(Part ONE of my post is here. As it's nearing the 60k character mark, should I continue, the next section would go beyond the forum's limits, and thus it would cut off in the middle of something. As it's reached a small lull in the battle, I decided to put up what I have thus far, so you guys can at least get some of your reading out of the way while I write up the final few segments, and the conclusion to my post. I say again, this is only the first part of my post, there's another to come, please don't jump in with a post of your own, I'm still going. Thank you, and enjoy the battle. ^^
P.S.: Pixie, you're going to enjoy this. >=D)
High above the carnage, the Black Magician watched with an air of approval and awe as the battle unfolded. It was fortunate that she had realized what was about to occur when she had, for it had been not a moment too soon. While most of the warriors on the ground had been stopped dead in their tracks out of fear of their adversary, Marisa Kirisame had halted for, perhaps, a much more logical reason. She had
understood. Even if no sense of magic could have shown her what was about to unfold, she had known. The Assassin would not have let himself be felled so easily save for one reason: to position himself for a surprise attack meant to turn the tables of the battle. Realizing this and understanding the massive scale this strike would take place on - having seen the true, world-shattering form of the burning giant back in the cave after all of the other warriors had fled - only seconds before it occurred, Marisa had halted,
not in fear of the overlord of Pokemon, but rather out of a fear of her own ally, the Destructive Blade, Sabrac. If she had rushed forward as she had originally intended, she surely would have been obliterated in the Assassin's counterattack. As it was, the countless blades and searing flames came only inches away from striking her regardless as she hovered overhead, preparing her own next move. And so, she was momentarily cut off from the engagement. Still, she was content, for now, to watch. As it was, a battle of this level was no place for an Ordinary Black Magician, a Human like herself.
Still, while letting Sabrac have his fun was all well and good, the Witch was already making plans of her own, and when she saw an opening, she fully intended to take it. She couldn't let herself be outdone, after all, even if she was just an ordinary Human. And so, as the smoke cleared from the final clash between the two godlike warriors, she angled her broom downward, and started to dive, a tiny spot of black descending from amidst the starlit heavens...
BGM: Out of the DarkWith an incoherent snarl, the armored shape of the Lord of Pokemon slowly rose from amidst the rubble as Mewtwo slowly braced himself into a fighting stance yet again and prepared to attack once more. Similarly, the burning assassin's power flared in preparation for the flurry of blows to follow. In another instant, they would leap upon each other, and commence their fight anew, and yet, at that moment, the stillness was suddenly broken, a loud voice crying out suddenly from above.
"My turn!
STAR SIGN ~ DRAGON METEOR!"
And with that, the world exploded in a flurry of sudden color, a gigantic, spherical version of the Witch's favorite laser striking like a thunderbolt from the heavens in a single, massive orb of pure devastation aimed directly at the armored form of Mewtwo. The entire heavens flared with multicolored light, cycling through each and every color of the rainbow, then back again as countless shards of rubble were picked up and sent flying in all directions, a sudden gale whirling outward from the point of impact as the shrill scream of the Witch's power resounded across the sky.
Still, wounded though he was, the enemy was not one to be struck by such an obvious attack. In the instant between the blast's firing and its detonation, Mewtwo reacted on instinct, leaping backward at tremendous speed, shooting out from beneath the falling meteor and escaping the blast radius in the split second of time before the explosion struck his position. Bracing himself mid-air, he prepared to land, searching the sky for his target, but to his surprise, when he looked to where the blast had been fired from, he found nothing, almost as though his enemy had never been there. But to have vanished in a single instant...
The Dark Lord got his answer when the air was rent by an earsplitting roar, the sound of the Witch emerging at supersonic speed directly behind him, her broom already raised for a counterattack before her target could even hear the thunderous echoes of her passage as the sound barrier shattered like glass before her awe-inspiring speed. "Last Word ~ Blazing Comet!" She called out, attacking before she had even finished declaring her spell. The aura of power around her converged in an instant upon a single point, forming into a single radiant orb at the end of her broom, which was already sweeping across the air towards the head of its target. Before the Lord of Pokemon could even react, he was struck head-on by the full force of the Witch's foremost sorcery, and a second sonic boom split the air as he was sent flying right back into the attack he had only just barely escaped a moment before.
But Marisa was far from finished. Swinging her broom beneath her to keep her aloft, she raised her back hand at the same time, revealing the Mini-Hakkero, still surging with power from its previous attack. She smirked. That minion she had just finished wiping out had given her all the energy she could have wanted. Still, it was rude to steal things, wasn't it? In that case, she supposed it would only be polite to give back the Dark Lord's power, wouldn't it? Oh, and she would give it back... One Spellcard at a time!
Four orbs of light sprang into existence around her as ethereal lines spread outward like the branches of some great tree from the relic clenched tightly within her upraised hand, and in an instant, a full Orrieres Solar System was revolving through a radiant circle filled with countless glyphs and runes of arcane power, amongst which two words in bold lettering stood out above all else.
"MASTER SPARK!" Marisa roared, splitting the heavens with another torrent of love-colored magic, cerulean radiance giving way to vermillion power, then shifting into hues of scarlet and amber, driving all before it like chaff as it struck home. In an instant, the vast magical star flared up with renewed vigor, expanding outward in all directions as a psychic cry of outrage resounded even above the din of the blast, a black shadow taking shape at the blast's center as the target struggled to break free of the arcane sun that now surrounded him. But, Marisa had no intention to let her prey go so easily. She was just getting started, here!
