World Tree MUSH

    Ever since the battle at the mountain fort, things have been busy. Between dealing with the remnants of Ereshkigal's army and a lot of scouting footwork to cover ground, the Fourth Demon Lord General's lair has been found.
    Three days to the northeast of the mountain pass and fort, Ereshkigal's grand fortress stands amidst a field of noxious and deadly hot lava pits. Though oddly enough it seems to have no visible way to enter from the ground, which means she likely didn't use it as a staging grounds for her army or the last attack.
    Mau is here. She's wrangled up a party willing to scout around the lava floats and find a means deeper into the fort.
    It's hot, it's dry, the smell of sulfur hangs in the air, you know. Just lava stuff, as the cat sits at a crack in the fortress wall waiting for her party to group up for this six man heroic dungeon.

Four is too many demon lords, Itana decides. (She's in for a rude surprise once she finds out where Golbez is.)

At least this time Mau didn't lead her into the winter cold. Itana has spent a great deal of time prowling the blasted fields, marking out the paths of patrols - if any - and assessing where the enemy might have set up surprises for them. By the time she reaches the fortress wall, there is a catgirl. Itana lowers her lashes a shade, but lets the obvious go unsaid.

"Is this the last demon lord, then?" she asks as she shrugs her bow off her shoulder and goes through the usual motions of checking the string and testing the flex of the shaft. The bow probably didn't fall apart in the little while since she last looked, but better to check. Then she looks up with a narrowing of her eyes, hand coming to rest on the arch of one hip.

"Imposing place. Wonder if they know about this hole."

    A ghost haunts these sands, and he's packing a .300 Norma. The skull-masked operator is properly dressed for a more sandy climate, with tans, browns, and light grays in his uniform including a shemagh that covers his entire face combined with that sculpted skull.

    The costuming budget for Task Force 141 must be insane, just for Ghost's masks alone. "Surprised we're doin' this after we got the Big One." He says as he scopes out the area, seated with Mau. Up until now, Ghost has been skulking about with Itana to mark out patrols, identify booby traps, and so forth.

    Demon Lord? Four Generals? Delving into a fiery enemy fortress?

    Say no more. Hyouka Kiyama is there.

    The cyborg in the shape of an elf arrives looking peppy and chipper, her usual 'I'm out for a jog' outfit replaced with something a bit more medieval. She's even got a fancy, billowy cloak! "Well, the Four Generals sticking around to cause problems after the Demon Lord is gone isn't that surprising. There's always at least one that thinks they can take over the empty throne. So," she adds, turning to look at Mau, "What can we expect in here? I'm assuming fire-elemental enemies?"

    "...you knowingly brought a cloak to a fire fortress?" DARGN asks, her tone mostly unsurprised.

    The look on Hyouka's face makes it obvious she hadn't really considered that.

     Like a silent shadow, Mao Mao drops down by Mau with little else but the fluttering of his cape announcing his presence. Where'd he drop from? Shut up, that's where. "You'll forgive my absence until now, I hope. I had very important sheriff duties to attend to." he says, in his usual low, dour tone.

- FLASHBACK -

"Slim Pigguns, you can't keep smuggling illegal plants into the kingdom. I'm going to start giving you actual jail time if you- wait, some of these aren't even native to this world. Where'd you get these?" Mao Mao questions a short yellow pig with a pink heart on his belly.

The pig, Slim, just shrugs. "I dunno, some fuzzy guy. He seemed pretty nice, so I never questioned anything. Something about reforestation."

Picking a green mushroom with purple polka dots on its cap from the cart of illicit flora, the cat sheriff inspects it closely, giving it a poke... which causes it to abruptly explode in his face, causing a burning sensation to erupt through his nervous system. "Aaaargh! Poison! I've been poisoned! You're under arrest, Slim-"

The pig is already gone, however, having taken off the moment Mao Mao touched the mushroom. As he realizes this, Mao Mao wobbles a little and then collapses, passing out on the cobblestone.

