Goldshrine Strikes back

HP: 60% (-5% for Demonic Influence +5% Lisa heal effect)
MP: 87% (-15% for 3x D spells, +2% MP Regen)

Seikatsu/Altsoba +50% DMG (Demonic Influence) 2 Posts
Seikatsu/Altsoba +25% DMG (Reinforce) 3 Posts
Seikatsu/Altsoba +15% DMG (Imbue Ice) 2 posts
Seikatsu/Altsoba +15% DMG (Spirit of Night) 1 Post
Total: +105% DMG
Altsoba Timer: 3 posts

Boss Hits Left:
1 B rank Damage (2/24 C rank)

Reinforce:

Demonic Influence:

Imbue Ice:

Spirit of Night:

Weapon Skill:

It felt like her heart exploded for a while. As the pain lessened she found it easier to breathe, as well as manage to sit up. She sat up in time to watch the zombie brute take a crystal spear into it's skull, dropping it instantly. Aiyana stood up completely in time to watch Mao go through some combat with the man, albeit shakily and with unsure footing. It wasn't long after this, sadly, that the bandaged mage found herself being tackled by the beautiful tailed bunny girl. It took a second for her to realize what was going on. An explosion would be heard, the two of them safely behind cover due to Mao's reaction.

”Oh Mao! My hero!” What had been intended to be yelled as if she were saying it to a glorious knight of days long past instead came out at a normal tone of voice, the other woman on top of her keeping the barely recovered mage from giving her words the proper inflection. Mao shortly got off of her, going back into the fray with her gauntlets for a bit before Seikatsu proceeded to almost annihilate Goldenshrine completely.

Goldenshrine, it appeared, was not done fighting just yet. Missing an arm, and a leg wounded, the man noticed Aiyana coming at him and created a wall directly in front of her. She managed to stop in time to keep from running into it, but the wall suddenly shifted forward in response. The impact knocked her to the ground, the wall coming down to slam in an attempt to slam down on her. She managed to, just barely, avoid the wall. Dust flew up from underneath it as she let loose a cat 'o ninetails style bandage whip at the weakened man with a flick of her wrist. Only two of the three whips struck home, sadly. One hit the man across the cheek, bloodying it, as another struck the mage's right eye. With a primal scream, having been blinded after everything he's already been hit by, the man charged at Aiyana with seemingly no magic at the ready; and ignoring the injuries of his body.

'Has he lost it?' The young woman thought this as she went in at him with her Khopesh, swinging the weapon around in an attempt to strike the man in the head with the blunt part to knock him unconscious. She didn't intend to kill this man, even after everything that had happened while they were in the ruins. She had no reason to end his life, which made the next set of events even more troubling. The mage ducked under the swing of the weapon, tackling the girl onto the ground. Unbeknownst to the woman, small crystal spikes had popped up behind where she stood, the pieces stabbing into her back as she hit the ground pretty hard. A scream left the girls mouth, no expecting the sudden stabs along the entirety of her back as the man went in for a punch at her face.

She rolled to her right, the man falling off as her back parted the floor. Some of the spikes stayed in her back, surely needing some plying out or other crystal magic user to disintegrate them. With another charge, Aiyana realized that she was going to have to make this last swing count. In another attempt at knocking the man out, Aiyana acted like she was going to hook the man's to try and trip him up. As he tried to jump over the swing, the young woman turned the attack into an upward swing. Seeing the attack in time, the crystal make mage tried to move a bit midair. This resulted in him dodging INTO the sharp part of the weapon, surely something he hadn't anticipated in happening.

The khopesh sliced through his right side, causing the man to falter in the air and into the trap he had tried to tackle Aiyana into. A sudden pain entered Aiyana's shoulder as the man drew his last breath, the girl looking over before going wide eyed. Not only was there a dagger there, it was embedded to the hilt into her arm.

