World Tree MUSH

    "I need help." Those words from the young, failed magus were genuine, and filled with an underlying anxiety.

    "I think that black hole is going to appear again."

    ------------

    In one of the cities that act as large cross-world travelling hubs of the World Tree, the streets are as busy as ever. Locals and travellers both flow like water through the pedestrian streets and cars of many different makes and models from all across the multiverse fill the roads, just one bad turn or brake away from a traffic jam. It's a perfectly normal day like that, with everyone just minding their business, enjoying the warmer weather of the mid-spring...

    And yet, Shirou Emiya stands with an apprehensive look on a street corner, overlooking a busy intersection. Or no, rather, he's looking to the space just above it. Not at any of the signs either signaling the presence of some shop or company office or even the multitude of neon-lit advertisements-- the empty space itself.

    "This is exactly the spot I saw," the red-haired boy mutters to the people who have wandered here with him, as his fingers tighten anxiously to the strap of the open bag holding several wooden and bamboo swords within it. "Just like last time. I mean, last time it wasn't a place like this, but... Mh."

    His amber gaze flows back down, slowly, sweeping over the cars and the pedestrians flooding through. "What are we going to do about all these people if that mud starts flowing through here?" The mud that dripped from the strange tear in the fabric of space the last time he followed a premonition-like dream. The mud that damn near burned his arm off.

 
 For all intended purposes Cyber Frost motives continued to be a total enigma. Every time that Shirou had met with her, she had proven that she did things mostly because they amused her. Even with her taking on Suiren as her apprentice to train her and Iona in martial arts, at a surface level it looked like she just did it because it was amusing for her, or because having Suiren around to praise her and compliment her on her fighting skill boosted the cybernetic ninja's already very inflated ego. 
 
 Did Frost actually care about any of this? Did she care for Shirou's safety or the safety of this world? Or was she just doing this because it amused or it was an excuse to fight something? Whatever the reasoning she was here at the very least, and she could be counted on lending her strength to Shirou's cause- even if it really was because she just wanted more opportunities to pick on poor Shirou. 
 
 She was eating an ice cream whilst she waited for instructions and she glanced about the area that Shirou pointed that would be under attack soon. "Okay, cool." She said. "Can't sense anything yet, but I couldn't before so that tracks." She took another lick of her ice cream and shrugged when Shirou wondered what they should do about civilians. 
 
 "I dunno, sucks to be them I guess?" 

    Yumi wasn't there for the first one. But when a fellow Hero of Justice says 'jump', the only correct response is 'who am I kicking on the way down?' She doesn't hesitate before heading right out the door, and the only question she has for her fellow orange-haired hero is, "Fill me in. What are we looking at?"

    Once they've arrived, however, the girl with the cream orange hair is mimicking her taller counterpart's stare; only in her case, it's not out of any kind of premonition or knowledge. It's in what her senses are telling her, right now, as a magical girl. The look on her face says it all, even before she replies to Cyber Frost.

    "I can." There's a brief side glance to Shirou, then she looks back at the spot. "We have the right place. There's not much there yet, but it's building."

    There's a quick flare of light, and her armor takes shape around her; the senshi doesn't call forth her massive greatsword yet, but her right hand flexes absently. "I can always put on a quick light show. Get everyone's attention, then warn them something's about to go down. It might cause a panic, but it's better than the alternative."

    Anna is here.
    No sooner than she had gotten a text from Shirou about the issue, she made her way over as quickly as possible. And so here she is, axe slung on her back, chainsaw clutched to her side hidden in a duffel bag as to not be completely inconspicuous in the middle of a busy city.
    "Was it another dream, Shirou?" She asks with a surprising level of gentleness in spite of her usual levels of internal fury.
    Yumi sensing the issue as well makes the berserker princess purse her lips. Damn, so this is really going to happen then.
    "... I could always pull out my chainsaw." She suggests in regards to the people around.
    That would scare them off, right?
    Right?

    Welp.

    Dante didn't need much convincing. He rides on over with Lady's 'borrowed' motorcycle, mercilessly it hasn't exploded yet.

    Yet.

    Hopping off, Dante claps Shirou on the arm. "Yo, ginger puffs. What'd we miss?" He waves at the others as they fall in. "Chainsaws are a bit uh, seventies, aren't they? They might just call the cops on you if you don't have any trees to cut down." He quips to Anna. "Maybe if we get you a fake skin mask or a knapsack hood."

    "--What do you mean 'sucks to be them'?!" Shirou snaps over at Frost, probably just barely keeping himself from swinging his foot over into the woman's shin as retaliation for what he considered to be an utterly outrageous answer.

    Rather than making his frustration with this ice lady known any further, though, he glares up at the sky above the intersection again. "...Yeah. Just like last time," he offers as an answer to Anna, instead, and for Yumi's benefit continues to elaborate; "A... really weird dream showed me a place before, too. And for some reason I was able to point out what world and what exact spot that place was in right after I woke up. When we got there last time, this... 'hole' opened up, and this black mud poured out of it. It... burned. I don't know how else to explain it, but it felt 'evil'. Like a million people were casting curses on me at the same time. The mud also turned into... no, maybe it's more accurate to say that something came out of it? These big shadow-like things."

    Between the suggestion of a chainsaw from Anna and the skin mask from Dante, Shirou's head sloooooowly turns over to give the both of them a blank stare. ".....Let's not recreate old american movies today, please..."

    He's already tensing up, though, after Yumi's henshin'd into her armor. "Yeah. Do it. Quick!" And at the same time, his hand's slipping over past the top of his shoulder to grab at one of the numerous practice swords in his bag. "Last time it appeared in an instant so we should p-"

    An instant, he says. And in an instant, too, Yumi might very well feel some kind of flare up. An instant, after which, wherein Shirou's eyes have wandered up too.

    "--repare...?"

    It appeared directly above the boy, about fifty feet overhead. An entity almost best described as simply an absence of 'anything'-- including light. So much so that no matter what angle you looked at it from, it almost looked two-dimensional-- just a giant, black circle with the faintest of ominous red sheens along just the edges of it.

    The three besides Shirou who witnessed somethign similiar on an outing with him last time would certainly tell that it's bigger than last time, too. Much, *much* bigger.

