2546/EoT: Upgrades Pt. 2

EoT: Upgrades Pt. 2
Date of Scene:	28 June 2015
Location:	Midnight Shrine Tokyo <MST>
Synopsis:	The adventure continues as magical girls, magical boys, and digimon try to save the mayor of Tokyo from the Epoch Saints!
Cast of Characters:	560, 589, 782

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Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Last time... Golden, Shirou, Princess Paladin, Crucia Hex, Libra, and White Rose, had just entered an office in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, where they discovered Crucia's older brother sitting behind a desk. He is radiating magical energy that at least some among them have detected, and the powerful fear ward on the doors leading into the tower was likely his handiwork as well. Or at least Crucia indicated she was familiar with the spell used.

    Now the three magical girls, one digimon, one magus, and one fairy are all facing off against a man with hair the color of smoke, just like the Pumpkin Witch who came here alongside of the others.

    It's kind of awkward after the dramatic, "Hello, sister." and "Hello, older brother." offered. Shirou's shocked yell of "B-BROTHER!?" seems to garner a look from the man behind the desk though.

    "I'm not your brother," he says scoldingly. Then he pauses and adjusts his eye glasses as he seems to ponder that. "Or maybe I am? Kiko, did another member of the family get added without my knowledge?"

    Crucia huffs and says, "Of course not! You know perfectly well that's impossible!"

    "Yes, yes, of course. I did kill mother and father after all, and he looks nothing like us. Well..." He drums his fingers on the arm of his chair as he gazes upon all of those gathered.

    Princess Paladin glances to Crucia, and then to her brother. She doesn't want to take her eyes off this guy, but... They still have a Life Gear to take care of, and Kiko isn't acting like this guy is their target. "Maybe we can save the family reunion for another day." she suggests.

    Libra steps forward though, adjusting her own eyeglasses so they shine with reflected light. "Time is of the essence, but I want to know why this man was trying to stop us first, and who he actually is. He's clearly a mage. How do we know he's not involved with the enemy?"

    Crucia's older brother tilts his head and gives an incredulous look like, 'Really?' Then he pushes his chair back and stands up. He's... Pretty tall for a Japanese man. Over 6 feet. Tall, dressed in a business suit, with his long smoke grey hair tied back in a low ponytail in back, and with several strands of his bangs hanging loose on either side of his face.

    He's also pretty good looking, like wow.

    Both Paladin and Libra, despite the seriousness of the situation, blush a bit without changing their expressions otherwise.

    Then the mage says, "Indeed, I am a mage. I'm not involved with the enemy upstairs, but I did wish to test my little sister to see if she how much she had grown. It seems quite a bit, since this is the first time she has ever managed to defeat my emotion magic." He smiles a bit smugly, and then says, "Of course, the output was quite low. I didn't want to make Kiko's little heart burst in terror. We're family after all." Then he bows to those assembled and says, "Please forgive my lack of manners, ladies." Then he raises his head. "...And boy. And... Metal ball thing." As he straightens fully, he says, "My name is Shirou Kikumura."

    Paladin and Libra both turn to look at the red-haired Shirou present.

Golden (782) has posed:
    "Oh, so you're the one who's throwing all the fear around?" Golden says, and then points to the glowing sunburst symbol on his forehead. "This is the Crest of Courage, kid. I earned this by staring down gods and demons and not flinching."
    The arm cannon discharges a sphere of energy that explodes on contact with the desk. "Run home before I maul that face of yours as a reminder not to mess with me or my allies."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Not my brother. Her brother." Shirou gets out in a hurry, frowning slightly. Not that it matters much because he's glaring so hard at the mention of parental murders his gaze might just burn a hole in the wall.

    he remains staring there with that suspicious look, boring a hole in this self-proclaimed guy of the same name and regrettably doing so from a lower stature.

    Yeah, he's about half a foot shorter. On the other hand, he's still holding his swords.

    Shirou's disapproval does drain away after the introductions, but only to be replaced with a flicker of awkward shock. Blink!

    "... Emiya Shirou... you were just being difficult on purpose, weren't you?" Well, at least the hostility's gone. Shirou's not one to easily hold a grudge, but his tone's still quite telling.

    'What is this guy doing, putting on a big show in the middle of a crisis?! Sheesh.'

    "I'm helping the girls because they need it."

    His attempts at speaking somewhat cordially in the circumstances are cut short though, as Golden just starts SHOOTING. "What the--" He ends up whirling about and hopping away from Golden, weapons coming up.

    And for that matter, he's begun muttering something only the sharpest ears can hear.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    The pink-haired magical girl introduces herself. "Princess Paladin." And then the blue-haired one does the same, identifying herself as Libra.

