Elara, who's been spending more and more time at the arcade, is standing over in the far wing of the arcade. Around 2000 feet away from the Hotel entrance, a sign above her shows she's in the right place, a sign that says "Virtual Magic Fighting Arena." There's a massive crowd watching a large screen on the wall. Next to this screen is a doorway with a glowing red sign that says "Locked - In Use" above it. A couple monitors next to the door includes a terminal and keyboard for text entry. Elara waits around for Riri to join her. Right next to her are Luna and Hinata vibing together and taking deep breaths.
"Hi. I'm sorry if I kept you waiting." Riri arrives and waves to them all, seeming shy. "Did not expect to see so many people here."
Hinata smiles widely at Riri waving, "This place is super popular, the only place in the whole World to fight using magic safely. There's technology in there that basically completely resets your status, so no injuries will carry over." Luna nods, "yeah I've used this a couple times to spar with Hinata. We get pretty big crowds, though usually that's because we're in cosplay too." The two of them blush. Some of those cosplays were rather revealing. Elara seems to have their focus elsewhere, lost in their thoughts.
"I'm not used to seeing so many people is all." Riri turns as she sees Elara distracted and tries to tap their shoulder softly. "Hey, you okay?"
Elara looks startled a little bit, "Heh? Oh! uh yeah I'm okay. Just preparing myself." They exhale a bit, "just nervous about this match."
Luna notices Elara. "Don't worry about it Ella. We'll take it easy on ya," Luna smiles. Hinata nods in agreement.
Because Riri has Oloric's Gift equipped, she notices the snowglobe becomes noticeably cold while speaking to Elara. It's not cold enough to hurt, however. "I understand that. I would never want to fight." Riri steps back to let them prepare, a little discomforted by the cold feeling. "I have something to share after this match, though."
"Nobody wants to fight," Luna reassures Riri, "But sometimes, push comes to shove. And in those moments, it's either fight or die. So it's better to prepare for that. That's why we're here. Besides, I don't wanna hurt my sister." Elara feels relieved from hearing that. As a group, the three walk over to the Terminals to input their names. Elara stands near Riri and the cooling sensation is continued to be felt as long as Elara is next to her.
"I see, so people do this for safety and not for fun? Or both?" Riri asks curiously as she watches them input their names. "I like that."
Hinata and Luna input their team name as Eclipse Blade into the terminal and hit Enter. The audience over by the grandstand go silent realizing just who is fighting next with various murmurs and rumors breaking the stiff silence. Luna shakes her head at the muttering, saying under her breath, "y'all have no idea what you're talking about." Hinata then responds to Riri with a smile, "It's both. It's both safer to do this as it's a controlled environment and also fun to fight here. Less chance of AAA police intervention, you can go all out if you want and be restored of your mana and health. It's incredible. The only downside is the price of admission." Hinata pulls out her wallet and inserts two twenty dollar bills into the machine. It accepts the money as a door stating Eclipse Blade waiting room opens up.
Elara finishes putting her name and money into the machine and takes a couple more deep breaths, "hey Riri, we'll be back soon. If you want, go over by the grandstand over there, there's a place to watch us fight with commentary."
"I'll talk to you soon then. Stay safe." Riri smiles as she steps away to join the audience.
Elara nods as all three of them enter their respective rooms. About 500 feet from the Virtual Magic Fighting Arena entrance is an area with bleachers filled with people, though quite a few spots are still available up front. In front of it on the wall is a large monitor showcasing Elara, Luna, and Hinata's stats as well as their Magical Abilities. Luna's specific Magical Ability listing seems to overflow the grid as she has more than two. Hinata appears to have something called Aquabatics and Rhythm Rampage. Elara has Speedy Blitz and another one that just says Unknown. Bunnykins also shows up on Elara's side, but its profile seems to be glitched, as its profile picture and description are scrambled. Perhaps it's just a bug with the software.
