Magical Fracas, Episode 4: School Rumble?

[Astral Harmony]

Shimizu felt a little guilty about trying to annihilate a small girl. But Ponpon reported him to be a Verda mage, and maybe she was just trying to appear defenseless to take them all offguard. Lord knows how many times Shimizu used her feminine wiles and curves to get herself out of trouble. "Well, then just send that kid back through the portal or something! I'm not good with distractions and a Verda jumping into the fight from behind while we're dealing with some guardian sounds like a helluva distraction to me."

[Arhra]

Mitsuko was looking between the construct and the frog-girl with concern, not sure which one was the bigger threat. This kid was a Verda-type mage, just like the ones who had attacked in the middle of the night a few days ago, but she was a little kid.

Shimizu had gotten rattled and fired at her, Rei stepping in to shield the girl and try to call off the construct. It had merely continued to stand of the center of this place, not lifting a finger to assist.

Must look professional! Mitsuko thought, doing her best to school her face into a stoic mask. "Who are you?" she asked, trying to sound calm, but authoritive.

There came a single tone and the bellringer replied to Rei.

"Eternity's judgement, a decree of silence and stillness, was commanded by the lords of the sky. Command validation was received for current parameters." the construct replied to Rei. "You are one who would contradict the will of the heavens. You do not have the right. Command access denied."

It paused for a moment, returning to a neutral stance. A musical progress of notes ofllowed and then it drew itself up sternly. "This judgement must achieve its full closure, the forward march of time halted. Offer of safe departure has been waived. Declaration of hostile intent noted. Use of force is permitted."

Circuit-like patterns of light crept over the bells and their housings and, which a clunk of a mechanism unlatching, they lifted in the air, slowly circling the stylised humanoid form of the bell ringer.

"Prepare yourself."

[Astral Harmony]

"Should've blasted it when we had the chance," Shimizu said, taking aim at the Bellringer. "So, this is the first time I'm fighting alongside all of you." she said to the others. "I guess you say I'm great when it comes to dealing great damage, but I can't maintain my damage potential before I have to cool down, or the Star Brand on my hand will burn me badly."

Her branding had just finished cooling down from the Boom Burst, and she decided to redirect her star energy assault to the Bellringer. "Spider Strike!" she shouted, and Ponpon shaped the ejected energy into a synchronous eight homing energy rounds, arcing towards those suspicious-looking bells the guardian had brought forth.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

"That's it, I can't stand around while a kid's even in there trying to do something," Iriumi said as she watched Panko flail about. The verda mage moved away from the scrying window and opened an adjacent one, pulling herself out to the wall outside with liquid ease.

With small leaps and bounds and the help of her ivy wings, Iriumi scrabbled up to the school roof without much incident.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ivy asked as they located the orb. The shield looked like it was still regenerating, and had plenty of space for Iriumi to jump in.

"A young child in there just got shot at by an autekka. Even if the child in question is Verda, they shouldn't think about harming those so young in thinking," Iriumi said firmly. Ivy still radiated a bit of uncertainty, but didn't voice her opinions further, so Iriumi bent forward and touched the glowing, pulsing orb behind the shattered shield.

~~

"Prepare yourself."

Iriumi blinked. In front of her were many people - some that looked alien, others that looked familiar. She noticed Rei in his suit (but his secret identity was safe!), and the kid he was protecting. The one that had spoken just as Iriumi found herself in the orb was... strange.

Faceless, robed. This was not a human or a mage, but...
Hhhkk... Autekkan magic. It's almost overwhelming my extrasensories, Ivy managed in Iriumi's mind. She tensed when she saw Akari, before blanching suddenly at Shimizu's attack aimed at the faceless creature.

[phil_]

Synopsis: Panko doesn't recognize Hana (since she's never met her), embarrasses herself one more time, and fires her laser.

