Zoey Boey

World of Light

Level 8: 017/80
Word Count: shor
Location: Egg
Points Gained: 1
NEW EXP balance--- Level 8: 18/80

---

Raising her fired gun, Jesse gently knocked over the armor with her boot. Her expression relaxed, and she exhaled. "Alright. Well. You did get some information out of him, at least. But I imagine that's it, for me." She waved her gun away and rolled her shoulders.

"I'm gonna get back up North to where my Headquarters are." She said. "In a giant, creepy city? I won't tell you the exact location because a certain asshole is still alive but, if you ever swing by, trust me, we'll find you." Jesse said. "I'm going back to the metro. Maybe I'll get lucky and F will try to stop me. I doubt it, though." She said, confident that there was nothing that blubbering psycho had in him capable of stopping her.

"Take it easy, Fortune. Considering you're not the leader, I sure did find myself following you a lot. Primrose, you got a good head on your shoulders. I hope to see you again." She said. "Therion...you ain't so bad, either."

"I'm sure the big ones will get along, but, maybe next area you should divvy them up a little." She wryly looked between Sectonia, Bowser, and Ganondorf. "I'm sure as you all stick together you'll be just fine, though." She pointed at the little contigent known as the Koopa Troop.

With that, her little goodbyes were over. Nobody could accuse Jesse Faden of being overly sentimental. "Welp. See ya." With that, she headed off away from the Seekers. They were probably going to have to head in the same direction, though. Hopefully that wasn't too awkward. Either way Jesse would wave goodbye once their paths finally diverged, be it at some point in the Under or at the metro itself.

World of Light

Level 8: 017/80
Word Count: shor
Location: Egg
Points Gained:
NEW EXP balance--- Level 8: 18/80

After they managed to defeat the Guardian, Jesse was feeling pretty good.

All right. That's done. I think it's fair to say we've done my tour of duty. Two Guardians? I'm sure the Seekers can handle the rest. At the very least we should return to the Oldest House and see what the others are up too. And shoot all my friends in the kneecap so I can friend heart them. That'll be a day. And if there is a Guardian up there, we'll need to work on that, too. Somehow.

But when they got outside, Jesse was greeted to an unpleasant sight. Consul F, pleading for his life. For her part, Jesse didn't buy it for a second. The others, however, seemed interested in hearing him out. Jesse kept quiet, standing at the back. Her Service Weapon was out and she was charging up a Pierce Shot, but it was behind her back. With everyone else in front of her, only a faint glowing red light would give her intentions away.

Jesse would give him a few more moments to speak, to see what he would say to the others. But she was not watching just him. She was looking around the room, glancing about. She looked at her feet to check for opening pitfalls, and the walls for springing traps, and the ceiling for crawling monsters. And she watched the Consul himself. Waiting for him to slip-up. Any break in the facade, any seeming break in the act, she would put a bullet in him while she had the chance and get the fight started. There was a coldness in her eyes. Anyone standing at her side or behind her could see Jesse was giving off violent intent.

World of Light

Sakura Level 10: 67/100
Karin Level 7: 43/70
Location: Arabahaki
Word Count: 1600
Points Gained: 2
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 10: 77/100 +3 +5
Karin Level 7: 53/70 +3 +5

—

Having taken another life and rounding to finish the job, the battle was won. The Tycoon machine was destroyed. And in the aftermath, grim implications for Midgar. The Seekers, of course, had to move on. Their war against Galeem was paramount.

”...Then, I’m afraid this is where we part ways, Seekers.” Karin said. ”Even if this world is temporary, I cannot abandon these people. Not when I have the power to help.” Karin glanced over at Susie. ”Miss Susie, I believe you and I could lead people here to safety.”

”If none of you wish to address the people, then I shall do so. I must come up with some kind of plan. But what the people need right now is hope.” Karin said.

”Midgar provided little value to anyone by itself. There is quite literally no reason to live here. It has no resources, no real infrastructure, only constant natural disasters. Galeem just constructed a populace and then dropped a corrupt power structure right on top of it. It’s not a real city. It’s a prison, an artificial facade of one, at that. A prison that can now be escaped from. ” Karin said.

”I- I’ll stay, too!” Sakura exclaimed. Karin raised her eyebrows and looked at Sakura. Then she smiled. Sakura continued, ”I want to help. And…” She looked at the scattered ash on the ground.
”I’m really sick of killing people. Even if it’s for a good cause. It’s not what my parents or Ryu-san would want for me. I don’t want to lose myself. I- I want to go back to helping people. And helping people find refuge while beating up opportunistic bad guys sounds like something I could help with.” She walked up to Karin and set her hand on her shoulder. ”Besides. You’re strong, sure, but together? No low-life criminal organization or gang or leftover corrupt politician could even come close to getting in our way of doing what’s right.”

Karin, for once, was the one who brought Sakura in for a hug.

Karin cleared her throat, pushing them apart just a few moments later. ”Miss Sandalphon. You said there are nearby places available for settlement. We’ll need to lead the refugees in the direction of at least one of these places. Once we’re out of danger we can reorganize and divvy up the populace. I’m certain I can get some noteworthy and trustworthy individuals among the populace to help manage the crowd.”

”Like Wallace-san!” Sakura exclaimed happily.

”...Sure.” Karin said with a very unsure tilt of her head. ”Once we get the refugee train going, it’ll be as simple for everyone as following the person in front of them. It won’t be easy. And we’ll be here a while. But we can do it.” She set her fist in her palm.

”...We must.” The heiress said, her will set.

”My mind is made up. The rest of you may speak, but I will be delivering the message so the people know my face and my name as someone that can be trusted.”

Karin beheld the terminal and knew she would be seen before all Midgar. But she wasn’t worried. Sakura, on the other hand, stood off to the side, nervous even though she wasn’t going on camera. Before it started, she looked back at her friends. She wanted to say goodbye to them, before they split. The thought of letting them go made her tear up, but she couldn’t doubt herself now, of all times.

Karin cleared her throat, glanced over her shoulder to make sure everyone was ready, and then activated the broadcast.”Greetings, citizens of Midgar. My name is Karin Kanzuki.” If the other Seekers had anything else to say, they could. But Karin had come up with the outline of a speech in her mind that would hopefully convey the idea.

”This message comes to you from the heart of Arabahaki, and the city. We are the Seekers of Light, here to battle against the corruptive influence of Galeem. Having pulled the root of its power from the city, your minds are all now free from its influence. Behold the truth: this place is a prison, constructed by the mad tyrant Galeem. Oppressed by monstrosities from the outside and above and by your very own leaders, your suffering has gone on long enough. The time for freedom is at hand. President Shinra, Senator Armstrong, and Karen Travers have all perished in the vain attempt to hold onto control over this city.” Karin said.

”During the struggle, Galeem’s puppet was destroyed. This city and its power over you were unsustainable frauds, and as a result, the Mako reactor was destroyed. Before tomorrow, the city of Midgar will be without power.”

”I urge you not to panic. The times ahead will be difficult, but this trial will lead to hope. No longer will you have to hold up those who wish to exploit you. Instead, you must hold each other up. I, Karin Kanzuki, will do my best to personally ensure the safety of the people of Midgar.” Her orange eyes, almost golden, were unwavering.

”This is no placating broadcast to keep you in check. This is no mad call to violence. This is a warning, and an opportunity. Midgar has no resources of its own. It has little to offer you. If you wish to flee and seek a new life, I urge you to head east. I will be there, gathering strong and noble defenders. We will head to the Satisfactory in the east. The most vulnerable among us will be safe there. After that, we will spread out and head to places such as Gutsford, Port Meridian, or even build new establishments in the newly liberated regions now that the Machine threat has been dealt with.” Karin said.

