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Spirit of Unity
Late Saturday night, once many of our fine city's citizens had either gone home for rest or out to a wild night on the town, our city grows a little bit wilder.
It started as a faint pulse, like a tiny flicker in space that echoed throughout the city. But soon it condensed and grew, crashing down in the middle of one of the city's baseball stadiums.
Fortunately the stadium was closed down, but still cameras caught a brief glimpse as the middle of the field seemed to fold in on itself, before collapsing in a wave of force.
The wave craterized the baseball field, wiping out much of the first few rows of seats in the process. The building had already been closed for the night, so very few were around to witness it.
The building has entrances at the north, south, east, and west. Though no first responders had arrived yet, any observers seeking to identify the phenomenon would find the stadium's gates unlocked. Perhaps through mere negligence, perhaps something more sinister.
Regardless, choose your entrance, and let our adventure begin.
The sound of police sirens would be heard approching the area as various cars pull up, the young woman in charge of this specfic operation sighing heavily as she begins looking around the place curiously. The flickering image of her Persona starting to blaze alive behind her.
C: "Geez... The witness reports are scarce but they do claim massive sudden damage, what a pain. Just set up a perimeter around this place. And if any of the usual mildly suicifdal weirdos come by, just let em in. I'm not in the mood for my people to be torn up fighting supernatural jackasses."
Officer 1: "U-um... Is that really following protocol at all? I mean I know I'm new in this cit-"
Officer 2: "Just listen to the woman, unless you have a burning desire to get wounded, or worse."
Older of that pair would sigh while he begins shining a light around, the group at large having by this point covered all the obvious entry points... With orders to ignore any strange power using weirdos.
Chie herself on the other hand advances with her gun held in hand, some more backup would be nice before investigating this kind of thing but she can't really count on normal officers with normal gear in something like this. So it's all her for now while trying to take stock of the area inside for anything of note.
While not in the area, Asami had sensed the influx of energy, startling her out of bed. Too concerned to sleep, she walks to the front door of her home, being careful not to disturb her unwitting brother. With a solemn sigh, she shivers as her light dwindles, serving as a street lamp as opposed to the briliant light she normally shines with. Taking a long stroll in the direction she felt the energy, still in her space-themed pajamas, she eventually makes her way to the north entrance, assessing the area outside the stadium first to see if anyone else was there.
Aak approaches... And then notices pretty much all entrances are guarded. Eh, he'll just try talking to the guards at the west entrance.
"Wassup my dudes? I know you obvs got some people in that stadium so you should let me in. I'm a completely certified medic. Trust me."
Jessica sneaks by the cops that had just arrived with ease, considering that most of the cops there weren't really all that bright, at first just going in for her reasons, when she was told by her support persona user friend that there was a cop there with a very familiar persona reading.
Jessica knew exactly who that meant.
¨At least there is a familiar face, for me anyways.¨ she says, sure that Chie doesn't remember her at all, instead tries to sneak up behind her, and follow her, using her skills from not only back at school (Gekkoukan High School), but also back with the Phantom Thieves.
(edited by TakamakiJessica1)
{A girl wearing white and black clothing wanders her way up to the East entrance, merely hoping no cops would come near her anyways.}
"Tee-hee. Wooow, it's been real long since I've had a lil' adventure."
{She speaks to herself in an airheaded tone, letting her eye lids stay half closed and keeping a smile on her face. The girl yawns as she heads inside with no worries, as her shadow seems to follow behind her.}
"How Sonomi usually does all these when she never tolerates anyone around her is real beyond me, lol~"
The cops at the west just sigh, one of them simply waving the obviously non human being through with a groan.
Officer 3:"I don't know what you are, and I don't much care. All I know is the boss said to let inhuman weirdos past so screw it. Go ahead."
Meanwhile Jessica... Would find herself not able to sneak past the police, and indeed would quickly be grabbed by the younger officer as he sighs a bit.
Officer 4: "... So, what exactly made you think we were gonna be that easy to sneak past kid? We aren't drooling idiots or anything, and unless you're yet another of those occult weirdos you should stay the heck out of here."
Of course this happens to be the same entry Asena had picked as well, which gives her an opening to quickly sneak past unbothered. Chances are they'd at least have said something, if not for being busy dealing with Jessica.
And finally Asami... Would be stopped by an officer just staring at her blankly, the same young man who had questioned Chie.
Officer 1: "... Even if you are some occult weirdo too, aren't you a little bit young for this stuff? I mean come on, you look maybe 10 or so."
(edited by Chie-Satonaka)
His smile turns into a smirk for a split second as he takes a durian-flavored lollipop out of his jacket.
"Goodie. Well, because you such a good boy at your not-a-doctor's visit, here ya go."
Aak gives the third officer the lollipop and pats him on the head before he enters.
"Can't believe Sonomi also said the cops suck. Pfffft, they let me by with no warnings, they must be aight' at least."
{Asena says, strolling her way through, not even bothering to pay attention to who they are reprimanding in her stead. Instead, she walks into the stadium's east entrance with no rhyme or reason, not even trying to look at her surroundings. Merely, she attempts to walk in the middle of the court for whatever stands out the most and think about the dog she has back at home.}
A deep sleep. A dim noise cuts through, until a roar like a lion shatters the dream. That’s all Neesh can remember of the incident they’re stumbling towards. They walk in a daze to the southern gate. How long has it been since they were last awake? Days? Weeks? Months? They just want to find the source of the phenomenon so they can go back to sleep.
Those who go in the Northern entrance (that being Asami and Chi) find the entryway to be mostly clear. As clear as they could expect anyways, with no debris or serious structural damage being easily visible. Its a large and clear concessions area, meant to give the thousands of fans attending one of these games an easy way to relieve themselves of their wallets.
The entrance to the main stadium has been blasted wide open, allowing the group to easily see the crater on the inside.
There's also a stairway a little bit to the right of the field's entrance, allowing the group access to what remains of the higher stands.
However, there's also a tall figure wearing black body armor leaning against one of the walls near the entrance to the field. The armor somewhat resembles Kevlar, and doesn't leave a single piece of skin out in the open, capped off with a sleek black helmet. The man has a single cylindrical piece that resembles a stun baton by his side.
The figure lets out a sigh, commenting.
Sleek helmet: "I could have sworn we had an agreement with the locals. Guess some people just don't know what's good for them."
Though the comment isn't actually directed at Chie and Asami, the man couldn't help but notice the police gathering. As if he were simply used to it in his line of work.
Asena finds her way into the Eastern entrance, which is not as lucky as the northern one.
The ground is scattered with piles of what seem to be concrete pieces, destroyed chunks of the stadium just large enough for one person to hide behind.
Whatever merchandise was in the area seems to be mostly destroyed, leaving a large amount of debris leading up to the upper levels. The primary entrance to the field has been blocked off, leaving only a ramp to the left of that entryway which has shattered debris scattered all around it.
To the west, Aak finds nothing of interest. Surprisingly, the Western stadium is completely intact, from the staircase leading up to the stairs down to the team's rooms and with it the open field. There's a closed down ticket booth over here, but its purpose is long gone by this time of the night.
Finally, Neesh finds something more direct than the others. Entering through the south Neesh hears a loud *crash* ing sound as a large man, easily six feet tall, wearing bulky, black armor simply striking the side of one of the ticket booths, smashing through the wall while disabling its normal security systems. They seem a little proud as they bring back their arm with one simple word.
"Nice"
Like Chie and Asami, the man doesn't seem to have noticed them. Instead his focus is on the field's main entrance, and the stairs leading upwards. Neesh would notice that the man's thick gauntlets seem to glow with a faint blue light.
Neesh darts to whatever cover is nearby and crouches low to the ground. After a few seconds of listening, they peek out at the threatening-looking human. The human’s clothes are too thick for Neesh’s teeth. Neesh remains hidden and waits for the human to move on. Once the human’s out of sight, they’ll go through this southern entrance.
(edited by Neesh)
Chie would just sigh a bit while looking over at the armored man, she has... An idea why he's here actually, and if he's doing a legit job than frankly stopping him isn't her concern at all. The officer would speak up a bit while looking over at him.
"Hi, Officer Satonaka of Special Investigations at your service. I'm going to guess you're a merc judging by the general look and such. Which... Not really our problem stopping you, admittedly. Am kinda curious if you're willing to provide any information you might have though."
The woman sounds calm and collected while looking over at him, obviously not espeically wanting to cause a fight or start anything. Indeed, she seems fairly willing to use cooporation if the man will give a chance.
"Piece of cake."
He heads down the stairs. What's the worst that can happen?
(edited by Aak)
¨Well, that is insulting, considering how many ¨crazy cultists¨ I have taken down in just the past week, as well as the fact that I do actually personally know who I´m guessing is your commanding officer, Chie Satanoka, (in a low whisper) though she probably doesn't remember me at all, so if you would just buzz off now, that would great.¨ she says as she uses Arsene to forcibly get the officer off her, then runs off, though not before leaving behind a little smoke grenade to keep them busy for a little bit, right towards the entrance, towards the others.
(edited by TakamakiJessica1)
Asami would respond nervously to the officer who stopped her.
"I-i'm 9! Either way, i'd rather deal with this myself than let someone who may not be as aware of the situation handle everything. Just trust me!"
She then takes a step back and rushes through the police officers with high speed that would be hard to react to, coming face to face with Sleek Helmet.
"Uh... just what is that get-up for? You're not gonna try to hurt somebody, are you?"
{As Asena looks at all the debris that gets scattered around on her end, she whistles casually and keeps her smile on her face. In the midst of whatever happens behind or in front of her, she probably wouldn't notice at all.}
"Wowie, what a mess. Somebody needs to get this cleaned up. I almost wish I worked here to do that but I'm getting paid enough, lmao."
{Despite this, the girl decides to walk straight through, her shadow phasing past her. Multiple dark tendrils work to move the debris out of the girl's way, throwing it somewhere else. Asena herself acts unaware of this as she continues forward.}
Officer 4 would just sigh as she... What, tries to summon something like the boss's Persona? It sure as hell didn't have any impact though, and with the officer still on her drawing some smoke grenade would be rather hard.
4: "Look, just get going okay? I don't want to have arrest you or anything, and I'm not sure how you know the boss's name but you're obviously just a random kid. So please, leave this to people who actually know what they're doing and go the heck home. It really doesn't need to be a problem for either of us. "
As for Asami, her inhuman speed would blur past the officer and cause him to just sigh heavily. Fine, boss's orders send to let the weirdos past so he'll just do that anyway. Clearly stopping them is harder than he would have thought.
1: "... Jeez, is this city always like this?"
2: "Oh you haven't even gotten past the surface of the madness yet kid."
The large man lets out a sigh before looking around. Neesh hides behind one of the larger pieces of debris the man made, their relatively small size allowing them to avoid the brute's gaze as he looks around.
Bulky merc: "He'll give us the signal when we're ready."
the man lets out a sigh and begins looking around the area again, his foot tapping impatiently. He doesn't seem intent on moving on.
However Neesh does notice two curved hallways, one to his left, and one to his right. Connecting to the western and eastern entrances respectively. The bulky man doesn't seem very fast, so there's a good chance Neesh could go around him if needed.
Aak goes downward into the teams locker area near the field. Of course, the fence that normally separates them from the crowd has been blasted away, leaving him a clear view of the crater where the field used to be.
Most of the grass has been wiped out, leaving nothing more than a barren, rocky crater with some remnants of pipeworks near its edges. The culprit remains little more than a distant figure standing in the center of the crater, their sharp eyes ever watchful. Though their features are somewhat indistinct, even an ordinary doctor like Aak can feel the danger this girl wearing purple exudes.
Chie and Asami both confront the mercenary, who unhitches the cylinder from his belt without hesitation. The man looks the two over before muttering
Sleek helmet: "Like moths to a flame."
The man steps off the wall and flicks a button on his cylandrical device, from which a rapier formed of pure energy extends about three feet out. The man aims his weapon to the ground at the moment before deciding to reply to the officer instead.
Leonus: "Leonus from Thunder squadron at your service. My superior told me your kind wouldn't be getting involved in our operations. Just walk out and we'll deal with the threat as intended. You don't need to know more."
Leonus gives Asami a look of disdain. He hasn't met Asami before, so to him they appear as little more than a kid asking idiotic questions.
Leonus: "And isn't it irresponsible to bring a brat along on an operation. You should both get out before things turn ugly."
that said, Leonus's attention is now focused primarily on Asami, rather than the clearly more threatening police officer.
Asena pays little attention to the small bits of debris crossing her path, letting her abilities clear it out as she calmly heads towards the new rampway up.
Unfortunately for Asena, as soon as she clears away one of the larger piles of rubble, they find themselves triggering a simple trap. A fairly thin strip of rope closes in around their legs, before lifting them upwards to dangle a few feet off the ceiling.
???: "Oh wow, it really is like catchin' rabbits."
Another armored figure emerges from one of the further piles of rubble, this one a young woman with a notable country accent. The girl is equipped with a single cylinder formed of a black metal similar to that of their full suit of body armor. their helmet comes equipped with a camera attached to the side of it, and the girl speaks with an easily noticable accent.
Country merc: "Now then, just settle in there a bit. Just gimme a moment and I'll be sure to let you go outright. Soon as I..."
Asena has a few solid seconds of the mercenary being distracted as they search their suit for a thin strip of metal resembling a collar. While Asena has been trapped, its just a regular piece of rope, with no special properties. It probably wouldn't be too hard for them to break it.
¨I am not just some random kid, I really know her, since high school, actually, even if she doesn't remember me, so, just please, let go of me. Oh, and also, I actually wasn't even trying to break free till now, so bye.¨she says as she uses her superhuman strength to pull the officer off herself, then uses the speedforce to run right up to Chie(hopefully).
Aak hides and waits, taking out his syringe gun just in-case.
"Just gotta wait for others, hopefully powerhouses, to arrive before I try taking on... Whatever that dude over there is."
He makes sure to keep himself as hidden as possible, using his ears to detect any noises, primarily footsteps.
A child... Probably not actually a child all things considered, and her voice would harden a bit while looking over at the man.
C: "... Right let me try that again, I haven't got any clue who you are and I wasn't told anyone would be out here when I was asked to look into this. If you were running a legitmante job I'd be happy to simply let you work, but the fact nobody in my command chain was aware of your operation makes you rather suspect.
As for the kid, I can't control every supernatural weirdo in this city. And I don't have to explain myself to you frankly."
Her tone has obviously gotten a bit more hostile, she was willing to consider it might have been a simple mistake when she first arrived. But the fact that they're now trying to push her away with presumably a lie... Nah, Chie's charity has worn out a bit. And there'd be a faint expense of magical power as all the woman's capabilities begin rising some.
As for Jessica, the girl is still in fact a delusional lunatic without any supernatural powers so she would find the attempt at emulating a comic book superhero to fail short as the cop simply forces her into handcuffs.
4: "Right then, you're under arrest for trying to tresspass into a dangerous area with an active blockade, we may not be able to stop the occult freaks but you we can stop just fine."
Neesh frowns. The big man looks slow but also has big arms to grab. But there could also be other big men... Neesh has a little internal debate then suddenly rushes to the western hall in a reddish-brown blur when the beefy man seems most distracted. If they find no resistance getting to the western entrance, they’ll try making their way to the field.
{Asena wouldn't be phased when she gets caught in the rope. Rather, she gets kind of intrigued that her viewpoint has suddenly been inverted, trying to spin herself for fun as the girl is still upside down and in the air. Her words were more airheaded than usual.}
"The world's upside down now. Coooool."
