Sun Never Sets 2: Fires of Friendship

[Nocturna Cathedral Front, Courtyard]
[Saturday, 1:00pm]

"Damn. I still can't believe it."

Sunset Shimmer approached what was left of the Nocturna Cathedral's front gate. It wasn't just the building itself that was in ruin, there were numerous cloaked bodies lying dead across the gravel road leading to the building. More members of whatever church she and Eve came across back in town, from the looks of it. More bits of crumbled up machinery as well, and even further in, more demonic and possessed villagers, were all lying dead. Through the crumbled stone, burnt out support structures, and broken glass, Sunset could not see a single trace of anyone left alive.

Curiously, many of these villagers had been killed by bullet holes, not any slices or wider lacerations.

"How far is it from here?" Sunset asked. "The castle of the Lord of Chaos?"

Eve had been shadowing her quite closely through the forest path, but seemed hesitant to follow Sunset through the rubble of the outer stone walls. When Sunset looked back, Eve was playing with a small lock of her hair, a bit of the silver strip in between her wider length of indigo. She adjusted her sunglasses as she gave a shy response.

"Uh, I'd say we're... two thirds of the way there, if I remember correctly" She said, "It isn't far from the Cathedral to the front entrance of the castle ruins... but the gate is magically sealed. You'll need a magic weapon to break the lock."

"Remember correctly?" Sunset asked. "I thought you'd never been here before."

"I-, uh, well..." Eve's face immediately turned a strange shade of dark violet, and she tried to cover it with a hand. She was flustered by the looks of it, blood rushing to her cheeks. Oddly colored blood, but she was a demon, so Sunset didn't think too much about it. "I, uh... I'm just making an estimate?"

Sunset's eyelids kept at a half raise, and her lips stayed perfectly flat. She stared at Eve and her flimsy response, trying to think of how to even begin approaching such an obvious attempt to cover up a lie.

"Uh-huh," Sunset said. "Forget I asked. How do we get through here?"

"We'll want to go through the Cathedral and leave through the back of the graveyard, it'll put us on a path around the mountain."

Sunset kept walking, but as she did she felt something appear behind her, heard a heavy and raspy breathing accompany the shuffling of cloth and metal.

Eve, from her delayed distance, immediately called out to Sunset.

"Sunset, look out!"

Sunset spun around and had a pistol drawn in a flash, looking down the visage of a fully formed, shadowy monstrosity of a demon, not one of the possessed villagers but a far more advanced specimen. This demon held the form of a woman, presumably one of the Cathedral members as torn robes still clung to her body and a hood and veil covered her face. She was taller, bulkier, more powerful in form and stature now, something Sunset recognized as the sign of possession of a magic user. Most prominently, the demon's right arm was completely transformed into a long, bony, bladed appendage, bleach-white skin seemingly torn apart and fused back together to make space for the integrated weapon. In the demon's offhand, a wooden-handled revolver pistol was carried, likely the weapon of choice when they were still human.

Such a prominent mutation indicated a stronger presence of demon corruption over a longer period of time. This place had been sitting in chaos for far longer than the village proper.

For the mere second of slowed time that Sunset got a visual of her opponent, the demon flickered into a perfect pitch black color, and then dissipated into nothing. Sunset immediately whipped her attention and weapon sights back forward.

VANTA, Fully Corrupted Shadow Guardians: Two more of these demons appeared off of the centerline of her vision in front of the Cathedral, one standing beyond a ruined fountain and one crouched near some bushes to the side. Their robes were of the slightest difference in color, deep navy blue rather than full black, but they had all formed the same way, one arm splitting into a bony blade and their hand carrying a pistol. Sunset was aware that they could easily brandish any type of weapon in which their human host was familiar, it was a trait of high-level possessions and manifestations for a demon to inherit memories and personality quirks from their human. This type of demon could only manifest itself within a powerful, magically aligned force, giving Sunset the clear indicator that this Nightmare Moon cult was host to some brand of witchcraft or sorcery. Judging by their all black or near-black clothing, the fact that they all appeared to be women, she would assume that they were probably witches.

The minutiae of magic-wielder classification was pretty meaningless to most people, but as Sunset figured, sorcerers wouldn't have used weapons so readily, they preferred purely arcane attacks, and warlocks probably would have a lot more skin showing, they liked to show off their physical forms. They certainly weren't wizards, wizards were far too paranoid to even get possessed by a demon in the first place. Witches, as far as Sunset knew, liked their tradition and were very steeped in convergence with the demon world.

Though, that brought up the question of how this all came to be. Witches were supposedly experienced with demonic interactions, some were even said to be immune to corruption. Some catastrophic mistake must have occurred here to cause such a widespread chaos outbreak.

Or maybe this was just an inexperienced group of magic users making stupid mistakes. Sunset really wouldn't know the difference unless she investigated further, but that wasn't what she was hired to do. She was hired to...

The first Vanta she saw snapped back into reality right in front of the fountain with her pistol held outstretched, clawed finger curling around the trigger and hissing aggressively.

Oh right, she's here to kill stuff.

Three bullets fired off in quick succession, each of the three demons firing their guns in quick succession, but just as quickly Sunset returned fire with both guns drawn, cycling them between each target with hyper fast reflexes and her trademark impeccable accuracy. Each bullet she fired intercepted the ones fired at her mid-flight, and as the two demons to the side jumped to flank her, Sunset locked both of her guns on her front target and fired away.

The bullets phased through the Vanta, the demon willing herself into a shadow and disappearing once more. Sunset bolted forward, running to where the demon once was and opening her arms to target each of the opponents to either side of her. Her guns went off, slides snapping back and forth as she worked her triggers, and those demons too evaporated before any impact was made.

The first one reappeared behind her, bladed arm coiled back and releasing into a wide, spinning slash, but Sunset rocked her head forward and spun on one foot, holding up one of her pistols to deflect the blade and pointing her other down at the demon's leg. One bullet pierced the demon's calf simulation with Sunset's parry, giving the demon no time to phase away. Stunned, Sunset dropped her other leg and kicked up into the Vanta's neck, stumbling her back while Sunset cartwheeled up onto the ridge of the ruined fountain. It was cracked on her side, and all the water had drained out of a gap on the other, but she kept her balance as she fired down on the recoiling Vanta.

The two others reappeared to either side of her, both lunging in with equal intensity, but Sunset jumped again, this time landing on the raised center platform of the fountain. The flat space was incredibly thin, Sunset was balancing on just one foot, but she kept her arms raised and shifted her aim to the two closer enemies, knocking them both off the fountain with a shower of bullets as they attempted to close the distance.