"Not so fast! DOUBLE SPARK!" In an instant, the air around her was filled with even more innumerable symbols of power and magic, one of the Orrieres orbs surrounding her extended hand vanishing into light as the already massive laser she continued to fire doubled in size, a second laser joining the first, the recoil sending her slowly floating backward despite her attempts to brace herself against the broom beneath her. Raising her free hand, she took hold of her own wrist in an attempt to keep the raging typhoon of magic stable and directed as her target, and to fight against the backlash of her own absurd attack.
"Arrogant WRETCH!" The Dark Lord roared telepathically, spiking his own power in response as the enormous explosion continued to expand across the entire island.
"I will not be harmed by such a pathetic attack!""Aww, that's a shame. And here I was hoping you'd just disappear into light like a good little... whatever you are. Still, it's not like I can't do
better! TRIPLE SPARK!" In an instant, yet another shower of light pierced the heavens, expanding across the sky in a dazzling cascade, as though the Witch had summoned an entire display of northern lights, then dropped them directly on the head of her target. Another cry of outrage and pain split through the minds of those assembled there as the darkness at the core of the blast was once more dwarfed, one-upped yet again by the Witch's increasingly ridiculous laser as, sacrificing another Orrieres orb, she exponentially amplified the power of the Master Spark once more. But yet again, the darkness flared to life, as with a roar of rage, Mewtwo expanded his energy yet further, pushing back at the massive storm of light that had consumed him.
"I told you... It's useless! I will crush you like the insect you are!" The evil Pokemon roared, flaring his own energy and turning the magical star surrounding him from its former radiant hue to a sickly purple shade as he began to wear away at it once more. Cracks appeared across its surface as the spell began to weaken and break. But yet again, the Witch pushed back, sacrificing a third orb and spiking her own energy yet again.
"Still not done shooting you yet~!" Marisa taunted with a laugh. "QUADRUPLE SPARK!" At this point, the attack had become more like a single gigantic star than a sustained laser barrage, the four Master Sparks raining down in unison in a single canopy of absolute devastation. Were it not for the flames of the red assassin reinforcing the ground below, the entire island would have been, without a doubt, shattered into tiny pieces and utterly destroyed. As it was, Marisa's teammates would probably have a hard time standing, to say the least, as wave after wave of gale force wind blasted outward in all directions, picking up rubble and casting it all across the island, if not vaporizing it outright.
"DON'T TOY WITH ME!" The Pokemon lord roared in fury, the dark flame that had burned at the heart of the magic star abruptly compressing, then expanding upon a single point. In an instant, even the augmented storm of lasers was forced apart, the sun shattering in all directions as, leaping from its center, a dark shape burst forth, tearing right down the center of even the four combined Master Sparks, swimming upward against their flow as Mewtwo emerged nigh unharmed, even by this attack, and streaked straight towards the Witch, a black comet rising from the ashes of the burning world below. In an instant, he had closed the gap, and, raising his fist, leveled an earth-splitting blow.
Marisa, however, merely smiled. "You know," She said calmly, pointing to her remaining ritual orb. The Dark Lord's eyes narrowed in fury as he realized far too late what she was about to do. "I still have one of these left."
"You wouldn't dare... Mewtwo hissed, stopped in his tracks by a sudden, world-crushing pressure as all four Master Sparks surrounding him began to rapidly expand in size, closing in like a cage to trap him as, with a flash, the final Orrieres orb disappeared, and the sky was covered by millions upon millions of magic circles.
"No, I really would. DEATH BOMB: MAGICANNON ~ QUINTUPLE FINAL SPARK!"
The world shook as the light of a dozen suns was made manifest, a blanket of sheer power covering the sky as an endless whirlwind of primordial hellfire spread across the entire island, devastating all in its path. The Dark Lord cried out in pain, and was sent hurtling to the ground, a single speck of black dust against a towering rainbow light that spanned the heavens and the earth. For at least a whole minute, this endless deluge rained furiously down upon Mewtwo like the wrath of an angry god, completely engulfing him and even drowning out his projected, infuriated thoughts with sheer, deafening noise. When at last the storm passed, the last embers of stardust floating softly down from the silent heavens as ash, fire, and smoke all fell like snow, the Witch slowly descended from above, her keen eyes searching the rubble to check her kill.
And yet, her amber eyes widened in shock and disbelief, for at the very center of the mayhem stood the armored shape of Mewtwo, completely unharmed, for although the earth was scorched and molten around him, the awesome power held within his right hand was still leveled firm, a blade that had severed not one, not two, not even three... but all five
Final Sparks, with a single sweep of his mighty arm.
"You've gotta be kidding me... That's...!" Marisa exclaimed, gazing in horror upon the very familiar sword that her enemy had drawn against her, a weapon, that, despite the impossibility of the matter, could only be said to be either
the original weapon itself, or, at the very least, indistinguishable from the divinely-forged Wounding Wand of Loki. His unspoken voice rang out across the battlefield as the Dark Lord laughed, and spoke two words, confirming every last one of the Witch's fears as the blade in his hand flared to life with an evil light. No longer was his voice the sound of an angry god. Rather, it was the voice of an emperor, declaring his divine right from his throne. For with this, he had recovered his lost initiative. His fury now turned to ice-cold malice, a blade just as real as the one he now wielded, and rather than a possessing passion that drove him to recklessness, it was a weapon he would use to slay all that challenged him.
"Taboo ~ Laevateinn."BGM: ⑨-Winged Angel"Did you forget? I can claim your precious 'spellcards' as I see fit, exploiting and modifying them to my own whims," the Lord of Pokemon said confidently, swiping the divine sword down to his side. This single motion was enough to release a tremendous shockwave, scattering the last of the lingering stardust in all directions as dark flames began to crackle up all around him.
Damn it! He was using that fight with that bird as a distraction so he could read my mind, wasn't he? Any time I broke out a powerful spell, or thought of ones I had faced before, he must have traced those patterns and copied them! Marisa thought, realizing finally the full extent of her enemy's ability.
