[CLOSED] Walpurgisnacht Event

The lieutenant tracked all three of them as her flight approached the city. They blew the petals off the cherry blossoms in their wake, and scaled the building simply by running up its side.

"Helluva way to make an entrance, heh! We've got eyes on 'em Princess, great to hear!"

Following this, the lieutenant ordered the rest of her squadron to sound off. Wings Green and Yellow were just joining the formation, bringing the flight to twenty-three strong.
Rescue One had already picked up the downed airman and was making haste back to base.
In the meantime, Rescue Two had just touched down outside the city's power plant with the engineers, and Rescue Three was well on its way to the substation on the horizon. By their mark, one of them would have full power in fifteen, maybe twenty minutes.

"Not quick enough. Let's buy 'em some time, folks."

She paid a glance towards Walpurgisnacht. Her troops desperately needed her aid, so wasn't she fighting? Was she still gauging our capabilities? Playing with us, even? Whatever had planned, the lieutenant wasn't about to let it go off unhindered.
As the rest of the flight broke to engage Walpurgisnacht, she sent Yellow wing to help their allies with the Abyssals. Flight Seargent Silverton had command.

"Roger ma'am, best 'a luck! We'll keep in touch, out."

Hundreds of rounds embedded themselves within Walpurgisnacht's shield, with the occasional dumb rocket for sincerity's sake; just enough to break her attention. Until they figured out a way past that globular barrier, ranged weapons were essentially ineffective.
At one point an airman scored a hit with her sword, though it was a glancing blow at best.

50 MP spent by the squadron, 10,000 damage dealt.

I had an idea to make the Abyssals more fun to fight, but I couldn't quite pull it off with my current writing. I'll run it by the OOC thread later. ]]

>The Holy Quintet team is still figuring out a way to take out the witch
>Walpurgisnacht flinged some aerial units out of the sky, inflicting heavy damage
"This is @[deleted], the church is still holding, but it can't last a few more hits. We have the building fully secure!" radio click

LucianDreamer wrote

>The Holy Quintet team is still figuring out a way to take out the witch, All in One proposes a tactic she learned from her previous experiences that would aid the group in taking that thing out
>Walpurgisnacht flinged some of Lieutenant Kousaka's aerial units out of the sky, inflicting heavy damage
>All in One then clicks the radio to Lieutenant Kousaka
"I'll stay put by the church fending off the Abyssals with Madoka. Kyoko and Sayaka will take care of the alleyways, and LucianDreamer will scale up the I-68 highway and launch attacks from there. @All in One, out!"
"This is @[deleted], the church is still holding, but it can't last a few more hits. We have the building fully secure!" radio click

No godmodding pls. I'm breddy sure @All in One wouldn't appreciate someone else playing his character for him. c: ]]

>LucianDreamer listens to her radio again when she receives a one-time scolding from the Lieutenant, telling her to not get ahead of herself, or else
>The Holy Quintet team for a brief second or two glared at the princess with scorn, but they still act friendly towards her, calming their nerves so that the princess can speak
>LucianDreamer then responds through the comm:
"I know what you said and the way you feel, Lieutenant. I hear you, loud and clear! Anyways, I'm still on standby for further orders."

"All right! Here's what I have in mind. Kyoko, you work with the airmen to get rid of any other familiars or Abyssals that are still lurking about. If there are none then head to where LucianDreamer stored the tankers. Keep tidy there until I radio in again. Airmen, lay off Walpurgisnacht for now. You'd only waste your firepower while that shield is active, and we're going to need as much of that as we can get pretty soon. Just do your best to keep the witch from leaving the area. Sayaka, I need you to create magical platforms that we can use to reach the witch's weak spot. Madoka, LucianDreamer, you come along with me. We need to do something about that shield."

>The skies have now become a rumbling sea of dark grey and pale green clouds streaming through the heavens
>Here and there small wisps break off of the main cloud bank and angle tenaciously towards the ground
>Around where they emerge from the rolling bank the clouds are swirling most ominously
"We better hurry. I'm afraid things are going to get much worse before they get better."

