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Evehime Gevurah	'A tiny, red sun rises over the crater behind her. A few dazzling seconds later, it streaks overhead and vanishes over the other wall, trailing embers of flaming debris, breaking up in the thin atmosphere. "Once around. Speak. Fight. Run. This is your time."'     True to her word, despite the fire and noise, the shadow of scale and frank sensory terror of such a thing burning so close, so fast, overhead, not one of Evehime's locals turned invaders twitches a muscle. Not until she says so. In this sense, there is far less uncertainty, and fall less tension, in what happens next. Physics, time, and simple math equations will decide if they win, or win and wake up smewhere else.     'You could instead build a society that shines brighter than theirs. They can not fight it, and the more you shine the less legitimacy they will have.'     Evehime's prior laughter returns as something that should be called a maliciously dark giggle if it didn't make the ground vibrate. "For all that intellect you've deluded yourself into believing you value so highly, you truly struggle to see the future." The Gevurah frees one palm just for the sake of gesturing at the battlefield crater. "I have no need of armies. And I am far more than 'the best fighter', though I know well enough why you cannot comprehend, your worlds producing nothing alike yet. These people here will fight for me, even whilst the others do not. They are taking their very first steps to building the foundation to understand 'gevurah' and they will take it back with them."     Her eyes wander over to the Pathfinder base. "'Shining brighter'. Yes, this is their purpose. It will not be long now before the rest of this world sinks into its own decay. Less than a century, even if their synthetic gods make no return. A first step, on their road to being replaced. To see if these people can be made worthy to replace their kin's way of life, or if the difference is entirely negligible. I care not that you lack the wisdom to understand five years from now. Two. Or even one. You are, after all, young, inexperienced, and a devotee of strength despite the praise of wisdom on your lips. Live that long, and you will see. My meaning will be plain."     'I do not think I am well able to fight you, as I am. Please allow me the time to grow as big as my eldest sisters, and I will ask you, then.'     "Hahaha! An honest and noble answer! My favourite kind." Evehime laughs shortly. "But for one who begs the appropriate time and place for her battle, you have unfortunate judgement, in where to take the steps on your journey to strength. The battles you fight . . . well, this too is youth and inexperience. Even if you believe you've done nothing wrong, if you are to look around you, I would imagine that even you can realize that you have chosen poor company in the doing."     'I don't know what that means. I've never thought I'd like to be more human'     There is one, very weird, even unnerving, moment, where Evehime's voice lowers to a soft, contemplative, yet strangely understanding purr. "Ah. I see. You are one of those. Well, I will not ask from which place you've come in life. Your teacher is a good one. If you must learn through the example of the wolf, to define where a human stands apart, that is still a far better choice than refusing to learn at all."     There's barely a pause. "Indeed though! Your suppositions are not incorrect. And these Barsoomian people are indeed not mine. However, they have long held their righteous grudge. They would fight the enemy they previously could not, given the slightest chance, to retake the homeland they built with their own hands. Their war is a noble one. And it was not I who approached them, but they who saw the opportunity to at last fight it, and approached me. Hearing their story, I felt little-inclined to deny them their battle."
Evehime Gevurah	A thoughtful exhalation follows. "What they have lost is something precious. I felt, perhaps, in that ember of sympathy for them, there may be more. That it might . . . unveil. Unlock. Revive more of 'myself'." She shakes her head. "Indeed again they have fallen short of my expectations. But for your intervention, I can fault them little. My desire for the gate, and my desire to see them take it themselves, are unfortunate companions. They turn unsmoothly together."     'War isn't a good thing, I think.'     "In the sense that you mean, perhaps. But think. Tell me if it is war when no one dies. In the sense of struggle. Jihad, crusade, a battle of will, perhaps. But even now, for all war's tragedy, this is little more than a vehement argument. Is it not?"     'But if it comes down to putting my life above anyone else's...I won't do that. I can't. Even if...'     "Then you are a brave and romantic fool. Were your odds of living to maturity greater than infinitesimal, I would be intrigued to see 'your fight'. What form of battle would you invent? An interesting hypothetical." The slightly fanged smile that follows is dangerous. She can clearly read the room just fine.     "Go on then! Fight one another! I have spoken no lies. This is your time. I have little urge to turn down such an amusing spectacle! I will see with my own eyes, which of those amongst you who fight are truly serious, under the threat of annihilation. Then I will decide with my own hands, and my own voice, which of my two desires I should heed, from what I see in your spirit."
Staren	To Staren, the shape of the conflict seems clear enough. Hibiki feels she promised to help the Consortium, and a promise to scum (not to be confused with Scum) is still a promise. Ishirou, meanwhile, is under the mistaken belief that no one would follow Evehime without being mind-controlled. All the :words: he throws at them, or they throw at him, are meaningless while this misunderstanding remains. His arguments about the evil of mind control matter not to those who believe no mind control is involved, and their arguments about the merits of these peoples' path mean nothing to one who believes it was not their choice.     At some point they start getting *bitchy* at eachother on the radio. Ishirou brings her feelings for Persephone into it, and she gives in to anger and brings his relationship towards Lilian into it. Low blows that don't *really* cut, when neither believes the accusation against them true, but still, angering violations to bring such things into this fight anyway.     'Go on then! Fight one another!'     Staren hasn't been IDLE while they were talking, of course. Plans have been made while they were verbally sparring. Even before, her drones were gathering sensor data on Evehime's troops, and now they've been put to work replicating their defenses with magic and technology. And it's been incorporated in something new that now is the perfect time to try:     Staren leaps out of the cab of her walker, one knee raised and arms whalf-extended with fists clenched in a classic power-up pose. Her body is swapped with a machine and an instant later, armor appears around her, looking like a miniature, worn version of the Delilah but with the dark metamaterial armor of Evehime's troops making up much of the construction.     'Go on then! Fight one another!'          Sounds an awful lot like                                            HEAVEN                                                                             OR                                                                              HELL                                                                      Duel 1                                                                     (The First)                                                                       Let's                                                                       .\ROCK!/.                                       As Staren falls, she twists in midair, extending an armblade and a shoulder missile launcher and slicing her walker's guns in half. A salvo of mini-missiles fire out, arcing every which way and targeting not just Ishirou but... her own troops, turning the software problem of Ishirou's implanted backdoors into a physics problem.     She finishes her midair turn to land standing, facing him. The armor's three-lined faceplate retracts so she can give Ishirou her best 'I'm not afraid of you.' look as the armblade and missile launcher retract and she extends one arm, curling and uncurling fingers twice in a universal gesture of 'come at me, then!'