    Yumi is just about to start in on her plan when there's a sudden flare-up of reality-twisting magic. She looks up instantly, dropping into a ready stance on pure instinct, and her face takes on the tense, wary set of a warrior prepared for battle. Then a deep frown climbs onto her face.

    In the next instant, Prominence is in her hand. She lifts the tremendous sword up, holding it straight vertical, and the runes along the blade begin to light up... followed by the glow 'seeping out' into the blade itself. The street is bathed in a bright gold-white glow, brighter and brighter, and a noticeable warmth radiates alongside it.

    She lights the runeblade up bright enough that ignoring it would be just about impossible, and then speaks up in a loud, authoritative voice. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to have to ask you to exit the area quickly. We have a reality-warping event taking place, and if you don't vacate the area, there's a strong possibility your life is in danger. If you're going somewhere, please, find an alternate route."

>> SUMMARY[Yumi Tachibana] >> Flooding her greatsword with light to grab attention, putting on an authoritative voice to tell them to get the hell out of here. Politely.

 
 Cyber Frost sighed at Shirou's reaction. She really should have expected his outrage, but for whatever reason she was still surprised.. and -annoyed-. "Hey!" She wiggled her ice cream at him. "I kill people for a living, remember? I don't do -saving-." 
 
 In fact, it was starting to sound that none of them did here as Anna's and Dante's suggestion actually got the cybernetic ninja to chuckle. 
 
 It was Yumi, who casually said she could feel the energy approaching which made Frost's pale blue eyebrows twitch violently. What!!? She could sense whatever was coming!? The utter outrage. Even with all of Frost's ninja training to sense chi, even with all her cybernetic enhancements to detect just about everything. Even with all that, she couldn't detect magic like this... magical girl. 
 
 The cold chill of jealousy began running through Frost's spine as Yumi summoned her armor as essentially made it know she'd take care of everything. 
 
 Right. Frost flicked her ice cream behind her and summoned her mask back on her face. Game Face: On. There was no way she'd let Yumi one up her, no way!! 
 
 The 2D mud couldn't have come at a better time as far as Frost was concerned. She was itching to prove she was the best. "Take cover!" She said to the others and pointed her chest core upwards firing what appeared to be a thin energy barrier over their head to absorb projectiles. "Cryo-Barrier!" If she remembered correctly, ice slowed whatever this thing down even if it didn't kill it. 
 
 "I'll ice em and you smash 'em! Just like last time!" She tried giving out orders to Anna and Dante.

    Dante shrugs a shoulder. He wasn't saying Anna should start chasing guys like an oversized texan cannibal! (It'd be hilarious, though.)

    "Pretty sure she'd get shot for trying anyways." He concedes with the faintest hiss of a chuckle. Of course, planning time is interrupted, and Dante goes through his weapons, settling for Agni and Rudra. The wind and flame scimitars blaze to life with a blue and red glow respectively, and Dante nods to Frost. "On it, Snowcone!" He says, rushing towards the nearest frozen blob creature before smashing into them with his blades.

    A bead of sweat forms on Anna's brow as Shirou gives her that stare.
    "What? What? Whaaat?" The girl asks, frowning.
    Shooting Anna would probably just make her angrier, anyway.
    Nevertheless, when Shirou says they should prepare and cuts clean off, she looks up at the sphere of perfect darkness hovering in the air.
    "... That's bigger than last time, Shirou." She points out, unslinging her axe and blowing a puff of air through her teeth.
    "Yeah, got it."
    She'll follow Frost's lead while Yumi hopefully gets the people to vacate the area.

    "You know what..." Is all Shirou really managed to murmur back to Anna at the time.

    But that's not important right now.

    The massive orb of pure darkness had certainly drawn more than a few looks. And even more so after Yumi's light show and evacuation order. The reaction might not have been the best desired at first, though, no. While many did begin to make their way distinctly *away*, just as many remained staring at the oddity there.

    "...Yeah, no kidding," Shirou agrees of Anna's asssessment in the meantime, with a nervous gulp. "...W-wait, if it's that big, then do you think... oh."

    In that instant, Shirou decides he's not going to have a repeat of last time. The boy spins on his heel and sets into a run, even grabbing onto Anna's wrist in an effort to get her to move with him. "RUN!! If you don't have magic resistance you'll die!!"

    Right on time, too. Merely three seconds after he's set into that dash, like a tap has been opened.

    Or no, maybe its more accurate to compare it to a dam breaking. For the amount of pitch-black mud that pours out of the enormous hole in time and space is comparable to a waterfall now. It flows through the air in excess and lands on the ground with a wide splash, almost immediately causing asphalt underneath to melt with thin wafts of steam hovring up into the air above the spreading puddle - no, lake - of mud.

    Anyone who didn't take Yumi's polite suggestion seriously is definitely taking it so now. The entire square is filled with the screams of the crowds now running for their lives-- people even abandoning their cars in favor of waiting for a clearance to form in the traffic.

    While the mod continues to pour out and flood the intersection shadows rise up from within the pitch-black darkness covering the street. Puppet-shadow-like figures with long, spindly arms, towering at ten feet of height and jittering like glitchy sprites in a side-scrolling videogame. Numbering in dozens at first, but continuing to replicate more and more, while the lake of mud spreads further and further -- though thankfully it does seem to slow down *some*.

    Shirou, meanwhile, had to make the effort of jumping on top of the roof of a car to avoid his feet getting washed away with the mud (and by his hope Anna would have followed suit). And he's left there to helplessly stare at the towering shadows. "...Oi, what are we going to do about this...?"

 
 "Aw hell!!" Well that didn't work. Far too much mud for Cyber Frost's barrier. Far too much to do much of anything really! While sure, Frost could technically stand there and make a heroic stand to slow it down and save as many lives as possible... 
 
 ... 
 
 She doesn't really care about the civilians! 
 
 "Craaap!!" No can do but listen to Shirou for now. Frost turned on her heel and engaged her thrusters to get away as fast as possible. On her way out, she grabbed onto both Shirou AND Anna, figuring that the both of them could use a lift. "Now what!!?" She glared at Shirou angrily. They were going to need more than ice this time. 

    As Frost starts to wind up, Yumi glances her way; completely oblivious to the frigid jealousy, the magical girl lights up with a smile. "Ice and then fire. Thermal shock. Good combination." They'll clearly work well together.

