Phantasmagoria — Ewigkeit in Wiedergeburt

Colab with Ehb~


Seia was not given much time to process this massive outside force that seemed to have taken out the monster in a single blast.

The resulting explosive destruction of the gargantuan foe created much debris and strong turbulence. This same offshoots were sent careening about dangerously to anyone nearby. Even Seia, whom was in the air, was only saved by her instinct to dive and take cover on the ground - the moment whatever projectile impacted the monster was when the felt the urge to disengage herself from being airborne, and taking cover.

But even on instinct Seia wasn't quite fast enough to defeat the 'shock' of the attack. Halfway down, Seia was thrown off of the sheath she rode - she began to fall to the ground...

Roll: [6, 6, 2] - Seia Tries to Recover from Shockwave (Grace) [ Success ]

However, again. Seia wasn't a stranger to being airborne thanks to training. Even when struck by this shock-wave and thrown off her 'broom', she was able to regain orientation and land safely on the ground. With good form, she absorbed the force of the fall and landed with her two feet.

As she rose from her crouch, she spun around and caught her sheathe and blade falling from the sky afterward. Catching them, sheathing them, and mounting it back onto her side. She stopped, seeming to have swirled herself into a stance of attention with her hand resting on her sheathed blade.

All this done, seemingly with little effort. Indeed, Seia Flavia Augustus was quite well drilled. That discipline has aided her quite well today, and just as it was intended to.

She surveyed her surroundings in the aftermath of all of this. Mostly scanning for any additional cultists or targets. Or maybe signs of whomever cast that final massive blow that defeated it. No immediate answer was to be found. Though, it seemed like the rest of the squad had managed to get through this ordeal relatively unscathed.

But most importantly there was no longer any other immediate threat.

Still, Seia waited for the final order to gather or withdraw from Parou. Still, many questions about what had just happened were weighing down on her mind. Somehow, this second mission had left her with more questions about the world outside of the tower than the first mission had. Who exactly were these cultists worshiping? And what of the mysterious ship?

...

After a couple of moments in deep thought Seia realized Aurora's Golem was nonchalantly standing nearby. Hmm, maybe-?

"Hey." Seia began, speaking towards the automaton. "Were you the one who shot that killing blow that blew it up just now?"


Rune stared at the wreckage dumbfounded. Did the beastie just explode on its own, or did something attack it?! What an awful time to blink...

"...?"

She turned to stare at the paladin witch and, after a moment to think about it, put on a smug, prideful grin, hands on her hips. But before she could nod her head...

"Ahaha... I wish I could afford stuff like that," Aurora butt in, brushing some rocky rubble off her shoulders as she wandered up. "Nope. Rune is a budget golem through and through."

Rune pouted.

"Maybe we have a stalker," Aurora guessed a little too casually. "Though I’m not sure why anyone would want to follow us around. Very suspicious... You’re not secretly famous or something are you? Wait... how would that even work...?"

"You're absolutely right. How would that even work."

Seia confirmed Aurora's own answer for her.


(Referencing Erode's post)
Orders eventually did come. Parou ordered Celestia to accompany her to check out the mysterious object that the dark witch had scouted out earlier on.

As for the rest of them, they were to confirm that this area was clear of any threats. That essentially meant a very deep sweep.

Seia turned away from Aurora and Rune to follow Parou's orders to do an additional sweep. So abruptly that there was a feeling like she was being deflected by Aurora's presence somehow.

However, what kept both Rune and Aurora's attention on her was the fact that she didn't move. Instead, the Praetorian's back and shoulders seemed to be indicating that she was having some sort of internal conflict.

An internal conflict it most certainly was.

The appearance of the massive monster was enough to set her mind aside from it. But at this point with it defeated it was sticking to Seia like a rigid thorn in her side.

'The only way to relieve that feeling was to confront Aurora about it' - she concluded.

"Hey, Aurora. Earlier when I was knocked out from the Cultists, I think. What exactly did you think you were doing?"

Her voice was rising a little as she went on. It definitely sounded like she was not pleased?


"Oh, that...? Errm..." Aurora stammered, clearly wanting to put that moment behind her just as much as Seia.

"...it was just this one technique I learned for reviving people," she explained. "One of the covens I joined had people falling unconscious a lot, so that class was sorta mandatory. You kinda just push their chest really hard and then mash your faces together I think. Uhm... well it was something like that anyway. But I mean, you’re here! So it must’ve worked, right?"

Rune let out an inaudible sigh, proceeding to wander around, double-checking the area for any dangers that could’ve been missed.


Seia turned to Aurora with a face that did not hide a single ounce of disappointment.

"I am continually impressed by you in the most unimpressive ways Aurora."

The mental image that Seia came up with from Aurora's explanation was something akin to a blacksmith hammering away at a hot iron on an anvil. Everything about it was terrible.

Additionally, no mention of having troll blood poured down one's nostrils. The faintest smell of which was still there for Seia. That part was likely Parou's doing.


However, there was something a bit more pressing that Seia wanted to address, but from the answer this Disaster Witch had just given her, it seemed like Aurora was either unaware of it or choosing to be blissful.