”If you wish to stay, you may. The opportunistic parasites will want power over this carcass of a city. They will surely fight each other for the scraps. Let them have it, I say. Good riddance. You needn’t be a part of that. But ultimately, the choice is yours. To those of you who will be joining me in the east, I wish you good luck. And I shall see you soon. Remember to help each other. We are our greatest strength.” Karin said. She stepped aside, looking over her shoulder at the other Seekers. With that she ended the broadcast.

”...Is there any way to make that repeat?” She asked Sandalphon.

The archangel blinked, recalling and extrapolating data. “After a fashion. Being neither psionic nor an adept programmer, I am not able to interface with ‘brainpunk’ technology and cannot force the city itself to rebroadcast, but as far as I know all forced transmissions like this will be saved to local storage for the psionics who received it, and from there it should be able to be replayed, copied, and proliferated among the people.”

”...I see. Well. I’m sure it will be fine. We’ll spread the word on foot, as well.”

”Miss Midna. Given that we are in the center of Midgar, I’d ask you to teleport us back to the SOU building. We’ll head east and pick up any refugees along the way.”

Sakura looked over at the other Seekers. ”Well. I guess this is goodbye, for now.” She said, unable to hide the quaver in her voice. ”Thanks for helping me, everyone. I know we’ll meet again someday. I know you can win.”

She stepped over to Geralt. ”And thanks for looking out for me, Geralt-san.” She went to hug the witcher. Then she stood on her toes and whispered into the witcher’s ear. ”I hope you find Ciri. Please don’t tell anyone why I started fighting.”

She looked at Roxas. ”Don’t give up hope, Roxas-kun. You’re a good guy, y’know?”

She looked at Blazermate. ”You’re a lifesaver. It makes me feel better knowing you’re with the Seekers.”

Next was one of her newer friends, Zenkichi. ”Zenkichi-san, I’m happy you joined us. I’m not sure if we would have made it with even one less person, let alone someone as strong as you.

She addressed the semi-formally dressed pair that met them in this region. ”Giovanna-san, Goldlewis-san. You two are a good team. I think you should stick together more often! Without you both we would have been lost over and over again. Like, literally lost. As in not knowing where to go.”

Next up, the big angel lady. ”Sandalphon-san. You’re really nice. Thanks for helping us. I don’t know what I would do if I were you. I hope it all works out. I'm sure it will. You're strong.” Sakura said.

”Roland-san...” She looked at him. She didn’t really know anything about him. ”Um. You’re pretty strong, so, good stuff on that! Keep it up!” She pat him on the shoulder and skipped away.

Finally, she walked up to Midna, who would be portalling them away from the others. ”Thanks for everything, Midna-san. It was fun to hang out with you. Especially that one time in Gutsford?” She laughed a little.

Karin addressed the others. ”I wish you all the best. Your battle is an important one. It was truly an honor to fight at your side.” Karin said. ”I can’t imagine I’ll be terribly hard to find, should you ever need me again.”

”Man. I’m kinda bummed out I never even got to fight any of you! We better meet up again. For real. ” She wiped her eyes.

Karin looked to Midna. All business, now. ”If you would be so kind, Miss Midna, as to guide us to the SOU building. I am ready when you are.”

World of Light

Septentrion, First Class

Blazermate’s @Archmage MC, Geralt’s @Multi_Media_Man, Sakura and Karin’s @Zoey Boey, Goldlewis Dickinson, Sandalphon
Word Count: 4557 +5 points

As Karen rose from the epicenter of his cryokinetic avalanche, Geralt’s Quake Rounds peppered him, but a much bigger problem was headed his way. “Armstrong!?” The sight of the huge man, not to mention what his presence here implied, left the psychic stunned just enough that he reacted instinctively. He fired off an icy blast like a cannon, but the senator armored straight through it and brought his heel down in an arena-shaking stomp. The shockwave shattered most of the ice spiked that remained, and also triggered the Tremor built up on Karen. “Urgh!” Left reeling from the impact, he gritted his teeth and worked to put together defensive measures.

His enemies were already coming to seize the opportunity, after all. Goldlewis thundered toward Travers, crunching fallen icicles with every fallen step. Yet he did not throw caution to the wind; his opponent was unbalanced, but far from helpless. Thanks to the toxic clouds that gnawed away at the Seekers and shored the Septentrion up, the deck was still stacked in Karen’s favor. Goldlewis jumped up, airdashed forward, and dropped on Karen with a flurry of blows from the UMA. With Blastokinesis and Sclerokinesis both offline, the psychic had only a couple options, and Invisibility wasn’t going to help here. He blinked backward without looking, putting his back perilously close to the edge of the platform with only a little Teleportation left. While his allies continued the pursuit, Goldlewis stopped to cover them with his Skyfish.

Blazermate directed her allies into the direction of where Karen was dodging, while she herself swooped along the ground to touch a crack and summon a purgatory ghost. Although she wanted this to zoom at Karen, it instead went for Tycoon as he was closer. This gave her a bit of an idea though, and she looked for and stood next to, but not touching, the next purgatory crack in a more defensive measure. She had gained a fair amount of uber as well, so soon Karen would be feeling a kritz… although who would be best for it?

Sakura ran forward full speed towards Karen Travers. A bead of sweat and a nervous smile flashed across her face. Feeling the daredevil, she leapt towards him with a flying kick that had more than enough momentum to carry her over the edge should he side step. Provided he did, she would swiftly turn around and use Mental Connection on the aggressive Geralt. She would swing herself around with her momentum and go to leap onto Karen from behind. ”Yattaze!” In a callback to a fight neither of them remember, she moved to lock her comparatively small but still very strong arm around his neck and grab his head, yanking back and squeezing as hard as she could.

Karin stayed back a short distance behind Karen, predicting he would teleport out soon and wanted to be in range to immediately engage should he do so.

“Urgh!” Already distracted by the gunfire coming from Goldlewis and the other foes approaching, Karen hadn’t spared Sakura any extra thought when her flying kick took her past him. Her Mental Connection and subsequent chokehold, then took him by surprise. He struggled with prodigious strength, his Cryokinesis soaking into his captor’s body, but Sakura held firm, and grappling him like this made escape very difficult. His eyes blazed as he activated Marksmanship, firing off a barrage of psychic lasers, but without any defensive powers available he could only do so much.

Geralt took advantage of the distracted Karen to fire another salvo of Quake Rounds into Travers, aiming carefully so as not to clip Sakura. Each shot was only a small nuisance to the Septentrion, but together, they were slowly piling on the damage and allowing all of the others to get a hold of the man. It was a different style of combat than she was used to, but its results could not be denied.

Blazermate saw that Karen was running out of steam or so she thought? He wasn’t moving around as much now, so maybe she could go up and do something. Her projectile shield wasn’t charged yet, but there were other things she could do. She kept her healing beam on whoever his psychic lasers were hitting as she zoomed around and came from Karen’s flank, shield raised. As she got close, she used the stunning scream from her shield to follow up with a bite from it to infect the guy with her undead plague. She then got ready to kritz whoever wanted to deal with him next.

Despite his relatively low mobility, Goldlewis managed to close to melee range first out of all the Seekers fighting Karen. He couldn’t go too hogwild with Sakura perilously close to their collective opponent, but Geralt’s carefully-aimed Quake Rounds set him up for success. When her pistol clicked empty, demanding a reload, it was a perfect chance for Goldlewis to make the most of this window of opportunity. Just then, however, the team medic got in the way, earning herself a volley of Marksmanship lasers in the process. Taken by surprise, Goldlewis slid to a stop, inches away from bashing the medabot in the back with his coffin held like a battering ram. “Hey, watch-!”