Backlash wrote

No godmodding pls. I'm breddy sure @All in One wouldn't appreciate someone else playing his character for him. c: ]]

Oh, that's alright but thanks for considering me. I don't want to bottleneck progress for this battle so it's fine by me. ]]

>The airmen backed off from the witch, even though as they still take damage from the witch, half of them will assist with Kyoko, the rest will circle around Walpurgisnacht from a safe distance whilst conserving their jetpack fuel
>Sayaka conjures a ramp, joined by a series of floating platforms at a suitable height for the group to use
>Kyoko jumps down from the rooftop to assist the airmen in hunting down any remaining stragglers. They spot only five, and they eliminated them with only a few rounds and spear attacks
>After those familiars and Abyssals were eliminated, Kyoko then heads to the tankers at a pace much faster than LucianDreamer did the attempt to get there a few minutes earlier, no sign of any further hostile activity there
>LucianDreamer and Madoka comes along with All in One, discussing their plan with each other

"So, about that shield." says LucianDreamer
"Is there a way we can break her defenses?" says Madoka

"I have an idea. If conventional weapons have no effect then what we should do is hit the shield with an immensely powerful magic blast. It might not look like it, but I think the witch is really hurting. That shield can't be easy to maintain. A Tiro blast and a particularly strong magical arrow should result in something. In the event that the shield does go down after the blast: LucianDreamer, I need you to bolt back down to Kyoko with the tankers and work together with her to lob them all at Walpurgisnacht once it's vulnerable; Madoka, you ready the largest bolt of magic you'll ever fire and shoot on my command; armed forces of the North American 19th Magic Squadron, wait for the tankers and arrow to land after the shield is down then raise all manner of hell on the thing. Try and aim for the weak spot by the face, all of you."
"What are you gonna do?" asks Madoka.

>All in One reaches into the time shield and pulls out a large looking bomb, too short to be missile, too large to be a hand-thrown weapon
>Its main body color is a dull, army green with a yellow circle encompassing the nose and a symbol consisting of six triangles, three yellow the other three black, branded on to its side
"I'm bringing out the big guns now." All in One replied.

>Walpurgisnacht's shield starts to fade out, allowing a small window of opportunity before she will raise up her shield again
>Loud thunder is getting closer, the wind direction fluctuates that makes the timing of their move tricky, and it won't be long before the storm is right over the city

"Now's our chance!" says LucianDreamer, as her musket is no longer jammed after checking, transforms it into an oversized cannon, aiming at the witch, and then waits
"I-I think I can do this!" says Madoka, as she readies her bow with her nocked arrow, steadying her aim, and then waits
"We're ready to fire when you're ready, but be fast." says LucianDreamer

>All in One points at the witch as the shield flickers and goes dim for a second
"FIRE!"
>Madoka fires her bow and LucianDreamer lets loose Tiro Finale
>The shield comes back alive for a brief second but the two blasts smash through it like glass and go on with much of their energy still intact to strike Walpurgisnacht itself
>The strikes deal 110,000 HP and the shield goes out for good
"Kyoko! Get ready! LucianDreamer is coming down to help launch the tankers."
"On it."
>Madoka primes another shot, letting the energy pool up in the ethereal arrow, while All in One produces a bulky contraption and hefts it over her shoulder
>She sticks the bomb in the chute and walks toward Madoka
>The airmen reorganize into attack formation and get ready to bombard the witch with everything they have
>The wind continues to pick up, the clouds swirl and the witch howls
"Ready." LucianDreamer radios over
"Do it."

LucianDreamer jumps down from the rooftop, braving heavy rain, hail, and strong gusts, as she sprints to the murky water to get to Kyoko
The river tries to sweep her away several times, but she manage to pull herself up out of harm's way, and continues running until finally caught up with the girl in red
The tankers are still undamaged, LucianDreamer pulls out the covers, and helps Kyoko lift the trucks with all their might
"Alrighty, let's give that witch a taste of our trucks' fuel!" says Kyoko
"Right! 1... 2... 3!" both LucianDreamer and Kyoko throws the tanker at the vulnerable witch
The tanker scored a direct critical hit, inflicting 1,100,000 HP worth of damage
Walpurgisnacht starts flinching, indicating her shield is no longer working anymore, and health is down to less than 30%
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813,200/3,000,000

LucianDreamer then radios over once again
"The witch's shield is down, thank goodness! She's vulnerable! All units, finish her off, quickly!"
Walpurgisnacht is getting very desperate, even though her defenses are down, she's not letting up, starts conjuring her favorite move, and that means high-rise buildings that can easily kill weak characters in one or two hits
The witch's highest priority is still on the church, she lobs one at it, putting Madoka, Sayaka, and All in One at very serious risk
final battle theme transition

"Thanks for the assist, team! We owe ya, big time!"

