Fate/Infinity Shuffle: Reshuffled
Chapter 25 – Backraise:
Hakuno and Jinako weren't able to look away from the serene Mizuki.
"What in the...?" Before Jinako could finish the sentence, a pair of tentacles ran down the area, ready to strike the swordswoman clad in white.
Keeping herself calm, Mizuki placed her sword in the correct place. The first tentacle was deflected by the sword, and with a fast movement, yet smooth and calculated, Mizuki placed the sword in a new position, deflecting the second one. The two 'limbs' missed their target and struck the ground far behind her.
Mizuki's current state of mind, this great serenity, wasn't natural to her. Something belonging to the Heroic Spirit, and used via the Skill 'Independent Manifestation'. In a way, it was an enhanced version of the 'Independent Action' skill. Independent Action allowed for the Heroic Spirit to take action in certain circumstances for better control in combat. As a signature Class Skill of Archers, it was mainly used when aiming a weapon, especially in small windows of opportunity where one can't think clearly and must rely on instinct. Independent Manifestation took this one step forward, where even personality traits and states of mind would meld together with the user. Even an easily panicked person would remain calm if the Heroic Spirit remained serene towards the situation.
That's what was going on. Mizuki wouldn't wince in the face of danger in this state.
And there was something more to this Overlap Install. Though it, she became aware of something. Something that didn't control her, but swayed her to this point.
Would she still have come to help Hakuno and Jinako despite the danger? Probably. But there would normally have existed some indecision in her consciousness. 'Is this a good idea? Can something actually be done?' Those questions would pop up for sure. But something answered 'Yes', and persuaded Mizuki to step forward.
She became aware of something called the 'Counter Force'. Why did it sway her specifically? It was because the Counter Force had influenced the Heroic Spirit in her Assassin Card once before in her history.
"So that explains it." Mizuki spoke to herself, as she came to understand all of this via a Skill: Connection to the Root.
That Skill offered an advantage, a great one at that. To the point where there was a possible option to take, and the means by which to do so.
Hakuno and Jinako blocked the strikes from the tentacles that whipped at them using their weapons, trying to find an opportunity, as Mizuki slowly approached Foreigner, one step at a time.
"Rankers, please, could you step aside for a moment?" A common enemy would assume Mizuki was mocking them with the serene voice, but Mary knew something was different.
Hakuno and Jinako hesitated but decided to trust the new Saber. The two jumped aside, clearing the field between Mizuki and Mary.
The Foreigner glared, even using the eye of her forehead's keyhole to do so, and a swarm of butterflies and moths, led by a Teddy with its opened face and swirling interior, was released. It flew towards Mizuki like a swarm of locusts.
Mizuki's eyes immediately turned blue with a blink, and she swung her sword the moment the swarm came close, multiple times over. The first to be sliced in half was even the Teddy Bear. Each of the soft strikes sliced apart the bugs until none of them remained.
"No!" Angry, especially due to the temporary death of her plush friend, Mary opened portals close to Mizuki. The Saber, in response, with rapid reflexes, evaded the strikes with little effort.
Connection to the Root: Stats become irrelevant.
The tentacles, however, didn't possess lines of Death. They, just like Foreigner herself, didn't obey the rules of the World. It didn't matter whether or not Mizuki had near-limitless potential due to the nature of「Ryougi Shiki」, the Origin was still part of the Universe the Outer God didn't belong to.
Resorting to another move, Mary summoned and launched multiple keys at Mizuki all at once, not all that different from kinetic bombardment.
Her eyes sharpened. Cloud Shine: With an attitude similar to that of a swordsman, she was able to perform ultra-high-speed movements and slashes.
Five intervals... nine meters of space are instantly covered as if a flash of light.
The keys didn't hit anything, because the target was already gone. Mary flinched with wide eyes, finding Mizuki standing right in front of her in a position ready to draw her sword and slice her in half.
And that when Mizuki looked at her with blue eyes.
The Outer God didn't obey the rules. But its link did.
The lines of death kept fluctuating, appearing and reappearing. But she didn't need to trace them. It was merely for confirmation.
With the Connection to the Root, the Origin of Emptiness, Mizuki shut her eyes and walked through the Gate in Mary's forehead, suddenly disappearing.
"..." Mizuki opened her eyes again. What exactly happened was something she couldn't explain. Neither where she was. Was it the mind of little Mary? The home of the Foreigner? The Dimension above hers? The bridge between the two? All of these at once? None of these options?
