• If you were supposed to get an email from the forum but didn't (e.g. to verify your account for registration), email Wes at stararmy@gmail.com or talk to me on Discord for help. Sometimes the server hits our limit of emails we can send per hour.
  • Get in our Discord chat! Discord.gg/stararmy

RP: YSS Miharu Mission 5, Part 1: Amaya's Gate

Status
Not open for further replies.
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Ha ha ha! GotCHAAUGH--!" yelled Asher as he was skillfully received by Eve's claws. For a moment, he saw space in it's most still tranquility, a half-second extended for a minute, before being feeling himself slowly picking up speed in the palm of the Vermillion. Suddenly, he realized what was about to happen.

"Oh son of a--," started Asher in the final part of the throw, before being cast through the vacuum, "biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch!"

"Fuck!" went the Malifarian as he tore through a cabinet, "Shit!" as he slammed through one of the center tables, "Bitch!" as he tore though a small serving trolley, "Piss!" as he finally slammed into an oven, dazed. The entirety of his declarations broadcasted over an open channel.

He needed to recover for a few seconds after pulling himself out of the oven. Free of his cooking prison, he popped the joints in his neck, and then looked back out to the Vermillion, his line of sight pretty clear thanks to his three-point landing. Nyton was still in trouble, and even though his barrier was still recovering, the commander wasn't going to get out by himself. So, Asher blasted out of the kitchen, sending frying pans and pots out into space. He readied his fusion cutter again, this time aiming for the one arm that held Nyton.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

As Kai slammed into the hull of the Miharu, He ejected the burning thruster pack, knowing it wasn't much use anymore in any case. The vacuum of space quickly extinguished whatever sort of fire had started, as the fuel ran out and there was nothing more to cause a reaction.

Getting back to his feet as quickly as possible, the Yamataian took a deep breath to replace the one that had been knocked out of him, and tried to bring his stealth back on line, moving slowly at first to make sure he did not immediately get shot again, before shaking off what had just happened. The stupid plasma rifle didn't have the range to hit Mani, and the LASR didn't have the punch to do much in this situation.

However, he remembered one thing: Even the small teleporter packs had to charge, Vermillion's was probably no exception- Eve would likely have to wait before she could pull another move like that.

Once he got his bearings, Kai charged forward again, running up to a point where he wasn't quite within the larger Mecha's reach before launching off more subspace-detonating missiles, and then moving quickly out of the way again to avoid being hit, before he fired his plasma rifle again- it wasn't much, but he had no other option at the moment but to keep fighting.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kyou had absolutely no problem with looking like a fool, or an idiot, so long as her cranium (and preferably the rest of her too) remained intact. This said, she also rather liked the idea of the enemy being separated from one or more portions of their body, and there is no time like the present to proceed with that separation. As best she could, Kyou swung the blade again, trying to cut her opponents legs out from under her. Seeing as her enemy was both faster, and more experienced than her, Kyou decided it would also be a good idea to be moving just about in the opposite direction of her enemy if she didn't get a clean hit in, and prepared to throw herself away from Meni. If all went well, either she'd get a good hit and hurt her enemy, or her enemy would pursue, giving Masako time to get back on her feet and into the fight. If it went the other way... well, things had a tendency to go all of the way to hell when they started that direction way lately, so who knew where that would end up.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Miyoko slid her hands under Hinoto's shoulders and eased the unconscious sprite out of the chair, then carefully sat her down behind the Ship Operations seat, propped against the wall. Not the best position, but it would do for now. "Is it safe to keep her here in case she wakes up?" she asked, glancing at the unconscious neko--not knowing why Hinoto had been knocked out in the first place, she wasn't entirely comfortable keeping her around.


"I'm afraid that if she can infiltrate a quantum computer, you would prove to be barely a speedbump to her," Miyoko said reluctantly as she slid into her seat. As Yukari abandoned the plan, Miyoko rubbed her hands together anxiously, watching the viewscreen. There had to be some way she could help.

