over her eye, the blade not having carved through the socket but ruining her eyelid, and with her vision blocked and her ribbons grabbing Sandalphon, Ishmael whirled on Geralt to keep him in sight, further forcing the ribbons from her to bind the angelic healer.
As his opponent hefted and swung her weapon, the Witcher threw himself back into her blind side, cutting a deep gouge into her gut, forcing Ishmael to her knees. The ribbons were split between entangling the threat Geralt posed and keeping their other target from escaping, and that combined with the damage he’d already done made Geralt’s final strike simple enough. He kicked the inside of Ishmael’s elbow, preventing her from leaning on her anchor, and brought his katana up and through her torso, finally putting an end to the deranged defender.
All at once, Geralt’s burst of energy left him, and he stood there, panting heavily as he turned back to Nao while Ishmael dissolved into dust. Would she take revenge for her fallen allies? Or would she repay Sandalphon’s mercy with the same? The bruised, battered form of the Witcher, who had already died once before the healer, was almost a perfect test, the perfect crossroads for how Nao chose to continue onward.
By this point Nao had come to her senses somewhat, but it was clear -even without Sandalphon standing over her- that she wouldn’t be doing any more fighting. She was bewildered, disoriented, and afraid; one might wonder if she was even a fighter. When the woman saw the corrupted Ishmael wounded and on the brink, Nao only averted her gaze, squeezing her eyes shut. At least it was over soon, and the staunch defender went down without much outcry.
Once free of the pink ribbons, Sandalphon strode over toward her fellow healer. “I am sorry for what happened,” she said gently. “For both your allies, and the whiplash of awakening.”
Nao was reflexively trying to smooth out her hair, her suit, everything she could to try and bring herself some peace. During the fight she’d been remarkably composed, but setting foot on death’s door had broken her facade. “I-it’s fine…” She made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a gasp. “I-I mean, it’s not fine. Nothing about this is fine. But I…they weren’t my friends at least.”
She tightened her tie, then her gloves. “Well, Ishmael…we weren’t close, but I knew her. She knew the risks. The others…they scared me, a little, but Ishmael was almost normal. They just grabbed whatever healers they could, combat-ready or not. I’m just an office worker. And now…” She shook her head. “I don’t even know why I’m here. This isn’t Clarion. Or Ahten City.” She looked at her allies ashes’ sadly. “How many people are dying for reasons they don’t understand?”
“Too many,” Sandalphon replied. “That’s why you need to live. Please, leave the Shinra Building immediately. The Machines are about to invade. Get as many people as you can to a safe place.”
“Okay.” Having a plan seemed to give Nao strength. She stood, helped to her feet thanks to nudges from her VIGIL drone. “What about you?” Nao seemed uncertain if she should even ask.
“We’re here to deal with the root of the problem,” Sandalphon told her. When she offered no more explanation, Nao nodded and hurried on her way.
That left the two Seekers alone with the fallout from the battle. The archangel used her gunstaff’s innate function to create a small healing ring that, while weak, was enough to patch her and Geralt up over time without having to spend a skill. “That altercation aptly illustrates the merits of a four-person team, that being my preference, over a duo,” she mentioned matter-of-factly. “We were able to prevail, but despite our disadvantage, I do regret my inability to properly play my role. This also brought my lack of fighting ability into stark relief” She looked over at the remains of her enemies. “I believe both of us could benefit from these spirits. I do not wish to take more than my fair share, but the two in white could shore up my weaknesses.”
Geralt nodded, having watched the pair converse as he caught his breath. “Take ‘em. I’m reluctant to do anything but crush that last one, anyway. Already been fused with one…probably female Spirit, any more and things might get awkward with Yen. My wife.” Geralt added the last bit for context, then frowned. “Been a few days since I sent a message back to Alcamoth, but once we get the Guardian dealt with, we should be able to figure a way back at least.” He reached into one of his many pouches, pulling out some salted pork rations he’d been holding onto, and looked to Sandalphon. “Not exactly quality fare, but I have a bit more if you need something quick to snack on.”
“Thank you, but the honey I had earlier is sufficient.” Sandalphon gave him an appreciative nod in turn, and went to collect the spirits of Parvati and Leanne. She also took Ishmael’s and gave it to Geralt, though her gaze lingered on it a moment. “Her equipment was nothing special compared to her abilities and unflappable demeanor. Crushing seems almost a waste, but what’s yours is yours.” Once she offloaded the Witcher’s reward, she unceremoniously inserted the other two into her heart.
