1529/The Bittersweet Taste

The Bittersweet Taste
Date of Scene:	08 February 2015
Location:	Tenra
Synopsis:	Lu-Mey leads the strike on Castle Igarashi. Last fortress stronghold of the regent that wronged her so many years ago.
Thanks to:	Everyone who attended!
Cast of Characters:	85, 202, 232, 234, 299, 320, 336, 357, 522, 546, 709

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Lu-Mey (234) has posed:
    The world of Tenra is a world of constant struggle, strife, and war. Regents vie for land, the priesthood seeks to dominate and control, the Oni fight against bloody oppression, and even beneath these immense reasons for conflict are hundreds of thousands more sundry and surly reasons for theft, murder, bloodshed, and violence.
    The Castle-fortress Igarashi is tonight's goal, an immense fortress of stone and steel, ruled over by the as of yet unnamed regent that the oni Lu-Mey wholeheartedly blames for ruining her life entirely. The castle-town surrounding the mighty fortress is a bustling hub of commerce and life, with a large market and even larger red light district for the enjoyment of the soldiers within the castle. The apparent means of getting into the castle is... From within a brotel.
    Apparently Lu-Mey has some connections with the girls within, because no one had to KILL any of them, except the gossipy one, and she was put to the knife weeks before this operation even took place.
    Lu-Mey herself is... Not in her usual flamboyantly red dress. But a much more subtle white kimono. It's still ostentatious and fit for a princess, decorated only in a few lighter pink cherry blossom designs... And some old dark brown stains. But the oni claps her hands.
    "Here we aaaare! So there used to be a secret passage going under the castle to this very place of completely legitimate business. I'm not going to go into details why, but we can probably use that assuming it's not blocked off. Don't know where it leads inside, so be ready for anything! Even poking our heads into a blender. But we're going to try and stay quiet for just a little bit, anyway~. Capiche~?"

Hana Umikazeno (357) has posed:
    Even with all due precaution taken as regards rumors, Hana Umikazeno has opted to come incognito. Rather than her usual bright colors, she's adopted some rather more faded, weathered attire, the sort of outfit you'd see on someone coming into an establishment like this after a long day in mines, fields, at the docks, any of the limitless backbreaking jobs in Tenra. A beaten straw hat hides her horns, and baggy sleeves almost certainly leave room for her revolvers, but for the moment she looks unarmed and inoffensive.

    "Even if the passage is blocked off, we might be able to get around it," Hana replies, flexing her fingers absently, as if to warm up. "I do have quite a bit of strength despite my delicate frame, after all. I could also use the Girls, but that would involve explosions, which would lose the element of surprise."

Kagenashi (85) has posed:
    Kagenashi doesn't seem uncomfortable with the choice of meeting place. The nogitsune might even blend in, in a strange way: she's left her katanas and Nageki behind, relying instead on various weaponry concealed in her normal crimson outfit in case things get rough later. Her mask still hides her face from view, but Munashi is nowhere to be seen, at least not obviously. The shadow fox has returned to being Kagenashi's actual shadow, clinging to her feet as she leans against a wall near Lu-Mey. Considering the region, she might look for all the world like a slightly unusual tenant of the place.

    "If there are any cracks, Munashi can also get through to try and find another way around, if needed," she chimes in serenely. "Whatever we decide to do, you can count on it that I will not make a sound if I can help it. Just keep me informed on who and what we need to take care of."

Adelyn Lysen (202) has posed:
    Adelyn Lysen arrived slightly early, using teleportation to some conveniently hidden location, as she is not a time mage and cannot maintain precise punctuality in all things. She is, obviously to those who don't know her, some type of mage. Even if they've never heard of her, nor seen her entrance, the fancy robes and staff kind of give that way. Her appearance is not particularly stealthy on its own, but she has some spells that can assist, should no other means be available--and she's reluctant to part with ostentatious clothing that's also filled to capacity with defensive enchantments.

    "If not around, I suppose we can still make an entrance through a blockade... depending on how thorough they were in sealing it. Both Earth and Darkness are within my specialities. One or the other may prove useful."

D (232) has posed:
    A few days ago, the mercenary, Hana, had been convinced to give up a few details about the contract she'd taken for Lu-Mey. D isn't much for diplomacy, but he's skilled at the mercenary trade, and he had known what approach to take to get the information he'd been seeking. Though Hana had been uncomfortable, she'd given D enough details to turn his attentions to Tenra, and earned herself a decent enough paycheck in exchange. It was a bargain complicated by what code of honor most mercenaries cared to abide by, and by D's own mislike for asking anyone for anything, yet it must have worked out, or he wouldn't be riding across Tenra today at just the right time.

    Not that anyone but Hana and Lu-Mey would be aware of the exchange. To anyone else, his timely arrival might be surprising, and perhaps unwelcome.

    Those in the basement hear the sound of his footsteps crossing the brothel's floorboards. The slow, steady beat grows louder as he makes his way into the basement below, until the familiar jangling from his spurs becomes a clear racket and his tall, black-draped figure stands before them in a state of absolute calm. What sharp minds and ears are in attendance will realize he did not come from the brothel's front door. There was also no cyborg horse outside to give away his presence, either. He must have been in the building long before the clandestine meeting started.

    D's dark gaze travels over the basement gathering. It settles on Lu-Mey. "Greetings."

Nox (546) has posed:
    Nox has made some sort of effort to stick out a little less. Over his usual form of dress is a long, dark blue, hooded cloak that descends all the way to his ankles, marked with a circle with twelve spokes and an arrow descending from it. Only the armour on his feet and the steady blue glow of his eyes from under the hood are visible. He's even made the effort to walk rather than float everywhere, which is a first for the multiverse. "The details aren't necessary. I can already imagine why." he remarks in a dry, dispassionate tone. "I'll do my best to prepare for whatever strange things this world can throw at us, but as they say, no plan survives contact with the enemy."

    He pauses for a moment to consider something. "Though, if you have any idea what the castle contains, the information would be . . . appreciated." That said, he briefly greets each Confederate persona in turn, though he doesn't go through the effort of a gentlemanly bow today.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    Is Starless Night here? Of course she is! But very few can be sure of that. For tonight, Lu-Mey has apparently enlisted one of the subordinates by the name of Kasumi for this task. It's not actually much of a leap to guess that this MIGHT be Starless Night herself, but the important part is that her real face isn't being shown. The young girl looks at home in the brothel, wearing a kimono of her own and obviously intended to be a highly-paid entertainer.

    But tonight, she is not trying to maintain the guise of someone meant to be in a brothel. No, she has a bundle with her, which includes a sword and various other paraphenalia. These go across her back, in a position where they can be readily available.

    "I think so long as they have no guardian Samurai, those gathered here can handle matters just fine," Kasumi says. Her voice is low and sweet, a singing voice most likely. Definitely not what Starless uses on channels, but that shouldn't be a surprise to Confederates.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
While many things have been happening that has the Legatus concern and attention, he also can not forget his own allies of the Confederacy. Being a member within their own ranks, means he also has to spend some of his attention to their needs; Even if it is not asked of him.

That said, Gaius Van Baelsar has come to aid Lu-Mey the best he can, while she has informed him it will be a low-key operation, his armor wouldn't bring any problems. A fact he is silently glad for. So the dark armored and red crimson leather-clothed man has shown up. His gunblade is attached to his backside and those voidful eye lens look around where he may.

His gaze does drift over to Lu-Mey, "Whatever shall come, it will be dealt with. As for the silence, it shalt not be a problem." He said with his voice kept low.

It is here that the Black Wolf takes note of whom is among them. How many Confederates, how many unknowns-- though his gaze does fall on D. He says nothing to the half-vampire, other then a momentary stare, before he looks back to Lu-Mey, then to the surroundings once more. If anyone really wants to ask, its a story to be told at a later time.

Fujiwara no Mokou (709) has posed:
    EARLIER:
    A catfight! See the contents of 24/41 if you really care!

    NOW:
    Fujiwara no Mokou, completely normal if somewhat brightly dressed human, finds herself quite at home in the town surrounding the castle, following an unfortunate displacement. This sure takes her back, the architecture, the lifestyle. It's a bit more fantastical than it would have been for her, back then, but it's also 'home' in enough ways she can disregard that. The town's kind of tense though. Doesn't have the answers she's looking for. ... and she's kind of broke, anyway. Couldn't afford any of the services here. Maybe a meal, but she's not hungry.

    White hair flutters in the wind as Mokou hops off the ground, and then just... floats, and flies, right over the castle walls. She wasn't able to find a proper gate in, so she'll just help herself. Surely the people in there can give her directions. She stays in the air over the central courtyard, pondering where to land. Who forgets to put a door on their castle anyway?

Hana Umikazeno (357) has posed:
    "My contract with Lu-Mey included the possibility of Samurai," Hana remarks idly, casually going through a few movements of her unusual gunkata as if to check her range of motion. "If there aren't any, in fact, I'll probably lower the completion fee to compensate."

Charity Whiteheart (299) has posed:
    Charity is here, but she looks pretty normal... aside from, you know, not being the right ethnicity. She's wearing a hooded cloak, as is normal for her, but the only weapons she brought are knives. This is also pretty normal for her. "Do you think we'll run into much resistance, though? I'd prefer not to slaughter all the retainers, you know."

