{Date: 10/17 - Monday}
{Time: 3:00 PM}
Twilight Trails was thick with heavy tension, the winds around us still howling its anger, the thunders raging within the clouds, and the strong layers of emotion we all felt in this life or death situation. The stakes were high, defeat Judgement or lose me, and everyone knew they had to play their parts.
Kioshi lunged forward first, dragging the blade of her axe along the ground and slashed upward, a trail of energy surging behind her blade. Amadeus evaded her slash, summoning his short blade with a reverse grip then swung his arm with malicious intent.
Kioshi evaded his stabbing strike, countering him with a powerful knee to his chin, knocking him airborne. She let out her war cry, smashing the blade of her axe against Amadeus's stomach, sending him crashing into the ground.
"Valkyrie Arts: Raging Driver!" Kioshi bellowed, dragging Amadeus along the ground in a circle with her axe, swinging her arms up to send him in the air again.
Kioshi let out a roar, stomping her feet on the ground, readying herself to charge forward. Once Amadeus was at a perfect level, she charge forward with her headdress first, aiming to ram into him with all her might. Her fiery energy began to surge around her as she drew closer, taking shape in the form of a ram.
Amadeus opened his eyes quickly, noticing Kioshi charging toward him and spread out his wing, fixing his alignment in the air. With a flap of his demon wing, he took off into the air, narrowly avoiding Kioshi's charge.
"Nice try, but you're gonna have to be faster than that!" Amadeus bellowed, flying toward Kioshi with his short sword in hand.
Kioshi turned around, twirling her axe then ran toward Amadeus at her top speed. "Speed is never my main concern!"
The two swung their weapons at the same time, the clash of metal ringing out to the entire trail. Amadeus and Kioshi began to enter a dance of blades, Amadeus's swift offence met with Kioshi's natural defenses and reflexes.
Kioshi parried Amadeus's next attack, watching him use a burst of speed to appear to the right of her, the eyes of his mask glowing ominously. Just as he went for the killing blow, a harsh breeze blew past him, covering his entire arm in ice and stopping his attack.
Suddenly, a blizzard began to form, the snow obscuring everyone's vision except Orika's and Genesis's. Amadeus looked around, trying to find his way around the blizzard using his Spirit Sense but any aura he saw was blurry.
'What is going on..? Why can't I see anything..?' Amadeus questioned mentally, frantically scanning around his surroundings while moving about to not get caught.
Within the white snow, a blur flew by Amadeus, causing the wind to rush with the blur and knock him off balance. He found his footing once more, grunting heavily to try to catch the figure that rushed by him.
Suddenly, Orika's foot struck Amadeus's cheek with great force, slightly knocking the mask off his face as he was sent flying backwards. Orika quickly skated toward him, leaping forward and striking Jim with axe kick to knock him back to the ground.
"No matter what you all try to do, I don't let you all take Hisumi away!" Orika declared, rushing forward at surprisingly high speeds, her body blending in with the blizzard.
Amadeus stood up quickly, noticing Orika appear to the left of him, causing him to turn to his left but Orika's strike landed from the right, catching him off guard. Amadeus couldn't think straight as a barrage of strikes began connecting upon his body, each strike a misdirection from Orika's original position.
"Together!" Orika bellowed, appearing in front of Amadeus and striking his stomach with a palm strike.
Yuki-Onna synchronized with Orika, striking Amadeus with an icy palm strike as well, a large portion of frost covering his midsection upon impact. Amadeus groaned heavily as the attack knocked him back, sending him crashing into the forest.
Yumi scanned Orika, checking her attributes to see how strong she was, her eyes widening in shock. "How is she able to do that much damage..?"
{Orika's Attributes}
Name: Orika Chiba
Age: 18
Rank: C
Power Level: 373
Valk Type: Support
Elemental Affinity: Ice
Preferred Weapon: Crosses
DMG: 321
Burst DMG: 201
Survivability: 424
Support: 599
Spirit Control: 320
Kioshi glanced at Orika, a hint of respect flashing in her eyes. "Her determination is strong, so let's hope it stays that way until we clear this whole mess up."