”Shit...”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Word Count: 700
HP: 60%
MP: 90%

Spell Used:

Great Wife's Jealousy CD: 3

The man had been ravished – unpleasantly so – to say the least. Their demonicly inclined partner, currently taken over in sorts by that darker side, laid waste unto their once cocky foe and tore him asunder. In a manner of speaking as the man managed to continue his strife, though where it’d once been that overly confident use of magic and attitude it became a struggle for his very life. It was a savage show as Mao regained her senses, the man unable to go for any blows upon the downed females as the dynamic duet slashed and hacked at him for what appeared to be their personal pleasure. By the time she was able to stand things turned to the bandage user, who received a mirrored attack in sorts of what Mao did to Goldenshrine, causing her to wince.

Never mind the killing blow the woman unwittingly dealt as the man’s life gurgled out of him not unlike the gunner she’d dealt with earlier. Neither death appeared too pleasant, leaving Mao to wince as she moved towards the other woman. The level of injuries both she and Seikatsu suffered were a bit extensive, Mao’s magic likely to only close up some of the surface wounds, so they’d need to do a little extra patching up before wandering much further into this glowtastic labyrinth of wonders.

Pulling her away from the gruesome sight, the bunny-eared mage focused on aiding her friend rather than the ramifications of their actions or the deeper and darker meanings of life and death. It was easier to block it out in order to remain a fully functioning person as she forced the green-haired girl to sit on a jutting portion of the boulder they’d ducked behind earlier. There, with the retrieved bow, lay her bag of supplies that she extracted a roll of bandages and thick tissues. ”I know you’re practically wrapped in them, but no need to get them needlessly dirty,” she murmured, placing the cloth tissues around the dagger before easing it out. A small glow of a coppery, amber hue began emanating from Mao as the healing energy started reaching out at the same time towards the nearby girl – and demonicly inclined fellow if he came within range – as she forced Aiyanna to hold the tissues in place while the healing energy did its thing as she went to remove some of the imbedded crystalline shards.

”Sorry, this might hurt, but I’ll try to be as gentle as possible,” she cautioned, brandishing a pair of tweezers out of Aiyanna’s sight before beginning the arduous task.

---

HP: 92%
MP: 80%

Ignite: deactivated, 1/4
Red Rage: 1/5

Used: (status effect likely cleansed: bleeding)

Spoiler:

HP: 62% (+5 Lisa's Heal, -3% being hit by Altsoba)
MP: 89% (+2% MP Regen)

Seikatsu/Altsoba +50% DMG (Demonic Influence) early termination
Seikatsu/Altsoba +25% DMG (Reinforce) early termination
Seikatsu/Altsoba +15% DMG (Imbue Ice) early termination
Seikatsu/Altsoba +15% DMG (Spirit of Night) gone
Altsoba Timer: Early Termination
Wraith Timer: 4 posts

Altsoba Active Spell: Summon Wraith:

Before Aiyana could panic more than the single word outburst, her bunny eared friend was at her side. There was something going on beside her, words being said, but she was too busy in shock over the dagger and shards jammed inside of her to realize what was being said. She had never been as injured in a job as she was right now, and that was something that scared her. She would live, that much was certain as Mao said something about her bandages before placing tissues around the dagger. The squeak of pain that left her lips as the dagger was removed was pitiful, having been injured before you'd think she'd be a bit better at this by now. Blood pooled into the wrappings her friend had over the wound as she started to glow.

The bandaged mage wasn't sure if her sight suddenly going dim was from the glow, or the stress of the battle and shock from her injuries, but she suddenly felt a little bit better. Her hand was forcefully moved, being placed against the bandages to make sure the bleeding could be stopped in a short enough time; so she wouldn't bleed out from it. There was what sounded like an apology from Mao, followed by a reassuring voice, before she felt sudden stabbing pains in her back. Those shards she had embedded in her felt like each was being slowly pulled out; the pain not quite as bad as when they had went in. A whimper left her this time, not as pitiful as before, as she slowly felt the relief that was felt from the process. Her own magic's natural healing was helping as well. If they managed to keep out of combat long enough she would be able to fight again, not that she wanted to right now.