{Despite her having a bit of fun spinning, a shadow like tendril had crawled up from her dangled leg, easily cutting through the rope. She fell down on her head facing away from her "capturer", but doesn't mind at all when she gets up, dusting off her clothes. When she turns around, she waves with a friendly gaze that stares straight through the country girl's soul.}
"Aw maaaan, I kinda liked it up there. Oh well. Howdy pardner, how's the bumpkin life treating you?...wait a minute...oooooh nooooo!~ I've forgotten what a rabbit is! Darn. Mind putting that thing back in your pocket so you can remind me, pretty pleeeeasse?"
{Every word she spoke seemed stretched, just like how the environment got increasingly more dark. A slightly bright light shined behind Asena, yet the area all around became overwhelmed with an ominous presence, still doing nothing but changing the atmosphere. The girl herself seems completely unaware as she stood with her hands behind her back, slightly tilting her head as she waited for her answer.}
ooc: Not to be rude or anything, Jessica, but i'd like to point out that there's an inconsistency in your character's origins. You stated that they went to the high school in p3, but if that's true, that would mean she most likely wouldn't know Chie from high school as they never went to the high school in p3, seeing as they go to the high school in p4. Either way, back to the story.
Asami would seem somewhat offended at Leonus calling her a brat, attempting to hide her feeling but giving it away anyway by pouting and crossing her arms.
"I'm only here to help. If trying to protect people interferes with your mission, then by all means, let things turn ugly."
Asami would walk a few steps to the side, looking in the direction of the disaster site as she intensely waits patiently.
OOC: Thank you Asami, very cool.
IC:
Neesh heads west, young lad. Though the bulky man takes notice of the sudden blur, he doesn't get to make out its shape very well, simply muttering to himself
bulky merc: "To think they'd have such a rat problem in the middle of the city. Maybe its a good thing this place is getting totalled."
Hearing that final remark, Neesh races to the west entrance. This path seems completely safe. With no one guarding it at least. The only unusual thing he'd notice is Aak standing at the bottom of the stairs making the main entrance to the baseball field. He didn't know them, but at least their fellow furry wasn't obviously hostile.
Leonus looks between Asami and Chie before letting out a sigh.
Leonus: "So the force has fallen to hiring inhuman freaks now? And to let a monster do all your work. Where's the pride? The honor that being an officer used to entail?
I mean you can't seriously think its fine to let random kids handle everything just because they seem special, do you?"
Next the man points his rapier at Asami, his voice turning from annoyed to downright offended
Leonus: "Whether you like it or not you're part of the problem. If every freak were as good as you claim to be then our city would be much safer. But you'd have to be a fool to rely on good will alone. No, someone has to keep order."
The young man turns to glare at Chie
Leonus: "And if this is the best our force can muster, it clearly won't be them."
Country girl: "Hey there, don't just go around ruinin' mah stuff. I spent hours weaving together every beautiful strand of that classic string right there. Have some respect why don't ya?"
The girl lets out an angry complaint. It wasn't that good of a trap by any stretch of the imagination, yet they seemed to take some sort of pride in it.
She doesn't seem even slightly phased by the change around Asena, instead calmly backing away to the nearest of four major piles of rubble remaining.
Country girl: "Look, I'm just doin' this for ya own good ya hear? Put that thing away so we can get this over with. Otherwise I'll have ta get real ugly."
Neesh cautiously approaches Aak and gives the fellow furry a good sniff. Smells like a cat, looks like a cat, and doesn’t look like a threat. Neesh gives him a small wave then heads out to the baseball field.
Of course, the dangerous-looking girl in the center makes Neesh’s hairs stand on end. The animal-eared being takes a few steps onto the turf then yells at the girl. The distance between them requires a powerful set of lungs.
“WHO ARE YOU? CAN YOU LEAVE? YOU WOKE US UP AND WE DON’T WANT TO BE WOKEN UP BY YOU AGAIN!”
"Ya know, if my friend were here, she'd give you like...Idk, an 85 page essay on why that rope is actually one that came from Walmart and not from you. But I'm not her, so I think it's tooootallly fiiiiine, you can pride yourself with your work however you want!"
{Her joyous demeanor was replaced with a solemn monotone look. Her gaze truly losing all happiness, being replaced with nothing. Even the presence went away for a quick second. However, the time of peace went away as quickly as it came. When she starts getting happy again, the darkness is back once more.}
"Besiiiiides, my question went unanswered. That's a real bummer, you knoooow? I'm just trying to viiibe...and I've already forgotten what you mean by getting "real ugly". I reaaaallly hope it's not literal. I think you're probably cute under all that styrofoam you're wearing, riiiiight?...I think that's styrofoam anyways..."
{Asena speaks with a smile on her face, making it extremely obvious she isn't serious about listening to any warnings or threats, or rather, anything from the opposite party at all. She gestures to herself, like thinking or swaying. During this, her hands were noticably glowing bright.}
"Pffft, but that's not the point, I think? I think I forgot...aw man. I've forgotten again. Shame on mee~. Oh well, isn't it a bit uhhhh, hypocritical for you to try and back away when you already know I can be caught in some rope anywaaays? Juuust saying, at least tryyyyy to have more confidence..."
Asami would flinch as he points the rapier towards her, trying to steel her resolve in the face of adversity.
"So, what, just because we differ slightly i'm responsible for every supernatural problem in this city? By that logic, you'd have to be responsible for every conflict between humans. Besides, how can you say you're keeping order when you're causing conflict at this very moment? Why do you have any right to stop me?"
The cop isn't quite going to jump to violence yet... Just quietly and subtuly set up for it, ice creeping below the ground without so much as a sound or visual indicator as she gets ready for this mess to unfold. She'd reply in a bored tone though despite the boiling in her blood.
"Do I think letting childern do this is okay? No of course not, kids shouldn't have to worry about anything more than what's for dinner and getting their homework done or their silly crushes. This kind of thing is our problem, people who can handle it...
Even so, if I can't restrain them without causing real damage why should I try? Trying to protect people by hurting them defies the entire point! And even if they're kids, anyone who's willing to risk themselves of their own choice even knowing the danger is worth respect!"
The speech is part distraction to buy time for her to set up a proper attack, partly her honest beliefs being voiced.
"As for inhuman freaks... So what, you think you're better than everyone else just because you haven't got any weird powers? We're all people. All I see right now is a bitter jealous man ranting about the evils of the ambiguous other.
As for my pride, I take pride in protecting peope who need it. Normal, supernatural, human or otherwise, it doesn't matter to me. As long as they aren't breaking the law and threatening others then it's still my job to protect them. That's why I'm in this, what are you out here fighting for Leonus?"
She'd ask that question in a curious tone, it's not entirely clear if she's mocking him or not but there is a distinct chance of it judging by how utterly unconcerned with his threats her entire spiel has been.
A young boy wearing all black would appear, though despite that his outfit wouldn't lack color. Red eye like symbols would be placed at several points on his clothing, mostly interlaced with the design of his coat. He'd also seem to be wearing a set of glasses that overall would make seeing his own eyes impossible.
Aside from his strange obvious stand-out look he seemed oddly jovial considering the situation, though whether he knew much or not was another question. In all honestly he couldn't be seen as being any older than a high school student, far too young to be a cop or anything and yet he'd still walk directly up to the police woman and begin speaking.
"Excuse me, mam. I'm a psychic hired by the police to investigate this incident."
He almost seemed completely oblivious to the obvious confrontation at hand, that or he simply was ignoring it to get to the point. Of course, eventually he seemed to take notice of it.
"Oh, is this a bad time? I really need some questions answered to investigate..."
He would look over towards the man who already had his weapon drawn, still with a gleeful smile on his face.
"Excuse me sir, would it be alright if I got some information from the police here before you continue your mental breakdown? I take my job as a psychic very seriously, y'know?"
Aak notices the... Interesting person. They don't seem to be hostile.
"Uh... Wassup?"
And he watches as they run out to the field. Since no one is around to see, he loses his smile as he facepalms. He very quickly switches back to his constantly smiling mode.
For better or for worse, Neesh catches the girl's attention. All they have to do is bring down their arm to send out a shockwave like a blade of air which passes just between Aak and Neesh before effortlessly slicing through the wall behind them.
Immediately after doing so, the girl approaches. They're a tall individual whose purple armor gives off a regal air. Though their expression is fierce, their eyes betray a hint of tiredness.
The girl breathes out a sigh before addressing Neesh
Regal girl: "You first. Tell me your name, what you are, and why you're approaching me."
As the girl speaks, they bring up their right hand, bringing forth a small ball of purple energy that feels eerily similar to the pulse that drew them here
Regal girl: "Speak quickly, or be considered my enemy."
Leonus lets out a little chuckle, glaring back at Chie and Asami before him before letting out a sigh.
Leonus "That kind of feeble determination will never make a difference. Much as parents must discipline their children."
Leonus glares specifically at Asami. Their argument falling on deaf ears. After all, it was the words of a child spoken to a zealot.
Leonus looks back at Chie, paying little attention to Asami as he continues their real conversation.
Leonus: "The law must discipline its subjects to ensure security. Giving anyone special treatment simply builds a sense of entitlement. That's what I can't stand about your kind. The firm belief that you can simply tread over whatever you wish.
I seek nothing more than to bring such people in line."
He talked over Kayo at the last part, but after Leonus notices the new addition he takes a deep breath.
Only to pause, listening to something. The man lets out a sigh before adding.[i]
Leonus: "No, your timing is impeccable. I'm going to need to take this call."
[i]With that, Leonus seeks to... Take a few steps away, giving Chie and the others some space as he puts a hand up to his helmet and begins speaking into his comms.
Country girl: "I.. I'm not scared. Ah've not the slightest idea what yer talkin' about."
The country girl nervously scratches the back of her head for a moment. She shifts back and forth nervously before finally remembering to touch the side of her helmet.
Country girl: "Right. I've uh.. Got a situation over here. Permission to engage......?
Understood sir. ahll try ta make it quick."
Now that she has permission, the girl takes out her own cylinder and pushes a single button on the side. Immediately the device sparks to life, with three electric tendrils, each about three feet long, lashing out from the end, forming a sort of electric flail most commonly known for tortures.
With that, the girl takes a few quick steps before making a horizontal swipe at Asena with her new weapon.
Neesh’s form wavers for a moment as they leap to the side. Their hair and tail fur stands on end. With one hand on the ground and the other curled up, they have the appearance of a cornered animal. They don’t make eye contact but still don’t take their gaze off the girl’s body.
“We are Neesh. We are...” They look unsure. “...we are what we are. We woke up because you were loud. We want you to stay quiet so we can sleep. Humans might want to fight but we do not.”
Asami would growl with frustration, looking at the ground as she takes a few deep breaths to calm down.
"Whatever."
She would then attempt to walk past Leonus, focusing his gaze to stare straight through every thing in her path, concentrating to exclude the wall of the entrance on the opposite site and anyone on the inside of it.
Chie doesn't trust Leonus even an inch, this could all be a ploy to get her guard down... This appears to have happened, even as she takes more time to keep setting up what will hopefully put him in the grave quick and clean if he's stupid enough to pick a fight.
"The belief we can tread over whoever we wish... Pff, sure whatever helps you sleep at night pal. Anyway go ahead and take your call."
As for the psychic she'd look him over, pondering for a moment before snapping her finger in recognition. Despite his young age and strange title the woman doesn't seem to take him any less seriously for it, obviously being rather used to strangeness herself.
"Oh right! I actually do remember hearing about you, you're a little bit late though. Sergeant Chie Satonaka of Special Investigations, not sure how much I can answer yet however, investigation has been...
A bit slow, none the least of which thanks to meeting an armed merc who I had no clue would be here."
The usual weirdos are one thing, but this man is too composed and organized to be just some random person. He's here for a reason, and she'll figure out why... And the kid is trying to walk past, oh boy. That could go badly. Could also lead to a chance to arrest this man though.
"Anyway, what kind of questions have you got? I'll share what I can at any rate."
"Aw maaan, you wanna engage with me?...I forgot what that means...marriage, right?"
{Asena doesn't or flinch from her current position, only letting her smile get wider and wider. Her eyes looked like they would close but they merely squinted at the girl as her smile perpetuates. As for the electric tendrils, her shadow would come out of it's position, and right beside her. To the country girl's eyes, it's form wasn't really solid, and it moved too fast to try and see what it exactly was doing.}
"Welp, maaaaybe if it isn't broke, don't fix it right? I guess? No idea what you're trying to do here, lmao."
{The next thing the country girl knew, the tendrils were caught by the shadow, having a firm grip on them. Whatever pain was supposed to be inflicted to it, the shadow seemed not to care. It only gave it's vague form a very pristine smile, just like the one Asena herself has. The shadow that has a hold on the tendrils would jump over Asena's head, and back into the ground to Asena's opposite side.}
"At least now I have another excuse to let him go wiiiild~ Tee-hee!~"
{As it was traveling across the floor, it'd drag the tendrils undergound. Midway through it's adventure, it would throw the electric tendrils back onto surface level, giving it a few marks that made it clear it bit into the tendrils. If that even did anything would yet to be seen, but the shadow kept traveling toward the armored country girl before combusting right in front of her with a force stronger than how it gripped the tendrils, attempting to push the merc back to the 4 pillars. It's remains that bursted from the explosion plopped onto each of the pillars as well as the ground. They appeared to be similar to human organs that have been colored completely black.}
"Well, there's a lot I can see...but even being a psychic I wasn't really briefed much on all the details when I was hired.
I'm admittedly pretty late too but I couldn't help it. I had a premonition, like a stirring in the natural order of the world."
The boy would place one of his hands on his glasses almost seeming to pose slightly.
"My psychic power was going crazy and it was telling me that the situation here has gotten complicated, right?
With so many weirdos like that guy around my 6th sense can hardly hone in on the place of investigation."
He'd fix his shades before finally seeming to actually get to the point.
"So, my question is whether you guys have found where the phenomena was focused? That's where the greatest disturbance probably is. I can feel it tingling along my brain waves."
Unsurprisingly, Asami's attempt to just walk past the guy is met with a sword being thrust in her path, like an officer's arm reminding her to stay back. Still, he doesn't pay the girl any mind, continuing his conversation
Leonus: "Understood. I have three intruders here myself. No, I can handle them. Just keep an eye on the Princess."
Regal girl: "E.. *sigh*"
The girl relaxes a little, with Neesh looking so pathetic. The energy she had been charging up fades away, though the girl tries to keep a stern face.
Regal girl: "Look, I didn't want to wake up either. Just try to go back to sleep and I'll do my best to keep it down. You're not safe here after all."
The girl casts a quick glare in the direction of Aak's hiding spot before adding
Regal girl: "It might be getting rough soon."
As Hikari had learned before, even touching the tendrils results in an intense shock, a jolt that reads the creature's energy before the whip transforms from electricity to whatever kind of energy hurts the shadowy creature the most. Continued contact is far worse than simply hurting more, as it begins to rapidly tear away at the very energy that fuels the creature.
If that alone is not enough to trigger any sort of survival instinct, then upon eating some of the energy, it rapidly expands, fueling off the creature's life force to tear it apart with the most damaging form of energy possible. This would leave the creature as little more than a useless mass.
Whichever result occurs, the country girl simply stands there stunned for a few seconds before remarking
Country girl: "T.. Wow. Ah mean. Talk about jump scares there. Guess he's not so scary after ahl tho. Ya sure ya ain't tryin' too hard?"
"Naaaah. I said to go wild, so he went wild. He just does whatever he wants, ya knooow? No control there, loooll."