Genesis hummed with delight, flying around Orika proudly. "That's my second Mistress!~ Hisumi taught her well!"
Adrianna smiled at Orika and Genesis, walking toward them and placed a hand on Orika's shoulder. "That was a nice attack you did. Sent him flying as well!"
Orika smiled at Adrianna, enjoying the praise she was receiving, her face growing more red in comparison to her pale skin. "Oh...it was nothing..! I guess I was just in the moment.."
Adrianna chuckled softly, looking around her surroundings, noticing two green flashes of light within the forest. Before anyone could react, two roots shot out of the forest, aiming straight for Orika's head and chest.
Genesis was the first to react, summoning her harp and strumming a chord, flashes of lightning slicing the roots into pieces. "What the heck was that?!"
Orika glanced between Genesis and the forest, her mind scrambled between her gratefulness for Genesis and the sudden attack from the forest. "I couldn't even see the attack, it was that fast.."
Suddenly, more roots began shooting out of the forest, but Adrianna was quick to act, launching a barrage of golden fireballs at the roots to set them ablaze. Knowing Amadeus was behind the attack, she rushed into the forest, cloaking herself with her stellar golden aura.
Amadeus stood in the center of the forest, launching roots at Adrianna from all directions, but Adrianna was quick on her feet, evading each root elegantly and smoothly. She twirled around in a circle, generating a ball of golden water and kicked it toward Amadeus at high speeds.
Amadeus evaded the ball of water, but it was just a distraction for Adrianna to close in, striking him with her Golden Destiny Flash, golden lightning flashing upon impact. 'What...was that attack..? It felt stronger than Ryder's Destiny Flash...'
"One, two, three, four!" Adrianna counted, shuffling her feet quickly then got down to sweep Amadeus off his feet with a powerful sweep kick.
Swinging her body around, she began to perform NY Flares, using her Alchemy to encase her feet in flames, each kick striking and sustaining Amadeus in the air. She kicked him higher in the air, using a blast of wind to propel herself in the air.
Amadeus recovered in the air, using his wing to fly around Adrianna's Flying Superkick and countered with a swift chop to the back of her neck. Adrianna reacted sharply, catching his arm and began diving down to the ground while spinning in 360 degree motion.
"Golden...Starfall!" Adrianna bellowed, slamming Amadeus onto the ground with a devasting powerbomb, creating a crater in the ground.
The impact of the powerbomb generated a shockwave, the wave rushing along the hiking trails and creating small quakes in the ground. Orika and the others felt the quakes and noticed the massive smoke cloud in the sky, the four of them rushing in the forest to check up on Adrianna.
{Time: 3:20 PM}
Yusa evaded Pandora's next slash, countering with a high reaching back kick, causing Pandora to lose grip of her weapon. I swooped in like a falcon, grabbing the handle of Pandora's sword and cracking it, the blade extending and wrapping around her legs.
"Let's go for a ride!" I bellowed, swinging Pandora around in circles, building up momentum then released her sword, sending her flying through the forest.
Suddenly, Yusa, Celene, and I felt the ground quaking lightly, catching the three of us off guard. We looked around frantically, scanning the environment for any hidden combatants, but didn't spot anything.
I turned around cautiously, noticing a massive smoke cloud in the distance. "Mom, Celene!"
Celene turned around quickly, her eyes slightly widening in distress. "The girls..!"
"There's no time to question. Let's head over there now," Yusa said, her weapons vanishing into white and black energy particles.
With that, the three of us took off in the direction of the smoke cloud to investigate, putting our battle against Pandora on pause. My mind began racing wondering if Orika was safe or not, my feet moving faster than before to check up on her.
Within the forest, Pandora grunted softly as she tried to escape her whip's fangs, the blades of her whip digging deep into her skin. She struggled as she had to pluck each blade out one by one, the pain causing her to hiss with hostility.