Wherever she was, it was coloured in a strange white, and the floor below appeared to look like an entire swarm of galaxies in space, seen at a great distance.
"Where am I? I mean... I can't even understand this..."
"W-Who are you?" Mizuki turned and found the little girl she and her friends had been fighting. However, it was no abomination. No malice. Only sorrow and fright.
A little girl, Mary, in white pyjamas, holding the Teddy Bear in a tight hug. Her face and the slight step back showed that she feared Mizuki.
"E-Eh?" Mizuki was slightly taken aback. She didn't understand this. And at that moment, the Independent Manifestation kicked in. The Spirit used its Connection to the Root to give her information, about the girl named Mary, daughter of a Japanese doctor, now 18 years old, who rested in a coma in a not-so-faraway hospital.
Somehow, only her Soul Installed the Foreigner Card. So while the Body is resting in the hospital and the Mind was shut in a coma, the Soul searched around the world, free and with power, for someone to play with. Even if her reasoning was twisted through Insanity, her innocence went beyond it.
In front of her was the girl that never grew up.
"A-Are you here to hurt me?"
"No, of course not." Mizuki raised her hand. "I mean... at least, I don't want to."
"I-I'm sorry!" The girl's eyes began to overflow with tears, and she began to shuffle. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone... I really didn't!" She yelled like the kid she was in self-defence. "I-I don't know why I kept hurting everybody. I just wanted to play with them! I... I..." she buried her face into the teddy bear, muffling her crying wails. "I haven't played with anyone for so long..."
"Mary..." The sight made Mizuki's heart sink.
The little girl couldn't stop talking, saying everything that she could use as an excuse, almost as if scared of being punished. "I... The me on the outside doesn't remember... she doesn't remember the car crash... or the many years of sleep... She's not bad! She just doesn't want to stop playing that game!"
"That game?" Mizuki closed in, slowly enough to not scare Mary. "What's the game exactly?"
"A Nice Onii-chan taught it... I don't remember the name, but he said... 'beat them up and squash them like flies. If they are trying to hit you back, that's cheating.'." Mary's explanation of the game gave Mizuki right away the answer. Whoever taught her that, it wasn't a game, but rather just giving her the order to attack anyone under the guise of a fun game for the girl that just wanted to play with someone after sleeping for so long.
"A nice Onii-chan? Who is he?"
"I... don't know." And before Mizuki could say anything else, Mary's face lit up. "Onii-chan!"
Mizuki's eyes widened and she turned around, finding a shadow. Simply a shadow. No distinct shape, no features. Whoever that was, it was a mystery.
She raised her sword in confusion. How was that Shadow here? Who was it? Before any answer could be given, Mary rushed to the Shadow and hugged it, as if meeting again an old friend.
But, some seconds later, the Shadow kicked Mary away. "AH!" She yelled as she was hit. She quickly attempted to stand up and run away, but the Shadow stomped on her back, make her yelled again and turn to it with tears.
"O-Onii-chan, I thought you were nice!"
"HEY!" Mizuki attempted to move in for an attack, but the shadow glared with his nonexistent face. She became surrounded by purple sparks that electrocuted her. "A-AHH!" And suddenly, she reappeared in the school grounds, rolling over the ground in an instinct of recovery.
"Mizuki!" Sayuri and Lizzie called in unison. For them, it had only been a few seconds but were still alarmed by Mizuki's sudden disappearance.
"Mary!" Mizuki yelled in worry, but it didn't matter.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" The little girl held her head in extreme pain as the eye of the keyhole widened as much as possible. It looked like it was attempting to bulge out of her forehead while expanding more and more until it suddenly burst. The keyhole began to expel what could best be described as dark red and purple mud that dowsed her fully.
Mizuki stepped back as Hakuno and Jinako joined her side. They both wanted to know what exactly happened, but the event in front of their eyes was too mesmerising.
Mary was being altered.
The mud covered her body completely and she then spread her arms, dispersing it.
Paler skin, mixing white grey with the strange blue. Clothes turned pitch-black with red crack-like patterns running through them. A teddy bear that had gone from orange to a powerful blood-red. Multiple rusted, damaged-looking keys floated around her, still usable for battle despite their appearance. The multiple tentacles went from purple to black, with the same red crack pattern from her clothes.
Over Mary's face, from the nose above, was a metallic mask with two metal chains in an X-shape, keeping it locked tight, with the image of a keyhole with signs of having been lock-picked and damaged on said mask.
Hakuno and Jinako were incredibly confused. They had never seen anything like this before. The other Players were just as amazed and terrified, if not more.
