1944/CatP - Finale II

CatP - Finale II
Date of Scene:	03 April 2015
Location:	A Quiet World
Synopsis:	Hickory dickory dock, The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one, The mouse ran down, Hickory dickory dock.
Cast of Characters:	2, Kotone Yamakawa, Arthur Lowell, Staren, Priscilla, 152, 183, 253, Riva Banari, 570, Ayako Hasekawa
Tinyplot:	A Chime at the Precipice

---

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Once everyone has gathered before the Monochrome Castle, an even deeper silence than the one they had entered into chokes the atmosphere. Though nothing happens in particular, all of them at once would feel, implicitly, a creeping dread. That sensation would creep up from their legs, to their backs, to their heads, until every inch of their bodies feels as though it's been submerged beneath many leagues of water. Still, maddeningly, nothing happens. With every moment more pressure mounts, as though each ounce of it were a drip hitting their bodies in torture; their ears click as though they had risen into the sky on a plane, and yet the world lies motionless.

    And then there is a click.

    There's a winding sound -- a noise like a grandfather clock setting itself. Chains clink. Then, finally, the answer to those heavy feelings of before would come:

    A ringing. An echoing. Somewhere far, far away yet so close that it might occur in their own skulls, a clock chimes. The characteristic tune plays across and through Mizuki's Universe, bringing with it an earthquake. Long, black lines carve their way through the ground. Media and lethargy are cleaved from the ground and fall into an even deeper abyss than that they had already dwelled within, and the Broken Sky, only so recently mended, would be eclipsed by a brilliant white fog.

    Cascades of water can be heard as a wakes begin to drizzle off the sides of the newly formed mountain. The only stretch of land left now is that containing the blighted tower. Sounds of rocks shaving off the sides of the ground resound, but there is no complementary hint of landing -- indeed, for there is nowhere for those lost pieces to fall. They are consumed, completely.

    Then reigns another, long silence, only interrupted by the sound of the liquids that continually pour off unto nowhere. This lasts until another, mighty chime rings from the clock -- a single hit to indicate the passage of a single hour. A resonant feeling would tell all those present that this sound is certainly not the last of its kind; rather, it is a warning. A warning that, once the twelfth ring chimes, their adventure will be over. Mizuki, along with her world, will be gone. These are the final cries of a dying world.

    And as fate decrees, the door's to Sophia's palace swing open at their call. The woman herself emerges soon after, hilt of her ruptured sword held, form cloaked in darkness, blue spheres filled with unreadable emotion. She looks over the group in silence, but as should be expected, the silence does not last long. Mizuki would draw her sword as well, leveling it at her twin. Her own eyes carry a much more legible imprint -- fire, such an indignant tempest of flame that can rarely be glimpsed. Her blade's edge shimmers. Her teeth twist into a snarl.

    "... and even as this world -- yours and mine -- crumbles to oblivion, you yet refuse to cooperate with me in any capacity. You refuse to hand over your piece of the key. You refuse to allow us both to be released from this dismal cycle." She stares at her. Into her. "... and I really must ask -- why? Why are you so adamant in maintaining all this? Do you never tire of seeing this world implode upon itself? Are you truly so depraved, so primal, so archaic that you would not prefer to see it flourishing, flowering, growing?" Again, there's a silence. Mizuki's eyes narrow. "-Speak-! Answer me! At least present me with some reason! Are you really that monster, Apathy? Are you really that primordial essence of destruction so oft depicted in children's books? Or are you --" Apathy holds up the palm of her hand.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    "My wishes are irrelevant." And lowers shortly after. "... whatever the case, I am an obstacle in your path. In order to progress, you must fight me. Do so, or this day will be your last, Mizuki." She glances briefly to Arthur once she's finished, which provides Mizuki a window just wide enough to charge at her. Apathy blocks with the hilt of her own 'blade'. They remain there, metal scraping against metal, for some time yet. Eventually, though, the former relents, gliding back to put distance between them. "I will never understand you, 'Sophia'."

    "No," She echoes, "you will not."

    Afterwards, both figures remain still for a spell. In time, Mizuki looks back to the rest of them. Without words, her coutenance screams, 'What should we do?'

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "It's going to work." Arthur says, responding to Psyber's statement after a lengthy pause. Thankfully, Ayako has healed up some of his wounds, so he can speak more openly. And also enabling the part where everything gets a little bit twisted up.

    He tosses his fragment of the key into the air. Someone else will need to catch it. And then he turns around, as if rejecting Apathy's challenge, and in his hands, the KING BROOM flickers to life. "We don't have any time to mess around. Priscilla. Eryl. Psyber. Riva. Faruja. Come here. We're not fighting Apathy. The rest of you, don't let her interfere."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber stares at Arthur for a long few moments, eventually reaching into the pocket of his coat. His flask comes out, which he tips backwards and then caps again, sliding it back into his coat. He adjusts his stance, still having a light limp, but mostly compensating for it by this point.

    Psyber looks to Apathy for a long moment as Mizuki shouts to her. He then looks back to Arthur for a final time and brings a hand up to rub his face, "Fine. Let's go," He says bluntly, still thinking over that phrase stuck in his head from earlier.

Riva Banari has posed:
The final chimes begin to resound. Riva looks up as this dark core of a land of imagination crumbles, falling away into a terrifying precipice over a void. The message of the chimes are immediately understood. Time is not their friend here. WHEN something happens is as important as WHAT happens in this place, at this time.

Riva brandishes Daemon like a blade, preparing to use it to strike, to help Mizuki. "I don't understand." Riva says, simply. "You all want to be fought so badly. Is the narrative here so important? Are you being forced to play a part, or..."

Riva is about to lunge in to strike, but the moment before she does so, Arthur's voice causes her hand to pause in the beginning of her attack. "Y... You what?" Riva looks over to Arthur, uncertainty oin her expression. She looks between Arthur and Mizuki, indecision evident in her features...

But she nods. "All right." She brings a hand back to clear some loose hair from her face, watching Arthur carefully for a moment, perhaps for a sign of something, before she heads over to follow him. "I'm with you." She says.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki's eyes bulge as Arthur makes his 'reply'. What? /Leaving/?? She had thought negotiation would be on the table failing an all-out brawl, but -abandoning the fight- was not an option she had been expecting. She would open her mouth to speak, but would say nothing. Eventually, though, her jaw eases shut, and she manages a deep, gradual nod. She had promised to trust Arthur, and she will not withdraw that now. Not as it matters most. Instead, she looks back to the others. "If they go," She starts, "then we'll have a bit more of our own weight to carry here. Homura, Staren, Kimiko, Kotone, Ayako -- I will be counting on you."

    She turns back to face Apathy. "If you are really so eager to fight me, Sophia," Her sword grip tightens, "then very well." The others who were asked to accompany Arthur would receive nods of equivalent resolve from her. 'Good luck,' she seems to say.

    She isn't happy about this, but a promise is a promise.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Switch safety covers are opened on the broom. Panels light up. Warp release codes are entered. Rockets unfold. More, and more, and more thrusters. "Get over here now or you aren't going to get here. If you want to save Mizuki, if you care about /Mizuki/, then get here and hold on. We've got little time to explain and less chance to save her if any of you back out." Switches are rapidly flicked. The broom grows tremendously, harsh industrial steel expanding into a wide craft. Psyber, Riva, and anyone else on the list who gets near Arthur, will feel the sensation of gravity magic linking with their own personal experiences of gravity. They'll be coming aloing for the ride.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja follows along with the other, dealing with the dread and feeling of being utterly in over his head creeping through his entire body. The whole situation just doesn't sit right with him. What sort of apocalypse is this, with Mizuki living through so many past lives? Did the worlds crumble again and again here? Truly, this place is lost to God as it stands, so pathetically destroyed over and over.

And through it all, the girl whose palace he enters still holds on stubbornly to the idea of opposing him. To the Inquisitor, it fits horribly ill. Why would this woman be so adamant?

Suspicion alights in his natural eye as he watches the exchange between Mizuki and Apathy. His grip on his weapon tightens...then loosens. He glances to Mizuki, then Arthur as he speaks up.

The tension is a bit too high for the rat it seems, and he laughs the laugh of one in the heat of the moment.

Then he looks to Arthur, and grins.

He's over there in a flash alongside Arthur's magic, grinning.

"Something didst indeed feel /off/ about this whole affair! Lady Mizuki, if ye die by that knave's hands, I shall be most wroth! Come, Ser Lowell, let us see if whatever gambit ye hath up thine sleeve shall be successful!"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    One PRESUMES Homura was helping fight Telephone and has otherwise stood by Mizuki or Psyber until now. Though now that things are reaching the final stage, being passive is no longer an option.

    A nod is given to Arthur at his request to delay Apathy, and the Puella Magi simply stands by Mizuki, still unarmed, uncrossing her arms and tensing for a moment.

    "You should stand back, Mizuki. We can't have you get injured at this point."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako shudders slightly. She can feel it. The familiar sensation of a world ticking it's way towards it's end. And then the click-and the sounds of a clock moving. Perhaps the figure of speech thought of was apt as the ringing of the clock chimes and an earthquake follows. She takes a step back to steady herself.

    Ick. A world on a time limit. But... they still have time. Before Mizuki's world c-No. That type of thought is quickly discarded.

    As she quietly watches the interplay between Mizuki and Sophia, Ayako quietly inclines her head to the side. That's odd. Sophia's acting... different than normal. In fact, now that she thinks about it... why would she sic three people on them in the first place? She's usually a lot more talkative than this. Was all of this done to... provoke Mizuki? "Sophia... you're acting kind of... strange."

    Ayako then blinks her eyes quickly as Arthur makes his announcement. "A-ahh!" She quickly stumbles a few steps and catches the key piece that Arthur flings. A cheerful smile is given to them. "Good luck, Arthur, Riva, Psyber, Priscilla, Eryl, and Faruja!"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone has managed to get her arm reformed into something functional as a limb again, but the illusion it was made of flesh is utterly gone. The coiled artificial muscles, power lines and other systems are visible clearly from her elbow downward the rest is hidden by her re-patched together stealth suit's sleeve. She has recovered her gear and seems to be ready to go on. She takes a moment to wonder about what comes next. She shakes her head, how did it come to this? Seriously how did this? Mizuki's troubles has made her think about the things that people on her world are chasing, which she's got to wonder about. It's raised some notable questions about the prices of such things such as immortality or somehow fully digitizing someone might bring.

The Multiverse has proven to be a window showing both the heights into heaven such technologies could lead, or the depths of the darkest hells they could inflict, it was sobering. She's not sure which is the best way but this is a change to do something. She wonders about her self but she can't really focus on that any longer. They have a job to finish, she makes sure she's got a fresh clip. She moves on ahead to see what awaits them in Sophia's place.

The call out has been made and she now waits to hear what Apathy has to say in reply.

Arthur picks the people needed for whatever part of this plan of his needs. She's caught the hints to not act would be worse than doing nothing. She's got that information control is paramount with whatever they are doing here. She has accepted that and will trust in him and the others who know what's up. She's got a part all right, which is to fight Apathy.

"Understood Arthur, but someday I want to know just what was going on when it's safe to say. Well if it ever is."

She now turns her attention to the foe ahead and stares her down.

"Riva, Faruja, Psyber, Arthur, Priscilla, Eryl? Good hunting."

She notes before turning her attention to way lays here. She looks at Apathy for a moment thinking about their name, there's something niggling about it. She's caught the hints of what might happen if they fail here, they will get caught up in things and perhaps be trapped here. So it's sink or swim which seems to be the story of her life.

She looks to Mizuki.

"Have faith in them Mizuki."

Her weapon is ready, she's armed and she's not the entirely weak little thing she was when she first came to visit Mizuki's open invite for a day of exploring this world.

"Funny how things go, but we're not going to let you get in the way of what needs to be done here. We all know we're not going to back down, and your not either."

