[b]Kotori Shirohane - Cave of Solitude | Sunday, June 7 2015[/b]

Despite being the cause of the bright flash, Kotori still flinched as the Shadow was momentarily illuminated - even in the brief time that the cave was in darkness, though it hadn't felt like such a short time, it had thrown off her sense of distances so that the creature appeared far closer and bigger than she'd expected. But that wasn't the only cause - though it was only visible for a moment, the spider-shadow was cleary preparing to lunge once more; targeting Akane once again. [color=green]"Ah...!"[/color] was all that Kotori could bring out, a mix of surprise and a fearful warning, before things went dark once more. Starting into a run, despite her body making its protests known, she got close enough to barely make out the silhouettes in the dark against the electricity running through the cable-web - and breathed a sigh of relief when she realised that it wasn't the sight of the Shadow preying upon Akane but rather her classmate hold her own and a smaller silhouette punching the enormous Spider.

[color=green]"Ki... Kikuri-hime,"[/color] Kotori spoke, out of breath, intent on preparing a healing spell - but even as she did, the punches were making enough of an impact to cause the spider to flip over and suddenly brought light back into the cave in a disorienting fashion after everyone had just started to get used to the darkness. Covering her averted eyes at the unexpected brightness, Kotori was caught by surprise when the Shadow proved itself to be no less dangerous just because it had been thrown on its back and unleashed a many-coloured attack. Crossing her arms in front of her reflexively, she closed her eyes tightly in expectation of the incoming hit - except that it never came as upon gingerly opening one eye and peeking out through her glasses, she saw the backs of Kami and Rui charging straight at the shadow; having rushed right past her and somehow deflecting the attack.

Rather than relief, however, worry overtook her as she hadn't seen if the others had similar luck - and ordered Kikuri-Hime to cast [color=green]"Media"[/color] just to be safe as the group pounced upon the seemingly helpless Shadow. A quick glance to each of her companions showed that they were indeed still standing and fighting - so Kotori returned her attention to the Spider. Despite feeling rather weary at this point, she summoned Kikuri-Hime's assistance yet again as she called down a bolt of lightning to aid in the onslaught - in the hope that this really was the final push; a hope which was slowly starting to take a turn for the desperate.

Under the heavy assault of blade, fist, wind and lightning, the Shadow was toss up - and with an anguished cry that resounded throughout the whole cave fell to the ground; bursting into a quickly-dissipating black cloud at the heart of which lay the form of the original Shadow Ayano before the transformation. Rui had spoken words of encouragement to her before - but neither knowing the right words to say nor enough breath to speak them, Kotori's wish to help the girl through the ordeal remained merely a wish. Everything rested on the girl now - even as Kotori sank to her knees trying to catch her breath after the sheer exhaustion of the fight took its toll. If the Shadow transformed into its twisted combat form once again, she doubted she'd be able to put up much of a fight - even as she also doubted the wisdom of sitting out of gym class so often.