Mary had been altered. Or rather, she had become...
Abigail Williams Alter
Mary, despite being seemingly blind, turned her head to Mizuki, Hakuno, and Jinako with a hidden glare.
"What in the hell…?" Hakuno stayed on guard. Jinako raised her sword, frightened at the sight.
The little girl stayed unmoving and floating in place, just a bit above the ground. And then, the tentacles suddenly moved at the three like spears.
"Rho Aias!" Discarding his swords in the process, the Rockstar Archer summoned the seven-layered shield, both Mizuki and Jinako hiding behind him as the tentacles were blocked. Though, after impact, only the seventh layer remained intact. "GH-!" He quickly raised his bow and fired an arrow. He would've used a Projection Weapon as a projectile, but the rush didn't allow him to do so. Instead, he fired a single, ordinary, speedy arrow.
The black plush doll intercepted the arrow and grabbed it with its arms. Claws grew out of them and ripped the arrow apart.
Jinako rushed, sword first, striking a tentacle that attempted to block her dash, but another one quickly struck her body from the side, throwing her off the path.
Mizuki moved in with fast movements, closing the distance and reaching the little girl, but before she could strike, multiple rusted keys moved in and blocked her sword strikes. Her eyes turned blue and the keys showed red lines. Twisting her katana, she quickly slashed the red lines in a flash, breaking them apart.
The little girl didn't react. One of the tentacles swiped at Mizuki and threw her off to the side. After rolling over the floor to recover, another tentacle went for a strike, but she moved back away, with a flip for recovery.
Mizuki landed with both feet, and after a short skid, multiple tentacles emerged from portals around her. "!?" A surprise to be sure. However, the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception activated, and with fast-moving arms, both hands gripping the hilt of the sword, she sliced apart all of the emerging tentacles.
Hakuno caught the event through the corner of his eye and was shocked by it. "Wait, Mizuki, you can slice them?!" So far, the tentacles couldn't be destroyed in any way, even with Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. But now, the lines were more than clear.
"They have lines for me to slash now."
"They do? But then that means…" Hakuno thought for a moment. A Skill was affecting Foreigner, who previous to the transformation could bypass them. Anyone that got struck by her before and then by her now could notice the slight difference in strength and power. It was a subtle yet definitive change.
And maybe, it was what they needed.
"Everybody! Install and attack her!" Hakuno yelled, catching everyone's attention. "She's not invulnerable anymore! She can be defeated by our means!"
Mizuki quickly turned to Sayuri, drawing out one card and hurling it. Sayuri quickly caught the Berserker Card and obeyed Hakun's command.
In fact, all of the surrounding Players did.
"Install!"
With flashes of light and spirits lifted, all of them were ready to fight their opponent.
CLASS: Foreigner
IDENTITY: Abigail Williams Alter
STATS:
- Strength: A
- Endurance: A+
- Agility: D
- Mana: B+
- Luck: C-
- Noble Phantasm: A
CLASS SKILLS:
- Existence Outside of the Domain: A- (the Outer God's powers are still present, but the connection is no longer continuously active. The immunity to the rules is gone)
- Insanity: A
- Divinity: D
PERSONAL SKILL:
- Prayer of Faith: E
- Loss of Sanity: A
- Witch Trial: A+
NOBLE PHANTASM: -UNKNOWN-
Mary's mask glowed slightly and a cloud of deformed insects appeared, moving towards the many opponents in sight.
"Install!" Hakuno swapped to the Caster Card. "Fiery Heaven!"
"Third Heaven: Ubik!"
Mongami and Hakuno attacked. The Caster hurled a trio of paper charms at the swarm, while Mongami summoned multiple riffles: one in her hand and the others spinning around it, forming a cone-like shape. The triggers were pulled, releasing a sort of fire spray.
The attacks worked in tandem to burn the swarm to ashes, though a few of them managed to resist the flames and keep on flying through, now burning apart.
"Not on my watch!" Edward hurled some of his parasite bombs at the insects and made them explode on contact, nulling the attack completely.
"Thanks, Ed." Mongami flashed a thumbs up and a grin.
"P-Please don't call me Ed…" He wasn't fond of the abbreviation.
"If I may," Karen stepped forward, catching Edward's attention. Shoutarou was only a step behind her. "Shoutarou, we should show our new teammates what we're capable of, no?"