There's nothing else to say she's just waiting for the go to attack and is attempting to rouse Overclock.

<Hey get ready I got no idea what's going to happen here and I might need your help again.>

With that said she now waits still as a statue with none of the little movements a human might have. She seems focused and she's as ready as she's ever going to be. She's along side good people they should be able to handle this right?

Faruja (152) has posed:
"Lady Kotone, I shall expect ye to protect her! Go with God, Lady Ayako! There art no other options but victory here!"

Then he looks at the lot of them. "And for the love of Faram wouldsts ye hath /FAITH/ ye pack of heathens! Quit speaking as though this is some form of goodbye!" Somewhere along his little rant, the rat smartly tosses Ayako his key fragment.

Just in case they actually do screw the chocobo.

"Though if one of ye wouldst punch the little git in the face, I wouldst be most obli..."

Probably by then, he'll get caught up in Arthur's magic.

Priscilla has posed:
    Priscilla has already had more than enough of this by the time she stands before the monochrome castle. The omnipresent feeling of inevitability. The overwhelming sensation of something's final hours. The constant presence of something far different from simple death. She probably would have been the first to break formation had the clock not chimed and the earth crumbled around her. Despite having had all the time in the world, she still doesn't quite have the words for Apathy. She knows too little of her, and Mizuki's hatred of her alone isn't enough for her to fully make a judgement on a figure so far removed from her breadth of experience.

    It is for that reason that she is deeply surprised, and yet not at all untrusting, when Arthur decides that the best move would be to abandon the battlefield. It might behoove her to be a little more reluctant about it, but the crossbreed will eagerly second any motion from anyone who seems like they know what they're doing in this awful, distressing mess. She follows Arthur's lead, divesting her key fragment to Homura.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Two healers. That's made things quite a bit easier. Kimiko has feeling back in her left arm, though she's repeatedly opening and closing her fist to be sure the fingers are working. She hasn't transformed since, so the blood is still there, but her regenerated armor covers much of it, and lacks signs of damage.

    She doesn't have a great deal of trust for Arthur. That's not something he's earned in her presence, and she is not the sort to allow for trust by proxy. On the other hand, she has no reason to go against this decision. She doesn't have a better plan. In fact, it may have been better that he hasn't told her. Hope wins out against cynicism, by some small margin. She gives a nod of assent because she is willing to take this risk.

Staren has posed:
    Staren waits, uneasily, in front of Apathy's castle. Will Arthur's plan work? He'll just have to see things through to the end, he supposes. The feeling of wrongness makes him even more uneasy. Twitching and shifting, unable to stand comfortably.

    And then large sections of the world fall away. So, this place is the very last to fall? Time is running out, it seems...

    Apathy steps out. Mizuki talks. Staren takes advantage of his robot body to hide his emotions. The information he now knows puts Apathy's stubbornness in a new light. He tilts his head to the side slightly, as Apathy speaks. He looks at Mizuki, sees her looking back, looks away.

    Arthur speaks up. Staren looks at him. He wonders what the plan is. But apparently he will be more help here. Preventing Apathy from interfering.

    Riva's wild hypothesizing draws his attention. Damn, will the world end if she stumbles onto the truth? Arthur will have to keep that from happening.

    Mizuki speaks again. He looks at her, nods, then turns to Apathy. He raises his right arm into firing position with a bit of a fluorish, angling his face so that noone else can see as he mouths, 'I know.' to Apathy just before his visor closes.

    As Arthur and crew get ready to leave, he announces: "Good luck, Arthur. I'm counting on you."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako isn't very good at catch, it seems. She has to run a bit and even then has to take off her witch hat to use as a big catcher's mitt for a moment to catch the key fragment that Faruja tosses her way. But she does catch it. She stashes both key fragments away in her muffler and nervously glances at the two front battle about to occur. She hops onto her floating broomstick and swallows hard. Here's hoping it goes well on both sides!

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "I can't explain. I can't tell you how or why. But if you care about the Mizuki you met, the girl you've known for a year now, the girl you came here to save, the girl we all learned to care for, then hang on, buckle up, and follow my lead." Arthur says as he operates his broom in swift and intense motions. "We're leaving. We're going to save her." Arthur says, kicking his broom up to Critical Warp levels in a huge burst of shimmering magical fire. "Let's do this shit."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
ASCII art redacted.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur blasts off, taking his chosen companions with him. Despite the gravitational stabilization, the sheer force of it is tremendous. Arthur has combined several technologies and magics to make this work, from all kinds of worlds. The thrusters received from White Glint's faction, Zwei's positronic thrusters, Saya's KING SAW mechanisms, and many, many others all rise to life; the sheer acceleration is unrivaled. He intends to blast straight out of the catacombs and emerge from the ground in a violent burst of gravity magic, just adjacent to the Clocktower, and blast head-on towards the clockface, however close it may be. By then, he should be hidden from Apathy.

    Arthur, propelled just at the front of the broom, retrieves one more broom. It's brass and gears, clockwork ticking and bristles churning with strange chronological rhythms. He has locked his senses on the source of a combined chronological and spatial warp. He has set his second broom to channel temporal energies. And he has linked its output to a flickering sickly-green Gate that he'll project as soon as he reaches his destination, a broad circular spirograph with churning cogs lining its borders, wide enough to emcompass the entire clockface and bring the entire group through all at once. The destination is unknown.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko is aware that Arthur has left, but her attention is elsewhere. She tightens her fist, then lowers her arm to her side, and moves to stand by Mizuki's side, looking across to perhaps share a glance with Homura. Another nod.

    To Apathy, "Will you seek to interfere? Does it matter?"

    To Mizuki, "My shield is yours. Understood?"

    She half-hopes that that interference will come. If there is anything her power is specifically suited toward, it's denying her opponent the chance to reach their target.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva feels her personal gravity get linked up to the King Broom. This is Weird. As directed, she hooks onto the broom as much as she can and braces.

She has a feeling this is going to go /beyond real/.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    For a moment, Mizuki looks to Homura. It's true -- if she dies, all this would be for naught. But it's also true that she is going to die anyway if all this falls through. It's for that reason that she keeps her sword held tight, keeps her wings summoned, and respectfully shakes her head at a negative cant. "... if I am harmed, so be it. What matters most at this point is time. This is one of those rare occasions when that fickle essence is not on our side, yes? So." She might attempt a smile here. "We must do our utmost to tame it. And with Faruja's absence, we are the only ones who remain to tip the scales of temporum in our favor. It would be a horrible waste for me to sit out of this particular battle, I feel. And besides." She narrows her eyes, looking back to Apathy. "Faruja would be cross were I to not inherit the blows he's due." Without looking back to Kimiko, she would nod and assert, "Understood." But somehow, she would certainly know she was the one being addressed.

    Apathy would glance to both Ayako and Staren, but would not reply in any substantial capacity. Rather, those four tendrils -- pointed vectors wrought of pure, inky black -- would draw themselves out of her back, rearing their pointed edges at those who remain. Four gashes in reality, glorified puddles of static, would appear at her sides, undulating gingerly with each of Apathy's own gestures. She would return Mizuki's leveling of her sword by brandishing her own, in all its ruptured, rusted luster, and nodding her head.

    Sheep and Apathy, still with the group, would look to eachother. They both nod in tandem, rushing past Mizuki and to each of Apathy's sides. Telephone raises her staff, calling a translucent cyan field into being around the trio. Sheep would finally regain her quirky grin, pointing her index finger at the lot of them whilst her other arm erupts again into a murder of ravens. "Sorry squares," The latter begins, "but we aren't going to let Miss Sophia fight alone." And the former completes the statement.

    They're ready.

Faruja (152) has posed:
"...Ye really wouldst make an excellent playwright with that air of mystery, Ser Lowell." Faruja quips, if only to quash the thousand questions racing in his mind. Slowly, he grins all the harder.

"We will save her." Echoes the rodent, and then there's a burst of shimmering magical fire that has the rat's mage-senses going haywire.

And then he loops tail and cane alike into the hooks of the broom as Arthur begins to blast off. The feeling of linked gravity isn't something that necessarily frightens him. It's the pure amount of speed that they suddenly pick up as the man's magical and technological prowess fully show themselves.

It's beyond fear as they blast off through the catacombs and towards that clock-face. Faruja once more laughs, childish and gleeful despite the situation.

"IT SEEMS GOD MEANT MEN TO FLY AFTER ALL!"

But time is of the essence, and there's a time mage on board. Faruja concentrates, both to cast and hold in his lunch.

"Haste."

The time-altering magic may not exactly be a bright idea, but they don't really have much time.

Staren has posed:
    And off they go. Staren looks from Mizuki to Apathy, as battle lines are drawn.

    He keeps his beam cannons aimed at Apathy, but doesn't fire yet. He's not going to be the one to start this fight.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    The glass of the clock tower shatters.

    Stained glass flies everywhere, cutting into reality itself.

    Their visual twists. The interior of Mizuki's throne room stretches wildly before snapping back like a rubberband and collapsing into a singularity. Blood red is devoured again by nothingness, and when next they look...

    == THE PAST ==

    ... they're emerging from the Clock Tower's face. They see a circle of young women that Arthur would immediately recognize. On the left, a bespectacled girl with curling locks and an older, black-haired woman holding an ebony metal cage that clutches a purple flame. On the right, a girl with red hair and weapons concealed beneath a tassled shawl, beside her a a blond-haired figure in pajamas. Then, in the center of all of them...

    ... her.

    The First One, Shiori, is there. All the rest of their number look shocked, and all of them turn to her for some form of guidance. Somehow, though, this woman maintains her composure, softly gliding toward all of them. She's wearing a smile so similar to Mizuki's own, yet so different that it seems entirely wrong. Her eyes glide to Arthur first.

    "Oh, hello." Her grin widens ever-so-subtly. "We've seen eachother before, haven't we?" Immediately, the curly-haired girl chirps a 'Whhaaaatttt?' followed by, "You -KNOW- these people, Shiori?" She would shake her head. "Not exactly, no. But I've seen them in my visions. I get the vague impression that they're here from the future, or maybe somewhere in the far, far past. I feel all these things -- it would be odd if I couldn't feel my own body, after all! -- but. It's always so hard to place where they're coming from, when they're coming from, and..." She taps her chin twice.

    "Why they've come."

    Her hands lower to her waist, linking together. All the eyes of the group would lock on Arthur, Riva, Faruja, Priscilla, and Psyber. "So enlighten us:" She says, still perfectly even, "what are you doing here on such an important day?"

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako just sits on her broomstick, watching carefully. One hand on the stick, one hand on her witch hat. She's not sitting side-saddle this time, but traditional witch-which pretty much means she's ready to move at a moment's notice. Of course, she's not the type to be able to attack so... she just watches.

    One might wonder, though. Just why is her left hand holding the edge of her witch hat?

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Homura catches the key fragment from Priscilla, and stores it away for the time being. No use risking it. Mizuki's insistance to fight is met with the lightest of frowns, which causes the Puella Magi to turn towards Kimiko and give a vague head gesture. Kimiko's good at protecting people; the intent is to have her keep Mizuki from being injured, then.

    With Sheep and Telephone grouping up with Apathy, the odds are no longer quite as much in their favor. Homura will deal, though; and she has no qualms starting the fight.

    "One or three of you makes no difference," she says, simply; not belittling their power and importance, but making a statement that when you intend to bypass all obstacles, the amount doesn't matter.

    A pulse of time magic spreads out, and then numerous bolts of holy lightning crash down where Sheep, Telephone and Apathy stand, not discriminating in the slightest and bombarding the whole platform-- insofar as they'll allow, anyway.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is, as he has been to this point, grim and silent. He braces his feet as the rocket broom takes off, carrying him with it into the vast depths of wherever Arthur is leading them. His hands are in his pockets and he keeps a placid expression on his face. Whatever mental processes he's running to justify all this, they're left unspoken.