Hiromi	'Even if you believe you've done nothing wrong, if you are to look around you, I would imagine that even you can realize that you have chosen poor company in the doing.'     Hisako does look around, and her tail droops. "They're not very strong. And their civilization isn't something the Archwolf would like. I wonder why she didn't tell me what I should do, here? I think they're fighting as hard as they can, though."     'Your teacher is a good one.'     After that strange moment, pride and confidence returns all at once. "Yes!"     'That it might . . . unveil. Unlock. Revive more of 'myself'.'     "Oh..." Hisako looks thoughtful, then as if about to say something, but doesn't.     'Tell me if it is war when no one dies.'     Hisako considers this. "I don't know." That's said as a simple answer, not as something despondent, but as something she naturally concluded. "It's hard to imagine a war where no one dies. It's hard to imagine they'll survive being killed, too. Would they fight harder if they couldn't be healed, or would they run away? The other ones said they'd lose their memories of that day, if they died. Do they lose a part of their soul, when they lose their memories?"     'Then you are a brave and romantic fool.' 'Go on then! Fight one another!'     "I know that it's not wrong to leave a fight, if you have to. Because there are people you should return to, alive. But I don't think it's right to fight against the people who you said you'd help, either. And I..." Hisako stops to think, before continuing, "I don't think I'm beaten yet, either. So, I'll... I want to help Mr. Ishirou, and I'd like to help Ms. Tachibana, too. The line between bravery and foolishness, I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think I'm too brave, yet."     After returning to that snappy, martial salute for a moment, Hisako turns on her heel, kicks the ground, and ignores anyone who doesn't bother her on the way toward -- there, Shimmer is the first to enter her field of view, along with Hibiki.
Ishirou	"You mean I disagree with your vision of it?  It's easy to call someone else's vision deluded, but from where I'm sitting your vision of the future is far beyond unkind.  It's savage and monstrous...but I think we're beyond words now," He starts but there is that stinger at the end.  Both the declaration that this world had limited time, and that he was a devotee of strength.   "I am not!  Do not lump me in with your vision of the world.  I said it before, and I'll say it again.  Intelligence and wisdom are both the cornerstones of civilization, not strength.  If that is not true, then..." There is a pause, "Then I'll make it true," he says, with an edge in his voice.  Maybe he /was/ wrong, but it doesn't mean he has to continue to be wrong.  If the world only values strength, then he'll change the world.  He'll change it for the better. However, first... Staren transforms and launches an attack to try and not only blast her own robots, but catch him in the crossfire.  Immediately Ishirou is already scanning the new armor, already trying to get data on it...and it seems that he's got /enough/ based on what he knew before, because when she fires... Ishirou banks, once more switching into flight mode and attempting to simply outpace the attacks.  However, despite all of that some of the sprays still manages to catch him, and the explosions leave wakes that strain the flight suit pretty hard.  However, he pulls out...and it is far from a solid hit.   Their barbs on the radio got pretty deep on each other.  However, Ishirou does believe completely in his path, and Staren's actions continue a trend of being unreliable...and combined with Concord's betrayal all the way down in this arc (except for Hisako who is a perfect girl.) However, not all of his robots were destroyed. Immediately the remaining robots all charge at Staren, attempting to latch onto her in any way they can.  Their eyes have counters, and the moment they reach Zero, he sends a program to cause them all to self-destruct on her, aiming to catch her in the fireball.
Hibiki Tachibana	'Then you are a brave and romantic fool.'     "I know I'm at least one of those," she murmurs to nobody but herself. 'What form of battle would you invent?'     Hibiki grimaces beneath her scarf, but straightens her back where she stands, finally fully turning away from Evehime Gevurah to face the other direction - back towards Pathfinder's base, where Sleek Shimmer has dropped. She doesn't like that it ended up this way. Or maybe it was unavoidable, with some of them coming here for different reasons. Shimmer *is* another member of the Watch, and one she's barely gotten to know yet. Is she really about to start a fight with her over this?     ...Yeah. Yeah she is. She knows exactly why she is.     "If you're fighting with her warriors, then you're fighting against me too, Shimmer. If you've got a problem with that, you better back down now. But...it's not gonna be that simple, is it? Seriously, I don't entirely get how it ended up like this." Her stance widens, and both of her fists come up towards her jaw in a readied position not unlike a boxer's. She closes her eyes briefly to take in a deep breath, and when she opens them again...     Her boot braces onto the ground, and she kicks herself forward as an orange-and-white blur. All of the soldiers of either side along the way are passed by, on a straight-line path for where the awoken fox is stirring up trouble. No less fast than she is, Hibiki transfers her momentum into a single rising punch meant to catch her center-mass and send her off her feet and flying up at an angle in the lesser Martian gravity. If she still has any of her attention left on the defenders, she might regret it.     "So let's go ahead and speak with our fists! Let's see if you can find whatever you're looking for this way! I'm trying to find something myself! Just know--" After swinging, hit or miss, she leaves the ground herself in another burst of motion.     To get behind Shimmer, and bring down a descending heel kick meant to embed her down in a fox-shaped crater. "--if you can't even get me outta your way, I don't think you'll be getting much out of Evehime!"
Hiromi	There isn't any additional warning before Hisako ends up in Sleek Shimmer's area, naturally moving around to position herself as close to her opponent's blindspot as she can before sliding in for a right hook.     'I'd like to help.'     "Is that alright, Ms. Tachibana?"
