2017-06-30: The Day The Sky Turned Red

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<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Old Petra is one of the many colliery villages that rose from the boom of the iron industry, some hundred years back, along the borders of the Badlands.

Over time, as the iron veins on the cliffside dried up, the village began to stagnate; workers started to look elsewhere for profit, and companies abandoned the village in droves. Couple that with a persistent rumor of something awful and illicit plaguing the mining cells and you effectively have a recipe for disaster. Old Petra eventually was abandoned, and only serves as a reminder of folly during a nigh-literal gold strike...

... until recently, when the Metal Demons took over the town. The village has regained surprising bustle for a non-human society -- in part thanks to the presence of the Tainted, who are more in line with acting in non-combatant roles to sustain the multiple battalions of demons that have taken part in the Battle of Adlehyde. For many, it has been their first home away from the Photosphere... a first chance to see Filgaia for what it is. A first chance to interact with humans.

Old Petra is a village at the foot of a tall plateau, upon which an abandoned mine once stood. There's a town centre with all the usual suspects -- a tavern, an inn, an ARMsmith, the works; but what kind of curious deviations would a demon village be like?

The experience has been met with mixed response -- some rookies, such as Sibyn, have not had their expectations lined up to the iron doctrine spoken of within the walls of the Photosphere. She currently sits at one of the watchtowers, chewing her lip. The doctors say her brother, who lost an arm during the Battle of Adlehyde, would pull through... but the question of what his fate would be -- to join the Tainted or be discarded -- loomed heavily on her mind.

She wouldn't have much more time to think about it. Her eyes widen as she sees an incoming force from the distance.

"Enemies! We have enemies!" she calls, ringing the iron bell and alerting the compound.

A large measure of alarm and panic start to overtake the village -- the Tainted start to pack up from their homes and lock their doors. A humanoid demon with an apron and replacement eyes made out of binoculars beckons for several others. "Hurry, hurry! The humans are here!" she cries out -- a limping demon with one leg is carried by another, who appears to have half his face torn off by an untimely spell.

A cadre of foot soldiers stand near the gates, in preparation for the assault. Many of them are the butchers and killers from Adlehyde. They snarl in preparation, in anticipation, their thirst for blood not yet slaked.

And in the midst of all this, one voice carries clear through both the soldiers and the Tainted:

"Fortify the walls, and do not let them through! Mimir Squad, man the batteries and prepare for an enfilade! Hymir and Ullr Squad, you are our vanguard -- keep them in check and be aware of your fallback positions! Baldr and Skadi Squads, rearguard positions! Ensure that the enemy do not slip through our flank! Ebony Wings, take Dragonback position by our ramparts, and focus on any enemy artillery and Gears! Tainted -- shelter the wounded! Lock up your homes and hold firm until we repel this assault!"

Riesenlied watches as Sibyn salutes her, and moves to take position. "I'm on it, Miss Riese!" she exclaims, full of enthusiasm. As she watches, Riese feels more tense than she ever has been -- she has been waiting for this day of reckoning, ever since their loss at the Promontory with Gylfi... no, even before that. She knew a reckoning would arrive the moment they struck Adlehyde...

The fear of what would happen to her people, the Tainted, hangs fresh in her mind. She knew they would be conflated with those who participated in the massacre. There will be deaths today. Innocent demons will die. But she must stand strong, no matter how bitter the winds that she stands against are...

...because she believes in that new world, however far, however distant.

They will all flourish one day.

They must.


<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

Sibyn has themselves another great indicator about incoming human activity - the sight of Yarobeleedt screaming and waving his arms about while undulating along the landscape back. (It's not even that great an indicator. It's more of a so-so indicator.) He couldn't care less about the Tainted themselves. The Tainted might see a sad, hurt, lonely scout whose best days are forever behind him - days that were never even that great. They might welcome him as one of their own, after having suffered so much at Arctica. Yarobeleedt thinks nor feels about such ideas as 'companionship.' It just so happens that there are incoming humans of reasonable intimidation level headed his way and maybe, just maybe, the Tainted he will so readily spurn will become splending meat(al) shields for his escape and later scouting reports. Which is all predicated on him not righteously being wiped off the face of Filgaia on his way back, of course, doing largely only the bare minimum of what his station asks of him (which gives him more leeway to be a rotten coward in the process, natch).

GS: Matilda Whitehead has fully healed herself.

GS: Lily Keil has fully healed herself.

<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.

Malfi busies herself fortifying the gates. She is eminently suited, after all, to carrying heavy objects like blocks and good-sized boulders. After all, there were wounded behind the gates, and the Filgaians might be dishonorable enough to attack them.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

There's been intelligence coming out that the Metal Demons--THOSE metal demons--have been stationing themselves in Old Petra. That's too close to Lacour for Fei's liking. They already murdered one king and set his city ablaze, doing the same to the king of Lacour seems like an inevitable plan of theirs. Maybe Fei would normally be a bit hesitant to go on the offensive considering their power but--Bart said to keep doing what he was doing, didn't he? That's basically permission and besides... the sooner these people are metal mayhem meisters are stopped the better!

He is flying in in Weltall because the Metal Demons are so powerful, Fei knows that even a single gear can at least soak up punishment for other units. Like last time, he has crouched himself low as he runs forward, slowing only when he hears the alarms, dropping down into a crouch as he does so.

"Alarms are sounded. You'd be better off not sitting on the giant target. They like to hit Weltall hard." Fei says. "If we win here, we can stop what happened to Adelhyde from happening to Lacour--I hope." He rubs at his eyes even in his cockpit. Despite his best attempts to do better for Lily's sake, his dreams have still been plagued by variations of the same dream. Sometimes someone within him smiles at the awfulness of it all.

He narrows his lies, seeing some familiar faces amongst the front gates. Not really FAMILIAR familiar, but he's seen these faces enjoying the bloodbath of Adelhyde--one that would have been far worse if not for the Drifters.

"I'm okay," He tells Lily even before he's asked. Maybe he's also reassuring himself. "If we're lucky, the Quarter Knights will be abroad but I wouldn't count on it."

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

At first Neriah didn't see what was so bad about Metal Demons. Seeing the state of Adlehyde drove home to her that they're bad news. But why do some of the other Drifters sometimes talk about them as if they're not supposed to pay for what they did...?

Besides, there are bounties. Neriah needs money. Neriah needs money badly and she doesn't want to have to go back to robbing caravans.

Not that she's necessarily at home in an angry mob, either. She didn't come along with the soldiers from Adlehyde. She slunk along behind their column, only skipping ahead once the soldiers arrived at the commandeered town. Once there, she'd taken the opportunity to change into the outfit she'd stolen from the Haunted House - a military uniform jacket she's retailored to fit her, an officer's cap, and a pair of gloves rather than her usual one long one. She's wearing them with her usual skirt and boots. It looks like she's a ranking officer from some military that isn't Adlehyde's.

Then she pulls a length of rope and a grappling hook out of her pack and goes to work.

The main mob is massing at the front gate. Neriah's off on one flank instead. Hoping the mob is doing enough to distract most of the gate guards, the young woman whirls her rope and hook broadly overhead, then casts it upwards. There's a metallic clatter as the hook hits the top of the wall; she tugs the rope until she's confident the hook has caught on something solid.

And then, as quickly as she can, she begins to scale the wall, intent on going over the top and infiltrating Old Petra SNEAKILY, probably in the hopes of capturing the big bounties - maybe even the Riesenbounties - before anyone else does. Someone might want to stop her.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida is here to gather more information, and she told Fei and Lily that much before she set out. She is here to monitor the situation, to gather data, to see if there is anything she can do to ensure that when events unfold, they unfold with the proper degree of finesse. It's strange, really--immediately after Adlehyde, she was furious. Now, she's able to stay at a remove from it, to think about matters in a more strategic fashion.

It's like Miang said. She sees the Demons as people, now. People are complicated, but she can work with them. It's what she's been groomed for her entire life.

Ida finds herself wishing she had one of Kalve's strange cloaks. As Yarobeleedt flees screaming into the city proper, Ida stalks after him, her boots treading softly on the dusty ground. She moves quickly, hurrying from rock outcropping to stray boulder to broken, dead tree--the attack provides her with all the cover she needs. She's drawn a revolver, but hasn't actually shot anything--she stops just outside the Yaro-sized, oozing hole that Yaro put in the fence in his haste to get back into the compound, wrinkles her nose, and jumps.

Ida hits the ground on the other side of the fence, glancing around--her face is half-hidden beneath her hat's shadow. The screams and chaos up ahead send chills down her spine, and she hurries for cover, ducking behind a pair of barrels outside a long-abandoned tavern. Catching sight of something yellow again, Ida sets off once more, alert and ready.

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

High atop the tallest tower in Old Petra, a figure watches.

Siegfried has left the command of Old Petra to Riesenlied. Sometimes, as a commander, he has to know when to stand back and let his subordinates have the command -- and so the Quarter Knight has. Old Petra, however, is too valuable to surrender without a fight, and one Quarter Knight is an enormous element of force to deploy on the battlefield. His eyes look out from under the visor, flashing red like metal.

He watches as the Tainted hurry, running from the assault of the Drifters and mercenaries coming forth. Siegfried finds he dislikes that. His people were created by Mother to fight.

And Riesenlied rallies them.

"Good," he comments to no one, as he stands on the old, decaying bell tower. The Quarter Knight leaps off, and he shoots so high into the sky that it's ridiculous. His cape swirls after, and he rises before the sun itself -- and then comes crashing down to land on the vanguard, at the front of the village. The ground shakes, underneath his feet.

Siegfried looks up, straight at the humans, and then directly towards the humans. His eyes regard them calmly, even the the approach of Weltall.

"Humans!" the Quarter Knight bellows. "Come, come and meet your death! Perhaps you will find the barest sliver of honor when Glumzambor drinks your blood and cuts you down! It is more than you have ever known!"

He swings his blade free of his back. The huge sword, as long as he is, glints with black steel -- and the single eye on it twitches, before it fixes Weltall with an eerie, unblinking golden gaze.

GS: Siegfried has fully healed himself. He is now in Boss mode for 3 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Ebon Zero has posed.

Noeline hasn't been having the best of times lately, and it's starting to show in her posture and her voice as she yells orders and warnings through the base comms, both of them edged with frustration. As much as she stated her resolve to Riesenlied to assist the Ebony Wings and the Tainted and stay by her side - even if the whole world turns against them - the realities of their situation and what it might do to her partner are starting to weigh on her, and the unfamiliar tension has her heart into her mouth as she watches the assembled forces approach the village.

To the spy - who has a tendency to draw a solid line between Tainted and Metal Demon, and stand with the former in her detachment from the latter - it's almost galling. The name 'Ebony Wings' has meant little on its own since the attack on Adlehyde, with most just conflating them with the rest of the Metal Demon forces. She can't find it in her to blame the humans for that lack of distinction, especially given everything that's happened - but an indignant part of her wishes that she could, at the same time.

As if that weren't enough, just as a few of the Tainted begin to show an interest in the outside world, an idiot with a cannon fixation threatens to ruin it all. Old Petra was always a temporary base, Noeline knows that - but she's grown attached to it, and ever so quietly hopeful that other demons might have found it a home in the same way she did Arctica and Adlehyde, free from the confined corridors and limited space of the Photosphere.

The armored figure of the Demon Knight - or the Chevalier, depending on which Crimson Noble you ask and how grumpy she's feeling at the time - makes herself visible on the wall, the oversize sword held in one hand with improbable ease. The figure of the Orca is a familiar and worrying one, and the one she fixates on as she watches it approach. It tends to draw the eye, you could say.

"... don't underestimate them," she calls into her radio, adding her own advice to Riesenlied's. "Hold the line steady. Remember the lessons that Commander Gylfi taught us - that we are weaker separated." It might be a bit of a backhanded statement about the late Metal Demon, but the soft huff as she clicks off her comms suggests she's aware of that.

Her helmet snaps to one side at the sudden and distinctive scrape of metal against stone, and out of instinct the rest of her follows after it. Anyone else might miss it, their focus on the mob in front of them - but when it comes down to it she's a spy first and a bodyguard second, and it's her job to be paranoid, and at a time like this that's a dangerous little noise.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

For the most part, Lily Keil has her own concerns to deal with right now. The hunt for Gryndille, recovery from her wounds sustained fighting Lady Harken, caring for her remaining patients on the Yggdrasil... And now, looking for further information in Lacour, during a most useful time, when many from many places are in town and rumors are flying.

Travel is good for her line of work.

But her /old/ line of work sometimes calls; for the most part she's washed her hands of the broader conflict, but there are exceptions, here and there, like the Promontory... And like right now. The intelligence they could gather on this expedition was valuable; so much they could /learn/ at seeing one of their strongholds.

...And Lily doesn't tend to turn down a fight. She can't lie convincingly about this; a part of her looks forward to the idea of running into some of those who were at Adlehyde.

Lily Keil is standing there on Weltall's shoulder as it runs, a grip held tight to keep her from falling. She's dressed in her military gear again, all black, complete with rifle slung over her shoulder. "Accurate," Lily says about standing on the target. "If we want to stop it, we shoul move quickly. We'll meet up when things are going well or going to shit, whichever. You know the signal."

Dreams. Lily doesn't want to talk dreams. She knows there are soldiers here, militia.. but she's not concerned with them at the moment.

Lily's still recovering from her wounds from the last Quarter Knight she fought. "...As long as you're fine," Lily says. "Take care of yourself. You can't stop anyone if you'e dead." She says it flatly and shrugs. "If there's another Quarter Knight..."

She glances to the cockpit, "Leave them to me."

At that Lily rushes down the Gear's shoulder, down its arms, to leap off of the Gear while it's crouched.

She rolls when she hits the ground, lifts her weapon from her back while she's still distant and takes aim. A moment later, there's a loud CRACK as she shoots straight for Siegfried's chest. Her gun smokes as she slings it back over.

"Is it? My unit wasn't very honorable."

She sprints forward, to get within casting range and skid to a stop, lifting her hands before her with shining gold eyes.


GS: Lily Keil has attacked Siegfried with Warning Shot!

GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.

GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Lily Keil's Warning Shot for 53 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

It still burns, sometimes, when he thinks about it too hard.

Surprisingly enough though, that's not all that often.

One would think that phantom pain from the near-fatal wound - now ugly scar tissue across his chest - Jude Moshe suffered in Adlehyde would be rearing its ugly head now as he stares upon the precipice of Old Petra off in the distance. And yet, there's nary so much of a peep or tingle as he sets amber eyes upon the place that rightly ought to be a ghost town. No -- perched upon a jagged cliffside that provides him ideal coverage from prying eyes, the only thing the would-be respectable reporter does is sigh a weary, put-upon sigh as he presses a hand to his forehead and runs it through the muss of his unkempt mane of red hair.

"Old Petra... picking a ghost town to call home, huh?" he wonders to no one in particular. "I mean, I get the practical reasons, but... I wonder if the irony just escapes them, or what?"