So that's his plan... use powerful patterns I've seen or copied, defeating me in my own field of expertise, with my own experience! To do something like that just to show off... Cocky bastard, challenging me to a danmaku battle, and stealing my own strategy, no less."That is correct. But is not such the right of a king, to take what he wishes and use it as he pleases? Calling this your 'strategy' is nothing but impudence from a mere Human such as you. To dare attempting to exercise the right of a ruler for yourself... that would be laughable if it were not treason to your true emperor.""Heh. Calling me arrogant when you're talking like that? Pot, meet kettle."
"Silence, worthless Human faker! You should consider yourself honored that I should even deign to stoop to your own insignificant level. Feel proud in the knowledge that your shoddy imitations will at last be perfected now that they are in the hands of the one truly worthy of their use. Perhaps next I'll take that attack you seem so fond of: your 'Master Spark...' Or maybe I'll claim that artifact upon which you depend so much! A mere imitator such as you does not deserve such an ability in the first place!'" With a roar, the Dark Lord abruptly leaped into the air, his speed far beyond even anything Marisa had seen. The half-ghost who moved close to the speed of light, and the Tengu whose motions were just a blur... even these were like the crawling of a snail when compared to the instantaneous transmission from one location to another the Pokemon now employed, moving at a speed beyond even that of thought to close the distance between then, his sword already raised to strike. The Witch did not even have time to finish raising her broom to defend herself before the hellish longblade clashed with her own implement, the one who wielded it not even bothering to aim it past her instinctive defense. Why bother, when the sheer shockwave of the blast was enough to send the Witch flying like a rag doll even if the attack's true force was redirected?
Two sonic booms rang out nigh simultaneously, the first caused by the Witch's body as she was smitten down violently to the earth, sent rolling and tumbling for at least half a mile, a trench of destruction taking shape amidst the rubble, caused by the sheer force of her uncontrollable flight across the ground. At last, her form disappeared into the ruins of a once-proud castle tower, sending the remains of the entire edifice crumbling to the ground with a roar, a cloud of dust rising around the ruins. And the second shockwave, following the first... was that of the Dark Lord, the void left in his wake filled only after he had already completed his strike, his movements so fast as to carry him far enough back in time to strike
before he had even moved.With a laugh, the Dark Lord raised his blade, a weapon which expanded endlessly upward into the heavens themselves. The sky turned to bloody crimson, and a scarlet light was cast over the moon. The clouds spiraled outward in all directions, blocking out the light of the stars as, with a laugh, Mewtwo began to release an incomprehensibly vast amount of power, a gigantic red and black orb that crackled with sheer destructive power, a dark vortex that consumed all light around it, its immense pull beginning to rip up the debris on the ground and carry it far out into the heavens. This was the true power of the Beast King's dark artifact, his unfathomable might made manifest to exert his will upon the world. As the Witch slowly rose amongst the rubble, what met her eyes was an attack that went far beyond the powers of the strongest of Youkai, exceeding even the might of Gensokyo's creator, or the Lord of the Hell-Realm of Makai.
"Behold, you worthless Human pretender and fake, and allow me to show you what real power looks like. The voice of the evil god rang out across the battlefield, as, with a booming laugh, he declared his attack.
"this is the true primordial fire of existence! EMPEROR SPARK!"
In that instant, the heavens were split off from the earth, and the world was bathed in dark flames. A piercing howl, like the screams of the damned, rang out both through the ears and the minds of every single living thing within the surrounding ten miles, as every last bit of the sky was blocked out by a single sheet of absolute void. Then, in an instant, this unending cascade converged on a single point, and struck down with absolute, apocalyptic force upon the head of the Black Magician.
"Damnit!" Marisa cried in desperation, raising the Hakkero and flaring her own energy. "Master Spark!" She cried, firing off a burst of light that, by comparison to the gaping maw of the void that now descended upon her, was little more than the flickering of a candle compared to the vastness of a black hole. There was no time for her to prepare, no time for her to augment her attack, or even to defend herself. In an instant, her feeble attempt at resistance gave way, and was consumed by a darkness so vast as to wrap around the entirely of the floating island, devastating everything indiscriminately.
When at last the darkness cleared, the armored silhouette of Mewtwo slowly descended to the Earth, Laevateinn glowing darkly in his hand as, swiping it across the air, he scattered the rubble like chaff before a hurricane, exposing the battered form of the Black Magician where she lay, nigh crushed beneath the god emperor's might. Yet, even still, despite this, she rose, taking hold of her broom and feebly clambering to her feet as the corrupted Pokemon approached, sword in hand. Giving a weak cry, she flared power through the broomstick and swept it at her opponent's head, a flare of blue light taking form around it. "Replica of Forbidden Sword ~ Laevateinn!" She roared, releasing a stroke that should have been enough to rip apart all in its way. But the attack was sloppy, and weak.
"Useless." Tilting his head slightly, the Overlord of Humanity stepped slightly to the side, causing the ill-aimed stroke to miss him, overbalancing the Witch and sending her stumbling forward as he swept upward with the true Laevateinn, batting the mere cleaning appliance from her hand, shattering the false blade adorning it with the ease of crushing a particularly noisome insect, and sending her flying backward into a heap of rubble as he strode implacably forward, not even breaking pace from his slow, methodical walk. Why should he have? This Human posed no threat to him.
