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

[Knick]

Suiren

Suiren looked the girl, the simple human girl that dared to interfere. The girl walked up to her without a care, and demanded that she, Suiren, let this man go.

“Vanish.” Suiren said simply.

Annoyance, rage, aggravation, all those things filled her mind even more. And so her open palm touching the wreckage closed, and then swung it with inhuman speed, smacking it directly into the girl’s side with enough force to send her flying.

Suiren knew it wouldn’t kill her, that girl was strong for a human. But she had no patience to deal with someone who got in her way like this.

[yinsukin]

Medaka

The woman took a piece of the wreaked car and smacked her.  Medaka was sent flying into the wall of the police station.  A large crashing sound was heard upon impact and a dust cloud formed around the area where she had crashed.  She had broken a few bones and she had a much of cuts from the bricks of the station that scraped her upon impact.  Limping a bit, she walked out of the dust cloud and once again faced the woman, looking her straight in the eye.

"I demand that you let Lorenzo go! If you want to fight someone then ill be your opponent!"  She demanded once again.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

Why? Why was Medaka there? Why had she come?

He told her, he told her to stay away. Yet here she was, defending him from Surien’s wrath. She had come to save him, the man who hurt her, despite all. It was unbearable, utterly unbearable for him to burden her so.

He looked at the scene with a look of utter defeat, clawing at the ground and attempting pitifully to hold back choked sobs.

But then, Surien hurled the car at Medaka, and as soon as he witnessed the impact, Lorenzo began to be filled with an indescribable feeling.

Rage. Simple. Utter. Rage.

His face twisted and fingers dug into the ground, the sound of his teeth clenching and fingers scratching at the floor madly.

It was his fault, all of it. She was hurt, because of him. She hurt her, because of him. If he hadn’t insulted Surien, this would have never happened…

But that woman had no right; she had no right to hurt Medaka. She had done no wrong, committed no sin grave enough to be hurt in such a way. But because of his stupidity, she was getting hurt for his sake. And that was unbearable to the man who lost everything.

Tears still rolling down his cheeks, Lorenzo rose silently and faced Surien, his look bearing both sadness, disgust, loathing and anger. The boy who hid away in order to save his meaningless pride was gone, having lost what little strength he had left to play his façade.

He was tired, tired of playing make believe and getting hurt along with those he cared for.

And as soon as he got up, the flames circling them froze the, pyre turned literally inert. 
“Enough.” Said Lorenzo with a grim tone, walking towards Surien with an unnatural cadence, as if he was a puppet whose strings had been cut yet still walked. There was no mistake, something in him had broken.

“It’s enough, don’t you dare touch Medaka, and don’t you dare hurt Medaka again. Not one hair, don’t you dare touch one hair of hers. It’s not her who has caused this, but me. She has done nothing, nothing but protecting a stupid man who couldn’t keep his mouth shut.”

His look, it wasn’t like before. He didn’t resign to his fate; he didn’t give up on it. He simply accepted it, sternly and coldly.

“Come on, get it over with. You’ve got a good share of pent up anger, so don’t hold back. It’s not like you need to worry about me or anything, so let it all out of your system.” He snarled, whispering with a growl.

"But if you hurt her again... if you do so much as touch her, I will give you the fight you so desired. I will not back down, not to you. Not to myself."

[Cherry Lover]

Rider nodded at Rin's words. She understood what the girl was saying, indeed, she knew the same would apply to her, ultimately. She just also knew that, right now, this Sakura needed her family to be there for her. Fortunately, though, this Rin seemed to know it too.

Reassured that Rin would not just disappear without trace, Rider focussed her attention on Shirou, listening intently as he explained how to find where he lived, knowing she'd need to be able to relay the information to Sakura later. It didn't sound like a particularly nice place, but at least he had somewhere, and at least she knew where it was.

Once he had finished speaking, Rider heard a grunt from Sakura, who grasped hold of Shirou even more tightly, muttering something that Rider could not make out. It was clear she did not intend to let go of him easily. In response, Shirou asked her to hold her master more tightly, stepping towards her to make things easier. She did as she was asked and grasped her master, watching with a slight frown on her face as Shirou attempted to release her grip on him.

[Panda]

Guts

Digging himself from the semi-frozen fudge had been a pain, and getting whatever was left out of his armor even more so. Regardless, it wasn't all that long before Guts found himself wandering the streets of the Nexus once more, still trying in vain to put off having to take care of all that damned graffiti for as long as possible. After some time, the former mercenary happened across the rather unexpected sight of a police station that looked like it had been bombed recently. Then someone flew out of the building through a wall, landing badly before getting up and marching straight into the dust cloud she made in leaving the building.

