BrokenPromise

Symphony on High

"Hey! What gives?!"

— Mika Fang

Patrol, patrol, patrol…

While Ashley wason another operation, Mika was on patrol. They had a new recruit and Ashley was using the experience to verify them as a potential addition to Gemini’s forces. Meanwhile, Mika was to tend to other duties. It all sounded a little reckless toi her. Things would get ugly if any harm came to the mayor. It made more sense to send two proven espers on the operation instead of a potential liability. Fritzi was always a little weird, but she couldn’t help but feel this was largely Ashley’s idea. It wouldn’t have surprised Mika if this was a simple oversight on Ashley’s part, but she was sure this was her way of showing Mika she didn’t need her.

Then, while on a sidewalk, Mika stopped to think.

"Huh."

There wasn’t anyone left that Mika liked. She respected Fritzi, but it was hard to say she really liked her. Anyone that she did start to like either died or turned out to be a horrible person. The only exceptions were Sam and Jacqueline, but they made the wise decision of transferring out before they were killed. Maybe they were dead and Mika didn’t know it yet. Thinking about other people was so exhausting. And what was the point if they were all going to vanish anyway?

"I guess it’s okay to think about them though."

Was it though? There wasn’t really any point. She started walking again, looking between all the buildings as she passed.

Mika had to focus on more immediate problems. Like Ashley. She couldn’t get rid of her, so if they had a problem, it was best to address it. That was something her mother used to say: face your problems directly and get over them. Trying to avoid them just put more work on your future self. Mika wasn’t sure how much of a future she had, but if she planned on fighting monsters for a long time, she should at least address the leader of her crumbling squad.

"She’s got nice legs too."

Did she though? Mika never thought about Ashley that way. While she was okay with the idea of having two mommies, she used to feel it would be ideal to have a daddy help her look after their child. That was when she wasn’t an esper and wanted a big strong man that could protect her. Now it was hardly worth worrying about such things. She wasn’t going to live long enough to have her own kids, and romantic pursuits felt pointless when one of them was just going to die in the end.

"That’s what makes poligamy great! Even if half of my harem dies, I’ve still got backups!"

What the…

Mika placed a hand on her head. That voice that was speaking, that hadn’t been her! Of course it was obvious, but she was just distracted enough to assume it had been coming from her own head. She grit her teeth and turned around to see-

"Who the fuck else?"

— Oros the Mad

Oros was doing her best to stay out of sight, but it was hard to ignore the giant pink ponytail peaking over the top of some parked cars. Mika sighed. It was difficult to feel threatened by Oros given what she knew about her. She had played nice with Gemini in the past, with the exception to that time she attacked Finn. If anything, that was a plus in her book. Though she was ready to call for backup just in case. "Why are you here?"

Oros hopped out from behind the cars and landed on the sidewalk. "Why are you here?"

"I’m on patrol." Mika groaned. "Why didn't you walk up to me last time? Why make it so hard to get to you?"

"You’re talking about the little outing I had you and the Arknights wannabe go on?" When Mika didn’t answer, Oros’s grin got bigger. "Yea, I figured it was that. Welp, that’s because yours truly is wanted by most of the city. I can’t just show up in some place and expect to not get attacked. The Fritz tolerates my presence, but that’s just because I’m not the biggest threat right now. I gave you guys intel about the diver, so she probably thinks she can use me." She rolled her arms. "Additionally, that side quest only turned into a cluster fuck because ol’ goldy glocks there went against my wishes. Of course if you talk to her, it was actually a good thing your ally got killed. What were her exact words? ‘One less GEMINI agent to worry about’ I think?"

Mika was clenching her teeth, but she didn’t show it. She allowed her jaw to relax before speaking. "Are you trying to annoy me?"

"If I was, I’d say I was succeeding at annoying you. But no. I just think it’s funny that the second edgiest teenager in Pax Septimus decided to start wearing her former partner’s clothes. I had no idea you were so sentimental, or foolish." Mika’s brow twitched, but Oros continued. "Anyway, I also have a lot more muscle this time around. I don’t have to worry about the Hand so much. I can’t chat with you forever, but meeting with you on my terms is possible now so long as I don’t dawdle."

"How about you get to the point?" Mika folded her arms.

"On that shit like I was a fly!" Oros saluted. "So, have you ever read any HP Lovecraft? You don’t really seem like the bookish type."

"Look into your sword and find out."

"Contrary to popular belief, I don’t need my sword to tell me the obvious." She snickered before resting her hand on her scabbard. "But if you did read, you’d know that a common element in his stories is forbidden knowledge. Truths that, when known, shape one’s perception of the world to such a degree that they are considered mad by everyone else." She pressed the tips of her fingers together. ”Mika, I am here to reveal such a truth. I’ll let you ask me anything you like, but in return I’ll make you mad. So choose wisely."

"Just say what you want to say."

"I’m sorry, but I’m incredibly vain, and it would mean a lot more to me if you seemed interested before I spill my guts."

Mika rolled her eyes. Why did everyone run their mouths so much? "Why are you doing this?"

"This?"

"Why are you fighting the Hand?"

"Because they look stupid." Mika rolled her eyes again, but this time she turned her back on Oros and started to walk back towards HQ. The pink haired esper threw up her arms. "Okay! Fine!" Oros ran in front of the girl. "That was just really on the nose. But sure, I can talk about myself for a bit."

