Arabelle

Crawling up once again from the depths of hell. Somehow, they were still moving. Somehow, there was still a part of them that drove them forward - chasing after the one thing the darkness in their mind allowed them to know. But in their clouded mind, the smallest hints of rationality that still remained spoke: something was wrong. They had lived and died twice now. The first, they no longer remembered. Not their name, nor the town they lived in, nor the family they held dear. By the time the second came, they were just one of many. Designed to maim and kill, driven by their insatiable thirst for the life they would never have. They remembered racing forward. Sinking their teeth into anything that smelled alive. Oh, that didn't matter after all; it's not like their organs were still functioning to digest anything they ate. Truth be told, they could have continued "living" without eating a thing. Pointless actions for a pointless existence. 

But it was their only existence. And Death had ripped it from them once again. Tore them to pieces. Malicious green flames - burning them from inside out. Wailing in pain. Cursing the Heavens. If this was the only World to return to, they shall rather have never left Hell. 

And then they woke up.

There was only one thing to do--

--Arabelle cleaved another zombie in half and tilted her head.

"Huh, that's weird. These guys are kind of hard to distinguish from each other, but I just got the feeling I saw that one before."

Oh well. Humming happily to herself, the small scythe-wielder went and killed the rest.

~~BINGO BOOK

"Ara, ara? That's a bold accusation to level at your superior," hummed the scythe-wielder. She fended off a mob before it could get too close and noticed An's HP had returned to full. Lovely. She was off babysitting duty - for some part, anyway. At least she didn't have to think of keeping them away from An too much. The girl should be able to handle herself at full HP, even against a group. "Don't worry, I'll tell you soon enough. How about using it as motivation to get through these mobs?"

Another set of reinforcements. Another swing of her scythe. How many had they cut down so far...? These guys honestly seemed as if there was no end to them.

Again, one remained - having been just far enough to react quickly to the attack coming at it. "Oh, don't go for that guy though. Just saying in case you got a bit too motivated."

~~BINGO BOOK

"For both of my scythes, yes. For Mishiro's axe, no. The second one was bought from the weapons another player-ran shop had in stock. She didn't have any choice on its appearance, or its name, or the weird vanity effect that came with it." Oh, vanity effects. How she wished she had one aside from the typical green flame-like aura that surrounded her weapon whenever she activated a Sword Art, but it would probably just get in the way like Mishiro's does. "If you noticed earlier, it gives off a weird black smoke. That's totally cool and all, but in a small space with low visibility, it starts to pool around you and make everything even worse."

She never thought she would be saying this. But for her weapon, simple practicality was better!

"Hmm... let's save that for later. I'm all fully energized, so let's go!" 

An was making a terribly wrong assumption, but Arabelle decided no harm would come to teasing the other girl for a while. Barging her way through zombies with her partner close behind, the small purple-haired girl only stopped when they were finally surrounded. She checked to see if An was still close by. Then she whirled around and unleashed a flurry of attacks with her renewed strength.

~~BINGO BOOK

That wasn't exactly what she meant, but now that An mentioned it, there were other players here too.

Whoops?

Arabelle could hardly be bothered. As long as they did their job, she wouldn't pay the other teams any more heed than necessary. Of course, the necessary simply entailed keeping well out of their way so they wouldn't crash into each other and keeping an eye on their own mobs so she wouldn't accidentally steal the kills of another team and make more of a mess than this literally godforsaken event had already made.

"If you know of that famous blacksmith who offers discounts to low-leveled players, I took a quest with that guy once. He helped me find a familiar and even gave it a cheesy name." Other than that though... she didn't remember any other details of their interaction other than him jokingly calling her a 'Disney princess.' That had been a bit of a laugh. "Oh, now that I think about it, I promised him another quest. Oh well~. And also, technically, my guild leader is a frontliner." The thought of him brought a small smile to her lips. "Want me to tell your more about him?"

--And right after she praised her, An went and missed her attack and the zombie came forward and tried to snack on her. Lovely. Arabelle was on the verge of literally facepalming. It seems that with everything An did right, she did three things wrong in turn. Nothing personal, An, but the small purple-haired girl was already bored enough as it is and right now, all she wanted was to watch a fun fight.

