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<02/10/1972 – 16:00 | Route 787, Junon Region, Sprawn Valley>
Nothing sang louder to Jane than the fresh air forced into her lungs by the resistance in wind and traction. While pedaling her legs forwards in a centripetal motion to drive the bicycle over the smooth pavement of Route 787, her friends were pedaling their own vehicles just behind her. The rough gravel terrain was soon transformed into perfectly flat pavement as upkeep to the road was made on a monthly basis, as the fences on each side spanned outward in design to give potential battles plenty of room. The sun hung at its highest point overhead. Though despite the relentless beating of its blinding radiation against the surface, the air here was kept relatively cool. The winter solstice was strengthening with the time of each passing day, while the calm noiseless bliss of the open road greeted everyone.
Jane was rather surprised to see so many people on the road at the same time. It seemed like an entire city's population was just scattered on the route randomly, having a field day and a picnic under the clear sky. But almost nobody was battling each other, nor were there any attempts so far to stop her and her friends. These people were not looking to conduct magical matches; instead, the commoners sought to enjoy leisurely time amongst each other. It was too impossible to tell by looks alone - which people were form Lennith City and which were from Eldora City.
Taylor calmly coasted by, letting her feet rest while the bike's wheels and current momentum carried her forward just next to Danny. They had to slow down slightly to ensure nobody got ran over, even if the walkers and campers stayed to the edges for convenience of less traffic, but Taylor could feel all of the bliss around her. This place was absolutely nothing like Route 96, and neither were the people here. The fences on each side were several hundred feet away from each other, giving the travelers plenty of room to sit down and relax. The families even brought their children with them, completing the set with campfires and grills. Taylor had to immediately assume that over half the crowd here did not consist of Leray wielders.
Danny took in the sights around him, and through the randomly clustered crowd of civilians and the fences boxing in the road, there was not a single hint of Eldora City, nor any large bodies of water. The road must really be longer than it looks or sounds, and for whatever reason, the ocean must not be visible by either of the exit areas here. Then again, maybe this wasn't the edge of the continent yet. Danny had to hold his breath and decide just how smooth he needed to ride his bike behind Jane. If someone suddenly stops her, he will have to break really hard to slow down in time.
Jane thought back to the civilization level back home where she lives. Particularly on the road between Gross City and Tilsit Port, this road here was nearly the same with the mass of people just looking to walk from one place to another. She figured these had to mostly be people from Lennith City. Only a couple of families had bicycles, and it did not sound sensible to walk children over eleven miles in just one day to visit another town. Nobody tried to get in the middle of the road after seeing Jane's convoy approaching down the straight line. It felt good to finally be off the hook of battling anyone and everyone. Route 96 was full of eager people looking for fights, and at the same time so lightly populated with people in general. According to a promise made by the last Gradyent she fought there, the route's infrastructure should have changed already by now. There wasn't any reason to ignore the peacefulness of Route 787, even if Jane only pedaled less than a mile forward so far.
There would be plenty of space to battle should one occur. The fences were so far apart, it could take twice the size of a Siriean dome and still fit within the structure's loose squeeze. Much of the floor was just flat pavement made of cement, with occasional grass blades poking through the side of the fences. Beyond those gates only consisted of empty land, full of grass and clay while void of trees and tall natural formations, becoming a closer imitation of what once was the Outback. They had only set out on their journey towards Eldora City about twenty minutes ago.
Taylor saw up ahead that the random chain of people crowding the road was coming to a less populated end, beyond the imaginary pattern only consisting of nearly empty road going on forever, but she had to quickly apply the brakes with a little pressure after Jane did the same in front of her. Four adults started walking form the side and into the center of the road, oblivious to the convoy of bikes heading straight for them. After Jane slowed down enough not to hit them, the group of four civilians remained stuck in the middle of the road, looking more composed than confused.
Jane had to stop her bike completely, and she examined those in front of her more carefully. They didn't have anyone else clinging to their side, nor did the adults seem to mind getting right in their way, but they were also wearing what appeared to look like normal clothes, further supporting the possibility that they are as ordinary as ever. Three guys and a chick reformed where they stood, folding their arms and holding the line of a natural barricade to block their path. Their intention became clearer by the second; they wanted to stop this little biking gang before it got moving any further. Jane barely accelerated forward to get in closer to the group while preparing to dismount from her bicycle.
Could they be Leray fighters itching for a challenge? They had to be blocking the road for some reason. Jane knew that she still stood out slightly from an ordinary person while wearing her battle suit. It's stylish, therefore it wasn't as easy to tell from a distance, but the black and blue uniform provided a nice agile attire and material basis for such a Leray battle to occur. Second by second, the reason they were stopped seemed to be more inconsistent with an aura of confusion. It appeared that they knew what they were doing according to what Jane could judge. Danny and Taylor had to stop and dismount behind her too, but she held onto the handles of her vehicle to make sure it would not be taken by any potential thieves.
It seemed highly unusual and rude to literally block a person's path just to ask them to a battle. Obtaining rejection strikes on a Leray license was of course less preferable for anyone who is a Leray wielder, but forcing people to battle them or else striking their card with an automatic fail point seems pretty intrusive. Taylor couldn't be a hundred percent certain; only Jane would know the rules better than anyone else, even if she does make a living defying those rules.
By now, Jane's group was already just in front of the strangers, prompting whatever was to come next. "Hey! Can't say I've seen your faces before. Those new bikes?" The man standing slightly in front of the others was the first to speak, giving Jane the sense that he was in charge of the four of them.
Though he only asked a simple question for now, Jane automatically came down to the inevitable conclusion that their luck of finding no challengers has finally reached its end. "So what if they are?" Jane gently set her bike down, letting it sit on its side instead of the kickstand while her friends gathered closer behind her.
The blond hair woman who looks six years older than Jane was next to try and elaborate what her buddy meant. She was obviously with these people. "We only battle with those who have the credits to spare. Judging by the new wheels, you're obviously not poor."
"And we aren't even gonna introduce ourselves," the blond guy spoke. He seemed to sound sarcastic in his last remark, more serious after holding his arms behind his head with his face towards the side and a pace that seemed relaxing. "I mean, it's not like we all came out here to do things the right way, eh?"
"Oh, shut up Cauthon. We know what we're doing. And I mustn't be wrong about the sound of credits that will be flowing in soon."
If it weren't for that Leray rule, Jane was certain that those words would have been more troubling for less than an acceptable reason, but there was a more obvious truth than the possibility of having their bikes stolen. Jane didn't want to argue with anyone already, though this woman wasn't wrong about their current situation either, for the most part. "We're not loaded if that's what you're asking," Jane defended. Holding in the reminder that this setup felt much the same already to that on Route 96, the worst that can happen from turning down the fight is a single strike on her license card. Then again, fighting against virtually anyone would be excellent practice for the big fight, and a better way to test Jane's new skills personally with other people. Not only that, the tense excitement and butterflies in her stomach already reached Jane's blood, despite hating to slow down the pace of their travels. She could feel just how eager she was getting to be in a real battle again, against a person outside of the dark zone who can only use Leray magic. And with Danny and Taylor here, losing the match wouldn't be too bad, right?
