At the arrival of the Noah, Star immediately activated Parasite Eve in it's Level 2 form. No sooner than she had, a hard blow sent her crashing at light speed through the trees.
"STAR!" Mahoja and Jump shouted.
She was aware of flying off the cliff of a ravine before she slammed into the rock wall opposite it.
After a moment of lying stunned in the dark underneath the smashed rocks, she heard a muffled voice.
"Are you coming out of there or not, Exorcist? I know the little love tap I gave you didn't do you in."
It took a moment to dig herself out of the ravine wall. The white-cloaked intruder that she'd ejected from inside the Blank Town stood on air in front of her in the night. Damn it, Star thought. Hitting me that hard… At least the voice that came from under the hood was attractive.
"About time you came out of your hidey-hole there, rat. That was for the kick you gave me earlier."
"So you're a Noah," Star grunted, pulling herself out of the last of the rubble.
The Noah made to grab her but the flames of Innocence rising off her armor like an aura flared defensively, stopping him in his tracks. Flying above him, Star wagged her finger.
"Ah-ah. Very smart of you to think twice about touching me. In this form, even my lightest touch radiates the power of Innocence so intensely even the slightest graze can deliver devastating damage. And I also gain further enhanced flight, speed, and strength."
Star flew down to the other Exorcists, who had made it to her location. She breathed in hard gusts, her exertion visible to those around her even inside Parasite Eve's armor.
"That's some Innocence you've got there," the cloaked Noah said.
"Hmph," Star shrugged, brow ticking up.
"The Millennium Earl!" Lenalee said.
The Millennium Earl stood on a cliff overlooking the ravine. He was surrounded by Akuma and a few choice Noah. He was a rotund figure with the ghastly grinning face of an oni but dressed in a clownish top hat, spectacles, and yellow double-breasted suit coat.
"Good evening, Exorcists," said the Earl. "We heard that you think this new Exorcist has The Heart. Of course I can't just ignore that."
"You there. Newbie."
Star looked up and squinted at the Noah who had spoken. "Huh?"
Dressed in white like the others, he had light-colored hair, a long trailing bandanna around his head, and an extra set of eyes on his forehead.
"You are like a book that's closed very tightly. How are you evading the effects of my powers, Exorcist?" said Wisely, the Fifth Apostle and the Noah of Wisdom.
"None of your business, nosy."
Star abruptly dispelled the armor covering her face. Among the Noah present, she recognized Wisely Kamelot, Mercym, Sheril Kamelot, Tyki Mikk, and little doll-Road.
As she got a closer look at them, Star's nose flared wide open with her suddenly heated breaths.
Oh my god…not a bad-looking one in the bunch! I mean, I don't miss Skinn Bolic and there's certainly ones I find more attractive than others but my, my, my… Star's gaze raced between Tyki and Sheril.
"What?" Sheril said, raising an eyebrow as he noticed her avid ogling at him and his brother.
"Strike!" Star said, grinning broadly, giving a huge thumbs up as hearts fluttered to life around her while she continued goggling them.
"Stop fantasizing and get back in the fight, Johannes!" Kanda snapped.
She wiped her sudden nosebleed but stopped the gawking, heavy breaths, and lusty staring.
"Right, sorry."
"Star is their target," Allen rallied.
Jump and Mahoja threw up their Finder talisman shields, completely destroying Level 1 and Level 2 Akuma in blazes of gold, red, and green light. Star joined the fight but soon found herself squaring off with Tyki Mikk, the Third Apostle and the Noah of Pleasure. They faced each other in mid-air once more and she couldn't help but admire his beauty.
Mmmm…I don't want to wreck that pretty face, she thought. But I should pay him back for kicking me. Even though I started it back in the Blank Town…
"Why are you staring at me?" Tyki asked dryly. "Better yet, tell me: Are you the Heart that our Lord Millennium seeks, girl?"
His Noah memory showed on his face, diminishing his handsomeness and making him look like a scary freak.
Star stared at him without answering, distaste etching her features.
Face returning to normal, Tyki demanded, "Hey—answer me, girl! I'm talking to you!"
She folded her arms over her chest and laughed coolly with a seductive look from beneath her lashes and her chin between her thumb and index finger.
"A certain scariness or rather intensity to a man is deliciously thrilling. But that face, Tyki,lover," she drawled, shaking her head, "it destroys your gentlemanly facade completely instead of only complementing it with a threatening sexiness."
Tyki's mouth dropped opened. "Ah?"
"I said tone that face down a little. Your inner Noah is scaring the children."
"What 'children'!" everyone shouted up at her.
"Excuse me?" Tyki said, a little indignant and very much disbelieving.
"You're all so naive!" After shouting a high, snooty laugh, Star picked her nose and flicked a booger at all of them. She gave Tyki Mikk another lusty look. "Sexy is as sexy does."
"What dirty thoughts are you even thinking, Star…?" Allen said, eyes shadowed in a comical dismay. Lavi nodded with a similar expression, his face red, saying, "Uh-huh…" while Kanda blushed and made a choked noise with the others.
"Tyki, Star's flirting with you, silly!" Road piped.
"I am not flirting. Simply voicing a statement of fact, Road."
"Lord Millennium, who is this strange woman?" Tyki asked.
"I have no idea actually," said Millennium Earl curiously, "but I'm sure the Order has obtained a powerful Innocence that has every chance of being The Heart. Pin her down and grab her. If you can't, just kill her."
Author's Note:
I didn't want Jump and Mahoja's Finder equipment to destroy Akuma's souls rather than releasing them. I figured the only way around this issue was to make it so their power is an extension of Star's as an Exoricist and them sharing the power of the [bLaNk].