"Do you not understand? For all your vaunted ability as a Mage, your copies are nothing more than worthless fakes, shoddy lies with which you delude yourself into believing you have any sort of power. Did you really think your magic ability was on a level with my own?! Your ability to grasp even the most basic framework of true strength is still pathetic at best, and yet you still assume you have the strength to stand on equal terms with a god?! Don't make me laugh! You're not even worthy of groveling at my feet. No, there can only be one place for an insolent mongrel like you: HELL." With a smirk, Mewtwo stopped before his victim. There would be no escaping from his might, for already, he was exercising his tremendous powers to immobilize his hapless adversary, lifting her slowly into the air against her will even as he continued declaring his victory. Her arms spread limply to her sides by an invisible force, her head hung low, the Ordinary Witch hung as though crucified, battered and defeated, looking for all the world as lifeless and weak as a puppet with its strings cut. Yet despite this, she continued to strain and shake weakly against the invisible bonds that held her. It was an almost imperceptible motion, yet it was there.
"Even still, you continue to resist? Your defiance is admirable, but foolish. Fine, then. Do your best. Struggle against the inevitable, and know your own powerlessness. The first one to reap my vengeance will be you, faker." With a laugh, Mewtwo raised the evil blade of pure, malevolent magic over his head, like a guillotine hanging above the throat it was about to sever.
"This battle... is over!" With those words, he plunged the blade downward, sweeping it towards his enemy's exposed neck. She was helpless, immobile, and completely beaten. Her powers had been of no avail to her, and her life was now in the palm of her enemy's hand. There could be no defense, no escape. It was as simple as stating a fact. In this instant,
Marisa Kirisame of Gensokyo would, without a doubt, meet her end.Move... I have to move... Marisa stared wide-eyed at the ground, each millisecond like the passing of a thousand years as the blade slowly descended upon her. Her body was paralyzed, helpless, and yet... she had to... she absolutely had to move. Even now, she could not, would not simply die.
Move...!She had to live.
Move!She had to keep fighting.
MOVE!She had to
win!MOVE!Insert Song: Myth of Blast"WHAT?!"The Witch's paralysis was complete. She was helpless, trapped under her enemy's power. Defense should have been unimaginable, let alone impossible, and yet... instead of the clean searing and severing of flesh that should have been heard throughout the silence following the emperor's attack, there was only the sound of crackling magic, a thunderclap ringing through the air as, impossibly, the blade of Laevateinn itself, enhanced though it was by Mewtwo's power,
was stopped in its tracks. Marisa Kirisame, her hand raised before her, slowly, inexorably, clutched the blade of apocalypse tightly, the Mini-Hakkero and the radiant azure light of magic in her hand protecting her from harm as, fighting under the unspeakable weight of the Dark Lord's full telekinetic power, and against the vast destructive force of his dark energy, she
moved. Her eyes lit up with an azure light as, straining against impossible odds... Marisa Kirisame slowly but surely pushed back the divine blade of her enemy, not with a spell or with any focused magic... but with the sheer force of her willpower, and the strength she yet possessed that, even now, glowed with an awesome might within the palm of her right hand. The enemy gave a growl of rage and forced down with renewed vigor, attempting once more to immobilize her and end her resistance, and yet to his surprise, he found that his powers could have no effect on her. He could not stop her movement, nor could he even force her back, for the power of the Witch now coated her entire being, the might of an arcane star filling that mortal shell and granting it the strength to fight back against Mewtwo, even when such resistance should have been impossible.
Clenching her fist, Marisa smirked. Then, with a crash like the end of the world, and a cracking like breaking glass... She crushed Laevateinn in the palm of her hand. In an instant, the crimson that had cast over the sky shattered, the light of the Dark Lord replaced completely by the azure starfire of the Witch.
"Impossible! How... How are you still moving?! Damn you! You're weak, just a faker who pretends to be strong! How dare you stand before-" Mewtwo cried with rage and disbelief, leaping backwards and floating up into the air to distance himself as the Witch slowly landed upon her feet and stood, speaking but two words with a voice like ice.
"Shut. Up.""What...?""I said... 'Shut up!'" The Witch hissed.
"How dare you, you insolent mongrel! You break my blade, and now this? I'll-""I'm really sick and tired of hearing that voice of yours," Marisa interrupted yet again, blue light flaring to life around her. At first, it was a small circle around her feet, but slowly, it rose upward, countless lines and runes taking form across the ring's surface as it slowly shifted from cerulean blue to a radiant gold, like the light of the sun itself, a new dawn that scattered the Dark Lord's night like dust before a hurricane. "So you know what? Fine. You're completely right! I'm nothing but a faker, someone who takes the power of others and makes it her own. And, what's more, when it comes to my mastery of spells, I'm, without a doubt, one of the most unskilled magicians to have ever lived. My magical capacity is pitiful, and without a store of energy from which to draw power, I'm helpless. I am a Human, and I rely entirely on trinkets and stolen tricks to win the day. Without a doubt, I'm surely... An
Ordinary Black Magician." The light around her slowly began to condense, taking shape around her hand as, with a brilliant shower of light, power began to stream off of her like an angelic halo, like a pair of wings sprouting forth from her back and reaching upward into the endless sky. The light of the Hakkero surged to a fever-pitch as the ground beneath her feet cracked and shattered from the sheer pressure of her raw power. The moon rose high above her, its brilliant light showering down on her as her energy yet continued to expand, increased a thousandfold beyond its normal limits by both the familiar she had destroyed, and the legendary sword she had just broken. The Dark Lord stood, struck dumb by his rage and confusion as the Witch's power continued to rise higher and higher, even as she gave voice to her determination.
