Hibiki & Shizuka
The sheer shockwave of the attacks threaten to stop Hibiki dead in her tracks. Even after activating the plasma barrier there was no stopping the force of the Leviathan's attack as it blasted apart parts of the factory, flooding the area with a torrent of water. Death was rained from above as Ceil cause all the debris she ripped from the factory to fall from the skies like a meteor shower, destroying even more of the facilities. She could hear cries for help over the communication cut short as she saw the factory take a beating, a few buildings going up in flames to the to damage from the forces of Heaven or acts caused by the demons from Hell. It reminded Hibiki all too much that she was just a small piece in this grand game in the Nexus. She could have all the fancy titles she could carry, but in the end she's still just human. A single human trying to face off against these... Acts of god. Forces of nature. Against a world actively trying to kill her.
Shizuka lowered her guard. That was her mistake. Shizuka barely had time to see Mephilia (Formerly Mephilus) strike Shizuka into the ceiling and the floor above. Shizuka wasn't even a moment's breath when Mephilia came at her with renewed fury, forcing Shizuka to go on the defensive. She raised her shield to block the attacks but Mephilia was attacking too quickly for Shizuka to counter. The moment she tried to throw a punch she saw Mephilia's blade aimed to an opening, forcing Shizuka back on the defense. But in one moment Shizuka was too slow. Shizuka tried to parry a strike from Mephillia's sword, but the blade cut into the gauntlet. While Shizuka's real hand was unarmed, the blade managed to cut through the gauntlet's power core, critically damaging it. If Shizuka tried to use it now she couldn't be certain it'd work if it didn't simply blow up on her arm. Shizuka couldn't defeat Mephilia if all she did was defend. But she threw her strongest attack at the demon, and she not only survived, but came back stronger. Not only did this demon shrug off Shizuka's holy infused storm of bullets, but a punch empowered by the High Queen herself. What hopes could someone like Shizuka have against someone like that?
It seemed to be a regular thing for the two sisters to face insurmountable odds. They put on a brave face and said courageous words, but time after time they fall short. Whether it was to defend Bastion at the Eliticor, to win territories in Rutharia, accomplish tasks mission in Alt Signia, or even just surviving Arcadia. They had to be brave for their soldiers, and to keep their vow to the queen, but as both commanders and soldiers neither Hibiki nor Shizuka seemed to have earned any victories to match their resolve. As if it couldn't get any worse for the two, Hibiki saw Ceil effortlessly summon a new monstrosity to lay waste to the Machina forces. And Shizuka not only had to deal with an empowered Mephilia, but Henrietta too. Shizuka already had to put everything she had to defend herself from Mephilia, she couldn't do the same for both her and Herietta at once. The two sisters were quietly accepted their fate knowing that once more they would be defeated before they could even begin.
"Nova 1, this is Nova Squad! We're in position!"
"Avoid the shield and focus on attacking the armor's weak spots."
Despite the odds, the rest of the soldiers Hibiki had recruited survived Ceil's steel rain. Each one were in a clear position to take a shot at Ceil, utilizing either cunning or cover to protect themselves from the falling debris. Without the roaring winds possibly altering their shot the soldiers could easily hit Ceil even with all the hazards falling around them. Shizuka heard Eos speak directly to her, the first that has ever happened to Shizuka. Coils of light lashed out towards Mephillia, slowing her attacks down considerably. In a flash it felt like time slowed down for the two sisters.
Defeat always almost seemed like a forgone conclusion for the two of them. They'd get their mission, say something inspirational, go to battle, and fail to do anything but run around and lose miserably. It was a painful feeling. But even though it happens time and time again, they're still here. They could have easily given up a while ago. They could just stay back at Hyperion and serve as the Queen's personal servants instead of her commanders. They'd at least deserve that much. But no, neither Hibiki nor Shizuka would accept that. Neither of the sisters were perfect. They were not strong. They certainly aren't as smart as they think they are. But they made a promise to win. And the Mecha Maids keep their promises.
Hibiki dodged and weaved between the falling steel walls and boulders. Visions of her training flashed before her eyes as she sped past obstacles and through obstructions. She could see her target as clear as day and knew exactly what she needed to do. Activating her cloak Shizuka vanished from sight as she drove faster and faster. The mud gummed up the wheels of Hibiki's bike, but she simply shot the wheels off and activated the hover jets, causing her to move even faster with the momentum. Hibiki even deactivated the barriers so that the feedback from the barrier melting through the landscape didn't slow her down. It was at that moment a building fell right between her and Ceil. But that didn't stop Hibiki for one moment. Seeing an opening Hibiki drove right through it, pressing the throttle as hard as she humanly could. She drove past dead bodies, desks, doors, collapsing walls, and even avoided the ceiling falling from behind her as the building crumbled into dust and Hibiki was airborn hundreds of feet above Ceil.
"Open fire."
Each soldier fired their grenade towards Ceil. Suddenly there was a deep chill in the air around Ceil as all magic was cut off, if only for five seconds. A flash of light brighter than a nuclear flare followed by a blast louder than a volcanic eruption exploded just twenty feet in front of Ceil. Electricity scattered around her in a dome as teleportation in and out of the area was blocked off. A great weight was put down onto her body and everything else in a twenty foot radius around her as all flight was grounded. And last, Hibiki a hundred feet in the air upside down, aiming her rifle right at Ceil. The tip of her rifle glowing with charged particle beam that was shot out as faster than light as it homed in right towards Ceil's heart.
With a twist of her body Shizuka raised her shield Gwynn to parry the Cheater's blade. Shizuka knew that Henrietta's sword could cleave right through her shield, so instead of blocking it Shizuka would knock the blade aside. At the same time she intercepted one of Mephilia's slashes with her gauntlet, allowing the demon to damage the gauntlet further. But Shizuka allowed this because she only needed the gauntlet for one more attack. As Shizuka parried Henrietta's strike she allowed the force of the blow to push her closer to Mephilia. As Shizuka moved a slot opened on her gauntlet and a dagger shoot into Shizuka's hand. It was a long, thin blade known as Seier. There was just a few milliseconds before Shizuka's rotation was finished and she needed to use ever bit of it before these demons tear her apart.
"Requiem aeternam. Dona eis, Domine."
Clenching her hand into a fist Shizuka aimed her right arm towards Henrietta. A Barrier was formed, but not to block anymore of Henrietta's attacks, but to channel all the force of Shizuka's gauntlet into a single point into Henrietta's chest. And just as Eos had advised, Shizuka aimed Seier at the weak point of Mephilia's armor. Even though her armor had shifted with her change, Shizuka could still see the cut where her wire had stopped him, just a small chink that opened after Shizuka punched it with all the force in her gauntlet. In that moment between the attacks from these two mighty demons, Shizuka struck. The energy charged through Shizuka's power gauntlets, overloading it with power that created a violent explosion towards Henrietta, cracking and even breaking Shizuka's barrier, but not before being funneled towards Herietta's heart. This explosion propelled Shizuka forward and in an instant, Seier grew from a slender dagger to a great blade taller than Shizuka herself as it was being plunged into Mephilia's chest through the chink in her armor.
@floodtalon@KoL@Lmpkio