- PRESENT -

"Anyway, looks like we've got quite the party together here. Skull Man is right though, this is very odd procedure for heroing. Usually the end of the big bad boss means... well, the end." Peering over a ledge down at the lava, Mao Mao grumbles. "While I appreciate the appropriately evil aesthetic, the smell is just awful. Let's get this over with quickly."

    Illumiel, having recovered from being shanked unceremoniously in the previous battle, is begrudgingly following along beside Itana. She 'used' most of her collected weapons, including the crowbar and the Actual Sword she took from that city guard, so very long ago.

    Luckily, the orcs donated plenty of replacements, though now the angel looks like she's going through a gothic phase with all the black iron shamshirs, scimitars and even a talwar dangling from her belt and hanging across her back.

    The smallest Avenger looks around the lava pits, and wrinkles her nose. "Of course a Demon would inhabit a blasted hellscape... t'would remind them of home." she says with venom. "Foul creatures."

    "Pretty sure they don't know about this hole." Mau replies brightly to Itana as she arrives. "The last Demon Lord is dead. This was one of his four generals, four heavenly kings, shittenou, Cardinal Lords, grand high pubaas, that kinda thing. See the thing about demons is they're like insects shaped like people. You kill one and another pops up. And when you try to kill one they can be super hard to kill." The catgirl details.
    "I've beaten Ereshkigal before- she just escaped before I could finish the job and I haaaaaaate leaving business unfinished so we're gonna kill her. Soon. Today we're just scouting."
    "Donno!" She replies to Hyouka. "I have utterly zero clue who this queen bitch rolls with lately. We're gonna find out!"
    Like right now as Mau stands herself up and--
    "Oh hey, Mao Mao, you're the last person I needed to see about something." She says, rummaging through her pouches until she finds something.
    Kneeling in front of the smaller cat she plunks a pair of platinum hued dogtags into his gloved paws.
    "Those are adventurer's tags from this world. Platinum's the highest rank anyone can get. They'll get you any adventurer job you could ever want here for a lifetime." She says before turning and popping her neck.
    Because once everyone is gathered Mau heads into the crack in the wall.
    It's small, cramped, and only has room for one person to walk at a time, and it goes on for a little distance before it opens up into a wider chamber of polished stone flooring. The walls are pure reflective glass mirrors, and it looks like they go on in different directions as... The crack in the wall leads to a mirror maze.
    Of course.
    "Oh hey, this kind of bullshit funhouse."

Itana keeps fairly close to Illumiel. Angels deserve better than getting skewered.

Flicking her hair back, Itana nods back to Mau simply. "Somehow that rings a bell, but I'm not entirely sure why. Whatever the history is, let's finish the job."

The wall crack isn't that big a problem for Itana. She scoots through with little more than a bit of scowling. Soon enough, though, she's popping out of the crack - and straight into a dazzling reflective hell that leaves her looking at about a dozen of herself and several more Maus.

An unnerved Itana glances back towards the crack in the wall, anchoring herself mentally on its position. "Does anyone have... chalk or something...?" she ventures, her voice pinched with tension. This kind of trap is outside her experience - deserts don't glint.

    "We're Gepetto, and this fortress is Monstro. The beast doesn't look for prey in its own stomach." Ghost says coldly as he grabs his MCPR rifle. It's a big gun, for big bois, and has a suppressor and a clip-on thermal module for the scope.

    When he spies Hyouka, Ghost's first reaction is to think she's a local, judging by her elven appearance and outfit. Mao Mao meanwhile gets a dap on the shoulder when he gets his platinum tags. Simon has his own on his dog tags, too. "Congrats, mate. Welcome to the big leagues."

    He's surprised at Mau's thoughtfulness. Sneaking in here just to engage would be reckless, a recce is what Ghost would suggest. So a recce is what they're about to do. Slinging the rifle, Ghost follows Mau through the wall and carefully makes his way through after the catgirl.

