Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Janine Liberi     It's time.

    Slipping back into the Mirror Forest is a cinch. The White Pig awaits in his clearing, alongside an unusual and rare guest. Spriggins Jack, in his deep greens and wooden sword. He greets Die Reisende with a cheery wave. "Hello friends! It's been a while. I hope you've been keeping well? Let me tell you, I've been having the strangest dreams of late! I find myself-"

    "Butt out, kid," Janine says. "We're busy." It would appear, at first, that she's just being rude again. And yet, all her usual frustration and pettiness seems absent. Her face is grim, but not scowling. Her eyes fixed dead ahead, rather than judging everyone around her. Adelle Kaufmann is present also, clutching a hardware store axe to herself and looking uncertain.

    Spriggins Jack just huffs and crosses his arms, but stays silent. "Do it," Janine tells Adelle, prompting her to take a contact mirror from her pocket and look into it. "Gretel!" she shouts, drawing out her newfound Persona. It swings its stove-flail lazily as Janine turns to the White Pig. "Get a whiff, and lead it to the source of that other smell."

    The Pig seems less than pleased about this prospect, but does as its told. It begins walking through the trees, snuffling at the ground and finding a much overgrown path. Spriggins Jack sees fit to tag along, taking up the rear as Die Reisende heads off. Picking through the bizarre flora takes some time, but curiously, the number of roaming shadows seems to thin the further they go, until there are none.

    Soon, a clearing around what looks to be an old fort comes into view, with a graveyard all around it, and ravens flying about. It's one that would be familiar to some. "Wait... didn't we come here to train once? Has she been hiding here this whole time?!" Janine exclaims, looking frustrated. But then, she takes a deep breath, and speaks plainly. "This is it. This time, we take her down for good. The one who has been kidnapping kids and replacing them, the one that caused this whole mess-"

    "You seek to challenge Brynhildr?!" exclaims a woman's voice as the doors to the fort burst open. Standing there is a tall, thin, and toned woman. Dark red hair tied in a complex braid hangs down her back. Atop her head is a round helmet with black wings coming off it. She is clad in a flowing back dress with a venomous green breastplate atop it, like ultra-corroded brass. Clutched in her hand is a great spear, and a rectangular shield is strapped to her arm. "I knew fools like you would seek your deaths eventually, so I saw no purpose in coming to claim your lives. I would offer you mercy..."

    She swings her spear, and the temperature seems to plummet, a thick mist rising up from the ground as she cackles. "But I've none to spare!" Icicles array themselves in the air around her, before being launched at the group in a fast barrage!

===============================THE DEVIL EMBODIED===============================

----------------------------EMBODIMENT OF REFLECTION----------------------------

                                   BRYNHILDR                                    
                         SHE WHO IS HUMANITY'S CRUELTY                          

-----------------------YOUR JOURNEY REACHES A CROSSROADS------------------------

=======================================XV=======================================
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa has been involved in this one way or another since nearly the start of it. She did give her word to see it though to the end. Even with growing concerns, this has to be stopped before it came to a head for this world. Even worse than that it could spread to other worlds if it wasn't handled here. She didn't want to think about what could come from the local results of failure let alone things going even farther.

She was clad in full stealth tactical gear and looking fairly seriously as she formed up with the Pig and everyone else, she didn't cloak for the moment as she now finds they are not alone here.

"So you have made your choice then haven't you? Very well we do seek to challenge Brynhildr."

She's already pulling ou her assault Rifle ready and already coming up. However, the enemy was fast and already laid into her scoring several nasty hits, Kotone moves, with telltale signs of injury already as she opens fire on Brynhildr. She also will end up firing off a grenade from the underslung grenade launcher, she's not going to be holding back as she's just trying to lay into her as fast as she can.
August Kohler Spriggins Jack is here. The weird Shadow who is immensely useless and keeps bothering them. August, however, has been in a better mood and mindstate since they last met, so he humors the little guy. "Weird dreams, huh. You'll need to tell us about them sometime. Not now, though. We've got monsters to slay."

When they arrive at the cabin, August remembers it due to the crows. They talked. He hums something under his breath, his memory of what they said. "He is nothing." Nevermore, huh.

When the doors swing open, Brynhildr revealed, August summons his Persona. "Dietrich!" The black knight manifests in a cloud of red and grey, and as she speaks, he just has spite for her. "You're disgusting. All the pain you brought is finally going to be avenged."

Icicles slam forward, as Dietrich all but roars, August leaping on his back. The icicles impact with the armor, tearing chunks off, as August grunts in pain, feeling the psychic backlash. As it gets colder, August's eyes glint, and Dietrich's massive sword is lit aflame, the Persona dashing forward with super speed, swiping icicles out of the air.

The flaming sword moves to sweep into the Shadow, and try and burn her. The flames grow, and the hit is like being slammed full-force by a truck. This is the power of someone who's self-actualized.
Athela Valemore Athela Valemore only has the vaguest idea what's been going on here. But that's all the young hero really needs to know. Lives have been disrupted, people are in danger, and the want need to bring justice upon the source of such misdeeds was the only motivation required for her. As such she remains at the back of the group as part of the escort as it were, completely unphased by the guide chosen to lead them being a pig. Considering she's seen weirder pokemon used as scouts before.

That all changes when the woman comes barging out of the fort and starts threatening them right off the bat. Then conjures up some sort of ice attack or spell.

