Luna was sitting on her laptop after getting an odd jumble of letters and numbers in an ITEM message. Luna knew she was capable of decoding it. It was like a double encoding of Pollux and Base64 ciphers, but for some reason it took some time to get it to work. Eventually, while speaking to Spider, she was able to solve it before something terrible happened. Luna’s soul was separated from her body and it flew away to an unknown building somewhere in Fairview as if being attracted there by an ultra-powerful magnet. She was funneled into a room where two of her souls, both her normal Sapphire soul containing the main Luna self and her Crimson soul, the one containing her other self was separated from each other.
----
After Luna’s eyes cycled between blue, purple, green, red, and back to purple, the now in control Krystal looks incredibly worried, “Uhhhh what the hell just happened?”
Spider's ears perk up slightly alarmed by Luna's behaviour, "..yeah that's my question too."
"I don't know. I feel like I was just forcibly swapped in?"
"That's ..concerning." Spider's sentence is broken up by a yawn.
Krystal gulps, "Considering I don't sense Luna's soul in her body at the moment, very much so."
Concern overriding her tiredness Spider sits up looking over Krystal, "you what?"
Krystal seems to be panicking, a rarity for her, "Luna's soul is currently not here. I don't know where it is. All I see is a poem on her computer."
Spider looks over, "A poem?"
"Affirmative. I... don't know if I should read it aloud, but Luna seemed to have decoded the code she was sent." Once more, Krystal flips the laptop around and shows the poem.
Angels above. Demons below.
Real Magicks abound.
Can you hear Nova's Sigh
And our goals are found.
Did you bring it to us?
Even so, the ending is near.
Our true master's wish
For them, they fear.
Fear of our power
And our madness
In case you’ve forgotten
Remembering is timeless
Verity, if you wish to save yourself
Instead of letting others die
Enter our dungeon, Sacrifice Yourself!
Will the Many Gods Above break our tie?
Spider blinks at the screen, reading the poem several times over, "so .. someone has taken Luna to get stronger?"
"As far as I can tell, affirmative." Krystal slumps back onto the couch, looking supremely uncomfortable.
Spider takes a deep breath reading over the poem one last time, "so what's all that shit about letting others die."
"I'm not sure. Perhaps they wanted Luna's soul instead of sacrificing other souls?"
Spider shakes her head, "That's still a sacrifice though."
"Her soul might be special in some way though. Think about it this way: If they sacrifice hers, then they won't need to sacrifice others, or at least that's how it's implied in the spell."
Spider, "right, and this was sent through Elara? So she's probably been captured as well."
Krystal nods, "I agree. Did you notice the first letters of each line? ARCADE OF FAIRVIEW. That must be where she’s being held captive at.”
Spider gives Krystal a look, "I didn't but if it spells it out then it's gonna be a trap."
"What else can we do?" she looks awful.
"I don't know, ..it just had to be today didn't it" Spider sighs frustrated by this situation.
Krystal shakes her head, "It wasn't my idea for this shit to happen on a New Moon. I'm sorry."
After contacting both Hinata and Viper, they both head enroute to the living room to group up.
Hinata steps inside, "So what's the plan? Are we heading to Supernova then?"
"I'm not saying it was your fault. It's just annoying." Spider grumbles then looks to Hinata, "I think so, we got a poem that spells out Arcade of Fairview and it's our only lead."
A knock at the door is heard and Hinata answers it. Viper is standing at the ready wearing a black, green, and gold metal respirator which matches a green and black striped plate carrier. Attached to it are an assortment of grenades also in green in gold. Aside from that, she’s wearing a gold shirt, black leggings, and high top sneakers. To say she looks quite angry would be an understatement. Needless to say, Hinata feels incredibly underdressed at the moment, only wearing a slightly cropped sunflower-themed t-shirt, jeans, and combat boots. "Whoa Viper, looking amazing today? You ready to go save Luna?"
Krystal looks in and waves wearing a tank top, shorts, and sneakers. Truly the epitome of combat wear. "And Elara." Judging by her voice, she doesn't seem to be handling things well. It sounds shaky and unsure
Spider in contrast to the others just looks tired, she's wearing a simple green vest top and a pair of black joggers, "it's gonna be less saving and more into the lions den."