Seia would just have to spell it out.

"Didn't I tell you that I'd leave you to die if it came down to it. Why bother helping me after I said that to you?"

What Seia had said to Melora earlier about Aurora was horrible. She'd mostly said it in order to drive a final nail into the disaster witch from going off on another dangerous journey again.


Aurora's gesture was making Seia feel guilty, and she greatly disliked it.


"I am continually impressed by you in the most unimpressive ways Aurora."

"Oh, um... thanks," Aurora said sheepishly, not so sure it was the right thing to say, but sticking it with it nonetheless.

She waited there awkwardly, bouncing on the heels of her shoes as Seia pondered... whatever she was pondering. Finally, Seia spoke up, prompting Aurora to return a confused glance.

"Leave me to die... Wait... you meant that...?! Like... for real...? I thought you were just saying that to get rid of me..." Aurora mentioned, forcing an incredibly awkward smile.

"That’s kind of awful... I mean... I hope you’ll rethink that if it ever really happened. Squad members are supposed to stick by each other, right? Maybe it’s a little naive of me, but I still believe all those stories I heard as a little girl."

Aurora wandered around as she continued, "Do you remember Ceres the Manaheart? She was about to die, and then her whole squad surrounded her and each gave up something important to save her from the blight curse? Oh! Or Florine’s Misfits? The way they ended up really caring about each other by the end, and you can really tell, even though they’re so awkward in showing it... that’s why I always wanted to be in a squad. I think that’s what everyone’s secretly hoping for when they sign up. Even if they won’t admit it, or just don’t know it themselves."

Aurora stopped pacing for a moment to look into Seia’s eyes. "I think we can learn to be that if we try hard enough! I know I will. It’s just... the harder I try, the more I always seem to mess it all up."

She grew solemn for a moment, but quickly shook it off. "Sorry to get all serious on you like that. Anyway, I think we stared at enough rocks, let’s go make sure the weird stuff Celestia mentioned isn’t too dangerous."

With that, Aurora (and Rune) wandered off after Parou and Celestia.
 
As the remaining Witches made themselves over to Section 4, killing off whatever struggling Undead survived, their attention was first drawn towards the sky. Maybe the one or other particularly clumsy Witch would not have noticed, but overall, each and every single one could see it. Further ahead, somewhat still-far from the Singing Rocks, was... what was it even?

A bird? A plane? A dragon? A monster? An enemy?

From this distance, it was hard to make out too many details, but they could see that the flying object was more like a flying building held together by plates of metal in all colors grey and black, with various lines of green, blue, and red lights decorating it. Aside that, wads of smoke also ascended further into the sky. Clearly produced by that thing.

If anything, Celestia was the one who would recognize that the design of the flying object that was clearly coming closer and closer was of the same as the wreck of the savages from before.

As for the others, whatever pieces of 'ship' had existed before, were now torn to shreds even further. There was debris all over the place. Some more mechanical than others, but mostly just strange and alien.

At first glance, there seemed to be no survivors. The 'shielded base' that Celestia had scouted out before was no-more. Yet, on closer look, the group could see how humanoid shadows were hushing between the rocks. Here and there, a handful, always staying out of sight from the flying explorers. Always 'something' between them and the witches.

Clearly hiding.
 
Melora was the first to touch down on the area near the... uh... flying object. Melora pondered it, looking at the debris. She had a few moments before Parou could stop her from bringing those back home. After a second of pondering wether it was a good idea, curiosity won out and Melora started grabbing as much debris as she could stuff into her bag. She never got too close to the wreckage, but she didn't need to.

Flickers of shadows caught her attention, and Melora stood up straight. Should she try to reason with these savages? Could they be reasoned with? However, they were the ones who were using the thing. Parou was still a bit off...

It wouldn't take long to transform back if they were truly evil... and her dramatic cape and black clothes and scary masks weren't helping anybody. So she let the clothing vanish and become her usual outfit, which was just simple pants and a shirt. She also held her hands up and smiled. A quick gesture for translation later and...

"Are you all right? We saw the wreckage and explosions and came to investigate. We cleared out all the undead from earlier. If you're not undead I personally don't care. I'm getting paid for clearing out those monsters."
Melora laughed. "I just couldn't help myself. I really wanted to see your uh... big metal building. How does it fly?"

"I have food! If I pull some out can we talk? I also have water. If you can... drink and eat. It's been a weird day."


Maybe they knew about that... Ishy guy. Probably not, but this stuff didn't use mana. Imagine being able to fly without tiring yourself out. Plus, all those explosions weren't nothing. Imagine if she could just drop non-magical bombs from the air. Then again, these could be more Manablight, but at this point Melora was too tired to be scared.

@Skyswimsky
 
"Tzch..." The group of three, each clad in full-body armor, looked with various emotions at Melora.

"Aaaahhh, one found us." One fell on his knees, his muffled, deep, voice sounding scared. He... begged? "We... we're gonna die after all... dead. Just like that." Clearly not listening to what Melora had to say, he already sounded defeated.