Immeadiately Athela bolts to the front of the group and slams one of her feet down into the ground. Several large chunks of ice spawn upward from where she stomps to intercept some of the incoming icicles. Ice shatters in various directions from the impact, showering shards against her from the force of the blow.

Followed by Athela leaping up on top of what remains of her formation, drawing her weapon and pointing it towards the woman. "Your malicious misdeeds end tonight, witch! The sword of justice shall severe thee from the world hath sown with ruin." She leaps off the rapidly fading ice form, while it's a aquatic sheen that forms around Resolute Blade to strike at Brynhilder, her descent coming down with all the force of a waterfall's cascade.
Sanary Rondel As is not-really-tradition, Sanary arrives in the Mirror Forest with a mystery bag the size of her head tied to her waist. Upon spotting the White Pig, she reaches into said bag to fish out a few chunks of meat for the pig, but pauses when Janine gets right to business.

Maybe later.

Putting the meat bits away, she holds a hand up in greeting to Spriggins Jack and Adelle, offering only a low shrug in response to the former's silence. The latter gets an approving nod, though, resting one hand on the handle of her own long axe. She's brought a kite shield with her today as well, the triangular-ish shield slung over her shoulder by a rope for lack of anywhere else to comfortably hold it.

When they reach the fort, Sanary's starting to take deep breaths to steady herself even as Janine gets more heated. "Don't think too hard now. Just go with what feels right, watch each other's backs, and we'll be fine." She follows that up with a reassuring smirk, but it's likely to be missed when Brynhildr announces her presence.

Crap. She looks cool. SO. COOL. The healer sighs as she draws her axe, twirling it around once before pointing it at the spear-wielder. "... Tch. Shame we have to kill you, but looking cool won't be enough for you to live!" Pulling her shield to her front, Sanary steps into the blast of icicles with it to keep her head from being skewered, although a few of them do graze against her exposed limbs from the sides while the rest batter the shield against her.

"How long have we been at this? It's... Ech. Whatver. Better think up what you're gonna say when you're dying now, because it'll be hard when you're missing a head!" Shaking the chunks of ice off her shield and coat, Sanary charges right at Brynhildr with a series of rapid chops and swings, aiming to keep her occupied right from the start.
Janine Liberi     Spriggins Jack seemed very excited when August tells him that they're going to 'slay monsters.' But upon that first barrage, he blocks an icicle with his fake sword and is sent tumbling away among the trees. The White Pig lit out the instant Brynhildr made her appearance, leaving the party alone against the entity. Dietrich goes flying forward, parrying icicles and sweeping at the woman with a great flaming sword. It bites into into, drawing an affronted gasp from the woman... and then suddenly, her form becomes mist. Kotone's grenade flies through it and explodes within the fort, while Athela and Sanary's swipes find nothing. Janine and Adelle has joined the attack, the former calling Biancabella to assail with winds, and the latter summoning Gretel to swipe with the stove-flail, but the winds only slightly budge the mist and the flail misses also.

    "Really now," says Brynhilde, her voice echoing among the trees. "Did you think me as simple a foe as Siegfried? That ignorant lout could never kill me. What hope have you?!" And then suddenly, she is standing among the heroes, tapping her spear against her shoulder lazily. "You'll answer for this mistake with your lives!" And she's moving, the difference between her and Siegfried clear. While the Red Woodsman is a plain, straightforward brute, aiming to win through sheer overwhelming violence, Brynhilde is a slippery and agile foe. She bounces among the trees, vanishing into the mist only to reappear and strike. She's lashing out with her spear now, aiming to gore everyone with vicious thrusts, cackling with every wound she opens.
Sanary Rondel Although Sanary's axe swings meet air, she doesn't seem all too surprised. Persona are strange things, and knowing that Brynhildr can turn into mist gives Sanary an idea! Kind of. If she can move so effortlessly around their straightforward attacks, then the most likely place for an attack to come from is behind!

Whirling around once Brynhildr talks, Sanary raises her shield in her defense once more and... Nothing. Okay, so this one's significantly faster than the Woodsman. She tries to keep up with Brynhildr's movements, but gives up on that after the first few bounces to instead of focus on forcing healing magic into herself. It pays off when Brynhildr comes after her, stabbing into the healer's shield and slamming it right into her chest for all her efforts to not get stabbed in the chest.

"Guh...! You're getting way too into this, ain't ya? Gross! What are you, fifty?!" As Sanary tries to goad her with taunts, she draws her axe blade across her shield while taking up a more defensive stance. Once she thinks she has a bead on Brynhildr's path, she fires an explosive beam from her eye, aiming to catch her or those pesky trees in the blast.
Athela Valemore Despite the dynamic lunge Resolute Blade only digs a rut in the ground as the wily witch wisps away from the attack. It is immeadiately yanked free, gripped in both hands as Athela pauses, focusing. Her eyes narrow, but it's not the mist or the forest she's looking at. She's focusing on a different point, aware of her surroundings with otherworldly senses instead...

Abruptly she digs a heel in and turns, swiping an upward arc with her weapon. It crashes with the witch's spear, knocking the thrusting blow up just enough for the point to jab across her shoulder instead of dig into whatever vulnerable spot the woman had hoped to hit. But she's quickly slipping away before Athela can strike back.