    "Bloody hell." Ghost mutters. The mirror fun house...probably the tackiest of corridors.

    "Oh-? Adventurer plates?!" Hyouka's eyes widen with glee. "Oh, I've definitely got to spend more time here. What's the adventurer guild system like here? Can outsi-" It's at that moment that DARGN's voice cuts across. "Hyouka, focus. You can join the Adventurer's Guild and become a high-rank adventurer later. We have danger to face." The faux elf deflates a little, and sighs. "I guess you're right." She moves in right behind Itana and Ghost, caaaarefully squeezing through, only to come out into a mirror maze.

    "...not what I was expecting, I admit." The woman takes a few steps forward. "I'll-" Once again, DARGN cuts in. "Hyouka, you're forgetting something. Half the people here don't know us." Blink. Blink blink. "...o-oh. Right."

    She turns to face everyone else briefly, and offers a polite bow. "My name is Hyouka Kiyama. I'm a powerful frontline fighter, currently equipped to deal ice damage in melee. It's good to work with you all." A pause, and then she adds, "The voice you keep hearing is DARGN, my onboard AI assistant. She's... think of her like a spirit that's helping to run my body. My body is all machines, except for my head."

    Then, there's a glance over her shoulder. "Should I start smashing mirrors?"

    Illumiel follows closely after Itana. She remembers Hyouka and averts her gaze from the faux elf; looking pensively as she remembers the words that were yelled at her in another world.

    She shakes off the funk long enough to shimmy through the passage... loading the next area, we know what these things are for.

    Mirrors.

    The angel frowns, and with a drawing of blades, she strides over to nudge at one of the mirrors with the point.

     "Huh? What are you-" Mao Mao starts to ask, but then she gives him... a gift? A... gift. From an actual person. The cat warrior is left stunned by this gesture, staring down at the dog tags in his hand as a bright red blush comes to his cheeks, unable to think of anything to say. It takes a while, but he finally manages to pocket them in his sash and mumble, "Thank you."

Anyway, it's time to go fight a demon, and he follows Mau into-

"Ah. I don't suppose we can break the mirrors and just plow a path straight through?" he ponders, tapping one of the glass walls. There's always some kind of /magic/ involved in these.

He also takes a moment to scoff at Ghost. "Pfah! I was already in the big leagues, now I can just do it legally in this world."

    Mau can be thoughtful! She knows when to tiptoe around sleeping bears before poking them! Like right now, she's gonna tiptoe through these halls. But first.
    "Oh hey, you're actually new. Cool. I'm Mau, totally and completely ordinary catgirl adventurer. I killed the Demon Lord of this world with a few others in this group here." She says to Hyouka. "You can't go wrong with the Guild on this world; you can sign up in like any big city or even small town that has a guild house. Lowest rank is Clay, highest rank is Platinum. If you're worth your salt you should breeze through the earlier ranks or even start with jumped ranks with a simple test of skill."
    Then she peers. "Oh huh you've got your own AI partner? Neat. My phone has AI, but it's barely good for translating people talking to me in different languages right now. So I mainly use it to shuffle my playlists."
    This is when Mau draws her legendary sword and takes a huge SWING at a nearby mirror. It cracks, but does not shatter. "Looks like we're going through the maze. Hyouka, Dargn, you're up front at point. Ghost with me and Mao Mao in the middle. Itana and Illumiel I want watching our backs." The yuusha cat calls out marching order as the party starts to move and from her backpack she produces...
    A big, fat, ball of yarn. "We're all staying together, no one take any sudden exits please."
    There's about an hour into the maze before Mau pauses, narrowing her eyes at a section of mirror. "My ass isn't that big." She huffs petulantly. Before she's staring much more intently. Like a cat that sees a fucking ghost that a human can't see. You all know the look.
    "We're being hunted." Mau announces. "Everyone form up. Back to back."