Lu-Mey (234) has posed:
    A quick headcount is taken as scarlet eyes flit from face to face to face to creepy glowing helmets, to mask, to starw hat, and so forth. For a moment, Lu-Mey seems pleased with the turnout, another clap, and an overly giddy giggle and things are just about ready.
    But as said, no plan survives contact with... Anything.
    In comes D and the oni practically facefaults. "A-AH! HE'S COME TO SEX BEAM ME!" Blurted in half-panicked haste, before she regains her composure-- "I mean. D~ what a pleasant surprise to see you here! I suppose you can come along if you like. I might even pay you, if you don't mind doing some small services."
    Ahem. "Right, well, we go in, if people die, they die, I'm not going to sweat a bit of bloodshed if anyone gets in our way or tries to stop us, in the event we're discovered, looting, pillaging, plundering, and general diabolical thievery is generally encouraged, because these people are worse scum than I am. As for what's in there, this is a very rich regent, so we're looking at tons of footsoldiers at the very least, probably with cyborgs and kijin among them. I KNOW there's a yoroi in there. That's our main target. Anything else, we'll just have to deal with it as we come across them." She explains the castle contents as best she can.
    With a thump of her heel against the wall it slides open into a dusty and dark corridor that looks like it hasn't been used in a very long and forgotten time.
    "In we go~." Chirruped before a minor pause, turning to smile back.
    "Well, if we're quiet we shouldn't run into any resistance. But if we do... I'm actually entirely fine with murdering every man, woman, and child inside."

    MEANWHILE. One simply does not fly into Castle Igarashi.
    Well Mokou does.
    There are guards stationed all over the tops of the walls, and some girl just flying clean over them immediately gets attention. There are shouts and men point, when the hourai phoenix just kind of... Goes clean over them and lands on the castle grounds. It doesn't sound like anyone liked that, much at all, there's already a squad of men hustling out to be her welcoming party! though they don't look friendly.

    The path under the castle seems to be a perfectly viable means to get in, aside from being very dark and a little chilly. If anyone spots so much as a footprint in the dust, they're all very old, nothing recent in the least. It leads under the wall, unobstructed and forgotten by time, opening into a shadowed space of the courtyard just outside a large stone building that Lu-motions for, instead of the main castle. "Ah~. That's where we want to go."
    It seems way too easy.

Hana Umikazeno (357) has posed:
    It's rare for Hana to simply stare dumbstruck at someone. She's learned to take the Multiverse quite in stride, at least as necessary to get a job done.

    But the gunslinger can't respond to Lu-Mey's outburst towards D any other way. She just... stares.

    The moment the corridor is opened, though, she takes a few steps to the fore, drops the Girls into her hands, and assumes a spot at the head of the group. She trusts her eyes quite well, even in the darkness, and her weapons can respond to attackers at any range the corridor can give them.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius Van Baelsar will follow suit of those in charge. This is not his operation nor a place he fully understands. Yet when Lu-Mey informs that many activities are fine, including these here will probably not be missed. The Legatus makes note of it. It is pretty much an open invitation in his mind to not hold back if combat does break out.

As they walk, he takes note of the guards moving else where and any foot prints left behind from some time ago, including avoiding with his quiet metal boots to not leave any either. Though how his boots are quiet can be summed up to what his entire armor is made out of. Magitek.

Until something comes up of grave important or requires him to take action, he'll follow the orders given to him.

Nox (546) has posed:
    Nox casts an inscrutable glance towards the late party. Though when and when not to proceed are entirely up to Lu-Mey, he doesn't like to be kept waiting for matters of punctuality. Fortunately, he keeps any remarks to himself, as D distracts him more, being a known Unionite. "Are you /sure/ allowing him to come along is a good idea? I somehow doubt his 'code of honour' would allow our . . . plan B." The glowing blue circles under his hood narrow down to halfway, as if expressing intense scrutiny. "Though I suppose 'if anyone gets in our way or tries to stop us' means /anyone/. That should include him, correct?" Unfortunately, Nox simply just plain doesn't trust Unionites not to play the hero at inopportune times. He'll be keeping his eye on D from here on out.

    For anyone who's met him before, it seems kind of strange to see Nox actually walking on his own two feet. He takes forward at a brisk stride, in absolutely perfect, metronome ryhthm. "If you would care to elaborate, what exactly is a 'yoroi'? By the context, I'm assuming some kind of mechanized weapon, or some manner of great beast chained up for use in wartime." He seems to rather approve of everyone else gathered, and their sense of propriety, for the most part. Gaius probably doesn't actually look that outlandish beside the samurai of this world. As soon as they're in the courtyard, Nox disperses a small group of Noxines into the air; the little glass and metal insects spreading out in a wide circle to slip into the castle's perimeter unnoticed, with the intention of giving him a multi-angled view of the courtyard that covers the spaces behind and between buildings that would otherwise be blind corners where someone could stumble into a pack of soldiers.

Adelyn Lysen (202) has posed:
    While Adelyn gives greetings, at times terse, to her fellow Confederates--those she recognizes, at least--she's paying less attention to the gathered mercenaries, servants, and--particular attention to D. My, that is a surprise. But if Lu-Mey was expecting him, it's not precisely her business to complain.

    Oh. Lu-Mey wasn't expecting him. This causes Adelyn to give a rather more--not quite suspicious but, perhaps, 'intrigued' look. The outburst and following explanation rather distract from her saying anything in particular on that subject.

    "Kijin, kijin... ah, yes. Cyborgs, and yoroi. I believe I recall the relevant information. This should be interesting, with that kind of variety." By which she means, 'a variety of beings I've yet to study.' Killing all of them wouldn't be a problem for her, either.

    Right, in they go! Adelyn says a few things via radio and, as they walk, switches her staff to her left hand. It morphs into the shape of a large tome, which then remains floating beside her while she quickly scans through several pages, looking for something. Upon finding whatever it is, she snaps her fingers--purely for effect--and then inscribes a number of glowing letters in the air with one finger. As the letters fade out, so does she--along with anyone standing near her. Shadows turn and stretch, washing over her position and obscuring. It's not quite invisibility, but it's an effective means of blending into any dark space, and will last approximately as long as needed, so long as those affected do nothing flashy.

Fujiwara no Mokou (709) has posed:
    Ah, people! Good, she can actually ask for directions.

    Mokou touches down in the center of the courtyard, most likely amidst the squads of men giving her glares like she's here to set the castle ablaze. Admittedly, not necessarily an incorrect guess if they push their luck. Hands still in her pockets, the white-haired girl beams a smile to the gathered guards, with a striking disregard for weapons and shouts.

    "Hello! My name's Fujiwara no Mokou, and I'm a little bit lost. Do you have one of those 'Warp Gates' here I could use? Ah, the name of this place might not be too bad either, so I know where I came from."

    At least she's completely unarmed?

Kagenashi (85) has posed:
    Kagenashi barely reacts to Lu-Mey's little moment due to D's appearance. She, in turn, only gives the Hunter a masked look and a light nod before her attention is turned back to the matter at hand. "Very well," she simply says to Lu-Mey, then slips into the passage with an almost uncanny silence. Walking on the balls of her feet, slightly crouched, she slinks down the passage until it opens up into that clearing.

    Lu-Mey points off to their goal, and Kagenashi takes a few moments to consider how best to approach it. Soon, she decides the best approach is the most direct, and she abruptly vanishes. At least mostly: keen eyes might notice an incredibly faint outline of her form, and anyone with a skill to see spirits would clearly notice her, but how many of those are here today?

    The invisible nogitsune then floats across to the side building, keeping off to the side as much as she can. Her path eventually takes her close to the building, where, crouched in the shadows, she takes a second to uncloak herself. Just long enough to pull a throwing knife from her clothes and hurl it in a straight line aimed for the base of a guard's neck, after which she immediately vanishes again. Assuming that works, she'll have to hope the others act as planned and investigate so they can be removed out of sight.

D (232) has posed:
    The 'sex beam' remark goes ignored. Alas, Lu-Mey's exaggerated reaction to his arrival provokes neither the Hunter's sense of propriety, nor his sense of humor -- assuming he's got any of either to be provoked at all.

    "We can discuss payment after the yoroi is slain." D looks from Lu-Mey to Hana, and tips his hat in a belated greeting. "Miss Umikazeno."

    As he did not react to Lu-Mey's greeting, he also doesn't react to her plan. He isn't known as the type to kill 'every man, woman, and child,' but if this threat perturbs him, he doesn't show it. All business, he asks no questions -- only listens to what questions the others ask, and what answers are given in return -- and prepares his sword and equipment for the task ahead. His sword is loosened in its scabbard for a faster draw. He checks the fit of his bracers, and a place or two where he's tucked several of his wooden needles. He also limbers his fingers through a long, deliberate stretch or two, though this isn't done until he's entered the passageway.

    He is neither the first to enter the hall, nor the last. D takes up a position somewhere in the middle; for his own sake, and for the sake of the people he's surrounded by, perhaps.

    For part of the short journey, his eyes are on Nox, the dhampir's gaze inscrutable, perhaps contemplative.

    On entering the courtyard, his hand flies to his weapon's hilt, and he takes on a tense posture amid the shadows. "Someone is already here...and I suspect they are unwelcome."

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    With Kasumi following up from her favorite place - that being the rear - she doesn't comment on the dusty and quiet passage. She doesn't do any fancy invisibility tricks or anything like that, she just lets the others use their little tricks to scout out the area for her. Because why work when others are willing to do it for her?

    Reaching the courtyard has much the same result. Kasumi just looks around, then buckles her sword to her side and starts walking along the edge of the courtyard, working on finding someone else who is away from the conflict for now. Someone alone. Who, it doesn't matter.