Panko wasn't sure if the girl in the green jump suit was an ally or not, but she knew that the glowing robot was definitely a bad guy. She mumbled, "Why the heck is he trying to stop time?" then, trying her best to sound heroic regardless of falling down like an idiot, called out to the Autekkan construct, "You won't get away with this!"

Oh, man, that sounded a lot less cheesy and clichéd in her head.

But this was no time to be embarrassed, even if she kept embarrassing herself. Panko jumped to the side and, clear of the Autekka, yelled, "Cutie Beam!" A pink blast of cuteness arced from her hands towards the robot trying to stop time

[Astral Harmony]

Shimizu suddenly reeled back as though punched in the stomach. "Cu-...Cutie Beam?" she asked with an injured tone, her expression like one suffering from a really painful toothache.

"Seriously..." Shimizu said really slowly. "Cutie Beam?"
"It'd make a hell of an attack against perverted old men with lolita complexes, paya."
"Not helping, Ponpon." Shimizu rubbed her forehead. "Not helping at all."

[Menarker]

Menarker had curiously watched the interaction of the other mages he encountered in dead silence, feeling slightly out of the loop. How they were able to discern the situation without first hand evidence was foreign and fairly astounding. While he suspected and agreed with the proposed time stop effect, the exact clarity by which they compiled their information bewildered him. Alex's window scrying talent in particular intrigued him, as he watched with the others of the scene on the roof as he caught slight of their counterpart for an instant.

"Hmmm, I never seen an Autekkan before. Interesting... Wait..." He pointed swiftly at the small frog girl's form. "That... might be Panko, Another Verda. We dueled a few days ago for practice. Animal form transformation style... I don't recall her having a frog form, but I don't know any other mages that look like they are elementary school students. But what is she doing here in the first place? Any chance we could view inside that dome?"

He watched silently as the screen was apparently able to accommodate his request coming in closer, but they barely got to examine the scene when a shot was fired toward the frog. His reaction was a mix of relief but also severe annoyance mixed with confusion.

"Guess the Autekkans don't all have the same view on Verdas... or attacking small children... without warning." Mern hastily added the last bit, remembering his duel which ended up making her run in tears. "God, I hope she doesn't tattle on me."


"That's it, I can't stand around while a kid's even in there trying to do something," Iriumi said as she watched Panko flail about. The verda mage moved away from the scrying window and opened an adjacent one, pulling herself out to the wall outside with liquid ease.

Menarker stared sluggishly, apprehensive about Irumi's sudden departure and glared back at the screen, as if praying for some additional bits of insight to suddenly fall into his lap.
"Come on, Mero, where are you?" It's going to be difficult fighting without you." His conscience wavered as he second guessed himself. It was either going with Irumi to assist despite being outnumbered to assist Panko, or doing the strategically appropriate tactic and waiting until his familiar came back at the very least.

"Hold on..." He peered and squinted at the screen, examining the window in the same way as one would a "Find Waldo book". "Her familiar isn't there..." He expression also soured as the images of most of the other mages focused on that of the faceless construct which he himself guessed to be the foremost target.

"Not a pleasant scenario, I'll say that much."

[Arhra]

"Now is the hour of tranquil stillness. Mana Stasis." the bellringer declared. The bells spun around it and halted at one, its patterns brightening. It lit up with blue symbols and tolled.

Two loose, spinning rings of similar symbols appeared around one of the Spider Strike attack, spiraling in as they chased the bolt. They locked and disappeared. The bolt halted in mid-air, turning faded and indistinct. In rapid sequence, this happened to each bolt, the last one unable to be intercepted and striking one of the bells. A blue shimmer hugged the bell's surface around the point of impact, indicating a defensive shield.

The bellringer raised a hand, a rotating, four sided shield materialising to block the Panko's Cutie Beam. Similar symbols marked it as well, including circles of them centered on each corner.

"Crystal Bind." The shapes on the active bell changed, some going dark and new ones lighting up. It tolled again.