This isn't like before. Jane already knew by now how important it is to accept every challenge and win that fight with everything she has at her disposal. Otherwise, her efforts to challenge the champion will ultimately fail without the necessary experience. "You want a battle," Jane judged. "I can see it in your eyes."
"Oh-ho!" the men rattled.
"I hear the sound of confidence, and the rattling of change in your pockets." The woman decided to continue keeping Jane tied here to offer her a challenge, though there was some uncertainty on her real ability for now. "My name is Mayza. We only play for high stakes, not some cheap trash out of the old market."
Mayza did not offer her hand to shake with Jane's, but Jane still formally introduced herself to the snooty woman. Most battles begin with a handshake and a will of good faith, much like in her first battle with Jack, but these people don't understand what Leray magic is all about, or why it is a fun sport. It's not all about the money, and they can't judge skill level by a person's riches. That's it. Now I have to win! "I'm Jane, and that will be the last time you think to refer to us as trash. You want to fight with me, you'll have to meet a high price."
"Oh heck! It's on now!" The men behind Mayza didn't sound too mature, though the one in front of Mayza had not opened his mouth since his first failed introduction. From the tension already building around them, Mayza confirmed Jane's challenging words.
Jane had to interject upon realizing something drastic. "But we will only do this via multi-battle. If you can handle it?" With her provocation, Jane understood how important that one term was. She had never been in a real team battle before, and while assuming she could handle it, Danny and Taylor would never get it right the first try. Everything would fall apart. In a team battle, two or more Leray wielders are in a team fighting together in real time against the other team for one singular reward, split by those people outside of the system, but it involves a heavy burden of collectively working together with synchronized spells. Multi-battles are a little bit different. Multiple fights happen in a singular mode right near the same position or location given that the ordinance of people are correct. In this way, it's like a team battle, but each individual has their own dome, their own reward system, and their own strategies. Teamwork is not really something that can be done in this case, but this way, more than one person of the team can prove themself at the same time. For that reason, Danny and Taylor would be fine.
"Oh you can count on that." Mayza turned her eyes while keeping her head immobile, raising her voice to speak to her group. "You guys take the sidekicks. I've got the leader."
"I'll have fun with the novice boy behind Jane."
Danny knew that the older man was talking about him. This wasn't just a fight between Mayza and Jane. They wanted a fight with all three of them! Danny, Taylor, and Jane would all be battling different people at the exact same time, for different singular rewards too. Though it felt less rewarding to him that these strangers would just randomly challenge a group without even getting the details correct. Jane - the leader? When will anyone learn?
"I'm cool with this if you are Jane," Taylor announced.
Jane could already see her friends setting up their tense stances for battle, though they were all going to have to acquire distance from each other to form three separate Siriean domes at the same time, since they cannot overlap each other. Jane however didn't see too much reason to refuse this challenge. This group of feisty wielders wanted to battle against her entire party, not just herself. On second thought, it seemed sensible that way, compared to the time where she was completely on her own. But still, this would be the moment Jane could use to test just how ready Danny and Taylor are for the battle ahead of them inside of the dark zone. Failure won't be an option for anyone, and neither will backing down from any challenge. "Alright then Mayza. It's just you and me in a Siriean dome. How does four thousand sound?"
"Kind of low," Mayza admitted. "Though we are having three fights at once, and if my team wins three in a row, I'll have triple that amount! It's a deal Jane." Though her eyes are a dark color, Mayza's are fueled with a fiery passion of excitement.
She was apparently going to battle Jane wearing that formal looking white dress, so it had to be an expensive dress sphere by Jane's judgments. Mayza had a great hiding spot behind her dress for her choice of weaponry, a silver dagger hand carved with Eldar wood for the handle. Jane already noticed the dagger behind her opponent, thus giving her a slight tactical advantage of knowledge. Jane was a bit surprised to know that her first opponent may fight the same way she does at close range, but it wasn't a reason to become doubtful of winning yet.
The man who was not participating in the fight pointed his arms to the side further down the road. This would be three on three, though Mayza's group had four people in total, so he was the odd man out this round. "Everyone take places with enough distance to prevent overlap. Go get em Mayza!"
"I won't let you win," Jane promised.
"Awwwh! I can't wait to see your face when I do win." Mayza was filled with confidence too, likely from many earlier victories unspoiled. She got on one side of the empty road while Jane got to the other, and from the view behind Jane, the fifteen-year-old boy and girl were taking their places as well.
Jane wouldn't be able to focus on anybody other than Mayza at this point. Danny and Taylor will just have to do their best. At least she could apply her newest of skills against this little brat for an easy victory.
Now is the time. After clearing away from the other civilians and making enough room to turn the center of the road into a battlefield, Jane put away her necklace in the supply sphere for safe keeping, and made sure that her black and blue battle outfit was tight enough to block any potential light that may emanate from the top of her right hand during this battle. Having expose her symbol in front of a single person who does not know Jane would become the end of this great plan to take control of the General Army. Mayza is but a stepping-stone Jane could use right here and now to test her own abilities and benchmark herself; training!
"I'll use you as target practice!" Jane insulted. She used that exact moment to expend just enough Leray energy to create the Siriean dome around herself and Mayza. Only because of the available space, this dome was at the maximum size it was allowed to be, still well within the boundaries of the road itself. Jane then activated her energy scope, waiting for Mayza to do the same.
"Bring it on! I'll even let you have the first spell."
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Chapter Theme Shift: Song of the Ancients (Atonement) ~ Keiichi Okabe [Nier Automata OST]
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image [https://i.postimg.cc/L5xPF3jB/S3-Jane-N-001.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/KY9r2FFg/S3-Mayza-N-000.png]
With both their energy scopes up, Jane knew that now was the time to begin the Leray match officially. The reward system's holographic text appeared between the challengers for only a moment, reminding Jane that a ton of her credits were already at stake here, but more would be at stake in the fight further ahead. She would have to treat this the same as her final fight. While holding strong and ready to battle, Jane took immediate notice of her physical energy, the kind she could feel and sense inside her. During the past few days of recovery, she had been exhausting much faster from the damages healing and the Starlov Boosters she needed to keep taking.
But now her energy has been restored, her health only scratched by lasting mild real time damage. Jane could feel the adrenaline rushing to her blood again, the same familiar excitement she would always get in the middle of a heated battle that is both official and legal. Having fun quickly slipped her mind today, since Mayza was giving Jane the first free attack. She was going to take it for certain while keeping much of her Leray energy in high reserve.