From her spot atop the fountain, Sunset saw Eve back beyond the crumbled front gate wall, fighting back a crowd of Operarri, more demonic villagers from back in the town. While they weren't as powerful as these transformed witches, they were certainly more numerous. Eve was moving quickly, her magical Locus putting in work as she kept the crowd at bay. Her arcane fire and lightning attacks rang out even as she dipped out of sight. Sunset trusted she could take care of herself, but made a point to drop these demons as quickly as she could so she could go help her.

Sunset kicked off of the fountain, inverted her body into a flip, and fired her guns down at the demons below her in a circle. Her descent slowed for a moment, not firing with precision but focusing on saturating the ground beneath her with bullets. Only one of her targets failed to escape, the first taking a few hits but pulling away, and the second turning to a shadow the moment she saw Sunset getting ready to fire.

A most unlucky third demon caught both of Sunset's boots on her chest as she completed her flip, and then the full weight of the redhead's tall and athletic body as she drove the demon straight into the ground. Both of Sunset's knees bent as she crushed the demon's shoulders down into the dirt, then fired one of her pistols five times right down into her face. The Vanta screeched in agony, the bullets piercing the skin and eliciting a light spray of thick ink-like blood from the creature, but the injuries seemed minimal at best. Sunset wound one of her legs back and kicked hard into the demon's thigh, suddenly launching her target into a spin. The demon crashed into the base of the stone wall furthest from Sunset, crumpling to the ground and struggling to right herself as Sunset redirected her attention to the next threat.

One of the navy-robed Vantas swung her blade around at Sunset from the side, but vanished as soon as Sunset dodged and fired a counter shot. When the next one swung for her, Sunset holstered her pistols and switched to her sword. Rather than dodge, this time she barred her blade against the Vanta's sharpened limb. She made contact, a distinct scraping of metal on bone following, and then she tilted the pommel of her sword to force a close blunt strike on the Vanta's forehead.

With the demon now stunned, Sunset returned the side slash with her own sword, cutting the Vanta across the stomach and coincidentally slicing through the other right as it reappeared beside her. More dark blood splattered across the ground as Sunset's sword completed its arc. The two demons reeled back, not defeated, but visibly injured more than the gunshots.

Still, Sunset opted to switch back to her pistols, pointing one at each of the demons before her and focusing her magic forward into her weapons. After a moment, her guns began to glow, and bright red flashes burst from both muzzles. Bullets ripped from two angles, each round imbued with demon power, and they exploded against their targets on impact. Both demons were blasted backwards into the walls on either side of the courtyard.

They weren't out of the fight yet, but Sunset had established her edge on these creatures.

She saw a shape move in front of her, running out of the blown out doors of the Cathedral and hiking a foot up on the edge of the fountain. It was another Vanta, this one a black robed one, but rather than strike with her blade arm she fired her revolver down in three quick shots. Sunset dodged backward, the bullets striking near her feet, but before the Vanta landed on the ground she faded into shadows. A moment later, she reappeared at Sunset back, still traveling through the air with her gun pointed down. Three more bullets spat out at Sunset, narrowly missing her as she twirled herself and readjust her mental target lock.

Sunset tried to extend her arm to fire again, but the Vanta quickly shifted from firing her gun to stabbing with her blade arm, catching Sunset off guard. Reacting quickly, Sunset pulled her pistols towards her chest just in time to block the point of the Vanta's blade. The impact came quickly, the blade's point shoving her guns against her and actually managing to shove her backwards.

Her legs braced, but the Vanta's arm rolled back in a fluid motion and reloaded itself for another stab just as quickly as the first came. Sunset was ready, holding her pistols crossed again as the pointed blade came for her again. It hit even harder, though, and Sunset was forced back into a slide all the way to the rim of the fountain. The back of her legs smacked against the broken stone, and for a moment Sunset lost her balance. Her feet shifted back to catch her weight, and she saw the Vanta that landed a hit on her, widening her stance and raising her arm blade to strike again and glaring at Sunset through her dark veil.

The other Vantas surrounding her were all back on their feet, and each one closed in from a different direction.

Sunset's head tilted to either side, and she held her pistols at the ready.

"I sure hope you've said your prayers..." Sunset said, a cool smile crossing her face as she eyed up her opponents.

The Vanta directly in front of her cocked her head in curiosity, taking the time Sunset spent taunting to reload her revolver in a quick, snappy manner. As the gun came back up to target the demon hunter, Sunset's eyes narrowed again.

"'Cause church service is canceled."

[Nocturna Cathedral West, Graveyard Area]
[Friday, 4:15pm]

"Corpses in a graveyard. Who would've thought..."

Flash Sentry stood over the last of the undead soldiers patrolling the graveyard out behind the Cathedral. It was a wide stretch of land, but it felt pretty confined by the tall stone walls surrounding it. Two parallel slab walkways were the main features of the graveyard areas, lining large groupings of various sized headstones all arranged in neat rows. Smaller pathways branched between the two main ones, and guards had been posted between them to watch over the area.

The Legionnaires had proven little match for Flash, however. As clouds rolled in and the sky darkened, Flash kept his profile low and ducked between headstones and some of the taller grass on the edges of the walkways. Spike had followed with him, but the mechanized hound opted to stay near the side entrance, using his limited radar capability to relay the positions of the undead guards to Flash as he crept around undetected. The communication system that Spike and Starlight used was unfamiliar to Flash, unlike anything he'd ever seen before in terms of wireless communication technology, something about utilizing some combination of magic and nanotech, but it apparently was compatible with his own analog radio system.

With Spike's assistance, Flash's resentite knife easily dispatched each of the patrols, all he needed to do was get behind them and deliver a quick stab to the neck or arms, anywhere there was a gap in the armor. The magic-nullifying effects of his knife blade readily did its work on whatever force was keeping the soldiers reanimated. Each of the corpses collapsed to the ground in near silence as they became inanimate once more. Normally they would've put up a considerable fight for a lone operative, Flash counted eight soldiers in the graveyard, but none of them got the chance.

Flash kept out of sight, listened closely to Spike's information over the radio, and moved decisively, taking down each of the patrolling soldiers in quick succession without any alert being raised. He kept his momentum forward, not letting his awareness drop as he pressed himself up against the side of the Cathedral's far wall, walking along the side and scanning the perimeter to the best of his ability.

By now it was raining softly, Flash worried that the storm would impede his vision if he didn't get inside quickly.

"Spike, the graveyard looks clear. You can move in."

"Got it."

