RP: YSS Miharu Mission 3: The sound of machina

[Zack]

“You might want to try incapacitating Eve by directing your ship’s graviton beams or your scalar weapon pods on stun.” Wazu suggested, “You have enough sensor data from your power armors to extrapolate her relative position and hit her through the mass that makes up this facility without damaging it.”

 

[5tar]

Sumaru cursed inaudibly as his drones turned inward and stabbed into his armor. Then struggled to his feet after fending off another set of attacks from the same Mishhuvurthyar, the ace pilot was disgusted that this creature wasn't lay waste to in the first seconds of his engagement-- he had killed hundreds of these foul beasts in the war, this one was no different. "It will take much more than that to defeat me!" the downed Samurai shouted as he began to move. With the Mishhu so close, it meant that Sumaru now had the upper hand-- he released a relentless counter attack in a fluid skimming motion, his Mindy hovered along the ground backwards and back up to his feet. His blood, along with Wish's blood trailed across the floor as he moved. Sumaru's counter attack was a opening burst of combined plasma from his rifle, rapid gauss rounds from his shoulder cannon and normal weapon's fire from his shoulder mounted LASR. The whole time he was charging his forearm blasts for his next move.

After shooting the Mishhu with a furious mix of overkill. Sumaru hovered in a stance, poising himself to face off against the one who had so cowardly interrupted his battle. "You've made a grave mistake," the warrior said as he looked directly at Eve, "you've allowed my blood to stain the battlefield." With that said, the hemosynthesis that had bleed from his armor and body started to rumble in its lengthy streams and puddles, then in a flash the long veins of hemo pulled up from the ground and surrounded the NH-27 Nekovalkyrja. He had only used this technique a few times, and those times in training-- he had seen it used in battle, and now was his time to make it work. The crimson red tendrils moved with life around his form, the thin blood tentacles of his external hemosynthesis were now into play.

At this point, his HUD was flickering. He had used his own natural energy manipulation type-27 abilities to redirect the lost energy and disconnected power sources to his weapons; his movement was now reliant on his own gravity manipulation. He poured all his heart into this one, all of his soul and energy were being pushed to the limit-- he was Sora's sword, and Sora wished for this mission to be successful. This creature had her own limits; Sumaru just had to find them. Over short range communications he texted to Nyton and Yoroko.

Attack as one, there is bound to be a limit to her abilities. No matter how strong.

With that, and renewed vigor, Sumaru took off with a burst of speed towards this new assailant. His crimson tendrils trailed behind him, swirling and twisting. Then, with his skin vision he watched the other two, waiting for their attacks, and when they fired-- so did he. He let loose his forearm charged blast simultaneously as he fired off all the rest of his Mindy's weapons. If this didn't work, at least he had a distraction to disguise his charge. Which was the follow through, with a ignited forearm blade he pushed through and swiped for Eve. With his warrior mind watching all his sides at once through his skin, his instincts heavily tuned for this sort of battle he was already prepared for a counter attack the moment he swiped his blade.

But that wasn't all, when his movement was stopped. His blood tentacles continued on with the momentum and curved around Eve with their inherent super strength. One of them tried to remove the weapon from her; others became sharp and tired to pierce her body-- two curled down for her legs. This youth was a furious fighter, with a boundless resolve; he had a reason to fight... which made him even more deadly.

 

[Kai]

Pain, Searing, burning Pain, literally blistered across Kai's shoulder, almost like a sunburn but thousands of magnitudes worse. The first thing the Yamataian did when freed was instinctively stand up, but his countermeasures exploded rather close, knocking him back down, thankfully not far. When had he gotten so low? He had thought he stood up, but he guessed it had something to do with the arm. Painkillers. Painkillers were needed. Unfortunately the insert of his PA was charred in the same places where his arm had been baked, so all the suit could manage was a local anesthesia coming from either end, slowly easing the pain, though Kai knew that arm was near useless now.

A moment of clarity brought the realization that he was still in battle, and the Yamataian used his suit's skin vision to have a look around, noticing the Mishhu Nimura was stabbing at, Kai reached back and pulled out his LASR with his left hand, thankful for having put Armor Piercing rounds into the weapon, and fired at the fleeing mishhu. Through this, his right arm hung limply, hand still clutching the gauss bazooka.