{The creature would still explode right in front of the country girl, it's remains being on the pillars. However it would be much less than expected, making the floors rather clean due to it practically eating itself. A few dark spots stood on the pillars. Asena just sways around not caring at all that the country girl expected whatever this is as "trying".}
"Annnyways, are we still getting "ugly"? We're just like...standing here cuuuuutely, hee-hee! That's a big opposite to ugly, riiiiight?~"
{Whether or not the creature seemed weakened by the electricity of the tendrils, the dark atmosphere still lingered. Very tiny threads of purple energy glowed from each pillar, representing the multiple trails left behind. As the remains had started the bubble, Asena clapped for the country girl who was in the middle of them all. Her hands were still glowing bright, but she herself never tried to attack just yet.}
"Oooo, he's back. I guueeeess that's pretty coooooool for me. Riiiiight? I think sooo. Yaaaayyy..."
{In a flash, the threads merged, traveling past each other as if they were heading somewhere in particular. Due to this chain of events, it felt similar to thousands of thin wires attempting to slice into the girl's armor, and straight through it so it could cut at her flesh. This would also slice the four pillars, making the heavy parts fall right onto where she stood.}
(edited by kun-Chan)
“Rough...? Oh. Humans must want to deal with you.”
Neesh knows how humans can be with things they’re afraid of. The animal-eared person stretches and gets back to just two feet.
“Okay. Thank you. Be careful.”
Neesh shrugs and starts to head out through the western hall. They decide to go the way they came: taking the path back towards the southern entrance. They pause near the end. They’d nearly forgotten about the bulky human. They sneak forward and try to see if he’s still there.
(edited by Neesh)
Chie would shake her head slightly, that's what they're currently working on and all but at the moment... She'd whipser to the young man with a slight grimace.
"Kinda hard to work on figuring out the location with people trying to get in the way. So, I'm gonna try and take care of that, can you handle yourself if it comes to a confrontation? "
She'd sigh heavily while looking toward the merc, waiting for just a bit more before speaking to him in an authoritative voice that she knows won't have any impact. After he gets off the phone anways... And after her snipers on the buildings up above have time to get plenty ready to fire if needed.
"Gonna need you and your team to clear out of the area, or at bare minimum cooperate with our investigation. I'm not completely unreasonable so I'm willing to accept you all have a job to do too, but I won't accept you getting in my way doing it. Not gonna take that from bystanders or you all."
She'd just stare over at the man at this point, absently pondering how to handle this if it actually comes to that.
He'd seem to take a moment to laugh confidently.
"A psychic need not worry about confrontation. I simply need to foresee it before it happens and make proper preparations. My sixth sense is strong enough to guide me through any calamity."
The boy almost would continue but he'd notice Chie trying to talk to the Merc. Despite being somewhat upset over not being able to ramble on longer he patiently waited for the Merc's answer.
He still had a job to get done afterall.
Asami would be completely out of it, merely staring at the regal girl for a few minutes before even noticing her movement was being barred. She blinks and looks around her in confusion, turning back to Chie and taking a few steps away from Leonus.
"Hey, Chie-chan, I think I have some important information..."
She would stand by Chie patiently, feeling nervous and awkward like a child trying to tell their parents something while they've been talking to an older relative for the last few hours.
As she waits, she would non-chalantly raise the level of ammonia in Leonus' blood, the symptoms arising faster than would be expected but not as severe as death or unconsciousness. More like, say, medium psy damage.
Country girl: "Ahm just gonna... Not deal with this."
The girl takes a deep breath, leading to a brief pause and after... Silence. She doesn't turn to see the shadow slashing by her but nonetheless...
As soon as the strings begin to converge, the girl lunges forward, paying the strings no heed as her whip lashes out at each of them. Since its already been set to destroy the creature, it would doubtlessly incinerate the strings from top to bottom, leaving nothing behind.
But the country girl isn't talking anymore. Once they land its only two large steps as she unhitches the collar she brought out earlier and attempts to slap it on Asena in one more sudden movement.
Regal girl: "Don't worry about me. I know exactly how to deal with humans. You get home safe!"
The girl gives Neesh a gentle smile, trying to pet the creature for a second before letting them go on. Neesh would have to pass by Aak on his way back out, but if the doctor doesn't feel any need to stop them...
They'd notice not much changed. Neesh heads west before wrapping around south... Only to find that the large man was gone. Fortunately, this would make it easy for Neesh to leave if he so chose, but there's no telling what kind of trouble they might cause.
Leonus lets out an irritated sigh from something on his comms. The young man shakes his head before getting off, finally paying his.. Guests. The attention they sought.
Leonus: "I'm afraid you're the ones out of your jurisdiction miss. For the detective's benefit allow me to introduce myself as Leonus, deputy commander of Thunder Squadron, a mercenary group contracted to deal with troublesome cases like this one. We have an agreement with the police for them to stay out of particularly dangerous cases.
It seems your superior officer was a little too eager of a glory hound, using your group to test boundaries and probably prepared to offer you as a scapegoat if things went awry."
It almost feels as if Leonus has practiced this little speech before. At the very least he's gone down to a calm, robotic tone as opposed to ranting against superpowers.
Leonus: "As such I'd like to request you cease your perimeter. Its not going to help and Lightning doesn't have much patience for distractions."
With that, Leonus closes his eyes for a moment, letting out a sigh. By now Asami would likely notice their little Ammonia trick didn't seem to affect Leonus. The good news is that meant he didn't have any reason to suspect her either.
Regardless, the child isn't the focus of Leonus's attention, Chie is.
Leonus: "If these terms are unacceptable. Then allow me to propose a deal. In the interest of minimizing damage, we'll have a duel. If I win then your officers will clear out immediately. Otherwise I'll tell you everything I know about the incident."
Leonus extends a hand to Chie as a sign of agreement. He doesn't seem particularly prepared at the moment, but its difficult to tell what the man is thinking while he's wearing a helmet.
Neesh reluctantly accepts the pets on their way out. The girl remains on their mind as they hide at the southern entrance. Who is she? What is she doing here? She'll probably be fine on her own if she's so powerful but Neesh is still curious. It's odd that the bulky human is gone here too. Neesh frowns and sniffs the spot where the man once was. If the man wasn't here, does that mean the plan is proceeding? Neesh tries to follow whatever scent trail they can detect. If they come up empty, they'll shrug and sit outside the entrance deep in thought.
{Asena doesn't even try to react as the creature's attempts at doing her bidding seems to be foiled. Instead she shrugs her shoulders as the smile starts to sink a bit. She puts a finger to her chin, glancing at the sky as she's thinking, her hands still noticeably bright. As this happens, the dark ominous atmosphere goes away, leaving only her shadow.}
"Not deal with what again?...Oooooh, meeee? Awww...that's too baad..."
{The girl finally opens her eyes a bit, putting her hands in front of her like she's about to form a barrier. But in actuality, the brightness forms an orb that absorbs the light from her hands. Due to this, it would be sent into an overcharged state, letting off two large beams of light straight towards the merc's way. The power that comes from it would merely bounce around everywhere before eventually heading to the sky, and Asena herself would be affected by recoil, falling face-up onto the floor. Even so, she still doesn't seemed phased.}
"Why are you trying to...what is that used for again? I've already forgotten again...meeehhh, is there a reason why I'm being targeted?...If Sonomi was here, I know she'd go ooooofff on you, but that's not really my jazz, you knooowww?"
{Her body would sink into the ground where her shadow was, like she was being pulled into a vortex. While her voice could still be heard, her physical form was nowhere to be seen, only replaced by a shadow which formed a smile on it's own face.}
"Something to say... Yeah go ahead kid, that's fine."
She'd look to Asami for a moment, giving the girl a chance to speak up again before she moves back to the merc. Grinning slightly upon hearing his words, a duel huh?
She can work with that, and since she's the one being challenged... Well he might not accept, but she can try and make these terms most likely favorable.
"Alright, seeing as how you say it's to minimize damage and all it'd only make sense to do this with just hands and feet, none of my gear or other skills, and none of your weapons either. Just plain old human martial arts to the best of our ability. Unless you aren't willing to fight me without relying on fancy tech."
She'd extend her hand somewhat as well, awaiting for the many's response to her terms. In truth, she has some idea of the kind of things his weapons can do. 'Thunder Squadron' and 'Lightning' are somewhat infamous names.
Confidence in being able to kill him before his gear can matter much, yes that she has. But fighting non-lethally against it... Sounds like a pain, so take it out of the fight, and rely on years of martial expereince instead.
That and she's curious how he'll react to a 'freak' being so willing to simply toss aside the power he's convinced they seem to lord over people with.
"How outrageous, but I suppose this is the way of the human world. How divided I am, between the world of humanity and the world of the 6th sense.
No point in despairing though. I shall investigate on my own. Not as part of my job for the police but as a psychic detective!"
Of course, the young man would say this while seeming to try and walk wherever his eyes led him. More specifically, his sunglasses would drop ever so slightly after turning away. A rainbow tint of light seemed to leak out from what little of his eyes could be seen.
"Demonic eyes that have been passed down through the ages of psychics. Guide me to the truth! This is clairvoyance!"
Oddly, his ability to sense spirit energy would be enhanced through whatever means he was using. He'd likely be able to track those who exuded an abnormally large amount of spirit energy now and would simply follow the densest trail he could find.
Asami would nervously respond, nodding her head as she attempts to recount the information to Chie as quickly as she could.
"Well, for one, I know what we're dealing with. I dealt with a similar situation in the past while investigating the freak snowstorm I saw on the news. I found out that a girl in funny clothing created the weather, seemingly as some sort of emotional response to a prior attack or something. Another mercenary by the name of White Lightning called her a "spirit", and there's another girl with similarly funny clothing here, so it's highly likely she's also one of these spirits."
She would take on a serious tone as she divulged this information, although getting somewhat carried away and nearly forgetting Leonus was there in the first place.
Neesh sniffs the ground by where the mercenary had smashed part of the building. It came with all the scents he expected, a heavy human scent from how often the building had been used, a clean scent associated with disinfectants, and most notably a unique, metallic scent that seemed to come from the man's armor.
The scent is strongest towards the staircase leading into the upper part of the stands. So Neesh cautiously climbs up the stairs, finding the man resting in the entryway illuminated by stadium lights.
though there's no one else visible, Neesh can overhear the large man conversing with someone who speaks with a level pitch higher than the large man's
Large merc: "falling apart pretty quickly. Leonus is letting his pride get in the way again, and Lyra's already activated her chip"
Level merc's voice: "Never understood why they hired her in the first place. Kid's scared of the supernatural."
Large merc: "Instincts are second to none though. Like she could feel the spirit coming."
Level merc's voice: "Lotta good that does. After all, we can't really fight it until Lightning shows up."
Leonus lets out a sigh, glaring at Asami momentarily
Leonus: "Then you must be one of the kids Lightning was complaining about. The Spirit knocked out the electric grid and could have hurt hundreds of people before getting Lost. All thanks to Mist's interference."
Leonus looks downward momentarily before letting out a chuckle
Leonus: "If only I could have seen the look on Lightning's face."
With that over, Leonus looks up to Chie, hearing the girl's terms and sheathing his weapon once more before shaking her hand.
Leonus: "Very well, lets see what the city's finest can do."
once their handshake is done, Leonus takes a few steps back, giving the two fighter's about four feet between them and Chie the chance to ready herself while Leonus takes his own stance.
The man takes a light stance up on his toes, bringing up his fists and leading with his right side in a well-known variant to the traditional boxing stance, leaving the first move to his opponent.
With his special sight, Kyo would get a good idea of the spiritual power put off by those around him. Asami had the most raw spiritual power of course, followed by Chie's blazing spirit, and lastly Leonus's calm blue, which was noticably stronger than the average Innocent's, but not so much as to raise alarm.
No, that is reserved for the force he can see streaming through the staircase behind Leonus that leads down and onto the baseball field. Now that the mercenary is distracted, Kayo would have no problem going onto the field in order to check out the source, so long as he gives the two combatants their space. In which case he'd see the regal-looking girl Asami mentioned earlier.
The country girl brings up her whip to intercept Asena's blast... Only for the attack to curve away at the last second, instead serving as a distraction to let Asena slip away and into the shadows, losing their physical form temporarily. All the while the country girl doesn't respond to any of Asena's taunts, seemingly too focused to notice.
Unfortunately for them, the girl's whip is primarily energy-based, meaning it doesn't really need a physical form to latch onto. As such, the shadow doesn't really offer much protection when the girl swings her whip downwards in hopes of chasing Asena into the darkness.
If she manages to strike the shadow then Asena would feel an intense jolt of pain as the whip begins to configure itself for this new target.
"Huh, very interesting... I'm kinda White Lightning would be annoyed by a bunch of kids, his reputation would led me to think that didn't go too well for them though."
The woman would crack her knuckles a bit after replying, in truth she had almost expected him to decline... But this works out well, old school boxing is something she's only studied a bit of but she does know enough to pin down the stance.
Fighting giant monsters and other such beasts forces one to rely more upon occult nonsense than well honed human skill, from that viewpoint this is a refreshing change for Chie and Leonus would find her movements as she rushes forward not especially giving much away, though one might note the way her eyes drift towards his left side a bit...
Which is in of itself a trick, rather than anything aiming towards his left the man would instead find himself beset upon by a sudden low-kick aimed directly at the shins. It's far stronger and quicker than one might expect from a woman of her stature, not inhumanly so, but merely the result of training and well-built muscles slamming into him with about as much force as a non-supernatural human her size could manage. She's also not sparing any breath to banter at the moment, still unsure of exactly how capable the man is and focused more on fighting to the best of her ability.
The humans are confusing but Neesh can get a few things. Mainly that the spirit is probably the strange human that’s not a human they met earlier. This Lightning person is going to fight the spirit. Perhaps because of her destroying the stadium? This stadium that smells of weird chemicals and-
“Ha-choo!”
...stupid human concoctions. Making them sneeze. Neesh stares at the humans blankly.
“...Hi. Do you... uh... have a moment to listen to us?”
They hide an already-flickering hand behind their back.
{The whip strikes at the shadow, cracking at a certain thing that hides in the shadows. It wasn't Asena herself, rather some other part of her. Nevertheless, she still felt the impact, the pain flows through despite her body not being physically there. Even so, her tone or expression doesn't change at all. The smile still stagnates, staring at the merc.}
"Ooooh...so that's what you were wanting, huh? Mmmmmm, I liiike thaaat...heheheh..."
{The shadow's form starts to flicker, instead of growing it glows similar to if it was lit on fire. The purple flames stayed inside of the ground, not taking a physical form. Asena herself merely stays happy even though her only company had lashed out to hurt her.}
"I've grown to really love that feeling...tee-hee...heheheheheh...don't be shy now...give me more~"
{From out the ground where the shadow was, the top half of a person seemed to appear. Their appearance was similar to that of an average male, but they had a physical mask that had a poorly drawn smiley face on it. An extremely sharp claw forms on their left arm that takes a crippling slash at the merc's legs, meaning to deal serious damage on the back of both calves.}
"It seems that girl's soul flames are burning brightly right now. A sign of cataclysm or simply a side effect. Even my clairvoyance can't see beyond such a veil.
As a psychic I must get involved though."
Kayo would begin approaching the regal-looking girl. He seemed to exercise some amount of caution but that would all be thrown away as soon as he began speaking once more.
"Good day, miss. You're dressed rather well for a place like this. Are you aware of the investigation going on currently?"
As soon as Kayo made his move, Asami would follow behind him, first trying to place both her hands on his shoulders and climb up on his back, something which he may not be entirely bothered by as a result of her light weight (which one might not actually expect from someone packing quite so much raw strength).
Should he opt to carry her weight for her, she'd lazily drift off as she merely glanced over her surroundings. However, were she stopped from climbing on the male, she would merely follow him around passively, keeping track of anyone else they encounter, but paying no mind to the strange animal.