"Then do it already."

Oros cleared her throat. "So, I’m not really from around here. Like, my zip code isn’t even in this dimension." She placed a hand on her hip and turned to look up at the sky. "Beyond the Elemental Chaos there are other worlds like this one, a lot more. There’s hardly a difference between some of them, and others are quite different. I was from one of the different ones."

"How was it not like ours?"

"It would be easier to list off what was the same. There was an abundance of magic everywhere, and how people tapped into it was different. You didn’t even need a grimoire because the magic was so thick."

"So much mana must have made a lot of monsters want to visit."

”Like you wouldn’t believe! But the monsters weren’t the worst part." Oros grinned like a shark. "The worst part was the psycho fucks that wanted to rule over all that. Like, I want you to take all the factions in Pax Septimus right now. Quadruple them, give them all big, scary overseers for no reason whatsoever, and then square them all off against each other. Pax Septimus might be a shit hole, but at least it’s contained to the city. In my old home, there was a cataclysmic event every week, and, well, one week things went a bit too far."

"What happened?"

"Shit hit the fan, and girl? It was nasty. Like someone had an anal detonation and sent their half solid, half diareea-thing into it. That shit ain’t coming out with scrubbing alone." Oros closed her eyes and shook her head. "Human civilization ended in a week. Some rival faction injected her with enough magic to turn her into a mindless monster. She destroyed our town, ruined the country, and just kind of rampaged around until there was nothing left to destroy. I say she was mindless, but I saw her three times after that. She saw me too, but she never did anything about it. Even after turning into that, she still wouldn’t hurt me. What few survivors were left finally killed her, but it was too late. The world was ruined, and it was never going back to what it once was. Not to mention all the monsters turned the place into a total hellscape. Humanity’s days were numbered."

Mika leaned against a wall and kept her arms folded. Her eyes wandered from her feet back to Oros. "Then you came here?"

"Wha? No! Hell no!" She laughed. "My mom turned into a demon and ended the world. That’s kind of a shitty ending to our story, so I wanted a re-do. Fortunately, that magic dense environment made it possible to visit other worlds. Turns out there’s a lot of neighboring worlds that aren’t too different from mine! So I decided to check them out. As you can imagine, worlds that are very similar to one that just imploded on themselves aren’t exactly stable. And no matter how many I visited, how much I prepared, whatever sort of events I tried to alter, the world was fucked. Even if my mom didn’t end the world, it would be some other faction, or a horror, or fucking Penny. Speaking of fucking, I did at one point decide to treat each newly discovered iteration of my home world as a date simulator and just tried to romance all of my old friends…" Mika reached a hand up to her mouth to stifle a yawn. Oros rolled her eyes. "...Point is, I was getting bored of reliving the same life over and over again. So I set out to find something different, nay, make something different. And that’s how I wound up here."

"So your home world was destroyed, you found a lot of places that were just like it with the same people, but all of them got destroyed too. Then you got bored and came here?"

"Pretty much!"

"You could have saved me a lot of time if you just said that."

Oros laughed. "Ouch, kid!"

It was clear that Oros wanted her to ask another question. Mika had decided she didn’t like this person very much, but she had to admit that too much had happened between them to not still be curious. "Why the interest in me?"

"There’s a few reasons, but the main one is that we’re the same person from different dimensions."

Mika raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Oh now you want the long version..." The mad esper put her hands on her hips. "Even in non-parallel universes, there’s more or less a copy of everyone. So you’re me."

"Do you have proof?"

"Well, I did, but I forgot to bring my birth certificate with me. I left it a few realities back and it’s probably long gone by now." She made the stupidest face she could manage and shrugged. "But you can look at other things. Like, did you notice how similar our esper forms are?"

Mika looked at the pink haired, katana wielding, Japanese cultist, and then looked at her own short haired, teal dancing outfit. While making eye contact with Oros, she reached up and grabbed one of her cat ears. "No?"

"Look beyond the superficial, Mika! A generic patron might not be able to look past simple aesthetics, but look at all the other stuff!" Oros flailed her arms in the air. "Our esper forms have pretty strange similarities! My sword can rend magic, and so can your claws. We both have ways of escaping harm. We both have magic that’s tied to animals. We can even divine information, and now, your ability to divine things is about as good as mine. Hell, in some ways it’s downright superior! And then there’s the color of our voices! Don’t we have a distinctly ‘tomato’ sounding voice?"

Mika groaned. For a mad esper, Oros did make a few good points. But even assuming it was true, it was a little underwhelming. Yes, Oros probably did come from another world. There are records that show that she can enter the elemental chaos, and is the only person to have done so. The only exception to that being Sharr Webber, who claimed to have been taken to a place or two by her. It really wasn’t that surprising that this wasn’t her home world. Mika found it even harder to care much about those worlds too. There were plenty of people to grieve for in Pax, let alone the rest of America, or even the world. Knowing there were other dimensions winking out of existence that she’d never see had no effect on her. Mika and Oros being the same people from different realities was a possibility, but not one she was ready to accept. Mika had never spent much time thinking about other realities, as it didn’t excite her. There might be a version of her that was famous, powerful, or even happy, but none of those people were her so it didn’t matter. She had more in common with Ashley than this supposed other version of herself. Out of the hundreds of words the mad esper had vomited up, only one sentence of it interested Mika. "My way of learning what’s going on is better than yours?"