The Bazooka. It was important. And with one working arm, Kai could not use it. The next best thing had just lost a weapon, so Kai messaged him

Tom, Get the bazooka, I can't use it, even when the painkillers hit full effect. You'll have to be our heavy hitter now, while I thank the maker that Computerized brains make it easy to be ambidextrous.

So. This was what a real battle was like. Bring it on.

Kai smirked, continuing to fire on the retreating mishhu.

 

[Nyton]

Nyton was intrigued by trying to identify the manner of which Eve was avoiding their bullets from hitting her. Is she redirecting them upon approach or are is she using some form of mental manipulation to make us miss while we think we are seeing our bullets going around her? Could our PSC devices be ineffective against such things? he thought.

"I'm working on it, try to be on the defensive for now!" Hinoto transmitted to Nyton before she gave Wazu a brief sideglance and added in a harried tone: "Taii, I have one of the prisoners we rescued - Heram Wazu - requesting that he be allowed to talk to Eve."

With all that was going on to hear that someone wanted to talk to Eve right now made Nyton wish he could see volumetric windows so he could personally shout at Wazu. He restrained himself though, thinking on what he could do once he got his vision back. "Thank you Hinoto. And tell Wazu that maybe if I get close enough he can talk to her decapitated head." he replied, the last part sounding more irritated.

Then Nyton watched as Sumaru was nearly killed and then ressurected into a brilliant force on line to deliver serious damage to Eve. The message Sumaru sent to him would not be visible since the volumetric window system being down prevented him from seeing texts at the moment. Forced on the defensive since his vision was out and not wanting to waste ammunition firing ineffectively again, Nyton cautiously began to look for a reflective surface.

I need to verify if she is using telepathy to alter our perceptions. Maybe if I can use a mirror or our shadows I can figure out if we just think we our bullets curving around her and we are shooting at the wrong place or if she really IS using her powers to push them away. My VAW shouldn't be reacting like this while within the PSC field either so perhaps I'm being tricked like with the bullets. Or maybe our PSC are absolutely useless against her which would make us dangerously vulnerable. Nyton thought to himself as he spent the time waiting for his vision to return looking for the key to his theory. At the same time he had to be sure there was nothing trying to attack him although that would be difficult considering how limited his vision was presently anyways.

 

[Kyoki]

"Hai, Freeman-Juni!" Rin replied as her armor, still quite cloaked, took off to move to her place beside Tom. As she did so, she fired a forearm weapon into the nekomachina that Tom had just fought moments before. She also recalled her drones.

The sprites eyes kept vigilant as she kept her LASR raised and ready to assist. The adrenaline still flowed through her veins, and that, along with her still hard-working AIES, was what kept her from freaking out.

 

[Doshii Jun]

The sensor specialist shifted a bit uncomfortably at that--she was quite content enjoying her safety while not being reminded of the danger that her crewmates were facing. "It's funny, I'd expected this position in the battle to be... better. As it turns out, waiting in place while looking for some sign that we're under attack or word from the Hoshi is just a good breeding ground for anxiety."

The former neko stopped for a a moment after the admission, a bit embarrassed about what Yukari might read into it. After the brief period of silence, she finally sat bolt upright, starting to pull up some additional controls. "Well then. Let's see what we can decide as far as maneuvers..."

Yukari appeared to let the admission slide. Her smile brightened as a volumetric projection of the Miharu appeared between them.

Moving the glowing blue ship with her hands, Yukari explained how each of the maneuvers worked. Most of the tricks Yukari explained to Miyoko were simple ones with specific possible avenues of attack. A few had multiple ones, depending on what weapons were employed. They all focused on a very obvious theme — stunning or surprising the enemy with finesse and flash, taking full advantage of the Miharu's maneuverability.

"Miharu is exciting to fly, for she is very responsive," Yukari said with her face painted with soft blue light. "I must remember that to keep your firing solutions valid, I cannot be too ... spontaneous. If I become that way, please inform me, so that I can correct myself."