"Trickery shant not save thee for long, witch." If that is how this battle is to be fought, so be it. Athela summons one of her pokemon into the fight, the Vaporeon appearing before her. "Counter-evasive tactics, Sprite. Seek and detain." "Vap!" The mere-fox's finned ears spread wide, listening for the movement of the witch reading to strike that normal human ears would not pick up. Then abruptly she jumps backwards into the air, spinning in a reverse somersault as she does. Supernatural energy whips off her form as she does, a dozen small starburst shapes spinning off into the forst after the elusive witch attempting to home in on her.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa keeps tabs on August and his Person to avoid friendly fire with him, the same goes for Athela and Sanary as it hits her. She's the only ranged focused combatant focused person here today. She will need to keep tabs on them all and times her shots as best she can. She does some quick mental planning August has a lot of fire, Athela and Sanary are very much up close with sharp and pointy things sort.

She knows this is going to be a hard fight, it's going to be even harder now with how the Valkyrie is moving and she's caught. Yet it's not direct, Kotone is cut open on he arm she doesn't bleed she sparks electrical power and she attempts to grab Brynhilde and give her a dose of Kotone's built-in taser systems.

If she's lucky she'll be able to help give a window to her allies in dealing with this high speed attacking Valkyrie, or at the very least keep her focused on avoiding not being tasered rather than attacking.

"We'll just have to put our money where our mouths are...won't we?"
August Kohler "No, I don't. But I was able to force him back with my own strength. I have awakened my strength. What do you say to that, Brynhildr?!" Names have power. August doesn't care. He'll use them casually.

And then, as the fight leads outside, she leaps through the trees, and her spear strike hits Dietrich true, goring into his armor.

August is pained, but thinks fast, even as he starts bleeding from the edge of his mouth ever so slightly. Dietrich moves to grab the spear, hold her in place for a moment, and then smash the sword into her head with the other hand and force her back.

The sword is still on fire. THis could be painful, if it lands true.
Janine Liberi     Brynhilde cackles as she bounces off Sanary's shield, bouncing among the trees, fading into the thickening mist. "I look far better than you do, you mutilated cow. No wonder you rear pigs, only livestock could love a face like yours!~" She's literally in their heads now, a part of the collective unconscious giving her insight into their history. However, her mocking laughter is cut short by Sanary's eye beam, scything through her as she leaps from branch to branch.

    Next, she's upon Kotone, her spear ripping open her chassis. "But if we're talking mutilation, here's the exemplar! Really dear, you can look like anything you want, and you choose /that?/ If only that accident had erased your awful aesthetics for good!" Kotone sparks, but Brynhilde's spear is already mist, giving the electricity nothing to conduct along.

    Now, August. She takes blood, giggling as he begins bleeding from the mouth. But as the Persona goes to snatch her spear, she pulls it back with the air of a practiced warrior, dancing out of the range of Dietrich's sword. "Hmm... yes, I'm starting to see now how you were able to overwhelm Siegfried," she says to August. "You are even more pig-headed, selfish, narrow-minded, and ignorant than he! In a contest of meatheads, yours had more fat! Hahahah!"

    Athela brings out one of her Pokemon, the Vaporeon sending what should be a sure hit-attack flying at Brynhilde. The valkyrie raises her shield, the starts slamming against it and making her slide back. She huffs in frustration and vanishes into mist again... appearing once more to snag Sprite out of the air by the tail. "Really now dear, are you so weak as to need to hide behind a little creature like this? Some stalwart knight you are, more of a scared little girl!"

    But before she can do anything awful to Athela's companion, Adelle strikes. Flames leap from Gretel's stove, scorching the valkyrie and driving her to become mist, which Janine dispels with wind. "We won't lost to you!" Adelle shouts "You're just a small part of humanity! The ugly part that we need to be better than! In overcoming you, we overcome ourselves!" Janine snorts a little, but flourishes her sword. "What she said."

    Brynhilde looks down at everyone from atop a tree. "So... that's how you all feel? I am something to be overcome? To boast at until I lay in the dirt?" She throws her head back and cackles, a bone-chilling laugh that echoes throughout the Forest. "Isn't that just the human way?! If something opposes you, crush it! Even if all common sense and the laws of nature say otherwise, do as you please! Ridiculous! A farcical, selfish race, thinking their ignorance is a plus!"

    She looks down at them, her smile twisting into a sneer. "Well, allow me to show you how fragile you humans are! Under all the bluster, you are nothing!" The mist is starting to thicken now, filling the air and flooding the lung with frigid cold. It gets so thick that you can barely see your hand before your face, let alone where everyone else is standing.

    And then, within this blinding fog, Brynhilde attacks. It's not even clear what she's doing, only a momentary presence foretells some kind of incoming damage.
August Kohler August grimaces as he's insulted, because it stings. He replies the first thing that comes to his mind. "Yeah, well, at least I'm not a bitch."

And then, Brynhildr basically attacks the human way. Attacking humanity. Attacking them.

"A farcical race. A selfish race. Is that all you think we are? Ignorant? /Nothing/?"

The fire grows. As Brynhilde attacks, a mysterious strange attack that grinds into August and wounds both him and Dietrich, he pushes into overdrive. The fire becomes a blaze, a beacon. It pillars out of the sword, inferno hot.

"Let me show you what humanity can be! We're better than you! You wouldn't even exist if it weren't for us...die like the hag you are!"