The mercenary briefly considers leaving it alone, then considers the prospect of cleaning up that mess back at the gym. Heaving an exasperated sigh, Guts draws Dragonslayer and, against his better judgement, climbs into the hold the girl left behind, navigating through the dust cloud to find the girl, along with a ring of fire containing another woman who was somehow holding one of those metal chariots like it was a club and-

Lorenzo? The hell is he- fuck it, don't want to know.

"Oi, Lorenzo," Guts called out, "The hell is all this? And what's with the bullshit about saying you'll just take it if car-lady doesn't hurt your friend here? If you're trying to protect her, you're doing it wrong. Can't protect someone if you're dead, dumbass. Hell, even if that wasn't the case you're still doing it wrong if you're just gonna stand there and take it."

[Knick]

Suiren

Suiren looked at the girl, the girl that walked up to her again, most likely with some broken limbs, to once against tell her to not punish this man.

And then the man began to talk, telling her to not hurt this girl, to tell her she had nothing to do with this, to tell her, to tell her she had done nothing wrong.

Worthless. So. Fucking. Worthless!

There was steel again, he showed he had a backbone, but he could not do that to back up his own words, he could not do that to defend himself. No.

He needed to have a fucking REASON to have will, to stand!

Suiren stood over the body of a man; she was bleeding heavily, her panting echoing over the silence of island. She did it, she finally did it. It took her time and effort, constant combat for days at a time, but she finally defeated him.

She finally defeated one of the Great Demons.

And with a large smile she screamed out to the world. For she finally proved her will surpassed even some of the greatest. Meanwhile, watching her though a magic spell the other Great Demons talked amongst themselves.

And the First, separated from the rest of them, smiled.

Suiren was strong; her will was great simply because it was. Her will was unflinching, unyielding simple because it was WHO SHE WAS! For someone, for someone who even jokes about being the strongest, who even jokes about being better than her, for someone who jokes about combat and dares to make light of it that way. For someone like that to not be able to do so out of their own will...

There was nothing more unforgivable!

“You have no right; none of you have any right to DARE order me!” She called out, “None of you have the right say what happens here!”

The golden light surged again, but it was different. From stone beneath them, from the sky above them, from the leftover flames around them, from their tools, from their clothing, from their forms, that is where the golden light came. From every person, from everything, around Suiren the golden light that moved light electricity danced.

And then it joined with Suiren, for she is the one who commands the world.

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND!? WORTHLESS PEOPLE HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMMAND ME!” She yelled as the world around her danced in light.

For this was her rage. For this was her pride.

Because she is the one who would stand above everything.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Urthemiel

The dragon lazily flew for a little while longer as he increased the distance between himself and the castle. Eventually they reached a tall, abandoned building and Urthemiel tossed his "passenger" onto the roof of the building before Urthemiel shifted back into his female form.

She landed quite gracefully right on Adjutor's chest. Then with a frown she stood up and began to use him much like one would a welcome rug by cleaning off dirt from her shoes onto his armor. "I do need to stop picking up strays. I might catch something."

[Panda]

Adjutor

The flight lasted for a bit longer, the dragon carrying him heading for a tall, abandoned building. Having seemingly reached its destination, the beast tossed him onto the roof unceremoniously before its form was enveloped by a brilliant white light. After a moment, the light faded to reveal...

Adjutor was, for lack of a better term, stunned by the sight before him. The woman's beauty, impossible as it was, went beyond simple physical perfection. The grace with which she moved, the way she carried herself, all combined with the absolute perfection of her form to leave the teen hopelessly enraptured.

And then she proceeded to use his armor like a welcome rug.

...Well, there went that illusion of perfection.

Well, if your current state is any indication, I'd say she's got the physical part down perfectly.

Goddammit Xarrest!

You're the one who's hard right now.

Technically this is your body as well!

And I'm controlling precisely none of it.

...It's at times like these that I am extremely thankful for the armor.

And not the countless times it's saved your ass?

Those too, but you get the point!

[Umbra of Chaos]

Urthemiel

After she was finished wiping her shoes Urthemiel gave the armored man a disarming smile. "I would be very appreciative if you removed your helmet. Conversations go much better if we can see face to face."

[yinsukin]

Roxas

If Roxas had learned anything from his fight with Vanguard, it was that he can't win a fight just with brute force.  When he tried this attack last time his opponent was damaged but not defeated or even stunned.  Still, he was surprised that she was healing so quickly.  He knew what was coming next, a fatal counter attack.  Thanks to the fact that he stopped time to deliver his attack, he was able to time it so that he stopped delivering light strikes right as the 8 seconds were up.  In that very same moment, he cast Reflectaga.  He made a cross shaped block with his keyblade and a magical circular barrier surrounded him. Whatever attack impacted with his shield would create a large spread of light particles that contain the force of the attack that hit the barrier.  These particles would be limited to the area around them, hitting most of the rooftop aside from the edges.  It would also hit the intimidate space in the air around them.   This was the last part of his counter assault.  If he could not end it here, he was sure to lose.  He gambled that after that last assault, she would take him seriously and give him a attack worth deflecting. 

