The bank mission had been an explosive success. Star Festival had included making new friends and allies. She'd gotten closer to someone she'd been admiring. Her civilian life was getting better every week. All her socials were over a million subscribers now, her patreon count rising each month, never falling. Earlier that day she had sent off a group of hundreds of followers that had come to stay at the ranch outside town. They came for her retreat, for her personal guidance. The lifestyle and philosophy of Hestia was steadily spreading on Earth, a small corner of it, but the kindling was there and growing.
Everything is wonderful and Hestia is miserable with it any time she finds herself trapped in a moment of quiet and inactivity. A heavy, sludgy wrongness pervades. Every move and decision followed by a trail of question marks and nothing approaching the satisfaction of being correct. She's lost and she doesn't even know where she wants to go. Or, more accurately, where she's meant to go.
Obviously, the solution to this has been to not be inactive, to not have enough quiet of mind to allow room for the clamor. So it was long patrols now, and when they were quiet, it meant walking and typing on her phone, notes for the next video, the next convention speech, plans for next week, a recipe idea.
Her fingers hovered over the enter key when the smudge of chaos aura brushed her senses. Slipping the phone away into her space, Hestia changed direction and headed for the agent. She told herself that she wasn't sure if she'd be fighting this time, maybe it could just be checking to make sure they weren't committing murder, or even a nice chat, an invitation to her homeworld. She told herself this and then she stopped thinking entirely, because the lie felt too obvious. Too telling right now, with her jaw set and fingers flexing
xSeiana_ZI
Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2023 7:52 am
Borax was seeing nothing but red.
The way the bank went up made his blood boil. That was his bank. His. Jadarite had made sure he had ended up in that leadership position and he wore that badge ******** well. He had arranged several loans, for his own team included. They were raking in energy from the ATMs. They had failsafes in place in case the worst happened, and then the worst happened anyway. There was a new goddamn ******** them all.
Borax wasn't too worried about his position, to be honest. He knew how higher up people got through bank collapse. He had watched it when he was a lower employee at his former bank. All he had to do was kiss the right a**, lean on some nepotism, and he'd get his position back with some sparkles, especially as that collapse was out of his control! But it was the principle of the thing. It was his Negaverse reputation. It was his original diploma and his trophies and his goddamn fidget toys. It was his desk.
It was his scenic view of the city, snatched by some uppity little ******** in white outfits.
Including the one that was approaching him right then.
Borax summoned his spear and wasted no time moving to meet it.
lizbot
Seiana_ZI
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Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2023 4:04 pm
Chaos raced toward her and she told herself...
it doesn't have to be a fight.
it's going to be a fight.
...the first thing to register is the rank, about on par with herself. Which meant...
she should run, it's unlikely she can de-escalate a fight through superior force.
she was going to have to force them down, hard, with everything she had.
...she'd have to be careful. The next thing she realized was that it was him, that one, and she couldn't help thinking...
oh...oh no.
oh. Yes.
"It's time to shine!" Hestia called out the attack as soon as she was within its range, a blinding beam shooting from her chest at the...captain. He's a captain now. Even before the beam faded she was launching herself up and toward the man, And that was when she noticed the spear that had apparently replaced the sad little lieutenant's toy he'd had before.
Well s**t.
Seiana_ZI
Sailor Scout Attack: Time to Shine!
(debuff) A palm-sized scouring blast hits a surface, cleaning it to a highly polished state that creates a blinding glare. Most often used on her brooch to create a carebear stare-like attack.
Perhaps unfortunate for the tiny maid senshi, Borax knew what to expect with this one.
The moment she started running toward him, he slammed his eyes shut, preferring to see not a damn thing at all over the sparkling clean shine of whatever the ******** her attack did. His experience with her came with an advantage, too; though he knew he had to step carefully, he could start counting under his breath how long he had to wait before the beam's effects really faded. It was about thirty seconds, wasn't it? Could probably use it twice or thrice, judging by her level.
For now, he could see the bloom behind his eyelids as the floating yellow he saw after glancing in the direction of a bright light.
Borax was discovering there was a science to these magic attacks. Perhaps that had been the true point of sending him out to gather all this information, Borax figured. Or perhaps it was just that Faustite recognized game where he ******** saw it.
He popped one eye open to clock where she was and make sure he had the sense of her same-ranked aura now.
