Starlit Heroics: Network of Carnage

The katana-armed man fires off a crescent-shaped wave of energy from his katana out towards Charlotte and Solana, forcing them to jump out of the way. 

Max kneels up from the snow and grabs his sword. He gets to his feet but the pale-skinned woman kicks him in the chest with a high heeled shoe. He flies back from the kick but holds his ground. 

"C... crap. This is tough. A few more hits like that and I'm gone." - Max says with a hacking cough.

Solana jumps in front of him and holds an arm over his head. His body is blanketed by a pale teal light, with his scratches and cuts vanishing.

"I can't have you dying on me, Max. I may have called you useless, but every child needs guidance." - Solana remarks.

"Th-thanks, miss Solana." - He nods.

Solana charges up energy in her bow and aims at Veil's group. In the blink of an eye, she fires off a blistering number of light arrows towards the group, with Veil and her companions scurrying away from the onslaught.

One of the arrows hits the pale-skinned girl in the back, knocking her against the ground. She screams as it burns her skin, with red smoke coming out of the wound. The katana-armed man runs over to her and snaps the arrow out of her. 

The wound gradually closes up on its own, with the man holding her up.

"You alright...?" - He asks.

"Yeah, sweetie. Thank you." - The girl remarks as she cuddles up to him.

"... A vampire... No wonder why the arrow burned her. At least now I know who to take out first." - Solana remarks with a harsh sneer.

"You're sure we can't just talk this out?" - Max asks.

"They're going to kill us if we don't fight back, Max. Don't let their little display fool you." - Solana says with a pout.

Max takes a deep breath and aims his sword at the couple. He shoots out a blade-shaped beam at them, only for it to be sliced away by the katana-wielding man.

"Nice try, but you're not getting to my girl with skills like that." - He says with a small chuckle.

One of the arrows hits Veil in the knee, leaving Charlotte to strike her down with a bolt of lightning. Veil staggers back but summons a pillar of ice directly in front of Charlotte. Veil vanishes into the snow, with Charlotte scanning the area for her. She maintains a battle stance until she sees an unearthly sky-blue glow surround her.

Charlotte jumps out of the way as a tremendous ice crystal forms where she once stood, with a stray icicle slicing into her arm. She grits her teeth and holds onto her wound as blood seeps into the snow.

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"Hmmm... Given how the smaller slimes worked, I think we have to keep pounding her until she doesn't have any energy left to regenerate. But... how can we get close to her?" - Iris ponders.

She takes a look at Ven's Vision snake and then to Elior and Ian.

"... Alright, that's a start, but..." - Iris says with a deep sigh.

"I have an idea. How about we circumvent the Queen's attacks so I can get close and blast her full force? She could barely take one from far away." - Canopy nods.

"Good idea. Ven! I need you to attack the Queen with Prya!" - Iris says as she shouts to them.

"Elior, can you surround a single person with that color shield you have? And Ian... you'll have to be the one to use that shield. Blindside the queen while the other two distract her and then freeze her with your ice magic so Canopy can shatter her. I'll cover everyone from far away."

"Y-you're sure this can work?" - Ian shudders.

"Maybe. It might be hella dangerous, but we're even worse off if we do nothing. Are you ready to do it?" - The Lott woman nods.

"... No. I'm on my last life here. You don't understand how terrifying this all is." - Ian shivers.

"Ian. We need to work together or it'll be more than just one person that will die from this. You could save all of us. So, please..." - Iris says with a soft smile.

Ian blushes heavily with his frown gradually replaced with a confident smile. He turns around and pumps his fist.

"Yes! I'll do it! I'd have to be mad not to get inspired by a beautiful woman like you!" - Ian shouts out with a laugh.

("That really worked.") - Iris bluntly remarks.

"... Turns out he was lying about being a horndog after all... But alright, I'm ready. Go get 'em, crazy!" - Canopy yells.

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"I would risk going to this "Magnesium City" or whatever, but something tells me I'll be safer with you guys. I'm not too confident on having a repeat of that Charm Beast situation. Is that cool?" - David asks.

"Yeah, kid, we'll take care of you." Rebecca said. "No worries, you're safe with us."

Evan sprinted back, with Shiva following closely behind.

"Back! I'm back!" Evan stuttered. "Yeah, sorry about that, blood can make me upchuck hard sometimes."

He let out a little laugh.

"Yeah...there was this one time I got a really bad cut and he refused to come out of the bathroom for at least an hour!" Shiva laughed, weaving a false story.

"What?" Prya shouted. "And just how am I supposed to do that? I just have this sword!"

"You heard the woman," Ven smiled. The two of them atop Ven's vision burst forward, straight for the queen herself. Prya screamed and swung her low level sword indiscriminately in front of her.

Elior nodded and used his magic once again, creating a blue-green barrier around Ian. Hopefully the element infused barrier would be enough, he thought.

----

Luna sighed. "Well, glad you're feeling better," she said.