Though Kayo didn't seem to even necessarily notice what Asami was trying to do an invisible force would immediately strike her away. Kayo himself didn't even seem to notice though notably he seemed slightly troubled for a moment, even seeming to take a moment to talk to look down and talk to himself.
"Huh, what's wrong? Calm down...It's alright. I'll feed you when we're done here."
since Chie was looking left, Leonus immediately shifts stances, taking a quick step to the girl's right while switching his lead to his left foot, narrowly stepping over her sweep while throwing a couple of quick jabs at the girl's side with his left hand to test her reactions before committing to a cross, swiftly turning to throw out a right-handed punch across his body and at Chie's head.
Neesh's sneeze catches the large mercenary's attention. The man says a swear before turning around to face Neesh, standing up to his full height, arms-crossed to appear as large as possible.
Large merc: "Tch... Really snuck in while my back was turned? Now I'm gonna get scolded too.
Oh well, better make this quick."
being able to talk made it clear Neesh was more than just an animal, at any rate. Eager to correct his mistake, the large man doesn't waste more time, instead running forward to close the distance between him and Niche before aiming a punch hard enough to crack the concrete down at Neesh
It was pretty clear to begin with that Asena's shadowy figure would mean trouble. So the country girl tries to jump back as soon as they appear. However, the girl seems to stumble, her hands fumbling by the edge of her boots as she steps back. This fumble results in Asena's claws scraping against the girl's armor, flaking off some of its protective coating, but not quite landing a solid hit.
For now, the girl scrambles back a few feet in order to regain their footing.
After a brief encounter, Asami and Kayo head out to meet with the regal-looking girl.
The Spirit only looks to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, with their long, purple hair flowing around their shoulders.
As soon as Asami and Kayo step onto the field the girl turns to face them. Her eyes are hardened, and though she's unarmed the girl makes a swift slashing motion with her right arm, sending a blade-like wave of force over the pair's heads and into the stands where it blasts away a row of seats.
Regal Girl: "I'm not in the mood for jokes, human. Give me one good reason not to strike you down where you stand."
As she speaks, the girl stretches out her right hand and begins charging a sphere of spirit energy. The girl lets out a hefty, irritated sigh. But at least refrains from attacking the pair directly for now.
"Jokes? I'm not one to joke around. Why don't you give me a good reason you have to strike me down first?
If you aren't an evil God then I have no reason to take your threat seriously.
Though I'm guessing with that immense aura your giving off you're probably a visitor of sorts to this world. That would make us the same in that regard."
The young man for once seemed semi-serious. He was still smiling but it seemed as though a sudden switch flipped on to control his usual outbursts. It was as if he was no longer dealing with this as a simple psychic working with the police and instead as something else entirely.
Asami remains unflinching as the wave of energy flies way over her head. She takes a step forward, disregarding the energy being charged by the regal girl and merely looking at her with disappointment.
"What reason do you need other than "it's wrong"? You have no right to pursue such needless conflict!"
In a sudden motion, Asami would place herself in between Kayo and the Regal Girl, enhancing her brightness to the point where it would be impossible for anyone to aim directly at her, shielding Kayo by extension.
“Behemoth!”
Neesh’s hidden hand becomes transparent and something splits off from it. By the time Neesh has leapt back and away from the punch, a muscular maned canine forms by their side. His fur is a dull brown only decorated by three green gem-like structures on his chest. While Neesh backs away, Behemoth roars and rears up on two legs to match the human’s height. Lightning forms in his maw and snakes out at the human: a spell some would recognize as Zionga.
The woman's reactions are every bit as good as her strength, better even given without magic raw power has limits for someone her size. But speed and agility are more in her natural talents, the merc would quickly find his blows missing as she weaves away with a motion one might compare to skipping. Feet darting backward just a bit as she pulls her head to the side, his fist just barely rushing past.
Finally she'd counter with her own strike, a hard jab slamming straight towards his heart without even the slightest warning or sign of where exactly she was planning to hit before unleashing it from her right fist, all without even bothering to stop the rapid motions she's been maintaining.
{While she normally would've went through with her attack, Asena stopped doing anything as she looks at the country girl stumble. Despite her shadow still being present, the girl still goes and tries to act cutely, putting her hands below her face and slightly pouting.}
"Huuhhh? Awww, you could've dodged thaaattt...you knooow, if you're not fit for the job, you can always just quit. I will if you wiiillll~"
{They would rest on their arms and tilt their head, the top half of their torso being in a pose similar to an average schoolgirl sleeping on their desk. Their smile kept perpetuating, even if they were still seeming to be locked in combat for no reason at all.}
Regal Girl: "I'm an enemy of humanity, what more reason do I need? You're only making yourselves look more suspicious."
The black sphere in the girl's hand begins to grow, however she pauses a few seconds into her charge, asking.
Regal Girl: "No one's ever called me a Visitor before. What does it mean? And answer me quickly this time!"
The girl's eyes sharpen into a harsh, commanding gaze as she continues to threaten the pair. As she does so, it becomes more difficult to see. This show of defiance causes the girl to give a frustrated growl before demanding
Regal Girl: "And stay where I can see you! Otherwise I'll blast the entire building to rubble!"
Large merc: "The hell?"
The man immediately recoils away from the behemoth, taking a few quick steps backwards and giving the demon the chance it needs to charge its spell.
However, rather than run, the man raises his hands to intercept the thunderbolt, which stops just short of the man's armor and collects into a ball.
The man concentrates for a second, gathering the energy in one spot before crushing it between his gloves. At which point the energy flows into his gauntlets and charges them
Large merc: "Alright then. Starting the analysis. For now..."
Now that his suit has a sample of the Behemoth's energy, the man can begin to take advantage of it. His first move is simple, charging forward to close the space between him and the demon before throwing a vicious right hook at its face.
By this point its too late for Leonus to dodge, giving Chie the first hit of the match. He recoils initially, but its not nearly enough to knock him off balance or distract him. The man immediately takes a step back before throwing out another swift jab at Chie's lower position. This time he doesn't make any real commitment, preferring to see his opponent's next move.
The country girl gets up, letting out a sigh before tapping her right foot against the floor twice.
Once she does, an electrified net springs up in the air front of her, dropped during her earlier stumble.
Country Girl: "Yer a real pest ya know that? No respect at all."
Their fight seems to be over for now at least. With the girl awaiting a response as she rapidly taps her left foot against the ground
"Alright, alright. Let's not do anything rash here.
A visitor is someone who isn't originally from this world. Usually they have an immense amount of spirit energy. That's why I jumped to that conclusion."
Kayo would try not to move to much aside from showing that there was nothing in his hands.
"Enemy of humanity? What makes you an enemy of humanity? Are you trying to destroy the world or something?"
Neesh begins to back away. Their stance is poised for a hasty retreat but they’re muttering to themselves. The human would hear snippets of Neesh arguing with themself at best. Behemoth interrupts that with a pained roar as the foreleg he raised to block the fist is struck. Neesh winces as well but is in considerably less pain.
Behemoth isn’t going to let a punch like that stop him. Brown fur gives way to a thick dark gray, radiating out from his leg and spreading across his body. He snarls and slams his uninjured paw down at the human’s head. Even if the man dodges, a shockwave would burst out like a wave of heat upon Behemoth striking the ground.
(edited by Neesh)
Asami draws her staff that was strapped to her back, dissipating the blinding light from her body and illuminating the staff with it. She grits her teeth, watching the regal girl's movements carefully.
"Like i'd ever give you the chance!"
As Asami's energy is dispersed throughout the air, the regal girl would feel her strength, defense and speed wane. Any attack of hers that would just barely be fatal would leave any one on the receiving end within an inch of their life. Asami and the girl's speeds would be pretty comperable at this rate, so dodging would be pretty unreliable.
"Little girl, that's some impressive energy you're giving off but now isn't the time for your black and white morality..."
He'd shoot Asami a look, the shades slipping from his face slightly as a rainbow color light leaked out uncontrollably. Yet despite this, no energy would be felt from the light, just silent disapproval.
He'd turn back to the regal girl his smile now less present.
"I'm not exactly with her. If you want us to leave we will but regardless of what you think you might be I don't think your just some evil monster. I've seen evil monsters and they don't hesitate to attack when someone gets near.
I won't attack you, no matter what. It's not my job to hunt people."
{Upon the sight of the electric net now being dropped, Asena doesn't hesitate a second to pull herself back up. The shadow in turn seeming like some kind of decoration as the girl pushes through it and comes back as her normal self.}
"Pffft, you're funny. And a great listener, yaaayyy. We won't have to get "ugly" now, riiight?"
{She puts her hands behind her back, getting closer to the merc. Just as she was in the fight, the girl was just as not serious out of the fight. Asena pretends to sigh out of relief and smiles more to the country girl.}
"That's a relief. Though I thought I was being respectful at least. Was I noooot? Phooey...well, I guueeeeessss nooow we can have some conversation...you want to start? I already forgot what I was going to ask..."
The officer isn't nearly foolish enough to assume she's winning just because she got a single decent hit in, she can also tell that he isn't putting a ton of effort into the coming blow, for her own part Chie would leap downward in one half second and unleash a wide sweep kick with her left leg in the next, his blow just barely sailing above her body as the woman springs back to her feet in an equally quick motion.
Assuming it actually landed a hit, the blow would likely send her foe flying down to the ground from the sudden force and power aimed at both his legs. She isn't gonna assume it'll land a clean blow though, that would just be foolhardy after what he's shown so far. It should take him by a bit of surprise though, hopefully.
Regal Girl: "I like that word. Visitor. I don't belong here after all..."
The girl lets out a brief sigh, her expression growing softer. Fighting every time she appeared had grown exhausting. After a moment, the girl solemnly shakes her head
Regal Girl: "Don't play dumb. You see how much damage I've done. What happens wherever I go."
The girl keeps her attack ready, but uses her free arm to gesture to the ruined stadium around her.
Its around this point that Asami's energy begins to affect the girl. She doesn't seem surprised. After all this was the inevitable result. She shouldn't have even wasted the time talking.
Rather than launch her attack, the girl simply lets go, letting the energy she'd charged thus far dissipate harmlessly
Regal Girl: "Just like that. You can say you're not involved, but its just a ploy to win my trust. You just want me to let my guard down before you strike me like everyone before you.
Regal Girl: "Sandalphon!"
The girl strikes her right foot against the ground, opening her own pocket dimension from which an ancient, golden throne emerges. The girl's spirit energy had already surpassed that of anyone else present. And it seems to resonate with the throne, both the girl and "Sandalphon" amplifying each other's energy until even Asami's radiance was eclipsed.
The girl puts one foot on her new throne and grabs the hilt stuck atop the unit.
Regal Girl: "Now, you can share their fate."
In one swift motion the girl draws forth a silver broadsword nearly as large as the girl herself, with a symmetrical, triangular design ending in a golden and black hilt.
Before rushing forward and cleaving downward towards Asami, crossing the distance between them as if it never existed.
Regal Girl: "Sine!"
though her main focus is Asami for now, the girl keeps one eye on Kayo, as if daring the youth to try something himself.
With both the result of his strike and the results of his suit's analysis in, the large man nods to himself, adding.
Large merc: "Variable type. I'll have to rely on raw strength."
With that, the mercenary stands his ground, raising his hands to meet and catch the Behemoth's strike. While the ground beneath him begins to crack, the man himself holds firm. After withstanding the initial shock, the man twists his weight in an effort to force the Behemoth to the ground and pin them there.
The country girl lets out a deep sigh, crossing their arms before asking
Country Girl: "Just leave now would ya? This place's off limits to tha public. Ya'd have to be blind not to notice."
Unfortunately for Chie not only are jabs the least commitment one can put to a punch, but she'd also opened with a sweep similar to the one she's using now. It was a pattern that her opponent could easily exploit by making a quick, springing step over the woman's sweep and putting all his weight into a fierce downward blow aimed at Chie's back that aims to take advantage of her forward-facing commitment to knock the woman to the ground
Neesh stumbles back and clenches a wavering fist. A mass splits off and forms into a slightly smaller blue-furred beast with only two gems on her chest. Her mane is less prominent but flares outward with the help of a fin-like structure. Neesh sighs at the beast’s appearance.
“If you really want to, Maru. Come running if Behemoth falls.”
Neesh nods to the beasts then starts speeding away. Maru makes a chittering sound and paws at the ground. She’s preparing herself for combat and blocking the human from chasing Neesh.
As for Behemoth, the monster takes the wrestling maneuver in stride. He digs his back paws into the ground and attempts to use his momentum to flip the human over with him. If still in range, he’ll then snap wildly at any exposed part - face, neck, you name it.
(edited by Neesh)
Kayo would back off slowly, trying to keep out of whatever was about to transpire. There wasn't much he could do for either of them. The only tool the had for defense was his own words and even then it seemed useless to speak right now.
"I already told you. I won't fight you. I'm not going to be your enemy. Even if you destroy things just by being around, as long as it's not your choice to do that then there's always a way to change fate.
I stand by that."
(edited by Kayo)
Asami would barely move, frozen in place out of shock as a gash is formed across her chest. A wave of blood pours out from the cut, a wound that would clearly be fatal to any ordinary human. She would drop forward to her knees as if she were a ragdoll, bending her head forward as if she were about to fall flat on her face. Surprisingly, she still seemed to have some life in her, clenching her cut open stomach. In an instant, her face would be covered in stream of tears making it so that she could barely open her eyes as she cries out.
"*huff huff* I-It hurts! It hurts so much! Wa- wa- waaahhhh! Please don't kill me!"
She would barely manage to look up towards the regal girl with desperate, pleading eyes and a quivering lip. She would then merely breath heavily for a few seconds, closing the wound in an instant by washing it with her divine power. While this would undo the physical damage dealt, the blood would still stain her clothes and she would still act like it was worse than it actually was.
Chie expected this, and she'd already accounted for his evasion in fact. The man would without a doubt find both her legs slamming her entire body weight into him as she simply pushes herself up in an instant to with sheer upper body strength. Going over only works when the enemy goes low, after all.
On the other hand his own blow would slam into her as well, annoying but nothing she can't take. It would send her slamming downward and the martial artist merely rolls with the blow, tumbling backward and springing to her feet again only slightly worse for wear as she gets into her fighting stance in a blur. It did hurt, and it did some damage too, but she's been hurt way more before.
"Pretty good, I'd call that exchange a draw more than anything."
"...gee, I didn't see any signs. Are you suuuure that's the case? I didn't know this entry was forbidden."
{She turned her body, looking around the place to see where it could've been clear that this place is off limits to the public. However Asena gives up, just taking the girl's word.}
"Aw maaan, I didn't know thaaat...you reaaally couldn't have told me sooner, silly? I'll leave now, sooorrryyy~"
{She waves goodbye to the country girl and skips away without worry, heading out of the eastern entrance that she decided to enter from. But since she was lost, she tried to circle around, going in the Western entrance instead since that looked like the most likely place for someone that knows directions.}
As the Behemoth starts pushing back, the large man redoubles his efforts, leading the two combatants to a stalemate. His entire body is covered in a seemingly-thin armor, yet nevertheless the Behemoth's attempts to scratch a weak point are to no avail.
The large man focuses all his energies on the clash, paying no attention to Maru or Neesh. With neither combatant able to get a strict upper hand, he tries something else
Large man: "Energy conversion, frost!"
At this voice command, the large man's gauntlets take the energy it absorbed from Behemoth earlier, and converts it into ice, sending a surge of frost up the Behemoth's arms.
If the man manages to freeze anything, his next move is to shatter it, hoping to disarm his opponent then and there.