As a last-ditch attempt to protect herself, Walpurgisnacht summoned an extremely powerful passive vortex of wind around her.
It only got faster over time. Houses, factories, and even huge chunks of skyscrapers were extirpated from their foundations, creating a maelstrom of glass, concrete, and splintering wood all around the witch.
The remaining airmens' thruster packs struggled to keep pace. Going against the current was futile, so for now they perched themselves behind the buildings and cars swirling about their target
Coordinating via the commlink, they'd duck out of cover several at once, peppering the witch with gunfire and heavy missiles.The attacks hit home, but she was swift to counter; and despite the massive damage they'd inflicted, their numbers were diminishing.
The lieutenant keyed the comm.

"Sound off. How many we got left, thirteen?"

She had a plan. It was risky, certainly, but perhaps it was just crazy enough to work.

"Flight, unsheathe melee weapons and prepare for coordinated close combat. Follow me in, on my mark... Now!"

All at once, the remaining airmen dove into the eye of storm. Sensing something was amiss, the witch knocked one of them out of the sky, but the rest of them pressed on.
The spearman was first. Charging in with her lance at top speed, she was deflected by her enemy's hardy abdomen, but left a decent gash upon the top of her hip.
Next came the blades. Axes, swords, scythes, and knives all made their mark against the witch. The lieutenant herself aimed her rapier at her enemy's heart, but the skin there proved to be harder than steel.
The attack only ceased when Walpurgisnacht forced it to. A pulse of magical energy convinced the airmen to back off, and the two that didn't were blasted out of the sky. As they exited the funnel, the faint red glimmer of their impact barriers traced a shallow arc against the clouds, right up until they landed somewhere near the horizon.

As the rest of her team lobbed rockets and gunfire in their wake, the lieutenant keyed the comm once more.

"We did our best, and we hit 'er hard. Help us finish her off!"

At the expense of 1000 MP from each member of the squadron, 400,000 damage was dealt to Walpurgisnacht. Three of the remaining airmen were KO'd, bringing their ranks to ten.

>The power to the city is still cut off, and all the engineers unfortunately were hit hard by debris and was KO'd, the power plant exploded, leaking out radiation from the core. This also allows LucianDreamer an opportunity to heal herself whenever she's wounded if she stands near it due to her immunity to radiation
>At the same time, the National Weather Service already issued a flood warning to the affected county, just as the river begins to rise over the steep hills, forcing LucianDreamer and Kyoko to head back to the city. The city never had a flood before over the last few years
>The church can barely take hold, at around 10% durability. One more hit to it will send the whole party routing one by one. While it may not fail their mission, it just makes things many times harder than it already is
>Sayaka manage to dodge the building that would've made LucianDreamer go berserk if she didn't, Madoka and All in One realize that being inside the church is now no longer safe, and have to get outside
>The winds are so strong, about Category 1 strength, that all ground units can barely hold on their footing, and aerial units get blown around, hitting wherever they landed, most certainly knocking them out unconscious
>All electronics are cut off, fire attacks are now useless due to heavy rain and gusts, and the tankers were forcibly tossed into the river
>Even Lieutenant Kousaka is affected by the powerful winds, and is sent throttling back to the ground, taking heavy damage, and cracking her visor
>The Abyssals aren't giving up, either. They call in more reinforcements in an attempt to surround the city on three sides: north, west, and south with better weaponry and abilities, too.
>City durability is down to less than 50%
"Our comm is down! There is no way we can fix that now! Fall back! Don't give up on this, yet!" LucianDreamer shouted as best she could, but her voice was muffled by the howling wind, struggling to keep her balance

>Appearing at the top of a hill near the church, Bellona spots Lucia in the distance. Cupping her hands to her lips she shouts into the wind, the voice of a goddess however carries true.
"Oi Lucy! Don't be dying yet, you owe me a rematch! Sorry I took so long. I bumped into some old friends, they've come a long way to join the fun!"
>She grins at that last part as suddenly an entire legion of what seemed to be Incorporeal Roman soldiers crested the hill.
"DEFEND THE CHURCH MEN! FOR GLORY! ROMA INVICTA!"
>Bellona's war cry rings out over the battlefield as the legionnaries swarm towards the church, prepared to give their unlives once more for the glory of Rome.

