-Ahri (Star Guardian)

"Who, and exactly what, are you?" John asked, opening his status window with the least overt gesture he could. To his surprise, not only was he completely unharmed by the latest round of attacks, but his allies were too. Although they still seemed to be grappling with invisible foes, everyone was as intact and healthy as they had been when they entered this newest barrier. Hell, given the regeneration speed of some of them, they were actually better off, even as they screamed in pain.

"Two veeeery important questions… but I don't think you're ready for those answers," the woman teased, leaning forward and blowing John a kiss. The Gamer scowled but refused to flinch or react to the imaginary gesture, which in turn elicited only an exasperated sigh from the woman.

"Alright, look, I can't give away everything, but seriously - did you think ol' Dike was the only one interested in you? She may have staked her claim, but I want a piece too."

"I have no idea who you're talking about, or what that has to do with you showing up in a Barrier that I created," John said, narrowing his eyes at the pink-haired woman. Despite the wrath he felt and the anger he was sure was evident on his face, she showed no signs of either intimidation or even the slightest notice of his mood. The woman leaned back casually, shaking her head and laughing at his words.

"You may have created the Barrier, but I influenced the creations within… and I was more than happy to take on the mantle of 'Mini-Boss' you had waiting for you at the end. You should really Reincarnate a few more times, by the way. Shame you've grown so much without ever defeating a real boss, or even unlocking a Raid. Also a shame you've grown so much and I've never gotten a taste of you, either…"

The woman trailed off, one finger coming up to her lips and toying gently with her luscious lower lip. John narrowed his eyes at the gesture, clenching his fists to fight against the instinctual lust that rose in him at the obvious tease.

"Release my friends from this illusion, or I will break it - and you," John threatened, taking up his stance once more.

"Oh my," the pink-haired vixen said in mock surprise, "breaking just one illusion and already you're so confident! You have so much spunk in you for a mere mortal, I can't help but want to know what you can really do…"

The woman punctuated her words with aggression, pulling John closer by the collar as she pressed her face and eyes to his own. John thought about resisting, but only for a moment. By the time he considered standing his ground, the strength behind his foe's grip had become evident. There was something there brimming with power more than anyone else John had fought in his Barriers - maybe fought ever. The fox-woman's grip was stronger, tighter, and more unyielding than Moira's, and yet her eyes shone the unbridled and unchallenged confidence of a woman who had not yet begun to show her true strength.

"I can do a great many things… but I have a lot of people interested in me these days," John said, doing his best to sound confident despite the effort he now had to put into drawing breath. "You'll have to tell me why you're so intrigued, and why I should care."

The woman burst out into laughter, shoving John away again with the barest effort. He kept his balance - not without some effort - and scowled at the fox-eared woman.

"Oh, dear me, you mortals are so funny when you try to stand up and be brave or confident after meeting a real goddess for the first time. Seriously, you probably couldn't even last five minutes against a Shard. Look, you don't have to pretend anymore, John - you have my attention, you have my interest, let's just leave it at that."

John grit his teeth but said nothing. Instead he threw an Observe toward the woman, and was shocked at the message returned by his system.

ERROR: Target is immune to scrying.

"Oh my, so curious. If you want to know something about a girl, try asking them next time," the woman said, giggling again as she wiggled slightly in amusement.

"I keep asking questions, and you keep not answering," John pointed out, narrowing his eyes at the woman. Despite his still-present anger, there was a growing sense of unease in him at the nature of this woman, and how she continued to show new ways to break the norms of his Barriers.

"Well, I never said that it would work," the woman chuckled, finally sliding off her perch. She strode up toward John, not even flinching when he pointed his sword directly at her chest. She walked up until the blade was pressed to her throat, smiling all the while, even leaning forward just enough that the tip was pressing into her skin. Despite the blade's masterful craft, not a single drop of blood spilled.

"Since you don't seem to appreciate my games, I'll cut to the chase, John Newman. You have drawn my attention, and though you may not appreciate my affections, that is a very good thing for you. In fact, you've interested me so much that I'm willing to offer you all of this."