As for Neesh themself, there's nothing to stop him from returning the way he came. So by fleeing he soon finds himself at the bottom of the southern staircase, with a hallway leading to either the east or west fronts, the exit he entered from, and of course, the stairway back out to the centerfield.
After her attack's success, the Regal Girl remains standing over Asami, blade pointed at the younger-looking girl. The girl isn't an idiot, and can feel Asami's lifeforce, which is far from flickering out. Still, she refrains from finishing her opponent off. Glancing back at Kayo with cold, seemingly-indifferent eyes
Regal Girl: "You're speaking nonsense. I can't change what I am. Besides, what if some part of me wants this? What could you possibly do if I decided I wanted to destroy this world?"
Though the girl puts on a tough front, she still hasn't struck Asami down yet.
Chie's blow ruins Leonus's balance, sending the young man tumbling to the side. Leonus is forced to forgo his stance to catch his fall, taking a moment to get some distance and back on his feet before squaring up to face Chie once more..
Leonus: "You're not talentless. I'll give you that. But my resolve will never bend.'
Leonus starts to close in, before realizing something was wrong in the room. After getting a respite from the pair's clashes, Leonus finally takes the chance to check, and notice...
Leonus: "The child and the psychic. Where did they get to?"
The man asks, dropping his combat stance. His pride was valuable, but the mission more so. So he had no qualms with forgoing their duel in favor of his mission. Besides, if the two actually went in...
The country girl lets out a sigh and crosses her arms before shaking her head. In hindsight, maybe it really was that easy. But as long as her entrance was covered it was't a major problem for her. So she lets Asena go.
Which of course leads the girl around to the West entrance. Of course, Chie had surrounded the building earlier, meaning there were a few police officers here too.
The Persona User would mutter a curse as she realizes they are in fact gone, fuck. She shoulda known better, the merc should have known better too... This isn't the time for this shit.
"I can only assume they've gone further in, I don't exactly trust your word about being legit honestly. But I'm willing to call it a truce for now if you are."
Her own stance would drop for the moment as well, giving the man an honest look while sighing slightly.
"We both know this city is kind of outta control sometimes, I don't agree with you about everything but I can agree there. And even if you don't like me, it's probably easier to work together than waste our time beating the shit out of each other."
They've already done enough of that after all. She'd offer up a wry smirk while waiting for a reply and looking around a bit.
As for Asena's fun meeting with the officers, it wouldn't be much really. The officer there merely rolls his eyes a bit upon seeing the girl leaving.
Officer 3: "So what, you get chased out of there by someone more competent than you or something? Whatever the case is I don't care much, if you're leaving then just get out of everyone's way and that'll be that kid. Consider it a lucky break for you, because I'm feeling generous today."
He'd absently pull out a lighter and begin smoking a cigarette while eyeing her curiously, wondering if the girl will pull out any tricks.
“Competent?...Competent...Hmmmmmmmm...”
{The girl stands there, completely dumbfounded, causing her to stand and place and think about what that word means. After a few seconds of mental mapping, she snaps her fingers and then smiles at the officer.}
“Ooooh, you mean confident? Yeah I agree, that cute girl back where I was should be waaaaayyyy more confident! Also, there were no problems at aaaallll, we just had a lil’ scuffle and a nice talk. She’s so nice for telling me that this place is off limits, tee-hee!~”
{Just like with the country merc, Asena treats the police officer the exact same way. The girl laughs to herself like she told a joke that was funny enough to warrant that. As she continues explaining herself to the police, she puts her head in the clouds again.}
“I thiiink I just left because I waaaaanted to. But sadly, I dunno where to go now. Bummer, riiiiight? I think I’m going to go see the peeps up in the western entrance, ‘kay officer? Thanks, byyyyeeeee~”
{The girl waves to the officer before casually making her way downtown, walking fast, western entrances and all that. Unless the officer stops her mid-trek, she finds no reason to not head in the western entrance, as she feels the need to get someone to tell her directions on where to go next.}
"The fact you can make that choice already proves my point. You're more than just that power you posses. A monster simply acts instinct but a person acts of their own free will.
If your asking what I could do...well, right now probably not much. All I can do right now is try and understand you. I'm not saying you have to change either, at least not on your own.
I know it may be hard to trust me, I'm a stranger after all but I want to help you. I know what it's like to be targeted simply because of what you are."
The young man would finally reach for his shades and take them off completely, fully revealing his eyes. Unnatural would be an understatement for their appearance. Different colors constantly would be swirling around within his retinas, shimmering with bright lights. His pupils could barely be seen within, simply as white circles with a odd pattern in the shape of a triangle.
Asami would stumble backwards out of fear, sitting uprighr and anxiously worrying about what the regal girl might do next.
As she tries to wipe away some tears, she unleashes a substantial amount of energy in the form of a dense plasma barrier around her.
"I... I don't want to be here anymore..."
Neesh runs. Run, run, then hide. All they can do is wait now.
Back to the combatants...
Behemoth’s body gains a blue hue, but too late to prevent the freezing. He snarls and attempts to stumble backwards, but that maneuver comes at the cost of a shattering right paw. Another burst of electricity comes from his maw to hit the human’s face as the beast howls in pain.
Maru lets out a mix of a snarl and a huff then flares out her fins. Almighty energy snakes out from her body and condenses behind the human. The ball it forms crackles then loses all its stability, bursting in a Megido explosion.
Leonus lets out a sigh and taps his foot momentarily before nodding his head
Leonus: "Very well. I had intended to wait for Lightning to show up, but we do not have much time. Thus as acting officer I shall deign to allow your cooperation until such time as the Spirit is subdued"
Like earlier, Leonus provides Chie with clear and concise terms for their cooperation. After all, they may not have much time left.
Just then, the two hear a loud crash coming from the Western end of the stadium as thousands of kilograms of concrete begin to collapse.
Large Merc: "Never get smarter do ya?"
[i]just like before, the man raises his hands to intercept the lightning, which remains in stasis a few inches away from his gauntlets, taking on moldable properties as the man forms the lightning into a ball.
This process takes much of the man's focus, and as a result he's not ready for Maru's burst. Just as the smaller beast's energy strikes, there's a loud *crash* that shakes the very foundations of the stands coming from the western area. Together they're more than enough to destabilize the mercenary, who tosses the half-molded lightning in his hands back at the Behemoth in order to avoid landing on it.
Large Merc: "Damn beasts."
The man complains as he begins to pick himself back up off the ground.
Large Merc: "Won't stop till you've broken everything will ya?"
Back on center stage, the Regal Girl remains silent for a few seconds, She doesn't even look at Asami anymore, letting the younger girl go as the girl's dark purple eyes look into Kayo's ever shifting gaze. It was unsettling at first, but that discomfort is what leads to understanding. Even if everyone else is afraid of them, that doesn't mean they're hopeless.
Regal Girl: "Is it really ok? You really won't run from me? Is it ok for me to exist?"
At last the Regal Girl's guard wears down. Sandalphon droops downward from her hand as she finally has the chance to ask the question that had been on her mind for such a long time. The question of if she really gets to live...
But alas, fate had different plans. For it was this moment, when the Girl was both distracted and at her most vulnerable that a beam of blue light streaks from the western stands, striking the Regal-Looking girl directly where her heart would be.
The weapon doesn't pierce her armor, but it doesn't have to. Rather, it uses the girl's dress as a conduit to go after her lifeforce directly, reacting with and making it short-circuit.
As a result, the girl's energy bursts outwards, sending both Asami and Kayo flying against the stadium wall. The burst would hurt the two, but not nearly as much as it hurt the Girl.
The culprit being a slim figure in glossy black armor similar to the kind Leonus wore. This fourth mercenary wields a long, slim-barrelled sniper rifle with a particularly bulky body from which a faint blue light seems to emanate.
After that blow, it seemed much of Kayo's progress had been lost, with the girl's grip on Sandalphon tightening once more. Though the girl seems to be bleeding power from her arms and chest, she swings Sandalphon once more, sending a wave of force at the Western section of the stands, aiming to destroy the figure who had harmed her. The girl's energy blasts into the stands, kicking up a massive cloud of dust at the western entrance begins to crumble, leaving the mercenary's fate unknown.
As Asena moves to enter the western side of the Stadium, there's a loud crashing sound as some sort of blast strikes the west side of the arena. Small chunks of concrete rain down around the girl as the western portion of the stands finally begins to collapse, filling the entryway with thousands of kilograms of concrete.
Behemoth shakes off the electricity coursing through his shifting body and crouches down, but Maru’s confused whines make him forget about fighting for the moment. If that sound wasn’t Maru’s Megido, then what was it? Maru buries her muzzle in the larger beast’s mane. The two are having some sort of conversation but it’s all in growls and whines.
They and Neesh eventually come to the same conclusion: it was the spirit. That spirit had warned them that things would get dangerous. Behemoth snarls and starts backing away. Maru cocks her head but follows suit. Another truth is that this building isn’t safe. The two don’t take their eyes off the human as they slowly make their way out.
Kayo had been hurt, of course with what little spirit energy he had for defense he was able to at least somewhat buffer the amount of damage. Still he'd find himself on the ground now. There was something more important for him to do at the moment.
He'd begin focusing his spirit energy, specifically on the regal girl. He wasn't sure if he could actually help her in any way but at very least he knew she had been hurt by whatever that attack had been.
If she had wounds then this energy would help to close them at a rapid rate but that was all he could really do right now.
He'd attempt to steady himself but wouldn't do much more than watch and see what would happen next. He needed to focus his vision but couldn't exactly utilize his eyes so soon after using a portion of his energy.
"Looks like things are just getting worse here...
Little girl, you can stand right? A divine soul like you should still be alright."
Asami would be forced against the wall, flinching as she puts her right foot forward to steady herself.
"Guh... what an underhanded attack! I hate mercenaries!"
She steps forward and shines with a peaceful glimmer, bolstering the morale of both Kayo and the regal girl as well as strengthening them. As an added effect, they also gain internal knowledge of Asami's motives for being in this place. It would be clear that she wasn't simply here out of mere curiosity and she genuinely wants to protect the regal girl as if they had come to that conclusion themselves. Momentarily, she feels offended by Kayo's statement, responding in a somewhat sarcastic manner.
"Am I a little girl or am I a divine soul? If you're going to treat me like a kid, you should at least treat me like any other kid. But yeah, I can stand. It just hurts, is all!"
She then goes straight towards the portion of the stands where the regal girl struck, tears falling to the ground as she runs as a lingering effect of experiencing such intense pain from the cut. She walks up to the nearest pile of rubble or concrete, placing a hand on it and causing it to ignite with a relentless flame that would burn away at it until it was nothing but ash, regardless of whether it would actually normally burn. Anyone caught in the fire would not actually be harmed, as Asami could extinguish it as quickly as she set it.
Aak simply keeps hiding and watching. He COULD help, but none of the people there look like they could handle his drugs. Except the regal girl... But she'd probably kill him if he attempted to use them on her.
"Wait, whaaattt? Aw man, now I forgot what to doo..."
{Asena doesn't even try to react to the debris that falls, instead doing a horrible job at crying to herself by still smiling and not shedding any tears and having her own shadow block the debris from hitting her in the head.}
"Welp, I guess I shall retrace my steps, yipeeeeee~"
{With nothing else to do, the girl decides to march right back into the Eastern Entrance where she first had came in the building.}
The Persona user just cracks her knuckles and reaches into her pockets, pulling out a set of metal gloves and following after her... Ally, for the moment he can be called as such anyways.
"Understood, hopefully we can deal with this without too much damage, or casualties... What are the chances this Spirit can be reasoned with, I assume poor at most but I'd love to be wrong."
Wouldn't that be cool, something that destroys things you can just stop with words and not even need to fight. Somehow she doubts that'll be the case, but it could happen in theory. Probably.
As for the police dealing with Asena, they just sigh and shake their heads. Not making a move to stop the girl despite her obvious foolishness.
The large mercenary gets back up, glaring back at the Behemoth.. But he has a more important job right now. Since the demons were starting to back off, it wasn't worth chasing after them.
large merc: "Guess you heard it too uh? Fine, stay back if ya know what's good for ya."
With those parting words, the large mercenary heads through the entrance to the stands before leaping down into the ruined field below.
Asena returns to the eastern entrance, which seems entirely unchanged. Much like their first entry, the place is scattered with rubble concentrated in four piles conveniently large enough to use as cover, with the field's main entrance blocked off leaving a ramp to the second floor.
In addition, there are rounded hallways leading to the northern and southern section to Asena's right and left respectively.
Although the coast seems clear for now, Asena might remember this was the base of the trap-fond country girl.
Leonus lets out a sigh while shaking his head in response to Chie's question
Leonus: "Spirits are little more than destruction embodied. Even if you could reason with one, they'd simply start killing again the next time they showed up. There's only one way to handle them."
Like Chie before him, Leonus draws out his weapon once more, flicking his black cylinder's one button, bringing out a long, rapier-like blade made of pure white energy. After taking a deep breath, Leonus and Chie head to the midfield for the climactic showdown.
Behemoth gives the human a parting growl then limps away with Maru. Once they’re out of this stadium, the two pad over to Neesh and fuse back together. All that’s left is the smell of blood and Neesh’s human-like form.
Neesh frowns at the blood trail that Behemoth left. They should get away before that human’s friends give chase... just in case. Neesh slips away, finds a safe spot where the distant stadium is still in view, and waits.
Maybe they could fall asleep here. Yes, that sounds nice. Neesh shakes their head. They can’t do that yet. They’ll stay awake for a bit longer in case trouble follows them.
Asami gives off a large amount of energy as she burns through the concrete. Though she makes enough headway to see some of Chie's officers outside, there's no sign of the sleek-looking mercenary.
As Kayo looks to heal the Regal Girl, he would notice something strange. Despite being at the epicenter of the earlier burst, the girl has no physical wounds. Rather its like her spirit energy was destabilized, leaking out as a faint white mist with every breath they take.
Regal Girl: "Keep your guard up!"
The girl barks out a warning to Asami as another burst of blue energy streaks towards Asami from the southern stands, the very same weapon that had struck the Regal Girl earlier. If the warning is not enough for Asami to avoid it, she'd find her magic going haywire, turning against Asami and dealing more damage the more powerful the goddess is. Even after the initial burst Asami would find her magic harder to control, causing more pain the more she attempted to use it.
The culprit, of course, is the sleek-looking mercenary from earlier who almost seems to emerge from the stands herself as their armor stops reflecting the world around them. The merc remains perched atop the southern entrance to the stands.
The sleek looking mercenary shouts out with a calm, almost robotic-seeming voice.
Sleek Merc: "Adding an additional target to the objective. Calculating a third."
Country Girl: "Now there, don't go chasin' after too many squirrels, er ye'll end up catchin' none."
The sleek-looking mercenary is joined by a fairly short woman with a strong country accent emerging from the Eastern entrance to the stands. The woman wastes no time climbing down to the main field and drawing their own weapon, a simple black cylinder from which a three-pronged whip of white-colored energy emerges.
Finally, a large man bursts through the southern entryway before leaping down onto the main field. The bulky-looking mercenary is easily six feet, and upon landing strikes his two heavy gauntlets together, causing a spark to jump between them
Large Merc: "Looks like its show time then. I'll take the front."
Finally, Leonus and Chie emerge from the north, with Leonus taking charge once more, he brandishes his blade before moving his right side forward, facing the Regal-Looking Girl.
Leonus: "Thunderstrike all present and accounted for. Surrender now or be brought down by force."
Unsurprisingly, the regal-looking girl brings up her own massive broadsword, keeping an eye on all 7 other combatants, the four mercs plus Chie, Kayo, and Asami. Whatever condition the girl might be in.