With loud raucous cheering, Elara enters the battlefield first with the emcee announcing, "First up! Our returning champion! The hyperspeed plushie maniac! Don't underestimate them or you'll get burned! Give it up for Amaterasu!" The audience cheers her name, "E - LA - RA! E - LA - RA!" over and over until the emcee quiets them down. "And our challenger. Or should I say challengers! Total opposites but extra deadly! The silent sun and the ferocious moon! Give it up for ECLIPSE BLADE!" On seeing Luna and Hinata enter the arena, the crowd goes completely silent. Clearly they have their favorites.
Luna and Hinata seem to have changed clothes, now wearing matching cosplays from their past. Luna is wearing a frilly black and white gothic lolita dress with various bows on it and a poofy witch hat. Hinata has a similar dress though it's in pink and instead of bows, what seems to be fancy candies cover it, including some pumpkins here or there. This is truly the armor of champions.
Riri reads through the listed stats and shrugs at the scrambled screen. "Question mark, question mark, question mark? Huh?" Riri is left in awe as they enter the arena in their outfits, though the silence of the audience is a little discomforting.
The area Luna, Hinata, and Elara are in is a mostly flat large square room with lots of ledges and structures built inside designed for combatants to hide in. The ceiling is rather high up, thus those with flight magicks or broomsticks could use those to their advantage. Judging by the amount of machinery in the room, it seems like this layout could change at any time, creating battlefields of near limitless shapes and designs.
Above all combatants are holograms of two meters:
--
The red meter is their Health Percentage, or HP for short. Instead of displaying specific points, it opts to show percentage.
The blue meter is their Mana Percentage, or MP for short. This show how much Mana the combatants have. As Luna and Hinata are fighting Elara together as Eclipse Blade, they share a combined HP and MP bar.
--
Luna and Hinata stand in one corner of the room. They both have their respective swords and amethyst crystal shields equipped. Luna uses her trusty Marked Broadsword, one she received years ago from someone named Deianira, and Hinata has a samurai blade a pirate rabbit friend of hers named Bunbun gave her after a successful treasure hunt. Elara, on the other hand, is completely unarmed aside from the rainbow rabbit plushie glowing white in her outstretched hands.
The emcee counts down for the battle to begin:
"Green corner! Are you ready?" Luna and Hinata press a red button near their door to signal ready. "Red corner! Are you ready?" Elara does the same, using Bunnykins to press the button.
"And with that, we're good to go! THREE, TWO, ONE, GO!"
The moment the emcee says go, Elara finds herself already directly in front of Luna and Hinata who seem to not be moving. From Bunnykins, an eruption of steam comes from its stomach area and aims directly at Eclipse Blade. Elara looks on with a smug smile on her face and the camera clearly can't get enough of her visage. When the steam clears, Luna and Hinata are nowhere to be seen. Extremely fast popping sounds come from all around Elara who tries to locate them to no avail. The emcee shouts into his mic, "And an explosive start from the word go! How will our Champion fight back?"
Riri's gift begins to glow. Riri looks like the pleading face emote as she sees Elara on the screen, though the glow of the gift distracts her. Riri holds it in her hand to see if it reacts. When the glowing snowglobe reaches Riri's hand, she feels a comfortable warmth come from it. If she looks on the screen, parts of Elara are replaced with a red glow, similar to that of the battle with Wish Giver. And she'll notice near the terminals, that another red glow catches her eyes. The battle continues to rage on in the arena, with Elara racing around the area to catch up with Luna and Hinata who are hiding from her power. They're hiding in one of the structures and appear to be struggling heavily. The MP meter above Eclipse Blade seem to be frozen and their movements slowed heavily.
"What is causing that?" Riri looks at the screen with confused curiosity while trying to figure out what the red glow represents. The red glow on the screen appears to have centralized on a single location on Elara's hand, specifically on a small portion of Bunnykins’ stomach. It might be a weakpoint, it might be something else. That part is unclear. The other red spot is on the Terminal itself. Something is stuck to it and writhing.
