Magical Fracas, Episode 4: School Rumble?

[Krylo]

As Iriumi blocked the Bellringer's strike, Rei dashed forward with all his might, planning to thrust, though at the last second he noticed Shimizu's own attack firing toward the automaton. Instead Rei allowed his sword to trail behind him, and quickly snaked his arm out, wrapping it about the Bellringer's his hand clutched on the things shoulder, hoping to cease its movement, before striking forward with his thrust from his other hand.

He intended to run the creature through, while simultaneously keeping it from moving away from Shimizu's attack--knowing that without its body to absorb the blasts he would be directly in the line of fire.

[Teal Mage]

Mia really couldn't say she was surprised when the snake wrapped itself around Mern's arm. With magic, nothing was ever easy. She'd learned that lesson a long time ago. But, she did wish that her own ally wasn't the cause of the latest complication. Shoulda toasted him when I had the chance. The Goth mused, keeping her distance from the pair, Wonder if I can just forget he's a person...

Meanwhile, on the window behind Mern, the images in Alex's scrying spell had been unceremoniously replaced with a rippling blue pattern. The blond could feel Miranda’s distant annoyance as he backed away from Mern and his new armwarmer. She'd been watching that. He supposed that if he wasn't a little more concerned about the zombie snake, he'd been annoyed too.

"Does he always talk this much?" Mia asked, glancing at Alex as Mern's outbursts continued.

Alex smiled at her crookedly, "What makes you think I know?" He let the scrying spell lapse as an afterthought.

"Dunno." She shrugged, calling up her magical energy. A pair of casting circles appeared, one of them superimposed itself on her black handled knife, and the other over the hidden medallion under her shirt. She only had two wiccan tools on her, but, they'd be more then enough to seal this zombie.

[Relm Zephyrous]

It was blatantly obvious to them, that their draining technique would be useless here. The things that were resistant to it were few and far between, but they had just ran headfirst into one of them right at the worst possible time to do so. The trifecta paused, deep in thought, snickering at the scene around them but thinking more about the barrier than anything else, surely the rest could handle that by themselves. Though seeing what exactly was happening, the proverbial sweatdrop apparated on her forehead, expression and downward lines accompanying.
"~Oh... well this really sucks.~"
What do we do now?
"Hrm... how about we shoot it? Blowing things up is always the perfect solution."
"~No, we don't have a way to.~"
"Um, you stupid? The white star has those awesome pretty clear lasers it c-"
"~No you dolt its not method its ammo. We're suffocating from magic depravation as it is, wasting the rest on a possibility is out of the damn question, we still need most of it for once we enter to take care of whats on the other side.~"
"Alright then brainiac, what do we do?"
"~I... I'm not sure. We don't have anything, so we should just wait for the others to come over and help.~"
... we bash it.
"~Pardon?~"
We just break the door down. That simple.
"~But Demi, we aren't nearly-~"
Mogura can take care of that, the exoskeleton magnifies my strength, right?
"~Sort of, it amplifies your defense and functions as armor.~"
But it enhances my strength.
"~But not enough!~"
And thats where my red shiny comes in. Individually they don't amplify too much without excessive energy, but as we know, five times five equals twenty five, but five to the third power equals one twenty five. Having double modifiers for my power will bring it up to excessive degrees!.
"~...~"
"..."
...
"~Demi.~"
Yes?
"~I'm proud of you, you're getting brilliant, you pass.~"
"Wait you mean you were seri-"
"~No time hush Demi initiate it!~"
"Bu-"
"~I said shut the hell up!~"

And with that, the red star having already been conjured and placed inside her during the explanation, and dashing towards it during the same, Demi took a glow on of a deep reddish black. She violently thrashed at the shield with all the magnified might she was capable of mustering in her focused state, strings fluttering behind her individually and dramatically from the suit and her wide eyes forming into dark violet slits.

[PhoenixFlame]

"Beginning equalization, this should only take a few seconds..."

Arcs of electric blue jumped from each of Akari's drones, causing each mandala to dim momentarially before brightening to a uniform level. As each did, it projected a ringlike ribbon of light in front of it, the emitter head brightening to a blinding white in the same manner Ceres herself did. With a screech of grinding glass, a quartet of familiar bands drew themselves around either side of the weapon's rails, framing the Bellringer to their master's sight.

