[Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

Archives of Occultus Magica's beginnings, ten years prior to the current story.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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Training with Aurus and Decanus had taught Miller well.The Stone Riley, though frozen in expression, was staring at Miller as he swung her about. He could tell that the construct was going to do as he expected, and as such, she did. Just before she came in contact with the wolf, she phased into the immaterial, and sunk away. The wolf, however, still lept forward, its teeth being dull razors to rake and pull at flesh.

Unfortunately for the wolf, the only meal it found had it pinioned on the end of a sword. The beast let loose frothing howl, as spectral blood fumed upward into the sky. For a moment it writhed, before dissipating.

Riley's barbaric familiar tore its way into the fray successfully, one of the wolves bending in half over the wild-man-phantasm's grisly maul. The poor beast landed nearly split asunder and unmoving, before burning away. The other wolf's end was not as peaceful as its own burning was more literal, with more pain shrieking through the howls of the animal. After a moment of crisping under the phantasm's grip, the wolf disappeared.

The Stone Riley, on the other hand, came up from the ground, with several strings attached to her fingers. Much like the real deal, this stage performer put literal performance into her magecraft. To replace the three that had fallen, ten more canines took their place, strings reaching back to their summoner.

The Valorous Knight and the Vandalic Knight were pressed back to back as they were quickly surrounded, with spirit wolves staring them down with frothing, dribbling maws. A few of the beasts dropped to brace themselves, and then... they charged.
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Kai
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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As Miyuki was suddenly tackled to the ground by a stone doppelganger of herself, she could feel the breath knocked out of her lungs, which took a second of dizziness and very heavy sucking of wind to correct, however, she now saw the statue carrying a large globule of water which it seemed intent to drown her with. Without thinking, she breathed out again, except, this time, it wasn't just air coming out- with her breath came crystals of ice, the medium now suddenly blowing freezing cold out of the magical girl's lungs, a spout of the cold air streaming toward the water her double had summoned. At the same time, Miyuki found her hands on the statue's torso, and tried to push- finding she wasn't strong enough, however, water summoned on her own outstretched hands, freezing at the end in contact with the statue, before beginning to expand explosively; a forceful pushing by pillars of ice summoned from the girl's hands, accompanied by a loud grunt of exertion at the action.

************

Uselessly, Raiko grabbed for her parasol, only to find that it had not come with her, and so she There wasn't much she could do, now. She was absolutely helpless, entirely dependent on Ruarc. She felt, for once, scared, terrified for her life. Needfully she clung to the Irishman, thankful for his embrace and the protective confines within his robe. "Sorry to be such a burden" she apologized, feeling like dead weight.
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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The sword descended down upon Coco, leaving nothing but billowing dust and echos where she stood!

A trail of pink and red ribbons lead forward of the sword point, at the end of which she stood, poised and uncharacteristically condescending in her demeanor. The girl's eyes were alight with an angry fury, born both of her friend's imminent danger, and the constant taunting she had suffered at the hands of the Mini-God. When her lips moved, her words were cold with fury; "My name is Coco Leetenbaum and you're between me and Percival - Prepare to Die!"

Coco took of in a blur as numerous ribbons were strewn across the ground - her feet glided across the velvety strands as though she were a skater, rapidly moving to circle the stone figure. Lashing out with her left hand, the girl's costume flew apart and lanced out at the statue as quickly as it regenerated, knitting itself anew as Coco made to tie up and bind her foe in place. Circling round and round, her right hand clenched into a fist as it was entwined into a sphere, the cloth thickening in mass before suddenly twisting into a spiraling lance!

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" she screamed, stabbing the long lance at its chest.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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Freezing the bubble of water, at first, had become a bad idea rather quickly. The Miyuki statue took a moment to gaze at the froze icy-bubble on the end of its arm. Firstly, the construct tested the bludgeoning object's weight, and when appeared to be satisfied, it raised its frozen up in the air to turn the Magical Girl's head into a squashed grape. Luckily, by that point, the real girl her had pushed water up into the rock person above, liquid filling ever crack and crevice in the torso.

Just at the peak of Stone Miyuki's swing, the ice formed and her body began to crack apart. Much like the natural erosion of roads and side-walks, the statue began to crumble. The arm, with the iceball fell off first. Stone eyes turned to the affliction, but before it could react swiftly enough, it was already splitting in too many places, and eventually fell aside into a loose pile of stone body parts.

The heat from the drudic statue's assault was heavy and oppressive. Ruarc would be getting no wear if he allowed the construct to continue pressing its advantage of surprise. Yet, he had little time for that, as Sakura's rocky counter-part still had its arrow sailing over to the man. When it struck him, it pressed into his skin, but not through the fabric of his robe itself. Even if the cloth was standing up to the fires, kinetic force still proved a weakness, and the growing patch of red on the pristine white was evidence enough of that.