Another one drew a blade, a fine piece of steel that was now pointed towards Melora.

"Spare us the charade, Vixen! We know exactly what you are." The female, but also muffled, voice called out with spite towards Melora. The observant could see that the design of that person's armor was just a tad different. "John!""Y-Yes!?" "ON YOUR FEET, SOLDIER."

Giving a quick nod to the second, silent, savage who seemed somewhat reserved so far, the apparent leader now suddenly dashed towards Melora. Way faster than one would assume with a armor that must have been as heavy as theirs. Her blade giving off a weird whirring and buzzing.

"Think about your family, we're going to survive this." The second one now said calmly to 'John' before readying some sort of device — not unlike a crossbow — aimed at Melora.

"M-My family..." John murmured, before nodding. "Sarah... Little John..." With newfound strength, he jumped up. "Yeah! Just like we practiced. Stratagem...""...28" He, too, opened his palm and pointed towards Melora's general direction. Upon closer inspection, however, one could see that some sort of cylinder-like device was attached to his underarm.

Even so, there were still others hiding...

@Karyra
 
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Armor? Did they wear it or was that their face? Someone drew a sword, and aimed it at her. Melora, however, was more interested in the one that fell to her knees and begged for mercy. She tilted her head at that. Were they not listening? Then again they did survive who knows how many rounds of the Manablight, and they only had swords.

Melora leapt up when the big one charged, flying a little more out of the way.

"Hey! Wait a minute! This is the thanks I get for trying to help? We just took out a bunch of those undead and you're trying to kill me? I'm not interested in expending any more effort to kill you all, and more are on the way. They, however, don't mind clearing you all out. If you can just like... chill out for a second I'm sure that we could just ignore you and go on our merry way back home."

Melora held out her empty hands, dropping the food and water on the captain lady in her haste.

"Whoops, sorry. Also is she okay?"
Melora pointed at John, seemingly not really knowing that there was a difference between the captain and John. "John seems really shaken up. Maybe you should just calm down for a moment and realize I'm not interested in murdering you!" Goddess they were stupid. "I mean it! My squadmates will probably kill you all so please, can we all come to an agreement?"

Noting the crossbow, Melora darted back to behind a boulder. She didn't really like the look of that crossbow or that cylinder. She was going to hide and stay far away from those.

"Hey! I mean that I really don't want to hurt you guys! We took care of all those uh... creepy undead things. All that noise over that way, that was us! We just want to finish up a job and go home. Like you guys, right? It's your job? To be a... solider?"

"I mean it. This is you last chance, because after this I'm gonna have to start getting mean. I just wanted to ask you all sort of questions, like... what's a vixen? Is it a rank? Because I'm not ranked as a vixen, just as a Fool. That's with a capital 'f'."
Melora said, them mumbled to herself, "although I'm looking really foolish right now."

@Skyswimsky
 
Aurora and Rune touched down by the rocks a bit later than the others, though the 'surveillance' she was instructed to do must've been awfully careless to get here as quickly as she did.

"Wow, it looks like someone smashed a giant metal golem across the ground...!" she exclaimed, following the trail of broken metal bits toward what looks like some sort of crater. "Oh right, um... nothing left back there I think. It just looks like a bunch of rocks."

Throwing Parou a quick shrug, Aurora and her golem calmly proceeded toward Melora who seemed to be talking with the rest of the squad. Hard to tell with the boulder in the way...

"Everyone, I think we're all done. Let's maybe grab some of these neat metal thingies and hea-- whatarethose!?" she interrupted herself as she caught sight on the strange metal humanoids. Rune was the first to react to the hostility, deflecting several projectiles away from Melora and Aurora with a wind blast, while forcibly knocking the two behind cover.

"Nobody mentioned there were rogue golems around here!" Aurora complained, dusting herself off as she got back up. "Mel, I know Rune is a little weird and everything, but most golems aren't like that: they're usually pretty stupid. Just following their last command and keywords from their owners."

Aurora stole a quick peek from the side of the rock before flitting back out of view.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but I kinda wanna get out of here already! If we hurry we might be able to ride a thunder whale on our way home..."

Meanwhile, Rune was busy firing energy orbs out of its cannon, each one forming a giant stone up from the ground as it made contact until there was a large earthen barrier to block the weird metal things. Halfway through the process, a well-aimed shot from some sort of projectile weapon took off one of Rune's ears. Outside of a few metal shards, there was no blood, and Rune didn't really seem to mind losing that ear, so it might've been more for show than function.

"Oh! Mel! Can you maybe summon Judgement? We could leave her and Rune here to finish off the rogues, then they could catch up with us later," Aurora suggested with incessant enthusiasm. "I'll be okay apart from Rune as long as it doesn't take too long. Just think: there could be a thunder whale with our name on it....!"

@Karyra
 
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Siea watched Aurora and Rune depart for a few moments before facing forward again.

"Ridiculous." She spat out.



Seia watched the scene unfold and the amiability deteriorate from above with pungent disappointment.