"Done. Firing locks are in place, saftey is released!"

"Lunarrr!" Akari yelled in a long, declarative manner, drawing the weapon skyward to target the central scaffold of the Autekkan device. "FLARE!"

A pinpoint beam lanced forth, before exploding outwards to the ends of the firing locks, showering the Bellringer and it's drones in a column of celestial fire. As Ceres began to rattle with feedback energy from beam contact, Akari grit her teeth and locked her knees agaisnt the cracking ground. Two seconds into the beam, she yelled again with the weapon's option command. "LIIIIIINK!"

In clockwise sequence, beginning at the top and bottom, Akari's sattelites rotated in pairs to target the Lunar Flare stream approximately a quarter of the way down the beam. As the rotated into place, each fired its own stream in a similar manner to the primary one, pumping the main beam with additional collected energy to overwhelm the shields of the bellringer's own drones.

[Arhra]

"Can't get close enough to hit it and other attacks might get turned back. What to do?" Mitsuko mused, coming out of her aerial tumble and looking at the trio of bells in front of her with trepidation.

["There is a method."] Bright Day chimed. ["However, time is insufficient. Advise high energy attacks are less open to subversion."]

"Alright, Celestial Sphere." Mitsuko declared, pointing the spear at the enemy. The firing disc appeared at the end of her sphere, a circular matrix of burning crimson lines. "Expansion!" A larger ring of symbols appeared further out, orbiting the widest point of the forming barrier shell.

Further back Panko threw her hands in front of her. "Cutie Shoot!" A storm of pink motes rained from her hands, the stream of cutesy particles chewing into the storm cloud aura about the incessantly tolling bells with a crackle of lightning.

"Shoot!" Mitsuko shouted, making her own contribution. Her shielded orb fired at the bells, a fire at its center like a miniature sun. It ploughed into the cloying aura building about the bells and detonated inside it, arcs of unstable energy radiating out. Panko's continuing volley poured into the brief opening, blowing the still forming bombardment spell apart entirely. The bells shuddered, lingering wisps of lightning and darkness fading around them.

The Bellringer found its twinned strike blocked by a pair of leaf-like shields thrown up by Iriumi and Ivy. The fiery hues of autumn leaves dulled and greyed where the bellringer's glassy stasis blades contacted the shields, crystalline patterns of embrittlement creeping through them like a bizarre petrifying disease.

"That's it! I've HAD it!" Shimizu shouted. "That thing goes down, right the hell now!"

With Spreiga cooled down, she used the little Pon Bit again, firing a hellish cluster shot of blazing star energy. Putting the last of her energy into it and overheating the Star Brand, she hoped it would be enough.

At the same moment, Rei dashed forward to take advantage of the opening Iriumi had given him, suddenly changing plans seeing Shimizu's attack. Blade trailing him, he grabbed the construct's shoulder and stabbed, intending to run it through and keep it in place. Its head swiveled slightly; it turned the blade that had been originally intended for Rei. Grip reversed, it swept its arm back to block Tenken in a fluid motion. The point of Tenken ground against the flat of the stasis blade, the Device's golden glow dimming.

This left it wide open to the Boom Burst, staggering as several bolts thudded into its torso, with a pale flash of reaction from its skintight shield, more of the scatter shots blazing past. The stasis blade wavered and then vanished like melting ice, Tenken stabbing into the construct.

And then a thin finger of intense blue light stabbed into the construct's center of mass. Akari's drones then contributed their own firepower, transforming the pinpoint laser into a fat cylinder of heavenly fire.

The lights on the bells faded and they fell slowly to the earth. Mitsuko turned to the ground zero with fear. The Bellringer had dissolved but there'd been several people there too when it had been blasted into oblivion. "Is everyone' alright?" she called out with concern.

The light dimmed and then returned to normal, repeating again. The stasis field was beginning to unravel.

* * *

Menarker tried to deal with the flaming effigy wrapped about his arm, wrapping it in a containing field. At the lightning blast, the skeletal beast broke apart to protect itself again, loosing another segment.

Finding itself then entrapped and its prey lost, the snake-like monster went berserk, thrashing wildly again the barrier surrounding it.

