Cross Effects 3.0 - April 13, 2015—June 23, 2016

[YOLF]

Butler

He laid the glass down at once and straightened himself to stand at attention for his master. "A few hours," he retorted. "Your recovery was impressive, considering how the trauma appeared to go far beyond your arm."

Butler tilted his head curiously, peering at Suiren's missing limb. "If I may ask, who was that?"

[Kat]

Richard Maxwell

Richard shrugged nonchalantly, his expression as bored as a chess board.

"There have been bigger and badder fishes around in here, and no warning was given for them. If it really was just a few armed hooligans, there wouldn't be much of an issue now would there? If you ask me, there is something fishy about this whole thing."

That, and he just didn't like the idea of having some shmucks rampage about in his city. If something happened to Forest, he wouldn't be able to kill her. She would come, there wasn't even any question about it. That is, if that whole goody two shoes hero talk wasn't a lie.

He doubted it. He could smell a liar from a mile away, and all she smelled of was-

What did she smell like again? He wasn't so sure really. But she wasn't lying that time!


Richard and company finally arrived to the blast furnace. What he saw, he didn't like one bit. With that in mind, it wouldn't be wise to charge in, so he'd let Michael do it for him.

"Mikey, Rikuyo, do your thing." He calmly ordered with a faint smile.

Rikuyo

Few of those gangers were retreating already from the battlefield which was already roughed up a bit by someone. "Meh, just leftovers" She was pretty dissappointed there wasn't enough practice targets as she'd like them to be. Perhaps she would really have to go and find that Forest woman. When the straggles run into her group, they opened a fire, a trio of masked gangers shooting at them with Ingrams. "Whoa!" That caught her off-guard. For a firearm to shoot without reloading, what kind of sorcery was that? Bullets riddled her body, damaging the clothes she barely stole. Not again. Bleeding and pissed off, her regenerating body ejected the lead.

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura

Sakura continued to walk towards Irisviel with a smile. However, that smile turned into a frown as Togan continued to speak.

"You don't expect me to do all of this for free, do you?" he said.

Hearing that, Sakura immediately turned around, clearly angered by his comment.

"Given that you offered to do it completely unsolicited, and given that you intend to go there regardless, yes, I kind-of was expecting you to do it for free, actually", she said in a raised voice, clearly angered by his attitude.

"How dare you try to use my husband's life as a bargaining chip to get whatever it is that you want from me", she continued, maddened that someone would use Shirou as an emotional hostage in that manner.

Sakura simply did not trust his intentions, at all. Whilst he had previously claimed he would not lie, she was not at-all convinced he would not trick her into something she really did not want. She simply could not risk making a contract with him, not when she could so easily just go along herself.

Then, she turned to Irisviel, trying to calm herself.

"Sorry, Irisviel, but I think I will have to go after all. I do not trust Togan not to try to take advantage of me", she said, clearly annoyed at Togan.

[Kaze]

AKIHOLARME

Rebeca wasn’t recovering. Whatever it was she was suffering from, her magic was unable to help. The wavy dark wisps were fading from her, but she still remained unconscious. Aki’s face contorted into a tight frown, not sure what to do, when she was distracted by Crest bodily throwing Caedia across the room.

The Imperial Legate quickly got to her feet, one hand on the hilt of her enchanted sword and flickering flames forming in the other, but she did not yet move to attack. Crest was on his knees, panting and sweating, and around him swam indescribable black lines, the only close comparison being to malevolent ribbons. Everything about them was wrong, the way they jerked and swayed in the air, the impossible dimensions, just looking at them made Aki feel slightly ill.

It was the same sort of darkness that had been radiating from Rebeca only moments before.

“What have you done?” she asked him in a cold voice, her face hard and unforgiving. If this man was the cause of Rebeca’s illness she would make him explain what had happened and how to fix it.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Tohuw Balagan

What?

The air around the three immediately froze, chills running down their spines as the cold grip of frozen fury overtook the room.

Tohuw's eyes narrowed in displeasure. What he felt at the moment was nothing short but the apex of indignation. For a second there, his fists clenched and his teeth gritted. That idiotic statement was an insult to his very nature, an insult he would not tolerate.

That filthy, impudent child. How dare she, how dare she speak to him like that?  She had no right, no right to raise her voice at him. She had no respect. To fail to give due respect to he, Tohuw Balagan, was a sin worthy of death.

And for that, she would not be forgiven easily.

Even so, he would forgive. He'd give her a chance, wether she'd take it or not was up to her.

With a calm, kind and polite smile, he laid a friendly hand on Sakura's shoulder and glared at her with an icy stare.

"I'm afraid that won't do at all. My master clearly does not wish you to be in harm's way, I am afraid you going there is a big bad no no. Now, about that funny little comment you made..."

Suddenly, he squeezed the shoulder viciously. He was trying not to sound angry, but there was only so much he could do. With that, his smile grew and he closed his eyes innocently. Despite his gentle face, it looked like he'd lunge at her at any second.

