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No title.
(2013-07-29 - Now)
No description.
Akari Seran Almost flush up against the edge of the port city a massive forest of towering evergreens hugs the edge of Luca in a protective cocoon. A few major trade routes wind their way along from the main gates but the majority of the passages through the heavy underbrush are game trails and foot-worn paths created by generations of local wanderers.

Akari can sense these corridors created over the passage of time, her geo-sight allowing her to pick out the places where the thick roots of the mighty pines and the scraggly shrubs have been beaten back. Fallen needles and pinecones crunch under her bare feet as she winds her way into the depths of the forest, making no attempt at stealth or subterfuge. Even if she were capable of such things, the young berserker is in the mood for a fight and she's hoping that her stomping about will attract whatever local variety of monsters or predators might think of a lone maimed girl as good sport.

It's been only a day since she moved into the Ame-no-Torifune alongside Aeschere but every moment of her time spent there has been on the edge of a razor. Ambushes or traps or any other such foolishness she could handle but trying to watch out for her friend has been a draining experience. So used to caring only about herself she's finding the prospect of allowing this weakness into her life to be somewhat frustrating, all the more so because she can't understand how she allowed it to happen.

"Aggggh!"

With a sudden outburst of rage the girl whirls and slams her fist into the trunk of the nearest tree. A cracking sound akin to a peal of thunder echoes through the forest as the ancient pillar of wood buckles like a twig and slams to the ground beside her.

"Damnit..."
Alma Hyral There weren't many reasons to come to Luca. Blitzball was one of those reasons, it's famous stadium was evidence of that.

Alma wasn't much of a sports person. She was here for a very different reason, to put the finishing touches on a special project that was near and dear to her heart. As she walked the road to Luca, she found herself eyeing it again. She'd had it recently enchanted.. and she promised herself that she wouldn't play with it again, not until the gift was given. But as she walked to through the forest glade that surrounded the city itself. But as she walked through the umbrage she found her gaze straying to the leather satchel that contained the objects in question. And suddenly her patience just ran out. She put a hand inside the satchel, moved it out of the bag, and spoke something to the object in a very soft voice, while pressing on a button. Immediately, music started to play from it, a soft soothing melody:

BGM Change: http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=YbjQqWFxbaM

Which would probably be thoroughly irritating to any itinerant berserkers with enhanced senses. Luckily there weren't any around, right?

/AGHHHHH!/

There's a peal of thunder throughout the forest, and the sound of a tree felling and Alma's gaze strays in that direction. "Well that's odd. What's going on?"

And while it wasn't wise, she started to walk that way, her feet crunching against the underbrush. Currently she was wearing a pair of denim jeans, a white T-shirt, and a red windbreaker. Her hair was allowed to flow freely, it's length down to her waist. She wasn't trying for stealth, so she didn't think to turn off the magically enchanted tune, as she approached in that direction. It was only when she got close enough to /see/ said itinerant berserker. "Oh sweet Cosma.." She stated in a thoroughly resigned tone as she rolled her eyes, her gaze eventually falling upon the fallen tree, before stating, "Hey Akari. How are you doing?"

And the music keeps on playing...
Akari Seran Even in her distracted state, Akari's consciousness is on a level well above most humans. The gently tinkling melody touches her ears, sending a shiver of warning to her brain that causes the angry girl to turn and glare harshly into the underbrush for several long seconds.

When Alma emerges from the bushes and turns out to be the source of the strange melody, the berserker snorts like a bull who has just seen the color red. "Little Rabbit. Come to play in the woods? I don't see your baby-sitters."

If she's particularly bothered by the music any more than the other girl's presence alone, she doesn't show it, simply sporting her usual annoyed scowl and furrowed brows. Oddly, Akari seems to be wearing her Academy jacket today, draped over her missing arm in typical delinquent fashion.
Alma Hyral Alma reaches a hand in the satchel, turning the melody off with but the press of a hand lightly upon it.

And then she offers Akari a smile, unaware if she could even see it or not, she appraised her with a look, wondering why she was even bothering to wear the academy jacket, but she didn't question it, instead shrugging her shoulders. Her voice had a sense of non-chalant snark about it, "Well gee Akari, I don't think my /baby-sitters/ thought I needed anyone with me to watch a whistle punk at work." As she looks pointedly towards the fallen tree, gesturing with another hand, still unaware of whether Akari could even see the movement. "I mean I can't think of any other reason as to why you'd be felling trees, unless that's your new occupation."

She let's out a long-suffering sigh, "Now are we going to move on to the usual angry rage, and me fleeing in response or can we manage a pleasant conversation for once?"
Akari Seran Akari's lips pull back in a predictable snarl at the taunt, flashing her clenching teeth. She manages to restrain herself, if only just barely, judging by the tightening of her fist.

"What the hell would I have to talk about with a stuck up rich <GOOSEHONK> like you?"

The taller girl stares Alma down, her empty eyes disconcertingly focused both in her direction but not entirely at her directly. She shows no signs of being intimidated or concerned by her flippant attitude.
Alma Hyral Which is fair, because given her size and weight she's probably the furthest thing from intimidating, no matter what she says. What's more, she's very aware of that fact.

The girl actually closes her eyes briefly at the insult, but then opens them again, as she has a eerily pleasant smile on her expression.

"If you knew anything about my family at all, then you'd know that despite us being 'rich' my parents made us live in circumstances which probably would have been humble even by your standards. And if you think I'm stuck up then so be it. I guess that's a fair impression, given how I've acted in the past even if its wrong."