Ultimately, his shoulders lift in a shrug best described as 'apathetic.' He looks to the side, towards that gunmetal bird perched upon his right shoulder. A little tilt of his head, and the automaton is off, taking to the skies as sweeps overhead of the old, once-forgotten town, scoping optics that count for eyes taking in enemies and allies and layout of the town alike. Jude unfurls the revolving shotgun hidden in his coat; checks the shells loaded within. Smiles his wry, hapless little smile.

"Ah well. Might as well go and earn that paycheck."

And with that, the redheaded sellsword slides down the mountain side with a remarkable sense of practiced ease, holding back quite yet from making a move or even falling in with the rest of the assembled Drifters; he needs to assess the situation first, especially as he hears the booming voice of Siegfried on the horizon.

Come, come and meet your death! Perhaps you will find the barest sliver of honor when Glumzambor drinks your blood and cuts you down! It is more than you have ever known!

"Oof. Good to know melodramatics is just a species trait with these things. If the whole 'kill all humans' angle doesn't work out, at least they've got a future in theater."

But despite the glib wit, he errs on the side of experienced caution until he can find a good opening. He's not making the same mistake twice.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Among the attackers once again is a certain fiery-haired girl, notable for not carrying any weapons and moving by herself, purposely avoiding the bulk of the assault force. As some may have noticed, Xantia had her misgivings about taking the fight to the Metal Demons, given the circumstances last time. But her confusion has since abated. In the end, she decided, things aren't as complicated as they seemed: it's just that some Metal Demons are more deserving of being punched than others. Much like humans, really. It's just a matter of finding out who the bad guys are, and they usually make themselves pretty easy to identify!

Even so, she just can't feel good among the crowd, unable to identify with motives like revenge, bounty hunting, and general hate-spewing. She just wants to make sure another Adlehyde doesn't happen. Besides, someone did ask her to keep an eye on possible Metal Demon activity. This may not have been quite what they meant, but then again, they didn't specify. And frontal assault is what Xantia knows best.

Though quite ready to bust down any who get in the way and break through whatever weak spot she can exploit, Xantia's simple plans are easily derailed by distractions. Distractions such as a huge armored figure with a sword yelling out a challenge. Now that is a bad guy if she's ever seen one. Although she's seen the posters, it doesn't quite connect right away who she's looking at. The figure attacking him is more familiar to her. Huh, if that's Lily, then...

Xantia looks up at the black Gear that Lily was riding before. She has a gut feeling. As usual, she acts on such feelings. She rushes towards Weltall, right from the front, doing her best to draw attention to herself by waving like a loon, and pointing in the direction of Old Petra.

She may actually be trying to hitch-hike. On a Gear. Because why not.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong hear Riesenlied but he tells himself to not think about her. He recognizes Ebon Zero. He tells himself to not think about how close he came to death.

Fei smiles at Lily. Her words are a moment of respite for what he expects will be a shitty day. "Heh... you too, Lily. If anything happened to you..." He trails off rather than complete that thought. It was a mistake to even go there. He doesn't want to think about that either. He wouldn't be able to look Leon in the face ever again.

He wouldn't be able to look in the mirror again.

He bites the inside of his cheek. But Lily's definitely someone who can take care of herself, he reminds himself. Don't let your past make you forget that. You saw what she did to Lady Harken. She took out a Quarter Knight!! So maybe leaving them to her if they--

--He hears Siegfried before he sees him. He turns to look.

The smell, Fei thinks. The smell from his dream. His vision. He smells it now. He can see the bodies of Metal Demons around him. Human corpses surround him too. It's been a hard fight. There's Elw too. Somehow, somehow he knows they're Elw. He's never met an Elw before in his life.

But more importantly. Elly. Elly's dying. This is the man that took Cecilia's father away from her in spite of vast resistance from the Drifters.

"You..." Fei says. He knows him.

HE KNOWS THIS PRICK! He doesn't know how exactly. He doesn't know where exactly. But he shouldn't be standing up. No, he shouldn't be standing so proudly.

He charges Siegfried, leaping for him. "YOU THINK YOU HAVE HONOR?! AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO ADELHYDE?! YOU BASTARD!!!" Fei screams. "YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!"

FEI PSYCHO 90 PERCENT

Weltall throws a punch. It's a punch from a gear but this is Siegfried we're talking about here. Who knows what will happen?


<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

One of the Metal Demons over there is bellowing something about glum zambonis. Neriah blims as she reaches the top of her rope, frowning.

Indeed, there /was/ a tink of metal where the grappling hook bit in. If Ebon Zero waits long enough, she'll realize that, yes, not far away is a grappling hook, and popping up above the edge of the wall is a young woman's head in an old-style officer's cap. It's mostly dark blue. Now that she can get a clear view, Neriah blinks a couple of times, then begins to boost herself over the ramparts, kicking off and finishing her climb with a short forward roll that brings her up onto her knees.

That's about when she realizes that not only have not all the guards gone away, but one of them is very close to her. And not only is that Metal Demon awfully close to her, that Metal Demon appears to have realized that someone's trying to go over the wall. For the first few seconds, Neriah Parringer just blinks back at Ebon Zero.

An awkward silence hangs in the air around the young woman in the skirt and the old-style military jacket. Neriah's mouth is slightly open and her eyes a little wide with surprise.

Then she exhales in a little rush. Her hands remain in plain view. "Hello," she says, her voice wary, but she's trying to force it back to conversational. There's a tentativeness to it, as though she were trying to idly chit-chat with a mob of rabid raccoons. "I hope I'm not, uh, interrupting something. I just thought I would come to visit. Maybe, uh, ask why you guys attacked that city a few weeks ago."

The weird thing is, she actually doesn't seem insincere, or even that hostile. And she's not shooting yet.

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Siegfried with Oh Shit It's Weltall!

GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Eventide has posed.

While she missed the alleged atrocities of the Metal Demons - only witnessing the upheaval of Adlehyde after the fact - Clarissa Eventide had a job to do and a responsibility to serve Althena's Guard. Besides, while toiling away with her research, she may have missed the chance to observe the fell creatures in action the first time, but refused to remain absent the second. So, dressed for war (or really in her regular White Mage robe), she joins the rest of the human army in their assault. She's even brought along some rope to apprehend the invaders, tucked away in her bag of miscellaneous goods.

Marching along with the foot soldiers, Claire awaits orders from either the person in charge or a superior Althena Guard. While waiting, she idly twirls her mage staff. Because no mage is complete without a pretty staff. The further the army goes, the more she begins to hear the songs of battle. Soon enough, the sounds transform into sight, and a grin of excitement crosses her features. The impending sense of future experiments feels almost palpable. "To battle, soldiers! To battle! And new magical discoveries!"

GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Oh Shit It's Weltall for 62 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Fei arrives with Lily near the main gates -- he can see, through Weltall's sensors, the image of demon soldiers who're ready and rearing to go. Their grin snarled across their faces, their hands already stained with the blood that they've drawn from Adlehyde.

"All Hands: the Gear 'Orca' is present," Riesenlied reports with wide eyes as she gazes upon the black visage of Weltall from afar. "Do not underestimate it -- and do not leave it alone! Do not let it use that powerful beam weapon that destroyed the Gylfi Cannon!"

She pauses. "Prepare for Gear-scale artillery and assault, if the worst is to occur. Do not let yourselves be caught gathered!"

As Neriah scales the walls, she scans the area and can see Riesenlied very plainly -- she's aloft in the air, calling her orders out. The wings, the horns, the blonde hair -- this is undoubtedly the Deceiver the bounty posters speak of, worth a handsome 150,000 gella.

The mass of soldiers standing at the gate pause, their eyes looking upon in horror as they gaze upon the visage of Siegfried up at the bell tower. "I--it's the Quarter Knight..." "We--we're going to die!!" "You fool! We have to avenge our king!" They seem unsettled, though, perhaps not expecting there to be resistance along the likes of Siegfried.

Jude spectates, waiting for his chance. The Demons rush to join the Soldiers; battle is soon joined at the gates. Other soldiers attempt to scale the walls, bringing ladders and other accoutrements to climb upwards such as grappling hooks. The demons return fire, using arrows and ARMs both. A soldier falls, a demon is launched back as a volley of flame hurtles across the rampart.

Riesenlied casts her eyes over the battlefield.

"Ebon Zero. Please push the enemy back at our flank -- Baldr Squad is en route to assist you." A pause, as she shifts frequencies. "... I believe in you. Hang strong."

A number of demons have taken positions as Xantia waves her arms. One of them pauses to exclaim, "Is she crazy or something? Is this a human dance?" They open fire on her regardless.

Ida sneaks through the tavern -- one of simply many unused, and ducks into cover as she watches several demons making their escape. One of them looks out of breath, dressed in human clothes; he's bandaged extensively as he says, "A-are we going to die here? I want to fight... I can still fight..." The armored one carrying him hisses as she exclaims, "You can't fight like that! Grow a second spine -- wait, you have three, don't you? Anyway, let's go!" They go, without noticing her...

... but Sibyn does, as she holds her spear and her eyes widen. "W-what are you doing in here?! Y-you'll have to fight me, human!"

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Xantia with Enfilade!

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Fight Me -- Sibyn!!

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Ebon Zero with Seek the New World!

GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

The plan to just keep running and let the Tainted be slaughtered wholesale by humans out of spite meets two big snags - a) Riesenlied is a capable and charismatic leader surrounded by those willing to fight against insurmountable odds around her. b) A Quarter Knight is watching. Yaro's jaw unhinges as he watches the majesty of proud warriors inspire (and insist) they all - a warrior people - stand and do their thing against the humans. Eyes probably aren't even directly on him, but he's already cooking up an excuse to ensure his culling is staved off for however long it takes for him to think of some other throwaway idea to keep himself among the living. "Yes yes. I set them up an shrub!" Yaro screeches, wringing his melty hands with grating scraping sounds. (How do you bungle the word 'ambush' that badly?) "Is every calculation. Yes. Not runs." Absolutely no one is going to believe that track of 'logic' from Yarobeleedt. "It is to rap!" Trap. "Fufufu. Just tell the time~" The half-melted slug-serpent-worm-whatever makes a 180, thinking about all the awful wastes of existence that is the ^Tainted^ being scrubbed out of Mother's sight. He starts to ooze along past the barrels in which Ida takes cover, gibbering all manner of awful things to say, along with this ironic tag - timed for when he hears the worried screams and mutters of pinned down demons within the tavern. "Humans everythere. Their problem! No exchange or refund! When week after, then day Yarobeleedt shows who is worthmost of Mother's love! Fufufu." Tactically that's... kind of sound? On the other hand, a willingness to sacrifice his own people for this end...!


GS: Ebon Zero takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Seek the New World for 0 hit points!

GS: Reload! Ebon Zero gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!

GS: Xantia takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Enfilade for 75 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

High atop the tallest tower in Old Petra, a figure watches. 

                           --TEN SECONDS AGO--

Zed is hugging the pillar like some kind of strange terracotta-loving koala. His arms are getting tired. Siegfried please do move before Zed's arms give out and he will have to do something embarassi--

Oh there it goes. 

                              --RIGHT NOW--

Of course, he wasn't there a second ago, because someone else was occupying that spot and to be quite honest, this figure isn't at all comfortable with trying to stand on that guy's shoulders just to claim higher ground. For all he knows, Sieg would just bend time and space and be both below and under him at the same time. Something something negative rainbows.

"Ahahahahaha! See! Look Riesen, I knew that they'd find it sooner or later! And without me even doing anything!" Zed throws back his head and laughs. Laughs! Laughing with the joy of no longer being a shoe-in for the least intelligent member of the Metal Demon expeditionary force. "Hoooo. That's... That's funny."

...Beat.

"Well!" Zed grins, unsheathing his (UN)LUCKY SWORD. "Time to get to wo--"

"Wait." Zed frowns, suddenly going stock still. His eyebrows furrow. "If they're here... And they're attacking the town... That means..." ....

....!

"OH NO!" Zed shrieks, "MY KAHLUA!"

"MY KAHLUAAAAAAAAAA!" Zed roars, leaping from his higher ground right for... The tavern. Specificaly, through the roof of the tavern.

Approximately five seconds later, Sibyn and Ida would both be witness to a distinctly Zeddy shape exploding through the ceiling, spinning like some kind of impactful marsupial.


GS: Zed has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Dark Horse - Supreme Tornado!

GS: Zed has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.

Riesenlied's mention of "Orca" draws Malfi's attention. Malfi has encountered that Gear before. She pauses in her work, then shakes her head. Keeping the gate unbreached is more important. She didn't notice the humans scaling the wall because she's not the sneaky sort. In fact, she's blunt to a fault. Unless she's holding her weapon: then she's blunt and /pointy./

<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.

Bravely, Riesenlied dreams of a world where the Tainted might find a home free of the conflict that has defined their purpose for generations. She dreams of an end to war itself, even, a dream borne on so-called Ebony Wings. A dream that seems distant and faraway in the light of the Battle of Adlehyde; human reprisal an inevitable fact after the loss of so much and so many. How much further away might that dream seem after today?

Peace, that already-distant dream, seemingly sunders and shatters beneath the weight of the Lord of the Quarter Knights, Siegfried's thunderclap arrival at the forefront of the battle heralding a bloody start to the proceedings. It is a proclamation, a shout of defiance to a world that rejects the Hyadeans--if you would see us gone, then come, and let us meet on the field of battle once more.

Yet... in the same moment as Glumzambor's piercing gaze sweeps across the battlefield and fixes on the towering Weltall, in the same heartbeat as Siegfried's battle-cry rouses the Demons and pierces the hearts of the mercenaries, a shimmering shadow flits through the ranks of the Tainted and slinks through the gates of Old Petra. An icy breath on the wind, a razor gleam of malevolence (not the capital-M type) beholden to an eternity of war. Unlike the Demons who mount the walls and wait for the Human onslaught to arrive, something terrible and unseen arrives in the midst of the mercenaries and drifters with feather-light footfalls.

The Quarter Knight of Scarlet, Harken, does not appear to be as taken-out as Fei Fong Wong's memory might suggest. This is because in a gleaming whorl of Demon-steel and cloak, she appears amidst a lance of Althena's Guard soldiers with a great blooming of gore as some half-dozen redshirts meet their untimely end in a single dancing stroke of her man-sized scythe.

How does the grisly sight of living beings dissolving into misshapen bodies at the hands of a demon sit with Clarissa's excitement and anticipation of battle? How does Yarobeleedt deal with /two/ of his bosses being in the same place at once?

"Fools and weaklings alike. Crash upon our defenses and water the earth with your blood, like your King did, or scatter and live another day as cowards!" Harken's taunt is more of a victorious, raucious laugh as the bodies fall. How's that scar feeling, Jude?

GS: Lady Harken has fully healed herself.

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

The rifle cracks, and a bullet slams into Siegfried's azure armor. It bounces off, sparks flying where it struck, and leaves little more than a tiny scratch there. Siegfried doesn't even look down to regard it. He simply looks back up at Lily -- and his expression hardens.