Lu-Mey (234) has posed:
    So far so good. Mokou's presence has actually diverted enough of the attention of the guard to make things even easier for the Confederate and Syndicate approach. Which is all well and good for them. Notsomuch for her, as the soldiers arrived, swords drawn, spears raised. The silver-haired girl's youthful appearance doesn't really stop them from pointing their weapons at her.
    "She just flew in!"
    "Is she some kind of shinobi?"
    "No you idiot, ninja can't fly that's just a legend."
    "Check her for kijin parts, maybe she's got like jet thrusters."
    "It doesn't MATTER if she does, she's not supposed to BE here." The guards argue among themselves for a moment, trying to figure out what to do before a superior can come along.
    "I don't care how lost you are, it's the dungeons for you!"
    That's not looking good at all. Damned be the natural touhou instinct to go places they aren't supposed to go, just to talk.

    Meanwhile, with that distraction in place, there's nothing stopping Kagenashi in the least, the Nogitsune making quick and easy work of one guard. The man crumples to the ground in a silent heap, dead before even realizing there was a knife in his neck. And he goes down without drawing the attention of the other men.
    Which means the way into the Yoroi hangar is fairly open? Lu-Mey traipses right inside and... Stops in her tracks.
    Of course, KASUMI's search yields what would normally be a prime victim. Solitary and alone, unbothered by the guards is a girl in an ornate purple kimono, paradol draped over her shoulder as she walks the grounds some distance away. She appears to be in her 20's, a stunningly gorgeous woman, perhaps one of the daughters of the very regent Lu-Mey has such a grudge against.
    But the reason why the oni is halted is impossible to miss.
    A large construction of red steel and mystical components, the Yoroi sits silently in its berth. A ten foot tall beast of a machine in the shape of a man, it sits at rest, ornate armor looking much akin to a giant wearing a suit of samurai warrior armor, a massive blade resting in the sheath set across its lap. It stands out from the other armors lined up on either side of it, those being more simplistic and mass produced, the Armor appears to be in a dormant state as Lu-Mey approaches it, drawn immediately to the power-source within.
    "Haha... Hahaha... Haaaa... Shen-Di... I knew I would find you here."
    Her voice is a whisper. But in the silence of the hangar it carries with an echo as she lays a hand on the giant machine's plating, an almost manic look on her face as she motions the others to approach. "It's this one. Let's take what we came for and-- HRK?"
    That massive sword is suddenly sticking through her.
    "Ara ara...?"
    It's a sudden and blatant change in situation that she did not account for when the blade has her impaled from sternum to gut, scarlet eyes already dimming with the fog of death before the Armour SWINGS the blade hard enough to launch her off the sword, smash through the concrete wall, and go flying.
    With lethally bone-shattering force, on a course that happens to take the oni's corpse right on path to Mokou.
    Well that didn't go as planned. Especially as the sudden CRACK-CRACK-CRACK report of gunshots rings out inside the hangar, a figure in blue leaping down from an upper rafter. "Who the hell ARE you and what do you want?!" The gun-toting girl demands. She looks to be around sixteen, and despite the fact that she has metal lenses for eyes, and distinctly metal arms and legs hidden in the billowing silks of her kimono, the gleam of a pair of fancy gunpowder guns in her hands says she is NOT happy to see everyone here as bullets start flying and questions are asked as a secondary measure.

Hana Umikazeno (357) has posed:
    The very instant Lu-Mey is impaled, Hana's revolvers are in her hands, and she's on the move, sweeping the hangar for other hostiles. It was ready for them. The castle was /ready/ for them. There's got to be others, they've got to be ready, this is-

    A Tenra cyborg descends from above at the exact moment Hana's eyes are in that direction, and she's moving before she even realizes she's moving.

    The oni's body turns in a graceful spin that takes her out of the line of fire and ends with one revolver pointed straight up. There's no time for a fancy shot, the target's moving too quick to be assured of a clean hit, so she takes the 'no kill like overkill' option. Both cylinders switch to 'steel', and when she pulls the trigger, a single armor-piercing bullet becomes twenty-four, all of them spreading right at the descending cyborg. She pulls the trigger one, two, three times before starting to move again, keeping herself mobile.

Fujiwara no Mokou (709) has posed:
    "I'm not a ninja. Ah, not the kind you're thinking of, anyway," Mokou first answers. Then she struggles to try to answer every question. "Parts? No I can just kind of fly. Can't you? Huh, if no one is supposed to be here why build a castle at all and fill it with people? W-Whoa, wait, dungeons? Can't we just settle this like adults with some violence and then when I win you tell me where to go so I can leave?"

    Now in her defense, that's how things work in Gensokyo.

    And sadly, she seems not to pick up all the noise and commotion going on not too far away, as she tries to reason with the guards as if she were still home.

    "Look, you guys don't look very powerful, so why don't we just assume I'll win and answer my--" Questions, she'd have finished. Unfortunately that's when Lu-Mey impacts her. The two go flying for one of the courtyard walls and slam into it. With basically every bone in her body broken from the impact, the girl's battered corpse hits the floor with Lu-Mey still on top of her.

    Looks like the guards had their job cut out for them.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    Hmm. Kasumi is going to need to do things differently, then. Let's drop the pretenses and just call her Starless, even if she's in a new disguise for the day. She walks up toward the woman and sprays out a net of webbing, her other hand drawing the blade at her side. She doesn't assault her though.

    "Normally, I would kill you for being in the way," She states calmly. That should get the woman's attention... but Starless doesn't get too close, now. "But there's something about you that says this is not a good idea. Who are you?"

Kagenashi (85) has posed:
    Well, that went extremely smoothly. Kagenashi is content with the results of her stealthing and moves forward once Lu-Mey does, pausing for only a moment to ensure that the guard she killed was, in fact, killed. Once that's done, she reverts from her spiritual form back to physical and follows Lu-Mey into the building, standing slightly aside as they run into the girl in the kimono and her mecha companion.

    It's probably a good thing she's off to the side, as that means she's spared from being close to Lu-Mey's impalement and she's free to immediately dash off after the oni.

    Her flight (literally, as her feet never touch the ground as she speeds across to Lu-Mey) is quick and direct. She only flickers back into her inivisible form to ensure that the nearby guards don't turn their attention to /her/ and cause even more problems, and soon enough, she manages to reach both Lu-Mey and Mokou. The latter is passed off as an unfortunately observer casualty: more important is Lu-Mey herself.

    Still silent and invisible, Kagenashi is quick to examine Lu-Mey. She's aware, at least vaguely, of the oni's nature, but she's still going to try to assess how badly damaged Lu-Mey is. Whether she's at least breathing, or if there's a heartbeat. Something to determine her state before she reappears once the guards aren't looking and tries to pull Lu-Mey across her shoulders to get her out of any further harm.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius looks about the hanger, till his eyes follow on the armor. Which seems to be what they are after? However things go quickly south, "Lu-Mey!" And the young woman is impaled it would seem and thrown aside.

There would soon be then gunfire upon them as well and Gaius quickly moves to take cover. Reaching for his own gunblade as he ducks around and then loads in the armor piercing rounds into the clip holder. Gaius listens to some of the chatter on the comm, and his eyes glance over to the power armor.

The power source needed to be spared but would the armor join the fray? How much like Garlemald Magitek? Or was it something different? Him touching the armor was out of the question. Though he shifts to the young woman with the gun as she fires again, he asksbefore he steps around and trains the Hierbane, his gunblade, on her. "I suppose asking you to surrender is out of the question, isn't it?" Then as he comes around to level his sights on her, he opens fire though at the last moment he goes to shift the weapon. The Gunblade sparks blue light from the Ceruleum charge within, the bullet flies and goes to bite into the ground with some force due to the nature of the bullet.

It was a warning shot at best and it was aimed fairly close to the unknown woman. Given it seems a few here want to question her.

D (232) has posed:
    As Lu-Mey's body crashes lifelessly through the concrete walls, D lunges from the shadows in a black streak, his sword already to hand.

    It cuts a silver flash across the bullet-strewn hangar, deflecting several of the wild rounds before he is dealt any harm; however, wasting his time on the measure leaves him ill-suited to deliver any strikes to the gunslinger. Instead, he continues beyond the cyborg girl, intending to reach and to meet the Yoroi before it can rouse itself to its full combative potential.

    Halfway across the hangar, D skids to a low, temporary halt, and -- crouching for no more than a heartbeat -- vaults himself into a high leap. He aims to come down on the Yoroi from above. The tip of his long sword leads his descent, equally ready to attack as it is to parry.

Nox (546) has posed:
    Nox regards Adelyn's spell, and Kagenashi's, with more than a hint of curiosity, despite there being no visible expression on his face. He withholds the questions for now, in the interests of being quiet as instructed. When he sees the yoroi however, he can't help but let out a sound of appreciation, folding his arms behind his back and staring up at the massive construct to lock gazes with its mask. He can already imagine how much energy the thing must produce if something that large is to fight on the battlefield, or rather, he can visualize it with his ability to see energy density. Unfortunately, the objective was to retrieve the power source, not sabotage it, and so he has to refrain from draining it. The mass produced models however, are a different story. With a transmitted command, the noxines return from the courtyard, a handful of them settling on each kimen and stabbing their stingers into the exposed joints, where their glass abdomens gradually begin to illuminate with a steady, teal light. The smaller yoroi will probably be unuseable without changing the power source after they're finished.

    It seems, however, that the grand armour was active. Perhaps the pilot is already inside it, and had been waiting on standy all this time. When Lu-Mey goes flying, Nox's head turns to follow her with a mechanical snap, only to see her corpse land in the middle of an ongoing engagement with some stranger. He assesses that she is quite thoroughly dead, and likely well beyond his healing abilities, and so he doesn't spare the energy. He doesn't know the oni well enough to greive for her loss, but he is most certainly supremely irritated by the death of a Confederate on his watch.