"I'm down." Shoutarou adjusted the sunglasses and suddenly rushed towards the Berserker, golden axe in hand. Yellow sparks ran down his arms and weapon before he hurled it over towards Mary. The Foreigner, however, easily deflected the axe with a swipe from a tentacle, hurling it upwards. "Yellow Witch!" Shoutarou pulled back the sparking arm and the axe changed its course, spinning back towards him as he thrust his palm against Mary's torso after dodging a tentacle. She didn't seem all that affected, but her body shook when the axe suddenly struck her back, pulled back into Shoutarou's hand through magnetism.
Mary's head turned slightly to line up with his. After Shoutarou showed a grin, she flicked his forehead with a finger, sending him hurling backwards.
"Agh!" He wasn't expecting such a strong strike from a flicking finger. He rolled over the floor to recover and once close to where he originally started, Karen used him as a platform to jump up higher.
Before gravity pulled her down, she took a large sip from the sake cup in her right hand, and then hurled the two cups like discuses. Mary's keys intersected the attack, shattering the cups before they could even touch her. However, once Karen landed, with puffed-out cheeks and a mouth full of sake, she followed up on the attack. "Spicy Star!" Instead of drinking the sake, she spat it out and set it ablaze, firing five fireballs at Mary, all following a circular pattern, resembling the five points of a star shape.
If one were able to see what was going on beneath Mary's mask, they would see her eyes coldly tracking the fireballs before whipping her head while firing a beam of light from the fake keyhole on her mask, cutting apart Karen's attack in a single motion.
Mongami couldn't help but snicker a little. "Probably not the best time to do something like that, no?"
"Yeah, you're right." Shoutarou admitted while adjusting his sunglasses.
Just as he did, Ibuki rushed past them, set on striking the Altered Foreigner. The target, in turn, summoned a rusted key in and readied a swing. "Maginus!" When close enough, Ibuki flipped over the swinging key, barely scraping by, and kicking Mary's chin in the process, whipping her head back as a result. Once her feet connected with the ground, she lunged forward for a shoulder tackle, but just like she did against a Saber in a previous battle, she stopped Ibuki in place with a single finger. Ibuki glared, but Mary didn't care. A tentacle tied itself around her ankle and raised her up. "!?" The tentacle slammed the Berserker against the floor multiple times before spinning around and hurling her faraway, ending up outside the school grounds.
Hoshizume winced. "I don't think she's gonna like that…" She turned to Mary and bit down on one of her thumbs before slamming her hand into the floor. "Go!" Black and red flames came out of the ground, moving in and out of the floor in a snake-like manner. They seemed to be evading the tentacles and going for a clean hit. "Go!" But just as they touched her, Mary vanished. "Huh?!" Suddenly, tentacles wrapped around her body from behind. "Uh oh!" And they tightened more and more. "GAHHH!"
Sayuri grew tall, thanks to the Berserker's ability Mizuki's lent Card granted her. She then swung down her oversized axe and cut the tentacles that strangled Hoshizume, which resulted in her freedom.
"Ahh! Oh, sweet release…" Hoshizume let out in relief, just before the tentacles she was freed from hit the ground and began squirming all around, still 'alive'. "EEK!" She didn't waste any time in fleeing the scene.
Just as Sayuri was being tripped by the Foreigner's extra limbs, Hakuno swapped Cards back to his Rockstar Archer. "I am the bone of my sword!"
Mary turned to the Archer, just to find him already having fired the Fake Spiral Sword, which struck Mary's iron mask, triggering a large explosion that cleaned the area from tentacles that the other Players had been fighting.
Hakuno lowered his bow, sighing with a sense of relief and victory. However, Mary rushed out of the smoke, her iron mask broken, revealing the yellow eyes with purple highlights, and the chains in the X-shape attached to the keyhole on her forehead.
In a panic, and luckily Mary being slower compared to before, Hakuno projected Kanshou and Bakuya and crossed them to act as a shield. Jinako moved in from behind him and added her tall sword to his dual blades, in order to increase the defensive power of their stance.
Mary swung down her arm, manifesting a key that struck the three blades, and while her strength was great, the two Rankers only skidded back slightly, successfully blocking the strike.
Jinako moved out from behind Hakuno and rushed at Mary as her boyfriend hurled his two blades and summoned the bow again. The blades slashed two of the tentacles that Mary had summoned to retaliate, and multiple arrows were fired to stop the others as Jinako swordfought the key wielder.
Isemi and Lizzie both rushed for Aerial support, using Winged Sandals and Dragon Wings respectively. Tentacles rose from portals and kept the two busy, fighting them off, as Jinako jumped back, creating distance between her and Mary.