"Theatrics won't save you," the Quarter Knight spits. He lifts his left arm -- and part of the curved, advanced armor lifts up. A smooth barrel underneath gleams, and then a pulse of white-blue light fires off, hurtling towards Lily Keil. His eyes don't even find Jude, in the mix of combat, so he is spared for a moment.

He also doesn't pay much mind to Xantia, as she motions towards Weltall. Instead, the Quarter Knight sizes the black Gear up for a moment.

Then he turns his arm cannon towards the Gear, too. A second pulse of energy fires -- but this one shoots the ground behind the Gear, as the massive excavated ARM begins to run across the ground. The earth underneath Siegfried's feet shakes, violently, and more from Fei's voice booming over the battlefield through Weltall's loudspeakers.

The punch comes down--

--and /slams/ into Glumzambor with a shriek of steel upon steel, as the Dark Spear holds the Gear's massive fist at bay. Siegfried pushes back and shoves the fist away, hard enough to make the Gear rock back. "Riesenlied," Siegfried calls out. "I will dispense with the Gear 'Orca.'"

He leaps again and Glumzambor swings back. "You have fire, human--and that is rare enough in your kind. But if you think I care for a human's honor... then know two defeats, today!"

He rises up over Weltall's head. Power surges into Glumzambor, and the eye twitches every which way, before it locks onto Weltall. (But it glares, for a moment, at Zed.) Light dances across Glumzambor's edge -- and then he /slams/ the enormous sword down, straight into Weltall, and tries to throw it bodily back across the field with a single great cleave.

His cape flutters, as he lands, and the Quarter Knight stands his ground against the Gear he just struck so mightily. Then, a shield of interlocking blue and white hexagons shines around the Quarter Knight, and suffuses down into his armor.

GS: Siegfried has attacked Lily Keil with Arm Cannon!

GS: Siegfried has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Nemesis Cleave!

GS: Siegfried has attacked Siegfried with Hi-Shield!

GS: Siegfried has completed his action.

GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Siegfried!

GS: Siegfried heals Siegfried! He gains 100 temporary hit points!

DC: MISS! Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades Fight Me -- Sibyn! from Riesenlied!

DC: MISS! Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades Dark Horse - Supreme Tornado from Zed!

GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Siegfried's Arm Cannon for 70 hit points!

GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Siegfried's Nemesis Cleave for 298 hit points!

GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Fei Fong Wong!

GS: Yarobeleedt has fully healed itself. It is now in Boss mode for 2 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia's spirits were actually fairly high, in spite of the dangerous situation. Because she wouldn't be Xantia otherwise, but also because she was fairly sure that Gear would be piloted by someone she's met before. She would've called Leon, though. It's a bit surprising - though somehow not as surprising as it perhaps should have been - to hear Fei's voice coming from the machine, loud and clear. And far more angry than she would've guessed it was even possible for him to get. She cringes a bit, though quickly realizes that an even better reaction would be to get the heck out of the way before she gets stepped on. It wasn't as big of a concern in the end, as she end up leapt clean over, but better safe than sorry.

Also, because she's being shot at, which actually takes her a moment to realize. That makes her sprint a little bit harder, and deviate from where she was going before... towards the direction the gunfire was coming for. This seems unwise, but it's only a short distance. Juuuust close enough to wind up and unleash a massive punch towards the group of defenders. It falls quite a ways short from actually hitting them. But it does cause a massive displacement of air, blowing away projectiles and possibly the defenders themselves as well.

Though not escaping unscathed, Xantia doesn't appear heavily injured, whether through luck or more precise movement than one might typically attribute to her, shall we say straightforward style. She doesn't intend to follow up, however. She's here to break on through. The passage that Ida slipped through - she didn't notice it before, but she does now, trying to make it through the opening. There's got to be some good damage she could do from the inside.

GS: Xantia has attacked Riesenlied with Massive Shockwave!

GS: Xantia has completed her action.

GS: Riesenlied critically Guards a hit from Xantia's Massive Shockwave for 15 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida spots the source of the panic a moment later as she peers around the corner of the tavern. It's a group of Demons, rushing into an old house's root cellar, one by one. Some of them may be alien-looking, but there is no mistaking the fear practically emanating from them. These aren't warriors--these are wounded people trying desperately to get to safety.

When the last one closes the door, Ida moves onwards, noting the cellar's location. Metal Demon support personnel and wounded. Observe, do not allow to come to harm.

A shout from above draws Ida's attention, and she flattens herself against her hiding spot, a chill racing down her spine. She remembers Siegfried from Adlehyde. Why is /he/ here? She freezes, listening. Fei yells something Ida can't quite make out over the din. Is it Fei? Who--

'W-what are you doing in here?!'

Ida does not start. Instead, she calmly turns to face the Metal Demon yelling at her, deliberately shifting her grip on her gun so she's holding it by the barrel. "I'd rather not," Ida says. Harken's voice cuts through the air a moment later, followed by the sounds of screams. "Where is Ries--"

'MY KAHLUAAAAAAA'

Ida knows what that means. She leaps to the side, tumbling out of the way as the tornado of violence and bad decisions lovingly nicknamed 'Zed' comes roaring in. Unfortunately, this means that Yarobeleedt, approaching from another direction, gets sand kicked in his face as she skids to a stop. Unintentionally. "/Zed/," Ida hisses, eyes narrowing. "Why are there noncombatants here? Adlehyde's people don't know such a thing even exists!"

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Yarobeleedt with Embarrassment!

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Eventide has posed.

"The Quarter Knight? What's that? Does he have a bounty? Ooh, wait, is he one of those Metal Monsters?" Clarissa shields her eyes with the brim of a palm, peering up at the height of the encroaching wall. With a dubious scoff, she calls out, "don't be ridiculous! There's just one of him and like, a lot of us. You people are just waaaay too superstitious for professional bloodshed. But don't you worry, he'll be a pile of blue scrap metal once we're through with him!"

As the army approaches the gates, Claire begins to display her expertise. Staff twirling in the air, light and numerous colors start bursting off to various infantry. First a haste spell, then a healing incantation. Next a spell of protection, and then a charm of strength. Her robe flutters and her staff picks up dirt off the ground in the rush to chant and conjure up advanced magical spells. All the while, she's laughing and grinning madly, like this was the perfect place for her to be.

Suddenly, a grisly blast of gore and blood follows in the wake of one of the enemy's attacks, turning many of Althena's Guard victim to that horrid attack. Pivoting to face Harken, Claire exhibits a vicious smile and shouts out, "who're you?!! Are you one of the Metal Specimens? What's the bounty on -your- head?"

GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Embarrassment for 47 hit points!


<Pose Tracker> Ebon Zero has posed.

The armored figure of Ebon Zero is already moving, sweeping along the wall in the direction of the sneak ingress. Orders or not, Tainted or not, Metal Demon or Crimson Noble - Noeline would still be defending these walls either way, because right at this moment it's the only thing she can imagine herself doing. To her, is the most important thing of all - more than Mother, more than the Teardrop or the Guardians, most of all she just wants to ensure she's true to herself, however hard it might get.

"Acknowledged," she chimes over the radio. "Baldr Squad, we have climbers. Keep watch for grapples and ropes - block and tear them down where you can. ... you too," she adds as she switches frequencies in turn, her voice immediately softer and gentler in the moment of privacy. "I believe in you. Be careful."

Her form is obvious, the lightly-coloured armor glinting in the sun as she hops over a couple of ruined sections of the wall in a nimble fashion. Dimly, she realizes she's not going to get close enough to actually stop this first Drifter from getting atop the wall - in and of itself that's an annoyance, though at least she can ensure that no-one tries to follow from /that/ particular method.

The last of her jumps turns into an arcing slash, the white hulk of metal that she calls a blade cutting a crescent line in the air. "Down!" she orders in the midst of it, though it isn't clear whether the black haired demon intends it as a warning or a demand. Rather than a killing strike, it mostly seeks to unbalance the Drifter - and more importantly, smash the hook clear off the wall.

GS: Ebon Zero has attacked Neriah Parringer with Broad Sweep!

GS: Ebon Zero has completed her action.

GS: Neriah Parringer takes a solid hit from Ebon Zero's Broad Sweep for 104 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily could've gone along with the human army proper on the way here. She could've put herself among their ranks, prepared to take up official position as a battlemage or as a medic. ...But she didn't. She won't.

Lily's membership in an army proper was terminated months ago.

She'll help in her own way. She knows some voices, sees Jude Moshe of all people who she hasn't seen since the invasion, misses Xantia in the confusion...

But most of all for now she hears Fei screaming and feels him charging ahead. Lily throws herself to the side to make sure she's clear of Weltall's powerful feet, rolling up to a stop a moment later while staring up. "Fei!" Lily calls. She's startled by his sudden bloodthirst, for all that she has her own... But maybe that's partially because his sparks hers. It reminds her of this strange, roiling feeling, causes her to stumble back briefly.

It's then that Siegfried answers her, and the pulse of light crashes towards her. Crossing her arms in front of herself, Lily's hands glow violet and a barrier of pure darkness springs to life around her, absorbing the light... but shocking into her hands and arms as it does, still a serious blow. "Gh--"

Her head in't ideal; it's like all that desire... ripples. And she's still injured. But still...

"Siegfried!" Lily calls. "...I'm not looking for something to save me." She widens her stance and takes a deep breath, blue glittering at her fingertips turning to great circles. Ice starts as mist, gathers before her in a gear-sized spear of Lily's own. "Haah--!"

She shoves forward and it launches for Siegfried like a bullet. "Go ahead and die!"

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Siegfried with Iceflash!

GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.

GS: Siegfried guards a hit from Lily Keil's Iceflash for 42 hit points!


<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Orca, Fei finds himself thinking. Wait, are they talking about ME? I thought they were talking about BART when they were using Orca! He's known as the Orca of the Desert! Now he's an Orca too??

He doesn't get to dwell on this because Siegfried just did what should be impossible. He says, "You..." He pauses. "You killed her. You killed her you murderer...! Do you not even remember!?" He pauses. "Or was it... Was it..."

He stalls in the worst possible moment and he's stabbed.

HE is stabbed, because Siegfried slammed his spear through the cockpit shield. The armoring was blown away by the Quarter Knight's expert strike. Fei grunts and says, "You...." again. "Stop it... you have to...stop."

Weltall is thrown helluva far by Siegfried's follow through, over past the tallest tower in Petra, and out of sight. Weltall might be an elite mech but Siegfried... He is an elite Metal Demon and Fei, in the end, is just a country bumpkin from some nowhere village that got wiped off the map.

When Siegfried's blade is free, Lily can see the sheen of blood on it.

Fei struggles to remain conscious but the bleeding isn't stopping. It's funny, he thinks, that he still wants to live. The only time he was ready to die was when Elly was pointing her gun at him. Now...now it's like something, a reoccurring thought, a reoccurring nightmare, it's telling him...

...Live...

<Pose Tracker> Ebon Zero has posed.

Only too late does Noeline realize that the human is trying to-- talk. Specifically, at about the mid-arc of her swing, leaving the demon muttering a soft curse as she tries to deflect the majority of the strike away to one side. It doesn't exactly work - the blade is enormous and the strike still finds home, but at least it's with the flat of the blade before she can draw it back with a sheer line of sparks as she drags the blade across the stonework.

"--you picked a bad time," the figure comments aloud, her tone one of apology - but at the same time the knight is keeping the hulk of metal up, moving to position herself between Neriah and her line of sight towards Riesenlied. "Reinforcements are on their way." Another warning?

A pause.

"... it was a matter of duty. Not everyone agreed with it." Admitting that in the heat of battle might be dangerous, but her communications are off.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied flinches at Zed for just a moment to mutter, "Zed, please focus for now. I--" A pause, as she stares. "Please keep Sibyn safe." She needs her to survive. To grow. To tell the story to other young Metal Demons. She is the future of Hyades, one amongst a generation she has high hopes for. The elderly cannot pave the way to the future.

She listens to Siegfried's decree, nodding to herself. "Acknowledged, Lord Siegfried." That's all she needs to say of him -- but will 'Orca' have other surprises up its sleeve? She knows what it is capable of... there's a deep, wrenching fear inside of her that she may see a repeat of Lahan today.

Her eyes widen as she sees Weltall charge. She could feel that man's anger. She... she trembles just for a moment. But there's no time.

"Lady Harken," Riesenlied next speaks as she sees the Quarter Knight of Scarlet emerge to the field. "Please continue as you are -- the vanguard forces will join you and keep the reinforcements at bay."

Xantia bowls through with her powerful punch, and several of the defenders yelp as they're scattered -- she breaks through for long enough as she charges back and unleashes a shockwave that they don't see coming. "What's t--huaah?!" one soldier flies up into the air and crashes against the roof of a nearby house.

Riesenlied grits her teeth as she turns towards Xantia's approach and exclaims, "Third, slipthrough the flank!" There's no response, and there is a desperate-sounding 'tssk' as the winged woman chases after the red-headed martial artist with her weapon -- a thin side-sword -- drawn to cut her off. She pauses, her eyes widening. "Miss Xantia...!" She pauses, before she extends her hand to warn, "You will not break through here. My comrades' life are depending on it!"

Her words carry firm conviction, and the gaze upon her eyes are intense -- they aren't bloodthirsty and vengeful like the eyes of a Quarter Knight can be... but they are filled with resolve.

Sibyn stares at Ida and exclaims, "Why-- why would you ever think that?! Sure, everyone's meant to fight, but... but there's still people we come back to!" She growls and starts to get a bit too flared up for her own good, looking at Zed. "Mister Zed! Please, let me help you take her down! For my brother's sake!"

She looks maybe sixteen, with long brown hair and the kind of basic armor you'd expect a foot soldier to wear. Her spear isn't particularly fancy. She wouldn't look out of place in any human army, really.

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Xantia with Dire Warning!

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Zed with Sibyn is looking at you expectantly...!!

GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.

DC: MISS! Xantia completely evades Dire Warning from Riesenlied!

GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Sibyn is looking at you expectantly...! for 0 hit points!

GS: Zed has fully healed himself.

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Zed with Sibyn - I--it's only because it's Zed-sempai...!

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

As the others rush off into battle, Jude takes something metallic-looking from his frock coat with his free hand. He flips it open, and then grimaces, just a bit, as he grips onto that shotgun. "... Guess they really want this place," he utters to himself, looking off in the distance towards Siegfried and then Harken's grand entrance. How's his scar?

... Ask him later.

Still -- he sees an opening, and he takes it, disappearing from sight just as the violent opening festivities begin. The man seems adept at sneaking - no doubt a necessary tradeskill for any reporter worth his snooping salt - considering how easily he seems to blend into the chaos and find an opening on one of the thinner defenses in Petra's guard, precisely as attention is diverted towards the front gates. Into Old Petra, he has every intention of just taking a nice, leisurely look about for anything interesting...

... when he catches a few things out of the corner of his eye. One: the Black Gear. That one earns a momentary little "dammit" from the man, especially when he sees who's accompanying it. "... just my luck, huh...?" he mumbles to himself, smile sardonic as he catches sight of Lily Keil, tucked away against one of Old Petra's aging homes. And then...

