While Ashley’s protective barrier had succeeded in shielding her and the twins from the torrent of flame, it proved much less effective against the arcs of lightning which shot up from the floor to crackle over their bodies. “Nngghh…!” the Knight of Tomorrow snarled through gritted teeth as the attack badly singed her flesh, although her adrenalin and rising fury allowed her to push through the worst of the pain. Indeed, to her utter incredulity, it soon became apparent that the most powerful attack at her disposal had been unable to make even a single scratch on the mech’s armor. H-How do we even stop this thing?

An instant later, the high-tech heroine was forced to leap backwards to avoid a massive slab of ice, while elsewhere in the chamber, giant fists continued to punch down from the ceiling. At least, until the four enormous hands tore the entire thing away to reveal a crimson-skinned behemoth, a creature MDF was only too happy to inform them was actually Elroy. Regardless of whether the freelancer had been turned into this abomination, or if he had simply been inserted into it as a power source, like Faith, the fact remained that they now had another exceedingly formidable opponent to contend with. Then again, perhaps they could use this to their advantage…

“Cerberus! Paradise!” Ashley called over her earpiece even as she continued to shield the twins from further attacks. “Try to jump on the mech’s back and then piss the behemoth off enough for it to punch you.”

With any luck, its fists would actually be strong enough to breach the mech’s defenses. Of course, the pair would also have to jump clear before said punch could land, but that hopefully went without saying…

---

Amanda was the offspring of a succubus and a sand man. Two creatures that dealt with the dreams and desires of their victims. However, Amanda was not so in tune with what the people around her were feeling. A fight was going to start, that much she was sure of. But she didn’t have Ciri’s apparent ability to read minds. At least, that was what she assumed she could do based on their first meeting. She noticed Ciri looked at Billy, and as if commanded by her, he shifted into a defensive position moments before Tony pounced on him.

She followed closely. Everyone was fighting, but Amanda was just doing the minimum required to stay alive. Her powers worked far better laying in wait than when directly fighting. She had only been able to take out the Principal earlier because he walked through her sand, much like Finn had walked through her father’s. Throwing sand at nearby cat men probably wasn’t the most productive use of her awakened powers. Though at least it was more useful than firing a gun at those weretigers. It just kind of pissed them off and made them transform. But Amanda wasn’t judging. They really did look like normal humans before they transformed.

A mafia goon whipped his head around as orange fur grew out from his shirt collar. When the weretiger dove for them, Amanda winced and shucked a ball of sand at his face. He collided with her, but the beast had fallen unconscious. Monsters were extra susceptible to magic, so it wasn’t a surprise her sleep spell worked so well on them. She kicked the monster off of her before rallying behind Ciri.

At this point, Ciri had responded to her earlier comment about getting upstairs. Initially she was outraged. Even if Ciri had helped her in the past, asking Amanda to let her father’s murder live a few seconds longer wasn’t tolerable. She couldn’t think of a reason Ciri’s revenge would be more important than her own. Unless… Had “that bitch” killed Ciri’s father? It was the only thing that made sense. Yes, if she hurt Ciri like that, then it only made sense that they should take out this person before moving onto Finn. Besides, she was right by the stairs going up. Maybe they could chase them into Finn and kill them both together. Then they could have a pizza or an ice cream afterwards.

She nodded.

And then they charged.

Viper was fixing to place a round between Trixie’s eyes when she noticed the esper and teenager charging for her position. She sighed when she realized they were coming in too fast to shoot either of them. So instead she stood up and aimed her SPAS down the battlefield and fired. No human could dodge a bullet in flight, but a monster could attempt to block them. It placed itself between Ciri and the incoming lead, greatly softening the blow. It was still enough to knock her on her ass however. Viper fired another shot, this time aimed at Amanda. She stumbled backwards, but it was only a moment before she was running again.

Viper grabbed her rifle and ran for the stairs. Amanda didn’t slow down, even as she gained more distance from Ciri.

Shit, really?

Marrie was making a quick mental note to focus more on her actual target next time when she saw that she managed to hit the grenade she'd been "warned" about, rather than the door frames. Oh well, she'd have plenty of time to learn that lesson after recovering from the decent burns she'd gotten. Having hoped for an explosion anyway she'd ducked behind the door, but not quite far enough to avoid the whole fireball. Still, it wasn't enough to put her down. A glance at Binky showed that the older esper had gotten away better than herself, so that was good.

Her head turned to look down the other side of the hall, and Marrie's breath froze. Walking towards her was someone she hadn't seen in months. She wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. This was one of the two people who had consumed her thoughts for much of that time, one she thought was dead. One she thought she'd been the one to kill. She wondered how he had survived, but that was quickly overridden by competing feelings. If he was alive, that was a death off her counter, at least. A death off her conscious. On the other hand, this was one of the justified ones. He'd nearly killed both her and Orion, after all. He'd helped Justin. He'd taken off her leg. And he had killed Maiden.

Unacceptable.

She felt her body moving before she'd told it to, it stepping forward without her consent. Just as she realized that she'd moved, another thought hit, the force of it stopping her completely.

Does that mean Maiden is alive too?

She didn't want to hope. Instead, she decided it was time to try something.

Her head turned towards Binky. "Are you going to be okay if I move from here?" She'd wait for an answer.

-Affirmation-

As soon as Binky gave her permission to leave her proximity, Marrie nodded. "Then I'll be back soon."

With her Instrument's chain at only three feet, its blade began to circle through the air as its wielder spun it by the chain. Kusarigama weren't considered a very good weapon by most. It was also true that this was not the way one would be used. But neither of those facts mattered. Kusarigama's continued existence throughout Japan's history was evidence of their effectiveness. And while the use of a proper one would manifest in an entirely different way, Fenrir had advantages that a Kusarigama did not. She had trained herself to her limits, and this was one of the ways she had.

The three-foot radius might not be very effective, but all she had to do was get closer. So she did, breaking into a run towards Sofron, keeping the spinning Instrument steady as she did, watching for an opening.

--Offense--

With Sofron not taking the opportunity to attack, Marrie chose to. Once she was within ten feet of him, she threw her hand forwards to launch the now-expanding chain towards him. Fenrir's blade soared towards him with all the momentum it could have, and a Melody on it.

{Silver Touch - Blink}

Two and a half seconds. There would be two and a half seconds between her striking something and her teleportation. She'd practiced this enough to know that, and enough to know the options she had.

If she struck Sofron, {Devour Chance} then she'd blink to her Instrument to continue the assault up close. If she struck someone else, {Devour Chance} then she'd decide when it happened. In front of Sofron and she'd stay where she was. But if she struck someone behind him, she'd Blink. If she struck a surface, the opposite would be better. If it was in front of Sofron, she'd Blink, but if it was behind him then she wouldn't. Lastly, if it struck his Instrument... Then she'd decide when the timer was almost up. {Devour Chance} On the chance that he was able to aim at her current position after the hit, she'd have to Blink to what would hopefully be the side of it to avoid his attack. The problem was that doing so would leave Binky in the crosshairs, which meant... she'd stop the Blink instead.

All of the plans running through her mind agreed on one thing: she had to confuse him. Surprising him would be difficult regardless of where she Blink'd to, but she had a chance here. She'd just need some luck too...

--Defense--

Whatever Sofron's attack was, Marrie's response would be the same.