    Except that the hole choses that moment to just erupt. A torrent of black, noxious fluid; Yumi has no clue what it is, but every instinct she has is absolutely screaming that it's bad. Wrong. No good can come of it. Her eyes dart from the hole above down to the crowd of people who still haven't evacuated.

    Instinct takes over, and the street erupts in a bright golden light.

    Her sword ablaze with solar fire, her entire body suffused with magical light, Yumi launches like a land-based rocket. Pushing herself to and past her limits in a heartbeat, the senshi infuses herself and especially her sword with as much magic as she can, drawing out every last ounce of her strength. She hurls herself to the street between the flowing mud and the civilians-

    And then swings Prominence downward. Hard. "HAAAAAAAAAAA!!" A fierce, underhand swing, aimed to slash the sword right through the street, and unleash an explosive burst of solar flames. She's trying to open up a deep, wide pit, enough so that the mud will have to flow in and fill it up entirely before it can get to the civvies.

>> GAME >> Yumi Tachibana spends an Edge for: Pushing herself past her limits with Overcharge to gouge out a deep furrow in the street.

    That is bigger than last time.
    Much bigger.
    And that apparently means a lot more mud.
    "Wah!" Anna squeaks as Shirou grabs her by the wrist and drags her scampering away. But when the mud floods the streets, she's not going to complain about following him onto the top of a car.
    The shadowy figures-- also bigger than Anna remembers them last time make her frown.
    No amount of getting angry is going to help until someone does something about all that mud.
    Hopefully Yumi has that handled- especially as Frost grabs her she...
    Gets an idea.
    "New plan. Frost, can you try freezing this stuff solid so I can stand on it?"
    If she can stand on it she can make it to the shadows and fight.
    In theory.

    Dante stares at the mud thing as it proves to be much, much bigger than before. "Well, shit." He begins to zipzoom across platforms and walls, nimbly slashing at some of the mud creatures like a spinning whirlwind as he jumps onto a bus, surfing it in the sea of eldritch goop.

    "It's a start, Anna." Dante says, before stowing Agni and Rudra can even vocalize protests. "Stuff it!" he shouts, before summoning Cerberus, the tri-staff of ice with wolf's heads on the pommel, spinning them before unleashing a blast of ice on the mud!

    There's almost something familiar about the sight for Shirou. The smell of burning asphalt. No, not just that-- even the sensation of this... *thing* pouring pure evil out. Why?

    Not that there's much time to consider all that even before Frost spontaniously swoops over like an eagle and scoops up both him and Anna. He *definitely* doesn't know how to feel about this!

    In the meantime, Yumi's busy doing some imprompty zoning work on the street. While the city council might have more than a few words for her regarding that, it's decisively a *good* thing she uses her magical sword to gouge out what amounts a trench into the street. It halts the advance of the mud at least there-- but it's *still going* as the new trench fills up.

    "I-- I don't know...!" Shirou tells Frost first, but thankfully Anna comes up with something. He glances aside to her past Frost and... "...You were able to freeze those shadow things back then too, right? That could work then, maybe? You know, create a layer of ice like back in Alola and it might work as a buffer against... whatever that stuff is? ...Let us down on a car or something first though!!"

    At least Dante has a head start on the shadow-creatures that are otherwise spreading themselves out, trying to move further out from the point of the intersection where the mud is pouring down. One of them tries to inevitably swipe one long limb at the demonhunter while he's channeling ice out from Cerberus, though! At least there's already patches of solid ice seeming to form over the lake of Evil Mud just from that show, but it doesn't seem to be a one-man job.

    "Tachibana!!" Shirou calls out towards Yumi's general direction while he's still held up in the air by Frost. "Can you do anything about the portal?!"

    After that tremendous swing and burst of magic, Yumi takes a quick hop back. The shimmering solar flames around her die out to a dull glow in her sword, and she pauses for a moment to take stock. Not good. She's bought them some time, but if they can't close that hole, 'some time' isn't going to be worth much. Frowning, she looks around the street, then looks up.

    At the sound of Shirou's voice, she looks his way, then up at the portal again. "How did you close it last time? Would a lot of concentrated magic do the trick? Like, way more than I just used?"

    Oh that question ends up being a bit of a nasty reminder, too. Shirou winces there within Frost's grip before yelling back to Yumi in admission, "We didn't!! It closed off on it's own after a while but I don't think we can afford to wait this time! It's probably unstable so just hit it with everything you got!!"

 
 Cyber Frost's flying wasn't perfect, but it was certainly better than trying to run away on foot as Shirou and Anna were trying. The cyber Lin Kuei held the two of them by the waist as she speed through the air propelled by her foot and back thrusters. She wasn't thinking of strategies now, which annoyed her, all she could really do was run away- which irritated her even more! She hated feeling powerless. Hated not being -the best!- 
 
 "Huh.." Frost glanced to Anna as she suggested making a platform, then Shirou reminded her of what she did back in Alola. Sure she had made a whole ice rink back then for the sake of entertainment, but this was a bit different.. 
 
 'I don't think I can summon that much ice.' Was what she said in her head. But she didn't actually say it. She was the Great and Mighty Frost! Best student of Sub-Zero and enforcer to Kronika herself! She had to do it. Particularly, because.. 
 
 She couldn't get one upped by Yumi!!! 
 
 "One ice barrier coming right up!!" Frost said with the most utter confidence and swoop down to ground level and set Shirou and Anna back on the ground before turning back to the colossal flow of mud coming, only slowed down by Yumi and Dante's efforts. 
 
 The worst part was that Frost actually knew how she was going to do this. It was just going to hurt a lot. It was going to hurt.. because she wasn't powerful enough to casually conjure that much ice. She was going to have to push herself past her limits and that sucked! 
 
 Standing before Shirou and Anna and facing down the tsunami of magical mud, Frost reached for her energy core in her chest. "Hang on.." 
 
 *click!* 
 
 She turned her core and purposely started overlocking her systems, the ninja beginning to glow with a rather unhealthy color of blue. 
 
 "Here we go.. UNIBEAM!!!" 
 
