Shrine in a Bind [Full Moon]

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Jaelyn had not been looking forward to this day at all. For most of the last month, and especially ever since running into Luka in the abandoned terminal, she had been avoiding other people even more than usual. And not without reason. The events of her last few meetings still lingered in her head. How she'd threatened the old man in front of everyone. How, again, everyone, could clearly see that she had some kind of relationship with someone who was clearly a shadow. And then, she utterly failed to defend Sakuya when confronting Luka, so she probably thought Jaelyn was an enemy. And while the other kid she'd traded harsh words with probably didn't care, she was pretty sure that she'd sent a few threats in his direction as well. That was the kind of environment she would be walking into. One of potential hostility that she's created because of her own inability to control herself. Would they see her as an enemy as well, and attack her as well?

Compared to Luka or some of the others, Jaelyn was still weak. She couldn't stand up to them if they decided she was an enemy. She was stronger than last month. She was even stronger than she'd been when she admitted to being no match for Luka. Most of her last several fights against shadows had been near-effortless, but it wasn't enough. Nothing ever was. She was always behind them. Always weaker. Always having to watch her damned step before saying something dangerous or stupid got her labeled as a threat. Or worse, a target. And there wasn't a damned thing she could do about that.

"Damn it all," she said, laying back on the ground. She was back up on the same overlook on the mountain, again, watching the city and waiting for midnight. If she stayed right where she was, she would probably be able to watch the whole thing go down. The last one would probably have looked like quite a spectacle from up above. ...That sounded even more appealing now. Just staying behind. What did she even care about these things, anyway? Both of the last battles had left her in a bad state. After the first one, she'd at least found Sakuya. But she still hadn't recovered from the shitty feeling last month's fight had left behind. This wasn't going to be any different. She could already tell. None of this was of any benefit to her.

As midnight came around and the same damned frozen time phenomenon came around, however, the ominous presence she was almost used to feeling on these nights came from very nearby. It took Jaelyn a minute to realize why. Shit. There was stuff up here. There was the resort, and that shrine. And the shrine, especially, was very close by. Great. There was no excuse to sit this one out, now.

"The powers that be are laughing at me," Jaelyn groaned, getting to her feet. She hung back, waiting for others to start appearing, before falling in with them and approaching the shrine. There she saw a...what in the world was that thing? Was it instantly killing everything it stepped on?!

Grumbling more expletives to herself, Jaelyn summoned Caligula. But she didn't attack it. Not yet. Not until she knew it wasn't just going to absorb her fire or something asinine like that. No, for now, she'd just charge up, and let everyone else find its weaknesses for her.

[Action: Mind Charge]

Dodge - Slash:
ZRhgvKC91-51-5

[Tristan Carter]

The full moon, muse for poetry and stories. The object of song. Something that is seen as beautiful or inspirational. It was magnificent tonight, looming in the sky. It was far larger than it had any right to be on normal circumstances, but that somehow just added to the beauty. And with it being against the dark purple background, it looked marvelous.

Tristan only saw it as a pain.

Rushing to get to the powerful energy, the boy quickly grabbed his gear. His scythe, his jacket, and even the silver necklace that Vice had given him out of the blue. The young User wondered about that, but honestly wasn't going to challenge it. He had already grown attached to it, and wouldn't give it up for anything.

That said, the boy made sure to grab it on his way out of his apartment. He quickly headed in the direction of the shrine, where he could hear attacks being dealt already. He made it there and gave a quick scan of the people there so far. While a decent amount of people ere there already, the boy could have sworn that there were more last month.

Honestly, he didn't care. He felt the rush of power from the buffs and considered throwing in his own, but he decided against it. There were those who were far more efficient at it than he, and the best thing he can do is find out a weakness.

When it looked like none of his three elements had been used yet besides dark, the boy considered countering that with his light attack. Even if it were to heal the shadow, at least it wasn't as powerful as the dark attack by the one girl.

Summoning Ifreet, the boy cast Hamaon to enter the fray.

((Hamaon))

Dodge roll!
xL7Z9|5l1-5
1-5

[Xain]

Extremely high energy readings accosted Xain as he entered the city from his outing. He was already prepared, so he quickly dashed out to the fight. When he arrived on the scene, he started to laugh. The shadow, who had a god-like appearance, was attacking the shrine? He wondered if anyone else got the irony in that.

Even so, the shadow was in the wrong place. It would have to deal with many Users and- wait, many? Xain took a look around and saw multiple powerful users, most of which were already attacking. Yet... Surely, there were more?