"It wasn’t, but now that you’ve gotten stronger it is!" Oros grinned, clearly pleased that she had caught a sliver of Mika’s interest. "Have you tried using it recently?"

"No?" She lifted up her hand and looked into it. "But… It does feel different." It was a little concerning that Oros knew more about her developing powers than she did. Was that because of the power of Endless Eclipse? And Mika’s power could rival it?

"Why don’t you give it a test drive?" Oros tapped her foot. "Oh yea! How about you see who killed your mom?"

"Tch!" Mika swung her arm through the air. "I already know who killed my mom! It was-" She breathed deeply. "It was that ghost! A-and sam killed it…"

"Oh, I think we both know that’s not what I meant." Oros drew her sword. Not to fight, but to look into her blade’s sheen. "What makes dragon mommy’s death a tragedy is that it was preventable. We expect monsters to hurt those closest to us. No, Kid Icarus was acting like a brat. Dragon mommy died and then ‘Red Rebecca’ gave that fine legged bitch a promotion. The injustice of it all!" Oros stomped on the ground hard enough to send cracks running through the concrete. "I think you should look back and really analyze how she screwed up! Then next time you see her you can get in her face and be like ‘yea! You fucked up! I can prove it!’ or some shit." Oros tipped her head. "...But maybe you’re scared you might be wrong? You can keep being a pussy like a certain other little bitch."

Mika hissed through her teeth. "I’m not scared!" And then she focused on her hand. Faint images of the past started to manifest before her eyes. They were faint at first, but gradually, the image became more vibrant. Before long, it was like she had wandered back in time to that day. Or rather, she had returned as some omnipotent being. She had a bird’s eye view of the Holy Diver’s landing place. She had perfect clarity. Smoke, rain, and thunder did nothing to inhibit her view of the fight. The present bled into the background as the past reenacted itself.

Su had positioned herself between her squad and Justin. Ashley, Sam, and Jacqueline did battle with a brainwashed Pac-A-Fist and a cluster of cars floating in the air. The cars were being held in place by a ghost. What was his name, Gunther? Even Marrie was present. She was trying to stab Justin, But he had gotten his hands on her and had just flung her towards Ashley.

And there were frogs filled with acidic puss everywhere, among other things.

Nearby, Finn and a brainwashed Betty were fighting. Or it was more accurate to say Finn was demonstrating his ability to run away from his problems, and Betty was a demonstration of how futile such a thing was. In an attempt to show her down, he detonated a melody to fry a bunch of incoming frogs as well as his pursuer. It works, of a fashion, but Mika noticed something that she hadn’t noticed that day.

It was an afterthought, but Finn got a glimpse of souls that had appeared once Finn slew the frogs. They sunk into the roof as soon as they appeared.

That’s right, Gunther’s powers had been explained to Mika at a later date. Even at the time of this attack, it was known that Gunther could command the souls of dead things, and with the death of those frogs, he had given him ample power to-

Justin gazed at Su. Something that would cause any esper to freeze in place. Then the souls under the roof took hold of a safe and broke through the roof right under Su’s feet. Souls that Gunther wouldn’t have had if Finn had any desire to do anything but escape. And then once she was up in the air… That was something she had no desire to relive. Mika clenched her fist, and it all disappeared.

But this was not a voluntary action. Her emotions were getting the best of her again. Her teeth were clenched, and no amount of waiting was going to let this anger pass. She’d cry if she had any tears left. But she couldn’t, so she stood there, her lips and arms trembled as she processed what she had just witnessed.

"Yyyyyyyup." Oros sheathed her blade before sliding her thumbs into her waistband. "Kid Icarus might not have made all the right moves, but if someone on your side needs to take the blame for dragon mommy’s death, well, are you even surprised the ‘obedient little killer’ is the one to blame?" There was no answer, but Oros wasn’t expecting one. "Can you imagine how much worse this would have been if you actually liked Penny Jr before this started? Whoaboy! But I guess random visits from tasty interdimensional dogs, hallucinating entire additions to his harem, and trying to make it all mesh with reality took precedence over getting to know people who cared about him. That’s what sucks about kids, they’re all so tied up in their own bullshit and they’re too vain to realize nobody fucking cares!" She looked over to Mika, who was still staring at her clenched fist. "Yea, I think we’re done here. You know I was upset when my mom died too. But I was able to get over it when I realized that there’s a lot of universes where she’s still alive. I mean, they’re as different as you and I, but I still found it comforting." Mika continued to be unresponsive. Oros merely groaned before walking the other way.

Mika gradually came out of her trance. "This changes nothing." She said just loud enough for herself to hear. As she prepared to finish her patrol, she stumbled over a paper bag filled with the remains of some week-old takeout. With a grunt, she picked up the bag and flung it at a garbage can. It landed inside, but it hit with enough force that the entire thing tipped over, spilling more garbage on the ground. The feline esper closed her eyes and carefully approached the garbage can. She set it upright and started to pick up the mess she had made. Finally, she had gotten to the bag that she had initially tried to pitch in at a distance. But when she picked up the bag, the bottom opened up and spilled takeout refuse all over her feet. Without a word, she drove her foot into the side of the garbage can, caving it in and causing it to fall onto its side. She then proceeded to stomp on it, denting it more and more as it barfed out trash with every stomp. Once Mika had stomped it flat, she gave herself a moment to catch her breath. She dropped the open bag of takeout and allowed the wind to carry it down the street.