August is angry, as the flaming pillar is swung forward, even as August continues to bleed and armor is torn off, expending more energy than he can casually regenerate now. The fire burns through the trees, leaving flames in wake, and moves to ignite Brunnhilde herself like a beacon if August can make a successful hit.
Sanary Rondel "Yeah, but at least I got an excuse! You could choose any kinda look for yourself, be super hot or cool or whatever, and you're going with THAT? That's..." Sanary pauses for a beat. "... That's actually kinda sweet."

As much bluster as Sanary puts on, she can't be /that/ heavy-handed with the taunting. Still, she has to get her head back in the fight, especially as Brynhilde's incoherent moves become even more wild and unpredictable for both herself and her allies. Even with Adelle and Janine working together to fight that mist back, it's still proving to be quite the problem as Brynhilde comes for them from within the thickening mist.

"We need to keep her from moving around so dang much! But what's good f-" As Sanary speaks, she keeps her guard up, but the attack comes out of nowhere and catches her right in the side. She howls out painfully as she lashes out with her axe on instinct, funneling more healing magic into her arm to stem the bleeding.

"So much weird bullshit today... And so what if humans are stupid? If it's stupid and it works, then it ain't stupid! And if it does work, what's that mean when someone soooo superior still gets their asses beat anyway?"

Time to try something really stupid just to rub it in her face. Holding her shield and axe to her side, Sanary rears back for a long moment, then hurls them forward around Brynhildr. As they fly, she starts letting loose rapid-fire blasts from her eye to start bouncing the two things around, sending them flying every which way in an attempt to confound the Persona and hit her with the wildly flying objects in the process!
Kotone Yamakawa The fight is not going well she's been having a devil of a time connecting with the Valkyrie but it's clear she's not giving up or this fight but she's attempting new tactic as again she's getting clipped apart.

"...That's what you have to say about me? I'm shocked you paid attention to me at all. As for that? It's become my face and it is me...and you just made it personal."

Kotone is not happy, she's clearly angry and this might lead to some trouble for her but on the other hand she's going to go right for the Valkyrie now as she changes out weapons the rifle vanishing into her matter manipulator and she summons, a full-on minigun which she'll start opening fire on trying to give her nowhere to dodge. If one fills the air with bullets? Still, the lingering damage done to her by the Valkyrie will add up over time and she knows, things are just going to be thousand cuts with how things are going and they must bring her down.
Athela Valemore How does Athela respond to that cold remark? She, of all things, just smirks a bit in her own assurance. "I would not expect one such as you to understand the strength in comraderie." To which Sprite adds a "Vaporeon!" in agreement. "So what you fail to grasp, you deride as weakness. You truly are cold at heart."

The attempts at demoralization are rebuted. The mists, not so much. Honestly Athela had been ignoring it, having never been bothered by such things due to her own elemental tolerances. It's not until it actually starts to close in like a giant grasping hand, seeping through her armor and chilling to her bones that she realizes it's something more than just a foggy forest. Even Sprite shivers a bit. Then from the unseen depths of the mist the witch attacks, managing to blindside even her heightened unwareness due to the frigidness. Athela crashes backwards violently, until she finally digs the point of her blade into the ground to keep from being flung entirely out of the fight and digs her feet in underneath her.

"Nnnnh... No, bitterness shall not herald a victory for thee." Athela clenches a hand tightly, but this time draws on the restorative side of Water as she thrusts it over her head and releases the elemental energy to cascade back down, over herself and her pokemon as Sprite rushes to her side. A combination of elemental energies and determined spirit flows through, driving back the hellish cold and revitalizing.

Athela stood and regripped her divine blade in both hands, which has started to shimmer with a frosty glow of its own. "Such bitterness. Such biting cold." Athela resteels herself and launchs towards Brynhilde. She swings her weapon into an upward slice, that even if the weapon itself misses releases a swell of water that surges forward towards her foe and crashes down like the sea itself had somehow come to fight her.

"You need to learn to let it go!"
Janine Liberi     Weapons are swung, bullets sprayed , water and fire doused about. Somewhere, Janine and Adelle may be contributing, but in this thick fog, it's hard to say. Even sound seems to be muffled here. Kotone's minigun nowhere near as loud as it should be. Even everyone's words seem to be swallowed by the mist, as if they were preaching at no one.

    But someone is listening. And they respond. Brynhilde's words are targeted, heard only by their intended recipient. And when they are heard, they are like an ice-cold claw sinking through the heart, stirring up ancient doubts and fears and making them very real and tangible.

    "What a big, strong man you've become~" she coos into August's ear, the ghost of a hand brushing his shoulder. "Just smashing through anything and everything that stands before you... regardless of what you leave in your wake." In the thick mist, shadows loom. An eldritch creature, doomed to an eternity of solitude. A destroyed intelligence, slain in spite of those who advocated giving it a chance. Janine, in her deathbed, deprived of her medication. "I wonder... when will you smash through something you actually care about? Or do you stop caring once caring would weigh you down?"

    Athela starts hearing screams in the distance. "They're dying, Lady Knight." Brynhilde whispers to her. A wet thump at her feet, the vague shape of a severed arm within the mist. "Are you not sworn to defend the weak? I'm killing them, and you're doing nothing." One of the screams cuts off, and another wet thump. This time, it looks like a head. "You're failing, Lady Knight. But that's okay. You were never cut out for this."

