Prayer of the Refugee

A blinding white light filled his eyes, and his body went cold. “Is that it? Am I dead?” Once his vision cleared, he saw a redhead standing tall in front of him, her katana impaled in the chest of his terrifying opponent. His savior looked down and tousled his hair, unconcerned with the person skewered on her sword. He used Advanced Spy on her in disbelief.

“Not there yet, kid. Stand back.” She withdrew her blade, easily parrying the following swipe at her stomach. Is this kid the champion of a God? It feels like it, but… he’s weak. “Oh shit, you’re John Newman. You’re supposed to talk to the old man about that traitor Knight later today. We’ll get to that.”

Asley, taking advantage of the fact that Isabelle was focused on John, attempted a vertical slash to cleave the newcomer in twain. The distracted samurai laughed off the attack, blocking it easily with one hand and flicking her wrist to send her opponent’s sword flying through the air. “You’ve got some balls attacking my guild, you know that?”

Asley leapt back, but Isabelle gave her no breathing room. In a trail of blinding light she chased her… sister? Cousin? Their familial connection was apparent by their surnames, but unclear. “Be careful! She can-”

“Project sharp petals out of her katana and teleport to her tanto? What other cards have you played Asley? You losing your edge?” Isabelle brought her sword forward in a thrust, but in a flash of light was instead behind her opponent, swiping at her back. The inferior samurai didn’t have time to adjust, and earned a deep gash in her back as a result.

Asley stabbed behind, but Isabelle was already in front of her again. John couldn’t follow either of their movements at all; from his point of view Isabelle kept teleporting.

Shouldn’t we get out of here? Clearly we’re both out of our depth, we’re mortals in the face of Gods here, John reasoned, sparing a glance toward the kneeling Page and the woman they were ‘guarding’.

We have to wait for an opening. The Bladed Moon is keeping our opponent distracted, but she could still interrupt our escape. On my signal, I want you to lay suppressing fire while Anor and I rocket away, One replied, standing back up. The greaves of her armor slowly shifted, becoming sleeker as the jets at the bottoms of her boots expanded.

Why am I the one that has to stay behind!? You have a better chance at survival than I do! John argued as the sounds of metal clashing on metal grew louder and louder.

I’m going with Anor to better protect her. And as much as I hate to admit it, we both stand no real chance against the other woman if she goes after us. I could only fend her off for as long as I did with experimental tech, all of which is now broken. Follow my orders. One stared at John from across the concrete, both hoping that none of the collateral damage got to them.

Alright, alright, fine. John didn’t know exactly how sound One’s logic was, but decided to act compliant and do what felt right when the time came. Hephaestus, can you concentrate the energy used in certain functions of the armor to others, like taking some from the shielding and putting it in the thrusters?

Aye, but it’s very dangerous. Why do you ask? An idea was brewing in John’s head, and he watched his mana slowly tick up as he waited for One’s signal. He was snapped out of his concentration by Asley’s pleading voice cutting through the crashes and clashes around them.

“It doesn’t have to be like this! You still fight the same. You still look the same. You still have your scars. Kill them all, and rejoin us!” Asley stuck her sword into the ground, and pink petals identical to the ones that appeared when she teleported burst forth. They surrounded her in a razor sharp mist, tendrils reaching out toward John, One, and Jackie.

Now! One and Jackie both shot upward, and John decided to follow them. The tri-fold attack of bladed petals reached out toward them like a claw, and John realized his mistake in grouping up with them.

Fist didn’t work… my gunfire couldn’t block all of this, they’re not enhanced by the suit, but if I don’t stop it, we’re probably all dead. Shit! It looks like there’s only one thing I can do. “Haephestus, open the faceplate for a moment.” When the AI complied, John drank a mana potion quickly, exhaling slowly as he stared at the attack that threatened them.

“Divert all energy from all non-flight functions to the blaster in the right hand!” The weapon in his hand began to glow a dazzling blue as it became overwhelmed with energy, and John channeled all of his mana through it into a use of Mana Bolt.

The overwhelming beam of energy erupted from his hand, pushing back the sharp pink mist that sought to overwhelm him and his allies. Am I going to do this?

The two waves pushed against each other, his beam seeping through the cracks as the petals weren’t a solid mass. His attack surged onward, the three-taloned hand that reached out for them evaporating in the struggle. “Damnit! You three should have stayed on the ground!” Isabelle teleported up to John, leaping off his shoulder toward her sister, her blade resonating a blinding white light.

Hidden from view, Asley drew a deep breath. She **** it out as she withdrew her sword from the ground. She brought her katana upwards in a wide arc, making The flowers around her disperse; the attack John was holding back resurged. As a coiling mass, the petals spiraled around the quickly thinning beam.

His fading beam engulfed her, but the petals that had slipped past John’s defensive attack barraged him, tearing the armor off his skin and the skin off his body. Each one felt like a needle digging into his skin. Beaten and broken, the armor fell off his body, and he fell out of the sky.

Asley sought to create a diversion. Expose a hole in Isabelle’s defense by forcing her to save her fellow guild member. Isabelle rushed toward the ground, a slash imbued with moonlight breaking her sister’s sword. She landed on her feet, feeling the position of the boy’s aura under the sky and teleporting to it. The redhead took him in her arms, rolling into her landing to lessen the impact on him.

The astral tattoo on her forehead glowed a celestial white and a soft beam of moonlight pierced the sky, the same shining out from his wounds. The blood stopped flowing from his injuries, and the hundreds of tiny gashes over his skin slowly closed, yet he still remained ****.

“Trying to hurt someone who can’t defend themselves really pisses me off,” Isabelle commented, setting John’s body down. Her back was turned to her sister, who took the opportunity to barrage the champion of the sky with more flower blades, enraged over her broken sword.. The furious samurai felt the attack coming. Hundreds if not thousands of individual petals flowing toward her.

She cast off her robe and bore the dozens, perhaps hundreds of echoes of each battle, the light remnants of slices, bashes, and gashes. “Sorry, Sis, but all those scars have faded.”

An aura of stars surrounded her, as though she had wrapped herself up in the sky. White bands, comprised from twinkling bits of light, appeared on her arms before shattering. The remnants flowed behind her, their light suddenly gone, absorbed into her as the ethereal blackness wrapped around her back in an impenetrable cloak.

Her uncovered eye was replaced with a burning sun; her arms left stardust in their wake as they swung to and fro, deflecting each and every petal blade as it came. The halves flopped to the ground uselessly behind her, piling up between her and John. She exhaled, and with the next swipe every single sliver of pink flashed white before disappearing. Asley stood pointing little more than a hilt at her sister, the flowers that had replaced the metal in her sword erased by Isabelle’s will.

“Do not kill her.”

Isabelle teleported in front of her sister, cutting off her outstretched arm and slamming the pommel of her sword into Asley’s temple. Temporarily disoriented, she looked up to her sister, locking eyes. “Enough of this shit! Astral Flare.” Her words were punctuated with a flash of inconceivable light, the inferior warrior crumpled into a heap under the intensity of the divine spell.

An additional whack on the head with her sheathed sword assured Isabelle that her sister would stay **** while she took care of business. She teleported to John and put her robe back on before teleporting back to her downed sister. Grabbing Asley by the leg, she slung her **** sibling over her shoulder, walking over to John and doing the same with her other shoulder. Shit, Adelaide, I didn’t realize how far away you were.

Isabelle stood stock still for nearly a minute, expanding her sense in the direction of the Rider-Waite base she had come from. The auras of half the Kingdom filled her consciousness, but she whittled them all away until she sensed her companion. With a thought, they were all teleported there.