 

[mizunoyoroko]

Yoroko fired off a SLAG round on the left side of Eve to try and pin her in while she worked on the other side with her LASR. "Hurry up, I've got 3 shots before I'll need some kind of assistance." Yoroko said. If I can even hold her down as it is.

 

[Fred]

"Absolutely not," Hinoto retorted to Wazu as she worked on having his power armor's AIES wirelessly hack into his 360-degree vision implants. "There's computer equipment below that we can't risk damaging."

As for Wazu's request to talk to Eve, she left Nyton's audio reply answer that matter for her.

The white-haired sprite tapped her console a final time and smiled in satisfaction as she transferred the information normally transmitted as volumetric windows into Nyton's visual data processing. The result was low-resolution and two-dimensional, but she figured Nyton would be able to adjust his dept perception on the fly.

Her silver-grey eyes squinted at some reading over the Bishop team status window, paying attention to how their Psionic Signal Controllers held up and then transmitted to Nyton: "Taii, I've restored visuals for you, though this is the best I can do under short notice without risk of sensory overload for you."

"I've checked the PSC data for your suit and the modifications I made are holding up," She added. "In fact, your opponent hasn't even come close in her attempts to overwhelming it. I expect most of what she is doing are either indirect attacks, or effect that alter the environment around her without having to affect you. I figure the main way she's protecting herself is through warping space somehow, since the graviton emissions in the area are going quite crazy, but that's all I have for you at the moment."

* * *

Eve seemed plenty prepared to meet Yoroko's SLAG grenade, and the anti-personnel shrapnel was deflected with only the barest stagger from the blue-haired nekovalkyrja psion, but it had successfully left her bracing on her feet despite everything, open to Sumaru's attacks.

She crossed her arms to shield her face and grit her teeth an eyeblink before the attacks, which came in and narrowly deflected off. Too narrowly, it appeared, as the near misses were near enough to sear over Eve's forearms, singing the skin and raising boils.

When the samurai came hurtling in after her, Eve looked rather displeased (judging from her snarl). She certainly looked ready for him when she successfully threw her chained sickle blade at the samurai's neck, but looked even more put off when her weapon left barely a mark on the zesuaium mesh protecting Wish's wearer.

Then came Sumaru's blades, a deadly double-swipe around which Eve dodged with admirable agility - though the pained yowl she let out indicated that she didn't appreciate being in close proximity with the burning-hot sword projections... her clothes were blackening and flaking off at the edges.

The new hemosynthetic tentacles Sumaru had provided himself with tried to corral her as she backpedaled, but she had other ideas, her own legs exploding in a semi-gory explosion of tentacle weapons of her own. Sumaru's aggressive attack had forced their opponent to reveal - with those sixteen tentacle weapons that replaced her two legs - that she was in fact a NH-25 hybrid Nekovalkyrja-Mishhuvurthyar and she deployed her tentacle weapons for all she was worth.

Eve spun, swiped and battered him back, needling him thrice in the exposed flesh of Wish's shoulder in the process. Unfortunately for her the attack was futile: Wish's hemosynth insert easily fended off the muscle relaxant toxins she had injected.

* * *

With the subtlety of a weaver wielding thread and needle, Tom's quick thinking battle plan bore fruit.

The nekomachina Tom had turned his back to had flung its shield away in an attempt to grapple with Tom to spoil his attack on the Mishhuvurthyar that was quickly intent on swooping out from under the catwalk to flank him. However, that was when the semi-stealthed Rin came into play, her wrist cannons pulsing at the nekomachina.

The fake-neko spun half-a-circle from the successful hits. While Rin lacked the finesse and accuracy of Nimura, it left the synthetic humanoid wide open to a concentrated burstfire of her rifle in its torso. Armor or not, the thing couldn't withstand that and it fell to the gridding, twitching.

Tom's mishhu, on the other hand, seemed intent on wrapping its tentacles around Tom and then bearing in with its toothy lamprey-like mouth to gnaw the engineer. It came in for the kill.

Tom let it. The creature wound its appendages about the engineer in a macabre embrace. The maw opened... and Tom obliged by sticking the muzzle of the weapon in it. The way the Mishhu froze could almost have been comical to a bystander, with its tentacles whipping rigidly to its side in shock.