”Th-thanks Mao. Not sure what I'd ever do without you.” The words were said while she faced forward, not wanting to look behind her and see the shards that were being pulled out. If only she could be around Mao more often. They had a lot of differences, but they got along well when they were together. Opposites attract, or so they say.

Hmm so she remained as probably the only fully functional member out of three. ’Troublesome,’ she thought without malice. Being “in charge” wasn’t a usual circumstance for the girl, and it left her feeling a little uncomfortable. However someone needed to be in charge so to speak, or at least get them back on course of the job at hand. As discomforting as Seikatsu’s statements were, he hadn’t acted as such back in the forest so ultimately Mao wouldn’t hold it against him just…be wary of the fellow when he entered that demonic state in the future. Hopefully she wouldn’t always be the target of either malicious intent or words because the notion of someone wanting to skin her tail for a coat was somewhat complimentary to the care, but mostly insulting because she certainly did NOT want to be skinned thank you very much!

The fact that his demoness companion did the knocking out might’ve evoked a laugh in better situations. Maybe.

She nodded to Altsoba, though concentrated more on the task of pulling out as many shards as she could. Some came out easily enough and others she hunted out, but she sighed, ”When we’re out of here you’ll probably want to see a physician or someone to make sure they’re all removed. I can’t be sure about slivers I’m afraid, but if you feel any particular discomfort I can take another look. For now we should leave this area.” It’d be for the best after all, given the state of shock her friend appeared to be suffering. Remaining in such close proximity to the body wouldn’t help her psyche any.

’Why won’t they utter his other name?’ It was a strange phenomenon shared between man and demon, Mao recalling Seikatsu’s near slip before. ’Perhaps he only hides it from certain people or a recent change if they slip so much…or perhaps they’re used to using it in private?’

”It’s no problem,” she assured her friend, the dark haired mage placing a few sticky bandages over the worse wounds, ”We should probably…get…moving….” Mao’s words faltered in the very amusing manner of which the knave decided to carry his “master” – or his master’s primary (and favorite) servant – one most couldn’t accomplish simply due to weight and strength. Shaking her head however, she prodded Aiyana forward, shuffling the girl out of the cave. One more thing had to be done before she left this place to be nothing more than a distant memory as both knave and bandage mage were removed from the confines of the cave and Mao returned.

Gathering her stuff, she shuffled through the man’s coat for a few bits of paper before setting fire to them and allowing his clothes to do the rest. A quick escape back to the odd, dark duet and other female, and Mao reluctantly took the lead, ”All right we can go now.”

---

HP: 97%
MP: 80%

Ignite: 2/4
Red Rage: 2/5
Cleanse: ended

It wasn't much longer before Mao finished working on the shards in her back. The tailed girl was right, she would need to see a real physician after this to make sure everything was all right. She didn't want any surprises down the road from them, especially in future jobs. She shivered as she imagined another crystal mage using any remaining shards in her back and pulling them out to hurt her. It was as she shivered that her friend prodded her into moving. They walked out of the cave, and into the last path they hadn't been through, before Mao stopped to go get her belongings.

The other woman came back a few moments later, her words insinuating that she would be the one leading for the rest of the way. She was okay with that though, Mao had taken the smallest physical beating out of the three of them, surely her mind was a bit more set on searching instead of surviving right now. Before they could move very far, Seikatsu started a small scene. It started off with the being carrying him in an amusing manner setting him down before they spoke in a strange language. It all sounded like gibberish to Aiyana, like children speaking in a made-up language only they could understand, before the man started to speak in English.

This was followed bu an apology, of a sort. It went from a small one, but slowly became one that seemed to be of major proportions. Apparently, the apology was followed by the bunny eared girl being given knowledge of some secret Seikatsu help. There was no way Aiyana would find out, as the tall man told the Sabertooth mage to “Tell no one” after it was finished.

