[BitPR2] Renewed Revolution: Mortal World III

[Dorizzit]

[Quarry]
Stones

Alpha-1 darts to the side of the Bakudo, avoiding it without effort. In response, it hurls a two-handed spread of multiplying knives Alice. The act costs it another few seconds, but that's it.

[strawberryman]

(Quarry)

Katsuo recovers from the shock of the spell quite quickly, and as she's distracted, he leaps at her again. He tries another grab, but this time, not one of submission.

If he gains a grip, he'll fling her into the ground repeatedly like a rag doll. The regeneration she exhibited, in Katsuo's mind, means she should hopefully manage through the damage.

[Dorizzit]

[Quarry]
Stones

Katsuo closes with Alpha-1 as the AI deals with more immediate threats. In a moment of stillness, it turns to face Katsuo head-on as the youth charges at it, a bright glow appearing in one hand. It quickly becomes apparent that while Katsuo has a tremendous advantage in raw strength, Alpha-1 has a significant edge in skill as it effortlessly avoids his attempt to grab it.

[TherianTheorist]

"No, it's just a projection. And not even a practical one. I might actually need more than that."

"How much would I need, if I wanted to try, is there an average amount?"

((Any idea how/when this scene should end?))

[Mina Kobold]

[Quarry]
Stones

Seeing Alpha-1's retaliation, Alice simply leaps. Seeing little disadvantage to not having ground below her, the Shinigami uses the Quincy-made soul's distraction at Katsuo's approach to fire another Bakudo. Careful to be quick enough for it to hit before Katsuo gets too close, though this necessitates that the Bakudo is again simple and unlikely to stop Alpha-1 for long even if it hits.

[Kuroimaken]

"How much would I need, if I wanted to try, is there an average amount?"

((Any idea how/when this scene should end?))

"Probably not much. It's hard to procure though, so let's not get too bogged on the details unless you're planning on actually using it.

Anyway... I guess that concludes our little Q&A session. Got everything you needed?"

[TherianTheorist]

"Yes, if not a bit more. Thank you." Torahiko looks around, how long did that conversation take? "I should probably get going."

[Kuroimaken]

"Oh yeah, here." Hasunaga reaches into his suit's pocket and brings out a card.

"It has my phone number, in case you need to call."

[TherianTheorist]

"Right, Goodbye." Torahiko takes the card and stuffs it into his ever present messenger bag. And so he walks away, armed with all the knowledge a crash course can provide.

[strawberryman]

(Quarry)

Katsuo grabbing the AI had seemed to become predictable. And so, the key here was to be unpredictable.

With a sudden shift, Katsuo... stomps. The quake is more than enough to throw A1 off balance if she's on the ground, and there's a massive cloud of debris left behind by the crater left behind. He doesn't give her time to adapt, however, as he leaps forward with continuous grabs and stomps, obscuring his trajectory and echoing in the quarry with a cacophony of sound.

[Dorizzit]

[Quarry]
Dust Cloud

Alpha-1 is initially thrown off balance by Katsuo's stomp, but manages to slip away from his grasp once more. It fades back into the dust cloud, but then suddenly reappears behind Katsuo. Without a word or warning, it releases its charging Cero at him, a blast containing power superior to even the earlier spell.

[KnightDisciple]

Chuck hadn't done much up to this point. Likely a combination of shock and non-lethal techniques. But this inactivity meant that the others had likely lost track of him. Such was the way of the hunter, it seemed.

Because out of nowhere, right as Alpha-1 was aiming that Cero, a bright bolt of blue power flew with incredible precision directly at the artificial human's shoulder. It was not enough to destroy the limb, but it was enough to cause damage and discomfort, and likely throw off Alpha-1's aim.

Which should leave an opening for Katsuo.

After that bolt, others would follow at regular intervals. Sometimes a foot, sometimes a hand, or the ankle, or a knee, or elbow, or shoulder. Joints, limbs, extremities. Decidedly non-lethal for a being with high-powered regeneration, but still such strikes as to cause issue with aim and footing.