Notable spirits consumed: Parvati and Leanne The host has shrunk down to an average height of 6’2”. Her skin is very slightly darker, as if lightly tanned. Her hair is a little longer, shoulder length, tied into a short braid in the back, and though predominantly light gray has an auburn gradient toward the tips. The symbols in her eyes are much thicker, as if bolded, and are more of a sea green with a splash of pale red. Her office clothes fit much better; her white shirt has sleeves that are a little rolled up, about one-third of her midriff showing, and slacks that are more like capris, dark gray in color but still rather tight. Her shoes resemble high-heeled black boots with both buckles and laces. Her outfit is just silly with black belts everywhere: around her waist, the bottom of her shirt, her thighs, her biceps, atop her chest, and even as suspenders. She is now capable of expressing emotion and is quicker to act, although she’s still quite calm and collected. Parvati’s spirit confers the Power Process Optimization, which allows her to draw out silvery razor wires. Doing damage with them increases her skill recharge speed by 30%. Leanne’s spirit confers the Power External Information Network, which allows the host to scan enemies within a certain area to get their vitals. If she scans new enemies in this manner, her allies gain a small buff to evasion, elemental resist, and damage reduction. Parvati’s spirit also confers the Weakness Fire Weakness, reducing the host’s fire and burn resistance by 30%. Leanne’s spirit also confers the Weakness Human After All, which reduces the host’s ability to push herself to her bodily limits and work herself like a machine, making her much more easily physically and mentally overwhelmed
Geralt frowned at the Spirit in his hands, thinking things over even as his ally transformed beside him. Sandalphon was right that she had some rather amazing abilities, though what Goldlewis had said the day prior was also bouncing around his head. “Unflappable demeanor, huh…” He muttered, thinking through things. If ever there was an opportunity to see if he could calm the raging tempest that was the Orphan of Kos, this was it. Despite the last transformation she took on being a bit unhinged, Ishmael had proven to be quite the cool character during their battle, impassively chastising Geralt’s whirlwind style as she relentlessly hunted him down. Loathe as part of him was to risk transforming into a woman, let alone losing even more of the impressive size the Harbor Water Demon’s spirit had given him, he was a risk to his allies as it was, and himself. The question remained- did he fuse with her as he had the others, or risk a mental fusion? Taking a deep breath, he decided, and slowly pressed the Spirit of Ishmael into his chest, ready to accept the consequences, whatever they might be.
Notable spirit consumed: Ishmael The host has become female, and shrunk to 6’8”. The ghoulish quality imparted by the Orphan of Kos is almost gone, now just making her look a little unhinged and bony. Her hair is incredibly long and voluminous, all the way to her ankles, with a bright white into rich orange gradient. She has a hairband with a little ribbon on either side. Thanks to the Harbor Water Demon, her chest is an impressive size, and her hands -and claws- are still larger than normal, though also somewhat diminished from before. Her outfit is now a predominantly black and white mix of formal wear and armor, accented by red. This includes a jacket with pauldrons and cuffs, pants, chain mail vest over white undershirt, and a windowed cuirass that also includes a red tie, with practically no skin showing. The host’s personality is more calm and in control, much less inclined to fly off the handle into a rage, but also more critical of allies. This spirit confers the Power Identity, which allows the host to switch out her current set of weaponry, equipment, and proficiencies to a different loadout, with additional identities available via level investment. Spirits applied to an identity will only affect that identity. This comes with the identity LCCB Assistant Manager, which comes with a set of riot armor that resists blunt and explosive damage, a tall ballistic shield, a pistol that shoots tremor-inducing Quake Rounds, and associated skills. This spirit also confers the Weakness Fatal Slash, making the host take more damage from unmitigated slash-type attacks
Geralt sighed, looking herself over to see what had changed with this fusion. The good news is that she felt some immediate relief from the ever-present pressure in her mind, the undying rage of an orphaned god, but the bad news was that she was a woman. A woman with rather voluptuous breasts, now that he got a second look. Her armor was messed up yet again, though in this case it was a more familiar set of cuirass and chain, not terribly dissimilar from the gambeson and chain she’d had when appearing in the Land of Adventure. At least her chest wasn’t showing through the window in her armor, though she’d still have to get that fixed, again.