"I'm getting real sick of tentacles all the time!" Lizzie complained, skewering one.
"Just be glad we can actually fend them off." Isemi requested with an awkward chuckle, slashing one to keep it away.
Mizuki dashed past the two Rankers, katana ready to slash, but Teddy blocked the attack, holding the katana with his tiny claws. Mizuki jumped back as well and shook him off as Edward and Mongami used their arsenal of bombs and rifles to destroy keys and fend off tentacles.
Mary shut her eyes and began to float higher. Hoshizume quickly recognized this. "Oh no… this is her Noble Phantasm!"
"The Silver Key held in my hand has rusted. Materialized from the void and touched by these fingertips, it is now a dagger. But a dagger can unlock what a key cannot. The shadow of this Gate, the Shadow of a Shadow. God, the description of a shadow, Father. Pass beyond the sleep of roses, and arrive at the First Gate!"
Light and darkness mixed in the chained keyhole, as a portal of the same shape appeared behind her. But instead of emanating light, shadows seeped out of it. The altered Foreigner fixed her eyes on the Players in front of her.
"Sefirot Rhizome!"
Sefirot Rhizome 'Hollow Tree Filled by a Remnant of Darkness': Anti-Army EX
Opening a "gate" to a foreign world that is incompatible with humanity, creating distortions within the target's mind and body, a rhizome is born alongside the Sefirot instead of the Qliphoth, the tree of life instead of the tree of evil. Qliphoth Rhizome was supposed to be an Anti-World Noble Phantasm, but it was usually restrained by Foreigner, making it Anti-Unit. Sefirot Rhizome was supposed to be Anti-World as well, and this time unrestrained, but the lack of connection to the Outer God limited its range down to Anti-Army.
All of the Players panicked. There was no way they would be able to evade the attack.
But there was one exception to this.
It existed, therefore, it could be killed.
It could be cut down. It no longer was exempt from the rules. Without an Outer God to bypass, it didn't matter if it were its powers, they weren't protected from the rules.
Mizuki stepped forward and readied her katana as the eyes turned blue. With a deep breath, as the giant swarm of tentacles was about to come out of the portal, alongside shadows and remnants of light, she spoke the name of her Noble Phantasm.
"Mukushiki (Amalavijñāna)."
Amalavijñāna 'Boundary of Emptiness': Anti-Unit EX
Mizuki drew out her sword as the tentacles and darkness mixed in with the light emerged from the keyhole-shaped portal.
A dash that was invisible to the eyes, and swings at all the right places. The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception were used to their fullest potential.
It exists, therefore, it can die. There are no cheats, and the moment the tentacles entered the real world, they belonged to the domain.
The sword strokes of the afterlife released from Nirvana bestow peace to all existences.
"Vanish in the interval between Yin and Yang." Mizuki spoke those words through Independent Manifestation. In other words, despite speaking them, they weren't hers.
The tentacles, the darkness, the light.
Cut.
Mizuki had run past Mary, being many meters behind her, having cut the portal itself as well.
"What?" Mary turned around, and upon noticing the portal was gone, her eyes widened.
"Stand back!"
Jinako yelled to everyone as she moved in. The true potential of someone at A-Rank Level: despite being in the battle from the very start, she still had the energy to use a Noble Phantasm, and wasn't even knocked out once. Granted, being a Semi-Reality Marble did make it easier to summon than something like Mongami's Reality Marble, but it was still impressive nonetheless. Mizuki obeyed and circled the area with great speed, allowing Jinako to have a clear shot at Foreigner.
"Behold my talent! Listen to the thunderous applause! Here is the honour of the Imperium! Like a blooming flower... Opening! The White Chapel!" A colosseum began to form from the ground up, as Jinako tossed a rose and performed a slash. Mary summoned a set of keys, blocking the strike. Jinako jumped back as a result and struck the sword on the floor. "I shall offer this gift to a full moon... Dancing scatters the flowers, and cleaves open a star! Behold the supreme beauty... and praise it! Nupitae Domus Aurea!" The colosseum, white instead of golden, manifested in its full glory.
Nupitae Domus Aurea 'White Chapel of the Flamboyant' – Anti-Team B
She raised her sword again and aimed.
"Fax Caelestis!"
Fax Caelestis 'Closing Rose that Fames Stars' – Anti Unit B+
Jinako spun her sword around in a circular fashion, the blade gradually engulfing in red fire. After completing the circle, she pulled back the sword and charged, sword first, dashing past the opponent. After stopping multiple meters behind Mary, she struck the sword on the ground and raised her arms in a pose of victory. The keys Mary used as a shield shattered and a fiery explosion burst from her wound.
