shadowsaint007

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

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Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

---

Penny manages a smile at Dana's cheerful energy, though her doubts remain.

"It's... well, maybe I am overthinking it," she says, "seeing a conspiracy where one might not exist. It's just... ever since the airship, what you girls saw left me concerned, and you aren't the sort to make this up - leastways from what I've known of you this far. I mean, if it weren't for... you know, I would have just put it down as the Void having a bug up their collective ass and deciding to stir shit up. That's what they've been doing for about a century, after all."
She pinches the bridge of her nose.

"I dunno, I don't want to feel like I'm jumping at shadows here," she sighs.

Dana's friendly squeeze pulls her out of her funk, and she can't help but grin at the Norba girl's infectious cheer.

"Okay, now I know you're exaggerating," she chortles. "Though when can I expect you to pull out a giant mecha out of a hat?"

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

---

Penny rolls her shoulders and feels the bumps and bruises she had experienced through the day, wincing at finding a couple newer ones every once in a while. She really needs to work on her combat techniques, or at least her combat awareness. However, at dinner she finds out she's not the only one who had trouble that day; apparently there was more than one incident of higher-tier Voids disrupting training sessions. The knowledge makes her look at her teammates in concern.

"Either they have problems with perimeter security," she whispers to her teammates, "or there's more to this than we realize."

Maybe she's worrying about this too much. Maybe the Void nearby are simply getting agitated over something or other. But right now she feels like she's waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She sneaks an extra helping of zebra pudding for Dana alongside her dinner in case the Norba girl decides to wake up in the middle of the night hungry, and decides to spend a little more time doing research using her PDA over the academy's network. Namely, she does research on the remaining classes of Void - by the reasoning given, D and C classes implies B and A, but how far does that ranking system rise? S? S+? SS? And if those classifications exist, how dangerous were they? She also investigates things like the history of the Void incursions and the technological developments that lead to the creation of Ars Magi. She was taught the basics at grade school, true, but maybe she could prepare for upcoming classes and broaden her horizons a bit in the process.

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

---

"Well, good riddance to that," Penny says, looking up at the ashes of the monster dissipating into the winds. "Is everyone okay? That was a rough fight, and I think I'm getting into a habit of getting smashed into stuff. Not advisable, by the way."

“This certainly beats those dumb cartoons, but I’ll give them credit for fueling your creativity.”

"Hey, don't knock those cartoons," Penny replies with a smirk. "I spent a good chunk of my childhood on them."

"Come on, girls. The Powers that Be are calling us. Not you, babe. You can sleep. You did great."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea right now," Penny groans, stretching a bit, feeling the kinks and bruises from getting smacked into concrete twice.

She follows the other two girls to the tower.

"So who wants to bet the instructors have a few comments on our performance?" she asks, trying to make small talk. "I think I did okay. You girls did pretty great, though. I think we got the hang of this..."

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

Penny groans in the pile of rubble that had collapsed on top of her, slowly making her way out of it.

"Ow..." she groans as she slowly gets herself out of the pile, "that definitely wasn't the smartest move..."

As she stands up, relying on her massive hammer as a crutch, she squints at the sudden burst of light in the sky. It takes her a moment to process the blue expanse and the glare of a bright sun, and a moment more to understand the implication. For a moment, she just stands there, forgetting the world around her as she saw the sky unobstructed by dark clouds of Nox, the way it once was. She almost forgot the aches and bruises all over her own body from her crash. Alas, it was a fleeting moment, and she felt her bruises protest again. Best to make it to the other girls, hopefully this test would be over now. She manages to limp to the others, but a proud smile still adorned her lips; that may not have been the best move, but it was certainly one she'd do again if she had to.

"I think I'll try and avoid crashing into a building full-throttle next time," she jokes.

"Man, what fucking shows did they show you kids?"

Penny chuckles at Nichole's question.