    "Do you think you're even needed here?" Sanary hears. The shadows of Dietrich appear before her, locked in combat alongside Biancabella. "These children have long since surpassed you. You're only getting in the way... not to mention, you've not been a very good friend, have you?" The shadows of Janine's family, whom Sanary sold out, appear about her. "Did you think this forgiven? Forgotten? No... a traitor like you gets your just desserts eventually. Perhaps you should flee? Save your own hide, look out for number one? It's what you do best."

    Kotone feels the mist swirling around her. Even though she shouldn't be able to feel the cold, it's numbing... it's like she's not hooked up to a body. She feels something touch her, as of from a distance. "Oh, did I break the toy?" Brynhilde asks? "Aw, look at you, all in pieces already. They don't build them tough where you come from, do they?" Has she severed Kotone's chassis? There's no damage alert, but she can't feel a thing!

    And now, Brynhilde speaks to all of them.

    "Weak, pathetic creatures like you, with a timespan measured in blinks, can never accomplish anything meaningful. You think your society is built upon your backs? No, it is merely the product of happenstance across the years. Each of you, reaching out to try and affect the world... but no single human can accomplish anything. Just curl up and die; it is the only meaningful choice you can make."

    Adelle's sobs can be distantly heard. Janine can be heard mumbling to herself. "Die?..." Brynhilde laughs. "See? They're getting the idea."
August Kohler The fog is too thick. The mist swallows words. Everything starts to go quiet.

August is responded to, hearing only what Brynhildr wants him to hear. She shows him images. The images of the Loci Iris and OMNI are disregarded within seconds - they sting, but August still believes he was right. His willpower prevents that from shaking him more than a second. "Get out of my head, it won't work-"

The image of Janine. Dying without medicine. This one stings more than a little. Normally, August would will past something like this, keep fighting.

But he already felt guilty. She was his friend, probably someone he'd have called 'my best friend' if he was asked. He let her down. Ruined her life. He already tried to kill her, kill the world, once. What if Brynhildr is right? WHen will August smash through something he cares about?

Self-actualization helps. Even as August hurts, he knows who he is, and is able to keep fighting instead of becoming a wreck. "I...I probably will destroy what I care about. And I'll feel horrible. But if I don't fight, if I don't keep going, then..." Then I'm worthless? He had broken that cycle. "I won't let you define the lines I can't cross. I won't let you defy my vengeance...I'll push through anything in my path." This is the part that should be hot-blooded screaming. But it's cold. August doesn't have the emotional energy for that. Brynhildr got to him.

The fire on the sword wanes, both from the emotional damage and the expenditure of energy, but is backed up with the power of pure darkness, as the sword slashes again. It's a simple strike, one meant to try and get her back and cut through the illusions.
Athela Valemore Athela Valemore briefly snaps her head up, screams ringing in her ears from a distance. Everything else in the forest seems distant, engulfed in the unholy mists, it's only the anguished cries and the taunts of failures she can hear. Not even the conserned yip from the pokemon at her side can get through the witch's wicked whispering wiles. She takes a step back, stance faultering, the frigid cling around her starting to dig back in. There is always that small nagging in the back of her mind, pitting how much good she's done against the numbers more that cannot be helped. A downward spiral of remorse and regret starts to turn.

Then her attention is yanked back, down to her weapon as it glimmers in her grasp. The protective essense of Resolute Blade is responding, and while Brynhilder's morale assault is beyond it's true divine defense, it does something more important.

It's a beacon. A reminder of why she holds it, why she was chosen to do so. Why she was deemed worthy of it, and the cause it represents.

The whispers are still harsh, but they've lost some of their bitter sting as Athela recomposes herself. "No..." Then a louder, more affirmed "No!" She grinds a heel into the ground and lifts the glowing divine blade once more as her spirit, her determination to never give up, resonates with it. "It is true that not every life can be saved; not every unjust act corrected..."

Teeth clench and brow nits into a determined glare into the fog. "But that doth not lessen the victories we do claim!" Athela thrusts the sword over her head, and as she does so the power of her aquamancy spirals to life at her feet. It quickly escalates from there, rising upward to surround her, streams of water spinning through the air. Through the mist, to push it and the influence of the witch's wickedness away from her. Until the tendrils of water are lashing out into the mist in arcs, on the hope of catching the source of the foul words somewhere within the fog. "The tides come to cast out your foul taint!"
Sanary Rondel As Sanary's gear goes bouncing around in the mist and she stops firing those lasers, she slips a tomahawk out of her coat to keep on hand. The plan was probably not her best one considering that she needs to get her stuff BACK after that little maneuver, but at least she isn't getting stabbed again. It gives her some time to plot out her next attack, but it's strange considering that things have suddenly gotten quiet.

Where's the barbs? Where's everyone else? After August's declaration and making Dietrich into a figurative beacon of humanity's... Something smart sounding Sanary hasn't read up enough on to understand, she'd expect him to at least get some snide commentary thrown his way.

Except she hears something, and it strikes a little too close to home. "Wh..? Tch... S-so what if they have? They haven't been doing this as long!" She comes up with the first excuse that comes to mind, notwithstanding the fact that she's only been doing this... What, a couple of months longer than them? Half a year at most? And yet, their power had already grown by leaps and bounds already, their impact on their own worlds far surpassing hers on her own. The needling about what she had done to Janine's family have her lagging further, the search for her gear all but stopped as the healer battles with that voice in her head.