{Genre: Cold; Gold Self - Shield - Reflect}

Maybe a Diamond cast would be better, but the increase to her SENTINEL was more useful, in her mind. With the Melody cast, she'd dash towards Sofron, ducking past and slashing any peons who got in her way, to stab him in the sternum. {Devour Chance}

-Cooperation-

"... Got it." With Binky's request that she stay nearby, Marrie would acquiesce. She'd simply stay near her and cut down anyone who got past Binky's gunfire. The only Melody she might need to cast would be on Binky, and only when she needed to reload, if an attack was coming.

{Genre: Cold; Silver Touch - Shield - Reflect}

Himiko brought her right hand to her shoulder as she let the bird move from her fingers to her shoulder. Silent as she listened to the demon's final contract and all that it had to offer to her. Her golden eyes remained on Bookman the entire time, not once did she look at any of the words that made up the contract. Whether it was further details about what resources would be given to her, or otherwise it wasn’t important at this moment. Whatever else the book held could be worried about at a later date.

“Very well, that complicates the picture slightly, I’ll make note of Timekeepers current usefulness as I prepare future plans, however if the opportunity presents itself I will gather the artifact in his possession if it means the best chance of success, keeping in mind your current needs of his services"

The situation with Timekeeper slightly complicated what he wanted from her and may limit her opportunities to get her hands on one of the artifacts. Which meant Orion or Cerberus would likely be easier targets to pursue and would be targets of priority over Timekeeper for the time being. Even with that said she kept her options open, you never know when the right opening presented itself and would serve up one of the artifacts on a platter. If that chance ever came up with Timekeeper she would take it with no regret.

Even if it meant having a year contract that she had to adhere to, it would be well worth the price. She cared very little about The Hand, but it at least meant they would stay out of her way for the most part in exchange for her staying out of their way. Limiting potential threats and leaving her to focus her full attention upon Gemini, Maverick, the Inquisition and whoever else she deemed needed it.

What was important was getting out of this prison and returning back to the task at hand. Now with her Endless Eclipse and new found powers and the extra resources now at hand she could implement her plan with great prejudice. Gemini had made a mistake letting her live and throwing her into a cell to be ignored and forgotten about. They would soon learn that they should have listened to her when they had the chance.

Though the esper known as Sovereign perished due to Gemini’s failure, Oros The Greedy had taken her place. She reached her hand out one final time and took Bookman's hand into her own with a firm grip. Her face still emotionless, her golden eyes glowing as they stared into Bookman’s as if she was looking through him. It was time to leave this place and unleash her new powers upon Pax Septimus as she saw fit. Whatever help she got to serve as her own personal guard or crew was better than going at things solo. Even if she found some of them displeasing at any point, she knew she could still find a use for them. Being able to exchange them made it flexible and allowed her to adapt to situations as they arose. Allowing her to prepare for specific situations and put the people with the right skills into the right places for the right missions.


“Make it five out of five…”

Yea, a bunch of espers might have been a little out of their element fighting a giant magic resistant walker. Having a giant reach out of the heavens and try to crush you while this was going on made everything more complicated still. But this was Pax Septimus, so of course there also had to be an army of gun nuts lead by Baleful Sofron just outside their otherwise closed off arena. Closed off minus the area above where “Elroy” was standing. And with all of this shit going on, this was when Ashley decided that things needed to be a little bit more dangerous for Mika. Yes, get the monster to smash the mech with its giant fist. It’s not like Finn is totally going to be expecting that, or that it put Mika in an extremely dangerous position. But honestly? This was okay. Mika was the best suited for tasks like this, and Elroy seemed like he was already trying to kill her.

"Try to cover for me, Par-ah-dice.”

It was good that Finn was presently, and perhaps even justifiably, trying to crush Ashley with his giant murder mech. That gave Mika an exposed back to jump onto. The demonic giant tried to punch her again. But this time Mika was aware enough to not get totally crushed by the thing. Each fist in her wake left a giant crater in the floor. Once she was on the mech’s back, she held on for dear life.

"Still having girl problems, Finn?”

The mechanical pilot groaned. She was still vindictive over that? Such a lack of priorities. ”At this rate I’d rather take my chances with another guy than put up with a mad woman like you!”

With his attention drawn to a singular target this time, the mech let off another surge of lightning to trap Cerberus against it. It was, in hindsight, probably not the best move to pull. Trying to force her off would only give one of the other agents an opening, and he was still trying to be smart about how he uses his mana. So the solution he came up with?

Give “Elroy” a free hit against her. He was confident that his mech could take it, just this once at least.

This would be the second time Mika had been crushed under the giant’s fist. Her body disappeared under the giant’s fist as it careened into the mech. It sounded like a car crash, with metal and bone twisting in unnatural ways. The mech was magic resistant and too thick to be greatly damaged by most attacks, but mundane materials, regardless of the enchantments, would always be at least partially susceptible to chaotic energies. The back of the mech bent inwards, sparks and oil flew out of its right shoulder. During the cacophony of destruction, Mika reappeared behind a pillar with Raven.

"I don’t recommend giving it a bear hug.” she spit.

With a tug, Elroy freed his hand from the twisted mess on the mech’s back. Of all the attacks that hit the mech so far, this one inflicted by Finn’s own ally was the most significant. But Elroy didn’t seem to enjoy the attack any more than Finn did. The monster looked at its hand and howled. Such an attack would likely not be so easy to bait out in the future.

”Hahahahahahahaha! Woopsie doopsie!” Morning Dragonfruit sighed. ”I guess I should have considered something like that could happen.”

”It’s fine! I can fix that later!” The Timekeeper called out. ”You did good, Elroy!”

“This is why you should only hire professionals.” Klava got out of her seat. “I’m going to get some fresh air.” And with that, the top of the mech opened just long enough for the ice maiden to fly out. The cockpit sealed itself before she landed on the ground.

”Well if she’s going to do funny memes out there, I think I’ll fly wing man with you my boy.” Metal arms from inside the mech lifted the cursed TV and set it in Klava’s spot. ”Oh goodness! It’s still warm! Well, ready when you are.”

Finn nodded, turning his focus back to everyone else.

”Be careful, Maiden!”

From the mech’s torso, he began firing sharpened disk plough blades at the agents, aiming its flamethrower arm in an arc as well to force them to scatter further.

Klava flew through the arena with the control and speed of a humming bird. The sashes on her outfit wrapped around pillars to guide her trajectory through the air. Her frictionless movement allowed her to skate across the walls, ceiling, while narrowly avoiding the occasional shot from Raven’s pistol. For the moment she was towards the back of the room, surfing towards Mika and Raven’s position.

Which was just as well, because things were getting pretty frantic in the hallway.

Regardless of how meager or solid Sofron’s spell was, it had the same effect. Binky and Marrie could feel their ability to project their melodies had been suppressed. While the green haired agent swapped out her magazine, she gave Marrie some affirmation through a nod.

Marrie didn’t even get through the threshold of the door before she was put on the defensive Sofron through a punch with enough force behind it to slide his feet across the floor. It was fortunate that Marrie had decided to use a less expensive melody here, but she found that even that felt too immense while under the effect of Sofron’s Baleflame. Her melody came out silver instead. But maybe that was a good thing, as it seemed like Sofron was attempting to pummel her with his fists.

What ensued was a melee. Even if he was fighting with his hands, it was as if they were made of steel. Her blade couldn’t cut into his flesh, and he had little issue punching her bladed attacks as they came at him. It felt like they might be evenly matched. While Sofron was able to expertly defend himself, Marrie’s training left no openings for him to exploit. Then they both found an opening and went for it. Sofron reached for Marrie’s neck, and her blade found its way into his sternum.

His wound bled. That bartender’s vest he was wearing was stained red by the attack. Yet he still had plenty of strength to hoist her off of the ground. She was suffocating.