She pushes up her glasses briefly, seeming uncaring about her intimidating stance. "....and I don't know. What would you like to discuss? I mean we're out in the woods alone. And if I'm not mistaken that's the Ame-No-Torifune docked in the distance so I could think of a subject or three."
Akari Seran The berserker snorts again, a mocking hint of laughter in the gesture. "What, is the supposed to be some kind of a threat? You think Souji," she hisses the name like a curse, "or any of his other cronies are going to give me pause?"

Akari shakes her head and takes a step foward, the menace in her stance quite clear, but there's no warning besides this as she lurches into blinding motion. The gap between them vanishes in an instant, almost like the bruiser teleported, but the blurred image of her body leaping the dozen or so feet between them in a flash is still fresh.

Akari reaches up with her hand and slams it against the surface of the tree behind Alma, looming ominously over the smaller girl as if they were back in school and she had cornered her against the lockers.

"What's the matter, Rabbit? Starting to regret your life, is that it? Come to grovel at my feet for forgiveness?" She grins wickedly. "Go ahead, I won't stop you."
Alma Hyral She again rolls her eyes at Akari, "No, that's not a threat at all. It's an offer for conversation and..."

But then Akari is on her in a blur of motion. And while she could move faster, if she chose... she does not.

At first she flinches as she looms over her.. but then she just stares up at her with an even gaze. "....I don't want to fight you Akari, but neither will I run away. And sure, I have a lot of regrets, but I don't regret my life. And I sure as /Chaos/ am not going to grovel."
Akari Seran That flinch is all Akari needs. It's what bullies like her live for. Her grin widens into a playful but predatory smile as she hunches over the bespectacled girl who tries to put up a brave front.

"Oh? How boring. And here I thought you might actually be able to entertain me for once. What's the matter, Rabbit? That pride of yours getting in the way? Or do you just not want to get your fancy clothes dirty?"
Alma Hyral That was laughable, which was probably why she giggled, "I'm wearing denim jeans, a T-shirt, and a windbreaker Akari. Fancy clothes, really? Is that the best you can come up with. And what pride?"

She actually laughs a little louder at that, "I mean seriously. What pride? When I spent years running away, hiding, and cowering? I have about as much pride as you can fit into a thimble."

Finally the laughter dies away, but she just looks her into the milky white sclera of her blind eyes, "...but I'm not here to impress you, I'm not here to entertain you, and I could care less about what you think of me."
Akari Seran Akari's temporary good humor falters at the retort. An annoyed and surprised noise escapes her before she can bite it off at being informed of the attire that her victim is wearing; something that she couldn't possibly know. Still, it makes her look foolish and that makes her angry.

"What are you laughing at?!"

Her fist pulls back and slams into the tree again, showering Alma with splintered chips of wood and causing an ominous creak from the thick trunk.

"You think it's funny, laughing at a blind girl? Is that your idea of humor?! You're just like all of the others!"

Her fist pulls back again but this time it's not aimed at the tree. Alma will have a few split seconds to realise she pushed one of Akari's (many) anger buttons. And the berserker has only one response to that.
Alma Hyral Akari punches, and at this range, she wasn't sure she could dodge in time.

So she doesn't even try. Instead a radiant yellow corona lims her body instantly, covering her with a soft radiance, as she twists around, her fist flying out as a burst of that scathing luminescence tries to intercept the punch.

But she entirely misjudged the berserker's rage and power. As the punch completely overwhelms the burst of energy, and while it scathes Akari's fist slightly, the punch makes it through, landing against her shoulder. There's a sickening crunch.

And then there's a blur of movement, and Alma is instead suspended in the sky a good twenty feet above her. That same arm hangs limply, as she looks down upon Akari, her affect suddenly eerily flat. A soft glow spreads over her, and she takes the time to pop her shoulder back into place. There's only the slightest flicker of emotion from the pain on her features from the action.

"I think laughing at a blind girl is about as funny as a bully picking on someone younger and smaller than themselves, that is.. not very."

And then with that same arm that popped her shoulder back into place, she removes her glasses in one motion, depositing them in her leather satchel. ".....if we must do this, then like I said. I won't run away."
Akari Seran Akari doesn't even flinch as the glowing fist glances off her own. It doesn't slow the bar-jarring impact of her own rage-filled punch in the slightest and the already weakened tree shudders yet again as the kinetic force drives Alma against its surface.

Having already born witness to the white mage's strange and powerful sorcery before, Akari merely turns to follow the surge of spiritual energy, relying on her own powerful supernatural senses to keep track of the girl instead of attempting to read her through the wind as before.

"You know, I always thought it would be nice to see one of you powder puffs actually grow a spine and face me. But now you're just starting to piss me off!"

The furious pugilist slams her foot down into the ground, rocketing herself upwards like a cannonball at the floating mage. She spins like a top upon reaching Alma, dropping a viscious axe-kick from above that's meant to drive her back to the ground where her geomancy is strongest.
Alma Hyral Akari launches herself into the air.

Time out.

While Akari was now moving at a languid pace, a languid Akari was still plenty fast. And so as she tries to move out of the way, Akari manages to glance her with the spinning kick. A glancing blow from Akari was still plenty tough though, and the force of it caused her to be launched downward. Luckily she was able to catch herself long before she hit the ground.

But while Akari was still in the air, it gave her plenty of time to move around in her time dilated state.

An array of yellow Sigils form near the predicted site of her landing. Several forming a ring in the air around her. Then another above her. By the time she landed, Alma was a good distance away from her.

Another magical array forms in her hand, and she plays against the surface of it with her fingers. "Far be it from me..."

The arrays to her sides all flare to life, bathing her in columns of burning incandescence.

"....to want to piss you off. I rather respect your fighting ability. Just not your attitude."

