The Rise to Fame - Second Flight (Party of 2;Luka)

[Akira Nakajima]

”Looks like you got by without anything really bad. I'll hold off on healing for now.” Akira commented, taking a more conservative approach, given his knowledge of her abilities. If it was anybody else, he'd have likely healed anyway. The fact that he opted not to meant he had a little faith in her. Truthfully, she really could handle herself just fine. Hell, he'd call her exceptional in most fields, beyond the, uh, social awareness bits. As far as combat savviness was concerned, she was solid. That may or may not have been because of her passive skill, but he wasn't going to worry about specifics. She was reliable, and that was what mattered.

”In any case, let's pace ourselves if it gets rough. For now, though, I don't see any issues with casually proceeding onward. The defensive enhancement should kick in again once we engage another group.” Truthfully, he was pretty at ease with the whole situation, if it was her. That might have been because of their previous experience fighting together, though. ”We really should try to meet up sometime. Without the whole 'planning to go kill things' motivation behind it, I mean. We've fought alongside each other quite a few times now. It'd be a little sad if this was literally the only common point we had.”

It might have seemed like he was coming onto her. Hell, most would probably have said that. However, it was much more innocent than that. In all honesty, with the amount of time they spent together- whether she was aware of it being him or not- he thought he would enjoy being able to be “himself”, but without the looming presence of monster-slaying.

Not that going slaying together was bad- they needed to lower the numbers of the hostile things, anyway, after all.

[Luka Kurokawa]

Mm. My wounds heal pretty quickly now. I'm also not getting hit too much, so that's a plus. With a nod, she continued forward with Akira. Certainly more than just her weapon capability had improved. Though everything had been passive, she was gaining new abilities as she went. Her strikes were stronger on average, her wounds healed themselves, and she even became more resistant to certain physical attacks. Luka was almost a little impatient to see where this strength would continue to grow towards. She was honestly surprised by Akira's growth too, even if it was to be expected. Everyone was developing powerful abilities as they went. So, where did it end? That was the question that Luka needed to answer. Indeed. We should be fine with any of the threats that could spawn. Honestly, she knew that the people that were capable of fighting all had different levels of skill too. Was it a bit much to say they were two of the stronger ones? Sure, there were others who could match them or better. But they were up there.

Luka continued walking until she heard something funny. Not from around the corner or ahead of them, but from Akira. Blinking, she turned to him. It took a little bit to process that since the idea of 'not planning to go kill things' didn't seem to compute all too well. Maybe she spent too much time planning to kill things? Couldn't be. Eh? I don't really follow. No, really. What was he on about? But. . . it couldn't be. Was her mother right!? Was he trying to take her pants after all!? No. It couldn't be. Besides. The last time her mother told her something when she was drunk, she said there was no baby-delivering stork! Which, Luka knew to be completely untrue as she looked up storks on the internet. They did indeed exist. More importantly, Akira apparently just asked her to go out on a Da- uh. Sure. Whenever I'm not working is fine. I mean, whenever you aren't either, of course. U-Unless you don't work. Not that that's bad. I mean. I'm good for doing whatever. As long as its fun. N-Not that whatever you want to do isn't. I mean. Sure. Her voice cracked as she spoke before she turned back ahead. She even began walking a bit faster. After that, she grew silent for a moment. Even this socially awkward girl could tell how awkward this silence would be, so she did the only logical thing in such a situation.

OH. Enemy in that direction! Luka pointed in some random direction with a deadpan expression and began to walk over there. Her declaration was loud enough that it could have potentially attracted an enemy. Funnily enough, she managed to attract something's attention. She only hoped Akira forgot about her elongated answer. Well, it was fine if he remembered she said yes. Just thinking about made Luka flail her sword even stronger than usual. That usually helped when she felt embarrassed.