Watching fights was fun, too! Kind of... when it wasn't a completely one-sided beatdown anyway. She had gotten into the habit when she learned that players dueled each other in the central plaza from time to time. Friendly duels. She had never once seen a duel to the death in the middle of the safezone, but then again, that was sure to draw some intervention from the audience.

Arabelle smiled down at An.

"Why do you think I stood here instead of keeping myself on the ground where it's easier to move...?" 

That's right. Senpai already had that idea in mind, but her contribution was appreciated nonetheless! She surveyed the audience area, found none but there were some parts her height couldn't allow her to peek into, and turned her head to the central stage. Where could a depressed 17-year-old be at this point...?

"It's fine. She'll send me a PM if she gets to safety. My sending her a PM might just be a bother. Don't worry though, An." The small purple-haired girl met her teammate's probably confused gaze with a confident smile. "We're not the only ones here who can help her."

Arabelle was kind of starting to like the taste of cider. There was nothing better than drinking something that tasted good and seeing your HP flow back to full once you're done. It was no foul-tasting energy drink, but it was refreshing in its own right. 

Her teammate didn't have as much of a reaction to being called 'kouhai-chan.' Slight disappointment. She thought that with that reaction to her first remark, she could tease the girl a little bit further. Instead, there was that spark of determination and oh my god, she actually critted against a zombie for once. Arabelle blinked, watching the zombie momentarily stumble back with two slashes across its chest. Then she hopped out of the way when it recovered just as quickly and tried to attack An. Unexpectedly, the girl had gotten away in time and Arabelle observed the rest from atop a plastic chair with a smile.

"That was lovely. Keep it up!"

~~BINGO BOOK

An really was having trouble with these guys, wasn't she...? Ever since they started fighting, the girl had missed most of her attacks and the ones that actually landed triggered off that annoying ability of theirs. She could only attribute the latter to horrible luck on their part and the former... was a bit more complicated.

She would never say this out loud, but she missed the more reliable Mishiro!

Arabelle quickly followed up after her teammate's failed attack. Twirling her scythe, she moved in to cut it down before it could regenerate once again. And that made the second round of baddies! With the horde sufficiently thinned, the two were able to move forward once again. 

Slowly.