    Big Brother Shirou seems surprised by the revelation of Red-Head Shirou's name. "Are we sure he's not related?" he asks of Kiko.

    The witch-dressed teenager just folds her arms and nods grumpily. She's still pale and sweating from that word, as are most of the people here, but at least their heart rates should be slowing down.

    Big Shirou shrugs and says, "Well, I've no cause to hold you up any longer, though I'd be interested in hearing what's going on and how you came to meet your protective companions later--" But then Golden blows up the desk.

    The rush of air and splinters and burning paper that flies everywhere blows back Big Shirou's hair a bit but he just stands there throughout with his palms up and open at his sides. He looks at the destroyed remains of the furniture and says, "You're a nasty little thing, aren't you? You do realize you just destroyed government property? What did that desk ever do to you? I certainly hope you intend to pay for it." The mage adjusts his glasses, causing the lenses to turn opaque with the light from the windows behind him.

    Kiko waves frantically and goes, "A-aaaah! Wait, I'll fix it!" Then she gestures and speaks in that bizarre not-language of universal command as she attempts to fix the desk, its contents, and what was on top of it, by reversing its flow of time back to a prior state. It works, thankfully, though using magic right after an exertion like that hall outside seems to take a toll on her. Unlike Paladin, or Libra, who have effectively unlimited magical energy, their Artifacts acting as bottomless wells of personal power, Crucia Hex is a mage like her brother, and her resources are thus limited to what her own body can hold. And she appears to be reaching her limit.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Paladin starts to move towards her, but Libra steps forward in her place to support the Pumpkin Witch.

    Big Shirou gazes upon this, and then tilts his head a bit, causing his eyes to become visible again as he heaves a burdened sigh. "I was going to offer to lend you aid, but after THIS sorry display, I think it would be better if I do as the desk-murdering marble over there says. My little sister is never going to become a respectable mage if her big brother is holding her hand and fighting her battles for her. And the same goes for all of you." The mage turns his gaze on Little Shirou, and says, "You may think they need your help, but if you're protecting them, then you're the only one who will grow strong. In the end, they'll be even more helpless, because they'll become dependent upon you. Fight for whatever you're here to accomplish, and let them do the same. Be their partner in this, not their body guard."

    Big Shirou then walks around his now-reassembled desk (or technically the government's desk), and right towards everyone standing in the doorway. "And keep your pet under control. People work here when there aren't monsters on the loose. Coming back to a trashed building because that THING is too 'brave' to fear it might be doing wrong won't help anyone."

    Paladin steps aside, and motions for the others to do the same. She already feels like she ran a marathon, between the stairs, and the corridor of fear. And they have a battle ahead of them too. They probably could have used Big Shirou's help, if he was serious about intending to offer it. But as long as they aren't having to fight him on top of a Life Gear, that will have to be enough.

    "Wait." Libra says.

    Big Shirou pauses while in the middle of passing by the magical librarian and smiles at her faintly. "Yes, young lady?"

    Libra's face reddens a bit but she manages to get out in a slight stutter "D-Do you know anything about the enemy? A-a-anything we should l-look out for?"

    Big Shirou squints his eyes slightly and says, "My apologies, but no. I try not to get involved..." Then, unless prevented, he steps out of the office and starts making his way at a casual pace towards the stairs. "...In that sort of thing."

    Paladin and Libra watch Big Shirou go, looking a bit smitten with the jerk. Crucia just looks annoyed as she steps away from Libra and adjusts her witch hat.

    "C'mon. We don't have all day. Golden? I REALLY appreciate you standing up for our honor and trying to protect us, but blowing up defenseless desks is NOT COOL!" She crosses her arms in an 'x' shape in front of herself. "If you're going to shoot at my older brother next time, shoot him in the face!" A pause. "He's really strong and a jerk. He can take it and deserves it." Crucia didn't seem to react at all to Big Shirou's mention of killing their parents. Unlike Little Shirou. What's up with that!?

Golden (782) has posed:
    Golden thbbpts at the departing big brother. "Yeah well, if you're the type that pulls stuff like this when lives are at stake, who needs you anyway?"
    Golden then mutters. "He'd probably just put a knife in our backs anyway."
    He looks at Emiya and says "Uh, sorry for startling you like that. I didn't think we had time to be polite, since there's a people-eating monster on the loose."
    Then to Crucia. "Well, I didn't know that. Didn't want to accidentally kill him or something." He's kind of glad he didn't go with his first impulse which was to jump in and punch the guy in the face to try and stop the magic. That might have been a much messier situation.
    He glances at the girls and Emiya. "Let's go take out a time-wasting monster?"