”You imbecile.” His grip tightened. ”Lay waste to the woman who keep me company if you must, but I am immortal. I doubt the same can be said for you.” His other hand caught fire. The flame was bright enough that it left an afterglow in Marrie’s eyes when she looked away from it. ”But I’m willing to find out.”

He brought his hand to the side of her head. The heat was cooking the flesh off the side of her face, but her earlier melody was probably diminishing the effects a bit.

”Marrie!” Binky managed to put a few rounds in his legs and torso, but other than make him bleed it didn’t seem to have any effect. She had to redirect fire once his cronies had moved to capture the doorway. ”Shit!”

---

"I believe that was still four contracts, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.” He grinned, and his perfectly white fangs stood out against his jet black flesh. Even his gums seemed to be made of inky darkness. "As for Timekeeper, hmmm, it’s a black pocket watch he keeps on his person. It’s called the Swallowtail. Knowing the name might help if you put your Endless Eclipse to work on it. But we’d rather you not do that right now.” The goat man chuckled. "That’s right, you’re an employee now. You are not to go after Timekeeper until we give you the green light. However, you are free to acquire Cerberus’s Red Oroboros. It’s a red jade pendant depicting a dragon swallowing its tail. Alternatively, Orion’s grimoire is a target. It’s an emerald sphere that she wears like a necklace.” Bookman pressed a button on his cellphone before dismissing it into a ball of ash. "Now, how about we decide your first hires?” He began flipping through the pages. "There are so many to choose from, if you need more time-”

But Himiko didn’’t need time. She immediately pushed her finger between two pages and flipped to the two contracts that laid side by side. Bookman leaned in close to observe what she had picked.

"Not who I would have recommended, but it’s your choice.” Book man closed the tome, and one by one his effects started to disappear. "They shouldn’t be much longer.”

They really wouldn’t. There was gunfire outside the cell. Screaming, and then a quiet. Then there were several loud bangs before a muffled voice said something about searching for a key card. Things were quiet for a moment longer before the cell door slid open. The first one into the room was a knight in pink armor, followed by a diminutive princess.

“I’ll gladly do what’s required of me, but only if it ensures MAGICAL DREAM PRINCESS stays safe!”

“Pwink Pwondah…”

"Magical Dream Princess and Pink Pounder. We bought up their contract recently, but I didn’t expect them to be serving under you directly. Do I even need to introduce them to you?” Given the certainty Himiko had when picking out her guard, he doubted it was necessary. Had her Endless Eclipse given her an insight into these two, or was it all on a whim?

There wouldn’t be much time to think about it.

“Oof!”

Pink pounder, Magical Dream Princess, and Bookman peered out of the cell. The hallway was your typical prison hallway. Cinder block walls lined with doors from end to end. There were a few bullet holes here and there, but not a single drop of blood. There were several unconscious guards, all dressed in blue. But sticking out from the blue and grey environment like a sore thumb was a girl in brown and green. At least what little of her body was actually clad in anything was brown and green. She had a skirt, a bikini top, tube socks, and an uncomfortable number of accessories. If there was something that could give you the impression she was a cowboy, she was wearing it. Save for her ten gallon hat. That had flown off of her head when she tripped.

"Ayana, I presume?”

The cowboy, or horse girl if the ears coming out of her head were to be considered, stood up and dusted herself off. She then took her ten gallon hat and placed it back on top of her head. There were cut outs for her ears, but only one of them slipped into her hat correctly. “That’s me. But how did you know? And who might you be? You look like you could be one of those government guys.” She reached for her pistol. “I bet you’re thinking about putting a chip in Sovereign's head. That way you can track her spending habits or even manipulate them.”

"That’s her alright.” Bookman sat back down. "I’ll get you some transportation. How about you find your grimoire and you can start your first job?”

Amazingly, Ashley’s plan actually seemed to have worked, even if Mika was unfortunately forced to use yet another of her very limited “get out of jail free” cards. The giant’s fist had substantially damaged the mech, and, as an added bonus, the blow appeared to have injured the massive monstrosity as well. Of course, this turn of events had prompted a shift in tactics from their foes, with Klava exiting the mech to engage Mika and Raven, while MDF took her place, but this actually worked to G.E.M.I.N.I.’s advantage. Mika and Raven were both skilled in anti-esper combat, and now, their main target was inside the mech that had been causing them so much trouble, allowing for the opportunity to take out two birds with one proverbial stone. The mech’s immunity to arcane attacks was still an issue, as was the crimson giant’s likely reluctance to fall for the same ploy twice in a row, but even that provided an opportunity, and Ashley was determined to make the most of it…

“Cerise, can I get some long term, full-spectrum protection?” the Knight of Tomorrow inquired, even as an ever-increasing number of glowing energy particles coalesced at the gleaming, tuning-fork tip of her techno-wand. “Thanks,” she told the red-head with a nod once the melody had been cast.

[Gold Touch][Full Enhance][Full Extend][Shield][Reflect]

“You and Cereza should fall back and support Binky and Gale,” the high-tech heroine added, her hardened gaze fixed upon the technological terror in the center of the chamber.

Time to run the gauntlet…

An instant later, Ashley darted forward with all the speed her esper form could muster. Charging straight at the menacing mech, the Knight of Tomorrow only slid to a stop once she was directly beneath the massive machine, at which point she peeked out around its bulky form, aimed her techno-wand at Behemoth!Elroy and fired off a bolt of raw technomystic power, followed by a second, equally potent, shot from the weapon itself, before ducking back under the mech. Even if she wasn’t able to anger the giant enough for it to send another punch slamming down on her (or rather, the mech she was sheltering beneath), at least she would hopefully be able to inflict some damage on it, while Cerise’s melody protected her from the brunt of whatever attacks the mech managed to send her way…

---

When he corrected her, she didn’t make any remark back, nor did she show any reaction to it on her face. She had meant what she had said whether or not Bookman understood what it had been in reference to. A contract that had been unspoken and one she had formulated with her own mind that needed no binding paper agreement once the handshake had been initiated. Hearing the restrictions and the details of what Bookman wanted made it clear who and what she would need to accomplish this difficult mission. Neither Cerberus’s pendant or Orion's grimoire would be easy things to acquire without the right tools at hand.

That was of little importance for now however, now was the time to make the first move and take advantage of the added resources and backup she had never had the benefit of before. Even if Bookman did not understand her choice in who she had selected, there had been no mistake on her part. She knew who she wanted and had made sure to acquire their services. Not even Bookman's initial skepticism about her selections had any effect on how sure she was about who she had picked.

Remaining seated as her selections made their grand entrance, only then did she avert her gaze and turn it towards Pink Pounder and MDP as they entered. Bookman was right about one thing, they needed no introduction to Himiko. Despite having never met either before, Himiko knew exactly who both of them were and knew what they could do. She also knew about the disagreements that they had with Gemini in the past. Insights that had been gleaned from her Endless Eclipse. She gave Bookman a dismissive wave of her hand breaking her silence to clarify an answer to his question.

“A little bird told me they were the two that I needed for this job…”

Her train of thought was interrupted by another presence she had felt coming from the hallway even before she had heard her. Himiko knew who it was as she let out a small sigh soon after Ayana made her Oof. It was only then that Himiko stood up from her seat upon the bed and moved across the room, with a smooth glide-like step until she had reached the western horse girl. A small glance towards Ayana’s hand that hovered near her pistol as she confronted Bookman. Without a word, Himiko brought her hand up to Ayana’s cheek, caressing it briefly as if she felt relief to see her safe and sound. She looked her in the eyes before pulling her hand back and gave her a flick in the dead center of her forehead. Taking a step back as she spoke to her long-time accomplice.

