Challenging the Deep (Alisa/Luka/Mission)

[Shirako Tachibana]

Shirako was not one to be overly concerned in regards to the city's well-being. There were numerous other agents deployed to the location, plus there seemed to be numerous Users there that had awakened, if the signs of the numbers were anything to go by. She was in the city for one reason, and she would prioritize that purpose over helping others there if the choice presented itself. With that all said, she had still opted to take part in one of the mission assignments listed in that establishment. Why? Well, for the same reason most people did things that they weren't inherently interested in, of course.

The reward.

A little spare cash, plus useful trinkets, would go a long way in her current endeavors. She was not yet up to her full strength again. The hospitalization had left its marks, so getting some form of supplementation before her first major mark in that location would have been a good idea. At the very least, she was dressed to get the job done. Black jeans, black long-sleeved shirt, black vest. All were comfortably loose, but snug enough to not get caught on things. At her waist, her katana awaited use. Her combat boots disturbed the loose gravel around the gigantic hole in the ground, but not enough to leave proper imprints. Once she had surveyed the area surrounding the pit, she took a seat with a good vantage point of the surrounding area, checking the device needed for the mission before cautiously relaxing.

She had come early. She didn't typically go out to that area of the ruins. Not yet, anyway. So, as opposed to showing up "on time", she went out much earlier to get a grasp on the area properly. That done, she had time to rest. Her faceless companions would eventually arrive, and then the mission could properly begin. She just hoped it wouldn't get nastier than absolutely necessary. She doubted they'd encounter anything too terrible, but it was still an outcome she needed to prepare for. That said, worst-case would be two deadweights and an encounter with an area guardian or a few sentients. Or both.

The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to have anything to do with it. It would be better to just wait until her companions appeared. Worry about the potential for problems after that.

[Ayakura Alisa]

Today's mission was once again returning to the dreaded caverns, the place I fondly (not) remember 'rescuing' the cat, who I was confidently sure could nuke the entire place with her mind alone. The reward was appealing enough though, and whatever challenges faced me and whoever I came along with this time would surely make everything worth it, I hope. I came in again wearing my casual shirt and pants, once again trying hard not to look like an out-of-place action chick; but I had to make sure that I didn't dirty any of my other crap in this place too. I returned once more to the place and saw a woman with long, black hair wearing black jeans ... black vest ... and back long-sleeved shirt. What next, were her boots black? Of course they were also black, they were combat boots.

If my vision were not illuminated by my knife and if this woman were dark-skinned, I was pretty confidently sure I would absolutely not be able to see her. Also, I couldn't tell if she was older than me or not. I'll be careful and I'd better not mince words. Arriving at the scene of the soon-to-become-crime, I hailed the woman.

"Hey, I'm one of your companions for the mission..." I said. "Name's Ayakura Alisa... If the device is with you, let's wait for the other one so we can get this over with."

[Luka Kurokawa]

Luka made her way over to the area indicated for the mission to meet up at. As she made her way over, she noticed that she was the last one to show up. The other two people taking the mission had already shown up. The first one she noticed was Alisa, whom she was more than familiar with. The other one, however, she had never seen before. This mission was listed under the "hard" category. Luka figured that she knew everyone who was capable of taking such a mission. At least, she figured she had "seen" them all. This woman though? She had never seen her before.

Upon arriving, she greeted Alisa with a smile. Hey, Alisa. Then, she turned to the other woman and gave a slightly less casual greeting. Good evening. My name is Luka. I'll be your other partner for the mission today. The girl then gave a glance at the depths of the chasm. Well then. Shall we be off?

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

With everyone here, you begin to descend into the depths of the chasm. You're going to need to get pretty deep to do the scanning for the blonde woman. You manage to get a good deal of the way downward before actually running into trouble. . . so I'll skip that part. Here's trouble.