And then suddenly her voice just changes into something echoing, hollow, and serene, as her affect becomes even more flat.

Polaris. Lucent guide of the Northern skies.

Above Akari's head, one of the Sigils would instead turn into a blazing achromic ball of energy, with little flares of radiance coruscating off the surface. A moment later it dropped towards her head, collapsing into a much larger, dazzling explosion.
Akari Seran To the time-shifted berserker, it feels like the her target is zipping around at the speed of light. She knows some trickery is at work here; she can feel the magic warping reality around her but her knowledge is cold comfort and no help at all.

Akari hits the ground like a sack of bricks, snapping back to normal time just as the ball of magical energy drops on her from above. She has just enough time to throw her arm upwards, punching the deadly orb with a cry of defiance before it detonates in a wash of power that hammers the stout girl to her knees.

Akari grunts and pushes back to her feet once the light fades. Small streaks of black marr her face where the energy managed to get past her aggressive defense and her lone hand smolders like a piece of used up kindling. Casually, she pulls her Academy jacket off and hangs it from a small branch nearby.

"That actually stings."

With that terse reply, Akari turns and unleashes her fury yet again. Her foot stamps the ground, sending a quickly spreading tremor into the dirt that erupts below Alma's feet, thrusting massive chunks of sheer stone at her like pistons. Unable to take such forces after the beating it's received, the tree behind her begins to groan and topple over.

Rather than dodge, Akari catches the massive trunk, a new arm of stone manifesting from her ruined stump in a flash. With a sharp tug, she yanks the ancient pine free from the ground and swings it up and then down like a mallet at the glowing mage.
Alma Hyral Alma had no more banter for the berserker. She did however have a bit of a cooldown on her time witchery.

Thus when Akari stamps her way. She doesn't exactly dodge. Instead she just stands there and takes it head on. Or so Akari might think at first. As the stones and dirt erupts below her feet, Akari might have the weird sense of spiritual pressure and energy that she had not in fact struck Alma. The source of the energy flickers. The actual /image/ of Alma, crafted out of hard light becomes like static, before it fades away.

Unfortunately as she was moving upwards at a far slower space, she did get struck by a shower of gravel, and it actually did, freaking, hurt, like /Chaos/. She shields her face with her hands as the continuous shower of gravel and dirt strikes her.

Time out.

Shifting her focus, time dilates around her. She moves about the forested glade at a hyperfast speed, her pattern chaotic, but in reality it had perfect order to it. At every point that she touched, large, luminescent sigils formed. Akari would now have the vague sense that she was surrounded by a ring of eleven of them... with another seven above her. Five more sigils were behind the spot where Alma hung suspended in the air.

When she stopped, two more arrays formed in her hands instantly, as she began to subtly shift and manipulate them again.

Eleven Sigils formed in a ring around her, a coruscating light linking them and forming. A pattern known to uranography the Land of Dragons as Ophiuchus, and as Serpentarius in the apocryphal Zodiac of Ivalice.

Great Serpent of the Zodiac, of the Azure Dragon of the East and the Black Tortoise of the North... strike.

Overlaying the constellation, would be a translucent blue image of a great serpent, which would immediately constrict, coiling about Akari in an attempt to restrict her movements in the short term. It's head would rise, the stars representing it's lidded eyes staring down upon her, before it would surge forth and try to bite at her with glowing fangs. Each one was a razor of light, and would cause burns, rather than actual bleeding wounds.

Another seven sigils would form above him, coruscating lines of energy joining them into the pattern of a constellation from the Land of Dragons and Galianda both.

Phoenix of the White Tiger of the West and the Southern asterisms... patron of physicians.. your rebirth is at hand.

That would form into the pattern of a translucent blue firebird overlaying the constellation, which would swoop down upon Akari.. the serpent would instantly uncoil, allowing her to be embraced by it's wings. And then the hard light construct would catch fire, with burning white flames, while she was still within it's embrace. That construct would explode into a great pyre of light, it's stars immediately disappearing.

Another five sigils joined together at Akari's right in the pattern of weighing scales, a constellation from Ivalice.

Libra. Radiant justice may your scales always remain in balance.

As one, blazing streams of energy streak towards Akari's position amongst the serpent, upon striking they explode into little blossoms of light. The serpent itself vanishes, its animating energy dissipating in the wake of the myriad of explosions.
Akari Seran This is starting to feel familiar. The same tactics, the same blinding speed, the same magical nonsense. Akari's expression becomes stoic as she feels time dilate knowing what's going to come next. This was going to be a game of anticipation and planning. Most people think of her as just a stupid brute. Let them.

When reality shifts back into phase, Akari reacts in an instant. The air around her begins to heat up as her geomantic powers gather into full effect, turning the space directly around the slender bruiser into a blast furnace. Alma's magical bombardment strikes the shield of fire, losing much of its potency, but still bursting through to scour her skin.

Akari lets loose a cry of pain and fury but she focuses her attention on the last direction that she felt the surge of spiritual energy heading. A single thrust of her fist sends a wither beam of pure red heat lancing into the air on an intercept course, missing by mere inches. But she was close.

Still sizzling from the detrimental magic barrage, Akari takes a moment to gather her strength anew. The earth trembles beneath her feet as she draws its strength into her body, feeling a cool touch not unlike wet mud against her burns as nature mends the injuries.

"Still running away from a real fight, eh, Rabbit? Once a coward, always a coward."
Alma Hyral Alma doesn't speak in response to the taunt. There is a sort of strangled sound from her, but it's like nothing Akari might have heard before. Instead her hands move up to her head, and for a moment her expression just looks entirely pained. And then Akari might feel something exuding out from her, a sort of spiritual energy which just envelops the area around them. While she feels Alma slightly more keenly, the same spiritual energy being thrown off of her in waves.