The android hoped so, because otherwise this was to be a long fight. With a movement, xain pulled out his spears before summoning Principality. He smiled, then willed for a Strike attack. The Persona obliged, using its staff to harm the would-be god.


((Dream Fist))
Roll for Sleep:
mudLWDkN1-4

Dodge Roll, just in case:
1-5
1-4�1-5

[Gin Takemoto]

The dark purple sky; the large, forbidding moon; the large amount of energy around; the creepy, nondescript coffins; all of these were warning signs. They were meant to impose, to threaten, to scare away any who would dare challenge the mighty force who was prowling the city. 

At least, that was Gin's guess. The tiger was just that, currently: a tiger. He could feel the power of his brother near the shrine, he had been able to feel it for a short while now. He had just been waiting for more Users to show up, so that he could justify attacking his kind. It wasn't exactly easy to do that, after all.

However, when he saw a couple more enter the battle, the tiger jumped in as well. He looked around before saying, "Nice to see you all again. By the way, before anyone says a thing- I do not intend on healing the target. If I do, I'm sorry. That said, let's try to kill this one before he rots away something important." 

The tiger then released an energy blast, decimating the area and any who would fight against him.

((Megidolaon directed towards the shadow))

Dodges!
Yz9sT4pN1-5
1-5

[Maria Stark]

Was it full moon again? damn time went fast. The red moon shone in the sky. She wondered why the moon was red but there were more important things to be done first. first of all she was scouting the city again for a large shadow she knew that was bound to appear. Eventually she came at the shrine. There she saw it. A humanoid creature. shining purple. What the hell was that thing? It didn't seem like it was human. It was most likely tonight shadow. It didn't look very strong, but the flora under it spoke otherwise. Maria was sure he didn't touch it, yet they were dead now. It might be a good idea to keep her distance from that thing, lest she ends up as well. Luckily she had her new persona, she just hoped it was enough. She broke a card. "Elf!" she shouted after which a large gust of wind was send at the shadow. Which was augmented by her bracelet which made it a little stronger.

action: Magarula

roll boss:

mbc0CX|E1-5

roll Vice:

1-5
1-5�1-5

[Vincent Celosa]

Looks like there really was some merit in making sure that the date was important. A healthy amount of scepticism was a good thing, but the android was glad that he took the time to at least consider the whole full moon thing that Pyxis had told him about. Still, this kind of overwhelming presence wasn't something he could take so lightly. He wasn't even capable of fighting at a hundred percent even but it wasn't like that was a good enough reason to say that not fighting tonight would be fine.

Again, what use was a weapon that couldn't work? Moving through the buildings and the mental map that he had managed to create in his short yet fruitful time within the city, Vincent was surprised to note just where the battle would most likely take place. Arriving there, he was more surprised to see so many people already there and at the ready…with majority of them already dishing out a wide array of attacks on the thing.

He guessed that introductions can be done later, and taking down the thing was paramount to his objectives of saving the city. Raising out Orpheus as well, the android fired off a Zionga this time around to look for weaknesses or anything to exploit for that matter.

---

Action: Zionga

Dodge:

T3SZgDOY1-51-5

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe'd snapped awake from where she sat when the clock on her desk struck 11:30. Sitting up waiting for the right time, she'd dozed! She scrambled to get up and get going. It was full moon again and she fully expected yet another massive Shadow to show up somewhere.

Surely, as she got out into town, she felt it. A surge. Then it was midnight. People were replaced by the coffins and it made her skin crawl. Then again, they were safer than what she and the others would be up to. Into the fray yet again. She saw the huge figure from a distance, at the shrine, and winced. That was gonna be a little awkward. She managed to get there in time to see that wherever that thing stepped... something happened to the ground. That could not be good.

Fortunately, she wasn't alone. There were plenty of Users there already, both familiar and new. That was good. She felt multiple buffing waves hit her and smiled. Everyone was getting pumped up. This time, she wasn't going to be doing any screw-ups.

"Heads up everyone, watch for its feet; it looks like some kinda corrosive ability," she observed and summoned Hypatia.

The amazonian philosopher appeared in a glimmer of blue light, ready for battle, and brought with her a wave of defensive light.

"Alright, let's test the waters. Hypatia, burn it," she said decisively.

Hypatia struck her shield with her spear, then thrust the spear upwards, causing a series of fiery explosions around the massive Shadow.