Four crystal chunks appeared around Panko and shot inward.

Mitsuko found her request for Panko's identity had been interrupted by the bellringer's declaration. The judgement had been confirmed? Was there some higher level construct malfunctioning? The Irumi burst in. Mitsuko recognised her from the other night.

"What should we do?" Mitsuko asked Bright Day, moving to the left to make the group less of a target.

["Stasis defense has reduced effectiveness against volley or high energy attacks."] Bright Day chimed matter of factly.

Mitsuko winced. That hadn't quite been what she'd been asking. And maybe she should have stayed in the virtual training to practice the Celestial Sphere variants like Bright Day had wanted.

She nodded sharply, summoning determination. "Alright, walk me through it."

* * *

In the homeroom, half the remaining students had frozen. Sakiko was sitting at the front with them, looking pale and strained. The door swung open and closed again. Sakiko jumped. There was nothing there. Then orangish energy swept out, clinging to the walls, floors and ceilling of the room. Everyone inside vanished, the room filled instead with hazy vapours.

OOC: The crystal bind basically starts to expand to trap you in a funky crystal statue on contact. They generally target limbs to form a manacle first. That orange field is hard to detect, but seeing the Verda are mostly within the same building... yeah. It's a modified Phantom Zone. You can't even open the doors or windows without breaking into the field.

[PhoenixFlame]

"Distractions can wait, Akari. We have a battle to win." Ceres' voice interrupted Akari's attempt to continue conversing with Panko or the other mages, visibly nudging her attention back to the Bellringer with a pair of blinking red arrows on her eyepiece's viewer.

"Right." Akari nodded, turning to face the ancient machine, and raising her bow to aim at it. Drawing the string as she listened to the automata's madness, she prepares to launch her signature attack and end the battle early. The Bellringer's own magic however, seemed to have another idea, as both Akari and Ceres alike understood what it was doing as the attack dispersion fields materialized to stop Shimzu and Panko's own.

"Stasis field is interfering with peripheral condensers. We cannot charge to fire."

"Huh, and it's draining existing attacks in flight?" Akari bit her lower lip, eyes scanning the geometrically uniform boxes and triangles the Bellringer used, noting how similar a small portion of them looked to her own magicks. While she held her stance, the two rings of the mandala at her feet that stabilized her bombardment magic flickered weakly as they failed to overpower the interference.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. It is disrupting inflight attacks with a focused form of its stasis field."

One of Shimizu's attacks managed to pass through however, if barely. The young bombardment mage's eyes lit up as she understood precisely what this entailed.

"Divide and split it's attention! Incalculable Star Sky Attack!" She said with a resolute ringing tone, as a single bright white-blue arrow materialized inside the already drawn bow. Taking aim at one of the Bellringer's ancillary bells, she let the attack fly, immediately drawing again and targetting the next bell in the circle, firing at each and doubling back to fire at the first when she could see no more targets. "Now, rend the heavens! Hit them all!"

["Understood."]

In unison, Ceres drone formation broke and flitted toward the assembled Bellringer's own, stopping just inside their optimal firing range for maximum effect. Splitting focus between all of them, they lended another twelve attacks to Akari's diversified simultaneous strike. Energy arrows and fixed beams alike rained down upon every one of the Bellringer's subordinate devices, seeking to overwhelm its point defenses.

[Krylo]

For just a moment Rei was confused as to why Akari was doing, essentially, the same thing that Shimizu had just done, but it was for just a moment. He quickly realized, as she had, that one of Shimizu's attacks had made it through, over powering the shield. If that were the case...

Rei quickly held his free arm out, while pulling the rapier back behind his shoulder, before charging toward the Autekkan construct. He would strike forward with all his might, twisting his torso and thrusting forward his arm, in a single piercing attackthrough construct's shield, and hopefully through the construct itself, at exactly the same moment that Akari's arrows would strike. Such tactics had worked before, they should work again, he reasoned.