 *WHAAAM!!* An enormous beam of ice erupted out of Frost's chest and she fired it down at first at the fissure that Yumi had created to trap as much as the mud there. Then, she slowly began aiming the beam upwards, freezing the mud along the way, up until she was aiming it directly at the portal, pouring a sustaining cold ray into it to desperately try to push it back where it came from. As she made the beam, she was creating an iceberg of ice that Anna would be able to climb if she really wanted to take the fight to the mud in melee. 
 
 "HRRGGGGAAAA!!" Despite everything Frost said earlier, it was clear this was taxing her greatly and she was already beginning to short circuit. 

>> GAME >> Cyber Frost spends an Edge for: FATAL BLOW

    Once more, Yumi looks at Shirou, her expression grim, and then up at the hole in the sky. Her senses as a magical girl are screaming at her that this is bad. That this is the kind of enemy she was made to fight. But she's already pushed herself pretty hard. She can feel the Overcharge clinging to her, a subtle disquiet in her very soul; if she goes any further, the blowback is going to be rough down the line.

    Without hesitating, Yumi drops her right foot back, planting with enough force to crack the street a little. She takes up a stable, steady stance, with Prominence behind her, low and back.

    Golden eyes meet golden eyes, and Yumi calls out to Shirou, "Cover me. This has a long wind-up."

    And then Prominence erupts with light.

    Bright, intense, shining much more brilliantly than anyone on the street has seen it. First the runes, but then the entire blade, tongues of flame beginning to dance up the length of the weapon. Before, the temperature rolling off the blade was warm. Now, it's hot, even from a distance. The street below the blade is already beginning to smoke.

    Dante lets the brainier sorts handle strategy as he rushes up the ice platform Frost makes, saluting to her while he begins to strike at the mud with Cerberus, helping make himself more solid ground to traverse across. His boots aren't cleats, so Dante begins to 'skate' across the ice after a few stumbles, kicking across the ice.

    "It's you and me, Anna! Let's finish this so we can go home!" He says to the princess berserker.

    Dante unleashes his ice and Anna readies her axe. What she's really waiting for is Frost to go ham.
    Frost... ... Does not disappoint.
    Though the berserker princess eyes the cyber Lin-Kuei a little worriedly as she starts to short circuit, she doesn't waste the opportunity that she is presented.
    Leaping from the ground to a car and then to another car and then onto the slippery iceberg, Anna scales it with Dante, with the help of her axe and sheer tenacity as she makes it to the top.
    And gets angry.
    "HEY. I'M KING OF THIS HILL. TRY AND TAKE IT FROM ME!" The small slip of a princess bellows at the shadowy figures to goad them right into her fury and her axe.
    That should buy Yumi some time with her very angry declaration of challenge.

    Down on solid ground Shirou goes, even if it might ned up being with a bit of a stumble on his part. And the moment he hears that ominous *click* from Frost, he instinctively scrambles the hell away from her. Because reasons.

    With the freezing beam coming out, though, the mud truly begins to freeze over en masse. Reaching all the way up the downward flow from the black portal itself, slowing it all down to nearly a stop. Though theres already cracks forming there at the base, little driplets making it past. This clearly wouldn't be a permanent solution, but it would certainly help things for now.

    And while Frost was damn near shorting herself out with the effort, Shirou even ended up yelling out "You can do it!!!" in encouragement without thinking. He might beat himself up for that later. Or possibly give the ninja a homemade meal to help her recover, knowing him. Damned selfless instincts.

    "I'll do what I can," he tells Yumi then, while Reinforcing a shinai in his hand, interposing himself just ahead of her. Though while she's gathering energy for her massive attack, he does peek back to her and note, with some measure of amusement, "...You kind of remind me of someone I knew before."

    And upon the freshly-created iceberg, it all breaks into a melee. Perhaps the portal itself seems to sense that it is in danger, because every single one of the shadows, including the ones that had initially started wandering into different directions, *all* start honing in towards Yumi's position. Incoherent, screeching noises emenating from each as they charge en masse, spindly limbs swinging like giant vines towards Dante and Anna both in their effort to get past them. They don't seem to be powerful enough, in spite of their size, to truly make much headway, even if there is a real risk of exhaustion simply through their numbers.

    But then.

    The sound of shattering ice alerts the eye of Shirou to a hole suddenly breaking in the ice in front of him and Yumi. Gripping his Reinforced wooden sword in both hands, he watches that spot warily for a shadow coming out. But what rises from within isn't like the numerous creatures Anna and Dante are mowing down. What rises from the mud beneath instead is a much more distinct figure: A tall man in a black, armor-plated bodysuit, with spiky blue hair that has been cut short save for the waist-length ponytail behind him.

    "Wh--" Shirou stares in utter confusion at this figure, and without even realizing it, his hands shake faintly when the man's head turns to lay his red eyes on him and Yumi.

    "...Lancer?"

    Like the uncertain utterance of a foreign name acted as a start signal, the man launches himself off the pile of ice with inhuman speed. Out of nowhere, a long, crimson-colored spear is held in his right hand, and thrust towards Yumi...!

    Or at least it would be. Shirou did say he would do what he can, and that he does by stepping in the way and swinging the shinai in his hand through in an effort to deflect the spear. He does successfully make contact with the blade at the tip of the spear's shaft, but the force of it alone is enough to not only make Shirou stumble back from the recoil, but to utterly shatter the wooden sword into a hundred tiny splinters even in spite of him having reinforced it.

    "Gh--!"

    And not only that, while Shirou is left in his staggering motion, 'Lancer' is already spinning the spear around in his hand, recovering from the previous attack being blocked all-too-quickly to prepare for a followup attack.

    There is actually something of a breeze starting along the street. The heat rolling off Prominence grows more and more intense by the moment, and it's creating a lot of fast-rising air, drawing in more from the surroundings as a result. Of course, the influx of air just causes the occasional flickers of fire dancing around the weapon to dance higher, to waver and flutter, to burn more steadily. Like watching flares dance along the surface of the sun.

    The weapon very nearly vibrates in Yumi's hand. The amount of power she's gathering up is tremendous, enough that even the faintest magical senses can pick it up. By now, the sword itself is difficult to even look at, and it's only getting brighter; being near her is probably painfully hot for Shirou, and the street directly under the weapon is starting to melt. In its own way, it really is like the activation of a Noble Phantasm, even if the mechanisms behind it are far, far simpler.