Hibiki Tachibana	There's a moment, somewhere between when Hibiki closes the distance but before she throws her blow, that she meets eyes with Hisako joining in from the opposing side. There's a look of surprise in her eyes--that could be for a lot of reasons--before her body finishes going through its motions.     'I'd like to help.'     Her response comes partway through it all, and when it does, there is the slightest of smiles on her face. Maybe. It's hard to see moving around as much as she is. "...I wouldn't have it any other way! Thanks, Hisako!"
Staren	"Tch. As long as you believe a lie, how can you make a truth based on it?" Staren retorts. Her faceplate extends again, hiding her surprise at how well his control dodged those missiles not only for himself, but her machines. As they close in she fires her arm-mounted plasma cannons, dropping a machine or two and melting a golem missile pack so it *can't* explode on her, but then the ones behind her have grabbed and she can't jump away and--                                    *KABOOM!*                                         More missiles fly out of the smoke cloud. They take long, looping arcs at all angles, one at a time coming in for Ishirou from one angle and then a completely different one and then another, and another... Staren rushes out of the cloud. The armor is definitely damaged, covered in scratches and pockmarks and scorches and CRACKS running vertically down the whole body, and some chunks missing. The metamaterial can't just ignore that, but the edges of the damaged areas can be seen healing slightly. The externally-visible cracks vanish.     Staren feels pretty good! It turns out there's also some kind of magical gel that redirected the force so that she herself barely felt that, even if her armor's a bit extra fucked up. In good spirits she charges out, making thruster-assisted hops pushing off with one foot, then the other in the low Martian gravity. One of the arms opens, showing her robot arm underneath, which begins to glow, electricity arcing between it and the insides of the armor, orange glowy bits elsewhere flickering in intensity a bit before the arm KA-CHUNKs shut again.     The faceplate opens. "You think so highly of humans, except when they make decisions you don't like! If you believe they're incapable of choosing to fight for their own future, and getting this strong, no WONDER you believe this has to be mind control!"     Missiles come in from different angles as Staren takes flight, the missiles trying to herd him towards her! "What does it say about YOU if you're human but can't choose to be as strong as them!" The faceplate shuts again.     She extends one armblade and surroundis it with a high-frequency, shredding, conductive energy field she tries to stab him with, discharging all the stored electricity!
Sleek Shimmer	Long before Hibiki and Hisako confront her, Sleek Shimmer senses their approach. They both stand out against the mass of lesser warriors. So she whirls about, her many tails spreading wide to make her look a bit bigger, more imposing, and her fingers clench into tight, professional fists.     One leg sweeps back as she drops briefly into a lower stance and inhales deeply. Rusty-redbrown power rises from the martian soil into her as the air gathers and takes on and emerald sheen, both powers swirling into one within her growing aura.     "There is no grudge between us," she begins to say, when DOWN COMES HIBIKI.     Shimmer raises her arms into a cross block with impeccable timing. The majority of the impact is absorbed as the ground beneath the foxgirl cracks yet her bones do not. It does rather feel like, instead of striking Shimmer, Hibiki has instead slammed her heel into an unyielding boulder or the side of a cliff.     Yet, with gale-like smooth grace, her arms uncross and hands grab that offending leg just as Hisako's coming in with an opener as well.     "But if you face me now, I won't be polite about it!"     And that's when Hibiki becomes a club. Shimmer somehow draws up a surge of speed and power and SWINGS HIBIKI into the incoming fist - well, frankly, into the oncoming Hisako, at the very least offsetting most of that incoming fist. At the worst, well... for those two...     This could be ugly.
Ishirou	The barrage of missiles comes at too many different angles that Ishirou can't analyze all of the different angles at the same time.  The flight unit switches back into humanoid mode, aiming to shoot down as many of them as he could, but the ones he can't shoot all come at different angles.  The explosion causes the flight suit to fall before Ishirou can recover it.   "Stop talking Staren.  We have fundamentally different views on what is happening.  They are being controlled, they do not /have/ a choice.  It would be different if they joined of their own accord, but they are following her like religious fanatics.  They want nothing but her attention, they work frantically, taking little time for themselves or to rest.  They /murder/ each other in pit fights in her name for 'training'.  It's barbaric.  It's /wrong/, and the fact you can't see it and that your owner thinks it's alright is what is wrong." "Are the other people any better?  Only slightly, but that can be changed, it can be /fixed/.  Fanatism can not be fixed, it creates people who don't even think of their own safety, instead of throwing away their lives.  It isn't about the community, it is about /pleasing her/.  A real society cares and lives for the society, making it stronger and better." Once more, Ishirou is back in flight mode, and flies off, before banking back around.  This time, missiles fire out of launches on the top of the unit as he flies by.  What follows next are wide-area missile drops, aiming to catch Staren in them.   "You can lecture me on strength of will when you have some of your own.  Now shut up and fight, I have people to save and you're in my way!"
Hiromi	What's not good for Hisako is that her attack is interrupted, by the intrusion of Hibiki directly into the space she's trying to strike. She is quick enough to stop herself, and move to block the incoming strike. What's bad for Hibiki is that that block is hard, Hisako's large and ornate bronze gauntlets being a less than ideal wall against which to be swung. Hisako, herself, is driven back, though this setback only drives to harden her determination.     "Oh! I'm sorry --" Ms. Tachibana, are you alright?     But the rest of that apology never gets said, because as soon as her feet are no longer sliding back through the dirt, Hisako's teeth snap shut, her jaw sets, and she launches herself up and over, going into a series of ground-shaking stomps. There is, a qi-user could easily tell, something similar going on with how her martial arts work, though it's more than a touch more subtle than Shimmer's green aura.     The heavy footwork doesn't so much interrupt as coincide with fist strikes the moment her opponent is about to enter her reach. The timing is driven by intuition good enough to resemble prescience, though she'd have said it's more like 'an understanding of battle-flow.' At the same time, she's keeping an awareness of where Hibiki is, and circling around opposite, having plenty of leg strength to stay mobile.     Only after striking, or if Shimmer stays entirely outside of her reach, does she allow herself the spare breath at this point to say, "I don't have a grudge, I think, but betraying a promise, I don't like it. You could have stayed away. But if you just want to show your fighting spirit, you could do that without changing sides, too. Can't you?"     After another exchange of blows, she adds, "You could say that we're each just doing what we want. And that's -- foolish, maybe. But if you can't think of a better path, you should at least do what feels right to you, then, I think."