Spike slowly crept through the gate headfirst, his optic sensors fully open as he kept himself pressed as low to the ground as possible. Flash watched him move, but then lost track of him as he crossed through a row of bushes. His eyes shifted over to the Cathedral building itself. He was looking at the back end of it, there was a balcony overlooking a straight drop downhill. The entire building was built on an incline, it appeared, and the sturdy brick wall only encircled the flat ground around the building. Around the back, the cliff downhill served as a natural barrier, and it wasn't one anyone could easily traverse.

From the angle he was observing, there was a slow rise in the middle of the graveyard with a particularly large headstone atop it, and then there was a view of the back corner of the Cathedral. On an upper floor, Flash saw a pretty spacious balcony near the corner overlooking the drop, and there was no door but the one on that level. No ground level entrance from the back, just a tall stained-glass window running up the center of the back wall.

Interesting imagery in the window, of a woman kneeling before the moon. Unfortunately there was no light to stream through it, and it mostly looked dull with the dark clouds forming above him.

There wasn't a way in through the back, but Flash spotted what looked like a hatch to a cellar or basement near his side of the building. That was something to work with...

The rustling of metal boots on the ground took his attention away from his surveillance, and Flash immediately dropped to a prone position.

"Flash, someone's coming!" Spike's voice buzzed in his ear.

"Way ahead of you. Stay low..."

He slid himself up behind another of the bushes, the gently falling rain masking any of the subtle noises he was making. In the distance, coming through the same entryway they'd come through, three more Legionaries came walking through the area.

Just then, Starlight's voice cut back into Flash's ear. They'd been in contact quite recently, while Flash was first scoping out the graveyard.

"Spike, Flash, can either of you identify a possible entryway on the upper level of the Cathedral?"

Carefully, Flash adjusted his radio set.

"I saw a balcony walkway on the back end of the building," he said. "It overlooks a drop though, it's going to be hard to reach."

"I've got a plan, don't worry," Starlight said.

"You're climbing to the roof, aren't you?" Spike said. Could he see her from his current location? Flash wasn't sure.

"Yep."

"I've got eyes on what looks like a basement entrance." Flash said. Just as he did, the three Legionnaires suddenly became alerted. One barked an order to the others, motioning for them to spread out and search the area. They must've noticed that their companions were dead. Flash ensures to pull his entire body as neatly into his hiding spot as possible before whispering the rest of his report.

"I'm going to have to get inside quickly, which means I can't give you cover if you're up top."

"That's fine, as long as you can get in we'll meet up later."

Flash exhaled as the conversation ended, and he turned his attention back to the three soldiers now actively alerted to the presence of intruders. With the captives inside and their group so close to their target, Flash knew they were working on a timer. They needed to be quick about this, Flash didn't have time to fight these guys head on.

One of the soldiers was sweeping near his hiding spot. The undead soldier's metal boots clanked against the stone tile walkway, footsteps growing nearer as Flash prepared to make his move.

"Spike, can you track the other soldiers?" Flash sneaked a quick whisper over his radio.

"They're near me, but I can only eliminate one at a time..." Spike said.

"I'm going to take this one out, get ready to pick a target and attack him."

"Got it..."

Flash heard the footsteps going nearer, and from his pouch he produced an empty magazine. He tried not to leave things behind if he could help it, but he was about to make tactical use of littering.

The soldier stood right next to his bush cover, looking around the nearby headstones but not quite honed in on his location. Carefully, yet intently, Flash reeled his arm back and tossed the magazine out from behind his cover, towards the back of the soldier looking for him. It clattered against the ground quite audibly, and the soldier immediately snapped his attention towards the source of the sound. Flash could hear the creaking of his bones and the raspy breathing from beneath his decaying throat. A grunt of confusion and a cautious drawing of his sword.

The soldier's response wasn't enough though. Flash immediately lunged out from his hiding spot and plunged his knife into the side of the soldier's neck, wrapping his other arm around the soldier's torso and kicking him in the back of the leg. The hapless soldier was yanked back into the bushes seconds later, completely unable to alert his companions to the disturbance.

Not wasting time, Flash pushed forward from where he stashed the soldier's body. His knife still drawn, he scooped the tossed pistol magazine off the ground and made into a sprint across the graveyard.

"Now, Spike!"

The two soldiers on the further side of the graveyard turned to see him running for them, and Flash immediately tossed his magazine again at full force mid-run. The metal casing knocked against the closest soldier's helmet, disorienting him with noisy THUNK! The motion gave Flash enough time to close the distance and land another quick throat slash takedown on the soldier, and in the same moment Spike jumped from behind a cut down tree stump to take down the last soldier.

Pulling his knife free, Flash pushed the now dead soldier to the floor, and watched as Spike tore into the back of his target's neck. Spike's front paws ended in sharpened metal claws, perfect weapons for stealth attacks despite Spike's lack of primary weaponry. There would likely be more soldiers sent in to investigate, so they had to move again. Inside, preferably.

"Spike, hold position out here in the graveyard and radio me if more reinforcements show up. I'm going to go in on my own."

"Are you sure, Flash?"

Flash nodded. "Absolutely. I'm going to need you to watch my exit."

Spike nodded his understanding. His optical sensors seemed to close for a moment as his head tilted, as if he was thinking about something. Flash found his attempts at face expression intriguing, but didn't say anything about it.

With the coast apparently clear, Flash moved directly for the basement hatch on the side of the Cathedral, but caught a glimpse of something moving at the very edge of the roof. Something was up there...

He pressed up under the roof's overhang, well out of the way of whatever might be looking down from atop the roof, and he heard a distinctly synthetic voice speaking. It was like Spike's voice, but with a rough, feminine tone to it. She was talking to someone, likely over a radio...

"Queen. It's Rook."

It was a faint voice, but Flash listened closely...

"Looks like our Knight has been slacking on his guard duty."

There was a moment of pause, presumably while her radio contact gave a response.

"I mean his men watching the west side of the Cathedral are all dead."

Another pause.

"No, like regular dead. Again. I know they're all undead, I'm not stupid. I didn't see anyone here, but it must have been the Nocturna's champion."

Flash kept his breath held and his body still, hoping Spike was somewhere out of sight as well.

"What do you mean 'the other intruder'? The man Knight talked about? I doubt he'd make it past us if he was just a normal human."

They were talking about him, and were those code names they were using to talk to each other?

"The irregular I ran into? I, uh... Didn't get a good look at her. Razer is dead, though, as well as several dozen others of mine. Why? Do you know something about her?"

The 'irregular'? Must be Starlight...

"Maybe. My gems are still on that Nocturna Witch, though. You have their elder as a hostage. Speaking of, how close are you to getting the information from her?"

Mother Evershade. They had her inside...