Hearing Jotun

• Heaven's Blade
• Niflheim
• Auto-Taru

Absorb: Repel: Null: Ice, Slash Rs: Wk: Fire, Elec
Seeing Beast

• Ragnarok
• God Hand
• Auto-Raku

Absorb: Repel: Null: Strike, Fire Rs: Wk: Ice, Light
Speaking Minotaur

• Primal Force
• Heaven's Judgement
• Auto-Suku

Absorb: Repel: Null: Light, Pierce Rs: Wk: Dark, Wind

[Shirako Tachibana]

Shirako hadn't had to wait too long beyond what she believed was necessary before others approached. First was a young woman, likely in her mid-twenties, and dressed casually. Her body was fairly fit. She could have passed for a man, perhaps. She gave her name. A simple enough introduction and notation of their shared goals, the woman figured. The second appeared shortly afterward. She seemed to be on a first-name basis with Alisa. Well, that wasn't too shocking, she supposed. Neither seemed to carry themselves like veteran Users, though. Not an issue, but something she had no issues with noting in her mind. If they were so calm on an assignment like this, they likely had the experience, regardless of how long they'd been able to fight.

”Tachibana Shirako.” She gave her name in response to the two. No need to be overly friendly. They were not, likely, there to make friends. She wasn't, either. It was a job and it needed to get done. ”Let's go, then.” She casually commented, shifting and rising before heading on into the depths. Her pace was casual, yet careful. She was neither in a rush to proceed, nor was she too hampered by a sense of fear or caution. The dark was more her ally than her enemy, typically. Sticking to it allowed her to get by without trouble. Usually, anyway. It seemed that this mission would likely include more conflict than she typically enjoyed. Oh well. That was the nature of the battlefield.

”One each.” She observed once their opposition presented itself. She began to distance herself from the other two, more so than before, before getting the attention of the Jotun-breed. She drew her blade. Once readied, her blade pointed directly up. Her hands met at the grip, against her shoulder. Her arms, from the base to the elbow, were perpendicular with her shoulders. A textbook example of a basic stance. Simultaneously with taking that stance, the woman ushered Yaksa into existence. Then, sending her Persona in, she willed for a Brave Blade. She clicked her tongue when she watched the attack bounce off of the Shadow. Well, this was certainly going to be fun. The Shadow responded with a slash of its own while the woman sheathed her blade. No need to waste the effort to dodge or test with her own blade. Instead, while the Shadow attacked her, she willed for a Sukukaja. She was pretty sure her allies were within range, so they would likely have reaped the benefits as well.

Once, and she side-stepped the next slash. Apparently, the Shadow was not too intelligent. Or it was a one-trick pony, like herself. The second cast, and she outright evaded the incoming blizzard. She wasn't even rushing. Her movements were smooth and precise. She expended only the necessary energy in evading. It was how she fought against humans back in the day. It was how she fought Shadows in the present. With the third cast, Sukukaja was maxed, and the woman was essentially untouchable outside of special circumstances. Unable to strike back, the woman focused not on looking for openings, but on guiding the enemy into a situation unfavorable for it. Blades and icicles narrowly missed her as she weaved left and right, just in and just out of the Shadow's range.

And then it fell into a hole.

As anti-climatic as it might have been, she had “won” against her opponent.

[Ayakura Alisa]

Tachibana Shirako then, I thought to myself as I committed her name to memory as I am sure she may come up in the distant future. Though, it will be fine if I didn't see her again either as I have not recalled seeing Sayu in engagements since my mission with her as well. I followed her as it seemed she was in possession of the device. I also made sure not to forget about the other person, who was in fact Luka. I greeted her back with a simple "Nice to see you too here, Luka" before we were already on her way. Eventually, we ran into a group of three enemies. One each, she stated as she went on ahead to attack.

I went ahead to challenge the beast with large seeing eyes, a seeing beast to be told, and gripped my knife tightly as I performed a horizontal slash and let loose the technique of Vorpal Blade I was soon starting to become a little addicted to, with its sheer, intense destructive power at its best when I was fresh off a good drink and a preparatory shower before the dive. The giant beast roared and retaliated with breathing out a blazing, apocalyptic fire which I weathered but fortunately resisted, so I was able to handle the flames.

Though, that still didn't solve the problem of the beast still actually being there. Throughout the small combat, Shirako had willed for some sort of speed-boosting spell. We weren't too far away from her too so I could feel it. This allowed me to maneuver past the crushing fists of the seeing beast much more easily, and I was able to respond with quick slashes from my knife, which, I felt, was much lighter yet much stronger than I was used to wielding with my old knife. Just what was this thing? Regardless, I rolled to the side and charged my arm up with electricity, shooting the bolt at the beast and making sure it got hit by it.