”W-we should try and find that vault now. I just want to get out of here already.”

With that said, the young woman looked to her best friend to lead the way for them. Maybe they could all do something safe after this job. Yeah, safe. That sounded nice!

It wouldn’t remain the two girls and the stoic knight-turned-butler for long as Seikatsu came back, continuing to speak that odd, foreign language of his. She wondered where it came from, but didn’t deem it necessary to ask as the man might not bear as many answers as the woman would like. Instead he brought shock with him, well, in addition to the usually silent summons speaking – never mind revealing an actually humanoid face beneath that helm. ’I wouldn’t be surprised if it’d been a possessed set of armor.’ In fact that’s what she thought it was up until that point.

Then, whether prompted through their little conversation or not, Seikatsu fearfully threw himself at her feet, almost groveling for forgiveness. Had she been less good – or maybe neutral might be a better term? – then the mage might’ve taken more pleasure from the sight. Instead it somewhat confused her as he hadn’t really done anything beyond be a little more sinister than she’d have liked. It wasn’t as if he’d managed to go through with skinning her, focusing first on their primary target and then prevented by the demoness herself. Hell she hadn’t really thought him all there anyways since she’d seem him outside the possessed version, but he stayed adamant about entrusting her with this…secret.

Perhaps more shocking than the revelation of his true name was the fact he too could share memories with another. Fascination flooded her at the notion, curious and yet…neither companion was really in the best of health, let alone mindset to pause for an interview session. She couldn’t even think to stop and ask why he kept it secret, pondering if he refused to reveal because names could hold power over people. ’Perhaps another time,’ she mentally settled. They should find the vault as Aiyana suggested, the girl no doubt ready to bolt out of this place the moment she had a chance.

”All right,” she promised Seikatsu, though still curious as to the whys of his request, ”Just no more mentions of wanting to skin me or my tail please. Surely we’re not that far from the vault though, something tells me Mr. Goldenshrine was almost there before we interrupted.”

The two made up with each other, and now they could move along! They didn't get far before Seikatsu's wyvern was suddenly all over them. It started on Mao first, moving all over her clothes while staying on using  her claws. After a while of doing that, the small creature crawled up to the beautiful woman's tail before giving a playful nip at the tip of it and jumping at Aiyana. It was apparent she wasn't trying to attack them, the bandaged mage had enough sense in her now to realize that, but the claws still kind of hurt. Hurt, that was, until they got under her shirt and started to tickle at the same time. The creature was UNDER her bandages and clothes, molesting her body in a playful mood. It cheered the girl up as she giggled a bit, something she could use after everything they had done today, as the creature jumped out of her shirt.

The wyvern latched onto her face, wriggling it's midsection in her face with an obvious intent. Not letting her have the last laugh, Aiyana stuck her tongue out and licked across the entire part of the pet's body. There was no telling how the beast would react, but Aiyana got a good laugh at it as the creature left her face and flew off into the distance. ”Liiisaaaa, come out an plaaaaay.” The playful Aiyana attitude had resurfaced, which would allow the Lamia Scale mage to keep her mind off of the depressing thoughts and her injuries long enough to get out of the god forsaken place they were in. The vault had better have some things worthwhile in them, if it was small stuff and rumors she would be infuriated, or at least strongly disappointed.

They walked a little ways, the path staying in a singular direction as they moved along. Surely this was the direction their desired goal was, as they had explored most of it due to being seperated as it was. The thought of getting close made her even more excited, although her exhaustion from the day kept her from showing much more than what she already was.