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Suspicioun and confusion mix chaotically in the sideways look Emiya gives Crucia. What appears to be an incredibly complicated family mess is probably better left for later though. Probably.

    But if the look on his face is any indication, overlooking this ain't easy. Not one bit.

    "Man, what kind of brother lets his sister stroll into danger without helping SOMEHOW?" Emiya does NOT APPROVE. But there's not much he can do about it, huh?

    Except for make up for the lost potential aid with hard work. Kanshou and Bakuya fade, only for him to slam both hands in his jean pockets and adopt a sour, ponderous look.

    It's true. If he does ALL the work, others cannot grow. But he quickly ends up grinning a bit sheepishly. Yeah, like he could even come close to doing all the hard work in this situation... nooooope.

    Finally he sighs, and the more positive tone's back. "Keep your cool next time," he asides to Golden. "Sir Bedivere keeps telling me being reckless and brash just gets people killed."

    Not that he has any right to talk. He will probably end up doing similar WITHIN THE HOUR. Probably. He ends up nodding though. "Nn. Back to work! We've got a crisis to solve."

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Paladin shakes off the demi-romantic haze and says, "I'm sure Crucia was joking. If her brother is strong enough to take a shot from you just fine, we probably don't want to anger him."

    The Pumpkin Witch reluctantly says, "Yeah, you're right. It's just... Complicated." She sighs and, forcing herself on slightly wobbly legs that she tries to cover up by power-walking, she departs the office and says, "Come on! Let's get going! We know where the enemy is now!"

    Libra looks concerned for her friend's well-being, casting a worried look over her shoulder at Shirou and Golden, but then following after Crucia Hex.

    Princess Paladin follows after as well, though she hangs back enough to say, "Regardless of what Crucia's older brother said, I'm not sure she's in any condition to contribute meaningfully at this point. I think that spell she put on the stairs is draining her continuously. On top of all the other magic, she's probably running on empty. She can get stronger some time when we're not facing a life-or-death situation. If you need to step in, do so."

    Then she faces forward and focuses on the task ahead.

    The group eventually manages to make it up EVEN MORE STAIRS to an office where the emanations of temporal magic are coming from. A clock on the wall is spazzing hardcore, moving really fast, stopping, starting, going backwards, chiming random hours, etc. On the other side of this door must be the enemy responsible!

Golden (782) has posed:
    Golden peers at the clocks and listens to the noise. "Should we just surprise them or be more careful?" he says to Shirou and Paladin.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "For the record, I don't have a lot of energy to spare either. I've only enough to use my trump card once if I don't use up too much more first." One has to wonder then, just either how little energy he actually has, how rule-breakingly efficient his ability to project these swords is, and... wait, he even HAS a trump card?

    Prana murkily emerges from his palms then solidifies again into Kanshou and Bakuya as the group finally reaches the door. Shirou's right up there on the front lines to open it a crack and peek in...

    And if he can't see any evidence of a trap or dangerous thing preventing entry?!

    He'll just thrust the door open and take up front line position to give the others a chance to filter in, blades at the ready!

Golden (782) has posed:
    Golden watches Shirou check the door, then when the young man decides to just push the door open, he assists as much as a small ball can, hopping in first to look for any hostiles and alert his allies to them if possible.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    No obvious signs of a trap, though there is the mayor of Tokyo apparently being held hostage by a metal woman made out of pistons, shiny steel, clockwork, huge gears coming out of her back, cogs for eyes, etc. Based on the now-metallic outfit she wears, she may have once been the mayor's secretary. She turns when Shirou busts open the door, the grinding of gears setting Paladin's teeth on edge as she draws the Sacred Scepter and prepares to attack.

    The mayor is an older man with a receding hairline, and when he sees magical girls and magical boys and golem-things bursting in, he seems quite surprised. Then he, frightenedly yells, "Help me! My secretary has turned into a monster and is going to eat me! Please help!"

    The Life Gear turns back towards the mayor, snarling, and leaving her back to the good guys!

    Crucia raises a hand to manifest a flaming pumpkin, but the construct vanishes in a puff of orange flame before she can fire it. "Damn it." she mutters.

    Looks like it's up to the two already in the room, and the two magical girls who aren't fully exhausted, to take care of this one!

    Libra's heavy book appears in her grasp, and the pages start flipping rapidly as she prepares an attack in advance. Paladin tries to slip into the office behind Golden and Shirou, since she doesn't want to start shooting lasers through them or anything.