"Right. We'll give you time, but we can't expect the people here to not retaliate eventually. Have you heard anything from Bishop?"

Bishop? Another member of their team, supposedly...

"Understood. I'll be waiting up here for the Nocturna Witch to arrive. One step closer to freedom."

Over the slowly increasing rainfall, Flash heard the distinct thud of something heavy pushing itself off the ground, but nothing seemed to hit the ground in the moments following.

Great, Flash had a whole mess of information to figure out on top of everything else. He needed to just keep focused on rescuing the VIP...

But Starlight's voice came over the radio again.

"Spike, Flash, it looks like we've got an angry mob en route to the Cathedral. Let's make this quick."

An angry mob? Hopefully that meant more of the Nocturna cultists coming to fight back.

"Got it, Starlight." Spike confirmed. "I'm going to be keeping a lookout outside of the Cathedral. You'll know the moment someone else is here."

Out of the corner of his eye, Flash caught movement on the edge of the rooftop.

"Bad news, Starlight." Flash said. "Someone's up on that roof, be careful."

"No problem, I'll deal with it."

"I'm going to focus on finding my VIP and Trixie, then," Flash said. "You go after Evershade and any big threats inside."

"Will do."

Flash cautiously moved towards the hatch on the ground, lifting the door and dropping himself down inside the dark stairway beneath.

[Nocturna Cathedral, Roof]
[Friday, 4:25pm]

Starlight Glimmer wanted so badly to just lock blades with this mechadragon, so she could then proceed to punch her in the face a whole bunch with her metal fist. The problem was that Dragonlord Ember had a giant chainsaw blade on the edge of her rocket-powered axe, and any prolonged blade lock would end poorly for Starlight. She had to move quickly, dodging back and back as Ember dominated the roof with her huge weapon.

On flat ground, Starlight had to remain fast. Her body was fully powered up, glimmering its soft teal color as she made herself into a blur just to stay alive.

It wasn't a tactic she could rely on to win this fight...

"Aw, what's the matter?" Ember taunted, her chainaxe tearing up the roof of the Cathedral as she narrowly missed Starlight's feet. "You were talking so tough, what was that about cutting me to pieces?"

Starlight let the chainaxe pass over her, and then made a move. She drove herself straight forward with her nanosword outstretched, kicking off the ground and thrusting in the small window she was given. Ember easily twisted her body around and evaded the attack, and in the same motion she was swinging her axe to counter. Starlight rolled to her knees in response, sheathing her sword and drawing her revolver instead. As the axe passed over her a second time, she kicked up off the ground and used the opening to fire two shots off into Ember's chest.

The impact did nothing to stop her momentum, but it was apparent some small damage was done. Her axe came around again and Starlight jumped over it this time, putting two more shots into Ember's shoulder and landing right in front of her. Her right arm light up with power, and she thrust her Tetherhand out in an attempt to grapple the taller dragon. Ember reacted accordingly, her off claw meeting the glowing projection of Starlight's hand halfway and exerting just as much control as Starlight could force on her.

They rocked back and forth in close quarters, both of them putting their entire bodies into toppling the other, but Starlight prevailed even as she started to get overpowered. She deactivated her Tetherhand just as Ember was making her push, causing the dragon to suddenly be holding nothing while Starlight properly bent her knees and braced for impact. With both arms she caught the dragon as she fell forward, then arched her back and extended her legs fully.

In frantic surprise Ember flailed as Starlight flipped her over in a full suplex, causing her to roll and spill out on the ground behind her. Starlight too was grounded, but she made a far faster recovery, resummoning her Tetherhand into a fist to punch down on her prone foe. The hit went through, and Ember was smashed against the Cathedral's roof, but right after she thrashed her entire body with open jaws.

More steam enveloped them as Ember let out a jet of orange flame from her throat, aimed right for Starlight. The cyborg wasn't touched, but she hurriedly backed away, giving Ember time to stand and ready her weapon amidst the thick concealment of steam now surrounding her. Starlight could only see a faint outline of the dragon as moisture dragged at her skin and steel, a gleaming pair of red lights where her eyes should be as she scanned the area.

"Dammit! Where'd you go?!" Ember's frustrated growls were heard as she stomped through the white, foggy cloud she inadvertently created.

"Starlight!" Sunburst's voice called through her radio. "If she's anything like Spike, she probably uses infrared imaging to see! That cloud of steam around her is probably limiting her vision more than yours!"

Taking the hint, Starlight immediately dashed to the side, slipping behind one of the tall, pointed spires atop the Cathedral. It was just in time too, as Ember came angrily barreling out of the cloud of steam, angrily searching for where her opponent had gone.

She'd soon find out, as Starlight emerged from behind the spire and landed a slash across Ember's back, cutting into one of her wings and getting another angered, synthesized growl from her.

"Agh! Why, you..." Ember's chainaxe lit up and spun her around on a dime, the rocket booster and chainsaw blade rumbling and roaring to take Starlight's life. Starlight nimbly leapt into a flip, and cut across Ember's shoulder again. Her nanoblade wasn't digging deep enough to disable her, but the cuts were getting through. She just needed to keep up the pressure.

As Ember spun for her again, Starlight switched off her Tetherhand. The arm secured itself on her belt, but before she could pick another one she felt the heavy axe blade digging into her back, ridges of chainsaw teeth all biting into her one after the other, and then suddenly she was slamming face first into one of the spires on the other end of the roof.

She felt her frustration spiking at the disruption, but right as her emotional state changed she felt herself internally soothed, and her power cells getting recharged.

The world spun, she hadn't even realized what hit her until she unsteadily looked behind her to see Ember raising a claw balled up in a fist in her direction, pointing a wrist mounted cannon in her direction. Two barrels shot out red hot rounds one after the other, pummeling the stone spire under repeated blasts. Stone chunks flew away from the protrusion, and Starlight too would've been taken apart had she not ducked out of the way.

Ember was right back on her, using the boosters on her back to close the gap and get right back to hacking away with her chainaxe. Starlight didn't even have time to reequip an arm, she had to make do with her natural arm and her footwork. She could only back up so far, as she eventually found her back brush against a raised, A-framed section of the roof that extended above her head.

Both hands on the shaft of her weapon, Ember brought her axe back and chopped down in a powerful strike that put a nasty looking crack down the roof. Starlight backflipped up and out of the way, landing atop the ridge of the A-framed roof section to then fire her pistol down at the dragon's face. She fired until her cylinder was empty, the headshots successfully stumbling Ember back, and then jumped from the raised roof into a dropkick on the dragon's metal jaw, both of her feet making contact and knocking her flat onto her back.

