Spiteful Spire (Open, Party of 3; See Notes))

[Satanick]

The humans managed to survive a single round at least. But how much longer would that be the case? The prince wasn't going to go east on them. The one young man nullified his darkness resistance. He supposed that was the smarter choice. A quick scan over showed that to be his strongest attack. Speaking of stronger attacks, that one woman opted to use a bow. Yet, she had stronger attacks she was able to use just fine. How odd. And that one girl tried scanning him again, it seemed. He tried checking the girl with the sword's brain, but there didn't seem to be much going on there. The young boy who healed them all seemed to possess a powerful heal at least. Maybe they weren't hopeless? The prince continued to look down on them in his mind. Could they honestly best him in a duel like this? It was possible, but he was doubtful.

Enemy scan turned up nothing new!

As the first attack came, he managed to dodge the fire attack thanks to the effects of Sukukaja. The sword attack was a decent hit at best, in the other case. Other than that, no attacks had come. Were they really this unprepared? This was hardly a worthy 'team' to be fighting. He resisted letting out a laugh at this. I wish I didn't scan your abilities just now. It only makes me feel worse for how this is going to play out. He wouldn't resist letting them know, though.

Lifting his two hands, the shape of a phoenix appeared above him before dispersing into black and white particles. Two of each color. The two white ones strike at Tristan and Luka for Major Light damage! The two black ones strike at Kate and Tristan for Major Dark damage!

Finally, with his rapier pointed high in the air, a single beam was sent upward before crashing down on Tristan for Severe Electric damage! Tristan is downed! Quite an unfortunate turn of events, that was. He managed to conduct more than just my lightning. He laughed at the misfortune of this group.

[Kate Minola]

"Oh my God, will you shut up and fight us in silence?" Kate muttered, picking herself up from that nasty dark attack that hit her and knocked her flat on her back. She thanked her lucky stars for Antiope's regenerative abilities and defense.

The bastard had actually dodged Antiope's flame attack. They all got hit hard and Tristan especially, who actually was taken out of the fight completely. She had some faith that the boy with the horse Persona (Akira, wasn't it?) could pick him up but the meantime they were down an attacker.

Well he can't fucking dodge everything, Kate thought. Considering that Lulu's scan said he can mimic our buffs, we're going to have to play this straight up. As soon as my protection wears off he should have the same issue. In theory.

In the meantime, she moved so that she was standing between Tristan and the prince dude. "Someone get him up, please, I'll try and cover him in the meantime."

She summoned Antiope once more. "Screw you," she hissed quietly, as Antiope struck her shield and pointed her spear at the prince, causing another blast of fire at his vicinity.

---

Auto-Rakukaja is active! (round 3 of 3)
Action: Agilao (Fire) on the prince

High Counter
Major Strike, roll 1-5, reflect if 1
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1-5

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan could see on the man's face that something was going on. He didn't seem to be doing much, though. When the man taunted them, letting them know that he had scanned their abilities, the boy didn't really react. It was annoying, sure, but he had no unrealistic thoughts about his abilities. What was irritating was how the man mocked everyone else. They were the strongest people the rag-tag team of Persona-capable people had to offer, more or less! How dare he mock them!

Tristan prepared to unleash an attack, hopefully to shut the man up, when something strange appeared over the prick. It split into four different balls of energy. Two of them were white, and the other two were black. And, of course, one of each came barreling at him. He had no time to dodge and, before he had time to recover from the attacks, a powerful burst of lightning struck him down. "God... Fucking... Dammit..."

Suddenly, Tristan felt... Something. On his face. He jolted upright to see the other boy over him. Along with the horse. "I just have all the fucking luck. Thanks, though. I'll make sure to give him hell, for having you waste your time." Tristan pushed himself to his feet and looked the rose man in the eye. "Congrats. You just pissed me off. Surprisingly enough, that's the first time I've went down in combat. Good job." As he summoned Odysseus, he turned to Luka. "I managed to take the brunt of the attacks this round, but we may not be so lucky next time. We can't give him the chance to take down one of the healers. Hit him hard, hit him fast, and don't let him hit back."

