Phase one.
Medea quickly began chanting under her breath, usually making a Bounded Field would take some work, especially one as powerful as she was making this, but with all her prepared work on the mansion, it was easy to twitch the preexisting Bounded Fields into forming this new one.
This new Bounded Field had three simple purposes. First, it would ensure nobody would investigate the mansion, second, it would prevent any noises from escaping the mansion, and third, it would place illusions over the windows making everything seem normal within. She had originally planned to also make a physical barrier, but it was simply to likely to be noticed.
At the same time, FB quickly hacked every internet connected device the intruders had, she would investigate their phones and devices later, but right now she simply needed to ensure no calls or fail safes would activate.
Phase one, complete.
Phase two.
The intruders were travelling through the looking room, wary about the fact nobody had appeared yet and woefully open when without warning, the armored form of Faust appeared between them. Before anyone could move, the master punched Trickster, the two disappearing.
"FRAN-". Archer panicked, but before she or anyone else could do something, a hoard of Dragon Tooth Soldiers burst into the room, charging at the inruders.
Of course, Archer alone could annihilate an entire hoard of soldiers with ease and despite not being supernatural, all of the others had someway to defend themselves. The next part of phase two started.
In a blur, a black shadow, which had been hiding between the hoard of soldiers, rushed at the girl in sun themed armor, who was dragged into another room, the door locking behind them. Archer prepared to blast it open herself, only to be distracted by another Dragon Tooth Soldier.
"NO NO NO! STOP MESSING WITH MY TOYS!". The Demi-Servant screamed, her wrath fully ignited as she began focusing on destroying the soldiers. Which left her unable to act as a white girl with electricity dancing across her skin grabbed the defenseless Oliver, while a girl with gray hair and scythe cut Genesis monster in half, the girl barely able to scream before she to was kidnapped. "I'LL KILL EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!".
Archer began unleashing a barrage of arrows at the door separating her from her comrade, eyes burning with rage while the armored man kept the Dragon Tooth Soldiers off her by grabbing objects and flinging them with the force of bullets.
Phase two, complete.
The magician dressed man was barely able to breath before a vibranium armored fist landed in his face, and then he was hit with a dose of hypnosis from Medea.
"What is your goal here?". She demanded, Aleister having teleported into the workshop. With all methods of communication or seeing in nullified, the master could safely use all of his abilities.
"Kill Aleister Crowley".
"Under who's orders?".
"Coil".
"Coil's dead... It must've been something planned for a few days at least, likely with that snake having deleted any hints of it in his files and you impersonating him to release those files, these lot must have thought it was a big distraction to make it easier to kill you". Medea spoke to her master, who looked rather annoyed.
"Even from beyond the grave, he's still causing issues... How frustrating, I want their names, cape and civilian". Aleister listened as the magician, Trickster, Francis, whatever you wanted to call him began spilling everything he'd need. "Unstable with two personalities huh...? That could be useful...".
"Your seriously not planning to fight her are you? Unbreakable armor or not, that girl is practically radiating curses". Medea looked concerned, but the master just smiled... Well, under his mask he did.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing, Okita and Iris should be done by now, I won't be fighting alone".
Sadly for Aleister, no plan ever goes barely.
"Tch!". Okita dodged the orb of heat flying towards her, her eyes closed. She was faster, stronger, more durable, but even a Servant couldn't shrug off an orb of heat that hot! Any time she tried rushing the girl (Sundancer, her master had telepathically told her), the orb would appear in front of her, expanding in size. It was like fighting a miniature sun!
On Sundancer's half, the girl was freaking out, the Stranger was so fast! She was doing everything she could to keep up, and an unknown ability of her power was appearing, the orb appearing whenever the Stranger rushed at her and expanding to protect her automatically (Unknown to her, receiving direct support from her Shard in order to gather more data on 'Anomaly Nine'.
'If I don't take her down now, I'll be in trouble, she doesn't seem to have a limit for how large that orb can go and I doubt Medea's barriers can stop a miniature sun... No choice then'. Okita took a deep breath, her mind entering a state of complete calm. Her body entering a certain stance.
