Gardevoiran

Tower of Fable

---

The queen stepped forward to the side of Thomas, recognizing his Golden Eyes. Something about this world told her that they were a manifestation of not only true power, but true destruction. A perfection, of sorts, of that. However he managed to obtain that, she wasn't sure, but it was indicative of something special. How... interesting. "Interesting... eh?"" and just like that, before a monologue could happen, Akiko's attention was taken completely by Nephetos and Runa. The former was dying, and the latter was holding the former.

And as the blood from Riku washed onto Akiko's back, Nephuna appeared. The fusion between two forms of the blasted code in this Godless Tower, which was crumbling apart bit by bit as this battlefield was formed. Even Katie was back, albeit hardly anything more than dead weight.

As the world reached a violent stillness, in a brief moment, Akiko realized. This was the real battle.

"So this is how it is." Beings she was unfamiliar with spotted up around the arena. Erika, Esa, and Marianne. In short bursts she flashed through each of the new arrivals, learning their pasts with her eyes as Castle manifested on full display for practically everyone to see at this point, be it through Kanbaru's JSTR, Nephuna's special eyes, Thomas's Golden Eyes, and the newly arrived Vassals' sense of strength.

"We've got our work cut out for us." Hellsword moved forward out of nothing, and alongside him did Akiko's Lorelai. "Indeed. There's a lot of faces for the Queen to have to contend with, but none are as menacing as that... thing." As the spears emerged from the glitches, two of them were deflected from Akiko, who sat brooding as usual with Riku on her back.

"We'll keep you safe, but I highly suggest you should start doing something!" Lorelai turned to Akiko, who had her eyes locked onto the sight of something in the distance. Sure, the group could stand and fight the actual demon here, but Akiko knew that it was hardly a task worthwhile. If anything, it'd serve as the distraction from the actual threat.

She turned towards Hellsword. "I need you to get me closer to that core."

"Are you insane? You'd be fighting a losing battle!" Hellsword lost it's cool for a moment, chastising Akiko before the sudden realization. She probably was, but she could also loosely read the code of this world, and nobody else was on the defense. Hellsword groaned, but extended out several vines to lift Akiko and start moving her through what lied beyond the shattered Abyss. As the queen neared closer and closer to the shattering world, she felt something itch from her pocket. Though she couldn't check it with her as she was, given she was still holding Riku, Castle and Akiko both knew what it was.

[ The arrow is calling to us. Beckoning for us to use it. ]

A tentacle of Akiko unwrapped and held it in front of her. "Perhaps even in a world like this, the arrow holds more power than we know."

Over near the core of the Tower, as the Nephuna's took turns attacking it and shaking the world to it's very core, they would notice that the code started to rematerialize. Not perfectly, definitely done by an amateur, but the foundations of the code was solid enough to start blocking hits. From the familiar stardrop design, the same that matched a certain cat's brooch, it was clear who was starting to defend, though her attempts were merely postponing the inevitable for the current moment.

Back over to her serei, however...

"Look at my mistress! She's putting herself on the line to make sure the others can fight and win! How selfless of a queen indeed!"

"Yeah. Sure."

"Surely you don't hold doubt in her, Abigail?"

"Don't call me that."

Tower of Fable

---

"Hey! Hey now! That's literally the exact opposite of wha-" aaand the point was moot since she was now dead. Great. Should have figured from the dozens of timelines that Riku would still opt for a peaceful conclusion, but there was something in Akiko that knew better. That knew that Riku might go for something that would crack through the Abyss. Alas, as the dog fell towards the ground, Akiko slapped her hand against her forehead.

[That's not what you were hoping for, I suppose.] "Yeah, no shit. Thankfully, we might still be able to pull something out here."

As the dragon roared and thrashed, managing to shake Thomas and Akiko off, Akiko's arms stretched into the large wings of a vulture, and she quickly managed to right herself before she started to glide towards the ground. The perks of being a shapeshifter knew no bounds, and with the dragon imploding in on itself, it left Akiko in silent contemplation for a moment.

As she landed near Thomas and Riku, she found herself walking through the blackened fire with... intention. She stepped towards the duo, her steps somehow piercing through the crackling fire and dust starting to fall around the world. The world was starting to crumble, no doubt due in part to some extension on forces largely unseen except for a battlefield that she had seen once before. She suspected this was Runa's doing, but she was uncaring at the moment.