[Dorizzit]

Taken by surprise, Alpha-1's aim is indeed thrown off by the bullet, carving a massive trail of destruction into the landscape just to the side of Katsuo.

[Mina Kobold]

[Quarry]
Slightly Dusty Area

Alice lands about ten metres from the brawl between Alpha-1 and Katsuo. Cheshire in hand, the red-clad Shinigami circles the fight left and right, attempting to block escape away from Katsuo or Chuck. Unlike Chuck, Alice doesn't seem quite as confident about firing into a mêlée, at least for the moment.

[Kuroimaken]

For the first time since this entire affair started, Shinji moves to close in. He holds an ofuda in each hand, and he seems to dash desperately forward in an attempt to press it up against Alpha-1's chest.

Fuu-ki provides cover in the form of a gale meant to inhibit Alpha-1's movements. Though its master's attack had about as big a chance to hit as a snowball in a desert.

Kin-ki is nowhere to be found. Dismissed, perhaps, to allow for whatever tactic Shinji had in mind?

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Dorizzit, if Alpha-1 has any particularly enhanced senses, now would be a good time to tell me.

[strawberryman]

(Quarry)

Katsuo leaps over the cero as Chuck flies into action, his fist roaring as he brings it down for a heavy blow right towards A1's head. On impact, there's a crack of thunder as Katsuo's strength breaks the very air.

[Dorizzit]

Alpha-1, surrounded on all sides, suddenly thrusts one arm into the air. It begins to glow brightly.

"Supernova."

Alpha-1's hand detonates with extreme force, blasting away and likely injuring anyone nearby to the AI. When the dust clears, Alpha-1 is hunched over in the crater left behind, most of its forearm gone. It begins regenerating at a rapid pace, however.

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Alpha-1 has hypersensitive senses across the board, as well as superb filtering capabilities. It also has extremely keen spiritual senses.

[Kuroimaken]

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She knows there is something hidden not too far nearby. It's hiding pretty well, but she can still sense it.

Shinji's face melts away in horror to reveal...

...Kin-ki?

"Tenji no Sanhou: Metsu!"

Alpha-1 will find her legs are quickly wrapped by some sort of thorned vine.

"Anderson! Her other arm!"

No time to wait for his friend's reaction.

"Tenji no Shihou: Metsu!"

A large weight briefly falls towards her back. If she's lucky, it will just shatter her shoulderbones, and then disappear.

If she's UNlucky, and/or can't get away, she'll be pinned underneath it.

Regardless, out of the shadows springs one more Oni. They probably don't know it, but its name is Ongyou-ki.

And it holds an ofuda in his hand, which it will try to affix to Alpha-1.

[strawberryman]

(Quarry)

The moment A1's arm begins to glow, Katsuo dives... downward? Embedding his arms in the ground, he's battered by the spell, now bleeding from his arms and chest and bruised and burned in places... but still moving, as he pulls his arms up, with a huge chunk of rock, which he splits with the movement of his arms...

And then strikes as Shinji attempts to bind her, the rock likely shattering on impact, but only adding to Katsuo's considerable strength.

[Dorizzit]

Legs trapped by Shinji's vines. Both(?) arms damaged and regenerating. Shoulders broken. Body crushed in multiple locations by Katsuo's brutal assault. Alpha-1 is in a sorry state indeed. Looking less and less like an imposing automaton and more like a broken girl, the AI lies, seemingly insensate, as Ongyou-ki surges forward to deliver the O-fuda.

Then, her eyes snap open.

Curling around with inhuman speed and flexibility, Alpha-1 sinks her teeth deep into the Oni's forearm, preventing it from applying the seal. An array of knives appears in the air around the O-fuda, quickly shredding the paper without resistance. A split second later, Alpha-1 tears Ongyou-ki's arm from its body before contemptuously spitting it onto the ground. A whirling storm of knives appears around Alpha-1, deterring the surrounding combatants and simultaneously shredding both the vines restraining Alpha-1 and the AI's legs. With tremendous speed, Alpha-1 jerks into the air like a stringless puppet, blood flowing from numerous wounds.

