Rapid metallic wingbeats form a solid wave of steel, crashing straight for Annalie! Just as the lightly glowing green wave looks as if it is about to strike her---

  Annalie shifts her body, moving her polestaff originally pointed up high with whirling motions! Instead of stepping backwards, Annalie actually steps through the wave, both ends of her polestaff crackling with dark electricity!

  She whirls her staff in a blur, parting the wave of steel; each time a butterfly strays close to her cloak, it catches the electric end of her staff, dissipating the fluttering wings into nothingness! So natural were Annalie's staff movements, I find it hard to believe she was striking at random!

  When the first wave of metallic butterflies subsides in acrobatic rebukes, our priestess remains untouched! Not even a single wingfp reached Annalie, something that must have been out of [La Monarquía's] expectations! At the end of the exchange, Annalie now holds her polestaff pointed downwards with both arms, one leg angled forward, expecting the next wave of metallic attacks...!

  However, the dark monarchess was not impressed! Her clod irises narrow, as she puts down the outstretched palm that was directing her swarm! None of her swarm remained, and yet she still had some choice words for the fake priestess!

  "... whoever taught you to fight is a fool."

  "...? Ehhhh...? Do you know Master? Master's always going on about 'Aluber' too..." No, Annalie! Stop smiling! She's definitely making fun of hentaibird and you! This is NOT someone you should be getting comfy with!

  "With this, I know the exact range of your attacks." From [La Monarquía's] fingers, short steel stings emerge, forming a single metallic butterfly that rests on top of her upward pointing index finger.

  [SFX:Swoosh!]

  With a cutting motion, she sends the metallic butterfly, glowing green with speedlines towards Annalie! Coming fast at a speed which would be untracable by human eyes, the seething beauty clearly intends for this dark projectile to end the fight! Like a heart-seeking bde that is thrown out of fustration rather than any strategic intent---

  [SFX:Thwack!]

  With almost zero effort, Annalie deflects the almost unseeable object! When the tip of her polestaff enchanted with lightning hits the small object, it too dissipates under the moonlight...!

  "Your mennifest is lightning. But yours is a weak form of lightning." Despite her big words, [La Monarquía's] did not make any more advancing steps towards Annalie! Instead, she carefully surveys Annalie's downwards pointing stance, seeking something your detective can't quite understand...

  "You can only conduct lightning, but not fully mennifest it."

  "Ehhhh?! It was that obvious?!?!" Annalie's face is full of shock, her trick exposed! Obviously! Any idiot would come to the same conclusion! If you were actually a master of electromagnetism you would be throwing up bck sand now! But you're just a stupid priestess and you don't even have proper control over your mennifest! Your hands randomly shock people, that's why you're using a metal polestaff to 'conduct' the magick from your hands! Otherwise, no enemy is going to be dumb enough to shake your hand in the middle of a fight!

  "... that polestaff is being used to extend your 'range'. Do you know what that tells me? It tells me you cannot naturally mennefest from other parts of your body. Magick flows through your polestaff to its ends, which results in..." The highly intelligent and beautiful [La Monarquía] motions towards both ends of Annalie's polestaff, still overflowing with tiny sparks of dark electro! "So long as I fight at a distance, you will never reach me---"

  [SFX:Ehahahaha!]

  She ughed!

  The fake priestess ughed!

  What's so funny, Annalie?!

  [La Monarquía] literally saw through your favourite trick!

  "Why are all you sorceresses like this..."

  Shaking like a mischievious jell-o while maintaining her stance, an evil grin not seen for some time creeps across the fake priestess's face!

  "...at that level of thinking, you're not much smarter than Aya-chan!"

  Hey!!

  I feel insulted!!!

  I'm literally a victim here!!!!

  In a fsh of anger, the green glow on the dark beauty's eyes subside, only to be forcefully reapplied once more! Annalie must have been taking some lessons from the master baiter, Madi-san herself, because with movements unfitting the sorceress and her words before...

  ... she charged straight for Annalie!

