Even without magic, the cloud of sheer antagonism that radiated from the girl as she stomped down the street pushed away anyone who so much as glanced at her. If she'd still had her choker, she could have used herself for fuel--not healthy, but sometimes it was just so tempting to auto-odiolize, especially since...
...since...
No. She snarled, shoving the thought out of her head. She couldn't afford to break down. Not here. Not now. Not ever. Life was dangerous now, in so many subtle ways. All the shields and systems that she'd spent literal centuries building up and maintaining, all the little tricks and mental pushes... there was no way to keep them up anymore. All it would take was one slip to attract attention, and that was the last thing she wanted.
At the very least, she'd had enough sense to create a diverse portfolio over the years. She and the girls would never have to work again, unless some idiot went and got rid of the global economy; thankfully that wasn't likely to happen any time soon. It also meant she had oodles of spending cash, and she was forever grateful to whoever invented debit cards... was it the mid sixties or seventies? Eh, what really mattered was that she didn't have to carry hundred dollar bills anymore.
A grin formed on her face as her destination came into sight. It wasn't a grin that lessened her aura of hate; if anything, the ambiguous antagonism focused into a sharp and directed schadenfreude. She quite enjoyed her time in this establishment, after all; the kid had her tacos, and her partner might have loved those strange fried-bird sandwiches, but there was something deeply... satisfying... about seafood. With a spring in her step, she pushed open the door.
"Hello, and welcome to--" The teenage boy behind the podium froze. "W-What are you doing here?!"
She had to roll her eyes. "I have a mouth, and it has teeth. Gee whiz, what in the world could I possibly be doing in a restaurant? The mind boggles."
"Look, Adagio," spat the boy, "I don't know what it is you're planning, but I can get my manager out here and--"
"Flash Sentry, right?" The girl rested her arm on the podium, giving him a wicked grin. "You just started working here last week. You know how I know that? I'm a regular. I know the faces, names, and homes of everyone working here. Sea Swirl and I are on great terms. She calls me her best customer. Now, surprising as it might seem, I am here to give the facility money, in return for food which I intend to consume myself. Perfectly legal, perfectly normal. I'm not going to cause a scene. I'm just going to get my usual."
She leaned forward. "So are you going to seat me or what?"
Flash Sentry frowned. "...We've got an open table. In the corner."
"Perfect." Shoving herself off the podium, she held out her arm. "Lead on, my fine sir."
With a snort, the teenager walked past her, marching through a small assortment of tables before coming to the tiny window table. "Here you are, miss."
"Thank you very much." Adagio pulled out the chair, sitting herself down. Her eyes flickered toward the glass tank the lobsters were kept in. "Would you be so kind as to tell the kitchen I'm here? I usually have a special request for them."
Flash Sentry narrowed her eyes. "Really."
"Yes. My normal order is the lobster and calamari. It's just that, before they start preparing it..."
Her grin turned feral.
"I like to kill the lobster myself."
She slapped the monster with her tail, sending it flying through the dark current. "SHOO BE DOO, BOTTOMFEEDER!" Her eyes snapped on the tiny blue form huddling in the coral. "What are you doing, kid? Swim for the bunker!" A ripple on her back, and she spun round, hooves snapping into the chitinous form sneaking up on her.
"I--I got split up, I don't know where--"
Adagio groaned. "Oh, just perfect." She flicked her gaze around the battlefield, seeing the various other sirens holding off the endless count of the invaders, before her eyes fell on a red form in the sea of black. "ANTIPHON!"
The bellowed pressure wave caught the attention of the warrior, as well as unbalancing the monstrous creatures around her; the siren took advantage of the opening to grab a flaming sword from one of their claws and slice them all in half. She swam through the cloud of blue blood, quickly coming up to the yellow woman. "What is it, Adagio--?"
Her gaze fell on the child, who was staring up at her in awe. "You... you're Antiphon Gleam!"