BGM Change: http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=d88xQCKM2W0

This energy spreads out over her, behind her, and a moment later it washes over the entirety of the glade. And then all of that energy seems to vanish at once, Alma remaining the bright epicenter of what would feel like a dark void. Everything else feels distant. Even the spiritual energy of the ground which Akari just connected with. Yet even though her feet are now not touching upon the ground, she still feels as if she is.

It's an uncomfortable sensation as if the battlefield was altered in some mysterious way to the blind girl. The dimensions feel both finite and infinite to her. The earth is there and not there. And yet it does not feel like some true dark void. It is far cooler than the air around Luca but not entirely absent of heat and the air is thin but still present. On what happened, there is no response from the girl. Only a twitch on her expression that might not be visible to Akari.
Akari Seran Akari glances around, her head swiveling back and forth in quick bursts as the strange void unfolds around them. One of the great curses of her blindness was that being put into unfamiliar situations made it extremely difficult for her to discover the cause.

Had she been thrust into the air? Were they now striding on some distant world? It is impossible for her to tell through the spiritual flows alone. But the change in Alma is definately something she can sense.

The berserker spits on the ground, or what she assumes is the ground, and glares up at the distraught girl. "More tricks? You still don't get it? It doesn't matter what you throw at me!"

Akari lets out a primal roar of battlelust once again and throws herself into the air. Once again she brings the full weight of her impossibly powerful arms down on the mage, attempting to drive her back towards the earth. Beams of fire and cutting blades of wind buffet Alma in a flurry as the delinquent unleashes the full might of her elemental geomancy on her, pulling at every element she can just to get a feel for how they react to this strange place.
Alma Hyral Alma seems too distracted to even notice an attack is coming her way. There is a flicker of static over her image at the last second, but it is far too late. The attack strikes her, driving her down to the floor of the little world she's created. She hits hard. She doesn't even scream. And while her form is twisted and battered by the action, the glow about her begins to appear to mend it right away. Another flicker of static from her position on the ground, and she's suddenly in the air again, even though there were no movements which indicated motion at all.

Akari might start to hear something that sounds muted at first, an indistinct sound which suddenly rattled around within her thoughts like a niggling sort of presence. It was indistinct at first, such that the melody didn't even make sense, the notes seperate enunciated things. But suddenly they started to make perfect sense to her...

Alma's eyes eyes open at once. A moment later Akari might feel a glimmer of energy on the distant horizon. But suddenly it felt much larger. For a time it felt like just the coming dawn. Sunlight which marked the beginning of a new day.

Suddenly the melody started making perfect sense to Akari, it brought a sense of serene sublimity which heightened her focus even beyond what her senses normally experienced. Truths would flood her mind, a myriad of contradictory paradoxes about her own existence which at the same time made perfect sense. Every time her mind focused on one.. it slipped away.

....the light grow closer, and as it did the heat grew overwhelming, before washing over the area. It scathes and scours her with an overwhelming amount of brilliance.

....but it was over in one brief moment. Now the void was no longer a void. It was a kaleidoscope of color and energy. It was like experiencing the universe through a high-powered telescope. Nebulas of dancing fingers of brilliantly laced cosmic space dust. Stars of stately brilliance, some ancient and wavering in their colors, others bright and new. Thousands of them. Except they were the size of pinpricks from this perspective, rather than giant balls of gaseous dust.

As one, those little pinpricks of burning incandescence descended on Akari, striking her from all directions before taking their place back in the heavens.
Akari Seran Akari's fought countless times in her short two decades of life. Monsters, soldiers, machines, even demons and undead. Hundreds have died at her hands, enemies crushed by her unrestrained fury and bare fists that have shrugged off the most potent magics and weapons. Battle comes as easy a breathing, her ability to read the flow of combat and adapt to overcome having been honed into near god-like perfection. Fighting is the pinnacle of her being, her very reason for waking up to feel the dawn of the next day. If there is such a thing as an angel of war then this scarred and maimed young girl is it.

And despite all of this the sense of detached wrongness that emenates from Alma is completely foreign to her. With only her spirit to guide her, she watches the bizarre scene unfold around her, feeling it rather than seeing it with the eyes that failed her so many years ago.

A sound, small at first, but it quickly builds to an irritating buzz in the back of her mind. The berserker snarls in response to this. Nothing is allowed to invade her mind in such a fashion! Her defiance flares around her in a crimson stain of rage, pushing the haunting music away with brute force of will.

And then the heavens collapse upon her. Akari staggers as the first of the tiny motes of light slams into her from behind, the impact so fierce is bows her nearly impenetrable body backwards. A second comes, slamming into her from the other side, doubling the girl over and ejecting all of the air from her lungs in a wordless gasp. More follow, countless stars slamming into her from every direction in the span of a heartbeat and for a singular moment her world becomes searing pain unlike any she's ever felt.

And then the moment ends. Akari drops to the ground in a disheveled heap, gasping for air she didn't know could taste so good. She retches, hacking a thick stream of blood onto the floor as she climbs to her feet once again with shaking limbs that refuse to heed her commands to stand firm.

"Wretched... witch..."

While any normal person would have been ended by such a strike, Akari seems to be recovering at an alarming rate. She takes several faltering steps towards the floating mage and with each footfall her strength seems to return a little. By the time she's taken a dozen, she's running outright at Alma.

Her face a mask of rage, Akari leaps again, once more attempt to bring her opponent down into familiar territory. Without any sort of visible wings that she can rip off to prevent her from flying and since injuring her seems to have little lasting effect, she tries an old favorite.