Tom pressed the trigger and promply gave his Daisy armor a new crimson paintjob, along with redecorating the nearby catwalk in matching colors. The Mishhu itself became less a visual relative to a tentacles hamburger, and more a tentacled donut.

Nimura, for her part, followed Tom's instruction and raced for the opening she had made in the fence earlier and made a jet-assisted long jump through. Twisting in mid-air, she released her remaining mini-missiles to go after the second mishhu; which Kai had been keeping away with somewhat less success than Tom, due to the thing dodging around in mid-air 'bounces'. The creature had been mildly bloodied by Kai striking on non-vital areas because he had difficulty getting a good lead on it... but homing mini-missiles were an entirely different deal.

When Nimura landed next to double-door's console, the Mishhu's remains also crashed to the ground, though calling it a corpse was generous at that point. The sprite turned her attention to the console and triggered its opening. The sliding doors made an hydraulic rumble and resumed sliding into the walls, widening the 30 centimeters opening Eve had squeezed through much larger.

 

[5tar]

Sumaru felt his blood catch fire as he fought in close, and the flame burned brighter as he missed and suffered the glancing blow to his shoulder. This was an enemy he's never encountered, the battle was uncertain-- which made it even more exciting. The Samurai felt his senses spike and heart sink as the blade he was poised to counter attack connected with his neck-- but the chain gifted to him by Yuriko held out for him once again, he couldn't pause here to consider just how grateful he was; this battle was not over yet.

With a single foot planted into the ground, Sumaru twisted his upper body slightly in an unorthodox stance. He tensed up his entire form, and his Mindy's thrusters charged as much as he could get them in that split second-- then with all his power, the Samurai burst towards Eve with an unnerving show of speed. His body untwisted, and caused him to spin in a deadly corkscrew. One arm was out to the side; slashing for her tentacles-- the other was pointed forward to pierce her largest target on her body, her core. This was Nagareboshi, the intense sword style designed by Sumaru based on his strengths and heightened awareness in such high speed maneuvers, developed from his years of Armor Piloting experiences. This was the duelling style that had gained much attention in the clan, and now it was put to the test.

He could feel every split second go past in slow motion-- the adrenaline was so intense that his brain took in so much information at once; it all seemed to tick by like seconds on a chronometer. Each heartbeat loudly in his ears, each breath passing through his lips... he could hear it all. His frost blue eyes were cast forward, towards his target getting closer in view-- he wasn't just going to try and hit her, her was going to go through her. This way if she backed up again, he'd continue on into her, or if he missed, he'd be on the other side of her. The only voice he could hear in his head was Sora's, "Accomplishing the mission is very important to me and I do want you to help out by doing what you do best as a power armored pilot." The sound echoed out of his mind, and as he passed through his point and came out of his attack in a swirling turn to face his enemy to watch the result, he whispered the same thing he said before he left his Princess' side-- "then so it shall be done."

His blood tentacles twisted and whipped around when he came to his stop, and each remaining tendril curved to poise for another attack. He watched intently, like the old stories-- when two swordsmen past through one another like that, sometimes it'd take a moment for reality to catch the blade. But he didn't drop his guard, not yet. He knew that this may be far from over, but what mattered now-- was that her back was about to be turned to the crowd, that was his goal here. She was flanked, one way or another-- at least that was the way he was thinking.

 

[Tom]

Red. Red everywhere. On the floor, on his armor, on his helmet.

The blood of his enemy, the Mishu he had just slain violently. Its death was sudden and cruel. Before Tom blew the murderous hole through the body of the tentacled beast, he saw its fear.

He felt its fear. And he snuffed it, obliterated its existence in one fell swoop.

The engineer stood still, breathing deeply, inhaling the carnage.

Although his armor forbid it, he could still smell the scent of blood curling in his nostrils. He was once again the wolf in the snow, towering over, feasting on the freshly-slain carcass of his prey.

He was riding on an endless high of adrenaline and violence as he turned to survey his teammates. He hadn't even bothered to wipe off the blood, not that he could if he tried.

Rin had done an excellent job gunning down the Nekomachina.