[KnightDisciple]

Chuck had been working on lining up his next shot, the tangle of opponents making it a touch more difficult to get a clean firing line. Since he figured hitting opponents was frowned upon.

Which of course meant he didn't pull the trigger until Alpha-1 started the counter-offensive, which meant the shot went wide by a few hairs. He cursed where he knelt, adjusting his aim again...

But now Alpha-1 was airborne and flying away. At least it presented a clearer target. But what to hit? The head was out as being too probably lethal.

He settled for the shoulder he hadn't struck yet, hoping to stun the hybrid being.

[Mina Kobold]

[Quarry]

Alice, being farther away, easily dodges away from the attack, though is prevented from stopping it or retaliating. However, as the Oni and Katsuo draw Alpha-1's attention, the Shinigami mutters a few words, inaudible at the distance. Cheshire, at these words, quickly changes into large red paws and claws around Alice's arms.

As the self-regenerating Quincy-made being leaps, so does Alice. Faster than before and likely faster than most of the Mortals are capable of, the British soul reaper jumps at Alpha-1.

if the attack connects, it would feel much like being hit by a large metal shield, even though the paw that hits seem to be made of nothing but red smoke.
It is, however, not the physical damage that the cat-pawed Shinigami is aiming to inflict, but the effect of the solid smoke's contact.

[5a Violista]

[There was a post here in the which Sensei Hasunaga mused aloud and asked a question]

Hasunaga's Place

((I think, for the sake of the time-space continuum, this scene should now wrap up.))

Miya has had time to catch her breath as he mused aloud.
"Okay, I guess...that makes sense," she says, thinking.

Was there anything else special that she said which was necessary for him to know? Or, rather, that there's something that she doesn't think as too personal but which she recognizes as important so she can say it? She shakes her head and stammers. "No, I...I don't think so."

With these revelations, Tsukamoto Miya feels she should get up and go find time to think alone. So, she sets down the tea and stands up. "Excuse me," she says, turning around and taking a step back towards the door.

Then, she stops and turns back towards Hasunaga. "Do you think I should still meet with her?" she asks.

[Dorizzit]

Chuck's shot connects, and the left shoulder of Alpha-1 explodes in a shower of blood. Unfortunately, it does not even slow down as it continues to ascend. Alice, in turn, will find herself rising into a cloud of knives that materialize between her and Alpha-1.

[Kuroimaken]

Hasunaga's Place

((I think, for the sake of the time-space continuum, this scene should now wrap up.))

Miya has had time to catch her breath as he mused aloud.
"Okay, I guess...that makes sense," she says, thinking.

Was there anything else special that she said which was necessary for him to know? Or, rather, that there's something that she doesn't think as too personal but which she recognizes as important so she can say it? She shakes her head and stammers. "No, I...I don't think so."

With these revelations, Tsukamoto Miya feels she should get up and go find time to think alone. So, she sets down the tea and stands up. "Excuse me," she says, turning around and taking a step back towards the door.

Then, she stops and turns back towards Hasunaga. "Do you think I should still meet with her?" she asks.

"It's incredibly dangerous to do so and I cannot in good conscience allow you to do so on your own. So if you plan on meeting her, I would ask you to let me know when and where."

[Kuroimaken]

Chuck's shot connects, and the left shoulder of Alpha-1 explodes in a shower of blood. Unfortunately, it does not even slow down as it continues to ascend. Alice, in turn, will find herself rising into a cloud of knives that materialize between her and Alpha-1.

"No. You won't."

Alpha-1 will find that her ascent is curtailed. In fact, she'll find that gravity seems to have sped up. But only for her, and the objects which she has created through Reishi manipulation.

There's a conveniently pulsing magic circle emanating from the ground which may explain why that is to. Assuming she stops to think about it, that is.