>The Lucians and her allies appear to be equal numbers against Walpurgisnacht's Abyssals as of now
>Bellona and her forces charge down through the eastern hill against the Abyssals from the north, engaging in mixed combat. Since Bellona's forces are incorporeal, they're only vulnerable to magic, rather than physical, and succeeded in eliminating the familiars
>Bellona's forces then proceed into the church in normal formation to defend it
>The North American 19th Magic Squadron, now only about a quarter of their full strength, engages the western Abyssal army, they're trying to sabotage the Narrows Bridge on Route 40. By the time the remaining airmen arrived a little too late, that bridge was destroyed from the Abyssal war boats
>Then, they proceed to land ashore near Lover's Leap, charging towards the church at top speed on foot
>The rest of the party, consisting of the Holy Quintet and others, engages the southern Abyssal army attempting to destroy the airport hangar, the train station, and the I-68 highway before making their way to the church
>LucianDreamer will have to shout through the strong wind, since her radio doesn't work anymore
"WHATEVER'S LEFT OF OUR HOLY CITY, WE MUST NOT GIVE UP AGAINST THE WITCH!" LucianDreamer gives her final battle cry
>City durability has fallen to about 37.5%, there's not too many buildings left to defend, the situation becomes extremely dire
>Walpurgisnacht's HP is now critical

Image no longer available

400,000/3,000,000

"It's time to end this. I know what we need to do for a final strike. Two airmen need to carry Madoka and I over the witch so we can try to deal the killing blow."

As if the situation has already been this worse, Walpurgisnacht seems to be gaining the upper hand, and starts to laugh even louder with glee and with greater frequency despite Moeki's mind abilities to push her back
Since the whole party was distracted by Abyssals trying to besiege the city, the last bits of what used to be the church have finally give way
LucianDreamer and the Holy Quintet witnesses the church tumble down with a small, harmless rumble, knowing that they are losing this battle against the witch, their morale is starting to wane slowly overtime
"No... Not our beloved church! Such a historical piece of land for over 300 years is now gone! Gone, I say! EVERY ONE OF US FOR OURSELVES!"
LucianDreamer shouted to her whole party that they are losing, and must now switch their main objective to defend the remaining buildings no matter what at all costs
At this point right this instant; Walpurgisnacht has access to her strongest moves available

  • Breathe a 75° arc purplish-red fire breath attack that damages everything in a straight line up to 1 km with ease, dealing massive fire damage
  • Can summon the strongest familiars that are just as strong as the Holy Quintet
  • Upgraded her own throwing powers, allowing her to use 'Faust', igniting any debris lifted up on fire with little effort
  • Can flap her wings about with EF3-EF5 wind gusts to knockback even the strongest Puella Magi, a direct hit to something solid like a building from the increased momentum would most certainly end their careers instantly
    "Despite our best efforts, we have just lost the church, and now we must defend the rest of the city on our own. This battle is no longer in our favor, we have to keep up our faith if we can win this!" says LucianDreamer
    City durability is now at 25%.

"This is the final stretch. It's not going to be easy but we can still win. Everything has to work perfectly in order for it to work the way I want it to but the alternative is standing around and hoping for the best. That fire breath is nothing to scoff at. It can be avoided, or dealt with at the very least, if we can coax it into wasting it somewhere low priority. I can't imagine something that powerful can be recharged quickly. As for the familiars, killing the witch proper should make them disappear so if they are summoned it's just a matter of avoiding them until the witch is slain. And even if they do remain after the fact they will be manageable. Trying to fight them while Walpurgisnacht is still wreaking havoc is lunacy. Those gusts and that 'Faust' ability I'm not sure how to deal with. Hiding underground may be the only option in those scenarios.
"Now, what my plan entails is that two airmen carry Madoka and I over to Walpurgisnacht's weak spot for one final blow. Some others will have to distract it as we fly in close so we don't get burnt to a crisp or flung against the ground. Try and minimize the destruction the uber familiars cause but don't actually try to fight them. Just lead them to somewhere vacant. If the witch still isn't dead after our strike we should all just pile on it and try to tear it to shreds. Hopefully it can be done.
"Let's finish this thing and go home."