    It either takes years of practice or an actual and legitimate detachment from the world around him to maintain such a facade in the face of whatever is going on at the moment. The half-angel half-lids his eyes and tightens his hands inside his pockets, curling them into fists.

    He's resisting or surpressing any number of thoughts and feelings. Thoughts about Mizuki, thoughts towards Arthur, thoughts about his own place in all this. He simply stands silent.

    Even on their arrival, the half-angel is uncertain what to say or do, simply staring at Shiori. He knows her form, mostly, having seen it once before. She had glasses, at that time.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Holy lightning rains upon the trio. They remain without the translucent field conjured by Telephone, but eventually, inevitably, that breaks. One bolt scrapes past Sheep's sleeve, scorching her; one zaps the wound at Telephone's shoulder that Staren had just finished patching up; and a final one hits Apathy directly in the torso. Before the rest of the bolts can either hit them or dissipate, however, Telephone's staff reorganizes itself -- the die unfolds into an ebony sphere which immediately begins to attract the bolts Homura had sent at them. They make contact with it harmlessly before, moments later, suddenly flying back at their source, tracking her if necessary.

    Then, Sheep. Sheep goes straight for Staren, but before she reaches his position, her form would burst into a group of ravens as it has before. the majority of them would attempt screech past him, biting at him, clawing at him, only fleeing and coming back together to make a full personage once he's begun to deal damage.

    Apathy, for her part, would not move -- rather, those static blips at her sides do. They would position themselves at each of Ayako's sides, and she would send two of her tendrils through the two holes still near her. Then the tendrils would reappear, as if magically, at Ayako's sides, attempting to run her through. Telephone throws a ball of electricity Apathy's way, too, so if they make contact, they would spread electricity throughout Ayako's form as well.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur Lowell crashes through. The brass and clockwork broom seems to shatter with brilliant light, and then reassemble itself in reverse. Arthur himself, channelling the energies, has sustained heavy wounding. The group's stop is sudden and abrupt. The arm he holds the broom in has had much of the skin and sleeve flayed to halfway down the upper arm, and the boy himself strains and gasps with the the stress. The group remains sustained in Arthur's antigravity field, able to stand or move or fly as they like with the imagination power restored.

    "Shiori." He calls out, in a pained voice. The sound is still grim and determined, frustrated and locked in on his objective. "I've seen you. I've seen what you can become. And I've made my decisions about what I want more." He takes an aggressive stance, eyes locked on her and aggressive. "What you're doing here today is completely unacceptable. It hurt someone we care about. We need to make edits to the Prognostics. We need to save her. Give me the quill."

    The KING BROOM has sputtered and faltered, purging the last of its many rockets and resuming its form of a small steel broom. Arthur grabs it intently and holds it aggressively, while he points at Shiori demandingly.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    "Are we doing this again?" Kimiko asks Sheep, blandly. "As you wish. Fight for your goal, whatever it is." Apathy hasn't answered her in words, and so she receives none further. Kimiko catches Homura's intent, and a shield forms on her arm in response. Her armor is reactive in nature, but her shields are not--it will save a potentially critical moment. The weapon in her right hand is less orthodox, this time. It's a half-moon sickle, though the blade is too heavy to be a true reconstruction of the tool.

    She does not advance. She waits. The attacks will need come to her, or else her allies must move. Homur and Mizuki are within her interception range. The others will need fend for themselves. The focus is necessary.

Riva Banari has posed:
Arthur reveals THE PLAN as they pull some goddamn crazy speed and he hits that point where space and time meet, punching through to the PAST.

Riva reflexively clutches the part of the broom she's hanging onto and screams wordlessly. Her voice might be vaguely heard, smeared like a faint voice on the wind across a few aeons.

They hit within the Clock Tower, dropping down to a sudden stop. Arthur's mastery of Space keeps Riva from splattering at transcendental speed across the next parsec or so, instead allowing her to remain intact as she drops to her knees, wobbling a bit as she looks over the area.

She feels... off. Something she had grown accustomed to isn't there, at this point. She shudders, staggering back to her feet and looking over the ladies present.

"Hi there!" She says, forcing a cheerful face as she waves to them all. Her voice still has a slight quiver of nausea, but she's dealing with it.

"Well, today's pretty important all right. We're from the /future/, and we're here to talk to you all about Mizuki."

She pauses. "A lot of us happened to meet her through our work in the multiverse, and she's become... a really good friend of ours. But her world is being destroyed, and her with it. I know you have... plans for how you believe it's supposed to go, but we've come to really care about Mizuki, and want to help her understand us... And we want to understand her better. But now we're on the verge of losing her, forever, to cause her to become someone or something else. And we want to ask you to allow us to save her. To give her a new future instead of this doom she's been given."

Staren has posed:
    Staren watches the lightning crash against the shield. He fires his beam cannons at the shield as well, but remains at range, not trying to rush in and engage. He pulls the laser sniper rifle from his back and is about to take aim when Sheep rushes him. He tries to shoot her, but she turns into a cloud of ravens!

    As he's swarmed, he raises his arms to try and protect his neck, not that it /really/ matters. Any beaks that strike there draw blood, but encounter armor under the skin. Can beak and claw do more than scratch materials many times tougher than titanium and steel? Holding the rifle in his off-hand, Staren draws his beam saber with his right and swings wildly, trying to fry the birds. Once they're driven off, he fires the beam cannons at Sheep, then tries to follow up with his laser rifle.

Priscilla has posed:
    The speeds involved in Arthur's preposterous, meteoric ascent from below the clocktower are beyond Priscilla's ability to deal with. All she can do is close her eyes and try to ignore the deafening roar of rocket engines and shattering walls, trying her best to remain calm and focused as the floor, the clock face, space, and then time itself gives way. Some part of her recognizes this as absurdly dangerous, especially with how little direct experience she has with the Mage of Space, but how well or poorly thought through his plan is fails to matter in the face of the fact that it remains the only potential hope of saving the Mizuki she knows and loves.

    The part where time breaks down doesn't have quite as much effect on her as everything else. As a native of Lordran, Priscilla is already somewhat familiar with people and places connecting through temporal happenstance. The menagerie of young women at the center of the room is entirely unfamiliar to her however. She's had very few chances to learn anything substantial of Mizuki's history. Only Shiori can she immediately recognize, if only for the subtle traits that are shared between the first and current Author. Speaking in a softer tone to Arthur's, she utters: "Mine apologies, but our time is scarce here. Pray, excuse the boy's manners and do as he says. We wouldst not hath cometh all this way were it not vital."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is ready for whatever comes, maybe in the back of her mind? She's considered her life since her mutation to be borrowed time? Perhaps that's why she's been far more bold than her real nature would have otherwise. Maybe there's some level of guilt to why she's still alive. Still she's started to meet people that have slowly changed her mind.

She now moves to face down Apathy for a moment she's not made a move really just yet.

"So why are you even fighting your supposed to be Apathy why would you care about anything?"

There's no insulting there's a tone to her voice that is curious. She's also got a few little things thanks to Dr. Shen. She'll have to thank him later, but the time to use them is not yet now. She's seen the things thrown to Ayako and Homura.

She notices the backup and she tilts her head a little bit.

She then brings up her sub machine gun and draws a bead on Apathy her self and opens fire, then starts to move, only pausing her shots when someone might get in the way.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja is, perhaps, just a bit shakey after all of that. He detaches from the broom, wobbling about only to slam his cane hard to the newfound ground as he steadies himself. With a prayer, his gaze settles hard upon first Shiori, then each of those present. He lets Arthur speak first, only to then bow lowly to the group.

"God's blessings upon thee, mine Children! Pray forgive the lack of introductions, however, we art all very pressed for time."

Starts off the rat. Then he draws his Blaze Gun, and offers a cold glare finally to Shiori.

"Ye art responsible for this entire bloody situation. A dear friend of ours is about to face a fate worse than death thanks to ye. And frankly? I wouldst very much enjoy tearing ye apart right now Lady Shiori! Never in mine life hath I found a friend, a rival, whom canst both captivate, infuriate, as well as make me love them despite such drastic differences in what we want out of life."

Then his hand points to Riva.

"But the important part here is that this can end peacefully. So hand Ser Lowell the quill, let him edit as he desires, and everyone leaves happy. What say ye, hmm? God forgives all in time!"

Then Bahamut fades into existance behind him, the winged Esper floating and already dripping motes of nuclear magical firepower.

"Decide before I turn ye lot into ash."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako eeps softly when the static blips move towards her sides and flies upwards quickly trying to evade them. "Eeep! Why me all of a sudden?" She gestures around herself quickly. "Pinpoint Ice Barrier!"

    And many, many small strange ice crystals form around and orbit around her. The shapes all all strange. Some are thin and flat. Some are circular. There are even some shaped like spike balls. After a moment, it becomes obvious what this barrier is meant to do: deflect attacks and guard Ayako. But... it seems to take quite a bit of her attention, as she's flying quite a bit slower now.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    The lightning is being reflected? No, more like... attracted and then shot back. Homing, too. That's an issue. Homura counters to the best of her ability-- additional bolts of lightning appear out of thin air, following another pulse of time magic, to crash into the ones flying back at her. This time, the Puella Magi hasn't dismissed Tyrfing after using it to fire electricity about-- the holy sword idles in her hand, though, because she doesn't intend to attack again with that method.

    Instead, pitch black wings like cracks in the fabric of the world fan out from her back, colorful displays within. They extend out, violently, trying to intercept Apathy's attacks with equal force, to get pressure off Ayako. One might notice the hand holding Tyrfing is starting to burn from contact with the sword, but it's not like she cares right now.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    "Pffff!" The girl in the nightcap and gown folds her arms and scowls in Arthur's direction. "What, is ~that it~? Want anything ELSE while you're here? Do you even know what you're ASKING for?" The cage-bearer looks to her and waves a hand downward, placidly. "Now, now, Lillian, there's really no need to be so rough. I'm sure they have a perfectly good reason for being here. And if they were even able to get here, well~." She puts a single finger to her lips, as if to say 'Hush~'. "I would wager that they know quite a lot. Wouldn't you, Sutri?"

    "Mmph." The red-haired girl, likewise, crosses her arms. "This day is bad enough already without anyone getting in the way. I -just- got over the fact that we're probably never going to see Shiori again like, yesterday, so they had better not be here to tell her not to because something crazy and bad happens in the future happens because of it. In fact..." She arches her brow. "Is that what this is about? Are you guys here to change something? Shiori always says that -- 'never be surprised to see yourself from the future if you're meddling in affairs of consequence'. If we're going by her logic, I wouldn't be surprised."

    Shiori, for her part, keeps a finger pressed to her cheek and begins to sway in place. "Hmmmm. So you know about the Prognostics, and you even know you need the right quill to write in them... okay. Yeah, you know what you're on about. But!" Still smiling, she holds her index finger aloft in front of herself. "You still haven't told me the most important thing. My question -- /why/ are you /here/? It involves the Prognostics, I get that, but what do you want to /do/ with them? I need to know that first. If I like what you tell me, I miiiight give you my pen. Maybe~."

    Lillian idly glances to Faruja as he begins mouthing off, canting her head to one side. "... children of God? What the hell?" The bespectacled one glides over to her and audibly whispers, 'Well, we /are/ kinda called 'The Apostles'. Lillian rolls her eyes. "Not the point, Chatrinelle."