At that moment, the flames relented, only to surge high. The fire had taken form, of that of a dragon. The creatures maw opened wide, just as the Sakura Statue 'nocked' another arrow. Ruarc was about to get hit from two sides, once more.

Coco's attacks proved potent enough to halt the stone Miller in his quick swings. The stony paladin had picked a weakly armored target, but one that was quick. The young girl learned quickly that the lack of speed was not to be respected, as she was almost made head-less by quick backslash in her dash inward. Luckily, her lance struck true, pressing up into the statue. The tip buried itself between the plates, and cause stone to crack and falter. The Miller statue turn bring its sword back down on Coco, but found itself quickly disheveled as pieces began falling apart.
I made them.
The armored statue began to crumble, seeking a hand forth to take Coco down with it.
They were to be unliving sentinels, to replace the Thralls who could be so easily swayed, and to protect every font that came after me.
Yet, it couldn't. Coco could not see a face, and even she could, the face would not move. The desperate movements it made signified a hint of emotion, panic, terror, maybe even regret. Even as Miller's statue came crumbling apart, even as Miyuki's statue came crumbling apart, they fought on, desperately, until they moved no more.
Yet, at their normal state, they have no shape, but they take one. They take the shapes of their master's dearest friends. Yet, not to provide familiarity, as I had come to discover, but endear themselves to their master. As I watched, a cold chill took my body as I learned the implications of placing a soul, even a freshly crafted one into such a body.
The stone knight's gauntlet rested at Coco's ankle, gripping it tightly, before simply becoming limp.
They didn't protect me because it was their purpose, they protected me because I was their friend, their only friend.
In that moment, a bullet whizzed across the sky, and in Coco's rapid movements, just barely missed removing a portion of her skull. A quick look back towards the ruins would reveal why.
It was then, that I decided that I would protect and nurture this realm. This Elementalia Magicus. From here in centrifuge, I will cultivate a land here for the guardians, for the thralls, and my stone sentinels. Because here, in this realm, even in the case of constructs and statues,
Duncan's statue was kneeling on among the brush, a rifle in his hands, the large size of it just so evident. He was wrapped in a wispy cloak, and appeared to wearing military gear under it. His weapon was recognizable, a Springfield, with a mounted scope. The statues blank face had its eye placed on the stone scope, and was lining up another shot.
Every life is precious and unique.
The stone sniper fired.
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Straken
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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Ruarc had experienced many uncomfortable situations since he started his assignment in Japan, but this was in a whole different league. The heat from the flames was intense and pressing in on all sides, and within the envelope of searing heat a sharp pain struck him in his left shoulder blade. It was rough, but it was worth it to him since Raiko was safe from the worst of it.
“Don’ worry, we just need ta get you ta safety,” Ruarc said to his charge, although he was still unsure how that could be accomplished. Raiko was an intelligent girl, and he trusted that she could find a safe place. “When you see an opening, take it.”

Finally the fire storm let up giving Ruarc an opportunity to go on the offensive, and hopefully focus the attacks onto him. Letting go of his girlfriend, he spun back around to face the attackers once more. Reflex time. His opening was a small one as the stone Ruarc was merely redirecting its fire for another assault, the stone Sakura was readying another arrow, and he could feel the pain from the first arrow as blood began to soak into his robe. How could he handle the flames as well as avoiding getting shot with another arrow. His action would have to be a quick one that would also successfully deflect both attacks, and for the time being he had to stand between Raiko and the attackers. The most defensive one, his Earth based attack, could block the arrow but not the large plume of fire that was pressing in from above. While using his own Fire spell would be able to counter the opposing flame, it would not stop an enchanted stone arrow.

“Séideán láidre!” Ruarc shouted as he cast one of quickest, most basic elemental spells. Around his hands a gust picked up as he channeled more mana into his Gale. The wind built up speed and force as it whipped his robes around, and once he built enough momentum he lashed out. With his right arm he sent one strong gust directly at the dragon that was now bearing down on him, and with his injured left he lashed out at the archer to destabilize the new arrow.
Kalshion
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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Sakura was startled and noticably shocked to see the statue of herself suddenly come to life and fire off a series of arrows. "Hey! I'm the one with the bow here not you!" shouted the young girl as she turned her bow to the statue and began to slowly creep to the side while taking aim at the arrow currently heading toward Ruarc - she steadied her breath - held it for a second - and then let lose two arrows in an effort to hit the one that was already sailing. She then used her third arrow, pointed it at her counterpart, and fired it at it.
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Kai
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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Raiko was stuck between a Rock arrow, and a Hot place, with her only current defense being Ruarc. She wanted to cling to him, to stick near him, but with all the attacks coming at him, she knew that it wasn't the best place to be. Useless on her own, and a drag on her beloved, Raiko took the Druid's advice and made a mad dash as soon as she saw an opening, running for something, anything, that she could hide behind.