"Oh, you know; dumb kids' cartoons," she replies. "With the usual messages; friends are important, spread peace and love, and if the monstrous abomination isn't going down, hit it with something stronger.

"Oh, and eat your veggies - that one's important."

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

---

Penny nearly jumps for joy when Nichole manages to bisect the Void in half, the lower half dispersing as Astrelle is freed of its grip. However, it's still too early to celebrate, as the upper part lashes at Nichole and throws her groundward, before swooping down after her in an enraged attempt to make her pay for her interference.

Penny makes a quick assessment of the situation; both Astrelle and Nichole were falling to earth at disturbing speeds, with the added bonus of the Void swooping after Nicole with the intent to smash her into the ground. Dana is trying to make her move, but can't target the Void lest she hit the Ars Magi it was chasing.

Only one thing to do, and it's insane...

|| Music: You Say Run (Metal Cover) ||

"Dana! Get Astrelle!" she calls out to her partner. "I'll get Nichole. Once I give the signal, give that thing everything you got! Ready?!"

With a mental command, she fires Groβ Eisen full-blast, the rocket hammer propelling her at full speed. She skates along at breakneck speeds towards Nichole's position, using the hammer's blasts and rocket bursts as thrust vectoring to guide her in her intended direction. As she charges forwards at a speed that can only be described as pure insanity, she feels the lightning course through her body, charging her, strengthening her, bracing her against the forces trying to hold her back. She can't fly like Nichole, but she can certainly pour on the speed. It takes every bit of skill and control to stay in control of what was essentially rollerblading with a rocket attached, but as she charges her gladius with power, she feels it resonate with her burning spirit and determination, ready to squeeze every last drop out of their combined power in order to achieve victory. The wind screams in her ears and her heart is pounding so hard it threatens to explode in her chest, but she pays it no heed; only to the target, and how to get there as quickly as possible.

Using her breakneck acceleration, she leaps off the ground in a low dive, using her insane momentum to basically fly low parallel to the ground. Even as she charges forwards, she starts spinning her hammer around, its rocket burst looking like a massive Catherine's Wheel as she zeroes in on an interception. All through the spin, she grits her teeth, fighting back the nausea as she focuses on Nichole's position, and getting ready for the strike.

Still flying in mid-air, she grabs Groβ Eisen in a one-handed grasp, and with the other hand, reaches for Nichole.

"Think fast, Nichole!" she cries out, managing to grab the Hasta girl by her arm, she uses her spinning motion to throw her to safety, before switching back to a two-handed grip, tightening her grasp on the hammer.

"DANA!!" she calls out breathlessly, "FIRE! DONNERSCHLAG!"

She slams the electrified rocket hammer full-force into the thing's face, the air around them erupting with intense electrical force, the hammer striking the thing with the combined might of her Elementum and pure physical momentum. The road is temporarily brightened by the power of lightning, sparks filling the air as a deafening thunder fills the air. The impact was so strong it caused a shockwave to burst out, shattering any nearby glass and even knocking over parts of nearby walls, and the Void was sent flying by the sheer impact.

"HAH! How do you like being blindsided, you ugly-" Penny crows triumphantly, before her uncontrolled flight causes her slam into the side of an abandoned store with considerable force.

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

The arrival of the cavalry was a welcome sight to Penny, who's just barely avoiding the thing's rapid onslaught thanks to her speed.

"Just in time, girls!" she calls out. "Now let's turn the tables on this freak!

"Hey cocksucker! Over here!" she calls out to the Void, assaulting its right flank viciously with her hammer as per Nichole's instructions. However, the thing's speedy limbs makes it hard to score a direct hit on the body, and while she does manage to land a glancing blow on the twisting limb, it quickly retracts out of her reach and becomes... wings?

"What the-" she says, looking up as the thing takes flight. Apparently it can tell when a fight's turning against it - and it's taking Astrelle with her!