Golden (782) has posed:
    Golden glances at Shirou and Princess Paladin. Divide and conquer's probably a good tactic here, creating openings for them to exploit. Okay then, the little metal ball is going to go right for the face and try to occupy the Life Gear that way.
    The MetalMamemon runs with his short little legs and leaps for the Life Gear's head, trying to get a grip with his lone hand and obscure the Ex-Secretary's vision with the much longer tines of his claw while hooking the cannon arm around the neck. It's super awkward and probably not going to work too well, but it's worth a shot.
    "Look! I'm a distraction!" He shouts loudly as he leaps for the monster of the day.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Get away from him!" Shirou roughly demands, breaking quickly into a charge upon seeing the monster. Most people would run AWAY, he's running TOWARDS it. KAnshou and Bakuya are brought about and swung with enough speed and strength to whistle through the air. Strength an ordinary human shouldn't have. Yet one application of Reinforcement magic and the power of a Noble Phantasm blade!

    But the one attack is a little sloppy, and for good reason. Shirou's chanting something out in a solemn but determined tone.

    "My body is made of swords, a shell of steel with fire for blood. I have created over a thousand blades, never retreating, never knowing victory..."

    Well, whatever it is, an impressive upwelling of magical energy's building. Large circuit-like patterns glow a faint blue-green across Shirou's exposed flesh...

    "I stand atop a hill of swords, forging weapons from my flesh. This lonely path needs no reward!"

    Whether the blows struck or were blocked, Shirou backflips away from his opponent and lands near a wall, hand outstretched. Power sizzles and crackles like lightning, and the arcs slam into the ground. Where they touch... the ground appears to crack and seethe with deep fires... "My whole life is... UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS!"

    The 'cracked ground' effect erupts every which way into a wall of flame, engulfing EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING.. In a second or two though, when the light dies down...

    The office building is gone. Instead, everyone stands on a barren wasteland of dry and cracked rusty-reddish ground, baked hard under a sunless yet brilliant twilight sky. The infinite horizon is a wall of flames.

    Emiya Shirou stands tall upon one of the few hills present in the otherwise mostly flat plains, along with his allies.

    And everywhere the eye can see, there's swords. They grow from the ground like gravestones, or the remains of some incalculably vast battlefield. Swords of all shapes and sizes. The simple and the legendary. There's Excalibur and Clarent. Souji's Murasame and Charlemagne's Joyeuse... dozens, hundreds...

    No, looking at the horizon, the number may well be infinite.

    "Give it everything you've got. Now we don't have to worry about wrecking the place."

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    When Golden leaps towards the Life Gear secretary she seems to blink out of existence. Moments later, Golden, Shirou, Paladin, Crucia, and Libra may all feel as though they've been struck repeatedly all over by seriously strong blows of some kind. Of course, Shirou is in the middle of an incantation, as Paladin and Libra both stagger from the sudden impacts, and Crucia cries out in pain, and the fact the Life Gear is now out in the hallway they just left is probably not going to save the monster as she and the mayor and everyone else here are temporarily engulfed in some sort of pocket reality.

    The Life Gear scans over the grouo with cog-wheel eyes, her body continuing to churn and produce chattering mechanical noises as she analyzes the new battlefield. Then the Life Gear kneels and slams down her hand on the dusty terrain, barren of all but blades, and the image of a gear expands outwards, trying to corrupt the Reality Marble with a second Reality Marble where time for everyone else seems to be slowed.

    Paladin decides not to wait and see if this can work and unleashes a blast from the Sacred Scepter as she calls out, "PENANCE BEAM!" A holy laser launches from the Artifact, attempting to drill through the monster, only for it to seemingly cease to exist inches away from the possessed secretary and reappear coming from a different angle, right at Libra, just as the other magical girl is calling out, "Stop Watch--Aaaagh!" when she gets interrupted by being blasted with Paladin's laser from her left side.

    "W-What the crap!" Crucia Hex exclaims. "What's going on here!? None of the Life Gears have been anywhere NEAR this strong or competent so far!" She struggles to remain on her feet, both exhausted and now bruised from some unseen attack. "It's also REALLY WEIRD how it seems to have specific counters to each of our abilities... Really suspicious! Buy me some time to recover my magic energy, and I'll see if I can find us an answer!"