    Well, cyborg elves with dragon powers are definitely a rare breed. The operator is glad Hyouka's on their side for now. Ghost nods to Hyouka curtly. "Name's Ghost, Task Force 141." That's really all she gets. The rest is super classified. SHe'll get to know him as things go on.

    "Keep mewling, pussycat." Ghost dryly says to Mao Mao as the cat continues to boast as usual. "Just be glad you've got some clout now."

    It's when Ghost sees Illumiel's expression that he goes silent. He knows something is wrong, but now isn't the time to have ah heart to heart. For now, they need to focus on the mission at hand. He does however shoot Lumi a sympathetic look.

    As they advance through the corridor of mirrors, Ghost advances with his Chimera carbine, the compact rifle sweeping through as Ghost resists the urge to turn on the laser dot-

    Right as he spies a Shadow Company operative staring right at him with a weapon in hands. "CONTACT-" Ghost barks, firing off a burst of fire that destroys the mirror entirely, sending shards scattering everywhere.

    There isn't questioning when Mau gives orders, Ghost follows orders and stays with Mau. A brief glance at one of the shards indicates there wasn't a PMC present, Ghost just shot at his reflection.

    Ghost's breath is hitched briefly before he regains composure.

    "Oh, you know what AI is? You're reincarnated, aren't you." There's a big, goofy grin on her face at that. "Well well, then yeah, onboard AI. I'm a full-conversion magitech cyborg. DARGN's patterned after the brain patterns of the dragon that had this body made for me." "I don't do DJ services," DARGN adds, in a dry tone. Meanwhile, Hyouka's eyes pass over Illumiel, and there's a brief furrowing of the brow - not, seemingly, out of anger, but rather... concern? There's a step, a reaaaaach, and a gentle pat on the shoulder, assuming the angel doesn't shy away. "If you're trying to do better, that's all that matters." It's a surprisingly soft tone considering how upset she was before.

    And on they go into the maze, since it looks like the mirrors aren't easily broken. Along the way, Mau and Ghost will get their first introduction to the FISTEAU gauntlets, and the process of Hyouka's arms transforming into said gauntlets. As soon as they're complete, the temperature near her drops, and the lines along them glow with blue-white light. Ice-elemental mana pumps through them, and she's got them at the ready as she leads the way into the maze.

    About the same time as Mau is taking a deep look into a mirror, Hyouka is doing the same. "DARGN, did I just...?" "Yes. Confirmed via your visual feed."

    In the next heartbeat, the maze fills with a powerful WHUD-THOOM. Not only did Hyouka just drive her fist into one of the mirrors at full strength, there's a burst of discharged ice mana, adding impact and cold damage to the blow.

>> SUMMARY[Hyouka Kiyama] >> FISTO.

     Mao Mao's fur stands on end as his reflection seems to change, taking a startled step back. But it's already back to normal, and his bright green eyes cast about for any sign of strangeness elsewhere. "I didn't like this place to begin with, but my opinion is taking a nosedive." he growls, before following Mau. It takes a lot of willpower to avoid knocking the yarn ball out of her hands.

An hour later, when they stop, he gives Mau a perplexed look. "I don't see any donkeys around. Are you feeling alright?" But then he notices The Look, one he knows all too well.

And then, much more prominently, everyone starts breaking mirrors!? Dodging broken glass shards, Mao Mao draws his golden katana and starts glancing around on high alert, looking for enemies. Instead, he sees that image from before again as he comes face to face with a still-unshattered mirror, his own visage morphing into that of-

"F-father? No, no, you can't be here. It's just a trick, an illusion!" Despite this, the cat's breathing quickens and sweat beads on his brow as his quivering eyes stare at that disapproving scowl.

    Illumiel looks at Hyouka, she doesn't smile, but there's gratitude in those glowing blue eyes.

    Marching orders are given, and the smallest Avenger falls in at the back of the line. She's looking at the mirrors on either side curiously... then tenses up. "Sister...?" Mau then calls out that the group is being hunted by something, and she gently pushes Itana into the center of the group, and takes up guard in front of the nomad, drawing two shamshirs and brandishing them as her eyes flick back and forth, her wings unfolding in a threatening display, like a goose does when its preparing to attack. "What is hunting us?"