    After a time quietly, calmly listening, Shiori's eyes brighten. "Oooohhh... I get it. You guys are from a future cycle, aren't you?" She nods her head twice. "Right, right. So! You wanna edit the Prognostics to make everything better instead of burning them in your time? Smart!" She claps her hands together. "Wow, smart!" She asides briefly to Faruja here, too, though: "Oh, and, um. Mister Cute Mouse? Please don't look so angry! I'm responsible for this 'mess', sure, but I'm ~also~ the only reason that you ever got to meet that... uh... other me! 'Cause I guess she would be me, even if she isn't. I don't know, but... uh..." She waves a hand. "... anyway! Sure, I can let you guys write in the Prognostics! But I have too eensy stipulations. Okay? Okay!" She nods her head, putting up a single finger. "One -- *all* of you have to write in them. No one can sit this out! And two -- I wanna see what you guys can do! If you made it here you must have some pretty neat powers, right? Right?"

    She holds out a hand. A bolt of white lightning crashes into its palm, and in it appears... Aelinos, or some approximation of it anyway. "Lillian, Sutri, Insidia! Foooorm up!"

    Each of them draw their weapons. None of them make moves.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Sheep pauses in the air briefly to look Kimiko's way. With a quick, fluid wave of her hand, she replies, "Nah, I haven't changed my mind about what I said. This time, I'm just fighting to keep my friends safe. Like I should've been doing all along. But." She summons her scythe back into her hand, grinning. "I'm gonna be honest -- you're pretty fun to fight with. I really don't mind doing this one more time, 'specially if I've gotta." She would start to rush Kimiko with her scythe after she's finished speaking, but at the last moment her form explodes into a flock anew, leaving room for one of Apathy's leftover tendrils to rush in at her. It would attempt to arc upward at an improbably, painful edge and come down over her head rather than hitting her shield.

    As soon as she returns and regroups, though, she has to deal with Staren's lasers. They zip past her, killing no small number of her flock as her form separates into two halves. Both halves would form up to create clones, as before, one of them dashing around continually to avoid Staren's subsequent strikes. If she successfully distracts him, he may not notice as another of Apathy's tendrils comes at him from behind, attempting to pierce right through his torso. These 'claws' *can* break through metal.

    Apathy, still standing in place, looks to Kotone. "I fight because I must. There is nothing else to be said of it." As she opens fire, Apathy raises the palm of her hand. A portal appears their, 'eating' all the bullets she sends her way. Shortly after, another portal opens -behind- Kotone, potentially sending all her own fire back at her.

    With Ayako and Homura, one of the tendrils hits her 'shield' and arcs upward, and the other has its tip cut off by Homura. The rigidity of its shape would give way to something less angular for a moment before, in a flourish of crimsons sparks, the tip reforms. The shape straightens. After a moment's hesitation, it would arc up with its twin, twisting together with it to form a larger blade this blade would bring itself down with great force upon Ayako's barrier, with the tip aimed such that it might also contact the puella magi if she does not move.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber shuts his eyes for a moment and slowly thinks. He racks his brain over the present scenario and then begins to try to puzzle out how to fix this. He, at least, can see why Arthur brought him here. If you want to bleed a god in their home realm, he was uniquely qualified to do so. But... at the same time, Arthur had presented a third option. And now Psyber was trying to figure out a third option from that: Fight, Surrender, Convince.

    He stays silent for a while long, mind slowly organizing everything he knew. The detective in him works over all the information, every scrap of knowledge. How would he present this? And then... if nothing else... Nathan Hall comes to mind. That would be how to do it, in this scenario. Calm voice, concise points. Leverage the information you have and apply it in the right areas to reach the outcome you desire.

    Knowing this, Psyber begins to organize his knowledge, filing it and building up around it. Flashes of insight, moments in their friendship, brief flickers. They come to mind. Everything he had encountered was a part of Mizuki's core composition. This meant they were a part, in some way, of this woman. He would use this. By knowing numerous points about the girl, he would use his own association with the girl to defeat Shiori.

    His eyes open. Everything snaps into place. Every point connected by a thread.

     <Defusing Statement> Mizuki: ~Shiori is afraid of being humiliated, of having her place threatened~

    Psyber finally speaks, his tone calm, "You do not win this encounter, Shiori. Ultimately, you do not wish to engage in combat at all. You are operating off a flawed set of information using a limited pool. You have become the Apex Being of this universe, but have not compensated for the realization that parallel existences may exist, if not overtly cross over. Within those universes are beings which would rival your own power or threaten its supremacy."

    He inhales and then exhales slowly, "Numerous beings here are specialized in the destruction of deity-class entities. I, and at least one other being here, are such specialists. One other is a god. Another is a functional immortal. And the final summons sub-deities. You are one god, we have brought force enough to bring a half-dozen into check. Your defeat would be humiliating and you would not risk that with this new knowledge you now hold."

    <Subduing Potential Resurgence of Emotion> Palora: ~Shiori is Headstrong~ Callia: ~Shiori is cautious~

    "At this moment," Psyber continues without halting, slowly exhaling, "You are attempting to decide if I am making a long-extended blood meant to play at your inherent insecurities. One part of you wishes to engage me in combat to test my theory, but the more tempered voice inside of you is telling that the risk is too great."

    Psyber slowly cracks his knuckles and then says, "This is not a threat on my part, but I will advise you to listen to the voice that errs on the side of caution. Doing so will..."

    <Hook-in Statement> Mizuki: ~Shiori Values a Narrative~

    "Understand the story of your origins. Of a group of friends who would travel through time and space to rescue an iteration of you that has yet to be born from your perspective." Psyber sniffs a bit, taking a cigarette out of his jacket and lighting it. He exhales smoke and thinks, "The story is reaching its conclusion in that time..."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    <Selfish Appeal> Mizuki: ~Shiori is Selfish~

    "... but is that truly what you wish? Impeding us will only rob yourself. We are not here to take from you, and it is quite the opposite. I care little for an optimal being, or a universe, but I care for your future iteration enough to stop her past self from robbing her."

    "By stopping us, the only person that you are ultimately detrimenting will be yourself. Both because you will close the book on a story that never finished, but also because..."

    <Emotional Leverage> Melody & Mizuki: ~Shiori is Isolated. Mizuki is Alone~

    Psyber's final point is four words: "You are finally accepted."

    "The iteration we are here to save is the first iteration of yourself to come into existence and fight external acceptance. She is valued, cared for, and accepted in her entirety by numerous beings not of her own creation. Was this not your original desire and goal?"

    <Restate Hypothesis as Conclusion for Emphasis>

    "You should stand down and allow us to work."

Staren has posed:
    Over the radio, Staren at last hears what the plan is. Why isn't he involved? Arthur needs someone who knows The Secret here, probably. So he'll fight, and wait and watch...

    There are cameras inside his armor, so trying to sneak up behind him doesn't work. He turns as the tentacle strikes, his forcefield reappearing. The tentacle pierces right through the damaged, outermost layer, and it shatters, breaking apart into translucent amber shards that break up into sparkles, like glittery snow, before fading. The second layer holds, for now, though it's pierced partway through and cracking. One of the discs on Staren's chest explodes in a small shower of sparks and smoke -- another begins to spark. Staren brings his beam saber up and tries to sever the tentacle, then leaps away, wings appearing as he takes to the air and fires his beam cannons at Apathy, giving her her own defense to focus on.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako focuses on the rotating pieces of ice that make up her barrier... and smiles in thanks to Homura when she comes up to help her. "Thank you, Homura!" The smile doesn't last long, as she then eeps when the the two tendrils gather together to form one larger blade. This barrier's only really good against multiple small attacks coming from many angles! One big attack? Not so much. And so while the small pieces of ice gather together to block the large blade, it shatters quickly!

    "Uh oh!" Ayako quickly flies towards Homura's side. "Umm... Umm... Oh! Here's hoping this works!" She gestures towards Homura thrusting one hand and one palm at her-oddly making a rectangle with her pointer fingers and thumbs. "Closed Box of the Undersea Dragon Princess Otohime!" And a strange block of water forms around Homura. That's... an odd shape for a barrier. It doesn't appear to do a whole lot for defense either. Actually, it even seems kind of fragile... like it could break-or open-at any moment. But it makes Homura's time magic stronger!

Faruja (152) has posed:
Lillian has Faruja's brow twitching, but he grabs hold of that irritation and shoves it deep into himself with the rest that's already swirling in his veins. There's not a word to the 'Apostle', his eye locked on Shiori.

Really, Shiori shares one thing with Mizuki: she can be bloody charming. He at once seems to calm slightly, and be all the more angry in one breath.

"While I canst exactly deny such a thing, and indeed I pray to God in thanks every day for that meeting? There art some crimes than cannot be forgiven by a lowly mortal such as mineself."

Then he looks taken aback. To write in the thing? From what he gathers, it in some way controls the 'laws' of the world.

Faruja finally smirks. There's a simple nod to that bit.

Psyber surprises him. Faruja's agression lapses as he takes it all in. A perfect, logical analysis of Mizuki...and the being before them. Faruja's hand rubs his eyepatched eye, huffing.

"...Philosphy aside, as Ser Psyber states, Mizuki is the crux of the matter here and our purpose. I wouldst rather not lose one of the few family I hath left, truth be known. She and I hath quite a few things to reconcile as they stand. Let us save her, and mayhaps ye as well."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa hears Sheep's words and she can't begin to understand what they been through with her little life. She's very small that's something she's learned in her time in the multiverse. She's very small she's way smaller than this and just about anyone involved in this. She wonders if there could be anything fone for Sheep? However Apathy has given her answer, and she shall.

Apathy is thinking with portals as the she opens it up in front of Kotone, she has a very bad feeling about this, she's moving and that what keeps her from getting cored, several rounds do impact into her still but it's a lot worse than it could have been. Some of the hits are taken by her armour others? Well she's got a combat grade shell and that helps. Still she's hurt.

She moves in trying to keep up at a good speed even with the damage. She's not leaking any thing /yet/ so she got lucky there. She's not happy about it, she's going to need a lot of repairs she thinks.

She moves again while Ayako and Homura are under assault. Staren is still doing his thing and he's got enough firepower to bring to bear to pull more than his fair share.

Kimiko is still standing which is good news. Kotone on the other hand is now going in trying to get close before she opens up again, hopefully close enough that the portal's can't be used again.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Asking whether or not Homura intends to move when she's fully aware she's at best a dodge tank and at worst squishy ranged DPS is silly. As long as she can keep those tendrils from wrapping around her, she should be able to keep using her time magic to get out of dodge, although there's no guarantee those three can't match her. Time magic is nice but it's not really a win button.

    But until they adjust their tactics she'll make use of it.

    Blurring out of existence and then back in, interposing herself between Ayako and Apathy, the Puella Magi looks at the barrier formed around herself-- and quickly realizes the nature of the boon bestowed upon her by Ayako. She smiles, darkly.

    The Witch-like wings coming out of her back continue spreading out, trying to match Apathy's tendrils blow for blow. Numerous tin soldiers, like tiny metal Moemuras with spears, suddenly jump out of them, trying to skewer Apathy from numerous angles. All the while a hailstorm of bullets and rockets try to cut her dodging options out, accelerated thanks to Ayako's magic.

    "If you must fight, then you've already acknowledged that you must lost as well in order for Mizuki to succeed. Why then fight at all if it is a foregone conclusion? What importance does this conflict serve that you couldn't simply put your weapons down?"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "I know exactly what I'm asking for." Arthur says, with a sorrowful kind of grimness to his tone. "And nothing less is going to save my friend. You just came to grips with losing yours, and she /wanted/ it. Are you going to force that on me? On the one who's going to die struggling /against/ it?"

    "We don't have time for this." Arthur says, his damaged hand balling into a fist. He trembles with distress and frustration. "Twelfth chime sounds and we all go poof. You want everyone's input, fine, I can't hold them /back/ and everyone here has shit they want to fix. You want to see what we can do?" He takes a more aggressive stance, grabbing the King Broom in both hands while the Timesweeper is dispelled away to his Strife Deck. "Fine to that too. You won't stop seeing it for every second we don't have the Quill."