Instead, she mused.

"But who are we to mess with the throes of time? Madmen? Mortals? Misaligned misanthropes? The world around us crumbles within a roaring fight, the data of this very world struggling to keep up with the force of the individuals around us. Who are we but Nobodies, reaching out to try and become Somebodies?" She stood over Thomas and Riku, a grim smile over her face. The plan had succeeded, it just took a different route than normal.

She bent down to Thomas, placing a hand on his shoulder and gently taking Riku from his grasp. "She'll be back. Try as some might, she'll come back." Akiko laid Riku out on the ground, letting the air cover her and giving Thomas some distance, but she stepped closer, hovering her foot above Riku's lifeless body. Her eyes were flashing crimson, as if she was reading the outcomes before they happened.

Behind Akiko's Gaze

Then Castle's foot came down onto Riku's chest, Akiko's foot along with it.

"Meaning, it doesn't matter that she dies here. She doesn't understand we'd be stuck here if she'd kept crying over Katie. Boo-fucking-hoo." Akiko's voice was... different. No longer was the calm and collected psychiatrist, rather someone who showed genuine frustration. It would almost be humanizing, if she wasn't dead-set on pressing her foot harder and harder into Riku's chest to crack through her ribs. "No no, we understand Riku. You'd lose Katie, and you'd be sad. Poor puppy would have to whine and whimper over a girl that only she could love."

Akiko's foot pressed harder, managing to push down a little more. "Others of us loved Katie here, too, y'know? Others of us cared about you, too, y'know? But you don't." She huffed, verging on the border of tears. "Because the pretty princess gets to have whatever she wants. Pathetic."

She pushed all the way through, the cracks of bones punctuating her foot managing to leave a hole in Riku's chest, before she pulled her foot out and stepped back to shake the blood off. "It's good you gave up a claim to a kingdom, because you'd make a horrible ruler."

She snapped back from zoning out, but she kept her eyes on Riku, pulling her foot back before she made a decision she wouldn't come to enjoy. Something about the outcomes there... didn't seem enjoyable. She wiped the tears from her eyes all the same, though.

"Make no mistake, Thomas. Riku's an idiot." Akiko's voice was blunt, her tone nonchalant. "But it's better that you two are alive for now..." She paused at that statement. "... you one? Eh, she'll get back up. For now, we should regroup with the others."

Akiko bent over and lifted Riku up onto her back, struggling a little bit initially but seeming like she could handle it. "Don't worry about me. Go find Kanbaru and the others. This place is going to come down and we need to be ready when it does."

Castle manifested overtop Akiko and Riku. [You're not sure if Runa's visions and the sudden enlightenment are helping, now, correct?]

"Yeah, but across everything I've never been this... disorganized." Akiko didn't care if Thomas was listening to her ramble, she needed to talk this out for her own sake. "Something's different. I don't know if that's good or bad, though."

[Perhaps time will tell. It's about the only thing you can do right now, anyway.]

Over on the other side of the arena, where Kanbaru and Hellsword were standing, Hellsword mused to the two. "We're not going to act like we know what to expect from you Jesters, but I will say that she's unpredictable." The world continued to crumble, with rows and patches of fungi being the only solid ground in the entire area. Hellsword made sure to keep their web up so they could reunite with the rest of the group, not that they had any issues. "Serei tend to know their masters pretty well, and she's a whole other beast entirely. The only one who's managed closeness so far have been you and Lorelai, but even the knight was hesitant when the illusions of this world failed on Akiko. She changed, and we don't know if it was for the better or worse."

They turned to Kanbaru. "Be careful, Kanbaru. You might be a Jester, but I don't think she cares for labels." With that, Hellsword gave a tip of their hat, and fizzled away to return to Akiko.

Tower of Fable

---

"Really, Kanbaru?" Akiko asked, not feigning any sort of fake joy or laughter, just speaking with pure disdain. "Are you really doing this right now?" She took a step closer to Kanbaru, with full intent to let her have it, but she held her tongue and instead relaxed. Coincidentally, as she relaxed, a red flash of her eye indicated something... new.