A horrific shriek from Blazermate’s twisted shield arm cut him off. It’s ‘stun’ was in truth more a side effect caused by the excruciating pain of the damage it dealt to one’s ears, and without any means of preventing friendly fire, both Goldlewis and Sakura took part in the auditory bombardment meant for Karen. They all reeled, and with the street fighter’s grip loosened, Karen bottomed out his Cryokinesis in an explosive burst, coating his foes -and filling the Suffering maw- with ice.

Still, that left him surrounded, without means of escape or defense. Yet within reach of an invaluable prize. The Septentrion had only a moment to act, but with the right power a moment could feel like a lifetime. He gritted his teeth against his pain and activated Hypervelocity. “Stupid.” In a gray blur, traced by pink afterimages, he stepped around Blazermate and delivered a barrage of punches to her chassis. He paid special attention to her elbow joints, his fists crashing into them again and again. “Shouldn’t have tried your luck!” He finished with a kick to her back as his time ran, sending her -and any loose parts- toward the abyss.

”Miss Blazermate!” Karin called out. Having been hanging back to catch Karen off guard, the other street fighter was in position to save her ally. She dashed forward and just put herself between Blazermate and the edge. ”Umph!” She took the impact and wrapped her arms around the mechanical healer, dropping to the floor.

”Are you alright? You don’t feel pain, do you?” She asked.

”Thanks Karin. And uh… sorta… it's hard to explain.” Blazermte said, holding her arm in the common anime pose of being injured. She had to call her healing drone over to heal herself alongside her own healing beam for a bit, the dents left by Karen slowly popping back out as she healed herself. ”Beaten up by Karen, and saved by Karin. Thats going to get confusing.” Blazermate said, trying to lighten the mood more for herself.

”Well, suck it up, my dear!” Karin said, giving her a hard but reassuring pat on the shoulder before rushing back into the fight.

As soon as Karen slowed back down, Goldlewis rounded on him. “Hey! You’re fightin’ me!” He whirled his coffin around as he advanced, step by step. The Septentrion tried to block the first mighty swing, but its raw power combined with Geralt’s Tremor blew his guard wide open. Before he realized what happened, another terrific wallop connected. It drew a spurt of blood from Karen’s nose, but also knocked some sense back into him, allowing him to duck under a third bone-cracking blow. “Gotcha, ya sumbitch!” When Goldlewis pivoted into an overhead smash, Karen swerved to the side and narrowly avoided its crushing force. His Pyrokinesis flared up as he lunged forward. A fiery palm strike slammed into the veteran’s heart, then detonated. Winded, ignited, and thoroughly agonized, Goldlewis fell back with a haggard gasp.

Just then, however, Sandalphon’s Angelic Wings radiated across the battlefield. Its divine light healed and cleansed the archangel’s allies, giving a maximum health boost to those who were purged of frost, poison, and flame. Goldlewis might have crumpled from the blow, but instead he planted his back foot and lashed out with a giant backhand. The Seekers hadn’t lost their momentum just yet.

Sakura joined up with her melee partners in crime. She followed up Goldlewis’ back hand with a kick into Karen’s ankle. ”Shunpu!” She canceled it into a spin kick. Thanks to Sandalphon’s ability, she was basically at full health. ”Come on, come on, get him!” She stayed right up close, minimizing any reach advantage by in-fighting with elbows and knee strikes.

As Sakura pressed her advantage, Goldlewis joined in. He complimented his teammate’s quick, punchy attacks with heavy blows of his own to fill the gaps in her assault. More cognizant of friendly fire now more than ever, Goldlewis made sure not to get so aggressive that he accidentally struck Sakura, instead working with her to create an immense amount of pressure that kept Karen on the backfoot. The Septentrion couldn’t pay either of them the attention necessary to shut them down without opening himself up to the other, and when one started a combo the other could chime in. ”Yeah, yeah!” Sakura cheered, feeling the rhythm with Goldlewis. After just a couple moments, Karen threw in the towel.

“Fine.” He leaped backward off the arena, activating Levitation to float over the open space and Blastokinesis to shield himself. Then he began to draw on the Phantom Ruby, creating an abundance of crimson-shrouded cubes that he hurled back onto the battlefield. Each exploded on hit, creating a quick ring wave of cubes that shot outward from the point of impact. That constant barrage forced his foes to hop or block rather than fire back, and if any worked up the guts to jumped out over the void, they’d be leaping straight into his fusillade of projectiles. Even worse, Tycoon unleashed Artificial Gravity during this time, turning the situation from bad to terrible as everyone had to seek safety amidst the storm or eat heavy damage plus Vulnerability Up stacks.

Sakura squinted at the cubes, and then locked eyes with Blazermate. She ran towards her and then reached out with Mental Connection, locking onto Blazermate’s stray thoughts. Then she zipped over at high speed, landing with practiced agility at her side.

Karen did not notice the streak of green lightning circling around the room’s periphery. A red-and-green blur leaped across the pipes, pumps, cables, and machines that crowded around the portals on the walls, maneuvering behind the Septentrion. Even Goldlewis, shorthopping like his life depended on it, barely recognized the intruder through the thinning haze. When he did, though, he realized that the Seekers’ ship had come in. The next moment, Giovanna cannoned off the outer wall, propelled by a sigil airdash and sustained by jets of steam. She shot straight toward Karen, and rather than try to strike his shield, she passed harmlessly threw it to lock her legs around his neck. “Going somewhere?” She zapped him point-black with her gloves, then twisted and hurled Karen back toward the arena, her airthrow strong enough to crack his shield on impact. She then used a Roman Cancel to refund her airdash and fly to safety, while Karen scrambled to get up.

Geralt, who had transformed back to her original Identity to try and dodge as many cubes as possible, found herself in a good enough position to intercept Karen. Her Quen shield was gone, but she herself was in good shape thanks to the relatively recent heal Sandalphon had gotten off before Mephisto’s demise. She’d managed to avoid much of the cubes Karen had sent their way, though Artificial Gravity had managed to hit her, hence the missing Quen. She descended on Travers with her steel sword at the ready, taking advantage of his own lack of shielding to dish out as much damage as possible. Karen was quick enough to avoid being caught off-guard, and his Electrokinesis empowered his attacks, but Geralt was relentless, flashing her signature blade out as quickly as she could manage, mixing feints in with her attacks to bait out a counter, then parry and punish it. She had the advantage of range, but Karen had versatility on his side, as he demonstrated by summoning duplicates to force her back onto the defensive. Used to being outnumbered, Geralt held out surprisingly well, but she could not find an opportunity to strike against the Seekers’ enemy.

Blazermate, instead of flying into the barrage of attacks outside the arena, instead just floated above the cubes and found a spot where the circles wouldn’t intersect so she wouldn’t get hit, saying. ”Hey guys, pretty sure this place is safe, at least from the circles.”. The spot didn’t have much room at all once the circles expanded, but Blazremate was safe from the attack at least.

color=f49ac2]”Wanna gimme the juice again, Blazermate-san?”[/color] She asked, turning towards Karen and widening her stance. She pumped her arms like loaded shotguns and activated her V-Trigger, Sakura Senpu. Her fists and feet lit up with flames. Now she would have an advantage in close quarters combat. ”I’ll say when!”

As soon as Artificial Gravity detonated, Sakura sprinted forward, slingshotting forward using her allies and Mental Connection, Blazermate able to handily keep up due to their medibeam link. Maybe she was crazy, but with her karate techniques, V-Trigger, and a properly timed Kritz that could lead into her Critical Art? She thought it might be best to bait all the duplicate Karen Travers into attacking her at the same time.