It roared again and I could see its spittle on the ground. Ew. I sighed and watched as it charged up one of its fists with some sort of energy and tried to punch me with it hard, but I simply stood my ground, weathered the attack with little issue, only feeling my feet dig into the dirt, and soon retaliated by leaping up to its face and jamming my knife into one of its eyes, causing dark essence to spurt from it like a fountain and knocking it over backwards, causing it to fade away and disappear into nothingness.

[Luka Kurokawa]

The other woman introduced herself as Shirako Tachibana. She didn't seem to be much for words, but then again, Luka wasn't really much different until recently. Though, this woman didn't seem that way for the reasons Luka was. She seemed much more serious; formal. She didn't linger on that thought much as she returned her glance back to Alisa and smiled for going down the pathway.

It wasn't long until they were confronted with the first wave of enemies. There rather large shadows stood in their way. The first two seemed to be chosen by the other two girls while Luka seemed to be left with some sort of Minotaur. She quickly charged up to make a strong opening attack on it. As she did so, she noticed a powerful force about to be dropped onto her. Running off to the side, the girl nearly lost her balance before regaining her posture. Returning to a steady stance, she focused her energy on the enemy shadow and allowed Hel to send a powerful dark attack at the shadow. It was completely obliterated. Blinking for a second, the girl realized that she must have hit the thing's weak spot. Well, that worked too.

She managed to catch a glimpse of the other two's users' fighting given hers managed to end rather quickly. The mysterious woman's fight caught her attention, mostly because she had never seen her fight before. The woman seemed to only attack using slash attacks. Even better, she was rather good with those attacks. It honestly made Luka a little frustrated, given she could hardly swing around that bladed weapon she found. With a sigh, the girl watched as everyone finished up just moments after her.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

With the enemies defeated, you continue down a little bit more. Once again, you are met with fairly low amounts of shadow activity. In fact, you managed to reach the point that you needed to reach to activate the device! Following the instructions that the blonde woman presented to you prior to the mission, you let the device do its thing. Funnily enough, a few tremors begin to happen, seemingly as a result of the device's activation. All around you, you notice various strange creatures burrow out from the ground. They are clearly shadows, but they don't seem to be any that you've come across before. Rather, they seem to resemble some sort of subterranean beetle. Whatever they are, they're hostile.

Magma Beetle x12

• Agidyne
• Gigantic Fist
• Fire Amp
• Tetrakarn

Absorb: Repel: Fire Null: Rs: Wk: Ice, Pierce

[Shirako Tachibana]

It seemed her allies could handle themselves fairly well. For that, Shirako was relieved. With a slight nod to the both of them, the woman proceeded further on into the descent, Yaksa stepping along at her side. The Persona matched her pace, but seemed much more casual. One blade was out on resting on its shoulder. The other was just leveled just barely above the ground. Upon arriving, the woman got to setting up the device, letting it do its thing. With that, they'd only have to wait a few minutes, she imagined. At least, that was the case up until the tremors began. The woman braced herself. Her senses told her bad things were about to happen. Surely enough, that was the case. She drew her blade and readied it again as the numerous beetles appeared. A sigh escaped her lips.

”When it rains, it pours. I'll take this group.” She calmly noted as she and Yaksa inched closer to the group of four on her side. She had no area-based skills. Rather, not at present. Before her injuries, she had had a powerful area-based slash skill. For the time being, though, she'd have to address each “beetle” separately. Yaksa utilized Brave Blade, slicing into the nearest beetle. That left a large enough opening for the woman to step inside and drop her blade. Like a guillotine, it slashed the “head” clean off, causing the Shadow to dissipate. She twisted around and faced the rest of the Shadows. A surge of fire came from one. She carefully side-stepped out of the way. The other two tried to ram her. Their impatience and lack of teamwork caused them to slam into each other. It allowed her to evade easily enough, at that. Focusing on the fire-user, she and Yaksa stepped in for a second double-tap slash combo. It went down without further issues.

One of the remaining two erected a barrier. How bothersome. She'd have to refrain from attacking long enough to let the reflective wall dissipate. The other, however, rammed at her again. Due to the bad footing of the cavern, she failed to evade, even with her reflexively enhancements. The woman stepped back, dropping to a knee. The damage was, ultimately, negligible. It wasn't the attack itself that bothered her. Rather, it was the after effect. Her chest went aflutter for a moment. With some breathing regulation, she kept herself from entering a fit. In the meantime, Yaksa took care of the damage by utilizing Diarahan. By the time the woman stood straight, the two beetles began to work together, unleashing a double-fire barrage.