He turned back to the pompous prince. He couldn't let the man hurt anyone else the same way he had just been hurt. He would have preferred to be like the one guy, and be able to use his magic to protect others. However, he was still fine with using what skill he did have. He would just have to hurt the prick first. "Eat Shit" he said, in English, as the Persona behind him launched a spell.


((Getting Killed before becoming Lazarus Chaos Element on the Pompous Prick of a Prince! Suku and Raku are down!))

[Akira Nakajima]

Akira had not been targeted that turn. While nice in and of itself, it was far from a blessing. It seemed that the opponent had unleashed a relatively nasty barrage, and one that focused on Tristan. The young man went down. Other than that, however, the damage was fairly manageable. He honestly didn't feel comfortable leaving Luka at anything less than perfect shape, considering that powerful piercing attack, but there was little that could be done- by him, at least. He fixed Lucretia with his stare before lightly bowing his head.

"Please handle healing for the time being. I'll get him back up and on his feet." And, with that, the boy focused on the only other male in the group. Hayagriva released a flurry of glowing particles on the man. Soon enough, he rose. Far from perfect shape, sure, but better than knocking on death's door. Of course, with an opponent like that, he half-wondered if that would be the only heal he'd have to issue during the battle. "Yeah. Go kick his ass." The boy's words, and smile, were warm- meant to be encouraging. It was much more than he typically had to show off.

Was he genuinely a little concerned with the enemy they were facing? . . . nah. Couldn't be that. But he did, at the very least, understand that morale was important. While he couldn't do much to help it, he'd at least try to maintain his calm. Honestly, he hoped that the enemy overshot one of those thrusts and just, you know, accidentally shot over the edge and fell to his death. That'd be nice. Of course, the enemy would probably magically sprout wings and then add air-to-surface attacks to his list while maintaining relatively high evasive capabilities.

Yeah, that sounded more likely.

Action: Recarm on Tristan

[Lucretia Odovacar]

For once, one of the enemies decided to focus their attacks on one person.  It seemed like such an obvious strategy that she was surprised it hadn't happened before, but sadly she couldn't be impressed (for lack of a better term) for long.  The sheer amount of attacks was too much for Tristan to handle.  As he fell, all Lucretia could do was wish she could have taken that last lightning strike for him.  Fortunately, she also knew that one of the other users here was capable of reviving him, so there wasn't a whole lot to worry about.  It would be a problem if that happened to Akira however, and since her scan didn't appear to be returning anymore results, perhaps the best course of action would be to defend him.  Later, right now she had something more important to do, and knew that without having to be told.

"Of course," she nodded at Akira.

Her heal wasn't as good as his, but hopefully it would do the job for now.

---

Mediarama on humans

[Luka Kurokawa]

That last round of attacks by the prince didn't seem to be going light on their team. On the contrary, they were very powerful attacks that seemed to rival the Cerberus. Luka didn't actually get hit with much that time, thankfully. However, she saw Tristan take the brunt of the assault. That definitely looked like it hurt. It was so bad that Akira needed to revive him. At that point, Luka realized how crucial it was for people to not go down. Not only did it occupy the healer's time for a bit, delaying healing, but it was potentially a round where they had less damage to dish out. It would be exceptionally bad if Akira went down, since he was the only one who could revive. Honestly, it was good that he was here.

As Tristan got back up, he seemed to be a lot more talkative than she'd think for someone who just got taken down. In fact, he was telling her to hit the enemy hard. Hadn't she been hitting him the most thus far though? Luka simply brushed it off as a rush of adrenaline from coming back from death's door. She just nodded in response to his words and continued what she had been doing thus far. Hitting him, and making sure she hit hard. At the very least, having the scanner girl allowed them to have some auxiliary healing on the side. Though complaining would only lower team morale, she really wished they had a bit more firepower in their group. Luka would just keep quiet and fight though. Closing the gap between her and the prince, Luka made one more horizontal slice at him.

