Keine Quest (Part 2): Broken History

[Hello Purvis]

>Stop firing, see if it does the same.
>Is Rumia flying freely and not trapped anymore?
>If so: "Rumia! Keep away from it!"
>Look at the thing. "Hold still, and you'll be fine."

[DracoOmega]

>Is Rumia flying freely and not trapped anymore?
>If so: "Rumia! Keep away from it!"

>To the best of your knowledge, Rumia was never trapped by it. She was just somewhat distant from you when the creature first emerged.
>Rumia slows to a halt and looks at you uncertainly. "B- But Rumia wants to help!"

>Stop firing, see if it does the same.
>Look at the thing. "Hold still, and you'll be fine."

>You stop firing, but the figure seems to take no note of this.
>One of the clusters collides with a chasm wall, and bullets spray in all directions away from it. Several more clusters are nearing the other wall.

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to move away from the explodey bits and get a good idea of what they're doing.
>"Be careful, then! Don't get too close!"
>It it can be safely done, fire on it some more.

[DracoOmega]

>Try to move away from the explodey bits and get a good idea of what they're doing.

>You try to angle away from the ricocheting bullets while still keeping right, to avoid the frontal stream. The bullets from the clusters are moving in an undirected fashion, and fairly slowly, but they're quite dense at close range. Another cluster explodes against the wall behind and to your left, sending projectiles at you from the opposite side.

>"Be careful, then! Don't get too close!"
>It it can be safely done, fire on it some more.

>"Rumia'll be careful!"
>You open fire again, with similar results to before. Rumia adds a few shots of her own. While attempting to evade your attack, the figure drops the frontal barrage and closes some of the distance between you. Then it sprays a wide field of smaller white bullets at you.

[Hello Purvis]

>Move toward the middle to try to dodge the exploding shots. Trust the familiars to absorb a few if needs be.
>How thick is this field? If we think we can get through it, do so. Otherwise back away and let the spray widen.
>Consider the effects of our spellcards.

[DracoOmega]

>Move toward the middle to try to dodge the exploding shots. Trust the familiars to absorb a few if needs be.
>How thick is this field? If we think we can get through it, do so. Otherwise back away and let the spray widen.

>The field is fairly dense, but the pattern is quite regular, and you think you can navigate through it with some caution. It will impair your mobility, however, leaving you less able to react to new projectiles.

>Consider the effects of our spellcards.

>Spiritual Birth "First Pyramid"
>Creates familiars which orbit the caster and spray bullets in an intricate pattern, while ocassionally launching targeted energy blasts, forcing the enemy into the denser parts of the pattern to evade them.

>Origin Sign "Ephemerality 137"
>Repeatedly launches clusters of familiars which explode into a spray of bullets upon contact with any solid object.

>Land Sign "Three Sacred Treasures - Mirror"
>Sends out spreads of orbs, accompanied by a cascading sprays of bullets which fan out, and then return, attempting to box the target in from all sides.

>Ending Sign "Phantasmal Emperor"
>Creates several rotating arrays of familiars which fire an interlocking pattern of lasers, while launching concentric rings of projectiles from yourself. Creates a dense omnidirectional pattern to navigate, but limits your own movement

>Future "The Next History of Phantasm"
>Uses familiars to create a web of interlocking bullets, and then launches an intense spray of larger bullets which curve to track enemies. Very powerful, but you lack the capacity to use this outside of Hakutaku form

[Hello Purvis]

>Dodge through the white spray.
>Do the cards confer defensive benefits?
>If it tries to get closer, use Land Sign on it. That ought to do a lot of damage up close.

[DracoOmega]

>Dodge through the white spray.

>You quickly find a path between the incoming bullets and move forward. Some of the bullets from the first exploding cluster have reached you now, although they're somewhat spread out by this distance. You evade them as best you can with your limited maneuverability, by a few impact your side. The bullets from the second cluster will probably be harmless if you get enough distance forward. You hear another cluster explode, but it's not in your field of vision at the moment.

>Do the cards confer defensive benefits?

>Outside of the defensive benefits logically conferred by the offense they provide, the magic from an active spellcard can absorb a portion of the damage inflicted on the caster. Unfortunately, this also rapidly expends the energies of the card, and is not a strong enough defensive effect on its own for the cards to be used primarily for that purpose.

>If it tries to get closer, use Land Sign on it. That ought to do a lot of damage up close.

>As you move closer, the figure continues its own approach to you. You decide that it's probably better to strike now than wait to see what it has in mind for you at this range. You invoke Land Sign "Three Sacred Treasures - Mirror". The middle of the first spray of bullets cuts through the shadow, while several large green orbs gather energy in front of you.
>The shadow moves its wings again, and releases another blue barrage.