"Is there any specific function you need the MEGAMI for? If so, what if we physically severed its connections to every system we don't need at the moment before starting it up? If it weren't connected to the nodal system or anything else in PANTHEON, Eve would need to get physical access to it or the system it was connected to to hack it, right?"
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

What was more frustrating? Being on a ship that lacked tried and true technology, or forgetting HER OWN SHIP didn't have it?! Nao felt like kicking something between the legs until two spherical pieces of flesh were coughed out of the mouth by her victim. Instead, she opted to physically connect her head to the desk in a classic maneuver of emotional expression. Again, the energy of the blow struck traveled throughout her body in a wave, sending painful chills down her partially exposed spine.

'AHH! Why do I keep messing up?!'

Despite her distress, she kept soldiering on, finding something, anything she could try to fix.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

" ... No," Yukari said, narrowing her eyes at the screen. "I do not trust myself to ascertain what Eve can and cannot do, only that she can do more than I can imagine. Let us leave MEGAMI offline. The engineers are aware they will not have Miharu to assist them.

"We are not a part of this battle."
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

With gravity still in effect, water poured upon Masako's Daisy as she quickly twisted herself back to her feet from her drastic attempt to dodge. Cursing her lack of anything but a battery for her armor, the Warrant Officer sized up the situation and grimaced. Gunshin would surely get herself killed on her own. Heck, even Masako was having difficulties.

Going to inertial flight, the Raven-haired Neko's Daisy charged in on Meni with her shield up. The plan was to shield bash the enemy and hopeful stun her enough to actually make an accurate attack with the Aether Saber upon a lightly armored, yet vital part of Meni's body. Masako could hope for the neck, but that was a small target. Instead, the target area would be where Meni's arm and once been. That should have little to no armor without the arm and a stab there with an Aether Saber could end Meni right there. Now it was just a matter of timing.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Miyoko nodded reluctantly to Yukari's order. She understood why she wanted to keep the MEGAMI offline, but having to watch the battle without doing a thing to influence it was excruciating. The Yamataian tried to distract herself by trying to rub some of her bruises away, but her eyes kept being drawn back to the screen.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

With the coolant leak finally stopped, Tom relaxed a little. A major crisis had been averted, and now there were opportunities for the technical crew to catch up on other repairs.

His AIES passively updated him on some of the data Yukari was aware of, mainly regarding the ship, but, more importantly, the knowledge that Eve was out there.

What he knew of the battle came in bits and pieces, and it wasn't encouraging. The armor team was in trouble.

Tom didn't want to fight.

Honestly, he had felt lucky to survive the last encounter on the gate, and to fight against foes in space put his Daisy at an immediate disadvantage.

He looked down at the hanging useless forearm pulse cannon, dangling by wires at his side.

His battle with the twins... just surviving that encounter had given him a bit more combat experience... hardened him even more. Killing the nekovalkyrja... the demons whose faces he hadn't seen... it had stoked the flames of vengeance for his fallen comrades.

And as much as he detested it, he would have to kill again if they were to make it home. He would have to live with the hypocrisy of it all...

...but all that mattered now was making it to tomorrow.


Yukari,

I'm going to help with the fight. Yuzuki-Heisho is in charge of the Miharu's repairs.

...

I love you,

-Tom
Click to expand...

"Ichigo," he said over the armor channel. "We're going to assist with the battle! Suit up and follow me! The Juni needs our help!"

With that, he unslung his LASR and headed enroute to Masako's location.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

The words of Tom's message took her eyes away from the fight.

She read it three times. Then a fourth.

Her lover, her betrothed, was headed into battle. A Yamataian, a man with peace in his heart, a fixer. He was off to do a Nekovalkyrja's job, to make war, to destroy.

While she sat and watched, omnipresent yet powerless. Of no more worth than a jammed weapon.