Stomach rumbling, she remembered what she’d been doing before Sandalphon, who was now much shorter and somewhat more conservatively dressed, had handed her Ishmael’s Spirit. With the same voracious appetite she’d had in the diner where they’d met Zenkichi, Geralt tore into the salted rations she had, her stomach settling somewhat after all of the beatings she’d taken. Taking a deep breath, she decided to test out the ability she’d seen Ishmael using, and transformed into LCCB Assistant Manager form, her armor, swords and bows transforming into a riot shield, pistol, and riot gear. “Interesting.” She stated simply, before transforming back. “I’ll have to take care to use that efficiently.”
After a moment, Sandalphon gingerly lifted a hand to her face. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, much to her own surprise. “...Strange.” Eyebrows scrunched together, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, one and then the other. The flow quickly began to slow down, but for now the tears kept coming. They dripped down from her jaw and onto her shirt, prompting the archangel to dab at them with her sleeve.
Geralt frowned at that, though she knew spirit fusion often entailed changes in personality, it was strange to see the normally-impassive seeming angel openly weep. “Everything alright? Fusing with two at once might have been a bit ambitious…”
Wiping away the last few tears, Sandalphon nodded, her breath wavering just a little. Her pupils had become stress marks. “I think so. For some reason…I was thinking of the others. Raphael, Gabriel, Raziel…their sigilbound humans as well, all of them. Especially Regina, my own partner. And…Metatron most of all. My sister, dearly departed. I think of them often, but…” She shook her head, her eyes closed. “I find myself missing them. Quite a lot.”
She inhaled deeply through her nose, then cleared her throat. When she opened her eyes, her pupils were back to normal, and she then looked around. “Quite the shift in perspective. As impressive as my stature was, I do not regret becoming shorter. This world was not made with giants in mind. Coffee and honey will be more effective, for one. And I can actually use this.” Sandalphon unslung the sniper rifle she’d gained last night, and when she handled it she found herself much more appropriately sized for its use. If Geralt looked closely, she could see her smile. Once she put the Eye of Sol away, Sandalphon looked up at Geralt, her expression ever-so-slightly curious. “Quite the change, yourself.”
“Looking for my daughter, myself. Had just found her, just stopped the people hunting her when Galeem did…all this. Massive pain in my ass..” Geralt sighed. Looking back at Sandalphon, she chuckled a little. “Yes. To be honest, I enjoyed being larger somewhat, though those complaints about the world not being made with larger folk in mind are too true.” She admitted, looking over her gear. “I’ll miss the intimidation factor, though. And the sheer weight behind my swings.” Still, at least she would fit a little better in doors now. “And if you would believe it, this isn’t the first time fusing with a Spirit put a hole in my armor for the world to see my chest better. This time it has a shirt, at least…”
Sandalphon listened, unblinking, as Geralt mentioned her own loved one and then provided her perspective. It sounded like they could both sympathize with one another. More than that, though, her anecdote about her armor piqued the archangel’s interest. “The logic that governs fusion is fascinating. I cannot fathom it myself. Given the sheer potential it offers, I would be very interested in studying its workings.” From the outside this exchange might seem like a waste of time, given what was going on in Arahabaki, but both of them definitely needed this breather to keep operating at peak efficiency. Still, they’d probably waited long enough. “That is a matter for another time, however. Since I have not been called for help so far, I assume the others are well. Let us then proceed to our objective.” Identifying the bridge from this module that would take the two closer to Arahabaki’s central pillar, she took a couple steps before slowing and turning around. “Oh, I should say. Good job back there, Geralt. I look forward to working with you further.”
Geralt nodded in agreement with Sandalphon’s views on fusion, though she’d personally seen much of its downsides as well. “I can’t wait to show you the Breaching Bastion.” She mentioned, turning to the bridge to the center. “Thank you. Feel like I got given the runaround for a while, but we made it to the other side of that fight in one piece. And that’s the most important thing. That healing you can give is quite a boon, I’ll say.” Taking a deep breath, she continued onward towards the central pillar.