"Oh you fucking miserable, cocktease, chickenshit monster, come the fuck back down here and fight like a man!" she calls out after it. "And put her down, asshole! Didn't your momma ever teach you manners around a lady!?"

That's when the thing starts dropping fanged worms from above at them.

"Oh, fantastic," she grumbles. "It's got ugly friends too. Girls, watch my back and don't get surrounded! We don't want to take any more risks as it is!"

She then proceeds to pummel the attacking waves of void-snakes, using large, powerful sweeps of her electrified hammer to smash six of seven of the things at a time, followed by a powerful thunderstrike that squishes a dozen and knocks many more back - away from her and her companions to give them breathing room.

She then aims her hammer at the flying Void, trying to bring it down with a lightning bolt the way Dana managed to deliver several sharp blasts of light. To her chagrin, the lightning comes out in a wild, untamed arc, twisting and sparking wildly, missing the monster (and fortunately Astrelle) before taking it out on an unfortunate street lamp, felling it in sparking ruins.

"SHIT!" she cries out. "So much for aiming..."

"Girls, much as this is fun, I think we need to find a way to catch that thing before it flies off with Lennox," she calls out. "I'm guessing we can all jump real high with our new abilities, but I'm talking about if anyone thinks they can just up and fly, that would really be useful right now. We can try to hit the monster from this range, but don't hit Astrelle!"

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

Vanna's performance was elegant and calculated. Nichole's was showy, and while she did get hit once, she still looked stylish. Dana simply smoked her opposition at range. Astrelle even did an impressive job turning her adversaries to ribbons. Penny knows she got careless with the last Void, but perhaps she could plan around that next time; she wields a massive hammer, and she can only do large, swinging blows. If she's to survive her encounters with Void, she needs to plan around this vulnerability. Not to mention the possibility of rogue Ars Magi, who can think in ways no Void can.

She hears the transmission, and listens to what it says, before catching something move in the corner of her eye. Something big, black - and moving at her very fast. Her eyes widen in surprise, but she barely has any time to get out of the way before large black tentacles slam into her, sending her small frame flying and knocking the very breath out of her lungs. She feels herself flying, propelled at ludicrous speed through air, then brick and mortar as though it were children's building blocks. It feels like a vice is trying to crush her chest, right around the collarbone area, and the force of the impact leaves her coughing for breath and her back sore. Then it yanks her in the opposite direction and starts dragging her towards... whatever it is. Then it steps out of the shadows, its viselike grip letting go, and Penny can finally get a good look at her new adversary as her vision refocuses and her breath slowly returns.

It's another Void, similar in many ways to the ones she just fought - but this one is bigger, and clearly much stronger and dangerous. D-classes were just stretchy but human-looking. This one looks monstrous, there's no other word for it.

Tch, something tells me I'm not in a test anymore, she thinks, getting up to shaky legs and taking several hard breaths to recover. If I knew I was going to get smacked repeatedly, might have gone into this more carefully. Still, lesson learned - let's just try and survive the next few minutes first!

There's no time to recover her breath; the thing's long, stretchy arms and fast reflexes mean that Penny can't just flank it as easily as she did the D-classes. She needs to get mobile, quickly. With a thought, Groß Eisen bursts to life, the rocket exhaust allowing Penny to start skating around on her rollerblade quickly, weaving and moving quickly to avoid getting hammered once again by those long, stretchy arms.

"Come on, freakshow!" she calls out to the Void. "Let's see how good you are with those Stretch Armstrong arms when you're not a bushwhacking little cheat!"

She switches to her comm even as she skates furiously, trying to find a weak point in its design. She frantically tries to remember the official reports on Voids, trying to remember if there's anything she needs to watch out for.

"Guys, some backup would be really nice right now," she yells into the comm.

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

Penny circles the trio of Void, noting their speed and reflexes, weaving to see how fast they respond to feints, but she was done goofing around. She turns around and zooms towards the three, feeling the might of her hammer, Gros Eisen, as it thrums with power, using its jet to speed up her movement.