Puzzles are not Itana el-Zayl's forte. She continues to keep close to Illumiel as the little angel starts prodding at the glossy surface.

Something catches her eye, then. Moving one hand to Illumiel's shoulder, Itana begins to turn towards a particular reflection - and then pauses. She presses her lips together and stares for a couple of beats, as if making eye contact with someone. Some/thing./

She clicks her tongue and exhales before drawing her bow and moving to bring her back to Illumiel's. "Stay together. There is something in the mirrors," she determines tensely. "Whatever you do, do not let the images fool you."

Reaching into her satchel, Itana comes out with a crude-looking jar of something cloudy and greenish-grey. She tosses it underhand towards the ground, stopper removed. Potion comes splashing out of it, strong enough to produce a distinct, slightly acrid-smelling vapour. It obscures some of the mirrors in that direction, at least a little.

>> SUMMARY[Itana el-Zayl] >> Itana is an alchemist. Itana has potions.

    Hyouka certainly sees something... And it's as the faux elf reels her fist back to haul off on the mirror there's a loud crash and shatter as she smashes through the polished mirror into the stone on the other side and freezes a chunk of the wall solid. There's just a weird moment of still seeing that flicker of fire in her reflection as...
    Hyouka's reflection pulls its arm back from the frozen hole in the wall and steps to the side, eyes blazing with fire.
    As Itana throws her bottle of smoke potion and Ghost shoots a section of reflective wall, everyone's reflections starts turning on them.
    Illumiel will see Castiel pressing her palms on the mirror from within, beckoning her sister closer...
    Mao Mao will see himself. Bigger, stronger, a Mao Mao that Father would be proud of...
    Ghost is wearing his skull mask but... He's a member of Shadow Company.
    Itana's wild eyes and snarling lips look like she's been lost in the desert for too long as she draws her bow...
    Everything is hazy due to the smoke...
    The whisper of 'Angarang...' is loud and clear as an arrow flies from the mirror with a sonic boom into the center of the group.
    A burning dragon emerges next, its right arm already shattered and broken from the impact of Hyouka's mighty punch, but that doesn't stop the elf-reflection from erupting into flame as she lunges at Hyouka.
    Shadow Company's 'Phantom', lunges at Ghost with a knife instantly trapping him in a deadly CQC battle.
    Mirror Mao leaps from the glass, vaulting acrobatically. It's an incredible display as he lands nimbly on his feet while trying to cut the real Mao Mao down.
    And Castiel starts... Slowly wrapping her fingers around Illumiel's neck in the most loving of sisterly embraces, face still placid and serene.

Itana didn't want to talk about what she saw. She's not the type to share her inner worries, and she's certainly seen things in the hazes of a mirage before. She is not, however, used to those hazy images shooting at her - and not with her own technique.

The fire arrow goes off with a shock that's entirely too familiar. Itana dives for the deck and rolls, guttering flames licking at her back and heels. Wincing, she tumbles up to one knee and notches an arrow, squinting through the fading haze of her own potions. "Who ever heard of your reflection coming to life and turning dark," she growls.

    somewhere
        worlds away
            the light only sleeps
                waits

Itana looks sharply towards Illumiel, then back with a scowl. "My angels don't strangle people," she mutters before unleashing her arm like a striking viper. "Sanchir," she whispers - and the arrow lets fly, but not alone.

It rings out fast enough to burst through the sound barrier. The shock of its firing resonates through the air. Will it be hard enough to shatter a few mirrors?

    Illumiel sees her sister, kind, gentle Castiel.
    Illumiel feels fingers that should be a comfort, wrapping around her throat...

    Or they try to.