She inferred a couple of curious things about these black clad things. They talked, but they most certainly were different from the Cultists from earlier. Judging from the exchanges, it seemed like these folk were viewing Melora and the other witches as threats. But it seemed like they were organized as well, and the slightly different looking one - possibly the lead here - was encouraging that one cowardly soldier. He seemed to have some compassion at least.

It was that mental note that Seia put into use.

Melora was forced to retreat behind some boulders after the group of people aimed their arms at her. It was soon after that they seemed to be... launching projectiles at her. Rune threw itself into the fray to try to protect her as the chaos started to unfold. Seia didn't wait on Parou's order this time. Thinking of one possible out, she took her own initiative. She began to dive down from the air.



Both of Seia's heels landed onto one of the armored soldiers. They were helplessly forced onto their back as the trooper took the recoil of Seia's dive. The praetorian hopped off of him and landed onto the ground. The trooper's drop onto the ground knocked the wind out of him. Seia pinned her knee down on the arm that seemed to be projecting whatever projectiles that seemed to shoot out of it. She deftly drew her sword.

The soldier felt a bead of cold sweat as the glint of Seia's blade shone off on their armor. She had it poised at an opening in the plate in the neck area. Looking up, he saw this girl with fiery red hair whose outwardly cute looking appearance contrasted with a coldly determined look on her face that was ready to drive her blade into the trooper's throat.

The other people in the squad realized airborne assailant too late. While they aimed towards Seia, they hesitated to shoot. She clearly had not dealt the finishing blow to this soldier, and right now, shooting in their direction would chance friendly fire.

"Tell your people to disarm." The point of Seia's blade prodded into the soldier's neck area. She was getting a feel for the material that was between her sword and their skin. Sure enough, this weak point wasn't armored enough to where the Praetorian was confident she could run through it with a single thrust. "Tell them to disarm now. I won't repeat myself."

Checkmate.
This girl had come out of the sky. Though she was surrounded by the others, if the trooper didn't comply then most certainly... he would be the only one among them to not go home alive today. That realization ate away at any thoughts at heroics.

@Skyswimsky
 
Aurora and Rune provided assistance in the form of making an even bigger barrier between them and the werid metal shooty things.

"I'm not sure they're golems, Aurora. Golems don't cry like that 'John' did. How often does Rune just outright ignore orders?" Melora flinched as she saw Rune's ear get shot off. That was nearly her. "If they don't listen to us soon, I'm afraid we'll just have to wipe them out. A shame. I had so many questions. But if they're going to fight back..."

Melora shrugged. "It's us or them."

"And no, I can't." Melora waved her hand over her face, indicating that she'd de-transformed. "Well, I can but it'll be a minute and if Judgement takes any damage, unlike Rune it won't just affect her. Plus, I need that card back. Leaving her and forgetting isn't an option."

A thud and a commanding voice told her that Parou wasn't holding anyone hostage and had not yet arrived.

"Hey, I'd listen to her! Please? Seriously, that stuff is weird, but don't you think it's even weirder that we haven't fought back in a meaningful way yet? I mean there's way more of us and if you cooperate we can help you!" Melora shouted. "I promise to whatever gods you savages care about that I won't harm you unless you insist on fighting us."

Melora sat back down. "If they don't back down, I'll send out Judgement and we'll wipe them all out. Don't leave any survivors, because they might be out killing witches."

"Arm one hand and extend the other. We learn something either way, and at this point if they injure us, I won't forgive them."
Melora said, pulling out her Historia and its contents, Judgement sitting on top. She wished that she'd left The Moon out, because them maybe they could just make more of those weird clunky 'soldiers'. Were 'soldiers' like Questing Witches?

@Luma @Skyswimsky @Ehb
 
"Even for a Vixen..." The sword-wielding savage murmured, as she missed the into the airborne going Melora. "...YOU TALK TOO MUCH! NOW!" On her command, a festival of ranged weapon fire unleashed on Melora. The cross-bow like device fired in rapid fashion while the cylindrical object shot balls of flames that arced somewhat around before seemingly homing towards Melora...

...only to be disturbed by a strong force of wind that completely threw off any attack for a moment. Giving Aurora and Melora enough time into safety.

"Hmpf..." One of the few savages, still in hiding, gave a dissatisfied huff before pressing the trigger on his own device/weapon — a loud sound would have been heard if nor for the fact of the other Witches magic and weapons of the strangers. Nonetheless, as a bullet hit the golem's ear just for it to ricochet into some debris - completely smashing it into even smaller pieces, even the Captain realized they were currently outmatched.

Things didn't stop there, however as things escalated further and 'John' was taken hostage.

"N-No... please! I have family..." He begged, as the soldier besides him made a quick jump back and aimed their weapon at Seia.

"..." The Captain was silent for a moment as the unknown flying object in the sky was coming closer and closer until, finally, her weapon made a loud metallic clang as it hit the ground.

"B-But Cent-" "SILENCE." They obliged, for now. As even the other savage lowered the weapon. Complete silence, save the sobbing of John.