"Yes, yes I am. But you shouldn't be here." The red siren turned to Adagio. "You were right to call for help, but I can't leave the battlefield. ARIA!"
A purple form rose out of the masses, spitting out the head of an enemy as she swam up to the group. "Captain!"
"You're with Adagio. Get this little one to safety."
"What?!" The purple siren stared wide eyed, gesturing at the black masses around them. "Captain, the Charp are all around us! I have to stay and fight--!"
"Don't forget what you're fighting for," Adagio hissed, flicking a fin toward the blue seapony.
"Enough!" Antiphon snapped, glaring them both into submission. "I've given my orders, lieutenant."
Aria growled, but bowed her head. "Yes, captain."
"Good. Work together, and work fast. Waves be with you." With a twirl she dove back into the fray.
Adagio snorted, turning to Aria. "We'll take her through the kelp. You go high, I keep low."
"Makes sense." She nodded, turning to the seapony. "Come on, kid, let's get you out of here."
The blue seapony swam out, ducking quickly under Adagio's leg. Aria gave the yellow siren a raised eyefin, and Adagio gave her a shrug back. She could feel the tiny form trembling under her leg.
"Hey kid, what's your name?"
The blue seapony looked up at her. "I... I'm Sonata, miss. Sonata Dusk."
"Don't worry, Sonata. We're going to get you home safe. You just have to do everything I tell you, okay?"
"Okay..."
"Can we get moving?" Aria snapped.
Adagio nodded. "Right, stick close to me Sonata. Three, two, one, GO!"
Perhaps it might have been a bit disturbing, to see such a contented smile on the face of a girl leveraging her fork through the lobster's carapace. Adagio didn't care, though. The sound of it breaking, the cracks peeling away, it filled her with an odd nostalgia.
Flash Sentry, leaning on a post a ways off, had crossed his arm. "Do you know how creepy you look right now?"
"Probably very." She spun the meat around her fork, slowly bringing it to her lips and sucking it into her maw. "MMmmmmmmm...."
"Oh good lord..." Flash dragged a hand down his face. "You say you're not going to start a scene and then you do something like THAT."
Adagio swallowed and pointed her fork at him. "Seafood is sacred, prettyboy. That's one thing us sirens agreed on when we came to this pathetic world--we'd never start a fight, not even to feed, in the presence of seafood." She stabbed her calamari for emphasis.
"So wait. If I ordered a pizza with anchovies, you'd just... relax?"
"Until the pizza was gobbled," Adagio agreed, slurping up a tentacle.
"Salmon?"
"Freshwater." She waved her fork dismissively. "Doesn't count."
Flash tilted his head curiously. "That... okay, I don't see how that makes any sense."
"Look, before that idiot sorcerer threw us here, we lived in Equestria's oceans." Adagio tapped her plate. "This? This isn't what we ate, but it's the closest freakin' thing we can find in this world. It's almost a taste of home, aside from the spices... which aren't bad, just different." She twirled the fork in her fingers with a sly smile. "And I get to stab a lobster. Always a plus."
The teenager snorted. "Well it's good to know you can be tamed, anyway."
Adagio rose an eyebrow. "You really think that you can tame me?"
"Ooooooh no." Flash Sentry rose his hands. "I'm not getting into an extended sexual metaphor again. And definitely not with you--you're, what, over a millennium? Way too old for me."
"Wise move," Adagio agreed, her free hand slipping into her pocket. "Especially since I had that threesome with your grandparents forty years ago."
With lightning reflexes, she whipped out her phone and snapped an image of his horrified visage.
"That--you--" He shook his head, glaring at her. "You're lying!"
"Oh probably," she agreed, "but the look on your face!" She turned the phone around, cackling gleefully. "Oh, that is going on Sharebook."
Flash tried to fight back his blush, hands tightening into fists. "You wouldn't."