She briefly turns to address Kayo and Asami.
Regal Girl: "This is what usually happens, flee now or you'll be caught up in this."
Though the girl puts up a tough front, it doesn't take an expert to notice her stance starting to crumble, the tip of her sword briefly drooping downward before the girl catches and corrects the mistake.
Asami nimbly dodges the blast, preparing to counterattack. Just as she concentrates her energy, she notices Chie running alongside Leonus. They must've struck some kind of deal, something that could afford to be complicated a little. Knowing this, she decides to reopen her old wound just enough to be believable that it was the result of the mercenary's attack, an ear-splitting scream that reverberates through the entire stadium coinciding with the impact of the energy streaks with the concrete.
Using this opportunity, Asami breaks into a full sprint away from the point of impact and towards Chie as a cascade of tears and snot stains her face. She would get close to Chie and allow her teary face to plunge forward towards Chie's chest, ensnaring Chie in an uncomfortable embrace that would allow them to observe firsthand that the girl indeed had a nasty wound which tore through her shirt, soaking both of the girls in blood. Although, with particularly efficient deductive skills more information may be able to be determined by looking at the blood stains.
"I-I... one of Leonus' allies... attacked me out of nowhere."
Her breath would begin to grow more heavy, slurring her speech and saving her the trouble of having to think of anything more convincing.
Kayo would begin focusing with his eyes causing them to begin glowing furiously. The light coming off of them was almost visible at this point.
"Did I give off the impression of someone who runs? I said I'd help you so I'm going to help you. Besides, it be pretty pathetic for someone in my profession to run away the moment things start going south.
Even if the odds are against me I'll force fate to bend to my will! Clairvoyance!"
Kayo would try and locate the sniper from before. Something would begin shimmering from behind the young man as the air would quickly split indicating that something shot out. A spectral form could be seen but being transparent it would be hard to see directly.
Something akin to a metal chain would aim for the sleek mercenary's hands, specifically trying to pinpoint a weapon.
"It doesn't matter how they try to hide, I'll spot them all out."
Dammit... This is becoming a mess of an entirely too large form, she was hoping the kids would be gone by now. But instead, she's now examining a wound that at a glance... it isn't quite right, but she did hear a shot not too long ago, so... Could have been something else, but she can ask.
"Ya know... I was willing to put up with quite a bit of rudeness, but shooting at stupid kids who weren't even attacking anyone is going a bit too far don't you think? Detective, what exactly is going on here besides our 'friends' firing at this girl. If that's what happened, I figure you'd have seen right?"
She'd offer Kayo a glance and nod, willing to listen to the boy and trust his word here. Though of course, spotting them may well be less needed than one might think... From rather far away, one of Chie's own men would stare towards the location of the sniper, absently looking through the scope of his own rifle and aiming straight at her head. He hasn't heard the signal to start firing quite yet, but he's ready.
She would then look over toward to the Spirit with a sigh.
"I'm aware of the damages you've caused, but that's not exactly reason to fight if it can be avoided. Hopefully we can all just think about what's going on here, and come to a resloution that doesn't involve a fight."
Somehow Chie doubts it can be peaceful though, and the moment a fight does get truly going will be the moment her officer's afar have to actually start trying to interfere, hopefully the new gear is worth a damn is all she can think.
(edited by Chie-Satonaka)
{Asena gets a bit saddened as her friend suddenly leaves the premises, making the place feel abandoned again.}
"Aw man, where did she goooo? Oh well, now I get the whooole place to myself, yay..."
{As the girl immediately forgets who she was talking about, the shadows clear away the rubble as she wanders aimlessly around the place. Coincidentally, she ends up trying to go up to the second floor ramp as she does so.}
"...how'd I enter feeling alright but leave feeling high..."
Leonus: "Our mission is to limit damage by minimizing the threat posed by supernaturals. If they would like to submit to such procedures themselves then no conflict is necessary. However, we cannot make an exception because they happen to look young."
As expected, Leonus's only response to the accusation is a simple, calculating one. For the sake of their mission, everyone's the same. Of course, that applied to Chie too, but they weren't really high enough to be on the radar yet.
Leonus: "This is your last chance to surrender and receive no harm. Otherwise, you've already felt Moonbeam firsthand."
The Regal Girl looks back at Chie, a cold indifference in their eyes as they remark
Regal Girl: "Your words are nothing more than empty platitudes. Begone from my sight."
with those words, the girl immediately shifts her stance, swinging her massive sword like a golf club to send a blade of purple energy that extends from the ground into the sky, cracking the earth as it passes along the ground towards Chie, the strongest opponent here, and Leonus, the obvious leader.
This puts Asami in the line of fire as well, but that was a small price to pay for the chance to end the fight then and there.
Of course, once the fight starts, the bulky mercenary isn't going to wait for orders. He breaks into a sprint, crossing the ground between him and the Regal Girl in seconds to throw an earth-shattering blow...
That ultimately sails harmlessly over the girl's head as she ducks close to the ground before ramming her shoulder into the man, sending him flying several feet away despite him having an obvious size advantage. All the while the country girl stands there frozen for a few seconds.
Kayo doesn't find anything where the sniper was initially, and that's what gives it away. Rather than the normal ambient spirit energies he could expect from inanimate objects, there's a suspiciously human-sized void as if purposefully blocking out any attempts at detection.
But of course, no evidence is evidence itself, in a way. While he might not be able to make out precise details, Kayo can most certainly aim for the mercenaries arms, his chain quickly wrapping around the side of their long-barreled sniper rifle.
At this point the lean mercenary gives up the cloaking, making them fully visible once more.
Asena walks through the eastern part, her shadow clearing out any traps ahead of time now. Unsurprisingly, they find another simple trap about halfway across the room, a near-invisible tripwire connected to a heavy net that harmlessly drops a few feet in front of Asena. Another which simply aimed to cause whoever was unfortunate enough to walk into it to trip... All made with entirely ordinary materials.
But of course none of this would stop Asena, who walks out of the Eastern stands, far away from Chie, Leonus, and Asami in the north, as well as the Large Merc and Sleek Merc at the south. And on the opposite side of the stadium from Kayo, with the Regal Girl holding her ground near the stadium's center.
Asami would quickly turn to the Regal Girl and dry her tears as she notices them attacking, releasing Chie and stepping to the side out of the range of the attack in an instant. After all, Asami could easily heal an ordinary mortal no matter how wounded, so long as they still draw breath.
Being out of harm's way, Asami would wait for the attack to pass to express her fatigue.
"Heh, I nearly forgot what I was doing. Jeez, it's late."
She moves to confront Leonus, standing just a few feet in front of him and disregarding her wounds and operating as if they never even happened.
"So, your mission is to force children to submit to unknown procedures? As if any law-abiding citizen would ever condone such blatant pedophilia!"
Asami swings her staff forward, creating a large sphere of blinding sunlight. It moves quickly towards Leonus and has a minor tracking aspect that could adjust its momentum for moderate changes in his position, so long as he was still in the same general direction. Should it come close to contact of any object, it would have a minor burst that singes everything in its radius with burning solar energy before it dissipates.
"...tee-hee!~ I've forgotten where I am, hooraaaaayyyy~"
{Asena says as she passes around the net, letting her shadow pick it up and move it out the way with ease. The girl herself still seems to be spatially unaware of the surroundings that she had caught herself up in, thinking to herself instead of looking where she's walking.}
"Might as well go all the way now~"
{Despite knowing nothing about where she's going, the girl steels herself for a trip, perpetuating her walk cycle towards this direction.}
Kayo could hear a voice from something unseen. It seemed to let me him know where the metallic chain like limb had ended up. He'd gesture for the chain to be pulled back, trying to rip it away from his target before looking back to Chie.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. I did see her get shot at but these weapons seem designed to disrupt spiritual energy. Pretty nasty process though if you ask me, I could see weapons like that being used to help humanity as a whole but instead their being aimed at people instead.
Despite the evidence around here, I'm fairly certain the damage in this area wasn't that girl's intent but I don't think a group of hired guns cares much about intent. You're free to do as you want Ms. Captain but I personally am not gonna stand around why a girl simply trying to survive is attacked simply for existing."
Above in the city's buildings, the sound of a rifle going off would be heard. To be exact a massive sniper rifle capable of bursting through a tank's toughest armor would be fired, its bullet having hit the target before anyone could even hear.
The weapon was aimed at the merc's own sniper who'd given up cloaking, directly for their brain in fact so unless it somehow missed there's a good chance that one would be out of the fight now.
It also has some interesting side effects of an ability to tear through magical barriers and turn a foe's energy against them to an extent, but that probably doesn't matter much here. It's also far from absolute given the thing is quite an experiment.
As for Chie, she'd dodge with lightling reflex, the attack just barely scraping past her as she evades to the left and turns around to face the gathered mercs with a heavy frown.
C: "At the end of the day, I do in fact care about intent. And I'm not willing to take the word of a band of bigots who'd attack a child for annoying them, I expected a raging beast or a demon, not some person who's willing to be peaceful if left alone. I'd offer you a chance to give up, but I know you won't."
She can only hope her own sniper actually managed to kill their support off himself, by now the sound of his weapon going off would be clear to everyone there but that's likely not the biggest issue of Leonus and co.
That award probably goes to the magical attack she's been charging literally the entire time she's been speaking to him. Stopping during the fight just seemed like a waste to her, and so the wave of energy that radiates out from the now manifested Haraedo-no-Okami would be massive.
To be exact, this spell is a rather charged up version of Mabufudyne, rather than sending physical ice flying at the victims the mercs would find the area they're standing in suddenly spiking down in temperature wildly.
Easily becoming cold enough to start freezing the air itself and cause a massive shock to their bodies, all without any physical manifestation to block or avoid.
In addition to that, the group would find themselves beset upon by a barrage of a few bullets aimed towards each of them from her service weapon.
In short, she's aiming to avoid providing them anything to actually apply their anti magic tech on at all.
C: "These people have gear that can mess up magic badly, but they need something to hit it with to use it, so don't give them a chance!"
Leonus: "Oh wow, not even a warning. This is what I hate about you supernaturals."
Just as planned, Chie's sniper blasts straight through the sleek mercenary's head with a loud shattering sound. Rather than the gruesome gorefest our friend would have liked to submit you to, the missing helmet reveals a sparking mess of machinery and oil.
Leonus: "You act like you're not accountable for your actions. Luckily Moonbeam's the only one here who can be repaired. Or you would have killed a law-abiding citizen without any sort of warning."
as he speaks, Leonus jumps away from the Spirit's blast himself, using it as a way to divide him from Chie and Asami. And the slash doesn't simply stop. It crashes through the northern stadium, cleaving through concrete as if it weren't even there...
Only to be stopped seconds before it would have crashed into the police cars up front, striking some invisible barrier with a flash as its energy is absorbed, and redistributed to reinforce the shield.
Leonus: "All for the sake of some monster who happens to be cute."
Leonus makes no effort to dodge Asami's attack, instead meeting it with his blade, where Asami's sphere begins to burst.... Only to retract and be absorbed into Leonus's weapon, which now glows with a faint golden hue.
But of course, with no physical form, Chie's attack is relying solely on energy. The kind of energy their gear is designed to adapt to and fight. Combine the Thunderstrike's armor being specialized to handle this with the burst of heat that Asami had just attempted, and the attack is completely ineffective against Leonus.
Leonus: "Lyra, focus on subduing the primary target."
The country-sounding mercenary, who had previously been standing still in the western quadrant of the battlefield, is snapped out of her stupor by the impact of bullets against her armor, which causes the girl to stumble away for a moment as Leonus calls to her
Lyra: "M.. Me?"
Leonus: "Thunder's crack is most effective against an opponent whose weapons and armor are made of energy. That's you."
They seem unsure, but since orders are still orders, Lyra runs forward to engage the Regal-Looking girl, whose attention is taken off of the others to deal with the immediate threat.
Leonus: "Llewyn, circle around and deal with the psychic before supporting me."
The large mercenary, "Llewyn" doesn't waste any time before standing back up and charging straight at Kayo. It would only take him a few seconds to cross the gap between them before aiming a shattering blow straight at the young man's chest.
With his orders given, Leonus is free to glare at Chie and Asami. These were his only two opponents, so long as the others could complete their tasks there wouldn't be a problem.
Leonus: "Electricity is meant to stun and subdue. As such I've only ever killed once before."
With all attacks dealt with, Leonus takes a deep breath, bringing his sword closer to his chest as he takes a stance akin to that of a fencer.
Leonus: "But you're making a strong case for a second."
With this proclamation, Leonus thrusts his now burning sword directly at Chie's chest, making one stab before moving onto the next in a flurry that rivals the storm itself.
As for Asena. They elect to continue wandering the stadium. They hear a loud crashing coming from the north as much of the structure collapses.... Which rules out one direction at least.
So instead Asena wanders southward along a curved hallway while the sounds of battle rage on outside. Soon they come across an open area much like the one they just left, but in much better condition as there is no rubble... Yet.
Instead, they would notice a few ticket booths lined up together near the entryway to the main battlefield. The one closest to the center field has a hole smashed through it, with bits of concrete scattering the floor that offers a view inside.
The police officer would just chuckle a bit while looking over at the merc leader, absently listening to something on her coms as she sighs heavily. Should have expected the energy attack to fail, but at least she knows for sure they did try to fire at the kid now.
C: "So... I'm supposed to treat someone armed with a dangerous firearm, that was firing on civilans, like a law abiding citizen? If your friend had been human I'm afraid to say we'd still have been justified in killing him. And of course, you're always free to submit to arrest at any time. "
Llewyn would find his attempts at going for Kayo to be getting a bit of hit, two more shots of the massive anti-tank/anti-magic rifle would burst through the air directly towards his center of mass. It's an amazingly powerful weapon, which of course means the recoil slows down how quickly it can be fired giving just barely enough time for two shots even from a mastermarksmen.
C: "Obviously though, you're resisting arrest at the moment. And are a heavily armed military unit, so I'm going to treat you with the force that you warrant. And if you somehow manage to kill me, good job, you'll be one of the most beloved people in the country. Police love cop killers right?"
It's as Leonus rushes forward to begin attacking Chie the man would find himself being attacked from behind, several other officers carrying large caliber assault rifles having joined the fray and aiming to fill his chest with a variety of new holes as their Capatin dances backwards and even manages to avoid any bullets that fly wide of her people's target.
Fire is of course extra deadly to the woman, at the same time however her magic is also rather attuned to the presence of such things. If he'd come at her with a purely physical rush like this evading it all would have been impossible.
but as is the enhanced speed and agility flowing through her from the presence of such an element aimed towards her allows the officer to evade it all with deft twists of her body.
And her Persona would begin its next attack as Chie herself tries to send a few bullets right into the man's face without a second thought. Her soul's manifestion doesn't bother with any fancy tricks any longer.
Instead merely unleashing a massive kick that would send waves of sheer pressure errupting outward not from magical power.
But physical force so strong it acts not unlike an explosive blast coming from right in front of Chie and aiming to send the man rocketing backward towards her officers.
Kayo wouldn't really have much an answer for a direct attack like that. It was somewhat out of his field of expertise to deal with an opponent from such a close range.
He'd hope that at very least the round being fired into the man would slow him down if not killing them. In that time he'd try to back away but if he were still struck then at very least his strange clothes would be enhanced in some way to absorb a small amount of damage.
"I don't really want to kill anyone but even I'm feeling a bit cornered here."
The spiritual energy in Kayo's eyes would slowly begin spiking upwards, the light coming off of them growing brighter. He didn't plan to act yet but instead simply chose to infuse himself with greater power.
