Viper stands up and takes the hint of Hinata suddenly looking in a specific direction as a cue that something else is coming, she swaps her dagger to it's longsword mode as she enters a defensive stance while facing the direction that Hinata is looking
[Viper doesn't see anything yet, but she and the rest of The Players feel vibrations in the ground. Whatever is coming, while silent, is most likely big enough to cause this. Or heavy enough.]
[Chandra pulls out his blade once more and stands in front of The Gang to protect them. Tsukuyomi joins him. Luna and Hinata stand behind them, prepared for battle. HInata is slightly limping from the tackle and subsequent destruction of her IMP HEART, but just like Luna's, it too is still seemingly attached via a wire that's dangling from her kimono which is slightly opened and showing her ab muscle. Hinata's Wings of Rebellion are out at full wingspan. Sol, for the first time ever, witnesses this transformation. He figures this is just her rebellious phase despite her age.]
Now able to think clearly Spider squints trying to make out the entity. Her body tenses and her grip on Error is like a vice. If she had hackles in this form they'd definitely be raised. With Spider's darksight, she's able to make out the following: Rounded head, what looks like wings. Like a fluffy or maybe feathery body? It's big. definitely a big creature. It seems to be trying to hiding itself in the shadows. Perhaps it was waiting for the LIP Modules to all be destroyed before making its presence known. And above all else, there seems to be someone else on its shoulders.
[The song that Spider, Luna, and Hinata hear is oddly quiet and weirdly melancholy. There are no lyrics that can tell, but by the way it's being sung, this entity just seems sad.]
[BGM - The Concept of Regret https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BxkAknIVeo ]
ERROR - Scanning. O-oh. Oh dear.
Patrice runs to the nearest tree she sees and climbs up it, hiding in between the branches, hoping the leaves would conceal her position while giving her a vantage point to watch things unfold.
[The nearest tree provides both camouflaging while waiting for her gun to reload and also the ability to see what's coming their way. Ashen black feathered wings and body, a stoic face. Glowing red eyes. And oddly? Her Revolver reacts to it. Within her mind, she knows the following, as if were communicated directly to her, internal soul shard to wielder. For the first time, Patrice can tell the voice is vaguely femme, "As was foretold, our next meeting would be more difficult. Patrice, please... defeat me. For the sake of all the beings of this world, please release me from my everlasting torment. I want to see my moon again. I want to go home."]
[BOSS THEME - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIZ5RyhDLaw ]
[With a shnk! and a glow, Patrice notices the gun is fully reloaded. The following is sent telepathically, "activating Boost Mode. Heavy increase of bullets with reduction of power. Kick ass Patrice." It seems reloads will be much faster from here on out, so go crazy. Speaking of Boost Mode, Viper's Dagger of the Avatars also feels BOOSTED and stronger attacks can be used. Spider's GLITCH BLADE OF ERROR shines an aura around it as well. Whatever this feeling is, it definitely seems to be stronger than before.]
In Spider's mind, she can hear Error speak directly to them: oh ho ho~ i see what you're doing Moon Mantle.. Interesting. Ready to kick ass Spider?
Luna and Hinata pause as they stare at the prone Moon Mantle. At the same time, they ask it, "Are... are you sure Mantle? You do realize we're the enemy right?"
[Despite its suffering and lack of self-control, it seems to nod. It cannot speak for itself. Moon Mantle gets back up and bows its head towards the group, much to most of the group's confusion. Tsukuyomi turns around and asks Luna, "wait what do you mean?" Luna responds, "It does not want to fight anymore. It wants to be defeated so it can go back home. Only by defeating it can we release it from Spark." Tsukuyomi exhales. "Right. Then... allow me to help." With a deep breath and a focus of mana complete, Tsukuyomi transforms. No longer is she a somewhat chubby older lady but instead what could be considered a much skinnier and toned muscle-bound MMA fighter. Her Muscle Magic and Strength Induction activates, increasing her physical stats through the roof. It is a temporary buff, but for a possibly short fight, it is incredibly powerful.]
Chandra tilts his head asking, "wait since when did you have that spell mom?"
Tsukuyomi chuckles, "Since forever dear. I've never shown you?"
Sol is still out of commission. Chandra readies his sword. Luna and Hinata are doing Luna and Hinata things.