With time to reorient herself, Starlight attached her Dragonheart claw to her right elbow stump, and flexed the claws in sequence as Ember righted herself.

"You're the one that killed Razer..." Ember's optics narrowed as she saw Starlight's new appendage. "Not the Nocturna Witches?"

Starlight smirked. "Believe it."

"And here I thought some random Order goon wouldn't be worth my time." Ember's jaw shifted into an approximate smile. "What's that about you not being anything like me? You've got dragon parts on you!"

Another moment of distinct fury from Starlight that was gone the moment it came. She didn't appreciate the comments on her character.

With a rumble and a streak of fire behind her, Ember jumped for Starlight and swung her axe around again. Starlight was prepared this time, though. With her blade at the ready and her claw extended, Starlight engaged her Bullet Reflex as Ember made a midair swing at her. Fully watching the arc of her weapon in slowed time, Starlight learned forward and stepped into Ember's attack radius, but aimed her sword for the shaft of Ember's weapon.

Finally, a good bind.

The edge of the chainaxe was inches from Starlight's face, the teeth not touching her but the heat radiating from the weapon easily beginning to dry her skin. She kept it at bay with her blade pressed against the shaft, her balance precariously placed on how well her feet could keep her right in the sweet spot as Ember tried to back away. Too far back, and Ember would be able to strike with her axe, but too close and she'd have more leverage on Starlight.

They tipped back and forth again, turning around each other and rapidly adjusting the angle of their bind, but Starlight kept herself right where she needed to be, wearing away at Ember's balance until...

Starlight balled her Dragonheart claw into a fist and punched up into Ember's chest, a perfect strike to open her guard and land another sword slash across her shoulder. As Ember retaliated with a swing, Starlight's Bullet Reflex activated again. Her focus this time was on the mark her blade dug into the shaft of Ember's weapon during their bind.

With a perfect slice in slowed time, Starlight's nanoblade bit right into the groove it started and cut all the way through the handle of the chainaxe, splitting the weapon in two and slashing straight through to Ember's face. Her weapon pulling apart, Ember recoiled as the right side of her face had a new mark dragged across it. The dragon stumbled back, making an attempt to claw at Starlight as she lunged for her, but Starlight's own dragon claw led the charge.

Their claws clashed together again, but Starlight wouldn't let the grapple last. She whipped her sword around, but Ember blocked the blade on her forearm. She again let loose a jet of fire from her mouth, successfully pushing Starlight away but again creating a great cloud of steam around the two of them. This time, she was ready for the sudden vision loss.

Her wings spread wide and she kept her eyes focused on Starlight's last known location, firing her wrist cannon off into the ground in front of her before dashing forward through the steam.

Unfortunately, Starlight was ready for her. With power charging into her Dragonheart claw, she stopped Ember's motion in full with a palm thrust to her throat. Her claws dug in completely, and she drove the dragon down into the floor, scraping apart the stone construction with the metal exterior of the struggling creature. She ran forward, pushing towards the edge of the roof and pivoting into a spin. From there, she slung Ember over her shoulder like a trebuchet, sending her skyward before engaging her Bullet Reflex again.

Carefully, she aimed her Dragonheart claw at full extension, targeting Ember's torso as she slowly dropped through her perception. At her will, the plasma cannon built into her claw fired off with a concussive snap, sending a bright blue beam tearing straight through the dragon, knocking her further back and sending her tumbling down off the Cathedral.

Not even a word or a scream came from her as she dropped, and Starlight just watched her disappear into the trees.

She took a deep breath and steadied herself after that ordeal. Then, more frustration.

"Damn it."

"What's wrong, Starlight?" Cadence's portrait popped up the corner of her visor. She was clearly about to ask about her mental state.

"I would've liked to confirm that kill," she said. "She's going to be back."

"You think she survived that?" Shining Armor was on the radio now too.

"Look, I don't trust anyone I end up fighting like that to stay down until I watch them get cut into pieces," Starlight said, "Preferably by me. In slow motion."

"Finish the mission, then," Shining Armor said. "You're close, you've got this."

"Right."

Starlight looked down along the Cathedral's wall. Right in front of her was a giant stained glass window with a crescent moon close to her and a woman kneeling before it close to the ground. To the side, she could see the balcony walkway that Flash told her about. A door led inside the Cathedral to somewhere on the second story. All Starlight needed to do was drop down and she'd be in.

She spared a glance behind her first. Just a steaming rooftop with a few broken spires atop it, and a lot of structural and burn damage. Nothing left for her here.

With a concentrated use of energy, Starlight vaulted over the edge of the rooftop and engaged her impulse boosters right as she reached the walkway. Her landing was silent, though she was sure any pretense of stealth had long since been broken. Regardless, she found the door leading into the Cathedral and slipped inside.

[Nocturna Cathedral, Basement Level]
[Friday, 4:30pm]

Flash heard a crash of thunder above him, but then shortly after a more familiar sound of sword on metal. Sounds like Starlight found whoever this 'Rook' was.

Nothing else but the sound of rain accompanied him as Flash entered the warmly lit basement. The scent of a controlled torch burn filled this area, firelight sprawling out through the tight hallway and around the corner as Flash passed through it. He defaulted to drawing his pistol, the shotgun he'd acquired being a bit too long for combat in such tight quarters, but he wasn't sensing that anyone was on this level of the basement.

He came into the basement's main room from the corner hallway, a storage space with several chests and trunks scattered about, as well as a small wooden table and a simple chandelier hanging from the low ceiling, providing more than enough light for the area. The place was spacious, but cold and empty. As he paced across the room at a low ready, Flash spotted the bodies of two Nocturna Witches facedown on the floor. Both of them had been killed by a cut to the back of the neck, and neither of them showed signs of possession. They were human when they died.

They seemed to be guarding a closet door, one that had its handle broken off and was wide open. When Flash leaned inside, he saw clear signs of someone having been taken hostage. A thick rope was tied up on the floor, but had been cut, and there was a button from a suit jacket that had been torn and fallen away here.

Flash checked his picture of Raven Inkwell again. She was wearing a suit in the photo, and the button looked like it could've easily been from it. He wanted to believe he was on the right track, but...

Had she escaped her captors? Or did her new captors execute the old ones and move her somewhere else?

On the far end of the basement there was a staircase leading up into the Cathedral proper. From the doorway at the top, he could hear voices talking...

"Our visitor is engaging our Rook," a woman's voice said. It was refined, aged, and... almost familiar. It had an air of authority surrounding it. This was someone who was confident in their plans. "Have our Knight be ready to greet them."

