"Skeleton Knight! Destroy the jewel inside the skull!" Aria shouts.

It literally just appeared. Why is so tall? Where the hell did it get equipment? I was expecting the piles of bones to form into... ah... I see. I need to adjust my thinking. If fire spirits make fire from nothing... then why not create skeletons from void out of nowhere?

To be honest, I think this may not even necessarily be a dead person as such. It's better to think of it as a... a bone golem?

It wastes no time in aggression, though. Its eye sockets blaze with a blue glow, and it zips forward with a speed unbefitting its size, swinging the halberd in a wide crescent. Aria is forced to duck, and Kaede flips the side.

Scary. Our formation is already broken. As the backswing comes around I grab Rishya's shoulder and roll to the ground with her, dislodging her hat. She squeals but doesn't resist as the axe blade whistles three feet above.

I hear Seria leap back as well, chanting rapidly, and letting Kiku dash by me with a ‘shing’ from drawing two swords.

From it missing both swings, it is somewhat off guard to take Kiku's counterstrike, raising its gauntleted off hand barely in time to catch the short swords with a rain of sparks.

Kiku stays close, changing her attack angle to harry it and prevent it from bringing the pole-arm to bear, but it doesn't work quite as she hoped, as the skeleton adapts quickly, and punches her in the arm with force enough to make her cry out and spin away instinctively.

I pull the somewhat dazed Rishya up, as Aria leaps at it to cover Kiku's escape. The two long pole-arms clash furiously.

Aria shouts and really utilises that crazy strength of hers, pushing back the halberd with a clang.

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The skeleton staggers back, perhaps not expecting the explosive force generated by our little silver princess.

Kaede doesn't miss this opportunity, leaping onto its shoulders like the acrobat she is, and jamming her wakizashi into one of the eye sockets from behind.

The angle of the strike is somewhat off, though, and the wakizashi pings off the skull and is forced from her hand in a spiralling arc.

It silently appears to roar and thrashes wildly, and she is thrown off, barely landing safely with forward roll, though I bet that hurt a bit.

It turns to stab Aria again, realising her threat is probably highest, but before it can attempt another swing, it gets a double blast of crackling lightning to its chest.

Seria advances forward pouring forth electricity from both of her hands like the emperor from Star Wars, her black cape and twin-tails billowing dramatically.

It judders from becoming a ground for electricity, it's skeleton burning black from the current, and as it does, a sword flies out of nowhere with obscene accuracy, finishing the attack Kaede was attempting a moment before.

The lightning stops, and it falls to its knees with a sword comically stuck in the eye socket. A gush of blue tears drip down the skulls cheekbone, and it collapses into a pile of bones and armour.

Shows over, I guess. I felt a bit useless there, but much like the fight with Kerkyon, I guess it is rather hard for me to react well to fast and vicious single enemies... at least assuming I don’t want to drop grenades in the middle of my own formation. I’m not about to start being a team killer, especially with such a team of cute ladies!!

Kiku staggers up to me and Rishya, her right arm hanging quite loose on one side. This appears to wake up the still gobsmacked healer.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I'll do it right away!" She cries out, raising Michael up.

"That was... surprisingly strong." I remark uselessly.

"It was..." Aria comes up to my side. "Will you be able to help Kiku, Rish?" She asks.

Rishya grimaces, but nods. She grasps Kiku's arm as she says "I am tremendously sorry. This may hurt."

White light engulfs the arm briefly, and there is an audible crack. Kiku screams and lets out some tears, staggering away.

I grab onto her as she reels with the intent to just stop her from falling over, but it somehow turns into an embrace.

Ah well. She deserves it for that godly finisher. She even managed it with a broken arm!