But she could feel someone’s presence nearby. They leaned in close and whispered into her ear.

"I told you I’d make you mad."

NHTD:ARPWAEHTD (Tower of Eternity)

Alright @Ariamis, time for a family affair. Do they settle things with words, violence, or perhaps a game of horseshoes?

There's no (GM) threat present, so you can get as crazy as you want with your next post. Use as many characters as you like to complete your objective.

NHTD:ARPWAEHTD (Tower of Eternity)

Chance's smile vanished as Matti Lalli uttered the favorite phrase of the late Davis Lalli. As the tip of his rifle zeroed in for a killing shot, Chance pulled his hand put of his pocket. There was no gun, knife, or any weapon at all. Just an empty hand with a mind filled with fanatical belief behind it. He shoved his finger in Matti's direction just as he fired. But while uncle Lalli's rifle lit up the battlements with a muzzle flash, nothing came out of Chance's finger. Not lighting, fireballs, or his queen's divine power. Furthermore, nothing happened to Matti as he stood there in perfect form. But something did happen to Chance. He stumbled backwards into turret and clamped his hand over his neck. He couldn't stem the bleeding. His eyes remained focused on Matti. He opened his mouth to speak, but he sounded like a wrath. Chance hadn't even died yet and he already sounded like one of their number.

As his strength failed, he stumbled over to the turret. He attempted to grab a hold of the barrel to steady himself, but the turret swung and he was thrown into the balcony. It was made of brick and waist-height for the archers to fire over, but it proved to be a tripping hazard for the commander. He fell off the edge and tumbled several stories into the jaws of a waiting shark. After a single bite, the only thing that was left of him was his stupid hat, which floated in the air before landing in the salty waters below.

“Heh!” Sally looked over he shoulder. “I was able to make good on my promise to the shark.” With a sigh, she relaxed her shoulders and allowed herself to fall back against the balcony. “Wow, watching everyone enter the castle is really something... I wish Kaapo and Boston had gotten to see it.” Her eyelids fluttered. “I'll... I'll have to tell them about it when I see them.” And then her eyelids fluttered shut for the last time.

There was nothing left for Uncle Lalli to do here. He needed to find the goddess.

That was what everyone was concerned with.

The keep hosted many horrors, from corrupted adventurers to twisted beings of the blood witch's design. But against such numbers, they would all fall in time. Gustaf Henriksson had little difficulty advancing with the growing mob. As they split up to explore the keep, Gustaf focused on getting to the Tower of Eternity. The goddesses location could be anywhere, but there were rumors that she was being kept in a pocket dimension that housed a giant tower that the rumor was named after. Given its dimensional nature, the tower could be anywhere. But Gustaf believed he had discovered some interesting geometry where the keep could theoretically lead into a pocket dimension. There was a short silo located above the dungeon floors, which he set off to find in earnest. He was followed by several other rebels, Matti included.

Sure enough, there was a winding staircase that took the rebels far higher than the ceiling should have allowed. Most of the chambers were empty, as these were the sleeping quarters for all of Silver Myth Keep’s most important people. They were all out trying to control the expanding chaos.

Except for one.

At the top most floor, a woman stood in front of what appeared to be a lail door. While she was well groomed and dressed in the fine robes. There had been rumors that the blood witch had a sister, and this must have been her. But her hair was thin and her posture weak. As the rebels came into view, she dawned a crown made of antlers. The blood witch had been a social outcast and practiced her horrible magic in the woods, and artifacts such as this were said to have a connection to her if not the horrible god she gained her powers from.

The sickly woman drew a ritual blade and carved shapes into her flesh. Circles around her eyes and mouth, boxes and crosses along her arms. Some of them glowed, which might have meant that she hadn’t executed the ritual correctly. The illegitimate queen was a fearsome blood witch, but her sister was but a rumor. Was she even a true blood witch, or was she just using some ritual her sister taught her once should the unthinkable happen?

Regardless of the ritual’s execution, it was clear that she planned on opposing the rebels with her life. She lifted the door’s key to her lips and drew it inside her mouth.

Best to end this before she swallowed it.

An ice dagger flew through the air and struck the woman in the chest. With a cough, the key was thrown from her mouth and she stumbled onto her side. Bloodwitch or not, the woman would never move again. One of the rebels opened the door and they all marched through.

The room was massive. The walls of which seemed to recede on forever. There didn’t even appear to be a roof in this space. The only thing of note was a stone slab with a hauntingly beautiful woman laying on top of it. Everything from her long silver hair to skin that glowed like the moon fit the goddesses description. This was her. The madness would soon be over.

But not before one final conundrum.

The only rebels present were either from the Lalli or Henriksson families, which had very different ideas on how to move forward. With Gilla’s fate on the line and victory so close, what would ultimately become of the nameless goddess?

Nation-Building RP interest check

If interested, please provide some specifics/details on what the game you'd like to play would look like, or what features would be important to you. I'd personally prefer a group of 3+.