Golden (782) has posed:
    What? Golden gets slammed this way and that before he can even do anything, adding more dings, scratches, and bruises to the scruffy looking MetalMamemon. He picks himself up in time to see the girls unleash a round of magical attacks that get... redirected? "Oh, that's just /great/." He mutters as he gets to his feet.
    And yet if the group scatters that means it would be easier for the Life Gear to pick them off, Golden muses as he witnesses the redirection of things. Ah, if only the glitches were more controllable, then he could really throw the Life Gear for a loop. Wait... Oh, that is so dangerous, but it might do something useful.
    "Somebody shoot me with some kind of lightning when I jump at it!" He shouts to his allies, and then bounds towards the Life Gear, taking one last leap into the air towards it while letting loose a barrage of energy bombs /around/ it in the hopes of distracting it. This is going to hurt.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou's first slammed by a mysterious force, interrupting his incantation for a moment... then faced with a strange issue indeed. The Life Gear is actively fighting the Reality Marble.

    As it's already putting a constant drain on Shirou's minimal prana, this is not good at all. The ground around the Life Gear ripples and distorts, crackling and fizzling like a radio television in a storm. Several weapons shatter as the gear image extends, but Shirou quickly gestures. Obeying his mental command, dozens of weapons UPROOT before they're overtaken and instead take up residence in the sky.

    "I'll say it's weird. This trick's the toughest magic I know how to work!" He too can barely believe what's happening down there.

    And warping his Reality Marble is not that difficult, for his skill at constructing it is still crude and inefficient compared to the hero he might one day become.

    It's only a miracle that he's able to use it AT ALL.

    Having seen Paladin's efforts go nowhere, he's unsure what to do himself. Shirou gestures again... and the airborne Joyeuse plummets like heavenly judgement towards the Life Gear.

    Then, answering Golden... "... WHAT? ... You're not joking..." Biting his feelings on the matter and HOPING Golden knows what they're doing he wills another weapon into action. A large, ornate, golden spear flies into view from the infinite horizon and sizzles with power. it fires a bolt of golden lightning straight for Golden. How ironic!

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    The Life Gear looks up at the swords and other weapons that lift into the air, ready to plunge down at her, and is momentarily not paying attention to the others. Paladin is trying to use healing magic on Libra, who has a nasty bleeding hole in her side where the laser nearly drilled through her rib cage, and Crucia is searching through a jack-o-lantern candy pail she got from... Somewhere or other, which seems to be full of magically-charged candy, for one specific treat. Probably something to replenish her energy.

    Shirou's weapons dive-bomb the Life Gear and she acrobatically flips and twirls out of the way -- as long as they move in a straight line. Even with the monster's own abilities corrupting Shirou's Reality Marble, she can only do so much to evade super-fast weapons under Shirou's control. Which is why the weapons entering her own, much smaller 'territory' being slowed down in time relative to the monster is such a boon in evasion. Of course, if any of the weapons does NOT move in a straight line, the metallic monster will have to exercise more effort to evade the attacks.

    Golden is probably successfully hit by the lightning bolt, but the Life Gear is a bit too busy to be concerned with that right now. Though the energy bombs exploding in slow-motion once they enter the warped temporal space certainly helps facilitate that distraction by adding something else for the monster to seemingly dodge at super-speed.

    Meanwhile, the mayor is just standing in the background, keeping his cool to the best of his ability and trying not to get in the way or draw attention from anyone. That's probably for the best. These people are dangerous, after all!

Golden (782) has posed:
    Instead of the glitch being anything useful, Golden blinks out of existence in a flicker of pixels and digital glyphs.

    He re-emerges in mid-air somewhere near the Life Gear in time to be smacked by a sword and spiked back the way he came with an accidental kick from the Life Gear. The MetalMamemon bounces and skids around the ground of this Reality Marble, metal plates glowing cherry red from the lightning strike and the air marred by heat mirages around him.
    "Ow..." So he grimaces when he gets up this time and rethinks his strategy.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Emiya Shirou may be dense, naive, hypocritical, and a slew of other things, but 'stupid' is another matter. After a few different flying swords are so expertly dodged he decides it's time to rethink his strategy... before he runs out of prana.

    The boy can onyl wince as the Digimon's plan utterl backfires. "What was he even asking for if that's the result?!" A pang of guilt strikes. He's just grateful Golden didn't get utterly skewered there.

    So now it's just him, Princess Paladin, and a weakened Cruxia. Great.

    The dozens of flying weapons all angle their tips at a point of near convergence, aiming around the nimble Life Gear.

    His strategy is quite simple. If a single sword can be so easily dodged, eliminate all avenues of escape.

    COUNTLESS BLADES of all shapes and sizes rain down at once on the Life Gear. Shirou's quarry is in fact right in the middle of a good twenty meter ZONE of falling swords, the moment they're far enough away from Golden! "Let's see you get out of this one!"