    The blade has begun to positively thrum with magic when the shadow of a great warrior rises up. "...shit," Yumi curses softly, frowning. "Shirou-!" He's managed to deflect the single strike, but the spearman seems to have used scarcely any effort. She thinks she has the raw strength and speed to fight him... but she'd have to abandon the process of charging up, and might even lose what she's accumulated. "Just a little longer! I'm almost ready, but I can't fight him without stopping...!"

 
 It was good that everyone was having a good time engaging the frozen over mud because Cyber Frost was straight up not having a good time. Overclocking her systems always left her weakened, which was to be expected after blasting an almost polar cap worthy of ice into something- but the idea of leaving herself even a little bit vulnerable around such powerful fighter, and Shirou, irritated her. Even when Anna stared at her worriedly, all Frost could feel was self-loathing. This shouldn't be so taxing for her, she was the best! She should be soloing this thing! 
 
 Eventually, her core began to flicker as it powered down, and Frost staggered a little, upper body bend over slightly as she heard Anna and Dante engaging the frozen mud forces. "Did we get it?? Did we kill it??" 
 
 And then she heard her ice shattering. Never a good sign. 
 
 "Come on.." Blue, baleful eyes looked upwards to see a tall and thin man with black hair wielding a spear coming out of the black hole. "Shirou! Who the hell is that guy!?" She tried asking, though there was no time as the 'Lancer' fellow tried to engage with Yumi and interrupt her spell, only to slam against Shirou. 
 
 For some reason. That really annoyed Frost. 
 
 Sure, the plan here was to protect Yumi, but seeing Lancer strike at Shirou really got under Frost's skin. Enough to make her forget that she was absolutely spent and replace all her tiredness with RAGE! 
 
 "YOU FREAKING BASTARD!!" Frost's thrusters engaged and she FLEW right at Lancer, a two handed sword made of ice summoned to her hands. She swung the blade down hard at Cu Chulainn, aiming at his spear strangely enough, this was because she wanted to lock his weapon in place to leave him wide open for a follow up. 
 
 "HE'S MY CHEW TOY!!" Came Frost's declaration as she tried to SLAM her forehead on Cu's face and smash his nose with a vicious headbutt. 

    Dante rushes with Anna, crushing enmies in their wake. Cerberus spins like a cyclone of icy doom. It's effortless as usual, as they rip and tear. Dante smashes enemies frozen solid, either with fist, tristaff, or foot, or whatever else he needs at the time, or even drawing one of his guns to blast some of them.

    Of course, they're stopped by...some pretty boy with a spear? "Oh. Boss fight."

    "Shirou, who is this schmuck?" Dante says, before he swings Cerberus towards Lancer, aiming to freeze his leg before following that up with a hook-kick to that million dollar smiling mug. "BACK OFF!" He barks, defending Yumi.

    Thankfully, with Shirou's reinforcement upon her axe, Anna is able to cut at the shadows, eyes red with rage and hate as she hacks and slashes and cleaves from one to the next, doing everything she can to keep them from reaching Yumi with Dante's help.
    Then. The ice shatters. A hole burst through and with it comes a figure-- a figure that lunges towards Yumi-!
    Thankfully Shirou prevents that, but Yumi needs more time. And that spearman doesn't look like he wants to give it to her.
    "HEY."
    Anna will try and buy Yumi that time.
    "MY ICE HILL. GET YOUR OWN." Declared riotously as she comes sliding down the iceberg and charges the shadow Servant in a mindless bull-rush, axe poised to strike...!

    Shirou was left wide goddamn open. It's a good thing he's not the only one here.

    Frost is who gets the attention of 'Lancer' first, in that he's forced to turn the spear around and intercept the ice-sword with the shaft of it. It's a good tactic, too--

    Or it would be against someone else.

    Whatever has become of Cu Chulainn, the battle instinct of the legendary hero still remains. As if sensing that he is getting warriors coming from other sides, too, he doesn't even try to attack Frost directly. Instead, he lets one hand go of the spear to deliberately let the weight of the cyber-ninja's blade bring it - and subsequently herself - further down than she might have expected. Making use of that change in leverage while she's still caught in the swing of the headbutt, he skids his feet to the side first and then uses that freed hand to grab the bluenette by her *face*.

    One perfect, smooth motion follows. A spin on his feet that sees Frost swung around by that death grip on her head before she's even reached the ground from her original lunge and tossed off like a discarded toy right at Dante before he can get too close, all ending in a giant sweep of his spear that's used to both further discourage approach from the demon hunter, and to guide the backside of the weapon's shaft to smacking right for the side of Anna's head as punishment for charging in for him.

    And Shirou, finally having finished his stumble back, stares with a momentary helplessness at what transpires. He almost reaches back for another wooden sword, but he hesitates--

    "...I need a better weapon..." he mumbles to himself.

    And without thinking, he simply charges for Lancer, unarmed. Is he planning to tackle him or something? That can't *possibly* end well.

 
 "ASKJHEFHSGHDSGSHFJEWK!!!!!!!!!" 
 
 Cyber Frost said...something. 
 
 It might have been a string of cusswords in a different language, but it was all muffled on account of being grabbed by the face. If only she wasn't so weakened by the earlier blast of ice, she would have been able to counter somehow. However, low in energy as she was, all she could really do was flail around as she was thrown backwards and scream in impotent rage. 
 
 Right before slamming into Dante. "UGGH!!" 

    Dante rushes in to attack Lancer, only to catch Anna in her arms. "-Shit!" He slides across the ice, skidding just short of being knocked over the edge into the mud but manages to keep his balance. "You okay, princess?" He asks Anna, before reaching to grab his pistol-

    And then Frost collides right into Dante and Anna. "OH MOTHERFUC-" BONK!

    He's knocked right over, only stopping himself from falling into the mud with a quick hand, and he leaps back over. "Okay, that's just rude, my man. Normally I don't mind catchin' babes but this is just getting ridiculous!"

    He rushes into the fight with Lancer, and Dante switches to Rebellion, his sword striking to attack Lancer, only for Dante to notice Shirou rushing in at the last second.