"Bluey, respectfully, I think you're ignoring the... ahem, dragon in the room." Akiko motioned her bloody and bruised hands towards the giant dragon made of darkness in the room. "Keeping the princess alive, despite any of your objections, is ideal for right now. Unless, of course you may be... jealous?" She let out a tiny smirk, Castle slamming through another fireball as the barrier held strong.

"And here I thought that you weren't capable of being jealous of the princess! Ohoho, how rich!" Akiko's hand curled smugly over her mouth, Hellsword turning to witness the full smugness with a shake of their head. "Though, maybe my heart can be so easily won. After all, her words, foolish as we both thought, do seem to be working to our benefit." She turned to look at the dragon's struggling. Most people around here wouldn't think twice about Akiko's musings, but Kanbaru had the disadvantage of daring to come close to the cat's circle of influence.

"Well, I'm afraid I must be off! It'd be bad politics if a queen were to let a princess die, after all, regardless of the ears decorating her head!" Castle grabbed Akiko by the waist as she waved to Kanbaru, the queen taunting the whale into action as she was quite literally thrown into the fray, herself bulleting through the air and landing next to Riku on the monster's back.

"Heeey Riku~." Akiko started, her legs turning into tendrils to latch onto this monster with. "I know you reeeally care about Katie, but this monster isn't her anymore, and the only way we're getting out is getting this thing to destroy the Abyss. But, if it makes you feel better..." Akiko leaned over to Riku, almost tenderly so. "There will be one chance to pluck Katie out from this thing and separate her from it as it explodes." Castle began to slam it's claws into the dragon, drawing impressive amounts of damage from it's form as Akiko continued to chat. "I'll let you know when, but for now, you dying isn't going to help anyone, much less me. So... whatever power you can unleash on this beast, please, do it. So we can all get out of here."

Hellsword, meanwhile, kept themself near Kanbaru with the barrier sill up. They looked over at the whale for a moment before making a simple statement. "Bold choice, caring for that one. Far bolder to disagree, since she's seen through countless futures by this point."

They too started to work their magic as the abyss started to quake with some other presence. As if, somehow following behind them, the blue fungus that infected the crabs from the previous encounter started to sprout nearby, growing like a blanket of moss and mold throughout the battleground. It'd take a little time, but soon enough this monster would start feeling the influence as well. Maybe not overwhelmingly, but it'd hopefully at least contribute to the battle efforts to rile this monster up, maybe even destroy it.

"Do us all a favor, Kanbaru. Put aside your Jester and realize she has a plan, yeah? She was doing what she always does - biding her time."

Tower of Fable

---

"It's simple, Thomas. We need to kill it."

She turned towards Riku momentarily as she snapped back from Kanbaru's comments. "Talking here isn't going to work. You've tried a couple of times before, it's never worked..." She glanced back at the dragon for a couple of seconds before she hesitated. That was Katie, whether Akiko wanted to admit it or not. Call her crazy for actually growing a heart, but... Katie meant something to Riku. Maybe it was the multiple times prying at her, but as rocks came crashing down onto the group they shattered over Riku and (the soon-to-be-moving) Thomas, Castle having stepped in.

"... but if you want to try again, I'll stay by you." Akiko nodded to Riku, taking a fighting position and staring at the monster. Never did she imagine that she'd be playing the role she craved, but here she was. A future queen fighting for a past princess. The irony was thick enough to stab.

Akiko's words had landed, but the group's actions worked before she could. Her eyes were flashing a myriad of colors, Castle standing at the ready as Akiko moved before she thought. They'd had a similar fight before this in another loop, they could do it again. The issue was how big this monster was, but the adage from ages ago gave Akiko the hope she needed. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, of course.

Runa and Nephy sat brooding, Kanbaru was watching the crew perform, Thomas had already jumped into action, and Riku was going to try and talk to it. The dragon still rushed for the group and it make Akiko need to act. With a flash of green and red, Castle emerged and chimed with its rush, uncaring of who heard or saw. "MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!" It beat against the ground, the world starting to shatter and restructure itself as if it had always been something else - a roof, catching a few of the meteoric projectiles and Castle's fist even smashing through a couple of them itself! Of course, it wasn't a perfect fit, Hellsword stepping in to provide support and piece everything together with bones and fungus, but it held up as more and more fire crashed into it.