Mia stepped up, volunteering to seal the beast but it was unnecessary.

After its frantic efforts were in vain, the creature went perfectly still and then screamed like a frustrated banshee. It flared and then crumbled to cinders.

And then the light dimmed briefly, normal shadows returning for a second, and the peculiar omnipresent light of the stasis field reasserted itself. The stasis effect was coming apart.

The door to the classroom treated Demi's frenzied assault with the same obdurate presence it had shown when she had attempted to walk through it. Faint orange ripples appeared at the point of each strike, the Phantom Zone withstanding the assault.

And then suddenly it stopped.

The Phantom Zone had vanished.

[Naqel]

Daichi realized he must have been frozen in time while something important happened.

Last thing he remembered was some other magicians running in some sort of a portal, but now there wasn't anything of such sort to be seen.

Attempting to remain unnoticed, he crawled down the roof and then continued to flight back to the classroom. He flew back through the window, and locked it behind himself.

"How do I get rid of this disguise?..." He thought to himself while flipping the pages of his magic book and moving his finger along the verses.
"Here it is... Sif Mana Veir!" He spoke out the incantation, and the wizzard costume turned back in to a key chain figurine.
"I don't remember it having wings..." He noticed that now the little wizard had small blue wings instead of a cape. "Must be some minor side effect."

He took his seat and began to pretend taking a nap again. Before anyone else returned, he was already actually asleep.

[Teal Mage]

((OoC: Moderately long epilogue post, sorry Relm, Mern; Alex and Mia are ignoring you.))

Summary: Alex and Mia talk, Mia's not feeling very well. Alex is taking her to the Nurse's Office, then walking her home.

"...looks like they won." Alex said, toying with a lock of his blond hair as he felt the stasis field fray. Then, noticing a scuff mark of the sleeve of his blazer. the androgynous youth grimaced. It fell into a soft laugh a moment later. If that was the worst of the damage, he shouldn't complain. He set about dusting off and straightening his clothes.

Beside him, the casting circles on Mia's tools winked out. The pale haired goth let out a relieved sigh as she returned her black handled knife to its hidden sheath. "I wish I'd gotten to see the end." She said, glancing at Alex with a small smile.

Alex paused in his ministrations, and glanced at her with a crooked smile. Miranda was saying the same thing. "It probably was spectacular." He said lightly.

"Exactly my point." Mia replied with a half laugh. "Anyway, you can probably drop the magical feed to me." The Goth running a hand through her pale hair, "I should be alright from here on out, we're safe enough."

"Somehow, I doubt that." Alex stated, this time without pausing in his fussing with the uniform.

The Goth looked taken aback for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Even so." She crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall, "Can you hold the connection while I'm halfway across the school?"

"...right." Satisfied that his uniform was back in pristine order-even if he still hated the tie-Alex straightened and turned to his friend. He let out a short laugh, "I forgot we're in different classes." His blue eyes flickered to the metaphysical red ribbon connecting them, "I'll dispel it now." There was a short sparkle of red light at his finger tips, and the already invisible tie dissolved.

Grey eyes widening, Mia staggered as dizziness and exhaustion assailed her. She hadn't realized how much she'd been relying on his magic. By luck, she caught her balance before she fell.

"You don't look so great." Alex said as he watched Mia take a shuddering breath.

"...yeah." She replied, she felt like she'd just run a thousand miles, "Sorry, took more out of me then I expected. I think...I need to go home or something." Mia gave him a tired smile.

"Nurse's Office is closer." Alex supplied, "I'll take you there-then walk you home."

"Skipping school already?"

Alex smiled brightly at her, "You bet."

[Astral Harmony]

Shimizu slowly relaxed as the Star Brand reached tolerable levels. "Yeah, I'll live. Ugh...you'd think I'd get used to the pain after so many overheats," she said with an exhausted smile, then looked at her armcannon. "Ponpon, disband."

Shimizu tried to do whatever she could with her ruined hair and battered skin, which was a whole lot of not much. Then, satisfied that no one in school would ask too many questions, she turned to Ponpon.
"Hey, what about my gear? Can it all be fixed?"
"Of course, paya! Self repair is already underway, paya. However, the gear suffered a lot of damage from the battle so don't hold your breath about it being ready for the next battle, paya."
"I guess I'll just make due. Now I really, really want an parfait. Or just an ice cream or something."