Sakura barrelled forward and opened up with a flying kick towards Travers and his duplicates. She backed up. All she needed was for one of them to whiff a hit, and for the others to come strike at her to cover for him. Just one moment. Sakura blocked ducked, weaved, and then finally side-stepped to dodge an attack. ”Now!” She shouted. Her leg snapped out in a light kick, a quick and long ranged kick against his knee. With Sakura Senpu, she instantly converted into a blazing fast spin kick with a blade of ki behind her hee. She span around to strike all the duplicates at once.

”Power and Skill!” She shouted, converting it into her critical art. She stopped on a dime and than span the other way, surging forward with her kicks and carrying her and her opponent a significant distance. With a yell she dropped and thrust her crackling fist forward before he could hit the ground. ”Sakura no Ame!” She plunged it against his stomach and then dragged it upwards into his chin. There was a plume of ki energy all around her that would blast the other duplicates as Sakura shot up into the air to send Karen flying.

Goldlewis whistled in admiration as Sakura’s offensive initiative paid dividends. When their opponent used Duplication to make every move in triplicate, he’d managed to fend off Geralt and keep Goldlewis at bay, but the street fighter had found a hole in his onslaught and made him pay for it. And with Blazermate giving her kritz, the damage she dealt reached a whole nother level. “You-! Graaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” he howled, only to get cut off as he slammed back down onto the arena. ”And that’s a wrap!” Sakura cheered, landing and balancing on one foot for a second before steadying herself. Yet even that wasn’t enough to put him down, and when his head whipped up, his eyes alight with rage beneath his disheveled gray mane.

”Bwah!” Sakura scampered back in alarm.

“Enough of this!” As his foes rushed in to finish him off, he activated Sclerokinesis. Protected from arm, he wound up and brought down a megaton punch that blasted back everyone within a few yards, and shook the entire arena. As the battlefield flexed perilously, Karen pulled the cord at his collar. His hood flipped up, hiding his face in a dark veil that then blazed with a set of orange jaws, and all across his outfit imaginary cables began to glow. Aglow with the power of Brain Drive, he lifted his hands once more. “This is what real power looks like,” he declared, ready to turn the tide.

Instead, he found himself staring upward like a rabbit at a hawk as Heavenly Wings swooped toward him in all her glory. With armored scales like interlaid tiles of marble and jet, her claws and crown of lustrous gold, she looked like the embodiment of divine punishment, and she hit like it as well. At the bottom of her dive she whipped around and lashed Karen with her tail, Its strength obliterated Karen’s emergency Blastokinesis shield and hurled him through the open air. Even before he slammed into the far wall, Sandalphon cast screens of holy light like gigantic stamps that buffeted his point of impact. Goldlewis joined in the bombardment, his Skyfish roaring as bullets pounded the area, along with bursts of fire from Geralt, who had transformed into a new form, complete with ethereal wings of flame, a few complimentary fireballs from Sakura, (and anyone else who can projectile can join in). After a few seconds, SandaIphon’s time as Heavenly Wings grew short, so as her final act she cast Celestial Skewer. Holy water around her frothed into raging rapids, and from the maelstrom flew a flurry of javelins that punctuated the Seekers’ assault.

Even before the dust settled, however, lightning erupted from the crater in the reactor wall. The smoke blew outward from the center, revealing Karen in critical condition. Most of his uniform had been destroyed, and wounds covered his body, especially around his chest. Having returned to her normal state, Sandalphon scanned his vitals, and her pupils turned to exclamation marks as she realized what had happened. “He defibrillated himself,” she reported, her deadpan tone tinged with a note of surprise. Though the Septentrion’s hood still obscured his face, she could feel his determination. “This is the final stretch,” she told the others flatly. She planted her gunstaff, creating a healing field, then swapped to the Eye of Sol with a flourish. “Brace yourselves.”

Sakura looked at Sandalphon, a hushed look of awe on her face. ”I-I’m ready!”

”As am I.” Karin rejoined with the others.

Karen yelled–no, roared. In one go, he activated Cryokinesis, Duplication, Clairvoyance, and Psychokinesis. He flung himself back toward the arena, landing in an explosion of ice. Debris of ice and metal, further compounded by Duplication, floated around him as both a damaging field and to glom onto his every move, in a manner that might remind Sakura and Karin of Oro’s Tengu Stone. More dangerous than ever with his powers amped up by Brain Drive, Karen Travers attacked once more.

Geralt stayed back, flinging balls of fire at Karen every chance she got while also summoning the Judicator to launch its own spectral fire at him. As Karen rushed at her, trying to take advantage of this form's seeming lack of weapons, she gave a devious smirk and ripped free the Hateful Flesh, crashing it violently into his outstretched arm and forcing his attack off-course, to which she followed up with a spinning elbow to the face, and a blast from Aard to further punish his hubris and give herself some space.

Before Karen could get his bearings, Goldlewis occupied the space that Geralt opened up–but not quite the same Goldlewis that the others remembered. When Karen had powered himself up one last time, full of fatal fury, the veteran had done the same. Producing the spirit of Jack-8 that he’d claimed after the remarkable robot’s defeat, he’d slammed it into his heart and transformed in a burst of prismatic light.

For Goldlewis

Notable spirit consumed:
Jack-8
The host’s shoulders are a little broader, and he’s visibly lost some weight. His pompadour is a little higher and his hair a bit more blonde and shiny, while the lips on his glasses now glow bright red with a vertical line through them. His suit is now augmented by hefty black armor, most notable on the shoulders, knees, and forearms, the latter of which is integrated with his gloves to form a set of heavy gauntlets, which have cartridge firing mechanisms built in to empower his punches. They still have horseshoes on the knuckles, and his other pads also feature cow skull designs. His boots are black and much heavier. His coffin is also modified with black metal and red lights, augmented with a rocket on the front for use in Meteor Raid. His personality is slightly more unhinged, and he’s more prone to yelling when fighting, as well as flexing. This spirit confers the Power Heat, allowing him to effectively use his shotgauntlets, in particular a couple moves that engage a special mode. In this mode, he gets increased chip damage for 10 seconds and can use a special Heat Smash move or a very fast Heat Dash, both of which end Heat early. He only gets Heat once per round. This spirit also confers the Weakness Feeling Low, making his lows worse overall and giving him a weaker high-low mix game in general

“Rrrrah!” Goldlewis blew through the floating debris and dashed in to deliver a heavy lunge punch, followed by an overhead Behemoth Typhoon. Karen backed up once struck, but rather than pick up his coffin again Goldlewis stepped onto it to land a near-instant overhead knee strike, then land into a brand-new Tyulpan Blast that fired his shotgauntlets with both hands to blast Karen back. This also activated Heat, and Goldlewis charged forward with an aura of white flame. The Septentrion scrambled to his feet with his arms up, using Cryokinesis to create a spiked shield of ice. Goldlewis hammered the spike wall to pieces with a barrage of punches. “You damn…!” Then he grabbed Karen’s guard and headbutted him to the ground. “Fool!” Reaching back for his coffin, he unleashed an upward Behemoth Typhoon to force a quick rise, but let go of the weapon at the peak of the swing to send it flying into the air. Karen struck back with a vengeance, his freezing attacks supplemented by Psychokinesis-propelled debris, but after a moment Goldlewis unleashed his Heat Smash, Meteor Raid. A quick open-palm strike knocked Karen off-balance before an overhead punch grounded him, setting him up for the coffin to land on him. As it exploded, Goldlewis added insult to injury with a powerful flex.

The next moment the Septentrion disappeared, courtesy of Teleportation. He warped behind Goldlewis, only to find Giovanna waiting there. “Sucks for you I’ve always got his back.” She countered his first strike with the upper-body invincibility of her own 6p, then jumped up and springboarded off Goldlewis to launch herself at Karen with her nigh-unreactable Tempestade drive kick. Together, she and Rei unleashed a flurry of attacks that culminated in Burning Kick, melting through the last of her foe’s Cryokinesis as he once again got pushed back.