She couldn't match Vanna's skill, Nichole's grace, or Dana's shooting gallery, but she can feel the raw power coursing in her veins as she charged her foes. Jumping in the air, she charges her hammer with power before slamming it on the ground right in front of her three foes.

"EINSCHLAGEN!" she roars, shattering the earth with the force of the blow and battering the three shadowy monsters with the shockwave and strong electrical arcs. This was no killing blow, but the power delivered and the force of the elementum within the (admittedly short) area of effect was enough to stun her foes, and with their guard down, it's her moment to strike. Gros Eisen was a large, unweldy weapon, and despite her new strength allowing her to swing it around like a baseball bat, it's not as graceful or swift as a sword. Its thrusters convey power and additional speed, but not grace or finesse. Her best shot at doing the most damage is making sure every blow connects - but once she does, it's clear the force of each blow is bone-shattering. Already, the three Void look like they've been battered by a truck.

One of the three Void is already buckling, hammered by the relentless onslaught. Penny winds up a hammerblow, gives a roar of fury, and slams her hammer into the Void. The sheer force of the blow is enough to splatter everything above the waist, and the monster dissolves into nothing.

One down, two to go. Already, the two Void are rushing in, trying to take her down quickly with claw swipes. She barely avoids a couple attacks, turns on her rollerblade, then, as she charges the pommel of her hammer, she drives it right into the chest of the Void on her left, right at the core. The massive shock stuns and weakens the thing, and she takes advantage of its moment of weakness to hoist it over her head and slam it to the ground, finishing it with another mighty hammer strike that smashes it into paste and crushes the core in one blow.

The third takes advantage of her distraction, slashing her across the back. It's a surprise moment of pain, a reminder that she should watch her back at all times - but it makes her more mad than scared.

"Oh you little bitch!" she snarls, and charges her fist with lightning, delivering a solid haymaker to its 'face' that sends the beast flying into a wall. The thing barely has a moment to recover when, with a war cry, Penny charges it full power and brings the hammer down on top of it, the force of impact instantly reducing it an unsightly dark smear on the pavement, with the smell of ozone filling the air. She stands there, breathing hard as the rush of energy flows through her. She wills herself to calm down, though she finds a frozen mad grin on her face.

So this is the power of an Ars Magi, huh? she thinks to herself. Not bad at all...

Nova Lux: A Magical Girl Game

“Me?” Priya asks, considering Dana’s question carefully. She taps her chin, smiling brightly after she’s given it some thought. “A sword!” She pauses, adding, “I guess that’s kind of boring, right? But I want to be a dashing swordswoman.” She waves her fork around in motions that are probably supposed to be swash-buckling.

@Inedible

If Priya thought swords were boring, it's only because everyone hyped the hell out of them, Penny thinks. Every fantasy story, pirate movie, swashbuckler novel, and God knows what else has the hero or heroine use swords - well, almost all of them. It didn't make the sword bad, just maybe overused. Hell, there were dozens of types of swords, each with their own style and flair.

Though it does make Penny wonder about the more... exotic weapons. Whips, hammers, maces... would there be any Ars Magi who used microphones like an idol? She doesn't see herself as using one, but it's certainly an interesting mental image.

“Mmm.” Says Cara, “I’m not gonna guess, we’ll just find out tomorrow.” She nods to Penny. “I guess we just wait, for now.”

Quiet conversation continues around the tables for the next several minutes, mostly speculation on transformations, weapons, and outfits. Some are more enthusiastic than others, but the mood overalls seems positive—with some small exceptions.

When dinner is finished there’s not much left to do but return to the dorms, most of the on-campus facilities by now closed and no student yet allowed outside into the city. This time at least the girls from the Laurus have more time to sleep before the morning bells wake the candidates once again at some ungodly hour of the morning.

Returning to the dorms, Penny yawns widely into the back of her hand. She's still tired from yesterday! Maybe she can get some sleep for tomorrow... though a thought occurs to her. Maybe she could do a bit more research before she went to bed.