"But... Even so, I refuse to accept the fact that I'm weak. So long as I have power to wield, even if it's not much, I'll always keep on fighting. So long as I can keep on shooting, I won't retreat or give up, because that's what it means to be a magician. No... that's what it means to be one of Gensokyo's incident resolvers! I am Marisa Kirisame, and I have never once given ground to any of the thousands of enemies I have faced - not Youkai, nor Fairies, nor Vampires, nor Demons, and certainly not Gods! I've kept on fighting constantly, even though I've constantly been surpassed. Do you honestly think I'll simply abandon hope in the face of a few words? What a joke. You want to pick a fight with a fake...? Fine! Then I'll show you exactly how much a faker can do!"
"Hahaha... hahahaha! HAHAHAHA!" The Dark Lord laughed with a hysterical disbelief, pushed beyond all comprehension nor reason. This simply wasn't possible, and yet...
"You... you worthless phony! I'll crush you no matter what you do, regardless! Go on, show me these pitiful tricks you rely on, then! I'll destroy every last one of them!" He jeered, returning to the same old insults, as he was momentarily lost for words.
With a surge of light, the Hakkero reached even its limit of power, churning out an energy far beyond even the magnificent displays both Marisa and the Dark Lord had mustered before. Then, with two simultaneous cries... the battle commenced anew. The Dark Lord leaped forward his sword held high, and in that same instant, the Witch fired off a cascade of power that could be seen for miles.
"Here I come, 'King!' I'll destroy you, even if it takes every last bit of my magic! MASTER SPARK!""Do your worst, Faker! Let's see if you have enough spells in stock! LAEVATEINN!"
Bringing down his blade with a roar, Mewtwo clashed with the vast wave of energy. For a moment, he was pushed back, and yet he forced forward again with renewed vigor born of furious anger and wounded pride. And yet, just as it seemed the spell would break before him, a sudden flash of light tore through the air, solidifying into five separate lines cutting clean through the oncoming storm. Time seemed to slow down- No, time
did slow down as the Dark Lord realized what had just been done, looking with shock upon the Witch as she rose into the air with a smirk, swiping her hand and the weapon held in it across the air. At that moment, as though on cue... the vast cascade of power split apart into millions upon millions of bullets, as numerous as the stars in the sky. They scattered in all directions, then curved inward from all sides at tremendous speeds, surrounding the armored creature and striking with the force of a hurricane.
Marisa smirked, holding up the miniaturized Orrieres Solar System she now wielded, and examining its shape with a contented air. A single orb formed one end of the weapon, with two others close after it, the boundaries connecting them forming a crossguard, while the lower orb joined with them to create a hilt. And, curved back from the others was a final orb, embedded into an ultra-compact Bounded Field, and giving it the desired shape: a long, curved blade.
Leveling her new katana, she declared her attack, a spell she had seen in action but never ventured to copy. To be honest, this was just an imitation of the technique rather than the pattern or nature of the spell, but it was just as effective. A single stream of power, converted into a storm of bullets... a high speed slash, in this case powered by her Last Word... and a katana, in this case a Bounded Field warped specifically for the purpose, rather than the Roukanken wielded by the Half-Ghost who had invented the method. But despite the far-fetched nature of her replica, it would serve its purpose quite adequately. No longer could Mewtwo simply bat aside her attack with a sweep of his sword. To do so would mean to cut down each and every bullet surrounding him. Moreover, he couldn't dodge, for he had overbalanced himself by attempting to overcome the initial Master Spark... In short, he had just trapped himself.
"Hell God Sword ~ God's Flashing Slash and Karma Gust." With those words, a powerful explosion rocked the island, a shower of multicolored light converging from all sides upon the dark shape at its center. And when the blast cleared, one thing was made clear, for with a sizzle and a crash, several small chunks of Mewtwo's armor clattered to the ground in a molten, seared heap.
The attack had harmed its target.With a cry of pain and absolute fury, the Dark Lord made known his rage, leaping into the air and leveling his blade once more to attack. Moving yet again with impossible speeds, he aimed to end his target's life before she could react, and yet somehow, despite the injuries she had sustained, Marisa managed to move just as quickly, darting to the side nimbly before bounding off of a prominent slab of rubble and slashing at her target's side as his blade cut through where she had just been. In an instant, however, he brought himself about, leveling his blade to parry the strike, then sliding Laevateinn along the edge of the Orrieres Katana, cutting upward at Marisa's eyes along the very boundary of her defenses. A shower of sparks flew into the air, but the Witch, still moving with speed to match that of her adversary, was unfazed, ducking the blow and spinning aside, landing on the ground below and pivoting, coming about in an instant and bringing up her blade in a ready stance as her enemy, using the force of his previous swing to propel himself, launched himself downward, slashing his blade furiously in a vertical overhead strike to bring it down upon the Witch's guard, who crouched and, bracing against the force of the blow, twisted her own blade upward, forcing her enemy back and slashing through where he had been just a moment before, clipping his armor and slicing several small shards from its battered surface.
Mewtwo flipped backward through the air, landing on his feet on the ground and immediately rushing forward, while the Witch, bracing herself, did the same. A blur of darkness met a flowing bolt of radiant light, and the sound of clashing blades rang out through the air while dust and sparks scattered in all directions.
"WORTHLESS! INSOLENT! CUR!" The Dark Lord howled, punctuating each new insult with a sweep of his mighty blade, releasing a tremendous flurry of blows upon his adversary. A diagonal strike to the shoulder was deflected with ease, but with a flick of his wrist, Mewtwo wrenched both blades aside, using this same momentum to spin himself about, bringing up his foot and dealing a reverse roundhouse kick to the Witch's gut. Predicting this, however, Marisa, too, went with the force of the sweep, cartwheeling aside and out of the way, landing atop a large shard of rubble and disengaging her blade from the enemy's. In an instant, Mewtwo was upon her once more, sweeping up his greatsword to slash the debris upon which she stood in two, and yet his blade only struck empty air, for Marisa had already leaped overhead, leveling the Hakkero and firing off a spread of tiny green bullets, all of which converged on the Dark Lord's location, forming a single, massive explosion that was, in the next minute, swept aside by the Dark Lord's blade as he came flying upward, slashing at his target, who leveled her Orrieres Katana to defend herself, blocking the blow head on. With a roar like thunder, the Witch was forced back, the Dark Lord, propelled by the force of the explosion with which she had struck him, carrying both of them ever-upward with his unrelenting velocity, a dark aura forming around him as he began to channel every ounce of his available power directly into his body, enhancing his already formidable strength and speed a thousandfold, and disregarding the wounds he had already sustained.