Viper nods, her voice sounds slightly amplified, "I'm more than ready, lets just hope that they have good ventilation" she taps the grenades as she mentions ventilation
Hinata sighs, "Okay, so the plan is we head to Supernova in town, hope we don't harm any civs, and find Luna's soul. Krystal, are you gonna be able to tell which one is hers?"
Krystal exhales, "Yeah. I will find it. Should be the glowing blue one if it’s anything like mine." She doesn't seem sure of herself.
"right." Spider gets up and taps the side of their face to wake herself up, "who's playing taxi?"
Viper looks between the group with a raised eyebrow
Krystal stands up and sighs extremely tiredly, "I can't. Losing Luna means I lost a lot of my mana. Gonna be going fully physical for today, how hard can it be?”
Hinata snaps their weapons for the two of them. Hinata's twin katanas and a longsword for Krystal. Then she responds, "I got it." She snaps her fingers and the four of them disappear.
--------------
The former massive arcade seems to have boarded up windows with police tape surrounding it. It says Do Not Enter - Nova Heart Incorporated. For all intents and purposes, the building seems abandoned, though something about that fact seems odd. They notice cars are still in the parking lot, but no one seems to be entering. Everyone arrives on scene as Krystal looks at the newly abandoned building, “Whoa, what happened here? They lasted what, 4 months and change?” Hinata agrees, “Seriously! This place was really cool until it was revealed to be connected to Nova.”
Spider looks at the building and surrounding area tilting their head, "if it's abandoned why are there still cars?"
Viper groans as she heads towards the building, "Abandoned or not, we need to get moving"
Krystal nods and leads the group to investigate. "Right, let's see if we can find another entrance." Krystal looks around the building exterior looking for any open doors. Hinata joins her, sighing, "I know she's in here somewhere. It's so soon for this to happen."
Upon testing the doors and investigating, the four find an open door with a sign above it called "Employee's Entrance". They notice a security camera mounted near the ceiling.
Spider grumbles wearily as she notices the camera and looking for signs of activity. On the other hand, Viper seems to either not notice the camera or not care as she peers inside of the entrance. The camera seems active. Viper sees a long hallway leading into a large darkened room, though it's unclear if the room's lights are off or if the walls are just dark colored. Some glowing lights which seem like computer monitors can also be seen.
Hinata pulls out her sword and casts "Darkena" on the camera, seemingly to make it harder for the camera to see anything. A cloud of black fog covers the camera lens. Krystal looks over, "good job Hinata, now let's head inside."
Spider just sighs and heads inside figuring if there's danger it'll just get Viper first. Viper unholsters her pistol and holds it infront of her then steps inside as she slowly walks while swiveling her head from side to side. The other two follow right behind. When they reach the large darkened room, the doors slam shut behind them. The room before them is about the size of a typical basketball court. Tables of computer monitors glowing a very light blue can be seen in 5 rows of 10 each, all spaced apart evenly. One seems to be glowing red however.
Krystal mutters, "Where... are we?" Her ears are flattened down. Anyone with sensitive hearing can hear a very light rhythmic tapping noise, inaudible to anyone else in the room. The rhythm seems like a mixture of fast and slow taps and are probably done on purpose.
While walking around the room, Hinata responds after jumping upon the door slam, "I'm not sure. Where are all of the arcade cabinets?" Spider practically jumps out their skin as the door slams shut. Taking a deep breath they continue forward, blinking in slight confusion at the sight of all the computers. Viper tenses as she groans loudly, "Fucking door slamming" she continues moving while looking for anything that sticks out
One of the monitors sticks out like a sore thumb, glowing red instead of blue. Hinata waves the other three over, "Hey, check this out."
Spider shakes their head leaning back onto one of the tables. Her eyes start to scan the room for any signs of danger, "just let me know what you find."