>LucianDreamer, Kyoko, and Sayaka catch up with Madoka and All in One to prepare for the final few minutes of the battle as a team in tight formation once more
>All in One's time shield is now fully recharged for one final use before it considers retiring in case all goes completely wrong
>This is the 100th and final timeline for All in One, so at this point, she ran out of resets
>LucianDreamer then informs the Lieutenant of the current situation, perhaps the commlink is back on from a neighboring power source
"Ma'am! We're going to end this, call it a big day, and return to Mitakihara if we succeed. Let's do it, together!" LucianDreamer gives the final say, knowing that this is it for the whole party, it's all or nothing
>The final stretch begins, with Walpurgisnacht still standing at 400,000 HP

During this time, the lieutenant had been struggling just to stay in the fight. Separated from the rest of her formation, she'd taken cover in a big chunk of office block circling about the witch.
She occasionally peered out from behind the corner, knuckles pale from clutching her aether rifle.
When the comm finally croaked back to life, her immedate instinct was to take charge. But the princess' voice stayed her tongue, made her carefully consider their allies' plan.
Once her nine remaining wingmen had reported in, the lieutenant looked out the window and performed a quick mental calculus. The odds were hardly in their favor.

"Negative, no can do! The winds are too strong; even if we made it in, our thruster packs aren't rated for anything above F2. We'd be flung right out!"

The lieutenant braced herself against the inevitable volley of shouting that profused from her commlink. She had to end this, fast. But how? Flying in alone was a fool's errand, and her allies' weapons could do little from afar. The only thing that might stand a chance  was...

"... a skyship! No, no. That'd take far too long."

She sensed she was onto something though. And the moment she noticed the tiny vent of clear sky above the maelstrom, an idea hatched in the lieutenant's mind. She relayed orders to the remainder of her flight, and keyed the comm once more.

"I've got a plan. It's a longshot, but at this point, what ain't?"

>As she spoke, five airmen emerged from hiding to pepper the witch with heavy gunfire. A bit of artful maneuvering spared them the brunt of her counters, but their luck wouldn't last forever.

"We're gonna go topside, aight? Above the clouds, right into the eye of the storm. We only got room for two, so pick wisely."

The remaining four airmen touched down in front of @[deleted] and company. The lieutenant had recommended the princess to call the shots, and @All in One for her extreme magical power. Deliberations were swift by necessity. Once finished, the airmen showed their passengers to an aetherial platform summoned between their greaves, and braced them for the swift ascent ahead.
They found the lieutenant circling above the clouds, keeping a steady eye on the whirlwind. With a silent nod exchanged between all, the airmen banked their wings and took them headlong into the howling dark.

Sorry 'bout the long wait. I was jugglin' a lotta concepts for this post, and I kinda lost the first draft when my browser crashed. I think it turned out alright though. :3 ]]

>All in One carefully primed her weapon for use as the platform and the airmen supporting it sailed through the clouds
>She noted that the fierce gales coming from the witch seemed to be completely absent from the platform, like there was a vacuum encompassing it
>The only disturbances came from the turbulence experienced by the airmen
>Once her contraption was properly calibrated All in One glanced over at LucianDreamer
"Put everything you have into this shot. It's all or nothing at this juncture."
>A rough bout of turbulence then rocks the platform
>The two standing on it are nearly knocked off of their feet
"Shit, this is some nasty wind! I feel like I'm in a washing machine."
>All in One turned toward the pilot, carefully unloading the weapon again
"How much longer till the eye?"
"We're pretty close, but that means we're coming right up on the eye wall, which should explain the uptick in the wind here."
"Hmm. Do you think we can get through okay?
>The pilot consults her meteorological readout for a moment
"Maybe..? I don't know. All the years I've been flying I've never seen anything like this. We can try but I can't guarantee anything."
"Forge ahead then and tell if it gets too bad to continue. I thought up a contingency for the worst case scenario. Though, I have to say I really hope it won't come to it."
"What would that be, exactly?"
"I freeze time so the wind would be cease to exist for a bit and then you and I would swoop down through the eye wall and deliver the payload. Only problem is I don't know how much energy is left in my shield so we won't have much time to get to the witch before it runs out. Which means no controlled flight, just a steep dive down to the witch in freefall."
"So, borderline kamikaze?"
>All in One thinks on this for a second
"Yeah, I suppose you could put it that way."