    Of course, this is only the first volley. The other is a single weapon he summons to his hand. A strange crimson weapon barely recognizable as a 'sword.' Hrunting, Hound of the Red Plains. The black bow of his future self flies to his other hand, and he quickly gets to work combining the two. The blade is mounted and begins to gleam with an inner light as he pumps a small amount of Prana into it.

    It's not much, but it's enough to activate this 'weak' but quite useful Noble Phantasm. "Sic 'em, Hrunting!"

    The 'arrow' is let fly in the sake of the sword rain. Now a speeding missile, Hrunting does something QUITE ODD if it is dodged.

    ... It will CHANGE COURSE and keep trying to strike, until it either succeeds, is destroyed, or runs out of prana.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    What, indeed, was the point of that? Paladin finishes healing Libra, just in time to have to heal Golden. She furrows her brow a bit and sets her mouth in a determined line as she rushes towards the fried Digimon, and aims the Sacred Scepter. "Mendicant's Mercy!" she chants as she waves the Artifact over the digital entity and releases white sparkles to try to heal him gradually.

    Libra adjusts her over-sized eyeglasses as she observes Shirou's strategy, and then looks to Crucia as the Pumpkin Witch continues to sort through a bunch of candy. "You might want to seek a more efficient method of locating--"

    "I KNOW. NOT THE TIME." Crucia interrupts. Then she lets out an 'ah-hah!' as she holds up a black paper-wrapped nougat candy, which she unwraps and consumes.

    Libra turns her attention back on the Life Gear, and says, "How much more time do you need," as her book flips pages rapidly, trying to figure out a spell that the enemy isn't going to predict or counter easily.

    "Depends how hard it is to analyze this baldy!" Crucia Hex answers.

    "She does not appear to be bald."

    "WHATEVER I AM DOING SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW GET OFF ME."

    Libra sighs and decides to try something. A combo that might turn out a bit better than the lightning-to-the-face one that Golden suggested. She chants, "Accel Blade!" Ordinarily, Libra needs to find a specific story within her Artifact that speaks of a legendary blade in order to enhance it, as she does not carry any weapons herself, and neither do her two companions. But she is surrounded by them. So some of Shirou's weapons may suddenly find themselves moving several times faster than normal, counter-acting the slowing field of the Life Gear's territory.

    All the while, Crucia begins to chant as she tries to hone her sensing abilities in order to discern the mechanism behind the mechanical monster's prediction powers.

    Meanwhile, the Life Gear manages to try to flip and dodge and duck under and move aside from the blades and weapons that bombard her, mostly by virtue of slowing them down before they can hit, but there's something to be said about quantity, and the monster does not escape without injury, and that combined with Libra's Time Magic may cause a number of smaller gears and strips of metallic flesh to be torn from its frame.

    When the homing arrow comes after it, the Life Gear seems to finally have met its match, unable to evade! The gear-patterned territory contracts and vanishes, and the Life Gear once more instantaneously vanishes from sight only to reappear. This time directly in front of Shirou, with a giant gear spinning like a sawblade in hand already being swung towards the magus's belly.

    That can't just be speed! It was one place and another in the same moment! Teleportation? Something else!?

    Of course, Hrunting may catch right back up to the Life Gear very shortly. But which attack will hit first!?

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    The dodge-dance juju routine Shirou's witness to has him boggling where he stands. Even though he's been trained quite hard to not freeze up like that he still does for a second or so. And that's all the Life Gear needs to get the drop on him.

    Had there been at least a LITTLE more warning he'd have deployed Rho Aias, but there is NONE. Instead all Shirou can do is bring up his weapons in the last few split seconds. Kanshou and Bakuya are in his hands immediately, as if they were always there, and the crossed weapons catch the sawing strike. The noise from this weapon clash is AWFUL. Grinding blades on starmetal means a noise like a hundred panes of glass being crunched and crushed inside the maw of a growling, giant monster.

    Shirou struggles to gain some balance and control, but it's a no-go. He merely ends up DEFLECTING the blades to his side where they cut a nasty gash half a foot long, ripping up flesh and clothing and things best undescribed.

    It would be a serious wound to anyone else, and for him it's.. well, it's still pretty bad.

    Because the sheer FORCE sends him toppling over, rolling in an uncontrolled somersault again and again until he slams back-first into one of the enormous blades of the Four Kings. Thankfully, onto the flat.

    But Hrunting is STILL coming, and Shirou rises with Kanshou - heavily damaged and cracked in one hand - and his other over the wound, to keep certain things from... spilling out. "What kind of trick is this...?! Oi! You girls better figure something out. I can't keep this up much longer!"