The small purple-haired girl had dropped behind An with an innocent smile. "I used up all of my energy on that fight, so you're going to watch over me again. Please take care of me... kouhai-chan~!"

~~~BINGO BOOK

Fighting was fun.

...mostly when it was just Arabelle showing off how good she was. But being good comes with practice and she sometimes had those times while practicing when she would unexpectedly do something that impressed even herself, so she supposed even the parts where she wasn't showing off had its own level of fun too. It had to. She was not the type who did boring, tedious things continuously in hopes of achieving some sort of decent reward in the end. Unless she had been forced into it. And unless the reward was really good. 

"Think about the drops, Arabelle!"

The small purple-haired girl's expression turned dreamy for a second before she was literally slapped back to reality by the one zombie An had been trying to kill since it spawned. How utterly disrespectful. Arabelle ignored the other - it sort of charged at her then fell over or something - and stabbed her scythe's blade through the intrusive zombie's chest.

~~BINGO BOOK

That was a bit of an oopsie~!

Was what ran through Arabelle's mind when she noticed her earlier attack had left one at full HP, while only completely killing one. Oh, darn. And right when she was having all that 'evening the playing field' talk. She realized that An had gotten a bit quiet. That was a bit unusual, the girl usually tried to put in one comment at least - and her embarrassed reactions were the cutest. Almost made her want to try calling her 'kouhai-chan.' "What's up?" She raised a brow at the girl who was eyeing the strongest mob of the bunch. "Ah, don't worry about this guy~. I'll handle him myself. You-- go for the ones that are still weak. That's the drill, yes?"

They'll talk later.

An missed her attack. Which meant she now had three mobs coming at her instead of the two she had been expecting. Oh, hell. Arabelle easily batted away the first two, tried to jump back, only to be stopped by the last zombie sinking its teeth into her arm. Oh, ewwww. "Get off!" She sent her fist sailing at its face and as it reeled backwards, she swung her scythe upwards and cut it in half. The movement allowed for the other two to come in and take a chomp of their own, but she quickly separated herself and jumped back.

~~BINGO BOOK

"It might be better," Arabelle began, wagging her finger in the air like her scary teachers at the boarding school used to. "To ask why first. So, why? I like the new style, that's all! Hmhm~, I think that military uniform's forever been part of my image and I want to change things up a little! Isn't that what most anime characters do in filler arcs? For the fanservice and all that. Oh, but that's not to say that I don't look as good in that uniform. All I'm saying is, a little change from time to time wouldn't hurt.

"Besides..." Arabelle raised her scythe as three more zombies stalked over to fill in for their dead comrades. (Heh.) "These things can barely even damage me. Like... one critical hit has to be around eleven. I feel like this fight's losing its thrill, you know? So, I'm evening out the playing field!"

With a grin, she launched herself straight into the middle of the group once again - sending one flying with her scythe and cleaving her scythe through all but one of the remaining zombies. 

~~BINGO BOOK

"Just as I expected!" Arabelle hummed to herself proudly. They continued moving forward, giving the center stage a wide berth, and keeping out of the others' way as best they can. Still, she didn't let go of the other girl's hand. An could stumble behind or something, Arabelle wasn't about to lose her all of a sudden just because she was too slow. "You have just the right HP to keep a mob's attention on you while I regenerate energy. When you're only facing one though, any more and you're done for. So don't be too scared~. Your senpai has this all under her control."

She would have earlier too, if Mishiro hadn't wandered too far from the group.

And once again, there was a group of zombies they couldn't simply avoid. The small purple-haired girl readied her scythe and let go of An's hand. Momentarily leaving her teammate behind, she cleaved through the creeps with a wide, inflamed swing.

~~BINGO BOOK

Arabelle eyed the silver-haired girl in front of her, her ashen eyes uncharacteristically blank.

"Yes... I suppose that's right."

Life philosophies later. An just got sent flying back by another attack - not her fault, by the looks of it: it was a crit and no one ever dodged crits - and her HP was at a dangerous level. Well, lucky for her that Arabelle's EN just finished regenerating! "Thanks for your efforts! Now stay back and heal!" The small purple-haired girl manifested her large scythe with a cruel smile. "Let's see... that zombie dealt around sixty damage on you? That's troublesome. I'll grant them an eye-for-an-eye treatment, but with interest!"

She hooked the first zombie and forced it closer to the others. As their triggers set off and they started to advance, Arabelle rocketed forward with her scythe in hand and launched herself upwards. Midair, her blade would seemingly carve through empty space - once, twice, in all directions - and she landed softly on the ground as a barrage of shockwaves shredded the zombies in front of them.

Arabelle grabbed An's hand and charged through the opening. 

