"Umm.. Wait, sorry what?" Risako glances around, not very comfortable so high in the air with the ship gently rocking back and forth. She's trembling a little just thinking about where they are right now, but the girl takes a deep breath in order to steady her nerves as she looks around and waits. "Are we... Just about ready then?"

Faye wouldn't feel uncomfortable in the least being so high up, what had her more nervous was the prospect of fighting someone else. A horrifying aura would surround her causing terror within those who were near yet she almost looked equally as terrified herself. "I-I'm ready I suppose. Um, I'm sorry if I end up hurting you..."

"Oh... Hi there, its me, from the preliminaries." Risako smiles and waves at Faye, not really sure how to actually start off their fight, she takes a moment to steady her nerves, though she finds her heat beating only faster, before she continues talking "Um... Anyways, Faye Knox, right? Specializes in darkness, fear and.... Um..... Birds?" Her pitch raises to show her confusion at the last bit, but the girl clears her throat and continues. "Anyways.. Just know that you can't hide anything from me. So... Without.. I mean... I'm going to start chanting now." Risako takes a deep breath, focusing on her staff as her magical girl outfit shimmers into being and she begins her chant "I call upon the power of the light to shine forth as a beacon of hope...."

Faye would be confused at the girl's words. Not being able to hide anything? She didn't quite understand the meaning but decided to reply in turn. "The same goes for me. There isn't much I can't know just by looking at you." Faye would begin flapping their wings in order to take flight. Her eyes would glow with an ominous glow as she tried to look into Risako's fears, trying to determine what she was most afraid of.

Faye would find that Risako's actually kind of a coward, with a wide variety of lesser fears, such as bugs, frogs, the dark, and many similar. Of greater interest would be three who provoke a... Unique response. First is simply nothing. A place where nothing can be seen, heard, or felt. As if being robbed of one's very existence, its accompanied by a thought like "I don't want to go back there." The second is more... Peculiar, its a place that looks like a circus, but something's... Off about it. As if it was poorly drawn in rather than being an actual place. Lurking near the top of a circus as a sinister presence is a creature which resembles a griffin, with a body like a lion and head and wings of a magpie. Lastly is a creature which seems similar to Faye herself, though it has the body of a mouse, it knows a thousand forms and is more than willing to switch between them to torment people. Of course Risako wouldn't notice Faye doing anything, instead she finishes up her chant. "... Transfix the darkness in your glorious light! Binding Order!" Faye would find two rings of light rapidly forming around her wings, which would soon latch onto them before coming together behind her. Risako lets out a bit of a relieved sigh before adding "M... Maybe want to go ahead and concede? I mean.. They're made for something way bigger and stronger than you are..."

Faye would consider what she learned as she noticed the rings of light holding her wings together. "Concede? I don't believe you realize exactly what I am yet." Her wings would...fall off, crumbling apart slowly as she simply stepped onto the ground. She'd kick off the ground once before jumping into the air. A new set of wings would simply form out of her back as she began to take flight once more. "Do you think I just naturally have wings? They were never automatic." In her hand she'd begin condensing pure fear into an invisible spear, which she would then aim directly at Risako. If the spear was able to hit Risako would begin hearing sounds of the circus around her that would attempt to filter out any other sound around her.

"I just... Didn't want to hurt anyone. Is that so wrong?" Risako simply remains in the same spot, focusing on her staff and quickly chanting as Faye's spear comes in "I call upon the light to chase away darkness and safeguard the innocent. Light barrier!" As she finishes the chant, a bubble of condensed light would form around her into which the spear embeds itself, sinking a few inches in before it begins to dissolve, and in a few seconds it would vanish completely. "This is going to take a while... Isn't it...."

Faye would see her attack fail. She was surprised Risako could tell it was coming. She'd continue flying higher up and eventually around, trying not to stay in one spot. "Seems you don't let your guards down. I'm going to have to put in a little more effort then." Faye would only briefly focus on Risako's fears, trying to draw out whatever she could into a true physical form. Down at the arena Risako's nightmares would take shape before her. The griffin from within would appear although it's form seemed more monstrous than even it might usually be. It would immediately begin approaching Risako but wouldn't quite be able to act yet as it was still adjusting to being formed.

"I mean.. Of course I wasn't just going to stand there and let you hit me..." With the spear over, Risako would let out a sigh of relief, dropping her barrier as she looks back around, only to see a creature from before she was even a Magical Girl, she freezes for a moment "Y... I thought those other people..." Rather than continue complaining, Risako quickly starts another spell "Rays of light coalesce to drive away evil Light sphere!" Once again, her staff begins to glow, before Risako points it at the griffin shooting off a simple sphere of light towards the creature, its trajectory shakes a little as Risako struggles to hold her hand steady, but the ball would strike as if it were solid, and follow the tip of Risako's staff as she keeps it pointed at the creature while it moves.

The ball wouldn't vanish after hitting the griffon, maintaining a solid shape, and so Risako swings her staff up to follow it, striking it once again every time it attempts to get closer to her. As she continues beating the creature around, the girl starts another chant "In the name of the light let us..." only to be interrupted when Faye strikes her from behind. The blow breaks her concentration, causing the orb to vanish as well as she stumbles forward with a fairly large claw mark on her back. The girl slowly starts to get back up "I'm... I can... Not done yet."

Risako, however, had not forgotten what she was doing. Rather than finish getting up, she'd simply roll onto her aching back, pointing her staff at the griffin-like monster as she chants "In the name of the light let us bring forth a glorious charge to disperse the darkness. Scatterburst!" As the creature got within reach, a shot-gun like blast of a dozen light spheres would burst from the tip of her staff, each of them are little smaller than the orb from earlier, and would burst upon impact to burn the creature away. Though Risako would blink, somewhat confused as she asks "Weren't we still fighting?"