    He lets Psyber make his compelling argument. It's worth that much, definitely. He will, in fact, give a few seconds, or perhaps the length of a responding monologue, as a break for Shiori to indicate her opinion in response. If she responds positively enough that they're likely to get the Quill without violence, if she seems likely to back down, he'll be quite accepting. But he's on a time limit. He gives Psyber's argument one chance to function; in the meantime, he builds a brilliant, intense buildup of magic in his body, a gushing white and black aura of magic that washes over him like fire. In its own way, his posture is vengeful. This is the girl who caused Mizuki pain. Even if she's a past-Mizuki, Arthur can't help but feel the aggression.

    If, and only if Psyber's approach doesn't work, he'll blast forward, broom's bristles blazing with magic and light. The setting this time is similarly in the Critical Warp, but in the interest of the narrative's time and space, we describe it more briefly: 'Let's end this shit'. With an aggressive series of sweeps that maximize offensive power while ignoring the vulnerability to destructive counters, Arthur will intend to bear down on Shiori with a vengeful aggression and an intense force, swiping constantly, and screaming with a somber anger.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    "Hmmm." Shiori's expression straightens as Psyber speaks. Throughout most of the exchange, she remains silent and listens. Lillian and the others are quiet, too, affording the half-angel his time to speak. The more he says, though, the deeper her frown grows, and the more she begins to look like the girl these visitors know so well. Toward the end of it... she's clapping. It doesn't seem like a gesture she makes lightly or flippantly, either; it's a very respectful, reserved, even gentle one. "Wow, I can totally see why you're here. I feel like you just described what I was like a few years ago. Or... or was it more than a few? I kinda lost track, but anyway, it's clear you -really- care about this me, whoever she is! That makes me happy! Thank you for caring!"

    Still, though, she does not lower her sword. She does not surrender her current poise. "But you know what else you just told me?" Her expression instantly darkens. Her 'pleasant' smile becomes a deep scowl. "If you think I'm afraid of being 'humiliated', then you're right. If you think I'm uncomfortable when I don't have absolute control over things, you're right. But you know something?" She holds her sword out to her side in a manner that is almost murderously elegant. "I -just- finished writing the Prognostics. Putting them in their proper places. I did all this because I thought, maybe, possibly I might have the possibility of becoming a person who could transcend all that petty garbage -- all that disgusting 'humanity' -- by gradually, systematically changing my world. I thought that the day when the Prognostics finally released 'me' from that cycle, I would have become truly perfect. An idealized mind to go with my idealized form."

    "But, no. You've just told me that this entire project failed. And why? Because you people intervened. You broke into the world, no doubt -- you found a way inside and corrupted that future me. You tainted her with knowledge she was never meant to have. You made her become a part of your story. And, honestly? There is no greater insult you can deal to me. That was it. So unfortunately for you, I don't have anything left to fear. All I've got left right now is rage, rage, rage."

    "Do you have -any- idea how long I've worked on all this? You don't, do you? You think I haven't considered all the pro-human arguments I've heard over the years. You think that I have to work within certain logical and moral constraints. But that's the whole point:" Her eyes widen. "I -DON'T-. The point of this was NEVER to make the ideal world /for everyone/ -- it's to make /my/ ideal world. Mine!"

    Her expression calms again, suddenly. She takes a breath. "... but if you want to save her so bad, if you want to see me gone, then you're gonna have to -SHOW- me how strong you are. And if you lose, I'm going to go burn the Prognostics. Obviously they were a failure anyway." And with that, Lillian teleports to her side. A magnificent, prismatic, clear gem appears around Mizuki, and a volley of gleaming lances points in the direction of the group. "Gimme a good show, interlopers." And they all fly toward them at once.

    No, this is not the Mizuki they know.

    Before she can react, though, Arthur comes -flying- out of left. Her crystal cage shatters, but Sutri, just in the nick of time, appears to punt her out of the way. She takes the blow intended for Shiori, likely being thrown against the ground before the Clock Tower. Shiori wouldn't hesitate a moment before attempting to jump through time, appear behind Arthur, and deliver a blow to his back. Her blade hurts every bit as much as the other Aelinos would.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber watches her blankly, staring for a long few moments. In that mindset he was in, he seems to reach a dawning moment:

    <Clarifying Fact> Shiori: ~Mizuki was no longer a derivative of Shiori, she had become her own entity~
    <Supplemental Information> Mizuki: ~Shiori was a threat to Mizuki's existence~
    <Contextualizing Addendum> Psyber: ~You are a Guardian Angel~

    As he stands there, one can see the wheels turn in his head. All these facts go through his head as he stares at Shiori. One can almost feel the clicking noise as the final piece sets down. Psyber was many things to people who knew him: Patient, kind, caring, forgiving.

    But there was a different Psyber that very few ever got to see. Of the gathered entities, in fact, only Priscilla had ever seen what happens then. Psyber's entire stance and posture change, shifting from his relaxed stance into something much more sinister. It's barely the subtlest of shifts.

    <Conclusion> Psyber: Kill the threat.

    The gentler Psyber is gone. The deceptive mask that is worn to disarm or calm people around him. Like a coat that one sheds, the half-angel took it off and became simply... the Apex Predator. A being that had spent centuries perfecting a single art: Killing powerful beings.

    In the wake of Arthur charging, Psyber darts forward like a spring coming loose. There's no flair or style to the motion and instead his body movies as a single, motion-conserving piece. The lunge forward sees his arm coiling back while the stop sees it thrust forward, all the momentum behind it.

    His goal is to thrust his hand straight through the center of Shiori's back when she goes after Arthur, pushing through the back, through her spine and ribs, and sieze the heart. If he finds purchase, his follow-up is obvious: He'd crush her beating heart in his hand.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja Senra has always been a passionate person. He's lived life with his heart, faith and emotions more often than with his head, for better or worse. The rat goes utterly still as he listens to Shiori slowly reveal her reasons for everything, and at once shows her utter disdain for the pure ideas of morality. But even more than that, to treat Mizuki, a friend, a rival, family, as nothing more than part of a failed experiment to replace God in perfection as though she were a mere stepping stone, a tool?

And all for a single selfish reason. Worlds made and destroyed, all to better herself in her own greed. Any sympathy he might have had for Shiori finally shatters as his soul itself flares, magic spilling from him. He didn't know he could hate a person with quite so much consuming intensity.

When the others attack, Faruja simply dissappears. When he finally reappears, golden magic and wings keeping him aloft as Psyber reaches for Shiori's very heart?

Faruja doesn't even spare the woman words. He couldn't summon them even if he wanted to.

To speak to this garbage, this utter trash that shouldn't exist beneath the eyes of God would be to demean his best friend entirely.

"...Lich."

Few ever see the Church's dark esper, the fallen angel Lich. The rat, zealous as he his, would indeed hesitate to do so in any other situation. Here? It's done without a worry. This is God's justice.

What rises is a thing draped in blazing white robes, a scythe made of liquid gold held in its ashen-bone hands. Easily the size of bahamut, the now holy-infused Lich rises in some semblance of what might have been its former glory. Every creening sound, every bleeding bit of magic from it seems to twist the world around it with the menace of the Abyss, and the pure furious holy wrath of God Himself.

That scythe lashes out, waves of that inky, thick golden morass seeking out the other girls gathered, while that golden scythe seeks to aide Psyber by cleaving the limbs from Shiori's body so that she can't escape. Every touch of that blade is swift...and yet would feel as though it would last an eternity.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva finally stops facepalming after Faruja's aggressive intro. There isn't much time, and they all know it. Even as they're in the past, the future keeps moving ahead through relativity. That's how it works, right?

If they don't resolve this one way or the other before that ends...

She shudders.

Riva thinks for a moment while Psyber appeals to raw logic. His incisive insight gleaned from... Who knows where is being put to good use here, for sure. She can tell he's working off of specific, relevant information. It's like listening to Nathan Hall! She's impressed.

Worried too, but also impressed.

"Was it really worth it?" Riva asks. "I guess only you can answer that for sure." She looks away. "Friends shouldn't have to fight one another." She says, simply. "Maybe I care too much. I know we can't really change the past, but we can change the future. If you're really sure you want the story to end this way..."

A hand raises, gesturing. She waits to let Psyber's response occur. She doesn't raise her weapons or take an aggressive stance like Arthur. She's better served by working around the edges if it comes down to it.

But it's when Shiori rejects humanity, rejects what it could have been...

And on top of that, threatens to delete everything. Wipe it out. Wipe everything out, that a fire lights in her eyes. "But you... Are a very bad friend." She says, whispering through clenched teeth.

She raises the paintbrush Abstractum in her hand. She might not have the raw power of the front line present here, but she has her own advantages. She can change the nature of this game.

Well, Daemon could let her make a rocket, let's see if she can do some other things. She paints a thick loop in the floor, then a series of interlocked circles as she works her way closer to the battle lines. She moves as quickly as possible, using the incredible threat by the others to try to remain unnoticed until the proper time. With a quick motion, Riva throws herself into a baseball slide past Lillian. With a quick flourish, she lashes out!

If she timed it properly, perhaps Lilian might suddenly find herself chained to the floor with thick, black, inky links and a pair of shackles around her ankles. Surprise!

Priscilla has posed:
    At first, all of this is well beyond Priscilla. She feels hideously out of her depth, surrounded by people who know far more than her, and suddenly wondering just why she had come this far. She knows barely any of the Prognostics. Nothing of Shiori. Only traces of the worlds before that had come before the one she had so recently become familiar with. She doesn't know these girls; what stories they have, what goals they share, and how they relate to the very first of the Authors among them. Even as Shiori offers them them quill for the price of a performance, she feels something is amiss; as if the situation isn't simply outside of her knowledge, but that something about is actually wrong; something about it being so thoroughly 'off' as to be completely unmistakable.

    For a brief few moments, she places her absolute faith in Psyber, withholding her own words in the hopes that the half-angel could deliver the fleeting, key insight that had eluded her until now; that it would somehow factor into Arthur's inscrutable plans. She feels as if it should work. Though he is harsh and clinical, she feels as if these are words that Mizuki, the Mizuki she knows, would listen to, striking some of those hidden chords that he had managed to reach once before. Only, at the very end of his reasoning, she feels that hope suddenly lurch blindly through the dark, dropping out from under her as she finally places a face to her unease. The single, salient fact that had doomed everything from the start, defying her ability to reason and comprehend through why any of this should be happening.

    The original Author isn't Mizuki.

    There will be time for such a simple realization to sink in later. The instant Shiori trips that line from a former incarnation of the girl she knows and into the territory of something else entirely, all of Priscilla's safeties come off. Moonlight is in her hand the moment the crystal lances appear, shimmering through the air in a glittering cyan arc, ringing like the clearest bell as she uses the blade's antimagic properties to parry them out of the air, sending shattered glass this way and that, before ultimately turning just as one rips through the trailing edge of her sleeve, tearing it off at the elbow. Without abandoning her sword, she summons the Lifehunt Scythe to her other hand, whirling it over her head as she settles into an esoteric, dual weapon pose. She takes one fleet-footed step forward, and then disappears into nowhere, masking a headlong charge into the collective of four ahead of her where both blades swirl into an invisible dance of dragon-aspected occultic steel.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    "You enjoyed that?" Kimiko watches Sheep approach. She's trying to keep track of Apathy's tendrils at the same time, and it's a bit distracting. Given that they're originating from one person, it wouldn't be strange for them to shift targets at any moment, and her goal is still to keep Mizuki out of this. On the other hand--Mizuki hasn't been targeted. It's unfortunate that she can't trust that to remain true. "You're a strange one, but not for this world, perhaps." So much preoccupation with apparently meaningless violence. She really doesn't understand it.

    Kimiko crouches low, and sees the attack coming almost a moment too late. But it's still a head-on attack. She can't truly be caught unawares by something of this nature. Her shield is raised, as it was ready to be, and the tendril strikes the edge, while her entire form ducks forward. She's surprised by what happens next, as the unreal attack-vector breaks against her defense, splashing in liquid-form toward her face. Her helmet appears in that undetectable fraction of a second before she can be touched, a solid visor entirely obscuring her, cutting down her vision while providing that stronger defense.