@kkotr

I'm kind of new to nation RP, so I don't know what I'd ask for. One of the things that always made them a little daunting was how large scale they were. I think I'd try one if it was centered around something smaller like say, a bunch of tribes, some guilds, something that lets you get granular enough that you can have a character RP but would still count as a nation RP.

NHTD:ARPWAEHTD (Tower of Eternity)

Sally was shaken out of her trance by Matti. While she was vaguely familiar with the Lalli family, it wasn’t like she personally knew every member. Though it seemed like he knew who she was. Had Kaapo perhaps told him about her? Suddenly, a different type of fear crept into her chest. If this siege failed, then everyone who gave their lives would have done so for nothing. Moreover, the survivors would be in the same predicament that they were in before all this started, if not worse. Now wasn’t the time to be having doubts. When Viivi crossed over, so did she.

The hole diggers, Magnus and Richard, would encounter their first issue a bit earlier than expected however. While they were able to soften the stone foundation into digable dirt, the bigger issue was the altitude of Fort Silver Myth. The salt water moat led right out to see and, naturally, was level with the ocean. Since they were on the other side of the moat, they would need to find a way to dig under it without the whole thing caving in. Could they even complete such a project in a timely fashion?

Meanwhile, the Lallis and Sally made their way inside. There were a few guards scrambling around, but Matti wasn’t going to get distracted. He locked his rifle on the first chain and fired, causing it to snap. The drawbridge leaned a little bit, but it was still held up on its far corner. He aimed at the last chain, and so too did the stair guard aim at Matti. It was the same one who smiled as Kaapo was dragged under.

Sally wasn’t sure what to do. She had no weapons, but maybe she could take a shot for the others who actually brought a gun. She stood up and extended her arms, but she was shoved out of the way. Viivi had her rifle tucked under her arm and fired at him. Unlike Kappo’s pistol round, this was enough to go all the way through the guard’s armor. As he fell, he managed to spray a few rounds at Viivi as well. She took a few of them, but none of them hit uncle Matti.

“Not you too!” Sally rushed up to Viivi, but there was nothing she could do. But it was fine. She had made her choice already. Perhaps when the goddesses invited her into the heavens, she and Richard could be together for all eternity. But there wasn’t much time to grieve. More guards would be here shortly.

Just not before Matti made his second shot.

The drawbridge fell with a clatter. A single machine gun nest was hardly enough to keep reinforcements at bay, and soon they began spilling inside. So what if their enemies had automatic weapons? They overwhelmed them with numbers. But to really let everyone in, they would need to clear the battlements. Sally picked up Viivi’s rifle, and with Matti, they entered the right side of the battlements. The only side that still had a functioning turret.

With extra rebels entering the keep, the archers were starting to scramble. While few things were as demoralizing as a cloud of arrows, they were not useful they were not useful when the fight was brought to you. Something Chase was painfully aware of.

“Wie!” Chase pointed at the approaching rebels, but not nearly enough of them died under his divine might. The machine gun next turned its attention onto the battlements themselves and started to fire. There weren’t that many archers left, but so long as it had ammo, Chase would be able to stay alive! “Keep shooting at these motherless hamsters!”

There wasn’t much to hide behind. Sally could see the rebels in front of her dropping like flies. She’d be among them shortly if she didn’t take cover, but she chose to aim Viivi’s rifle at the turret nest. She didn’t have long to aim, but the world seemed to slow down. There were five heads in front of her, then two, then she felt a pain in her abdomen. That was when she fired. Sally stumbled backwards. Against the battlement’s outer wall. She coughed, and blood flew out of her mouth. Welp, this was the end. It seemed like her hearing was starting to go too, as she couldn’t hear the turret fire anymore.

But that was just because it wasn’t firing anymore.

Chase stepped out from behind the turret. He peered inside, only to see that the turretier had been shot dead. When he looked ahead, the only one up on the battlements with him was Matti, who had his rifle ready.

“Ah…” Chase smiled and slipped a hand into his pocket. “You wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man, would you? I’m a pacifist! I haven’t killed a single man since I entered the queen’s employ! Hehe!” He moved a little closer to the turret, but was still in no position to get inside. “Go ahead! Finish your little um, rebelion! I’ll just stay up here and continue not hurting anyone. Oh! And once you elect a new leader, I’ll be sure to kiss their ring!”

NHTD:ARPWAEHTD (Tower of Eternity)

I was feeling a little dramatic, I hope nobody minds.

Everyone rolled pretty high this round. I won't spoil it for those who haven't read yet, but if anyone has any questions I can answer them. Nobody's going to die next post rotation unless you really want them to.

@Tally Dor I'm not entirely sure what your characters were going for, but they both lived so you can use this reprieve to flesh out their plan more if you wish.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

“I have no quote yet I must meme.”

— Rei Ishiko

“Hmmm?” Rei peaked over her shoulder when the weight of Hizuki’s new armor slammed into the ground. “No response? I thought light girls were more polite than that. Not that I mind the quiet.” Her smile grew.

