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

[Knick]

Christina Summeria

It spoke volumes of the guard’s dedication and skill that most of them were within a couple of blocks from their lord. And it spoke even more that they instantly responded and moved to secure the area, evacuating civilians and closing of the block in case of falling debris.

Their lord has retreated to a secure place, with a couple of guards with him. Meanwhile the rest continued to work.

And that is why the second in command of the guard, the wielder of the ‘Spear of the First Tree’, began another round though the street where the battle was held, checking for any stragglers.

Her brown hair tied into braids, and she was dressed in light metal armor. On her back was a spear, a wooden spear with a spear-head which almost seemed to glow white.

And then she saw a boy, that was most definitely not here before, it was also odd how he was able to get so close to the crater when most of the entrances to the area where on lockdown. 

And so she walked towards him, ready to react at a moment's notice.

“Did you not hear the evacuation order kid? How you get in here?” She questioned as she slowly walked towards him.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

"Now, strange you say? Hardly. I worry if it is your belief that I and this place are as strange as you seem to say. In fact, if such a thing is correct, I say you ought go out more often." said Vanguard, a somewhat cheerful tone.

"As for this place, it is Sakura Matou's home, obviously. Such a thing should be evident by itself, but let me clear you on a few more details. For one, this house belonging to my master Sakura is situated in some sort of rift. Well, to call it a dimention would be more appropriate, but I digress. Truth be told, wether it is a world, a timeline or a dimensional anomaly is not important. However, this nexus is one that suckles upon all that is possible for it to take hold of, be it people, possession or places. One could almost compare it to a beastly existence that devours all in it's path and makes it part of itself. And it seems you have stumbled upon a similar fate most likely."

Then, Vanguard chuckled before pausing a bit.

"Oh, my. I have been most improper, sir Shirou. My name is-"

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by the sight of a seemingly panicked Sakura. She was running frantically, looking for something or someone. He didn't know exactly what, but he savoured the sight for it's duration. To see someone looking for something as ardently as she did, that endeavor that even he could not grasp...

It was utterly exquisite. But alas, all good things must come to end. With a voice full of worry, Vanguard spoke up.

"Rider, what is happening?"

[Kat]

Gintoki

It wasn't his concern to meddle in Sarse's affairs, but he had bad feeling about this. Against his better judgement, he grabbed a bike that somebody foolishly left in the streets, and in spite that only one of his arms was totally alright, he speeded away, following Sarse as fast he could.

[Knick]

Just

He saw the light. He knew those lights, and so he reacted in the only way he could. He quickly scooped Anatu up into his arms. “Hold on, alright?”

“Become my legs, oh flowing steel.” He chanted, and then, after waiting a moment he exploded into movement, taking to the walls of the building he ran along them, fast like wind, flowing like water.

And he ran, with Anatu in his arms, to the source of the light, to his lord.

To his greatest and oldest friend.

[Panda]

Seras

Thankfully, Seras managed to snag the two as she made to leave. To the vampire's annoyance, however, those dark things looked like they were lining up for another volley.

Those things really don't know when t-

Then everything went white, Seras screaming as her awareness was reduced to pain. A sudden burst of brilliant light burning every exposed inch of her as she felt the shadows burn away, the world going mercifully dark soon afterwards. Even so, she didn't need her sight to know she was falling, that they were falling as well.

Oh damn it all!

After a moment, the lingering burn of the light faded, her shadows coming back into play. Even so, she still couldn't see, her panic mounting for a moment before an old memory resurfaced.

Your human eyes are not to be trusted, he'd reminded her, All they'll do is lie to you. Besides, you are no longer a human. You have become so much more...

Stupid.

Her human eyes were useless right now, but her mind's eye was as clear as ever.

Shadow wings formed on her back as she dove, easily snagging the girl on her way down and faltering as she realized that, at her current speed, she wouldn't get to the soldier in time.

You aren't giving up that easily, are you, Seras?

Of course not.

New resolve dashed doubt against the walls like a potter's vessel as Seras pushed further, all but divebombing the soldier. Somehow, she managed to snag him just in time to flatten out of her dive, just barely missing the ground as she pulled back up, speeding away from the area as her healing kicked in.

Hospital, hospital, bugger them for not being closer!

[Umbra of Chaos]

Urthemiel

The Old God had decided to rest for a bit instead of doing anything else. While she was still more than capable of pulling out more energy from the Fade there was prudence in resting and making sure she was at her strongest instead of blindily rushing into this mess of a city.

It was rather disgusting really. It lacked any semblance of order and while Zazikel would have enjoyed this mess she found it rather annoying. It was difficult to find something beautiful under the sea of worthlessness that filled up large portions of the city. Regardless, she soon returned to her peak and stood up just to hear a voice from behind her.

"Hey, my name is Nova Tiburtius. Whatcha looking at?"

Purple eyes narrowed and a glyph of repulsion was inscribed beneath her feet ready to release a wave of force to knock away the stranger as she turned around. His eyes were interesting but the rest of him was rather... generic. How disappointing.

"You do know that sneaking up on people is easily a way for you to get injured. I wouldn't recommend it. And if you were so blind that you couldn't see what I was looking at then I have very little to say to you.


Ghost Child

A man walked down the streets of the Nexus humming a nameless song with a spring in his step. He continued like this for a while until the Ghost Child leaped from his body into a woman's. His giddiness was nearly uncontrollable as a smile broke out on the stranger's face. There were so many people here and they were so warm on the inside! And they played the best games! There was one with a bunch of good guys in blue and a monster. He liked being the monster.