Sundancer, not realizing what was happening but assuming her opponent had a plan with freezing like that, shot her sun forward to stop it-
"Lightless, Three-Stage Thrust".
-
-
-
It was beautiful to behold, the mastery of swordsmanship, the first thrust was avoided by the sun, what was the point of such a thing, no mere blade could-
Second thrust.
Third thrust.
BOOM!
The sound that occurred was utterly ear shattering, Sundancer fell to her knees with a cry of pain as blood began to drip from her ears, her sun had been-
"I take no pleasure in doing this... But your to dangerous to be left free". A blade swung, but for Sundancer it was in slow motion, death approaching.
She didn't want to die.
She didn't want to die!
SHE DIDN'T WANT TO DIE-
{Accessing host mind}
{Scanning surroundings, Anomaly Nine detected, imputing best results for survival}
{Heightening emotions, Second Trigger activating}
{Host survival guaranteed}
Everything burned.
Aleister almost feel onto his knees from the sheer heat, even in the Workshop he was sweating in his armor, what the hell just happened...!?
"It would appear Sundancer had some hidden ability... Or perhaps this is one of those 'Second Triggers' you spoke of". Medea spoke calmly, but the fact she was taking off her cloak and the sweat running off her skin, she was being effected as well. "My barriers will only hold for so long at this rate, add in Archer's rampage... Your going to need to speed things up".
"Y-yes, good idea". Aleister was about to stand up when a blue inverted triangle appeared on his chest, his armor and body instantly cooling down. "My thanks".
"I'd rather you not end up in melted armor". The Caster quickly turned back to controlling her Dragon Tooth Soldiers, being made of bone they were immune to the heat, actually giving her the advantage against Archer and Ballistic. She also quickly cast the same spells she cast on her master onto Iris and Cyber, while increasing the strength of the barrier (Wincing at the sight of the various things in the mansion melting from the heat).
Aleister quickly used Flash Air to get away, someone needed to deal with the rampaging Archer, he could only hope things wouldn't get to bad.
Aleister appeared in the middle of a battling Iris and Archer, to the side Cyber was fighting Ballistic who was having trouble against the much faster cyborg. A barrage of arrows hit against him, but against armor made of vibranium? They were utterly worthless.
He already knew trying to out-punch or out-speed Archer was pointless, Baobhan Sith had A Agility and Strength. When another barrage of arrows rushed towards him, he activated Thought Acceleration for a few moments, the already detached arms of the Lily Backpack launched off, moving not towards Archer, but instead grabbing an unsuspecting Ballistic, holding him out as a living shield-
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
"Tch! Stupid toy!". Archer tsked, having mercilessly fired arrows into her own comrade, shocking everyone else at just how merciless the Fae-like Demi-Servant was.
Aleister's eyes were wide, he knew it was something many would do, but still seeing it was something horrifying. But that horror was quickly washed away, the mechanical arms gently laying Ballistic down, he deserved that much.
"He was your comrade, your friend... And you killed him without hesitation". Faust spoke, he was evil, he manipulated, he stole, he killed. But even he could never stand the taste of betrayal, the idea of betraying anyone close to him left a sickly taste in his mouth.
"Yea, so? He was in the way, if he wanted to live he should've-". Archer's eyes widened as red-black electricity began to radiate off her opponent, freezing her.
"I'm going to kill you... Slowly". Using Displacement, he appeared above the Demi-Servant and brought his foot down, hitting her on the shoulder, a loud cracking sound echoing out.
"GRK! YOU BASTARD!". Archer furiously hissed, her left arm hanging limply by her side, she leapt back and kicked towards Aleister, a spike emerging from it and slamming into him, only to have no effect.
His hand reached out, grabbing onto the spike and dragged along when it retracted to the Demi-Servant, who used her free hand to grab the punch aiming for her chest, his eyes widening when his hand began sinking into her own, quickly using Displacement to escape.
Aleister had no idea what Archer's parahuman half powers were, but he had no intention to be caught by them. Glancing to the side, he shouted to Iris and Cyber.