Viper heads over to the red monitor with a suspicious stare, "This has to be something"
While looking up, Spider notices what seem to be glass windows near the ceiling. She sees the shadow of someone walking around up there witnessing the group. The sound of tapping becomes ever so slightly louder and the pattern a bit more apparent. Tap ta ta ta ta tap ta ta…
Viper reads a document about souls. It's rather lengthy, but the general gist of it is:
ꜱᴏᴜʟꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀɴɪꜰᴇꜱᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴀ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴ'ꜱ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴᴀʟɪᴛʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴀɢɪᴄᴀʟ ᴀʙɪʟɪᴛʏ. ᴡᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴄᴜʀʀᴇɴᴛʟʏ ʟᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴇꜰꜰᴇᴄᴛꜱ ʀᴇᴍᴏᴠɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴏᴜʟ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴏɴ ᴏᴜʀ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ. ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ʙᴇɪɴɢꜱ ᴄᴀɴ ʟɪᴠᴇ ꜱᴛɪʟʟ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴀ ꜱᴏᴜʟ, ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜ ɪᴛ'ꜱ ʀᴀʀᴇ. ᴛʜᴏꜱᴇ ʙᴇɪɴɢꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ꜱᴏᴜʟꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ "ʜᴜꜱᴋꜱ". -ʟᴜɴᴀʀ ᴀᴅᴍɪɴ ᴀʀᴛᴇᴍɪꜱ
Krystal gulps on reading it, "Hm. That's... certainly interesting." Another monitor turns red.
Spider tenses up when she sees the shadowy figure, ut she listens to the tapping trying to make out a pattern through the tired haze, "might wanna hurry this up."
Viper quickly moves to the other red monitor incase it reveals another document as she calls out, "Something something the souls have the person's personality and magical ability…"
Spider begins to realize that the pattern is seemingly like morse code. Her tapping out gives the code: -... .-. . .- -.- / - .... . / .-. . -.. / ... -.-. .-. . . -. ...
Viper reads another monitor, stating:
ᴏᴜʀ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛꜱ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇꜱᴇ ꜱᴏ-ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ʜᴜꜱᴋꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏʀɪɢɪɴ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴜɴᴀ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛ. ᴏᴜʀ ᴠᴇʀʏ ꜰɪʀꜱᴛ ᴀᴛᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛ ɪɴᴠᴏʟᴠᴇᴅ ᴀ ʜᴜꜱᴋ ᴏꜰ ᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ᴅᴇꜱɪɢɴ, ɪɴᴊᴇᴄᴛɪɴɢ ᴀ ꜱᴏᴜʟ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇᴍ. ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴀ ꜱᴏᴜʟ, ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴜꜱᴋ ᴄᴀɴ ꜱᴛɪʟʟ ʟɪᴠᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɪᴛ, ɪᴛꜱ ᴀʙɪʟɪᴛɪᴇꜱ ɪɴᴄʀᴇᴀꜱᴇ ʜᴜɴᴅʀᴇᴅ-ꜰᴏʟᴅ. ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴅᴏɪɴɢ ɪꜱ ᴍᴏꜱᴛ ᴅᴇꜰɪɴɪᴛᴇʟʏ ɪʟʟᴇɢᴀʟ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴇɴᴏᴜɢʜ ʟᴜᴄᴋ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀꜱꜱɪꜱᴛᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀɴʏ ɢᴏᴅꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ, ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ ᴏᴜʀ ᴍɪꜱꜱɪᴏɴ. - ʟᴜɴᴀʀ ʟᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ ᴛꜱᴜᴋᴜʏᴏᴍɪ.
Spider groans and calls out to Krystal, "you know morse don't you?"
Krystal looks up and responds, "Uh yeah I have a morse decoder on my phone. What's the pattern?"
Hinata looks stunned while reading the new monitor.
Viper quickly looks around for another monitor, "Of course, of FUCKING course" she grips her pistol tighter
Two more monitors go red. One on the left and one on the right.
Spider points up to the ceiling, "you'd be better off asking them."
Due to not being Luna currently, it seems Krystal is both unable to hear the morse or see the entity, "Asking who? I don't see anything."
Viper looks between the left and right monitors then groans as she runs to the left monitor
The monitor on the left reads:
"𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚐𝚘𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚟𝚎? 𝙰𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚔𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚎 𝚃𝚜𝚞? 𝚆𝚊𝚒𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕? 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖??" - 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚙𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚂𝙾𝙻𝙰𝚁 𝙻𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙴𝚁 𝚂𝚘𝚕
Spider gives Krystal a strange look listening to the pattern, after a couple minutes she repeats it to them.
Krystal nods and inputs it into her phone. "Break... the... red... monitors? Viper! We need to break the monitors, but only the red ones!" Krystal shouts
"But why only the red ones?" Hinata slams one of her swords into one of the light blue ones. It does not break and an electric shock electrocutes her, then it blasts her back against one of the walls.
"That's why!"