    "Shirou what the f-"

    WHAM.
    That is the sound of Anna getting battered across the face by the butt of Gae Bolg. It is stunning. No, it's more than stunning as she's launched for her efforts to attack the Servant that just effortlessly slammed her with a blow that would shatter a lesser girl's jaw - or even skull - entirely.
    For a moment, when Dante catches her. Anna is limp, unconscious and unmoving, bleeding from the temple, she even dropped her axe in the chaos. She is very much not okay.
    Frost comes flying in too, and Anna goes tumbling to the ground, still not okay in the least. But at least she's breathing.
    For a moment... For a long moment, it seems like she's out of the fight though as she just lays there.
    Before her eyes open, bloodshot and frenzied.
    Pushing herself to her feet, she stands, slow, wobbly, uncertain. Before she smacks her own cheeks.
    "Rrgh..."
    She does not sound happy.
    Not as she rushes back into the fray, snarling, and reaches for the first weapon in sight that's in grasping range. The girl yanks REBELLION right out of Dante's hands and raises it high.
    "AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" She howls, lost to her fury as she starts raining blow after blow after blow down, heavy handed strokes intending to punish the Servant's defense and just try to hammer Cu Chulainn into the ground.

>> GAME >> Anna Primrose spends an Edge for: I get back up. And I only get angrier.

    By now, just being in close proximity to Yumi will be enough to catch clothes on fire. The steel of Prominence's blade is hidden beneath the tremendous radiance of her magic, as if she held the sun itself in her hand. The air shimmers with heat. Yumi's cream orange hair flutters and dances in the flowing breeze, no longer just from the thermal updraft, but from the sheer amount of power she's holding as well. Her fingers tense with effort, her jaw set. She can only watch Lancer with deepening worry as he visibly manhandles those defending her.

    It's a race. A race to the finish line, for the magical girl to finish charging before the shadowy 'hero' can hurt or kill someone - or break away to come after her.

    So Yumi strains herself. She pours in power, as hard as she can. She grits her teeth, she digs deep, and she keeps on charging. Even when Shirou lunges into a suicidal charge. "Shirou-!" Every fiber of her being screams that she needs to run in, to save him - but if she abandons her technique now, she might not be able to finish it in time to save those who live here. So she decides to trust. In Shirou, in Dante, in Anna, in Frost. She'll trust, and she'll finish.

    It doesn't take much longer. Just a few short seconds. There's no critical breaking point, no moment when the technique seems to shift or to change. Yumi simply takes the power in her blade up to the absolute limit... and stops. The weapon sings with monumental power, but other than the dancing flames and the intense light, there is a moment of utter stillness.

    Then, Yumi shifts her foot. She drops her center of gravity a little, legs flexing. It's a crouch. It's the beginnings of a jump. Her eyes locked on the circle high in the sky, the Senshi of the Sun tenses her grip on the infernal star in her hands, and a name passes her lips.

        "SOLAR-"

    It's a name that's sat in the back of her mind since the first time she transformed. No, even longer. She feels as if she's known it since she opened her eyes in that crater. It's so simple. No fancy technique, no blessing or curse. Just a hideous amount of solar magic, so tightly compressed that it's like swinging a sun. A blade so hot it can burn through any defense - and when it does, she can let all that magic explode.

    As Yumi begins to speak her technique's name, she jumps. A powerful jump, cracking the street beneath her again, she hurls herself straight up at the hole in the sky, bringing Prominence around such that as she reaches the hole, she'll bring the weapon right through it, and unleash a blast of magic like a small sun dead-center within the foul aperture.

            "-MAXIMUM!!"

>> GAME >> Yumi Tachibana spends an Edge for: Dumping everything she has into her finisher.

    In all likelihood, this shadow servant was ready to lunge for Yumi again, not even caring of Dante bringing out another sword. Only momentarily distracted even by Shirou's charge -- he might well have just blown right through him.

    But Anna's rage is unexpected even for him.

    Wordlessly, he stops on his heels and spins to intercept the furious attack from Anna. Perhaps he had expected the first parry to be enough to push her away, but she just *keeps going*. But to Lancer's credit, he doesn't give any ground either. Expertly, he keeps swinging, turning and spinning that spear to deflect every strike that comes, while looking for an opening in the assault.

    And meanwhile, Shirou's charge continues. Still unarmed. Seeming almost foolish. He just has one thing in mind. To do something, anything at all to help the others get an opening. None of his wooden swords will help here. He needs a better weapon. Something that wont break right away. Something that can beat him.

    But Lancer is acutely aware of Shirou still, and as if in an afterthought, one of the deflecting motions guides the back end of his spear to sweeping behind him, too, to strike into Shirou's side with the kind of force that would shatter the poor boy's ribcage.

    But Shirou doesn't stop either. Instead, he holds out both his hands, palms open first, before the fingers close in like he's trying to clutch at something...

    

    Trace on.

    With the activation spell uttered, something breaks inside Shirou. Something burns at his nerves and his very brain. But he doesn't have time to worry about that.

    The sound that comes next is of metal clashing with metal. Lancer's casual, if powerful, backhanded sweep did not in fact crush Shirou's bones. Instead, it has been blocked by a curved, black short sword with with a Ying-Yang symbol at it's hilt. A sword that has appeared out of nowhere in Shirou's left hand.

    Even to the experienced Cu Chulainn, this comes as enough of a surprise to pause, and in that instant of his front still being assaulted by Anna and his back being left open, Shirou swings his right hand through, with a similiarly-shaped, white-colored short sword has also appeared out of nowhere. Slashing with speed and strength both that should not belong to Shirou to cut through part of Lancer's arm and shoulder. It's not much, but it's enough to disrupt his movements, and allow one of the Berserker Princess' swings with Rebellion finally cut across the shadow servant's front.

    The Lancer is stubborn, though. Even with those wounds, and even with the brilliant light of Yumi's most powerful attack blasting through all the mud and overtaking the black hole that has been the source of all of this, he still persists. It doesn't seem to matter anymore that he has failed in his mission of preventing that source from being destroyed - and to be certain nothing of it remains once the light and dust from the immensely powerful weapon dissipates - and he simply keeps fighting.

    Almost as if taking a cue from Frost earlier, he swings his head forward to headbutt Anna while Rebellion is still caught in his chest and push her away before spinning around to turn for Shirou, like a deadly tornado poised to bring the spear cutting into him.

    "Haaa--!"