[Panda]

Adjutor

The teen couldn't really move all that much at the moment, what with the woman currently standing on him, though the smile she gave him really didn't help his situation in the least. That aside, her request wasn't quite something he could be persuaded to fulfill even with that smile.

"Well...under any other circumstances, I wouldn't mind," Adjutor tries to explain, suddenly thankful for the helmet hiding the fact that his face felt like it was on fire, "But I'm not wearing anything under this armor, and I can't just take pieces of it off, so...I really can't. Sorry."

[YOLF]

Butler

If Butler could physically frown with his face, he would've done so. He did not know what the golden light that had suddenly surged towards Suiren out of everything - even out of him - was (perhaps she was drawing some sort of indiscernable power or metaphysical weight from the world), but it was beyond anything else she had shown up until now. He was curious, and ached to see how far her strength stretched the more she showed of it, but alas, it appeared this situation had reached its breaking point.

For multiple reasons, it was becoming painful to watch. So grabbing his cane from his belt, he warped away. He appeared in the air above the quarreling group and dropped between Suiren and the other two. His cane was held defensively in one hand as his landing cleared space between all of them.

His eye socket betrayed no warmth with its light as he spoke to Lorenzo and Medaka, "I believe that is enough." And with an inhumanly fast movement of his cane, he swung the pirate's face in his direction and pressed the hardened metal tip just under the man's chin.

"I suggest you hold your words. This scene has already been spoiled beyond repair by unthoughtful actions," he said. Then, angling his head towards his master, he continued, though his gaze remained where it was. "Lady Suiren. Is this unsightly confrontation worth your power? Your anger is your proof of righteousness, but is this cardboard spectacle deserving of that resolve?"

[Umbra of Chaos]

Urthemiel

Standing on the armor was beginning to get uncomfortable so she sauntered off of him but never allowed her gaze to stray from his covered face. Her purple eyes seemed to be filled with mirth and warmth as she said, "Oh, go ahead. Remove the armor. I can enjoy the show and we'll speak afterwards."

Lies flowed from her tongue as easily as water did over a river stone. Urthemiel was a god of the arts and that included acting, so it was obvious that she would be exceptional at it. Kindness and happiness were easy to replicate and attraction was an old friend to the mage. Perhaps if this was a different place and a different time she would not have wasted time with falsehoods, but this city was full of the unknown and and dangerous. So Urthemiel was willing to play the game for a while to preserve herself.


Natara

The burning pit of anger in Natara had lowered in intensity but it still smoldered. What in that world gave that man the right to blunder into her business and ruin everything? She could have dealt with it alone. If she had summoned Then she would have been able to dictate where the Taint was spilled and could have taken care of it, but this upset so many plans. Now a dozen Tainted beasts were running through the city with wild abandon and Natara had doubts that she would find them.

And the fool was still trailing after her. She clung onto a few sparks of rage and turned around with the intent on telling him to leave only to retch and throw up. Dark liquid reminiscent of the fluid within the Chalice poured from her mouth and she barely had a chance for another breath before heaving again.

It was to be expected really. The Caretakers would be poor wardens if they could be corrupted so easily. Her body wouldn't completely eliminate the extra Taint but it would help.

[Panda]

Adjutor

Taking the opportunity to sit up, Adjutor watched the woman move away, an almost mesmerizing sway in her step. The woman's response might have forced a blush out of him if not for the look in her eyes. It was a look he'd seen not too long ago, one that he likely wouldn't forget. These eyes may have been different from hers, but the mirth in them was the very same. He stared at the woman for a moment, seeming as if he were struggling with embarrassment, before seeming to make up his mind.

With a sigh, the teen dismisses the armor, the metal rapidly flowing back into his arms to form into the intricate black tattoos. However, the moment he was able to, Adjutor focused for a moment, metal flowing from the tattoo anew to preserve at least some measure of the teen's modesty, covering him like a pair of boxers, only smooth black metal instead of warm fabric. Adjutor briefly considered covering himself up completely, leaving his head uncovered of course, but it wouldn't do to occupy more metal than was needed in this scenario.

"May I ask what it is that you wish to speak of?" Adjutor asked, keeping his voice as neutral as possible.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Urthemiel

The Old God simply smiled at the boy's attempt to stay as placid as possible. She walked over to him with a delightful sway in her hips and moved behind him before resting a delicate hand on his right shoulder. "Why so serious? There's no need to make a first impression so boring. And if you want to be so formal you might as well start with your name."

He was a bit thin but had muscle and the tattoos on his arms were certainly interesting but otherwise he was rather unremarkable. Potentially useful but no one the Old God would keep personally. The boy was just a bit too plain for that.