Luna and Hinata are struggling to keep away from Elara. They continue to try and find the ability to use their Magical Abilities, but everything they try is seemingly denied by the system itself. Instead, they're focused solely on evasion and escaping the box, much to the confusion of the emcee. Despite that, he still calls out, "oh what are you doing Eclipse Blade? Are you trying to escape? Amaterasu, they're hiding over there!" Even the emcee isn't on Eclipse Blade's side. He’s completely on Elara’s side, even going as far as to assist her.
Riri leaves the audience to take a closer look at the terminal and see where the red spot on it originates. The red spot on the Terminal centralizes on a single point. Specifically it's a small spider-shaped device on the screen. On further inspection, Riri sees a familiar logo - one for the Full Moon Syndicate - much like the last time. The Bug appears to be sparking and connected via wire to a USB port. If Riri looks back at the audience, she'll suddenly notice a lot of black robed spectators, all wearing a blank white mask. They don't see Riri, but Riri can see them perfectly.
Elara is still cruising around the arena and Eclipse Blade are using their swords to physically combat her and Bunnykins. Due to them not using magic to fight, they're constantly getting penalized for 1 to 2% of their shared HP per hit. Elara is parrying every strike with ease, though seemingly confused as to why they're not using their magicks. She calls out to them, "What are you two doing? This is a Magic Arena, use your MAGIC!"
"I have to do something at some point, right?" Riri is discomforted by the audience and reaches into her bag for her knife so she can cut the wire connecting the bug to the port. On cutting the wire, the sparking from the spider ceases and the red glow on the terminal fades. The robed people in the audience take note of the mana bars being enabled once more and murmur in confusion. They don't seem to notice Riri's presence for some reason. Luna and Hinata feel strength return to them as they finally begin their counterattack on Elara, using a combination of Electro Zaps and Aquabatics to set traps in the smaller room they're in. Magically electrified puddles of water now protect Eclipse Blade from Amaterasu's wrath. The moment Elara steps into this room, she is immediately shocked and escapes. She taunts the two, "come out bitches, let's fight for real now!"
"Bitches???" Eclipse Blade states at the same time, "We'll show you bitches!" says the two who are literally bitches for each other.
The HP and MP bars are as follows:
AMATERASU = 80% HP, 35%MP
ECLIPSEBLADE = 15%HP, 95%MP
The emcee's attitude seems to change a bit on noticing the MP on ECLIPSEBLADE's side begin to drain becoming more and more aggressive with his tone, "oh what the fuck, ECLIPSEBLADE broke through! AMATERASU, BREAK THEM! SHOW THEM WHY YOU'RE OUR CHAMPION!"
The crowd becomes a lot louder, cheering on their Champion. In the arena, a new song begins to play, one that sounds like a cacophony of sounds. For those with hypersensitive hearing, like Luna and Hinata, it hurts to listen to. It's nearly impossible to dance to as well, nerfing Hinata's Rhythm Rampage. It’s a party-wide buff that only activates while Hinata is able to keep to a beat and tempo. Usually a 4/4 120bpm song like they were listening to is easy, but this is much closer to a 29/16 200bpm song.
The emcee continues yelling into the microphone, "okay, fine. Activating Amaterasu's PHASE TWO! MINI BOSS MODE, ACTIVATE!"
Elara becomes even faster and stronger as a result of being activated, her steam blasts now creating a nearly unbreathable atmosphere in the arena, plus it's extremely hot. Luna continues to fight through the sauna of a arena, looking to find Bunnykins's weakness. She goes for a stab to try and stop the chaos, but it's almost as if Bunnykins dodged at the precise moment of striking even despite being an inanimate object. The HP of the two are being lowered until. They reach 0.
Elara is once more crowned the winner of the battle and Luna and Hinata are unmoving.
A few of the robed people move to enter the arena when it unlocks. They leave the room with Luna and Hinata in their grasps. Their wounds are all healed, but they're fully knocked out, soaking wet, and barely breathing. They're carrying them towards the entrance. Riri tries to follow the robed people and looks at the crowd to see if Elara is in there among them.