"If you're going to reason with it, Riku, now would be a good time to start!" Akiko shook the blood off her hands, ignoring the wounds and lacerations that resulted in punching through stone. Hellsword felt the need to chime in.

"Why are we not assaulting it? Why aren't you and your stand attempting to break its jaws?"

"Well I didn't see growing a conscience in my future, Hellsword, now keep the barrier up!" Akiko's fists sputtered more blood as Castle pushed its range, taking out more fireballs but being unable to pursue further. Seems its range was capped at 7 meters maximum. An odd number, but Akiko never really contemplated how far Castle could go out.

Tower of Fable

---

"Grrhhh... son of a-GHRAHH!"

The blood was pooling harder from her side, but thankfully she had an edge on this situation. The bright red glow in her hand brought the blood flow to a halt, the wound clotting and scabbing before she fixed her outfit. To the onlooking Lorelai and Hellsword, Akiko looked like shit, but it was slowly being fixed. "We admit, you have looked much better before." Hellsword was the first to comment on the state of affairs, noticing a rather timid Lorelai not wanting to speak up on the matter. The cat shrugged it off though, standing rather weakly as her eyes flashed and shimmered about. "And we also admit, you're acting rather manic."

"The entwined souls are correct. Akiko, you don't look so well. And... you're younger?" Lorelai noticed the finer details there with Akiko's body. Seems even though the illusion had worn off, Akiko had reversed the time. Just a little bit, not too much, but it oddly fit her. "What happened? What happened in that brief darkness?"

The cat stepped over to the edge she landed on. There was a stint of black, but she hadn't expected this to happen. This didn't appear in her visions, this was something new entirely. At least, it was new now. Something she was afraid of, sure, but at least she could focus on it now. Maybe not in any of the loops, but she did pick up a thing or two from Runa.

"We don't have to go down there. We can stay up here, let you rest." Lorelai stepped over and offered a shoulder for the cat to rest against, if only for a moment. She was concerned, far more than she had been before, even when Akiko was moments away from getting strangled by Ami and Riku.

But. The cat knew better. "No. We need to get in there. A queen protects her subjects, that's how it should be." Castle manifested behind her once again, full ghost form, just staring down with it's user. "You guys better be ready. I can't imagine this is gonna be an easy fight."

Within an instant, Castle flung its owner, Hellsword and Lorelai left looking at eachother before they shrugged and dissipated, returning to cards once again in Akiko's possession.

A couple of feet away from Nephetos, Runa, and Kanbaru, the cat landed with a resounding thud. She stretched her arms out and flashed her eyes at the ghost before she looked at the rest of the combatants. She eyed them up and down, trying to figure out what pieces of the puzzle they fit into. Trying to decipher their pasts once more, but with an added edge. After a moment, she spoke looking at Kanbaru.

"Katie's sick, she's got some kind of affliction that modern medicine doesn't work with." She stepped forward, her attention turned to stare at the monster they were about to face down, looking for some story or edge she could get. "Hopefully that's the sort of haunting that you were looking for."

Castle manifested, hovering on Kanbaru's shoulder before nuzzling the whale. Maybe she'd get the memo.

"Listen up. That monster was Katie, it's not anymore. There's a chance that she could be fractured from it again, but that's not priority one. Priority one is making sure everyone here gets out alive." It wasn't often that the cat took charge like this, but the haze of the infinite caused her to realize. There was a way out of this. For everyone.

She flicked her head towards Runa and Nephetos. "You two, stick with Kanbaru and keep that thing at bay. Runa, if you see an opportunity to get in there, seize it." Akiko's eyes flickered, as if she was doing the same thing. "I'm going to Riku and Thomas. I'll keep them safe while trying to figure the same out."

She nodded to them. "Don't ask questions. Save us the precious time we'll have." And with that, the cat made a mad dash towards Riku and Thomas. She knew the other three would be fine, it was the new ones she was still trying to decipher.