As the Seekers piled into the helicopter, Geralt made sure to find a spot where he wouldn't be too much in the way. This thing looked a bit more magical than the cargobob they'd been using before, but as long as it flew and got them back safely, it hardly mattered. The inevitable and bombastic destruction of Jena Apotheosis heralded the Alpha turning on the Seekers and giving chase. The massive airship followed doggedly, around and over the skyscrapers that Goldlewis took their chopper between, keeping them in its spotlights. It took flying through a massive block of skyscrapers with their own massive holes in them to finally shake their pursuer.
From there, it was much smoother to get to the SOU headquarters in Sector 7, and the Seekers piled in, tired and worn from the day's adventure. Geralt turned in immediately while Zenkichi went to speak with Akane.
In his room, the Witcher doffed his armor, piling it off to the side before heading to the showers, washing off the sweat and grime from the day. After heading back to his room, he sighed and sat down, entering his typical meditative stance. This had been...frustrating, in many ways. He lost control of himself a few times, between what happened to Peach, and the fight against the chimeras, he couldn't be taking risks like that. Not with other people's lives. It wasn't that he wasn't used to fighting with others, but between the Orphan's Spirit and the losses they'd taken, it wasn't as easy to just deal with it. Tora was gone as well, though that was to restore Poppi rather than anything else, but Peach was transformed and taken.
He sighed. Using the Orphan's Hateful Flesh certainly made it easier to accidentally catch his allies with a hit, but against chimeras there really was no other option. Pulling it at the start of the fight rather than ineffectually flailing with a sword certainly helped, but he wasn't used to the wide, sweeping attacks that weapon favored just yet. When he got more experience with it, he'd likely be better at avoiding friendly fire. Thoughts ordered, Geralt took a deep breath and stood, stretching slowly. It was time to sleep.
Zenkichi, after his talks with Roland and Sandalphon, retired to his own room to look himself over a little closer, examining the change to his looks brought on by the Spirit he'd fused with. It wasn't terrible, though he might have to find another suit later. Pulling out his phone, he sighed as he remembered the deal he and Karin had made with Roquefort. While he wasn't 100% certain he trusted the guy, it was worth a shot. Pulling up his e-mails, he punched in Roquefort's address that he'd grabbed from the business card he'd tossed to Karin, and starting writing.
Mr. Roquefort,
This is Zenkichi Hasegawa, one of the men you spoke with earlier today. I was reaching out to inquire about the wire transfer we'd discussed. The routing number for my bank account is 639264848257493. Thank you for being willing to reach an equitable solution to our problem. I wish you and Vandelay Industries a better tomorrow.
"Eh, good enough..." he muttered, sending the e-mail and putting his phone away for bed. Tomorrow marked their assault on Arahabaki. Whatever rest he could get would be needed.
Geralt entered the meeting room, seeing Sandalphon's new attire, and paused for a moment. "Nope." He blankly muttered and moved to the muffins, grabbing a packet of honey and smothering his chosen breakfast item with the sugary substance. "Mmm. Damn, that's good..." he sighed blissfully as he bit into the muffin, honey sticking in his beard.
Zenkichi came in right about that time, looking around the room with his mug of coffee in and taking a swig. "Mornin'. He drably greeted, taking a seat as the group gathered. After a little bit of waiting, Luka Travers and the other Psychic Kids appeared. He was glad they were okay. Once the group was all together, Sandalphon had some bad news to deliver: those life-sucking drones that attacked in the Valley of Ruin had come back and wreaked havoc. They were, also, decidedly not simple machines, but a blend of magic and technology into a horrifying blend of murderbot. "Well that's horrifying..." He breathed out, much more awake now. He remembered what those things did when they showed up in the Valley of Ruin. This was bad.
Worse still was the news that the Machines were now launching a full-scale attack on Midgar, coincidentally the day after the Seekers had completely dismantled the two organizations that stood ready to do battle against that very specific threat. "Chimeras, Others and Machines. All in two days? Can't be a coincidence." Geralt uttered darkly.
The revelations of the Organization member were met with disbelief by some, indifference by others as they were already going to kill the Guardian, and disdain by Roxas, who had his own history with the Organization. However, neither Geralt nor Zenkichi stuck around, both having been fairly indifferent to the announcement and more than ready to get on with it. Coincidentally, this meant that Zenkichi didn't get to hear her claiming that one of his worried was, in fact, true.