Wrapping her arms around the girl in mid-leap, she slams her forehead down at her crown, bringing with it the same earth-rending strength that resides in her arms. As they tumble downwards, Akari unleashes a singular mighty blow, infusing it with her boiling anger that manifests as a berserker cry of rage.
Alma Hyral Akari leaps again. She strikes out at Alma's image, and for a moment the blow feels solid. But before it can connect in full, the force appears to go right /through/ her. And the epicenter of the energy is suddenly elsewhere.

It was as if she were there, but not there in the first place. She still looks visibly pained, but she doesn't let out the typical satisfying cry that bullies might enjoy hearing.

Little tears open up in the fabric of space around Akari. She gets the impression that they are little portals to elsewhere. And suddenly little flares of light like distant solar flares wash over her body, out of the portal. Scouring her. More Sigils form out of nothingness, even though Alma appears quite distant from the position. And columns of burning incandescence surge through her from eight different directions. And then the tiny glowing witch in the distance calls down a ring of stars which fall out of the heavens and begin to revolve around her, which suddenly all change into dimensions, to be slightly larger than little pinpricks. A moment later, they're streaking towards her as well, blossoming into little novas of explosions as they strike.
Akari Seran The downburst of pressure from Akari's punch hits the ground and reflects upwards again, actually keeping her aloft for several seconds. Far beyond seeking out the simple pleasure of making people weaker than her bow to her strength, the berserker focuses intently on the surroundings as she feels another surge of spiritual power building.

Her feet hit the ground hard but the stone demi-god hardly seems to feel the impact, her head instantly whipping back and forth to take in this new phenomenon. Quickly learning how to deal with this bizzare world, Akari gathers up her own internal power and unleashes it in a shimmering field of red around her body, once more buffering herself from the worst that Alma has to throw to her.

Light and heat washes over Akari for several seconds but rather than sit and take it, she goes on the offensive again. The first few star-bombs detonate around her but a swing of her fist sends the next one flying backwards to fratricide the others in a spetacular fashion.

The berserker grins to herself, taking a short moment to celebrate her success. How long has it been since she's had to worry whether or not that would work? Her mind flashes through the countless battles in a rush but only a handful ever truly pushed her limits like this has. What a rush!

With her spirits renewed by this realization, Akari throws her head back and howls, her chi flaring into a blinding pillar of scintilating red that punches into the sky like a spear. Her body suddenly feels lighter, the wounds that have been inflincted vanishing as if her mere willingness to fight has wished them away.

Displaying the same incredible speed as before, Akari takes off at a run, tearing across whatever the terrain below her might be composed off at a steadily increasing speed. She throws herself at Alma, literally leaping dozens if not hundreds of feet to unleash her wrath on the source of her combat rage.
Alma Hyral The blow strikes. Another flicker of static, Alma's image is distorted, and suddenly she's elsewhere, far upwards. More sigils form around Akari bathing the area in scathing luminescence, but she's already out of the way. Alma appears entirely abstracted, like the fight isn't even on her mind.

The epicenter of brilliance suddenly feels far brighter and radiant. But there's no other visible reaction from her.

The entire recreation of the universe around Akari begins to revolve faster. Revolution upon revolution, rotation upon rotation. It's dizzying, but no attacks come immediately.
Akari Seran One of the benefits of being blind is that you can't get vertigo. Being the stout sort anyways, Akari utterly ignores the chaos of a half-formed reality around her and focuses with the single-minded determination that she's become rather infamous for on the task at hand; namely, breaking Alma over her knee until whatever is causing these crazed distortions to stop.

Grappling continues to be the best idea in her mind, as every time she's gotten close enough to strike the mage, she's had atleast some measure of success. Akari throws herself straight upwards like a ballistic missile leaving its launch tube on a collision course for the teleporting nuisance. Her arms reach out to lock around Alma, and should she get a decent grip, bear her down towards the ground with her, pummeling and kicking and otherwise attempting to bludgeon her as hard as possible with whatever part of her body seems the most convenient at the time.
Alma Hyral Akari flies at her. And suddenly Alma just seems far more distant than she'd anticipated. Like the perspective of infinity just shifted suddenly, and she's just a little more distant. Akari's blow goes wild, though the force of it does cause Alma's hair to billow about her as the waves of kinetic energy pass by, just missing her.

The girl puts a hand against the surface of the void around them, and for a moment it feels akin to a touch screen. She spins her hand. And suddenly their perspective shifts rapidly. Instead of being in the center of it all, they're in the middle of a much enlarged solar system of one very infamous planet.

Ivalice.

Even though it's unlikely that Akari would know that. However, it wasn't the world that was interesting, but the system of stars it was in. Akari might get the strange sensation of a great number of stars from the Auriga constellation flickering at her, their spiritual pressure growing. And their size would increase, going from pinpricks to being about the size of volleyballs. Each manifestation of the celestial chariot streaking towards her and striking her.

And then she might feel the uncomfortable sensation of the universe around her distorting, and then collapsing. As if it were one giant supernova. The energy washes over her, and then there's a sucking sensation left by the void, flinging her through it, depositing her back on the ground of the glade.

And Alma looks much diminished from the effort of maintaining everything this long. Her expression showing great fatigue in the lines, but she's still not looking at Akari. Just hovering in the air, her breath ragged, and heaving. Maybe she's weak enough for her to finish off? It'd be difficult to know at a glance.
Akari Seran Akari tenses up slightly as the feels the world around her change yet again, wary of what new tricks might be waiting to be unleashed on her here. It feels both familiar and alien at the same time, like something glimpsed once in a dream but never fully brought into focus. A disconcerting sensation to say the least.