Hibiki Tachibana	Like striking into solid stone. No, a lot harder than that. It's a different feeling to her than punching something as immovable-feeling as Hiromi, but it's a sign that Shimmer isn't to be underestimated one bit all the same. Exactly like with the warriors Evehime has brought here, it's a situation of being able to afford to hold back any strength if she actually wants to have a chance of getting anything done.     Her kick doesn't even have the chance to get that far however, as she's caught before it lands and has only the briefest of moments for her eyes to go wide. "Heh--!?" Wind blazes by as she's used as a human club, swung right for Hisako without much in the way of being able to do a thing about it on such short notice. SThus, there's an almost deafening yet dull thud of body-on-body impact as she smashes into then bounces back off of the defense. Teeth are clenched hard, but a sharp intake of breath is all that comes out of her rather than any sound of pain.     "Ngh--no hard feelings--" It's hard to tell if that's to Hisako, or what Shimmer said. If the latter, it sounds more like she sounds more like she's repeating that than outright agreeing.     The thrusters on the back of her Symphogear's skirt ignite as the force of the swing dies out, and along with a twist of her body and a backwards arch of her back, she hauls herself upright with her free leg coming in knee-first, to slam it right into Shimmer's face. It's partly a strike, and partly a spot to get leverage - she uses it to push off right after and wrench her leg free without being at risk of breaking something, flipping backwards and out of the way of the strikes that Hisako is coming in to deliver.     "--But you're still fighting the people I'm here to help, so don't expect me to hold back either! You've got a fire burning in you, but I've got things I want to protect! Even if part of the reason I'm here is selfish, that hasn't changed!" She rights herself in midair, blasting back down fist-first to throw it right at their opponent's head. If she connects with it, the ground beneath isn't just going to crack beneath like before when it bore the brunt--it's going to dent downwards a good meter.
Staren	Staren rolls her eyes behind her visor at 'they are being controlled.' She's about to point out that it's not exactly murder and ask him how they can TEST that hypothesis when he says 'owner' and her tail bristles -- not that he can see that, but he can see the armor's tail stiffen straight and then lash back and forth.     She zooms around the battlefield on thrusters, kicking off bits of wreckage and picking up a fallen robot's assault rifle. "Fixed? FIXED?! They've had centuries to fix it and they've only made it worse! This society lost AN ENTIRE PLANET and the hypercorps USED the greatest tragedy in their entire history to gain even MORE power over people, to get liens on their very BODIES and SOULS!"     The missiles hit close, scorching her armor and once or twice sending her tumbling to awkwardly crash into wreckage. Once they stop, she aims the rifle up at him. "I dunno what'll FIX it, but I know what WON'T: YOU rescuing the corporations from the consequences of their own EVIL!"     She fires up at him on full-auto, hoping bullets will be harder to dodge than more visible missiles and plasma projectiles.     Also, what looked like an ornamental decoration on her helmet turns out to be a weapon, the crest's glowy 'gem' firing three-pulse bursts of particle spreads that hit like the supertech, weaponized version of a sandblaster with subatomically-sharp sand!     "THEY'RE the only ones you're saving today! Idiot! At least I'm strong enough to stand up and fight them!"
Sleek Shimmer	This isn't the first time that Shimmer's had to deal with multiple opponents. these opponents, however, are much more than she's had to deal with. Her senses and combat instincts are going into overdrive to keep track of both of her opponents, and even then, it's quite a struggle.     "Switch sides?" The foxgirl echoes towards Hisako with just a hint of frustration, her focus rapidly switching between Hibiki and Hisako and backpedaling at key points to try and avoid being fully flanked... but this doesn't quite work the way she wants.     Hibiki's ploy works. Though Shimmer angles herself to channel away some of the force of that blow, she's slammed squarely in the face and staggers back, losing her grip... and is left staggered, unable to deflect more than a few blows from Hisako before taking a few solid hits. "Nrghh---" But before anyone can jump in for anything decisive, she seems to freeze in place--     And Hisako's next blow just goes straight through Shimmer?! Wait, that rippling in the air...     Shimmer isn't there. The one that Hisako strikes steadily fades as she speaks up about ten feet away. A second is all she needs to regain her footing, and she has that.     "We set out to help these people. They faced death from the heavens. But, they cannot be helped the way everyone wishes to help them. What cure is there for that inner flame? Does their home want them now? Home thinks they're... tainted. Let them grow strong then. Strong enough to do whatever they want, for themselves!"     And just like that, her aura changes again. A brilliant burning red joins the mixture.     Fuel-less flames ignite around her body as she lunges into a dash, crossing the distance to Hibiki in no time. The foxgirl becomes a blurr of light, swift, blazing punches and spinning kicks, a force of driving motion, feeding on her own growing spirit to strike harder with every effort.     And at the end of it, Shimmer simply executes a spinning flip-kick that sees her rising up into the air... and then SLAMMING BACK DOWN in front of Hibiki with an impact that also sends up a colossal wave of FIRE going in every direction.