"…!" Mary didn't yell, but the pain was visible to others.
Jinako turned to the others again. "Raise her! I don't care how! Make her fly!" She explained, pulling out her Lancer Card.
Hakuno and Mizuki nodded, moving in, katana and blades in hand. The two attacked Mary, who held a long key in each hand. The Alter swung both keys that could better be compared to thin slabs of metal due to their size as if they were fencing swords. No wasted effort, grace. The two managed to block the attacks, both parrying them with their weapons. Mizuki made use of her eyes and immediately slashed the key she faced into pieces after tracing the red lines. Hakuno slammed his blades hard enough against a two-handed swing of the key hat it shattered his blades, but he managed to block the hit. As Mary summoned more keys and the teddy bear gained wings and claws, Hakuno summoned his bow.
"Mizuki!" Calling her name was enough. The girl performed gentle sword strokes that sliced the faithful companion and the reappearing weapons. "Now!" Mizuki jumped away and Hakuno had the perfect aim for the target. In his bow was loaded a peculiar weapon. Just like his other arrows, it was a weapon whose original shape was altered to resemble more of an arrow. But by its shape it appeared to have been a club at first. The arrowhead was flat, or it flat out didn't exist. "Iron Hammer!" With the right angle, he let go of the string of his bow and fired the hammer-like arrow that pushed her upwards before shattering on its own, rather than Hakuno performing a 'Broken Phantasm'. The natural burst of metal pushed her even further up.
"Ghhh…!" Mary stopped in midair, recovering from the hit, and while the strike didn't hurt much due to her high Endurance, it was already too late.
"It's my turn." Jinako joined their side, walking with no real concern.
Her body was clad in a black bodysuit with pale golden gauntlets and grieves. The black suit went up to her neck, but a small patch of it was missing, above her chest, the spot between her collarbones, showing a red jewel embedded into the skin. On her back was a mechanical half wheel, with feather-shaped swords fanning out with each step she took. Around her neck was a tall red collar and over her right shoulder a piece of armour with red and blue plumage.
"This is already over." She turned and looked to the girl above in the distance.
Jinako's glare intensified, her right eye turning red and the golden armour, wheel, and collar burst into golden specks as Mizuki and Hakuno fell back. "Vasavi…" She raised the spear in its full form and a powerful thunderbolt fell upon it, as if it were a lightning rod, and making the red-pink strip down the middle that would be the tip of the weapon glow brightly, as both electricity and fire surged through the weapon and body. A large orb of electricity hovered above the spear. She lowered the weapon, making the orb stand in front of her. Jinako gave a step back with one foot, getting into position, holding out her spear which had its side partitions spread apart, away from the middle pink-red spike. "SHAKTI!" She then thrust the weapon forward by taking a step, and the moment the spike struck the orb, the side partitions shattered and the electricity turned into a bright red. A beam of crimson plasma was fired from it as if it were a laser beam. Said beam quickly curved upwards and swallowed the flinching Alter before she could move out of the way.
"Not… this… way…!"
The attack was a perfect hit. An Anti-Divinity Noble Phantasm with the potential to decimate a country.
No trace of Mary was left behind, leaving only one possibility.
"Did we… Did we defeat her?" Edward wondered out loud, wanting someone to confirm his thoughts and hopes.
"I… think so, yeah." Hoshizume was the first to say it. Then Sayuri, then Mongami.
Everybody agreed. It was over.
Foreigner had been defeated.
"WE DID IT!" Mizuki leapt as she Uninstalled. Everybody followed suit, Uninstalling their cards and jumping with joy. "All thanks to Jinako!"
"W-What?" The North Ranker suddenly blushed as Mizuki took her hand.
"Come on, we need to throw you!"
"W-What?! No, I don't think that's a good ide-" Before Jinako could finish her sentence, all of the present members began to throw her into the air, making her panic, as they said 'Hip-Hip! Hooray!', including Hakuno. She didn't understand why, she only delivered the killing blow.
After all, the person they should thank was the person that transformed Mary into Alter, the Shadow. However, that didn't seem to be its intent.
It was a question that hung in the air, but no one could answer: who was the Shadow?
But that would need to be a question for a later date.
Ibuki returned to the school grounds, Uninstalled and with a concussion. The sight of a panicking Jinako being thrown up and down by the others summoned question marks above her head. "…What the hell did I miss?"
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