-Ayako's POV-

I weave my way through the crowds of people, trying to make my way out of the convention center. As I slip around people I freeze as a massive wave of negative emotions hit me, it is so palpable it causes me to hesitate for a moment before pushing forward. This can't be good. This is the same kinda thing I felt when I fought Tohka and Origami when they went inverse. It doesn't feel like their Inversion is completed, so maybe if I hurry I can get there and do something to stop them from fully Inverting. She forces herself through the desire to retreat and keeps pushing towards the forest next to the center. Please be ok Shido, if you aren't there will be more than one Inversion I think.

I don my Astral Dress as I weave through the masses, using them as cover before breaking away and launching myself at the forest. It only takes me a moment before I burst through the trees. Shido, who's trapped in a territory, spots me as soon as I appear. "Ayako help!" He pleads as he is forced to watch a familiar wizard slowly extracting the Crystal out of Nia, forcing her to inverse on the spot.

Without any hesitation I rush the wizard, slashing my weapon hard enough to shatter her territory and when I fire the cartridge it sends her flying back with a pained yell through several trees. Nia's crystal falls, no longer held by Artemisia's territory, but before it can hit the ground Kurumi's shadow catches it and pulls it in. I look over my shoulder and see Kurumi standing in the shadow of the trees. Our eyes meet and she holds a finger up to her lips and winks at me before vanishing. I sigh and shake my head as I pull Shido to his feet now that he is free from Artemisia's second territory. "Get Nia out of here. Get back to the Fraxinus and get her treated. Since we stopped Artemisia, her Inversion's stopped and she's unconscious." I order him, turning away from him and the fallen Spirit, waiting for the Wizards return.

"What about you Ayako? You can come with us and we can just ditch DEM no problem." Shido says as he picks up Nia's unconscious form. "At least we can get some help from the others if we go to the ship and regroup."

"No way. I have a bone to pick with Artemisia. So I'm going to stay here and deal with her while you and the others get back to the ship. I'm sure that DEM has some sort of air support that will keep the Fraxinus busy just like when Origami tried to kill Tohka and the others. The ship hasn't been fully upgraded yet so they aren't ready for a full fledged battle. So get somewhere safe for them to pick you up."

I shift my gaze back to the path of destruction I caused from my earlier attack and see Adeptus 2 come walking back, obviously hurt from that blow, but nothing serious. "Roulette, getting in my way again are you? Last time you barely managed to escape alive, even with your little friend with you, and now you're here to fight me by yourself, aren't you being a little too arrogant?" She asks, her voice cold and flat, her eyes burrowing into me with a cold intensity that makes me want to shudder.

Something about her seems off. She almost feels less than human with how she talks and looks at me… or maybe that's her thinking I'm less than human. "It's been a little bit hasn't it Adeptus 2, or do you prefer being called Artemisia?" I smirk at her as she continues to bore holes into me with her gaze. "Shido, get out of here now! I can't fight someone as strong as her while also protecting you, so get a move on."

Shido quickly leaves, not wanting to get in my way or possibly get Nia hurt. Artemisia made no move to stop them as they hurried away, keeping her eyes firmly locked on me. Once Shido is gone however, she lets her sword hang at her side. "Give me Sister's Qlipha Crystal and I will let you and them leave. If you refuse, I will just have to take all three of you out and bring you back with me to DEM." I stare at her incredulously at her demands, surely she knows that won't happen right?

"That's not how this works, Artemisia. The crystal is in safekeeping, don't you worry. Now then, will you go home empty handed, or what?" The Wizard regards me for a moment before activating her sword. I smirk silently, getting the rematch that I want. I launch myself at the Wizard, lashing out with my sword, and as she blocks my attack I pull the trigger, firing the second cartridge, however this time she was ready for it and hastily erected a powerful territory to deflect the blast, saving her from the powerful point blank shot.