"Stay back! She's mine, interfere only if called for!". He shouted to them, both girls freezing but nodding. It wasn't just his own hatred over her betrayal, or his desire to improve his Haki, neither of them had a way to escape whatever that absorption effect was, so it was better he fought by himself for now.
"I'LL KILL YOU LIKE THE RAT YOU ARE FILTHY HUMAN!". A barrage of arrows launched towards the master, activating Thought Acceleration for a few moments, he activated Flash Air, teleporting the arrows behind Archer, hitting her with her own weapon.
"You first".
Okita dodged another wave of firing, wincing as it burned a picture of a landscape she had liked. She glanced to Sundancer, before that name was strange, but now...
"RAAAARGGGHHH!". The girl covered in fire roared, the Assassin couldn't see her eyes but she was sure if she could, they'd be completely white in berserk rage.
Any time Okita tried attacking, the heat just intensified, she could see now (Thanks to magic from Medea), but even a Caster from the Age of Gods couldn't stop sun level heat.
Dodging an orb of fire, Okita's eyes widened when three orbs of fire almost hit her, her A Rank Agility allowing her to dodge with an absurd display of reflexes. She couldn't deal enough damage to get through that heat, nor did she had any ranged attacks. There had to be something she could do!
'There has to be something, what can I do here? My hand will burn if-... There's no other choice is there?". The Assassin winced in preparation for what she was about to do.
Running forward, she dodged a wave of fire, a fireball, leapt over a miniature sun, getting closer and closer to Sundancer. The cape did nothing to dodge, why would she? Even Anomaly Nine couldn't cut through the layer of flames it had created around its host, she/it could dodge.
Seeing the sword slash towards its host, the Shard raised her arms, firing a stream of fire at Anomaly Nine, but instead of dodging as expected-
"Grk!".
SLASH!
Okita breathed heavily, instantly dropping the blisteringly hot katana in her hand, it wasn't a Noble Phantasm but it'd take more then heat to destroy the weapon of a Servant... Not that the same could be said for half of her haori, or the blistering red flesh on her arm.
Thud.
Sundancer, aura of flame gone, light fading from her eyes fell over, her head detached from her body. The Assassin glanced to it for only a few moments, before falling to her knees.
Okita Souji was by no means a top tier Servant, she may have surpassed her opponent in speed, physical strength, and technique, but the sheer heat of those flames had dealt a lot of damage. She'd recover with time and mana, but she needed to take a breather.
Tsumomon followed the connections through the net, he wasn't very smart, but he could still understand his partner's desires. Use the connection with Trickster's phone to find their hideout, any fail-safes, anything useful they could find.
But sadly for the In-Training, he was finding nothing. The Travelers had been staying in a simple hotel, checking around it after manifesting from the left behind laptop, the virus Digimon frowned... As much as he could without a very visible mouth.
Some leftover pizza (Which was greedily devoured), a laptop, some clothes, and that was it. No fail-safes, nothing. A childish desire grew, quickly moving about Tsumomon began to wreck the rooms, tearing bed sheets, eating any food he found, scratching the windows, breaking the doors down.
Hearing the sound of footsteps as workers came to investigate, the Digimon quickly leapt back into the still active laptop, cleared absolutely everything on it, and then left.
Petty revenge felt good.
Aleister smashed a Haki covered fist into Archer's face, she was strong yes, but even he could tell at this point...
She had absolutely no fighting experience! Dodging a clumsy punch, green lines spread across black Haki coated skin while electricity sparked from the Electro-Glove, and further enhanced by the Faust suit, the next punch left her with gasping breath.
"Whats wrong... Noelle? Not used to fighting yourself? You know, Francis told us ALL about you so easily, eager to sell a monster like you out". Aleister taunted, the cape freezing, aiming her finger forward she fired a blast of magical energy. He punched it away with just a simple Haki coated punch (Wincing at the pain, using Haki and Reinforcement at the same time was pushing his body).
"I'll kill you... I'LL KILL YOU I'LL KILL YOU I'LL KILL YOU-". Archer roared, only to freeze, confusing Aleister.