[Hello Purvis]

>Can we move up or down and circle along that axis relatively safely? If so, do that
>If not, was that unseen noise of impact from behind us?

[DracoOmega]

>Can we move up or down and circle along that axis relatively safely? If so, do that
>If not, was that unseen noise of impact from behind us?

>It'll be a tight squeeze, but you think you can make it. You pull up hard, scraping some of the while bullets around you as you do so. You narrowly avoid the leading edge of the barrage; a moment later, and you'd probably have been forced to take half of it across your lower torso.
>The green orbs are ready to fire, now, and you blast them towards the shadow. At this range, it takes most of them head-on. The outline of the figure convulses and shivers like ripples on a pond, and it loses momentum. You follow up with another spray of bullets, and you can see more of Rumia's shots incoming from your right.

>The impact sounded like it was closer to your left side, but beyond your peripheral vision

[Hello Purvis]

>Keep circling. Make it have to chase us to keep the barrage up.
>If it's safe, get a glance at the incoming stuff from the sides to better prepare for them.
>"If you go back where you came from, I'll stop shooting you!"

[Kasu]

> If the shadow continues the barrage, aim a spray of bullets at one of its wings to see if it does more damage.

[DracoOmega]

>Keep circling. Make it have to chase us to keep the barrage up.

>You continue to rise, and circle over the top of the shadow. It still seems too stunned to follow. You are nearing the edge of the white bullets, now.

>If it's safe, get a glance at the incoming stuff from the sides to better prepare for them.

>You spare a glance backwards, and see the site of the last impact you heard. There are some stray bullets from it coming towards you, but if you keep moving forward they should be spread out enough by the time they reach you to not be much of a problem. You see another cluster detonate near Rumia, but she seems to be managing to avoid most of it. She sends another wave towards the creature.

>"If you go back where you came from, I'll stop shooting you!"

>You feel a response to this from the creature. It's hard to make out what it means, but you get a sense of being trapped somehow. Lost.

> If the shadow continues the barrage, aim a spray of bullets at one of its wings to see if it does more damage.

>It hasn't fired again, yet, but you don't know if this is because it's too stunned to act, or if it may be changing its mind.

[Hello Purvis]

>Let the spellcard do its work. It can apologize over tea.

[DracoOmega]

>Let the spellcard do its work. It can apologize over tea.

>You move past the white bullets and turn around, launching a second spread of green orbs and a spray of smaller bullets with it. The shadow seems to gather itself, and start to move again. It turns to you and launches several clouds of white bullets, followed by a spherical burst of of blue needles. They're moving really fast! Rumia's last barrage passes through its shoulder, but it barely seems to notice.

[Kasu]

> Since it decided to attack, aim a spray of bullets at one of the wings.

[Hello Purvis]

> Since it decided to attack, aim a spray of bullets at one of the wings.

>Before this, watch the needles, try to get between them. Then when they pass, try to move between the white bursts.
>Then, if there's no major problems, counterattack.

[DracoOmega]

> Since it decided to attack, aim a spray of bullets at one of the wings.

>Before this, watch the needles, try to get between them. Then when they pass, try to move between the white bursts.
>Then, if there's no major problems, counterattack.

>You scrabble to the side to evade the front of the needle burst. Opening are easy to find, but their speed makes reacting difficult. Still, you manage to scrape out of the way, although this places you in a less than optimal position for the incoming clouds, having forced you close to the chasm wall.
>The clouds are staggered, and dense. Getting through them will be tricky to do unless you take it slowly. The shadow is also quickly closing distance to you.

>The sprays are wide and somewhat difficult to aim, but you launch the next one with the wings in mind. You can also see your first two spreads returning from behind and to the side of the shadow. You may be able to box it in if you can keep it from forcing its way through you.

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to progress through the clouds and meet it. If it wants to get close, it may have the next burst right in the face.
>Also try to keep a position where if it tosses needles again, we shouldn't have to move much to avoid them.

[DracoOmega]

>Try to progress through the clouds and meet it. If it wants to get close, it may have the next burst right in the face.
>Also try to keep a position where if it tosses needles again, we shouldn't have to move much to avoid them.

>You try to shift away from the chasm wall, to open up more room to dodge any subsequent needle bursts. Unfortunately, you think this is going to be extremely difficult at close range, no matter what you do.
>Then you move forward into the first cloud, darting and and around the tiny shots. Occasionally, you have to halt your forward momentum entirely and let parts of it pass by you. Several graze you, and a couple more manage to connect. Fortunately, they don't appear to be individually all that powerful. The second cloud is incoming at a slightly different trajectory.
>The shadow closes on you much more quickly than you close on it, since its movement is unhampered. It maneuvers smoothly through the spread of orbs you just shot, and launches another frontal stream at you. The returning bullets from your spellcard continue to move towards it, but it is outpacing them.
>You see Rumia flying after it, as well. She seems to be gaining on it.

