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

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura

Sakura stood on the podium in disbelief.

I won?

She couldn't believe it. Irisviel had showed up with a battleship, yet she had beaten her. Albeit largely because she'd been too busy trying to kill Togan to notice Sakura's impending victory but, still, her strategy had worked out. Just go fast and don't bother trying to kill everyone else. Of course, the arrival of M. Bison had made it far more exciting and difficult than she had expected, but she had managed to defeat him, with the help of the blue shell.

Slowly, a golden trophy descended into Sakura's hands, before everything turned white, and they were back in the room. Togan came over and hugged her and Irisviel.

"Well, that was fun!" he said, giggling.

Then, Irisviel spoke, agreeing with Toe and laughing, before turning to address Sakura.

“Sakura, what did you think?” she asked.

"It was fun", she said with a smile, although less enthusiastically than the others.

"I told you Rider was amazing. And the real thing is even better!" she continued, smiling, proud of the success of the Rider simulation she had created for the race.

Then, Sakura remembered something. During the race, she had felt her phone vibrate, signalling a message. With the intensity of the battle against M. Bison, she hadn't had the chance to check it.

Maybe it's Shirou! she thought, hopefully. Or Rider!

She took her phone out of her pocket and placed her thumb onto the screen, running it diagonally down from the top left corner and then back up to the top-right corner. The phone, registering her thumb print and the correct movement, unlocked, and she was presented with a "new message" icon. As soon as she pressed the icon, though, her face fell.

The message wasn't from Shirou. Or Rider. Instead, it was a general alert sent out to all residents.

Warning! Warning! Extreme gang violence is taking place within the vicinity of the Nexus blast furnace. Enforcers are mobilizing to retaliate. All civilians are instructed to clear the area and remain within your homes! it said.

Sakura's face went pale as she read the message. She hated to see people suffering and getting hurt. But, worse still, as much as her husband put protecting her first, he was still a hero at heart. There was no way he could ignore such a message. He would go there and put himself in danger to protect others, as he always did.

Then I have to go too, she thought.

She turned to Irisviel.

"Irisviel, I've received a disturbing message about gang violence. I think we need to check it out", she said, handing the white-haired woman the phone so she could read the message.

Well, at least I'll be reunited with Shirou, she thought, seeing the positive in the situation.

[Kat]

Just

Just continued speaking with Kern, completing his recap on the situation, it seems they were close to ensuing that the area was structurally stable.

So it seems the tonight is a go then.

Then he heard the man mention Suiren, and turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. It was obvious he wasn’t one of Suiren’s followers. To stupid and on top of that he revealed he knew Suiren in front of them.

He probably had a run in with her at some point.

He turned to the man… no the entire group of three. “It would be best if you were to leave. We are going to begin checking out structures to see where it is safe to go, it would be best if no one was in our way.” He told them, her voice stern and gold. Gone was the nice old man from eirler, who was relax and at ease, and before them now stood the leader of the Guard of the Saint.

It was a partial truth; he really wanted them gone because he could tell some of the guardsmen were incredibly tense. The last thing he wanted was for there to be a fight.

Gintoki

He was a bit curious about what have happened here, but it was obvious to him those people were trying to hide the truth for him. If he bumped into Suiren he would ask himself. If Sarse wanted to know the truth, he'd better go find her as well. "Let's go guys. If they don't want to tell us anything, it's their business, I'm not in a mood for arguing more. I'll buy you parfait or whatever."

Mordred

"I don't know, I'll contact Caster one more time to see if he is safe, okay?" She was also suspicious of hotels, but those were a second best option if she couldn't reach Faust. Everything's right, Faust? She called out to him through their connection, with a slightly worried tone.

Aisha

Soft laughter escaped Aisha's mouth and the sound of the plants rapidly growing quickened for an instant. "The original human was my Child as well. All forms of life are my Children. And if that's the case, then who do you think I am?"

Noriko

If she wasn't a first human then who was she? She was quick to assume things about Aisha because she didn't image take account other possibilities. In her knowledge an ephemeral being with such aura couldn't even possibly manifest. And many senior Mages she respected believed in existence of what they called Adam Kadmon, the first human superior to its descendants. Sheer amount of Mana this woman emitted made her believe she was a one. But if she claimed to be original lifeform, she had to consider that possibility. But the woman's looks clearly contradicted the mundane science. After all, the oldest lifeforms humans know are unicelluar. If a humanoid like her predated lifeforms like that, then ramblings of certain fringe scientists seemed less insane than assumed.