"Problem." The response came from a much more clinical voice. Also a woman, but younger, and more skeptical of the world. "We have more contacts coming right through the front gate and we need to fortify it."

"Have our Knight solve that problem then. I'm in need of more time, Bishop. She'll fold when she sees how dire the situation is..."

"Certainly, Queen."

Two pairs of footsteps were then heard moving away from each other.

Flash took this opportunity to sneak up the stairs and through the doorway, leaning out into the corridor on the main floor and ensuring nobody else was present. Where would they have taken Inkwell, if holding her in the basement wouldn't suffice? Were they questioning her for intel as well? Possibilities flooded Flash's mind, ones that he tried to drain out so he could focus on his mission.

He'd done it, he'd successfully infiltrated the Cathedral, but he now needed to extract his target and safely exit. The interior of the corridor he was in was quite grand in it's construction, with rounded stone pillars sticking out in the walkways at fixed intervals. Much like the Order, the Nocturna Convent seemed to like their stained glass window art, as along the sides of the building several elegantly made and colorful panes had been installed. What was far more unsettling were the stone warrior statues dotting the ends of the hallway, ones bearing a similar resemblance to Nightmare Moon...

From around the corner, Flash could hear the footsteps picking up, and he stuck himself to hide behind one of the statues. He picked the recess in the wall that had the least torchlight illuminating it, and was at the furthest end of the hallway from whoever was coming. The figure approached, but Flash didn't dare peek around to get a visual. He was just going to hold his breath and wait until they passed him.

They got closer, whoever it was they were walking at a ready pace, but Flash heard another set of steps approaching from the bend in the hallway, and slumped slightly in his hiding spot. Someone was coming from the other direction as well, but these had the familiar clanking of metal and heft to them. He could infer that these were the footsteps of Commander Hurricane, and confirmed that as he heard the undead rasp of the man as he neared.

"Bishop," he growled. "My men are dead. We have an intruder."

The cold voice of Bishop responded, the same woman that was speaking to 'Queen' just a moment ago.

"The intruder is on the roof. Rook is dealing with them, and we have pressing issues here."

"No!" Hurricane's foot stomped. "There is another, I swear. The toy soldier, the rest of you have underestimated him."

"I highly doubt it. We need your forces defending the Cathedral."

"Have the dragon do it. This is the perfect opportunity for someone to breach our defenses. My men will maintain their post within the building."

Bishop sighed. "Holding this position is not the objective. Getting the location of the demon sword fragments is. We're supposed to be letting the enemy push us back to put pressure on the old lady. We need to have a concentrated force at our front to control their push back."

"I will not suffer defeat to a group of farmers and heathens!"

"Inside voice, Hurricane," Bishop said. "We're here to fight chaos, not civilians."

Hurricane only grumbled in response.

"If Queen demands defense, I will fortify the front entrance myself, so that my men may stay stationed inside. I assume you'll sit at our Queen's feet as she finishes her interrogation, then?"

"That's my job, Hurricane."

Without a word more, Hurricane turned and stomped off the way he came, while Bishop stood and let the moment linger. Flash now had a direction, all he had to do was follow Bishop back to where Queen was, and he'd at least have a shot at locating Mother Evershade. With a sigh she turned and walked back down the hallway, footsteps softly echoing against the drizzle of rain outside. Just as he heard her turn the corner, Flash emerged from his hiding spot and quietly made his way after her.

He followed her down another, thinner hallway, and then she turned off just before the Cathedral's main chamber, up a flight of stairs to an inside walkway overlooking the Cathedral's foyer. He could see several of Hurricane's soldiers waiting tentatively here, clamoring and voices growing beyond the front doors. Two of Ember's mechadragons came through the center hallway, giving nonverbal signals to the undead soldiers.

They were all bracing for something, it would've been a nightmare to sneak past them all, but from this vantage point nobody would see him unless they bothered to look up, and they never would. Still, he kept himself pressed to the half-columns protruding from the walls and stayed out of any potential sightlines Bishop may have should she turn, but she never did. He never got a clear look at her at all, he was only following her by her charcoal suit jacket and the brown bun of hair on the back of her head. As she crossed the second floor walkway, she stopped directly in the center, turning herself to a doorway on her left side. No door separated the room inside from the walkway, and so Flash could follow her without making too much noise.

Carefully, ever so quietly, he turned the corner, only to find that Bishop had disappeared into this long meeting room. Like the rest of the Cathedral, it was lit by candlelight, and had a density of contained clutter in its decor and furnishings. Tables, bookshelves, trinkets hung from the walls, all of it telling the story of a place frequented by quite devoted people, but unfortunately nobody was here to be seen. The door ahead into the next room was already shut, Bishop must've been in a hurry to get to where she needed to go. Flash still walked softly, his handgun raised and held forward, but nobody would be there to greet him.

Nobody in front of him, at least.

"Put your hands where I can see them." Bishop's voice came from behind him, accompanying a cold piece of metal up against his back.

Out of the corner of his eye, Flash saw the silhouette of the woman standing with a pistol at full extension. With a subtle nod of his head, he set his pistol down on the table in the center of the room and put both of his hands up. It wasn't totally unexpected. From what Flash could piece together, Bishop was something of an intelligence specialist, a coordinator between each of the other members of their group.

"Sure." Flash kept his response cool. "Wouldn't want to make you use that, would I?"

"Were you expecting to be held at gunpoint today?" Bishop's inflection titled, a dry sarcasm in her tone. "Interesting."

Flash said nothing, letting the tension of the moment build into preparedness for his next move.

"You're going to walk into that closet and handcuff yourself," Bishop said.

"Heh. You first."

Flash quickly turned opposite to the direction he dropped his weapon. He reached his right arm behind him and grasped Bishop by the elbow, shoving her gun out of the way as he drew his knife from his sheathe with his left hand and swiped across for her. Still leading with his right, he kept pressure on her gun hand, stepping forward and ensuring that she couldn't redirect it at him even as she tried to back away.

In the split second he shoved the barrel of her weapon to the floor, Flash swiped back across at Bishop, reorienting his left side to lead him as he followed through with a thrust. Bishop could only sidestep and lean out of the way, raising her arms to fire her weapon too risky of an action while Flash was in a proper fighting stance with his blade. She shuffled her feet closer and caught his arm in a thrust, returning the violent sentiment by holding his limb locked and stepping into a front kick. He readily swatted down at her ankle and pushed her away, giving him just enough of a window to redouble his attack while she released him and caught her balance.