Jane begun by pulling out both of her daggers, the Rigel Runes she had been carrying since Monoc Port. These sharpened blades carried a slight magical essence of aura around them, adding an amount of extra damage or magical potential in their auras, allowing some spells to be overcharged should they combine with the blades themselves. Mayza sure wasn't shy about showing off her rare weapon, but Jane had a spell just perfect for her own. "Flying Guillotine!" Having not to yell it to the top of her voice, Jane still chanted the name of her spell with enough enthusiasm and spirit to coax herself to infuse as much energy as she could into her early spell. Jane held her daggers to the left side of her body, twirling her arms back to the front, giving them a unique curve just before letting them go from her swinging grasp.
The moment those daggers left Jane's hands was the same moment the second attack aura activated inside of the spell wave. Jane's spent Leray energy merged into the blades, forcing a circular arc of red light to spin with the outer radius sides following the tips of each dagger. They spun sideways in the air with speed and grace, the red circular aura of magical slashing damage in tow. To the highly trained warrior, Mayza would have had just enough time with the blade's flight time to get out of the way of the attack, but her reaction time wasn't quick enough, and she moved her arms in front of her to try and block instead. It was a trick that did not necessarily work out for the best. The flying arc literally sliced its way through Mayza's upper body as if she were an intangible ghost, but the damage and the pain caused by the cutting circle registered on the energy scope above Mayza, and on the expression she made with her body reacting to the sensation of knives slicing her skin in a hundred places at once.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/1t2G8H8m/S3-Mayza-N-001.png]
Mayza was just slightly winded by the first hit to Jane's attack. It hurt her skin harshly with the stinging feeling of several deep cuts, but only for a quick moment. While Flying Guillotine can hit the opponent twice in one turn, Mayza had to have known this by the time she took the first scratch. She turned her entire body around, now facing the Flying Guillotine of daggers spinning around. The aura began to wind around quickly, now heading for Jane's direction instead. The spell acts much like a boomerang, returning back to the user and disabling the arc just before the blades return to Jane's hand, but on the way back, it's designed to hit the opponent in the back again for another round of magical slashing damage. Mayza instead ducked down below the arc and rolled herself on the ground to her right just before the second impact, narrowly avoiding the second hit from Flying Guillotine. Without having to turn around, Mayza was certain that Jane would now be tied up trying to catch her daggers and put them away. It wouldn't leave her open for an attack very long, but it would prevent Jane from getting to throw in two attacks consecutively. Effectively speaking, this was now Mayza's chance to strike.
Jane caught her daggers as expected, quickly putting them back in her hidden side pockets to await the next attack. Mayza was already in the process of counterattacking, charging and spending her MP energy to create an aura building up in between her hands. At the same time Mayza chanted the name of the spell, she slid the invisible aura on the cement floor below her, forcing it Jane's direction. "Crush Wave!"
Jane didn't see any visible aura until it began to pick up some speed, sliding on the ground and taking both the shape, form, and appearance as a large Shadow Wave. The dark earth bound attack aura was heading for Jane in a straight line, but unlike a Shadow Wave, it was picking up a few rocks and stones out of nowhere, carrying themselves within the Shadow Wave. Jane didn't have enough time to try and figure out the difference between Shadow Wave and Crush Wave. She had to go on the defensive quickly, and this did not seem like the sort of attack one could just jump away from.
Acting on instinct, Jane recalled exactly how to invoke her personal shielding aura, charging MP energy into her entire body while channeling that energy into her hands at the same time. Because of how little MP the process cost, Jane only needed but a fraction of seconds to perform the action, and then one more fraction to raise her own shield. After crossing her arms back to prepare her aura, Jane swung her arms outward until they faced away from her, opening her hands to expend the energy she had been storing in the form of her personal aura. In her head, she invoked its name as "Power Shield!" without the need to chant it loudly, as the process demanded much more focus. While imagining the scenario in which Jane's shielding aura had been successfully invoked many times in the past, she knew what to expect and how to create the aura without any glitches. As soon as she invoked her personal spell, the blue translucent aura of magical light surrounded and shaped around her entire body, protecting her from all types of damage and partial sound waves.
By the time Jane's shield was up, the Crush Wave attack managed to make it to Jane after it was too late to cause any damage to her body, and Jane had some extra time to recall what that difference was, to understand that Crush Wave is just a step up from Shadow Wave. Crush Wave packs a little extra force than a Shadow Wave, while carrying either chunks of dirt or stone with it in order to pillage the opponent with those rocks or stones. Therefore, the spell causes physical blunt damage in addition to the magical slashing damage using the same exact attack form, while the environment determines which type of stone is used. The physical floor below their feet had remained undamaged so far, meaning the stones spawned from nothing using the magic of the spell.
The difficult to spot Crush Wave slammed into Jane's aura, creating hundreds of medium-sized hexagons on the inside of Jane's shield while sparking some strange noise on the outside of the shield that Jane could hear only faintly. The sound happened for nearly every single hex that appeared everywhere, striking into the air with the familiar sound of a damage-rejection. Damage-rejections are referred to as noise-based impacts that occur when metal or stone strikes against specific types of heavy grade shields, the noise stemming from damage rejection emitting form the shield to indicate that much power was used to repel the kinetic force. Jane's shield held up perfectly, and the Crush Wave eventually collapsed after causing a specific amount of damage that was all canceled and absorbed by the aura. Jane didn't even feel drained from using her shield to defend herself, since she had plenty of MP reserves remaining. On top of that, her shield could have protected her for a lot more damage, or for a longer amount of time. Feeling no need to overexert herself, Jane lowered her arms while dropping the concentration on her aura, therefore collapsing her own power shield. Upon showing her opponent her secret defensive ability, Mayza seemed both speechless and motionless, staring straight into the holographic text hovering above Jane's head.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/3r1mGYz4/S3-Jane-N-002.png]
The only status that declined was her MP reserves from using a magical spell to start, and a little extra from invoking her shielding powers, but she had taken no damage whatsoever, the winding surprise that met Mayza's silence. "You wanted a battle, and you've got one!" Jane didn't intend to taunt Mayza without preparing for additional action. Pulling out her daggers again, Jane immediately began charging MP energy into her blades, chanting a different spell as the tips of her blades quickly began to glow a bright cyan glow with the magical build up. "Mako Strike!" After shooting the magical auras built up at the tips of Jane's dagger blades, two blue energy spheres flew from the metal with the force of a cannon, striking Mayza with a speed three times faster than any standard elemental bolt attack.
Mayza was immediately hit and forced backwards, but she used the back of her feet to avoid losing her balance completely. The pain wasn't light, though it subsided almost immediately, forcing Mayza to check her energy scope for any more harm to her physical body.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/GtDkGyDk/S3-Mayza-N-002.png]
That was Mako Strike! Jane recalled her old ability of using Mako Beam, the same energy process of firing non-elemental energy beams from the tips of her daggers while conserving a lot of MP. Though the damage level was still much too low for her own liking. Mako Strike is the improved version altered by Jane's original ideas during training in Lennith City. Instead of firing highly concentrated beams, the Mako Strike spell shoots the same amount of energy in form of fast flying energy spheres, carrying over their kinetic force with the altered state of the damage type consisting of magical blunt damage. Therefore, the energy usage is the same, though the damage level is much higher. The evidence was striking Jane in the face with the numbers on her opponent's energy scope. A new ability successfully cast and perfected. With that, Jane put away her daggers again, hoping not to rely on them too much at once.