    But Shirou brings one sword blocking it again. He's still not as strong as the Servant, no, so it sends him recoiling-- but instead of getting cut down by a followup attack, his other arm moves, as if on it's own, to deflect the second strike. Attack after attack, he defends himself with both speed and technique that seem like they belong to someone else than this young man. Someone much more intensely familiar with fighting Lancer...?

    But after roughly five seconds of holding on, the black sword in his left hand shatters and disintegrates into mana dust. The white blade is sure to follow soon-- but maybe he's held off long enough and distracted the wounded spearman long enough to let the others follow through?

    Dante doubletakes when Anna outright steals Rebellion right out of his hands, about to shout something in confusion before he sees Anna go absolutely berserk on Lancer instead.

    "Fuck, Anna! Leave some for the rest of us!" He calls out before drawing Ceberus again, forming an ice bridge on his way to kick Lancer's smug face in, which he does literally, dropkicking him with his feet aimed right at Lancer's smug face, "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" He barks protectively before Lancer can strike at Shirou, but he's knocked away as Lancer attacks the teenager.

    And then, Shirou forms twin swords. "...huh?!"

    Not wanting to let the opportunity slip by, Dante rushes Lancer, striking with Cerberus in a blitz of attacks with the tri-staff that'd please Master Bruce Lee himself, right down to high pitched kiais with every impact.

 
 By the time that Cyber Frost had come back to, she realized that she was upside down and on the ground, and she was still hearing the sounds of Kombat!! The fight was not over yet! 
 
 Anna had her rage keeping her up and fighting, Frost.. she had her ego. "Sunnuva--" She snarled as she kicked herself back up to her feet, turned on her heel, and rushed back into the fray with fierce determination. 
 
 It was all that was keeping her from RUNNING AWAY, because Yumi's fire sword coming down to smash the mud portal apart threatened to obliterate her as well. Frost, obviously, not a big fan of fire, and Yumi was producing so much heat with her attack that the wise thing would be to run away. 
 
 It was as if she was bringing the whole sun on top of them. She had only felt this kind of power when fighting Kotal Kahn. A literal God! 
 
 But Frost's ego was on the line. She couldn't run. 
 
 Particularly now that Shirou had shown some tricks of his own. Twin swords, huh!? Well, she could do that too. 
 
 "Soften him up for me!" She yelled to the group at large as she dived low. With Dante going for the upper body, Frost leaned down and targeted the Lancer's legs to make it almost impossible for him to defend himself. Aiming her attack, Frost simply gave twin brutal thrusts with her ice swords to try and impale Cu right through both thighs. She was actually.. not even planning on letting him go, if she managed to pierce his legs she'd hold that position and freeze his feet to the ground to immobilize him and leave him wide open for any other attacks. This guy really needed to go down at any cost.

    Prominence cleaves through. All that compressed magic explodes, illuminating the land for miles around as clear as day. Yumi spins with the force of her swing, one turn, two, finally arresting herself and dropping down in a high arc that puts her a fair distance away.

    But even exhausted, a bit singed by her own flames, and feeling the distinctive unsettling sensation of Overcharge settling into her soul, the girl who lands is a senshi, with superhuman might and speed. And the fight isn't over yet.

    With a sound like a jackhammer, the magical girl pounds feet into the pavement, charging herself back into the fray at full steam. Though not as fast as Ireland's most famous Lancer, she still has speed enough to cross the distance quickly. A blur of white, gold and blue darts past Frost, and Yumi's voice calls out in passing, "Roger!" A step turns into a hop, a spin, and Prominence whips around, brought into a heavy overhead slash.

    Lancer now has one more opponent to contend with that's in the same physical league as Servants. And her skill doesn't fall short, either.

    Anna's rage burns. It pushes her beyond the limits of what she could normally perform, and right now it's pushing her hard. Doing her level best to cleave Cu Chulainn with Rebellion. Heaving the infernal sword with everything she has, slamming Gae Bolg over and over and over and over and... over... And... Over... And...
    She's starting to flag. It's clear in the ragger gasps for breath as she struggles to maintain her swings against the weight of the sword in her hand. Until she starts to sputter.
    Thankfully the others are able to engage Cu much better as she starts to stagger and collapses to a knee. panting by the time Shirou summons swords to his hands.
    Anna, meanwhile holds Rebellion up for Dante to take back and continue the fight. The others have this.
    She'll just try and catch her breath now.

    Even five seconds like that was enough to burn out the fuel in Shirou's tank, so to speak, even with his opponent being wounded. But before Lancer has a chance to destroy Shirou's second sword - or heaven forbid run him through - Dante's there. The legendary spearman must have noticed him, but between the wound in his shoulder slowing him down and the sheer intensity at which he was going at Shirou with momentarily leaves him open to receiving a nasty smack from Cerberus into the chin, hard enough to send his head recoiling back.

    But like a cockroach, Cu Chulainn simply refuses to go down from that either. He's poised to turn his defense and offense both on Dante now that Shirou is left to simply stumble back and fall on his butt on the ground, but--

    There's still more.

    The spear might give him a great deal of coverage horizontally, but covering two vertical points at the same time gets harder. While Lancer's blocking Dante's following strikes, Frost is able to take the opportunity to strike low, cutting through tendons in the shadow servant's legs to send him down on his knees -- and then pinned right down to the ground by the very same ice swords.

    Still not down. One hand continues to grip his spear to sweep at Dante, while the other hand goes to grab at Frost again in an effort to push her off of him, but...

    Yumi joins the fight and brings her greatsword down. The great, glowing blade swings down onto the pinned hero, cutting through him all-too-easily like this, and--

    In one last defiant show of effort, he actually manages to deck Yumi right in the face with a tightly-clenched fist even with him effectively cut in half lengthwise. But that's all. By the time his knuckles make contact, the Servant's body has already begun fading away. The integrity of the Heroic(?) Spirit brought down low enough that it can no longer sustain itself.

    And in the matter of two seconds, nothing remains there on the ground, or around Frost's blades.

    Some buildings and spots on the street still bear flames upon both as leftovers from the effects of the black mud and Yumi's explosive attack, sirens ring in the distance-- but the battle seems to have been won.

    Shirou, for his part, just remains sitting where he fell, panting heavily -- and the white shortsword in his right hand disintegrates into mana dust too, his exhausted body unable to sustain it anymore. And his arms, for that matter, are bruised just from the effort of blocking Lancer's strikes for those scant few seconds.