Sakura winged the stumbling Karen in the side of the head with a push kick, and Karin came in from the other side with a wince-inducing kick to his knee. Sakura jumped on his back once again and drove her elbow down like a jackhammer into the top of his skull. Then she wrenched backwards, trying to force him to stand up straight. In just a moment more he could have shaken her, but Karin wasn’t going to give him that moment. His body and defences were weakened. Truth be told, the heiress didn’t know if this would finish the job, but she wasn’t going to hold back.

”Kanzuki-Ryuu…” Voice rising, she stepped in and swatted him across the jaw and kneed him in the gut. Then her right hand sparked blue. For a moment, it was like there was a vacuum of air around her fist as dust kicked in and swirled around it. Super Combo. Fully stocked.

”Shin-! Pi-! Kai-! Byaku!” She thrust her hand, palm flat, fingers first, like a knife, targeting his liver. She stepped forward, pushing him back with her strikes, the ground literally quaking around her with the force of each blow. Each syllable was punctuated by a lancing, impaling strike like she was trying to punch a hole clean through his body. Liver, lungs, heart, stomach, liver, her hands indented him and Sakura felt the force in her own body as gusts of wind traveled out the other side. This move wasn’t nearly as flashy or fantastical as the one she used against Rufus Shinra, but that wasn’t the point. This was a technique meant to disassemble someone from the inside.

Karin stomped the ground and it cracked beneath her. ”Sei!” With a final cry she thrust her twisting fist into his center. He didn’t go flying away or explode. Typically, the victim would just crumple around the blow. Sakura had to let go, her hands numb and her body vibrating just from being attached to Karen. Karin withdrew her fist and took a few steps back.

For all his determination, Karen Travers could do little in the end. Finished in decisive fashion, he could muster no last words, nor final self-reflections. By the time his assailant’s technique came to an end, he scarcely felt the pain, instead comatose in a state of shocked numbness. His organs failed, his body failed, and he died. In the last moment he could still think, however, his thoughts were of Alice. The woman he’d been willing to turn back time to save, now just another footnote on the pages of history. Forever.

Karin lowered her palms and exhaled, shutting her eyes. She was a warrior now. Had been since she set out. It was the Seekers, collectively, that killed him. He was immensely strong and could not be held back on. And in the days to come, for Midgar’s recovery, far too dangerous and powerful to be left alive. Still. Sakura set a hand on Karin’s shoulder and looked at her. This wasn’t why either of them learned to fight. But they had the strength to do battle, and so they must. Neither of them needed to say anything.

As Karen’s body crumbled away, Giovanna and Goldlewis looked on, taking a moment to catch their breath. The secret agent gave her friend a smirk, nodding at his stomach. “You gotta tell me about this new crash diet of yours.”

Goldlewis rolled his eyes. “Wasn’t my aim. Honest! I’ve been tryin’ to lose the spare tire forever. But you know I’m partial to stress-eatin’.” Shaking his head, he turned toward the element in the room: Tycoon. “Anyhow, save your yappin’ ‘til after we’re done. This ain’t over yet.”

Sighing, Giovanna brushed her braid back over her shoulder and assumed her fighting stance. “Yessir.”

World of Light

Septentrion, First Class

Blazermate’s @Archmage MC, Geralt’s @Multi_Media_Man, Sakura and Karin’s @Zoey Boey, Goldlewis Dickinson
Word Count: 2029 (+3)

Sakura looked at Sam, saying the same things she did before. ”You’re following around this guy, now?! You really need a hobby! If you want someone to follow, I know this perfect guy…” she trailed off. ”P-perfect for following! He’s really strong.”

Soon after that, however, her attention was brought to someone else. Nox had his little breakdown and left.

”Ohohoho! The self-defeating philosophy defeated itself. Who knew doing terrible things to justify terrible things was for total failures. Shame he got away, but I can’t imagine he’ll be doing much anymore. Not without his precious cube. What a fool.” Karin said dismissively.

“Leave the mocking for later,” Geralt chided, eyes narrowed at the others. “At least one of these fools still thinks he can win.” Following up with her own insult, Geralt smirked a bit to Karin, before drawing her steel sword.

What happened next was quite unexpected. C showed up, and somehow turned one of their number into a bird. Sakura covered her ears. ”Okay, I give up on trying to guess how this is going to go. Can we just start punching, now?!”

Sakura and Karin got into their fighting stance. Shortly after Sakura gave Roxas an encouraging pat on the back and a smile. ”You helped Sam and got him out of our hair. Easy as pie, Roxas-kun, easy as pie!”

“Good work, kid,” Geralt added, with a small sigh for Mephisto’s fate. “But things are still getting complicated.” As the gas clouds enveloped the battlefield, Geralt drew one of her potions, Cat specifically, and took a swig. She hoped it would bolster her vision through the gas clouds, and against a psychic like Travers, the immunity to hypnotism couldn’t hurt.

The arena was enveloped in smog, and Karen Travers stepped up to fight. Sakura and Karin were among the many Seekers to challenge him. ”Watch out for his metal body mode!” Sakura warned. In this true timeline Sakura was thinking more clearly. Her own failings had been completely overridden by Nox’s ultimate and total failure.

Karin nodded and dashed forward with Sakura following up behind. Sakura jumped up and launched a fireball at Karen, and then used Mental Connection to yank herself down and past Karin to hit her opponent in the side with a punch. Meanwhile Karin came in with downwards kicks towards his leg and angle.

When enemies approached, the Septentrion held his ground, activating Blastokinesis and Pyrokinesis as he waited for Sakura and Karin to come to him. A bubble shield encapsulated him while roiling flames flared up around his arms. Despite the extra protection he sidestepped the projectile, then Sakura herself, realizing that his foes planned to pincer him. Considering the other Seekers yet to come, he needed to move fast. With one hand he cast a blind swathe of flame toward Sakura, trusting his shield to take a hit from her while he focused on Karin. As she went low, further depleting his Blastokinesis, he stomped at her, then kicked upward in hopes of launching her. He lifted his hand, a compressed fireball held within to hurl at her and blow her away. While the others couldn’t see as well thanks to Mephisto’s clouds, Clairvoyance allowed the Septentrion to see everything for what it was.

Blazermate would soon join the battle as it seemed Karen was hurting Sakura and Karin more. While Blazermate had her Scan ability, she could see through the smoke and see everything much like Karen could, although with her it was more radar vision than actual sight. This did let her easily locate both Karen and the two street fighters, and apply her healing beam to whoever was getting comboed by Karen at the time. She could interfere more directly when her allies HP got lower with her own shield arm, but knowing these two fighters, they might not appreciate that so early in the fight. Plus this let her build her charge a bit.

Sakura and Karin backrose from their respective knockdowns. ”Keep focusing his shield!” She yelled.

Sakura felt herself get healed. ”Blazermate-san, where is he?” She ran towards where she got knocked away from. His powers weren’t exactly subtle, so if he used any she could see him.

A torrent of bullets tore through the haze as Goldlewis opened fire. “Travers!” he yelled over the roar of his Skyfish. “Come get some!” He couldn’t see his opponent, but he could see his stolen Pyrokinesis–the flames burned bright through the haze. As the bullets blazed a trail toward his position through the smokescreen, Karen quickly grasped the reason why, and in a flash his fire disappeared. Goldlewis grunted in annoyance, dropping his minigun for the UMA to collect as he scanned for any sign of the psychic soldier. A moment later, however, the Septentrion materialized from thin air, his arms ignited as he stared Goldlewis in the face.