"You're going to have to do better than that cheap trick again if you want to hit me." Artemisia says as she raises her beam sword, pointing the tip at me. "I'm a bit disappointed you resorted to such tactics, Roulette, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering you are a Spirit."

I grind my teeth in annoyance, just another high and mighty bitch working for DEM that says Spirits are bad just because Westcott says they are. "You know, I think you and DEM are the real menace here Artemisia. Spirits are people just like you, they are scared and alone more often than not and just need someone to help them. They don't mean to harm anyone and yet you people at DEM hunt us like dogs for your experiments, or to put us down because we're "too dangerous" for you. Now I'm going to show you why I'm the defender of Spirits, and have no intention of letting you get your hands on Nia, or any of the other Spirits for that matter." I growl out, my anger at these people from DEM getting the better of me as I feel my whole body shake with rage.

"It's commendable you feel that way, but you and Nightmare together couldn't beat me, so what makes you think you can beat me now by yourself? You've either got a trick up your sleeve, or you're just stupid and trying to annoy me. Either way, it won't do you any good." With that Artemisia steeled her gaze and lunged at me, aiming to run me clean through.

I deflect the attack with a holoscreen and lunge with my own weapon raised, only to have the blade slam into her territory. We shove against one another for a minute, trying to force the other back before we break apart, retreating some distance to examine the situation. Zuriel beeps quietly, showing me the energy output of her machine from the clash we just had as well as the schematics of the machine, it was thoroughly juiced up. I click my tongue in annoyance, knowing my dampener ability won't work, on a machine like that, so easily, but it doesn't hurt to try.

"Well you wanted to see my dirty tricks, so here you go Artemisia." Raising my hand I take a deep breath. "Zuriel.. Kumu and Dus!" I activate the powers of my Angel and smirk as I see the effects of my machine dampener and debuff take effect. The difference was slight, but I could see it physically, and with Zuriel's display screen I can confirm that her abilities were diminished, though not nearly as much as the machine's capabilities were.

"I don't have all day for you to make your move, so here I come Roulette!" Artemisia declares as she launches herself across the open space separating her from me. A look of surprise crosses her face as she feels off and during that moment of realization I rush forward, slamming my blade into her wavering guard. The force of my attack knocks her sword from her hand, and before she can recover I drive my left fist into her face, the force of the blow sending her flying backwards. I shake my hand out slightly, electricity sparking off of it.

"Don't look down on me Artemisia. If you do, you're going to get your ass royally beat today. Your untimely arrival ruined my convention, so on top of you attacking my friends and innocents, you ruined my day with my sister and the others, so that punch was for them."

A powerful beam rifle shot blasts towards me and I meet the attack with a slash of my sword, creating a large explosion of magic, throwing up a cloud of dust and debris. I toss the broken weapon aside and rush forward, the mist exploding around me, revealing Artemisia, a shocked look on her face as I appear in front of her. Without even looking, I use a holo screen to deflect the stab from her energy spear and ram my fist into her stomach, the force of my blow hitting her like a battering ram, taking her straight off the ground and knocking the wind out of her as she nearly doubled over from the strike.

I whip around before she can move to grab her face, electricity running through her, making her scream as I slam her face first into the ground. Keeping my grip firm on her face I turn at full speed, dragging her through the ground before throwing her up. Before she could react and move in the air I twist around and slam my left fist back into her, smashing her into the ground and cratering it under the force of the blow. She cries out, gasping in pain as she coughs up blood and bounces from the impact, and before she could come back down I deliver one last punch right to her solar plexus. She seems to almost fold around me from the impact of the blow before she is sent crashing through the trees again, smashing into several, splintering or shattering them completely on impact.

I stand there, huffing slightly from the force I exerted in that barrage of attacks. I've never fought so brutally before… It felt kinda good to just let go like that and there's no way she can walk away from that hit unscathed. I think to myself as I summon another gunblade, ready for a counter attack, because while she shouldn't be unscathed, there was no way that would be enough to take her down for good.