As she moved, Bishop pulled her arms close in and pivoted, bending her knees to duck under Flash's next knife attack and uncurling her arms, attempting to press her pistol directly into his chest. Her stance was stable and low, but the motion was still brought to sudden halt. Flash's free hand caught her wrist and pulled her back, sending her balance spinning as he jerked her over and brought his knifepoint to her throat. He was in control here, she wasn't strong enough to pull away from him.

"Really, I insist," Flash said. Bishop was silent, quietly taking in what had just happened as she studied Flash's facial features. She recognized him after a moment, this was the "toy soldier" Hurricane spoke of before. A stranger from an unknown organization.

Flash had a far quicker reaction. All of the questions in his mind suddenly converged into one as he saw Bishop's face in full.

He immediately recognized the woman at the end of his knife.

He stifled his own startle. His body remained cool and composed but he was certain that his eyes betrayed his disbelief. Rectangular glasses adorned her face, held in front of wide, amber eyes and sitting neatly above distinguished cheeks and a pointed chin. Her dark brown hair was parted neatly into bangs swept to either side of her face, and as he'd seen while following her, the length falling from behind her head was held up in a bun.

He couldn't believe who he was looking at.

"You're-"

The woman stared at him, what could only be described as a subtle smile forming on her lips.

"Go on," She replied.

She was the woman he was here to rescue.

"Agent Raven Inkwell..."

She was working with these terrorists? Reporting directly to their leader?

"Ah. I suppose you were sent to silence me?" She asked.

"Silence you? I was sent here to-"

There was a crash behind him. The "closet" he'd been instructed to enter actually led to another room, and there was now a small group of undead legionnaires flooding into the room. Two held swords, but two others held crossbows trained on Flash's position. To his surprise he released Inkwell, and she readily ducked away. Flash was forced to raise his hands again, this time without a convenient way to escape.

"Take him in," she said. "Leave him alive, we'll let the boss decide what to do with him."

There wouldn't be time to apprehend him properly though. From that same door that the soldiers came through, the bisected body of a mechadragon was cast into the room hard enough to slam the door open. All eyes snapped to the doorway just in time to see the grey metal and denim jacket of a purple haired cyborg with a ninja sword barreling through, kicking the top half of the mechadragon apart from the bottom half and yanking a throbbing internal piece of the machine from its place in its core.

Starlight Glimmer reeled in surprise, a clear signal of alert on her face as she realized she just jumped into a room filled with mostly more enemies. The soldiers closest to her fired off their crossbows, sticking her in the back and in the shoulder, but she crushed the dragon heart in her hand and absorbed its juice to power through the pain.

As she cut down the first crossbowman, Flash saw Raven make a break for the opposite side of the room, sliding over the long table and ducking behind it as she raised her pistol to fire at Starlight. As her bullets snapped off, Starlight lifted her eyes and deflected the bullets off of her blade, which took her attention away from the two soldiers bringing their blades to bear on her.

Flash was now completely unoccupied, however. Ally or no, Raven Inkwell was still his target, and he needed to ensure that her knowledge wouldn't aid the enemy. As she made her way to a side door, Flash vaulted the table after her, scooping up his pistol but looping his leg around one of the wooden chairs seated near the table's end. As he landed, he kicked the chair at Raven, aiming it towards the door she was running for, but she just nimbly reacted, snapping her own leg around and smashing the chair mid-flight with a powerful spin kick.

His pistol was recovered, but Flash opted to switch to his shotgun as he chased Raven through the side door. She ran down a short flight of steps and took a right, peeling right through a pair of mechadragons that had come to investigate the commotion. Upon seeing Flash, they opened fire with wrist mounted guns, but quick use of a nearby stone statue for cover allowed him to avoid damage. When he peeled back into the hallway, he took aim with his shotgun and charged forward, blowing holes straight through the first dragon's torso with his newly acquired slug rounds. The second adjusted its aim, but Flash was now too close to get a shot off before receiving another shotgun slug to the head.

The dragon stumbled and swiped a claw at him, but Flash dropped to his back while still at a full run, sliding beneath the mechadragon and firing his shotgun up into its core as he passed under it. It collapsed to the ground behind him as he popped back to his feet and kept running, watching Raven now at the end of the hallway and hanging another right.

Even if she was an enemy, he couldn't kill her, not until he'd gotten answers out of her. She'd probably already long since leaked information to the terrorists if she was cooperating with them, and but he'd have to ensure there was no physical traces of intel left behind.

He turned the corner after her and saw the body of an undead legionnaire get tossed into the wall behind him. Starlight Glimmer stood at the furthest end of the hallway, and Raven hastily turned a left into a doorway as she saw both other sides were cut off.

Starlight was in little shape to give chase, though. She was laying waste to the troop of ancient soldiers attacking her, but she was definitely unable to join Flash in chase.

Flash's side was mostly clear, though. Only one legionnaire to blast with his shotgun before sprinting through the tall door halfway down the hall.

He charged through the doorway, and found Raven standing at the guardrail of a wide walkway overlooking the largest, most central room of the structure. Beneath him he saw rows of pews arranged between three aisles, all facing an elevated pedestal and that big stained glass window that he saw from the outside. There was nobody there, surprisingly, the Cathedral's main hall of worship was empty, save for himself and Raven overlooking it.

Raven turned her head back to Flash as he slung his shotgun over his back and brought his handgun up on her. There was nowhere for her to run from here, either side of the guard rails were only a path to a short row of seats. Still, she didn't panic. Flash slowly moved towards her, but with a twitch reflex Raven jumped up onto the railing and balanced there with perfect prediction, and reached in her still neatly worn suit for something tucked beneath her shoulder. Rather than a handgun, Raven produced a pistol-shaped object with a small coil bolted to one side and a strange claw piece protruding from the barrel. Before Flash had the chance to register what it was, Raven pointed it at a support beam on the ceiling and pulled the trigger.

The claw blasted out from the device with a steel cable whispering constantly behind it, unrolling down the barrel of the gadget from the coil mounted where a practical handgun would have a slide system. After the claw dug into the ceiling, the cable pulled tight and Raven leapt from the top of the overhang, sweeping over the hall and arcing her towards the furthest end.

Flash took off after her, holstering his gun and throwing himself over the guard rail. Rather than let himself plummet, he twisted his body around and grabbed onto the overhang, his fingers grasping the ledge being the only thing stopping his fall for a few moments before letting himself drop in full. It was going to be rough, but by doing this he was ensuring he had the shortest fall distance possible.