Despite the complete lack of any emotion or facial expression, Himiko was quite pleased to have Ayana back and in one piece. She would never say it or admit it openly, but she valued Ayana's contribution and skills and her loyalty to Himiko. She didn’t have many friends in this world, but if she had to list at least one, Ayana was the closest thing to it.

“I see you are unharmed and up to your usual antics, now listen here, this is important, Sovereign no longer exists, that charade has come to an end, now the esper known as Cerberus has taken up the mantle and dons her jacket, do not call me that any longer, you may call me Himiko or by my new true title of Oros,as for the brain chips if Gemini was going to put a chip into anyone’s head you would have been the first…” Himiko addressed her directly in front of the group before lowering her voice so only Ayana would be able to pick up what she said with her horse ears.

“What is wrong with my spending habits….”

Turning now to face Bookman and her two new compatriots “Very well, Pounder, MDP, we can discuss our plan in more detail as we travel to our destination, once I reacquire my grimoire and we can begin the operation, I’m sure you are quite eager to get even with Gemini and Orion in particular so how about we make them realize they should have acknowledged us…” Spreading her arms apart as her golden eyes glowed yet her facial expression remained emotionless as did her tone.

Marrie coughed. She didn't have the strength to intend to spit on Sofron, it was just a happy accident that she did. The timer on her previous Melody was just about out. With the flame slowly melting her left her with few options, and not enough time to think through them. Instead, a new Melody was cast, the magic working itself out almost on instinct. The only thought she could send her magic was that she needed to do it again.

{Genre: Warm; Diamond Touch - Quicken - Transplace - Multicast}

With their relative positions switched, Marrie retracted her Instrument as quickly as she could back to her hand. Just as she spun around to face Sofron's back, her second Melody activated.

{Gold Self - Dispel}

And then her Instrument was in the side of his neck, and she was jumping backwards. [Devour Chance] She jumped again, backing a few feet away from her opponent, leaving Fenrir where it was stuck (if it had pierced) with its chain now extended fully. Her thinking was muddled from pain, but she was still able to speak.

"Good. If you're immortal, I don't have to worry about killing you."

Having said what she felt she needed to, she reached her left hand into her Style to grab something. Hoping that Sofron would notice, she grabbed the Tungsten Rod she kept inside but left it hidden behind magic fabric.

With her hand still hidden, she retracted Fenrir's chain to retrieve it as quickly as it would.

It did not need to be told twice.

The shadow vaulted off, but not before Amanda had gotten a head start on it . Getting shot was no joke, and even with it there to protect her, Ciri needed a moment to catch her breath and fire. Fortunately, there was still time to do that. But it wasn’t a spray of blood that filled the air, but fragments of Viper’s pillaged armor. Bits of kevlar and polymer filled the air like confetti. But Amanda didn’t slow down.

It dawned on Ciri that she might have been out of her fucking element here. As she rushed ahead, she sent a message to Luna.

"Kiiiinda busy dealing with nuns and weretigers right now." Luna stated what should have been obvious. "If you see a kid monster, you know what to do." It was pretty standard in crisis situations like this to evacuate monsters as soon as possible. Maverick Alternative hadn’t fully entered the building yet, but the forces that met them at the door would be enough to hold their advance for a time. It seemed like Ciri was on her own. Behind enemy lines with the most important monster recovery of her career and an old foe she desperately wanted to settle the score with.

Upon coming up the stairs, Ciri could see Amanda ahead of her. She had ducked into a corner to avoid Viper. A yellow ball of mist soared out of her hands and landed on the ground. It just stayed there, but Amanda ran further away from it.

"Ah! It’s burning!"

Ciri could perceive very tiny yellow dots leaping off of the yellow projectile. Maybe those seemingly harmless dots were what had burned Amanda. But that didn’t matter now. Ciri’s melody had been composed, and she was ready to sing.

Two weretigers came out of the darkness, and Viper attempted to hide behind them. But there was no dodging the projectile. It surfed right over them and struck true. And just like before, it only managed to obliterate her helmet. It was an attack that would have caved a normal esper’s head in, but she appeared to be totally unharmed aside from her destroyed helmet. She wore a bandana underneath, a scarf too, and of course her gas mask.

Something weird was going on here. A bullet was enough to blow up her armored suit, but a powerful melody could only blow up her helmet? Did it not matter how strong Ciri’s attacks were?

"Ciri?" Amanda called out. "Did you get her?"

Viper shrugged her shoulders. "I heard Maverick Alternative was going all out on this one. You even brought a dragon along." She rolled her shoulders. "It might surprise you to know that we have a dragon of our own."

There was movement in the corner of Ciri’s eye. To her right, a window overlooked the side street from the second story. She could see the scaly belly of something large and metallic. The pointed shapes that covered its body were more akin to spikes than scales, but it looked like it could be part of a dragon.

"Regina also wanted a rematch. She’s been training for this." Viper and the two weretigers at her side started to walk backwards. "Maybe if you win your qualifying match, you can face me in the finals."

A talon broke through the wall just behind Ciri’s position. It wiped out the stairs, and would soon be arriving at Ciri’s position.

---

"...REALLY??? My expectations were low but holy shit, I thought you were smarter than that."

Despite being aware that Elroy probably won’t risk hitting Timekeeper’s mech again, Ashley decided to bait the behemoth into doing so anyway, narrowly avoiding the volley of blades and fire to slide beneath it and double tap him.

None of Elroy’s vitals were exposed, save his arms. The techno bolts caused the behemoth a great deal more pain than the mech, with seams opening up along the length of the arm. But this was a behemoth, and any damage it suffered was a flesh wound unless it was targeted at its weak point. After a howl of pain, one of the hands slid towards the mech, or more specifically, to the person hiding under it. As the giant demon leaned in, his head and horns obstructed the light coming in from the room above.

"Well, have fun with that."

Finn aimed away from the giant arm and fired a lightning bolt to get out of the way of that. The mech reappeared a small distance away, moving to go support Klava. Ashley’s going to need to deal with the more immediate threat quite literally looming over her before going after him.

With the mech out of the way, The hand sped up, its massive fingers spreading wider.

It was true that Raven was an effective anti-esper esper. And while Mika lacked an instrument that did physical damage, she had proven to be a good team player for the other espers. But their opponent was Klava, who might as well have been anti-everything. She rarely got as much as a scratch during most operations, and whatever deal she had struck with Bookman had made her far stronger than she had ever been.

Her sash wrapped around the pillars like monstrous tendrils. Her trajectory was erratic and fast. Raven fired many times, but she never hit anything but air. Mika used her claws to sever one of the sashes, but then three more joined in to make up for it. Even espers gifted with flight likely wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the frigid esper’s tricks. It was at least fortunate that the demon was leaning into the hole now, and was purely focused on fighting Ashley now.

"She’s fast!"

Klava sped up, shooting straight for Raven. The high tech esper flinched and brought her arm up in front of her face.

Mika prepared a melody, and her eyes flashed as she did so.



…

…

…

Raven sighed. She had just finished preparing for the operation when Mika approached her.

"Hey."

"Oh." Raven was a little surprised to see the distant teenager talking to her. "What’s up? Need help packing."

"I’m fine. I need you to do something for me though."

"I’m listening."

"You brought a flashbang with you, right?"

"I usually do."

"It’s really important that you have one this time. You’ll want to have quick access to it."

"...Okay." Raven could tell Mika was being serious, even if she was acting a little weird. "I have a pocket in my cape. Is that good enough."