Asami stays her hand, nodding as Leonus gives out his orders.
"What is with mercenaries? It seems as if all they want to do is tell you about their plans and how all their abilities work..."
Noticing Llewyn coming hard and fast at Kayo, Asami steps back from Leonus, zipping over to Kayo's side.
"Llewyn, is it? Please forgive me if this hurts you..."
As she talked, Asami generated a dense and hard arc of light extending 60 degrees to her right and left. This made it an ineffective barrier, one that could easily be maneuvered around. Rather, the arc shot out at Llewyn, dealing no physical damage and yet still giving off the forceful push of a powerful strike. Being a solid wall, there'd be little Llewyn could do to stop this. Of course, the energy absorption his people are known for may infantilize it entirely. However, the light had that effect as well and may short out the very weapon one would use to stop it, as well as causing any other object with high kinetic energy to lose power.
Once the force of the light pushes Llewyn against any hard surface, it would stop pushing and pass through him, causing the only damage to come from the impact of that hard surface.
{As Asena is stopped from going through the north by some rubble, she immediately turns aroung with a smile, going southward. She skips down the curved hallway, her ears catching the sounds of battle but not knowing it was really that, a battle. Instead she laughs to herself when she sees all the ticket booths by their lonesome, and was even more happy this route wasn't covered by debris.}
"Hi, I'd like to buy some tickets here please!~"
{The girl says to absolutely no one, standing on the other side as if some receptionist was keeping track of her words on the other side. However the ticket booth that she had choosen to assign as one where she talks to air was the one closest to the center of the field.}
{She marvels at this occasion, peeking at the view with her one eye and seeing all the concrete that was on the floor. Afterwards, she glanced behind her and nodded, giving the approval and letting her own shadow be the one that does the scouting in this exciting newfound area that she has all to herself.}
Asena heads over to the empty ticket booth, and begins talking. She receives no words in response, but instead begins to hear a faint humming sound coming from the back of the booth. Her shadow looks inside and, in their search for the source, the shadow finds a small cabinet hiding in the shadow of the walls. A cabinet from which the humming can clearly be heard.
Two shots ring out, striking into the invisible barrier that had leapt upwards earlier. The bullets are paused in place for a moment as their kinetic energy is siphoned, put towards strengthening the device, and their special bullets ultimately clamor uselessly to the ground.
Chie's support finds similar difficulties, with any effort to push through or blast the barrier resulting in nothing more than strengthening their prison. After all, it wouldn't do for the spirit to escape that easily.
Leonus: "I thought Persona-users were supposed to have some self-awareness."
Leonus doesn't have to worry about reinforcements of course, which gives the man opportunity to slice through most of Chie's bullets as they're fired, receiving only two strikes to the chest. These blows cause him pause, but they fail to pierce the man's armor, just as her words fail to reach his ears.
Leonus: "Instead you conveniently twist whatever you want to justify your own selfishness. Hiding your desire under a thin veneer of chivalry. You call the child a soldier when you need to excuse their presence, and a civilian as soon as it gives you reason to attack."
The man's blade comes up in a flash to intercept the persona's strike. While ordinarily one would be expected to clash, unfortunately a Persona is still a manifestation of spirit. Magic, if you will, and thus vulnerable. Leonus's strike pierces the persona's leg, sending a surge of his blade's firey passion through the apparition and into Chie herself.
Leonus: "I could never lose to such a despicable person."
As before, with the sniper's bullets blocked, there was little to stop Llewyn's charge, at least at first. Sunna comes in front of Kayo, which prompts the large man to laugh
Llewyn: "Heh, out of the way kid. There's nothing you could..."
[i]Llewyn doesn't get any further before Asami slams him with a barrier of energy. The man digs into the ground, getting pushed back several feet before he is finally able to crack it, reaching his right arm through the barrier to shatter it with a frustrated grunt.
Llewyn: "Alright, fine. You volunteered for this."
The man cracks his knuckles before making another charge, bending lower to the ground before rushing towards Asami, seeking to crash into the kid like a football player.
Finally, in the western quadrant we have the Regal Girl and Lyra's showdown.
Lyra, the thin mercenary with a country accent, takes a deep breath before running to approach the Regal Girl.
Of course, the Girl wouldn't stand there. Just as with all challengers beforehand, she begins by slashing the air, once, twice, sending waves of force in a cross-shaped pattern at her challenger.
The country girl slides beneath the first wave, which continues onwards until it demolishes the Western part of the stands, continuing until it strikes the barrier surrounding the stadium. A barrier which limits the ongoing destruction to this stadium.
As for the second, the Lyra's whip lashes forward to intercept, tightening around the Spirit's energy and consuming it....
Before sending a tendril along the same path the Regal Girl's magic had taken, bypassing the girl's armor to strike into her very core.
Regal Girl: "Ghh.. What kind of trickery is this?"
Lyra, on the other hand, is just shocked to find it actually worked. Her resolve bolstered by this initial success, she makes another lash at the Regal Girl, who now knows to dance around Lyra's whip. Its difficult to approach, but she can at least minimize damage for now.
(edited by FemNexus)
"As long as things are taken care of over here...I'm gonna try and end this conflict as fast as I can. I just hope this idea actually works."
With that said to Asami, Kayo would begin moving towards the regal girl. he was unsure of how easy it would be to approach her neither could he really attack while moving as close as he could. Still, he thought it best to at least give her a better edge in her fight.
Energy would transfer from Kayo's eyes to his hands as he pointed one hand directly towards the regal girl. Energy would begin swirling through the air around her, energy that comes directly from the mind and thus she'd find that her weapon was now shrouded in illusions, making it much harder to see or predict for anyone she was attacking.
"Hopefully, that will level the playing field until I can get there..."
Asami would draw the staff she had slung around her back or something, performing a sweeping attack across Llewyn's feet as he charged at her, causing him to fall back. Of course, provided the staff's moderate range and Asami's own speed, in the case that he just isn't moved by the force of the attack, she may just as well be able to bear the force of his own attack.
"You say that like I planned on getting hit. I don't even like fighting. Can't say I see myself making a career out of it, either. Speaking of which, what made you want to do this, of all jobs?"
{Asena herself would try to take a closer peek at what her shadow is finding, though ultimately she still finds nothing. Due to being alone, she still chirps out a joyful comment of her own once the humming reaches her own ears. As she does so, she smiles and charges up her fists and puts her ear behind the wall.}
"Ooo, that sounds real inviting!..."
{The shadow itself would look around everywhere but the cabinet, only picking up on it's existence once Asena's comment is heard. The shadow would lurk towards the cabinet, taking another quick peek as it tries to open it without force, letting it's paper mask put on the most friendliest pencil stroke of a smiley face it can muster.}
The Persona user would laugh slightly, she is if anything amused by Leonus's statements.
"Ah right, forgive me. If we're calling her a solider... What is that, an attack on someone under my protection and vaguely command? I should let that slide for what reason, exactly?"
It's unlucky for Leonus that the woman's reactions are still on point, his blade doesn't get the chance to smash into her Persona. it does threaten her into stopping the attack, but Chie's spirit would vanish just before it can happen.
"I'm kinda curious what drives a man to this myself, admittedly. What exactly causes one to become a gun for hire, and still act like they're somehow here to protect people?"
Being without her Persona for a moment is an issue, but the woman is still rather good at dodging. And still perfectly capable of keeping up her barage of gunfire on the man as well.
Llewyn charges on a little past Asami, the girl making a quick attempt to knock him off balance. While the man begins to fall, he catches himself easily, using his arms to pivot around and face Asami again
Llewyn: "Look, I'm a guy whose most notable traits are being big and strong. I didn't really have many other options. I was looking at a life time of either construction work, or maybe wrestling."
Llewyn lets out a sigh, that of a man who'd explained himself far too often.
Llewyn: "And all that fake brawling feels kinda empty when some kid can just blast fire from their wrists.
Honestly, I owe Lightning a lot. He's the one who gave me direction."
With that, Llewyn bursts forth, aiming to overwhelm Asami with a simple size advantage. This time stopping a short distance in front of her to aim a punch downward at the girl's slight frame
Llewyn:"Somewhere I can really make an impact. Metaphorically of course."
For the time being, it seemed Leonus and Chie were at a stalemate, with neither opponent capable of making a meaningful strike. For better or for worse.
Leonus scoffs, focusing on the defensive while he simply waits for Chie to need to reload
Leonus: "I am saving people. Far more than the police, who range from incompetent to malicious. How could anyone rely on you, who'd make a vow only to break it moments later, to protect them?"
Leonus takes a deep breath as a stray shot catches him on the chest before continuing
Leonus: "Our employer is far more trustworthy. Just look at what they've made."
Leonus briefly glances to the stadium, that was now lying almost entirely in ruins with the other officers safe a short distance outside it
Leonus: "If we hadn't set up a barrier ahead of time there would already be dozens of casualties."
Lyra and the Regal Girl continue their own stalemate for a moment, only for the Regal Girl's weapon to seemingly vanish. Of course, the Girl can still feel Sandalphon in her hands, but Lyra is caught by surprise. It only takes a moment's hesitation for the Regal Girl to slip between two tendrils of Lyra's weapon and get close enough to strike.
Though she can't see Sandalphon's range anymore, the Regal Girl's approach alone is enough to force Lyra to backpedal, resulting in Sandalphon's blade narrowly missing the girl's armor. Instead the sheer force of the Regal Girl's strike is enough to upset the nervous mercenary's balance, forcing them to fall onto their back and scramble to get a few more feet of distance.
Meanwhile, the Regal Girl steps away to meet Kayo, keeping an eye out around the pair as if expecting danger to appear at any moment. The girl is silent for a second, deep in thought. Before simply saying.
Regal Girl: "Thank you... For not leaving me."
Finally, we come back to Asena, after ransacking the rest of the ticket booth, which had long since been clean, their shadow makes to slowly open the one occupied cabinet. There's a small, static spark that leaps into the shadow as the door is opened, revealing a sleek, black ball with a flat base that acts as the source of the humming. The ball has a few small slits that act as vents and allow a briefl glimpse at the colorful energy filling the device. However, a simple attempt to touch it would find the shadow repelled by a weak static barrier. One generated passively that acts as a much weaker version of the dome currently entrapping the group
Reloading her gun... That would make sense, but it's obvious that's what the man is waiting for as a chance to strike too.
"Heh... So that's how you see it, huh? Believe it or not you guys aren't the only ones with methods of keeping casualties down. But fair enough, you don't trust me and that's fine. I tend to get annoyed by people shooting at others who present no threat at the time too, in the end I don't think we'll ever agree."
Rather than reload the woman would in fact toss her gun towards the merc with impressive force, it isn't really designed for throwing but she manages to make it work well enough that if it impacted his face it'd do enough to at least distract. Plus it's just a confusing move in general.
Her Persona would also reappear, this time a solid set of chains made from ice appears and aims to wrap around the man's sword arm. Constricting him tightly if it landed, there's still a bit of magic there of course but in its solidfied form the weapon would likely have more trouble working. If he manages to respond given it's in the same moment as that gun throw.
"I'd do more than not leave you. If you trust me I think I can help you get out of here. These people seem to have a grudge against that which they don't consider 'normal' but I can open the way to somewhere 'normal' people can't go."
Kayo would concentrate for a moment, in truth it wasn't exactly an easy thing to open a path. The amount of spiritual energy just to open something the size of a room would be enough to take a lot out of him itself.
Yet he'd still attempt it. A rift of space and time that would begin expanding, of course he couldn't force anyone inside, especially someone much more powerful than himself. He wasn't a god or even a Mononoke, afterall.
"I can't even force you if I wanted to so the choice is yours but I'd rather end this pointless assault of theirs now."
{The shadow tries to catch the ball before it goes through them, but ultimately failing and letting it slip. It looks down before putting it's head through it's torso, their head clipping through his back to look behind him and at the ball which seems to possess color outside it's black exterior. At the same time, it also finds that the ticket booth gets busted up even more due to Asena herself.}
"Hey'oooo, what'cha find?"
{Her shadow's surprised face changes to a simple frown, but Asena herself doesn't realize why until she starts to look at who was hiding in the cabinets. She also tries to touch the thing but is repelled back by it's passive barrier, making her pull her finger back.}
"Hmm, are you doing that on accident?"
{The girl says, tilting her head and smiling at it as if it could actually respond.}
"Ah, I hadn't even considered that!"
Asami holds her staff up with both hands in an attempt to make Llewyn's fist contact with the middle of it. While Llewyn was most likely as strong as a human could get and beat Asami in weight alone, Asami's physical abilities were only relatively low when compared to what's normal for supernatural beings, at the very least allowing her to not be knocked against the wall like in a cool anime fight.
"I guess I do kinda take my own power for granted. I'll never have to work as hard as humans no matter what I do."
While still keeping up her guard, Asami looked pensively to the side, preparing to keep Llewyn engaged in combat for as long as she can without unleashing a strong offensive.
Leonus brings up his sword to slice cleanly through Chie's gun. A small surprise, and a small price to pay to open Leonus's guard for a split second. As Chie's chains approach, Leonus only has enough time to flick his wrist, tossing his weapon over to his left hand just as the ice converges around his right arm, Tightening around his arm in an instant.
But an instant is all it lasts, as Leonus's strikes are every bit as swift and strong with his left as with his right. With his blade still alight, it is a simple matter for him to strike through the chains, taking even the slightest hint of Chie's magic as permission to surge through their opponent
Leonus: "Clever, I'll admit. Unfortunately for you I'm not right-handed."
With his right arm injured, Leonus is forced to shift his stance, now leading with his left rather than his right. Just like in the two's brawl earlier.
Leonus: "I suppose we're simply from two different worlds. The warrior's words are the only manner of speaking left to us."
Asami faces Llewyn like a man, an unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome turn of events. While the girl is superhuman, her lightweight frame and youth make her unable to stop the man entirely.
Llewyn charges into Asami's staff, pushing the girl backwards a few feet, before making a swift jab at the girl's stomach with his left, putting an end to their brief clash.
The massive man stands up, towering well over Asami as he crosses his arms to emphasize his massive frame, giving the girl plenty of time to recover.
Llewyn: "Man that was bold. Stupid, but bold. Maybe when you're older you should consider mercenary work. Having any powers at all puts you ahead of the pack, and you can find real loyalty there."
The Regal Girl watches Kayo for a few seconds... Before affirming with a nod.
Regal Girl: "Alright... I'll trust you. I just hope this works.."
The girl closes her eyes as the Spirit Barrier forms around them. It only takes a moment for the sounds of battle to fade away, leaving them in a sort of calm, mirror of the ruined stadium, indistinguishable save for the white crack that filled the sky.
With only the two of them. They would have some time before the battle outside was over. At least.
On the outside, Lyra stares where the Regal Girl and Kayo had been.
Lyra: "T.. They shouldn'ta. I thought this thing kept them from disappearing?"
Still, the rest of the fight was going on. She couldn't perceive Kayo's barrier, so there was no way of knowing where they were. If they really did vanish... Then it would be wise to prepare for a retreat. So the girl breaks off from the center and runs south to pick up what remained of Moonbeam.
The orb doesn't respond to Asena in any way, though their inhibited thoughts might imagine something. It simply remains sitting on the floor, humming incessantly. Occasionally the light inside of it pulses, but otherwise the device makes no change.
Asami gets knocked to the ground, wincing in pain as the strike connects with where she was already hit earlier, making it hurt worse.
"Guh!"
After being knocked back, Asami briefly witnesses the spirit and psychic seemingly disappear. Watching the other mercenary prepare to retreat, Asami relaxes, putting her staff back in its resting position.