As they all arrived inside Arahabaki, Zenkichi let out a low whistle. "Damn, this place is nice. Wonder how much it cost to build? Must use up a lot of energy, too. Place is like its own town." The alarm burst their collective bubble pretty quickly, though, and the Seekers were off to the races. Or, more precisely, the teleporter that would bring them, presumably, further inside.
During a calm moment while many others had gone to sleep, Zenkichi stepped away from the room Akane was staying in, having finally lulled his daughter to sleep with reassurances that he was safe, and that they were getting closer to dealing with the corrupt elements controlling Midgar. Without too much detail, of course.
When he did, he encountered a...surprisingly cute sight. Sandalphon, the really tall angel robot lady, asleep in a chair at the meeting table, a blanket draped carefully over her. He thought back to that little boy, Aurele, that she'd helped him save in Quarantine Valley. He wondered if he died in the Redshift cascade, like so many others surely did.
Sighing and slumping into a chair near the one she was in, the detective reached into his pocket and pulled out the Spirit of that sniper-looking lady and looked back to Sandalphon. Sure, he might be able to make use of it as a striker, like some of the others did, but...this felt like a better decision.
He gently reached over and lightly shook Sandalphon's shoulder, a little tense and worried about waking her up, but figuring at the very least she might prefer to have the choice to find another place to sleep. "Hey, sorry for waking you up there. Got something you might want a look at, though."
When Zenkichi shook Sandalphon, it took a little more than he might have expected to rouse her, but after a moment she stirred from her accidental slumber. She did so without the suddenness of alarm, her pupils assuming their usual ring shape as their lime-green glow returned. Realizing what must have happened, she took a long breath in through her nose as she pushed herself up from the table where she'd unwittingly slumped down.
"No apologies necessary. If anything, I should apologize for such an unbecoming lapse of professionalism." When Zenkichi mentioned something she might want to look at, she assumed some important matter that required her immediate attention. Instead she found herself presented with a spirit, but not just any spirit. Sandalphon took it in hand and stared at the visage depicted within. "I know this woman. Cecile, a former knight of the Dyrenell Empire, once the kingdom of Alberia. I understand that she deserted and wound up as a mercenary working in Grams, with a severe addiction to a substance called manachew." She paused for a moment, expressionless. "And now fate has led her here."
After another quiet couple of a seconds she looked at Zenkichi again. "Thank you for bringing me this. If I may, I would like to use this spirit. While it is a substandard option for fusion, I may be able to obtain a more functional rifle. My gunstaff works, but its shot speed and lack of scope make it ineffective at long range."
Zenkichi waved away Sandalphon's return apology with a chuckle. "Oh, trust me, I've passed out at my desk my fair share of times, working a case. From one exhausted professional to another, you have my respect." Scratching the back of his neck at the admission, he watched and listened as she explained the history of the Spirit he'd offered. "That...that's terrible. What a sad fate. And I found her, and a few others, alone...in an alley where that kid was." Trying not to let the depression get to him, he trudged on.
"Of course, that's why I offered it. And...I wanted to thank you. For looking after Aurele, that kid, for me. You didn't have to do that, but you did. I just..." Trailing off, he pulled out the Spirits of Aurele's friends, as well as that of Devinder Crousley, though he didn't know the man's name. "There was this thing there. Like a ghost. It...was luring people in, and turning them into little versions of itself, kind of. That boy was just playing with his friends when it got them, and it almost got us, but I managed to kill it." Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair, his face long and haggard.
"The people it transformed, they were just...gone. Like puppets with their strings cut, so I....I killed them. And...this is all that's left of them. I...I don't know what two kids will do, or become, if I do something with these, but I hate the thought of them just vanishing into nothing." Looking back up at Sandalphon from the Spirits, he chuckled sadly, shaking his head. "God, sorry, that was a lot to just dump on you, huh? My bad. I'll be alright, it's just...sometimes, this city gets to me. Even before I knew about all this, before the others found me. I knew this place was wrong. I just didn't know how wrong it was."