~~BINGO BOOK

"Good, good!" Arabelle was practically glowing with pride as the girl started to move a bit more. Now she wasn't acting like something she wasn't (aka, a tank with actual MIT stats). An's attention was no longer divided between defending her and the mob she was facing, more on the latter now, and somehow she felt so glad for the new girl's little improvement. Was this what having an apprentice felt like? Or just teaching someone in general? She'd taught people on other subjects, sure, but this was one of the moments she really felt something from it. It just felt so good, seeing the results of her advice manifested right in front of her.

Might as well go a bit further, then.

"Don't rely so much on the system assist. You can still move, can't you?" -- And besides, the girl's steadily dropping HP bar was starting to become a concern. -- "If you were in the wrong place when you activated a Sword Art, take back control, adjust yourself, and let the assist finish it off! I mean..." She began to mumble. "Why would you let go of your control, anyway? That's an unhealthy habit in general! It's your life, you are supposed to be the one to decide how you want to live it!"

...that had delved a bit too far from the topic.

Now there was their first contender!

The small purple-haired girl wasn't going to participate, but still she felt the corners of her lips tug upwards at the upcoming fight. Thankfully, her teammate hadn't made the dumb decision of getting right into the thick of the horde and settled for pacing herself with Arabelle's slower advance - which she had set on purpose. She could have stopped them completely but they didn't have the time to waste and neither did she want any of these mobs to back An into the wall. No place was safe here anymore.

Especially not the place they had been sleeping in just a few minutes earlier. Boy, was she glad that didn't happen while they were all on the stage.

The zombie charged forward. Arabelle prepared herself to follow An's movements and evade its attack. But the girl just... didn't... move. She had settled into her tank role a bit too well, but her health bar suggested she hardly had the build.

"Don't just take it!" she called out. "Told you earlier, I can dodge attacks perfectly fine. Just because I'm in combat doesn't mean I can't move as fast as I did previously! Keep that one's focus on you and handle the rest if they come close, and we'll be good!"

And with a direct slash to its throat, the last of the troublesome creatures were dead. ...temporarily, anyway. Arabelle took a moment to set herself in order, then turned back to An. She thought it was rather cute, how the girl wore her emotions on her sleeve. 

"Worried? That's flattering, but you don't have to be," Arabelle quickly assured with a smile. The small purple-haired girl relaxed her grip on her scythe and smoothed over the black blouse and lime green shorts which she had replaced her armor with. She was free from attacks, for the time being, but she simply withdrew a drink from her pouch and sipped from it. "I just need to sit back and regenerate a bit. Would you care to handle--" She gave an offhanded gesture to the mobs that were still advancing on them, ready to replace their fallen comrades. "--all this? Just keep them off of me. Oh, and for my part, I'll try to dodge as best as I can."

~~BINGO BOOK

Arabelle slammed her scythe on the ground and kicked off the ground, spinning herself out of the way of a zombie's attack. Unfortunately, it was not the zombie she needed to avoid; the one she dodged burst into pixels at An's attack. Leaving Arabelle practically swinging herself into the last zombie's path. 

Oops?

She tried to change directions but it was too late. The zombie's rusted sword had already left a deep slash on her skin and she watched her HP drop. Wait... why was it dropping so much from just one attack? Arabelle looked up, and then looked down.

Oh. They didn't have the time to equip their armor. Neither her nor An. She looked back up at her HP bar then moved along nonchalantly with a shrug. It barely dropped; and she still had her regen consumables anyway! Right, they were perfectly fine. Arabelle forced the zombie back with a hilt stab. 

~~BINGO BOOK

She expected only one to survive with that weird ability of theirs. I mean, that had always been the case for most of their previous encounters - but three? Arabelle levelled a glare at the three rather smug mobs that still managed to stand in the wake of her attack. She was getting PTSD flashbacks from that one quest where her dumb teammate ran off without warning, leaving Arabelle to face off against a mob much stronger than her. Alone. She remembered three consecutive misses... and having to constantly dance around the mob's attacks as she waited for her energy to regenerate.

The small purple-haired girl glanced at An. In a way, she almost reminded her of the former friend she did not like to think about. At least she didn't seem like the type to just leave. Not after the conversation they had earlier.

Whatever. She could handle herself either way. 

Arabelle thought, as the mob regenerated once again at her basic attack.

FUUUUU--

~~BINGO BOOK

No, the new girl got what she was saying and having her sentiments repeated back to her was a great help. If they went in believing in the worst and at low morale, their performance and combat would be messed up by those deprecating thoughts that came with it and even their own lives might be at risk. Arabelle didn't want to die yet. and she would prefer it if An didn't either. They were going to get through this!