"Well...." Adagio flipped the phone, making a show of contemplation. "I wouldn't tell them the context. But the picture is just too great not to share. I mean, unless you want to back off or something," she added, putting the phone back in her pocket. "Since, you know, I'm trying to eat here, and you're kind of hovering."
The teenager narrowed his eyes. "I thought you said you wouldn't start a fight around seafood."
"I'm not. I'm asking you to leave me alone so I can eat in peace."
"And the picture?"
"Just a little blackmail. I learned pretty long ago that sometimes you have to do horrible things to get what you want."
"Yeah that's right," Adagio growled, tossing aside the corpse. "I just ripped your buddy in half! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!"
The hideous beast in front of her screeched, clacking its claws and charging at her. A red light came from the gem around her neck, and she pulled her lips back in a predatory smirk. "That's right. You're pissed at me aren't you? Keep on doing that!" Her hooves shot up to deflect the claws and smashed forward, ripping the limbs off their sockets. The monster only had a second to twitch its antennae before she smashed its head in.
Adagio reared back as the glowing gem charged its magic into her blood, reveling in the power flowing through her--but forced herself out of it, spinning her gaze to the massing horde. She gathered her strength and sang. Before, her voice would have staggered the Charp; now it slammed into them, pushing them against each other's swords and claws.
The cloud of blue rose into the water, joining so many others caused by her fellow sirens. Through it she spotted something, a shape of purple--not the dark and healthy purple of Aria, no, but a hated shade of indigo with a golden crown.
"KRANG! I SEE THE KRANG!"
Her cry caught the attention of the other sirens, and they looked to see her already darting forward through the brown masses. It didn't matter when some clumped together to stop her--Adagio careened through them with nary a thought, eyes never leaving her target.
The Krang rose its claws, dark fire sparking between them as it twirled to face Adagio. She barely managed to dodge one swipe before the next slammed into her chin, disorienting her entirely. Her ears rang and her vision blurred as she flailed, trying to strike at the now undefined shape--but she could feel the Krang's claws pounding into her chest, her hips, her neck--
She hit the sand, her senses coming into focus. The Krang had her pinned, flaming claws raised for the final blow.
And them a sword pierced it from behind, slicing up to the crown it wore.
Adagio took a breath, shoving the corpse off of her and swimming into a hover. "Ugh... thanks for the save, Antiphon."
"It shouldn't have been necessary," the red siren grumbled, looking around as the Charp finally began to retreat. "You know better than to chase after the Krang alone."
"I'm... I'm sorry. I think this gem...." She glanced down at the necklace she wore. "The power of hate makes us strong, but it clouds our minds as well. Where did the Court find these anyway?"
"Who gives a fin?" Aria swam up, casually ripping through one of the retreating foes. "The Charp are almost pure hatred incarnate. Using these gems against them is just poetic justice, you know?"
Antiphon picked up the Krang's crown, examining the embossed octopus upon it. "...They're getting bolder. Or more desperate. I can't tell." She looked up; without the mass of their enemies pressing around them, it was easy to see the coral rubble. "This whole town... at least the seaponies living here can move, but I don't think any of this can be rebuilt."
Adagio sighed. "Came here with my dad once. Had a gorgeous kelp park."
Aria looked between them, and then around. "Lotta dead sirens, this time."
Antiphon nodded. "We need to go on the offensive."
Adagio flipped her card back into her wallet as she handed her check to the shocked Flash Sentry. Maybe an ordinary person would have considered a fifty percent tip excessive, but when it came to seafood the girl spared no expense. Well, except actually going out and fishing; it wasn't that she considered herself bad at it so much as she got strange looks when she came up with crushed lobsters in her hands.
She turned to leave, but Flash put a hand on her shoulder. "Want me to walk you home?"
Any other day, Adagio would have dismissed the offer. Any other day she would have shoved his hand off and given some sarcastic quip as she stormed out. Any other day, she would have tried to build up her field of hate again.
She pointed a suspicious glower at him. "Why are you offering?"
