[b]Jade [/b]

A goddess can experience the rush of a fight, can’t she? The thrill of pleasure when you cut the chords of the wrap and reveal the full chestplate of the [Grip of Dishai]. You know what it’s supposed to feel like, too. The Hybrasilian myths are full of thrill. The pounding heart, the rush of the wind past your ears, the feeling of strength as your feet touch the earth and press and the whole world moves as you command it. You can feel those things. Vines snap like so much detritus where your feet tread. Each thrust of your lance parts the air and crackles with its snap forward. And before you, an effigy of your Dolly in your size. It is magical.

For a few moments, you dominate the fight. The [Grip of Dishai] is not a fast mecha, and you have an advantage in range. This is a classic winning combination. You have the jump on her too, all that boasting, the way she was showing you her chest, it certainly made it easy to cut the shift fully loose from it. 

Then it was a matter of precision, of avoiding the decisive strike through the heart (because that’s just…no, you can’t). With the shift flying loose, you moved to the bangles and charms, dancing against the outer limbs as Erys fell back, crashing backwards straight through a low building that her fist reduced to rubble. As she turned to gain distance, that gave you a chance to cut the bracelets loose from the arm that passed closest to you. Then it was a short chase, and a light dance as you quickstep around the fist. So tantalizing, goddess, but always out of reach of her grip, your lance acting as your only touch, its point your caress and your bite. 

Then it’s the necklace and that’s a tricky one. You have to shift on her, come around from the side to avoid piercing the heart. You have to take your Dolly unawares, come in close, touch her, slip your lance through what remains of her skirt and up and pull the necklace from her. The protection of her goddess Dishai, skewered upon your lance as you lean in close enough to kiss her.

It’s only then, with your triumph in hand, with Erys Bander seething with shame and anger, her mecha stripped almost naked, that you realize your mistake. You had to come in close for that final charm, and now you’re in reach of that great and powerful fist. Free of charms, free of protections, but the fist itself untouched, unharmed by your lance. Do you feel that grip on your arm? That strength? What does that feel like, as she crushes even your metal skin in the power of that grip?

[b]Dolly[/b]

You’ve just watched Jade summarily strip you naked, remove each piece of your jewelry and finally come in close for a caress. And now, within Jade, linked to her as your mecha, you can feel Erys Bander’s touch too, a strong grip on your arm as well, pressing down just enough to make it uncomfortable through your neural mesh. 

And over the comms, comes her voice, full of her pride and her thrill, “Got you~”
[Erys loses all her charms and her mecha is undressed, she takes Angry, you have a string on her. In exchange, she seizes a superior position, crushing the part of Jade’s arm just above where she was holding the lance.]

***

[b]Solarel[/b]

She has almost forgotten.

There is a moment where you can see into her heart. The clouds clear, and there stands the Barn Owl, visibly shuddering with its pilot, ion cannon at the ready, quite nearly pointed at you, already adjusting but too far away. Her arm waivers. She is cold. She would like nothing more than to sag and let you catch her, though it means her loss. To let you hold her and take her, exhausted, and then to rail against your triumph and swear that she will have retribution. She did that for Dolly and Jade when they had her at their mercy and she loved every second of it. 

But, you don’t quite have her at your mercy. Close, so tantalizingly close. But it’s still her choice, her decision. Her arms hurts with the pain of holding that canon at the ready for so long. It burns and begs for release but she has to choose to lower it. Angela Victoria Miera Antonius is many things, but above all she has her pride. Too proud to choose surrender. It would burn her forever to give up when she can still fight. 

She comes through the comms, teeth chattering. “Your new mecha is quite something. Is this how the knights of Z-zaldar fight? In deception and stealth? Wearing me out like you are hunting a buffalo? Hm? Hm?! W-well, I will not roll over and die for you. The clouds clear now, and I have your measure, villain. I w-will yet have the d-day!”

Then, ion canon aimed, she rushes you to try for the decisive shot. 

[Angela will give you a string on her, rather than give herself up.]

***

[b]Mirror[/b]

“It’s already a battle for the ages, little knight.” He nods to himself. Even as you press him, even as the tails scream and the blast takes his spear, no energy shields to lessen the blow. He lets it go like it’s nothing, you incinerate it with no difficulty.

Because now, now is the time for the missiles. With systems overheating, with all the energy poured into the attack, he is an old warrior and he knows how to recognize when his opponent needs a moment of recovery. 

He fires them in quick succession, four missiles, each one with its own little roar, and then he unstraps the mechanism from his mecha and lets it fall. It has lost its worth entirely for him. 

“Hmm, you have a lot to say.” He speaks as the missiles race at you. It’s not exactly Solarel’s information poisoning. For him it’s the opposite, his mind is most clear in battle, his thoughts focused in the intensity of the action. It’s still a lot of inputs being offered to you all at once though. “And to it I say this. Revel in the moment. Live! Love! Value is for later, for when you have time to sit and count. For me, I count lives. Saved, little knight, not taken. Each blast that comes to me is one that never touches my raiders. Each ship of goods is lives that my hold can take. And now I am old and my people thrive, and I can stand here and feel the heat as you burn my spear from my hands. It’s grand!”

He is not still, he has taken to the air as he speaks, following your movement, tailing his own missiles, looking to stay close for the opportunity to strike, a fifth missile far greater in its danger than the first four. 

“If tomorrow I am dead, then so be it! If I live, then I will eat and drink and then I will prepare. And if I am lucky, my people will write me songs when I am gone and that will be good!” And then he laughs again, after he had not through his whole speech. He cannot help but laugh because all of this to him is a joy, no matter what happens from here. 

***

[b]Isabelle[/b]

The slump of the shoulders when the plan fails is all you need to see. A knight of Zaldar defeated, humbled, her chance to go out with honor discarded. 

Do you see now what Solarel did to you? Did [i]for[/i] you? Though you were left to wander in despair, by giving you everything she had, she burned herself into your soul, cut the shape of your life, and drove you, burning with cold, to a new end. 

But for Quar, you offer her defeat, surrender, humiliation. And… perhaps more. Perhaps, there is another way than Solarel’s way, that’s what you’re saying to her here. A way different than giving everything, a way towards understanding. It’s a bold offer for a knight of Zaldar. If you hadn’t utterly defeated her, she wouldn’t have taken it. 

There is something in defeat, in knowing that you cannot win that can change a person. When you hold power, you can either be driven by want or by fear. If it is want, then you seek, you demand, you wield your power recklessly and selflessly until the whole world changes for you. But if it’s fear, then it is fear of loss, of change and you are begging the universe for an infinite and everlasting now. Quar wielded her power from fear, and with it gone, she has let go a great burden.

She does not speak, but her hands let her gun go and she kneels and signs in the language of Zaldar. You don’t know it yourself, but your mecha AI puts on a screen for you that it says something to the effect of “take me, you have earned me.”