Tower of Fable

---

"Oh, it's you." Akiko's immediate words were tinged with a sense of... relief, at first, before Katie began, but there were... things that she picked up on. A number of things. Sure, the tone was filled with a raw sense of disgust and hatred, but Akiko was hardly bothered. In fact, Akiko welcomed the hostility with a sickening smile on her face. And although the constant pleas of Akiko leaving was the obvious path this Tower wanted her to go through, she simply walked over to the desk Katie sat on and smiled.

"So I'm still here. In the Tower?" her voice was monotonous, not tainted with any sort of satisfaction or fear, rather just blanket annoyance. "Fantastic, so this is just an illusion. One meant to pry at me and get me to give in." The teen pulled her backpack up beside her, pulling a small item out of it. A small plushie, that of a purple cat. She gently stroked it's cheek before continuing her musings. "Just one issue with that, and this whole plan of trying to get me to crumble. I know what the end of this trick is, and I've heard everything you've said before."

Akiko didn't move, simply stared at the door and at Katie. "I was basically raised in an asylum for my apathy - my inherent desire to not care about others. People called me sociopathic, psychopathic, and the whole time I just never understood what they meant by that. I've had caretakers say the exact same thing as you, and I've found a way to go against everything." Akiko offered a nonchalant smile. "Who knows? Had I a circumstance similar to Kanbaru or Ami, maybe I'd have been a dark magical girl. Just. Like. Them." Akiko's words carried weight, each one feeling like it had a respectable heft behind it. "And sure, maybe nobody wants me here, but I'll tell you, that just makes it all the better for me." She laughed a little under her breath.

"Because I'm here now, and I plan on making it most everyone else's problem." That voice was different, almost as if the world was crumbling around her. As if she was trying to take the reigns. After all, with her certain set of powers, she'd been able to read into the future and pasts of others, and slowly but surely she'd been starting to see through her own realities as well. This world she was in felt hardly more than words on a page, and she was getting ever so close into reading between the lines. Honestly, she was starting to notice a couple of patterns.

"I might not throw my own punches. I might not play the same game as you all. I might be different, and wrong, and nobody might want me here. But I'm not afraid of you."

"Or Ami."

"Or Riku. Or Thomas. Or Rose. Or Kanbaru. Or anyone." She smiled, crossing her legs over eachother and simply watching Katie's every movement, her cat plushie sitting on her lap with its eyes trained as well.

"It's getting late. Maybe you should leave the new queen to her business?" She smirked. "After all, I'm building a new regime here. Sure, Rome wasn't built in a day, but that doesn't mean I can't try."

Tower of Fable

---

The world was starting to attack the group, and Akiko could feel the pressure. The world felt like it was starting to fall apart, even, though it was a lot more real than Akiko had ever felt before. But it wasn't like she could focus in on anything about that, the sounds of her group were ringing in her ears. [ I hope this means you're starting to care about others. ] Castle remarked, manifesting behind Akiko as she turned to look at the others.

"Kanbaru! Riku! Snap out of it, it's just a-" but before she could finish her sentence, the world shifted to a different reality. One where she was younger, though not by much, and the world around her was much different. A high school courtyard, maintained likely by some gardening club, her cards and tools gone, even Castle having been robbed. Her world was stolen, but something about this reality felt... off. She wasn't sure what exactly tipped her off, but between having a bachelors while attending a high school and knowing she recognized none of this landscape, she could piece it together. This was an illusion, no matter how real it felt, and being on her own sucked, but she'd done this before. She'd do it again.

Thankfully this time, if this architecture was to be remembered, it was Miso High. That meant she had an edge here, given what the Tower experiences taught her.

"Is she okay?" "There's that new girl again..." "Should we get a teacher? She doesn't look so good..." "What's her problem?"

The other students gossiped as Akiko raced through the halls of the school. The Abyss could try a lot of things on her, the monotony of normal life, the loss of those who finally cared for her as she was, but there was something it couldn't take away. Reality had reports of weird things, and given the pasts that she gazed into, she knew there was one place that stemmed a lot of things, nothing by which was normal.

The Detention Club. Hell, maybe she'd find Kanbaru there. Would be nice to see a friendly face in this school, real or not.

Tower of Fable

---

[ Akiko ]

Mhnn...

[ Akiko, wake up. ]

Five more minutes...

"Okay, she's not waking up, so..."

... whuh?!