Would it be easier to run? Probably. Sure, August /is/ her leader, and she did kinda owe it to Janine and Adelle for all the shit she's caused them. Sanary hasn't spoken to Athela much, but her best guess would be that she probably didn't have a great opinion of her, either. And Kotone... She's alright. She actually can't remember getting on her bad side too much in the past.

It's only when Brynhilde speaks to them all that Sanary finally looks up, everything starting to get pieced together. She starts to laugh. "That... That's where you're wrong, red! Have I been shitty? Will I keep messin' things up? Probably, and they're just fine with it!" Big assumption there. "Even if they've gotten stronger, that doesn't mean these kids won't need a reliable older sister to keep 'em on the right track!"

They're... What. One, two years younger at most? If even at all? "You really don't know what I'm best at... I've done plenty of crazy shit before, and I'll do it again! You're looking at someone that's helped destroy a world! And you think one person like /you/ can stop that?!" Stop saying words.

Sanary starts laughing instead, partially out of overconfidence and partially out of secretly hating herself more for saying all that, but at least it's gotten herself riled up enough to move again. Instead of spotting her shield, however, she spots Adelle and Janine in a less-than-enthusiastic state.

"Tch... Oi, Adelle! Janine! Come on, chins up, weapons ready!" She calls out as she rushes towards them, swinging her axe around wildly at the mist on the way over. Spotting August in the distance as well, the healer starts pulling magic out of herself to just start hurling it at the three, finally doing her job as a healer and supporter. "So what if we've screwed up before? That's what moving forward is for! Even if we're breaking everything in the way, it's gonna be on our terms! Not... Whatever red's name is!"
Kotone Yamakawa Something is wrong with her she knows it she's still finding she's taking damage she's taken, the fact she's feeling numb like her pain systems have been turned off. She'll just end up taking more damage now as she has no way to gauge how badly off she is.

"I ... am not a doll, I am not your toy."

Kotone has this passive look on her face that slowly melts into one of a good deal of anger.

Still she's hit a wound a doll, a toy that's something always that has been in the back of Kotone's mind, that she's just a toy lose and Kotone Yamakawa was long gone she's thought she' fully come to terms with it but this valkyrie is just digging in hard.

She's looking at the Valkyrie her weapon isn't as loud as it should be she's not sure but does not care so long as it keeps working.

The numbing cold, that feeling of not hooked up to a body or anything at all, it's like being dead. That is the crux of this feeling detached she does not take well to being in this state as many a medic or tech has found out. She's not sure how bad the damage is there's no warning she does, however, attempt to will herself to move she has to move.

"Meaningless? Anything in this forest is born of us and depended upon /us/ without us you are all /nothing/. You are forever depended upon us to exist."

She levels her weapon lines up the shot or attempts to for all she knows? She's about to fall apart, and she tries to pull the trigger to unload every last bit of ammo she has in the miniguns bins before it's too late.
Janine Liberi     In spite of everyone's harsh rebukes, Brynhildr's words have found purchase in their hearts, and the Valkyrie knows it. Dietrich's dark swing hits something at least, but she's still laughing. So you press on, no matter who might get hurt? You really are like Siegfried! Make him proud in these last minutes of life, little man."

    Athela claims that the small victories they earn matter, even in the face of evil. "A true knight would never settle for the small victories, m'lady~ When did you become so cynical as to abandon others to evil?" The swirling waters seem to strike her, ripping up the ground and some trees. "The tides you say?! I have seen many tides come and go, and I remain. You however..."

    "You think yourself... reliable?" Brynhilde asks Sanary. There is no follow-up, save the cruel, mocking laughter she issues. She doesn't need to question wheter or not Sanary really believes that. It's entirely implied. "I... I can't do this..." Adelle says somewhere in response to the healer. Janine is totally silent. "You see? How reliable can you be when you can't even cheer up your juniors~?"

    Kotone issues bullets, many many bullets. They whiz through the Forest, crashing into trees, into the earth, but there's no telltale wet sound of it hitting the target. "Dependant on you? Perish the thought! I depend on /humanity./ You are just individuals. Are your laurels so bare that you must stake personal claim on my existence? I would be flattered, if you weren't utterly repulsive."

    "You have bored me long enough! I am not even going to give you the honour of becoming rust upon my spear. I'll just freeze you all to death!" The mist gets colder, colder, and colder still. The ground begins to freeze, icicles sprouting from branches, getting longer and longer. "Now die, miserable and alone!"
Janine Liberi     "Die? No. Not yet," Janine says, her words cutting through the mist. Her silhouette becomes apparent, with Biancabella floating behind her. Her form is lit by the blue light that accompanies a Persona summoning, but sparks of purple and gold flicker through it. "This is too important. I always thought that I had to do things that were important, even if I didn't want to. This whole... world saving shit. I wasn't a fan. And even when I started to change my mind about it, it seemed too important to trust with me, someone who might drop dead any day now."

    The purple and gold infuse her aura further, drowning out the blue more and more. "But now I get it. I've had it backwards this whole time. I don't have to do important things. It's the things that I want to do that become important. No matter how long or little a life you have. Even when life throws curves at you, and it becomes impossible to do the things you want... you should still use your life and find something else you want to do. Right now? I don't want to be anywhere other than here, stopping you for good."

