phantasmalrift | But I, I know what God thinks

[Lily closes her eyes for a moment. There's a brief glow, and her outfit changes, her comfortable casual clothing giving way for a magical girl's frills and ribbons. Her staff materializes in her hands, which she spins around a few times, before tapping the end to the ground.]

Ready.

Akira messaged me earlier, apparently she can't make it. Still, the four of us ought to be enough.

Right... I hope nothing happened.

[what could be more important than killing a monster?]

I'm pretty sure we'll be fine.

[Jail continues to disgrace her magical girl status by not transforming in any way, sticking to her usual outfit of cargo pants and a tank top. But she has all her usual magical gear in place, plus a few interesting new surprises stuffed into her pockets.]

Ready as I'll ever be.

[She holds up what looks like a small, sleek pistol and adds:]

Made this with a couple of those fire crystals from the city. I'm calling it the Flare Gun.

[She just can't resist a pun, can she...]

Guess what it does.

[Kyoko subconsciously leans away from the gun.]

Awesome, maybe we'll get lucky and wood burning is one of the things that stays true in the barrier.

Edited 2018-08-16 13:55 (UTC)

[Jail knows better than to point it right at you, Kyouko, jeez. Just because she's a magical mad scientist doesn't mean she's not aware of basic gun safety.]

It's magical fire, so I figure it's got a decent chance of working even if the laws of physics are on vacation.

[She shrugs. It's worth a try, at least.]

[Kyoko and fire don't get along, Jail. Speaking of which, something very different happens when Kyoko transforms this time.]

What the hell just happened?!

I... don't know?

[hey, that was dramatic as hell.]

Was that not normal?

No! Normally there's a light show, and I go straight from my normal outfit to my battle dress! Not whatever symbolic bullshit that was!

[Kyoko is breathing heavily, obviously distressed by... whatever that was. Her Soul Gem has even taken on a bit more darkness.]

[Jail is putting two and two together with Kyouko's hesitance around the flames back in Incendia and coming up with an increasing suspicion that she might have issues about fire. She holsters the Flare Gun discreetly.]

Was that a high score screen in there? 'Cause I could swear I saw a fucking high score screen.

[Her gaze drifts towards Kyouko's Soul Gem, eyes narrowing in sudden suspicion as she Looks at it more closely.]

Dog Drug Reinforcement was part of it, so I guess so.

[As Jail Looks at the gem, it becomes Kyoko herself, only she's wearing an odd kimono. The pattern on the inside changes in an almost stopgap fashion.]

I was distracted by the fire.

[pOINTED LOOK AT JAIL'S GUN]

Hey, it's not Jail's fault I've got some bad experiences with fire.

[As Kyoko's body speaks, her soul remains quiet. A beaded chain has emerged from one of her sleeves, connecting her soul to Lily. A smaller one has attached itself to Jailbreak. Other chains head off into the distance, a few even disappearing into mid-air.]

Dog... what now?

[Jail eyes the smaller Kyouko- and the chains- with some degree of wariness and concerned. But they don't... quite seem malevolent, as of yet? She'll keep an eye on them, but won't act on them just yet.]

[As for the rest of the conversation, she holds up her hands in an apologetic gesture, showing that the gun is back in the holster on her belt.]

I coulda asked first, though, it's fair. Got some... basically they're magical concussion grenades, as backup in case the Flare Gun didn't work out. Can give those a shot first, see if we can handle this shit without the fire.

Nah, don't let my issues get in the way of a good plan. It's nothing I can't handle.

[Jail may notice that three of the chains that trail off into nowhere shake at this. These ones in particular are cracked and frayed, as if they were burned at some point.]

[...Oh, that's depressing. Jail determinedly avoids saying anything about it at all.]

Can at least call my shots so you don't have to deal with me firing it without warning, that's just good manners anyway. 'Sides, we might not even need it- Lily's lasers are enough to take out a lotta stuff all by themselves.

Got it. Well, if everyone's ready...