She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and nodded. Tom was in power armor, possibly undetected and a capable warrior. The Black Knights were failing. Ichigo, also a proficient fighter, was with him.

Yukari trusted her man.

"Strike true, Tom. Send them to hell."
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nao's face practically lit up when she received Tom's message. It was an order! Something she could do for sure! But. He was going to fight? Couldn't he just have one of them don his suit and fight and kill and die in his place? She herself and all the others were practically, no, literally made for this Nao bitterly thought. Heck, was it any surprise that the sprite had the lowly title of Technical Sentry? It was one of those names that had a meaning to it.

But then, the sprite wouldn't want to go if it were up to her. 'Does a creature made for war actually want to fight?' Nao mentally asked herself, and then snickered moments later. She was definitely qualified to answer that herself, being what she was. Wasn't she?

Code: 
Tom,

I' will get another generator running immediately. 

Good hunting.

A slew of happy and sad feelings, thoughts and emotions mixed inside of her like a hot and cold front colliding. Regardless, Nao made her way to the nearest generator unit she could find.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Rin turned to Tom as he left and nodded. She had on a determined face but she couldn't calm the sudden anxiety and rapid pounding of her heart of suddenly more pressure being put on her.

No, calm down. Tom and so many others are going off to fight. I have to step up.

She grabbed a piece of metal and carefully shifted and pulled herself towards the door to the main part of the ship, not the isolated section she'd been in for quite some time. There wasn't anything she could do over there anymore. The equipment was working already so there was no reason to stick around.

Refocusing on getting to the door, Rin gave a slight burst of gravity manipulation to move around debris. But, in her nervousness, overreacted and sent herself moving uncomfortably fast. "Wah!!" She pulled her feet around and placed them on another piece of twisted metal to slow herself down... only to find it shifting under the force she had put into it. Another squeak and some flailing arms before Rin settled down. Her cheeks burned at her rather ungraceful, half-finished trip just to a door. Good thing no one saw.

Come on. I'm not a youngling.

Finally, she pulled herself with some more gravity manipulation to get to the door and entered. Now, she just had to get to work and stop making a fool of herself.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kotori's expression was one of dismay was she mouthed Nyton's name. She only wished she could deliver the begged upon solution to defeat Eve's trump card, only, it was far less obvious than the agonizing Nepleslian was putting it as.

Her Signal Reversal ability left her no choice. It wasn't something that she could turn on or off - it was always active, and it always harnessed psionic signal manifestations. In the worse circumstances that potential was overwhelming and Kotori could only serve as a barrier against it, and in the best she could catch hold of it and mold it to her liking.

Here, now, she got nothing from Eve. It just wasn't the same as the manifestation of clairvoyance Nyton was actually referring to.

Perhaps it had more to do with her newfound ability to defeat telepathic encryption? That perk of hers depended on use of her concentration... much like how someone would stop and focus on his hearing to make sense of something heard to hear. If she could see or mentally picture Eve's precognition, might she coax her signaler reversal ability into countering it?

Time was a luxury she could scarcely afford. Already, Eve had foiled Asher's deadly charge by chucking Nyton's limp Phalanx into the power armored Malifarian, bone-jarringly tossing both back into kitchen appliances. When Kai's new wave of subspace collapsing mini-missiles homed in, Eve teleported again, appearing right before the Yamataian with a snapkick tossing his customized M6 Daisy into the wardroom's portside bulkhead. Vermillion's maw then roared out a continuous blast of plasma that engulfed Kai, smelting his armor off and threatening to cook him alive in his suit. Mani outside noticed Tom and Ichigo skulking over Miharu's hull and opened up, already burning right through Tom's barrier.

Eve is tearing through my people! Kotori snarled in frustration. Fortunately, a solution to their dilemma came to her attention on Masako and Kyou's side of the fight.

Demonic in her intensity, Meni had even with her single arm parried the successive attacks that came from Kyou and soon after Masako as the latter rejoined the fight; the trio's melee bouncing around from floor, to wall, to ceiling, to floor. Meni's aether saber - closed defensively - took care of their aether blades while her legs and zesuaium blades threatened them with counters.