Sure enough it only takes a few minutes for the Wizard to return, a trickle of blood leaking out of the corner of her mouth. Besides that and looking a bit disheveled she looked no worse for wear after taking all those blows. She wipes the blood off her mouth and points her gun at me, having disarmed both of her melee weapons. "I'll give you this Roulette, I did underestimate you, that was a very impressive display of power, especially since you didn't use a weapon against me. However if that's all you can muster then you can't beat me. I don't know what you did to disrupt my machine or make me feel so sluggish, but it won't be enough. You've given me your all, so now it's my turn to give you mine."

I bristle as she claims that I 'gave my all' in that attack. While I certainly did hit as hard as I could, that wasn't nearly my all. She takes a step towards her weapon and I lunge forward, not planning on giving her any reprieve from my attacks. I slash with my blade but she dips low under the attack and rushes in close, much like how I did to her earlier. She slips past me and drives her knee into my stomach, making me cough out in pain and double over. She brings the butt of her gun down onto my neck, smacking me to the ground. I start pushing myself up right away, only to get a swift kick to the stomach, the force of which sends me flying into a nearby tree.

With me out of the way Artemisia walks over and retrieves her fallen weapons and turns to face me once again, sword in hand. "Now then, I suppose it's time I pay you back for your attacks before isn't it? I promise to make this quick and painless." I pull myself to my feet as she approaches and conjures a new weapon to my hand. We swiftly move in close and clash blades, with sparks of energy coming off them as we push against one another. After a swift disengage we start to attack in earnest, our blades slashing in the sun so fast it was hard to see, but the sparks and energy coming from the collisions cause the air around us to tremble from the released power.

It became apparent to me right away that I was outmatched. Though I had studied sword fighting and memorized motions and positioning, Artemisia was a true practitioner and expert of the sword. She deftly deflected and parried each one of my blows with skilled ease while pressing her own attack, forcing me to retreat and dodge as I couldn't keep up with all her strikes. She brings down a powerful slash as I back up, catching me off balance and forcing me to raise my sword in a hasty defense. Her energy blade shears through my weapon, shattering it in the process. I stumble back to avoid the rest of the slash and manifest my new gunblade in my other hand and fires at her. The energy is released in a powerful blast of magic, hoping to catch her off guard and get a break from her barrage of attacks.

Sensing the trick Artemisia deflects the blow with her territory and slams her hand into my throat, squeezing tight and lifting me off the ground. "I told you already that silly tricks like that aren't going to work on me. So if that's all you have then it's time to wrap this fight up so I can move along."

Before she can stab me, I send a powerful bolt of electricity through her arm, causing her to let go and recoil in pain. I slam my feet into her chest and knock her away from me while launching myself back. I hold my neck, coughing painfully as I straighten up slightly, glaring at the Wizard. "I'm not done yet, and this one's no cheap trick." I growl and press my thumb to my chest, directly over my heart. I take a deep breath, ignoring the warning I'm getting from Zuriel and send a powerful jolt of electricity through my body charging me with energy. I flinch slightly and straighten up, summoning up a new sword to battle the Wizard with. "Alright then, ready for the next round?"

I rush the wizard with a surprising burst of speed, the speed of my strike pushing her on the back foot and forcing her on the defensive. I unleash a flurry of strikes, each strike exploding with magic that the Wizard has to defend by using her territory to deflect the blasts, draining her magic with each strike. I don't let up and continue my relentless barrage, pushing the Wizard back further and further. I can feel myself grinning, and I can't stop it, my desire to win getting larger with each strike as one of the most powerful Wizards is pushed into a corner. I lunge once more preparing to finish the fight, but as my sword connects with her blade my gunblade shatters.

I stare at my blade in astonishment and Artemisia takes advantage of my shock to raise her blade and bring it down hard to finish this, but gets interrupted and pushed away by a powerful sound blast as Miku rushes in and grabs me. "Ayako are you alright?!" She asks frantically, patting me down to see if I had any serious injuries.