Her senses keyed up to high alert, the berserker feels the first of the spiritual comets streak towards her and whirls to smash it aside, backhanding the star, or whatever it might actually be, aside with an almost casual ease.

"Is that all you can do, Rabbit? Hide behind these false worlds and illusions? It will take more than that to best me!"

Akari lapses into enraged grunts and shouts as the remaining stars collapse upon her in a storm of shimmering lights, smashing them aside with fists and elbows. The burning fireballs leave blackened scars across the girl's body as their searing celestial auras lap at her exposed flesh but these wounds fail to hinder her at all. Even as the void swallows her whole, Akari's cries of stony determination persist, echoing through the caverns of empty space.

The soft grass deforms as the stone-god girl hits the ground in a three-point crouch, her heavy body cratering the earth like a meteor fallen from the heavens. She recovers instantly, turning to face the one constant point of spiritual light in this cosmic facade.

"This ends now!"

Focusing her chi into a single point at the end of her fist, Akari leaps for what she expects to be the final time and brings the full unrestrained force of her supernatural might crashing into the mage. So powerful is the blow that space warps around her fist, tearing at the false hints of reality that trap her here and bending them asunder with the fury of her spirit. A second blow, wild but just as packed with her boundless fury follows the first, her stone arm bringing its dead weight around like the hammer of some forgotten god.
Alma Hyral The girl's eyes looked unfocused as she looked up. "Where am I...? Who am...?"

Her voice trailed off. She looked and sounded genuinely confused. Akari's supernatural might careens her way. And perhaps the sight of imminent death snaps her out of it. She catches her own second wind just in time.

Time out.

She streaks upwards over Akari who is sailing over her, and then Sigils form above her head. Columns of penetrating light flare into brilliance and for a moment the glade is overwhelmed by the blinding flash of light. It appears to have been done in complete reflex. The girl still looks very much bewildered. As she rubs a hand against her cheek.

"That's right you... attacked me."

"...But why? Oh... you're Akari. Akari Seran."

Apparently she'd decided that was answer enough.
Akari Seran Agh, not this crap again. Akari's frustration is literally palpable as her aura flares a deeper color of scarlet even in the time-shifted zone. The distorting nature of her spiritual assault shatters several of the pillars of light, golden fragments of reality breaking upon her fist and tinkling harmlessly to the ground like bits of glass.

Akari inflicts another visible wound upon the earth as she plummets from her failed assault, landing much less gracefully this time on the flat of her back. The rough landing earns an annoyed grunt from the girl but since she's had stars being thrown at her like dodge balls for the past few minutes, she takes it in stride.

"I'm going to do a hell of a lot more to you when I get my hands on you, girl!"

Flipping back to her feet with an acrobatic kick of her legs, Akari wastes as little time as possible pondering the reasons behind any of this crap that's going on. All she knows is this fight is possibly the best one she's had in years and she's not about to lose it.

Once more the spirit-destroying power that lurks within her unassuming (and unimpressive) breast flares to life in her hand. The cataclysmic fist closes in at break-neck speed, pushing violent gales up in its wake and igniting the air around it from the sheer friction of its passage.

The impact stops short, however, Akari punching the air directly infront of her target instead of Alma herself. Perhaps a fake-out would prevent her teleportation from kicking in as it seemed to be a reflex impulse. A beam of deep crimson light erupts from the end of her fist as she shunts all of her spiritual power into the blow, throwing a devastating wave of heat and overwhelming rage into the girl at near point blank.
Alma Hyral Yep, Alma was on cooldown again.

Which is why she had switched tactics. Akari punches the air with her feint. Right before the crimson light strikes the Alma duplicate with heat friction, followed up by a spirit-rending blow. There's a moment of satisfying impact. And suddenly Alma is standing on the ground, her true self shimmering like a heat mirage. She'd bent light around her to make her momentarily invisible as she moved away.

The hard light duplicate Akari just punched loses the illusion of being Alma, shattering into shards of hard blue light as if were made of sugarglass before Akari Seran's rage. All that's left is a yellow Sigil which dies away but a moment later. Alma covers herself with a soft white light, her expression... pained. Her body aches from injuries she didn't even know she has. "...Then I'd best not let that happen. I'm...pretty fragile. You'd probably kill me."

She takes a moment upon the ground to take stock of her injuries. Looking upon the more serious ones and triaging her way downward.
Akari Seran Akari drops out of the sky and lands in a crouch, both fists hitting the ground in an ape-like fashion as she lingers for a moment to catch her breath. Her hard glare lifts up in the mean time, focusing on the dismissive girl with the usual rage-carved expression on her face.

"What the hell is this place?"

She clambers to her feet, fists clenching tightly at her side as she draws in power from the land or whatever approximation of it has been created by this fake world. Several more stone arms erupt from her shoulders, each one protruding at an awkward angle that only really allows her to strike with them while hunched forward in an almost comically villainous fashion. This posture seems to suit her just fine.

"Answer me! Where have you taken me? Did Murasame put you up to this?!"

Damnit. A thought strikes her right in the gut, almost doubling her over at the realization that Aeschere is completely alone without her there to guard her. Akari's teeth grind audibly at the possibilty.

"If you want to live to see another day, you'd best return us to that forest!"
Alma Hyral "Murasame? I don't know where you've been getting your updates Akari, but I resigned from the Zaibatsu two months ago."

The last lingering remnants of the song fade away from Akari's mind at that moment. Even though she'd pushed it back, it wasn't something you could completely rid yourself of. It remained like a low static or hum in the back of one's mind. And thus reality around her shifts back to the forest entire. "I could care less about what he does, so long as he doesn't threaten friends of mine."