Mayza looked like she recovered from the last hit, and was already charging up MP energy to invoke another kind of attack. Her bare hands began glowing blue in color with the immediate magical charge and buildup in that portion of her body, and with little time to invoke the ability, Mayza chanted her spell aloud while forming the dark jade colored glyphring in front of her, rotating in midair as her arms were forced right through the center of the glyphring. "Electro-Blast!" Mayza unleashed her Leray energy for the spell, immediately creating and launching a massive projectile of light in Jane's direction.
Jane didn't recall at present what the spell was or what destructive capabilities it held. She began to charge energy into her hands to form another power shield, but to her own surprise, it was already too late. The electric-sparking projectile of Leray energy shot at Jane faster than the speed of any known elemental projectile thus far, slamming into Jane's chest long before she was ready to cast her own power shield of protection, and the force the sphere carried wasn't at all what Jane expected either. Jane's entire body and nervous system suddenly locked up without her expected warning, her skin feeling the massive burning and paralyzing shock of an electrical attack. The electricity held her in place, zapping her for a long duration of two and a half seconds. Instead of the sphere shooting through herself, the energy ball stopped where Jane stood upon impact, holding her in place while unleashing its destructive capabilities and taking the shape and form of a Thunder Flare attack.
After it was over, Jane felt like falling on her knees to rest and recover from the pain, for the electricity drained much of her stamina. Her recovery was still much quicker than Jane had previously expected. Her body was still tingling, still warm from the painful shock of a Thunder Flare attack, but to her own surprise, the damage that registered on her energy scope, and her quick recovery from the attack types which she hated most was impressively to her advantage.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/rFpWC7Lh/S3-Jane-N-003.png]
Electro-Blast... Jane finally recalled the spell in her mind, barely remembering its incredibly advanced effects. A very high step up from Thunder Flare, Electro-Blast creates the same sphere used in a Thunder Flare attack, a sphere that surrounds and engulfs the opponent while shocking them in place for several long seconds of time. Only the Electro-Blast spell shoots the sphere in the form of a speedy projectile rather than spawning it on top of the opponent, which would have given Jane a little more time to evade the attack. But judging from what Jane felt firsthand, it couldn't have been much of a higher power level on electrical damage, and because of the speedy recovery, Jane found yet another new opportunity to attack.
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She was always best at fighting close range. Jane learned every unique close combat tactic from master Boncho and Mr. Mire. To this day, she had been refining new techniques with the use of Leray magic and free-form attack spells. Mayza might be good with a dagger, but Jane figured her chances had to be even better. She made the decision with no hesitations, running towards her opponent in a full on sprint while drawing her Rigel Runes again. "Knight Dance!" She shouted to herself. Jane recalled exactly how her Knight Dance combo works, mixing in dagger strikes with a few physical strikes such as kicks and punches combined with magical infusion to increase the damage.
Mayza slightly crouched her stance to prepare for Jane's reckless move, but Jane was already in two places at once before Mayza had the chance to calculate anything. Starting with a winding juke to the right, Jane sliced into Mayza's skin using her dagger blade, following it up with a punch to the face and a low sweeping kick to mess up her opponent's balance. Jane then spun around the other direction to punch and slash at Mayza again, making her combination of attacks unpredictable. Jane's hands and feet were glowing with blue auras of light, infused with magic to increase the damage level of her basic physical attacks. There would still be a limit to the damage in total, but Jane was confident that she was on the rise to victory at any given moment.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/xjNGWWZc/S3-Mayza-N-003.png]
Every hit Mayza took pushed her back, interrupted her focus, or painfully subdued her fighting stance with the combination Jane ended off on. The combo did not last very long, and Jane was already beginning to back off for safety, but Mayza wasn't hurt that badly, and she saw the opportunity to try and counterattack Jane using a similar style.
"Splitting Attack!" she hollered while pulling out her sharp blade. Mayza's entire body was glowing with a faint green aura, making her nearly invisible while she rushed in towards Jane at the speed of sound. Jane couldn't possibly hold on to her concentration with what Mayza tried to do next, slashing at Jane from one direction, only to pierce the dagger into her side from the other direction. Mayza was running left and right over and over again, but the magical aura was allowing her to move and run at a speed impossible for Jane to track. Mayza was practically invisible at the moment, slashing Jane one time after the next in a long lasting combination of physical attacks. Jane was not so immune to basic physical attacks either, not when they were being applied like this. After the last hit had ended Mayza's aura, she took several steps back as quickly as she could, examining how much damage the hits did to Jane in total.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/KvsT9QGm/S3-Jane-N-004.png]
Jane felt the sting of the dagger cuts for a long time, bugging her to no end. She did not expect such a strange and powerful attack to work with speed alone. As Jane began to recover, Mayza put away her dagger, holding her hands up high in the attempt to try another spell. Feeling immediately threatened, Jane chanted the name and invoked the spell of another potential game changer Claudia taught to her alone. Lifting her arms up as to hold something invisible, Jane's energy depleted only slightly upon spawning a new weapon into her hands using the yellow generation glyphring. "Spirit Arrow!" she nervously screamed. The invocation was quick with Jane's pinpoint focus, and the bow materialized in her hands, the arrow already stretching back with her right grip. The tip of the arrow had its own aura, a glowing pink presence of magic that has a unique effect on people. Jane let loose the arrow aimed at Mayza, who took the hit unexpectedly with its drilling speed. Mayza stopped what she was doing, unable to keep her last spell going with the painful feeling of a sharpened arrow in her chest. As painful as the piercing damage was, something else was going on the moment she was hit.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/Gh0PrX0z/S3-Mayza-N-004.png]
Jane relaxed a little, realizing that her spell of disorientation was successful to work on Mayza. Spirit Arrow is a spell that casts spirit elemental damage upon the target. Spirit damage works well to harm any being using or consistent of summon magic, but when used on people, the damage is light, with a twist of heavy mental disorientation that can last for about twenty seconds or more. Judging from the confused expression on Mayza, it was already working.
Mayza felt the entire room spinning, her balance totally messed up. It felt like the earth was just tilting all over the place, and keeping track of the girl became much more difficult. Still, Mayza found it pointless to stand there and do nothing, for instead she began to charge up another magical attack, praying that the spheres would still make an impact on Jane Venn. "Magical Blitz!" Something was wrong with the spell cast. The magical build up took twice as long to invoke the energy sphere into her left hand, and the sphere in her right hand failed to materialize at all. Mayza couldn't concentrate anymore, and she was lucky to create even a single Magical Blitz sphere. Taking random aim, she threw it towards Jane, unable to properly calculate the distance or the angle. The hazy sensation filled her entire mind until there wasn't much left but this sensation.