"Miku? What are you doing here?" I pant out, my body suddenly feeling hot and heavy, my muscles sore. I blink in surprise, now noticing how blurry my vision was getting all of a sudden.

"You pushed yourself too far with that last trick Ayako, you need be more careful. It wasn't like you to put all your eggs in one basket like that. My sweet Ayako would've thought her way through this battle more." Miku says, chastising me quietly while using her Angel to sooth my aches through the sound of her voice.

"Well it looks like that coward Nightmare didn't show up, but Diva did instead. If that is the extent of your offensive capabilities, you won't be able to defeat me either Diva. Roulette is more suited for combat than you are. The analysis of your abilities leaves you better with support, you might as well surrender now." The matter-a-fact tone in her voice makes me grind my teeth. My blood boils in anger at her, and at myself for losing to her yet again and having to be saved.

"Well luckily, it's not about winning or losing, it's about stopping you." I say and suddenly several screens appear around the Wizard. She instantly turns and smashes one of them, but as she moves to break a second one they all spark to life and electricity shoots at her from every direction, containing her in what's effectively a lightning cage. She screams in pain and I just smirk at her. "No tricks here, just using my power smarter."

With an angrily growl she activates her territory and expands it outward rapidly, shattering the screens and freeing herself from the cage. Miku steps between Artemisia and myself and summongs her Angel. "Gabriel, Rondo!" *She strikes her keyboard and sound waves strike the Wizard. For a moment the Wizard seems to struggle, held back by the invisible force Rando creates to restrain people struck by her song. "Hmph! I don't care how strong you are! You can't break out of the control of my Gabriel." Miku says hotly, looking down her nose at the Wizard.

Artemisia locks her gaze on the sound based Spirit as she gathers her mana up and with a powerful burst, her territory shatters her bindings and she continues her march, her blade ready to strike. "Give me the Crystal and I shall leave you two alone. I'll give you this one last chance to surrender and get out of my way."

"Symphony!" Gabriel fires out a powerful wave of sound that the Wizard just muscles through, pushing forward until she is standing directly in front of Miku. Miku glances over her shoulder at me and then looks back at Artemisia and refuses to move. "If you want to get to Roulette you will need to go through me first."

"Fine then." Artemisa raises her blade and Miku clenches her eyes shut, ready for the impending blow. A shot rings out as the Wizard brings her blade down, the bullet nearly knocking the sword from her hand.

"My my, even together you two are this hard pressed? I'll have to thoroughly punish you two later for this." Kurumi says in her sinful voice, her smoking gun still pointed at the Wizard. "You don't have my permission to hurt my playthings, so I suggest you back off and leave, you're outnumbered and outgunned." Kurumi's voice hardens into a threat by the end of her statement as several clones appear around them.

"Roulette can barely stand, and Diva is even weaker than her. If you and Roulette couldn't beat me together before, why do you think you can take me on now, Nightmare?" The Wizard asks the dark Spirit who simply laughs in responses.

"I know Roulette did a number on you Artemisa, don't think you can hide that fact from my eyes. I'd say, in your current shape, Miku and I can easily defeat you, it's just Miku lacks the offensive power to do it herself. Besides, you won't be here long anyway."

Almost on queue Artemisia's communicator goes off. She stares at Kurumi's smug expression for a moment, then checks the device and understands. "It seems you three are lucky today, we will finish our fight another time."

"What was that about?" I ask once the Wizard has vanished, none of us moving to pursue her.

"On my way to come help you, Ellen cornered me. I couldn't waste my time dealing with her…so I gave her the Crystal to ensure Artemisia's retreat and so I could get here in time to help you two. Looks like we were completely out maneuvered this time, but we'll get them back next time, that's a promise. Now then, let's go home so Ayako can rest." Kurumi says, moving to support me on one side while Miku takes the other. "Oh by the way, Tsubasa has already confirmed that you're in so much trouble for that stunt you pulled." She adds, making me groan at the thought as we take off and head for home.