"Fuck..." She moaned, her voice filled with a mix of pleasure and unbearable pain as she took each fang out of her legs.
Once she finally became free of her own weapon's hold, she used a tree as support to stand up, her eyes glowing brightly with vengeance. "Alright...you all want to play dirty...let's play..."
Pandora summoned her Black Box beside her, the box glowing a scarlet red with excitement, the Fell Beast within the box ready to wreak havoc. "Patience, my beauty...let's let Amadeus have a little bit more fun, tire out our beloved heroes more, hmm~"
The Black Box pulsed excitedly with energy, the Fell Beast's desire to roam the lands becoming more uncontrollable. Pandora giggled softly, gently petting her Box, leaning down against the surface to plant a tender, seductive kiss upon it.
Yusa, Celene, and I made it to the sight, noticing the smoke cloud starting to slowly clear out. Within the chaos, I noticed Orika, my body immediately running toward her. Hearing the rapid steps approaching her, Orika turned to see who was running, her eyes widening with joy.
"Hisumi!" Orika called out, hurrying toward me with a mix of longing and gratefulness.
Once I got close to her, I immediately took her into my embrace, holding her tightly and running my fingers through her hair. At the moment, the only thing that mattered to me was that Orika was okay, but soon I let her go to look at the scene in the distance.
"What's going on over here?" I asked, waiting for the smoke cloud to clear and looked around the trails for any incoming dangers.
"Amadeus came with Pandora and Adrianna was fighting him and now we're trying to see if she's okay," Orika explained, gently holding onto me as she watched the smoke cloud gradually clear as well.
The seconds continued to tick, still no response from either Amadeus or Adrianna after their exchange. Suddenly, a hand emerged from the crater, all eyes watching closely to see which hand it was. As the first recovered continued to push themselves up, it was revealed to be Amadeus, his mask slowly falling off his face.
Amadeus softly chuckled, climbing out of the crater and looked up at the sky, watching as the clouds began to part. "Adrianna... surely is powerful. But not strong enough...she almost had me with her special counter."
He stood up from the ground, picking up his mask and placing it back on his face. "That said—I think it's time I end this..."
"Adrianna..!" Celene muttered under her breath, sprinting toward the crater, but her body instinctively evaded a large thorn sprouting from the ground.
Amadeus adjusted his mask, holding his hand out toward Celene, wrapping a root around her body. Balling his hand into a fist, the roots tightened around her, but his eyes widened when he noticed her afterimage disappear.
'What..?' He thought, scanning around the battlefield to find Celene.
As he searched around, a flash of light flickered around him, a devastating blow connecting to his jaw staggering him. Celene began landing a series of blows upon his body, chaining her attacks one by one then knocked him into the air.
Letting out her Tribal Howl, she landed a critical palm strike upon his stomach, a pulse of aura spiralling around her hand. The aura began to sparkle, the impact of her strike blowing Amadeus away, sending him crashing through the hiking trails.
Kioshi's muscles slightly tensed at Celene's raw power, her body shivering with anticipation from her tribal energy. "That woman is something else..."
"Indeed..." Yumi agreed, shuddering lightly as she watched Celene rush to the crater.
"Adrianna! Are you okay?" Celene called out to Adrianna, hoping she was at the very least alive.
"Yes..!" Adrianna squeaked, hissing softly in pain as she sat in the rubble of the destruction, holding her leg. "I think I hurt my leg when I slammed him down..!"
Celene sighed with relief, grateful for that was the only injury Adrianna sustained. Celene stood up straight, hopping into the crater to aid Adrianna. "Alright, I'm coming in to help you!"
While Celene helped Adrianna, the rest of us decided to regroup nearby to figure out the next stage of our plan to get rid of Judgement. We all sat down, starting off the meeting by setting up a plan.