She would be ridiculed by many if she professed such views in the public, but she had to ask her, gathering her courage:

"Are you an alien and came from outer space sent by another civilization as a part of directed panspermia?" She asked, bombarding the woman with technobabble. That sounded like bullshit, but she would believe it if she had enough proof. After all, some more radical Mages fancied ideas that other species in the galaxy could Awaken. She personally didn't believe that The Seperation happened in the Stone Age but rather at the moment of Big Bang. Alien civilization of Mages could have sent this lifeform to Earth, Atlantis myth being merely echo of some primal memory. I don't believe my thoughts myself... It was pretty embarassing to even construct theories that would remind people of Daniken and his ilk. She would be doubly embarassed if she wasn't right.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Tohuw Balagan

Tohuw decided to peek at the phone screen out of curiosity. His eyes immediately widened.

"Oh! That sounds like fun" the demon cheered, clearly excited by the warning. It looked like he was about to jump and dance any moment out of anticipation. This was just great, a show prepared just for him. But they had to hurry, or they'd miss it! Humans were always so fun to watch, especially when pulling off crazy stunts like this.

Just the thought of what was going on over there made his heart skip a beat.

"Cmooon, Iri! We have to take a look at this, we have to!" he begged, shaking her with droopy eyes.

[Kaze]

KOTOMINE KIREI

One of the creatures hadn’t died. It wasn’t like the other wolves, bearing little resemblance to them beyond the dark brown fur. It looked more like a fuzzball than much else, at least at first. Limbs inexplicably grew out from it, whatever it was, and it took off at a dead sprint, its mouth opening impossibly wide, as though to swallow the priest whole. It covered the ground between them faster than the human eye could follow.

Black tentacles, vile and full of malicious intent, erupted from the ground at lightning speed, bringing the incoming demon to a sudden stop mere inches from its quarry. Kotomine looked on impassively, both hands clasped firmly behind his back. Then the tentacles squeezed, hard. The almost comical looking beast was pushed down against the ground, and with each passing second, the tentacles grew bigger, and the force greater. The earth began to buckle, crumbling and compacting under such pressure.

“What sort of creature are you, I wonder?” Kotomine said, more to himself than anyone else. The way it was able to grow limbs like that certainly intrigued him, even though there likely wouldn’t be anything to gain from such knowledge.

There was a series of concussions and a flare of purple light, and the man in priestly robes looked to the side, just able to make out the sight of what appeared to be a young man terrorizing the surviving Halloweeners with more fireballs. The same one who had started the firestorm just before, perhaps? The gang members further away had recovered themselves enough to return fire, their pistols and cheaply made submachine guns popping like deadly firecrackers. The troll, terrified out of his wits, lumbered over to crush their attacker with his bare hands out of pure instinct, unheeding the danger of friendly fire.

In hindsight, the priest admitted to himself that subtle approach may have been the better option. This had been far more violent than anticipated. Still, within moments the beast before him would be dead, get rid of the boy, and continue with what he came here for. With luck, they could still finish here before more Enforcers arrived.

[YOLF]

Shendu

There was genuine confusion in Shendu's features at the girl's unashamed amusement. The fire in his eyes became slightly fainter in disbelief of this light hearted reaction, even as Shendu felt heat spread through him. His muscles started to tense up, taking him nearly to the point of shaking.

But her question threw him for a loop, and his coiled shoulders unwound in new disbelief at the simple, nonchalant way she asked it.

The demon sorceror wordlessly stared, violent fluster crawling in the pit of his body. Did she not know what she stood before? Did she not know what she faced? He suddenly wanted to swat her away.

Shendu's teeth grinded together on one side of his mouth, as he responded "A dragon is to a lizard as a god is to a man. Those lowly, crawling beings are impossible miles away from me!"

He couldn't stop his eye from twitching, but if he had pondered about the meaning of it, maybe he could've stopped himself from falling out of his own pace.