[Satanick]

Suparna
Null: Wind
Resist: Light
Weak: Lightning
Skills: Garula, Sukukaja, Mediarama, Spirit Drain

Vidofnir
Absorb: Lightning
Weak: Wind
Skills: Fatal End, Zionga, Energy Drain, Counterstrike

Camazotz
Repel: Pierce
Weak: Light
Skills: Heatwave, Blade of Fury, Life Drain, Dekunda

[Akira Nakajima]

Ah, it seemed like he said things in a suggestive manner. Or, rather, that Rukako had some sort of issue with it. Or not. She said yes, but she was clearly panicking. Was that supposed to be a "Maiden's Heart" thing? Well, either way. She did, at least, agree to the concept, before heading forward in a manner that was, put simply, just comical. Yes, she could certainly be cute if she tried. Or, rather, if she didn't. It came naturally, if she just reacted honestly. Whether it was a coincidence or Rukako's instincts was not apparent, but she had managed to find some more hostiles.

More birds.

"I can't say that I really have strong feelings for or against birds, either way, but. . . there's entirely too many of them in this tower." Those were his honest feelings, really. Rolling his head on his shoulders, he selected one of the three. The girl would be able to handle the other two- again. Coincidentally, it was the exact pair she fought last time. "You did well against those two last time, so I'll leave them for you again. I'll tackle the other guy." And with that, Akira rode in after releasing the defensive enhancement, readying his spear.

A condensed ball of windy blades was shot at Akira. He took it head-on. It reminded him of the Gandharvas back at the park. Same attack, but much stronger. His upper arms were sliced at spots by the winds, but he was mostly okay. In response, he swung his halberd in a terrible arc, cleaving one of the Suparna's eyes out. The bird channeled a current of wind, seemingly speeding itself up, but the boy kept himself on the bird's blindside. With another swing, he chopped into the bird's neck. Oddly enough, it didn't seem to be enough to put the beast down. It attempted to use a form of a draining move on him, but its lack of depth perception caused the focal point of the drain to be off.

Akira wasn't a born fighter. He wasn't terribly strong, he didn't have a body build for warfare, and his Persona wasn't even offensively oriented. However, he was calculating enough to make up for that. It could be considered cruel, but these things were not humans. His standards of niceness didn't extend to them, for the most part. Taking an eye out to reduce the opponent's combat capabilities? Basic tactics. That was why he hadn't missed a beat when the attack missed. He was on the bird in a heartbeat, swinging the blade of the halberd down once again.

The battle was over, for him at least. Once Rukako was situated, he'd heal them both, just as a precaution.

[Luka Kurokawa]

As Luka's attention shifted from the conversation just now, she realized that they had just entered combat. In fact, they were two of the birds that she had just killed. Right! As if a little two eager to just engage in combat, Luka didn't even pull out her sword. Instead, she just began pummeling the one that resembled a bat more than a bird. The attacks she landed were strong, like something from a master. However, anyone who felt that may have changed their mind once they realized that she had her eyes closed and was just pummeling it out of embarrassment. Normally she punched in sets of no more than 7. This one was 20 hits in total, with the last one strong enough to send it over the railing where it plummeted to its demise.

The other bird managed to strike her with lightning, which hurt quite a bit. However, this did knock a bit of sense into her. She pulled out the needles that were so effective against this enemy and began tossing them in their direction. She threw them in several direction, to which they would redirect themselves on the enemy's location. Five needles struck the bird in the chest where it stopped moving and dissolved into nothing. Once the fight was over, Luka managed to calm down a bit. That was probably all she needed. She felt a heal from Akira right afterwards. She looked over at him a moment, turned away, then looked back. When a deadpan expression, she just gave him a thumbs up. She was still having trouble talking right now.

Boys seemed to be her weak point in talking. That, and to a lesser extent adults. Sure, she could handle talking to them when it regarded this world, these monsters, their powers and so forth. But socializing was a whole different ballpark that she had yet to enter. As for her little display of combat, it seemed that losing her focus managed to enhance her fighting capabilities. Though, she certainly wouldn't try to do it again.