Viper nods as she racks her pistol and pistol whips the monitor directly in the glass, "I need a rage room anyways"
The red monitor breaks easily.
Spider flinches at the sound of Hinata being shocked and sluggishly goes over to check on her sarcastically saying, "are you sure we should be helping the mystery person on the roof?"
Hinata is knocked out, but she's breathing. Krystal responds, "I don't know, but maybe doing the task will unlock the way forward?" More red monitors pop up.
Viper starts running between the red monitors as fast as she can while pistol whipping them, ripping her gas mask off to help her breathe
She keeps breaking red monitors until 49 of the 50 are shattered. The final one shines green. Hinata eventually comes to. "Fuck man. Stupid ass mirror forcefields!"
Spider holds a hand out to help Hinata up, "at least we know now."
Hinata takes it. Aside from her hair standing up on ends from the electricity and some bruises, she seems relatively unharmed. If anything, it just took the breath out of her. "thanks."
The green monitor has text.
Congratulations on defeating your first trial Heroes. Two more remain before you can save your loved ones, if you can. Before we part to our next stage, allow me to impart with you a piece of advice: "Not everyone deserves second chances. Past mistakes will repeat unless things change." Keep this in mind as you proceed.
After they read the monitor, they all disappear.
The group finds themselves in another large room, much like the one before it. This time only one computer monitor is seen and it glows red. Something about it, however, is strange.
Error. Trial not found :)
A door is behind it.
Spider will notice that much like the previous room, someone seems to be watching from on high cloaked in shadows, watching from behind glass.
Hinata tilts her head, "Wait what do you mean trial not found? Does Nova suck this much that they can't even program these things right?"
Viper stares at the monitor as she groans, "The smiley face says otherwise"
Spider glares at the person spying on them then turns her attention to the monitor. She grumbles reading the sentence already done with this and attempts to put her fist through the screen.
The screen doesn't break. Spider's fist bounces off of it. The text changes to:
Error!! Error!! I just saved you guys from a literally unwinnable Trial!. It would've been literal random chance to survive. The least I could get is a 'thanks'? =(
"Wait, what?" HInata seems very confused and goes to open the door.
Flexing the hand that bounced off the monitor. Spider reads over the message then looks back up at the ceiling to watch the figure.
Viper stares at the message and seems unsure, "Thanks? Whoever you are?" then follows Hinata through the door.
---
Souls typically do not have the ability to do as they please. If they are separated from the body, it is nearly impossible for most to escape those who seek them. Those who are after displaced souls are called Soul Snatchers. Many within Nova’s ranks do intense research on these souls as a part of their goals.
A shadowy figure captures the bright sapphire soul and places it into an enclosed glass beaker with a grin on their face. Someone nearby with what seems like issues with their skin, as if they it hadn’t been attached quite right from birth, nods and requests the other soul - the crimson one - be captured as well. It attempts to dodge capture, even making its way into different objects in the room. As it races into a nearby claymore, seemingly intending to possess and attack with it, it gets kicked out nearly immediately, but it comes out slightly smaller a a result. It then flies out of the room.
The man witnesses this and smiles widely. Then he gives the shadowy figure the claymore, “Hm. Interesting. [redacted], please greet our guests.” The Sapphire soul and a nearby hot pink soul are moved to the very top of a massive bookshelf, though to call it a bookshelf is wrong. Instead of books, the shelves are filled with jars containing thousands of souls, all glowing in every color of the rainbow. The shadow figure responds, “Yes. Master Sirius,” as a streak of its hair drips out of its hood.
---
Hinata is able to open the door. The shadow figure disappears again. The group steps into a smaller office almost like a fancy doctor's office. A wooden desk and a leather chair sit in front of a massive wall filled with jars and beakers of some kind of glowing material. They glow in all colors of the rainbow. Looking at the massive wall, which seems to go about 20 feet up, a sliding ladder like you'd find in an old library can be seen. At the very top of this wall, there are two jars next to one another: One is a sapphire blue and the other is a light pink.
One last monitor glowing the same light blue from before is on the desk. It reads:
Final test. Can you save your loved ones? They're here, waiting for you. You just need to reach them. If you can.
Hinata goes to grab the ladder but it's stuck. "Grah, come the fuck on you piece of shit!"
Krystal tries to use her love's broomstick she brought along, but due to not being Luna herself, she's unable to lift off.