Ishirou	'At least I'm strong enough to stand up and fight them!' "I don't think I need to instruct you in how stupid that is coming from your mouth because you were /helping/ them a moment ago.  That was until a big lady walked up and flexed at you, and you crumbled like a piece of wet paper!  You have no consistency, you have no drive, you have /no spine/." Ishirou keeps on the wing, annoyed the missiles did little.  Bullets are in fact harder to dodge.  Forced once more to transform into humanoid mode, he deploys a small shield to protect him from the hammering spray of bullets.  The surprise beam does not surprise him, because the moment it fires, he changes his position, ducking under the beam, as the deployed shield moves up to try and weather the blast, but is quickly out of it with only scorches and some damage from the bullets.   "It isn't going to be easy, but it can be fixed.  The Megacorps need to go, but destroying them like this only does one thing.  Enrich a slaver.  It isn't about protecting them, you moron.  It's about stopping /her/ from getting what she wants and spreading her cult across this world and others.  It's about stopping her from controlling more minds.  Now stop trying to lecture me!  I obviously know more of the situation than you." This time, another spray of missiles flies out.  However, they move in spiraling patterns, before splitting off.  They then turn, before homing in on Staren, trying to come at her from all different directions trying to overwhelm her ability avoid them.   The POD speaks up, 'Combat data updated, analyzation complete.'
Hiromi	Hisako is absolutely a dogged pursuer, though she isn't nearly as fast as Shimmer is. She's patient, too. She endures. And she's slowly getting more dangerous, more used to Shimmer's speed, building momentum that just doesn't seem to stop.     The flames rise up, but she breaks the ground with a sound like thunder. It's not quite earth-control, not quite sorcery, but it is a just-slightly supernatural act, a shield wall rising to block the fire, as she covers her face with her gauntlets.     'Let them grow strong then. Strong enough to do whatever they want, for themselves!'     "But why... would they need your help? Let them grow strong, on their own, if they can. Or will you join their family? They're not mine. They don't know family the way I do, I think. They might not learn it. Isn't that sad?"     She vaults over her own wall, running in low to the ground, still circled to the opposite side of her opponent from Hibiki. "Maybe I'm wrong, but..."     'It will not be long now before the rest of this world sinks into its own decay.'     '--But you're still fighting the people I'm here to help, so don't expect me to hold back either!'     'It isn't going to be easy, but it can be fixed.'     "It's proven by doing it, not by talking about it. Either I'm strong enough, or I'll lose."     She knows she isn't the strongest one here. That's why, when she reaches Shimmer, she dives into a grab for one leg, plants her own foot, and, if she makes that solid connection, aims for a spin that'll take her opponent off the ground, off balance, and into range of Hibiki's fist.
Hibiki Tachibana	That's more like it. Those hits are making some ground. Has she really seen Hisako fight before, aside from when they were fighting against the invaders at the start of this? She's fast to react, and constantly on the move...that sort of thing, she's not sure she could do. But it does mean she doesn't need to hold herself back in her own more volatile and head-on attacks. And Shimmer...     ...is coming at full speed! That red, flaming aura...!     The foxgirl is a blur of motion and the magical girl is the same, moving to keep up with the explosion of motion despite the endless shifting of location and targets. Her boots dig into the red earth, and she brings up her Symphogear's gauntlets to absorb punch after punch, twisting on her heels to keep her defenses up. 'But, they cannot be helped the way everyone wishes to help them.' Those two...     "Hisako's got a point...if that's what you think is right, then I can't say anything about you fighting for it! Even so...!" She can't get all of them. Kicks get through, buckling her in place and forcing more sharp breaths out of her, piling on wear and tear that she simply pushes through until--     Shimmer comes back down, and fire washes over the area. Hibiki raises both her arms up before vanishing beneath the flames, momentarily out of sight...and she doesn't wait for them to dissipate before bursting forward through them fast enough to part them from around her, eyes wild yet still focused. "If they're going to use that strength for 'seizing glory by force', and you're fine with that, then let's see how strong you are yourself!" Her arm swings up.     In time with Hisako's attempt at unbalancing their opponent, it comes for her gut. The piston within her gauntlet ejects itself backwards an instant before connection, so that when her fist goes to slam as deep into her gut as possible, it slams back in with a deafening crack and a pilebunker-like burst of invisible force to send Shimmer flying.
Sleek Shimmer	"Family..." A strange word to use. One that Shimmer's certainly not much of an appreciation for. The mention of it actually triggers a brief bit of stink-eye. Did Hisako just touch on a sore spot? "You look like a Shifter, but you're not, are you?"     Up goes her guard, though once again Shimmer struggles to keep track of both her opponents at once. Neither one can be ignored, neither one is too slow to relax against for even two seconds. And yet she can already tell that Hibiki has Hisako a bit outclassed here.     So with Hibiki screaming in, all pistons and skirt rockets, Shimmer grins, and brings her hands before her navel, palms facing each other. A vortex of rippling colorless light appears from it--- "HYAGH?!" But Hisako moves much faster than she expected, and Shimmer ends up HURLED towards Hibiki. But... she does bring the Vortex to bear, and as Hibiki's punch falls into range something entirely bogus happens. Some of the Symphogear's operating power is drained. Along with it, so, possibly, is some of Hibiki's vitality and stamina. So is a great deal of the kinetic energy of that punch, especially that behind the piston. Streams of light flow from it and into the vortex and from there, into Shimmer. It finally strikes her, sending her tumbling about twenty feet before she slams her claws into the ground and bleeds away the momentum... rises.     "That force... strange way of building it up. Burst! Like a bomb..."     As she muses this out loud, her hair shifts color... becoming a shade of orange while her aura's fringes takes on white hue.     And onlookers will see that white aura condense and beginning spinning around her wrists and shins, taking on vaguely stretched cylindrical shapes...     Shimmer turns now towards Hisako, and once more becomes a gale-like blur. It begins with a leaping kick, her leg only snapping out at the last moment and unleashing that piston-power with a KABOOM of enhanced force.     Should this strike, well, Shimmer's goal is to break Hisako's stance and knock her aloft for another few blows. If she actually manages to send her flying, she'll teleport here and there, intend to bounce her around like a pinball with piston-powered blows, apexing at a piston-pulsed heeldrop back to the ground.