Had she really just... Frozen? Why? He glanced to Iris and Cyber, but both of them displayed no sign of having to do with this. He glanced to Archer again, eyes widening as her skin began to... Squirm, it was moving, expanding, changing!
"KILL HER NOW!". Aleister used Displacement to step back, he had no idea what was going on but it wasn't good! But it was to late, everyone could only look in horror at the monstrosity that had been created, a monstrosity made of red flesh.
"What... The hell is she?". Was the only thing he could think of when he saw the monstrosity, a horrific groan leaving its body.
"A monster...". Was all Iris said, the sheer size of the monster was huge, if they weren't fighting in the living room, by far the largest room in the mansion, it was for sure this beast would have broken outside, revealing to the whole world Aleister Crowley was a cape and had fought what looked like some hellish new Endbringer.
"USE EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO KILL IT! MEDEA'S BARRIERS CAN ONLY HOLD SO MUCH!". Aleister roared, he didn't dare approach the beast in a fist fight, using the Lily Backpack hands to try going in as buzzsaws.
The monstrosity roared, its sword-like hand slamming into one metallic hand, easily sending it flying through a wall (Into the bathroom, wrecking the toilet), the second buzzaw hand however got in, stabbing into the giant eye, which didn't bleed.
Iris had Rhongyomniad take the form of a shotgun, firing bullets of pure golden energy to blow apart pieces of the monstrosity, but quickly leaped back when one of the hellish red skeletal creatures actually broke free from the monstrosity and charged at her, a shape-shifting shotgun turned into a scythe that cut it down.
"It can split itself!? Dammit!". Aleister hissed, a beam of mana firing past him to tear another red skeleton in hand, as his Caster floated in the air, having decided this was to risky to ignore.
"It almost reminds me of Echidna... Yes, I suppose Echidna is a worthy name for this monstrosity". Medea mused, trying to remain calm, but even she was shocked by this monstrosity. She noted as a flash of speed began cutting off pieces of the monster, her eyes managing to take in the form of Okita, who was using her non-sword hand to swing her blade, her arm covered in blistering wounds with her clothing on that arm completely burned away. "I assume something similar happened to Sundancer?".
"I moved in to knock her out, however her transformation was a lot less monstrous!". The Assassin cut another red skeleton down, everyone was here fighting against Echidna now. "Chances of using my Noble Phantasm again are next to zero I'm afraid-".
Okita caught the green bean thrown her way, glancing at her master and figuring out what he wanted, she quickly consumed it. Her eyes widened as her magical energy restored itself including her clothing, and her wounds instantly closed back together. She had no idea they had such effective healing!
"Three left, lets NOT waste the Senzu Beans! I give full permission to unleash your Noble Phantasms as long as they don't break the Bounded Field!". Aleister spoke, electricity sparking around his Electro-Glove (He needed to make another, and improve the first, because just one fist with electricity was not enough).
Iris moved first, Rhongyomniad this time taking the form of a sword, she leapt over Echidna's sword arm, bringing her blade onto the eye on the blade, but again no blood.
Okita and Cyber stayed focused on the red skeletons, their enemy constantly producing them at a rate that far surpassed Medea's own creation of Dragon Tooth Soldiers. Aleister fired blasts of electricity, joined by Medea using magecraft of every element to hit Echidna.
But no matter how hard they hit, or what they did, the monster just grew more flesh, created more red skeletons, there had to be some way to take it out! Iris had tried cutting off the seeming form of Archer off its chest, but it only fell off as more dead meat, meat which was quickly absorbed back into Echidna.
Aleister needed something big to take it out, maybe have Medea summon her dragon- No it would just destroy the mansion instead or be absorbed like he almost was. Okita's Noble Phantasm would've been effective on a smaller creature but Echidna was to big, and while Rhongyomniad had the power to destroy the monstrosity for certain, it'd also instantly shatter the barrier unless it was aimed down, which would destroy the workshop, an unacceptable outcome.