  This must be exactly what she was waiting for, since Annalie didn't even have to move from her position, instead, she shifts the lowered tip of her polestaff upwards, looking to let her opponent impale herself on her dark lightning!

  However!

  At the moment it seemed like like her reckless move would get her beat by a brainless dolt---

  --- her movements changed!

  All this happened in the moment Annalie's irises contracted into fish-like dots; blue strings that stretch into the room's darkness jerk and right [La Monarquía's] movements, turning what looked like a reckless charge into an inwards stepping motion, evading Annalie's polearm impalement! The dark beauty forcefully corrected her mistake at the very st moment, using her strings to pull at herself like a puppet doll--- Magick threads covering her palm, she pushes the middle of Annalie's polestaff away from her! just as she steps through Annalie's range, coming almost face-to-face with the priestess in blunt bangs! Metallic strings forming on the tip of her fingers...

  This woman... exposed the weakness of Annalie's fighting style!

  She cannot withdraw her polestaff in time!

  If someone gets inside the range of a yari [1] like that, they're open to attac---

  [SFX:Crackle]

  At this moment, the tip of Annalie's polestaff which passed [La Monarquía's] head bursts into life! The violent, intensified charge forms the crude shape of a bded and hooked edge... It rips right around with impossible fury, snapping backwards like a wolf's neck, it hungrily hunts for its target---

  --- driving through the center of [La Monarquía's] chest!

  "...?!?!?!" The paralyzing dark electro sends a single jolt through the bck-dressed figure, stilling all her movements, slumping to her knees on the spot!

  "Annalie... has no range she is weak at!"Don't look so proud at using a 'trick' to beat your opponent!

  It won't work twice!

  As the dark beauty falls sideways in slow-motion onto the moonlit attic floor, Annalie drops her polestaff, running towards her motionless friend on the floor!

  No, wait!

  Stop crying 'Aya-chan, Aya-chan'!

  Look behind you Annalie...!!

  Look behind you...!!!

  The moment the side of [La Monarquía's] body hits the attic floor...

  ... it bursts into a curtain of metallic butterflies,

  green glowing covering the entire darkness of her side of the room.

  Beyond the steelic curtain, a dark figure grabs the orange-tailed 'corpse' by its hair...

  She stands up in full bck dress as if the exchange never happened at all...

  Barely even turning her head, she touches a disbelieving hand onto the center of her chest where Annalie's lightning struck her 'substitute'.

  "... ..."

  "...!!!!"

  Although both sides have merely exchanged positions, the far more combat-savvy Annalie immediately recognizes that she's in a bad spot!

  Because the dark monarchess would tilt her gaze up towards her escape route letting moonlight into the room...

  [SFX:Ssh!]

  With one clean hand motion, the sorceress in bck dress directs a cutting motion at the ceiling above the priestess and the detective! A wooden beam above them is sliced right through, gravity doing the rest of the work, turning it into a murder object! At the same time, whirling, rapid metallic wings form a hurricane-like barrier for the pair of enemies, blocking off all and any human eyes, showing their intent to escape!

  At this point, Annalie has to make a choice!

  This is a split-second decision!

  Someone dies, or we solve the mystery!

  You know EXACTLY what I would choose!

  The mystery, Annalie!

  Solve the mystery!!

  Solve the mysteeeeeery!!!

  But instead of stopping the escaping enemies---

  Instead of inflicting VIOLENCIA on the escaping pair...

  Annalie does a stupid thing!

  She dives, throwing herself right over her friend's unmoving body,

  bracing and shielding her from the falling beam from above!

  Ahhhhhhh!!!

  baka!

  bakamite!

  bakamiteeeeee!

  [SFX:CRASH]

  Go Go And Learn Moonrunes With Aya-chan![1] yari - "Yari means 'spear' in my ancestral nguage---" "That's not a spear, Aya-chan, that's a polestaff!" "Does this detective look like she uses murder weapons a lot, you dumb priestess?!"