Rather than pull up her screens to resume work where she left off, Sandalphon listened in grave silence, her full focus on the detective. He explained what had happened in that hidden street just out of the archangel's sightlines as she'd been overseeing the search operation all over Quarantine Valley's rooftops. Now she could see why he'd been reluctant to mention it earlier; he'd stumbled upon something truly horrific, tucked away just off the beaten path, something that had managed to claim the lives -or at least the souls- or many unsuspecting innocents before it finally bit off more than it could chew. How many more horrors beyond any ordinary person's imagination lurked in this world's dark corners, preying on its fundamental uncertainty? Sandalphon couldn't blame Zenkichi for his distress one bit. The knowledge of suffering, both known and unknown, weighed on her just as heavily.
"You have my sympathies, detective. Even for someone like me, the cruelty of this world is daunting. Punishing. Unremittingly...unfair. Nothing I can say or do will change the fact that tomorrow, the sun will rise upon a land of war, corruption, and misery. But we can make sure that by the time the sun sets, there is less injustice than when the day began." For a moment she laid her eyes on the other spirits. "You did your best with the hand you were dealt, as we all do. We cannot save everyone, but we can continue to fight to make the world a better place. Tomorrow morning we will defeat the Guardian and awaken Midgar's people. If we're to take even one step forward, I pray that we may break free from the shackles of the past." Emboldened by prayer, she crushed the spirit of Cecile. Its prismatic energies swirled and coalesced, taking the form of a magnificent white rifle with a lens in its scope that gleamed like gold. Its weight felt natural in her arms. "And set our sights on the future."
Zenkichi nodded, a small smile on his face at Sandalphon's hopeful declaration. "Yeah, the future. Hopefully we can make it a better one." Standing up to stretch his back, Zenkichi let out a yawn. "Alright, I gotta get to sleep. Juggling saving the world, taking down a corrupt government, and raising a teenager takes a lot out of ya. G'night, Sandalphon. And thanks for listening."
"You're welcome." Sandalphon exhaled slowly. "I'm loathe to leave anything unfinished, but I should consider sleep as well. It's clear my physical state is too compromised for further work tonight. I hope to serve everyone better tomorrow." The archangel rose from her seat a little shakily, then gave Zenkichi one last look. "Those spirits will fade if you don't use them. They would be better served carrying you forward than weighing you down."
Looking down at the Spirits he'd placed on the table, Zenkichi sighed, scooping them up. Weighing me down, huh...? He turned his head as Sandalphon left, but soon returned his gaze to the Spirits. Might as well do something with them before they disappeared, then. He took the Spirit of the adult-looking man and, trying to remember how this worked, pressed it to his head. He let out a gasp as the Spirit sunk into him, and he changed.
Taking a breath, he slowly patted himself down, getting a feel for his new appearance. He felt a little stockier, though not noticeably heavier, which was a relief. The change to his suit was a bit bothersome, though with a second glance, it wasn't that bad. At least the collar wasn't as egregiously high as in his Phantom Thief attire. Wearing that around everywhere would have been odd. The other thing that stood out was his beard, which he could feel was much more...stubbly. He usually kept his thinner than this. He'd have to shave that when he got the chance.
Then, he turned to the other two Spirits. With a frown, he took them in his hands and squeezed, crushing them and turning them into items. In front of him, on the table, was a plate of fish and chips, and a child's air horn. "That's it, huh?" He mumbled. Dinner and a toy. Sitting back down, he took a chip off the plate, dipped it in the accompanying sauce, and bit down. "Okay, that's actually really good. Sorry, kid. But thank you for the meal." Looking at the air horn, he gently touched the toy, to commemorate the child it had come from, then put it in his pocket.
"I can't wait to punch Galeem in his stupid, smug face." He sighed, munching on a strangely delicious plate of fish and chips. Tomorrow would be a better day. Looking at the clock, Zenkichi chuckled.
It was already tomorrow. Akane had really taken a while to calm down, it seems. He'd have to have a big cup of coffee in the morning to make up for being up this late.