************

Miyuki was surprised at how swiftly her doppleganger was vanquished, linking a few times as she sat up, and mumbling "Well, that was easy." She shook her head, swiping dust off of her outfit, before she stood up and surveyed the battlefield- things weren't exactly going well, but the most pressing trouble seemed to be Ruarc, trying to defend Raiko from not just one, but two attackers. Noting the nearer of the two seemed to be using fire magic, Miyuki grinned, a gleam in her eye- She felt her neck, and the brooch with the Babylon Gemstones was indeed there. The other hand stuffed into her pocket and found the rest of her gemstones to be present as well. She quickly swapped the Sapphire out for the Ruby, calling forth the Key and feeling a rush as the trim on her outfit changed, and pushing her legs into a sprint that left fiery footprints on the ground behind her. With her left hand, Miyuki summoned a ball of ice, jumping into the air and dropping it, swinging her Babylon key and using the momentum of her sprint to do some sort of cross between a Bicycle kick and a golf swing, batting the ball of ice straight at Ruarc's doppleganger with frightening speed.
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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Coco gracefully arced through the air as the blade snapped past, wisps of her brown hair floating in the air.

In an instant, the lance struck true and the fight was already ending! But the booming voice in her mind; these statues were his friends? Guardians? But it didn't make sense - why were they even attacking the very people they represented?! Had things gone that wrong? As the Mahou Shojou Fangirl zigged and zaggeed away from the stumbling, bumbling, crumbling statue of Miller, the entire left side of her short cropped hair was blown into the wind. 'Duncan too?!' she thought to herself, eyes widening in shock. Coco's hands swung together in a powerful clap, instantly exploding in her entirety into a storm of cloth confetti which spread about like confusing chaff, the girl hiding herself within the confusing swarm of red. A pair of tennis ball sized wads of crimson arced out of the Duncan Statue and exploded in the air like flak, further obscuring the scene.

Silent, Coco rapidly made her way to outflank the sniper with spidery legs of cloth and ribbon, doing her best to slip out of sight and straight up to the Duncan Statue to slice its head off with her razor ribbons!
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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Coco's whirling chaff was enough to distract the stone Duncan from her whirling cloth-blades. Even with such distance between them, Coco managed to charge around quickly. Her attack was close to striking true, and would have pressed right on through the young stone man. Much to her surprise, her attack stopped just short of him.

Her ribbons had been stopped on another's.

Bursting forth from under Duncan's billowing cloak was Coco, in stone, and in her usual, child-like form. Red ribbons covered her arms, billowing out deadly cloth that countered against the real Coco. Despite having the element of surprise, however, the stone girl did not press the attack. Instead, she froze and locked in her ribbons to hold her. A sniper barrel pressed over the ribbon-construct's shoulder, taking full advantage of the lock and fired into Coco's abdomen.

Sakura's arrows flew with credible accuracy. Her first shot missed just slightly, but curled the wind over it to send it twirling away. The second one actually struck the stone arrow, and split it, causing it to explode in mid-air. As for her offense, the Stone Sakura saw the arrow coming, dodged aside to avoid it, unsuccessfully. The mystic arrow struck the ranger construct in the thigh, cause her material to crack and split. As she went down, she curled around and nocked an arrow. As she fell into the brush, and out of sight, a stone arrow came speeding out off the brush and towards the ranger herself.

Stone Ruarc seemed to be at an end as the ice ball approached him quickly. Turning his attention from the real Ruarc, the guardian raised a hand in the face of the ball, and series of runes glowed over his hand and fingers. The Druid could see their meaning from where he stood, three in particular.

Gravity

Reverse

Amplify

Just before Miyuki's shot could strike true, the ice-ball instantly reversed directions, flying back at her at double the speed she had sent it with.
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Straken
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Re: [Episode 4.1] The Mantle of Responsibility

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Ruarc finally had a moment to breathe a sigh of relief as his stone double’s attention had been diverted, its fire dispersed, the stone archer was under pressure as well with its newest arrow already dealt with, and Raiko was making her way to safety. With the agro drawn off of him, the Druid shifted to his next move now that he was able to go on the offensive. Right away he knew his main priority now should be taking out his stone counterpart, who was becoming troublesome now that it could generate and combine runes at will; an ability he found himself wishing that he was able to do.

”I need to hit it hard and fast so that it won’t have time to counter,” Ruarc thought as he settled on a spell.
Focusing himself, the Druid pictured what he wanted his magic to do as he readied the spell, and once he was ready he began casting. “Cloch a oscailt agus a ithe,” he called out as he channeled his magic into the ground to cause a large stone spike to thrust out of the ground with the intent of crashing into the stone Druid.
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