@Ehb
( @Karyra @Luma )
 
Melora popped up from behind the rock at the sound of surrender. A quiet thank you to Seia and the mysterious wind keeping them from getting shot, and Melora put her best foot forward. First things first, the took the sword in her hands, looking at it. No mana and yet this thing hummed and was made by these things.

Melora turned to Rune and Aurora and speaking loud enough for Seia to hear, "take their weapons. If they still want to stab us after we talk; we keep them. If not, then we can give them back. I just prefer to not be stabbed or shot with... whatever those things are. Once they have no weapons, feel free to left John go. She's clearly just saying gibberish."

Melora then turned to the Captain, trying to smile and be serious at the same time.

"Captain, my name is Melora. It's nice to meet you. I have a lot of questions, and I hope we can all get along. But first things first, is that flying building thing yours?"

Melora jerked her thumb at the flying fortress, then held it out to shake. These savages knew how to shake hands, right?

"If not I don't mind helping take it out, but it's just weird enough that it could be yours."


Melora stuffed the burning questions down deep. She couldn't really ask those, right now. what was a Vixen? a part of the Manablight? Had they delt with that before? What about this 'family' thing that John kept bringing up. Were those important? Was Captain a title? She couldn't ask any of those right now. It looked like there was quite a bit of bridge building that needed to be done. When did she become the diplomatic one? Maybe it was when she decided to pull first contact with these savages.

But their stuff was so interesting and different. Melora just wanted to know everything about them. Especially how the survived the Manablight out in the world. As far as Melora knew, only Questing Witches were competent enough to clear those out. And... this sword and all these things... Celestia said they weren't using mana at all. How was that possible?

@Skyswimsky @Luma @Ehb
 
"Well no, Rune's pretty loyal, but..." Aurora glanced over at Rune, taking an extra moment to glare at the missing ear. She'd have to fix that...

The next few moments were a bit of a blur. A diving Seia-bomb, a sudden surrender, and introductions. Oh my!

"Huh? Flying buildiiiiiiiii-- !?" Aurora stopped to stare dumbfounded at the giant monstrosity approaching from the not-so-distant distance. Black smoke, metal, flying, and indeed, very building-like. If for no other reason that how MASSIVE it was.

"Erm... everyone... I have a really bad feeling about this..." Aurora murmured. "I love thunder whales as much as anyone, but this thing looks like it could eat a thunder whales for breakfast and still be hungry...!"

For once, Rune nodded in swift agreement.

"Did anyone bring any extradimensional pouches for Mel? We could just scoop up your weird alien friends and take them to go maybe?"

@Karyra
 
Things kept on escalating. Seia wanted this to smooth out somehow before it got out of hand, but curses - things kept on escalating.

Where was Parou? She was the squad lead. She was supposed be orchestrating all of this. In yet, nothing. Parou seemed to have just vanished as soon as the encounter with these black figures began. Peculiar, indeed.

The monster and cultists were dead. The mission was done with. There was no reason to not just go home. But, even though they presumably had the Savages in check, a whole other different entity - once again massive - was looming closer and closer to them.


Seia noted the Savage captain's speechlessness, Melora's naivete, and Aurora's deeper so - before hoisting herself and the soldier she had pinned down up. Her eyes remained locked on the soldier, still fully expecting him to be trying to look for some potential way to escape her. But she wouldn't allow it. Even stood up, Seia's sword was still poised to naturally want to gouge itself into a vital vain should she fall.

Melora had already began to converse with the leader of this team. Melora had mentioned to start collecting their 'weapons' but that was a bit hard... especially for Seia since she was still fixated on the prisoner she had taken.

Seia was anexious to disengage. She didn't have any interest in gathering knowledge on these savages. If they were able to run into them just on their second mission then it was likely that there wasn't anything special about having an encounter with them. They were not targets on this mission, so there was no reason to try being so engaged with them. Why was everything being so fascinated and fixated on them when the mission was already over?
 
"P-P-P-Please! I-I'll do anything! J-Just don't turn me into a monster! T-The girl! The source! Maybe... maybe she still lives? Is that what you want? I-I can show you the wreck! A-And if not. It's not like we put her there! P-Please, you h-have to understand" John kept begging Seia as a small puddle formed under him. @Ehb

The 'captain' took a good bit of time before answering. Seemingly calm and collected, her sword had already long been fallen to the ground. John, obviously, wasn't able to do much and the last of the three simply dropped her weapon now, too. As for the people still hiding in the shadows... who knew?

"Melora..." She finally answered under her helmet, adding another pause. Maybe one of the slow sort? Before finally taking off her helmet, revealing short, red-hair and a scared and stern face. Clearly someone older than them. In fact, if she was a Witch she would probably be around the retired age. Like 30 something?

"My name is Lucia quo Fabious. Centurio of the 17th Steel Nimbus Scouting party." She saluted in a weird way, before her gaze followed Melora's finger towards the weird, flying object. "And that, is an enemy."

The third, silent one, so far flinched in surprise upon hearing that. But only for a second!