So... she cuts an arm back. The air around her begins to grow very chill, as she sucks the warmth out of it. The Corona around her blazes from yellow to white hot radiance as it absorbs the heat. And then she cuts the arm forward, and all that excess energy roils forth off her arm into a teeming mass of heat energy and scathing brilliance, travelling forward in a straight line to strike Akari Seran.

A moment later, the warmth within the glade returns, as if it were a vacuum that needed to be filled.
Akari Seran Feeling the familiarity of solid ground beneath her feet once more, Akari allows herself to be distracted for a few moments as she extends her web of geomantic senses outwards to ensure the reality of the situation. Thoroughly satisified, her attention shifts back to the annoying mage, who's voice she's getting rather tired of hearing at this point.

"Hmph. Could be all smoke and mirrors for all I know. You corporate dogs love your secrets and plots."

Regardless of the truth, she's back and that's what matters most. Just as she's about to consider leaving just to be rid of this headache the temperature drops and she doesn't have to be a sage to figure out what's coming next.

Growling with annoyance, Akari throws herself directly at the mage and consequently, head on into the blazing inferno. Her lackluster command over the element of fire does little to lessen the pain and she stumbles out the other side of the fireball, smouldering and burning in several places.

Her senses momentarily disoriented from the incredible heat, Akari swings at her aggressor with a clumsy punch that goes well wide of its intended target but in addition to her clothes, the fresh assault seems to have set her spirit ablaze as well.

Throwing herself upon the small girl, Akari brings every one of her multitude of stony fists down in a punishing one-girl gangbeating. Dozens of jabs, body blows, kidney shots, and uppercuts assail Alma with a good old fashioned head butt or knee strike to mix it up. All control seems to have gone out the window at this point and Akari is simply trying to drag the girl down into the dirt and bend her in as many ways as possible to cease her maddening magical powers.
Alma Hyral Unfortunately the problem with throwing off the aura which gives you superspeed and ability to manipulate gravity is that it kind of /kills/ your superspeed and the ability to manipulate gravity. And so for a moment, Alma is entirely helpless.

Akari grabs her and proceeds to nearly beat her to death on the spot. Blow after blow is thrown, strike after strike. Alma shrinks beneath the onslaught as countless bones are broken. Several organs may even be ruptured. Throughout it all though a soft white radiance spreads throughout her. And while she's unable to heal wounds as quickly as Akari is able to give them to her, she does the best she can. Until the moment that time ceases just as Akari almost lands a blow that probably would have caved her skull in.

Time out.

And then a moment later she's streaking upwards, shrieking in the agony that Akari would probably find all too satisfying. Time ceases to dilate as the wounds continue to heal. "Please..." She actually begins to sob, tears pouring down her face in rivulets as she feels the agony of her bones mending and setting back into place. "...don't make me do this..."
Akari Seran Another of those damnable time stops. Akari practically shakes the trees with her scream of frustration as the dilation snaps shut, tearing at the ground where Alma was moments before.

"YOU DAMNED COWARD! STOP RUNNING AWAY AND FIGHT!"

Her spiritual aura rages anew, her long red ponytail fluttering like a battle standard in the midst of a powerful gust of wind that seems to touch only her. The earth around trembles as she draws in power, several of the lesser trees toppling over from the intense vibrations that can likely be felt all the way back to the city.

She doesn't make a move yet but the building flow of her power is clear to anyone with even the slightest hint of spiritual awareness. Furious red light dances around her in a steadily expanding sphere that flash-burns the ground so quickly that it doesn't even have time to catch fire, merely turning into an ever growing ring of scorched black ash.
Alma Hyral Alma's not here right now.

That same energy explodes outwards from her as before, but this time the world around them doesn't change. Perhaps she's too exhausted, fatigued, and injured to cause the same effect as before. Instead another dimensional tear opens up in the air next to Akari. If Akari were able to see, she'd see the inside of the effect she was present in before. But instead, she just feels the same energy as before, while the world around her seems unchanged. It simply feels more distant. Faint. But not for long. In the distance she would feel a gigantic mass of energy come together right before it collapsed, exploding outward in a nova like wave. But it appears far too distant for it to actually affect her.

In fact, if she could see, she wouldn't actually see the explosion, given that it's far too distant. Instead, small tear, after small tear opens up in space bringing the energy to her far more quickly than the light would actually reach her, almost like a mirror hallway effect. Right before only the briefest glimmer of the explosion would careen out of the tear, washing over Akari Seran with a purging flare of brilliance.
Akari Seran The seemingly unstoppable brawler staggers as the light of washes over her, taking a single step back as if being pushed by an impossibly strong wind. Her clothes and hair flutter even more dramatically than before as the two powerful energies compete with each other for dominance.

Flames sear at her already battered body and Akari grits her teeth to supress the pain, long ago having passed the point where mere physical discomfort could keep her from moving forward. Pain is fleeting, death is eternal. When one's life is on the line that becomes all too clear and there are few sane individuals still alive who've come out of more insane encounters than her. If she ever actually bothered to tell anyone about them, assuming they believed her, she could easily be the stuff of legends.

A final defiant shout and a fresh surge of power banishes the portal in a flash of light as her aura peaks, once more shunting so much energy from the world below her feet into her body that the excess erupts like a geyser, easily piercing the clouds and the heavens above them.

"HYRAAAAAL!"

Crying out her opponent's name, just incase she forgot who was about to get punched into the sun, Akari puts all of the strength that she's gathered into a final attack. She explodes upwards in an as of yet unparalleled burst of speed, easily matching that of the girl in flight, which puts her right up in Alma's face in the blink of an eye.