"Shall we get going?" Kaj asked. "I'm ready to take out this Charm Beast. Should be good to get a feel for combat in this game. As far as I can tell it works just like it does in the real world, but we'll need to recognize if there's any differences."

"Hm..." Luna took hold of her thumb and pulled it off. She waved it back and forth, and then popped it back into place. "Yep, that still works as expected."

"You can still do party tricks dear."

Charlotte scans the ground with an aiming reticule but sees nothing inside of it.

"But where...?" - She asks.

Veil bursts from the snow behind Charlotte with a knife and a stoic glare. She firmly plants the knife through Charlotte's back with enough force to push her forward.

Charlotte falls to the ground and twitches in pain as a pool of blood forms around her, leaving Max and Solana to watch on in abject horror. Max runs over to her, but is intercepted by a swing of Valor's katana. Solana rushes after Max but the blue haired woman brandishes long fangs at her.

Solana blocks her fangs with the bow itself and swings her away.

"... That's another sour taste in my mouth. Good going, Veil." - She says with a dismayed sigh as she looks over Charlotte's lifeless body.

Veil looks over to Max and Solana fighting off her summoned warriors. She makes a dull frown as she swings blood off of her knife.

"You guys seemed nice, but... I can't let you stand in our way."

As she turns around, Charlotte's body glows with a blue light and resonates with a loud sound effect. The stab wound on her back closes up and she jumps from the ground.

Veil turns around, her eyes widening as she sees a glowing Charlotte rush at her. 

"Wait, what the--?!" - Veil shouts.

She raises up her knife in defense, but Charlotte slides close to Veil's face and points two electrically charged fingers against her chest.

"Got you." - Charlotte remarks.

She blasts Veil with a strong bolt of purple lightning, propelling her against the snow and knocking the knife out of her hand. She falls to the ground unconscious, with her summons turning their attention towards the sound.

"Veil!" - They yell out.

Solana slams the bow against the back of the vampire girl's head and stabs her with one of her light arrows. The vampire girl screams out, but her form vanishes in a red flash.

Valor lets out a furious yell and charges at Solana, but Max bashes away the katana with his shield. He aims his sword and jabs it into Valor's neck, with him choking in response. His body disappears in a red flash, including the katana he held.

"... Good work, Max." - Solana remarks with an approving nod.

"I finally get to help and then I stab someone in the neck. Ugh. Maybe being a hero isn't... for me. Oh, and how the heck did you do that, Charlotte!?" - Max trembles.

"Yeah, I don't know how... wait, the lives system! It saved me! But wait, how many do I have left?" - Charlotte asks.

A digital monitor showing Charlotte's health points, ether points and other attributes appears in front of her. One of them is a counter for lives in bright white text against a dim, blackish-blue background.

"Only two more left, huh?"

She closes up the monitor by pressing the X button on it and stares directly at Veil.

"... Ugh. Why did this have to happen, Veil? I used to think you were cool..." - Charlotte says with a deep sigh as she shakes her head.

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The Gel Queen shoots a glob of slime at Ven and Prya as they fly by, with it exploding into a giant spike ball. Ian freezes a direct path to the queen and slides over to her. She shoots out another wave at him, but he pushes through it, albeit with his barrier gradually decaying.

He grabs onto the queen's shoulders and freezes her solid. She knocks him away with a giant arm molded out of the goo, but her body stiffens as she tries to move. The queen lets out an inhuman screech as she becomes an immobile icicle.

"Now!" - Iris yells.

Iris grabs Canopy by the torso and flings her entire body at the Queen. Canopy jump-slashes her scythe onto the frozen Queen's head and channels purplish-red magic into the blade.

The Gel Queen shoots a hardened spike through Canopy's stomach, but she shrugs it off. She yells with effort and splatters the queen across the walls with a powerful explosion of dark energy.

The pieces sizzle and melt away, with the rainbow pool of slime around them fading into the ground.

"Wow... I think we did it!" - Canopy chirps with a cheerful smile.

"Oh thank gods." - Iris states with a relieved sigh.

Canopy jumps towards an unconscious Ian on the ground and slaps him awake.

"Hey! Wake up!" - She says.

"H-huh!? What?" - He yells as he springs up to his knees.

"Your ice magic actually helped us get an opening. Good going!" - Iris remarks with a warm smile.

"I... I did? That's amazing!! Oh, I'm just happy to be of service, mila... I mean, uh, miss." - He says with a nervous grin.

"Ah yes, the Dead Man's Dance!" Rebecca exclaimed. "It's been a while since I've seen that in action. Have you gotten skilled enough in it to take control of people?!"

"Uh, Rebecca, let's focus on the mission." Evan muttered. 

"Yeah, once we get this done, we can go back to base and you can watch us Luna elementals tear off our arms or whatever." Shiva deadpanned..

"Ehehehe, sorry." Rebecca said, with a grin.

"We gonna get to wrecking Charm Beasts or what?" Chamomile groaned.