Abruptly twisting her blade, Marisa suddenly forced open a hole in her enemy's defense, and, bringing up her elbow, swung it out with magically-augmented force, slamming it into her opponent's armored head and snapping it back, the whiplash enough to force Mewtwo to disengage. With a loud crash, he gave a final heave against her defenses, using her own steadfast resistance to catapult himself downward. At that same instant, he exerted his power, hefting several large pieces of debris knocked loose by the force of the battle, and hurling them upward at his adversary. In that same instant, however, the Witch took aim with her own weapon, and with several precise shots, obliterated over half the oncoming attacks in an instant. Those that were not battered to pieces by her bullets were either skillfully evaded or slashed apart with her mighty sword.
As the last shard of stone from the castle's once-mighty ramparts was cut around her with a single slash of her sword, however, a dark shape came hurtling into view directly behind it, sword already raised to attack. In an instant, Marisa was once more on the defensive, parrying a vicious thrust, then rebounding off of the enemy's blade in time to escape two almost simultaneous slashes. Landing on one of the flying shards of rubble, she braced herself, then leaped off of it, sending the gigantic shard of earth falling to the ground far below, and herself streaking towards her enemy, lunging upward from the side and dealing a powerful slash across her opponent's chest as she did so. Overbalanced as he was, Mewtwo didn't even get a chance to block, and instead found a large portion of his breastplate split apart, and a fresh wound carved upon his stomach.
The force of the impact sent him flying backward, but he, too, recovered in an instant, and, leaping off another shard of rubble, came flying back into the fray, his blade leveled across his body to parry Marisa's initial stroke, then sent arcing out like a black thunderbolt across the air, forcing the Witch to draw back her own blade and defend her left side, before twisting the weapon upward and jabbing beneath her opponent's guard twice, first dragging her blade across his side, then driving it clean through his shoulder, before releasing a powerful burst of magic, sending both combatants flying in opposite directions before Mewtwo could even finish raising his sword to attempt a furious counterattack.
"I'LL SEND YOU TO HELL!" The Dark Lord screamed, bracing himself and streaking across the sky towards his target, Laevateinn held high over his head and sweeping downward like the hammer of god.
"I'll finish you off!" Marisa replied, and she, too, shot forward. Leveling her sword, she poured every last ounce of her amplified power directly into her body, becoming a radiant comet that struck across the sky like lightning. With a roar like thunder and a flash of light, they met, streaking past each other, and stopping. For a moment, nothing happened, but in the next instant, with a pathetic gurgle that contrasted starkly with his earlier posturing... the godlike Pokemon's chest erupted in a shower of light, and he split cleanly down the middle, sliced in half by a single stroke of the Witch's sword. Turning, Marisa adjusted her hat, and smirked at her fallen adversary as he was slowly consumed by light, a radiant storm of starlight spreading across the sky, banishing all of her defeated opponent's darkness in an instant.
"There. How's that for weak-" Marisa began with a grin. But in the next instant, that triumphant smile turned suddenly to a look of realization, disbelief, and horror, and the triumphant words she was yet in the process of speaking fell silent, stopped before they could even leave her throat by a very familiar, and very ominous sight.
BGM: THE DARK RULERTo her horror and swift recognition, the body of Mewtwo was shedding no blood, nor was it yet succumbing to gravity. Rather, it had turned white as a void, and simply begun to fade away, a scarlet magic circle visible at its heart, slowly shattering into dust. Upon that circle was engraved not only the familiar symbols of power used by an enemy Marisa had fought many times, but the name of a spell that made even her blood run cold. For she now realized... ever since she had lost sight of her target during her Master Spark at the very beginning of their sword duel...
She had been facing off with a mere fake, a construct made from pure energy and twisted using Mewtwo's psychic powers so as to have the appearance of himself!
"Taboo ~ Four of a Kind. I told you, faker. Your imitations could never hope to reach the same level as my own," the Lord of All Things hissed from directly behind the Witch. As she spun to face him, however, he was already gone, easily sidestepping the frantic sweep of the Witch's sword, floating backward and out of her reach. She braced herself to follow, but before she could even move, a sudden storm of blue and purple light took form all around her, a swiftly collapsing cage that sealed her off from her target as two more identical versions of Mewtwo became visible on either side of her, adding to the storm of bullets with their own showers of magic.
"Taboo ~ Cranberry Trap. I'm afraid you won't be reaching me again, mongrel Witch!" The Dark Lord laughed, raising his hand and releasing a wave of countless black orbs of power, firing down upon his enemy while she was trapped and unable to move, while his copies kept up steady streams of gold and green bullets from either side.
He read my mind again?! Damn! He must have noticed that I was drawing on all those fights with Flandre to predict his attacks and to analyze the base structure of that sword of his, and used the distraction to copy more of her spells from my thoughts! Any time I think of a powerful spell, he can just replicate it and use it against me. Ah, crap! This makes all of my experience not only useless, but downright deadly to me! How am I supposed to fight an enemy who can read my thoughts, anyway?! Marisa thought, quickly expanding her sword outward to form a bounded field around herself, deflecting the initial barrage at the cost of her Orrieres orbs. The Witch grimaced. Simply withstanding a single volley had sapped so much power... If things continued like this, she'd run out of energy before she could even line up her next shot! Worse yet, if she couldn't even think about the patterns without having them copied from her, how was she supposed to dodge? Just then, however, an answer came to her, and her pursed lips turned slowly into a fanged grin.