Phoebe noted Tristan's appearance and frowned. Damn bugger needed some talking to. If they survived the night, she was gonna drag him aside to talk to him. Kyle was... being Kyle, she also saw Maria and Layla, Jaelyn, Alisa was there, so was the girl that had chewed her out-- actually, the most notable absence was Vice. Where was that guy? He'd always struck Phoebe as the kind of person to be in the thick of the fight from the get-go. Actually, she hadn't been able to contact him for a while.

Had something happened?

[[Action: Auto-Rakukaja; Maragion (x3 stacks of Suku, Raku and Taru)]]

Roll for High Counter, if 1 the attack is reflected
TIXeubke1-5
1-5

[Sayu Nakano]

Unlike the last full moon, Sayu was not quivering at home, lamenting her weakness, nor was she out training and fighting Shadows for the sole sake of becoming stronger. She had been relaxing, actually. She felt that she was stronger in the present than she might have been during the initial outbreak- that small scale war that lasted a few days. In other words, she was clawing her way up into new heights of power. She had power, and power existed to be used. Power was neither inherently good nor inherently evil. It was, ultimately, just a tool to its user. Was the mute good? Or was she evil? Well, morality was, to her, something determined by the beholders. People were stupid and annoying. She hated a lot of them, but she did not hate humanity.

Shadows, however? She hated them. She hated them in their entirety, and especially that snakewoman. She hated them all so much. They disgusted her. Her body no longer quivered at the thought of being touched by them, but that did not make them any less disgusting or germ-ridden. They were the filth that humanity couldn't fess up to. For that reason, the world truly had no reason to sustain them. Humanity spawned that filth. It was humanity's role to erase it. Given, though, that the progenitors of those beasts were likely long-since dead, Sayu had no qualms with taking up the burden.

And subsequently reducing it to ash.

The mute, therefore, opted to return to the fray. That snakewoman might have been there, but she felt that she'd be at least somewhat okay, even if she had to fight the Shadow. Darkness had been entirely ineffective, and fire and ice were both limited, but she wasn't stuck with just those anymore. She had light now. And, worst-case, even if light was rendered ineffective, there were others there. Surely they wouldn't allow a filthy harlot like that to exist, right? These Users in the city couldn't be useless. Alisa had been, after all, respectable. Either way, she dismissed her fears and geared up. Armor, flash bangs, and paintball gun were all good to go. No sleeves that night! Just a vest with numerous paintball clips and flash bangs.

The actual trip, of course, was a bother. The mute wasn't exactly in the best physical shape, after all. Mentally, she was sharp enough to rend flesh, but that didn't help with sprinting or mounting stairs. Practically panting by the time she reached the top of the steps to the shrine, the mute would have been grumbling, had she a voice to grumble with. Numerous people were there at the shrine. Had it been anytime else, she'd have accused them all of being perverts there to gawk at a shrine maiden, but she knew the situation was a bit different. She leveled her phone and readied her paintball gun, shakily stepping forward. Even with her breathing a little steady, her legs still weren't used to running like that. Closest thing had been that game of cat and mouse with the mob in that castle.

"Tamamo, Mind Charge." Using Mind Charge cut back on the energy expended while enhancing the power output of her spell- it more than made up for the time expense. More than that, it'd give her a chance to see if fire or darkness worked. If neither did, then she could at least save the charge for anything else that appeared. Regardless of the mentality behind it, the mute had willed for it, and the kitsune appeared behind her, spreading its nine tails out before smiling slightly. Faint blue light sparked around her tails before illuminating her body. She appeared more spectral than material at that point. Regardless, she was charged and ready. If fire was good, an intense star would soon follow.

Action: Mind Charge, baby. A star is going to be born.


qJ9WJ1T71-5

If 1-3, slash from boss is dodged. If 4-5. . .

1-5

If 1, attack is repelled by High Counter.
1-5�1-5

[Alvis Hartmann]

It was midnight. At least, it should have been when Alvis woke up from his little nap. Quite frankly, the man was pissed. Opening the blinders from his window, he looked down at the streets of the marketplace. People who had been walking down below were frozen in place. His head then turned towards the mountain that overlooked the town. Something was going on there. Something that managed to interrupt his nap. The man's breathing began to become irregular as he looked at that mountain. Just looking at it managed to piss him off. Steadily, the man continued to get even more angry until he finally snapped.