    Dropping the pretense, Nox's feet leave the floor, putting him in his usual position of floating a foot off the ground, allowing him to stare down at the blue haired girl below. "If you think the machine behind you will spare you from harm against so many opponents, rethink your unwise decision. You're in an extremely bad position right now little girl." As the bullets directed for him approach, the air ripples around them, and they suddenly slow to a complete halt, hanging suspended in midair where he swats them away with a backhand. "I will demonstrate." he intones, aiming one palm up at the yoroi, where a small opening whines briefly with a buildup of cyan energy, before discharging in the form of a streaking bolt that explodes on contact with the machine, shaking the ground with its detonation.

Adelyn Lysen (202) has posed:
    Oh, there goes Lu-Mey. Adelyn would be rather worried for the high-level state of this operation, had she not seen any scene like this, previously. As is, her concerns are lower-level. This is a set-back, but not a wholly unexpected difficulty.

    "Ahahaha, just who /were/ you expecting?" Adelyn's magic doesn't work as well out of the tunnel, though it has some effect still, indoors. Unfortunately, with a fully aware opponent, it's not really worth maintaining. She blurs back into clarity as the shadow spell retracts. Pure Guardian, the book still floating by her side, returns to its form as a staff, though it does not return to her hands. Light arcs from staff to finger-tips as she conjures a barrier of Arcane force to stop herself from being riddled with bullets. Alas, defensive techniques are not a prime specialty, and she's not a lot tougher than any other pure magic-user type--things are going to go badly if she's pushed onto the defensive without support for very long. Hopefully, that will be a non-issue, with so many here to keep the enemy busy.

    The archmage does not, presently, make any attack. But the intricate spell-circles that begin to appear in the air around her, one after another, speak to something building up. The number halts at six, each a five-foot wide arcane mess of circuit-like complexity and incandescent Arcane energy, with pieces shifting and rotating and locking into position, one bit at a time.

Lu-Mey (234) has posed:
    In one instant everything is such a mess.
    Kagenashi will find Lu-Mey to be utterly broken. As broken as the dead girl she's tangled with. Rigor mortis is already beginning to settle in, and it results in a weird jumble of broken bones and blood everywhere, pouring from everything. It's not pretty. ... Especially when the white worms appear. A tentative peek at first, they poke out through the oni's wounds as if to taste the air. Before a wriggling display of monstrous white worms begin to squirm, every inch of the oni's dusky skin visibly CRAWLING as they set bone, pull wounds back together, stitch and re-knit flesh, quickly restoring the body of their host in a disturbing, writhing manner.
    In a matter of seconds, she's on her feet, looking pale and dizzy from the immense pain associated with such a quick recovery. "Ara ara... That really HURT."
    And then things just... Get worse. The figure in purple accosted by Starless Night gasps, a look of shock and surprise on her face, and then fear. Still, there's something horribly off about the moment. As her look of terror turns into an upwards, almost vicious smirk.
    A *POFF* of smoke and she's gone, the webbed figure replaced by... A paper doll.
    It's only the slightest gust of an errant wind from behind that will give the Kugutsu any warning. She's fast, but Starless is likely faster and can dodge or deflect the oncoming blow from the ninjato hidden within that parasol, as the purple-kimono clad princess clucks. "Hmph." Oh she is a HAUGHTY thing. "Murasaki-hime does not need to answer to a squirming vermin user." The shinobi princess scoffs.
    Meanwhile, back inside the hangar, the girl in blue is already dancing away when Gaius fires his warning shot into the ground at her mechanical feet. Her every motion buzzes and whirrs with motors in action, a sudden EXPLOSION of gunpowder from her heel launches her aside with breakneck force. "As IF I'm going to surrender when I find my little sister surrounded!" she snarls as she jinks in a way that would break a normal human's bones. That armor piercing hail pelts at her, earning a grunt as several punch clean through her body in a spray of black machine fluids, a little blood, and plenty of sparks, she already starts unloading at Gaius and Hana in a flurry of motions, a graceful kata of her own handgun-fu.
    The Yoroi however is picking itself up, just in time to hoist that giant blade in front of itself with a wrenching motion, Nox's blast slams home, reddening the immense sword's metal, energy bleeding past it to score, dent, and start superheating the armor behind it, it staggers whily trying to get to its feet, as D lunges in.
    The ringing impact of his blade higher on the machine's body earns... A squeal. A shrill, girlish cry of terror, slightly tinged with static from the machine's loudspeaker as the pilot inside does her best to get the massive machine into a readied position. "A-Ao-hime! help!"
    And then from out of nowhere, the reprisal is vicious, swift, and explosive.
    A figure of black steel, tall, lithe, and vaguely feminine in from explodes through the nearest wall, hands, eyes, and the gleaming glass panel over its heart glowing a baleful red, the feminine automaton lashes out in a flurry of lightning fast punches and kicks, a brutal martial art intended to batter the Xelor
    And then a figure in a midnight black kimono follows. Another woman, in her mid-twenties, a long curved blade held in one hand, dark tattoos cover her skin, connecting the gleaming scarlet gems embeded in her body. She has a reed of straw sticking out from the corner of her lip.

Lu-Mey (234) has posed:
    "Tch. Isn't that bold. Attacking us in our own home." Those gems on her skin take on a dull red glow, before her body suddenly bulks up, skin reforming into armor-like plating as she takes a fighting stance. And flings herself at the dhampir with the force of a truck.
    Something shimmers on the ceiling above... A large squirming figure, slithering down. Adelyn will notice it. The giant dragon-like Shiki descending with the slow, careful motions of a cat ready to pounce, as another girl ina green kimono emerges on the rafters above, holding several paper talismans in her hands.

Hana Umikazeno (357) has posed:
    Hana's movements dance and shift, taking her from one stance to the next, never stopping for more than the instant it takes to pull the trigger once. With an enemy this well-armed and armored, she can't afford a more solid firing posture intended for ordinary firefights. It's only when she comes up and a bullet clips her cheek, followed by another going through the left side of her abdomen and out the other with a spray of blood, that the oni narrows her eyes and watches the girl in blue dance for just an instant. And in that instant she recognizes some all-too-familiar movements.

    "...My, my. Jyuujutsu," she says aloud.

    Both her revolvers are briefly spun, just long enough for her to adopt a stance, going through a sweeping arm movement that tips her straw hat off her head entirely. The movement speaks volumes. It's a flat-out challenge.

    Hana's first order of business is to close in. Her revolvers change ammo types in the blink of an eye, and she brings them both up to aim at Ao-hime in perfect rhythm. Left-right-left-right, each bullet armor-piercing, each bullet primed to explode once inside whatever it hits. And then she suddenly drops, hitting a low firing stance with her left arm, before leaping up and forward, taking aim with her right in the middle of a flip. The flip ends with both her feet planted, arms crossed over, and another pair of shots. All the while, the oni closes range, seeks to get into melee.

Nox (546) has posed:
    For some strange reason, Nox visibly flinches when he hear's the little girl's scream, suddenly understanding how 'little' the blue-haired girl had meant when she said 'little sister'. Even more strangely, he hesitates to deliver a second blow, stuck staring at the yoroi as it gets to its feet, letting off the visible ticking of gears. Unbeknownst to anyone, he is calculating how best to destroy the armour's exterior without harming the girl inside. Lu-Mey may have no compunctions about killing children, but the same doesn't go for Nox. Not for any moral or ethical concerns, nor for simple softness, but for his own, deeply personal reasons.

    So distracted, he completely fails to notice the Konghoki until it is already upon him. Its fist collides with his helmet with an audible clang of metal, sending him reeling away as a kick smashes into his chestplate, hurling him halfway across the room. He uses his forearms to block against the following blows, denting and cracking the armour as sparks fly from metal on metal impacts. What will end up being the last hit in the flurry suddenly swings through a mirage of blue static as Nox teleports directly behind the war machine, swinging his own fist into the base of its spine. The impact is accompanied by a violent distortion in space fit to hurl a battle tank through the air like a toy car, using judicious force to try and neutralize a clearly formiddable opponent. As soon as some space is cleared, his hand grasps around the hilt of Zenith, the interlocking blades of the clockwork sword folding out of thin air before the clock-hand point springs into existence. He brings it up into a guard position, readying for the counterattack.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The gunfire comes in fast and quick. While Gaius armor is designed to take a beating and keep on going.. due to some improper repairs, this doesn't exactly go overly well. A key to perhaps stare at Nero later and some other techs.

A few of the bullets from the woman he was staring down clips across his armor, but one manages to nail the cover case to the Magitek core's battery. That impact suddenly causes a bit of a malfunction, which can lead to a major issue down the road of this mission.

A calculated error and given this is the armor he fell in awhile back....

With that problem. The Legatus uses what energy he has to actually teleport away from all this. Having to pull himself out of the conflict.

Fujiwara no Mokou (709) has posed:
    While Kagenashi examines the two bodies, Mokou's begins to heat up. It's pretty sudden, and indicative of internal flames. Far in nature from the display of Lu-Mey's worms, Mokou's body bursts into flames, though they don't damage it at all. Bones are mended, injuries closed, and lifesigns return as the fiery girl stands back up, rubbing her head uncomfortably.

    "What the hell was that?"

    She'd heard of fighting fire with fire, but that's the first time someone tries to kill her by hurling another immortal towards her at terminal velocity. She glances around confused at the commotion. How many people are fighting how many now? Was she out THAT long?

    "I have no idea what's going on."

    Stomp. She slams her foot down, and the flames spread from her body to the castle and its walls. "But I'm actually kind of pissed now. Can't even have a nice day without dying anymore."