Satisfying.
She was white and black and his goal was to make that red all over. His lips ticked up, but there was no pretense, no attempt to talk himself up or gloat or remark on how good the Negaverse was or how silly her maid outfit looked or how ******** dare she help destroy his bank. He instead spun the spear around and jabbed it through the obscene brightness, aiming directly for her outline and where he clocked that aura to be. It didn't matter where he hit, exactly, though her low center of gravity certainly made it easier to aim high than low.
He just wanted to see her cry.
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Seiana_ZI
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Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2023 2:40 pm
There was just enough time and space to shift her body's motion into something more defensive and then the head of the spear drew a long, vicious line from her elbow to her shoulder. Tendon? No? Then it's fine.
He was taller, stronger, and he didn't hesitate. The ability to summon and dismiss his weapon meant a level mobility generally exclusive to video game characters. She had a lower center of gravity, magic, and years of experience at this level of power. And if there was any weapon she could be considered proficient with, it would be the staff. These facts could be boiled down to: he couldn't be allowed to move freely, he couldn't be allowed time, he couldn't be given space.
Moving past the blade, Hestia gripped the shaft of his spear with both hands and pitbull determination. She didn't intend to try and take it from him, but she sure as hell wasn't letting go, either. "The Sparkling Finish!"
In a circle around them, the ground lit up, glowing and excessively polished. Wetness trickled down her injured arm and a quiet, insistent timer started.
Seiana_ZI
Super Sailor Scout Attack: The Sparkling Finish!
(debuff) A person-sized scouring blast hits a surface, giving it the appearance of highly polished metal. It causes a highly blinding glare and makes everything within its circle extremely slick and difficult to maneuver in.
effect duration: 35 seconds attack range: 15 feet size: circle with a 15 foot radius optional after effects: those in the affected area feel extremely fresh and clean afterward uses: 2 - Hestia is immune to this effect -
Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2023 7:43 am
Borax pulled the spear upwards as harshly as he could the moment he felt it dig into flesh, angling it up and watching with some satisfaction even as his open eye threatened to water as a red trickle appeared exactly where he was hoping.
No tears, though. Not good enough.
He didn't get a chance to act on it again before she was shouting out another bullshit blinding magical attack, and his eyes closed tight again to avoid the initial flash of just how terrible it was. She had herself in his range, though, tight in his range and making it inconvenient to simply stab her again. Five. There was something else he had to do, then. This wasn't ideal.
He opened his eye, wincing momentarily at how annoyingly bright it was. She was putting herself in range of him, though, and attaching herself to his spear. He could desummon it. Tempting. Would force her off the spear and he could try again.
Of course, if he remembered right.
Fifteen.
He used his own remaining grip on the spear to yank the both of them back, letting his shoes slide over the slick ground in a way that made his balance shaky. He didn't care if it made his unbalanced so much as he hoped his lack of balance hurt her in the end.
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Seiana_ZI
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Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2023 9:52 am
The pull had her yanked forward, head crashing hard enough into his chest to make her teeth ache. Her steady footing was broken and she flowed with it to slam her knee into his thigh. A thin line of blood slipped down past the cuff of her jacket.
Seiana_ZI
Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2023 10:10 am
That hurt like a b***h, but if Borax had learned from Axinite reaching into his chest and pumping it with chaos, he could flow with it, grit his teeth and bear it with nothing but a smile and confidence that this spear would make him more effective. And it did. This damn maid was bleeding, suffering for her insolence and for her assistance in ruining his ******** bank.
Twenty.
She wasn't Cybele, but perhaps he could use her to send his regards--
The sudden blunt pressure on his thigh combined with the weight on his chest did cause his balance to falter, and with the combination he wasn't quite stable, falling back and pressing weight into his foot. He felt his ankle strain and his knees bend, but he refused to give up.
Borax focused on it, vanishing his weapon for a moment and recovering it in his off-hand.
Thirty.
He attempted to wedge it between them to get some distance back. He needed one of his knives for this proximity.
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Seiana_ZI
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Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2023 10:25 am
Hestia's hands, now empty, closed into fists and as her stomach gave a small drop, she realized she'd been depending overmuch on his inexperience. She'd really hoped he wouldn't realize he could do that. It'd been a bad bet.