And then he sees Ida, tumbling away from violence in as ungraceful away as possible, inadvertantly spraying sand in some -- slug? worm? tadpole?'s -- poor eyes. Are those eyes? He can't really tell.

A second passes. He listens -- and then trains his gun from out of the darkness.

And then he fires a shot on Ida.

It's pure energy, jade green and refreshingly vibrant, the specialized round intent to energize and revitalize and hopefully better prepare the woman for what Jude is sure is probably even more violence on the horizon.

"Miss Rey -- talk about a long way from home, huh? Watch your back, though -- I get the impression these guys aren't gonna be much for talking right now. Unless it has something to do with breaking you in half and drinking your marrow or something." Just a guess.

GS: Clarissa Eventide has fully healed herself.

GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Sibyn - I--it's only because it's Zed-sempai... for 0 hit points!

GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Trouble in Mind!

GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action.

GS: Zed has attacked Zed with Oops!!!

GS: Zed has completed his action.

GS: Zed critically Guards a hit from Zed's Oops!! for 0 hit points!

GS: Freeattacks wiped from your current mode.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Jude Moshe's Trouble in Mind for 0 hit points!

GS: Reload! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 15 extra FP from Jude Moshe!

GS: Jude Moshe has fully healed himself.

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

The spear of ice comes slamming down into Siegfried, a moment after his strike on Weltall. It shatters against his armor -- and a thin sheen of interlocked hexes of light, which disperse some of the force over the armor. He turns his head to look at Lily. "A human sorceress," he says. "I should have expected your sort to be here."

He turns, to watch as the Weltall is hurled across the battlefield -- and then swings around the Dark Spear. Lily might see it, then: the red blood, dripping from the blade of the great sword-spear, where it punched through the cockpit block of the Weltall.

"I am not the one who will die today, human," Siegfried says. "Your time on Filgaia is at an end. We will tear you from this world you do not deserve!"

And then he leaps again. His blue cape whips out after him -- and then in a spiral as he twists around, and then slams the two-handed sword down in a rough chop for Lily. He closes the distance in a single, terrible bound.

GS: Siegfried has attacked Lily Keil with Dark Spear!

GS: Siegfried has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.

Harken is a towering figure of scarlet plate and similarly-hued hair, which is nice, because it accentuates the rivulets of rust-red trickling down her face in the wake of her surprise attack on the advancing guardsmen. She also adopts a menacingly casual stance of readiness, feet together and tremendous scythe held at a strange angle behind her back with a single hand. For all the jokes about scythes being terrible /weapons/ given their actual function as instruments of harvest, this particular one looks like it might buck the trend: the dreadful blade Azrael is crowned with elegant gold filigree and a menacing aura throbs along the length of the blade--whose sharpness has just been proven moments ago, as the cooling bodies on the ground might attest to.

"I am Harken, Quarter Knight of Mother's children." she speaks with a straight-to-the-point (if not unpleasant) tone to her voice, glaring directly at Claire. "And I don't know what wretched, human value is on my head. I am sure..." she raises her head, such that she looks even /further/ down upon the staff-wielder. Snubbed. "That it is insufficient."

Harken exudes the kind of Aura that suggests boss music might override whatever BGM is playing when engaged with. She also places a hand to her cheek, curiously, unless Claire knows what a radio is, and speaks to someone that can't be seen.

"Riesenlied, I shall crush this side of the field."

And with that said, the Quarter Knight stalks towards Claire with her strange behind-the-back stance still intact. "Come, amuse me. Struggle. Prove your worth in this war."

She also, without looking behind her, executes an approaching swordsman with the blunt end of her polearm--striking the man in the neck from an improbable angle and sending him crashing to the ground.

GS: CRITICAL! Lily Keil guards a hit from Siegfried's Dark Spear for 106 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

"Eeeblhbhgspgmbl!!!" Succinctly, yet eloquently spoken, Yarobeleedt screeches out this orderly arrangement of pleasing consonants following an introductory screaming of one vowel, bringing up his noodly melting arms as sand doesn't just get in his face - it gets in some of the blobbier bits. Sand, when you are a creature whose existenceis in a perpetual state of melting, is THE WORST THING. He violently convulses and shudders in an attempt to get it out, ruining the dramatic undertension of social discovery and a reckoning that appears to be unfolding before him as each writhing motion is accompanied by a melodic (lies) backdrop of his musical, harmonious voice (also lies). "^Silly Greenhead^! I saw themzeroth!!" Yarobeleedt complains, pettiness and competitiveness overriding his better (and also his far worse) thoughts. Something green flies just past him, and those googly eyes google along the path of its movement into the shadows in which Jude has shot from. Yaro's eyes are better than one might think, but in the heat of the moment, it is his heart that decides what it is he saw. That withered, blackened, befouled lump of a heart - or its anatomical equivalent, among Metal Demons - pumps ever faster. "All of them bear ass in me?!?!" This can be the only explanation. Someone just tried to shoot the human that's right there before he could get credit for destroying them. In front of the presence of Siegfried, and... the... other one... who causes his thoughts to cease being formed in favor of pure fight or flight instinct. That he lashes out with his left arm, the forearm reformed into a great big uneven barbed spike into Ida's back seems something of an afterthought to the rush of emotions and panic that run through Yarobeleedt.

GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Sue Tabbing!

GS: Yarobeleedt has completed its action.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Yarobeleedt's Sue Tabbing for 48 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Making this all the more difficult for Neriah is that she can /see/ Riesenlied floating around up there. She keeps tabs on her out of the corner of her eye.

Sadly it turns out Ebon Zero is in no mood to actually talk. She is, however, in a mood to jump. Neriah widens her eyes slightly but she's too close to actually mount a defense. Instead she gets her lets swept out from under her and tumbles backwards -

Her back hits the ramparts and she continues to tip. She gasps. "No no no no no NOOOO," she babbles, pinwheeling her arms dramatically in the hopes of her weight dragging her back.

Then she goes toppling over the edge with a long "Iyaaaaaa~"

It doesn't actually fade into the distance because Neriah's managed to catch herself on the ramparts with her legs. It's a narrow thing; only her bent knees hold her there. She winces as she hangs upside down. "L-look, I'm not an angry mob like those guys!" she huffs, whirling her arms again as she struggles to sit up from the knees. "I don't know anything about Adlehyde and I think these guys are jerks. I saw there's a town behind these walls, right?"

Finally she sits up - and she tips herself forward, rolling and coming up not far from Ebon Zero again. She still doesn't have a weapon in hand. Instead she just looks up at the armoured figure and frowns slightly. "But you've also got a couple of real special little guys down there. Like the guy yelling about Glum Zombies. So I guess I have to fight you."

And yet she doesn't - not right away. For several seconds she hesitates and just watches the Metal Demon in front of her.

"...So I guess I have to fight you!" she repeats.

It hangs in the air again and lands like a harmless cotton swab.

Finally she slides her hand into her belt and comes out with a slender, silvery pistol. Yet there's no real quickness to her arm as she pops a shot off at Ebon Zero. The bullet comes with a crack of hypervelocity, but the actual motion of her arm seems... halfhearted.

GS: Neriah Parringer has attacked Ebon Zero with Her Heart Ain't In It!

GS: Neriah Parringer has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

When the dust finally settles and the last of the ceiling tumbles onto the floor, Zed is... behind the bar, rummaging for... Stacks of alcohol!? One bottle, two bottle, three bottle, four! Vodka, Rum, Kahlua and more! It's only when VOICES ARE HEARD that Zed pokes his head up from behind the bar and momentarily looks like he were some kind of deer staring into a set of very rapidly approaching headlights. Or some kind of Zed staring into a very rapidly approaching Berserk. One of the two.

"Uh." Zed blinks. Then... Then leaps over the bar! With booze in hand! "Hahahaha! Yes, it is I! Zed! Dark Hero, Ultimate Macho Man, The Grim Reaper's Pen Pal! And I uh." Beat. He glances from Ida to Siblyn and back to Ida, and then frowns. "Oh. Well, we've got our kiddos too, you know? Why are you all so surprised! We're not monsters, we've got children too! Kind of. Little brothers and sisters, more like. Ahem. ANYWAY!"

Zed... Trundles up to Siblyn and sort of foists his booze into her arms. "Here. Don't worry, just leave this to your very own Dark Hero! You go back down there and keep the others safe. And also these. I'll be able to fight to the BEST OF MY ABILITY knowing that you and all the rest are safe down there."

He squeezes a shoulder, launches a thumbs up, and gives his best HEAT SMILE. "Don't worry. I got this! Your brother needs you right now. Just call it a mission! Guard them well!"

Doombringer gleams in the glimmering light of not-so-distant war. "Well, Ida. If you must ask, it's because THE HIGHER UPS want them to get some combat experience. Me, I think it's silly. But that's besides the point! I won't let anyone past here! Ahahahaha!"

"AIR SLASH!"

There's an air slash.

You all know what that looks like by now.

GS: Zed has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Air Slash!

GS: Zed has completed his action.

DC: MISS! Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades Air Slash from Zed!

GS: Ebon Zero takes a solid hit from Neriah Parringer's Her Heart Ain't In It for 43 hit points!

GS: Neriah Parringer takes Cover! She gains 50 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

What Fei says while they're both engaging Siegfried is... strange. She didn't know Fei had someone he lost in those battles; maybe it isn't so strange. But it was the wrong time.

"Fei!" she calls in obvious distress, seeing that spear go through a cockpit shield. Then Weltall is thrown, gone, and Lily is alone with Siegfried.

Siegfried looks at her, and she narrows her eyes. "You should've. I'm surprised you didn't. ...That's hardly all I can do." More bluster... but it feels real, in the moment. Her blood is pumping hot. She feels drawn to this thing.

Drawn to destroy it. She sees that blood on the Dark Spear and sets her teeth; it's not surprising, but it's angering.

"Hmph--"

Siegfried leaps, and while he's twisting that /sword/ hacks straight against her. Flames erupt all around her body, hot and brilliant and /exploding/ outward enough that they nudge the blade... which still hacks through flesh and hipbone but doesn't spill her guts or chop her in half. Lily coughs, stumbling back and feels the pain rush over every other sensation in her body as she bleeds. "You..."

"Heh. You don't..." She throws up her hands again, and the flames still licking at her feet rush up to her hands before--with a flash of red-orange light--a column of flame twice Lily's height in width and height erupts to engulf Siegfried.

"You're different from Lady Harken," Lily breathes, with difficulty, "But I don't care what you're trying to accomplish. He's a good kid..."

She stumbles backward.

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Siegfried with Conflagration!

GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.

GS: Siegfried critically Guards a hit from Lily Keil's Conflagration for 27 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Eventide has posed.

"Hah! Jokes on you. I have no worth need proving to the likes of you." Clarissa's a much less towering figure, though she makes up for her near-five-foot height with aggressive self-assurance. Red triangles pattern the borders of her white robe, though the fabric itself has since accumulated a healthy layer or two of dirt.

Brushing her long blonde locks aside, she announces, "Clarissa Eventide. Magical Researcher of Vane and War Mage to the Althena's Guard. Surrender now, and I won't have to drag you back to my captain in chains."

Claire's shoulders stiffen and she prepares to defend against an attack at Harken raises a hand to her cheek. Confused that nothing ends up happening, she frowns as her opponent strides closer. Out of the corner of her eye, she notes something dripping on her sleeve, and realizes it's the blood of the cooling Guard. Shaking her head darkly, red-orange eyes flicker up. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy dissecting you..." She charges forward, bounding across the back of the man that only moments ago went colliding with the ground. Her staff upraised, she strikes the weapon through the air in an effort to take first blood between them.

GS: Clarissa Eventide has attacked Lady Harken with First Blood!

GS: Clarissa Eventide has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

...Live...

Fei opens his eyes. He is not in this world anymore. He is in his memories. He looks up and sees a gear standing tall, its back to a bloody moon, arms crossed.

"A great power...is what I need to fulfill my mission. I sent those gears into that land as a catalyst to awake the power in you, to make contact with you."

'As a catalyst?! You mean you caused that intentionally!?' Fei called out.

...Live...

"It does not matter how many of them died. They were wretched vermin, only living day to day without ever fulfilling their prescribed destinies. And have you forgotten? You were the one who destroyed your village? I did not lift a finger."

... "It wasn't just... what was going on there in Lahan. Whoever was responsible for Port Timney brought some of the people of Lahan close to there, to this grove. They were experimenting on them." Hiro licks his suddenly dry throat, "We found this mass grave. Mostly animals, but not- all of them."

Fei grabs at his head. He doesn't see it. He imagines it. If he can't help Lily she'll die, he's certain of it.

"It is the very essence of you...The voice from within you that craves destruction."

There's more conversation. Then the man says something bizarre and ridiculous.

"You know very well...it is to destroy Mother God..."

A cross swings by Fei's vision. It goes black. "Mother..." He says to himself.

And then, he smiles. Just a little bit.

<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

The Metal Demons sensors start going wild at this point. Something crazy is coming, it tells them. Etheric levels are rising beyond the pale. A malevolent pressure rises. Most people here haven't felt it before. Siegfried might have felt it before.

There is a rumbling. The tallest tower in Old Petra which has been dramatically standed upon by many an aspiring metal demon twists and spasms heavily. And then with a horrible screech it is raised up into the air, higher and higher--before coming up into a stop.

It's not flying. It's being held by a blood red gear. It looks a bit like this: https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/xenosaga/images/9/94/Weltall-Id.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20080504205459

Standing on the cockpit is a man in a red and black flightsuit with wild red hair that flows all over the place, unkempt but somehow largely straight. He's not the one lifting the building into the air.

But the gear is.

"Hahaha....HAHAA! Siegfried! Long time no see! I owe you my gratitude...thanks to your actions in Adelhyde... I can fly free again on this wonderful stage! Did you think you could destroy a city without getting me excited? Haha...or did you think you were safe because of how much time had passed!?"

He throws the building at Siegfried. The whole dang thing. Lily might want to get out of the way. This asshole doesn't seem to think much about the word 'collateral'.

BGM INTERRUPT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQuHwqMcN8w

GS: Id has fully healed himself. He is now in Boss mode for 13 opponents!

GS: Id has fully healed himself.

DC: Id switches forms to Civilization Destroyer Id!

GS: Id has fully healed himself. He is now in Boss mode for 13 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Ebon Zero has posed.

Tellingly, the sight of Neriah starting to pitch backwards over the wall actually draws the armored figure forward a step, her hand raising briefly as if to offer her help-- though she curtails the automatic motion a second later, when it becomes obvious that the Drifter has managed to catch herself. At the very least, Noeline allows herself a slight breath of relief, before using the opportunity to take stock of her side of the line, her head snapping up to scan along it as Neriah pulls herself up.

She isn't pressing the attack on the odd Drifter - quite the opposite. A couple of soldiers have obviously seen the relatively undefended section of wall and sighted Neriah's climb, deciding to try making a go of it themselves. Their hooks never land, however, as her blade, unnaturally fast for its size, flashes through the air for a moment as she lunges towards the far edge, the most dangerous form of baseball imaginable as the grapples go flying and the rope wrenches out of the hands of the guards below.