”Eep!” the prickly feeling surprised the woman, Mao stopping to try and peer at her back where the intruder clawed its way down to her tail. She had half a mind to whip the limb about to dislodge it until a familiar black, reptilian form caught her eye and made her rethink the idea. Normally she wasn’t keen on others randomly touching her tail without permission, but she couldn’t find blame against critters – especially since she took some care about using her wings. Biting the tip of one of the ends however caused her to jump, the action fuzzily reminding her of another moment she suppressed mentally. ’No, no can’t blank out now.’ There was something alarming about that memory, so for the sake of group survival and not suddenly turning into a liability she pushed it down.
 
Laughing at the even stranger antics performed against Aiyana, the chuckles died as they rounded a corner and came across a thick, large door, the square thing a few feet taller than her at least. Surrounding the edges however were thick, glittering crystals that appeared to be sweating drops, leaving her to ponder if it mightn’t be ice instead. Curious yet cautiously Mao touched one, surprised, ’No…its diamond…but…it’s as if the magical power is melting away not unlike ice. Is it because he’s…dead?’ Every few seconds the thing creaked and crackled, the inner structure likely crumbling out of their sight. It left Mao wondering as she pushed upon the door…
 
…and it readily gave way after a few seconds. The thing moved in slow motion at first, as if it required that dramatic moment with some sort of sad violin music playing in the background, but gravity won over and sped up the process so it gave a great “THUNK” with an additional “WHOOSH” as air rushed out from beneath the heavy structure. Glittering gold piles shone in the room, sending out silent siren calls to those who might love the glowing sheen of treasure. ’I guess there’s some advantage to him getting here first, we must’ve interrupted him at the final step.’
 

Entering the room she peered around, though it would seem no further traps existed. Whatever they might’ve run into the belated Mr. Goldenshrine had kindly dealt with them beforehand so they were free to scour around as they pleased. Upon closer inspection though, Mao began to wonder if the treasure was merely a clever disguise, because as she neared a pile and peered over it, she discovered a strange stack of lacrima as well as what looked to be special photo albums, some magical seal meant to preserve the pictures inside. Opening the book, her expression fell to a mix of confusion and disbelief, ’The hell…they’re posing…for pictures. This…is this some sort of…selfie album?!’ The lacrima felt more daunting for reasons she couldn’t begin to fathom, some instinct declaring she shouldn’t activate one.

It wasn't long after Lisa’s little stunt that they came upon a large, thick, door. It was square in shape, and taller than her and Mao. The edges were glittering, and definitely were not part of the original design of the sealed door. Aiyana realized, while Mao was inspecting them, that they were crystals. 'Wow, that means Goldenshrine was in the process of opening the vault just before he found us.' Her thought was followed by a push from Mao upon the door that was creaking and crackling, the target of the said push starting to slowly move. It didn't take long for momentum to work it's scientific duty, the door falling ever more quickly before slamming down against the floor. With a loud crash, and a blast of air, the inside of the vault was revealed to the trio that had worked their way to earn this opening.

The group walked into the money filled room, only for the group to find strange things mixed in with the massive fortunes. ”What's on the lacrimas?” The question was stated as she picked one up, charging it with her magic to activate the item. A screen popped up out of it, revealing an odd, black and white, video of a woman standing in front of whomever was recording her. A name popped up, probably the girl's, before they started directing the heavily clothed woman into various poses. Most of them were things you would see at a formal party, or a royal ball. It was all so...serious, like someone would enjoy seeing someone act normal.

”All right, now for the grand finale!” The words were followed by the woman's video turning a darker shade of gray, presumably her blushing, as her hands grabbed onto her own dress. She pulled ever so slightly, revealing the ankle of the leg she was no holding out away from her body. The position was held for a bit before the video ended.

”Uh...what did I just watch? Old timey porn or something?” That's all she could think it could be at that point. Why else would revealing your ankle be called 'the grand finale' unless it was something special. She set the lacrima down, wondering just how many of the hundreds of the lacrima were of similar videos. ”Wow, they were a lot more perverted than I expected...”