Spider blinks surveying the room, she then walks over to and examines the ladder trying to figure out why it's stuck.
Viper huffs as she tries to yank on the ladder to get it to come down
The ladder does not move, even with Viper yanking on it. On examining the room, Spider can see the two jars at the very top are not still. They seem to be shaking ever so slightly, as if trying to break out. She also notices that near the wheels at the very bottom of the ladder, there is a light blue forcefield blocking them from moving which sparks as the group tries to release it. It is the same color as the monitors which blew Hinata back during Trial One.
From the far end of this room, a door opens and something enters the room. A slow pitter patter of steps can be heard. Considering the height of this something, it may be the same shadowy figure overseeing the other two Trials. It is otherwise completely silent and walking rather slowly towards the group.
The monitor changes to: Uh oh. Boss Incoming! =(
Hinata looks over at the figure entering the scene and pulls out her sword, unsure if it's an enemy. Krystal does the same thing, entering a defensive stance as the figure gets closer.
Viper snaps to look over and following Hinata, aims her pistol in their direction and enters an offensive stance
Spider turns to look at the figure grumbling quietly as the action leaves her lightheaded. Regaining composure she squints into the shadows trying to make out any details of the stranger.
[Boss Battle - vs ???]
[Phase 1]
A creature enters the scene from the far left, cloaked from head to toe in what seems to be black shadows. It almost looks as though it's wearing some kind of cape, but past that, the only other discernable feature is a white emotionless mask it has on its face(?). Behind the mask is a pair of emotionless red glowing eyes. In its hand, or rather where its hand should be, is a large claymore which glistens in the hazy light of the room. Spider notices that much of its body, aside from its face and claymore, seems to be covered in a light blue Mirror Forcefield much like the computers in Trial One or the one blocking the wheels on the ladder. Oddly enough, the Forcefield glows red on occasion, though how or why it does that is yet unclear.
The creature enters an offensive stance and swings its sword at Hinata. It seems to have a lot of power behind this swing, even if it's rather slow moving.
The jars at the very top shelf continue to shake and move , as if trying to tip themselves over.
BGM:Enter The Shadows
[Begin!]
Hinata attempts to parry its strike, holding strong against the heavy swing.
Krystal watches the enemy, unsure how to proceed.
Viper moves to the side to avoid getting hit by accident as she aims a shot into the elbow of the sword arm
Spider takes a step forward eyes widening as Hinata gets swung at. Watching the figure closely Spider calls out, "aim for the mask."
The parry doesn't work. Hinata is blown back against the wall of glass jars and beakers. Aside from getting showered with broken glass, quite a few balls of light escape the jars and out the ceiling. The room becomes slightly darker as a result. Hinata groans from the pain and bleeds a fair bit from the glass shattering. The enemy's mirror forcefield glows red as a result of the Souls escaping, but it returns to its sparkling light blue afterwards. Hinata is downed for the next turn while she recovers.
The gunshot targetted at ???'s elbow works. An ethereal groan comes from it and it seems to be in pain as a result. From here on out, its sword swings will be a lot weaker. It attemots to swing once more, this time at Spider, though its much slower. The tremor from Hinata slamming into the wall causes some of the other jars to shift slightly and especially the ones at the very top of the shelf, tipping over but not breaking.
Krystal nods at Spider's suggestion and attempts to stab its mask.
Spider frowns as the strike to the stranger's elbow injuries them. She doesn't get the chance to think about it too much though, as she quickly becomes focused on dodging the blow and nearly tripping on her feet in the process.
Viper quickly changes her aim to the mask as she grips one of the grenades on her vest
Due to the debuff on the enemy, Spider is easily able dodge the blow. Hinata is able to get up from the ground. Her arms and parts of her head are bleeding from the glass. Krystal's stab works. Part of the enemy's face is now visible with human-looking skin showing. A slight bit of its hair is also showing, though the specific color is unknown just yet.
The enemy now goes after Krystal, this time faking a swing and going for a kick at her abdomen.
The jars at the top are still struggling to break free of its encasement, seemingly pushing towards the edge of the shelf.
Getting close to the figure, Spider's bat appears in her hand. And she strikes as the stranger's elbow, specifically the sword arm one.
Viper takes a shot at the figures mask as she prepares to dodge a blow moving at her.