The miseria had swift reflexes. As soon as her spear left Hizuki’s hands, the abomination cast it away, only for it to dissipate into nothing. The attack waiting deep inside the monster’s throat could not be rushed however, and her armor had assembled well before it went off. Her landing was punctuated by a cacophony of screams; the sound of the tengu’s beam attack going off. A glance at the beam would reveal dark shapes trying to escape the purple light it was trapped in. On impact, the beam stripped the armor off of Hizuki’s shoulder and left a corrosive black tar. It was slowly, very slowly burning away her armor, but was left untouched.

Her fist slammed into the bird man, and he was lifted off the ground. But with a defiant caw, he dug his feet into the pavement and wrapped his arms around her fist. Stones and gravel were kicked up in their wake, but it looked like the creature’s strength would give out before Hizuki’s would.

Magical girls with versatile power sets were often held back a bit when compared with their specialist counterparts. They often couldn’t hit as hard or win as swiftly, but made up for it by adapting to any situation. This made Hizuki a potential dueling master that could exploit any weakness. But a duelist only ever fought one opponent at a time.

While Hizuki was trying to force the tengu onto the ground, another one flew out from between two buildings. As it flew by, it hacked up a wad of leathery rope. The rope unraveled as it reached its target, and snaked its way through the hole in her armor and around her neck. A third one came running out of an alleyway, holding a massive hammer-like fist over its head. As it closed in on Hizuki, it dove past her legs and attempted to sweep them out from under her.

But not all of the miseria in the area were targeting Hizuki. One had spotted Nyxia and was rushing straight for her. Its forearms were massive, and when closed together, looked like a massive spiked tower shield. But this was partially a distraction, as a second one with a scythe arm configuration came flying out of the sky and kicked her towards his shielded counterpart.

Meanwhile, Roche had made her way before the massive golum. It wasn’t far from the town now. The only thing in its way was Earthshaker. Nyxia’s energy beam cut across it’s chest, blackening the bone it passed over. But nothing cracked or broke off. Perhaps the creature had some weak point or a soft spot that could be hit for maximum damage. With a grumble, it raised it’s mace-like hand above it’s head, and swung it down. While the massive hammer would come down on Roche, the spine-like appendage on the end would certainly hit Hibusa town.

”That’s a nice verse you whirled,

But It’s a dog eat dog world.

You won’t last,

I move too fast,

Now you’re gunna get hurled!”

— Willow

While miseria have no true intelligence, seeing one try to kick the head off of a headless giant was quite a blunder for something that was so dangerous. There were still a lot of unknowns when it came to the underlings of giga miseria, but this seemed to be proof that there could be flaws in their ‘logic.’ Even a normal miseria that only sought to sate its hunger would never whiff an attack against a stationary opponent. Perhaps the cost of their apparent heightened intellect was that they could occasionally make basic mistakes like this. Something for Kiyo the scientist to ponder later.

While safe from the undead tengu, the wolves were still closing in. But rather than biting off Evil Eye’s head, it grabbed her by the collar and trotted off, like a dog that had just recovered a Frisbee. No sooner did the wolf get away did two more bird men collide with the trauma. While they beat on it, it spun their third companion around in the air. It must have gotten sick, because it opened its mouth and vomited forth caustic black goo. Some of it splashed against the wolf, which caused it to howl and toss Evil Eye into the air. By the time she had recovered, she was floating right next to Willow.

”You’re welcome, by the way. Can’t let the crows eat you until I’ve had some of the wedding cake.”

Another fly kick, this time aimed at Willow. She disappeared between some buildings and sounded like she landed in a dumpster. While Evil Eye hadn’t seen it happen with her own eyes, her trauma had thrown the tengu at a corner store, but it was able to redirect itself and kick away Willow. Now the four talon monstrosity was hovering before Evil eye, and was about to show her what so many gnarled bird feet were capable of.

Battle Toyale — Christmas Rumble!

@Shinny I think that looks good.

I noticed for most of the combatants, they either have their player's avatar or artwork from their CS. But Divorarel/Nudara doesn't have a CS but it looks like you found art of their character? Do they have a character sheet somewhere? They seemed to imply that they had won the last toyale and that this was not their first rodeo.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

“I wonder if Willow will get jealous if I try to rizz up the light girl?”

— Rei Ishiko

When Hizuki informed Rei that she would, actually, not be changing her attitude, the mysterious girl only shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose we'll have to hope I find you interesting as is, won't we?” Rei turned away from Hizuki as soon as she asked what they needed miseria for. “I take it your new to this?” The only answer she got was Hizuki engaging with the strange miseria. “Miseria are made out of negative emotions. A dark girl inherits their power when she slays them.” She scratched behind her ear as a flurry of light beams were fired off. “You didn't think we got stronger by being subservient to others, did you? Miseria like the ones you're fighting now are exceptional. I don't think they come around the City of Light.”

The abomination hopped backwards as Hizuki rained sunlight on it. She managed to catch it's beak with a shot, but it's body held together. A normal miseria would have been naught but ash and smoke, but creatures such as this continued to defy expectations.

Smoke rose off of the foul creature’s beak. It had just enough time to shake off the vertigo before Hizuki came in with her spear. Only, no, that was a feint. With a twitch, it’s saw shaped wing swatted the spear head off course. This, too, was something that miseria shouldn’t have been able to do. Miseria were collections of negative emotions that “thought” only of feeding. They shouldn’t have been able to adapt to Hizuki so quickly.