The woman gestured to herself with one hand, framing her face with the other while throwing him a wink. John fought the urge to outright sneer, and settled instead for a simple scowl, narrowing his eyes at the flirtatious Kitsune again.

"Do you hear that?" John asked, a rhetorical question as the shouts and screams of his allies echoed in the silence. "That's the sound of the people I love most in this world, people you are actively scaring and hurting. Why would I want any part of you?"

"Careful, John," the woman growled, voice growing more serious as she stepped forward and pressed her face nearly into his, "your overconfidence grows less amusing the more you flaunt it. Besides, you have a problem with my actions - not my appearance. I'm offering you the latter, with no hint of the former! This avatar is one of my favorites to assume… but with your Purify you can make it your own. My personality, my motives, none of those will exist."

"And why would you offer this to me?" John asked, not daring to back down, pressing his head forward until their faces nearly touched. "If this form is one of your favorites, why surrender it to someone you just met?"

"You continue to underestimate how difficult it is to attain my interest, John," the foxy woman teased, leaning in and smiling as her blue tails fluttered around John's waist. The tips of their noses touched now, and her voice was so low it felt like she was whispering into John's mind. "I love you so much it… hurts."

The woman moved abruptly, and John finally pulled back, preparing to defend himself. But instead of striking at John, the woman's hand plunged into her own chest, passing through skin and bone and flesh as if it were hardly there. Blood sprayed from the fresh and deep wound but the pain never showed on the woman's face. She only continued to smile at John, even as her blood splashed across his chest and face.

"I have heard that you cannot use your abilities on those not already weakened, so as a token of goodwill, I will do this much for you. Purify my vessel, this avatar of my being. I will experience what she does, see what she does, know what she does… but I will not interfere with your designs for her. I look forward to seeing what this shell becomes, John Newman, and I look forward to seeing how you use her."

"And what if I choose not to use her?"

The woman laughed, a shrill and piercing cackle that set John's entire body alight with a mixture of fear and instinct to kill. She gazed at him with a look of utter amusement, her smile as wicked as John had always felt she was.

"Then you will die to her… this was where you expected a mini-boss, yes? Then I'll abandon my form and leave it to the rules of your Barrier - she'll try to kill you the moment I'm gone. Though, I suppose if you could defeat the Avatar of a Fragment, you might garner yet more interest…"

"Shards and Fragments of what, might I ask? You keep mentioning those words, but they don't make sense in this context."

John's question went unnoticed and unanswered. The words were hardly off his lips when something in the woman's eyes changed. A light faded from them, a deadly and lethal presence that John wasn't familiar with. The woman looked suddenly confused, and abruptly as though her chest wound was a far greater hindrance than it had been a moment ago. She clutched at the blood seeping from her wound and glanced around in panic. Then she locked eyes with John and all of her fear and rage focused on him.

"Someone that powerful… I need them on my side, she's right," John admitted ruefully as the fox woman started to spring forward, far faster than an enemy of that level should have been. John didn't have any time to cast Observe; he was trying to focus his thoughts so that he could still get some use out of this Purify practice.

"A guardian angel, a protective spirit, someone sent from high to guard me, my family, this place… if she has so much power, let it be used for a good purpose. Turn this malice and sadism into heroism, into valor, honor, honesty, truth, goodness… a happy past, a bright future, a desire to stay with us, in my realm or out of it - a shining star, one that will never inflict this fear and anger on my family again."

John had something of a vision forming in his mind, an ideal of what he wanted, but in the time the woman took to cross the distance, even the speed of John's mind was not enough to conjure a whole picture. John did the best he could, and jumped forward to catch the woman as she lashed out with her claws. John had seen his health from the illusionary fox’s attack return when the spell ended, so John took the risk and allowed her to land her attack on his abdomen.

-287 HP!

"Shit, still way too strong," John grunted. The woman was rearing back for another attack but John's plan had already gone into action - he wrapped his palms around the woman's wrist and willed his mana into action as he Purified the creature. A blinding white light filled the woman's body, and John took the opportunity to pull himself off her claws, allowing Gamer's Body to regenerate the deep wound she'd inflicted on his torso, feeling the awkward sensation of his body going from cratered to whole in an instant. She'd pierced his armor without effort, and the damage she inflicted was still incredible… her strength was certainly no illusion. John only hoped that some measure of that power would be retained when she was remade.