The group hears telepathically in that same soft-spoken femme voice, "PLEASE SAVE ME. I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU. LET ME GO HOME."
[Everyone notices the number 100 above Moon Mantle's head. Despite its speech about not wanting to harm anyone, it moves quickly into the throng towards Spider and Viper, swiping its talons at them. Tears appear to be falling.]
Quickly Spider brings Error up attempting to block the blow.
[Moon Mantle gets parried by Spider and Error. The parry is so quick that it seems to stun Mantle temporarily. An Attack of Opportunity is available before it goes after Viper.]
Not one to pass up an opportunity like that Spider imagines Error turning into a knife then aims a slash at the creature.
[The slice tears through Mantle's torso causing it to bleed. The 100 above the creature is now a 95 but with BLEED status. BLEED causes the creature to lose HP at the end of every round. With its attack over, Moon Mantle now targets Viper with a similar talon slash.]
Viper realizes she doesn't have time to cast something to block it, she attempts to roll out of the way of the talon slash. The roll is unsuccessful as Moon Mantle bladelike talons cut part of Viper’s back. Viper lets out a pained cry. With its target acquired, another Talon Slash is targeted on Viper. The pain causes Viper to lock in and cast Wind Blast to get Moon Mantle off of her. Viper's Wind Blast catches Moon Mantle's wings and blows it back out of Viper's face. When it lands and crashes into the street, everyone sees the number 95 became 70.
It struggles to get up at first but then goes after Chandra and Tsukuyomi, the mother and adopted son team in front. They both manage to tag team the boss using Lunar Slash from Chandra’s Lunar Laevateinn and Magical Smash from Tsukuyomi. They do huge damage to the enemy, bringing it down from 70 to 38.
Seeing the heavy damage her brother and creator cause, Luna and HInata attempt to follow up, but their movements are in vain. The moment they go for a strike, they are force paused. The IMP HEARTS fuse together to make one. Eclipse Blade guards Moon Mantle and anyone who wishes to strike the enemy directly must deal with them first.
[Patrice 's Revolver of Untold Truths has finished reloading and is now BOOSTED. Stronger spells can now be used.]
Sol's IMP HEART hasn't been restored however. In fact, his isn't even connected to his body. It seems he found a way to remove it. With a hushed tone that still carries itself to the rest of the group, he mutters the following: "We need to sever the wires connected to the IMP HEART. They're connected directly to their mana. If we can remove them, we can finally defeat Moon Mantle. And by extension, weaken Spark heavily."
[At the end of the round, Moon Mantle's 38 reduces to 29 due to the BLEED status effect.]
[ROUND 2 BEGIN.]
Figuring she may as well try and be a distraction as she eyes Luna. Spider returns Error to their bat form, and lunges for it aiming a blow at Luna's ribs. Spider attempts to break through Luna's defenses but as she's about to catch the bats in her hands, Error's Magic glows red and stops Luna from defending. The IMP HEARTs take the brunt of the damage and, once again, dangle helplessly from their shirts connected by a wire. ECLIPSE BLADE - MOON is blown back onto the streets.]
ooops... might have put a bit too much mustard on that. Let's break the IMP please.
[ECLIPSE BLADE - SUN is once again buffing the party via her cheerleading. Someone should probably stop her.]
Patrice, with her boosted revolver, aims out of the tree at the ground beneath the one she knows as Hinata, and takes a deep breath. She imagines vines quickly sprouting from the ground, restraining Hinata's arms and legs, before pulling the trigger.
[ECLIPSE BLADE - SUN now has the RESTRAINED condition! ALL EFFECTS OF RHYTHM RAMPAGE ARE NEGATED.]
[The aura leading from her hands to ECLIPSE BLADE - MOON and MOON MANTLE have dissipated. Both are vulnerable to attacks!]
[Patrice's REVOLVER OF UNTOLD TRUTHS still has SIX SHOTS REMAINING!]
Tsukuyomi slams her fist onto Hinata's IMP HEART, shattering it into pieces. Chandra then cuts the wire connecting it to Hinata. The IMP HEART falls off of Hinata and causes her to go unconscious.
[ONE IMP HEART DOWN. ONE IMP HEART REMAINS.]
[With its hands in the air, Moon Mantle seems to be preparing something. A light of some kind coalesces in its talons, but it doesn't seem to be attacking with it quite yet. While its talons are busy, you all notice more red lights sprout on its body, much like the wing before it. Its lower talons, both wings, head, and torso all have one of these lights active.]