The woman and Yaksa sidestepped, then pressed in. Brave Blade, followed by the woman's power double-handed, over-head strike did the third Shadow in. The barrier had expired. The final beetle, in response, tried to ram her again. However, the woman's footing was much better than before. With a simple shift to the side, she evaded danger. Yaksa slashed into its side as the woman drifted closer to its front, repeating the demise of the first beetle with a decapitation. It was a little nasty, but it got the job done, she figured.

[Ayakura Alisa]

I continued my way through the caverns alongside Shirako and Luka; it appears that Shirako fought with a katana and was only capable of single-target attacks, as I was before I developed the ability to attack large groups with 'Vorpal Blade.' Eventually, we reached the place where the device needed to be set up so we could measure... Whatever it was we needed to measure. Eventually, the tremors began, I stood my ground, balancing myself when it was needed. Soon enough, creatures began to burrow out of the ground. Shadows. Beetle shadows. I counted twelve of them quickly, and they looked to manipulate the power of flame. Fine. It was fine by me to handle a swath of them. Shirako pointed out she would handle one group of them.

I lunged forth into another group of beetles. I didn't bother counting how many there were. I inhaled and exhaled, concentrating energy into my right arm again as I brought out my knife, and swung it horizontally again, releasing a red wave of slashing energy that ripped through some of the beetles. Okay, some of them were bisected, but of course not all of them were, and those that remained standing after my attack quickly erected a barrier of some sort almost to counteract the fact I could use the same attack again! How bothersome. Another decided to ram me with its giant mandibles, but I took no damage at all and countered by shooting electricity at it. It got fried and expired.

Those that erected barriers now began to start spewing fire at me. I resisted fire but for some, I was able to maneuver out of the way, but I was not so lucky, for there were at least two still able to nick me with flame. I responded by casting electricity bolt attacks at them, and soon their barriers faded as I waited out their attacks. My skin had been mostly just scraped and slightly charred at parts, almost looking like a rugged action hero who had survived an explosion. Preparing my bow I decided to stick arrows into them and turn them into pincushions. That seemed to do the trick, as one died by shrivelling up and disappearing after I had shot a bunch of arrows into it.

The last remaining one I was able to take out by slicing it apart with my knife, as it tried feebly to ram me, to no real effect as I felt absolutely nothing from it. I kicked its expiring corpse aside.

[Luka Kurokawa]

After a short and uneventful fight, Luka continued down the path with the rest of the group until they made it to the bottom of the chasm. She glanced over at the strange woman named Shirako who used a sword. Looking at her gave her an idea. What if she could teach her to use weapons like that? Well, perhaps not as good, but enough for her to swing around her new weapon effectively. In the end, Luka decided that she would ask for contact info after this mission was over. Right now, they needed to focus on the task at hand.

As they were at their destination, they began to scan for whatever the blonde woman intended to scan for. Luka was standing nearby in a carefree stance. In other words, she wasn't exactly prepared for a surprise attack. So when a large number of beetles began to burrow out of the ground, she reacted a little late. She was hit by two blasts of fire by some of the beetles, sustaining a considerable amount of damage. She began to charge quickly as she dodged the other two blasts. These things were fire based, clearly. Perhaps ice would be effective? One of the beetles charged at Luka. then another. Each time, she narrowly escaped only to end up forced into another blast of fire.

Knocked back into a wall, the girl gasped a little. Finally focused once more, she willed Hel to send out a powered up ice attack on all the enemies. She watched as they all began to freeze up a considerable amount as their movements began to slow. It looked like she was right. However, it seemed that her attacks weren't nearly as effective as she would have liked. Once again, a few blasts of fire were fired at her. Two of the other beetles attempted to charge at her as well, but were far too slow from the ice to do so. Instead, Luka decided to simply finish this. With another ice attack, she blasted back the shadows as they shattered into fragments of ice before dissolving away. She sighed with relief as she looked back over at the others. They scanned what they needed to and dealt with the threat. They could go home now, right?

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

After the beetles were dealt with, you feel the tremors from before end. You also have the scanned data that the blonde woman needed you to collect! Seems all that is left to do is return the device and collect your reward. As you begin to leave the place, you hear a rumbling noise again. This time, it is far bigger than before. This shaking seems to be strong enough to send boulders in the ceiling tumbling down. You even have a great deal of trouble just trying to stay upright.