Elara is not there, she's over by the entrance of the arena and seeming dazed. A hand is placed on her forehead. The fact that her parents' church is here has not crossed her mind. The cultists continue to make their way through the arcade and towards the exit. For some reason, they're moving rather slowly. Riri runs ahead to the exit and stands off to the side while waiting for the cultists. The cultists don't even notice Riri watching over the situation. They eventually arrive outside, but to their surprise, FMS is not the only group to come to the arcade today.
[location log - central square]
Outside of the arcade, a massive group of people in white labcoats gather in front of the arcade. They all have suns on their lapels and seem to be preparing for something. Watching the group of black robed cultists begin to flood out, they make their move, fighting their way up to retrieve the knocked out catgirl and dog girl from FMS's grasps. In the front of the group is Rebecca, the co-leader of Solaire. "Unhand Eclipse Blade or suffer the consequences," shouts Rebecca through a megaphone. The cultists do not falter and continue to move out of the arcade.
Elara and Riri arrive outside to witness a standoff between the Full Moon Syndicate (wearing black robes) and Solaire Enterprises (wearing white labcoats). The person in front of the pack of black robes speaks rather smugly towards the labcoats, and their voice sounds familiar to Riri. They pull down their hood to reveal a rather pretty older tall woman with snow white hair, red lipstick, and piercing brown eyes. Her ears have a strange point to them much like Elara's though minus all of the piercings. "Consquences? You know I've been requiring 6969 for tasks upcoming," the woman says.
"Like what? The demise of our family, Tsukuyomi?" Rebecca sneers.
"What the fuck are you doing mom!?" Elara yells at the crowds, "Let Lu and Hina go!"
"Just reclaiming that which belongs to me," Tsukuyomi growls. "As for the mutt, she can fuck right off." Tsukuyomi drops Hinata on the ground. Hinata ragdolls, but thankfully her head doesn't hit the pavement. "As for this other woman, who is this?" Despite her apparent beauty, Tsukuyomi has resting bitch face syndrome. She does not smile, grin, or act pleasant towards Riri.
"Hi, my name is Riri." Riri tries to remain polite despite her shock. "I arrived in town a few weeks ago. I need my friends too."
Elara notices the shock present in Riri's actions and stays right by her side. Bunnykins is once more outstretched in her hands. "Don't say I didn't warn you Mom. Unhand my sister or so help me Gods above."
Tsukuyomi chuckles, "Who this? This isn't your sister. This is a weapon, a weapon we need for the Many Gods Above."
"Her life is much more than a weapon for you to use as you see fit!" Riri holds herself back from yelling in front of her friend.
"Interesting, her friends got some bite." Tsukuyomi cracks a grin at Riri's words. "But you know nothing of its true potential."
Rebecca cannot help but laugh, "potential? You don't even treat her like a human! You could NEVER understand her strength as a person!" Rebecca picks Hinata up and cradles her in her arms. Suddenly Luna and Hinata disappear and reappear next to Riri and Elara. A feint glow of green can be seen in Luna's eyes.
"What is happening?" Riri says as they appear next to her. "Green?"
Luna's eyes return to their usual blue, "It's a long story Riri, but the short version is my mana's regenerated, so I teleported us to safety. And you two are as safety as we're gonna get right now."
Hinata has some bruises here or there and a couple cuts from landing in the pavement, but she seems fine otherwise, "yeah, I figured there was some fuckery at the arena."
"How?? Your mana pools should've been completely drained!" Tsukuyomi looks enraged at her plans backfiring. Again. For the hundredth time somehow.
"Riri, did you find the Spider Sentry at the terminal?" Elara asks.
"If you mean the bug that I cut off the terminal, yeah." Riri laughs a little nervously. "It was out in the open."
"...are you fucking KIDDING ME!? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HIDE IT!" Tsukuyomi yells at her robed cultists. One person in the crowd of cultists meely says "sorry" to her. The rest stay completely silent. Tsukuyomi glares at them and snaps her fingers. The cultist is taken away.