[Eclipse Blade - Moon struggles to get back on its feet, but it's bleeding rather profusely from the blowback. A number appears above it, much like Moon Mantle, showing the number 30. With its bleed effect, that 30 becomes 20 on Luna.]
Hinata is still being RESTRAINED by Patrice's bullet. She eventually wakes up and is incredibly confused as to why she's suddenly stuck in a plant. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? DID I GET SENT TO THE ANIME REALM???"
[Moon Mantle's Number goes down from 29 to 19 from its BLEED status condition. While it is preparing whatever attack is incoming, it doesn't seem to be able to move, but ECLIPSE BLADE - MOON is up and protecting it. You notice its eyes are constantly changing between red, to blue, to green, to purple, and back to red, as if its control is being contested internally. The IMP HEART when control is off red, is slowly being hacked and slashed at by the smaller weapons Luna has at her disposal. It just needs one more good slash to remove its power over her.]
[The swirling wind picks up and is much stronger. The clouds now swirl above the combatants. Shit's going down and there are only two ways this can go. Either Nova Heart wins. Or The Gang Wins. Endgame! ROUND 3. BEGIN!]
Viper thinks for a moment then raises her dagger above Luna and Hinata and attempts to aim directly at Moon Mantle as she waves her dagger and speaks confidently, "WIND BLAST" she hopes that it'll do minimum damage to her loves
[The final Wind Blast connects on all three, each dealing 19. Moon Mantle is swept off its feet as it collides HARD with a wall nearby it and its number above hitting 0.]
[Luna tries to defend against it, but due to her low weight, she gets blown back, once again, against the pavement. Scrapes, cuts, and bruises cover her body. That 20 becomes a 1. The IMP is still intact, but the wire is on its last legs.]
[Hinata is fully unable to block but doesn't take too much damage due to the vines holding her down. Her 88 becomes a 76. She is awake, but still struggling against the vines while calling out to Luna, "LUNA ARE YOU OKAY!?"]
[Luna is able to get a meek thumbs up out before falling unconscious.]
[The swirling winds and clouds calm down. The Battle appears to be over and despite Moon Mantle's face being stuck stoic, it's almost like it's smiling. Everyone hears telepathically, "thank you for releasing me."]
Teleporting over to Luna in a flash of green sparks, Spider attempts to remove the IMP’s wire. Thankfully, it cuts super easily. With a shower of sparks, the device shuts off. On the ground and bleeding a fair bit, Luna is unconscious. Hinata is STILL trapped by Patrice's vines as she calls out, "Can someone please release me? These bastards are tight!" “Oh! Just lemme…” Patrice imagines the vines wither and disintegrate into ash, before shooting the vines holding HInata down. Hinata is freed from the vines. She rubs her wrists and ankles from the soreness. Then she says to Patrice, "Thanks for saving me from y'all. I-- I don't even know what got into me back there. I don't even remember coming here in the first place." She looks incredibly tired.
Moon Mantle is still over by the far wall it crashed into. Something lays at its feet, vaguely circular in shape.. It glows golden.
She nods quietly and smiles, "Just trying to help, that's all. You feeling alright?"
Hinata tilts her head in thought.. "Uh.. lemme go over my old checklist. My name is Hinata Solaire, my mind is my own. One plus one equals two. I don't feel anything broken." She's rubbing her wrists while speaking. The vines left deep red abrasion marks on her wrists. "I'll be... ok I guess."
Luna is still knocked out on the ground.
Viper huffs and puffs as she checks how much mana is left in the dagger while she sits down on the ground, wondering how large the talon mark on her back is
[Your Dagger of the Avatars still has 100% mana. Upon looking at Luna, she's at 0.26% and steadily rising. Hinata is at 10%. It seems they expended a LOT of their resources tonight. The talon attack feels like it barely grazed you. You definitely have a cut in your clothing, that much is obvious to yourself, but in terms of actual pain or damage to your body, it's minimal. You don't feel any bleeding, or even a wound.]
Sol gets up with help from Tsukuyomi and Chandra as he speaks to Viper, Patrice, and Spider as a whole, "thank you for saving us, Viper. Our job is not over, but this is the first step in bringing down Spark. Thank you. I am in all of your debts. If you need anything, anything at all, please ask away." Tsukuyomi adds on, "that goes double for me." And Chandra concludes with "triple. Thank you for protecting my family."