"I feel bad that I gave you such poor service, I'm impressed at the size of your tip, I'm still thinking that you'll try to stir up trouble, I've gone temporarily crazy..." He shrugged. "Take your pick, I don't know."
"...oh why the hell not." She pushed his hand off her shoulder. "Fine, you get to be a chivalrous little gentleman for once in your life. Tell Sea Swirl you're going on break or whatever."
"Actually, my shift was over three minutes ago."
Adagio crossed her arms. "You just stuck around to keep an eye on me, didn't you."
"Well, you did try to hypnotize the whole school that one time," Flash pointed out, pulling a coat off the rack behind him.
"Yeah, and so did Sunset Shimmer," the girl pointed out as he swung it on. "I don't see you keeping a close watch on her."
"That's because she actually seemed to be sorry. You've just acted all sullen since you lost." He pushed the door open. "I mean, you could have tried to apologize or something, but..."
Adagio stepped out onto the sidewalk. "Really, that's it. She said sorry, and that's all it took."
"Well..." Flash frowned, falling into step behind her. "...okay, it took some time, and... uh..."
"And you didn't really trust her until she saved you from us." Adagio huffed, her footsteps pounding against the cement. "I'm not stupid, prettyboy. I know what it takes to get back into favor after a stunt gone sour. And frankly, I don't care enough about my reputation in one high school to bother." She flicked her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Not like we're even really students, anyway."
Flash held up a finger, but didn't say anything before he let it fall back with a small sigh. They walked on in silence for a while.
"...why'd you do it?"
Adagio glanced over her shoulder. "What, why'd I try to hypnotize a bunch of high schoolers?"
"Yeah."
"We saw that rainbow column from Sunset's little stunt," Adagio explained. "Magic like that is pretty powerful, and there's really only a few ways to get ahold of it after somebody opens the jar. Friendship's one method, but that takes time and effort and for what we wanted to use the magic for, friendship wouldn't really work. Worship, though?" She brought her hands together. "Worship's pretty easy, especially when most people don't know what magic's like in the first place."
"So, what," Flash deadpanned, "your plan was for us to pray the magic into you?"
"Pretty much. Granted, popstar worship is not nearly as efficient as convincing people you're goddesses, but it worked." Adagio growled. "Then bacon-hair had to whip off her jacket and somehow she... ugh."
The boy rose an eyebrow. "Bacon-hair?"
"What, you think it doesn't look like bacon?"
"That's... okay, you have a point, but--" Flash shook his head. "Look, what was it you actually wanted to do with that magic?"
For a moment, Adagio's gaze turned wistful.
"...doesn't really matter, does it? We didn't get the magic. And our gems our gone." She sighed. "We're almost powerless now. Barely sirens at all."
"Hey, being human's pretty great," Flash said defensively. "It's not like you're a monster anymore--"
He jumped back at the fiery glare she snapped at him. "Sirens are monsters, huh?"
"It's not--well, you... What could possibly justify what you tried to do?!"
The fire in Adagio's eyes slipped away, replaced by something... old. Dark. And weary.
"You have no idea what I've been through. Pray you never find out."
"WARCRAB!"
"I see it!" Adagio spun through the Charp horde, her gem practically radiating as she darted under the massive claws of the crustacean and up through its body. The explosion of dark blue blood coated her, blinding her vision even as she heard the monster groaning into a collapse. Her other senses were quick enough to sense the former riders jumping off their mobile platform, one pushing water as it swam toward her--and suddenly, jolted sideways, hit by what she assumed was another siren.
Blinking the blood out of her vision, she caught sight of her rescuer crushing the Charp's chitin with a powerful tail slap. She glanced at the ichor-drenched siren and giggled. "Hello miss Adagio! Now you're as blue as I am!"
Adagio blinked. "Wait... how do you know who I--?"
"You saved my life fifteen years ago, remember?"
"...swirling waters. Sonata Dusk? Is that you?!"