Staren	"...You're right about one thing." Staren admits. "I didn't consider that in some small way I was helping the hypercorps, even though I wasn't fighting seriously against Evehime. I..." She clenches a fist. "I needed... to practice... standing up at all!"     Missiles come in from every angle. She dodges the first one, but when the second hits, it throws her off balance, making it harder to dodge each subsequent missile in a chaining effect.     When the smoke clears and she slowly stands, large chunks have been blown out of the armor, a strange goo leaking out of the damaged sections. The metamaterial definitely can't fix THAT, even if the edges of the 'wounds' smooth a little.     The faceplate has cracked and a large piece fallen off, baring most of her face except one eye. She glares at him with the other eye.     "I'm CONCORD, you idiot! You should trust an expert when I say you're playing *right into the villain's hands!*" She points at him. "Just like Bloody Revelations making us make her position stronger with every other villain we fought! Just like me passing the buck to the Watch so THEY'D fight for her and make it easier for me!"     "Just like every time I point big dumb heroes at a big dumb threat! So that I can help the CONCORD get the REAL work done!"     "You... if you really want to change things YOUR way, you'll have to be smart enough to defy both of them! I know I'M not! Your fight doesn't change Evehime's plans, and it saves Pathfinder some trouble!"     Her arm drops to her side, her tail droops, and she slumps. "...My fight didn't matter either. Evehime's going to win either way."     There's a lot of red in her damage readouts. The girl teeters on the brink of a decision.     The logical thing to do is to run away. It's not worth being beat up, and it won't change the outcome.     But... to run away from even Ishirou...
Staren	Her eyes water as she glares up at Ishirou, the idea of what will happen if she loses unthinkable, unbearable... She has to run from it. She has to run!     "ENJOY YOUR METEOR, JERK!" is what she shouts at Ishirou before turning and running for the (warp)gate at thruster-boosted speed, tears streaming down her face. She'd BETTER fucking flee, no way can she face Evehime after THIS.
Staren	Or she can stand and fight.     She's seen how that goes.                                     She's stood up--             Lilian stands on her chest, lecturing in disdain. At least she used             a correctly gendered insult.                                                                            --again--                                                 Lilian teleports and Staren is instantly dead without even knowing               HOW.                                                                                                  --and again--                                               Staren charges back in a fresh body, seconds after the previous                 death. Lilian dodges the attack effortlessly, says some words, and               everything goes a disorienting white-black as Lilian ensures a fated             immediate death, and Staren is too weak to charge into the fight                 again, even knowing how unfair it is to ask her friends to fight                 without her, even though the alternative may be coming back to a                 world where Lilian has killed them all and she's next, for real this             time.                                                                                           --and again--                                         It isn't fair. She trusted her ally's promise of a silly game, to               play princess and be rescued -- and was a fool to think she could               even PRETEND at such a thing. The consequences are real, and                     Ishirou's repeated jabs are empowered by the thoughts she was trying             to push away, that if she's less than perfectly careful, if she ever             lets her guard down for a moment, she risks disaster, SHE KNEW                   BETTER and LET THIS HAPPEN ANYWAY and for what? To NOT be the big               tough warrior who takes on everything herself? IDIOT. That's what               OTHER people get to do. Not YOU.                                                                                                                                  She tries to make up for it, to Ishirou and to herself. She gives it             her all even when it looks impossible.                                                                                                                            Both of them are crushed underhoof.                                                                   --and again?                                               Her fancy new armor has been torn to scrap. Her robot body                       half-crushed. Ishirou walks up and puts a boot on her chest, looking             down at her with the same expression Lilian does. Saying something               about how weak she is. Probably that she's useless to her 'owner'               and only kept out of pity, which is incorrect in so many ways but               the insult still stings. And what can she possibly say? She was                 crushed by Ishirou. /Ishirou/. How can she ever fight anyone if even             HE can crush her, giving her all...?                                                                                                                              And of course, there towers Evehime, judging. Staren allied with her             cause and then proved herself pathetically worthless. Evehime's                 sheer PRESENCE makes her want to grovel and beg for her pathetic                 life in whatever capacity such a weakling can be allowed.
Hiromi	'You look like a Shifter, but you're not, are you?'     "I am Hisako, born human, now become miko of the Archwolf." There's a formal, archaic touch to her words, almost like a recitation of something not quite understood by her, but likely well known by people of her world. "I am not." Though she's only 'mostly human,' both by sight, and by any senses more precise. Hers is a much bigger, deeper change than the temporary power Hibiki had gained from Hiromi.     The decision to knock her off the ground proves a wise one. Though she curls into a stance as one would while trying to resist additional blows mid-air, she can't keep up with Shimmer's powers of flight and teleportation at all. She can pick up each motion with her ears, but doesn't have a good way to turn herself and react, easily taken from behind again and again with little way to control her spin. Only the strikes to her front are easily deflected, and from the sides, with difficult.     When she falls, it's heavily, though she punches one gauntleted fist to the ground, and levers herself up. Beaten, yes, but getting those solid blows in makes it easier to tell just how well-trained her body is. There's a fire in her, too, if a smaller one. It's been building this entire time. There's a groan, a huff in exertion, before she says, "Ms. Tachibana?"     She searches for the words. It's a strange moment of lucidity on the battlefield. Eventually, she finds a phrase she'd heard, once. It's appropriate. "I'll hold, you punch?"     Knowing what she's going for won't make it much easier to avoid, though Shimmer can, and should, certainly try. Hisako bursts into a sprint without even taking the time to first get up, driving across red sand on all fours, unhindered by half gravity, driving one gauntlet into the ground to brake, slide, spin and leap for Shimmer's side. Evading the first tackle won't be enough -- a flip and strike of her feet to Martian earth redirects her momentum again and again, showing again that eerily good intuition, and instantly available strength, that lets her change her path with any of her four limbs, in any direction. Likewise, she only needs to get one around her target.     A hook of her leg around an ankle, tucking to take it beneath her knee. The grasp of her bronze-clad fingers. A driving elbow, followed by a twist and lock of the opposite arm around the fox's side. The skill of the grapple is one thing, but it's the overwhelming aggression that's most concerning.     In the worst case, Shimmer's going to be in a joint lock, getting bent over backwards, joints strained, at the same time as Hibiki arrives.