Jane watched in amazement while Mayza made a fool of herself, throwing only one Magical Blitz sphere far off into the distance. The aim was way off, and the angle Mayza threw it at was absolutely pitiful. The sphere hit the ground, prone to disintegrate into nothingness instead of bouncing off the concrete. Jane was standing several meters away from Mayza, laughing it up in her mind how incredibly effective a Spirit Arrow can be. Now that Mayza can't seem to properly attack or defend herself, Jane used the moment to counterattack.
Charging up a large amount of energy into her hands, Jane prepared to use a powerful magic spell that was already taking a very long time to invoke, but she already knew of its capabilities, the properties of the spell. Normally, this would be a terrible idea, but with Mayza freezing up like this, the damage and MP she would save would be worth the shot. "Crimson Flare!" Jane chanted. After unleashing the energy into a short lived fiery glyphring, the massive sphere of fiery magic materialized from the glyphring, now heading for Mayza. The sphere had to be as large as a small house, massive in size. Though its speed was relatively slow, which was the cut off reason for why people don't normally rely on the spell. By default, the spell can also emit three spheres at the same time. Though Jane only went with one, certain that Mayza would be swallowed by the massive ball of magical damage.
As easy as it seemed, Mayza was indeed helpless to understand what was even going on at the moment, shouting and lashing out from the immediate pain the Crimson Sphere caused to her physical body. Crimson Sphere throws a lot of damage and burning pain with the elemental type used in the spell, and Jane had used it so perfectly that Mayza took a ton of damage from the sphere alone, messing up her balance while trying to cool down her own body heat.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/sDpY25sz/S3-Mayza-N-005.png]
Judging from the HP left on Mayza and Jane, the battle didn't seem like it could end soon, and when the Crimson Flare disappeared after the spell's effect wearing off, Mayza suddenly snapped out of her confusion from the Spirit Arrow Jane shot into her chest. Now back in the action, Mayza had to examine every possibility that this Jane character actually did have a chance of winning after all. It made sense as to why she had such fiery confidence about battling with her entire team. Behind Jane, Mayza spotted that the other two people Jane was traveling with were battling really hard as well, giving off spells and evasions that she had never seen in over three months of time. Her own teammates could lose the other two battles, but Mayza wasn't going to give it up that easily.
"Rotation!" Mayza twirled around while casting magic from her own hands, throwing the wave in front of her just as it manifested into a tall and wide twister that was deep enough to block the view behind it. Just like that, Mayza easily invoked a powerful wind elemental spell now heading straight for Jane, sure to do more harm.
Jane held her arms in front of her. Normally she would have had the instincts to shield herself, but she wasn't expecting such a speedy counterattack so quickly, and the travel arc of this twister definitely surprised her. Rotation is not a powerful spell, though it takes a ton of time and effort just to learn the spell. Rotation is yet another upgrade from Whirlwind, adding on heavy slashing damage and wind elemental damage upon impact. The twister was darker and bigger as well, carrying a lot more force than Jane would have anticipated in her mind. The drag of air was already beginning to suck her in, her skin was already feeling the stings of slashing damage before the dark twister began to touch her in the process. Jane had no choice right now but to just stand there and take the damage. It was too late to use a power shield against this thing. With her hair blowing everywhere in the wind, Jane suffered a barrage of painful slashes that she could only block out the old fashioned way, while she started to think of a good counterattack once the Rotation spell subsides.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/nhjDN7rB/S3-Jane-N-005.png]
Mayza was already on the verge of charging another spell, but it would take some time before it could be invoked. With the twister faded from all sight, she could see Jane already charging a spell too. Which one would be the first to launch wasn't of accurate estimation. Jane already threw her arm down in a strange winding motion, after yelling something that she failed to hear properly. In just a second before Mayza was ready to invoke her next attack, something slammed into the back of her head, shoving her down completely into the pavement while more large objects pillaged the floor everywhere.
Jane had invoked Meteor Strike, slamming the entire battlefield with falling magic stones the size of people, with enough force to explode on impact to the cement. The meteors falling from the sky naturally permeated the Siriean dome as part of the spell's design, and still carried the same amount of force and impact upon striking the ground. Each location that was hit is always randomized, but Mayza managed to suffer three solid direct hits from falling meteorites, causing enough damage to keep her pinned to the ground and unable to do anything but cringe from the massive painful blunt damage. As soon as the spell ended, Jane could tell that the choice was wise from the massive amount of damage it caused to her opponent. Area attacks have high power levels indeed.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/fRDxSkR9/S3-Mayza-N-006.png]
Mayza tried to get back up, but she was slow to do so, heavily disoriented from the hit to the back of her head and then some. Jane knew something as powerful as Meteor Strike, and Mayza failed to account for her hidden power spells, something she should have picked up on sooner. Her body ached everywhere from the massive area attack, and upon seeing her own pathetic energy scope report, she was quick to respond to Jane's last attack with anything, anything at all. Holding both of her arms with one hand facing up and open, Mayza created a fiery glyphring around her wrist after taking aim at Jane, chanting the skill at the same time it was launched. "Fire Bolt!" The volume in her voice had suffered a bit of damage too from the massive loss in Mayza's life force stamina. She was beginning to feel tired and drained already from the huge bite taken out of her health.
Upon launching her Fire Bolt however, Mayza watched in disbelief as Jane performed her strange trick again, throwing her arms out to face opposite directions. Her hands emitted energy in the form of a blue translucent aura surrounding her entire body. The Fire Bolt that was soon to slam her disintegrated into the aura instead, leaving behind only large hexagons at the impact sight of the aura shortly before Jane dropped the shield once again. She was totally mobile and unharmed afterwards. How is she doing that? Jane can just deflect any attack with that insane aura? She had never seen or heard of such a thing before. With that much power, it didn't add up for Mayza. "The hell is that?!"
Jane could hear the confusion in Mayza in response to analyzing her own power shield ability, which was always a secret from others. Jane wondered if her friends would be able to watch her fight, noticing one of Jane's other secret weapons being a powerful defensive shield that saved her life more times than she was able to count back in the dark zone. During her training with Claudia several days ago, Jane never had to use the ability in front of her friends either, but Jane didn't have the time or the need to explain it for Mayza. She needed to win the battle, to keep on training and getting stronger. Jane invoked her next ability quickly, while dragging out a single dagger from her hidden pockets in the suit. "Dark Strike!"
Jane vanished into thin air, only to reappear behind Mayza. Jane was so quick and quiet to transfer herself to another location, that Mayza had no idea to try and check her six for the lingering threat. Jane used the opportunity, slicing her dagger upwards to uppercut Mayza in the back where she stood. The force of the hit was strong enough by default of the spell that it did in fact lift Mayza's body all the way off the ground, up two feet into the air. Jane backed away after the single strike, not taking any chances after this. Mayza hit the hard ground after taking the slash she didn't even see coming, but to Jane's intense surprise, the damage was lighter than she hoped it would be.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/wj2DXH1b/S3-Mayza-N-007.png]
Mayza stood up, cringing from the pain in her lower back, the scrape from cement to the back of her neck, and the sting of a dagger slice in her rear end. She didn't take too long to recover herself though. After realizing that Jane was simply waiting to anticipate the next attack, Mayza finally reminded herself of the many opportunities in her mind, special spells that can act as official tide turners during Leray battles. It wasn't likely Jane could duck her way out of this one. Standing back up in preparation to fight once again, Mayza unleashed a lot of energy from her glowing hands while yelling the name of her spell to get it right the first time. "Litmus!"