    Illumiel's eyes blaze with pure righeous fury, and her shamshirs slash, and stab. One up through Mirror Castiel's arms to sever them and free herself, the other, stabbing through the mirror monster's chest. "YOU. DO NOT GET. TO USE HER FACE TO FELL ME. BEAST!" she bellows, lifting a leg to straight kick the thing off her blade, her wings burning with her fury.

>> SUMMARY[Illumiel] >> GOOSE. ANGERY. GOOSE. SMASH!

    Suddenly, The Earth-3 Crime Syndicate of America's version of Ghost appears! The British operator curses as he's suddenly tackled against the mirror, his rifle falling out of his hands. The blade cuts into Ghost's uniform and draws blood. There's no words shared, just grunting and snarls as Ghost retaliates by drawing a push dagger from his chest rig and shanks his doppelganger over and over, blood pooling at the two men's feet.

    Ghost and Phantom go at it like hungry wolves, furiously exchanging slashes, stabs, as well as punches and kicks until Ghost wraps his arms around Phantom's leg and brings him to the ground, the two men rolling around as they continue to try and gut one another!

>> SUMMARY[Ghost] >> C! Q! C!

    Now that Hyouka thinks about it, she's a little surprised she was able to smash the mirror. However, that surprise fades as quickly as it's realized, because oh god her reflection is moving on its own.

    Instantly, Hyouka hops back away from the mirror, bringing up both fists - and then leaps to one side away from the sonic arrow. In the time it takes her to roll and come back up to her feet, a version of her has emerged that simmers with flames. "DARGN, what the hell-?!" The AI's response is simple, businesslike. "A reflection. You, if you were more like me, perhaps." The cyborg frowns, and lifts up her fists again. "Well, she's already down one arm, so let's just- whoa!"

    Dark Hyouka is on the attack, and the original model stumbles back several steps, almost falling on her backside. But she manages to turn it into a sidelong tumble, and then lunges forward into an attack of her own. The lines of ice mana along her right arm suddenly glow brighter, a full charge of magical energy to dump into her next punch - immediately followed by a second with her left. "Ora!"

>> SUMMARY[Hyouka Kiyama] >> When in doubt, smash.

     Mao Mao sees his father morph back into himself... no, not him. Not exactly. A better version of him, one who wasn't cursed to be the runt of his litter. A powerful legendary hero, big and imposing and oh so very-

The boom of the arrow brings him back to his senses enough to dive out of the way, narrowly avoiding the killing stroke of his doppelganger. Scrambling back to his feet, Mao Mao stares down this intimidating vision of what could have been, hands shaking as they grip the hilt of his sword tightly. "I... I am... a l-legendary hero..."

Small.

Weak.

Not impressed.

Mao Mao lets out a blood curdling battlecry as he charges at the mirror image of himself, though his swings lack finesse. There's just anger, sadness, regret, a whirlwind of emotions driving him forward. Violence without direction, tears streaming from his eyes as he flails away ineffectually. "I'm a hero! I'm a HERO! I'M A HERO!"

    A lot happens. An arrow goes flying at the speed of sound and the mirrors crack, following it into the distance, Itana's shot weakening the other mirror doppelgangers cracks forming on their bodies as they lunge into battle.
    Phantom and Ghost go at it like a pair of beasts, it's kill or be killed and the Shadow Company 'operator' is doing his best to give it as good as he gets.
    Illumiel sees this false Castiel for what she is and quickly strikes her down, but even then the fallen blonde angel starts dragging herself along the ground towards the avenger.
    "Sister..." She whispers pleadingly.
    As Desert Savage Itana lunges- taking a HUGE VAULTING LEAP skyward- it would make a Baron Dragon jealous as she aims to get the high ground and shoot down on the real Itana, drawing her bowstring for another shot...
    But the real deal is probably faster.
    Mao Mao faces himself-- a reflection of which his papa would smile upon, and where Mao Mao lacks finesse, the doppelganger attacks with certainty, blades clash as the legendary hero faces the legendary hero. But between the two of them... Mao Mao might start to realizes that his skills are more... 'Real' than this fake's.
    And then there's a duel of dragons.
    The mirror Hyouka explodes in a flaming conflagration, every step leaving fiery footprints in her wake as she rushes- and meets those fists head on, returning blows with blows in kind and superheated blasts of fire in the face of that ice. But...
    Cold is winning out over heat here. The damaged dragon reflection roaring as she tries to strike her true self down with a haymaker that leaves her wide open in a last ditch.