    "Ghk-!"

    It's actually kind of impressive that the shadowy Lancer can manage a punch in that situation at all. Given the fact that he's quite literally dying as he swings it, it's all the more so. On top of that, it's one of the hardest punches Yumi's ever taken - it's not often she gets swung on by someone in her physical league.

    The blow rattles the senshi and knocks her back, one hand coming loose from Prominence; she manages to stumble her way backwards until she finds her footing, never quite falling over, but had he not been disappearing from all the attacks hitting in rapid succession, that would have been a great big opening for the spearman to take advantage of. She drops into a ready stance, only to realize the retaliation is not coming.

    So she lets Prominence dissipate, then quietly reaches up to rub the blood from her cheek. "...what the hell was that?" she asks, frowning. There's a pause, and then she adds, "...and what were those swords, anyway?" with a look towards Shirou.

 
 "Yo!!" This guy was absolutely insufferable! Not only did he refuse to die even after Frost pinned his legs to the ground through frozen impalement, leaving him wide open to a series of follow up attacks. 
 
 He had the utter audacity.. to keep touching her!! 
 
 "Quit touching my face, you bastard!!!" It was a good thing that Frost liked to wear her ninja mask, because she -would- have gone and bit Cu for trying to push her off him. Frost was very stubborn as well, and utterly relentless, and she had made up her mind about pinning Cu down to the ground that he'd have to do a A LOT more than just push her face. 
 
 And as Yumi comes in to finish the deal.. Cu up and disappears! He even looked like he could potentially still fight! How anticlimactic! 
 
 "Guh!!" The cyber ninja fell to her knees, leaning on one of her ice swords, her whole body short circuiting, crackles of electricity flowing all over her body. 
 % "Did we kill him!?" She asked sounding alarmed. Was there any more to this fight? Because she could absolutely.. 
 
 Not Continue. 
 
 "Oh crap." And to drive the point home. Her core reactor decided JUST THEN to shut down and she literally broke into pieces. Like if she was made out of Legos. 
 
 Her face rolled on the ground a little before coming to a stop and looking about worriedly. "Yeah Shirou! What the hell was that!!?" 
 
 Even when she was literally just a pile of debris on the ground she still had energy to give Shirou a hard time. 

    
    According to myth, Cu Chulainn tied himself to his spear after having stuck it into the ground, just so he could keep fighting despite mortal injury. Between that and the spear itself, it gives Dante a short inkling as to who this bishie spearman really is.

    Sparda did not raise his sons to be ignorant of history and mythology. Oh no.

    Everyone overwhelms Cu Chulainn, until they more or less bring him down through sheer stubbornness and grit until he dissipates into nothingness.

    Dante takes a deep breath and dispells Cerberus, and the son of Sparda brushes dirt off his coat sleeve. "You...you just learned that right htis moment, didn't ya?" He asks Shirou.

    Also he accepts Rebellion, stuffing it on his back and giving Anna's hair a ruffling. "You did good, kid." He smiles broadly, letting Anna lean on him for stability if she needs it.

>> SUMMARY[Dante] >> Dante: Big brother instinct GO!

    "Um... That was a Servant from my world, I think...?" Shirou attempts to offer an explanation to Yumi's first question, scratching at the side of his head with his bruised fingers as he does. "Er... Or I guess 'Heroic Spirit' is more accurate? They're resurrected heroes brought to fight for magi in a Holy Grail War-- okay look that's a bit too complicated to explain right now. My Saber called him Cu Chulainn once though, just... I don't know, he seemed different...? Darker? He definitely didn't wear black before."

    And his eyes quickly snap down to Frost.......'s detached head. He jumps in place while still sitting somehow from the sight before calming down with the internal reminder that, oh yeah, Frost is *mostly robot*. "Y-you really have time to talk like that even now?!" He snaps down at her with a bit of a huff before...

    Well. Guess he should address the other question. He looks down at the palm of his left hand, flexing the bruised fingers a bit.

    "I... projected them? ...It's not that I learned it *just now*... mostly. Projection was the first magic I really learned, but I've never been able to do it like *that*. I just kind of acting without thinking, and I guess some part of me figured I might stand a chance if I used the weapon of a Servant I saw managing a toe-to-toe fight with that guy before?" Apparently also somehow *fighting better* came with that?

 
 "It's not like I can do much else!" Said Frost's.. head.. as she blinked and heard Shirou's explanation on what happened, and how he summoned his fancy new swords. 
 
 "Heh, I knew you had a lot of power in ya. I freaking called that." Her head said triumphantly from the ground. "Probably learned a thing or two from seeing me fight." Arrogant to the bitter end, and really not even asking for help on putting her back together either. She'll figure it out on her own later!

    Yumi stops dead in her tracks and watches Frost just... completely fall apart.

    She starts to move over towards the cyber ninja with a worried look, and an agitated, "W-whoa, hey, are you all ri-"

    Then Frost starts giving Shirou a hard time from the ground. Yumi slows to a stop, blinks once or twice, and then just offers a perplexed, "Do, uh... do you need help? I can drag you back together, or... something...?" But Shirou has explanations; the senshi turns to face him, listening, and then nods, though she's frowning. "That sounds... really, really crazy, I'll admit it. But it worked. You'll have to see if you can train it to work better. I'm not sure if I can recommend copying mine, though. It's really, really heavy."

    "You can try copying mine, but it might not end well. Devil Arms tend to be willful in human hands." Dante says cheekily. "I do kinda wanna see you try it though."

    "You guys are saying that like I would even be able to do that again at all in the first place..." Shirou mutters at Yumi and Dante both.

    And Frost? Oh, he gives her head another look. And without saying anything, he stretches his leg out and just... gives a nudge with his foot. Enough to send that detached head rolling a few meter's worth along the ground.

    "...Anyway. I guess we should try to put Frost back together and carry Anna out of here," he mutters as he finally starts getting up, and...

    He stumbles. Damn near tripping over on his right foot for a bit. Blinking with some brief surprise at first, he straightens himself out after. He doesn't say anything about *that* though. Though he'll probably end up playing it off even if anyone asks...

    Even if the entire right half of his body just feels like static right now.