"... I can't let you past, whatever your reasons. Our wounded and young are there - and this is their home," she confirms as the Drifter finds her feet again. Immediately, she drops back again, obviously insistent on protecting Riese at the very least. For a moment, she seems to huff in good humour as Neriah fails her first shot, and she takes the second right on her armor, letting it glance off as she sets her stance. Around her, motes of some technological light flit through the air, strengthening her guard. "You're welcome to try, though," she admits with a faint smirk.

--before she immediately stumbles, her attention dragged wordlessly to one side in disbelief as a segment of Old Petra just-- erupts. "--w-what--" is all she can think to blurt for a stunned moment.

GS: Ebon Zero has attacked Ebon Zero with Tech Training!

GS: Ebon Zero has completed her action.

GS: Ebon Zero takes a solid hit from Ebon Zero's Tech Training for 0 hit points!

GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Ebon Zero!

GS: Id has attacked Siegfried with Oh Shit It's Some asshole!

GS: Siegfried critically Guards a hit from Id's Oh Shit It's Some asshole for 28 hit points!

GS: Id has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

You see them as people, now.

Something slams into Ida's back as she rises to her feet, but the pain and blood that normally accompany being shot do not actually happen. She whirls on a heel, and just sort of blinks as she registers the face and voice of Jude Moshe. She registers Yarobeleedt, of course, but there's only so much she can actively process while still keeping civil. "Mister Moshe," Ida says, "now is not the time--" And then Zed pops back up, and halfway explains things. "/Zed/," Ida says. Her eyes narrow. "Do you not understand what will happen to your wounded if the--"

A misshapen blade bites into the small of her back. Ida jerks forwards with surprising speed, twisting at the waist--there's the soft /ting/ of Yaro's claw connecting with something metal in a leather holster beneath her poncho, something that arrests the killing intent behind the blow.

Something that's the color of Demon bone that's been left in the ground for centuries. Yaro sees a little gleam of it.

"Do you think this is a /game/," Ida says, baring teeth in something dangerously close to a snarl. Zed swings on her as she backs away from Yaro, but if there is one thing Ida knows from grouping with Claude Kenny, it's how Air Slash works. She's flat-footed, though, and bleeding a little, how's she going to--

A faint, soft glow emanates from beneath Ida's right glove, and a faint burning sensation starts in her palm, spreading down to her fingers, up her forearm. A little of the glow seems to get on the gun, too, as Ida just sort of /punches/ Zed's Air Slash, an audible /clang/ splitting the air as it connects with her gun. She twists back towards Yaro, slamming the chi-infused hand towards his horrible, blobby face, eyes widening a little. "Do you /mind/," she says. The motion whips some hair free from the bun at the back of her neck. And then--

She feels it. Ida turns towards the sudden, awful, sickening sensation that just erupted in her gut like a detonating bomb. The tower rips itself free. She sees a man in red. "What," Ida says.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia succeeds in breaking through the ranks with alarming speed - all without directly harming anybody. Though some of those demons aren't going to be feeling too great upon landing. It's hard to tell whether or not she's purposely holding back in any way, but the fact remains that she leaves chaos in her wake.

Did she have any concrete plans after that? Probably not. But it was probably the right call for Riesenlied to head her off, all the same. After all, Xantia does like to boast how good she is at breaking things.

Effectively distracted by the voice from the sky, the red-haired fighter stops her approach immediately upon hearing her name. And, in a knee-jerk reaction, responds, "Ugh-- it's just Xantia!" How many times does she have to tell people that 'Miss Xantia' doesn't sound right at all?

Turning to face Riesenlied, she meets the conviction of the Metal Demon commander with a steeled gaze of her own. She, too, is devoid of malice, but she's certainly full of defiance, completely undaunted by the warning. "Then maybe you should tell your comrades to leave, go somewhere far away! Haven't you done enough? Besides, if you stay here, people are never going stop coming after you!"

Her words are clear and sincere enough - she doesn't want this back-and-forth fighting to continue any more than Riesenlied does. If she could stop all this, she would. But who's going to listen to her? Would Riesenlied? That's something she has to put to the test. "...I have something to ask you, wing lady." Perhaps it was for that whole 'miss' business that Xantia doesn't use Riesenlied's name, despire knowing it. Then, the question comes.

"Are you a bad guy?!"

Don't tell me you were actually expecting something profound here.

Of course, an actual confrontation may have to wait, given... developments. Xantia isn't the greatest spiritualist ever, but even she can't miss what's happening. Especially when it's happening to "Fei...?" Although she isn't completely sure why she's suddenly concerned for him, she finds herself looking around for Fei, and his Gear. She doesn't see them. She does see someone else, who seems very alarming. Putting two and two together shouldn't be a hard thing to do, but... "Where's Fei?" She doesn't seem to have managed, thus far.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Yarobeleedt with Pistol Whip!

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"A-are you certain, Mister Zed?" Sibyn looks a bit shocked at his suggestion that he'll handle all of these humans alone, but -- well, she can sort of see that blob that she might know as Yarobeleedt and quite frankly she doesn't want to stick around and possibly get goo all over her. "O-okay, I'll go protect them! You have my word...!"

Lady Harken's grand announcement strikes more fear to the heart of the soldiers around Clarissa -- it isn't before some of them can even shout that they're rent in twain, and they give her a wide birth. "L-Lady Clarissa, please, back us up...!" one of them begs, fear creeping deep into his voice.

The engagement at the front gates intensify; casualties are mounting up on either side, as the soldiers break through with a spell-aided charge. Fire is set to the ramparts, and the demons release a second enfilade that tears through the foremost flank of the Guard at the gates.

Riesenlied's eyes widen with disbelief as Siegfried simply /lifts/ Weltall and throws the Gear well across the tallest belltower in Old Petra and out of sight. She has to shake her head and be reminded and awed by the sheer strength of the Quarter Knight.

Then, why doesn't the sinking feeling in her stomach dissipate...? It still feels...

An awful, sharp sensation -cuts- through her mind and causes her to flinch. What-- what is this? This unpleasant sensation...! This... this...

"Emergency evasive maneuvers!" Riesenlied shouts, her instincts taking into charge before anything else. "Hymir Squad--" There's a hiss of static. The building collides, and whatever else it might do to Siegfried, it's simply too -large- to not take out a good dozen soldiers as the crushing weight of the whole tower demolishes them in a fell swoop.

"Commander!" "Commander, Hymir Squad is--" "We're taking heavy losses!!"

Riesenlied stares agog, in disbelief. That fear has come true.

"You... know Lord Siegfried... ...?" she finds herself muttering. How could that be? How could that possibly be? Who is this man--

Then, Siegfried folds his arms. "There is another thing that you should know. You are, of course, familiar with the destruction visited upon Elru some years back. A flare of red power, which I understand caused no small amount of devastation, even when it touched Veruni lands."

--it couldn't be?! The devastation of Garlyle...?!

"E--Ebon Zero," Riesenlied speaks immediately. "I need you to hasten evacuation preparations. Ebony Wings, bring the dragons 'round and gather our carriers together!"

"Are you a bad guy?!"

Riesenlied bites her lip as she turns to Xantia, and then looks up towards the air. "What would you call that...? Would you call that 'good'...?! I--"

There's no time to argue. She looks to Xantia. "Xantia, get your own fellows out of here as soon as you can! I cannot vouch for what will happen if people stay here!"

Her wings spread. Her rectrices shimmer with an indefatigable light as they loose with a splash of blood from her wingspan, coming up to surround her in a circular flank as she rises to the sky, to meet the red destroyer directly.

She deploys her Pinions with a gesture -- each of them a small blade of light, the size of daggers, aloft on a bed of shimmering photons that emit from her body in a spiralling trail as she flies. "I have to stop you before you cause more destruction to our town...!"

DC: You switch forms to Tainted Dragon Riesenlied!

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Id with Fallen Sword - 'Silent Nirvana'!

GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

A huge column of fire explodes up around Siegfried, and he vanishes in it for a moment. Ordinarily, this would be when a foe dies -- when the great storm of flame at Lily's command consumes them utterly. The fires disperse, though, and Siegfried is revealed to be anything but ordinary. He looks down at Lily, a cruel grin on his face. His eyes flash red.

He is, despite appearances, nothing human.

"There are no good humans," he says. "There are only ones who died before they could ruin this world a little further."

And then a /building/ comes flying at Siegfried and smashes into him. To say it hurtles him away from Lily is a dramatic understatement. He is engulfed and lost in the stones of the building as it /collapses/ all around him, and a storm of stones, broken wooden beams, and worse asmesh away. Then, they explode outward, and Siegfried stands in there in a three-point stance. The hexagons around his armor flash brightly, before they dissipate, and he lets out a long, harried breath.

"What in the name of Mother..." he spits, "...are you!? How--how do you have that power--"

And then Siegfried's eyes widen in terrible realization. There is something there. Something close to fear. Something that remembers the red power of when Mother fell. He tenses. He freezes. And then, he shouts:

"NEGATIVE RAINBOW!"

He stands back up, then slams Glumzambor into the ground. Energy explodes off the blade. Huge arcs of white, green, purple, and blue energy explode outward, slash into the earth, and whip out for both Lily and Id, with explosive promise.

GS: Siegfried has attacked Id with Negative Rainbow!

GS: Siegfried has attacked Lily Keil with Negative Rainbow!

GS: Siegfried has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

'Odd drifter' is not a bad way to describe Neriah.

As Ebon Zero takes care of the next couple of grapplers, Neriah finds herself in the position of having to fight a Metal Demon she's not sure she wants to fight. Even as she pops the shot off, though, the girl in the military jacket blinks rapidly. "Wait, you have young and wounded in there," she asks, her tone a little sick as she looks down towards the village. Her eyes snap back to the armoured figure, and she opens her mouth, then closes it again.

"I don't think I really want to anymore," she says, before a segment of Old Petra just goes up in flames.

Neriah looks on with a blink of total confusion. Her experience with Gears is limited but she was pretty sure the only Gear here was the one with the Adlehyde forces. This one's new. Is it? Did it suddenly change paint jobs?

And why does something feel so strange?

Neriah's hand moves to her heart, pressing to it. She can feel her heartrate growing quicker for some reason. The sensation roiling off of the red Gear seems to catch her right in the chest somehow, filtering down like fire in her stomach. It's...

"...Someone's here," she murmurs.

...It feels really bad but also really good somehow and she isn't sure why, but there's a bloodstain beginning to form in the palm of her right glove.

"Look," she says to Ebon Zero in a more level tone. "I don't want to hurt children and injured people. If you need to go fight that red thing, then go do it. I don't need money so bad that I want to risk going for a bounty when /that/ thing is wrecking the town!"

GS: Neriah Parringer has attacked Neriah Parringer with look I'm just going back to bed I don't need one single minute of this shit!

GS: Neriah Parringer has completed her action.

GS: Neriah Parringer takes a solid hit from Neriah Parringer's look I'm just going back to bed I don't need one single minute of this shit for 0 hit points!

GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 201 hit points!

GS: Yarobeleedt guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Pistol Whip for 45 hit points!

GS: Id guards a hit from Riesenlied's Fallen Sword - 'Silent Nirvana' for 35 hit points!

GS: Id guards a hit from Siegfried's Negative Rainbow for 112 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.

"Oh~h...?" Harken sneers a low, crooning note of delight to Clarissa's spirited introduction as one foot falls heavily in front of the other. The Quarter Knight moves through the melee with the ease and grace of one born for battle--designed from the ground up to slay, as an art form. "What is it with you humans and your distaste for contests of strength? Cowardice, from craven fools...?"

The fel scythe Azrael's blade flicks--downwards. As in: it collapses back into the polearm it's attached to. Harken doesn't seem to think her opponent is worth brandishing the blade for, even as she steps-in with a flourish of her cape and a barking laugh at Claire's declaration.

"But you've got spirit. Good! Let that hate /fuel/ you--" Harken doesn't finish her sentence for two reasons. The first is that she wheels the polearm from behind her back into a great whorling blow that intercepts the white-clad mage's staff mid-strike, with a terribly heavy report of clashing. The second reason is that a great and terrible pulse of wrongness surges through the battlefield, turning heads every which way. The Quarter Knight's is no exception, weakening whatever perfect form might have been inherent in her parrying strike.

The belltower of Old Petra is being hurled in its entirety by the source of this feeling of inexorable terror. Chaos unbridled erupts in an already-chaotic fight.

Harken's attention returns to Claire, as the world seems to end around them. So soon? "... spirited as you might be, I don't have time to waste on you any longer."

I was going to make this into a quarterstaff-fight, but circumstances have changed. Azrael's blade flashes back into place with a liquid-metal lurch, and Harken detaches herself from the parrying lock she and Clarissa are caught in with an invisibly fast backstep. When next she moves, the sharp point of her weapon lunges for Althena's chosen with the aura of an awful, hungry beast.


<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

Despite laid back and uncaring appearances, Jude Moshe is keeping a close eye on things. Particularly Lily Keil off in the distance when she just decides to go off and challenge a Quarter Knight; in anyone else, given the circumstance, it'd probably merit an annoyed curse. For now, that easygoing smile just asserts itself all the more naturally on that indifferent expression of the reporter's as he watches from the peripheries just in case.

His job just gets more complicated with every waking moment.

The sellsword considers for only a moment before he snaps that ARM off to the side. He watches as Yarobeleedt makes his strange, garbled deduction... and lunges for Ida, with Zed soon in tow. His brows furrow. Did he just--?

"Huh," he utters, scratching the back of his head. Talk about a lucky break.

It's one he doesn't -particularly- see fit to ignore, though. Clearly it's his chivalrous heart that makes the redheaded journalist linger there and wait for that opportune moment as Yarobeleedt swipes at Ida with that malformed, mercurial spike of an arm to capitalize on what he perceives -- hopes -- to be an opening in the strange creature's defenses. His ARM shifts and changes, a long, sharp bayonet blade snapping into place along the underbarrel and gleaming with a strangely corrosive light as he dives in, aiming to cut two rapd, cross-shaped strikes across the Metal Demon's back -- trying to aim at spots most disruptive (at least, in sensible anatomy) with surprising precision.

He might have something to say -- doubtless he does; his mouth even opens, no doubt to say something thoughtlessly glib...

... but then something tears out an entire chunk of Old Petra on a whim.

"Wh--" begins the red-headed journalist. His eyes snap to the side, stare upward, and blink with a lack of comprehension at the sight for a brief moment. At the sight of a Gear, holding a building, wielding it like a bludgeon in a defiance of all physical law against the Metal Demons below.

A Gear.

... A red Gear...

... and a redheaded demon for a pilot.

And amber eyes widen, just a bit.

That thing... just one look of it is enough to tell--

"Miss Everstead-Rey, with all due politeness and deference to your station and whatever else, you need to get the hell out of here, right now!"

--that thing is Trouble.

Which is exactly why Jude Moshe does the smart thing, and attempts to run off.

... If only he wasn't running off deeper into Old Petra, towards where Lily. Towards where that demonic Gear looms.