    And then... What about Mau?

    Mau is standing off to the side, staring at the figure that came out of her reflection.
    A youngish but kind of blurrily non-descript man, somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties, dressed in a plain button down shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, jeans and sneakers.
    "Hey buddy." Mau says to him. "You don't belong here. This isn't your world." She says as he stares her down.

    Illumiel looks down at the wretched doppleganger. If it was aiming to appeal to her mercy, it would find none in those blazing blue eyes. Wings spread wide, her chin lifts so she's looking down her nose at the thing on the floor. "You are not my sister." she states firmly, before lifting a foot, and STAMPING down on the things head with no hint of hesitation... she lifts her foot, and stamps down, again, and again, and again, until the thing stops moving, stops pretending to be her beloved sister... stops existing.

>> SUMMARY[Illumiel] >> EXECUTION

Itana knows one thing for sure, and it's that the real Castiel gives hugs of love and not of pain. She makes a mental note to hug Illumiel when this is all over.

Right now, herself is trying to kill her. These things do, in fact, require immediate attention. As the ghost archer lunges, the real Itana bends one knee as if she's going to launch another arrow.

She doesn't. She launches herself forward, flipping in the air. Her heels slam into a mirror, cracking glazing around it, and she boosts off into the air. She is, for just a moment, left in mid-backflip, face up, arcing towards her reflection in the ceiling. The real Itana seems to hang there for a few frozen seconds.

And then she snaps her legs upward and drives her bootheels violently towards her reflection's face, aiming to leave deep cracks in the mirror and perhaps even the phantom beyond it.

    Every time the fists of flame meet the fists of ice, there's a thunderclap, the intense report of very hot and very cold temperatures colliding. Again and again, but the fiery cyborg is already damaged from their initial clash, and from the incidental attacks of the others. So bit by bit, Hyouka wears her darker self down, until at last a moment comes where her FISTEAU causes the evil Hyouka's to crack and crumble.

    Even Hyouka, with her complete lack of fighting instincts, knows an opening when she sees it. "DraCor, Full Open!" DARGN's reply is a bland, "You are very lucky I can understand your nonsense, you know." The cyborg's magical signature swells, the output of her core rising, and the lines of mana along her right FISTEAU start to brighten. Brighter, wider, and actual frost starts to form on the massive gauntlet, until it's a mass of brightly-glowing ice and mana. "ORAAA!" And just like that, the magical cyborg lunges in, swinging a huge haymaker with a powerful, compressed mass of elemental ice magic.

>> SUMMARY[Hyouka Kiyama] >> The Goku Method: Punching /really/ hard.

     As those two golden swords clash, Mao Mao just keeps repeating those words again and again, a desperate mantra as he tries to overcome his double. But even as he swings with wild abandon, his warrior instincts start to pick up on the flaws in the reflection's swordsmanship, little mistakes that he'd ironed out years ago in his training.

The voices in his head still persist. Small, weak, not impressed. A chant against his own, the voices of his ancestors telling him how much of a disappointment he is to the family legacy. His sisters surrounding him, taunting him with their mighty feats, tales that would be told the world over. His father-

- FLASHBACK -

Pieces of a recently slain dragon falling from the sky all around, the moon shining brightly overhead, illuminating the face of Shin Mao, looking down at his son with tears in his eyes. Not sorrow, but... pride. An enormous golden armored hand gently pats Mao Mao on the shoulder as he meets his father's gaze, fearing yet more belittlement.

"My son. You are not small."