Jane was expecting to be attacked immediately, for she had not heard of this particular spell before, but instead of taking in a direct hit or seeing the emergence of any magical based projectile, the wind began to blow at a very high speed coming from her right side. Jane looked around, trying to figure out what was going on, but everything just continued to get even stranger, as the wind blowing through from nowhere suddenly turned everything in Jane's visual sight to a dark blue hue and shade. It almost seemed indigenous to Zero Zone as far as the visual effects went. Shortly after everything was turning blue, Mayza's body literally disappeared along with her energy scope, vanishing without a trace into nothingness. At the same time, the daggers Jane was holding onto vanished as well, gone from her own two hands. Suddenly Jane was the only person trapped inside of the Siriean dome all by herself. She glanced around everywhere, wondering if it was similar to her version of a dark strike attack, but Mayza had not reappeared anywhere just yet. Everything felt much slower. Danny and Taylor were still visible, but their very movements seemed to be untraceable to her as they both phased in and out of her visual perception, carrying a watery sensation of delay. Jane's heart was pounding faster and faster, as the scare of her invisible opponent with the unusual spell set in. Surprisingly, she was not even being attacked yet, but it could change at any moment.
Mayza cherished the sight for a long time before acting on the new opportunity at hand. Jane never looked so confused until right now, edging her head around in all directions, seeking for any signs of life at all. Mayza didn't change her position at all, literally standing over twenty meters from the oblivious Jane. Litmus is a unique and powerful spell that forces the opponent to suffer powerful hallucinations for quite some time, working about as well as a disorientation attack. Jane might have known Spirit Arrow, but Mayza knew Litmus. While Jane wasn't capable of seeing or hearing anything from Mayza or her own attack spells, she used that time to conjure up powerful skills to use against Jane.
The next spell could take time to charge, but it was time Mayza had plenty of for now. Jane dropped her daggers onto the floor by mistake, uncertain of anything anymore. "Photon Blast." Mayza didn't shout the name of her spell, in the event Jane could suddenly hear her voice and detect which direction she was hailing from. Mayza's spell was invoking perfectly, and while taking its time to activate, the glyphring that formed and the magical buildup was finally discharging into one of the most powerful attack spells in known history, one that Mayza taught to herself after many years of experience. After unleashing the attack, thousands of beams of photons shot forward towards Jane in drunken linear paths, others that spiraled out of control. Because of how many individual photons there were, it was unavoidable for Jane either way, as she continuously took enough hits to block Mayza's view forward until the photons subsided. Each loud blast from the end of the glyphring hurt Mayza's ears, but she channeled it out for now, seeing as this would be well worth the wait. Upon the end of the Photon Blast, Jane was on the ground, rolling on her side to struggle and get back up. The spell had to be incredibly painful, but Mayza was instead considering the next ideal ability.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/y8MZKd35/S3-Jane-N-006.png]
The damage level dealt to Jane was incredibly severe, but Mayza was already in the process of casting another attack spell, one that would deal a fair amount of damage without taking up too much of her remaining energy. "Tri-Fire!" Mayza risked her voice level rising while chanting her spell into action. The red glyphring formed around her wrist again, and she released her energy, shooting three Fire Bolts consecutively from the center of the ring. Mayza also had to twist and shift her arm each time a new bolt was fired in order to make it work, but the effect triggered just as well.
Jane could not even conceive of where the Photon Blast originated from, but just as everything was still faded blue and invisible, she saw the first sign of something after several long moments. A Fire Bolt of bright light heading straight for her face. Jane had literally no time to react, as the bolt appeared only a few feet from where she was standing. The Fire Bolt slammed into her face, burning her skin and knocking her back off her feet once again. The second Fire Bolt only managed to graze the side of her arm, while the third one missed Jane due to the sudden maneuver of falling down to the ground.
Jane immediately felt much weaker from taking two massive and painful hits of fire attacks. The burning sensation on her skin, in her arm, and in her face was intense, but still not half as bad compared to the burns she suffered while in Alpha Zero. This was at least tolerable. After the last hit she took, Jane's vision was beginning to restore itself. The blue shade belonging to virtually everything began to shift back into normal colors, brightening the entire area with the shine of sunlight above. Mayza suddenly phased back into reality, along with the other two fights happening around them. Now that Jane could see properly again, she stood a fighting chance.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/Dz1bwTqz/S3-Jane-N-007.png]
Mayza was proud of her master plan, but she wasn't oblivious to the fact that Jane could suddenly notice her again. Litmus must have already worn off, and Jane may try to retaliate if she isn't hurting too badly from all of that damage taken so far. After standing still for only a second, her suspicions were confirmed. Jane drew her daggers, after realizing they reappeared in her pockets from a partial Leray magical rule for equipment in matches.
"It's time for Blitz!" Jane coaxed to herself. She charged at Mayza with her daggers out, thinking about the heavy combination of skills she could try in her own decisions. A faint green aura surrounded Jane's body as she moved, capable of bestowing the Dualcasting effect upon Jane while speeding up all of her invocation speed for all related spells. At the same time, her MP levels were going to be highly drained by the time it was over. Though Jane had only begun to attack chain.
In the middle of charging towards Mayza, Jane held her daggers outwards as if they were pistols, and fired two energy spheres from the tips of the blades, thus invoking the Mako Strike spell only Jane was capable of learning. One of the energy spheres just barely grazed Mayza's face, while the other slammed into her right shoulder, but Jane wasn't finished yet at all. In conjunction with her Blitz combo, she shot off a Fire Bolt from her arm, invoked from an evanescent glyphring with lightning fast speed. Though to an incredible surprise, Mayza literally jumped out of the way of the speeding ball of fire, narrowly avoiding the hit as if she could see it coming a mile away.
Mayza focused as best as she could, realizing that Jane was trying a heavy combination of predictable attacks. She did her best to try and evade everything until she tires out. Mayza then saw Jane shift her direction immediately, tossing her daggers at her while forming two yellow glyphrings in her hands to spawn machine guns for a Bullet Blitz attack.
In a quick winding action, Mayza jumped backward again in a way that allowed her to land on her open hands, only to jump from her upper limbs again to perform another half-roll backflip to her feet. It appeared to Jane as if Mayza was brilliantly perfecting a sophisticated acrobatic evasion maneuver, and it seemed to work for the most part, considering that the daggers and the entire two clips from each machine gun unloaded failed to hit anything.