While saying that, he turns his head towards Luna, "and especially to her. She is way more important to me than she realizes."
The golden round object is still on the ground in front of the still collapsed Moon Mantle.
Unsure how to feel after all that, Spider ignores what's going on behind her and looks for a distraction instead. eyeing the object that checks all of the plausible distraction boxes she walks over to inspect it.
[Upon reaching the golden round object, Spider, it looks scarily familiar to you. A flashback to the old days occurs to you, to the days of when Luna had a collar around her neck that blocked her memories. What you see is another collar with various electronics on its back. An odd gold sticky liquid is near the electronics. Moon Mantle is still unconscious but due to your proximity to it, you can tell it's alive. Breathing for sure, even if only a little. More golden liquid seeps from its wounds. Some of its feathers are slowly returning to its original snowy white.]
Viper nods towards everyone's thanks as she walks over to Luna and checks her over for any wounds that need to be patched up, ignoring the golden object incase it's a possible trap
[For a lack of a better term, Luna is fucked up. She's got scrapes, cuts, she's still bloody from other battles she's endured before this. Abrasions, quite a few broken bones as well. You do notice she's covered in a glow, and much akin to a previous battle at CGI that you remember, it seems to be regenerating her body albeit slowly. Especially with the broken bones, you notice movement underneath her skin. It doesn't look particularly pleasant, but it seems to be working well enough. What matters is that your girlfriend is stable and is slowly regenerating her mana, now reaching 10% of its maximum.]
Patrice smiles shyly, "It's really nothing. I'm just trying to help, that's all." She moves to the Moon Mantle and picks up the round golden object, looking it over.
[The round golden object appears to be a thick black leather choker. There are no discernable clasps or any gaps in its design, though a mess of electronics and a thick golden liquid cover the back of it. Speaking of golden liquid, a similar golden liquid slowly seeps from Moon Mantle's feathers. How it was removed or even placed on Moon Mantle is anyone's guess. Magic, probably.]
Chandra announces to the group investigating the area and Luna, "Well, we're gonna head back home. Sol needs some first aid and frankly we're all tired as hell. We'll see you all around okay?" Then after snapping his fingers, Sol, Tsukuyomi, and Chandra all disappear.
For the first time since the battle with Moon Mantle began, Luna opens her eyes and her tired brilliant blue eyes glow. She looks up at Viper and mutters, "hey..." There's no smile on her face. Her smile and optimism is gone. It seems this whole event took a heavy toll on her.
Hinata limps towards Luna and goes to hug, but when she gets close, Luna gently pushes her away. "Sorry... i-- i need some time to myself."
"r-right.." Hinata seems conflicted.
Patrice looks at the back of the choker, then at the golden liquid seeping out from Moon Mantle. She shrugs, swipes a little bit of the liquid with her finger from the back of the choker, then... have a taste.
[It tastes like blood. It's golden blood. You're tasting blood.]
Patrice's eyes widen. She frantically wipes the blood-covered finger onto the choker, sincerely hoping nobody saw her did that, muttering "Get it off, get it off, get it off!" all the while.
[The blood wipes away easily.]
Viper's expression turns sour as she realizes that her smile and optimism are gone, she sheathes her dagger as she speaks, "I'm sorry...about...all of that, I didn't mean for my attack to hit you" she then asks "Is there anything you need from me?"
Luna looks up with tears welled up in her eyes, and after a few moments, she responds, "its not your fault. thank you for saving me. I just.. need some time to myself." Hinata looks saddened but feeling her mana return, she asks the group, "are y'all ready to go? I got enough to teleport home."
Viper nods as her expression turns from sour to slight sadness, looking over at Hinata and nodding
Spider did see Patrice taste the blood but decides not to comment as they look over to the group not really wanting to bring up the collar and what it might mean at this point time in time, "yeah I'm ready to go."
Hinata picks up Luna in her arms. "Okay, we're heading back. Viper, I'll snap you back to your place." Hinata snaps her fingers and Viper, Luna, and Hinata disappear.
Patrice pockets the collar, waves goodbye at Spider, and disappears in a shower of electric blue sparks.
Spider leaves as well in a shower of green.