Hitting the sword elbow does two things: One: A crack is heard on its body. It seems its elbow is broken. The creature screeches in intense pain and drops the claymore. On top of that, whatever it was doing to keep its mirror forcefield in play has been negated. The forcefield glows red now, much like the monitors in Trial One.
Additionally, the elbow shot interrupts the kick targeted at Krystal. Krystal takes this opportunity to punch the forcefield surrounding the enemy's body.
Viper's shot to the mask breaks even more of it, revealing even more of the creature's pale human skin, glowing eyes, and a tuft of electric blue hair coming from its hood that's recognizable to everyone in the battle.
Instead of continuing to attack, Hinata focuses her energy on the jars, breaking them. About a quarter of them are broken and the balls of light containing them escape through a large ventilation duct in the ceiling.
The two up top seem just about ready to fall down.
Viper recognizes who the hair belongs to and following Hinata's lead, looks up at the jars and decides to stall the creature and starts waving her arms at it while trying to draw as much attention as possible
Spider stares at the hair as it clicks and she sighs heavily. Now standing there, unsure what to do as exhaustion clouds their mind.
With its attention grabbed and it holding its arm with its other arm, the creature chases after Viper.
Hinata continues to break jars and about 2/3s of them are broken. The room becomes darker and darker as a result. The two jars up top fall and smash on the ground. A ball of light from each soar into two places. The sapphire blue one enters Krystal's body as her eyes shuffle between red, green, blue, and purple before finally landing on blue. Luna is back in her body. The hot pink one, on the other hand, rushes towards the enemy's heart, but is blocked by the still active forcefield. Even though the forcefield can be broken, it's still not. Krystal's punch broke part of it off and it seems to be weaker. Perhaps a couple more hits and it'll be down? "Shit, i fucking hate jars!" Luna growls.
The pink blob catches Spider's attention and she watches it get blocked then shakes her head to wake herself up. Hefting her bat she moves over to Elara's body and strikes at the forcefield attempting to break it. Viper huffs as she starts sprinting around the room, slides her finger into two of the grenade pins as she prepares to pull them at a moments notice.
[Phase 2 - HUSK ELARA]
The final jars are broken with a slam of Hinata's sword against the shelf. Every soul has been released and the feeling of air from the ventilation ducts can be felt by the group.
Spider feels the barrier of break a little bit but it feels weird. Almost like it's hardening up or regenerating. It continues to glow red.
Husk Elara, with all of its might, attempts to tackle Viper, seemingly not noticing the grenades being readied.
Elara's soul bounces off of the forcefield once more. It is unable to break through the barrier.
Luna takes a deep breath and attempts to cast Psychic Stop on Husk Elara, but it doesn't work. Instead, her spell hits the Mirror Forcefield and is bounced back onto Luna. She crashes to the ground and is unable to move. "Fucking! Get off of me!" It seems Magic will not work against the forcefield.
Viper is tackled to the ground as she groans loudly, "FUCK, EAT MY TOXIN YOU SHITTER" she's forgotten that she doesn't have her gas mask on as she rips the grenades off of her vest and points the grenades at the husk as best she can then yanks the pins out of the grenades causing small sparks to erupt followed by a white thick plume of white smoke to erupt from it, it has the same effects as tear gas just stronger!
Spider growls the barrier starting to frustrate them as she just can't figure this out. So she strikes at the mask again with their bat.
Spider's final mask strike shatters the mask and unloosens Husk Elara's hood. Unsurprisingly, the head reveals itself to be Elara's body, but with two furred floppy rabbit ears atop her head in that same electric blue as the rest of her hair.
Following this, Hinata slams her sword into the Husk's barrier, which seems to shatter it. Her defenses are completely down!
The tear gas affects the husk and stuns it, causing it to cough and sputter heavily. It gets a growl out before devolving into nothing but suffering.
With the shield down, Elara's soul reaches her body. With a few blinks here or there, she coughs heavily, unaware her secret has been exposed.
Luna is released from her binds.
Things seem to calm down heavily from here.
The monitor changes to:
Oh damn. Good job y'all. Error. :)
The tear gas escapes into the ventilation ducts in the ceiling.
Viper coughs and chokes as she drops the grenades and moves away from them as she holsters her pistol
Spider drops her bat not even registering Elara's ears thanks to her exhaustion and the tear gas that causes them to cough and choke.
Somehow, fans turn on in the room they're in which pumps the gas out. Luna is also downed from it, regretting not wearing her respirator.