“Here I am.” Just a second too late, Goldlewis realized that Karen must have turned invisible. He threw out his elbow to try and check his opponent, but Karen beat it out handily, his sudden reappearance empowering his first strike. The man landed a scorching punch, then stepped up with an explosive sidekick that knocked Goldlewis back. Knowing his allies were inbound, the veteran rolled backward to his feet, delaying his next move to give the others a chance to distract their foe.

”I can try to give you guys direction, but I can’t highlight him for you, I need to see him for that.” Blazermate said as she used her scan ability to see through the smoke to point out where Karen was, trying to give the street fighters and her allies some direction.

”Got it!” She said. Was she being presumptions when she assumed Blazermate had some kind of heat vision?

Geralt ran to Goldlewis, the shimmering shield of Quen covering her body, and the LCCB Assistant Manager Identity granting her both riot shield and armor, as she scanned the battlefield for their foe. Finding him, his invisibility broken from his attacks, she fired a volley of Quake Rounds at Travers, to build up some Tremor on him. Her salvo landed, catching Karen just as he moved to press his advantage against Goldlewis. Those special bullets did only minor damage, but the surprising punch they packed distracted the Septentrion in a crucial moment. Goldlewis jumped at the chance. “Crumble!” His Behemoth Typhoon whipped around like a flail, a massive weight on a beefy chain.

Still, Karen was determined not to give his foes an ounce of hope, even if it took spending his resources to do it. He activated Sclerokinesis and soaked both the mighty slam’s damage and its Tremor-amped stagger. Protected by his power, he didn’t need to actually block, so he essentially armored through the Behemoth Typhoon to stagger Goldlewis with a blazing elbow. He aimed it for the kidney, but the big man’s extra padding saved the day, sparing him from paralyzing pain. “Dammit!” he grunted. His foe followed up with a fiery roundhouse kick, but not fast enough to combo Goldlewis in hitstun, so the veteran backdashed and unleashed another Behemoth Typhoon. Still bolstered by Sclerokinesis, Karen pushed in to punish his foe for not learning, And Goldlewis sprung his trap. He canceled his special move with a purple Roman Cancel, and the same wave that reset him to neutral also slowed Travers down, just for a brief moment, but long enough for Geralt to act.

Geralt charged in, slamming into Travers in her base Identity, claws raking against his hardened body and digging through the last of his Sclerokinesis. She followed up with Igni, blanketing him in a quick burst of flames before he had a chance to respond. Still, he wasn’t one to get caught up in any one attack for long.

That’s why Sakura rushed in to slam her elbow into his back, and follow up with a spin kick to knock him back towards Geralt, off balance. ”Looking good, Geralt-san!” She said. ”...Geralt-chan?” Being attached to Sakura at the time, Blazermate used her rush to rush in herself and smack Karen with her ubersaw to gain a bit of uber and deal a bit of damage herself, while Geralt landed a nasty swipe to Karen’s side.

All too soon, Karen disappeared, using Teleportation to get the hell out of dodge. Thanks to their cohesion, his foes had landed their first clean hits, but the Septentrion didn’t let that bother him. Mephisto could undo whatever damage his opponents managed to rack up while he kept his head in the game. His attention lay on his resources and his opponents. His Pyrokinesis bottomed out, and as he extinguished his arms with a flourish, Karen spotted Blazermate patching the blonde girl up. “So be it.” He teleported again, appearing above the medabot, and as he hung in the air his Electrokinesis activated with a blast of sparks. The next second a deluge of thunderbolts descended, threatening both medic and patient with vigorous electrocution.

”Above!” Karin jumped into the air and planted her feet on Blazermate. She pushed them apart with a graceful back flip, causing the bolts to land between them. Afterwards Karin fired her grapple hook towards Karen to stab into his side. She pulled herself towards him quickly and aimed to double palm strike him back towards the ground.

Blazermate meanwhile had seen Karen appear above her after a bit and summoned her projectile shield to block the lightning bolts and save her and her patient from getting zapped.

The hook punched through and caught in her foe’s heavy coat, and the weight of the street fighter on the other end taxed Karen’s stolen Levitation enough to drag him downward. He attempted to grab hold of the line and send an electric current through it, but the extra hindrance got in the way, and the Septentrion wasn’t able to stop Karin before she flipped above him to slap him downward. With Teleportation still engaged, however, he blinked away the moment that Karin’s hook came loose. He reappeared only a dozen feet away and hurled another lightning blast at his attacker as he hovered. Karin pulled her hook back towards her. She crossed her arms in front of her and took the shot with a grunt. She flew backwards and landed on the ground, flipping back to her feet.

Down below, Goldlewis had spooled up his minigun again and opened fire on the airborne target, while Assistant Manager Geralt, freshly transformed once more, got a clear shot with her pistol. Karen turned and cast more lightning at the two, quickly exhausting his Electrokinesis. A bolt knocked Goldlewis down, but he got up again just as fast. “You’re spendin’ like there’s no tomorrow, Travers!” he called up, putting on a brave face. “How long you reckon you can keep that up?”

Sneering in annoyance, Karen swapped Levitation for Cryokinesis, descending like an icy comet. When he struck the floor, a massive wave of ice spikes radiated outward in every direction. Goldlewis jumped up and slammed down coffin-first, obliterating the ice within a small area. Meanwhile, Karen’s impact with the ground left him crouching, and he took a second to rise. Blazermate used her projectile shield to slow down the ice spikes headed for her and Karin’s way, summoning her Armstrong striker to bulldoze his way through the spikes and stomp the earth once he got next to Kaen, letting out an explosion. ”Go Mr. muscles, go!” Blazermate said as Armstrong gave a thumbs up before disappearing after doing his move.

Geralt grunted, hunkering behind her shield as the ice spikes appeared, angling it a bit downwards to avoid being caught from below like Y’s core had done with its own spikes. When the attack subsided, she returned fire with yet more Quake Rounds, circling around Karen.

World of Light

Jesse Faden
Level 8: 015/80
Word Count: shor
Location: Egg
Points Gained: 2
NEW EXP balance--- Level 8: 17/80

---

Jesse sprinted away from where she saw the spikes forming, firing one handed as she went. To avoid friendly fire she stepped up into the air so her gun arm was ten feet. Now she could shoot without having to worry about hitting any but the biggest and slowest members of their team. And she was low enough to the ground she could dip down and get her boots on the platform easily enough.

“Elastic Ooze! Enhanced jumps going down!” She called out as she fired her gun. Nadia made use of the healing waters, maybe someone else could make use of the ability to jump really high from one specific spot. If nothing else, at least Jesse could use it to get high into the air really quickly.

Which she did. Trying to find the timing of the teleporting Radiance, she plucked three boulders from the ground and jumped high into the air. When it teleported next, she thrust her palm forward and send them flying towards the Radiance to smash into the Guardian at high velocity. That was all the Energy she had for now, so she let herself drop fast and then bounce back up and away, Levitating in a different height to make herself harder to pin down.

World of Light

Jesse Faden
Level 8: 013/80
Word Count: shor
Location: Egg
Points Gained: 1 2
NEW EXP balance--- Level 8: 15/80

---

Kamek did the magic thing, and everyone ended up inside the Threshold where the Radiant was. “What is that? Some kind of fucked up divine sock puppet?” Jesse said, squinting. Still, as far as Guardians went, this had to be one. Certainly had the look and feel for it. Big, majestic, powerful.

Just like that big ugly worm. But, like, the opposite.

Jesse moved to the front with her Shield to block some lances and rays. This, she found, was probably not a good idea. It would just keep shooting, and the attacks were coming in from all directions. She could hardly protect anyone like this, and it wasn’t even the best for protecting herself.