Off to the side, you see something burrowing out of the wall. Slowly, it reveals itself as yet another beetle. This time, it seems to be much larger than the others. The beetle looks to be about the size of two school buses put together and is giving off an immense heat. It hasn't fully burrowed out of the wall yet, but you can tell that its power far exceeds that of what you are able to handle in this position.

With this in mind, you should probably begin to escape. The run up to the top of the chasm will be a long one and you'll need to outrun this monster. Perhaps blocking off the pathways as you go could slow it down a bit? That, or just run like hell. Whatever saves you.

[ ] Escape the Core Eater Beetle; Don't die.

[Shirako Tachibana]

"That's good. Let's go." Shirako commented after retrieving the device. She handled it on the way there, might as well have handled it on the way back. Her allies had carried themselves well enough. She had Yaksa toss a Diarahan at either of them before proceeding out of the chamber. It wasn't until the next set of tremors began that the woman seemed to be particularly bothered by anything. She spared a few moments to observe the source of the tremors. The footing was already bad. Having a ridiculously large beetle creating earthquakes wasn't going to help. Either way, given the environment, the lack of movement, and the enemy's size, it wasn't even a matter of strength at that point. If it tried hard enough, it could just eat them. Discretion was the better part of a valor. And Shirako didn't care about valor or honor, either way, at that point.

"When it rains." She commented sarcastically before looking at the other two and nodding. It was time to run. Now, the woman did not full-out sprint. That was just bad for her health, after all. Instead, she entered a fairly powerful and fast-paced jog. Being forced to regulate your body's exertion, but being forced into overly physical situations, often granted a person a means of getting around certain deficiencies. That, or it killed them. So far, the latter had yet to occur. Her partners couldn't spare the time to help her if she faltered. Similarly, neither could she for them if they did so.

That was the cold reality of the world of Shadows.

[Ayakura Alisa]

I nodded at Shirako when she seemed to handle the device well enough, scanning the area for the termors and eventually seemingly collecting the data that the woman was requesting for. Okay, that wasn't so bad as I initially thought. Though, trouble began to brew just about the same time she threw a healing spell at both Luka and myself before already making her way out. The tremors got worse and I was pretty sure that as I followed the older woman out something suddenly appeared - of course, a larger beetle compared to those that we had disposed of suddenly showed up... I had a feeling that I had already experienced something like this before. Like deja vu. Regardless. I didn't want to take on that thing. And I didn't feel like trying to block its path and waste everybody's time was a smart idea either.

"Deja vu." I rolled my eyes as I broke into a run, it would be pretty clear to both Shirako and Luka now that from the way I was running I was evidently trained on a more optimal way to run. Sprinting was not good here either, because I didn't know how far we had gone in. One needed to be reasonably fleet-footed in order to avoid heel striking the ground which was already uneven to begin with. A glide would streamline the process and basically make everything better for me. And so, I kept running, running away from whatever that beetle thing began to do as I could feel the immense heat from it.

[Luka Kurokawa]

As everyone finished up their battle, Luka looked over to the black-haired woman as she grabbed the device and decided to head out. Then she looked over to Alisa and nodded to her. They had what they needed. The hard part was over. At least, that was what she thought until the girl felt a gigantic quake beneath her.

Luka fell to the ground rather quickly as she felt this. turning back, she managed to catch a glimpse of the large beetle that burrowed out from the ground. It was giving off an immense amount of power and heat. Just what was it? the other two quickly got up and began to run. Luka who had fallen found herself jumping to her feet before running right behind them. They were still quite a while form the surface. Until they got up there, they would need to escape this thing. She wasn't sure about the others, but she wasn't overly confident in her running capabilities over such a long distance.

As she ran closely behind the others, she got an idea. Calling Hel to her side, she began to charge up for an attack. Looking back, the beetle was following them. seeming to keep its pace. But her target? It wasn't the beetle. Guys, keep going! I'm gonna try and slow it down!

Looking up at the ceiling, Luka waited for the right opportunity. She then turned around for a moment and targeted a loose area on the ceiling. And then with a powerful blast of energy, she collapsed a great portion of the ceiling, causing a blockage in the path behind them. With a smirk, she turned back around and followed the others, hopefully with the destination of the surface being soon.