A hard kick on Masako's shield foiled the attempted shieldbash and drove the Juni back. Eve warned "Meni, watch your legs!" as Kyou took advantage of the opening to strike. Meni evaded the hit by getting out of the way via a charge, her weapon springing open into double-prongs as she stabbed at Masako.

Masako held her ground and met Meni;'s searing aether attack with her shield which she boldly thrust forward and then shoved up to deflect Meni's attack. The prolonged contact of the shield against zesuaium destroyed it, exposing the forearm and ruining the small turret there, but forcing the killing weapon up allowed Masako to inch into Meni's guard, ducking under the attacking arm to come into sight of the kuroneko's vulnerable right armpit.

With a yell Masako had her aether saber-rifle spin around for a reverse thrust and she shoved it two-feet deep through the opening. With a flick of her armored fingers she coaxed her weapon to spring open and with a thumbpress she disintegrated the Black Mindy's insides.

Masako and Kyou next weathered an explosion as the Black Mindy's torso burst open, tossing helmet, limp armored limbs and Meni's remaining aether saber-rifle across the already burning changing room.

That victory over Meni had Kotori realize a few things on Eve's precognition. How far can she intuitively see in the future? Does she know the immediate outcome of when she acts to change it? No! She reacts to the first very threatening thing she foresees and makes leap of faith decisions to improve on the future she sees. She's as blind to those spur-of-the-moment decisions as we are!

The Taisa inhaled sharply. It wasn't perfect, but she could plan around that. She took charge, sending a text message to her soldiers: Then, using Surtur's good arm, she lifted it to spread claws wide in Mani's direction, stored energy briefly crackling before she triggered a long range aether shock that would encompass Mani in its cone-shaped area of effect. Just as she did so, Eve telepathic voice made itself heard: "Mani, dodge 100 meters to your left!"

As Surtur's claw shot out its powerful aether attack, as Mani made a brief sublight jump to avoid the deadly swath of energy, Kotori transmitted: "Mark!"
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

With his active camouflage effectively melted off, and most of his armor singed and unhappy, Kai had no choice but to follow Kotori's advice. "Hai, Taisa." he answered, with a grunt, unhappy to be so freakishly hot- though his modifications probably saved his life, the Hemosynth insert would probably have cooked- along with him- but the better insulation of the synthetic proved superior in this situation.

Devoid of his thruster pack, Kai scrambled and ran his way over to the changing rooms, noting that they still currently had gravity, and even had the novelty of holding Atmosphere, and told his AIES to focus all energy on recovering the barrier.

Kai sighed as he waited, panting slightly- he would have to replace all the frontal armor- and maybe seeing a nurse about the pain in his chest from the kick would be useful, too.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Relieved that, for once, they'd managed to take down an enemy without any casualties (yet), Kyou had paused for just a moment to try and catch her breath before turning back to the fight. As soon as she got the command from Kotori though, she immediately started the cycling on her teleporter, keeping her targeting locked in behind Mani and to her right, positioning herself for a good swing as soon as she could, whether she understood the reasoning behind the orders or not.

That in mind, at Kotori's mark, Kyou teleported to her opponents new position, launching a quadruplet of subspace missiles at Mani's (hopefuly) unguarded back followed by a pair of ARMA missiles, planning on following through with her own saber if she got a clean hit and dodgin' like her life depended on it (since it probably did) if she didn't.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Tom cursed as his barrier was peppered and depleted by an unseen attacker.

He signaled for Ichigo to follow him as he ran to take aim at Eve's Akuma.

Ok, so she doesn't miss. But what if we prevent her from attacking?

Tom's mind ran through the schematics of the Akuma. Hitting its field generators or power supply would create plenty enough distraction, Tom thought. The chest, dorsal area and shoulders also presented a large enough hit area to cause SOME sort of damage if he made contact.