[Kyoko holds the Grief Seed up to her Soul Gem, and a cloud of darkness flows from the latter to the former. To Jail's Sight, the kimono on the representation of Kyoko's soul flickers and fades away as she does so.

The Seed, now full, radiates a dark aura as it floats into the air. Black lightning crackles around it, before the aura expands with near explosive force.

Reality warps and twists, forced to change according to Elsa Maria's distorted will. The land goes dark, and the sky turns white.

In the middle of it all an open casket lays, the Grief Seed pulsing within it.]

It'll hatch soon, so be ready!

Edited 2018-08-17 20:16 (UTC)

[The landscape twisting like this reminds her of Maddie... But she shouldn't say that out loud, she thinks. Instead, she twirls her staff, pointing the heart-shaped gem at the top at the casket.]

Got it. Tell me when it's safe to open fire.

[The Seed's glow intensifies, and shadows burst forth from it, taking the shape of a girl, on her knees, hands clasped in prayer.]

Now! Fire!

[Animalistic shadows burst out of Elsa Maria, seeming to focus their assault on Jailbreak.]

Holding nothing back!

[Lily is, now that the Hand is dead, probably the single strongest mage in the world they came from. Though her nice personality often leads to her being underestimated... In terms of sheer power, efficiency, and experience, she is absolutely top tier. And that experience refines the rest, to the point where she knows so many tricks she can do...

But in the end, tricks and spells are often inferior to a simple overwhelming first strike.

Lights blossom into existence around her, sparkles of pink orbs, surrounding them enough that you would be forgiven for thinking they walked into some sort of astronomy projection. A myriad of lights...

Which turn into lasers. Beams of force, arcing and curving. "Overkill" doesn't appear to be in Lily's dictionary, as any one beam is strong enough to put a crater in the ground, and she's just launched hundreds of these beams, and locked them on to home on the enemies on top of that. Each beam is roughly a foot in diameter, as well.

Shadows, Elsa Maria, anything that isn't Jail, Lily, or Kyouko. Lily's demonstrating why she was the strongest with this opening strike.]

[The darkness of the Labyrinth seems to drag down the lasers, hardly as bright as they should be in the first place. They still manage to destroy a number of Sebastians, but barely do anything to the Witch herself.]

[Jail draws the Flare Gun and steps smoothly into formation behind Lily, just far enough away that she has room to shoot unhindered if she needs to, and just close enough that she can watch Lily's back.]

[Her eyes narrow as she notes the environment's effect on the laser beams. Jail is intimately familiar with how strong Lily is, and even without her power she'd know that they weren't having the proper effect.]

[She reaches out with her power, Looking further to try and catch any hint of a weakness, searching out flaws in the Witch's defenses and quirks of how her Labyrinth works.]

Hmph.

[She lifts her staff up.]

Jail, do you have any flashbangs on you? Anything is fine as long as it will make some light.

Sure, my grenades are your grenades.

[Jail reaches into one of her pockets with one hand to pull out a small metal sphere with an odd pattern embossed on the surface and hands it over. One of her usual magitech bombs, but apparently this one's geared more towards light than her typical knockout gas.]

You know the drill, squeeze it hard and throw.

[Darkness. That is the essence of this world. Shadows are sacred, and light is taboo. There are strange runes floating above the Witch, which Jail can somehow read. The Witch's name, Elsa Maria. Engraved on the cast aside lid of the coffin are runes that read, "I wish you, although not seen from me, to be happy."

Most glaringly of all, there is a faint image of a girl in blue, laughing madly as she hacks at the Witch.

A beaded chain shoots from Kyoko's Soul Gem to the girl, the kimono manifesting around Kyoko's soul again. She looks at Jail and speaks.

"Ally of Kyoko-sama, I know how this vile being may be slain. Only anguish may destroy faith, the power of an emotion so powerful as to change ones very self. You must tell Kyoko-sama to use as much magic as is possible, only then may I release my power."]

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