Said circle had been inscribed by the 'erratically-moving' Shinji back when she was still fighting at ground level.

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Shinji had hoped to localize the effect onto Alpha-1, but her remaining mostly in the same spot within two out of three axis of a tridimensional grid works just as well.

What the seal does is fairly simple - it breaks down the ability to manipulate Reishi by asking the Earth to suck down all Reishi towards it like a superpowered vaccuum. The effect's strength isn't dependant on the user's will, but its ability to remain working is.

Note that while this effect is active Shinji is pretty much out of the fight, since his powers are based on utilizing and directing Reishi sucked out of the ground, and that flow is effectively locked down.

[Dorizzit]

Quarry
Sky

Alpha-1 continues to rise like an inverse meteor, but slowly, just at the edge of visibility, begins to slow. Then grinds to a halt. Then begins to fall. It flails for a few seconds, desperately trying to force powers denied to it to work through sheer willpower. When it becomes clear that it cannot, it goes limp, and allows itself to fall. Unheard, it speaks to itself.

"Civilian protection protocols have been labeled a type 3 threat to continued functionality. Deactivating in 3...2...1...protocol disabled."

As Alpha-1 approaches the ground, another glowing Cero is visible in its hand. Just before it lands, it releases the Cero directly below it, releasing a potent explosion. When the dust clears, Alpha-1 stands on the ground, a shattered bone jutting through one leg. With a single, practical motion, it forces the bone back inside and the wound begins to heal. Reiatsu, in quantities rivaling or exceeding any that those present have previously felt, explodes from AI's body, pouring from her like a blazing radiance.

"Vollständig: Lahavel."

A bladed halo appears above Alpha-1's head, and several large blades of light appear at her back. Almost immediately, they begin to disintegrate, pulled down into the earth below. Alpha-1's face curls into a snarl.

"Sklaverei."

The flow slows. Stops. And then reverses. Even in the face of the earth's strength, Alpha-1 rips the Reishi from the area around it and funnels every particle into its body. Thick, bladed armor materializes around Alpha-1's body.

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Fair warning: anyone who gets close to Alpha-1 is getting hurt. The kid gloves came off, and A1 at anything close to full power is far more powerful than anyone else in the scene.

[strawberryman]

(Quarry)

Katsuo cannot, for the large part, feel reiatsu. For the drawbacks, there is the benefit that he can fight above his weight class.

But something speaks to him. Something instinctual? Perhaps.

Run!

Katsuo, having prepared himself to dive in, halts. The daggers A1 has flung up to this point bounced harmlessly off his skin, but that something was right. He could feel the danger, even though he was desensitized.

He doesn't think from here. He hops and tries to grab Shinji, then jumps, heading away -- hoping she wouldn't give chase.

[KnightDisciple]

Chuck had held his fire as Shinji's trap activated; no use throwing energy into that trap when his bullets would probably just curve downward. He stayed put for the moment...

"Vollständig: Lahavel."

Until he heard those words. In barely more than the blink of an eye he was on his feet and yelling at his fellows.

"Everyone! Pull back! Pull back now! Get out of there!"

When he saw Katsuo grabbing Shinji and extracting, Chuck didn't bother with anything except Hirenkyaku, using the Screen Step to quickly get back away from the now-empowered artificial being.

This could get very bad, very quickly.

[Mina Kobold]

[Quarry]

Just before hitting the knives, Alice suddenly stops dead in mid-air. Doubling back, the Shinigami smoothly lands roughly where she stood before.

"Curious"

Unlike Chuck, Alice does not seem aware of what Alpha-1's words mean, being caught by surprise at the development. However, distance and speed means the SSI researcher is in little danger as she circles around the now-armoured Alpha-1, stopping near Chuck.

"Fascinating, any guess as to what happened? My knowledge of Quincy-based phenomena is quite limited."

The Shinigami seems simultaneously curious and worried. Eyes darting from Alpha-1 to Katsuo and Shinji, back to the armoured adversary.