"Alright, it doesn't seem there were any other reinforcements beyond that guy...so all there's left is Pandora correct?" Yumi asked, looking over at me and Yusa.
"Well, there is one other person, but it's hard to gauge where her loyalties actually lie," I said, glancing at the ground as the moment played in my head. "I can't forget those serpentine eyes, and that particular green hair...such beauty with wisdom and knowledge, yet so dangerous and mysterious."
"Serpentine eyes..?" Kioshi asked, her eyes flickering with slight recognition.
"Green hair...?" Yumi asked dully, blinking slowly at me with disbelief.
Yusa immediately knew who I was talking about, crossing her arms and closing her eyes. "Is she perhaps a Mad Scientist who calls herself a Physical Goddess?"
"Uh..." I started, in genuine shock with how spot on Yusa was. "Y-Yeah... exactly and she somehow knows Liao Ru."
Suddenly, we all heard a laugh in the distance, an arrogant laugh only one uses when they truly believe in their own superiority. Glancing around, I spotted a figure in the distance, sitting upon a hovering device shaped as an infinity symbol.
"Ahh, it was nice spectating both battles, and so much data I have collected," The familiar voice said, tapping upon her tablet with a hissing chuckle.
"It is you...Dr. Noxius!" Kioshi called out, standing up quickly and grabbing her axe.
Nagini laughed softly at Kioshi, lowering her tablet and glancing down at her with a smirk. "Kioshi Iori, Ex-Captain of the Fallen Faction of Judgement. I see you've returned home, back in the hands of an all time great..."
Yusa scoffed softly at Nagini's subtle backhanded compliment, standing up from the log she sat on and summoned her lance. "I guess it's an honor to be recognized by a legend, but working for Judgement...goes against everything you fought for!"
Nagini turned her gaze to Yusa, her serpentine eyes meeting Yusa's cold glare. "I helped found Judgement back in 1410 during our war against the First Fallen with a figure you praise in history, Dr. Himeko Ashikaga."
"If anything, I'm simply taking back what I never lost before the battle in Shangqui against a figure beyond your simple comprehension. However, their studies interest me, so for now, I'm simply playing along," Nagini chuckled softly, hopping off her floating device and landed on the ground.
{Warning! Warning! Objective Changed!}
{New Objective: Defeat Nagini.}
"You all are already tired from your battles, and I've sent Pandora home. I won't overstay my welcome, as I will only fight the Valkyrias...for Science!" Nagini said, transforming her floating device into a naginata.
"Is she serious..?" Yumi asked, glancing up at Kioshi, slowly standing up from the log she sat on.
Kioshi held her arm out, stopping Yumi from advancing. Her determined gaze was fixed on Nagini, the blade of her axe glowing with a fiery passion. "She only wants to fight Valkyrias...there's no need to get your hands dirty.."
"But—" Yumi began, wanting to protest, but Kioshi continued to hold her back.
"You don't know Dr. Noxius at all...the power she has. Power beyond what she shows us. When you think of knowledge and intelligence, Dr. Noxius is who you think of," Kioshi explained, stepping forward and readying her axe.
I stayed behind, my main priority focused on protecting Orika and avoiding combat with Nagini until I felt comfortable enough to fight her. "Don't worry, I'm not fighting her again...her intelligence is beyond mine."
"I don't mind, I think this is for the best actually..." Orika said, relieved that I didn't rush in to fight Nagini and glad to still be in my much needed embrace.
Yusa knew that Kioshi alone couldn't defeat Nagini, so she decided to step forward, manifesting her wings of light and darkness. "Hmph...an excuse to face off against an Infinity Council member again. You better be ready."
Nagini laughed at Yusa's declare, slipping a hand into the pocket of her lab coat. "I'm always ready, Angel of Death...Come at me."
Yusa began walking toward Nagini, her steps gradually becoming faster until she was at a full sprint, thrusting her lance at Nagini's chest. Nagini dodged Yusa's thrust, countering with a chain of slashes with her naginata.