A skill has Leveled Up!
Purify - Level 5: HP% required to Purify now set to a flat 20% of maximum health. Alignment upon creation now determined by user. Relationship upon creation now dependent on compatibility with user. Use this new freedom wisely, John. We are always watching.

Around him, his allies were slowly coming out of their stupor. Those who had been battling against their imaginary foes slowly came to, in a less abrupt manner than John had. They surrounded John slowly, coming alongside him with dazed looks on their faces.

"Feelin' a lot like wakin' up out of a dream. Mastah, any clue what was goin' on just now? Thought we were all goners…"

"Something… something took over the Barrier. Something powerful. Not human, for sure. It replaced or possessed the mini-boss, I'm still not sure - and it put us all in illusions that made us think we were dealing with enemies far stronger than a normal Barrier. Not… really sure about the rest, but the presence left us this Barrier creature to Purify. Should be a strong one, I hope."

"So is that what happened when you made me?" Lerianna asked, stepping forward and cocking her head to the side as she looked curiously at the lightshow. "Seems a bit dramatic. Kinda weird that you make people out of nothin', though, so maybe all the fanfare is pretty appropriate."

"And how are you handling all that, by the way?" John asked, raising an eyebrow at his now second-newest creation.

Lerianna just shrugged. "Doesn't really matter what happened before I arrived here. I can't go back, and I don't even really want to. The past is the past."

"I don't like thinking about the past. Or the future. The First Star doesn't control my destiny! I do."

The voice came from the light that was still not fading, but it was definitely a new voice. John's eyes travelled to the light just in time to watch a figure step free of it - rather than forming out of the light, it was as if a new person stepped out of a brilliant display, her body emerging from the near-blinding sphere of light that had formed around her.

The woman was quite similar to the creature John had just purified, but her outfit and color scheme were totally changed out. It was a Kitsune, with bright blonde hair and tufted ears, a purple choker wrapped around her neck, and purple accents dotted across her shoulders and in a single hair pin. Her outfit consisted of a white and very tight shirt, with two sleeves unattached to the main body covering her wrists to nearly her shoulders. There was a large pink gem shining at the center of her chest, surrounded by and leading down into a gold trim that flowed all the way to where her pink skirt started. The loose skirt had a white, frilly second layer underneath, visible as a seemingly intangible wind fluttered the woman's hair, skirt, and tails about while she bounced on the back of her heels. Under that skirt were white tights, again trimmed with gold that was only visible when the skirt fluttered, leading down into what had to be some kind of shoes melded into the outfit.

"Put your game face on, girls!" the woman said, striking a pose with two fingers held across her eyes as she beamed a happy smile. From behind the woman a small figure rose up, squeaking as it landed atop her shoulder. A small, white-furred fox-ish creature sat there, three short white tails flowing behind it as it clutched a small, glowing heart in its hands and panted furiously, its tongue hanging out adorably.

"Er… hi there," John said slowly, extending his hand. "I'm John Newman. These are my allies. Who are you?"

"Hi there, cutie! My name is Vallya, and as long as I'm around, you have nothing to worry about! A Guardian gives everything they've got!"

The Barrier around them was already breaking, but it was all John could do to soak in this bubbly, blonde-haired woman, proclaiming herself a guardian. Admittedly, she seemed to line up with everything that John had in mind when he created her, but in a wholly unexpected way… especially the little fox-creature bouncing on her shoulders with an eternal smile on its face.

"What exactly are you a guardian of?" John asked as they found themselves back by the lake. The woman was looking around with eager excitement, but still focused herself back onto John when she responded.

"Of everything, silly! The stars, the planets, and especially you!"

"Then… welcome to the team, Vallya," John said, slowly retracting his unaccepted hand. Before he could, the Kitsune reached out and pulled his hand back toward her, shaking it with vigor and enthusiasm.

"Glad to be a part! Together we can only shine brighter!"