@Karyra



Somewhere far away was a Skywhale doing aaaoooaaaaooooooaaaaoooo sounds, maybe even battling the one or other intruder. Too far away to consider riding it, thou. @Luma
 
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Aurora only got more impatient, between the distant aaooooo of a skywhale and the looming death balloon fast approaching. Sadly, no one else seemed to be picking up on her enthusiasm to leave. Even she, however, had to pause for a moment to glance at the captain’s revealed face, subconsciously scratching her own scar without even realizing it.

"So old..." Aurora gasped, staring in wonder at the shockingly normal-looking face behind the mask.

Right after captain Lucia pointed out the giant building-thingy as an enemy, Rune threw a gesture towards her with both arms. Something along the lines of ‘she gets it’ or ‘listen to this sensible person,’ quickly followed by a quick ‘let’s beat it’ gesture. Even Aurora was semi-ignoring Rune now though, intrigued at what had just been said.

"Wait, soooo... you have enemies... that aren’t witches..." Aurora confirmed. "You don’t look like Manablight either! You’re almost like a normal witch! Well... except for being so old I guess..."

For a brief moment, Aurora appeared to be genuinely lost and confused, but after a hearty slap from Rune, she was back in focus.

"Come on, there’s no time for this! We’re already tired, and we finished the mission, and that building whale is super scary looking! Let’s just go home and leave this for another team, okay? And if you girls are lost witches, umm... I guess you can just follow us...? That should be okay." She shrugged before looking around and calling out.

"Paroooooou! Eiiiiiiryyyy! Where are you two!? We need to gooooooo!!"

@Villamvihar
@Ehb
@Karyra
@Skyswimsky
ERode
 
Melora took in the captain's full face. This woman was old. Her face didn't betray that though. Her eyes were carefully watching the shadows. Seia was getting tired of all this, and understandably so. These savages were tedious, but if they didn't deal diplomatically the ones in the shadows could overwhelm them via sheer numbers. Play the game.

"Okay. We can't fight at full strength right now, we just barely survived our own mission. Is evacuation possible? Aurora's right, we can't take it head on. Can you fly, or do you need help? Because I'm not sure the handful of us have enough juice to fly all of you out." Melora pointedly looked at the rocks, where the shadows flickered. Please get the hint, Seia, Aurora, she prayed. "Seia. Let John go. These... uh... soldiers shouldn't fight us. Surely they'd like to live just as much as us."

"We get out of here, complete the mission and then we're done. However, we can't mention this group, squad. I'm amicable and willing to negotiate, but as you can guess, Manablight will trick you to destroy you. Witches take no chances."

"I don't like it, but surely after all our own personal losses, making allies where we can is better than nothing, right?"

"Now, let's get ready to move out. That thing will be here soon, and I don't want to take any chances."


@Ehb @Luma @Skyswimsky
 
The abomination started to crumble and Eirlys redoubled her efforts. She kept weaving Flowiron to help her allies, giving them new opportunities to attack one after the other even as the air thickened with tension. Feeling it in her spine, the silver-haired girl swallowed as something built around her. Curse upon curse, spell upon spell, foul creation intertwined with the fabric of something loathsome - yet nothing could have prepared her for the explosion.

The flash rippled and echoed, catching Eirlys' wings mid-spell, yanking hard on the mechanical structure. It did not break, but it did drive the air from her lungs, then cast her away from her group with a gust. Her magic all but shattered along with her focus and though she tried to reach out once again, the hole in her soul repelled her. Panicking, she pressed her hand against her mechanism, interrupting the flow of magic in the area. The membrane between her mechanical bones solidified in an instant and she plummeted.

The impact was not pleasant. Even though she landed on her feet, the Witch felt pain explode through her legs and to boot...

Parou gave her an order as she was catching her breath.

Other witches would have probably refused or at least tried to reason with their fearless leader, but Eirlys only held up a hand to signal she needed a moment or two. The fight with... whatever that was... took a lot out of her, especially when it slammed against her soul and ripped a piece of magic from her heart. She had to make sure everything still functioned properly, Historia included. She really was not used to this; she could feel the fatigue creeping through her body. Snaking around her limbs. Settling in on her chest.

Shaking her head, she focused and tried her best to follow her orders. She did not exactly feel all right and likely, anyone who took a longer look at her could see it from her pale skin along with her slightly slumped posture. Finding nothing on her patrol did not help either and so it probably should not have come as a surprise that she dove for cover as soon as she saw the strange, armoured shadows.

Hiding behind a large boulder to conceal herself, Eirlys listened to everything with wide eyes. From the way Melora approached the savages through the way they responded and to the way she could still spot movement from the corner of her eyes. Really, though they could speak, the Witch did not trust them at all. Perhaps it was a result of her bitter experiences in life or her jumbled nerves, but even as everyone talked away, she drew symbols in the sand. At first, by hand, and then, by Flowiron.

Rivers of metal originated from her, slowly creeping around the area as though they were feelers - while in reality, they were deadly traps in the making. Ready to massacre the savages as soon as something went awry. Of course, she was startled by Aurora's loud call, but she remained focused on her magic. Preparing for the moment everything went wrong.
 