The blue seapony--well, siren now--gave a happy little salute. "Honored to be here, captain!"
Aria swam up with a growl. "What are you two doing?! We're right in the middle of the assault--!"
"Miss Aria! It's good to see you again!"
The purple siren blinked. "I... who are you?"
"It's Sonata," Adagio supplied. "You know, that kid we saved the one time."
"Swirling waters. I knew they wanted ten thousand sirens for this, but I didn't know we'd be scraping the anemone's stomach!"
"Hey!" Sonata cried. "For your information, my vocal control--"
She leaned to the side, piercing the water with a resonation that caused a good thirty Charp exoskeletons to shatter.
"--is pretty shimmering good!"
Aria rolled her eyes. "Then get DOWN there and use it, kid!" She snapped around and swam into the horde, ripping through foes left and right.
Sonata sighed. "She's still just as grumpy as I remember."
"Don't worry, kid." Adagio gave Sonata a pat. "She's just very goal oriented. Come on, let's get to fighting."
The two of them dove into the sea of brown bodies, singing notes of destruction as they danced through the enemy's flaming swords and giant crabs. Every so often they'd catch sight of a Krang and work together to break the indigo chitin apart. And they caught frequent glances of the other sirens--some coordinating to drop humongous boulders on the teeming mass, others slipping through the legs of Warcrabs to kill them from below. The horde seemed endless--and perhaps it was--but knot by knot, they were fighting through, pressing in, getting close to the deep pit they all crawled out of..
Adagio caught sight of her commander close by, surrounded by four of the Krangs. She turned, ready to swim in--but Antiphon twirled a flaming Charp blade, deflecting every swing the Krangs made, and pounded a magically enhanced hoof into the sand, kicking up a shockwave that sent them all flying.
"Wow." Sonata breathed. "She's good."
"She's a commander for a reason," Adagio agreed.
Aria swam up to them, grinning sharkily. "They're clearing out!"
The yellow siren blinked, looking around in surprise. The Charp were, in fact, falling back... or to the side, to be more precise. Scrambling over each other to get away, leaving a clear path to the pit.
Adagio frowned. "This isn't right," she muttered. "This is too easy..."
Antiphon looked confused too, but only for a moment. She rose the sword in her grip. "SIRENS! AWAY FROM THE GROU--!"
O̸̴͟s͠͡ o҉s̶̀į͘ x̢͠į̀͠ ̕q̢͘͟iȩ͘ ́͟͠i̕ ̛͝l͢͞͡s͏̧e̴vmvm̸͟͏ ̴̡͢ȩ͠oy̸̧͡ ̸x̧̛e̡q͜͏e̶͠v̡͡mom͞?̸
"Huh. You know with that huge tip you left, I kind of thought you'd live in a mansion."
Adagio shook her head. "Just because something's affordable doesn't mean it's worth having. This house is big enough for us three." She turned to Flash Sentry. "Anyway, I'm home, so you can go now."
He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I... look. If you want, I could try to talk to the other students--"
"I already told you, I don't really care what anyone in Canterlot High thinks of me. Not even you," she added forcefully. "So stop trying to be so nice, and just leave me alone, okay?"
"Hey, there's no reason to be so rude. If you don't want friends that's fine."
They stood there for a few moments, glowering at each other.
"Aren't you going to go in?" Flash finally asked.
"Aren't you going to leave?" Adagio countered.
"The whole point of walking you home is making sure you get home safely."
"And I am. You've succeeded. Why are you still here?"
"Well, why are you still outside?!"
"That's none of your damn business!"
"Look, just because I don't like you doesn't mean I'm not allowed to worry about you!"
"I just flipping told you, prettyboy, I don't care what you think of me! VAMOOSE!"
"Not until you go inside!"
"Don't you try to push me around, I'm old enough to remember the crusades and I can go medieval on your tight little--!"
Aria slammed open the front door, her expression furious. "ADAGIO DAZZLE!"