An overhead smash attempts to send the mage to the ground, rocketing her downwards like a cannonball with Akari hot on her heels. The half dozen fists swing away with reckless abandon, every blow simply saturating the area to keep her from wiggling out of it somehow.

A final glare is given down at her; if the concept of anger could be molded into a singular expression, Akari would giving it to her right now. Instead, she uses her face in a more palpable fashion - by ramming it square into the bookworm's forehead.
Alma Hyral Does she even recognize her name? It's unclear by the abstracted expression on her face. There's a flickering of her image like static on a television screen. Akari attempts to hit her with an overhead swing. And the force of the impact seems to connect, at first, before the force instead feels deflected sidelong. The headbutt attempts to connect against her forehead. Hyral's spiritual energy would disappear. And then she'd be on the ground below Akari. Another flicker of static and she'd be below Akari's current position in the air. And while it may seem absurd, a fist lashes out. But it falls short. Wildly short. Instead there's the sensation of scathing luminescence which washes over Akari Seran straight forward from the punch. Another flicker of static. And she's at her flank instead, another punch, another wave of blazing light.

Another flicker of static and she's above Akari's falling form. There's a roundhouse kick in the air which is only possible for her by her control of gravity and weightlessness, given her frail form and lack of athleticism, the momentum carrying down the next wave which emits from her leg and foot at heightened speed and power, downward into the back of her neck even though the leg and foot never touch her. She remains suspended in the air, apparently waiting for Akari's reaction.
Akari Seran Akari recoils as she feels the same familiar sense of misplaced energy absorb her strike. She looks around, swinging wildly as the feels the spiritual energy warping about but her efforts prove to be futile.

The first of the energy waves strikes her from below, smashing square into her chin and flipping the angry girl backwards in midair. The second catches her completely offguard and the berserker's body jerks sideways as if smashed by an invisible boulder.

The final blow turns out to be the coup de grace. Akari's eye go wide with shock as the energy wave slams into her from above, neatly crashing into the gap between her shoulders and neck. The impact shatters her stone arms in a detrimental explosion of granite shards and sends her careening into the ground with a distinctly painful sounding thud.

Akari lies prone for several seconds in a fresh crater of her own making, moving not an inch until she gives a sudden start and coughs harshly. It takes all of the effort she can muster to push to one knee, leaning heavily on her lone arm and glancing upwards, still trying to maintain an air of defiant anger.

"Damned... lousy... cheater..."
Alma Hyral There's nothing triumphant in her posture as Akari finally falls to the ground.

But unlike before, she appears to come out of whatever state she's in nearly immediately, looking down upon Akari with a sensation of shock and horror. Lowering herself to the ground, she looks for her discarded satchel, eventually finding it. A hand shakily moves to the satchel at her side, wincing as she opens the case given the minute hairline fractures still within the bone, as she removes something from it. It looks like a charm, slightly larger than her fist, crafted from perfectly cut and polished pieces of pearlescent gems, known moonstone. At each of the tips of the star are dark five pointed stars, crafted from obsidian. In the center of the charm is yet another five pointed obsidian star. She murmurs two words, then presses it against her chest, listening to the song that sounds like a music box's tines play again.

Tears run freely down her eyes as she continues to look down upon Akari Seran's fallen form. No there was no triumph here for her. This was no ideological victory, this was no victory of combat. Just madness and suffering. Pointless violence for violence's sake. And while a small part of her exulted in the fact that she'd beaten the bully that had tormented her back in school, this revulsed her more than anything, as she pushed that down and buried it.

There'd be no telling anyone what happened here. Not on her part at least.

As Akari starts to rise, leaning on one knee, Alma doesn't say anything to her at first. Instead a soft white glow spreads over to Akari Seran, starting to heal her wounds. This continues for a while, despite her defiant anger. She doesn't even seem to notice, doesn't even seem to care if it'd be taken as pity, or arrogance. Eventually, once Akari is nearly healed in full, she does speak to her in a very muted voice, "Aeschere needs you. Please don't let Souji Murasame ruin her."

There is a blur of yellow in the air, and Alma is gone from the glade. Her spiritual presence disappears from Akari's more short range senses shortly after.
Akari Seran Akari just watches in pained silence, glaring daggers at the other girl as she goes through whatever little ritual it is that she needs to keep herself sane. The berserker's disdain for the weakling infront of her grows by the second. Regardless of whether or not she has been bested by whatever power lies dormant within Alma, it wasn't the girl herself who had defeated her. She was just along for the ride.

"Pathetic. You're so sheltered from the reality of the world beyond your ivory tower that you can't even face the consequences of winning." She hocks a mixture of spittle and blood at the girl's feet. "Coward."

Wincing a little as the healing light mends her fractured body, Akari slowly gets to her feet after only the first incantation, once more exerting her incredible force of will over her own body despite the injuries that still plague her. A cold stare is all that Alma receives as she goes about doing what she feels she must, a piercing pitiless look of contempt that follows her even as she leaves.

Akari just lets out a soft grunt of annoyance at the entire ordeal. She doesn't even care what that was all about. It was a damned good fight and probably the most fun she's had in ages. And she learned that that there's still no worthy warrior to match her own strength. Just crazy rich kids toying with things that likely don't belong to them in the first place.

Business as usual. Collecting her jacket, which somehow managed to avoid the worst of the devastation, Akari flips it casually over her shoulder and begins to head back to town. It feels like lunch time. Maybe she can find Chera and drag her out of the mess hall to sample the local cuisine.

 
This scene contained 41 poses. The players who were present were: Alma Hyral, Akari Seran