“Hey, Sven! Healing Waters!” She called out. The kooky alchemist tossed out a vial and it landed on the ground, creating a soothing blue pool of water that would heal whoever saw fit to stand in it. "That'll heal you up if you stand in it! Just, uh, don't stand in one place for too long!" Jesse warned.

"...Obviously!" She added with a nod of her head.

There was no pointing using Levitation here, as far as she could tell, other than quick bursts of height. Staying up there was just asking for trouble. Jesse made a noise of complaint when one of the spears scraped past her. She sprinted to the right and strafed, firing her Grip pistol shots in its general direction. Much more consistent DPS and easier to aim than Pierce shots, and this thing didn’t look particularly heavily armored anyway. She just had to do her part.

World of Light

Sakura Level 10: 61/100
Karin Level 7: 37/70
Location: Arabahaki
Word Count: 1762
Points Gained: 6
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 10: 67/100
Karin Level 7: 43/70

—

Just as the damage had started to really add up, Sakura and Karin felt their bodies bolstered by Sandalphon’s magic, and Karen had taken a hit. The battle began again in earnest. It was a proper one on four, but Sakura felt like they were finally getting the edge on their opponent.

Sakura and Karin were both blasted to the floor by Artificial Gravity, but at least Karen got hit as well, though it didn’t seem to slow him down at all. Sakura was focused intently on her battle with Karen Travers.

Karin, however, saw out of the corner of her eye, that Roxas and Midna were both dead, with Geralt looking to follow after. Sandalphon, as well, had suffered lethal injury. This was an unmitigated disaster. Even if the Seekers succeeded at this point, the losses incurred here would never be recovered from. She saw Sakura, watched her face, saw the intensity in her eyes and movements as she rounded on Karen with a heavy kick. He blocked it, but the blow seemed to knock the last of his Pyrokinesis out of him, and she backpedaled away from his counterattack. Karin had been sure they were going to win. But now, no matter what happened, there would be no such thing as a victory.

A part of Karin wanted to cut her losses and run. Let Nox have his twisted fantasy. Come what may, at least this battle would be undone. But Sakura wouldn’t run. And Karin could never convince the remaining Seekers to retreat, she knew that much. In this moment she briefly met eyes with Giovanna, who looked like she was going to plunge headlong into this battle. A battle that, at this point, Karin could tell they were going to lose. Every time they lost a Seeker, their ability to deal damage and sustain themselves lessened, and their opponents had not grown weaker in the interim. In retrospect, Karin calculated they probably lost the battle the moment Goldlewis died.

For her part, Giovanna hesitated for just a split second on the outskirts of the battle, looking around with her brows furrowed. “Hey, where’d Goldlewis fuck off to? Old fart…” But nobody could really hear her over all the noise, and the question was rhetorical, anyway.

It didn’t matter. A Kanzuki did not retreat. There was peace in accepting the inevitable, and Karin redoubled her efforts, preparing to unleash some of her stored power upon her opponent. If nothing else, she could bring about the humbling of Karen Travers.

Sakura dashed in, feinted right, and then slammed her elbow towards Karen’s side, ducked and kicked out at his ankle, and just as fast followed up with an EX-fireball point blank, slamming her palms against him. Normally this would give her an advantage, and if he blocked it, she reached out to grab his hand and shoulder, looking to hook her leg behind his ankle and topple him to the ground. ”Seyah!”

“Hmph!” Karen grunted as he hit the floor. Even if most of his abilities were on cooldown, allowing his opponents to dictate the pace of the fight was unacceptable. He activated SAS, switching on two powers at once.

Should that unbalance him or not, Karin would swoop in from behind and try to slam her elbow directly into his spine, whether she was assisted by him falling over or not. After that she would shoot upward with an EX-Ressen Ha, looking to launch Karen into the air as she spun, arms vertical, like a sawblade, before slamming him back down to earth. ”Ressen Ha!”

Her combo dealt a chunk of damage, though thanks to the healing from Mephisto, Karen had plenty more where that came from. Naturally, the instant he landed, both street fighters closed in to apply pressure, accompanied by their allies as they rushed in to capitalize. Rather than face a four-way mixup, he chose not to wakeup at all, instead vanishing in a blink. If his attackers looked around to see where he’d warped, however, they wouldn’t see anything; only someone with uncanny powers of perception would have already internalized the visual difference between Teleportation and invisibility, both of which featured blue effects. “Enough of this,” Karen deadpanned, his disembodied voice coming from somewhere among the Seekers. They couldn’t see him, but they could hear electricity building up, and they could smell the ozone in the air. Too soon, Karen reappeared in the instant that he delivered a fully-charged electrokinetic blowout, the explosion blasting back everyone in a surprising radius. Thanks to Invisibility, it was a critical hit.

As the sparks flew, Karen pulled the cord at his collar. His hid flipped up, hiding his face in a darkness that then blazed with a set of orange jaws, and all across his outfit imaginary cables began to glow. Alight with the power of Brain Drive, he lifted his hands once more. “This is what real power looks like,” he declared, ready to finish this.

Karin lay on her side, supporting herself with her hands, electricity zapping and crackling around her. She couldn’t breathe, and she gasped shallowly, looking up at a foe that had only gotten more powerful.

Sakura rose first, undeterred. It was time for Round Two. Unlike Karin, Sakura wasn’t thinking about defeat. Only the fight.

He wasn’t the only one with Brain Drive. And while the hit she had taken was big, it was more than enough to give her access to V-Trigger. She activated the Brain Drive, still wearing her uniform after all this time. Then she pumped her fists, and blue flame ignited from her fists and feet. Sakura Senpu increased her melee damage and combo potential, and Brain Drive increased her mental acuity and strength just like it did Karen Travers.

”Shut up.” She said, and then sprinted forward. Karin grit her teeth and rose to her feet as well. Sakura dashed forward at high speed, and then stopped just as suddenly before she got into range. An eruption of cubes went off in front of her, narrowly evaded. She span to the left and then lashed out with a quick light kick. If it hit, she would confirm it into a bright blazing spin kick, and if it was blocked, she would back up and shift, trying to get behind him. That was her game. Overwhelm him with speed, power, and skill. Karin advanced, keeping her guard up to close in.

With several foes on their feet, Karen couldn’t afford to fight just one of them. He teleported backward from Sakura’s initial assault, refusing to play her little game, and activated both Levitation and Blastokinesis. He rose into the air under the protection of a psychic shield, then created a carpet of dark cubes beneath and around him. Switching to Marksmanship, he fired off a fusillade of psychic bolts, then deactivated it in favor of Duplication. Shielded, the four Karens began to charge. “This is checkmate!” they shouted, and the next second, they shot forward like bullets.

It wasn’t a question of which was real and which were illusions. Their fists were all tangible, their punches strong enough to crack solid rock. Only the Karen who went after Karin, however, remained after his assault concluded. “You’re checked out,” he told her, seizing her arm in a grab as she went to block. He pulled it against his forearm to break it. Karin screamed, eye wide. Then he grabbed her and teleported with her beneath the arena, where nothing but empty space between them and the depths of the Mako reactor. “Take a hike.” The Septentrion released her, and the street fighter began to fall. Karin didn’t know that teleportation could work like that. She gasped, her stomach lurching. Her grapple hook arm was broken. Her arms and legs trailing behind her, the Kanzuki looked up as the battlefield, her friend on it, got farther and farther away. It was a quiet fall.

When he reappeared on the battlefield, Karen Travers was alone.

”...” Sakura’s knees wobbled. She staggered, like Karen had hit her harder than he ever could physically. Her V-Trigger ended prematurely, her fighting spirit snuffed out. In the brief interlude of silence, she had stared, wide-eyed, at the deaths of the other Seekers. Somewhere inside, rage bubbled, but it was underneath an ocean of shock and grief. Instead of a defiant yell, all that came out was a pathetic sob as Sakura staggered forward to meet Karen in combat one last time. What else could she do?