Flash twisted as he dropped, reaching out to catch his fall and transfer his momentum into a roll. He took care to shift his weight across the shoulder not currently slinging his shotgun, and rolled smoothly onto his feet with his pistol once again drawn. Raven was making a run to the left of the room, but as Flash closed in she quickly had her pistol raised back up and fired blindly backwards in Flash's direction, forcing him to duck behind the rows of seating and run at a crouched stance. Her rounds took chunks out of the wooden pews, but none struck their intended target. Flash returned fire, purposefully aiming low but ultimately not hitting her either.

They both slowed to a halt though, taking active cover as gunshots were traded from across the room. Flash still had the advantage, he was in the centermost aisle, and the exit was parallel with him. He could keep her from leaving so long as he held that center position.

"Stand down!" Flash shouted "You have nowhere to run!"

"I don't think so." Rather than seeing her make a break for the exit, Flash heard a metallic click and a clanging shortly after, which then proceeded a heavy grey canister being tossed up and over the pews.

A grenade!

Flash instantly shifted his aim up and lined the arcing explosive up in his sights. At the peak of its toss, the metal canister was pierced with a bullet and exploded into a wide, white fog with a loud crack and hiss. His vision was suddenly obscured, a dense, thick haze engulfing the room.

A smoke grenade?

He heard Raven's footsteps immediately pick up afterward, but she wasn't headed for the exit. Her footsteps were getting closer, and soon enough Flash picked her out between the pew rows, her head ducked low but her pistol raised up.

Raven fired off aimed shots while on the move, sliding between the pews and forcing Flash back into cover. It was an aggressive tactic. She was really pushing Flash's temptation to hit her. Did she know he needed her alive?

Flash took that risk. He fired back at Raven as she came into view through the smoke, but aimed slightly behind her. It was enough to make her stop firing back, but she still kept her momentum moving forward.

She cleared the seating row and rolled out into the center aisle with her gun out only a few meters away from him and with her back to the stained glass window. Flash returned the sentiment, keeping his gun trained on her as she just stood there in front of him.

They stared each other down for a moment, but neither of them fired. Raven was the first to speak.

"You were missing me on purpose."

"How would you know that?"

Raven's expression didn't change. "You nailed that grenade like you've made that shot a hundred times. You couldn't possibly miss a human sized target twenty meters away."

"And I suppose you were intentionally missing me, too?"

"I'm just a secretary. I'm shooting to keep you away."

Flash smirked. "A secretary with a grapple gun and smoke grenades?"

Raven sighed. "You know who I am, apparently. But I don't know who you are or what you want with me."

Another voice called out from behind Flash, up on the overhead walkway seating. It was stern, more commanding, but a woman's voice, and a familiar one that spoke in a familiar tone.

"He wants to bring you back to you-know-who, Bishop."

She was tall, had impressively wide shoulders and a powerful, bulky build, or at least that's what Flash inferred from her cloaked silhouette. Over said shoulders was a brilliant white cloak that cast straight lines down and obscured her body from collarbone to ankles, where heavy black metallic boots could be seen in her wake. Over her head and concealing her face was a hood, just as white as her cloak, leaving only the outline of two pink lips visible. She had to be at least six and a half feet tall, taller than anyone Flash had ever seen save for the supernaturally enhanced. Flash could only assume that was the case, as the woman leapt down from the second floor seating and landed square in the middle aisle, going up several feet in the air, with so much effort as moving down a single step on a stairway.

With a loud thud, she crashed to the ground and drew a straight edged sword from a sheath beneath her garment. It was an unusually thin, rectangular blade with almost no handguard. Some manner of electricity faintly pulsed from the handle through the blade in a very similar manner to Starlight's weapon.

Raven seemed to tense up at the mention of 'you-know-who'. Flash kept himself ready to move the moment something happened, but still asked the obvious question.

"What are you talking about?"

The woman ignored him. "Bishop, the cultist leader has told me what I need to know, but she's escaped me. The forces of chaos are encircling us, it's time to leave."

"Where's the sword fragment?"

"She didn't have it. The case was empty, it was a decoy."

"Then where is it?"

"It's with the Nocturna's Champion."

"And where are-"

More hurried footsteps cut their conversation short. Running through the upper walkway doors was an aged woman cloaked in dark colors and carrying a short barreled, all black lever action shotgun in one hand.

Mother Evershade came barrelling into the room, diving over the edge and firing forward towards the woman cloaked in white. There was no time between her entrance and the woman's reaction. Immediately, the white cloak spun and a sword cut through the air, the woman wielding it sidestepping a spread of buckshot and slicing straight into the side of Evershade's weapon.

Flash heard a ringing and a bright set of sparks fly up as Evershade kicked off of the shoulders of the woman and landed back to back with her. Each of them quickly turned to face the other, Evershade's shotgun going off just moments after the woman's blade pointed it away. Evershade moved surprisingly quickly, her shotgun clashing against the woman's sword again and again, and then Evershade backed out of sword range and fired straight forward.

The woman snapped out of the way of the shot automatically, leading Flash to narrowly throw himself to the floor as the shot passed its target and streaked over him. Raven too dropped herself back to the edge of the aisle, leaving her and Flash on the ground as clearly superior combatants continued combat.

"You came after me," the woman said, eying Evershade with a curious glare. "You escape my capture, find your weapon, and come back after me? Interesting."

"I told you already..." Evershade said. "You'll only take the Nocturna's treasure over my dead body."

"I suppose we have time to arrange for that," the cloaked woman said.

Flash had heard enough. He jumped to the ready, taking aim and firing his handgun at the woman in white, but she twirled her sword behind her without looking and effortlessly deflected his shots. Raven was right there to respond as well, and the two fell back into a close range gunfight.

Evershade's boot slammed against the woman in white's chest, the hit startling her and pushing her back far enough for Evershade to ready another shot on her, but before she could pull the trigger a teal light streaked down from the same angle that she'd entered the room.

Purple hair, a blue denim jacket, and purple eyes. A momentum filled and motivated cyborg crashed blade first into the woman in white, forcing her into a high block as she landed on her feet with her sword held forward.

"Starlight?" Flash looked up to her from his cover.

"Flash! Evershade!" Starlight called. "Get out of here, she's mine!"

The woman in white seemed amused at Starlight's sudden and dramatic entrance, only holding her sword out to the side as she adjusted her footing and lifted her chin.

"Is that so?" The woman spoke slowly, but with enough volume to fill the entirety of the Cathedral chamber. As Starlight met her eyes beneath her hood, she saw confusion in the cyborg, a sudden burst of recognition, of confirmation of a truth she was trying to avoid. The woman in white posed a question that targeted that aversion.

"Do you even know who I am?"

"I... Of course." Starlight's voice wavered for a moment, but she steeled herself and prepared to battle the impossibility with which she was confronted.

"You're The Platinum Knight; Daybreaker."