Luna and Hinata facepalm at the same time. Luna shakes her head, "and this is why you'll never beat me. Why I'll never be your final weapon. You're a fucking IDIOT Tsuk."
Tsukuyomi looks enraged. If it were possible, steam would be erupting from her ears.
The labcoats and Rebecca turn around and leave the area. Rebecca remarks, "and this is why we don't want anything to do with you idiots. You can't even defeat your own creation, what the hell is wrong with you?"
Elara turns to Luna, Hinata, and Riri, "just glad we're safe. Thank you for saving us, Riri. Again."
"I cut the bug but I didn't do anything else, this wasn't my work." Riri hugs the team tightly. "I need all of you."
Tsukuyomi and her cult have disappeared from Central Square.
Solaire is also in the process of leaving when Rebecca notices what Luna's group is talking about.
"Hey, don't sell yourself short Riri. What you did might seem insignificant on the outside, but those Spider Sentries are extremely dangerous pieces of Lunar Tech. They halt all mana flow by absorbing the energy into a battery," Rebecca pauses for a couple moments, realizing Riri is still new to the world and then continues, "which means without proper mana flow, the arena which runs on it, can't perform the automatic reversion of health. Luna and Hinata could have died in there for real."
"I had no idea it was that dangerous. Uh, thank you." Riri nods to them.
"Of course. I'd better get back on my way. If you ever get bored, I'd love to chat with you," Rebecca hands Riri a business card for Solaire Enterprises and its directions to get there. Seems rather easy.
"I'll be sure to say hello some time." Riri places the card in her pocket to follow later.
Elara sighs, "and of course our epic battle never happened. I wanted to go all out with Bunnykins too."
Luna stares at her, "are you kidding me? That wasn't going all out? You had us on the ropes!" Hinata nods in fear. "I mean our mana was blocked, but still. You're insanely fast."
"Nope! That's just an innate magic that I just learned I have. I got Super Speed!" Elara grins, much to the bemusement of Luna and Hinata.
"Right. Uh, maybe we should head back home. I'm feeling a bit out of it after all of that."
"I had gifts to give you both before you leave!" Riri smiles at Luna and Hinata as she reaches into her bag. "I was late to the holiday but it still means a lot to me!"
"Wait huh? Gifts?" Luna asks, tilting her head. Hinata seems intrigued.
"Yeah. I got a gift for Elara and decided to do something small for you too." Riri hands them two thin boxes in yellow and purple wrapping. "I realise it might not be super special but it made me happy."
Luna and Hinata unwrap their gifts. Luna is the first to notice the gift she received is an infinity bracelet, much like what Riri and Elara are wearing, except in purple. "Yooooooooo this is so cool! Hinata did you get one too?" Luna equips hers to her left wrist
"Yup! We're all besties now!" Hinata cheers and puts her bracelet on.
Riri blushes a bit. "If we have these, we'll always be together no matter where we are. It makes me feel safe."
Luna, Elara, and Hinata all nod.
Luna grins, "Forever and always."
Hinata continues, "the best of friends. Never alone."
Elara tilts their head, "did y'all rehearse this or something?? I mean uhhhh always together. Until the end of time."
Riri laughs it off. "I didn't rehearse anything but maybe those two did."
Hinata, "Nah, that's just part of our Eclipse.."
Luna, "Blade training. We often finish each..."
Hinata, "Other’s sentences. And..”
Luna, “sandwiches.”
That was completely seamless.
"It's cute." Riri wishes she was able to talk like that.
The moment the word cute leaves Riri's lips, Luna and Hinata go cherry red in the face. "N-no..." Luna mutters. Hinata is struggling to keep it together.
"What do you think, Elara? Are they cute?" Riri giggles.
Elara smiles, "they definitely are."
"I suppose I should head back to my room before there’s trouble again." Riri seems tired from stress. "I hope you all stay safe."
"We will Riri. Thank you for everything once more." Luna snaps her fingers and all four disappear, returning to their original locations.