Pulling back her good arm to aim a punch to his gut, she found herself blocked and pushed back by the reappearing spear haft. Hestia reached once more with both hands to grab at it, one white glove turning a brilliant red along its cuff, her injured arm starting to burn with pain.
She'd really hoped he wouldn't realize he could do that.
Seiana_ZI
Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2023 10:39 am
That red he eyeballed turning her dainty white gloves a bright red brought the rush he had been looking for, and the way he regarded her as she reached for his spear was nothing short of sinister. His lip lifted in a cool smirk, eyes narrowing as he twisted his spear hard to attempt to give her a brush burn.
"Cute," he finally said, perhaps his first attempt at a taunt. It was clear from his mannerisms. He thought he had the upper hand there.
Perhaps he did.
But Borax did not waste his time with further taunts. Instead, he jabbed the spear forward again, shoving against the force she tried to use on it. It was more difficult than it had been on his dominant arm, but there was nothing quite like real world practice.
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Seiana_ZI
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Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2023 11:03 am
Cute.
The word, in that sneering, condescending voice sent a clear bolt of aggression through her. Hestia's eye shot up to finally take in her opponent's face, and that smirk only pissed her off more. Whatever worries and dismays that had been nagging at her, whatever litany of tactics had been listing along the back of her mind, it all faded back against the bright, hot rage that had flared up.
Her injured arm with all its flexing, pulling, and pushing was growing less reliable, especially with this shove. Her hand's grip turned slick with blood, its wrist twisting uncomfortably with the spear's haft. She ignored it all in favor of viciously whipping a foot at his ******** your cute and ******** you!
Seiana_ZI
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2023 2:59 am
Seeing her expression as she looked up was even more terribly satisfying, and it made Borax want to dig deeper and claw deeper and see her flat on the pavement as vengeance for what she helped cause. It was a heady enough feeling, victory driven by his own ability to document and learn, that it was a bit of a distraction. He was having plenty of success taking his victories from chest level up.
It was the feet he didn't quite account for, it was the feet he couldn't see, and after jamming pressure into his feet so he didn't fall that hurt a lot more than he had planned.
Borax didn't react terribly strongly, couldn't let her know that s**t worked, but it was hard to miss the way his breath hissed and the way his ankle bent harshly. It was hard to miss how white his knuckles were getting.
b***h. The momentary victory left his features.
The spear vanished again as he used her focus on his ankles to hopefully keep her distracted enough to not notice him reangling the spear in his dominant hand toward her feet as he jabbed it downward.
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Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2023 9:47 am
As soon as the spear disappeared once more, Hestia brought her arms in to protect her torso. The bright pain slicing down her calve had her sharply inhaling had the leg buckling for a moment. Tendon? No? Then it's fine.
Her body swayed forward and she turned the motion into an extremely familiar punch to the kidneys with her good arm. The light from her attack was fading, the ground no longer so terribly slick. She only had one more Finish and with it would come the choice: try to kill incapacitate him or try to escape. After all, there wouldn't be a chance for either once it was gone, would there?
xSeiana_ZI
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2023 10:10 am
That hit to the kidneys throbbed and he wasn't about to say it didn't, but he sure acted like he didn't. She was bleeding. She was bleeding out onto the pavement as she deserved, as they all deserved, and it was bringing him delight he had terrible trouble articulating.
Perhaps he didn't want to.
The pain was getting lost to his own hubris, to his own confidence, and to his own schadenfreude at seeing his attacks effect the little maid. She had so much confidence the last time trying to just break his hand, so much confidence in destroying his bank, and now he would destroy her. Perhaps his eyeballs would burn for a few hours, but he would survive.
His goal was to make sure she didn't.
His movements were slowing, but that didn't quite stop his persistence as he once again tried to use the spear to drive her back from him.
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Seiana_ZI
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Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2023 10:25 am
And this time, leg buckling again, one arm too slow, she did stumble back. Hestia absolutely, with all her body, did not want to run away. She thought about the knight laughing with a sword in him. The general that kept fighting even as more and more opponents appeared around them. In her heart of hearts, what Hestia always wanted was to throw her whole self into something with all her power and without hesitation, until she either succeeded or broke down into glorious pieces in the attempt.
But.
Not without purpose. And not for some random scrap with a smirking a*****e who didn't deserve the satisfaction. She needed this to end, now.