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    A paper doll? Starless knows that technique, so she's quick to react. She already has her sword out, too, so when she whips around the blade coming at her only draws a thin line over her cheek rather than bite into her shoulder. The scrape of Scarlet Steel on steel sounds out as she adjusts her stance. "Murasaki-hime, hmm? I hear you have some skill as a shinobi. Let us put that to the test, shall we?" She twists about, her own sword licking out in a quick testing attack against the young-looking woman.

    It isn't just battle with blades she's testing, though. She's a little curious about the spotty records she knows of this woman, so she prods verbally as well. "You're a mysterious one, aren't you? Appearing out of nowhere, so pretty and agile. How much did you cost, I wonder?"

D (232) has posed:
    The Hunter is shocked to inaction by the young-sounding shriek transmitted through the Yoroi's speakers. D's heart can be vulnerable at times, and never is it more moved than it is by the plight of a young woman. Some may consider him a chauvinist for retaining any like ideals in his modern era; others may say he is a romantic, and welcome his instinctive chivalry; to the girl inside the armor, his reasoning probably doesn't matter. She likely feels nothing but relief whenever he checks his next strike and flips nimbly away from an attack position.

    On landing, of course, he learns the hard way he should have pressed his advantage. Given another chance to attack, he might have been able to disable some part of the Yoroi. Now, he's at the mercy of the Yoroi pilot's -- sister? -- who finds the Hunter still stunned by his confusion, and some mild kind of distress on account of the child. As he goes flying across the hangar in a limp sprawl, pain radiating throughout his body, he still is uncertain how to proceed.

    He must defend himself, at least.

    D stretches out his fingertips mid-flight to skim them along the hangar floor. The friction serves to slow him, and his hand also serves to stabilize his crouched landing, so that he can push off three points instead of two and sling himself back into the fray. His sword's gleaming edge cuts a long arc behind him and to his right.

    He cuts at the tattooed woman in black using his sword's dulled side. D delivers a bludgeoning diagonal swipe up and to the left, and follows through by twisting the weapon in his grasp to quickly jab the hilt at the woman's solar plexus.

    "The girl doesn't have to die. Surrender the power source, and this will end."

Adelyn Lysen (202) has posed:
    Adelyn will be under attack, and there appears to be no one free to take care of it for her. Quite a problem, that. However, she is not under attack /yet/. This means that nothing prevents her from finishing her spell. There are a large number of targets in the room, but she is nothing if not precise, and her mind works quickly. There's no noticeable delay before she unleashes the build-up of magic floating in the air around her.

    Each spell-circle can be thought of has having merely two components, for all its complexity. A store of power, and a controllable aiming mechanism, partially independent of the user's own sight. The manipulation of mana that she uses to mark each target is subtle, but the firing of the circles is like a white-hot beam of burning plasma, lasting for several seconds before fully extinguishing the source spell. Time enough for it to burn through most forms of armored vehicle with which she's familiar, though she is prepared to recalculate in the face of the unknown.

    The Yoroi was her initial target, and remains her first. She's fairly certain that wherever its power source is held, it's not in the limbs--and she therefore has no hestitation in directing the first beam to the Armor's right elbow, and the second to its right knee, sweeping slightly to reduce the chance of a complete miss.

    The gunslinger is moving too quickly. The transforming swordsman is too heavily an unknown. The robotic opponent seems more promising, and will need deal with the third attack, aimed in a complicated, automatically retargeting sweep that will guarantee less damage for the sake of further difficulty in avoiding it.

    But the summoner is the primary problem facing Adelyn herself--and, accursedly, yet fascinatingly, even more of an unknown. She cannot afford to do nothing, and she cannot afford to waste her strength. Compromising, she considers this shot an experiment. The fourth beam of concentrated Arcane might sweeps to cut across this dragon twice, while Adelyn continues to work to draw on the two spell-circles remaining. There is only so much she can do at once, with only that little preparation.

Kagenashi (85) has posed:
    Kagenashi doesn't seem too disturbed by Lu-Mey's revival. All that matters to her is that Lu-Mey is, in fact, reviving. Once she starts showing signs of being okay, before Mokou starts getting up with her own firey revival, Kagenashi dashes off again to tend to the chaos in the other building. Poor Lu-Mey might have to deal with Mokou's burning frustration on her own, unless Kagenashi's called back to notice.

    And chaos it is, once she reaches the building again. Everyone seems to be tending to their own opponents well, but it also seems as though everyone could possibly use some help. She isn't going to be able to do so herself, however; she has to choose a target.

    The girl in black seems like a decent one.

    Kagenashi's speed sends her flying across the room, and by the time she reaches the girl in black that D fights, she has both of her kusarigama in her hands. Her swooping assault is swift, direct: she grabs the chain-sickles by the weights and swings the sickles themselves down and across, not to /strike/ Kuro-hime, but to tangle the weapons around her legs, the sickles locking them into place. As D strikes with blunt, non-lethal hits, Kagenashi crouches and /yanks/, trying to put her whole body's force into pulling the girl's feet out from under her, taking advantage of D's greater strength and her own proper leverage.

Lu-Mey (234) has posed:
    In a blaze of bullets, whizzing and spanging so intensely close by ears and body, Ao-hime is locked in a deadly dance with Hana, able to focus on the oni as the Legatus retreats due to technical difficulties. Despite the obviously mechanical nature of her body, the pistol-toting princess is FAST. Snapping off shots with a level of skill that says she's more used to her guns and body than the flowing silks of the kimono on her back. Her fingers are a blitzing blur on her guns, apparently working on a hair trigger and extended magazines. She's fast enough to actualy pelt bullets out of the air with bullets, and while it is an impressive display, several of the armor piercing explosive round popping in thei air, she can't get them all as one punches her in the gut.
    Machine or not, her eyes glaze with pain, but she's not shying away from Hana in the least. As the oni closes in to melee range, the princess seeks to start slapping pistol aside with pistol, aim for snap-fire shots, and a sudden ROCKET PROPELLED KNEE.
    Red steel and steel clash, sparks fly, and Murasaki-hime flips her ninjato and parasol, intending to wield both in a dual stance, painted lips tugging wider. Before Starless Night calls her out on her true nature. The woman's expression faults briefly. Before shifting to one of cold fury. "Father always said money was no object." Hissed in a glacial tone. She snaps backwards, the kugutsu's blade flashing in a cut that shreds the fine silk kimono, and the skin beneath.
    There is no blood, but the princess cries out in a gasp regardless. Before she makes a feint with her parasol. It's a very HARD to read feint, a simple yet dazzling at the same time as she lashes out with her blade in a menacing reprisal.
    Metal slams against metal. Hagane-hime brutal and silent in her onslaught, pauses only to re-set her stance, a sudden venting HISSSSS of steam and exhaust from joints as- Nox appears behind her. The CRUNCH of impact launches the machine into the nearest wall, and she remains there for a moment before her head swivels around entirely on her shoulders, glowing eyes focusing.
    "I. Will kill. You. For my. ..." There's a brief pause there, almost as if the mind and soul within disconnect for an instant before she remembers. "Sisters."
    A flicker of motion, and en explosve sound-barrier-breaking burst of energy from her feet slide her back into range, undaunted and intending to swing in again. It's a very straightforward style. Brutal, punishing of defenses, and empowered by superheated hands and truck-stopping strength.
    Lu-Mey is regaining her color quickly, but Mokou's sudden blazing and phoenix-like revival earns a shrill sound of terror from the Oni as she LEAPS INTO KAGENASHI'S ARMS. "SHE CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD!" ... "ON FIRE."
    Lu-Mey is terrified of fire, it is a small known fact, as the Immortal Smoke's temper flares and sets a large swathe of the castle ablaze instantly. Soldiers panic before working on getting the fire suppression teams into action, as a figure in brightly colored robes appears on a high balcony above.
    "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" For an old man, he still has an impressive bellowing voice. And Lu-Mey focuses on him instantly, screeching fury and hate all the way as she clings to Kagenashi all the way into the hangar. It's probably not the wisest choice of action for her to fling herself back at the massive armor that gutted her before, but she does it again.

Lu-Mey (234) has posed:
    It is Kuro-hime that takes advantage of D's moment of shock and distress, the Samurai woman snarling as she brings her blade to bear. Her strength is inhuman, perhaps on par with the Dhampir's even as his blade deals out blunt strokes that would drop lesser men immediately. She takes them on armor plating- which crack visible and deeply with grunts of pain, her own assault slowed by the impacts, but not halted as she ignores the pain, body visibly mending broken armor as she swings-- just in time for Kagenashi to intervene, a tumbling THUMP of Samurai brought to the ground by strengthm leverage, and tripping chainwork, with enough force to crater the ground. But she tumbles, shifting her weight into a one-handed handstand and beginning to press her assault on the two now while UPSIDE DOWN. "Father will have you all killed if I don't DO IT FIRST!"
    Between Lu-Mey turning into an insectoid monster, climbing all over the Yoroi, and the sudden lancing beams of Adelyn's magic searing the limbs, the pilor screams again. But maybe more importantly, the giant coiling dragon strikes now. The blazing beam of arcane energies tearing across the spectral beasts scales as it snaps down, severing one of its arms with a roar of pain. The girl in gree above tosses more paper talismans, summoning smaller beasts, kappa-like creatures armed with spears, phantasmal dogs, cats, all converging on Adelyn now in harrying murderous intent.

Nox (546) has posed:
    Nox is prepared to intercept the Konghoki, feeling he has a good handle on its strength and speed after that brief exchange. However, apparently the machine hadn't been fighting at full capacity, because the explosive force it, or rather 'she', propels herself forward with is well beyond that which she had used previously. Unable to cast a strong enough barrier in time against a supersonic assault, Nox takes the punch straight on his guard, blasting heat through the crossguard of his sword and leaving a smouldering, cherry-red crater on the armour behind it. He goes flying backwards from the strength of the impact, taking his turn to crash into the opposite wall with a might crack of shattering store, before momentarily falling to his hands and knees, taking a moment to figuratively catch his breath.