    It's not quite enough. There are still openings through which she can be reached. What does reach her is suddenly slicing into her face. She hisses. She wasn't quick enough to block out the pain. She tears the helmet with her hand, removing the trace of the attack in the process, and revealing the blood streaming from her cheek.

    "I don't," she says, voice more difficult to discern for the disadvantage of needing to use that injured mouth, "enjoy this. A struggle. Important, only as a means. To a worthwhile end. For its own sake? Absurd. Revolting. Foolish."

    A white flame springs up over her form, flickering in a wind that isn't there. It suffuses Kimiko's body entirely, then spreads across the ground around her. The ground seems to rise up, but of course, that's not it--something is coming through the ground, coming into existence beneath her, and she's rising up along with it. Her sickle is gone, unused, disappeared, but where it had fallen, not a broad, metal platform rises. It takes a moment for it to lift her enough for one to resolve the shape of its whole--a knight's helm, large enough for her to comfortably stand on the sloped upper side.

    "I will not take my time." Because I do not enjoy this. "If there is truly no choice but to fight, to hurt, to destroy," yet it is meaningless, "then this system--is all I said, and more." One, additional term. "Evil."

    Pauldrons, breastplate, armored arms, gauntlets, and more--the steel giant appears from the flame of Kimiko's magic, rising more swiftly as it takes form. In its hands appear a flat-ended hammer with a long shaft, and this it swings, at the Puella Magi's direction, for Apathy.

    "I regret and pity your position."

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    == APATHY ==

    Staren successfully severs the tendril he aims for. As it did with Kimiko before, it sheds crimson light before regaining its prior shape. When it does, it jolts up into the air, flattening itself into a disklike shape to take a few of the rocket blows. This destroys it over and over again, and several of his rockets make it through to her, but it regenerates every time. And eventually, when she has the concentration to spare, Apathy would bring the thing to level with Staren's body and attempt a quick slash across a wide area in attempt to harm him.

    Ayako's barrier shatters, and many of the resultant ice spines would likely burst off and sink into the flesh of those nearby. Or they -would- if Ayako hadn't thought quickly enough to make a 'barrier' around Homura. But even if that barrier isn't helpful for defense, Homura's quick timejump keeps her from being adversely affected by the icy shards. Her tendrils have just enough time to regroup at her body properly before Homura finds her way over and her wings reveal themselves.

    Apathy's eyes narrow faintly. One tendril sweeps across a wide area to get rid of as many of those tin soldiers as she can before they reach her, but countless many of them are able to stick their barbs into her beforehand. Even more make it to their mark, skewering her legs, and even her torso. Flecks of crimson fly off of her everywhere.

    When her question is posed, Apathy would briefly lock eyes with Homura. "How many times what I say it? There is no purpose in this. There is no rationale. What I do, I do because it is demanded of me. I am not a person -- I am less than a person. I lack the ability to 'choose'. I am simply a machine, set upon a specific purpose. If I do not fulfill that purpose, I will cease to be." Her tendrils, finally finding reprieve from the onslaught of metal soldiers, would rush Homura directly. Each would break into dozens of smaller barbs, each and every one of them attempting to wrap around and constrict her movement. A few might attempt to pierce her wings -- poke holes in them -- but most of them go for her body properly. Their aim is tenuous at best, especially if the lacerations fail.

    Sheep's flock would fly past Kotone as she opens fire. The ravens become intentional martyrs to obstruct her fire whilst others, as they did with Staren, come down to peck and scratch at her with fervor. Her form rematerializes again before Kotone and she responds, "I don't... really enjoy the fighting for the fighting. At least, I don't think so. But it's been a long time since I've done anything but sit around. I may be tangling this experience with how glad I am to see other people for a change. I dunno." But with Kotone keeping her preoccupied, she's unable to pursue her as she goes after Apathy.

    Apathy, already severely weakened from her fight with Homura, barely has the attention to spare to notice Kimiko's approach. When she does, though, she would attempt to grab her hammer with a tendril. She would exert as much force as she is able to slow its eventual, inevitable impact before it closes in on her. Telephone, in a moment of brazen courage, dashes to take the blow for Apathy as Sutri with Shiori before her.

    Telephone is promptly plowed into the ground. Her grip on her staff loosens until the rod falls to the ground, still.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur tears into whatever's in front of him, whatever's opposing him. Destroy anything that's threatening to kill his friends. But Shiori's out of the way, and suddenly behind him. THe sword she wields stabs into him brutally, and he coughs up blood, but his echeladder resilience kicks in intensely. He's still impaled, but it doesn't seem to matter to him. He will suffer whatever he needs to for Mizuki's sake. Gravity magic blasts through him again, this time trying to YANK Shiori closer. "You think humanity is weakness?! You think humanity is /flaws/?!" He's trying to immobilize her at his back by exploiting her strike, so Psyber can move in for that attack, backed up by Faruja's Lich. Well, or force her to give up the sword, lodged in his body. "Humanity doesn't have to justify itself to you or goddamn anyone. But I don't give a shit what you're trying to transcend, what perfection you're trying to achieve, I don't even care if you think we've stomped all over your project, your story!"

    "What happened to you doesn't matter to us! All that matters is her!" With both hands out, he blasts a volley of starlight bolts at Lillian now, trying to distract her while Riva immobilizes her, or perhaps exploit the immobilization itself, to drive her away from Shiori! "I don't care what you're trying to do! I don't care if you'd have been perfect! I don't care if we ruined anything, or if we ruined everything! The only thing I care about when it comes to you is Mizuki!" The gravity is given a quick jumping boost. "So don't try to tell me how wrong we are for what we did, and what we're doing! Don't try to tell me how she's a failure! She's more human than you, and that makes her better! And she's our friend! So that means we're here to save her!"

    "I don't care if it's right, I don't care if it's unfair to you, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care! Just give me the Quill!"

Staren has posed:
    Staren flies away to put some distance between him and the tentacle as he attacks Apathy, lasers and beams trying to keep her off-balance. Still, a tentacle-disc comes for him -- it slams into his field, shattering another layer of barrier, shorting out another projector disc. "Rrrngh." Staren growls as he tries to fly further away, so he can keep an eye on the fight. Continuing to try to pepper Apathy and Sheep with beams and lasers. Watching the effects of his attacks carefully, trying to judge how much they're actually damaging her. He mentally winces as Kimiko goes in with the hammer. Poor Telephone... wait, did she just die?

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    "Absurd." Kimiko repeats that word with cold venom, through a mouth no longer full of blood, having spared the energy to heal just enough to regain clear speech. "A machine deserves no loyalty." She watches Telephone fall, but doesn't speak of it. This is still fulfilling its tactical purpose.

    The hammer remains where it is, the giant still, but the girl atop it leaps from helm to shoulder, placing her hand to the former. The metal comes away at her touch, reforming into a spear of equal mass. It's gargantuan on her frame, little smaller than a telephone pole, with a razor-edged star-point, more like an arrow than a spear. "Either you're a fool for thinking so, or they're both fools for following you."

    She runs down from shoulder to arm, leaps high, and thrusts the point below her, to let her weight land her against whatever defense is offered, unless Apathy can straight-out dodge. In either case, she'll wait until she's closed the distance to hiss her query, "Which is it?"

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    == SHIORI ==
    Sutri would barely have time to peel herself off of the ground before Psyber sets upon Shiori. He effortlessly makes his way over. His arm tears through her 'flesh' -- though in earnest it feels more like his arm is wading through a pool -- and locks his fingers around her heart. He can feel it, beating; it's a conceptual thing and likely not as crucial to her as it might be to someone else, but it is still present. And he has it. He could crush it.

    But Sutri would do everything she possibly can to prevent that. She would charge Psyber, her scythe flailing at him badly, doing anything within her power to shove him away from Shiori. And if she's successful? She would take Shiori into her arms and just -run-. Flecks and swirls of the same blue that flakes off of Mizuki when she's struck would collect at the holes left in her flesh, attempting desperately to heal her. Whether or not they have the time before Psyber comes back around is another thing entirely.

    Whether or not -Psyber-, personally makes his way over to Sutri or not, Lich pursues them. Sutri is just fast enough to escape the blows that would sever either of their limbs, but the blade nevertheless tears into her clothes, her flesh. Her tattered shawl flies off into the air some time later and, in the end, several of the toes of her left foot are cut off entirely. Less impactful than intended, perhaps, but Sutri is obviously reeling.

    Meanwhile, Lillian is effortlessly whisked away by Riva's manuever -- especially after Arthur's bolts, she is far too lost in her confusion to react in any more substantial a way. Her limbs are lashed to the ground. She writhes in trepidation, but can say nothing.

    Sutri has only just found a safe place to crash land when Priscilla sets upon them. Shiori seems to regain consciousness just in time to parry the first few strikes with her sword, but the rest of them connect, and she's kept on the ground. The most Sutri can do at that moment is pull a concealed revolver from one of her pockets, point it at Priscilla's vitals, shoot, and hope for the best.

    Meanwhile, Shiori time-jumps elsewhere. Somewhere in the center of the sky. She's bloodied, battered, and horribly, horribly bruised; she had not expected to win, but she had not expected to lose so quickly. So utterly. So -horribly-. She would hold up a hand pleadingly, still clutching her chest from Psyber's attack.

    "Th-That's enough...!" She shakes her head. "This isn't a fight! This is -slaughter-!" Seems that she finally got the idea.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is now locked in combat with Apathy and he allies the attacks are going every which way, and she attempts to try and not get caught up in all the fire that's going about. The tendrils are a special kind of awful for her. She would find herself gunning down an unkindness. She doesn't seem to be able to be stopped from getting up close to Apathy but still she wonders about Sheep's words. Why are they fighting if they want things to change? Are they being forced to by some law of this reality? She has no idea. She just knows they have to fight and buy times.

"Damn it, does it have to be this way with all of you?!"

She had a plan for something explosive, but has changed her mind as she hopefully gets in close to Apathy she's just going to deck her with everything she has.

"Stop this madness you don't need to go down for us to help Mizuki if you got to fight fine but don't throw yourselves away. You heard sheep. We mixed things up haven't we?!"

Sheep's earlier words did have an effect upon her.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes slowly... and then gets a bit of a twitch in one of her eyes. She's upset. What has set her off? Hearing Sophia's response to Homura. As something that isn't a person - is far less than a person herself. This reasoning isn't something she can accept. She says something softly, in a whisper. And then says it more loudly.

    "You have a choice. You always have a choice! A machine with just a purpose? That's wrong!" Ayako gestures about. "All you have to do is look around you! Look at Sheep and Telephone! They're fighting for you as well! Even though they were hurt. Even though they knew it wasn't going to go well!" She puffs her cheeks out in a pout. "A machine that is just doing it's purpose doesn't have friends!" Her amber eyes move off to the side for a moment. "I should know..."

    And then the tendrils rush Homura and attack! The box-like barrier tries to help defend Homura, but it can't withstand any sort of serious assault. Several cracks go through the watery barrier and it pops violently! The closed box was opened.

    The watery droplets that once made up the barrier don't fall. They swirl. Violently about Homura. And the barrier that once weakly enhanced time magic, in it's death throes suddenly boosts it severely-although only for a few moments!

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber has no follow-up to his attack. It was a simple moment of clarity and purpose. Shiori stood in the way of the immediate benefit of Mizuki, so he crushed her heart. He doesn't pursue after her, instead getting pushed off the girl he was just trying to kill. He staggers back several steps, hand curling into a fist and then uncurling.

    Whatever Shiori had that passed for blood on his hand is flicked off in a smooth motion, Psyber then looking up towards the girl in the sky. He doesn't look angry or upset so much as detached and emotionless, as if he had drained away anything external to what made him 'Hunter'.