"...shit."
Adagio turned toward the door, holding up her hands defensively as the purple girl stormed up. "Look, I can explain every--"
Aria's hand hit her cheek with the force of a tsunami. "THREE WEEKS! Three weeks, Adagio! Where the hell were you?!"
"Doing research." She rubbed her smarting cheek.
"Research?"
"Yes. Research."
"So you were doing research, for three weeks, without ever sending us a phone call, or a text, or an e-mail. I would have taken a damned letter! From the damned pony express! YOU COULD HAVE SENT A CARRIER PIGEON, FOR HIPPOCAMPUS'S SAKE!"
Adagio snorted. "Carrier pigeons don't work that way and you know it."
"Do you know what I've been through? I thought some criminal group had sold you to a whorehouse, or you were picked up by the government, or that some of those Canterlot kids managed to beat you up or something!"
"Hey now," Flash objected, "we're not like that at all--"
"And what about Sonata?! Do you know how fast she goes through the taco stuff when you aren't here? She gets flipping terrified when you go missing! You know I can't handle the kid on my own!"
"Er," Flash interjected, "isn't she a thousand years old--?"
"Oh come on," groaned the yellow girl, "you're exaggerating--"
"She's been crying herself to sleep, Adagio!"
Adagio blinked. "What? I thought she stopped doing that a couple of centuries ago..."
"Well she's damned well started up again." Aria dragged a hand down her face. "You can't keep doing this. You can't go running off to do 'research', Adagio. We've got to stick together. Don't you realize that?"
"Aria... we don't have our gems anymore," Adagio explained calmly. "You know what that means--"
"Yes, I do. And do you know what? Maybe I've actually accepted it, unlike you."
The yellow girl flinched. "So, what? You want to just... give up? Stop fighting? We're sirens, Aria! You know what that means."
"We're not sirens anymore, Adagio. I don't think we've been sirens for a long time."
They stared at each other for a long while.
"Time was," Adagio eventual started, "you'd rip off a Charp's head with your teeth."
"That was a long time ago. After Antiphon... We have to move on, Adagio. It might be best to forget about--"
"I will never," Adagio hissed, "forget about Antiphon."
Adagio clutched her head as the massive voice thundered through the water, barely hearing Sonata's pained scream beside her. Her eyes were on the sand below, shifting and rising and--
The ground exploded, sand and rock spiraling out into the battlefield as something tore itself free. The great red shape moved like an eel, bending and writhing, but she couldn't see anything that looked like a head--
Some of the sirens charged at it, and it snapped around impossibly fast, slamming them into the ground. When it lifted again, Adagio saw her fellows trapped in great toothless maws, struggling to free themselves as one by one they were crushed. Great hippocampus, there had to be thousands of those lining the thing's underside--
"...OUT OF RANGE!" Her hearing was coming back, and she turned to see Antiphon swimming up. "ATTACK WITH SONGS ONLY! SIRENS, TO ME!"
Her eyes widened in realization, and she whipped to Aria and Sonata. "Swim up and sing at it! Can you hear me?!" Adagio pointed a hoof up and patted her throat. "UP AND SING!"
"...Up and sing!" Aria nodded. "Got it! Sonata, get off your tail!"
The three of them shot up, joining the convening crowd and blasting at the new foe with their voices. For all their effort, though, the only effect was an odd ripple on the creature's skin, as though it was going right through.
O͡ý͏e̛̕ ͢҉q̸e̸ś͘r̸̡͘kś ͢éle͝y͞҉͏ ̸í ̛o̴s͘͜yx̨̛s̸͠y ale̶͝ǫ͝èx̀yx̵y͏v̕͘m ͞xeqę̷y̧͠.̧͜
Another massive explosion rent the ground--and another, and another. Four flailing monstrosities dashed slammed through the sirens like a whale through krill, the Charp below screeching mockingly as more and more of them were trapped in the gummy, toothless...