Mika nodded. "Someone’s going to try and cut your arm off. If you hold your cape in front of yourself, and they hit your flash bang, you’ll be spared."

"Won’t that burn me?"

"Not if you protect yourself with a melody."

Raven chuckled. "Well, I can protect myself from the explosion, but that flash will disorientate me."

"I’ll cure your eyes if that happens." Mika said as a matter of factly. "Just make sure you do it, we can’t lose you early in the fight."

"Don’t worry! I’ll do it!." Mika departed without saying another word. It was such a strange and specific request. She almost didn’t follow through with it. But the certainty in her voice made her hard to ignore.

…

…

…

And now, she was glad she listened.

An energy bubble spread over Raven’s body, perfectly sealing her off from physical attacks. This happened just moments before Klava’s blade bit into her cape. The blow was hard enough to split the grenade, and mix the contents inside. A blinding flash filled the room. Klava stumbled backwards, as did Raven.

"Gah!" But Raven’s disorientation was short-lived. A spiritual stote soared through the air and rubbed its torso against Raven’s face, and her disorientation and blindness vanished in an instant. She raised her gun to shoot Klava, but her bullet struck the foot of Finn’s mech instead.

Mika hissed. "If only he tried this hard as an agent..."

Klava rose to her feet. "I’ve got it under control, but thanks."

Meanwhile, even if Cerise did fall back to shield Binky from enemy gunfire, she continued to keep an eye out in case Ashley ended up in trouble. So seeing the demon behemoth reaching down to grab the Knight of Tomorrow, she held a free hand out, ready to fire a pull melody to get her out of arms reach. "Orion! Over here!"

Marrie was putting a lot of her mana into this one. But Sofron wasn’t giving her a lot of choices. He already had a head start on her with his own melody, and she fully intended to beat him to the punch. His hand got hotter, Marrie’s melody surged through her arm, and then she reached out just as the palm of his hand started to glow white.

Then they swapped.

Marrie and Sofron were standing back to back. Sofron fell about a foot and a small explosion shot out of his palm. It wasn’t hard to picture that decapitating someone. But Marrie was too busy following up to care about what could have happened. She dispelled any negative energies that may have been inside her body and carried on. Between the disorientation and surprise, it wasn’t difficult to ram her weapon into the side of his neck. Crimson oozed over her blade, and she ran backwards as he reached to pull it from his neck.

The blade was only eight inches long, so it was not long enough to go all the way through his neck. But when Marrie gave it a tug, it definitely seemed like that bothered Sofron more than anything else that had happened to him ever. He had been drowned, stabbed, and shot, but this was the first time he looked genuinely weak. That look of reserved dignity was replaced with the wide eyed look of a man who’s life was spiraling out of control and was trying to figure out where it went wrong. He used one hand to stem the flow of blood rushing out of his neck, and the other he pointed down the hall at Marrie.

By now Marrie had put enough distance between herself and Sofron that his men felt like they could safely intervene. They started to pile in around Sofron and behind Marrie, but brandished Ka-bars and billy clubs as they closed in.

With Marrie starting to get swarmed in, she’d suddenly feel something else strike her in the head. But she’d feel…pretty much nothing from it. No pain, no bleeding, instead her face rapidly healed itself from the magical burns. Cereza had her bow aimed at her. "Should’ve shouted for me, kid!" She called out to her, turning her sights towards Sofron’s minions. She aimed at the ones covering him in the front, and fired another melody aimed at one of their heads, following it up with firing more normal arrows to keep their attention towards her. The miko was trying to get Marrie another opening.

Binky was also assisting, muttering something under her breath _{"S-So cool..."}

---

Dismissed or not, Bookman was already on the phone making a call. While Himiko couldn’t be rid of him so easily, it was pretty easy to tune him out as she addressed her new hires and one old one.

"Oros? Really?" Ayana raised an eyebrow. "I think it’s smart to ditch the Sovereign moniker, but why take on the persona of a mad esper that everyone wants dead?" Though after some thinking, her eyes shot open. She came to a realization. Ayana pulled a ball of tinfoil out of her pocket and fabricated it into a hat. She placed it on top of Himiko’s head and then held two rare earth magnets on either side of her head. "I knew they chipped you! Oros must be part of a psyop where they turn their own into depraved espers. It’s their intent to scare us freelancers’ straight and abandon our posts! Tell me Himiko, is your desire to buy a new washing machine subsiding?" She gently massaged the magnets against her temples. The cool metal wicked the heat out of her skin.

Magical Dream Princess stared at Himiko, unblinking. But Pink Pounder was more responsive.

"Got it."

He stepped back into the hallway and ran down to the other end. MDP followed after him, but was slow about it. She stepped over a few of the sleeping bodies and wandered through the labyrinthine complex until she encountered Pink Pounder again. He had broken into a locker room that had some unusually secure lockers. They looked more like safes, and each one had a slot for a key card reader. He was trying various keycards on them that he had pulled from the unconscious guards.

"Pwink Pwoundah." She rubbed her arm. "is iwt gawna be uwukay? I was huwping thawt we wewe done with gemini. They might be mwean, but i don’t wawnt tuwu huwut thewm."

Pink Pounder looked up from the lockers. He stepped towards her and hugged her shoulders with one arm. "We put a ‘looking for work’ request up. Our employer kept some of the finer details hidden, but we agreed that we wouldn’t have an issue fighting espers, monsters or ‘our other enemies.’ And the pay is good." He stepped back in front of a locker. "They didn’t specify that we had to kill anyone, which is why we knocked out all the guards." The next keycard caused one of the lockers to pop open. He rummaged through the contents until he came across an abacus. Pink Pounder grabbed it with both hands and attempted to twist it apart, but it wouldn’t break. "This should be it."

He ran back to Himiko’s position and presented her with the abacus. "Was this what you wanted?"

On one hand, Ashley’s attacks seemed to have inflicted at least moderate damage on the behemoth, but on the other, her strategy of taking shelter beneath the mech didn’t work out nearly as well as she’d hoped. In a crackle of enchanted electricity, it simply teleported itself to the other side of the chamber, leaving the Knight of Tomorrow at the mercy of the crimson giant’s massive fists. “Damn it…” she hissed through gritted teeth, even as the Timekeeper’s taunts made her want to pry the vindictive young esper out of his annoying toy and use her techno-wand to beat him senseless. However, the high-tech heroine forced those rage-fueled thoughts aside, and instead raised her instrument to point at the enormous hand that threatened to close around her. Leaping backwards, she fired an energy bolt into the behemoth’s wall-like palm, even as she allowed Cerise’s melody to pull her even further out of harm’s way. “Thanks,” she told the crimson-haired miko, before firing another powered up bolt at the looming titan’s center of mass.

However, this wasn’t an attack, but a finder pulse, intended to locate the creature’s weak point. It was only by directing an attack there that they would have any chance of inflicting meaningful harm on it. Yet, even so, Ashley ideally wanted to keep the giant in the fight. It had been made abundantly clear that no melody or weapon her team possessed could so much as scratch Finn’s accursed mech, with only the giant’s own fists proving effective. If they were to eliminate the enormous creature now, she no idea how they would ever stop the mech, the mech that, incidentally, now housed the very target of the operation itself. It’s times like these that make me wish Valkyrie was still around… the Knight of Tomorrow reflected. Indeed, the MIA agent’s gauss sniper rifle would very likely have made short work of the mech’s enchanted armor, or at the very least, would’ve done more damage than anything the high-tech heroine, or any member of her team, was capable of. As it was, they would have to figure out some other way of eliminating the annoying machine, ideally without wasting much more of their precious time…

---

Himiko stood her ground, she showed her first sign of some kind of emotion and reaction. Her golden eyes half closed, she stared straight at Ayana for a brief moment while she went about her ritual. She wouldn’t admit or acknowledge that there was a pleasing quality to the stone massage, but she didn’t have time to mess around. She slowly brought up her right hand in no real rush until she grabbed a solid hold of Ayana by her cheek. Pinching it with a tug, stretching it out in the process as nonchalantly possible.