The man jumped through the window with a roar and sprinted towards the mountain while busting down anything in his way. At the rate he was going, it took him almost no time at all to get there. As he reached his target location, he saw the large group of users forming. Why were they all here? Well, to be honest he didn't really care about the answer to that question. All he cared about was "fixing the issue. You FUCKS interrupted my nap! I have WORK in the morning and I need that sleep! As he lunged at the large groups of users, his large armored form gave out a large roar. Only, his form stopped in its tracks as it saw a familiar sight. Oh hell fucking no.

In front of him, he saw a familiar girl that he had the pleasure annoyance of fighting out in the outer circle. The bird bitch. Without a word, the man readied his hammer as he exhaled in a drawn out manner. This is all YOUR DOING! Looking over at Akira, the man charged and swung his hammer down at the girl.

Action: Angry Hammer-time date with Akira

[Rikki Hisako]

Rikki was well aware of what today was. Thankfully, he felt more than prepared to show up and help with the situation. With a guitar on his back, the boy headed up the stairs leading to the shrine where he saw that the fight had already began. With a smirk, he looked at the group, then at the enemy. Given that the fight had just begun, he didn't need to be healing just yet. With a quick look over the boss, he determined that his best bet was to try out some light attacks to start off. Sorry I'm late guys! Honestly, he wasn't even sure he was late.

Rikki called Throne to his side, willing the large angelic figure to form a powerful looking symbol on the enemy shadow. A moment later, the seal shone brightly, dealing light damage to the shadow.

Action: Heaven's Purge

Dodge Roll
iv0OZprQ1-51-5

[Brynhild]

Nothing was more enjoyable than fighting shadows, even if it was the middle of the night. Typically they only appeared out in the closed off parts of the city, but for some reason tonight was unusual. The mountain she had just climbed should be safe. A little close to the edge but still protected. What made today any different than yesterday? Aside from the part where all the clocks stopped working, since that might not have—

No. She had to stop worrying about this. Now was not the time to figure out why any of this was happening. First priority should be surviving this encounter. She could get all analytical after the enemy was defeated. Brynhild noticed the humans beginning to fight the shadow, and fought the urge to ask where they all came from and why they had Personas. That would also have to wait. They had all arrived so quickly: this event must have been expected for a while now.

"No one tells me anything these days." she sighed. With all the attacks being flung around, her usual strategy was not viable. Rushing to the front would only cause herself to be killed first. Placing her lance on the ground Brynhild used her pent up frustration to summon Berserker. A faint glow surrounded her as the Persona launched an ice-based arrow at the deity everyone else had aimed for.


Action: Bufu

Dodge roll, activate
ufb8KJn_1-5
1-5

[Za Bossu!]

Just as the god of the shrine ascended, it was almost immediately attacked by a great number of foes. Turning back around to face the new coming threats, the strange shadow created a purple fog all around the area. It was getting ready to fight.

Corrupt Shrine God

Grand Laceration

Black Plague

Godly Harrowing

Touch of Death

Absorb: ? Repel: ? Null: ? Rs: ? Wk: ?

The first attack that the shadow felt was a dark attack that it welcomed wholeheartedly as it was absorbed. Though, the attack didn't really help it, being in top condition already. Then came a few physical attacks. Strike and Slash attacks seemed to work fine. Pierce seemed to work, but wasn't very effective. Ice, Electric, and Wind seemed to work just fine as well. However, fire was completely useless. Finally, Light seemed to be extremely effective!

As the large shadow looked down at its prey, it began to conjure some sort of purple energy in front of it. A moment later, large razor sharp gusts cut at everyone in the group for Major Slash damage! If the attack connects, Ringo, Pyxis, Xain, Phoebe and Sayu are hit with poison! However, the attack misses Ringo, Amane, Kyle, and Pyxis.

However, the shadow does not stop there. It begins to look through the different combatants, almost as if deciding on someone. In the end, it spots Tristan and touches him gingerly for Severe Dark damage!

After a quick round of attacks, the fog surrounding the battlefield continues to grow in size as it slowly rises towards the sky. The ground below that had been tainted with the purple hue continued to creep along the surface until it covered the entire field! The shadow also no longer seems interested in the shrine for some reason.

[Akira Nakajima]

Plenty of people flowed in. Even better, though, it looked like an attack of every attribute was being used. The sooner they knew what worked and what didn't, the sooner they could tear the enemy's defenses apart and end this little midnight diversion. A lot of faces he recognized, some from the first major battle, some from the second, and a few from the third. Seemed the woman who tried to play leader last time also appeared. She spoke, but he hoped that was as far as she went that time- notifications could help prevent accidents, after all. Nothing wrong with that.