Rule Breaker only effected magical beings, he didn't even know if Archer's body was contained in the meat sack of Echidna hidden away or if she had actually become the monster completely. If Rule Breaker failed, it left Medea way to close. Even if the final member of their team in Tsunomon showed up, the In-Training was worthless in a fight of this magnitude, even its Rookie form wouldn't be much help.
He had to have something-
Aleister's eyes widened, could that work? It'd be a sacrifice of a resource and he'd need to set up another barrier to contain it, but it could wipe out Echidna. He pulled out a small object, beginning to fill it with mana.
"Distract it! Medea when I throw this, form a barrier, as strong as you can around Echidna!". The master ordered, his companions nodding, Medea temporally stepping out of the fight to prepare, Cyber standing nearby to protect her.
Iris and Okita cut down as many red skeletons, meat tentacles, blocking the sword hand and ordinary hand of Echidna. Aleister only had one free hand to fight with, enhancing himself with Haki to punch and kick harder with his remaining free limbs.
The fight kept going on, the 'heroes' being slowly overwhelmed by the seemingly infinite energy and mass of Echidna. Iris managed to cut off its sword arm, only for a new one to instantly form and if not for Okita pulling her out of the way would've died or been absorbed there.
Said Assassin was having her own trouble, god-like speed or not, her brain could only take in so much and it seemed Echidna had decided to focus on her, sending in hoards of red skeletons, trying to crush her with its hand. Honestly, they were just lucky it seemed to have lost access to the abilities of Baobhan Sith in this state.
Aleister continued channeling mana into the item in his hands, draining every drop he had to spare, swallowing a Senzu Bean, and doing it again. He did this once more, leaving them with only a single Senzu. Hopefully, this would be enough.
"MEDEA!". He raised his arm to throw, enhancing it with Haki and tossing the mass gathering of mana. "NOW! EVERY DIRECTION!".
The Caster instantly acted, a barrier rising around Echidna from every single direction, draining as much mana as she could to make it as strong as possible.
Echidna roared, banging against the barrier, completely ignorant to the white crystalline orb slowly sinking into her flesh, the marble of Photonic Crystal glowing with pure energy.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!". Aleister quickly used Displacement to move behind a wall, his comrades copying his act when-
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The explosion should've been earth shaking, and if not for Medea's barrier, now covered in cracks and falling apart, both the mansion and likely most of Brockton Bay would've been vaporized.
"Is... Is it dead?". Okita asked, besides the flesh that had been caught outside the barrier, it seemed Echidna had been utterly obliterated.
"...Confirmation of Archer's mana added to the Holy Grail, burn every bit that remains just to be safe...". Medea let out a sigh of exhaustion, still keeping the Bounded Fields around the house active. "We need to check over the house, I'm sure the outer walls are fine, but everything inside it...".
Everyone groaned, exhaustion filling them. Aleister, exhausted but knowing they needed to work, had Iris cut the Senzu Bean up into five halves, it certainly wasn't anywhere near as effective, but it'd give them a shot of energy to get to work.
"Pauuu?". Tsunomon glanced around his home, what had he missed!?
It had been a few hours since the attack, and honestly Aleister was still shocked nobody had a clue what had occurred. He kept expecting the police or PRT to knock on the door, but after repairing the TV (With how busy everyone was going to be, they needed something to entertain them while fixing things up), a quick check of the news revealed the so dubbed 'Cape War' was still going on.
The PRT, The Pure, ABB, and various rogues were all still fighting, there had been a few deaths but nobody important it seemed. Annoying, but he could deal with that later, once the mansion was actually livable again...
He had checked over the captured Travelers, but... Well, without Medea's protective spells or a Demi-Servant's endurance, you'd end up fried by Sundancer's Second Trigger.
A mix of alchemy, robotics, and downright magic (Age of Gods magecraft was essentially magic) had repaired the worst of it, but smaller details like the damaged bathroom, smaller things like personal stuff, almost the entire living room... That all still needed repairing.
Thankfully, the basement had never been touched, heavy and destructive as Echidna was, even she wasn't getting through all the defenses they'd put around the Workshop.
"Wow... First time I visit in person, and it looks like this". Instantly everyone in the room moved, blades pointed at her throat, magic circles in the air, or even just fists ready to pummel. But the woman only looked amused.