    Biancabella is writhing, shedding jewels and rose petals, but not the wilted ones she usually scatters. These are freshly bloomed, and a pure white rather than a faded red. "Arm be damned, sickness be damned! If I live until tomorrow or a hundred years from now, I'm going to spend my time doing what I want to do! And I won't let anyone stop me! Not you, Brynhilde! Not anyone or anything!" Gold and purple light consumes Janine's Persona in a blinding flash, cutting through the fog. And when it fades, Biancabella is no more.

    Now, floating behind Janine is a figure of a bride. Her skin is grey, and her face concealed beneath a white veil with a translucent train hanging from her head. Golden horns jut out from her scalp, and her arms are bound, crossed over and sealed within black iron cuffs. Screws jut out from them, wrapped in golden flowing thread. A voice echoes, heard by all.
Janine Liberi =================================DEATH AWAKENED=================================
                                   I AM THOU                                    
                                   THOU ART I                                  

         THOU HAST FOUND THE TRUE PATH TO FOLLOW IN THE FOREST OF LIFE          

                      I AM CATHERINE, THE FORTUNATE BRIDE                      

                 TOGETHER, WE SHALL SEE THIS JOURNEY TO AN END                  
======================================XIII======================================
Janine Liberi     Catherine gestures with her crossed hands, and a massive gale erupts. Janine's allies only feel the lightest of zephyrs, but the mist is utterly dismissed. Trees are uprooted, and Brynhildr is sent flying. She lands on an overturned logged and hisses hatefully. "You think a mere glow-up will allow you to best me?!" She lunges at Janine, but hits something in the air. Golden threads, thin enough to go unseen, criss-cross in the air between uprooted branches, snagging Brynhildr like a fly in a web. "Gotcha bitch," Janine says, before Catherine wrenches her arms back to bring the valkyrie slamming into the ground. "Get her ass!"
August Kohler Brynhildr continues to dig into August. She continues to dig into the rest, even as they hit. The ice is coming. August is already weak. He's not sure how much he can do, and the cold air freezes armor and flesh. But...

Janine stands strong, and August raises his head to look at her. She's the strongest one here right now. When she decides who she is, and the colors glowing around her begin to change, he realizes what is happening. He can't smile, he can't cheer her on, but he can nod and stand by her. Dietrich slowly pushes through the frigid air to stand by her side. "I believe in you, Janine."

When the threads laucnh out, slamming Brynhildr into the ground, August raises the sword again. "That's the power of self-actualization. Now, die." The mist gone, the beacon around the sword changes. The fire dismisses entirely, and instead becomes a blaze of dark energy. It moves to strike down into the grand Shadow, and envelop her in caustic darkness and melt through her armor to weaken her.

"Everyone! It's time for an all-out attack!"
Athela Valemore Once she's wrest her mind from the daunting whispers Athela looks down where Sprite, unable to get a response out of her, and curled protectively at her heels. A faithfulness in a companion that the witch would never understand.

"Thank you," Athela murmured, and got a "Vaporrr~" in response as Sprite nuzzled her ankle briefly then got back onto her paws. "Right. Now let us finish what hath been started." Brynhildr can chide anc curse all she wants, her words will not find purchase no more.

The unholy cold continued to gnaw at her, but Athela refused to let it stop her. The wicked witch lashed out again. This time Sprite leaps to her defense, shifting to her elemental form as she did. The swell of water she released in doing so briefly swirled around them, pushing the freezing air back, keeping it's bitter grip to a minimum. It's only a few moments before the expenditure causes her elemental state to defuse and the Vaporeon splatters to the ground quite literally. It will take her a few moments to recongeal her physical state though.

It was a small opening Athela would not let go to waste. She shakes her cloak to dislodge some of the frost, then tightened her grip with both hands on her glaive, holding Resolute Blade at it's full length as the artifact weapon shone brighter and brighter. A blessed resonance no curse or diabtre could faulter. "Keldeo guide me," she murmured under her breath, then launched from her position with renewed effort.

"Your hubris hath been your own undoing, witch." Athela swings with all her resolve, blessed blade seeking to strike down the foul woman in a mighty cleave. "Now Justice smite thy evil from these lands -- SACRED SWORD!"
Sanary Rondel "Reliable? Mm... Yeah, maybe three out of times. Ain't a perfect record, but it's still better than average!" It's not clear if Sanary really believes in that or if she's just lying to herself to feel better. She does look disheartened at Adelle's reaction to her attempt, though, stepping over to kick it up a notch with the patented HAND ON HEAD technique to get Adelle to look right her.

"Hey. Adelle. You haven't been doin' this as long as everyone here, that's true. You think any regular person would even be able to get halfway this far, though? You think any regular person would have thought to bring their own weapon?" She pauses for dramatic effect, then reaches over to try and pick Adelle up by the arm lightly. As she does that, however, she can feel that ice creeping in and taking the feeling out of her legs, chilling her to her core. She grits her teeth as she breaks into a grin, trying to ignore the it entirely in favor of the one thing she can still try to do despite her failings and weaknesses.

She can still LOOK COOL. "Of course not! You'll get ahead if you keep tryin', so just keep movin' one step at a time and you'll be fine."