[Hello Purvis]

>Sidestep the stream.
>Give it another faceful of spellcard, if it insists on charging at us.
>"Be careful, Rumia!"

[DracoOmega]

>Sidestep the stream.
>Give it another faceful of spellcard, if it insists on charging at us.

>You shift away from the stream, but then the second cloud is on top of you. This is going to be a tight squeeze! It is very difficult for you to navigate laterally through the cloud at the speed the stream is forcing you to, and you take several more minor hits. You can feel your spellcard is close to expended, now, and you're starting to feel a little battered, yourself. Still, the next set of orbs is nearly charged, and if you can get a free moment, should be able to do considerable damage at this range.

>"Be careful, Rumia!"

>Whether or not Rumia heard, you, she continues closing on the shadow.
>The spread you previously launched passes through the shadow, making ripples in a line across its torso and one of its wings. The form seems to shimmer more unstably than it did previously. You feel another rush of thoughts and emotions in your mind. There is pain mixed among the confusion. Why do you hurt us? Why do you trap us? Why can't we wake up? And then you start to slip rapidly into sleep....

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to focus on pain and fury to keep from slipping off.
>Fire. See if we can make a double KO out of this at the least.

[DracoOmega]

>Try to focus on pain and fury to keep from slipping off.
>Fire. See if we can make a double KO out of this at the least.

>You do your best to cling to fierce emotions. You're not just going to let yourself fall asleep in the middle of a battle, dammit! This is only slightly successful. You try to keep dodging, but feel utterly exhausted, and just can't read and slip into the the openings fast enough. Several small bullets clip your leg and you stumble, then the frontal stream catches up to you and grazes the side of your torso. You cry out. However, the pain seems to clear your mind just a little.
>You decide that if you can't get yourself to safety, you'll just give the shadow everything you've got while you're still conscious. You launch the last wave of orbs at it. Your vision grows dim as you see them fly off. Are you falling? Is the world falling? You think you can hear voices...

[Hello Purvis]

>Bite down on our tongue, try to focus on that pain to keep active.

[DracoOmega]

>Bite down on our tongue, try to focus on that pain to keep active.

>You use what remaining consciousness you have left to bite down on your tongue. And then harder. You manage to force a little more awareness into yourself, but the world is still hazy and you feel like you're fighting a losing battle. You are dimly aware of several more bullets slamming into you. They hurt much less than they ought to. That's worrisome, isn't it.....
>Then you see a torrent of red danmaku tear through the shadow from behind. Is that... Rumia? The shadow wavers and ripples violently. And suddenly you feel like you can think straight, again. Damn, your side hurts... You brace an arm against it.

[Hello Purvis]

>Assess situation.
>Dodge as necessary, a panic dodge is probably better than a faceful of pain.

[DracoOmega]

>Assess situation.
>Dodge as necessary, a panic dodge is probably better than a faceful of pain.

>You seem to be in the middle of one of the clouds. Fortunately, the frontal shots have stopped in the wake of the barrage the shadow just took at full force. You're still a bit disoriented, but manage to scrabble out of the way of several more incoming bullets.
>The spread of green orbs reaches the creature, and two of them pass through it. It wavers even more intensely. For a few moments, the outline contorts so much that it doesn't even appear humanoid. A cry of pain resounds in your mind.
>The reflected shots are very close to it from both the rear and the sides, now. Unless it moves forward quickly, it will probably be unable to evade them.

[Hello Purvis]

>How's the card holding out?
>If we think we can, give it another volley in the face. But if that would impede the the other two from connecting, don't.
>In any event, stay in its way. Should it try to flee, blast it anyways.

[DracoOmega]

>How's the card holding out?
>If we think we can, give it another volley in the face. But if that would impede the the other two from connecting, don't.

>Between the damage you've taken, and the number of shots you've already fired, you're surprised it's still holding out. If you fire again, you risk breaking the card entirely.

>In any event, stay in its way. Should it try to flee, blast it anyways.

>You stay near where you are, to try and block any attempt for the shadow to flee. After a moment, it does start to move again, but haltingly; it seems disoriented and uncertain. And then another smaller wave from Rumia connects with it, and it stops again. It seems like the part of its body that took the hit is becoming wispy and insubstantial. This second hesitation costs it the window it needed to escape from the other waves boxing it in. The first tears into its side, provoking a similar reaction to Rumia's attack. And then the second strikes from the other side. Its outline seems to contort and shed shadowy energy into the air. Finally, the third wave tears through it from behind. You've never seen a shadow shatter before, but that seems the best way to describe what happens. Tiny remnants of it drift off and dissolve into the night. Among the pain and confusion that assault your mind in its last moments, you're left with a single word: 'Why'