...if only these mobs would stop spawning and let them move. 

For every zombie that she cut down, there was another taking its place. They weren't even giving her any breaks in between and her energy was dropping at twice the speed. This was literally just the Rain Minion event now! She deflected the attacks that came her way and green flames consumed her scythe. If they wanted to get to the other side, she was going to bulldoze her way through these mobs before they could spawn.

"An, don't fall behind!"

One zombie died as she barged her shoulder into it and the rest were subjected to two rending slashes from her scythe. They stumbled, almost falling back... and then clung to their lives with that small sliver of red on their HP bars.

"Ohhh, give me a break! Why are there three of you now?"

~~BINGO BOOK

What the hell was that thing? The equivalent to the big guy in the Rain Minion event? It sure had a delayed appearance but it made up for that loss in points by looking extra disgusting. Imagine a zombie but... big. That was basically it, but every horrible feature the undead had were now even more pronounced and obvious with the big boss's size.

Past the fading fragments of the dead zombies, Arabelle sighted stronger players fighting their way to the stage to take on the boss. Alright, lovely. If they wanted to get to the other side, they just had to take the longer, safer route.

A boring strategy, but she didn't want the new girl dying on her. 

"No," she responded and for a few moments, that was that. Another swing of her scythe and one zombie was dispatched of, with one very nearly dead. The numbers were not to her liking. Arabelle took a second to calm herself and then looked over her shoulder at An. "She won't die from this."

Because it was the least holy-sh*t-we-are-so-screwed outcome and she didn't even want to think about it.

"Otherwise, all this nonsense that's been building up would have been anticlimactic, don't you think?"

~~BINGO BOOK

What was that movement? 

Arabelle had moved a bit closer to the edge of the wooden stage in anticipation for the battles to come, so she didn't sense it until it was too late. She whirled around, assuming a firmer grip on her scythe and immediately, her vision zeroed in on Mishiro - standing at the other edge of the round stage with her menus open. Between them, the floorboards--

Cracked.

"Shiro--!"

A hint of fear, breaking through the girl's expressionless visage. 

The center of the stage burst upwards in a shower of wood and earth. An abomination larger than the others rose from the wreckage and smaller zombies clawed their way out of the hole. Its edges were caving in at the sudden surge of mobs originating from within. The treasure chest they had designated as their resting place was gone, broken to pieces. So was the note she slipped underneath it.

She hauled An back by the wrist, prompted the lower level to retreat, and moved forward. But the horde was thick and she could barely see past them, and the younger girl had been swallowed up in the chaos until all that could be heard were her terrified shrieks.

Mishiro's name disappeared.

And Arabelle was flung back by a swing of the abomination's arm. She crashed into An and sent them both off the stage. They landed on the ground with her arms wrapped around the new girl to keep her close. Immediately, she was prying herself off the girl. 

"An, get up!" 

Where were they? Arabelle grabbed her scythe and spun around. She saw nothing but enemies and the occasional allied player. A group of zombies had advanced on them, drawn in by the easy prey. Oh no, they wouldn't. She didn't bother fighting dishonorably but when it was her on the receiving end, it pissed her off. 

"Eradicate them! Shi-chan!"

Her scythe cleaved through the group. Three burst into shards and another remained alive. 

And they had started off so well.

~~BINGO BOOK

"There, there~." Arabelle hummed softly. She ran a gloved hand through soft, silky locks of hair. The weight on her lap shifted once more - rather demandingly - but stilled when she kept a firm hand resting atop it. She kept her eyes closed, leaning against the back of the treasure chest's open lid and the softer, warmer cushion to her left side. "Just a few more moments. Or... my, my, is Shiro-chan actually embarrassed?"

She would be. 

Arabelle remembered reaching the stage. She remembered giving her teammates one look before spontaneously declaring they should take a catnap. In the middle of the event. Weird, huh? They had definitely gotten their share of curious looks. But... the night was still young and they didn't know how much longer this would drag on. There wasn't much protest though. None of them even bothered to bring up whether they should do it in shifts, they just replaced their armor with comfier casual clothes and curled up together at their usual resting spot. 

It left the three in a rather curious position. Arabelle had Mishiro's head on her lap and An's arm was wrapped around her as she leaned into the new girl's shoulder. She was officially a part of their group now, whether she liked it or not.

As their rudely beeping fifteen-minute timer demanded though, their time was up.