Her skill was still there but it was clear her heart wasn’t in it. She swung and dodged a strike and took a mighty frozen fist to the chest. ”Guh!” She rose and threw another punch, only for it to hit nothing but psychic shielding. Another, another, a kick, and she was on her back. She yelled, pushed herself onto her knees, and fired a shaky Shinku Hadoken towards Karen. The sudden burst of power exploded violently, kicking up dust. If he hadn’t been prepared for it, he probably would have gone flying right off the edge to where Karin was now. Instead, Sakura’s arms dropped, her shoulders sagging as the energy cleared away and Karen stood with her arms crossed defensively in front of him, Sclerokinesis engaged after the breaking of his Blastokinesis shield just to show how little hope there was

By this point, almost half the roster of Seekers had been eliminated, but there were still enough to pose a possible threat if Karen hesitated. He took no pleasure in this act, but executed it with military efficiency. Teleporting away from Sakura’s allies, he appeared in front of her and kicked her over. ”Oof.” Sakura landed on her back. She brought her arms up in front of her. But her mental state had been broken, and her mind was unprotected. The Septentrion reached out through SAS to force a connection. Visions of prong-tipped cables appeared from the ether and stabbed into Sakura’s body. ‘I’m dead,’ Sakura thought to herself bleakly. There wasn’t any time to think about anything else.

A moment later, three huge ones lunged into the back of her head, and in one brutal assault he uploaded an obscene amount of junk data into her head. Her back arched, eyes wide and unseeing. The Brain Crush knocked her out instantly. She lay flat on her back with a little thud, eyes closing. As she hit the ground, Karen turned, his Brain Drive nearly out. This was a turning point. Victory was within his reach.

World of Light

Level 8: 012/80
Word Count: shor
Location: Egg
Points Gained: 2
NEW EXP balance--- Level 8: 14/80

---

Consul F got away. There was nothing he could do to them. He had failed his objective, at the end of the day. The more progress they made, the less leverage over them he had.

Moving into the Black Egg, somehow, Jesse was quiet. At the very center was not quite the thing they were supposed to kill, but rather, the thing they were supposed to use the Dreamcatcher on. It reminded her of the little guy they had met before going down into the Under. A big, giant, scary knight. Jesse whistled appreciatively.

It seemed the consensus was not to kill it. “If you say so. Just be careful. No reason to die when you could retreat.” She said.

The battle began and Jesse stayed at the back, firing her shots to begin wearing down the monster. When it jumped into the air and began raining down globules, she jumped up into the air with Levitation. Then she created a Shield of stones, blocking. She was about five feet off the ground.

“I’ve got cover!” She said to anyone who wanted to stay close to the knight while avoiding its attacks. When the globule rain was over she flung her Shield up in a shotgun blast of debris into the creature before it could hit the ground.

World of Light

Sakura Level 10: 58/100
Karin Level 7: 34/70
Location: Arabahaki
Word Count: 949
Points Gained: 3
New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 10: 61/100
Karin Level 7: 37/70

—

Sakura shook her head, forcing the feeling back into her muscles after getting shocked. While Karin had had to stay on the outskirts of the melee battle. The boss performed a swiping attack that forced Karin to tackle Sakura out of the way.

During a very short amount of time, things had gone from bad to worse. Karin had just barely made it out of there against Karen. But Sandalphon was in trouble, and Roxas and Blazermate were both down. Karen had just somehow helped defeat their invincible medic almost instantly. With Sandalphon and Blazermate in trouble, things were looking grim for their healing prospects. But in the frenzied battle it was hard to even notice where to go or who to fight.

They were bombarded by bullets and the ground shook beneath their feet, forcing Sakura and Karin into defensive crouches next to each other, their guards up. Though Sakura desperately wanted to help Roxas and Sandalphon, Karen Travers was a huge threat who had just done a big hit against Zenkichi, and if he was left to his own devices all could be lost. This was immensely frustrating. ”Grrr!” They’d have to somehow deal with Sam later. If Sandalphon called for help in her giant form then they would have to respond, but until then they had to focus down their opponent Karen.

After the ground stopped shaking Karin and Sakura rushed back in against their psychic opponent from behind. Sakura used Mental Connection to pull herself towards Zenkichi and get a speed boost to latch herself onto Karen’s back. She aimed to wrap her arm around his neck and head and start choking him, wrenching backwards. At the same time Karin slid in and struck Karen’s knee, trying to force him into a kneel and prevent him from so easily bucking Sakura off with Karin ready to start striking his body.

“Hhhck-” Grabbing onto his captor’s arms struggled against Sakura’s headlock. For a brief moment the sensation of being strangled commanded his instincts, giving Karin a chance to bring him to his knees, but the battle-hardened soldier started using his brain again long before Sakura could cut off its blood flow. With Cryokinesis still engaged, a huge amount of cold began to pour into the street fighter’s body, causing a flood of pain and numbness. When Karin attacked, she found herself confronted with Blastokinesis, forcing her to pummel her way through a bubble shield of psychic energy. The Septentrion gritted his teeth and tried to concentrate. He engaged Marksmanship and began to fire psychic lasers, not from his hands but from his forehead. Reminiscent of Pit’s arrows, the rays slowed down and arced around in midair. They rained down on Sakura, and though their targeting left a lot to be desired, the punishment in conjunction with Cryokinesis would be enough to dislodge her grip.

Sakura tried to cash out early, smacking him on the back of the head with her elbow before back flipping off. A few rays smacked into her and she stumbled backwards. ”Uff!”

Air flooded into Karen’s lungs, and though he swayed drunkenly for a split second, he recovered with almost unfair speed. All the powers he’d just used were spent, but others were just now coming off cooldown. He used Teleportation to blink a short distance away, then reached into his bag of tricks for something else. He stomped the ground to send out a wave of obsidian-black energy cubes wreathed in crimson power. With sweeping hand motions he sent forth clusters and pillers of cubes in different forms, some dropped from above and others erupted from the floor.

”It’s just party tricks with you, isn’t it?!” Karin shouted. She hopped zipped left and right and hopped forward. One cube fell from above that Sakura blew up with a hadoken. Mid-air, Karin blocked one more construct and her momentum stopped. Sakura reached out with Mental Connection and yanked herself forward, flying through the obstacle course with a spinning kick to slam into Karen. ”Shunpukyaku!”

Fist wreathed in flame, the Septentrion lashed out with a heavy punch, and the two to clashed in a burst of fire and ki. The blows traded, but while Karen only staggered, Sakura went spinning into the air. Her opponent was able to dash forward and unleash a blazing backflip kick to strike her down.

In her world, there was no one on the planet that wouldn’t get knocked down by that kick if they traded like that, but in the World of Light the rules were different. Sakura’s arms and legs trailed behind her before she slammed belly first into the floor. ”Oof!” She wheezed. Karin grit her teeth and dashed forward, ever quick in close range. She lashed out with her leg to catch him on the recover and then zipped forward to thrust her palm up into his chin. ”Tenko!” After taking her ache-inducing attacks, Karen disengaged with a backward teleport in time to escape a follow-up, putting him at a distance where he could unleash more cubes.

Karin snapped out her kicks into empty air, seeming him teleport away. She was angry, but as he unleashed more cubes she didn’t let her temper get the better of her. Instead she backflipped, dodging one, and then crouching in front of Sakura as she pushed herself to her hands and knees. Karin parried and struck the constructs as they came at her, getting pushed back but protecting her friend. They needed to stick together if they were going to survive.

Sakura recuperated, spitting some saliva onto the floor that had forced its way up since that flaming body blow hit her. ”Thanks.”

”Don’t thank me yet!”