Mayza felt as if she was figuratively on fire, and after landing solid on her feet again, she prepared herself to dodge anything yet again, but Jane kept her on her toes. Now danger close, Jane used Flash-Kick against Mayza, infusing a lot of magical energy into a powerful flying kick that forced her to hold her stomach in pain from having the wind knocked out of her. Jane immediately transformed her combo into a Rush Assault combination attack, kicking and punching Mayza in as many places as possible while preventing her from doing anything else. Jane then used her daggers that had once again respawned into her pockets to slash Mayza's skin twice, following up the end of her combination with a Flying Guillotine that drilled through Mayza at close range, cutting up her skin in enough places with enough damage to make her squeal.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/d00rnXdQ/S3-Mayza-N-008.png]
Jane didn't have time to read the energy scope on Mayza, so she took several paces back before doing so, catching her daggers again as the Flying Guillotine maneuver was returning the blades into her hands. Mayza looked to be in an incredible amount of pain doubling over, but Jane prepared herself regardless of the appearance of the damage left on her.
Mayza was indeed capable of quickly going from nothing to something in less than a second flat. After chanting "Hitman!" loudly, she already generated two sub machine guns just like Jane had a moment ago. Seeing that Mayza was about to invoke something similar to Bullet Blitz, Jane threw her arms apart with her daggers in hand, and cast her personal shielding aura just before it was too late to do so. Luckily, Jane has long since perfected a way to eject energy through solid objects in her hands while creating the same aura on the same level, even though it was more difficult to do so. A long barrage of bullets bounced and reflected off of Jane's power shield, though it was surprising to see that shouting Hitman had the same effect in mind as Bullet Blitz. After standing perfectly still and concentrating for her aura for several more seconds, Jane realized that Hitman was better than Bullet Blitz as far as length and chain is concerned. There had to be an impossible amount of hidden clips to those guns, because the barrage lasted for a rather long time, putting more stress on Jane's shield until it was finally over.
Jane dropped the shield undamaged, though she could detect much stress in her opponent, no longer was she surprised by the power shield to just stand there in awe. Jane however saw to it that Mayza had no time to attack again so soon, and she put together her hands facing all the way out and forward for her next spell. "Quantum Beam!"
Another blue aura formed around Jane's body, but not the same type of aura used in her power shield. While consisting the same shape, Jane's aura transformed into what is known as the Quantum Beam, a spell powerful enough to turn an entire aura into a magical attack beam. Being as it was the same shape, the beam itself was incredibly massive in size and radius, as it slammed into Mayza's body with too much light for Jane to further see what was going on at the same time. Going off the energy scope, Mayza took the direct hit, struggling to keep her balance the moment the light finally faded from view.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/nLw7WkY4/S3-Mayza-N-009.png]
Jane had been warned about this before. Quantum Beam takes up quite a good amount of her own energy, yet the damage level is problematically low compared to other attacks. Claudia gave no good advice on how to improve it, and Jane had just given Mayza another chance to come back at this. Quantum Beam is supposed to be powerful, but is deceptively weaker than it should be. Jane figured it wasn't just on her either.
"Ninja Stars!" Mayza threw tiny little projectiles towards Jane, forcing her opponent to pay further attention to what was going on. Jane had experience with evading Ninja Stars before, and it was laughably low on the scale of damage should either one of them manage to hit her. Though Ninja stars is designed to deal more physical pain than physical damage. Jane however was ahead of the game on this one, flipping herself sideways to avoid the first ninja star, while invoking another power shield to deflect the other two. The two ninja stars literally bounced off the shield leaving behind the same anti-aura screech noise as before, though the hexagons were massive in size at the impact sight. Jane figured as much; the shield wasn't even that necessary.
After dropping her own shield, Jane immediately switched into a familiar attack again with her daggers facing her opponent. "Mako Strike!" Jane fired two more energy spheres at her opponent, while Mayza was quick on her reactions to dodge at least one of them. The energy sphere that impacted her however didn't even have Mayza fazed at all, despite the slight damage she took in the process.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/vBg9wV3p/S3-Mayza-N-010.png]
Though disregarding the initial appearance of her incredible resilience, Mayza suddenly collapsed to the ground on her hands and feet, her low stats already catching up to her. Jane saw that Mayza was now helplessly weak where she was, but she wanted to take a moment to herself as well. Jane was rapidly inhaling and exhaling air from how exhausted she was from the entire battle. While keeping her daggers readily available, Jane slowly crept up to Mayza with a murderous glint in her eyes, wondering if surrender was even an option here. Mayza has nowhere else to go, and is now going to be finished. It was now that Jane was reminded by the fact that this is just an ordinary Leray battle, not something from Alpha Zero. Because Doom Shield had not been cast either, both Jane and Mayza were free to choose between losing by forfeit, or passing out to a loss of consciousness. Because Jane was not the one expecting to quit, she was confident enough to speak with Mayza about her options.
"Had enough?" Jane projected. She stood closer to Mayza, who was on the floor, obviously beaten and tired from the intense battle. "I warned you that I'm not trash, and neither are my friends."
Mayza's voice was indeed hoarse from her exhaustion, but she tensed up her legs, using her arm muscles to support herself sitting up halfway. "I'll quit when I say quit!" Mayza immediately jumped up to her feet, pulling out her dagger and infusing it with magic in a motion that was incredibly quick. "Armor Breaker!"
Before she could react to the trick Mayza used on her, Jane felt a sharp shooting dagger fly through her chest and out the other end. She put her hand there to try and alleviate the pain, but it was now that Jane realized she had been played. Mayza wasn't as tired as she appeared, and Jane got too close.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/hjgQJ5r1/S3-Jane-N-008.png]
Jane watched in horror as Mayza aimed her arm at her to charge for another attack, but as soon as the glyphring formed in mid-air, it disappeared shortly after, leaving behind nothing at all. Mayza looked just as confused and humiliated at the sight. As Jane tried to figure out what happened, it was evident from Mayza's energy scope that all of her MP reserves had been exhausted since trying to use Armor Breaker the last time. Trick shot failed!
"Hmph!" Jane exhaled with a smug expression. "Seems you've forgot the first thing about Leray battling. Never let your MP get too low without realizing it. Blast Wave!" Jane threw up her glowing arm, as it quickly stopped emitting light with the rapid release of her energy. Jane had to back away several feet from Mayza in order to prevent getting caught in her own area attack. While the small explosions began to populate the battlefield everywhere in front of Jane, Mayza glared at her with a most defeated expression.
"No!" she shouted in disbelief.
Jane reassured her confidence just before the randomized explosions began to get even closer to Mayza. "I've got reason to win!" Jane wanted to say more, but the blasts suddenly moved their way to where Mayza had been standing, blowing up on the ground and destroying what was left of her life force energy. Blast Wave is an improved version of Radial Blast, making the positions of each explosion less random while maximizing the explosive-based damage to the target.