Now, what did bother him was not the fact that they were vastly outnumbering the enemy- that was fine, good, even. It wasn't the fact that that Gin Shadow was there and on "their side" again, neither. That questionably okay, if he was trying to not-be-an-ass. Naw, those things were actually somewhat pretty okay. The major issue the boy in drag had was the appearance of an assholish turtle dipshit that had major anger issues. The boy's mood went from "amicable" to "apathetically pissed". There was zero enjoyment in his exceedingly dull expression. And the words that followed were certainly not filled with anything but acidic annoyance.

"Oh hell fucking no." Cuteness or restraint? None. He was annoyed. His voice was still feminine, of course, but his annoyance and all was easily noticeable. The hammer came swinging down. The boy just extended his arm, and Elma snatched him up and away from the danger of the attack. The other enemy would likely attack in just a moment, too. How bothersome. How exceedingly annoying. It was worse than his first fight with the Shadow. It was worse than his encounter with his own, for that matter. Now he had something annoying to deal with while others were there to see his chagrin.

"I've fought him before, I'll fight him again! You all focus on the main guy there! I'll keep this golden turtle bastard busy!" The attack from the god completely missed. Maybe somewhat due to the fact that he was airborne. With that, Alpha Elma twirled in the air before slinging the boy down. With that, Akira twirled and put his full body into a slash at the Shadow's head. Maybe with his new scissors, he could get ahead of the game? Either way, he really wanted to take that asshole down this time.

Action: Soundless Slasher – Physical attack utilizing Sound Splitter (L6 Slash Weapon; T2 Slash mod, T2 Silence mod; 50% chance of Silence), targeting Alvis

vSzSov2X1-2

If 1, Alvis will be silenced on contact.



1-5

If 1-3, dodge Morning Star

1-5

If 1-3, dodge White Tiger
1-2�1-5�1-5

[Ringo Shiro]

As expected, many began to gather around to help defeat the giant shadow. Even the sentient shadow from last time was present to help. Though strangely enough the person who was requesting they leave the shadow be is helping. Ringo continued to watch the attacks land their mark.

The shadow began to ready it's attack. Soon it started to charge some kind of purple energy before releasing razor wind like gusts. Ringo managed to avoid getting unscathed by some miracle but he noticed some of the attacks heading for Phoebe and...was that Sayu? Shit, Ringo decided to just go for the one he is closest to and hope things work out.

"Tokoyo!" Ringo ran in front of Phoebe hoping to take the hit while sending out Tokoyo, her sword drawn. She once more soared through the attack in an attempt to slice the shadow.

Action: Taking Phoebe's hit and Fatal End.

Roll for Counter:
xPwKy7|H1-10
1-10

[Amane Mana]

It seemed that Ice and Wind spells are going to work fine, but what really does this thing in is going to be light based attacks. This works in Amane's favor. It really is handy that Silky specializes in three different spells. Her eyes titled over at the other participants. Many she recognized...and then there was Layla. She shook her head. She wasn't going to think about her.

The shadow unleashed a large series of slashes. Amane managed to narrowly avoid getting hit though the large slash on the ground next to her does not bode well for how powerful this thing is.

"You FUCKS interrupted my nap! I have WORK in the morning and I need that sleep!" Amane shuddered and turned over to...what she can only describe as a talking bipedal turtle with a hammer. Come to think of it, she hasn't met him but she was pretty sure Ran described someone just like... "Oh hell fucking no." Amane noticed his attention shifting to Ran. "This is all YOUR DOING!" He leapt in the air and swung down his hammer.

"Oh hell fucking no."

"Ran!" Thankfully Ran, thanks to her persona, managed to get out of the way of the attack. Amane's eyes began to glow as she readied to command Silky to fire a spell at the man.

"I've fought him before, I'll fight him again! You all focus on the main guy there! I'll keep this golden turtle bastard busy!" Amane looked over at the turtle shadow and then back over at the shadow. Suddenly panic is entering her for a small moment before taking a breathe to recompose herself. This was bad. They have to deal with the power of a sentient shadow, which Ran described as great, as long as one of these full moon shadow. Amane was weighing her options.

"R-...." Amane stopped herself before turning back over to the shadow. She's going to be fine...she's going to be fine.... Silky seeped out of her body. "Hamaon!!" Silky sent a blast of light over at the corrupt shine god.

Note: Ripple! Hamaon