Despite Wilhemina's request, Ethereal Rose kept on speaking. At least the good captain did manage to get her name, but most of the conversation just breezed through her skull as though it were a wind. She needed to watch out for her teammates, she needed to keep track of her sailors, but at least the swarm of Pageless around her... stopped advancing? And there was a hand on her shoulder that she did not immediately connect with Ethereal Rose standing beside her for better or worse. Regardless, all these concerns vanished the next second when an absolutely gargantuan Pageless formed from the swarm, barelling through the construction site without regard.
On the one hand, it headed for the Grimoire, causing it to have more and more impact Goodhope's senses. On the other hand,
it headed for the grimoire! It would rip the story apart if it got close and that, she could not allow.
Throwing her caution to the wind, she withdrew some of her blessing from the fox maiden and Lilac, pouring it into the link towards Lumiére in an effort to help her stop the creature. Even then, it seemed that its power would overwhelm her senior at any moment and there was little to lose, so she called the rest of her crew into existence. Her core of magic throbbed in response, the overwhelming strain becoming evident on her even as she ordered her loyal sailors to aim their muskets at the gigantic creature and buy time even if they had to do so with their lives.
Blessed they be, her loyal comrades obeyed. Sharp cracks of gunshots rung in the air, a lucky few engraving shallow wounds into the titanic Pageless. The team's efforts were wearing it down iota by iota, with Lilac managing to wound the creature before it broke into a mad frenzy, completely disregarding all threats before it and focusing on... a new magical girl?
And within seconds, a massive explosion of light and magic that seemed to consume all. Wilhelmina had never seen something like that: one moment, she had been contemplating how to help her newly ascended comrade and the other, a sphere of light slammed into the very claw it had raised to eliminate Nessie. The sheer force of the impact caused dust to swirl and winds to sweep, Goodhope's long hair fluttering with it as it cleared the site. And more crucially, all things combined gave an
opportunity for all present.
Captain Goodhope took a deep breath. Her eyes closed. Her magic swelled. When she opened her gaze-
It shone with the very same golden radiance that she had seen a moment before.
Lilac Shimmer, Lumiére and Burning Heart felt a distinct thrum through their blessed link to Captain Goodhope. The magic connected to them swelled, opening its channels so as to accommodate a veritable torrent, no, a tidal wave of power to flow. Magic along with luck threw itself into the fray, a feeling akin to dozens of dozens of sailors standing their ground against a terrible storm settling on the shoulders of her comrades. For they were safe under Goodhope's protection, for they could accomplish anything by her side, for they were her
beloved friends helping her through thick and thin. And Wilhelmina would do her all for them.
It strained her, of course. That much was evident as she locked her hands in prayer, fingers closing on another with a force that caused them to whiten and pale. Even her sailors wavered for a moment before they redoubled their efforts with their muskets and started to pepper the monstrous creation with their projectiles, both wounding and disrupting it at crucial moments. Their grit teeth reflected their effort and that of their captain to turn back the darkness.
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