    But she surrenders and Arthur puts out the halt order. The half-angel looks up at her and tilts his head a bit. The detached look still on his face as he does so. He speaks again a moment later:

    "Prognostics is Isolation and Isolation is non-optimal. The system is flawed in that it does notaccount for the presence of an ideal world in which prognostics was not necessary. It is a mechanism that's obsolescence was made apparent as soon as it was instituted."

    He calmly states, "You will give Arthur Lowell what he needs. This will resolve itself now."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Countless tendrils reach out for Homura-- when they split, they catch her by surprise, lacerating her legs and arms, and more importantly, latching on, preventing further abuse of time magic, at least for a moment. Many of the Familiars are shredded as well-- they're not sturdy. Distractions, at best, and harming them certainly seems to be harming Homura as well. The wings can be damaged too, although that's a bit harder to tell visually. Piercing them does pin the girl in place, either way.

    Ayako has the 'words' part of the fight handled for now. She'll let her try to reason Apathy out of this. Instead, Homura produces a Regisword, and starts hacking wildly with both blades (since she's still holding onto Tyrfing) to cut the tendrils still latching onto her. The Familiars, too, turn their spears against the tendrils where possible, dropping the pressure on Apathy.

    If she can manage to free herself, she'll make full use of Ayako's fading superbuff, discarding the two swords back into her hammerspace, producing her bow, and unleashing countless arrows of (somewhat visually corrupt) light, most of which have been hasted, launched from odd angles, or outright stuck on loop and repeat.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Lich carves flesh, and Faruja concentrates to keep the creature under control. The being utterly despises its jailors, and Faruja is no exception. But hatred, passion, and purpose bind Lich as surely as any earthly chain.

At least, until Shiori time-jumps into the sky. There's no mercy in his eyes, until at last Arthur's voice comes over the radio. He pauses, scowls, and just barely chooses love over vengeance.

The rat concentrates, and the butterfly-winged Esper Faery fades into existance. She gently presses her hands to Arthur's back, powerful healing magic flowing from her to cause muscle and flesh to knit, blood to return and flow properly in motes of holy radiance.

The rat still can't quite find words, glaring daggers of hatred and potential violence in his gaze to the group. The threat should be obvious enough.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva locks down Lillian, and Riva works to make sure she stays there by adding more chains to get her arms. She then leans down to put a gentle finger against Lillian's lips, smiling for a moment. Sssh. Be calm. "It'll all be fine soon." She says, turning away and turning to head back into the fight.

Which is already ending. She looks around, and immdiately rushes to Arthur's side, since he's only been STABBED LIKE WHOA, and moves to help Arthur immediately, if only to keep him steady while Faruja unleashes healing magic, chewling her lip in worry.

Riva's been never so wishing she's learned from Inga as now.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    == APATHY ==

    Apathy does her utmost to hold her own against the combination of Ayako's buff and Homura's arrows. They rain down upon her, though, and the crimson pouring out of her wounds slowly begins to become a more dull, tan hue instead. She won't be able to last much longer, and she knows. Her tendrils would all return to her now, forming shields around her person. They would simply sit still and take the blows for as long as they are able.

    Amid all this, though, Mizuki hears what everyone else is saying. Slowly, she has begun to agree. There is something -wrong- with all this. Apathy can't be her enemy -- not with how she's acting. Not when she seems so reluctant, and not when she seems so much... yes. Yes, Mizuki recognizes this precise sort of resignation.

    She knows a martyr when she sees one.

    At once, she throws down her sword. As forcefully and loudly as she is able, she says to the others, "Stop. You are all right -- there is no purpose in this." She glides over to Apathy, slowly, locking their eyes. "Sophia, I will not fight you any longer. Because I know for sure now:"

    "You are not my enemy."

    Her expression is... hard to explain. It's not quite a smile, but it's not quite neutral either. Somewhere in-between. "I do not know what you are, but --" Apathy swings her sword against Mizuki's with abandon, hurling Aelinos out of her hands. Afterward, all her tendrils converge on her. One by one, they lash at Mizuki -- and every time, due to some odd disorganization in Apathy's movements, she's able to dodge. Mizuki's eyes grow wide.

    "NO." Apathy protests. "Do not claim I am not your enemy. Do not say that. Take it back. Take it back, take it back, take it back." Her words are expressed with a quivering, a fervor, a frenzy -- although her words are still monotoned, it still seems like she's panicking. "Take it back immediately. Take back what you have just said. State that you were in error and pick up your blade." Mizuki simply continues to stare, but she does no such thing. Then...

    ... then things escalate again. Sheep rushes over to hold Telephone, and Apathy remains in place. She repeats the same phrase -- 'Take it back' -- endlessly, and to no avail. The Monochrome Castle tilts so far to one side that its constituents begin to slide off, tumbling to the ground. Explosions of stone can be heard as the floors of the castle begin to crumble.

    Apathy slowly raises her gaze to Mizuki's. She briefly scans the faces of all those present and quietly, impartially laments, "You have no idea what you have just done."

    The clock's chimes begin again. The second. Then the third. Then the fourth.

    They do not slow down.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur drifts unsteadily. The blade Shiori got him with is likely to remain there until someone is kind enough to remove it. Without Ayako, they don't have the healing power necessary to deal with the wound, though Faruja stabilizes him, and keeps him from dying. Another time limit, though, it seems.

    "The Quill. The Prognostics." He gasps, at Shiori, clutching at the wound. "Please. We're running out of time. We all go down if that last chime hits." With breathlessness in his voice, Arthur calls out to the group more on his level. "Editing the Prognostics can do anything. But you be careful. When you get your chance to tell it what you want, you have to understand what you're asking for. Don't write anything that will violate causality. What's already happened in the past, that can't be changed. We have to at least /see/ it happening the same way. Don't affect any cycles but the very last one that we're on. And if the Prognostics don't oppose Mizuki in some way, Apathy dies, permanently."

    "But Mizukui's already lost so much memory. Of this one cycle. So much of who she is. No matter what you do, we make sure the Prognostics restore her safely, and then never iterate again. If you have to kill Apathy, do it. If you can think of a way for Apathy to be her opposition without butchering her mind over and over, all the better."

    Then he's looking back up to Shiori, gasping through pain -- though Faruja eases it, thankfully -- while he exclaims. "This goes on as long as we don't have the Quill. As soon as we have it, it's done." He can feel the gentle reverberations of space collapsing distantly in the future. It puts him into a panic. "We don't have time. NOW!"

Priscilla has posed:
    A slaughter is exactly what was intended. There is no use in humouring someone like Shiori. They had not come here for her entertainment, but for the sake of someone far more valuable; or so Priscilla reasons. She is merciless in her assault, swinging arcs of glittering 'blood' through the air in sweeping trails of her invisible blades, tearing into her foes until Arthur finally begs that they stop. Still trusting in what shred of hope his plan still entails, Priscilla allows the Author to escape, dropping her invisibility and turning towards her as she takes to the air, her expression hard and pitiless.

    "Thou were warned. It was clearly communicated that thou wouldst be destroyed in such a humiliating fashion. I know not what possesses thee, but I cannot help but mistake it for conceit. We will not fight for thine amusement. We will fight to win. Give us the quill or we shalt take it from thee."

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko's spear never reaches its target. It is hefted, as if feather-light, and spun up and away from the ground, or being, against which it would have impacted. Mizuki calls for a halt, and she does. The armored Puella Magi stands, and stares, something distant burning in her eyes. She almost moves to block as Apathy attacks Mizuki--but there is proven to be no need. To remain, where is no need to move, is acceptable.

    At those last words, she fixes Apathy with a stare, even as the tilt causes her giant to begin a slow fall to the side, with what will prove to be great inertia. She says nothing, but raises one brow, as if to ask, 'Really?' Keepers of secrets have no justification to complain of ignorance.

    It's only when she understands that she does speak. "There can be no justification for a system built upon deception." There's probably no time left to argue, and in any case it wouldn't be productive to do so.

Staren has posed:
    After Apathy's blood changes color, Staren stops firing. What...? He puts his weapons away, and pulls out his staff, goes to fly in closer...

    And then stares in horror as Mizuki realizes The Secret.

    No no.

    No no no no no.

    No no no NO NO NO NO NO NO!

    He flies over to them. Lands by Apathy, whispers to her. There /has/ to be an answer. It can't be over yet, can it? There must be something...

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes as Mizuki suddenly throws her sword away and steps forwards. She didn't expect this to happen! Sophia suddenly panics. Huh? What is going on? Why is she acting like this all of a sudden?

    And then the Monochrome Castle suddenly shudders and begins to collapse. And the chimes. Oh no... she's been counting them as they've been fighting! They're running out of... time? Oh!

    "Homura! Homura! My magic's still with you! If you can, we need to somehow get more time! I don't know how, but we need it!"

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    == SHIORI ==

    Shiori would look up from her place on the ground to the group. She removes the quill from a concealed pocket on the side of her dress, but does not hand it over. She holds it jealously with both hands instead, shaking her head. "N-No! If I give you this, I'll die anyway! I...!" Then, though, there comes a tapping of shoes. A face familiar to Arthur -- Kowaru's -- comes into view. With a single, deliberate series of motions, she kneels down in front of Shiori, stares into her eyes, lifts her flattened palm, and... smacks her. Clean and hard, right across her face.

    Shiori would move a hand instantly to cover her wound. She stares at Kowaru in disbelief. "Didn't we tell you that this was a stupid idea, Shiori? Didn't we tell you over and over and over again that the goal -wasn't- to destroy our humanity, but to better understand humanity so that we could make people happy? I mean okay, yeah, we get it: you're selfish, and egotistical, and you have your crazy-radical ideas about changing the world. But..." The girl sighs, rising to her feet. For a moment, she looks to Psyber.

    "You're good, whoever you are," She begins, "but you forgot one thing. What does Shiori always do when she feels most threatened?" She raises her finger hiiigh into the air. "She wears the evil badguy supervillain facade, and then she tries to make people hate her for it. She kinda flipped when she realized that some stranger knew all that. I mean, no, you weren't all right, and Shiori -is- actually pretty far gone -- it's because her sanity's been slipping that she wanted to do this in the first place. But all that stuff about being humiliated... that was right. Juuuust... this Shiori doesn't know you. She never takes criticism well from strangers."

    All that aside, she unceremoniously swipes the quill from Shiori. The latter fumbles for it, but once she realizes that it's really, truly gone, she just curls into a little ball and hugs herself. "And as graceful as she may seem, she's really scared of dying. I think that's always true and always will be true. She thought she was dying for a reason, which was cool; she likes being a martyr when she can be. But when she figured out her plan wasn't gonna work, yeah, it sorta set her off."

    "But you guys made it all the way here," She holds the quill out to Arthur and Psyber jointly, "so I'd say you've earned the right to use this." She nods to Arthur. "I've... seen him before, actually, so I think he knows enough to explain how this is gonna work to you. When you're ready, just transport yourself to that part of the library. You know the one, right? Beneath the fountain? You've been there before, so you should be able to find your way."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    The Familiars withdraw.
    Homura's wings pull back, leaving Apathy to Mizuki.

    She glances towards Ayako and then considers. With this much of a buff, she might be able to... well, it won't buy them a long time, but it's better than nothing. "Yes. I think I can. It won't be a lot, though."

    The Puella Magi gathers her magic, and then allows the temporal disruption to surge out. It attempts to stop THE WORLD, but not Apathy, Sheep, Telephone, or any of the people facing them. This might involve spreading her wings out like tendrils to grab ahold of everyone, non-intrusively, but thanks to the buff contact might not even be needed.