"No flight." Lucia shook her head. "The Airship has a weak point..." She continued, adding a ominous pause.

"...it's on—" It was in this moment that something on the flying vessel shifted. The frontal underside slowly extended as two huge metal plates opened up, revealing instead a large, metallic, stick that now slowly extended.

Lucia started to chuckle, as a near-silent humming could be heard from the weird stick. Slowly increasing in volume, the new machinery started to show sparks of electricity as various neon-lights turned on. "Ahahaha...." Her laughter intensified for some more before raising her hand.

"Looks like they decided to blow us up after all. Tiz a shame, after going such lengths to rescue us in the first place." The woman seemed confident as she made a fist, her voice still booming over the whirring of the stick cannon. "DON'T LET A SINGLE VIXEN ESCAPE, DON'T LISTEN TO THEIR LIES! KEEP THEM ON GROUND LEVEL, AND REMEMBER: THERE IS GLORY IN DEATH." A rather short speech, considering the situation they were in, before swiftly aiming her arm downwards, towards Melora. "GLORY TO MANKIND." Her face betrayed something akin to a pure conviction as she dashed towards the green-hair at grand speed. One moment in front, the next already behind her as Melora could feel pressure against her legs, arms, and neck: Lucia was strangling her.

With that, ranged fire from various cracks, nooks, and crannies started to emerge as the cannon was now engulfed in a terrifying purple-white spiral of death. Lucia herself rushed towards Melora, intending to engage her without a sword while John in the meantime, shook so hard his entire armor was clattering! Could Seia truly just kill this poor, defenseless, 'enemy'?

Nonetheless, the Witches weren't totally unprepared, as some fired more above the group of Girls to keep them on ground, Eirly's metallic contraption went to work as the sound of metal clashing against metal, and flesh being torn, cut, and ripped apart could be heard. The Witch got some, but certainly not all.

Ultimately, however, the 'last stand' of these savages was mainly meant to buy time. Their weapons not too much of a threat to the superior defensive mechanism of the witches as the airship weapon was finally ready to fire. A blinding huge beam, tearing apart the heavens itself. Each and every single Witch knew that once this attack would hit, it'd be over. Too huge, too fast, to properly dodge. Death for both 'Soldiers' and 'Witches' alike.

...

Yet, it never happened, the beam stopped. Crashed. Pressing its whole might against some invisible barrier. Translucent rainbow patterns dancing across the white horizon of the technological doomsday weapon. It was surprise enough that most of the enemy fired died down.

"Stop wasting time." A familiar voice said, as Parou danced forth between a formation of rocks, surrounded by various magical circles that required her attention. Her leg, a crack. Her left eye, a void. "Gather a survivor or two and get out of here. Rune and Eirlys, cover the rest. Move in formation. Now. I'll be right behind you." With these words, the rainbow barrier that had started cracking now slowly regained in strength as Parou started humming a certain melody. A grand act of the Opera House of the Sundered Firmament.

"Not on my watch!" A certain helmet-less soldier cried out as she let go off Melora. Instead, rushing now towards Parou.
 
Seia kept a hold of John as the parlance continued between the Savages and Melora who was attempting to negotiate. Even with the massive 'whatever' looming in the distance, the fool still seemed to be holding onto the belief that this would end in a positive way.

The fact that they shot first indiscriminately after Melora approached them was all Seia needed to see in order to decide what 'side' they were on, and the intentions they had of her and her fellow witches were. That was why she couldn't just let John go. Even as she held back an urge to throw him aside as the cowardly black armored soldier's trousers became drenched from his fright.

The large black object fired at them on the ground. But its shots were being held back by Eirlys' metal magic... highlighting it's usefulness in this situation... as well as additional support from...

"...Parou!"

It was about time.



Seia heard the final attack orders of the female captain. Just before she began to rush forward to take a hold of Melora. Actually, she already had taken a hold of Melora. Even without a weapon, she began to strangle her. The praetorian had to act! But... in those precious seconds... Seia had to decide on what to do with John.

It was implicit if these troops in black armor attacked again then she would take his life. The captain did attack. Thus. The consequence was that he would be run through with her Blade.

...

Seia had been killing monsters and even cultists up till now.
But. Why was she hesitating?

He obviously dosen't want to fight.
But the moment she turns her back he'd point his gun at her.

He just wants to go home.
What's the difference from him to the other manablight monsters?
There is a difference!
This means life or death!
I'm no a monster...!

I am....
I am!


Seia Executes John
Roll: [4] Result: 4


I'm going to get out of here... I'll achieve my dream.
I won't let anything get in the way!


Seia's blade dove into John's flesh.

It thrust so forcefully that once could see it's tip go straight through John's body and out of his back. His arms and legs were tensing and convulsing in terrified shock and unimaginable pain.

Hearing his fatal gurgling breaths, Seia dislodged her sword out of him with a downward draw of her blade. He flopped onto the ground in death throes that were... undignified to even hear.