"This -- is -- far and away -- the stupidest thing -- I've ever done -- in my entire life--!"

He feels the cold sweat. Experience tells him exactly what the sensation he's feeling is: terror. Primal terror.

So why exactly is he smiling--?

Even he's not sure. Not really.

GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Yarobeleedt with Crosscut Saw!

GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action.

GS: Yarobeleedt critically Guards a hit from Jude Moshe's Crosscut Saw for 16 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.

Much as she would like assist her superiors in fighting the red menace, Malfi is busy preparing the wounded to board the carriers when they get here. She's managed to recruit the more able-bodied to help the rest, and will be keeping things orderly for a fast and smooth escape.

GS: Lady Harken has attacked Clarissa Eventide with Azrael - Evasive Cut!!

GS: Lady Harken has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

That...

That Power...!

Zed leaps back at the impact of air-blade and gun-barrel. But his head isn't in this particular game. Not anymore. There's a thrum in the air. A terrible, awful, world-shattering sensation that fortells portents of absolute destruction and final death. Zed feels an unfamiliar chill surge down his spine. He finds that he doesn't like it.

"That," Zed answers his would-be opponent, "Is something that feels way more dangerous than you."

Zed glances over Ida's shoulder, his blade resting against his shoulder. "...Mmmn, well. Look, this is a really weird situation, but if you could kindly make sure that my friends down below don't get steamrolled by that red asshole, I'd really appreciate it."

Because some people-- reasonable people-- see danger like that on the horizon and run the fuck away.

Zed is not a reasonable person.

Zed steps casually right by Yaro and Ida and Jude and stares straaaaaight up at the giant red gear.

"Welp." Zed rolls a shoulder. "Heeeeeeeeeeere goes stupid."

And then he runs up.

And hits it with his sword.

GS: Zed has attacked Id with Stupid!

GS: Zed has completed his action.

GS: Id guards a hit from Zed's Stupid for 66 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ebon Zero has posed.

At the first sound of static, Ebon Zero freezes as a spike of fear runs through her; she doesn't even seem to know what to do for the first time in her life, stunned into silence by the sheer destruction that's suddenly and unexpectedly laid in their wake. Only the call from Riesenlied shakes her out of it, the hitch in her voice galvanizing Noeline in turn.

"--get--" she starts as she flicks her head towards Neriah, her voice suddenly tight and urgent; she glances down at the mob still on the walls, those of them that are too fervent and too hidden behind the wall to really have taken notice of the sudden malevolent aura focusing around Old Petra. "--get them out of here! Get as many humans away as you can! Or at least-- do your best to keep them safe!" she orders, for once not caring about anything so glib as hiding her voice in her urgency. Because she's sure of this much, at least: "That thing doesn't care about anything in it's path!"

That seems to get her moving, in turn - she's suddenly turned to launch from the wall, bounding across the rooftops of Old Petra in heavy jumps that send her in Riesenlied's direction - not to mention the direction of the bizarre, otherworldly-powerful figure and its Gear.

"Baldr Squad, forget the walls and move to assist the evacuation! Those underground, help the wounded to the tunnels immediately! Seal bulkheads G and H, and make for the far exits instead!" she orders urgently into her communications. "Do not engage where possible!"

Immediately, she makes herself a hypocrite, planting her feet on the next rooftop and gripping onto her blade with a fierce determination. At the back of her mind, the raucous laughter of an amused Guardian. In front of her, the terrifying presence of Id hanging in the air unnaturally.

Noeline's always been a defiant sort.

Gritting her teeth, she swings the blade forward in another wrenching sweep; this time, the crescent arc it leaves launches upwards and away from the blade, a shimmering line of force that sweeps up towards the red-and-black figure. It may not do much to him - may not do anything at all - but at least it might hold a little of his attention away from those Demons seeking to evacuate.

DC: MISS! Clarissa Eventide completely evades Azrael - Evasive Cut! from Lady Harken!

GS: Ebon Zero has attacked Id with Tricolor Order!

GS: Ebon Zero has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

Tink! Those beady eyes expand at the sight of the fell gleam of Demon bone. The malformed spike lingers there as his tongue flips upward in shock at what he's seeing. He doesn't think to draw the arm back by the time Ida addresses him, as though stunned and frightened by the very thing he's seeing here - old dead Demon parts that he just... touched... He retracts the claw arm back defensively over his face as Ida asks if he minds, not quite parrying it as his entire body mass shudders under the chi-infused slap. Jude picks a fine time to go in on the slug-like menace to all that is good and just and /clean/ in the world-- Then, there is that. Yaro's posture straightens up. The blobby forearms flare out into wide, board-like sprays of demon flesh that only come just shy of flying fully apart of his arms, as though his arms suddenly decided to be a frilled lizard drawn by a four-year-old. Its contours and curves prove coincidentally critical constructs to his continued survival, deflecting the two cross-shaped strikes that otherwise had the cleanest imaginable shot possible against his back. A few more seconds pass. Some ichor drips from those forearms. Yarobeleedt has to have felt and known that something just struck at him, but those beady eyes of his grow more vacant by the second. Gross, dripping ichor drips off his lolled tongue to the rhythm of everyone's heartbeat (that's a lot of dripping). There is a flash of yellowed metal, a lot of rock grinding, and breathy screeching that smothers itself as the slug-like butt of a butt of a joke butts all the way out. Like Yarobeleedt was never there, ever, kindly erasing himself and any trace from existence, which would be doing everyone a solid right about now.

GS: CRITICAL! Id guards a hit from Ebon Zero's Tricolor Order for 131 hit points!

GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Yarobeleedt with Nope!

GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Yarobeleedt's Nope for 0 hit points!

GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Yarobeleedt with Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope!

GS: Yarobeleedt has completed its action.

GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Yarobeleedt's Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope for 0 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily looks in growing dismay as her magic doesn't take Siegfried down--as it leaves him standing, not even off his feet, with that cruel grin. A bit of fear runs through her veins.

So she laughs, faintly, a little unhinged at everything. "You're unpleasant. Joke's... Joke's on you. I might not even be--"

A bizarre, bizarre pressure starts amid the fight, echoing in Lily Keil's mind and elsewhere, causing her to stumble again for reasons unrelated to her wounds. "W-what--Aah--" It hurts. She hears it, she feels it, it sends spots in her vision, unless that's the pain already. She can't tell. But suddenly that tower twists, and the screech tells her--

Lily stares at the man in red and black. The tower is thrown, and her eyes widen. In an instant she throws out a hand and blasts out an unfocused column of darkness that /shoots/ her backward just before the tower slams into where she'd been.

Fei's right; without some assistance, Lily isn't likely to live.

For now she's on the ground, not landing so gracefully as the Quarter Knight, working on standing quickly and making her counterattack when the strange light arcs to the earth and then towards /her/. She starts throwing up another shield, but she tears stitches and is dazzle by pain. The blast explodes against her, throwing her that much further and leaving rents in her sleeves, at her stomach, that look like terrible, terrible burns. She becomes unable to even /think/ for a long few moments, fallen on the ground in an uncomforable heap.

She doesn't notice her own scream, either.

The last thing she would expect on opening her eyes is Jude Moshe, but he's exactly who's in her sights. "What...?" Her voice rasps. "What's... happening? My head..." She shouldn't trust him. But it hurts to move.

She throws out her hand and bluish mist settles around Siegfried... before exploding into an icy star and then crashing to razor-sharp pieces.

"Aaah fuck--" Lily's hand shakes, as she discovers that even casting, "Haha... That's... that's not great..." +vote: Yarobeleedt has voted for you.

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Siegfried with Icegleam!

GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Eventide has posed.

Clarissa grits her teeth as she locks weapons against Harken, straining to keep up with the giant woman's strength. "You mistake my meaning. Few could ever dream to contest the powers I've accrued." Suddenly, Harken's weapon mysteriously collapses in on itself, but Claire's far more intrigued than dismayed. Her expression evaporates on their air of their continued battle, and the loud clash of weapons returns her to the present.

During their melee, she rolls her eyes when some person from the very corners of her attention buzzes begging noises, far too focused on the duel at hand. "You're soldiers, not babes. You don't need me to mother you."

Eliciting a scowl as Harken steps away, she breathes out a heavy sigh and states, "good news, soldiers, I've found time in my busy..." She trails off as red-orange eyes locate the -flying building-, and her mouth gapes in surprise. "Wha...what is that metal giant? It can't be a third party...can it?" Just as she's completing this thought, the deadly flash of metalvery nearly finds its mark. However, in an instant, an amorphous smoky black cloud of darkness takes Claire's place. The unnatural wisps extend outward a dozen feet, to reveal the White Mage standing unharmed. Twirling her staff as the smoke swiftly dissipates, she states, "soldiers, charge!"

GS: Lily Keil has canceled their attack on Siegfried.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily looks in growing dismay as her magic doesn't take Siegfried down--as it leaves him standing, not even off his feet, with that cruel grin. A bit of fear runs through her veins.

So she laughs, faintly, a little unhinged at everything. "You're unpleasant. Joke's... Joke's on you. I might not even be--"

A bizarre, bizarre pressure starts amid the fight, echoing in Lily Keil's mind and elsewhere, causing her to stumble again for reasons unrelated to her wounds. "W-what--Aah--" It hurts. She hears it, she feels it, it sends spots in her vision, unless that's the pain already. She can't tell. But suddenly that tower twists, and the screech tells her--

Lily stares at the man in red and black. The tower is thrown, and her eyes widen. In an instant she throws out a hand and blasts out an unfocused column of darkness that /shoots/ her backward just before the tower slams into where she'd been.

Fei's right; without some assistance, Lily isn't likely to live.

For now she's on the ground, not landing so gracefully as the Quarter Knight, working on standing quickly and making her counterattack when the strange light arcs to the earth and then towards /her/. She starts throwing up another shield, but she tears stitches and is dazzle by pain. The blast explodes against her, throwing her that much further and leaving rents in her sleeves, at her stomach, that look like terrible, terrible burns. She becomes unable to even /think/ for a long few moments, fallen on the ground in an uncomforable heap.

She doesn't notice her own scream, either.

The last thing she would expect on opening her eyes is Jude Moshe, but he's exactly who's in her sights. "What...? Jude?" Her voice rasps and she stares as best she can. "What's... happening? My head...I feel like my skull is cracking..." She shouldn't trust him. But it hurts to move.

She throws out her hand and bluish mist settles around Siegfried... before exploding into an icy star and then crashing to razor-sharp pieces.

"Aaah fuck--" Lily's hand shakes, as she discovers that even casting is very painful, "Haha... That's... that's not great..." There's a faint glow though, that Jude can see--when she casts, something on her arm glows blue.

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Siegfried with Icegleam!

GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.

GS: Siegfried critically Guards a hit from Lily Keil's Icegleam for 26 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia doesn't even really begin to process Riesenlieds response to her question. But the following command snaps her out of it, though it confuses her. "What-- my fellows, but...!" The Metal Demon's already gone before she finishes that thought. "But, nobody'll listen to me..." She's no commander. She only knows how to fight. But then, perhaps her 'fellows' could be taken to mean her friends. In which case... "...Fei."

She takes off running, though unsure where she's even going. She figures she'll know soon enough. A Gear can't just disappear, can it? That's that other one that wasn't here before, but that one's obviously different, it's not the same color at all.

Before finding Fei however, she sees someone else who's in rather serious trouble. "Lily!" Doing the sensible thing was never on her mind to begin with, but now she's just running straight for where the Big Trouble is happening. The red Gear, Siegfried, and now a good chunk of the Metal Demon forces is heading in that direction, also. Xantia pays none of it any mind. She saw one person she knows getting seriously hurt, which is all the reason she needs to ignore everything else.

Lily's still fighting, but this isn't going to end well at this rate. So she does the obvious thing, and jumps directly in front of her. "Leave her alone!" That's her simple demand of the Quarter Knights' leader. She saw Jude approach also, and trusts the perfect stranger completely to take Lily to safety, while she... well. She hasn't exactly thought of what she'll actually... do, but. She's here, at least. Facing Siegfried, with Id not far away.

Xantia makes a lot of bad life choices. But at least she makes them with conviction.

GS: Xantia has attacked Xantia with Steeled Resolve!

GS: Xantia has completed her action.

GS: Xantia takes a solid hit from Xantia's Steeled Resolve for 0 hit points!

GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Xantia!

<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

Some Asshole looks towards Xantia. "You..." He says, and then laughs. "I'm sorry to say, that your quest... is going to end here!" Does that answer your question Xantia? Some Asshole says, "Are you strong?" to Xantia. He doesn't seem interested in talking about Fei. Who's Fei? This asshole doesn't know. He probably doesn't really think about your name either quite frankly. Maybe he doesn't even think about his own name.

Riesenlied and Siegfried strike at the red gear. The pinion blades and rainbow energy wash against Id and the gear. And it just...takes it.

When the light fades--the Gear doesn't seem particularly damaged at all. It MUST have done some serious damage. It had to have. But no. Even Siegfried's power...

"Mother..." He says. "That's what you want, isn't it Siegfried? You want to revive Mother? Again? I'm paying you a favor to tell you to forget it! You're a fool to think she cares one whit about you. I'll destroy her, though--haha--it's getting to be a bit 'old hat' isn't it? Still..." His eyes narrow. "I'm doing you another favor by doing so. I guess it's a shame you'll have to experience that favor posthumously."

MISSION UPDATE

METAL DEMONS: NEW OBJECTIVE: EVACUATE THE CITY NEW OBJECTIVE: PROTECT SIEGFRIED

DRIFTERS: NEW OBJECTIVE: (don't) DIE. NEW OBJECTIVE: PRESERVATION OF RUINS

Zed rushes up and whacks the gear with a sword. It makes a heavy screeching noise. Some Asshole looks down towards Zed, critically distracted--

--Ebon Zero unleashes a wave of force that rips through the gear and actually pushes it backwards. It slams against an old bar and crushes it in the process.

"It's funny." Some Asshole says. "It's funny but first..." He raises a hand and points it towards--

--the space where Yarobeleedt was (there's a faint white dotted outline surrounding his prior position).

"Pffh. Coward. I always figured demons weren't so different from humans." He turns to look at Riesenlied.

"What makes you think..." He murmurs. "That you have any right to 'evacuate'? You started this war, not I. It was you who called my being into existence. And I'm grateful! I WILL SHOW YOU MY GRATITUDE!!"

A wave of energy erupts around his gear, threatening to splash through Siegfried and (unfortunately) Lily who happens to be nearby. And then he rears back with his hand and launches a plasma blast for Ebon Zero and Riesenlied. Part of it flows past them, slamming through guard stations, through comrades. Id isn't inclined to let any metal demon escape. Well, any more than Yaro over there.

As if to prove his intent to kill everyone here, the gear slams a foot down towards Jude and Zed, fully intent on squashing them flat.

Some Asshole himself leaps off his gear a moment afterwards, throwing his hand back and then slamming it for Xantia's skull. "ARE YOU STRONG!?"

GS: Id has attacked Jude Moshe with Demon Fist!

GS: Id has attacked Zed with Demon Fist!