Akiko woke up with a stir, looking down to see none other than Lorelai picking up the cat over her shoulder and starting to carry her off towards the darkness of the Abyss. "Okay, okay! I'm up! Jeez, you guys can't let a cat sleep for a little longer?"

Lorelai placed the scheming cat down gently as Castle remanifested behind the two. "I apologize, but the situation has grown more dire than last night. We ought to be moving." She paused for a minute before leaning down and gently grabbing the cat's chin. "After all, I'd be a shameful knight if I didn't protect my queen, wouldn't I?"

"Heheh, yeah." Akiko smiled, stretching for a second before looking around the corner at the rest of the group. She chose to stay behind a wall for the night so nobody saw her, but she'd prefer to keep her impression up-"Who the hell is that." Her eyes locked onto the cat barbarian across the other side of the group, next to Kanbaru. Lorelai peeked around the corner as well to get a glimpse.

"Another... alluring traveler arriving, assumedly to travel with your group. Why do you ask?" Lorelai fawned and inquired before she raised an eyebrow. "It couldn't be that you're jealous, are you?"

"No, of course not. Why would I be jealous." Akiko scoffed as Castle floated over beside her. She wasn't jealous, she just didn't like the vibe of another cat being around here. It was messing with her radar.

"My Akiko? Jealous of another cat around here? My my, how interesting! And here I thought the queen was above these feel-" Lorelai was cut off mid sentence by Akiko reabsorbing the card and stuffing it into her dress. "I'm not jealous since I only love you Lorelai, but sometimes you definitely push it." The two would have some real alone time later, both to discuss this and also scheme.

Akiko stepped out from behind the wall and rejoined the group, stepping to Kanbaru and the new barbarian girl. "Oi, bluey. Awfully quick at wanting to make new friends, aren't we?" She looked at the whale with a bit of concern before eyeing at the cat barbarian. "Don't believe we've met before, stranger, but I think we'll have to wait on that for just a second..." Akiko's tails flashed through the air in a similar fashion to Runa's previous exploits of time as the demon approached the group and spoke about the presence approaching. Just in time, too, meant Akiko could actually act here instead of waiting on the others to speak up.

"What she said. Come on, Kanbaru, let's get moving." Akiko grabbed the whale's wrist and started to pull her away from both the barbarian and the encroaching storm. Castle, in cat form, leapt onto the whale's shoulder and just stared at her with intrigue. What was it about this girl that made it's master so enticed?

Runa approached Akiko with a warning of the predictions, and Akiko nodded. "Noted, but if I'm to be honest, I don't think we really need to predict where it's going. Looks like it's on a pretty straightforward path." They'll just have to keep themselves ahead of the cloud, and thankfully Akiko could figure out just where to go, converging onto the same tunnel as everyone else (hopefully still holding onto Kanbaru). It was then her eyes settled onto Thomas.

How... interesting. Seeing Thomas made her think of how he and Riku had been getting closer and closer together. Almost made her think he was going for her royalty, too. Actually... if Akiko was going to be a queen, then getting into a relationship with a princess, even if she was scorned... noted.

Tower of Fable

---

Akiko shook her hand clean from the prior engagement, feeling the presence nearby start to creep closer with an ever-growing cold. With Hellsword sinking down to approach his summoner, Akiko turned her attention to Runa. "I don't just stand by when something's trying to kill me. I like pacifism, but I'm not an absolute pacifist." Nephetos trying an attempt on the queen's life made it a valid time to drop the pacifism for a moment. She stretched her arms out as Hellsword landed beside her.

"The presence approaches. Will you be alright to escape."

"Yes, I should be fine. Fantastic work, Bonesword. If your services are ever needed-"

"You have but to ask." Hellsword shimmered in a flash of green light before disappearing, his card returning to its master's possession. A loyal knight and a dashing maiden, indeed. Maybe it wouldn't be too late to get a third to complete the set, barring Eleonor of course, buuut something about Eleonor made Akiko weary of summoning her.

Alas, the time to move was clear. The cold was starting to get harsher and Runa's speed indicated that the group had to move. Akiko chased after Runa, definitely still fast but not nearly enough. After a moment of looking at the other fleeing people non-native to this abyss, Akiko realized she had just put her Stand on display. Of course, nobody would be able to see it outside of Kanbaru to her knowledge, but they knew it was around now. Surely she could maybe play it off, but if she was to do that...