"Okay, Shiro-chan... get up." She pried one eye open and dismissed the intrusive notification. Pulling herself free from the other two, Arabelle stood and resummoned her scythe. It would never be as good as a full night's sleep, but she felt sufficiently refreshed to take on another hundred! Around them, the zombies continued spawning endlessly. It reminded her of the Rain Minion event, but this time it was dragging on for much, much longer. Arabelle withdrew a second funnel cake from her inventory - a quick snack before things started back up. She turned to the silver-haired player right beside her. "Oh, might as well refresh your buff too, An! We don't want you running out in the middle of a fight."

Back to the grind they go.

~~BINGO BOOK

Gosh, these things really weren't giving up, were they? She barely managed to restrain her exasperated groan as she raced forward, only slowing down a little bit to watch her teammates land the first attacks. The combined damage from An and Mishiro's attacks lowered the zombie's HP just enough for her to be able to wipe it out with a weaker Sword Art. Lovely. They deserved at least some sincere praise from her once they got through this.

That didn't mean her finisher couldn't be flashy though.

Arabelle charged a Sword Art as she advanced.

"Thanks, everyone! Now, step aside!" 

The zombie went flying at the force of two successive uppercuts. Then, in the split-second that it lingered midair, it met the edge of Arabelle's flaming scythe once again. With a smug smile, the small purple-haired girl dug her blade in deeper before allowing her heavy weapon to guide her and bringing both player and mob back to the ground with a loud crash. 

--And for a moment, silence. 

The dust settled to reveal the visage of the girl pulling herself up amidst the wreckage she had caused. Now that might have been overkill, she thought to herself rather nonchalantly. Arabelle pulled her scythe from the ground, data fragments fluttering up into the air and blinking out of existence around her. Her signature smile remained unfading as she gave her scythe a showy little twirl and held it beside her, allowing the large weapon to tower over her smaller form. 

~~Fear the reaper.~~

@Andromeda, @Mishiro

• 5 SP
• 1,000 Col

Arabelle

• 5 SP

Zombie kill count: 49

~~BINGO BOOK

"I heard you, loud and clear!" But really, An didn't need to say it out loud. Arabelle had already noticed how terribly they were all faring. And she was starting to tire as well. A break was definitely in order, regardless of how little they had killed since the last time. 

She was going to end this round in one attack!

Facing the last zombie, the small purple-haired girl rolled to the side to evade its attacks. She took a reallyyy quick second to appreciate how light her armor made her feel, otherwise she wouldn't have such mobility in the battlefield. Allowed her scythe to flare up with one last Sword Art, Arabelle heaved her weapon up and rent the remaining zombie in half.

Arabelle turned to the rest of her team with a cheerful smile. Another round where she did 100% of the work! She really was proud of how far she'd come as a DPS. "Alright, everyone. Back to the stage for now!"

~~BINGO BOOK

Well, that hadn't been a nice start. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and quickly readied her scythe as the zombies came at her, ready to avenge their fallen comrades. Mishiro had taken one look at her and declared her intention to fight alongside them for a bit longer and An... was also there. They'd already admitted the new girl's weakness earlier, and her taking on a mob by herself was a terrible idea, even with her higher MIT value. 

"I guess you do," Arabelle echoed. She looked over her shoulder to her teammates and indicated one of the zombies. "Both of you take the one on my left, I'll handle the other one myself."

She didn't want this to drag on any longer. Activating a Sword Art, she tore her way through her target's flesh and stabbed it through the stomach with her hilt. No regen from the zombie this time, thankfully. Arabelle turned her head to assess her teammates' progress.

~~BINGO BOOK

Finally. Now that it was over, the only thing she wished was that she had wiped it with a x14 Sword Art just for the heck of it. It pissed her off, that's all. Arabelle gave the ever-energetic An a tired smile and returned her high-five. "Really? That's nice of you~. Though in the morning, hm..." She glanced over at Mishiro, who stood by her axe looking a bit zoned out. "If Mishiro has some vanity crafts, we already have our breakfast place. You're welcome to join us for that, too. How about lunch, then?"

She turned back to her friend to ask a question only to find her falling backwards. "Hey, hey!" Without thinking, Arabelle had stooped forward to catch Mishiro but she snapped out of it herself. "Geez, Shiro-chan. Don't push yourself. You can go back to the stage and sit this one out. Or heck, if it assures you, you can watch me deal the initial blow and go right back when An can handle the rest. Got it?"

Claude would actually kill her if she came back with Mishiro in this state.

"An, let's go. As always, we're picking off the nearest group!"

She rocketed towards the group of creeps and the ground shook at the force of her Sword Art. Standing amidst the ruined plastic chairs,  she straightened and assessed the results of her attack.

Two down. Two still standing at full HP.

Her gaze locked with Mishiro's.

Crap.

~~BINGO BOOK