    Rising from the ground again, he presses his hands together for a moment, before firing a barely visible pulse of blueish energy through the air in front of him, seemingly accomplishing nothing. Gesturing towards his sword, it flies back into his hand telekinetically, which he points directly towards his adversary. The moment the konghoki makes a movement towards him, it'll trip the temporal trigger, hitting it with a powerful stasis spell that should completely halt its movements for several seconds as her timeline is siphoned away towards Nox. Using the additional time he steals from the konghoki, he will charge Zenith to nearly its full offensive capacity, and then discharge the energy as a roaring column of blue-white flame thicker than a person is tall, utterly consuming everything between him and the other side of the hangar in a maelstrom of barely contained energy at a temperature rivaling that of a nuclear bomb.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    It's a good slash, and Starless barely manages to step back enough that it isn't deeper. It still draws a deep line along her side, cutting through her own silks. She /does/ bleed, though the blood is merely part of her Illusion. More importantly, it gives her an idea, an idea of what she's dealing with.

Her gemblade comes up, flicking out with a quick move that uses her Crescent Moon Blade Tactics to slip through the guard, if she can do so that easily. She /wants/ to establish superiority here, to do something humiliating... like trim a hair, or stab the wrist to disarm. It's all part of her plot.

    "Yes, money is no object to replace his fallen daughter," Starless states, feigning sadness with a wan sigh. "And he will continue to do so. But that is all you are, isn't it? A replacement. I'm sure you've seen it... the smiles and the nods, and when he doesn't think you are looking perhaps a shadow of sadness or doubt. No matter how much he spends, you are merely a stand-in for what he has lost. A bitter reminder and a sweet memory of someone else. Why, though... when you could be so much more?"

    She raises her gemblade, ready to move with a small smile now. "I could kill you, but I think I will not. There would be no point. Someone whose entire existence is defined by the memory of a dead girl is not an opponent that matters. Unless you think you are truly your own person? You could be so much, instead of a simple decoration in the castle."

    A small pause, then an addition: "That is, if you wanted to be."

Hana Umikazeno (357) has posed:
    The knee rises up, only to be stopped with equal force by the oni, stalling that rocket-propelled physical blow dead. "Tricks won't avail you."

    Afterward, Hana wouldn't be able to recall the exact flow of the fight, move-for-move. She's operating so automatically, flowing so quickly from one block to the next strike to the deflection after that she can't even quite be said to respond consciously. Techniques ingrained through brutal conditioning and cemented by decades on the battlefield make her strikes flow with such speed and precision that she is able to match Ao-hime move for move.

    The air around them fills with the sound of gunshot after gunshot. And yet, hana speaks as she moves.

    "I haven't met someone capable of keeping up with my Jyuujutsu in a very long time. I think I can honestly say you're the most skilled user I've encountered in fifty years. But-" A shot goes off by Ao-hime's left ear; and when she moves to deflect, her right arm is shoved aside by Hana's left elbow, and then Hidari-ko comes across her body and plants right into Ao-hime's left elbow, firing in an instant.

    And Hana steps in to take advantage, Migi-ko pressed to the girl's chest, Hidari-ko to her abdomen.

    And she pulls the trigger on each of her revolvers, three times in rapid succession. Six shots. Three to the chest, three to the abdomen. All of them armor-piercing, all of them high explosive.

    "Your counters were too predictable. You let yourself be led. And there are no second chances on the battlefield," she finishes, taking a step back. "Always expect a more skilled opponent. And always lead the dance."

Fujiwara no Mokou (709) has posed:
    Oh, here's the one in charge.
    NOW she knows what to do!

    Rather than fight, Mokou pretty much hops off the ground again, still visibly surrounded by fire. She heads up to the balcony, without minding the insane, multi-layered fight going on. These people are so diverse, and she knows none of them. There's powerful magic and crazy martial arts everywhere you look, so she's going to leave that be! Lu-Mey might appreciate the sudden distance between her and the phoenix-like girl anyway.

    Reaching the balcony, she would try to land on it, making the regent back away if possible, towards the castle interior again. "Hello! So, your guards attacked me, I set your castle on fire, I figure we're even. Can I have my questions answered now? I think I landed in a horrible mess. Let's start with who you are and what's going on, before those guys down there wrap up and come for you, I guess."

    It'd be nice to hear it from the castle lord.
    Usually they tend to know why their castle is under attack.

Adelyn Lysen (202) has posed:
    The dragon comes down, wounded but not defeated. Adelyn raises Pure Guardian, the divine weapon, as if to ward it off physically. A magical ward appears, instead, but an instant too late--the phantasmal beast bites down on arm and staff, both. A cry of pain quickly turns to laughter. The archmage's red eyes seem to glow, and she can hear every loud beat of her heart. The spinning rings of mana surrounding her DO glow, particularly the halo that comes into existence above her.

    "You're nothing--if not entertaining." Her grin is manic.

    Below the point at which her arm is consumed, flesh mostly intact only because of the wards built into the weapon she holds, another ring of mana spins, not unlike a turbine coming to life. Blood drips from her arm, staining neon cyan to deepest red with only a few drops. Her spell is unleashed in nearly the same moment, with black-red smoke pouring from her hand and directly into the dragon's maw. Where her earlier attack might fuse or incinerate, this cloud exists to consume, whether flesh, spirit, or the signals through air by which a Realm summoner directs their beasts. Just so long as there was some magical component to what it absorbed.

    "You're quick, but are you careful? What loyalty can you command, paper-mage?" However long the dragon can hold on, it is likely to make no difference. One cannot simply bite through a divine weapon, and its taking spirit-melting smoke directly to its gut. Adelyn therefore ignores it, and sweeps her free hand through the air. More smoke follows, part chaff and part miasma, to take the horde of familiars descending on her and act as a wide-area counterspell. The efficiency of this is less certain, but even a few drops of her demonic blood, directly, is enough to vastly increase the power of a spell so closely aligned. A weak spirit that survives that fall through her defensive mist may merely go mad.

    "I'd ask to see more, but--you're in the way." There are still two glowing spell-circles behind her. Ignoring the attacks, she directs both upward, to the girl in green, sweeping in a coordinated strike, intended to box in and sear her, to death or crippling injury.

D (232) has posed:
    "Your father isn't here."

    D's voice has regained its chilling calm. Has he already forgotten the Yoroi pilot's plight? What a stone he must have for a heart to push the girl's scream from his mind already.

    Faced with someone who not only possesses an absurd strength but the ability to swordfight from any angle, D must shift his tactics. The light running the length of his blade flashes as the weapon is turned in his grasp a second time.

    In D's hands, the sword almost seems to come alive. Its keen and graceful curve flickers with an inhuman agility. Chimes ring throughout the hangar, as pure and lovely as music, as it writhes in a sinuous dance of deflection, the tattooed woman's blade turned away no matter where it tries to strike the dhampir.

    D turns on his heels. His cloak flares behind him like snapping leathery wings. His face, devoid of all emotion, is a frigid death mask. There is beauty to him, but there is also horror as he at last lashes out in the cruelest manner to sever the tattooed woman's arm from her body.

    To do so requires some sacrifice. The woman's sword will have the chance to pierce him through the gut as he makes his final move.

    His passionless face betrays only the slightest snarl. The light in his eyes, however...that, for one instant, reveals a monstrous joy.

    Should his foe be left disarmed, the Hunter will return his focus to the Yoroi.

Kagenashi (85) has posed:
    Having Lu-Mey clinging to her in her flight is...awkward, to say the least, but Kagenashi endures for the few moments that lasts. The oni's insectoid shriek sends a shiver up her spine before she gets over to Kuro-hime, but otherwise doesn't hinder her much more.

    The girl in black is laid low...and in a remarkable feat of dexterity, adjusts to a one-handed handstand and continues to assault both Kagenashi and D. If these were other circumstances, Kagenashi might be impressed, but she simply doesn't have the time for that right now. Her mind is taken up with rapid-fire thoughts of avoidance and retaliation, trying to grasp both the situation she's in and how best to handle it. There's not a lot she can do with her weapons on hand - and with Kuro-hime's recovery yanking her kusarigama out of her hands, too - but as she flips back in a dazzling swirl of crimson fabric to get out of Kuro-hime's reach, she manages something.

    As she leaps, five orbs of greenish-blue flame seep out of the mouth of her mask, hovering around her before she comes to land in a crouch several feet away. Without giving the girl in black any time to follow through out of her skillful yet awkward position while D is dealing with her, Kagenashi immediately attacks from a range. Each orb abruptly transmutes into a bolt of lightning that all fire off within the span of a second in a single thunderclap. The strong bolts are aimed for the woman's heart, if she can strike it, and the joints of her limbs otherwise. Kagenashi isn't exactly aiming to kill, but it's starting to seem like such measures may be necessary against these attackers if they want to survive.