Item obtained: Eye of Sol The sun took my sight; thus, the sun became my eyes. A futuristic sniper rifle that fires bullets with high stopping power. It has a magazine of 4 shots, high recoil, long range, and an excellent scope. Its adaptive range makes it well-rounded, reliable, and sturdy. Aiming down sights for 1 second grants 35% flinch reduction. Reload, range, and accuracy are increased when no targets are in close proximity
Items obtained: Bagged Lunch: Fish and Chips A deep-fried appetizer. Coat fish fillets with batter and deep-fry until golden and crispy, then add a few chips on the side. This combination is so miraculous that whatever sauce you choose, it will always bring a hearty smile to your face Airhorn A blue-and-red novelty. When the button on the top is pressed, it makes a very loud noise that can be heard a long way off, and can even temporarily deafen someone at close range. Somehow, it never runs out of air, and it's worth a surprising 68 zenny
Notable spirit consumed: Devinder Crousley The host's skin has gotten a little darker, and he has a slightly stronger brow, bigger nose, and much stubblier face. His hair is a little shorter and curls up in front. His build is slightly wider. His tie is gone, and his shirt is white instead of blue, with one more button undone. His jacket is less like a suit jacket and more like a coat, with yellow patches and a taller collar. His personality is a little less high-strung. This spirit confers the strength Paracryptozoologist, giving the host a degree of strong intuition about supernatural creatures, specifically figuring out their behaviors and attributes. This spirit also confers the weakness Landlubber, making the host much less good at swimming
With support from Sandalphon, along with Goldlewis and Karin joining their advance, the two Wolves found their prey. Every opportunity to take a swing at one of Jena's was carefully measured and taken advantage of when it was safe. Geralt found that Quen quickly became invaluable, while Zenkichi relied on dodging, blocking, and his vampirism to survive the barrage of slams that the overdosed monstrosity sent their way after Heavenly Wings' retreat. When the floating arms separated, moving to each end of the platform they found themselves upon, Geralt moved, with Zenkichi a moment behind him. Geralt managed to run clear of the blast radius with time to spare, but Zenkichi found himself forced to attempt to dodge at the last moment. He took a dive, his feet just barely clearing the tips of Apotheosis's fingers, but before the Phantom Thief could breathe a sigh of relief, an explosion of lightning rang out, sending him tumbling onto his rear.
"Well that coulda gone better..." He grumbled, standing up, only to see the main body of their enemy approaching, one hand on each side of the platform they were standing on.
"Don't like the look of that..." Geralt mumbled, just before Jena Apotheosis unleashed a barrage of lightning projectiles, each summoning a bolt of electricity upon making contact with their platform. Geralt found himself unable to dodge very well, instead focusing on a Quen bubble to stave off as much damage as he could, while Zenkichi danced around lightning blasts like a man 15 years younger, though the look on his face betrayed the effort it took. His Public Security training was paying off well, at least. Jena still wasn't done, taking out a huge chunk of their platform with a hammer blow from one of her fists, and the Seekers took advantage of the close proximity, Geralt, Goldlewis and Zenkichi drawing their ranged weapons and sending out a fusillade of their own at the limb.
The next attacks proved a devastating combo from the chimera. Area control in the form of flames, the explosion from the follow-up hammer blow, all powerful attacks in their own right, but a distraction for what was coming next: the gravity blast that sent everybody flying. Geralt had managed to leap from the platform, but had a harsh landing on a different platform, which was quite a ways down from where they'd been. Zenkichi, meanwhile, had been launched much like Goldlewis had, though his landing was the smoothest of the three, as he got quite a bit of horizontal distance thanks to the reduced gravity, and managed to stab his greatsword into a smaller platform and catch himself.
While Jena wasn't looking too hot, with those glaring red cracks in her monstrous floating arms, the Seekers were getting pummeled. Her size, ranged attacks, and area of effects made taking a hit inevitable, meaning that they were stuck in a lethal arms race. A look around told both Geralt and Zenkichi that they weren't the only ones in this situation, though, as Neuron troops, Reunion's own forces, and a third party that Zenkichi could only vaguely recognize waged war round them. "Oh...oh man this is really bad... Zenkichi groaned, his breaths coming in fast and heavy, while Geralt shook his head in disappointment.
Midgar, as it was, wouldn't last much longer. A lot of things were breaking, and it was hard to tell what would be left standing when the dust settled. To make things even more tense, of course, came Rufus Shinra and Consul Y, in what even Geralt could tell was an aerial vehicle of simply comical proportions. Less a helicopter and more a flying fortress, the Alpha took the fight directly to Jena, launching missiles and cannons at her, before managing to dodge one of her gravity beams with a lateral thrust that looked like something straight out of a mecha anime.