She tries to connect her phone to the network, and tries to access the school library. She spends a couple of hours researching a few questions, mostly pertaining to the school's history, the history of Ars Magi, and a copy of the school map and the curriculum if those are available.

Today is the day.

Each girl in turn finds themselves escorted deep into the bowels of Nova Lux, past secure doors and winding passages, deep beneath the earth into the forge where Ars Magi are made. They find themselves in a circular room, an observation area outside of a small surgical chamber. The walls gleam sterile white and the lighting is bright and harsh, reminiscent of the hospital that they visited earlier.
Several final checks are done, and the last thing each remembers is a small cluster of white-coated doctors gathered around them, and the gleam of metal instruments before they sink into darkness.

"So tell me, doc, will I ever play the violin again?" Penny jokes before she's put under the anesthetic. She counts down backwards from 20 as the doctor orders, losing count at around 7 or so as she slides into a deep sleep.

The next couple days are spent in recovery. It’s a strange sensation at first, to have this foreign object inside of the body. Inset in the navel, each gem is a smooth and gleaming invader that feels notably unnatural for the first 24 hours.

This is before mentioning the uncomfortable soreness, the periodic dizziness, and the fits of nausea that come as the body adjusts to whatever magic is now coursing inside of it. Each girl was warned of these side effects and given even worse news to go with it: They can’t even transform yet. The Armagus requires a specific trigger, and is nothing more than an uncomfortable lump until their bodies have adjusted to it.

"Ugh," Penny grunts as she gets up in the morning, feeling the thing in her navel every time she shifts. She tries a few stretches, trying to get used to the weird sensation in her belly. "The doc must have slipped us a mickey; we go out like a light, don't remember a thing, and yet end up with a weird thing in our gut and what feels like morning sickness.

"Hopefully, we'll get used to it. I don't think the older cadets even notice it's there anymore."

“This will be your first exercise as a Nova Lux cadet.”

The nausea is starting to pass on this, the third day. Candidates have begun to return to something resembling normal, just in time for the mission briefing in the assembly hall. A holographic map of the city is on display at the front of the room, slowly rotating under the touch of a uniform-clad woman at the front of the auditorium.

“The exercise will take place in the Palmyra Military Exercise Zone, or M.E.Z. There, under controlled conditions, your Armagus will be activated.” A pregnant pause, and the officer continues: “This activation will require the presence of a Void.”

Quiet whispers ripple through the crowd of assembled young women.

“We will be lowering the diffusion of Nox in the exercise area to a level sufficient for the manifestation of low-class Voids. Your Armagus, an anti-Void weapon, will respond accordingly. The exercise will be supervised by military personnel to mitigate the danger to yourselves, but I won’t lie to you: Any encounter with a Void has the potential for disaster.

This is your first real trial as an Ars Magi, prepare yourselves accordingly. Ignis aurum probat.”

"Tell us about it," Penny says grimly, rubbing her cast, a solid reminder of the run-in she had with the Void not two days ago. She doesn't want a repeat of last time, so she tries to stay calm and focus. Fortunately, there were no bystanders, so they just have to stick together and win. And technically, this would be their second real trial.

𝙿𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚢𝚛𝚊 𝙼𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝙴𝚡𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚉𝚘𝚗𝚎
𝙰𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚝
𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝟷𝟻𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟷𝟽 𝙰𝚅
𝟿:𝟶𝟶 𝙰𝙼
Dana Noel, Penny Grenoble, Nicole Cognoscenti, Diana Khay Vanna, Astrelle Lennox

The voice is small and static-laced, a quiet buzz from the earpiece you’ve been equipped with.

“Now lowering diffusion level. Nox levels rising.”

