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[Empiricist]

Shef
You're on the way to that bar when you spot something on your phone, another gossip article, trashy as always and linking to a social media feed. The content is spread thin, there's not enough, but it's enough: she's just been spotted with Patricija and Yuki in a hotel not too far from here. If there's articles about it, no doubt more gawkers will be showing up, a nice crowd to blend into, a crowd assailants and your adversary could very well be hiding in.

Faith
The twin nod in unison, Luna tossing the ball up with a slash of her regalia with Sol following it up with a vicious downwards thrust that sends the ball flying down aimed a fair bit above your head. He's aiming to bounce it off the wall and ricochet it into the ground behind you.

[Strider03]

"Oh, good." Better to head over that way now, and figure out the events of the previous night later, if that even turned out to be necessary. So, without hesitation, Shef headed off in that direction at a brisk pace.

[Chevaleresse]

Noriko's eyes widened slightly. "<Your Highness?>" she asked aloud (with a rather heavy accent), though she had enough presence of mind to at least do so quietly enough that only those immediately nearby would be able to hear it. "Yuki, did that lady just call her a princess or something?"

[Powder Miner]

"Right!" Faith aimed to stop the ball from getting to the wall to reach it in the first place - once the ball started being flung downward, Faith immediately moved an arm to her palm was, underhanded, facing the ball -- and she fired a Freedom Beam off at it. Hopefully it would make it go high up enough to completely ruin the bounce's trajectory!

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Attempt to block the incoming spear with one of the weapons. Use Gleipnir, summoning it around Pugilist 03 to stop 03 in their tracks while using another weapon to intercept 04's thrust and counter with a thrust into the chest with the dao.
[[6] 6 3 6 1 [5] 2 5 5 2]

[Empiricist]

Faith
Your beam erupts out, you may be holding back this time but it's still got some oomph, blasting the ball up and ricocheting it off the arena's ceiling. Sol just kinda walks backwards robotically reaching up his free hand for the ball, not that it ever touches it. It stops in the air, glowing an angry pulsing orange.

For a moment you thought he bewitched the ball, enchanted it, halted it, but as the sphere expands, as it burns with that same orange light and its surface erupts with great violent prominences you realize how wrong you were. He didn't stop it, he trapped it, imprisoned it, within the depths of a miniature star, a star the size of a beachball, crackling with heat and roaring with great gouts of starfire.


Well, at least the naming's on point.

"Your attacks are powerful;"
"Your attacks are limited;"

"You hold great power;"
"So why focus it?"

"Focusing helps ensure a kill yes, but you do not always need a kill. Sometimes what you need is a hit, a solid, reliable hit. A blow that leaves them open; a strike that leaves no hope for escape; when your foe is rendered vulnerable then you can strike."

"That, is the true strength of a magus like yourself not simple destructive power, but rather the capacity to make even a single hit decisive and even a single mistake guaranteed death."


With a gesture Sol sends the miniature star swinging down in a fast arc, aiming to slam dunk it right in the front center of your court. Luna meanwhile launches a second ball (wait, why is there a second ball?!) in a high arcing trajectory aiming for the far left rear corner of your side.

"Diversify."
"Or perish."

Minato

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Minato: 6, Hyper[5]

Alabaster Pugilist 02: 5
Alabaster Pugilist 03: 6
Alabaster Pugilist 04: 3
Alabaster Pugilist 05: 6
Alabaster Pugilist 06: 3
Alabaster Pugilist 07: 2
Alabaster Pugilist 08: 1
Alabaster Pugilist 09: 4
Alabaster Pugilist 10: 4

[Now Playing:

Sacrifice

]

02 charges at you, dropping its free arm and swinging its spear arm forwards in a windmilling motion as it makes one final leap. The spear burns bright and erupts forwards with a pulse of light and rush of air, now less spear and more beam, one that slams against a shield and slams hard. Like harder than you'll be slamming Faith, since you're  a gentleman and not y'know, a burning erection hardened out of weaponized lifeforce and homicidal intent. Your shield shatters and detonates, ablating the spear and deflecting what remains of it