"Good work, Rin," the gore-covered engineer said.

He looked to Kai, who had injured himself escaping his prey. His AIES told him of the damage to his comerade's body and armor, and he took the bazooka when it was offered to him.

 

[Nyton]

As vision immediately returned to Nyton he silently rejoiced at being able to see around him again. Having become so accustomed to doing so, the man almost felt crippled when the only thing he could see was to his front via the slit on his helmet.

"Taii, I've restored visuals for you, though this is the best I can do under short notice without risk of sensory overload for you."

The view was a little crude and Nyton had to adjust his visual acuity internally to refine it somewhat. Spatial distance and data was being augmented by using his comrades positional data through AIES kind of like GPS but with more intensity. The AIES computer crunched the numbers fast enough so that even though he did not 'see' the difference it would at least correct his motions as naturally as the targeting system in his eyes adjusted his aim outside the suit. For now it would do.

"I've checked the PSC data for your suit and the modifications I made are holding up," She added. "In fact, your opponent hasn't even come close in her attempts to overwhelming it. I expect most of what she is doing are either indirect attacks, or effect that alter the environment around her without having to affect you. I figure the main way she's protecting herself is through warping space somehow, since the graviton emissions in the area are going quite crazy, but that's all I have for you at the moment."

"See if you can scan up ahead beyond those doors. Lock down the source of that aether signal if you can." Nyton replied quickly as he tried to update himself with the data from everyone else. The duel between Sumaru and Eve had so far forced the Samurai's opponent to become more serious and reveal her hybrid nature. Meanwhile Tom's quick thinking along with Nimura's incredible skill gained his group the upper hand and they were now poised for action. He had to make things quick so they could take advantage of the shift in initiative.

Good job Freeman! Let Nakamura stay there and recuperate. You and Rin bring your weapons to bear on Eve. Strike with SLAG rounds above and missiles at her right. Set missiles for proximity detonation near her, not impact. She can deflect the explosions but it still forces her to stay in place while we move in to surround her. All together now!

The message came with a display covering a wide swath above Eve and to her right where the detonations would be concentrated to try and keep her in check.

Mizuno, Nimura we're covering Eve's flank. We're putting more pressure on her from our end. Use your SLAG rounds on her flank and direct missiles to her rear. Set missiles for proximity detonation near her, not impact. Nimura, if Eve slips past Hasegawa from the front then I'm trusting you to be able to react fast enough to intercept her. All together now!

The message also came with a display covering the area to Eve's left and rear flank, the detonation proximity in line with the bursts that would come from above launched by Tom and Rin. He knew from AIES status updates that Nimura had used up all of her missiles so this move would depend on his own and Yoroko's missiles.

Superb work, Hasegawa. We are attempting to direct explosive fire all around Eve in an effort to cut her off. While she is trapped, try and use the opening from your end to finish her off. All together now!

A diagram showed him where their missile fire would be detonating to contain the wily psionic fighter. There would be no room for her to maneuver given how tight their net would be laid.

Nakamura, stand by and allow time for your suit to recuperate. I may need you to fall back and plug back in the Aether Canceler so be ready for that.

With those messages and orders sent Nyton began to follow through on his end. Using AIES he began to pump the last of his high explosive SLAG rounds directly towards Eve. Meanwhile the last missiles deployed from his leg pods, streaking out and around towards Eve's rear before they exploded. The destruction they would rain around her would be a brilliant array of fireworks. Nyton's trap had been laid out and was now being sprung. If Eve flew up or to her right she would meet Tom and Rin's explosions. If Eve attempted to retreat she would meet his and Yoroko's explosions. Their SLAG rounds would cover the left side and force Eve to defend herself while at the same time defending herself from the ones approaching from above. The explosions would plant her down in place like they had earlier. To her front would be the deadly Samurai poised and ready to cut her down like a tree.

"You should have surrendered when I gave you the chance!" Nyton said on his loudspeaker although whether he had been audible was difficult to tell given the sheer number of explosions that would now be resounding around Eve.

 

[Tom]

Tom acknowledged Nyton's orders and made sure that the two teammates near him heard the orders as well.