GS: Id has attacked Siegfried with Raging Wave!

GS: Id has attacked Lily Keil with Raging Wave!

GS: Id has attacked Riesenlied with Crimson Shot!

GS: Id has attacked Ebon Zero with Crimson Shot!

GS: Id has attacked Xantia with Mountain Crusher!

GS: Id has completed his action.

GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Id's Raging Wave for 197 hit points!

GS: Lily Keil has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!

GS: Siegfried critically Guards a hit from Id's Raging Wave for 37 hit points!

GS: Jude Moshe takes a glancing hit from Id's Demon Fist for 91 hit points!

GS: Zed takes a glancing hit from Id's Demon Fist for 89 hit points!

GS: Ebon Zero takes a solid hit from Id's Crimson Shot for 159 hit points!

GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Ebon Zero!

GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Id's Crimson Shot for 152 hit points!

GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Riesenlied!

GS: Xantia guards a hit from Id's Mountain Crusher for 117 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

The tower smashes into the ground. One second, there's an entire squad there, and the next, there isn't. The whole thing is simple, ruthless, and grotesque. Chaos erupts around the man in red as Riesenlied joins the battle, and Ebon Zero.

'Miss Everstead-Rey, with all due politeness and deference to your station and whatever else, you need to get the hell out of here, right now!'

Ida turns to Jude. Her face is pulled tight, and her eyes blaze. She looks nothing like the calm, composed, demure aristocrat Jude met in the cafe, or even the slightly less-composed aristocrat he met in the Hillside Ruins. "Like hell!" Ida says. Jude and Zed run off. Ida whirls on Sibyn, drawing herself up. "Get as many people as you can /downstairs/, /yesterday/." She thinks back, remembers what Kalve told her. "And don't do anything suicidal!"

Ida turns and runs after Jude and Zed, well aware of the irony of what she just said. She's also aware that the situation has now devolved to the point where the original objective is irrelevant. Her hands are clammy and sweating beneath her gloves. Her heart is racing in her chest. She is not sure if she wants to scream, run, throw up, or some combination of all three.

And yet, the sight of those people lingers in her mind. It's like Adlehyde.

Ida skids to a stop behind a pile of flaming wreckage that used to be part of the tavern, possibly, and frees Devil's Due from its holster. The immense red Gear moves, descending onto the battlefield like Valmar himself, a colossus wreathed in flame and hatred. The man in red stands atop it, and Ida swears she can see him smile as his machine tries to stomp Zed flat. Ice grips her heart. The whole thing is a horrible, hellish tableau, surreal to witness, but somehow, Ida manages to focus enough to pull the trigger until the magazine is empty. Considering Devil's Due has a beastly recoil, it is no small feat.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Id with Devil's Draw!

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

The drifters and mercenaries that had gathered around Old Petra are starting to buckle. They stare up towards the red-winged Gear, to the red-haired man, and back away, some of them sheer paralysed by the aura of malevolence that emanates out of him. "M... monster..." "Aaagh! No amount of money's worth any of this!" "I--I want my mommy!"

Unfortunately for Clarissa, this extends to the soldiers gathered around her, some of them weighing their allegiance to the great Mage of Vane, the others... decidedly thinking it's best to turn tail and run now and bear the shame later.

The five Ebony Wings dragons are rounding around the crest of the hill into sight from where they were handling reinforcements. There's a low growl of what possibly might be recognition from Jedan, the eldest of them here. "... stupidest thing I've ever done for you kids ..." he echoes Jude's earlier sentiment.

"You all heard Ebon Zero and Commander Riesenlied," Cetiri's droning, electronic voice comes. "Rendezvous Points G and F! Hurry!"

Icedrake and Salamandra park not too far away from where the Tainted closest to the edge of town are beginning to filter and trickle out. Malfi assists in the evacuation, helping the wounded towards the carriers. The bartending lady with the binocular eyes from earlier shakes her head as she murmurs, "Be safe, Commander..." as she scoops a half-a-demon into her arms, and boards. "We're goin'! And someone make sure that Kaguya girl's wagon's safe too!"

The fire is beginning to spread further through Old Petra, as more bombardments echo in the distance. A wild and uncontrolled thing, seemingly spurred onward and onward by Id's malicious aura.

Ullr Squad is trying to pick up where Hymir Squad was -- some of the troops stooping low to carry their injured brethren in the wake of the chaos. The front line is disarrayed. Baldr Squad is doing as Ebon Zero directs, moving the back half of the town -- what remains -- towards the exit point. The battlefield has shifted. This was not a battle anymore.

It's a struggle for survival.

Riesenlied's eyes widen as she sees Ebon Zero draw nearer, carving her way through with a flourish of her sword. She grits her teeth, filing the worst case scenario well to the back of her head. Yet it is there...

The Shield at her side lifts to take care of protection as Id launches an ephemerally large crimson shot that -- that tears through her, and she lets out a shriek; the shield begins to crack and crumble under the sheer weight, and she tears apart from it at the last moment as the metallic husks of her guard fall apart.

The shot continues, and Sibyn stares horrifiedly as the guard station near her simply -- evaporates; two demons trying to make their escape shriek as they're cascaded in crimson -- and their forms indolently warp and burst into nothing more than ash. "Eir!! Kvasir!!!"

She barely hears Ida's order to her, whimpering, "Y-yes, ma'am..." not even caring that she's the enemy. She's so confused. She doesn't know what she's done.

"Ebon Zero, please, do not take further risks... please. Lady Harken, are you able to provide back up? Please ensure Lord Siegfried is covered...!"

A pause.

"Cetiri, I--I shall utilise that sequence." "... are you quite certain? You do not know what it will do to you--" "This is a life and death situation."

Riesenlied's Pinions depart and shimmer around her, the trails of light building to a solid swirl to form a shimmering portal before her eyes.

"Phase coherence, delocalise. Increasing interference pattern... Wave-state, einselect... Fallen Sword... Sequence 7S...!"

She dives, her wings craning upwards--

--and she disappears through it, her body incandescently evaporating into nothing more than ambient photons. The Pinions sneak through a moment later, and the portal disappears. Did she... retreat?

No.

The portal reopens at some acute angle above Id and the Gear, with Riesenlied's path sending her on a collision course to strike with her sword. Her movements are ephemerally fast at this point, carried only by the trailing photons that are burning away from her body at a remarkable rate. She strikes, and darts through another portal.

This repeats. She emerges below, striking up with a backlash with her blade--

--over, and over again. Strike. Teleport. Strike. Teleport. Until she's no more than a dizzying line of light repeatedly carving through from all angles -- she has transformed herself into a labyrinth of criss-crossing strikes, a delocalised phenomenon hidden behind the uncertainty principle, until the final strike--

"Must you continue to conflate the actions of the individual to an entire group...?! Do you believe this to be a just repayment of Adlehyde, even to involve those that were not there...?! Just what is the meaning of all of this...! S-Stop this...!!" Riesenlied's eyes are wide, brimming with tears as she attempts to drive her blade through. They might clash and stare eye to eye for a moment.

GS: Riesenlied enters CONDITION GREEN!!

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Ebon Zero with Charismatic Presence!

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Lady Harken with Charismatic Presence!

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Id with Fallen Sword - 'Illusory Dominance'!

GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.

GS: Riesenlied heals Lady Harken! She gains 200 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"But," Neriah starts, blinking at Ebon Zero, then widening her eyes as she realizes that the Metal Demon actually expects her to do something to save the angry mob. As if an angry mob has ever listened to her.

The Metal Demon's long gone before she can protest. "Wait," Neriah calls after her. She holds out her right hand as if to grasp the fading shape of Ebon Zero. Blood has soaked through the palm of her glove.

But she won't stop the other figure. Neriah finally drops her hand. It hangs limply at her side, her head lowering. For a moment, she stands atop the wall by herself, wrestling with her desire to do good and her desire to get out of here before she's killed. And with something else. Something that burns into her chest. THIS ONE IS DIFFERENT

"How am I supposed to do anything like this," she asks the empty air as she clutches her hand to her chest. It leves a bloodstain behind. She can feel her heart thudding in her chest. Lifting her head, she looks towards the cluster of humans near the gate. MURDER THEM ALL

Clenching her teeth, Neriah tries to focus her mind on something. "No," she hisses as she inventories all her weapons. Marilyn, a pistol that can barely dent something the size of a Gear. Her shovel. ISN'T IT TEMPTING

Again Neriah forces down the thought. Her hand hurts. She gives it a shake, then goes for Marilyn.

Fuck the mob. She doesn't know an angry mob anything. And whyever the Man in Red is making her feel this way, she needs to find out. She starts forward and hops from the wall to the roof of a ruined building, then down to street level, breaking into a dead sprint and rushing through the streets.

Neriah's a small, insignificant target; easily missed even at a dead sprint. She's trying to get close to the red Gear anyway. Popping a round into her pistol with shaking fingers, she circles around behind a heap of rubble -

She passes by Ida Everstead-Rey as she passes. WELL WELL

Neriah's eyes linger on her a moment, but soon enough, she's rolling out of hiding and aiming waaaaay upwards, and she fires off a couple of pistol rounds.

She's aiming right this time, but even the much higher-than-normal velocity and penetrating power of the pistol she calls Marilyn won't do a lot against Gear armor. She's aiming for a joint instead, trying to rupture some critical piece of a servo and encumber the thing.

Mostly she's trying to get close enough to /feel/ what it is. To figure out what the hell is doing this to her.

GS: Neriah Parringer has attacked Id with Wednesday for Marilyn!

GS: Neriah Parringer has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

The mist gathers around Siegfried -- and he throws a hand out, then rushes through the star of ice explodes. He ends up bursting through them, ice crystals clinging to his armor and shooting away in his wake. He fixes Lily with a fierce, angry glare, but there aren't words for her. Not yet.

Because the wave of energy from Id's Gear /explodes/ forward, and the shockwave slams into him as he crosses his arms against it. The huge wave of power breaks around him, leaving a gap in the shockwave as it rolls through. And, then, he swings Glumzambor up, tearing it up from the ground with a flourish, and then looks at Id.

Anger storms in his eyes. Anger and hatred, as he hears those words.

"You... I thought you were dead," he says. "I thought you paid for the sin of casting down Mother with your miserable life /TWICE NOW/!" He screams the last words, hatefully, before he starts to charge across the battlefield once more. He rushes forward, through the battlefield, and towards the great red Gear -- and then he leaps, going airborne, and stares down at Id.

"Then let me finish what SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE!"

The armor on Siegfried's chest open up, plates opening up, to unveil a large cannon within. Light gathers and grows there, before a colossal beam of white light, tinged blue at the edges, fires down towards both the man and his terrible red Gear.

GS: Siegfried has activated a Force Action!

GS: Siegfried has attacked Id with Proton Beam!

GS: Id guards a hit from Siegfried's Proton Beam for 109 hit points!

GS: Lady Harken has fully healed herself. She is now in Boss mode for 2 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.

Azrael bites nothing but empty shadows, in the wake of the strange Althenian magicks that spirit Claire away unharmed. But therein lies the truth of Harken's assault: 'twas a ruse! "I shall remember that." the Quarter Knight sternly warns the mage, before simply leaping away with a celerity that beggars belief. In a heartbeat's space, the towering warrior has all but vanished into the sky without so much as a moment to gather the might in her legs. To leave the fight so recently started unfinished leaves a bitter taste in her mouth, but for all of Harken's many strange foibles, her loyalty to Siegfried is unquestionable.

"I'm returning to lord Siegfried's side." Harken's voice reaches all of those tapped into the Metal Radio, which is possibly a surprise--seldom few engagements she takes seriously enough to bother with such formalities.

Maybe the most important factor in this decision is that, called to Siegfried's side as she is, Harken knows no fear. There is a feeling of anticipation that swells in her breast, perhaps, of clashing with whatever terrible walking cataclysm has been visited upon Old Petra, with Some Asshole who spurs a rage seldom heard in Siegfried's voice. But certainly not fear. That is why the Quarter Knight's leap brings her towards the rampaging gear in a plummeting arc, Azrael's blade apparently hungering for metal joints.

It's a pincer attack, of sorts, almost as if Siegfried and Harken have taken the field together in tandem before. But Some Asshole is likely not laid low by such basic tactics as 'hit them from behind at mach 3'.

"You look /interesting/," Harken taunts the unknown Man and his Unknown Gear in the split-second before she either reaves Gear, Asshole, or dirt. "What a shame you decided to appear /here/, before us!"

That's a lot of confidence, lady.

GS: Lady Harken has attacked Lady Harken with Lethal Momentum!

GS: Lady Harken takes a solid hit from Lady Harken's Lethal Momentum for 0 hit points!

GS: Hyper and Quick! Statuses applied to Lady Harken!

GS: Lady Harken has attacked Id with Azrael - Spinning Slash!

GS: Lady Harken has completed her action.

GS: Id takes a solid hit from Lady Harken's Azrael - Spinning Slash for 55 hit points!

GS: Id enters CONDITION GREEN!!

<Pose Tracker> Ebon Zero has posed.

Noeline had been expecting retaliation - that was kind of the point of her attack, after all - but she's unprepared for the sheer scale of the response from the figure in the sky, the red wave encompassing her sight for a disbelieving, stunned moment. She had anticipated, perhaps--

--well, now isn't the time to think of what might be, she decides as the crimson light bears down towards her, and deal with what's right in front of her. Grimacing behind her mask and sucking in a shaky breath, she bunkers down behind her blade. If she's lucky, she can take the brunt of it for herself and avoid any harm coming to the squads behind her. Maybe--

The wash of the energy across her barely even seems to hurt, though it certainly pulses her backwards several steps, her feet skidding across the rooftop. Instead the first impact comes from her back, a confusing 'plink' of stone against the armor at her shoulder. As she turns to glance at it her thoughts suddenly feel sluggish, and it takes Noeline a surreal hanging moment to realize that the building she's chosen as a perch is pretty much not there anymore, the rock and stone crumbling beneath her and threatening to trap her within it. Her footing gone, Noeline realizes that most of the landscape behind her is missing, as well as any sign of the demon soldiers that had been racing away from the wall.

Ah well, she thinks, somehow unable to summon up feeling in her shock. It was a good run, right--

"Ebon Zero, please, do not take further risks... please."

--and she grits her teeth all of a sudden, feeling a million things at once. Unbidden and unwise, she grabs at the spark of power within her, a dark nimbus flaring around her for an instant. It isn't much, the sensation of her tapping the Guardian's power lost within the overriding sensation of Id's presence, but it's enough to yank upon it, to send her spiralling away and out from the rubble of the collapsing building into a haphazard roll forwards, pulling herself to her feet with a will and an effort.

"All surviving units, move to evacuate! Do not engage! We will cover your retreat! Stay out of the line of fire towards us! ... I can't let you take that thing on alone!" she adds to Riesenlied, her voice shaking - and she doesn't even care that she's forgotten to switch channels in her haste.

Technically, it's insubordination. But then, Noeline has never been the most subordinate of Metal Demons - and if she left Riesenlied after promising to protect her, she's quite sure she would never forgive herself afterwards.