Ishirou	"You didn't know which way to fight, and then when the wind blew a certain way you immediately changed your tune," Then when Staren claims she is an expert, "Expert at what, Staren?  Stabbing people in the back?  Not fulfilling their obligations?  Prioritizing strength over anything else?  You're the one playing into the villain's hands, and you're too blind to see it." Staren can feel the pressure because Ishirou's combat data was complete, but she drops her hands.  Her fight didn't matter, she claims.  Ishirou's systems are not one hundred percent, but he's willing to fight.  He's got something he believes in, there is a fire ignited in his chest.  Before now he had adopted the ideas of others, but now..?  He's focused on what he has.  His ideas, /his/ view of the world.   "Right, because the Concord is the only people who can do anything.  If you believe that, you're deluded," Ishirou says, there is a familiar tone to it.  Lilian is a bit more influential on him than he realizes sometimes.  Staren teeters on a decision, deciding which way the wind is blowing again.   Then she runs, running from the fight and refusing to face him.  Crying even as she retreats, telling him to enjoy his meteor.  Ishirou stares blankly at the retreating Staren and sighs.  "POD, calculate ways we could stop the giant rock if thrown.  Also, calculate chances of winning if Evehime is going to fight us next." The POD beeps, 'Data delivered to the HUD.'  To which Ishirou sighs...all that bravado drains out of him as reality seems ready to crush him.  Still...he had something deep in him that he was clinging to.  He couldn't back down, he refused to run away.  So the armor turns towards Evehime.  "So what now?"
Hibiki Tachibana	"What--?"     Even though it's too late to stop going through the motion already, she can't help but wince and let out a shocked, teeth-gritting grunt as--what *is* that? Some kind of portal, or...? Her train of thought in thinking about is broken with a sudden heaviness over her body, but she still finishes her strike. Just not nearly as explosive as her usual outbursts of raw force.     She drops down to a knee briefly as the fox sails away, pursing her lips and glancing down at her right arm. "Did she just take...?" She gets her answer just by looking upwards, at yet another shift of her aura...no, not even just her aura. And not even just the color, but the way it's spiralling and spinning around the limbs...that's...she has that kind of ability too, huh? It's far from the first time Hibiki has seen someone take after her, but it is the first time she thinks she's seen it be weaponized against her. No, there was one time before...     "Hah...hah...ahaha, I think I get it..." Unlike that time though, she doesn't outright hate this. After a few heavy breaths, she hauls herself back up from her kneeling position at the same time Hisako hits down and does the same, nodding without looking at her. "I'll punch."     While the Archwolf's miko dives in, Hibiki remains where she is, pulling one leg backwards to slam it into the ground while rearing back the same fist as before. The piston within the gauntlet doesn't simply pull back as before - the entire piece of machinery begins morphing and shifting shape, expanding outwards and backwards. The singular piston shifts into opposite-whirling flywheels, and a knuckle guard forms only to instant slide down over her clenched fist. She waits, leaning in as Hisako attempts to corner Shimmer--     And then she's off, both her Symphogear's thrusters and additional ones on the back of the arm armoring firing off timed with her lunge to close the distance in the blink of an eye. The fox, in whatever position she's ended up in, will get only a moment to see the wild but focused look in her eyes before she turns her entire body into the swing of her arm, driving it down towards her face. 'If you like that one so much, then try the real deal!'     It comes down like a bullet, more than enough to kick up all the Martian dust around them into a thick cloud. In the single second that passes as her fist digs in, the turbines within the gauntlet kick up to an impossibly fast spin, lightning crackling between them and arcing out in all directions. And then--it all slams straight inward, and directs a whole lot more force than before directly ahead.     The ground that they're all standing on is probably about to be a whole lot of debris and rubble.
Sleek Shimmer	Once again Hisako surprises the fox with greater speed and coordination. Shimmer is caught quite blindsided by the tackle-grapple, not at all expecting such ferocity from Hisako who seemed on the more reserved side. "Ghhhhhkh--" And as she's having the life almost choked out of her...     In comes Hibiki. This... this is bad. This is -VERY VERY BAD.-     There's only one thing that Shimmer can do in this circumstance. She abandons all defense, and digs her heels deeper into the martian soil, drawing up more and more of the Earth's power.     Fat load of good it does - well, no.     It means that, as she's slammed head-on by all that force and goes flying, torn from Hisako's grasp, as she goes bouncing and skidding against the red soil and eventually slams into a much larger boulder and stops hard, falling like a sack of potatoes to the ground...     It means that she can still rise, woozily, weakly, to her knees, gasping for breath - pained with each and every one.     "Enough. I am outmatched!" She barks out sourly, and toddles to her feet, leaning against the boulder. "But now what? Do you think this crushes their spirits? Undoes their growth? Breaks what you call mind control? If you don't have an answer for that, what did we just fight for...?"     She's not going to hang around long for an answer. She shift back to fox form and bolt soon enough.
Hiromi	Hisako is still worked up, but stops when Shimmer calls 'enough.' Her gauntlets have someone's blood on them, though they're otherwise undamaged. Later, she'll be obsessively cleaning them, but for now, she pants, legs in a wide stance, arms held in front of her, fingers half-curled, like grasping claws, stance half-turned, ready to kick off her back foot. She's ready. She's so ready for more. But, she holds.     Hibiki dropping down on top of them is still fresh in her memory. She licks her lips. The air here is too dry. She has water, somewhere.     'Do you think this crushes their spirits? Undoes their growth?'     No, of course not. But Evehime will have her own reaction. Hisako doesn't presume to guess what it will be.     'Breaks what you call mind control?'     If she could adopt any expression but 'intense' at this moment, she'd look puzzled. Ishirou had mentioned that, but it's not something she can tell, herself.     'If you don't have an answer for that, what did we just fight for...?'     "To prove something?" She sounds uncertain, but like she can't quite think of it, at the moment. Like she's distracted. It's still hard to calm down. "To decide." But that isn't clear, either, and this time, she's not apologizing for it.