“I don’t have a desire to buy a new washing machine, if you are worried about being a depraved esper then you are late to the party, we are long past the point of being labeled depraved, they label anyone who disagrees with their narrow world view depraved…”

Giving her cheek an even stronger tug as she reached up her left hand to take off the tinfoil hat and crumpled it in her hand. “I’m not taking on that frauds persona, Oros the Mad does not belong in this world, this is my world, the world of Oros the Greedy, do not concern yourself with my relative we have more important things to take care of, we can deal with that later”

Hearing the Pounder’s arrival back to her position as she glanced over her shoulder upon the sound of his voice. She finally released Ayana’s cheek as she turned to face him she tossed the crumpled tin foil over her shoulder towards Ayana. Her emotionless gaze found the abacus in his grasp she reached out and took a hold of it giving a small nod. “Yes, this is it, you have done well…now we wait for our transportation”It felt good to finally have it back in her hands, it was something she valued far more then just as her Grimoire, a piece of her past she still held dear. She felt a new sense of power rush into her now reunited with it and her Endless Eclispe now her gaze shifted towards MDP and locked onto her.

“They wouldn’t hesitate to hurt you if you had something they wanted, the goal isn’t to hurt them, the goal is to collect the artifacts that two of them have, if you are able to collect either one without having to hurt them then be my guest, but Orion or Cerberus don’t seem like the type to allow that so easily or without a fight” Even though she hadn’t been present when MDP had expressed her concerns to Pink Pounder, it was almost like she had been. Though MDP’s body language was easy enough to read since she had returned with the Pounder.

Himiko took a moment to lean her head towards her Endless Eclipse perched on her shoulder as she gave a nod of her head “We might be in luck, it would seem that Cerberus has found herself in some trouble, as has Orion, it will make our job easier when we arrive, Cerberus has already had to resort to some of her trump cards” Her golden eyes glowed as she seemed to be gathering up information even as she stood before them even if she hadn’t been at the battlefield, she had still felt Cerberus’s power in use. The more power that Cerberus and Orion had to burn through before they arrived the better.

“What is the ETA on our arrival to the battlefield” Speaking to Bookman without looking at him with a nonchalant tone, her gaze remained with MDP and Pink Pounder as they awaited the next course of action now that Himiko had regained her Grimoire and with it, her newfound potential power,for the first time her Endless Eclipse and Grimoire were at her disposal.

You don’t have any original thoughts.
At least I can learn.

With Cereza's heal, Marrie was back to seeing with both eyes. Which was great, because a melee fighter without depth perception is equivalent to a suicidal lemming. She wanted to give a non-verbal appreciation, but her hands were occupied.

"Thanks!"

Since Sofron didn't seem to take the bait, and his goons were starting to surround her, she already knew what her next Melody would be. The tungsten rod began to show the telltale signs of magic as she cast on it.

{Gold Touch - Blink - Delay(4)}

With the Melody cast, and Sofron looking right at her (or as much as he could with foot-soldiers in the way) she brought the rod out and chucked it as directly at his head as she could. It didn't matter if it hit him, or one of the "workers," or missed entirely. With four seconds of delay, and one additional second after, she could decide if she wanted to Blink or fake him out based on his reaction. And if she hit him in the head with it? Bonus. Still though, it was a little concerning that he could still breathe with a neck wound, but that only made her sort-of taunting/sort-of genuine remark a moment ago more applicable.

As soon as the metal left her hand, Marrie started towards those nearest Sofron, trying to take advantage of Cereza's volley. They could get in the way, but that could be problem or an opportunity. She sped up to weave between them, cutting each one she passed as she tried to avoid their retaliation. [Devour Chance * ???] Sofron didn't seem like the type to avoid attacking through his minions, but she made sure to try to keep at least one in-between herself and him as she could while shortening the gap between them.

Her Instrument's chain was kept at just a few inches of slack, knowing that extending it could get it grabbed by someone, and that it being too short made it harder to retrieve if it were knocked from her hand. And when she made it within range of attacking Sofron? She'd slash at him, and decide to Blink if he fell for the feint, or take advantage of his attention being behind him if he didn't.

Mika sighed when she saw Ashley retreat further away from the fight. The demon was only going to chase her so far, and then it would be Mika’s problem again. Now felt like a perfectly reasonable time to deploy Binky, a miko, or someone to help. Either Ashley had a lot of faith in her abilities or she was trying to get the two of them killed. Oh well. Hard to complain when Finn was being offered to her as a target.

"Gave up fighting Orion already?" Mika’s arm swirled with spirits. "Or did you want to protect the only girl in the world that doesn’t see you as a creep?"

Okay, at that, Finn couldn’t help blinking in dumbfoundment. His face twisted into a scowl. "You must’ve really lost it if you think it’s like that. And I’m supposed to be the creep here?" He regarded her implications with disgust. "Why not give an actual reason you want to kill me instead of petty grudges?"

What a weird question to be asked in the middle of a fight. He was the one who decided on opposing them. Mika was only goading him on because she was hoping he would try to fight her. But this made it sounded like he was trying to reach out. But what should her answer be? She could tell him the truth, that his careless actions had gotten her mother killed. But that was really just the last straw. It was pure incompetence, not malicious intent. It might not have led to such outrage if things had been different. Maybe if he didn’t spend all of his time moping around while Mika and the other agents were fighting weretigers. Maybe if Ashley and Fritzi didn’t constantly show him preferential treatment at every opportunity. Maybe if he didn’t fuck up his own opperation where they they tackled the dream demon problem he created. Maybe if he hadn’t tried to keep his dream demon problem a secret. Maybe if he didn’t lure all of those girls into a relationship with him, only to get mad at them because he was leading them all on. Maybe if he hadn’t decided to defect to the enemy side. Maybe, maybe, maybe not. It was likely a combination of all of those things. It didn’t matter. There was only one answer Mika was ever going to give in this situation.

"I think the time to talk was before you said you’d break us."

The spirits coalesced into a cat. She pointed her finger ahead the feline hopped off her wrist. But rather than jump like a normal cat, it shot forward at an imperceptible speed. It left a beam of light in its wake. The spirit struck the hull of the mech, but then pierced it and narrowly missed both pilots, before coming out the other side. Some corrosive poison was attempting to eat away at the Mech’s internals.

"Um, sweetheart?" XVIII Morning Dragon Fruit spoke up. "They’re just trying to make you angry so that you’ll slip up, like you did just now. Once I’ve removed their GEMINI brainwashing you can talk to them as much as you like. Deal?"

The Timekeeper groaned, less out of anger, and more out of annoyance. "That will be unnecessary." Regardless, he kept the Mech moving, charging up its own beam to fire back towards Mika and Raven.

The mech was spooling up with power, and both GEMINI agents dove for cover. While they both had magically resistant pillars to hide behind, they were metal pillars. The melody didn’t score a direct hit, but electricity leapt from the pillar and hit Raven. They flew away from the pillar as smoke rose off of their wounds.

"This is more my speed."