With the explosion in your face 03 and 04 take the chance to get right up in your grill to shank you harder some sort of hypothetical jackhammer-turned-shiv. You block 04's blow easily, using some of your arrayed weapons to force their weapon up as you step forwards and drive the dao against its chest, right as 03 drives its spear into your side. It's not a clean blow, your conjured chain has ensnared the weapon and your armor prevented it from piercing, by boy it is not pleasant, it's a whole lotta force focused right on a single point, driving your right back against the wall. Glepnir has its uses, but without sacrifice its range is still limited, it's long enough to death with a sword sure, but when you're foes aren't planning on touching you without a suitably long pole and are actively trying to skewer you with said poles, it's not going to come out fast enough.

So the pillar cracks and crumbles behind you as 04 staggers backwards its chest cracked and damaged, but 03 ain't relenting, its spear glows bright as its fan howls louder and louder, about to discharge the spear as a point-blank beam. Sensing blood in the water units 05 through to 08 ready their spears to hurl from multiple angles, stagger fired too - they're trying to make you trade one forgery for one spear each. Units 09 and 10 stand at the ready on your flanks, weapons levelled to run you through if you try to break through that way. 02 simply returns to stance, readying itself.

Okay, so you're not invincible, you're not infallible, but if they think they'd got the upper hand now, they've got another thing coming.

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)

Minato
Status: Somewhat hurt, Glepnir, 6 stockpiled units
World Line: 6 3 6 1 2 5 5 2 4 2
Alterations: 10
Resolve: 3

Alabaster Pugilist 01
Status: Defeated

Alabaster Pugilist 02
Status: Fine

Alabaster Pugilist 03
Status: Fine, weapon is ensnared

Alabaster Pugilist 04
Status: Chest armor is cracked open at the front, staggered

Alabaster Pugilist 05
Status: Fine

Alabaster Pugilist 06
Status: Fine

Alabaster Pugilist 07
Status: Fine

Alabaster Pugilist 08
Status: Fine, off-balance

Alabaster Pugilist 09
Status: Fine

Alabaster Pugilist 10
Status: Fine

Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)

A surprise bind ain't a bad move, but when your foes are relying on using their reach to outrange you, you'll need to sacrifice stockpiled units if you wanna lengthen it to close the gap in time.

[Twinwolf]

Noriko's eyes widened slightly. "<Your Highness?>" she asked aloud (with a rather heavy accent), though she had enough presence of mind to at least do so quietly enough that only those immediately nearby would be able to hear it. "Yuki, did that lady just call her a princess or something?"

"Yeah, they did. Guess she's a princess. Wonder if it's figurative like 'princess of this festival' or literal like 'princess of the town'? Guess we'll see! I wonder what people think of us making friends with royalty on our first night in town?"

[Empiricist]

Noriko and Yuki
"<And done! Let's head to the hub, there's a rail station close by we can use.>"
And with that you walk out into thr bustling crowds of Harold Holt Square.

First thing you notice is the stone effigy the eponymous former Prime Minister turned isekai protagonist. It stands triumphantly, boomerang in one hand, oversized knife in the other, the floating statue secured to its base with a copy of his ground harness. He uh, well he certainly looks different to how the history books depicted him.

Festive lights and stalls have been arrayed out around the statue, a more familiar albeit fantastical touch compared to the buildings you find around you, some of which are less buildings and more enormous constructs consisting of floating panels and shifting walkways.

The princess leads you two onwards as a Nitro Express train crashes into a nearby building, torn apart from within to a cascade of camera flashes, neither the building itself nor the crowd below apparently too concerned about what just transpired.

Shef
The Nitro Express as it was called was named for two things: its speed evocative of nitrous oxide, and it's volatility evocative of nitroglycerin. These trains only run during the Festival of Arms, express trains accessible only to registered combatants, and liable to quite literally explode with violence at any given time. You watch as radiant lines trace across its form as great serpents of arcane energy tear themselves free from it, the train crumpling into dust, and soon, not even that. Inverse shielding. One of its many failsafes.