"The spirit is no longer here. There's no reason to continue fighting."
Still maintaining some small measure of concern, Asami watches for how Llewyn responds while she takes a look as to see whether any sunlight would have arrived yet, or for any other source of light.
{The shadow looks at the ball with a blank expression, not knowing of what to do. However it does know what Asena is about to do as she herself is in a thinking pose, nodding her head attentively to whatever her mind had imagined the ball said to her. She looks at the ball with another smile.}
“That’s really interesting...I shall assume you have a very tragic backstory and take you home so you can play with the dog...that’s how it works, right? Pulse once for yes, twice for no.”
{She says as she flicks one hand that was charging light energy, sending it straight at the orb to see if it could absorb any light from outside sources. And if it could take magic attacks. And to see if it could listen. But mostly to see if this helps her case at all.}
The magic... Would die as soon as it appeared, but the ice doesn't. Once an object is created it doesn't simply vanish because the power that formed it has stopped flowing through, if the man's blade came into contact with her chains it would be able to burn through them of course but nothing would happen to his foe.
The issue with assuming one's enemy will always have their power flowing through things might however take him by shock for a moment, hopefully long enough for the woman to quickly draw out her backup weapon. Another large caliber pistol that would blast towards his face without warning as she responds in a slightly impressed tone.
"Not wrong, and yeah I figured that. Had to try something though. I'm sure it'll come to an end at some point soon enough."
Kayo would feel his strength begin to weigh as he's brought to his knees.
"Sorry, I need a moment. Opening a barrier after exerting myself is a bit taxing. At very least I expect they'll retreat as soon as they realize their objective has disappeared.
I'm sorry I can only offer this temporary solution right now but I'm not giving up yet."
After a moment of realization he realized he hadn't explained much yet.
"Oh right, I haven't explained where we are. This is...I guess it's like a recreation of the stadium we were in. However, this place exists outside time and space. Time barely moves here unless it's allowed to leak in and any distance you move here would appear instant to anyone you exited the barrier in front of.
Most importantly is those without high spirit energy and senses wouldn't even be able to detect anything out of the ordinary. In other words this is a safe space at the moment."
Well, there had been stadium lights for Asami this late at night. At least until 3/4ths of the stadium was destroyed. Now there's little left but ambient lights from the surrounding city that blot out the stars, and the half-moon risen high into the sky.
Llewyn looks towards the middle of the stadium, now seeing that the Spirit had vanished and Lyra was taking the chance to grab their comrade. The man mutters a curse before stepping around Asami and towards the northern quarter of the stadium, closer to where Leonus and Chie were fighting
Llewyn: "Looks like the target's lost. Orders?"
Leonus takes a step back, striking through the oncoming bullets as before. He shakes his head, deciding to ignore Llewyn for now to focus on his fight. Not really caring about the mission anymore.
Leonus: "I can keep going for as long as needed. For on my honor this blade w..."
The young man is cut off by a voice coming from the communications within his helmet. The voice sounds tired and irritated, like that of someone who'd been stuck babysitting for the last three days. Yet they don't seem any older than Leonus himself
???: "You're starting to repeat yourself. Just withdraw for now. You've neither the time nor the equipment to chase the spirit at this point. So its better to cut our losses."
Leonus lets out an irritated sigh, but he can't actually deny any of his superior's points. So for now the young man moves southward to meet up with Llewyn and Lyra, the latter of whom is now carrying the sleek-looking sniper's body.
Once the three meet up, Leonus gives a brief, mocking salute before remarking
Leonus: "Consider yourselves lucky for now. But Anemone is not a forgetful flower."
With that cryptic, meaningless phrase, the barrier surrounding the stadium simply turns itself off, giving the four mercenaries the opportunity to simply disappear, a blue light glowing around them before they warp away from the stadium.
In Kayo's barrier, the Regal-Looking girl takes a deep breath before looking at the empty stadium in awe. It was a lot prettier now that she could look at it without having to imagine a dozen assassins lurking around every corner. It takes her a moment to even hear Kayo's explanation. Seeing his exhausted state, the girl makes sure to stand close to him. Nothing else should be in here, but that was no reason to let her guard down.
Regal Girl: "I'll make sure you're safe. But... Umu... If time doesn't pass in here, won't those Wizards still be there when we get back? "
For now Kayo and the girl had a moment of peace, probably the best chance he was going to get to ask the Regal-looking girl any questions about the incident.
At first Asena's weak pulse of light seems to react with the ball's small barrier, dispersing throughout it before getting absorbed into the main generator itself. However, almost like a code, the ball stops glowing and humming a few seconds later. Turning itself off after receiving some invisible signal. And giving the girl the chance to do whatever they want to with it.
Asami would walk a relatively safe distance behind Llewyn, listening to their plan of action. She sighs as they leave, tilting her head as she looks at Chie.
"Anemone? Last time, when that mall was destroyed by a spirit, I heard the businesses were able to recover because of financial support from them. I suggest you keep track of any money going into repairing this stadium, if you want to know more about them."
With that said, Asami turns right back around, gazing past all obstructions in a bid to see where Kayo and the Regal Girl went. Of course, it's most likely she looks past them entirely, so it takes her a minute to focus on specific areas near the stadium.
{Her eyes flashed at the pretty reaction the ball makes as she gives it more light to work with. It was during this that she doesn't even realize that some outside source probably turned the thing off.}
"A pulse and a half? I bet I'm close!"
{The girl says, more likely speaking to herself rather than anything. As the shadow tries to lightly tap the ball, they find that whatever barrier it had beforehand was no more. Asena herself picks up the thing like it were a toy, looking close at it.}
"Well, I'd love to learn more. I've decided, I'm gonna take you home now. She's so going to love this, lol~"
One thing the mercs would find, even if their teleporting were somehow able to get the robot's body back it's... Being interfereted with somehow, and his frame is long gone from the scene. There's no getting back their friend now, and Chie's people will be digging through its info for whatever little the machine is worth after being blown apart.
As for the woman herself, she'd simply nod to Asami and sigh slightly.
"Anemone huh... Thanks for the tip kid, I'd really suggest staying out of this stuff from now on. In fact I might need to stay out too, these guys tech is... Annoying, maybe I've got a contact who can handle it easier than us though, or a few."
She just leans back against a wall at this point, absently pondering things. Clearly these folks will require a different touch to bring in or kill, and Chie isn't unwilling to let someone else take over. She's just gotta figure out who. But for now she simply sighs while starting to head out and listening to Asami's reply.
Asami narrows her eyes as she drops focus from searching for the spirit and Kayo to respond to Chie.
"Guh... but, if I don't put my power to good use, I won't learn how to use it better. I mean, if not this, what else can I do? I'd appreciate it if you could tell me some ways to be helpful!"
She sighs with a distraught feeling
"I can let time leak in here enough but it's kind of like a balancing act. We could also try to walk away from the stadium. Either way, its almost a little ironic that the fact that, that group isn't supernatural is what's keeping them out."
He almost seemed to be cracking a joke of some kind but even Kayo could do more than smile a bit at that. He'd look back towards the girl, realizing that he never really bothered asking her any questions.
"Oh, I guess I never bothered asking your name. Guess things have been pretty hectic though."
The orb doesn't react to Asena's presence, clearly uninterested in doing anything more at the moment. This effectively leaves them free to explore wherever they want, though most of the stadium's been destroyed by now leaving only the center field with the others, and the southern section Asena's currently in.
The Regal-looking girl takes a deep breath, letting her guard down for the moment, though she gives Kayo a curious look. After a few seconds she awkwardly shakes her head.
Regal Girl: "Umu... I can't remember. As far as I know no one's ever given me a name..."
The Regal Girl looks around at the now empty city. She didn't really want to go back to the Wizards, but she didn't really know anything about the place either.
Regal Girl: "Its probably better to wait until they leave. If we go out I'll just get attacked again.
There's nowhere for me to go."
"Nowhere for you tog go, huh? And you don't even remember if you have a name. Could you maybe tell me about where you're from...
Well, not to be too pushy or anything. If you don't remember that either that's fine. I just thought it might be easier to help you if I knew more about you."
It was clear he wasn't exactly used to asking questions like this. His tone got a little stiff and he was unintentionally looking away while he asked his questions.
"Umu... I'm sorry.. Its not that I don't want to answer."
The girl quickly apologizes again, looking down towards the ground while slowly shaking her head
"Its like... Every time I go back there its like I fall asleep. And whenever I come here someone attacks me.
It's almost...."
The Regal-looking girl pauses again, staring up at the moonlight as she thinks, not of what to say but how to say it.
"Its like something keeps dragging me over here. I... Can't tell what it is, but I know its my enemy."
"I'll probs think of a name for you when I get high again tonight, lmao."
{Asena decides to backtrace her steps, literally walking backwards to how she first got here in hopes that she gets towards her end goal, or rather something that helps her end goal. People in the center field who are nice enough to give directions to home.}
"A place you always fall asleep...? No offense, that doesn't sound like the most fun way to live but maybe that's just the humanity in me.
So, then it sounds like if we get rid of this enemy then people would no longer have any reason to attack you."
Kayo having rested enough would get back up. He'd smile at the girl before continuing.
"Probably not the easiest of tasks but I am a psychic by trade. I'll figure this out.
Is there a way we can keep you from going back until then? That's the only temporary solution I can really think of until we get rid of whatever's dragging you here. I'll make sure you don't get attacked until then too...If that's alright with you"
Regal Girl: "I.. Its not like I'm trying to sleep! All these things just happen to me....."
The girl crosses her arms with a huff. Its not really an ideal situation but there really didn't seem to be much she could do. They're not very smart, but after a few seconds of thought she has her replies.
Regal Girl: "Umu.. I guess that makes sense. At least I would feel better knowing what it is.
And um... I don't really control when I come and go, but.. Umu.."
The girl pauses momentarily, holding one hand close to her chest before breathing out a sigh
Regal Girl: "I'll find you as soon as I get back. I.. If that's ok?"
unfortunately for Asena the direction they had come from, the East, was largely demolished in all the fighting at center field, that leaves them with either the center, where they can meet up with Chie and Sunna, or outside where some of Chie's nice officers might give them directions.
(edited by FemNexus)
{Completely forgetting that this even happened in the first place, Asena thinks back to how she was treated outside. And didn't find it much fun to talk to the officers, at least with the ones that she had found first. Therefore, she walks towards the center with her black orb in hand to see what's up.}
Kayo would smile even if he seemed a little disappointed.
"I suppose that's all that can be done right now then. It's a promise then. Even if you're attacked right away if you come find me I'll do what I can."
A small hole would form in mid-air as another barrier much smaller than the one they were in would intersect with the current one, allowing time to leak in and normalize itself.
"I think they might be gone for now. Seems like they gave up since we seemed to disappear."
The girl's eyes seem to brighten up a little as she begins to smile.
Regal Girl: "Its a date then. I look forward to seeing you again!"
as soon as time has normalized and Kayo drops the barrier completely, the Regal Girl would simply vanish, as if tossed elsewhere by the barrier's collapse. Home, of course. For her anyways.
But that would leave Kayo alone, back where he left from in the center of the stadium among Chie, Sunna, and Asena, who had just wandered into the area. It would be up to these four to determine how they would move forward. Once the group have talked things out, credits will roll.
After the girl vanished Kayo would be left flustered for a moment.
"D-date? What did she mean by date?"
He'd take a moment to calm himself after that, trying to convince himself that it must have just been a figure of speech or something along those lines.
"I just need to relax...
It probably didn't mean anything and even if it did...It's no big deal right?"
Despite trying to convince himself he still would seem plenty anxious now. Of course being back in the presence of the others he had to return to his eccentric psychic façade.
"I see you all survived that encounter with those troublesome mercenaries. It's no surprise to me, I already foresaw such an outcome in the alignment of energy here. Were any of you able to gain any new clues as to who they were or why they were here exactly?"
Asami's divinely enhanced eyesight dissipates as soon as she hears Kayo, walking up to him and looking at his eyes. She holds her hands together in front of her chest with worry.
"H-hey, Mr. Psychic! Where'd you go? And where's the spirit girl?"
She would attempt to press him further before realizing she was being impolite, sighing as she drops her arms and looks to the side.
"Ah, sorry, we actually did hear that they work for Anemone! Nothing suggests anything they've told us was dishonest, but man, these guys are something else!"
Chie would sigh upon looking over at the detective for hire and the younger girl, this... Has been a terrible day, just the worst really.
"Anemone is also a type of flower, might not be a name at all. I suppose we'll find out sometime... Though uh, I probably won't be able to stay involved."
Not if the mercs words held any truth anyways, which she isn't sure of but best to plan for the worst. It'd be kind of a pain having to just leave things up to random kids and vilginates but whatever, that's how things tend to go around here.
"They are something else though to be sure, can't say I'm too fond of em either but what's there to do about it."
{If two people that could be considered children wasn't bad enough, the third makes way to everyone else. Once Asena's eyes locked onto the three still present at the scene, she pocketed the ball she recieved, and walked forwards.}
"...yooo, am I interrupting something?"
{She doesn't know which person is more likely to give valid directions, but common sense dictates that the child wouldn't be capable. Still, she decides to not go up to one person in particular, merely staying in view.}
"I came over here because I heard there were people who could give me directions, so...where can I go? I kinda already forgot where my house was, and it might be getting late but I don't feel like looking up."
(edited by kun-Chan)
Since everyone seems to have finished, the group parts ways, each headed back to their usual routine, Asena a little heavier for their efforts.
For Asena takes the spherical device, perhaps thinking it was a pet at first. No matter, as it doesn’t seem to respond to them no matter how hard they tried, leaving it’s fate to their discretion.
As for Chie, they brought what parts of the Thunderstrikes’ equipment they could back to base, hoping to find some ways to use it for their future endeavors.
However, the day after bringing the technology back, it seemingly vanished. At least that’s how it seemed at first. Most of the officers and researchers in charge of the equipment would even acknowledge it missing, as if they had never seen the robot in the first place.
All save one, a friend on the force who shared many of Chie’s views. They would admit to seeing a small group from Anemone paying an unexpected visit that night, including an oddly young-looking man with blonde hair who spoke with excessive confidence. By the time they left, all of the equipment Chie confiscated was gone with them.
The following day this coworker “resigned.” But it wouldn’t take a genius to guess what really happened.
Elsewhere, a middle-aged man lets out a hefty sigh as he looks over the cityscape, peering in the direction of the stadium that had yet to be rebuilt.
White Lightning: “man, just how many people do we have to get in one spot to manage the simplest of tasks?”
The man asks as his blonde-haired protege opens the door. Leonus frowns, before responding with a question of his own
Leonus: “and where were you?”
White Lightning: “I had another mission.”
Leonus: “then drop it! Spirits are a storm-level priority! There’s nothing...”
as Leonus begins to shout, his superior simply lifts a finger to silence the young man, not having the energy to do much further.
Lightning: “nothing you know about. We still have some time before the next calamity strikes. And a lot of things our employer needs before then.”
Leonus: “Like what? I was told we needed to contain and control these supernaturals to analyze them at all.”
Lightning: “it’s not enough to have data, you also need someone who can understand and manipulate it. Otherwise you’ll never get anywhere.”
Leonus: “so that’s it? You’re being sent on manhunts without the rest of us knowing anything?”
Lightning looks back out over the city. Saying nothing. A few heavy seconds pass, before Leonus let’s out a sigh.
Leonus: “Fine, keep your secrets. Just know that one day I’ll bring you to justice.”
Leonus waits a few seconds, but Lightning was done talking. Frustrated, the young man storms out of the room, leaving Lightning to whisper to himself
Lightning: “Look forward for it.”