Hizuki was able to get her spear up to defend from the next attack, but when the saw-wing connected, the miseria reached for the spear with its gnarled hands. With three appendages on her weapon, it let out a battle shriek, and a deep, violet light glowed from the depths of its short beak.

It would be prudent to not to get hit by that.

”I-I can post fast too!”

— Suki Oyama

The miseria didn’t seem particularly threatened by the pocket knife. With Oros holding Rainbow by the armpits, and Rainbow’s leg pulled taught by the abomination, her arms would need to grow about a foot longer for her knife to have any effect.

"I’ve got an idea!” Oros tried her best to sound pleased, but Rainbow could feel otherwise. But this was okay, because Oros had a plan.

Then Bedshaker came out of nowhere and planted her fist, firmly, on the side of the miseria’s cranium. It’s grip did not fully loosen, but it was thrown free of Rainbow with only Rainbow’s blood stained pants leg to show for her troubles. Oros’s expression instantly soured when Bedshaker began giving out orders. Right, like everybody wasn’t already doing all that crap. That big beam of glowing energy that could outshine the northern lights? Preeeeeety sure that’s a good indication of what she’s shooting at. Also, is anyone supposed to be surprised that you’re taking on the giant while the rest of us deal with the “trash mobs” or whatever? Here’s a novel idea, Roach: use your shield to block things. Also, maybe start carrying around a box of tissues for your next sob session.

Fortunately, the self important magical girl was gone relatively soon. "Well, that was going to be pretty cool.” After staring after Bedshaker a bit longer, Oros looked back at Rainbow. "You believe me, right?”

Oros looked to where the bird man had tumbled off to, but it didn’t appear that they were there. She set Rainbow against the wall of a pharmacy and looked down either side of the street. It could be coming from the left, it could be coming from the right, but it definitely wasn’t coming from both. That would only be possible if they could split themselves in half, which was ridiculous. And that was ridiculous, and that didn’t happen.

But a more elegant solution was for two of them to attack.

Oros couldn’t even perceive them before two abominations kicked her on either side. She could swear she could hear her ribs cracking, and was thankful to have enough control over her own blood to prevent herself from bleeding internally. One of the creatures went to bite off her head, but she was able to get her arm around its neck and hold it in a headlock. The other one swung its scythe-like arm at Oros, and she swatted the blade off to the side. This, however, allowed the creature to bite off her hand. With a groan, Oros retaliated by forcing a trio of bloody tendrils out of her stump to hold the creature by the neck. As they wrapped around it’s neck, the abomination lashed out with its talons, cutting straight into Oros’s stomach. But every bleeding wound was a potential weapon for Oros. The creature’s leg was caught in a pair of blood red mandibles, courtesy of the new wound that had been inflicted on Oros.

All of this played out in front of Acid Drop, who still hadn’t found her script. But perhaps she never had a place on the stage. Maybe as a spectator, it was her place to watch everything unfold from the sidelines.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

“I’m way too nice to these guys.”

— Rei Ishiko

Rei had looked away from Evil Eye and wasn’t about to dignify any of her rambling with a response. Though her abrupt takeoff did get a “Heh” out of their mysterious leader. Willow followed after her.

Rei listened along to what Earthshaker said before the chance came up for her to speak. “If I got along well with light girls, I wouldn’t have left the city of light.” Her expression soured, and she shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe you don’t like the Gems. Their methods are a little rough. But what annoys me about most light girls is their behavior, you know? That, and every miseria they kill is one less for my pack. However…” Rei’s eyes wandered up to an awning. The mascot was parched on top of it, and it’s static screen was pointed at the light girl. “If she’s obedient, then maybe she’d be nice to have around. She does have interesting magic, doesn’t she?”

”I sure am glad Acid Drop moves slowly enough that I have the chance to ask a quick question and join up with her before she gets BTFO by a group of Miseria.”

— Suki Oyama

"Oh I've hit on things without a pulse too!” Oros cracked a smile. "Though the miseria never say anything back.” Oros the Joyful was pretty resilient against shallow insults, even in her somewhat compromised state. That, and she was an effective killer of miseria. The rage bait gamer insult of "I'm better than you, so you must suck" was quite overplayed too.

In typical Nyxia fashion, her eventual response to Oros’s question was curt with any extra room taken up by swear words. She didn't even have time to really process the answer before Oros was hit with a question in return. This got her to look away from Acid Drop. "Heh!” The smile on Oros's face got bigger, and stupider. "Naw, B- Earthshaker was my partner once too, only things got worse instead of better. I was surprised to see you care for her. I didn't think it was possible to convince you I’m not perverted. But if Earthshaker can convince you she's not a bully, maybe I'll try.” She tapped the ground with the toe of her blood skate, and she slid back away from Nyxia. She was smiling the entire time.

What an interesting revelation. As abrasive as Nyxia was, she didn’t strike Oros as the type to lie. Thus, she had to accept that Nyxia had, indeed, decided that Bedshaker had some redeeming qualities. Not like Oros had any idea of what they might be. Maybe she changed after Oros and Bedshaker split, or perhaps enough beatings had mellowed Nyx’s spirit. A laser flew a few inches over Oros’s head. Nope, that wasn’t it.