Janine's reaction, meanwhile, has the axe-wielder getting more fired up when Biancabella's flowers are replaced with... Actually, EVERYTHING about it looks different. Sanary has to contain her surprise, though, to really seal the deal on that show of utmost confidence and wise older figure. "Like that. They've been doin' this for a while now, too, but that didn't happen in day. So chin up, grab your axe, and let's get to work!" Grasping her hand axe tightly, Sanary takes one step forward and starts teetering forward from the ice engulfing her legs. As if on instinct, though, she pumps energy into her flight anklets to send her rocketing forward, then upwards above Brynhildr as Catherine slams the Persona down. She starts to fall in time with Dietrich's dark blade coming down towards Brynhildr, whirling herself in midair to do some impressive and only moderately uncontrolled spins to bring it down onto Brynhildr for a mighty gravity-assisted chop!
Kotone Yamakawa there is a pause "... I'm staring to sound like someone I know."

It's not good but even if Brynhilde has a point she's not stopping now, she knows she's spent a lot of what she has, she doesn't have much left, but she will put to use what has left into this as the Valkyrie talks about ending them? She knows this may be the last shot she gets.

"We all die alone but that doesn't mean life needs to be lived /alone/."

She takes a moment to drop the now empty mini gun she doesn't have much she's got her back up pistol out at this point and then? Janine has sprung back into action here.

"Even if we're are just tiny cogs in a machine together we can over time, move mountains...Many say I should have given up and let myself die, I did what I had to, to stay alive to see that little bit more of how things are going to go here..."

She somewhat Echos Janine's word but gets where she;'s coming from the cold is doing further damage to her. She won't last much longer. From her injuries so char the gashes the cuts the sparking wounds her mechanical nature is very apparent and yet she keeps going. Just firing that pistol in defiance or is it diversion for her companions. So that they may make their own strilkes and end this fight once and for all.
Janine Liberi     Brynhilde may be ensnared, but she's not giving up yet. She struggles, squirming an bouncing around within Catherine's grasp to avoid Kotone's pistol shots. But there's only so much she can do to avoid everything. Sanary helps Adelle up, and gives her some words of encouragement. The girl takes a deep breath, thawing out on Gretel's stove before running forward. She jumps up just as Gretel swings her flail upwards, planting her feet on the kettle to jump again, gaining similar height to Sanary, coming down with her to swing at Brynhildr alongside August!

    The darkness eats through her green armor, allowing the axes to bite through into her flesh. The uber-Shadow screams with genuine pain. While she might be faster and trickier than Siegfried, she seems far less sturdy. And then Athela comes at her with the holy blade. The darkness and light, two things that should mutually exclude, wrap together into some kind of harmful sunset, cleaving Brynhilde.

    She lays there now, black smog issuing from her form. The Forest about them seems to tremble and bend in response to her agony, everyone present struck with the same sensation. That going any further than this would be a Bad Idea. "Stop, stop! I concede!" she screams, curling up into a ball. Whether this is a ploy or genuine, a point has been made. Now, Die Reisende can find her whenever they please, and put the boots to her. "No more schemes. No more bullshit. You hide in whatever dark corner of this place you live in, and you hope we don't get it in our heads that you're up to something. Or we'll pay you another visit," Janine threatens.

    She starts storming off, Catherine vanishing in a flurry of purple and gold. Spriggins Jack comes running up, applauding. "Well done friends! You conducted yourselves like true heroes!" he says. Only to be cut off by Brynhilde's laughter. "Oh yes, such brave heroes, beating up someone who is not even the true culprit!" She titters madly, before continuing. "You think if I had thought up this plan, I would have chosen now to carry it out! In a world where people are constantly documented, and any sudden shifts of behaviour are easily observed?! No... this scheme was suggested to me by a nothing man. A blank figure I encountered in the empty plains beyond these woods. If you want to meet him..." She cackles again madly. "You'll have to traverse the Wolf's section of the Forest!"

    And then, she vanishes into mist once more.
August Kohler As the strike lands, and Brynhildr yields, August desummons his Persona. He's exhausted, and wipes the blood off his mouth, as he tries to summon the energy to not fall on his butt. He's about to respond to Spriggins Jack, when Brynhildr cuts them off. He'd kill her - if he didn't feel that would be Very Bad.

"Nothing man...?" A memory crawls to August's mind. He looks up to the building, past the trees. "He is nothing."

Maybe it was more than just the random mutterance of crows. Either way..."We'll have to go into the Wolf's woods. And, unfortunately, we'll have to invite Sascha Leitner in with us. That was our deal, after all." There's venom on his tongue, but not much. He's tired. For now, he wants to go home and rest.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is trying to keep up the appearance she can fight, she'll keep going pistol in hand until she's out of bullets. She will lower it once the enemy yield to them she looks at them for a moment.

"You heard her, I'd not cause shit again if I were you."

She now looks to face Spriggins Jack,

"Good to see you..."

She looks back in the direction of Brynhilde voice she listens glowing as her wounds spark and crackle. She would holster her weapon and she ends sup looking to her companions now and finally drops to one knee as she drops to one knee it's clear she's had the hell beat out of here.

"Looks like it, but as I said when this started I'm with you till the end of this."
Athela Valemore Athela Valemore takes a step back, reaching over her shoulder to resheath her weapon beneath her cloak. Brynhildr rants a bit, but does drop a bit of information before disappearing into whatever corner of hell she hides in. She nods a bit to Jack, since Janine has already stormed off. "It would seem she was only one piece in a much grander scheme.. Though that doth not lessen putting her wickedness to an end."