But then he saw another one like him sitting with and talking with a really, really big man. Ghost Child discarded the woman's body like a worn out coat and as she ran away out of a mixture of confusion and fear he rested his small feet on the ground and watched with empty sockets as his possible playmate dissipated, and he frowned both out of confusion and a smidgen of disappointment.

Then he tilted his head and stared with nonexistent eyes straight at the tall redheaded man. If he could see the other then could the big man see him too?

[Kotomine_Rin]

Sakagami Kenzo

Kenzo hummed for a while, unsure of what to do. He hadn't really gotten any clients lately, business as bad as usual. To make things worse, the city was currently in even more of a mess than usual. Normally he would be running around and do things, but there were so many things to do he wasn't quite sure where to begin. There was that big clash of light above, a menacing presence a good distance away that sent chills down his spine...

Pondering on just what to do, he failed to realize that there was another spirit close by. Sighing, he toyed a bit with the pipe in his mouth before turning to the ghost, waving to him lazily.

"Yo."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Ghost Child

Once the man waved at him Ghost Child skipped towards him at impossibly fast speeds with a wide grin on his face. Then he looked up at the man and said, "Wow! You're really tall! Can I see your swords?"

The red one looked fun to use and the curved one looked interesting as well. As he leaned in with a smile on his face Ghost Child wondered if the swords would be cold like the machines. They weren't warm like the people were. If they were too cold he would have to just look at them. For now.

[SINIB]

Irisviel

Irisviel yawned loudly. “Waiting for you, maybe. I’m going to go lay down and take a nap myself. Can you find your way back on your own, or do you need me to guide you?”

[Kotomine_Rin]

Sakagami Kenzo

Kenzo raised an eyebrow in bemusement. "Oh? Well, sure! Go ahead kiddo." Taking the red sword off his back, he displayed the blade to the child. Grinning, he tapped the sword's ornate fuller and slid his finger down to the point.

"T's sharp, but still not good enough. What do you think?"

Those words were harsh, far too humble for one of his ability. In truth, any one would have praised this blade for being an exquisite example of a swordsmith's finesse. And yet it wasn't good enough for the demon. He didn't say it out of a sense of self pity or belittlement, but as a fact. If this sword wasn't good enough, a sword that was could be good enough in his eyes would surely be a marvel among marvels.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Ghost Child

The child's mouth was open in a silent "o", his hands were on his cheeks, and if he had eyes in his head they would be wide. "Ooh. I wanna see how sharp it is. I'll be right back!."

Ghost Child turned around, moved through a building, and consequently vanished from site.


In about five minutes a relatively young man seeming in his twenties with brown hair, blue eyes, and dressed formally as if he were going to a important meeting strolled into the clearing. "Hey, mister! It's me! I can see how sharp your sword is now!"

[Cherry Lover]

Shirou

As Shirou continued to writhe in pain on the floor, his question having received no response, he heard the sound of someone, presumably his captor, running down the stairs towards him.

Before he could say anything, his presumed assailant yelled at him, pure malice and hatred in her voice.

Sakura? he thought, recognising the familiar tones of his beloved wife.

No, I must be hallucinating.

Before he could consider it further, though, he felt himself pulled into a tight hug.

W-what? Why? How did you?” she asked, the emotion clear in her voice.

It really is her! Thank God! he thought.

“How did you get here?” she continued, finally managing to complete a coherent sentence.

As she did, Shirou felt the things binding his arms and legs withdraw, leaving him able to move, although still in significant pain.

“Sakura! It is you! Thank God, I thought I'd never see you again”, he said, the sheer relief clear in his voice. wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight, too relieved at finding her again to notice how odd her question was.

Ignoring the pain, he wrapped his arms around her, before leaning in and planting a passionate kiss on her lips. Then, seeing that she was still highly emotional, he snuggled his face beside hers, comfortingly.

“It's OK, Sakura, I'm safe and I'm here with you”, he said, soothingly, gently rubbing her back to comfort her.

[yinsukin]

Nova Tiburtius

Nova watched as the woman reflexively prepared to attack but instead stopped to examine him.  He grinned.  The glyphs at the button of her feet were interesting, a version of magic he had heard of but hasn't seen yet.  If anything, it confirmed that this woman was the source he was tracking.  Still, she clearly did not share his fascination.  Upon farther examination, she defiantly carried herself in a way that made her seem older than her physical age.  He had a good first impression of her but would rather not waste her time.

"Yeah, well you can call me foolish but only a complete moron would charge blindly into those messes."  He said, transitioning from a polite tone to a confident but relaxed tone.  "Besides, I clearly made the right choice considering you didn't kill me on the spot.  But I am not stupid enough to rush into a war zone without a plan.  He continued.

There was no real reason for the woman to answer him and given her obvious disinterest she might even ignore him.  However, because of her obvious mental age it was easier to open up to her.  Besides it had been days since his last conversation.  He was going to enjoy this.

He looked at the woman, his deep almost neon red eyes now making full eye contact with hers.  "Can you please spare some information?  Really, anything will do."  He finished, asking this particular question in the original polite tone.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Urthemiel

This person was an impressive fool. He wasn't very funny in the traditional sense but his confidence despite his ignorance and idiocy was amusing. "Nothing in this world is free. Even information has a price. What will you offer me?"

[yinsukin]

Nova Tiburtius

His eyes moved away from the woman, thinking about what she said.  Then, he made eye contact with her once again.

"No offence but you don't look like the type to want normal things.  I guess I could show you what I have or what I can do.  I don't mind doing favors as long as the information is worth it.  So what do you say?  Should I show you what I own or what I can do?"  He said.