Seia ignored Parou's order to retreat.
After taking John's life, she felt a surge of adrenaline. It pushed her to kill every single one of the black armored soldiers. But firstly, she raced to intercept the lying Captain going after Parou.

Seia Attacks Captain Lucia with Force(2)!
Roll [3, 2] - 0 Damage


"Die!"

Seia drew her sword back in order to cleave directly into the captain...!
But, the captain dodged, and countered! Delivering a deep seated strike to the praetorian. Throwing Seia back.

She wasn't deterred however. Adborbing her throwback she propells herself directly at Captain Lucia. Intending to let the rapid comeback catch the Captain by surprise and allow for a killing blow!Dashing forward in air, Seia raises her sword high. She will cut the captain in two with all her strength she had left!

Seia applies a special rule! [ Follow up ] to attack twice in a single turn!
Seia Attacks Captain Lucia with Force (2)!
Roll: [2, 1] - 0 Damage
Seia loses 1 Force.


Seia felt the wind knocked out of her as the captain drove their fist into her stomach. Her charge only added to the force of the impace she took.
The strike was so hard that Seia almost feel the wounds she had bandaged burst in some places as blood seemed to want to gush out of her.

Having been fought back and countered a second time, Seia was left reeling after her body slammed into the ground.

"D...damn it! Parou.... GET AWAY!!!"


Seia was struggling to get up. There were aches radiating through the very bones in her ribcage it felt.
 
Air... ship? Oh that was something new to consider. Maybe they had perfected flight but only using those giant buildings? Things were going so well, for a moment Melora thought that things might even end better than she'd hoped.

That was dashed in the split second that the captain was behind her. Strangling her. All Melora could do was grip the sword from earlier tight in her hands. Either she'd die here spiting her foolish hopes, or she'd get her revenge after her squad did something. Anything. Time seemed to grow short. Her breaths were growing shallower.... her sight was dimming.

Melora hoped that ghosts were real, because she'd die spiting this horrendous woman.

However, just as she thought it was all over, the pressure was gone and the woman was sprinting for Parou. Melora staggered back to her feet and braced her stolen weapon. It hummed softly in her hands, by magic or machine, Melora didn't care. All she could see was red, and it wasn't the mask, but pure bitter hatred. The betrayal she had expected, but hoped would never come. This was a monster worse than Manablight. It had consumed so much their strength to kill her, even Seia failed.

Melora erupted in a flash of light as her clothing transformed and her mask appeared, cape billowing behind her as Melora launched herself at the Captain without a second thought. The sword struck home, straight through the other woman. The captain's arched back was over Melora, causing the wound to slowly start to drip blood onto the witch. Melora stayed there for a second, hoping that the savage was in intense pain. She'd heard that stomach wounds were worse sometimes, because if the victim survived the initial stab, their own guts would poison them.

Melora had no time for a slow, painful death. A quick, painful one would do, then.

"I lied." Melora said, just loud enough for the Captain to hear. "I know how to use a sword."

She twisted the sword just before pulling it out. The bloody mask and cape were a sight to behold. The expression for Melora was hidden behind the mask, and the silence gave away absolutely nothing. The blood dripped softly off the sword, a sight to behold to all the soldiers. It was just a moment frozen in time. Was it the birth of a monster to the savages, or of a broken figure to the Witches? Perhaps both. Perhaps neither.

"Thank you, Parou. You were right. About all of it."


Melora flew back towards the rest of the group, dashing past them and yelling, "let's go! Kill them quickly if you can, but if you can't kill then escape. New standard is now to kill the savages on sight. No negotiations. No mercy. This was their last and only chance, and they failed."

@Skyswimsky
 
Within moments, Eirlys' precautions paid off. The savages roared an unmistakeable challenge, a last stand against the Vixens as they called her squad, then the battle started in earnest. Projectiles whistled by, biting into her cover and she hunkered down. A moment of panic struck her heart as she realised her magic was not complete yet, falling short of her intentions by several key components… but she realised she did not have enough time to complete it. It was in workable condition and that would have to do.

She placed her hand into the symbol of Flowiron, one finger meeting a branch each and called upon her magic.

The Flowiron responded in kind, erupting from the ground and the walls. It lacked form, striking as though it were a series of tiny geysers or volcanoes instead of the tools Eirlys usually employed. Several savages dodged and the spell did not even reach them in other cases, but ir provided a much-needed reprive from the constant hail of fire. It gave her friends the leave to attack, but...

Seia overextended herself. Eirlys saw the Praetorian fall onto her knees and before she knew it, she was on her feet. A Flowiron shield formed around her, hastily cast so as to defend herself from less potent spells, then she rushed through the battlefield. She weaved around the boulders, leaping, vaulting and jumping, running as though her life depended on reaching Seia. Fortune favoured her as she did not get injured and she quickly scooped up the Praetorian in a princess carry.

"S-s-seia's s-s-s-s-safe!" She called out as she rushed back towards safety. The symbols on her wings lit up of the Flowiron membrane started forming again; she would be ready to take flight in a couple of seconds.