You didn't take the express, that'd have just drawn too much attention. Besides, it'd only take a stray bullet to bring your illusion down to reboot mode and blow the whole op. You took a "regular" train, and are now surveying the scene from above at the station.

You see your protectorates trailing the princess across the square, you see a few curious faces turning to follow them, you see an ominous figure peak out from the window of a nearby building, dressed in a sharp suit and a paperbag that bears only a single eye hole to the side, and you see a lady clad in red cautiously tailing the trio.

Either could just be curious. Either could be after them. Either could the the adversary. Either or neither.

[Strider03]

Two unknowns, at least. The bag-head was the one who interested Shef more. He had a vantage point, in a building. Most likely, he was a more skilled tail, if he was tailing. It was of course possible that he was preparing an ambush.

Shef made note of the building the man was in, and its connections to adjacent buildings. If it lacked connections, yet he managed to move quickly between vantage points, that would provide insight on his mobility. Secondly, the woman, at what distance was she tailing, and how obvious was she making it? Did she seem distracted, checking for other tails, the like?

Did he note anyone in particular exiting the Nitro Express, it would not do to be unaware of a possible wild card battle in close proximity? And of course, Shef made certain to survey his own surroundings, noting anyone at the station who might be of use. So much to take in, and he still needed more intel to determine his next move.

[Empiricist]

Shef
Baghead is inside a library with connections to some of the nearby commercial buildings and the part of the city behind it (this area is somewhat terraced, occurring in a sort of urban valley with grand stairs leading down into the square from each side). Red meanwhile is pretty discrete about tailing from the trio's perspective, but someone like you with a good vantage point won't have much trouble seeing what she's doing.

A few people are descending from the crumbling remains of the Nitro express, adventurers and combatants in all kinds of outfits, the main two of interest being a mage surrounded by giant arcane serpents, and a swordsperson with a blade glistening with the same light as the the rends that tore apart the train, guessing they must've derailed it in their fight.

Possible assets around you, that's a bit trickier. Your Requiem's not as powerful here given that here the populace is all Awakened, meaning absolute control could very well fail and spark a brawl, not something you want. You'll need a gentler approach here, you see train conductors you could inquire, a tour group you could follow, and a few adventurers chatting. Still people are coming in and out, so the crowd's ever-changing right here.

[Strider03]

Shef stepped away from his vantage point, and began pressing a few things on his combat pass. He needed to see whether the adversary was nearby. Likely was, but a guarantee would be good.

No point in doing anything with the adventurers or the conductors right now. He would however, try to sidle up to the tour group, and listen in on where they were headed, to see if that'd fit his needs. If that didn't seem useful, he'd just keep up his own observation. Shef idly tried to recall whether he'd seen anything regarding the princess's awakened abilities.

[Empiricist]

Shef
No ping response, but they're not too close either. You may need to get in closer to check them with the ping function. Tour group's headed to that library building.

[Strider03]

That would do. Shef considered the fact that he couldn't simply hang around at the station all day watching people below without some people noticing. So, he shuffled in at the back of the tour group, looking around to see the sights as they were pointed out, trying to glance in such a way that he could get glimpses of his wards occasionally.

[Chevaleresse]

Noriko flinched at the crash. She dearly hoped she hadn't registered for all this nonsense in her drunken ramblings; sure, it'd probably make for some good practice, and may well have been fun in a different situation, but right now she just wanted to get back to her bungalow and her little brother.  "Um, are we taking one of the trains that explode?" The crowd made her nervous, too. She didn't like having this many people staring at her, but she supposed it was inevitable. After all, she'd somehow picked up a princess. Noriko resisted the urge to groan at the thought. There were so many things wrong with this. . .

[Empiricist]

Noriko
"<No, they're for registered combatants only. We'll just be taking a regular one.>"