That's it... I need more power, and I need to make him waste his. Well, this strategy worked against the last two enemies I've fought in this world... so why not here? Grazing really is wonderful. In that case, it doesn't matter how many patterns I think of... let him replicate all the danmaku he wants! The more he throws at me, the better. So long as it's a pattern I know, I can still dodge it, and keep on gaining power. And then... It'll take some time to set up, but since that strategy worked against the last Faker I fought, why shouldn't it work again? Of course, I'll need to kick things up a notch, but... Alright, then! Time to get started!"So, you think you can defeat me by outlasting me?" Mewtwo asked tauntingly, evidently having picked up the basic nature of her thoughts. The interference of his own magic, and Marisa's own resilience, seemed to have hidden from him the main details of the plan, which meant it would still be workable so long as she didn't think about it any further.
"I'd like to see you try when you can't even think without revealing all of your precious secrets to me!" With this, Mewtwo snapped his fingers, releasing a second wave of power from all sides. To his surprise, however, Marisa immediately began to analyze every last detail of his attack patterns, flashes of previous battles appearing in her mind and showing to him the memories of several previous encounters with the Vampire, Flandre Scarlet, whose spell cards he was now replicating for his own use. He smirked. Had she really been so naive as to assume she could reveal such powers to him and survive? Foolishness!
The purple shots are aimed to the center. To escape, misdirect the blue orbs to that point, then slip through the next before it can fully close. The other bullets will make things troublesome, but they're firing in steady rows. If I slip between them, I can escape. Between barrages, I should be able to get clear of the trap. Wait for them to target, and... Now! Moving like lightning, Marisa abruptly shot to the left, twisting herself to slip barely between over a dozen bullets, darting through the enclosing purple ring, then darting aside as a wall of deep blue light streaked through immediately afterwards. Shooting upward, she grazed between the bullets of the copies and the second side of the trap as they closed in upon her, emerging unharmed from the outside of the cage by slipping through a tiny gap the moment it appeared, barely exiting before this route closed behind her.
"You think I'll let you get away? Hah! Taboo ~ Kagome, Kagome!" Mewtwo laughed, darting after his fleeing prey along with his two copies. In an instant, a wall of solid green light began to expand out around him in all directions, once more taking shape all around the Witch, walling her off on all sides in a gigantic cage of bullets, the walls of which swiftly split outward, joining each other and segmenting the trap into countless smaller prisons. The instant that the shots fired by Mewtwo himself, and those bullets fired by his copies, contacted this net, they broke through it, scattering bullets in all directions and closing the walls in upon the Witch. But this, too, was a spellcard she knew far too well, and in an instant, she had darted through a gap, evading the hailstorm of bullets that closed in upon her as she slipped into another section of the cage, then dodged back as another wall formed directly in front of her. Again and again, the prison around her shifted, collapsed, reformed, and changed, never remaining the same for any longer than an instant as the copies darted amidst the bullets, raining destruction down upon her from all sides, and yet the Witch never once faltered, always analyzing the pattern based on memory and slipping through when any escape seemed impossible.
Crying the name of the legendary sword he had replicated yet again, one of Mewtwo's copies leaped into the fray, slashing downward upon the Witch, only to have her slip aside at the last moment, firing off a shower of stars upward. These, however, were turned away with a sweep of the copy's sword. Marisa braced herself to counterattack, but a sudden flare of power from behind her interrupted her thoughts, forcing her to spin about and hastily erect a Bounded Field in an attempt to block the second sword descending from behind as the remaining copy launched a surprise attack. With a crash, this barrier swiftly collapsed, and Marisa was sent flying downward, plowing through several walls of the cage, flashes of light shining out as, unable to control herself, she was abruptly struck by several dozen bullets, sent reeling as the trap collapsed and exploded around her. Giving a cry of pain, she righted herself just in time to narrowly escape decapitation as the copies closed in once more, forcing her to launch herself upward. Although her vision had begun to blur from exertion, fatigue, and pain, she yet refused to submit.
The air beneath her cracked and flashed as the cage began to expand once more. This time, Mewtwo was playing for keeps. Every single bullet in every single wall was closing in now, an endless storm rising up on all sides before it crashed down upon its target. The copies cried out in fury and launched themselves after, hot on the heels of the fleeing Witch. Were she to slow down now, there was no doubt: she would be caught and killed. And yet, with wall after wall of bullets taking form in her path, forcing her to roll and duck through tiny gaps in the very instant they closed, it seemed impossible to keep moving at this rate without crashing and killing herself on the collapsing cage.
Well, that didn't matter. When in doubt, all there was to do was speed up! And so, with a smirk... Marisa gathered her power around herself, and launched herself forward, expanding her own aura to meet those of the bullets. Each time she came close to one of the enclosing walls of power, she would latch onto it, dragging upon it and tearing away with her as much power as she could safely steal. Faster and faster she went, darting and rolling through gaps even the copies beneath her dared not follow her through. She was gaining the lead now, and, what was more, the end of the cage was in sight. She had almost made it...!