Faye would soon realize that she had frozen up when the Griffin suddenly burnt away into dust. She took a moment to breath before speaking once more. "Y-yes, of course. I-I was just a little distracted. I-it won't happen again." She would begin focusing once more as pitch blackness began to surround her form. It would bend and mold into a variety of shapes until it finally settled on covering the arena's floor, spreading across it evenly. The darkness would have no inherent effect besides...making whatever it covered hard to see. Faye would dive once more but merely at an empty spot on the arena, grabbing a piece of the darkness to form it into what seemed to be a solid blade. She'd throw the blade towards Risako's head although if she did end up hit she might notice that the blade would leave no mark, only a wave of exhaustion.

"Then... I mean.. Lets just get this over with." Risako kicks back off the ground, keeping a watch on Faye as she takes a deep breath and begins concentrating, with the orb at the end of her staff glowing brighter as she continues "I call upon the light, encircle the darkness and trap it within the confines of justice in order to...." The girl winces a little as Faye's blade goes through her, and though the orb dims for a moment, it would soon be back to its original intensity as she finishes "...pave way for a brighter future. Luminous Bonds!" While Faye is still on the ground, Risako goes for a move they might remember from the preliminaries. Unlike the rings from earlier, the glowing chains that shoot out of the ground now would aim to wrap themselves around her ankles, holding tightly onto her as they aim to gradually snake their way up and immobilize her completely

Faye would find that not only are the chains still able to hold her, they actually change in size and strength according to that of their target, the individual links shrinking and becoming weaker to accomadate her smaller size so as not to crush her. Trusting for Faye to be dealt with for the moment, Risako would blink, before beginning another chant, one she's already used in this fight "I call upon the light to chase away darkness and safeguard the innocent. Light Barrier!" as the spear had before it, Faye's shadow sword would find itself embedded in Risako's dome of light, and after waiting a bit for the blade to dissolve, Risako takes a few deep breaths as she lowers the barrier and begins one final chant, another one Faye might remember from the preliminaries "in the name of justice and hope I shall make an oath upon the light, never to fall into evil or cower before darkness..." as her chant goes on, the glow at the end of her staff would get brighter and brighter, though one might notice a tinge of shadow that passes through it every now and then, Risako herself doesn't seem to acknowledge it, instead focusing her energy on her finisher.

The shadow sword contrary to belief wouldn't simply fly in a straight path. The sword itself would stop mid-air as Faye willed it to. Faye herself would also change shape once more, returning to her original self. She already knew by now that the chains wouldn't relent based on her size but she chose to use a little more effort still. She'd let herself fall to the ground, unmoving for the moment. "These chains, seem a bit excessive don't you think. I think you're working yourself up too much." The sword of blades as well would once more start moving as the barrier dropped. Aiming to strike her once more with a overwhelming urge to sleep.

“Grant me the...” She doesn’t get much further in her chanting before the blade strikes her, though she tries to continue on, it’d soon become apparent she doesn’t have the energy for an attack that big anymore. The girl stumbles forward a bit, only to try answering Faye “I... I’m sorry. Does it hurt? I just... I mean...” Risako would start panicking as the chains’ grip on Faye slackens “S.. Suzuki would be really mad if I lost this early and I don’t want her to get mad...” Though The girl can’t really go into detail, Faye would notice her getting more and more scared as she babbles on, she might notice it being in association with the mouse-like creature she’d seen Risako scared of earlier

Faye was just about to spend a great deal of effort for the moment to attempt to escape the chains when she noticed them slacken. She'd for a moment sigh in relief, she wasn't certain how much energy she'd have had left after. She'd almost be surprised at Risako's fear, she had felt it earlier but wasn't certain what it meant. Finally, it had become clear to her that something more was involved than just simple irrational fear. "I..." She'd seemed to relax herself before speaking, trying to put up a proper act as she stood up straight. "I understand. I only wanted to enter to spread my name further and gain followers to the Church of Knox but...I cannot put someone else in real harm's way just for the sake of my following. That would be entirely pointless and go against the benevolence of Knox. Therefore, I think it would be best if I forfeit here but... Whatever's going on, I want you to promise me you'll allow me to help if need be. I'd feel too much worry in abandoning someone who needs help."

"U... Umm.. I.. I probably shouldn't..." Risako would start to calm down a bit, though she's still shaking, its more with her regular nervousness than any sense of dread. She powers down, with her frilly dress vanishing and to form a silver ring on her right hand instead. "I mean.. Senpai always wanted to help me grow and all and... I mean... I'm thankful I just.... Risako stops herself from going any further, taking a few deep breaths to steady herself as she searches her clothes for a small, silver phone "C... Can I get your number? Maybe if it gets bad... So hopefully I won't have to call you but you can rest easy knowing that I can... W.. Would that be ok?"

Faye for a moment would struggle to realize what she meant by number before remembering what a cellphone was. She was new to the concept as such methods of communication would usually be handled through her usual method. Regardless, she would write a number down on a piece of paper she pulled out of her pocket. "Y-yes, though I'm not too used to this idea of phones. It may even be easier if you...uh, ask for me in your dreams. That may not make a ton of sense but it should work as well." She'd give the piece of paper to Risako in hopes that she might be relied upon if the need ever arised for it.

“If I... Uh...” Risako blinks for a moment before accepting the sheet of paper. She stands there stunned for a few seconds before asking “Not to be rude but... If... If I’m asleep, wouldn’t I be somewhere safe?”

Faye would consider this for am moment before responding. She was starting to become nervous again and her tone showed it. "Uh...w-well you might be surprised. Dreams are just something I specialize in."