Lu-Mey (234) has posed:
    Another hissing screech of steam, and the near rabidly furious Kongohki vents coolant to get her body functioning optimally after that immense expenditure of power. No sooner than Nox is back to his feet, does the princess of steel rush him, every footfall tearing up the ground in her wake as her body buzzes to life with deadly intent, reeling one red-hot fist back and readied for a devastating blow.
    A blow that never comes when everything seems to stop for Hagane-hime. those baleful red eyes glowring at the air ahead of her as Nox readies himself.
    Then she twitches.
    Then ger eyes flicker. A sudden and clear blue as she LURCHES back into motion, intent to follow through with her swing. Gone is the stilted and mechanical tone of her voice, replaced by one of desperate emotion and fury. "For Aka-hime... Nothing will stop ME!"
    Unfortunately, the Kongohki princess is incorrect there. Despite her blatant display of strength and indomitable willpower, she is too late. Only in time to jink her vitals aside when she sees that immense pillar of blazing energy on a deadly course for her body.
    She is launched backwards, clanging to a wall and dropping almost lifelessly to the floor, one arm missing, the other mangled, most of her lower body an atomized wreck as she twitches and heaves the sound of a sigh of defeat.
    And yet outside in the battle of shinobi, Murasaki-hime's temper flares. Though simmering cold and frigid instead of explosive, she pours every ounce of her murderous illusory skill into the battle. But The widow of Starless Night is a far older, far more skilled, far more experienced combatant.
    A stand of hair is cut from the purple-princess' hair. That's all it takes to surprise and HORRIFY her, earning Starless the instant opportunity to overpower the younger Kugutsu, when the blade next cuts through her wrist. A cry of pain and she drops both her blade and parasol.
    "I'm not the replacement!" She spits venemously. "You cut me! You cut me, you HATEFUL hag!" Wailed piteously for a moment before looking up at the raised sword. And pauses. Between the blade and Starless reaching out to her, she is given food for thought to mull over, lilac eyes casting downwards. "... I have always lived for my sisters. It's what I was made for. They never once treated me like a common piece of decoration. I know it can never truly be but..."
    But she is defeated. And there is still issue within the hangar. For all of Ao-hime's skill and speed, she puts up an immense fight with the oni. But it all FAILS when Hana deflects her knee utterly. The simple act of halting the rocket-propelled thrust results in a look of shock on the girl's face as she flows into a blur of motion. The two are almost blinding to watch, a blur of grace and explosive speed, before that shot leaves her ear ringing. And she just can't keep up. There it is. The defeated look when The Girls are pressed to her stomach and chest. Six shots, and she jerks six times. It's enough to disconnect her torso from her legs and blow a visible hole clean through her chest as she collapses back with a cry, machine fluids and sparks leaking liberally from her mangled body. But the cough and splutter says she's still alive as the tick-tick-tick of a secondary clockwork heart heart in her chest sets into action. "I... I can't believe it."

Lu-Mey (234) has posed:
    She will have to, as she and Hagane-hime are forced to watch the rest of events unfold. For all of Kuro-hime's unstoppable strength, Samurai have several issues... Even as she bellows in fury and bloodlust as her blade rings off D's, countering, parrying, steel ringing on steel, and unmoved by the man's immense beauty, lost in her own unbridled passion for fighting. It comes to a chillingly abrupt end. Even as she scores the victorious blow of ramming her sword into the young-looking hunter's gut, her momentum is completely lost as her arm is shorn off from the elbow down. She displays no sign of pain, but simply a look of confusion as she topples in the next instant, body blown backwards by the sudden oncoming assault of Kagenashi's lightning blasts, flinging the samurai princess back and forcing her to lose grip on her sword and blasting her out of the fight. Samurai are powerful. But their strength is fleeting. Immense bursts that, in Kuro-hime's case, apparently do not last long as her armor-like skin recedes back to normal form, leaving her cradling the bloody stump where her arm used to be, burned, and spitting up blood.
    Up in the rafters above, the princess in green is not having an easy time of it... A look of near horror forms on her lips, the rest of her face obscured in a mask from the nose above. Adelyn not getting devoured by her Shiki is... A problem. The sudden riotous unleash of power, roiling from Adelyn, through the dragon makes the beast erupt in a final cry, the other phantasmal beasts and shiki falling to much the same fate as they fade, die off, and disperse from the chaff-like countermagics. "Wh..." Midori-hime has NOWHERE to go when the spell-circles shift their aim upon her.
    "M-Midori, no!" That shrill squeal comes from... The Armour.

Lu-Mey (234) has posed:
    Even in the middle of being harassed by Lu-Mey, who has now seemingly gone wild and monstrous enough to actually distract it. The pilot within, little Aka-hime flings her mecha about, a self-sacrificing maneuver to use the armored bulk of her machine and take Adelyn's attack unto herself. And in one final lashing attack intends to impale Lu-Mey.
    The massive Armour blade stops short.
    "Wh... I can't... I can't control it. It won't let me--" The princess within blurts.
    As Lu-Mey RIPS open the armor plating to reveal the cockpit within.
    Aka-hime is a small girl. No older then eleven. Twelve at best, staring with terrified eyes as she splutters and spits up the Yoroi's amniotic-like fluids, while the Oni looms over her.

    MEANWHILE back outside, Mokou is suddenly in the old man's face. "... A... Ayakashi... Haha... I bever had one of those before..." Murmured to himself in a listless and dull tone. Before his eyes regain focus. He doesn't seem to notice her question, so much as what she is. "Why leave...? Stay here at my castle. I can give you everything your heart could ever desire."
    He should immediately set off about ten or fifteen kinds of creep alarms. At least before he registers her next statement. "They have come to take my precious things from me!"

D (232) has posed:
    D wastes no time.

    The girl cries out again, reminding him he is not the heartless freak he is often called to be. The Hunter's cape streams behind him as he hurries across the hangar, rushing toward Lu-Mey -- to save the child.

Kagenashi (85) has posed:
    With the various princesses taken out, Kagenashi has a moment to breathe. D is rushing over to try and save the girl from Lu-Mey, but Kagenashi only stands, taking in a deep breath and letting it out again in a slower sigh. She's not going to help D with this one; if he wants to save the girl, he's going to have to do that himself.

    In the meantime, Kagenashi stays back, surveying the space around her and looking over her allies to make sure things are all taken care of. The mission went smoothly overall, so far: that's all she really needs to know at this point.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    Starless could end it here and now... and Murasaki knows it. That's enough for Starless to declare it her victory, and she has no qualms about just killing the other kugutsu, easily enough. Yet she doesn't, simply because that would be too simple, and she knows how to speak to the girl.

    "You've lived for your sisters, not for yourself. Like another doll, crafted to be an obedient servant without your own desires," Starless doesn't even try to hide the contept in her voice when she says that. "You have skills and potential. Do you want to use them?" She tosses her head, hair flicking back. "Or you can be your own person. Not a doll, but someone. If you like. I could find a place for you, train you, and you could decide for yourself if this is how you wish to live... or with freedom. That is what I offer."

Fujiwara no Mokou (709) has posed:
    "I don't know. This place isn't half bad, but it's not home," Mokou muses, observing the old man's reactions. Desperation? Or just lunacy? He's almost acting like someone who stared at the full moon for too long. Hands still in her pockets she considers her choice of words carefully, and then simply settles on:

    "Nah, sorry. You don't have anything I want, it turns out. I just wanted to know where I was, but that must be too complicated for you. Jeez, if this had been the little vampire's castle at least I'd have probably gotten answers after beating up the gatekeeper, the maid and the librarian, but you're not very rewarding."

    If he had felt even the tiniest bit innocent, she might have actually tried protecting him from all those people, but he kind of feels... gone? Something like that.

    She finally pulls her hands out of her pockets, one of them holding a paper talisman, the sort shrine maidens use. She lobs it towards the man-- and past him. It forms an invisible barrier at the door, so the man can't just go back inside, at least not without effort.

    "I think I'll just let them get ahold of you since you're so unhelpful. Won't you change your mind?"

Nox (546) has posed:
    Nox sighs to himself as he watches his opponent go down, and then the subsequent near-deaths of almost every other girl in the hangar, several of whom have been permanently wounded. It pains him a little to see girls not even out of their teens being torn to shreds, especially in defense of their own family. That kind of single minded determination for the sake of one's loved ones in the case of Hagane is something he can understand. He strongly contemplates piecing the konghoki back together with time magic, but she doesn't seem to be in life threatening danger, her body can likely be rebuilt, and she'll probably attack him as soon as she has a functioning arm. He feels significantly less compulsion to heal any of the other girls. It's already clear that advanced prosthetics are in full use in this world, even if they'll lose some of their beauty as a result.

    Unless Lu-Mey decides to try and kill Aka, in which case he will actually aid D by casting a barrier around the young and helpless girl, he floats over to the downed konghoki. "It is regrettable so much harm had to come to your family, but I assume you expected as much when all of you picked up your swords, so to speak. You will realize in hindsight that handing over the power core would have been a better decision than trying to play the hero. Was it really worth all of this to simply protect your father's property?" He holds a hand to the hole in his chestplate, now cooled to the point where one can see nothing but a blue glow inside. "However, I must say you were most impressive. I haven't seen that kind of determination in decades."

Adelyn Lysen (202) has posed:
    Adelyn doesn't get any answers, but she was really expecting any, either. This is obviously a student's work, no matter how gifted the student may be. Far more experience would be necessary for proper discourse.

    Briefly, she considers capturing the green-clothed girl, but thinks better of it. The particular magical style is unlikely to be unique, and there should be other, more convenient opportunities for study. Perhaps she can convince one of this world's equivalent of a university instructor to visit with some of her people.

    Such thoughts race quickly through her mind even as she handles other tasks. The dragon is defeated, but her arm is still bleeding. She is not without devices for healing injury, but it would take precious time that might be better suited to other purposes. Extraction should be a high priority, along with handling any remaining threats--though there do not appear to be any.

    Clapping her hands together, Adelyn winces only slightly at what was probably a bad idea with that injury. The limb is still functioning, but the pain is not so much deadened as set aside, where she is aware of it without it interfering unduly with her motion.