"Ok, let's do this."

He slung the bazooka, took aim with his LASR, and fired SLAG rounds and missiles where he was ordered to. He had used a lot of his missiles defending himself, so he hoped this plan worked quickly.

Otherwise, he'd have to improvise with the bazooka.

 

[Kai]

"Yes Taii."

Kai answered quickly, sending a text message that didn't transmit his disappointment at having been relegated to the sidelines. He knew he wasn't too much use at the moment, his right arm being mostly useless. While he could still fight, it was with less accuracy than normal (his suit could only correct so much) and he would be unable to fire the SLAG (needed a second hand for that.)

So Kai stalked back towards the Aether canceler, after a brief stop to crouch down and grab his pair of Nekomachina legs that had been violently removed from his shoulders by the Mishhu. These legs he grasped in the hand of the limp injured arm, dragging them behind himself dejectedly like a child whose favorite toy wasn't cool enough. The sight would have been somewhat comical in any other situation, and if anyone had been paying attention.

In any case, the Yamataian made his way to the Aether Canceler and stood ready, his LASR poised in case anyone accosted him, wondering Idly just how quickly his and his suits' Hemosynth could repair themselves.

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

Yukari appeared to let the admission slide. Her smile brightened as a volumetric projection of the Miharu appeared between them.

Moving the glowing blue ship with her hands, Yukari explained how each of the maneuvers worked. Most of the tricks Yukari explained to Miyoko were simple ones with specific possible avenues of attack. A few had multiple ones, depending on what weapons were employed. They all focused on a very obvious theme — stunning or surprising the enemy with finesse and flash, taking full advantage of the Miharu's maneuverability.

"Miharu is exciting to fly, for she is very responsive," Yukari said with her face painted with soft blue light. "I must remember that to keep your firing solutions valid, I cannot be too ... spontaneous. If I become that way, please inform me, so that I can correct myself."

"Of course... though don't restrain yourself on my behalf. As long as we can get the general parameters in and keep the same weapons trained on the enemy, I think the Miharu and I can work together to get attacks off fairly quickly, for what that's worth when moving at the speed of light." With the attack patterns fresh in her mind, Miyoko sat down and did as much of the math and planning as she could--while a lot of the work would still need to be done at the moment of firing, some things were generalized enough that she was able to calculate the basics ahead of time.

 

[Kyoki]

"Hai!" Rin repeated once more.

She followed Tom's lead, moving to a nice vantage point, she let loose several of her mini-missiles, set to proximity as she was told, while also firing her a SLAG round. At least it was easier to aim since it was just a general area.

Since her Daisy didn't need energy elsewhere, such as to recharge her shields, she kept up the cloak still. It couldn't hurt, as long as her position was transmitted to her allies, could it?

 

[Zack]

“Then set your shield radius equal to the distance between it and her center of mass plus about 30 centimeters. You can slice her legs off or at least immobilize her with your hard shields without damaging any non-mobile equipment like the computers or…” Wazu’s voice trailed off as the situation came to a head, “…just let things resolve themselves.” He would then turn around and go back to sitting nearby, waiting for Hinoto’s CO to show up.

 

[Fred]

"I'll try," Hinoto told Nyton, sparing a shrug to Wazu before adding via telepathy: "I've been having a hard time keeping track of the aether signature. You may need to send a drone to scout in first."

* * *

Sumaru noted his opponent's flinch when the first of the Bishop team's artillery support came around, explosion and shrapnel flying about. The NH-25 hybrid's ability to deflect the many attacks ironically protected him as well when he darted close and attacked.

Eve twisted, her tentacles slapping into his body to keep him at bay, but it made it easy for him to cleave through a third of her lower appendages.

The blue-haired nekovalkyrja shrieked, her concentration wavered (those tentacles were no less a part of her than another person's limbs), and one of the SLAG grenades partly came through tearing a her clothing and flesh. That same explosion he was also exposed to, though, and while his zesuaium armor held up, it spoiled the accuracy of his thrust, putting him past her but having failed to impale Eve.

What he did manage to do with barely a second thought was to snag her on his pass with his trailing tentacles, dragging her along with him past the doors into the very expansive chamber of the underground outpost's command center.