Golden (782) has posed:
    Golden is not near enough to be have to deal with the sword rain, fortunately...
    Golden seems to be easily healed by Paladin's magic, though he still looks fairly charred. "Thanks, I really needed that, miss!" He says to Princess Paladin, wobbling to his feet still, glancing around.
    "Hey.. that looks useful." And he grabs a sword that is far too big for him, a two-handed blade by most people's standards, and charges towards the Life Gear with the sword in tow. He swings and instead of trying to complete the swing, he lets go when he feels the time slowing field take effect on the blade and throws himself around the side of the Life Gear using the sudden difference in momentum, unleashing more energy bombs around in a quarter circle at the monster. If all goes well he'll ricochet off of one of Shirou's blades for another pass by.
    "Hey ugly, follow the bouncing ball!" he shouts at the Life Gear as he hops off the blades in the landscape and saturating the monster with his cannon fire. Hopefully that'll take some heat off of Shirou and the magical girls.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Geez, now ANOTHER ally is injured. With everyone here injured to one degree or another, and the Life Gear succeeding in doing more damage to them than any other Life Gear they've faced so far by a rather wide margin, once Golden is up and moving, Princess Paladin decides enough is enough. She raises the Sacred Scepter above her head, drawing from the bottomless well of magical energy that is an Artifact.

    Meanwhile, Crucia finishes sensing the flow of the Life Gear's magic, just as the high-speed Hrunting slams into the Life Gear's back while it off-balance from its attack on Shirou being shunted to the side. She doesn't have the same analytical powers as Libra, but a spell is a spell. And the one she cast gave her plenty. Especially when Golden then keeps the monster distracted with a thrown zweihander, energy bombs, and continuous cannon fire.

"It isn't just fast! It's stopping time and moving while the rest of us are frozen in place! But it can't stop time and slow time at the same, uh, time!" the Pumpkin Witch calls out. "It can produces counters to our abilities based on things it's seen from us before now, but new counters to new abilities cost more of its stolen 'time', and it has to momentarily stop or slow time to study what we do! It's already much lower on juice than it was when the fight started!"

    The Life Gear has large chunks of its body stripped off, exposing a steel skeletal frame of pistols and wires and crank shafts and who-knows-what-else as it spins and lets go of the sawblade gear, sending it homing in on Golden in the same manner that Shirou's arrow homed in on it moments prior.

    Libra gazes upon this and asks, "Any suggestions on what to do beyond wearing it down and hoping it doesn't kill us before that happens?"

    Then Princess Paladin yells out, "HEAVENLY GLORY!" A wave of intense restoration magic, comprised of Holiness and Law, blasts outwards from the pink-haired magical gear, rewriting the terrain and everyone in it back to a more complete state... The state it was in before injuries and exhaustion were inflicted. Even the barren area around them where they've fought so far may have its prana refreshed, as might the one who created it. To say nothing of the collective injuries of Shirou, Golden, Paladin, Crucia, and Libra. This is the same restorative spell that Shirou saw Paladin use when they first met, back when she was a different person. A healing spell so powerful that it can 'heal' objects and even PLACES.

    Everyone here should suddenly feel refreshed and fully intact.

    Everyone except the Life Gear.

    And the mayor who has skedaddled off behind something or another to avoid getting caught up in all this.

    Crucia grins at her renewed magical energy supply, and then answers Libra. "Yeah, I've got a suggestion." Then she raises a hand above her head and says, "DON'T STOP SHOOTING UNTIL IT'S DEFEATED!" Then a giant orange pumpkin forms above Crucia's hand and she chants, "Smashing Pumpkin!" as she tries to bring it down like a telekinetically-controlled orange boulder on the Life Gear.

    Libra chants, "Timeless Tail!" and a giant dragon's tail erupts from her Artifact attempting to whip the Life Gear towards Shirou and Golden to facilitate a combo attack.

Golden (782) has posed:
    Golden's injuries he has sustained during the journey up here and with the Life Gear melt away, though his permanent ones remain intact. The effect is noticeable though; he is shinier, invigorated, and slightly quicker on the uptake. He notes that the group is going with saturation fire and adjusts accordingly.
    "Sounds great to me!" he shouts back to Crucia as he remains constantly on the move, unleashing the energy bombs at spots where his allies aren't covering, to herd the Life Gear with the explosions into the field of fire.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    With Shirou's body restored and energy reserves swelling up again after a startling display of magic, he suddenly has a bit of inspiration. How to take this thing down without it having a chance of evasion.

    His mind calls out for a weapon he hardly ever uses. A crimson spear that delivers death to anything it pierces, with no exception.

    GAE BOLG flies to his hands and is gripped tightly, then twirled back. Now that he has prana... just as the Life Gear flies at him?