"Make no mistake, it would be so so easy to look for your husband and bring him to you. Finding that Rider woman would be a piece of cake. It's so simple it's boring. Dull. The thing is, one of my rules is that I never do anything for free. That will not change today. Please, do try to put that valuable piece of information in your sad deformed excuse of a cranium. If I am going to do any favors, I do expect you to do the same in return. It is what some call common courtesy."

Finally, he took a deep breath and settled down. Sighing, he let go of her and carried on nonchalantly, with an unimpressed and bored look.

"All I want is for you to keep an eye out for interesting happenings and unusual things. If you find something odd, I'd like you to let me know. That is all. Is it really worth it to throw a fuss over this? Is a chance to reunite with your loved ones not worth this small effort?"

[Kaze]

KOTOMINE KIREI

Something burst from the far room. It was blazing blue and white, so bright it was painful to look upon, and so hot that the temperature immediately jumped several degrees upon its arrival, and continued to climb. Twin jets of flame burst forth, one on each side of the priest, seemingly to corral him into a corner as the entity advanced, burning as brilliantly as any star. In the back of his mind he registered an alarm sounding as the fire suppression system kicked on, but the droplets of water that started raining from the roof were dismally incapable of combating such intensely hot flames, evaporating well before touching the ground. Kotomine’s eyebrow twitched slightly in irritation.

Once more the floor burst up from underneath, but this time instead of tentacles a solid wall rose between the robed man and the being of fire, thick and black like endless night, as though in defiance of the intense, burning light. Several more spikes shot from below, starting to melt even as they moved, but managing to pierce through to the creature, in hopes of killing it and ending the threat quickly.

[SINIB]

Sakura

Senpai should have done that... Sakura thought.

"I don't even want to see him, Nee-san...he's something that baffles me, scares me. I don't know how to deal with it, him." Sakura's gloom permeated her entire being. "I guess anything is possible in the Nexus..." Sakura mumbled. Sakura twitched slightly as she spoke. "I just can't deal with it!" Sakura pleaded, looking up at the ceiling now as she continued to speak, wide eyed with terror and confusion. "What is he, why is he here, why does he exist? Why did-how-what?"

[Panda]

Michael

Pantheon's earth, looks like someone got here first and stole all the fun.

Looking around at the blasted carnage that now adorned the Blast Furnace's yard, Michael allowed a sigh as he shook his head in disappointment.

"Looks like we were a bit late," Michael pointed out, Enhancement flowing through his body anew as a trio of masked gangers approached the group, "Well this is a let-down."

The trio started firing, full-auto fire at close range from three separate weapons.

A challenge?

The staff lashed out, as if moved by a will of its own as it deflected every bullet that might have hit them before extending, snatching up one of the gangers and tossing them aside before whipping back around to smash into the hand of another, shattering it. The hook at the end of this version of the staff was put to good use here, snatching the firearm from the disabled ganger to bring it back into Michael's hands, the immortal switching to a one-handed grip on the staff to accommodate the new weapon.

Or not.

Lazily taking aim, Michael squeezed the trigger once, a bullet find its home in its former owner's kneecap before he trained the weapon on the first ganger, opting to shatter that ganger's shin with a well-placed shot.

"Last one's yours," Michael called out, as he dashed at the stragglers, gun in one hand and staff in the other.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Ghost Child

The spirit abandoned the flesh and waved goodbye with a wide smile as the troll was dragged screaming underground. He casually floated through the fire and sang a nameless song as he sailed through the wall of black. "Mockingbird, mockingbird, quiet and still, what do you see from the top of that hill? Can you see up? Can you see down? Can you see the dead things all about town?"

He placed the side of his open hand on his forehead and made a show of looking around. With a moment of feigned surprise he looked at the priest and quickly followed up with diving into the man's skin.

[Panda]

Adjutor

Adjutor watched as Laivatain, a blazing inferno true to the name Fire Elemental, blazed forth, only for the the man to put up a wall. Squinting to get through whatever part of the glare that the Armogarians didn't block, the teen watched as spikes burst from ground to try to pierce Laivatain, cocking an eyebrow as they started to melt before they even got to the Elemental.

Rahab?

Pincer.

Laivatain barely registered the spikes as they continued to melt in the echoes of its fury. Had it the capability to do so, the portion of Adjutor's personality taken by the Elemental might have had it frowning at the man's barricade.

Impudence.

With that, the inferno gathered itself, focusing enough of its fire extend a painfully bright blaze of fire, focused like the flame from a welder's blowtorch taken up to eleven, to try to cut through the wall that separated them.

Meanwhile, Tyrfing watched the priest from the shadow of the wall as the child made for the priest.

Got him.

Adjutor tightened his grip on Rahab, mana flowing into the blade. The Elemental left Adjutor, de-materializing as it circled around behind the priest. With that, it sank into the ground and partially manifested, impaling spikes of ice bursting from the ground beneath and behind the priest, all aiming to skewer the man.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Richard Maxwell

Richard looked at the three impassively. With a snap of his fingers, thre columns of water shot forward and splashed the Helloweeners before freezing them in an icy prison. He should've gutted them, but luckily Michael spared them that fate.

