God Yet Lives

Sab, deeply disappointed, put Aroma down on the bed, then took a nap beside her.

--

That not being the case, the hand simply disappeared through a sort of transdimentional portal, the same way it appears. Mortal, now fully charged up with her cero, opens up her dome halfway, so that her back, and above her head were still protected. She took a wide, rooted, fighting stance, and waited for Astarte to attack.

--

Noctis frowned, "Right, right, uh, lets go." With that she blinked on her fullbring, took Euryale's hands into her own, and sank them both into shadows, appearing around the street from the Aquarium, out of sight of anyone. Noct shivered a bit, "Right, that wasn't so bad, Noct." She then looked at Euryale, "So, lets get going."

*Euryale looks at her curiously.*

"What wasn't so bad?"
================================
*Senthose slashes with both weapons at the shield, prompting Lilith to use her hands to reinforce it. He then spins them around & stabs them into her ribs. At this point, her Mask shatters completely, but she still has use of her Zanpakuto. Turning all of her active Kido into flower petals, she releases a large explosion of white Reitsu in what seems to be a last attempt to defeat Senthose. He steps away, sans arm, & gets a Byakurai through the chest right before she passes out & starts falling. Senthose then disappears into a Garganta.*
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S"What the Hell is this crap? Is this like..a plaster mold, or something?"

*Senthose stands Aroma up & pokes her.*

S"Hey. Heeeey. You're needed. Hello?"

*He punches her in the face out of curiosity, noting that all that he did was bruise his newly-regenerated fist.*

S"Huh."

Astarte swore and was about to fly down into a close range attack but halted herself just barely.
After a moment of brief thought and hesitation, she declined swooping into close-ranged attack and instead levelled a blast of lightning that would strike Mortal full in the chest. Immediately after releasing her strike she left a clone in her place and moved behind Mortal's scale shield.

"Nothing, nothing at all," Noct said with a smile.

--

"She does this when surprised, or in danger," Sab said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Whenever she does this I can't help but picture Mortal using her as some kind of blunt weapon."

--

Mortal blocked the lightning with her dragon's arms, then continued waiting for Astarte to attack, using her pesquisa to figure out that she was behind her, but not doing anything to betray her knowledge.

S"Yeah, let's say we not let Mortal know about this, & I inject her full of muscle relaxant before Lilith bleeds out."
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E"Well...okay. If you're sure. Now let's go see the o...manatees."

"I thought they were octo-manatees, not o-manatees... The latter sounds like an Irish surname."

--

"So, who finished off Lilith?" Sab asked.

E"Yes, well--uhh--there are various--ah--subspecies of...manatees."
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S"I stabbed her in the lungs."

"Dammit, I should have just left Mortal in that tree then..." Sab shocked herself with that statement, "That was incredibly cold of me..."

--

"Sure, just lead the way," Noct said, taking Euryale's hand into her own.

S"Nonsense, we need more of that killer Hollow instinct. Now I have to go, before my killer Hollow instinct lives up to its name."

*He opens a Garganta.*
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*The aquarium lobbey has several halls labelled with things like "fish," "cephalapods," "aquatic mammals," etc.*

E"Hmm...what should we see first?"

Sab just sits there, feeling bad...

--

"Whatever you want."

E"I want you to pick something."
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*Aroma and Senthose return a few moments later, arguing.*

A"I'm just saying, I don't see why you had to be so rough. It was just a training exercise."

S"And I'm just saying--"

A"I know! Killer Hollow Instinct! As many times as you yell that, it still doesn't explain anything."

"Uh, fish?" Noct replied.

--

"Hello, Aroma," Sab said, looking over, "Is everything alright?"

A"I was just telling Senthose that I don't see why he had to actually STAB Lilith, much less in the ribs."

S"Killer Hollow Instinct!"

A"And that is how he has...countered every one of my points, so far."
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E"Yeah, great idea! Sharks are awesome!"

"Lets get going then."

--

"You learn to let disagreements go when it comes to Senthose," Sab said, "No one has enough patients to outlast him."

S"Or enough rib strength, by the looks of it."
======================================
*And so they watched sharks swimming around.*

E"Do you suppose that thing about punching them in the nose is true?"

Sab giggles, then feels bad again, "I think you're a bad influence on me, Senthose."

--

"Do you want to find out?" Noct asked.

E"Of course not! ...It would be mean."
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S"Not at all. Listen, Aroma patched her up, and once she wakes up, she can fully heal herself with Kido. No harm done. And in most circumstances, murder is just funny anyway. I mean, have you ever seen someone die? They're all...URRGHBLAAAH!"

*Senthose clutches his throat, & bugs out his eyes.*

Sab fights back a giggle, "No, I think I'm right on this one..."

--

"What is the logic behind punching a shark in the nose again?" Noct asked, trying to remember why people thought it was a good idea, "It kind of reminds me of when people say to play dead when a bear attacks you. That plan seems like it was thought up by a bear trying to catch more people to eat."

E"You're not supposed to play dead, you're supposed to go into the fetal position. The hope is that it won't consider you a threat, and even if it does attack you, your vital areas will be protected. The nose is just supposed to be some kind of weak point for a shark. Kind of like kicking a guy in the balls."
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S"Well, you're not. See? You almost laughed. It's hilarious."

Astarte lifted her hands up in the air above her head and flashes of lightning appeared between her wings and hands. A moment after the first flash, Astarte threw her hands forwards and blasted the scale shield with lightning as well as the ground to either side of it. The attack intensified until the scale shield was obscured from vision by the light.

As Astarte takes out all her pent up rage on the scales Mortal snags her feet with scales, and shoots the Gran Lagarto point blank.

--

"I shouldn't be laughing at people dying, no matter how funny you make it look..."

--

"Oh, that makes more sense I guess," Noct said, "Still, it is a bear. I'm sure if it wanted to it could just maul you regardless of whether or not your vitals are covered."

Astarte attempted to switch the direction of her attack to intercept the Cero but wasn't nearly quick enough and was still blasted.

S"I don't see any reason why you shouldn't. Death is one of the funniest things in the world. I laughed when I died. And then again when each of my vassals did. After I ate them."
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E"Probably, if the bear really wants to kill you, and can tell the difference between a dead body and an unconscious, heavily wounded one."

Sab finally has the decency to be a bit grossed out, if only a bit.

--

Mortal reverts back to normal, seeing as how Astarte was pelted with a cero, and Lilith was nearly gutted, and laying in what was probably a pool of her own blood.

--

"How did we wind up talking about bears at an aquarium?" Noct asked with a laugh.

A last arc of lightning shot at Mortal from a seared hand sticking up from a smoking patch of ground. Immediately afterwards Astarte curled up into a ball and reverted to her sealed form.