    "Let's be off. Should we cause any further destruction on the way? I've plenty of energy for it, I assure you." Quite bright and cheerful.

Lu-Mey (234) has posed:
    The girls are no longer able to fight. They have nothing left in them, between injuries, batterings, and severed limbs. Murasaki is at Starless' mercy and she knows is, a genuine look of contemplation beginning to cross the purple princess' perfect features. "To... Be my own..." She muses. Before falling to her knees, as if stricken by revelation.
    Hagane-hime twitches. Just enough to turn her head up to Nox with those dimly glowing blue eyes. "It was worth it for Aka-hime." She replies, voice vehement despite the utter wrecked state she is in.
    If anything, Kuro-hime tries. Staggering to her feet only to collapse again, in a final display of fortitude, but between D and Kagenashi together she's thoroughly down. But the black princess appears... Surprised when the hunter turns, rushing to the tiny princess' aid.

    "My things! My things!" The regent babbles. He's trying to get past Mokou, but it's not really going to happen. By now the men below have the fire under control. It's still going, and they're going to be too busy to break off from it still. Unless Mokou decides to ruin their lives by worsening it. "Don't you understand?! I, Lord Niji, have the most colorful things, the most expensive things."
    Lunacy. He suffers pure lunacy. Until another figure emerges. A girl in white peeks out from behind him. Though she looks terribly confused when she thunks into the ward, nose scrunching as she regains her composure. "Ah... Father, do we have visitors?"
    "GO BACK INSIDE THIS INSTANT!"

    But now... Now Lu-Mey is reaching into the Yoroi's cockpit, a manic look of glee splitting her lips as those clawd fingers reach in further... Further. D is upon her by the time her fingers curl- wrench- tug- and with a sickening POP and a shrill cry she...
    Pulls a large hunk of circular metal from the inside of the armor.
    And then reaches in with her other hand to lightly pat the girl on the head.
    Aka-hime is visibly terrified, but wholly unhurt as the oni cracks the metal sphere like a nut and shreds its outer layer, revealing the deep brown, gem-like object within, and clutching it to her chest.

D (232) has posed:
    D stops behind Lu-Mey. His sword yet bared in his grasp, he waits, and he watches, tension in his pose. Steadily, his alarm shifts from the child pilot to Lu-Mey herself, but while he felt the urge to protect Aka-hime, Lu-Mey inspires something considerably less selfless. Steadily, the Hunter's eyes narrow to hard, unfathomable slits as he beholds the madness twisting the oni woman's face, and poisoning her gleeful laughter.

    He flicks his wrist to cast Kuro's blood from his blade. There is no sound but a soft click as the weapon is returned to its scabbard across his back. Whatever the rest do tonight, he cares not; his concern is now for the preservation of the wounded.

Fujiwara no Mokou (709) has posed:
    Father? That hits close enough to home.

    Mokou sighs, gesturing towards her talisman. It bursts into flames and once gone, the ward goes down, allowing the lunatic to go back inside if he wants. The flames around her die down, and she decides this has long stopped being any of her business. Is getting the location of a Warp Gate always THIS hard?

    Rather than try her luck with the girl in white, she just takes a step back and off the balcony, hovering down to the ground and then casually strolling in the direction most marked by chaos and destruction, ending up in the hangars. Or, at least, in the general direction of Lu-Mey, D, and whoever's immediatly around them.

    "So, I'll bite. The lord of the place is nuts and wouldn't tell me what was going on and how I get out of here, any chance you'll be more disposed to it? I'm getting kind of tired of asking."

D (232) has posed:
    D asides to the newcomer, Mokou, "Stay and help me tend the wounded, and I will help you resume your journey. Or leave, and trust your fate to the others. It is your decision."

    Others may provide a more convincing and friendly argument.

Nox (546) has posed:
    With their business concluded, Nox starts paying attention to his swarm again. The noxines are each bloated with energy, to the point that the blue lights that radiate from them bathe them in little coronas. Once finished extracting from the kimen yoroi, a handful of them trace little circles in the air, opening shimmering, circular portals through which the collective buzzes through, returning to Horologium to deposit their prize. Nox regards Lu-Mey with silent appraisal. He doesn't have the required knowledge of oni physiology to know why Lu-Mey is making such a big deal about that rock, but the name she utters over the radio gives him a vague idea. Shen-Di. It sounds awfully like her own name, and very much not like the names of the girls gathered around them. From the same place, perhaps? Maybe a gift or heirloom with which she remembered him or her by. It's obviously important to her if she was willing to be skewered and smashed for it.

    Mokou catches his attention next, abruptly teleporting on the spot to simply face the other direction rather than just turning around the slow way. "That depends entirely on who you are. I would strongly advise not attempting to interfere here. As for the warpgate- . . ." he looks towards D as if to underscore his suggestion. He doesn't really care enough to try and cut the man off from the help he probably needs.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    Starless listens, then sighs and shakes her head. "His things... he's only concerned about his possessions. Perhaps your sisters even treat you decently, but your so-called father is more interested in his worldly wealth than his family. I think you need to reassess your loyalties to-" She pauses, looking up when the girl appears and is shoo'd away.

    That gets Starless saying something else. "Hmm. That is a pity. I have an offer for you. Come with me, and I will teach you /my/ ninjutsu, and my blade skills. You will be treated as a valued ally by numerous beings, for who you are, not what you are. And when you have trained enough... you can return, and rescue your sisters, if you like."

Fujiwara no Mokou (709) has posed:
    "I'm pretty bad at first aid, but if you tell me what to do I can help, sure," Mokou answers D, content to finally have an answer. And while she really is awful at actually nursing people (due to lack of self-experience, mostly) she's always willing to help someone in need out like that, long as he's not a creep. ... granted, D doesn't look like the most trustworthy man out there, but the fact he's looking to tend to wounded is testament enough he probably isn't a creep?

    But then Nox fills that role instead, the Xelor earning a confused glance from the girl. "Ah, well... I guess I already agreed to help the injured, so I can't just leave now. Thanks, though." What is he, anyway? A man in armor? Why's it so bright in spots? Must be one of those 'robots' she keeps hearing about. Pretty cool, despite the fact he's pretty much threatening her.

    "Fujiwara no Mokou, that's my name, by the way. I'm just a health maniac from Gensokyo, you'd find me pretty boring. You guys keep doing your... stuff, I'll help Tall And Stoic over there with the bodies."

D (232) has posed:
    "You have my thanks." No, D's not the most good-looking Good Guy in existence, but he's still polite whenever he's not angry. Like he almost was with some people. D totally goes off to do First Aid things with Mukou. Then, he'll either escort her to the nearest warpgate, or provide the coordinates she needs. Small Talk doesn't happen in big doses, but she's from Touhou, so she can probably push him into chatting at least a little.

Lu-Mey (234) has posed:
    Lu-Mey... Has what she came for. With the heartgem ripped from the Yoroi, it will move no longer. Though the tiny pilot suddenly cries out.
    "W-wait! Y... You can't just take him from me! He always protected me!" The poor girl looks on the verge of tears now, and this earns something of an odd look from the oni. D being the closest will certainly see it.
    Lu-Mey is smiling.
    "... I'm not surprised. Shen-Di was always loved children. We wanted to have a daughter together." She explains before actually holding her hand out to the girl. And pointedly sticks her tongue out at the hunter when his sword goes away.
    "But. He needs to be laid to rest."
    The sisters that are able to sit up, are now doing so, looking a mix between relieved and confused when it seems they're being spared from a majority of retribution.
    The regent is already shoving the daughter in white back inside, gibbering madly as he prepares to try and escape.
    Mokou arrives and Lu-Mey's brow twitches. She shies away from the phoenix, she does not mix well with fire at all. Until Mokou mentions the regent. "--Where was he?!"
    Ah, D, and Nox aswer her well enough. Back outside, Murasaki-hime looks up. Up at the balcony where Lord Niji is pushing her other sister back into the castle. And her gaze hardens. To The Widow of Starless Night, the perfect purple princess' reply is sharp and swift: "I accept."

Adelyn Lysen (202) has posed:
    Adelyn doesn't seem to be sparing any concern for the downed girls, one way or another. Even less than Lu-Mey. Her priorities are entirely different--though in a few respects, there is some overlap relevant to this situation. While not a woman overflowing in empathy, there is one respect in which she does understand such feelings, and that's the bonds of family.

    In this respect, she is unimpressed with the regent. His motivations are bizarre, and his consideration lacking. The mage gives a sigh, returning to the question of how to cause meaningful harm to the man without going any of the obvious routes. If she understands Lu-Mey correctly, she doesn't want to just kill the regent, nor even to directly torture him. Such round-about revenge.

    Happening on what she believes to be an effective measure that also overlaps with her own interests, Adelyn makes a subtle gesture toward the floor, and a sudden wind catches and lifts her into the air, first with force, but gently slowing to a hovering position near the green-clad summoner.

    "Come along, now. We've concluded against letting you or your sisters die, but that doesn't mean we can just leave you here." Another subtle gesture pulls a similar Wind spell from her staff's memory, this one to grab Midori-hime from her perch, holding her out of reach of all else in lieu of physically restraining her. This should make it simple to bring her down.

    She's not precisely ignoring Mokou during all of this, but she--okay, she pretty much is ignoring Mokou. In her defense, she's not the host of this party.

Fujiwara no Mokou (709) has posed:
    "Oh, up on his balcony. I tried to talk to him but he kept screaming about his things and tried to bribe me into staying here. He called me something weird. Ayakashi? Some word like that. I don't think that's really a person anymore. Seems totally gone," Mokou shrugs, before she goes off to help D. She will do her best not to forget the directions given to her by Nox, at least!