"...suction cups," Adagio whispered, her eyes going wide. "It's a kraken--it's an intelligent kraken!"
The screeching of the Charp seemed to morph into a chant, one word repeated endlessly in devoted hatred. "Sqµ¡rk! Sqµ¡rk! Sqµ¡rk!"
She darted toward Aria and Sonata, pushing them just out of the way as one of the arms swung at them. "Where's Antiphon?! We've got to get to Antiphon!"
"What?" Sonata asked, nonplussed.
"It's a kraken," Adagio explained. "The thing that the Charp have, it's a kraken of some sort--"
"Krakens don't get this big," Aria objected. "And they certainly don't talk--!"
"I know how crazy it sounds, but just look!" She pointed at a swaying red limb as it slapped away the boulder some sirens had thrown at it. "THAT IS AN OCTOPUS ARM. Suckers, boneless, the whole thing. We've got to get to Antiphon and tell her, so we can coordinate--!"
"ENOUGH!"
The three of them turned just in time to see their commander fill shine with her gem's glow. "On my mark, send forth all your power!"
"Commander, don't--!"
"NOW!"
Adagio watched as a storm of siren song descended on the arms, lit with a great magical power brought forth by the gems they wore. As each impacted she could see the waves of force bounce back and forth, the great edifices spasming under their combined power. It lasted but a few seconds, and yet to her it seemed like hours. When the great song finally stopped, the arms hung in the water, and she dared to hope.
Q͞e͘y̷ ̵ḿ͏e̡͞r̵̡im̀͘ ̧o͢si̸͘ ̨́͢x͘é̸̶q̧͝e͜͟x͞e͢͠͡ ̛o̵͡m̶͠ ͞͞x̢̡̨i a̷̢ļé͘͟o͏e̢q҉̸e̢͘͠l̵̵m̨͘ m͜ xş͠o̡y҉ ò̷͝é̵ļe͘͢͝ ͢eó̢i͏͘ ͟͝à͢ļ̵e͞a̷͟lem ̷o̴̕m̸ ͠҉̨e̛l͞ȩý?͠
Even seeing the arms, even knowing what the creature was, Adagio couldn't help but gasp in shock at the sheer breadth of the fleshy red dome rumbling slowly out of the pit. A mane of orangish feelers ran across the top, reminding her all too much of the fire on a Charp sword. It ended just before the massive pair of eyelids, each large enough to hold a whole pod of orcas... and when the eyes opened, she could see an incomprehensible, ancient intelligence within the dark tyrian whirlpools.
The arms spun suddenly, catching the sirens by surprise. This time, though, they weren't flailing about randomly--no, each move was a snatch, a grab, a twist.
Adagio's senses returned when Aria shoved her out of an arm's swing. "Sheesh, I guess you were right. Well, what do we do now?"
"...Go for the eyes." It was a basic strategy, but it was something she could wrap her head around. "Maybe if we cut through, we can find the thing's brain and... I don't know, kill it."
"That's not going to work on a Kraken," Sonata pointed out. "The brain's decentralized. What you want to do is tear off the beak--they can't regenerate that, and without a chomper they'll starve to death. If the wound isn't infected first."
Aria and Adagio stared at her.
"I apprenticed under an octopus gardener," she explained sheepishly. "Before I joined the sirens."
"Right. Beak." Adagio nodded, turning to the largest group of Sirens she could see. "WE HAVE TO TEAR OFF THE BEAK! IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO KILL IT!"
"UNDERSTOOD!" Antiphon dodged another arm, letting her sword slide through the flesh as it passed. "SIRENS, YOU HAVE YOUR GOAL! WE SWIM FOR FREEDOM, LIFE, AND THE FUTURE! SHOO BE DOO!"
"SHOO SHOO BE DOO!" came the returning roar.
"NOW, CHAAAARGE!" Antiphon spun her sword, leading her forces. "AND WAVES BE WITH US ALL!"