Action: Level 4 Slash + WM

SPOILER: Click to show

Crit on 1
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1-5

[Satanick]

It didn't take long for the group to respond to the attacks in an acceptable manner. By that, it would have been the saving of their teammate who unfortunately was some sort of lightning rod for kinds of attacks. The large one had told him to shutup though. I thought you just asked me to enlighten you a second ago? So, I gave you some words of wisdom, and some physically painful lightning. A double entendre to keep you entertained in the midst of our duel. I take it my fighting must be boring you, considering how angry everyone looks. The attacks they had used all had the same level of effectiveness. All of them were effective, but partially resisted for whatever reason. Unfortunately, the buffs they had given him so graciously had worn off at this point. Again, the arena pulsed with energy hitting everyone for Minor Almighty damage.

Now then. . . come to me. The prince charges at Lulu before stopping within a couple feet and gently places his hand under her chin. His charm ability always worked without fail. Well, except that it failed for whatever reason. . . .Odd. You're an odd one. With those words to Lucretia, the prince slowly withdrew himself from her personal space. That kind of irked him.

Slamming his palm into the ground, a silver convertible rose out of the ground! After the car started itself, the prince floated on to the hood of the car and reclined against its windshield. He looked exceedingly relaxed. Next, the car charged forward and slammed into everyone for Major Strike damage before hurdling off the arena and exploding midair. Of course, the prince had already returned to the center of the arena once more. Again, he took up a combat stance to fend off the attackers.

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan couldn't help but grin through his teeth. Sure, he had been hit hard, and it hurt like hell. However, it wasn't anything compared to the beating he had just received. With a touch of healing, he would be good as new. And, it seemed Lucretia managed to throw the enemy off, if just a little. Tristan considered saying something, but he decided against it. He could always say something later.

The fact that nobody was struck down this time was a blessing. One that Tristan intended to make full advantage of. He summoned Odysseus again and blasted off his attack. He only had a limited window of time before the prince resisted darkness again, and Tristan wanted to take full advantage of that, too.


((Dark Break is on turn 2 of 3! Chaos Element on Prince!))

[Akira Nakajima]

The next wave of energy slammed into everyone. It was weak, sure, but it was still that “little something extra” that could ruin someone's endurance if combined with a few solid hits. After what seemed to be a creeper creeping moment, the enemy produced a vehicle and attempted vehicular homicide. Nobody went down, but that didn't change the fact that that shit hurt. Why did a demon have a car?! Moreover, why was it used in an attack?! What was next, a tank? Akira, silently, sighed while pushing himself up. Even that world's vein of “common sense” seemed to be going down the drain. “Expect anything” seemed like the only good view to hold in regards to that world.

There was any number of things he could say, but he just shook his head and willed for another Mediarahan to wash over the team. At the very least, they should have all been in perfect shape at that point. Unless he focused another volley on a single person, or took advantage of a weakness, nobody should have dropped in the upcoming wave. Or so he hoped. He didn't opt to restore the support spell's effects, though. It was inhibiting their offensive power due to the opponent's means of copying the effects. While they could benefit from the defensive boost, it would also extend the fight. Keeping everyone in perfect shape was the better option.

Action: Mediarahan on party

[Kate Minola]

A car.

A fucking car.

That's it. I'm done, Kate thought, lying on the ground in a daze after that hit. I am soooo done with this bullshit.

Sure, it hadn't hurt as much as being run over probably would have (she hadn't been hit by a car before so she didn't know), but it was both painful and degrading. The healing from Lulu and Akira helped but it didn't do much for her hurt pride and sensibilities. She pushed herself up to her feet and gripped her hammer. Nothing seemed to go through that damned armor of the demon.

"Christ, there's got to be some chink in his armor or we'll be here all fucking night!" she muttered quietly. "And he won't shut up, either..."

She was pissed enough to want to vent and obviously, there was a perfectly good target in front of her.

She charged - not quite like a raging bull, but definitely like a very angry bear. A panda bear, maybe, but still a bear. She got in close and winding back her arms, she swung hard, full rotation and with the blunt end of her hammer pointed straight at the ponce's chest, at that freakin' rose that was getting on her nerves.