You stand in the middle of an abandoned street, rows of empty buildings hemming in on all sides. This is Military Exercise Zone, an older part of the city abandoned and later reclaimed specifically for Imperium purposes. It’s a ghost town, not a single soul dwelling within. The only sign of movement are leaves blowing in the chilly afternoon air, dried and brown foliage that rustles quietly down along the narrow streets.

The candidates have been broken into groups of five, with the Laurus crew finding themselves together once again. Your companions wait in an observation tower some ways behind the exercise area, observing you the same way you did them during their respective turns.
But now, it’s just you.

"Hey, girls, funny how we keep running into each other like this," Penny jokes. "Seriously, though, are you feeling like you have a whole swarm of butterflies in your stomach? And I'm not talking about the nausea from the operation."

“Nox levels still rising.”

Something is wrong. It’s like static in your brain, gentle at first, growing louder as time goes by. Things begin to feel fuzzy and indistinct.

“Manifestation of Voids detected.”

They look similar to the thing that attacked the Laurus. Humanoid, impossibly thin, inky black, geometric patterns etched along the flesh. Black clouds of Nox roll off their bodies as they take shape, three in total, seeming to blur and twist into existence out of the air itself. Air that is becoming steadily thicker as small wisps of Nox begin to form.

They advance.

The static is worse now, the world around hazy and indistinct. Hard to focus.

And then you feel it. A single point of clarity, something bright and powerful just barely within the grasp of your consciousness. All you have to do is reach your mind out and take it.

All you have to do is change.

"Three? They must really have faith in my ability to not getting torn to shreds," Penny quips. She does, however, feel a rising heat in her belly, one that radiates outwards until it fills her whole body. Sparks form around her limbs and fingertips, and she feels the static particularly affected by the crackling lightning racing through her.

One thing she remembers from an interview is how Ars Magi receive their gladius. It's not forged or manufactured, it is created by the will of the Ars Magi - something she didn't fully understand until now. As magic fills her being, she can almost see the thing in her hand, but it's a strange combination of... engines, wires, and steel?

After all, for one to receive a gladius, one has to see its outline in her head. And what is another word for an outline but a blueprint?

Gears click together, pieces fit like a puzzle with the loud clank of steel. Before she knows it, Penny is carrying a massive rocket hammer in her hands, one much larger than she is and so heavy it almost trips her to the ground before she gets a grip. As it settles in her hand, she feels a surge through her hands travel up to the hammer's head, and it sparks for a second before bursting into life, fire roaring from the nuzzles belching fire, announcing its life to the world.

Whoa, I've heard mechanical-looking gladii were possible, just didn't expect mine to be one, Penny thinks. She then notices she's an inch or two taller, and her footing is somewhat loose, then realizes she hasn't grown - her new outfit has roller blades.

Then there's the rest of the outfit, which looked like something a Bavarian maid would wear - and, as much as it embarrasses Penny, pretty similar to what Magical Maid Altea wore. Oh, and she had green bangs for some reason.

Still, no point dwelling over her appearance; there are still three hostile Void nearby, ready to tear them apart. She shakes her head, makes herself focus, and takes a deep breath.

She almost misses the fact that her arm is now healed. She clenches and unclenches her fist, and shakes her forearm a bit to see if her arm really had a miraculous recovery.

"Huh, not bad," she mutters. She then turns to the three Void approaching her, a wide grin on her face as her heart pounds with excitement.

"Alright, you ugly fuckers, it's payback time! Let's see how you shits handle some extra reach and speed!"

With that, she moves quickly from side to side on the rollerblades, zigzagging closer to the enemy. She finds herself wondering if she could use the hammer's rocket to redirect herself, when she's almost thrown off by the whiplash as the hammer's thrusters roar in response, sending her racing forwards. She barely avoids running into the Void before redirecting her charge, shifting the hammer to rapidly strafe to the left. Using her mobility and speed, she baits the Void, trying to gauge their speed and reactions to a faster enemy as she circles them.

"Hey freakshows, you gonna stand there picking your asses or are ya gonna get a move on?!" she yells at them cheekily.