- PRESENT -

Mao Mao deflects one of the doppelganger's blows, effortlessly turning the parry into a disarming strike. Itana's arrow further weakens the clone as cracks appear across its body, and this moment of vulnerability is exactly what the cat warrior needs. His eyes shining, focused, those emotions replaced with one simple thing.

The Golden Truth.

Sheathing his blade, Mao Mao's entire body is enveloped in the golden light usually given off by the sword. Pulling back his fist, he roars that mantra one last time, now filled with confidence and vigor, as he smashes a punch straight through the center of the mirror image's body, blasting through it with a wave of chi.

"I! AM! A HEROOOOOOO!"

>> GAME >> Mao Mao commits an Edge for: Channeling Geraldine's energy through his body for a dramatic punch. At least it's not over cobbler this time.

    The two operatives keep going, until Ghost finally shanks Phantom in the skull. It's nasty. And he rips the mask off of his doppelganger's face. It's the exact same face Mau saw before. "You don't belong with the wannabes, Simon." He whispers to the other GHost, before he leaves the knife there.

    He picks himself up, clutching his side as he notices a knife has been stabbed in his side. "...that's not gonna clean easily." He mutters to himself, trying to stem the bleeding.

    THis recce's gone GREAT.

    'Castiel' shatters no sooner than Illumiel stomps her. There is no sisterly love to be found here. 
    Itana's dark reflection didn't expect her to leap up to follow it and before it can snap off that shot it had readied, the real nomad's boots slam it in the face, shattering the desert savage into a million pieces.
    Ghost stabs his fake in the face and when he pulls the mask away it crumbles to a million shattered mirror pieces too.
    Mao Mao taps into the heroism within and remembers. He is a hero, as his golden glowing fist smashes through the illusion of his fake.
    The fake Hyouka either doesn't have that fine control of her systems as the real one, or the mirror's magic can't tap into her abilities fully because soon enough each blow, each blast of ice aligned magic withers the flaming dragon down until she too is reduced to countless glass shards by the real deal's mighty haymaker.
    Mau has opted to sit down with her 'clone' and they're shaking heads at one another.
    "You're long gone. I've come to terms with that. I'm Mau, now." She says, earning a heavy sigh from her faker. Slowly he picks himself up, the scruffy looking man gives a weak shrug, turns, and walks back into the nearest remnant of mirror on the wall as Mau sprawls onto her back.
    "Man I hate this psychological mind-game bullshit. What about you guys?" She says with a huff as she picks herself up, turns a corner and...
    "Oh hey neat, stairs up. Someone patch up Ghost-manz, we're heading back to basecamp once we're back on our feet."

    "I'm about done with today." Ghost says with a growl before he eyes ITana, "You got any healing potions? Could use one of those." He motions to the knife in his side, he's not removing that thing until he knows he can just slug a healing tonic and call it good. Out here, stitching up a knife wound is nasty work. And probably more trouble than it's worth.

    "Agreed," Hyouka replies to Mau without skipping a beat. And then Ghost speaks, and she repeats an even more emphatic, "Agreed." Huff. As leftover fragments of ice begin to fall off the FISTEAU units, the cyborg turns to look over the others. "Uhh... I don't know first aid or anything, but... if anyone needs to be carried, I could help with that?"

     The golden light fades from Mao Mao's body as he watches the illusion disappear, heaving a deep sigh. "I'm inclined to agree with you, skeleton man." he nods to Ghost, flicking the tingling feeling out of his paws. He just hopes he doesn't need to tap into that power again any time soon, because man is it hard to get into the right mindset for it.

Oh right, the guy is wounded- "Oh, jeez! Is that knife real? Ugh... I guess we could use my cape to tie it up, if nobody else has any better options. At least it's already red."

    Illumiel sheaths her blades, turning on her heel and striding directly up to Itana once the nomad lands... the desert archer would find small arms wrapping around her, and a dampness wetting her robes as the small angel lets out the emotions her righteous fury supresses.