Thankfully, though, the presence of the massive airship meant that the Seekers could take a much-deserved rest, as much as the mad scramble they began towards the helicopter Giovanna and Penance were commandeering far below them could be considered a rest. Jumping, sprinting, and dodging firefights on the way down, the Seekers quickly made their way to their allies, packing into the helicopter with weary sighs.
"Man, what a day..." Zenkichi yawned as he sat down, exhaustion creeping into his bones as the adrenaline faded.
"Think Neuron will still be standing come morning?" Geralt asked, looking up and trying to keep his stomach calm.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, no way Shinra and that giant flying death machine won't clean this up, especially not after the beating we gave Jena. I just...what the hell has to happen to you to willingly become...that?" He wondered aloud, frowning.
In the end, it was neither Karin, Geralt, nor Goldlewis that brought Penance back to her senses with a Friend Heart. No, it was Giovanna, who sprinted to her former associate's rescue after witnessing Roland's fatal takedown of the Judge. When Karin brought her to the brink, which in hindsight meant they'd focused more of their efforts on Penance than was strictly necessary, the SOU agent came around and rescued her, saving her from a similarly tragic fate. "Thanks," Geralt breathed, for a moment letting the weariness he was feeling show, before he steeled himself once more. "Been a long night."
Zenkichi, meanwhile, was disheartened to see that his desperate gambit proved fruitless, even though he did see that flinch! "Oh, come on! That is so not fair!" He complained, struggling to keep himself from being sucked into the vortex and probably annihilation. However, just as one of Y's Neuron lackeys was about to take a shot at Zenkichi, in what could only be described as profane intervention, Jena directed one of her subordinates to rescue him. Perhaps she recognized that the Seekers were her best bet at fighting Y and keeping him distracted. Perhaps she had even further ulterior motives. But whatever the reason, in that moment, Jena Anderson saved Zenkichi Hasegawa's life.
Man, that was awkward. Even more awkward was the realization that yes, that vortex would have simply annihilated him, and yes, he was a gigantic idiot for walking up to this guy without a care in the world. The others could mock him later, for now he needed to not die. The next few moments were sort of a blur. All Zenkichi saw as he tried to regain himself was Y disappear, reappear behind Jena and her allies, and suck one of them up.
Then came the black hole. Thankfully, it was more of an abstraction of one, given that an actual black hole opening up would have killed everybody here. Unfortunately, it still hurt like hell, and the Seekers found themselves crashing into one another, elbows and limbs and sheathed weapons slapping each other in the face, sides, and gut. When the gravity well vanished, they were all left to pick themselves up, though they didn't even have much time for that, given what Jena had done. Again. What was with this lady and injecting horrifying body horror-creating substances into herself?
It only took a moment. From mutated woman, to weird singularity of energy, to...
"OH NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN!" Zenkichi wailed, head on his hands. It was the Demiurge, all over again! And if the other Phantom Thieves were to believed, it was the Demiurge all over again, all over again!
"What are you babbling about?" Geralt grunted, sighing a little as Sandalphon's healing wave washed over him.
"Last bad guy me and the Thieves took down was a lot like this. A false god. Just, big, kind of alien-looking thing. Huge bodied, sorta disembodied arms, the whole shebang. It was...a lot." Stretching his back a little, Zenkichi looked up at Jena, shaking his head. "Nothing we can't handle, I'm sure."
Geralt nodded, drawing silver. He'd save the Hateful Flesh for when it was really necessary, given the bloody toll it took on him. Zenkichi drew his own sword, and the pair began their ascent towards the monstrosity that was once Jena Anderson. The Protolegions in their way were no match for the pair, and with fire support from the others, they reached their target fairly quickly. Even as more Protolegions tried to swarm them, Zenkichi held the monsters at bay while Geralt revealed a new trick he'd learned: a dozen Abyssal fliers appearing as if from nowhere and zipping towards Jena's right hand, guns flashing from the fighters, bombers gunning straight for her. Jena managed to swipe nearly two-thirds of the bombing flight away with a swat of her hand, but this left her open to the rest, and also brought her hand dangerously closer to the Sekeers.
"Now!" Geralt yelled, and he took chance, blade flashing at the floating appendage, Zenkichi joining him as soon as he was sure their backs were clear for a moment.
Izurich
Archmage MC
Forsythe