"You scum, you don't have the right to so much as touch her." He muttered coldly before walking forward, a considerable amount of water slithering and coiling around him like serpents.

For a second, he would've sworn seeing that boy from earlier. And there were noises coming from the furnace...

Something fishy was happening.

"The furnace is on. Going in now would be risky, we need to find a way to shut it down."

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura

As soon as she spoke, Sakura felt a cold chill run down her spine. She heard Togan approach her from behind and, then, place a hand gently on her shoulder.

"I'm afraid that won't do at all. My master clearly does not wish you to be in harm's way, I am afraid you going there is a big bad no no", he began.

Well, there's an easy solution to that..., Sakura thought, still extremely annoyed at his attitude.

"Now, about that funny little comment you made...", he continued, suddenly squeezing her shoulder hard, the anger becoming clear in his voice.

"Make no mistake, it would be so so easy to look for your husband and bring him to you. Finding that Rider woman would be a piece of cake. It's so simple it's boring. Dull. The thing is, one of my rules is that I never do anything for free. That will not change today. Please, do try to put that valuable piece of information in your sad deformed excuse of a cranium. If I am going to do any favors, I do expect you to do the same in return. It is what some call common courtesy."

Sakura's face started to screw up with anger once more.

He could do so much, yet he refuses to help without some sort of "payment". What sort of person is he? she thought. He should be glad we do not share his idea of "common courtesy".

Then, he released his grip on her, and spoke once more, calmer now.

"All I want is for you to keep an eye out for interesting happenings and unusual things. If you find something odd, I'd like you to let me know. That is all. Is it really worth it to throw a fuss over this? Is a chance to reunite with your loved ones not worth this small effort?" he said.

Sakura sighed. Whilst his attitude was somewhat irritating, at least his demands were seemingly reasonable. As long as she could be sure there was no trap or trick involved, she would gladly accept.

She turned to Togan and stared at him, before speaking.

"Togan, you should be glad that we do not share your idea of 'common courtesy'. If Irisviel thought like you, you would be dead right now....

However, your request is reasonable, and I would be happy to do as you wish. Before we make any agreement, however, I would like to know what the penalty for failure is. What happens if I forget, or cannot contact you for whatever reason?", she said, calmly.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Toe-huh Ballgun

Tohuw's fancy monocle immediately cracked at the dead part. Even so, he listened. He listened to that child's ramblings, and once she was done he grabbed on her face tightly with his two gloved hands and looked straight at her.

His one visible eye narrowed before widening unnaturally, his purple snakelike iris squinting. While the demon's voice was calm, it was cold enough to freeze someone to the bone, a soothing voice concealing a burning wrath like a red hot dagger in his throat.

"Listen very carefully, Sakura Matou. If you fail, absolutely nothing will happen. It's alright, I am reasonable. I know you cannot ensure contact at all times. It's alright if you can't do it at all times, just as long as you manage to do it. It's alright, I won't hold it against you in any way. I won't be mad."

Then, he sighed and took a deep breath before giving Sakura a sad look. His voice immediately became much softer, like a sweet whisper.

"However, what is not alright is for you to talk to me in such a way. It is not alright for you to talk to me like this. It is not alright for you to show such disrespect to me, Togan. If Irisviel wasn't related to you, you would be dead right now. The fact you are still breathing is only because of this common courtesy. A demon's pride is not to be trifled with milady, it was stupid of you."

[SINIB]

Irisviel

Irisviel walked up and calmly tapped Towuh's shoulder. "Hey, hey, I think things have gotten pretty out of control here. If Sakura apologizes, can you let it go, just this once? She made a mistake, but I'm sure she regrets it and understands why what she said was wrong, right?" She said calmly.

Things had gotten way out of hand. She's expected Sakura to be far more polite and mature, a faith that had obviously been misplaced.

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura

Sakura sighed. She knew Irisviel was just trying to calm the situation but, nevertheless, her taking Togan's side so totally was extremely grating. Particularly when she had a contract with him, and could easily order him to stop treating her so horribly. Still, she knew she couldn't afford to upset people further.

"I'm sorry for being disrespectful", Sakura said, being careful to keep an entirely neutral tone and hide her annoyance at being forced to apologise for doing nothing wrong, before turning to Irisviel.

"Now, let's go and eat", she continued, waiting for Toe to let go of her shoulder.

I hope I find Rider and Shirou soon, so I can get away from this stupid demon before he causes me real harm.

Sakura, frankly, wanted absolutely nothing to do with Togan any more. He was nothing but hassle. He constantly bullied her and put them in danger with his stupid games and pranks and, yet, wouldn't lift a finger to help her without payment in kind, even though he could do so without any real effort on his part. She was beginning to wish that Irisviel had simply left him to die.