He was just about to act on his train of thought when he recalled a critical piece of information: 4 stored teleportation charges. Surely Eve's Akuma had a few left.

Ok, change of course.

First, deplete the barrier. He would launch his missiles to do that. Follow up with a burst of fire at Eve's power supply. Then...

"Ichigo, I'm expecting Eve to teleport. I need you to stay focused and make sure she has a distraction when she reappears. Don't let her get a clean attack!"

Tom knew his armor was outclassed by the Akuma, but if he could just provide that distraction, if just for a moment, it'd be an opportunity for the others.... especially Kai. Baiting himself, however, left his stomach twisting.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Asher was on a full-blast charge! This time, he would surely unleash his absolute wrath on the Vermillion.

"Here I com--!" started Asher before seeing the large mecha rev it's arm back, "Oh c'mon--!" The Malifarian went flying back into the kitchen, the bullet of a power armor putting him through more appliances and more curses. This time, he recovered more quickly, shoving Nyton off him like a rag doll. Out of anger, he punched one of the appliances, denting the kitchen item. "This is fucking bullshit!" went he, in childish frustration. While it seemed he had succeeded in freeing Nyton, he was denied any pleasure in actually harming the enemy.


With that, Asher loaded the coordinates and proceeded to punch another kitchen appliance. This time, it seemed more out of anticipation as the Malifarian became more and more pumped.

"Mark!"
Click to expand...

In a glare of teleporting light, Asher disappeared from the damaged Kitchen, and appeared at Mani's position, shield up. Seeing as Kyou was already there, the Malifarian took the offensive.

"Surprise!" He said with glee, putting on a full auto spray with his Plasma Gun, each projectile discharging at three shots a second to his target.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Disconnecting the embedded saber from her armor the moment the Mindy-clad assassin had been disposed of, the Raven-haired Neko crouched down in her cover and closed her eyes to calm herself. Checking the damage to her left arm, she noted the lack of forearm weapon with a hint of annoyance before moving to grab her LASR. She ended up grabbing nothing but air and finally remember she had dropped the other weapon out in the wardroom area. Weaponless for the moment, Masako kept still to allow her barrier time to charge.

All the young Neko could do was silently watch the battle going on outside and hope her LASR was still intact. In fact, she released one of her drones to peek out from behind her cover in an effort to locate either her lost weapon or some other weapon that had been discarded.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

For a sharp agonizing moment Nyton's voice echoed in his own ears. The intense heat had overwhelmed him and the pain suffered was greater than what he could handle. Before Telemachus could do anymore the man passed out, not realizing that he was being used to thwart Asher's attempted attack/rescue.

The darkness which was creeping into the edges of Nyton's vision came out like a rush to completely cover him. Oddly enough it wasn't as dark as he thought it would be. In that instant he saw he was now in a small poorly lit room. Before him was a shackled disheveled middle aged man being struck in the face by a dog faced being that resembled what he had heard of the old Black Claw.

"Disgusting human worm. You will fall to your knees before I kill you!" growled the dog. "Those who dare resist the enlightened and superior beings of the Black Claw must learn before being sent to Tartarus."
At that moment a large explosion tore through the room shaking everything apart. The Black Claw had turned towards the source of the explosion and more shouts were heard. "An uprising-!?" The Black Claw had not paid attention when the man's chains slipped off, the locks picked and released, then suddenly wrapped around the dogs' neck. As the chain became embedded deeply into the flesh as the man tightened it as hard as possible.

Nyton watched the events, transfixed as though he were watching a dream. Shouts and gunfire was heard getting closer when the man then seemed to turn around and look directly at Nyton. "Stop gawking and wake up already, boy!"