    Gae Bolg ERUPTS with prana, and causality FLIPS OUT the instant Shirou thrusts. "GAE BOLG!"

    Watching it, one's brain might simply glitch. It's harder to tell which happened first - the act of Shirou thrusting, or the spear seeming to be upon the Life Gear the moment it's in range.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    The Life Gear is first crushed under a giant pumpkin, and then batted through the air by the tail of a fierce dragon that seems to just be squeezing itself out of a book far too small for it to be coming out of. Then, as the possessed secretary goes cartwheeling through the air, limbs bent or snapped, body twisted, Golden blasts the monster with explosions, dealing additional damage... And then Shirou's spear pierces its core, the magical gear at the center of all the other gears that contains all the 'time' that it has stolen.

    As the Life Gear freezes in place, energy crackling over its form, Golden's barrage of energy bombs catches up with the stationary target, sending its body writhing and jerking in multiple directions violently as its caught in the midst of dozens of explosions at once. The shattered and charred body flies a hundred feet into the air before coming back down in a crumpled heap.

    The magical body that has overlayed the secretary's dissolves, leaving a normal human woman behind -- thankfully bearing none of the injuries sustained by the Life Gear, and even more thankfully she is passed out, so there's less explaining to do.

    Less thankfully, as a decent amount of stolen 'time' flies outwards from the monster, the mayor might be noticed. He saw the whole thing. Explaining this to him might get a bit tricky. But after he looks first at his secretary, and then around at the people who rescues him, he holds up his hands and says, "Thank you for saving me! Don't worry, I won't mention you to anyone! You all seem like the 'secret hero' types. You are from out THERE, yes? In the Multiverse? Unless you choose to reveal yourselves to the public, you have my word that none of this will pass to their ears or eyes. But your heroic actions will not be forgotten!"

    Paladin nods after a few seconds of staring and says, "That is appreciated." Then she moves over to Shirou's side and gestures for everyone else to join her, as she asks, "Can you bring us back, Shirou?" The fight is over, but the magical girl still seems... Troubled. Libra takes notice, but she remains quiet, as usual. Crucia just seems to be glad it's all over. But White Rose pokes her fairy head up out of Paladin's purse for the first time in what may feel like hours, and starts, "Hey..."

    Paladin hisses out, "Shh. Not until we're clear."

    What's going on? The fight's over, right?

Golden (782) has posed:
    Golden looks around and decides to hop over to the witches and Paladin and kind of remain obscured by their legs.
    "Hey, there's no more surprises right? No creepy uncles or cousins are going to jump out and yell surprise?" He says, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    The Life Gear fizzles, flies off... and explodes into a heap. Shirou's left gasping and panting. Restored or not, he's pushed himself to the limit physically and mentally, and it's only the brief restorative effects of Paladin's magic that he hasn't lost control of the Reality Marble.

    But on request, he takes a deep breath, closes his eyes...

    Everything turns white and fuzzy, then just *FLASHES*. Folliwing a faint lurching sensation, the light dims... and lo and behold, there's the office again. Completely untouched by all of the chaos.

    "That was intense. How was it countering everything we did?" He's still bewildered by this, and otherwise does little except nod to the mayor.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    There are things about this enemy, and the after-math, that concern Princess Paladin. But they are not things to discuss in front of a civilian, and DEFINITELY not in a building where a skilled mage spends a lot of his time. Who knows what's bugged in here? Paladin and Libra share a knowing glance after seeing the lack of damage associated with long-term possession the secretary seems to have, but Crucia just seems tired.

    To Golden, Paladin says guardedly, "We can talk more somewhere else. Let's get out of the mayor's office. I'm sure his secretary will be just fine." And to Shirou she says, "That's part of what I want to talk about."

    Once they've all evacuated the mayor's office and started rushing out of the building, Crucia says, "Like I said, it was building a defense, offense, and counter-action profile based off of information on all of us from past encounters. Meaning we've been being watched while we've fought. The things we haven't shown before? It was slowing down time or stopping it entirely to gain enough of a break to analyze our new abilities, and develop counters for them on-the-spot... But at a higher magic energy cost. I don't know if that's unique to this Life Gear, or if we're going to have to worry about THIS fight being used to benefit the bad guys in making an even nastier minion NEXT time, but I think we should be trying to take the fight to the enemy now. We need one of their leaders, or else they're just going to make tougher and tougher enemies for us to face."

    Paladin nods and says, "Agreed. Our only trouble so far has been tracking them down... And if that Life Gear was made after we got here, as the lack of damage and relatively small amount of restored 'time' indicates... We may need to confront Crucia's brother about just who he's working with."

    That should be fun.