---

Auto-Rarukaja is inactive
Action: Lvl 2 weapon attack (Fire) on Prince

[Luka Kurokawa]

When the prince finally had his time to make a counter-attack, he stopped to do something to the scanner girl. Luka wasn't exactly sure what he was trying to do, but whatever it had been probably didn't work. Next came a big silver car that he decided to ride around the arena. Really? Wasn't this move a lot different than the other attacks he had? In the way that. . . it totally didn't make any sense. Luka was hit, but she mostly resisted the attack.

This was a good turn for them. It was their chance to pull ahead. Again, Luka went in for a slice at the armored prince. He had a weak spot, right? Luka honestly wasn't sure what it could be. None of their attacks showed any exploitable weakness. It was a bit demoralizing.

Level 4 Slash + WM

Crit on 1

SPOILER: Click to show

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1-5

[Lucretia Odovacar]

Lucretia braced herself for the next attack, but all he did was get really close to her, put his hand on her chin and whisper something to her.  What was he even trying to do?  Was he flirting with her?  That was really creepy.  He removed his hand on his own before she could swat it away, but even after that Lucretia's posture remained more defensive than usual, and she clearly had no idea what to make of this.  It was probably a good thing that he had an interest in humans, but at this point she just kind of wanted them to hurry up and beat him up.

Given how weird all of that was, the car summoning hardly seemed strange at all.  If anything, it was just a waste.  Speaking of which, there wasn't a lot she needed to do this time around.  So, she figured the best course of action was to block any attacks from hitting the main healer and the only one that could wake them up if they should fall unconscious.  Her own attacks would probably not even scratch him, so there didn't seem to be much point in attacking herself.

---

Defending Akira

[Satanick]

All in all, the prince was disappointed with himself that last round. He let them stabilize their teamwork a bit while not pressuring them much. There wasn't much for him to say at this point. They stopped being amusing and began to reach mildly annoying levels. He would fight a bit more and see how well they had done thus far. Maybe they wouldn't disappoint him so much? They had held up thus far. But as he knew, everyone cracks when under enough pressure. On that note, a strange pressure continued to push down on the team, hitting them for Minor Almighty damage!

Next, the prince flung don't his rapier into the platform and placed both of his hands forward. A strange ball of energy formed at the base and extended out towards the team. The entire team's HP is halved! A strange, pink, circular seal formed between the prince and the group. Afterwards, the prince pulled his rapier back out of the ground. Things weren't looking good.

The strange seal hurdled balls of energy upward in an arc before crashing down on the group for Major Almighty damage! Afterwards, in began to charge again.

The prince simply stood there with his arms crossed. He would wait a little more before going harder on them. Any more and he would be asking too much of them. They were only human, after all.

[Lucretia Odovacar]

His attacks, his displays of power, in the end none of them changed anything.  Akira was capable of healing every last wound they suffered, and was capable of bringing back anyone from unconsciousness, so as long as nothing happened to him it would be very difficult for them to lose this fight.  The combination of Akria's ability to heal, and her own ability to give anyone that needed it more mental energy, meant that a long battle would be no problem.  Her ability to hurt the enemy was still weak enough that it wasn't really worthwhile, so all she could do was make sure the cornerstone of their formation didn't fall for the time being.  If others needed energy, she could worry about it then.

---

Still being Akira's meatshield

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan suddenly felt really, really bad. Maybe it had to do with the constant pressure of strange energy, which had come back and hit twice with the second time being far stronger. Or maybe it had something to do with the giant pink think in between the two opposing forces and how it had appeared. Whichever one it was, Tristan didn't really appreciate it.

He hoped that the strange thing, whatever in the hell it was, didn't completely nullify darkness in one way or another. He had one last chance to hit the rose guy with darkness before it was resisted again. It was just going to have to take the hit along with the man. Tristan summoned Odysseus again and fired off the spell.

It almost felt like the teamwork of the group was being tested, Tristan noticed. It was in the man's words and actions, not that it mattered. He had his part to play, so he would leave leading and coordinating to someone else. All he had to do was attack.


((Dark Break is in the final turn! Chaos Element on both enemies!))