[Kat]

Rikuyo

She knew beforehand that something was brewing on the horizon because of the the magic box's announcement, so she prepared herself. When they were on their way to the hotel, she noticed a martial arts gi in a window of a shop that she deemed to be fine for her. She didn't want to mess up the clothes given her to Richard, so when he was conversing with the two strangers Rikuyo sneaked out, breaking and entering into the shop while it was closed by breaking down the window. She didn't care that the police could be after her now (likely baffled by why only one thing was missing). "Kay, kay, Ricchie, I'm changing now, I'll be done in a minute!" she exclaimed, her voice heard by Richard who was outside the hotel.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Aisha

"The human form is... fitting. Out of all of my Children they are the ones closest to my purpose. The others are lacking in different ways." She patted the ground next to her and the plants receded from the area to allow room to sit.

"So, do you wish to talk? You seem to be rather inquisitive as humans usually are."


Ghost Child

If one could see his face they might have noticed the wide grin on the spirit's face as the troll attempted to crush his host. He pulled out of Adjutor's body and slid into the skin of the troll without any trouble at all. It was easy to assume control over it and the smile appeared on the troll's face as well.

It turned around and dashed towards the gang members that were firing upon the teen. Even though a multitude of bullets tore through the host's flesh and some even sent shards of skull flying into the air Ghost Child wasn't bothered at all. The moment he got close enough to the gang members he slammed right into one. The target was knocked over and his skull was crushed by a well aimed stomp from the troll's boot.

"One!" Ghost Child gleefully shouted before lifting the corpse by a leg and swinging it like a club against the other Halloweeners.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Richard Maxwell

"Yeah, whatever. Just don't forget to give me back my clothes. Put them in a bag or something." Richard responded, leaning against the wall cooly like some animu character.

And he waited cooly.

[Panda]

Adjutor

Surprisingly, Adjutor felt the presence leave him right before the troll stopped moving towards him. Said troll, now under the Ghost child's influence, charged right back at the Halloweeners, ignoring the withering barrage to close in and start rending them limb from limb.

...Handy. Well, now that that's taken care of...

It's probably the priest who's in charge here. The rest of these guys look like the rank-and-file

The head of the snake, it would seem...

Addressing this rag-tag mob as such is an insult to snakes.

The teen glanced back to see the fluffball the priest had been fighting earlier being crushed by multiple tentacles. Quickly deciding that just charging in would be a bad idea, Adjutor glanced around the yard for a vantage point before his gaze fell upon the tower of the Blast Furnace, seemingly the center of this madness.

I mean, this seems to be what they're after, so I doubt they'll knock it down to get at us...

Well, if they want it so much...Laivatain?

Laivatain dissipated as Adjutor made his way over to the tower, unhindered by the Halloweeners thanks to the traitorous troll. Scaling the tower with all the speed his Reinforcement could afford him, Adjutor pulled himself up to a decent vantage point a fair distance up the tower.

Meanwhile, Laivatain tore through the Blast Furnace, absorbing every last spark it could find. Even for the Elemental, though, this task would take some time.

Gonna take a bit.

Well, that's new.

Deciding to make good use of the breather, Xarrest started to prepare Concept: Fire.

[Elf]

Rin

Rin blinked and muttered, "When did you get so assertive and observant anyway?"

She moved to the mess and picked up one of the shards, then with a sigh she briskly cut the tip of her left finger.  Blood the color of fine rubies welled up in the tiny cut and Rin gathered the prana welling up there before carefully tracing some of the broken edges in her blood.  The sharp pain of the cut dulled to a steady throb that helped her focus.

"Lassen Sie die gebrochen werden ganze noch einmal . . ." Rin chanted in a soft voice before the edges of the plates reformed, becoming whole once again.

She shook her smarting finger, grinned at Sakura and said, "The clothing is fine for now, but shopping tomorrow sounds wonderful."

She leaned over and whispered to Sakura, "I had to put band-aids over my nipples.  I don't think taking them off is going to be fun."


Saber

Saber gritted her teeth as she managed to jump on one of the Infected's back while cleaving into one that came too close.  Her Instinct was screaming at her, trying to find a way to flee.  If she stayed here too long there would be a battle of attrition that she would clearly lose.

Unless I used Excalibur, but I do not have the time to charge it.  I wish I had Caliburn or Archer here.  I should have stayed with Lancelot, the former king thought as her blade sank into more meat and bone, spraying blood into the air.  She was completely surrounded, and even larger creatures were blocking the way on both sides.  She looked around, and saw nothing.  It was black as pitch and the creatures were everywhere.