    Even if it does succeed, though, it won't last long. At most, a couple of minutes so they can keep talking? If that. It's too much of a strain, and Homura would rather not push herself to the point her Soul Gem goes pitch black here... granted, if they fail, it won't be any better off.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa did not know the truth of it all only that there were things that needed to be kept down low, she kept it down low she just couldn't see the waste in killing Sheep and the others. She really couldn't haven't she's not sure what's going on but she does cease her attack. She lowers her weapon as the verbal show down goes on. Then something happens here. She seems to know something but then Apathy says they have no idea what they have done. She halts for a moment as Staren seems to be very disturbed but then she wonders what's going on.

"Wait what's going on now? What's happened?!"

She's however heading to Apathy, sheep and Telephone wondering now /what/ She does seem concerned now,

"We're running out of time here!"

Kotone's eyes dart about as the chimes are happening. Staren's clearly concerned and she's just there watching in a mix of fear and awe. This seems to be the apex of it all? It's now in the hands of ... the other team she thinks.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    == APATHY ==

    Apathy's attacks cease. Her gaze inclines downward, and she studies the ground for a moment. The black shroud in which she has been so long suffused evaporates, leaving her in her genuine appearance -- with her snow white hair and bright blue eyes. She would ignore any and all statements directed at her, instead... moving to hug Mizuki. She holds her as things fall apart around her, and she holds her eyelids firmly shut. There's no point in trying anymore.

    Homura's maneuver, for the most part, works -- in her state of heightened capability and awareness, she will likely -feel- the shift in the world, as though the whole thing had begun to turn more slowly. As the next chimes tick by - 5, 6, 7 - they come far more gradually. It's going to buy them time, but not much.

Staren has posed:
    Staren had pictured how it would go. They'd nearly kill Apathy. He'd suddenly help her, stab an ally in the back -- not fatally -- to drag out the fight. Maybe say 'Curse my sudden but inevitable betrayal.' or something like that, as he switches sides, and drags things out.

    He didn't think Mizuki would /figure it out/.

    Time is ticking down. They've lost. There's nothing to do.

    There /has/ to be something.

    Here he is again. Standing here. Unable to help. Unable to fix things.

    Will things ever change? Will things ever be any different?

    Maybe Arthur will save things in the nick of time. Or maybe Staren's backup won't remember any of this. Either way, he'll keep looking. Keep trying. Until one day...

    Well, he can't give up yet. Think. There must be something. What have they missed? This world is Mizuki's... and the Author's. The author programmed it to end for some dumb reason if the drama of Mizuki and Apathy ever stopped. ...Is that all? Is there anything else? Could there be more to it?

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Psyber unsheathes the sword from Arthur's back. "Toss it to her." He says, as he takes the quill, alongside Psyber. "She'll need it." And he looks down at Shiori, all cold eyes and grim determination. It's sorrowful, in a way. "You'll die to save my friend. But it was your mistake that forced it. You did this. This story is yours. So is its ending." And then he swipes a hand to one side, summoning a Gate, linking precisely to the destined location. The shimmering green spirographic construct is one he drifts through immediately. As he does so... There's a voice heard by all those who pass through the Gate. They get an explanation.

    "The Prognostics present a regular set of challenges through the form of Apathy that are basically a timebomb for Mizuki's brain. Every four hundred years, it goes off, kills multiple sections of the world-brain, and then reformats Mizuki. Loop failed. GOTO 10. They're there to force Mizuki to undergo a metamorphosis into a mental state that's immune to these effects. We need to stop the damage to her mind. We need to reverse the process for that one cycle, in some way that keeps her thinking it /is/ happening. We need to restore the memories she's lost in this cycle, without overwriting her with memories from the last one. And make the Prognostics stop attacking her. We need to save her."

    "Good luck. We've only got a little time left."

    The destination will be seen shortly.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber does, in fact, yank the sword out of Arthur's back. The half-angel then tosses it at the ground in front of Shiori's feet. He seems to be coming down out of his detached state as he follows along after Arthur. Psyber didn't move to take the Quill, though it was handed to both of them.

    Psyber doesn't even talk to Arthur as he walks. He doesn't respond to the statements, though he understands them. He has a distant sort of dimness to his eyes. The downside to him going that far into a Nathan Hall line of thought is that it carries the risk of Psyber realizing things in a negative sense, too.

    <Overarching Life-Lesson> Arthur & Many Other People: ~Redacted~
    (Sorry guys, you don't get to know this one today. Maybe it'll come up later)

    Still, he moves along quietly.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva looks over the situation, keeping a hand on Arthut as Faruja and Psyber handle the bloody work. She nods at Arthur's acknowledgement, offering silent support. But today she got to see another side of Arthur, how that burning sun manifests within him in its own way, when he says the harsh things. Is it justice? Perhaps nothing so noble. This is what Arthur is like when he is burdened with an overwhelming need.

Even with everything else, Riva still takes a moment to kneel next to Shiori, and offer a quick moment, a parting squeeze on the shoulder, and a moment of comfort before the end.

Even with all she's done, Riva seems to believe she deserves that much.

After that, she heads to the gate, pausing to give the rest of the Apostles a wave. Perhaps she'll never see them again. Perhaps she will. Only the future and the words to be written will tell.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    == THE SPIRAL STAIR ==

    Any and all who walk through Arthur's gate would find themselves in the same room they'd passed through to reach the Book of the Past. In the center of the room is a large, infinitely long scroll. Laws, each assigned a roman numeral, run down the entire document. At the very bottom of the walk, past all the others, is a group of edicts whose ink glitters brilliantly. They lay out the nature of the cycle. They ensure the appearance of Apathy, whilst establishing everything from her appearance to the personality she evidently started with. At the end of all of them is Shiori's signature, eerily similar to the one people might have seen written at the end of a few After Action Reports to which Mizuki contributed.

    These are the Prognostics. The section of the parchment directly beneath them lies open for writing. In the hands of whomever holds it, the pen would quiver as if eager. Anything they choose to write here will become reality -- an immutable law.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur pops out of the Spiral Stair first, holding the Quill, a bit up the stairs. Immediately, Arthur engages a dash. CHIME. CHIME. CHIME. He can hear it in his brain and it's awful. He's got the first set of rules already worked out. The one thing he prioritizes above all else. Groundwork for the others. He trusts they'll figure out how to act on it.

    His scribbling with the Quill is rapid and haphazard, the boy himself sweating with anxiety and nervousness. Alright. This has to work. This has to work... FIRST: A timer, of sorts. Something that will only activate at APPROXIMATELY THE END of the CURRENT MIZUKI CYCLE. This will let the others use the same timer. But for Arthur, he has something activate immediately upon its completion. His terms are quite simple: Swap the objective from making Mizuki inhuman to making Mizuki human. This will keep Apathy eternally in opposition without forcing Mizuki into a negative state. Or so Arthur hopes.

    His hand's then held out for the next writer to snatch the Quill and work, just after he puts down his own signature in an oddly pretty sort of cursive: "PB"

Priscilla has posed:
    Priscilla takes the quill next, squeezing past Arthur to the correct place. She's had little time to think about this, and so her answer is almost instinctive, based entirely on the feelings she had developed for Mizuki's world over the time she had spent in it.

    SECOND: Once an aspect of Mizuki's mind made manifest, such as a location or sentinel, has been observed and confirmed by an outsider who is within the bounds of her world, it cannot be erased by the Prognostics.

    This ties into the fact that its conditions only be met by the very last cycle, and should, if things go according to plan, preempt the destruction of Mizuki's beloved work. Incidentally, it should save a great many lives. To the best of her knowledge, nobody from outside has ever breached into Mizuki's world until it had unified. Mizuki had said as much herself.

    She passes the Quill to the next in line.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Thankfully, one of their number seems to set Shiori back to some semblence of sanity, and the Quilll is handed over. Faruja gives the woman a simple nod of thanks. He can't really come up with words beyond that. Instead, he casts, even as the Espers around him fade away. A Haste spell settles around the group, and then he's looking to Arthur, falling through that gate alongside the man and hearing the explaination.

Faruja sets the Quill to 'paper'.

Rather than edit the Prognostics' conditions, Faruja chooses to focus on memories. He scrabbles along the paper far more hastily than is seemly. But they're out of time. If nothing else, he can protect something so very precious to Mizuki: herself, and her memories.

Oddly, Faruja's other hand pulls out a time piece, and flicks the watch open.

"An area of the world in the current cycle shall be created, henceforth named 'Elysium'. Within it, shall contain the sum of all memories experienced by this current Mizuki up until the signing of this document by this passage's author, and all memories created after at the moment of those memories' creation. It's initial form shall be that of Orbonne Monastery, with accompanying thrice-thick walls and suitable protections, magical, physical, and marshall in order to protect the above".

"It's Sentinel shall be the skeleton Boris, granted all needed powers, strength, skill, and experience to protect it as the realm's martial leader and knight. The current cycle's Mizuki shall freely be able to alter the defensive capabilities and layout of this area at her whim, and at the whim of its Sentinel, in that order. This area shall be free and wholly immune without exception to destruction wrought by the Prognostics, its creator, and any within the world it has created."

"This current cycle's Mizuki shall freely be able to enter and leave this area via teleportation from any distince within her world and will regain any memories created by this current cycle's Mizuki upon entering it. At the signing of this document, Mizuki of this cycle shall be granted the knowledge of this place at the exact moment of its creation. This place, Elysium, shall be created one second after this passage's signing."

-Inquisitor Faruja Senra

Then, the rat steps back, and lets out a sigh.

"Almighty God, may Your wisdom and benevolence see to it that this humble fool hath not consigned his dearest friend to death." That rat, perhaps understandably, is not confident. His head tilts.

And then he sighs. "...Mizuki is joining me in the soup kitchen after /this/ act." What ever is he talking about?

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja passes over the quill to the person next in line too.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber thinks for a long moment. He has something he wants to put down, but has to phrase it just right. So he stands at the Prognostics for a long moment, staring down at it before finally quill touches paper. And he writes. And writes. Not as much as Faruja, but not a small amount.

    ~In the event that a Cycle concludes which results in the goal of Prognostics changing towards requiring a more human Mizuki, Apathy's will undergo a shift to match. She will become a protectorate force, challenging Mizuki by tempering and refining her urges and impulses. This duty would also put her in charge of the restoration, protection, and refinement of the many sub-personalities which Mizuki manifests. She will perform the duties of a protectorate 'Ego', providing both a friend and challenger to Mizuki's more dangerous impulses... but also challenging her to never remain stagnant. The form of challenge Apathy takes will be of a more positive bent, fostering the good portions of Mizuki while protecting her from the bad. Oppositional, but in the same way any good friend should be.~

    Psyber starts to hand off the pen and then stops. He turns around and writes one last sentence.

    ~And if this works, Palora gets a totally sweet Go-Kart. She'll know why.~

    And THEN he hands the pen off to Riva.

Riva Banari has posed:
Finally, it comes to Riva. She looks over what's been written here, both by the original Author, as well as by her friends. She considers what is left. What else is there to do? What could she say? What will the nature of things be? What permanent mark will she leave on Mizuki's world?

When the time comes, she takes the Quill and hesitates over the paper. Her hand trembles for a moment, her eyes darting over the glittering words. Her expression looks panicked for a moment as she reaches, then stops.

And then reaches. And then stops again.

Did Riva... get writer's block?

She can feel the weight of Doom (with a Capital D) upon them all. This has to be put to an end.

Everything comes to an end.

Riva's eyes narrow as she finally begins to write upon the document: The Cycles must be broken eventually. Thus it is, upon such time that timer described in the first section activates and the other clauses described after it have been met, that there will be no further Cycles. Mizuki will become conscious of the existence of these writings and be given the ability to write a new story. Her own story. She may be given the assistance of anyone who wishes to help her in that story, in whatever manner they wish to participate, should she wish to include them.

- Riva Banari

As she completes her writing, she steps back, her hand shaking as she almost pushes the quill back towards Arthur. "I never want to do this again." She says, simply.