"You try dealing with a Mini-Endbringer and not making a mess, Gaia!". Aleister would've usually been more polite to the still mysterious entity, but right now he was tired, hungry, and still angry Tsunomon had found nothing useful with the Travelers.
"True I suppose...". Gaia used a finger to push away the scythe form of Rhongyomniad, a small but still noticeable look of nervousness around the Tower At the End of The World. "I suppose you don't want your reward then-".
"I SWEAT TO WHATEVER GODS MAY EXIST IF YOU CHEAT ME OUT OF A BLESSING, I WILL FIND A WAY TO KILL YOU WOMAN!".
"-You are more frustrated then expected, it would seem best to leave this Blessing Book with you and let you decide at your own pace then. Same process as last time". Gaia summoned the familiar book from the dream, with her Champion snatching it. The rest of the girls still glared at her suspicious, this was their first time meeting the unknown entity and she was not making a good impression. But she simply smiled and disappeared.
"...I do not like her". Was all Medea said before walking over to Aleister, both of them quickly sitting down on the recently repaired sofa. "Let me see".
The master handed the book over, the Caster quickly checking through it, taking notes. Some things she knew she wanted her master to get, others not so much.
"Don't bother with any of the Mad Scientist Blessings at the moment, they're useful but right now we need more raw power. I can handle magecraft and FB technology. Adding another Servant isn't a bad idea, but with our ability to make Demi-Servants it may be better to wait. Mystic Eyes... It says a random pair, you could get something as grand as Death Perception to simply being able to see further". Medea flipped through more pages, before handing it off to Okita to hear her opinion.
"I'm going to agree with Medea regarding magecraft and science related blessings. Noble Phantasms would be useful and these... Devil Fruits could potentially serve as a great force amplifier, especially a Zoan or Logia. Pokemon would grant you a transformation thats naturally extremely durable and strong, enhancing it further with Haki and Reinforcement would produce great results. Chakra seems like you need to spend way to much time training, especially as Magecraft can do many similar feats". Okita paused at the next section. "A Zanpakuto isn't a bad idea, especially if Soul Reapers are more durable then humans and I could easily teach you how to wield a sword, I have been teaching Iris how to fight with one after all.
"Interesting, I wasn't aware of that...". Aleister finally took the book for himself. Aura was a useful ability, extra defense was always good, but a Semblance, the reflection of his soul... He wasn't exactly sure what form his soul would take, especially as his own soul was likely changed by Gaia's influence. More materials to create in Ultimate Transmutation was amazing, Energon and Dust were powerful energy sources, while Sea Stone, Celestial Bronze, and Stygian Iron were ether absurdly durable or had mystic abilities, Phazon... Even if it followed his will completely, he wasn't exactly eager to visit a nightmare from his video games. Chlorophyte was simple and useful, also containing the 'power' of nature or something along those lines, and his final blessing was...
An increase to stamina? Aleister stared at it confused, well he couldn't deny being able to do more would certainly be handy...
Edit: Forgot the stat upgrades, here they are.
- Mana - 35%
- Physical - 25%
- Combat 35%
- Observation Haki 19%.
- Armament Haki 14%.
- Conqueror's Haki 10%.
Bond ups.
Okita Souji: 7.
Iris Dawn: 3.
Tsumemon: 4.
Cyber: 2.
Okay yea... That fight? That was a crazy fight, Sundancer and Noelle being hijacked by their Shards to go Pseudo-Endbringer, nowhere near the strength of the real things but still way tougher then any ordinary cape. Thankfully the dice decided to only have two go Pseudo-Endbringer, because there WAS a chance for every Traveler to transform. All the Travelers dead because of Sundancer going living sun, which is annoying.
Of course in return, we got some MASSIVE gains for surviving and beating all that shit... While somehow nobody knows what happened. I also had the characters give their own opinions on each available Blessing, just for a bit of chilled out filler after the fight.
Next chapter, I will be doing a sort of Interlude, basically a chapter for Aleister to relax, hang out with everyone, and get excited about his new Blessings.