Hibiki Tachibana	After the fact, Hibiki goes tumbling once in the opposite direction from the force of her punch - a side effect of Martian gravity, sending her head-over-heels once before she rights herself and digs her heels in to skid to a slow stop, clutching onto her right arm with the other. The still-crackling machinery blasts heated steam out in all directions before shifting itself back to its normal state, and the magical girl lets out several heavy breaths.     It's over. She'd still be more than willing to go after that one if Shimmer still wanted to fight, but after that--no. It's done with. Good. It doesn't feel good, though. Rising back to her feet slowly and only with a slight sway, her lips stay pursed beneath her Symphogear's scarf. But now what? That's the question that sticks. It's not any of the others, but that one...no.     Maybe the last one too.     She doesn't actually give an answer while the fox is still here, the quick exit eliciting a low sound of what's probably some form of dissatisfaction from her throat. Only after she's gone does she close her eyes. "...I wasn't ever trying to do any of that. Deciding, huh...yeah. I guess we found the answer to that," she adds on after Hisako. 'Even so... only solution is... grow stronger.' The words Shimmer said a bit ago come to mind.     "What's next, though...good question." She opens her eyes up and looks up towards the sky. That's still happening. Whatever Evehime and the fighters do next, she'll just have to figure out...something. One way or another.
Evehime Gevurah	Against all odds-- no, the fact is that it was an absolute certainty, because the Gevurah Does Not Lie, so perhaps 'against all common sense', all Evehime does the entire time is pull her troops back from the immediate area needed for that brawl, cross her arms, and watch. She has the eyes for it, even at that speed and distance. And she certainly has the tactical mind to appreciate it. The experience to judge it and form strategies.     So why does it sort of look like she's just relaxing and watching a movie? Aren't stakes riding on this? It kind of seems like she lost track of the time and just started enjoying the exotic battle of Multiversals, exciting and tense, being free of the overwhelming lopsidedness that is her own participation. She appears vaguely interested in Staren fabricating new armaments on the spot like that, and Shimmer's martial evolution, but says nothing directly.     "Ah, in the end, as it is always, those closest to human triumph over those still grasping for its shape." is, oddly, her conclusion to the decisive victory on behalf of the three corp supporters. It doesn't seem like she's mentioning Pathfinder at all. Why she decides Hisako counts but Staren and Shimmer don't isn't clear. "Even if it is over something so poorly judged, allowing oneself to be used, I find lesser fault with refusing to break an oath for its own sake. To refuse to withhold aid after one has offered it . . . a very different Truth indeed, but even if its core may be immature and unwise, there is no wrong in striving to maintain one's word."     "It is my authority alone, to permit as well as to withhold. To allow, as well as discipline. Your fighting betrays naivete, but not immorality. You truly do not believe in this rotted world at all; it is painfully youthful earnestness that compels you. Most of you, at least." The crimson light brightening above the lip of the crater indicates the impromptu meteor is coming in for its third pass. It's taken up to the eleventh hour to settle the matter. Evehime only seems amused by it.     "What is next, you ask. As outmatched as they were, you've had your duels with the 'champions' of the other side. It would be deeply unpoetic, unsatisfying, to shrug my shoulders and crush you now. It would be wise. Strategic. Correct. Justified. But you have no hope of being a threat to me in the near future, and so that difference is utterly negligible." Evehime goes silent a moment. "I did not become Gevurah just to slavishly follow the doctrines of war. I became Gevurah to decide how war is allowed to be fought. To usurp the crude pragmatism of battle, even natural law itself, and fashion conflict, power, discipline, into something that befits 'humanity'. And there is nothing more unfair and inhuman as 'God's' dispassion towards hard-won struggle. Victories should result in triumph, even if you are beneath me. That is the way I say that the universe works."     Evehime strides over to the nearest bunker tower, swarmed and neutralized early on. She pulls the hundred ton mass of metamaterials out of the ground one-handed. As the meteor comes over the horizon, she aims the three storey building like a javelin, utterly ignoring all sensibilities of leverage and tensile strength, and fires it skyward with another 'casual flick' that becomes an upward streak of fire and thunder. The two meet in the air, and mutually explode into a million red hot fragments, losing their velocity and mass in the atmosphere's resistance.
Evehime Gevurah	"I would rather not waste my time, then, with the tedious reanimation and outfitting of all these soldiers again. They have not proved themselves yet, but this is no fault of their own. They show promise. And their trial is as settled as I feel it may be, for now. Go then. I will take them to their home, and they will return in some time. I will anticipate eagerly, the day where they defeat you." A pause almost like she forget. "The other two --the ones who fought on their behalf-- may come with me. Of course, even if they failed, I will reward them for choosing correctly."
Ishirou	Ishirou hovers there, watching how this plays out.  It does speak that common sense would dictate how the battle plays out.  He would, actually, have taken the advantage...but she does not.  No, he knows she would not.  She did not once the battle with Persephone was won, she accepted their victory and let them go.  The real question is.../why/?  She held all of the cards, she had the advantage.  If she fought they'd certainly lose.  Strained from not only her troops but then fighting with those who defected to her cause.   He is not sure if she is complimenting them or scolding them, but the results are obvious.  They managed to do the impossible, and for now, judgment on this place is forstalled.  He breathes a sigh of relief, but at the same time, his mind is more focused.  Something...clicked in him today.  However, it would not be the /only/ thing to click inside him today.   'I became Gevurah to decide how war is allowed to be fought.' It was light a lightning bolt.  She put her mind to changing something she hated, and...he finds it hard to say she couldn't dictate terms of engagement with any combat she takes place in.  Was that how it started?  The desire to see something you find destructive, corrupted, disgusting, or something wrong and want to change it..?  Is it /that/ what she means when she claims something to be human or not.   He doesn't even say anything as she leaves with her followers.  He slowly turns towards the facility they aided.  He is silent for a long time, before speaking again. "To decide how something should be.." a pause.  "That's it."