At the shout Nyton suddenly felt as though he were being pulled away. The darkness stripped away, light returned to his eyes and he was aware of immense pain again. There was also a sensation of flying uncontrollably through the air before he suddenly impacted against the hull of the kitchen area. What little bearings he had of his situation told him that he had collided with Asher before hitting the wall of the kitchen. Apparently Eve had finally released him to throw him at Asher. When he landed on the floor the Nepleslian could barely move.

The flesh on his arms and chest had been nearly flayed off while the rest of him felt boiled alive. There was third degree burn damage at the most intense points of contact. Nyton's skin would be severely scarred there provided he survived long enough. The uniform he wore underneath had practically fused to the charred areas of his body.

When Kotori's orders flashed across the screen Nyton could barely feel enough of himself outside of the pain to try and move to comply. The agony had already sapped all of his strength. He barely had anymore will left. He had lost.

Code: 
Sir, you must fall back now. Diverting power to the graviton propulsion system. Temporary shelter located. Commence self-preservation protocols. Pilot recovery protocols initiated.

As quick as Telemachus could manage, the PHALANX suit moved away from the fight and towards the kitchen area's refrigeration unit before it settled down next to the door. As soon as it had done so it then shifted power to the barrier restoration systems. The noise from the battle continued to fill Nyton's ears but was just barely heard over his labored breathing. The Nepleslian stared vacantly at the sensor screens displaying the battle. Frustration crept in beneath the haze of pain. Following that came anger then bitterness. A slew of curses encompassed his thinking before he began to notice what felt like time slowing down.

"What, ye thought th' battle'd be an easy one?"

A voice much like his grandfathers' was heard just as time seemed to further slow down to a stand still. Nyton started to wonder if he was going crazy. I must be suffering some sort of neural collapse within my memory system synapse uplink. Perhaps this is a result of my restoration and the computer graft. he thought.

"C'mon boy, ye need t' get it togethah if ye wan' t' be any use t' tha' princess o' yours. See she be takin' command like ye knew she could. But ye chose t' be 'er sword and a warrior princess' sword is nay easy task. Ye must be sharp not just t' cut down 'er enemies but t' sharpen 'er edge as well. Ye must be strong t' meet 'er enemies eagerly yet that same strength must be able t' support 'er when she stumbles. Ye be not jus' a weapon but a part o' 'er as well. One thing ye must undahstand tho, is that she cannot be ye sheath."

Uncertainty crept across Nyton's face as he heard this odd voice so similar to his grandfather and yet not his. It seemed impossible but acording to his recollection this same event had occurred back on Bowhordia.

"Ye may have love for ye princess, true. A truly loyal sword naturally feels love for the one who wields it well. But it nay go beyond much else. Pull it togethah an' stop moanin' oveh ye death. Ye princess needs ye and ye nay need ye cybehnetics t' function. Control yeself without'em. Now get up, boy. Ye still have more fight left in ye."

Nyton looked up and blinked when time seemed to resume it's normal flow again. The pain from his injuries was still present and it took all his effort to ignore it long enough to focus.

"Telemachus, activate the Blackout system. Jam both enemy radar systems, sensors, any comm, tracking functions, everything. Try to fill the Vermillion with enough noise to slow down Eve's hacking of Hoshi." Nyton grimaced out as he began trying to stand. There really was no stopping Eve's invasion of the MEGAMI. He didn't even know if she infiltrated from a wavelength that could be affected. But if he could help slow her down for just a little bit longer they may stop her in time. With a pain filled motion Nyton pulled out the uninstalled capacitor he had brought from a storage compartment. Pulling up a schematic with data from the suit he located the site where he may be able to plug it in. "Please tell me you managed to crack it just long enough, Hoshi." he whispered before reaching over to the port where he could install it.
 
Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Subspace detonator warheads exploded point-blank, encompassing both Mani and Kyou, whom were only a couple of meters distant.

For Kyou's M10 power armor, it meant little: she had no sublight propulsion and her barrier was still depleted from earlier. For Mani, it meant losing both STL and FTL propulsion, and collapsing her powerful dorsal-module generated barrier.