He couldn't spare the instrumentation in the chamber much of a glance as Eve struggled to tear away from his grasp, chopping and tearing at his tentacles with swift sickle slashes before tossing her weapon at him. He narrowly ducked under the attack by reflex and surged forward to counter with a blow of his own, but the sickle changed trajectories like a snake and hooked him fast from behind, immobilizing him with her telekinetic power. Eve had finally found a way to hold him in check.

The battered NH-25 backed away, relief briefly flashing in her eyes before the rest of the bishop team adjusted their aim and let loose with the rest of their ordonnance. She was prepared to fend the attack off, but the shockwaves of the combined explosions still knocked her forward...

Right in the arms of Sumaru. The samurai obliged by punching her in the chest with his good arm, the forearm weapon flaring brightly through her torso in the process. He saw her eyes briefly widen before the torrent of aetheric energy consumed her.

Her death was anti-climatically brief, with only smoldering scraps of flesh from her body extremities surviving on the floor. The sickle remained hooked in his back, though its telekinetic tug abruptly waned. A haze of heat wafted from the scorched floor in the aftermath, with a quiet only broken by the droplets of blood hissing atop the metal flooring.

 

[Tom]

Tom's AIES said it all. They had taken care of the threat. Everything in the room was dead.

The adrenaline drained from his body, as did the bloodlust-driven euphoria. There was only relief tinged briefly with fatigue, before his armor subtly inserted gentle stimulants into his bloodstream to fight it off.

He took a moment to look around the room and access the carnage. He noted with solemnity the corpse of Aoiko, fully absorbing the image of her body almost cleaved in half.

So... everyone wasn't coming home after all.

He slowly stood from his kneeling position. Everything was tinted red.

That's right... Mishu blood. He absently wiped at his chest, smearing the blood further into his suit. What exactly happened in those moments?

But there was no time to consider himself right now. There never was time when others depended on him.

"Ok," he said to Rin and Nakamura. "Excellent. Absolutely excellent job. Nakamura, maintain your position at the cancelling device. Run on low output and stealthed so you aren't detected. Rin, stay with him, protect him and help him operate the cancelling device if needed... I will report to the Taii."

Slowly, he went to meet the others.

 

[5tar]

It was done, like Sora had requested...


'I do this not for personal fame. But everything I do, like you once said-- is in your name... and so, it shall remain,' his thoughts echoed through his mind, the last part of the conversation he had with Sora still lingered even now. This kill wasn't his to claim, and he wanted everyone to know it, but said nothing of it. He didn't want this to go down as Sumaru Hasegawa's victory, but rather the Samurai guardian of the Ketsurui princess Sora-- it was her honor to take and her victory today, after all it was her sword that slay the beast.

His remaining hemosynthesis tendrils slicked back inside his body, returning to his blood stream. His rapid thoughts finally slowed down around him, this battle was won. But the mission, was it over? He turned his eyes to the room around him to see just where they were-- just what was next. He disengaged the forearm weapon, and redirected his personal energy to connecting the disjointed power systems in Wish, forwarding the power to life support and flight systems. The male Neko knew after all that, he wasn't going to make it back on his own efforts-- he was hardly able to stand at this point; he had used all of his own internal energy on all of his abilities during the fight. Now that the adrenaline and stimulants subsided, he felt his own mortality return.

There was still the weapon stuck in his back. His Mindy's visor turned to look at the sickle stuck in his flesh through the armor, he reached back and gritted his teeth. With a hand, he removed the weapon and let out a painful grunt. After a second to let his healing stop the immediate damage, he brought the weapon forward and took a long look at it. This was Eve's blade; he could feel the malicious spirit embodied in the evil weapon. "This needs to be taken by a shrine," he thought in a whisper to himself, his mystical belief in the traditions of the religion he adopted as a Ketsurui samurai would deem for nothing less.

 

[Kai]

"Copy" Kai replied to Tom, continuing to stand ready. He turned on his thermoptic camouflage and turned down any unnecessary systems besides life support and his suit's healing. The Yamataian's daisy became effectively invisible besides the odd darkened shoulder that stood out after having been fried recently.