Klava swatted the mech on the ass, and the entire thing was covered in a magic resistant bubble. No melody that Mika could manage would be breaking through that. Then she was on the offense again, skating straight for Raven’s position. The tacticool agent didn’t have time to fire, but was able to raise her sword as the two katana wielders came in close proximity to one another.

Mika was about to rush to Raven’s aid, but the mech was stomping its way towards her, puffing its flamethrower menacingly. "Huh." Was Mika’s only response. She tapped the side of her head to open the GEMINI coms system. "Orion? The mech seems to be vulnerable against piercing melodies. Ice witch put some kind of pro-tech-shun on it and I don’t think I can breach it."

The hand continued to close in on Ashley, but she was much too far away to grab. The pillars creaked and the ceiling flexed as the demon reached, but it was a futile effort. Eventually it began to retract its hand, perhaps just a bit faster after Ashley opened fire on it. Though before it disappeared into the ceiling again, an Elroy-shaped light beamed out from the demon’s chest, right over its heart. It did seem like this was just like the Holy Diver.

"Oh, honey?" XVIII Morning Dragon Fruit prodded the inside of the mech. "I gotta say, I hadn’t realized the um, what’s the word I’m looking for, ‘capabilities’ of your little toy here. But I want to ask a not so hypothetical question if you’re willing to hear me out. I know you said that it wasn’t necessary that I bring your old pals to our side, but what if I said I could start doing that right now?" She chuckled. "Like, who would be the funniest person to place on our side right now?"

Finn didn’t need to think long, he turned the mech towards the direction of the intended targets.

"Take their healers out of the equation." He suggested it to Morning. "That should get me a bit of breathing room." Only a little, that was just one out of the three who had the ability to pierce his mech.

"Oh wow, I would have thought you would have liked to fry them both yourself." The TV giggled. "Ah well, miko on miko action it is!"

The mech creaked and shuttered, then bellowed out something that sounded like a mix between static white noise and some creatures howling. The room’s lights flashed a myriad reality of colors, but the spectacle only lasted a few seconds.

Not for Cereza however.

With stiff movements, she notched an arrow, flooded it with mana, and attempted to shoot her sister’s leg off.

Sofron wasn’t about to let a tungsten rod hit him in the forehead along with everything else today. He grabbed one of the construction workers and shoved him in front of the incoming projectile. But as flashy as the melody looked when Marrie cast it, that was it. The rod struck the construction worker’s hard hat without so much as scratching the plastic. Was this some kind of joke?

Normally a blink or transplace melody would give another esper some time to understand what was going on. But the delay melody suppressed the magic completely. He took his eyes off of it and dismissed the attack as a childish attempt to humiliate him.

The fire in his hand intensified, and the cut in his neck began to mend itself back together. The thousand yard stare disappeared with a blink, and Baleful Sofron was baleful again.

"Again!"

With a snap of his fingers, the hallway was filled with burning ash. Marrie’s mana was locked down again, and Sofron could breath easy knowing that any expensive options she was saving up for wouldn’t be able to fire under his curse. This would not have influenced a melody that had been cast ahead of time, however.

The ash made Marrie’s skin itch and peel, but there was no running from it this time. But it was clear Sofron was getting tired of her tricks. His eyes turned into black orbs that perfectly reflected the burning ash around him. He had to be using something strong, something powerful.

The construction workers were numerous, but clumsy. In such a confined space, their improvised clubs weren’t as useful as her short bladed weapon. She got closer to Sofron, but like her, he seemed to be delaying, maintaining at least one guard between them. The guard seemed utterly confused as both fighters half circled around each other, with Marrie occasionally swatting away a troublesome guard at her heels.

Then Sofron threw the guard into the wall and thrust his palm towards Marrie. Three rings of fire orbited his hand like a planet, but wobbled on their axis in an unstable fashion. With a roar, he closed his hand, the rings were severed, and what looked like the start of atomic fusion happening right on top of his knuckles.

---

While Ayana had stopped talking to listen to Himiko, she didn’t react when her cheeks were pinched and pulled. Eventually her skin snapped back in place with just as much fanfare.

"I’m only telling you what everyone else is going to think." She sighed. "This is so totally a psyops." She removed the batteries and slid them into her pockets.

Pounder relinquished the abacus with a nod and stood back in line. And then they listened. No one commented on Himiko’s words. It was nods of approval or a blank stare across the board. Eventually it came time to address the devil in the room.

"I thought you would have liked to have transformed first." He, too, was avoiding making eye contact like a stupendous badass. Though it had less to do with aesthetics and more to do with the fact that he was going over notes and listening on the phone. "Well first, I think it might be worthwhile to assess how your Endless Eclipse works. They’re all a little different, and it would be a shame if you got yourself in a bind."

BACKUP: Endless Eclipse



"But if you’re ready to go, I think we can get you where you need to be right about… now…"

…

…

…

Magical Dream Princess, Pink Pounder, Ayana, and Himiko were all standing outside the Golden Trove. It was clear that something big was going on here. Boteg’s wings were barely visible up on the roof, and a second dragon was swiping it’s claws against the side of the building. There were dead and wounded weretigers scattered on the steps, and more monsters and espers funneling into the front. They all looked at each other, none of them sure exactly what transpired.

"Riiiiight." Ayana took a few steps back. "Well, it looks like everyone’s funneling in there like they want to buy the newest flat screen TV. I think I’m quite happy with my boxy, bunny eared one. Hehe, I’ll catch you guys later?"

"Going so soon?"

The next one to speak up was a woman with white hair in a red dress. She was sitting at a table by the corner of the building, tea cup in hand. She looked like she had been talking to an agent, but dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

"V-Vewnmiwwion Vewonica…" Magical Dream Princess slid behind Pink Pounder.

"Himiko Yoshikawa, and the rest of the B-team." She set down her cup beside her saucer. Her tone sounded more amused than anything else. "Somehow I’m not surprised to see you here. Regardless, the operation is far too important to let you take part in. Now would be a good time for you to hop away while I’m busy organizing the Hand’s Downfall. Otherwise you’ll endanger the operation and I’ll be forced to take matters into my own hands."

When Ashley’s finder pulse struck the behemoth’s palm, she gave a small nod as she took note of the clearly delineated humanoid form at the center of the giant creature’s chest. The location of its weak point (and likely its power source as well) was honestly to be expected, especially considering the same was true of The Diver, but it was still nice to have positive confirmation. That said, eliminating the crimson-skinned monstrosity was not their primary concern. Thus, the Knight of Tomorrow was pleasantly surprised when Mika informed her of a second possible weak point in the mech’s otherwise impregnable defenses. “Roger,” Ashley acknowledged over her comm. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Yet, before she could capitalize on this new information, a blast of prismatic colors and cacophonous sounds filled the chamber. Even as spots flashed before her eyes, Ashley saw Cereza slowly aim an arrow at Cerise. Crap…! the high-tech heroine swore as she placed herself in front of the targeted miko, her glowing shield raised to block the incoming, mystically infused shot. Even as she did so, the Knight of Tomorrow called over her shoulder, “Cerise! See if you can dispel the enchantment on that mech!” Obviously, the apparently mind-controlled Cereza was also a concern, but said mental control seemed to be caused by their primary target in all this- Morning Dragon Fruit. Ashley was hopeful that Cerise’s sister would return to her normal self once the strange machine entity had been neutralized, and said entity currently resided within Finn’s mech…

Even as she spoke, and indeed, even before she’d raised her shield, the Knight of Tomorrow had begun charging up another firing solution, one tailor-made to exploit the machine’s newly discovered vulnerability. Once more, the tip of her techno-wand seethed with pent-up power, and upon confirming that Cerise had disenchanted her target, Ashley would take aim and disgorge that power in a radiant beam. Locking onto a target point within the mech’s cockpit itself, upon reaching it, the lance of incandescent energy would burst apart in a brilliant, neon green detonation.

