Magical Fracas, Episode 5: New friends and enemies?

[Arhra]

Ayame's Shining Gale scattered the darkness in a rush of shining wind.

The sight within the formerly darkness cloaked trees was a surprising one. There were mudmen there. A dozen, large ones. Lumpen, vaguely human forms, the two luminous circles that passed for eyes in the low domes of their heads were their only defining feature.

There were metallic creatures as well, serpentine creations made of flattened segments. There was a larger segment at the top, partially enclosing a blue globe. Two backswept modules like wings or flukes protruded from towards the back, six smaller, and whisker like rods at its front.

Two spinning circles of sickly green were on the ground, the glowing masses in the centre resolving into another two of the creatures. It was a casting array Ayame and Panko would recognise from the night of the Forced Activation Talisman. Transport magic.

The mudmen lurched into motion, the other creatures floating up in a swimming motion, beginning to draw together.

* * *

Mero gaped at Menarker as he struggled to free her, turning and racing along the edge of the barrier to keep pace with him. "You mega-retard! You're going over your head! How the heck did you even find me?"

There was a blur as something lunged at Mero from behind, the invisible attacker striking Mero with a disruptive burst of energy from contact with her rod-like weapon again.

"Weak and stupid? How remarkable!" the voice said happily. "I'll have to break you of a lot of bad habits, Kitty."

The voice sailed over Mero as it spoke, a flare of energy from appearing on the barrier as something hit it and kicked off again.

"A circle is a perfect shape, the energy in constant motion, no eddies to create a weak point. Any novice should know this." the voice said from midair, addressing Menarker as he dragged his blade along the barrier as he ran. The lightning linked object that had sprung up to activate the barrier trap had moved higher as they continued to spin around its perimeter, now a little above head height.

"You're a terrible teacher, Kitty!" she shouted, hitting Mero again.

"As for you, Worthless, you'll have to be punished."

Some distance behind Menarker, the array of another transport spell materialised.

The green blob of energy at the centre rose up into a roughly humanoid form. It looked skeletal, a blackened cage twisted about to contain burning energy within it. Batlike wings sprouted from its hunched back. They lacked any connecting membranes, just useless looking stubs. A lashing tail and a saurian skull completed a vaguely draconic appearance.

Head and shoulders taller than the mage, it lunged at him with a glowing claw.

* * *

Crimson bolts streaked at Mitsuko.

She held Bright Day out in front of her in a gesture of warding.

The pattern of her shield expanded, centred between where her two hands grabbed the spear's shaft. Magic struck and shattered.

Mitsuko gave a shout of defiance as she dropped it, the Centurions unable to press their attack as Shimizu clashed with them.

["Celestial Sphere."]

Adding her own efforts, Mitsuko split her volley, firing two pairs of her exploding orbs off at different angles. A Centurion dodged the first in a pair, but was caught by the second and crumpled, her second target clipped by the first sphere and spinning out of control.

"Something has to be in charge of all this." Mitsuko replied evenly to Shimizu.

["Aggressor Mode"] Bright Day chimed, reshaping into a naginata. Mitsuko leapt skywards with a flash of assistance from her Impulse Wings. Bright Day cleaved through the second Centurion as it recovered, the two halves exploding away from each other and crumbling apart as they fell. An Aerial Step swirled out before Mitsuko's toes and she balanced on it.

"You're right, we'll have to break through it." Mitsuko said. "I don't have anything as destructive as you two I can use, so I'll run distraction.

The next wave of Centurions was complete and Mitsuko lunged for them, dodging between their fire with little sideways bursts from her Impulse Wings.

Along with even more Centurions, something else was forming. These shapes were humanoid again but much slower to emerge.