As soon as the blasts stopped and the sounds grew silent, Jane noticed Mayza on the floor again, this time unable to pretend to play dead after a hard hit like that. Visible cuts and slight wounds populated her arms and shoulders when she went out, but Jane knew that would still be considered Leray damage. The energy scope then reported the true victor of the battle, and Jane relaxed herself as best as she could.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/rmB4VwHz/S3-Mayza-N-011.png]
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It has been so long since Jane got to see the holographic text appear to let her know that battle mode and real time mode cycles at the start and end of a battle, and that the reward system happens automatically just like that. The Siriean dome faded quickly around her, leaving only two remaining domes where Danny and Taylor were continuing their own battles. Jane didn't mind the wait, for she was still exhausted from the battle she had to endure.
The result was in fact desirable to Jane. She got to test out many of her new spells on a live target, and get in more experience as to which methods are best to go for in a fight with those new abilities. Jane pulled out a healing orb from her supply sphere, after stocking up on them since Lennith City. Shortly after holding the glowing orb in her hand to use the device, Jane's stats on her energy scope were restored.
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Chapter Theme Shift: Silver Canyon [A] ~ Resonance of Fate / End of Eternity OST
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image [https://i.postimg.cc/mDwz7ypf/S3-Jane-N-009.png]
Jane had nearly forgotten that her maximum values were cut a little short from the existing real time damage that she had yet to recover from, though this remaining damage was light according to her references. Jane put away her supply sphere and disabled her own energy scope hovering above her. Mayza was just out of it now, with nothing but a few civilians straggling around to watch the chaos. Both Siriean domes currently active actually worked well to block off the entire middle section of the road, which explained the increase in background population. Danny and Taylor both seemed to be wrapping up their own battles by now though, practically within the same amount of times to each other. What appeared most favorable to Jane is that her friends were coming out of this victoriously.
Danny finished his fight with a rather powerful Earth Glave, launching one of the other men into the air only to deplete all of their health before hitting the ground again. Taylor's last move was a shockingly unique spell Jane had never seen or heard of before. Taylor threw something that resembled Ninja Stars, but the spinning blades were entirely frozen in their own coat of ice. As the projectiles slammed into Taylor's foe, he immediately fell down to the ground, after which the dome shield faded. Danny's opponent was knocked out, but Taylor's foe was still awake, so he must have thrown in the towel with his low HP levels.
Just like that, Jane could not believe how easily they won their own battles. She previously underestimated their abilities, only to be proven wrong in front of her face. Where did they learn things like that though? Danny's Earth Glave wasn't new, but it was much more refined and powerful than she remembered seeing it, and Taylor was doing her own new things.
"Wh— what?! This can't be happening!" The watcher who did not participate in the battle belonging to Mayza's group was holding his hair in frustration. After witnessing three losses in a row all at the same time, he just got served some rather disturbing news about the capabilities of his own crew. Danny and Taylor on the other hand reunited with Jane after recovering from their wounds using their own healing orbs. They did so while meeting up with Jane, easily mobile from not taking as much damage.
"Looks like we won," Danny concluded to Jane's face.
Jane smiled at how brilliantly powerful he and Taylor were on their own. "Yes - I saw. That made for excellent target practice."
"What was that earlier I heard about us not being strong enough?" Taylor went on babbling to Jane, basically coaxing her to apologize for the comment she made on their weakness that was not apparent in this battle.
"No need to rub that in," Jane reminded. "But I am sorry for doubting you two." Jane glanced behind them, noticing that only two of the four were still conscious, one trying to restore himself with a healing orb. Jane realized that with three victories in a row, the credit count had to be quickly adding up. "I think we've just made a great financial move here, procuring all of those credits." About six thousand of them belong to some sailor in Tilsit. Jane didn't forget about that small detail. She managed to coax herself into stealing during that blind quest for purity.
Jane hovered her eyes down to her hand, where the crest remained hidden. Jane had grown so used to this thing now that she could literally feel its activation should it suddenly appear. Jane dared not to invoke it in a public place, but from the thought, she realized that her own symbol did not activate on its own during this battle. Jane won the fight on skill alone, which felt really good. The elastic in her suit with over-layered fingerless gloves covered her hands very well, so there would be no worry if something happened mid-battle, but Jane knew the difference between herself and a normal person. As soon as Alpha Zero is taken care of, there should still be a way to remove this marking.
"You guys are cheaters!"
Jane and her friends turned to the moron who was calling them out, the same passive observer who travels with Mayza's group. He didn't seem so sure of himself, and left the situation alone after a brief glare in order to help Mayza and the person Danny defeated. "No," Jane answered. "Not this time we're not."
Taylor never forgot about that, reminded again by Jane's odd context. Jane had several mixed feelings that just having her special powers gave her an unfair edge in battle. The same symbol previously hindered her, yet now it made her too powerful. Jane didn't seem as concerned about it this particular time. Maybe the crest failed to activate in this iteration, or maybe Jane was just getting used to it.
Even so, this was her first time ever witnessing Jane winning an actual battle all by herself. She had heard of the other times Jane fought wielders on Route 96 and monsters in the dark zone, but this was something Taylor was actually here for, despite being too distracted to see it fully. It was amazing to see how much changed in such little time, though not all of it had to do with Jane. "Shall we?" Taylor aimed her hand to the bikes they had left on the side in order to keep them out of harm's way.
Jane nodded and casually changed her pace to walk towards the bikes. Danny on the other hand had a few questions he wanted to spew out on the way there. "Did you see the way I handled that guy? That was awesome! Is this road going to be all like this from here on? I wish I would have known about Leray magic sooner."
"Ease up now," Jane warned. "Don't forget what we're here to do." Jane lifted her bicycle from the concrete as it sat on its side. There wasn't any guilt in trying to tell the other team how poorly they did. Failing to give a proper handshake in the beginning usually means it won't happen in the end either. After balancing the vehicle on both wheels, Jane quickly hopped on, using her left foot as a kickstand before rolling back out. She wanted to at least make sure the others could keep up, and there would be plenty of time to talk anything out before someone else interrupts them. The density of the crowd was almost nothing further down the road. At least that's what her eyes could tell for now.
Taylor had so much on her mind that was absent from there before. This is what Jane did on Route 96, over and over before nearing Lennith City. It didn't make much sense to why Jane didn't just use her emergency strike at that time. Then again, Taylor was tracking down a friend in danger. Jane was chasing after a ludicrous cure to some kind of rare and illegal magic disease by seeking help from public enemy number one. But what is life supposed to be like here? Do people just battle until they drop? Or is there more to life in Sprawn Valley than this?
After thinking about what Danny tried to explain before, Taylor could only piece together that Sprawn Valley is an underdeveloped country even today, using businesses and normal jobs to bring in the wealth needed for the physical development. There are cities, farms, oceans, beaches, forests, and jobs. And then there is this; this incredible system of Leray magic that people use for virtually everything. As entertainment, they battle, fight between each other using magic and skills. Taylor still couldn't use that to answer the question stuck in her. Hundreds of random people battle with magic every day here. Adults, children, creeps, possibly criminals, and soldiers, and they normally do this for reasons that fit into this society, but given that to be the case, which category does Jane belong to?