---

"Heeeeey!" Luna thought back. "See if I eat pizza with-" But she was cut off, perhaps by the developing situation. Which was just as well. Now wasn’t the time for a heart to heart.

"Got it!" Despite being nearly melted by magic, it sounded like Amanda was still doing good. A ball of sand flew out of the hallway and smacked into the side of one weretiger’s head, putting him out instantly. The other one turned and fired down the hallway. It was hard to see what was happening, but Amanda cried out again. Normally guns weren’t very effective tools on monsters, but in the hands of another monster, their chaotic energies often affected their firearms. This was one of the reasons monsters didn’t employ such weapons against espers. But against other monsters? Guns were a viable option again. Given that Maverick had many monsters in its ranks, it made sense to retaliate with armed monsters.

Amanda’s safety aside, Cirilla got her opening and finished her corny one liner just in time to fire on. Between now and the previous fight to acquire Boteg, she had learned a bit about her opponent. Dealing damage was about quantity, not quality, she told herself. It was so simple in retrospect that she wondered how it had escaped her for so long. So she decided to make her next attack really count and go for a quick transplace that would line up Viper for a single, solid blow from a powerful advisory. But only if her armor didn’t eat the spell like it had been doing all of her others.

Just one problem.

While a shadowtouch is a great tactic for instantly inflicting a target with a melody, it does nothing to make transplace melodies activate faster. Viper had about a second and a half to switch places with Ciri, and Ciri had a fraction of that before Regina’s claws batted her from behind. It was fortunate that espers had legendary resistances to monsters, but that didn’t stop Ciri from flying over head. Viper had entirely missed Ciri’s acrobatic performance when she turned to look at her leg, and kicked at the arm that had reached out and grabbed her.

Ciri was about to plant her face on a light fixture when she suddenly swapped places with Viper. Ciri tumbled into a kneeling position, and Viper fell into one.

"Oh? I thought you’d have appreciated the privacy. Very well." Viper stood up and aimed her shotgun at Ciri. "Two versus two."

Ciri had just enough time to roll down the hallway and avoid getting shot in the face. It might have been a bit of a happy accident, but she did manage to move Viper further away from amanda while placing herself closer. It only cost her some dignity and a pretty big bruise. But Regina was moving into frame again, and between Ciri and Amanda was a lone weretiger with a machine gun. Upon noticing her arrival, he turned around and started shoving her back into the hallway. The dragon’s jaw swung open and flames swirled inside its mouth.

"Good news, Ciri!" Luna spoke up in Ciri's mind. "The enemy is retreating back upstairs, so if you lay low, we’ll swing by and pick you up!"

The faint laughter of the nuns were already reaching Ciri’s ears.

Having finished addressing her team, she turned her attention back to the demon. Giving a subtle shake of her head “There will be time for that once we arrive at our destination, as for assessing my Endless Eclipse, I’m in concurrence”

…
…
…
…

Once they arrived at the Golden Trove, despite the suddenness of the relocation Himiko remained stoic. Her eyes shifted briefly around the area of the Golden Trove taking in as much information as she could about the current situation that was unfolding between The Hand and the alliance of factions. It was clear that things were already well underway with the fate of the battle still up for grabs. Between the dragons, dead and wounded weretigers and the reinforcements still flooding into battle it was a loud and chaotic scene.

Even through the chaos that would have distracted or drawn the full attention of most. Himiko gave Ayana a sideways glance for her comments until her attention shifted towards the source of a new voice. Remaining silent as MDP announced their name before retreating behind Pink Pounder for protection. Himiko remained where she stood, her gaze not moving from the woman in the red dress. Nor did she respond to her initially, giving a small dismissive wave of her hand in Ayana’s direction. That would look like to most a simple dismissal and allowance for Ayana to leave the scene. Which was partially true, but Ayana would know what Himiko expected from her once she did make her way from the action.

Once that was done, Himiko slowly and wordlessly approached Vermilion Veronica’s table, her Endless Eclipse remaining perched upon her shoulder. Pulling a chair over she took a seat directly across from Vermilion, crossing her arms over her chest she closed her eyes. “If you are so worried about the outcome, why sit out here relaxing while others do the heavy lifting, besides you'll have bigger problems then just The Hand ” pausing briefly before she continued “I could care less who wins or comes out on top from this battle, if Maverick, Gemini and The Hand all tear themselves apart I wouldn’t shed a tear” Her tone steely and cold being straight to the point.

“I doubt we will find any common ground, nor would you ever agree to a compromise as what I desire is not something you’d be willing to give me, nor is what you desire something that I’m willing to give you, so we both know how this is going to end, however I must warn you, the Himiko Yoshikawa that you knew and are so confident in dismissing is not the one that sits before you now…..” Her eyes finally flickered open as she uncrossed her arms before pulling out her abacus, she emitted a brief golden glow entering her esper form at long last.

This time was different, the form she had idealized within her mind as the esper known as Sovereign was gone and replaced with that of a new form The once golden hair was gone along with the white jacket, black hat and the mask she had once donned. Truly shedding her former persona once and for all and her new true identity taking the stage. Holding up her right hand, her Endless Eclipse fluttered from her shoulder to her index finger as her golden eyes stared directly into Vermilion's. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, you see, you are not speaking to ‘Himiko Yoshikawa’ or the former esper known as ‘Sovereign’, so how about I introduce myself properly” Her tone and face were both emotionless as she spoke. Glancing towards the bird upon her finger it took her a moment until her attention turned back towards Vermilion.

“You may refer to me from this point onward by my true title, a title I’m sure you are quite familiar with, yet still new to you…that of Oros, Oros The Greedy….now with that matter out of the way, how do you wish to settle this...”

Well, it didn't work the way she hoped, but it might be just as good. The rod didn't do any damage, but by bouncing just over the worker's head it was able to land just behind them. The real problem was trying to keep Sofron between herself and the fallen rod while also attempting to attack him. The seconds seemed to crawl by as she counted them, but even when the draining ash filled the hallway and her skin felt like it would melt off, she kept counting. Four...

That's when Sofron threw their shared shield aside and reached for her like his life depended on it. Maybe it did, since Marrie had just enough time to register what his Melody looked like before -

*Pop*

With the two doing a dance around the worker like they had, Marrie found herself now about five feet behind Sofron and to his right. Shit, that's lucky... Rather than press the advantage by running up to him, she decided that the Melody he was casting was not worth risking, so she picked up the rod, cut the nearest worker and ran backwards. [Devour Chance] Her backtracking retreat back towards the door frame and Binky was rushed, but she was careful not to trip. As much as she wanted to purify herself again, she decided to take control of the fight's pace instead. In a single quick and practiced movement she put the rod away again and pulled out her pistol.

She cast a Melody on the bullet, then waited for the end of Sofron's explosive Melody.

{Pseudo Projectile: Bronze - Restrain - Mana Burn}

Just as Sofron turned to face her, she'd fire, aiming right between his clavicles. The Mana Burn on top of his use of heavy Melodies made her hope that he'd be out soon. She'd not been able to practice how Restrain would work on a living target, but if it was anything like the dummies she'd used it on, then Sofron should end up with his sternum attached to the wall on his left, her right. Or the other, if that one was destroyed by his attack just now.

Having fired, she returned the weapon to its sleeping place within her Style.