Nagini staggered Yusa with her next attack, sensing Kioshi's slash from behind and smirked. She twirled her pole arm, sticking her naginata into the ground to perfectly block Kioshi's wide slash, causing Kioshi to recoil backwards.
"Trying to flank me from the back? Rookie mistake," Nagini taunted, landing a devastating back kick upon Kioshi's stomach to knock her back.
Suddenly, an attractive force of cyan energy began pulling Nagini toward Yusa, allowing Yusa to land a fatal Spirit Flash upon Nagini's cheek, the blow sending her flying. Yusa flew after Nagini, landing a barrage of thrusts upon her body with her lance then impaled Nagini through her midsection.
Yusa let out a bellow as she hopped in the air then slammed Nagini to the ground with her lance still impaled in her body. Finishing her attack, she came down with a stomp upon the handle of her lance, causing an elemental explosion of light and dark energy.
Yusa leaped out of the smoke, summoning her lance back into her hand. She softly panted, her stamina gradually lowering by the second. 'That should be enough to keep her down...'
Orika, Yumi, and I watched intensely, the three of us internally rooting for Yusa and Kioshi to defeat Nagini, but unlike Orika and Yumi, I've had first hand experience with Nagini and from that meeting alone, I knew she was different.
"That was a nice space trick you used to catch me off guard," Nagini said, she smoke clearing completely to reveal her dusting off her lab coat. She chuckled lowly, looking up at Yusa with a devious gaze. "But such Spatial Manipulation...is child's play compared to a Goddess.."
Without warning, an attractive force of navy energy ripped Yusa from her position toward Nagini at high speeds. Nagini formed an orb of crimson energy in front of her, expanding its size and snapping her fingers, causing the crimson orb to violently explode to destructively push Yusa and everything around her away.
The high winds from the repulsive force of energy began uprooting trees and chaotically began leveling the entirety of Twilight Trails, clearing the once forest into an open field. Once the winds cleared, the sun's kiss was direct, everything around us...gone.
Nagini chuckled at the result of her Spatial Manipulation, placing her hands into her pockets and closed her eyes. "That is true Spatial Manipulation..."
I let go of Orika, whipping my head back to see Yusa slowly recovering upon one knee then ran to check up on her. "Mom!"
Orika quickly followed behind with Genesis, her eyes willed with worry and concern. "Headmistress! Are you okay?"
Yusa's lance slowly disappeared, her wings slowly dispersing into energy particles and she closed her eyes, admitting defeat. "I'm alright...but Nagini is just on a whole different level than I am."
Nagini looked at Yusa with a smug expression, her eyes glowing with superiority, but after basking in her victory, her expression grew more serious. "As Valkyrias...if you want to stop what Judgement has become, you need to expand beyond Japan. Just like them."
"The Commander has tricks you aren't aware of, weapons that will question your very will and Spirit," Nagini said, transforming her weapon back into her floating platform. "Hazuki has gotten stronger and is one step closer to her goal. A goal that will change the world for the worst if that woman becomes a Ruler."
Yusa slowly stood up, listening to Nagini's wisdom with open ears. She watched as Nagini summoned a crystal, using its power to restore the Twilight Trails back to its natural beauty, the lush autumn forest brimming with life once more.
Nagini summoned another crystal, tossing it toward me and looked over at me. "Lab Rat, make sure you're always training. You may never know when I come out to test you for my research. For now, He wants you to have this..."
I caught the crystal with both hands, careful enough to not drop it. Staring at the gem for a moment, I noticed it was a Diamond with a strange symbol inside it. "What is this?"
Nagini sat upon her floating device, her gaze lingering on me for a moment. "That is for you to figure out, but dire times are coming and the world is in need of another Hero. Don't make me regret my choice.."
With those words, Nagini took off with her research, her floating device carrying her away. I stared at the crystal with curiosity, but I let the question linger in my mind for now as I wanted to make sure everyone else was okay.