She leapt back onto Kanbaru's bike, assuming that the whale was also trying to get the hell away. Castle remained manifested behind her, but the cat sat on the back and held onto Kanbaru's waist. "Don't get comfortable, bluey, Lorelai's watching you." Akiko would provide cover for the two as they escaped, but she really hoped she didn't have to. The less people aware of her abilities, the better.

Regardless of the events in this time, eventually the group arrived at the ruined structure that Runa led them to.

"God, it's cold." It sucked that Akiko's stand wasn't able to heat her up, but she couldn't really say anything with how potent it was for everything else. Though... she wondered if she could do something interesting with her power as Runa explained the origin of this... broken land.

"I suppose maybe calling this place the Broken Basilica would be fitting?" She figured putting a name to this place was a good idea, so... she did. If she needed to be a poet in the future for a bluff, that was likely the best way to do it. A magical place like this was a solid start.

As the group entered the fort, Akiko stepped over to one of the corners and summoned Lorelai. "Figures if we're gonna be here, we may as well get comfortable." She just hoped that Lorelai wouldn't get any funny ideas with all these people around.

She also took a position herself, sitting down amidst the ground with her legs crossed as Castle manifested behind her. With her own eyes closed, Akiko focused Castle's sight onto one specific person in the group - Runa. Maybe a stretch, sure, but if Akiko focused her energy and tried to find a converging point of Runa's past... maybe she could understand how to see through both the past and the future?

Akiko herself sat in silence, but Castle spoke on her behalf. [ Hello, Lorelai. My user is trying to unlock new potential in her with my assistance. Would you be so kind as to assure her safety for this brief period? ]

Tower of Fable

---

Souls? Well, that made things a little more interesting, though Castle still being around meant that if it was Akiko's soul being swallowed it's at least happening at a slow rate. Which... was interesting. That had some odd implication's she'd have to thumb through later. Still, she shook her head and refocused herself. "Trust me, when I mean self defense, it means I'm dropping my pacifism for just a little." Her eyes flashed red towards Nephetos. The wolf chose a rough day to play with this cat.

[ Is it time to advance? ] "Indeed. We're on."

She darted forward, taking advantage of the crabs to obscure her approach before she lunged forward towards Nephetos with aggression in her eyes, and for the first time it seemed like she had somehow approached with an intent to harm. What nobody but some gifted amongst the crowd could see, however, was a mighty slash from Castle streaming straight towards Nephetos that, to her and many others, would seem like an unseen force smashing into her when it hit.

"You're an interesting foe!" Akiko chided excitingly, gripping her Purple Relic to pull a blast of air from behind Nephy to allow her another brutal swing with Castle that seemed to be right on target. "Definitely unexpected for a sheep in wolf's clothing!"

She was about to go in for another blow before her eyes flashed red once more, instead resulting in her diving down below the surface of the water and dodging the incoming attacks. Why didn't she think of seeing a foe's attacks before when they practiced them?! That was an ingenious plan! Though for some reason the vision she saw was... oddly similar to this very fight. Huh. Noting for later. Regardless, as long as she played her cards right and kept being hard to hit, she could easily manage to dance toe-to-toe with Nephy.

Meanwhile...

"As expected." Hellsword scoffed, sinking down to the surface of the water and watching the crabs saunter towards the center of the arena, converging onto Nephetos and their summoner's position. He couldn't help but admire her handiwork. When Akiko was determined to do something, it seemed like she'd get it done in some way. Or maybe he was just being optimistic, and although that's rare, it was also possible.

With nary a word, Hellsword commanded the crabs nearest to Nephetos to dive under, which they did. It was likely in an effort to help keep Akiko safe with her dive, though he wasn't sure how well that'd work.

The crabs around the battlefield kept up their defense just fine. With them being unhinged, some managed to easily take down their encroaching forces, though others got a little overzealous and simply broke off their claw with a major swing. Thankfully, the spores leaked out, corrupting the other crabs in the process and making them go hazy as they started to mutate the same fungus. Hellsword couldn't help but laugh. Like it or not, his presence here was firmly established. Maybe that'd earn some points with Ira if she could see it.