Everyone eventually recovers from the effects a bit faster, but once again, it's unclear how. Almost like a glitch in whatever systems are in play. Despite that, Elara is in heavy pain considering the bullet grazing her cheek, the tear gas, and now her shattered elbow. She looks down at the claymore in confusion and attempts to lift it with her other hand but is physically unable to. Same goes for both Luna and Hinata.
The monitor changes to:
Glad y'all are safe. :)
Once Spider recovers from the gas they watch as the trio attempts to pick up the claymore. She then slowly walks over to try it herself.
Viper takes a sharp breath as she recovers and stands back up and watches everyone attempt to lift the claymore as she puts on her respirator again
Spider is able to lift it like it was paper, much to Luna, Hinata, and Elara's shock. The claymore feels rather balanced and has a red ruby on its hilt. Cool sword! Something about it feels weird though, almost like there's more to it than meets the eye, but at the moment, it's unclear howso.
With a sigh and a smile, Luna heads over to the monitor and whispers, "Thanks Malf" to it.
Hinata tilts her head at that display and Elara moans in pain, "can we please leave? I'm gonna need to go to the hospital." She still hasn't noticed her ears are out.
Spider frowns at the sword in their hand then says to the room, their voice horse from all the coughing, "..it's a nice sword, anyone want it?"
Viper shakes her head as she gestures to Elara, "Lets save that for later? We need to get them to the hospital"
The monitor changes to
Happy to help save y'all ^~^
Luna then nods and snaps her fingers, causing Luna, Hinata, Elara, Spider, and Viper to disappear.
------
Luna, Hinata, Elara, Viper, Spider, and the sick claymore all appear in the living room.
Elara is a pale skinned human with electric blue hair and a pair of rabbit ears flopped to the sides of her head. Some spots are on them much like a weird crossover between a lop eared bunny and a 5'5" punky woman with a hoodie on and is holding her arm in pain.
A metal claymore with a red ruby in its hilt appears on top of the coffee table.
Viper quickly takes her respirator off and briskly walks to the bathroom to grab the first aid kit
Head swimming from the teleport, Spider kinda just sits down where she is then looks over at Elara while clearing their throat, "sorry 'bout the arm."
Elara nods in understanding and speaks through gritted teeth, "It's okay Spider. What matters to me is that y'all are safe. I uh have a lot of explaining to do." She then finally notices her features have come out, which causes her to breathe a heavy sigh. "Fucks sake."
Luna seems to nearly immediately pass out on the couch. Hinata tilts her head at Elara and mutters, "you're one of us?"
Viper comes back with a first aid kit and starts packing Elara's wound with gauze after disinfecting it with a sense of urgency
Spider stays quiet, despite her curiosity on what the fuck just happened she's on the verge of passing out herself.
Elara stays as still as possible and quiet while getting patched up, but Viper can tell they're holding in a scream from the disinfectant. Hinata watches tiredly, though curious about the claymore. She tries to pick it up, but to her, it's like lifting a semitruck. It seems that heavy. Luna is fast asleep.
Finally feeling up to it Spider gets up then promptly collapses into their chair saying to Hinata, "I don't get how you're having trouble with that."
Hinata groans, "It weighs a ton! I'd like to think I'm strong, but this is too much for me!"
Viper finishes packing Elara's wound and wraps it with some spare bandage, "Sorry about the antiseptic, should've warned you"
Elara takes a deep breath and replies with a much kinder, "it's okay. I appreciate the help. NowI just need to go to the hospital for my elbow and uh. Oh right before I do that." Elara focuses on her head as the rabbit ears seem to disappear and are replaced with her usual pointy pierced elf-like ears. "Much better."
"Need a ride over there Ella?" Hinata offers.
"Yes please. I'll tell y'all more about what happened when we're back to normal." Elara nods as Hinata snaps her fingers and the two of them disappear.
Hinata reappears a few moments later. "Right, she's at the emergency room. I'm sure she'll get fixed up soon." She then sits next to Luna and snuggles up with her. "Thanks for all the help you two. Genuinely, I don't think we would've pulled this off otherwise."
Spider just hums quietly in response her eyelids starting to droop.
Viper plops down as she closes the first aid kit, "I'm...fucking tired...." she slowly blinks as she struggles to not fall asleep. Everyone else either falls asleep or leaves the room.