Closing her eyes, she leaped onto the back of another creature and trusted her instinct.  She could hear a change in the movement, a smaller corridor where she could position herself and control the number of things that came after her to a point.  It would be enough to protect herself until assistance arrived.  So, heaving Excalibur, she slashed into the creatures while charging forward, using prana to shoot herself forward.

[SINIB]

Sakura

“I’ve always been observant, but Faust taught me how to be assertive! He always said that it was important to take what you want and grab it, and to um...damn the consequences.” She told Rin as she followed her back in the kitchen.

As Rin was casting the spells, Sakura heard a loud slam behind her. She turned around quickly, but the door was open. After standing there for a second, she turned back around, ignoring the strange situation.

She shook her smarting finger, grinned at Sakura and said, "The clothing is fine for now, but shopping tomorrow sounds wonderful."

She leaned over and whispered to Sakura, "I had to put band-aids over my nipples.  I don't think taking them off is going to be fun."

“Yeah...” Sakura said, still spooked by the phantom noises. “Well...I have a spell that could deal with it, if you’d like.” Sakura whispered back.

[Elf]

Rin

Rin smiled and said, "Well, good on Faust then, but don't damn the consequences though.  You're a Tohsaka.  You should think things through before blindly grabbing.  Unless it's Shirou, then go ahead and blindly grab him."

Then she watched as Sakura jerked and spun around to look at the door.  Rin frowned, but Sakura leaned forward and whispered, “Well...I have a spell that could deal with it, if you’d like.”

"If its the one in great-grandmother's journal, I can't use it.  I lack the natural assets for it," Rin said with a snort and a roll of her eyes.  Then she placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?"

[yinsukin]

Relius

Relius was thrown backwards with massive force.  The crowed did not care to catch him, as he did not fulfill his promise but the situation happened too fast to process and they ended up being cushions for the fall.  All six people fell over as Relius crashed into them.  The puppeteer also heard a thud in the backround, presumably the woman hitting a wall.  He didn't have time to examine her injuries.

The moment he even moved Ignis teleported in front of Relius one more time.  The moment she re-spawned, she thrust her body forward, allowing the blade to be caught in her torso.  Simultaneously, she attempted to hold the blade in place with her hands and throw Relius outside using her hat tails.  She accomplished this by gripping his body with both tails and flailing him out the window he had arrived in.  It was a risky move but the only way to ensure his survival.


Roxas

The demon exploded dramatically in a combination of ice and fire as the spell passed through his system.  Roxas paid no mind to the dying demon screeming for the last moments of its life.  He looked onto the scene.  There was a priest that stood in the middle of it all, looking more demonic than holy.  If anything, he reminded him more of Ansem.  Or at least, it reminded him of the memories of Ansem.

The nobody raced onto the scene, oathkeeper in hand.  He intended to get closer to the preist but he kept his eyes open for anything else that may attack him.  He watched as a blue substance headed straight for the priest.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Impressive.

It was quite the twist of fate that his action would cause such an effect. If anything, he was glad. While her process was far from efficient, it was most adequate. For a third rate mage, she was quite proficient. But her craft was still sloppy.

Such a simple action would not have needed blood as a catalyst in the first place. Perhaps it would be best to teach her adequately. Even so, he got what he needed out of this little test, and Shirou seemed to be distracted. All in all, things went more smoothly than he'd expected. Now, all that was left was to act on it.

Then, Sakura responded. Seeing how earlier she spoke of how Caster had been her teacher, he understood that his name was in fact Faust. If Rider was indeed a hero of the past, it was likely that Faust was perhaps a magician of old. Either way, it mattered not.

However, one had to admire the teachings he had ingrained into Sakura.

Such a train of thought was most agreeable, and served only to confirm Van's belief. He had been most fortunte to fall upon such a master. Now, what mattered was her sister. She seemed to have enough skill to solve this troublesome issue.

After all, being a helmet wouldn't make do.

"Lady Tohsaka, forgive my rudeness but I ought interrupt you for a moment. I do not wish to be bothersome, but to put it in simple terms, I could use your help?"

[Elf]

Rin

"Lady Tohsaka, forgive my rudeness but I ought interrupt you for a moment. I do not wish to be bothersome, but to put it in simple terms, I could use your help?"

Rin frowned as the helm spoke to her and she walked over to it, picking it up.  "If you're going to ask for a new body to put your soul in, you're out of luck.  That's not where my abilities lie."