Eventually, Oros’s backward skating took her right over to Acid Drop. Though she didn’t realize she had been attacked until she turned around. Garden Variety miseria were usually quite weak and easy to slay, so seeing her partner wounded caused all kinds of alarms to go off in her head. Was Acid Drop wounded because she was that out of it, or because she had encountered something far stronger than your average Miseria?

She bit her lip.

Oros placed her hands under Acid Drop’s armpits and hoisted her to her feet. "Come on, Rainbow.” She shook her lightly. "You’re acting silly. What’s the matter? You aren’t normally like this, right?”

She didn’t pay much attention to the stunted ape men. Oros was kind of busy with something, and they didn’t seem too interested in fighting her or Acid Drop. Of greater concern was the wall of miseria barreling towards them. Oros pulled Acid Drop into a hug and got ready to skate all over the miseria, but then they were sliced into ribbons. Their visceral was thrown all over the two magical girls. On the other side was Shatterscape, brandishing her huge-

"Fingers!” Oros smiled. "Just the person I wanted to see! I thought you had gotten lost for a moment. Well, not lost but- Oh she’s gone again.” Oros huffed, only realizing she had swapped bodies after this one “fainted.” Then she looked down at her knees. The world was shifting under her feet again. Not just hers though, everyone could feel the second earthquake. Most unusual, but this was Hibusa town.

But at least they could see what caused this one.

In the distance, but not so far off, was a colossal bone golem. A pillar of death and ivory with multiple heads and several limbs. It had four arms, and then some of its arms had arms. There was no rhyme or reason to its construction. Its bones were too big to come from anything but long dead primordial creatures, and many were fused together in ways that could never function inside a living creature. It made no attempt to speak, yet half a dozen empty eye sockets were fixed on every magical girl in Hibusa town. Despair hung in the air like a thick miasma, and all knew that this had to be a giga miseria. Sink Queen had warned they were far more dangerous at night, and this one’s aura didn’t contradict her warning.

Hovering beside the creature were three undead bird men. Equally uncanny abominations that still had their flesh attached. They had the correct number of limbs, but had a different number of toes on each foot. Their wings were too small to fly, but seemed to hold up their bodies regardless. Their arms were equally uncanny, and each one had a different shape. Their beaks were also unique, with each one being a different shape and housing fangs of some other animal. One was a wolf, the other an ape, and the last one a crocodile. None of them had eyes, but they all looked to the light.

”Now that I’m away from Rei, I get to use my banner, tee-hee!”

— Willow

Evil Eye could ignore Willow and float around as much as she liked, but she wasn’t going to escape her feline “doppelganger” that easily.

”Baa, baa Evil Eye,
Have you any wool?
Yes ma’am, yes ma’am,
Three bags full.

One for my master,
And Rei gets one more,
And one for the light girl
I plan to make my-”

One of the far off bird men appeared to teleport into Evil Eye, but if you were Evil Eye, it felt like it covered that distance in a tackle and drove it’s malformed foot into her stomach. It followed through with its dive kick in an attempt to drive Evil eye to the ground.

”I was still singing!” Two spectral hounds appeared at Willow’s flanks and lunged after the bird man and Evil Eye. It wasn’t clear who the dogs were going to attack, but there was a non-zero chance that one of those dogs were aimed for her. It had been Willow that rescued a light girl from her own teammates just to ask her if she’d like to join her music band.

It wouldn’t be long before the other two showed up elsewhere.

”Heh!” Oros looked up at the giga miseria towering above the town. ”If there’s a time to come out of your funk, it’s now!” One of the bird men appeared beside the duo and looked in their direction. Oros barely had time to gasp before it grabbed Acid Drop’s leg in its beak and started pulling. ”Hey! Let! Go!” A game of tug of war had started, and Acid Drop was the rope.

Back at the intersection where the pillar of light was attracting everything, Rei was gazing up at the giant bone golem. “Interesting.” managed to creep out of her grinning mouth. No sooner did she utter those words did the third bird man appear. It rammed Hizuki out of the way. It was so sudden that Earthshaker couldn’t move to protect her. Then it started to demonstrate how its blade-like wings could be used in combat. “Hmm, well I think if Hizuki wants to help, she can handle herself without wasting anyone's time. Someone should stop that Giga miseria from entering Hibusa town. Perhaps it’s a job for Unstoppable Doom?” She sighed. “Well, don’t let me micromanage you. You’ve been the only one trying to keep the girls together instead of blowing apart under all this pressure. I’m sure you have a plan.”

While all this happened, Shatterscape’s investigation was underway. Unfortunately, there weren’t that many ape men, which made it difficult to tell where they had come from. They had mostly been centered around her present position, and did not seem to be in any other parts of the city. But from Shatterscape’s new vantage points, she was able to spot the ape men attacking some mogalls. The mogalls were able to fly high enough that they couldn’t be attacked, but they were keeping them out of the streets. While they didn’t appear interested in hurting Shatterscape, it was clear they had no qualms about attacking other “familiars” or the miseria.

Shatterscape had also noticed a shift in the miseria’s behavior. They were mashing each other together, and their shapeless bodies were entwining like tangled slinkys. Ten miseria became five, which became one. Each combination made a stronger miseria, and some were starting to turn into the recently appeared bird men. While Shatterscape had not seen what they could do, she could certainly feel their unusually strong aura. But what to do with this information.