Mani flinched away too late as Kyou's struck, allowing blue-haired neko to strike at her arms and destroy her submachinegun. Mani was quick to back away as Kyou attempted to press her advantage, pulling out an aetheric saber-rifle from a shoulder rack as three ARMA countermeasure mini-missiles exploded around them.

Only, what the Black Mindy's AIES registered as a counter-measure warhead was actually Asher whom burst into being there, with Mani's open flank bared to him as the kuroneko parried Kyou's next overhead slice.

The Malifarian struck savaging open the Black Mindy's zesuaium armor on her right side. Plasma bolts ripped the spiked pauldron off, tore off the heat-resistant cloak, destroyed the dorsal shield module, nearly burned off the forearm holding the saber-rifle, bore in through the chestplate deeply enough to char black the hemosynthetic insert, continued down the abdomen to ripped through the thinner zesuaium mesh and yarvex to go so far as scorch Mani's hip bone, blasting off her right leg at the hip in the process.

"Watch out! The sword wielding one is going for your head!" Eve warned as Kyou overpowered Mani's wounded forearm and made ready to smash through her guard. Mani shied away just in time to avoid Kyou's attack entirely and then spun around - her saber-rifle switching hands - as she turned her unscathed left side toward Asher, her saber-rifle weaving left and right, high and low, catching his plasma bolts in its defensive field.

Mani was a split second away from flinging the stored energy toward Kyou to keep her at bay when a wave of aetheric energy - courtesy of Surtur's miniature aether shock attack - swept over her, the attack eating through the greatly weakened armor on the Black Mindy's right side.

The dazzling column of white turned Mani into a black silhouette that quickly withered away to nothing: disintegrated entirely.

* * *

Got you! Kotori grit her teeth, having made to strike right after Eve's telepathic warning. Thankfully the timing had been just right. Still, that victory carried with it its toll.


Tom and Ichigo seemed to be doing well. As the Raltean predicted, Vermillion still had a teleportation charge to spend, which it did to avoid its SDM missile volley. When it appeared point-blank to Tom, the mechanical devil intent on punishing him for his audacity, Ichigo's own attacks, including a pair of SDM warheads, prioritized for its attention. Eve had Vermillion twist around to mow down the incoming missiles with a claw-discharged aether blast rather than attacking the Raltean.

Ichigo and Tom's plasma rifle attacks scored a handful of hits on Vermillion's barrier, but the protection, despite all the hits it had taken thus far in the fight, still seemed to register at over 75% strength. Eve's insistence on not letting any SDM warheads hit her was likely well justified.

Kotori checked her situational displays: Nyton was safe and attempting to contribute with some electronic warfare, though his pleas to Hoshi went unanswered. Kai had reached the relative safety of the public baths. Nimura was still unconscious. Masako's barrier had recovered, and the Juni had located both Meni's remaining custom saber-rifle inside the changing room and her own LASR (Masako could also pick up Nimura's plasma rifle instead).

Vermillion made a spin toward Surtur that was almost serpentine in its fluidity before the large gargoyle-like mecha launched itself into a charge toward Kotori's crippled Akuma.

Eve was alone, under the growing pressure of many opponents, and if Surtur was running hot, then Eve's Vermillion was no doubt overheating. Even with prescience, there was only so much Eve could do at one time... which meant Eve's best chance for victory was either to survive until she took over Hoshi's CIES, or destroy her Signaler nemesis by cleaving Surtur's armored chest open.

Without the luxury of playing it safe, and not knowing how many seconds she had left before Eve defeated Hoshi's resistance, Kotori grudgingly gave her soldiers their next orders.


The Taisa took in a shuddering breath after she telepathically broadcasted her orders to the Black Knights. Nyton's armor is the only thing I have that can, on self-destruct, potentially one-shot kill Eve if the others manage to bring her shields down. She knew he would understand. She knew he wouldn't doubt her like Masako had. Even so, it did not make the order any less awful.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…