[Menarker]

Menarker smirked at the crumbles of ash, stomping on it once for retributive purpose and sweeping it aside with his heel. Slightly perplexed at Alex's dismissive behavior, he heaved a large sigh, his barrier jacket reverted to that of his uniform, as he instantly tugged at the damned tie. He walked along back toward class intent on resuming as normal, waving briefly at Relm as if in a vague sort of friendly acknowledgement.

"See you soon, I guess."

Taking his seat, he mentally noted to at least pay a little bit more attention to class introductions, with the emergence of potential allies and foes.

"This world of magic is a lot more vast and alive than I expected... I should chat with Mero more about it... And think of a way to smuggle her here next time... Would hate to think I get caught in something worse without some sure-fire support."

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

"Nnng!" Iriumi and Ivy both felt the effects of the drain immediately. They provided what they could for Rei to swing in. He shifted his focus, though, which forced Iriumi to move slightly to one side to continue the block.

Lucky for her she did. In less than a split moment, the miriad of Shimizu's beam attack blasted past her harmlessly, aimed square at the bellringer. The shields she maintained were a little useless in that moment as the bellringer was pushed back, overwhelmed by the simultaneous attacks.

Oh no... Ivy saw Akari's beam attack before Iriumi could react in time. The thin laser-like white fire struck the bellringer dead-on. Iriumi turned around, but too late. Ivy saw the rapid widening of the beam into a column.

~"Emergency Defense Measures Activated"~

"Wha-"

Everything went blue-white.

It was perhaps another twist of luck that Rei decided to angle his attack. Otherwise Iriumi wouldn't have survived even when Ivy went into countermeasures to save their asses. Akari's Lunar Flare didn't hit them full-on, only catching them in the expanding radius. While the Bellringer was annihalated from the straight burst of power, Iriumi raised her hands in a useless defense gesture against the expanding radius of light. Suddenly, as she was engulfed in the powerful beam, blinding green-gold fire engulfed Iriumi and a chord of the beam's circumference, visibly fighting against Akari's beam.

The green and gold rapidly turned to a reddish brown pulse, and two silhouettes could be seen within the blaze. One was clearly straining against the oncoming energy blast, while the other behind it was protected by the sudden burst in protective transformation power.

Within the brilliant green flames, Rei was somehow unharmed by the powerful clash of defensive power. He was the first to see Iriumi's transformed barrier suit - an earthy coloured armour suit, seemingly composed out of compacted earth held together by beautifully-scrolling roots that sprawled across her body. The heavy-looking armour glowered with defensive runes, expanding around her like wild tendrils of earthy fire, blown backwards by the force of Akari's power. It barely covered the front of Iriumi's battlesuit in a thin film of protection. But it was enough.

For clarification, it looked a bit like this.

Only when Akari's lunar flare died out did Iriumi's explosive transformation too, the wild energy dispersing rapidly, leaving Iriumi panting in exhaustion on all fours. There was a withered look to her battlesuit, as if nearly all the energy from it was drained from that single transformation sequence.

Iriumi tried to lift her heavily-armoured head, but found it very hard. Moving slowly and painfully to a sitting position, she got to one knee and tried to lift herself up. Damn, but her arms were so heavy! The hand she propped onto the bent knee slipped off senselessly, and Iriumi groggily tried to understand what happened.

"...Ivy?" She rasped. She felt her familiar stir weakly in her mind. What happened? Why is her suit all chunky and heavy right now?
"Nnnn... sorry about that. I had to use almost all our energy to survive that blast."
"Oh. Did somebody attack us?"
"No. We were in the way."
"...oh."

Iriumi blacked out briefly, but her armour prevented her from collapsing and locked her in a half-kneeling position. When she came to a few seconds later, she managed to lift her head to look around.

"Is everybody else ok?"
"I think so. The stasis field is coming apart."
"Does that mean we won?"
"... You could say that. We should probably get back to the classroom before reality resumes without us."
"..."
"Something wrong?"
"I can't move."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that," Ivy sounded sheepish that she totally forgot about the now extremely heavy barrier jacket.