Then, with a crash, she at last burst through, escaping from the emerald cage that had entrapped her as, in a flash of light, every single bullet detonated beneath her, exploding in an unfathomable storm of power. Marisa glanced back as the copies slowly regrouped themselves. But wait... something wasn't right. Where was-
"Taboo ~ Maze of Love."Mewtwo. She got her answer in the next instant, for descending from amidst the clouds, a a brilliant aura of blue and purple surrounding him like the light of a star, his silhouette fell from before the moon, the light around him eclipsing it and blocking it out through sheer radiance. Then, in the next instant... this aura formed into over a trillion gleaming lances, and exploded outward in all directions, the only safe spot in this apocalyptic tempest a small gap into which Marisa swiftly darted, the copies hot on her heels.
Inside, the orb was constantly spinning, with circles within circles rotating through a cloud of bullets at such a pace that, should one falter for even an instant, they would be caught and consumed by the endless tide of devastation closing in from behind. And yet, Marisa had faced this spell far too many times to be either frightened into excessive caution, or dazzled into becoming sloppy. In an instant, she had found the right path, continuing to map out her escape from memory. Still, this time, things would be a great deal more complicated than they usually were, for already, the two copies had caught up! Darting beneath a sweeping blade of light, Marisa desperately raised the Hakkero and targeted the one who had attacked, only to be forced to roll to the side by a second attack coming from behind.
"Master Spark!" She called, firing off her trademark gigantic laser for what seemed like the millionth time that day. But she was far too slow. Before the beam could even take shape, her enemies had split before it, allowing the burst to pierce through the sphere of bullets in which they now fought and fire off into empty space. Marisa swiftly canceled the spell, and launched herself backwards just in time to escape destruction at the hands of the real Mewtwo, who was now firing with redoubled speed, forcing her to continue her frantic flight. Just at that moment, however, the light around her shifted suddenly, changing to a bronze hue, and at that moment, she realized that she had forgotten the most important gimmick of Maze of Love.
It periodically changed, both in colors and direction of rotation. So desperate had she been to escape the copies, she now found herself caught between them and a wall of bullets. As they closed in from the front, leveling their blades to strike her down, and countless bursts of light pierced forth from either side, she realized she had nowhere left to run. And so, instead, she simply consolidated her power around her in as strong a barrier as she could muster. Then, in the next instant, an unspeakable power struck her from all sides, and, in an explosion of light, she was sent hurtling ever downward toward the Earth far, far below...
It took the Witch a moment to right herself, so dazed was she by the impact she had suffered. While it seemed she had been fortunate enough to avoid most major damage, her body was, by this point, aching from head to toe, her head spinning with fatigue and the injuries she had sustained. Even though grazing so many bullets had already exponentially increased her own energy, she was finding it harder and harder to stay awake, calling into question whether she would even last long enough to use the power she had gathered. Still, this was no time to be doubting herself. There were more important things on hand. Gazing upward, she quickly found her triplicated adversary. He didn't seem to be giving chase, which, although fortunate, put her on edge.
And then, she realized exactly what he was doing, and her jaw dropped in disbelief. For across every last inch of the armor worn not just by the Dark Lord himself, but also that of his copies, innumerable small panels were opening, revealing the very real and very deadly payload of missiles carried behind each and every one of them. For a moment, all was silent, and then... that silence was broken by three simultaneous and matching cackles of mad laughter, and the roaring of over a thousand missiles as they acquired their target, and streaked towards the falling black form of the Witch.
This was
bad. Marisa realized the full extent of her situation, and she had to say, she didn't like it. She was hurtling out of control, dropping at an ever-increasing rate over which she had very little say, with innumerable incredibly destructive projectiles very quickly beginning to gain on her. Already, she had begun targeting them and firing wave after wave of Stardust Reverie - along with the occasional Master Spark when they gathered together enough to make it worthwhile - but still, she was only barely able to thin the number of projectiles descending upon her. Soon enough, they would be at such a range that even if she destroyed them before they reached her, she would still be caught up in the blast. The way she saw it, that left her only one option.
Drop. Drop as fast as she possibly could. If she could get near the ground before the projectiles closed on her, then she might just have a chance, but only if she made it there a lot faster than she was falling now. That, too, left only one option.
"Last Word ~ Blazing Comet," She chanted under her breath. In an instant, the power she had absorbed in the last engagement began to wrap around her, and in the next moment, her speed vastly increased. She became a blur of blue light, a falling star behind which trailed a thousand evil meteors, already close at hand.
In the blink of an eye, Marisa struck the ground, crashing into the earth with a loud roar and a cloud of dust. Reaching out her hand, she called out frantically for the item she sought, caught the flying object, and then turned her head upward. She spoke three words, and then, in the next instant, the missiles were upon her.
The explosion was tremendous. Fire spread far up into the air, a mushroom-shaped cloud forming overhead as that rubble which hadn't already been vaporized by now was sent hurtling into the sky, cast about by an unbelievable wind. When at last the flames and smoke cleared, it seemed certain that the Witch would have vanished into that tempestuous blast, and yet, in the next moment, a radiant blue light shone forth, revealing that quite the opposite had occurred.
"Shoot the Moon," Marisa finished, shouldering the broom she had used to focus her magic as a blue light slowly flickered back down around her, countless gleaming brands of stardust fluttering to the earth as the dust and flames instantly scattered before her. She smirked. It had been difficult on such short notice, but using her broom to channel the spell, and the ground to brace herself, she'd been able to fire off the most advanced form of the Earthlight Ray, using the countless beams of light from below to shoot down all of the missiles just seconds before their inevitable impact. It had been a very close thing, but even despite the vast power the Dark Lord had brought to bear... Marisa was still alive, and still standing.
(Sorry if this was a bit lackluster. Still, I hope you enjoyed it! Part 2 will be up within a day or so, or maybe tonight. It's just that I'm a bit tired right now, and have been writing constantly for the past few hours, so...)
Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:13 pm