Old timey porn? And she had this silly photo album…”I’m not entirely sure if this is a vault of great magical goods…or merely their hidden stash of odd things. Unless these are to throw off treasure seekers…” It could be possible that something silly like their porn cache and photograph collections could be used to lead thieves into believing they’d found nothing as important as they initially thought. Heavens knows she was ready to dump the book back down and leave to report they’d found silly garbage in sorts. ’Then again, this could be considered treasure to some…’
 
A small part of her wanted to keep the photo album if only for the sake of laughing later, but honestly she’d probably turn it into the Magic Council to do with it whatever they pleased. Gods knows it really held little use beyond it. Tack on the fact that these photos would be ingrained on a memory crystal anyhow, and keeping the album became a moot point entirely. ’That strange moment when you’re not sure if a memory is worth preserving or not.’ And yet she continued to flip through and stare at the photos, unable to help a few giggles as these once “great men” took on sillier and sillier poses. ’I suppose if nothing else, they had a good time in the end. Nice to know even those in power might have a sense of humor.’
 
Curious no thanks to Aiyana, Mao viewed one of the orbs and then promptly dropped it, not quite understanding the point of the video. The woman blushed and playfully waved the camera holder away, but that near full wetsuit of a bathing suit really didn’t reveal much aside from some arm and leg, the stripes not particularly becoming of the woman either. Even the swim cap did little to impress, and overall by their standards today it would’ve been a part of some comedy act. Sure Mao wasn’t one to go waving her skin about, but she didn’t actually view it as scandalous to do such, just not something she particularly cared for given a choice. Her layers were comfortable damn it. Uncaring to view another she stopped when she spied a small, black box with slightly ornate designs on it.
 
 

The carved message intrigued her, opening the box to find what appeared to be an opalescent orb inside, the glow of the crystal sphere pretty even as she sensed nothing from it. ’Well, they did say we could keep one thing each. I don’t know what it is…but the box is pretty at least.’ The glistening of the lacquer pleased her enough to choose the object, even if the thing inside hardly registered any magical presence to it. The Council could definitely keep the odd albums and questionable lacrima everywhere though, as well as the few actual caches of treasure hidden amongst the stranger stacks.

MP: 86% (-5% for D rank spell, +2% MP Regen)

SPirit barrier:

She was allowed to take a magical item from this place, but she saw nothing that directly interested her from what was littered amongst the lacrima and books. 'What do I want? Maybe I should just grab a random one and take that?' She looked to Mao, who seemed to have found something that peaked her interest as she looked it over. Why couldn't something here draw her eye like the item had drawn her friends? It was then that the explosion of Seikatsu's went off, the girl dropping to the ground in a slight panic at the suddeness of it all. After getting up, and dusting herself off quickly, the saw the man had made quite the hole in the wall; which he was now stepping through.

She stopped paying attention to the man for a bit after that, looking around again with dirt and debris now littering the bounty they were scouring. It was then she saw the small box that caught her eye. It was a black velvet fabric covered box, partially open to reveal something reflecting the light hitting it. ”I wonder what that is,” she mumbled as she bent down to pick it up. Opening the box revealed a beautiful ring, one she would call her own now that she had seen it. The ring was made of onyx, a black material that was very sturdy, It was what was placed in the ring that was what made her decide on taking it. It was a dragon's eye! Not a jewel in it's fashion, but the real deal! Not only that, the color of the eye was a rainbow of sorts, the color of every element inside of it. ”A rainbow dragon eye?” She asked the question quietly to herself before closing the box and lowering her arms to her sides, the box kept in hand as Seikatsu began speaking to her.

He thanked her for inviting him on the mission before he used an item, causing him to disappear. It was then she learned what had caused the deer from the heavens to appear when she had been waiting for them at the beginning, as a dead deer flew into the wall with a loud 'thud' before sliding down the wall in an almost comical fashion. A sigh left her lips as she shook her head, eyes closed as this was done. She looked to Mao, the last companion with her, before speaking up. ”Let's get out of here and report this, so we can put this behind us.”