GS: Riesenlied heals Ebon Zero! She gains 200 temporary hit points!

GS: Ebon Zero has attacked Ebon Zero with Repair Systems!

GS: Ebon Zero has completed her action.

GS: Ebon Zero takes a solid hit from Ebon Zero's Repair Systems for 0 hit points!

GS: Restore! Ebon Zero clears debuffs from Ebon Zero!

<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Eventide has posed.

For Clarissa's part, she stares in some mixture of admiration and terror at the strange red creature seeming to dominate the battlefield. It takes her many long moments to come to terms with the sheer hatred seeming to emanate from the monster. When she finally manages to blink away from her reverie, she calls, "sol...soldiers! It's time to regroup! Come to me! Shields up and ready. Ignore the fallen until nightfall, we're to organize a retreat!"

Claire waves her staff for all she's worth, casting Cure and Protect as swiftly as she knows how. Stepping slowly back, she calls repeatedly for a steady retreat, but focuses her spells upon those obeying her commands - and not those running in a panic.

Glancing to the speck in the sky that is her previous opponent, Claire states, "and I won't forget you, Harken! This won't be the last we fight, Metal Specimen! You'll be on my examination table before long!"

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

There's a term some nation's military - Jude's pretty sure it's Kislev, all things considered - came up with for situations like these.

'FUBAR'

Honestly, if this isn't the textbook definition of the term, well, the respectable reporter really doesn't want to know what is. And he's running right into the heart of it, now.

How's that for FUBAR?

He'd probably laugh at the sheer insanity of it -- and in fact the look on his face is nothing if not ruefully amused -- but he doesn't have the time to spare even a fraction of his attention towards it. Because he knows, right now, if he looks away even for a second... he's a dead man.

He knows what he has to do. In these moments, there's nothing but professionalism in Jude's features, a sort of empty crystal clarity that focuses immediately on his most pressing issue. He races off into the heart of the crimson storm, not bothering to check the munitions on his gun. It doesn't matter now. None of this matters now. He could probably have some sort of bullet-sized nuke in his arsenal and it wouldn't matter. All that really matters--

--is the fact that Lily Keil is finding herself on the receiving end of that thing's red wrath just because she's unfortunate enough to be in the way of him and his real target. Lily is quite literally smote from on high. Under his breath, Jude curses.

But he doesn't stop. Not until he reaches the fallen girl; not until he comes to a skidding halt beside her, dropping almost immediately into a crouch to assess her injuries with a quick once over, keen eyes checking if there's anything immediately fatal that must be addressed -- or anything that will become that with the bumpy ride ahead of them.

"You just have a knack for punching above your weight, you know that?" it's a half-chide, half-grouse that he's not even sure she's conscious enough to hear as he brings his free hand up to his opposite wrist. He grips his sleeve for a moment... and then hesitates, looking at the Gear ahead of him.

"... Yeah. Like that's gonna help. Like fighting a tornado with a toothpick," he mumbles to himself, before letting go and looking to just scoop up Lily.

"Alright. We gotta get you outta here, immediately. Hang on. I'm not gonna lie -- this is gonna be a little painful, but you can punch me over it later if it makes you happy--"

And then down comes the Gear foot.

"Oh come on, are you serious--"

THOOM

He barely has any time. Most of it is making sure that he interposes himself between Lily and the impact radius before he lunges to clear them both -- but the shockwaves that buffet across his back is the stuff earthquakes are made of, shaking bones and straining tendons within the seismic ripples as Jude goes toppling head over heels, having just enough sense to make sure he's providing a buffer for Lily between any hard introductions to the earth. He comes to a stop before attempting to drag himself up and then Lily shortly after, a hapless grimace on his lips.

"... okay, a lot painful." This?

This is way, way above his paygrade.

Which is exactly why his immediate response is to swing up that ARM and fire off round after round of shells into that Gear. The shotgun's runes glow cerulean blue as ice explodes along the Gear's foot, to try to freeze it to the ground. He figures that will buy him about a half a second at best; a half-second that he spends just firing -more- icy rounds into the earth around them as he backs up and away with Lily in tow, forming up an immense and thick barrier of ice between himself and the engine of spiteful devastation beyond. It's impressively large and reinforced with crystalline ice.

He figures this'll buy him a good two seconds.

Two seconds he has every intention of to beat a hasty if careful retreat further out of Old Petra. He spares a look Xantia's way, as she interposes herself between them with that... oddly familiar fighting stance. Towards Ida, as she does exactly the opposite of what he suggested and makes the heroic move. And for as much as he's risking his life for someone else's sake, ostensibly, that seems to be as far as his selflessness goes. He could try to help them. He should.

He doesn't.

But at least he doesn't give voice to the hope that they distract that thing long enough for him to get Lily somewhere safe where there -isn't- a walking, talking doomsday destroying a town like a child smashing action figures together.

There are limits to his heroism, after all. And they are many.


GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Id with Boogie Chillen!

GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

To her detriment, Xantia ignores Id's initial taunt, and question. She was focused on Siegfried, and making sure Lily stays safe. But then Some Asshole decides to attack from the side she wasn't protecting Lily from, rendering that effort completely meaningless. "Wha-!" Xantia is speechless at this development, and momentarily feels completely lost. She's certainly lucky that all of Siegfried's attention was drawn elsewhere at the same time, but none of this situation actually feels lucky. She's too astonished to do anything but let Jude handle the situation from here.

Doubly so because in all this, she failed to keep an eye on what else Id is doing. She seems completely unprepared for it when Id comes down to throw a punch at the back of her head. Yet somehow, she must have noticed this, since she instantly reacts by... using her arms to cover her head. Not the most graceful of defenses, and not the most effective, as this doesn't exactly prevent her from still taking a massive blow. The question she so rudely ignored earlier now receives a response, of sorts: "OWWWWWW!! That really hurt, you jerk!"

Though leaving her arms in place, now moreso out of pain, she did kind of just... take a punch from Id, and didn't immediately get flattened, which may already be more than was expected. Perhaps this one really is strong.

That's it. When Xantia removes her hands from her head, it's plain to see in her eyes. She's mad, now. A lot that happened today contributed to it, but Id's the most obvious target to direct that anger to. She may not know a lot about herself, but where it comes to physical strength, she's confident enough to give even this monstrously powerful opponent a sample of it. "Judge for yourself!"

It looks like a simple enough attack. Just a normal, single, run of the mill punch, straight for Id's face. The only hint that it may not be so ordinary is a soft white glow that surrounds Xantia's fist. After impact, there's a greater hint: an tremendous explosion, large enough to engulf Xantia herself as well. Though it doesn't actually harm her - when the smoke clears, she's still standing where she was before, perfectly fine. But what of her opponent...?

GS: Xantia has activated a Force Action!

GS: Id guards a hit from Riesenlied's Fallen Sword - 'Illusory Dominance' for 120 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

How does one parry a GIANT ROBOT HEEL-STOMP?

One doesn't. One dodges and parries the resulting shockwave.

Zed, however, is not one. Zed is several. Zed is many. He is multitudinous in his brilliance. Id's iron heel comes falling out of the sky. Doombringer swings up into the incoming deathblow. A tremendous, cataclysmic shockwave ripples across the battlefield. Zed's metal bones creak and grind painfully against much squishier tissues, but... But...!

He's still standing there.

No. He's not just standing there.

Like the world's most persistent cockroach infestation, Zed simply does not know the meaning of the word 'die.'

No. More than that. Like the fabled Divine Stag Beetle, Zed is standing beneath Id's heel, ablaze with the very LIGHT OF HIS SOUL. "So!" Zed laughs in spite of the pain. In spite of the pressure. "You think that a little foot-stomp would be enough to put an end to the Dark Hero!?"

"No. Others might run. Others might hide. Let them! We are their shield! We are their sword!" A strange thing seems to happen. An unusual aura burns in the air around the comparatively diminuitive Metal Demon warrior. Liquid Metal boils up from the ground at his feet. His lips curl into a terrible grin. "I am... No...!"

Zed EXPLODES with golden light!!

"WE ARE---!!!"

The light fades. The sword is gone. There's something ELSE there, holding up Id's terrible heel. Something else... With a cape. And a mop of green hair. And... And little bobble antennas.

And...

...The stylings of a 70s super robot!?

"Ahahaha! You've given me an appropriate stage! Finally, I get to show off my true power!" The mysterious Zedder Robo throws the enormous foot aside, crossing its arms as the explosion and the shockwave ripples through its hair and causes its cape to flutter heroically. "The power that Uncle Alhazred entrusted to me...!" Zed clenches a fist. "The power... Of my burning heart! OF MY FATHOMLESS COURAGE!"

"I AM--!" The machine that was Zed backflips across the ground. It poses dramatically! It sucks down a great lungful of air...! "ZEEEEDDDEEEEER ROOOOBOOOOOOO!" He shouts. With hurricane-force winds! Winds that carry... Motes of metal-munching molecules!!

DC: Zed switches forms to Monsterous Zedder R!

GS: Zed has attacked Id with Devil Typhoon!

GS: Zed has completed his action.

GS: Xantia has attacked Id with Exploding Fist!

GS: Xantia has completed her action.

GS: Id guards a hit from Zedder Robo's Devil Typhoon for 41 hit points!

GS: Poison! Statuses applied to Id!

GS: Id critically Guards a hit from Xantia's Exploding Fist for 23 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

There's dirt and blood on Lily as the others look at her, her dark clothes making it hard to really assess anything other thn that. But she hears Xantia's voice, surprised, and manages to look over her way. "Why...?"

She doesn't get it. She barely knows that girl, and she's putting herself in front of...

The awful malevolent feeling hasn't gone away, and neither has the terrible Malevolent feeling. There's so much in her head right now. But the wave of energy isn't in her head. It's in her eyes, as she sees it coming and tries to conjure another shield but just /can't/, so she takes it without defense, enveloped and thrown backwards to skid along the ground, burned and battered and bleeding.

No more words from Siegfried for her. Lily stares into nothing, eyes opening and closing, dazed beyond being able to even move. And that... is when Jude reaches her. The black-haired sorceress is badly injured at this point; the worst is probably the deep gash beneath her stomach, up across her hip. But there's bad all around, scrapes and cuts. There might be more that can't be seen. But they probaly aren't immediately fatal. Immediately, anyway. Staying here, well...

"Ha... Haha..." Lily actually laughs faintly, grimacing in pain at Jude at his quip. He mentions something mumbling, but it's hard to focus on it. What he says to her directly she can understand. He says something, and then suddenly they're moving, and Lily grits her teeth against that feelin, against all those waves. She drags along the ground before she's picked up.

"F... Fine. Don't... care about... pain."

It gives her time to watch that gun work; it's fascinating, and she wishes she could get a better look.

But soon they're on the way out, and Lily feels a worse pain, a pang of worry. "Fei..." She murmurs, "Please, God..." She slumps in Jude's arms. The hardest thing to carry is probably her rifle... Though she's not exactly light at her height.

She worries more. "Just be..." She trails off, into silence for now.

GS: Id guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Devil's Draw for 75 hit points!

GS: CRITICAL! Id guards a hit from Jude Moshe's Boogie Chillen for 42 hit points!

GS: Cripple, Jam, and Mute! Statuses applied to Id!

GS: Id guards a hit from Neriah Parringer's Wednesday for Marilyn for 38 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

Some Asshole says, "Interesting." as Xantia's skull doesn't cave in." He raises his arms to block because Xantia does seem like someone who can hit pretty hard. The punch slams into his arms and erupts into light. Some Asshole lets his arms drop, scuffed by the exchanged. "That was pretty good. I wonder what you are, exactly." He then leaps back on top of his gear rather than just keep fighting alongside it like a jerk. Some Asshole looks perplexed as Zed transforms into... Getter Robo? What? This wild madman seems to be at a momentary loss. "Huh." He says. "That's interesting." The Devil Typhoon rocks the gear, pressing against it, pushing it backwards.

"Pffhahahaha! What are you talking about!?" Some Asshole laughs at Riesenlied. "I'm not MAD about Adelhyde! You don't think I didn't have my own fun while you were setting it to fire? I just think it's hilarious. It's hilarious that you're telling me I should be just when your entire species is guilty of judging humanity based on the actions of a few! How exactly is this any different from what you have done, Dragon!? Do you think the victory you seek will allow for those rats scraping for little kernels of truth from the Zeboim? I'll give them the answer they seek right now!" Some Asshole spreads out his arms. "There is no truth to be found here! You chase after trinkets because of their gleam!" Riesenlied's blade swipes across the red gear. She can sense that with everything going on, progress is being made but she knows, deep down, that she has to think of something else. She is a commander after all. Stopping Some Asshole here might be feasible with all that's arrayed against him--but he has yet to really take this totally seriously. Who knows what damage he'll do if he has to. Fighting him directly isn't very helpful if even Siegfried is having trouble. What can she do?

You hurt Lily...

The dude ignores that small voice.

In the meanwhile Some Asshole has some drifters to deal with. Jude and Ida open fire, pushing Some Asshole back and allowing them time to get ahold of Lily and start evacuating her. "Drifters..." He murmurs. "Brave ones at that." Neriah blasts some shots in the gear's joint. Sparks fly out from impact. Hard to tell how effective that was just yet.

Lady Harken is one of the fastest warriors in the world. She leaps for Some Asshole's Gear in an incredible pincer attack. The gear raises its hand and catches the blade in its hand. "Huh." The Asshole says. "That lady is pretty quick. So quick you're taking words from my mouth before I can say them."

Some Asshole closes his eyes, focusing his body for a few precious moments and then he gets to work.

Some Asshole leaps before Jude and aims to slam his skull into Ida's before swinging into a triple roundhouse for Neira's body and twisting one hand up to launch a crimson blast for Harken and Riesenlied. He seems to be holding off going after Lily any further.

The Crimson Gear presses its hand against the Zedder Robo and its systems start going haywire almost immediately, almost as if a virus was inflicted upon it.

Id then leaps down, intent to headstomp Xantia while on the way down, fully intent on continuing his battle against Siegfried. "Don't die so quickly, I want precious time with you." but Siegfried has charged up in the meanwhile. He launches a beam for Some Asshole and his Gear. The Gear dives in front of Some Asshole and shields his body. Siegfried is the biggest threat here, even this guy recognizes that. How much does that mean to this freak though?

When the light fades, Some Asshole is gone. He's gone inside his gear. "Haha, well, I'll make sure you don't have to worry about me anymore, Siegfried. This time I'll kill you for sure!" The gear swings its fist back as the malevolent aura centers around it. It slams forward in a flurry of strikes before the aura intensifies into a circular shape which he slams into Siegfried. The aura doesn't fade. In fact, light surrounding the light becomes progressively dimmer. It's not unlike a blackhole that this beast just punched into Siegfried.

GS: Id has attacked Id with Absolution!

GS: Id takes a solid hit from Id's Absolution for 0 hit points!

GS: Lock and State! Statuses applied to Id!

GS: Restore! Id clears debuffs from Id!

GS: Id enters CONDITION GREEN!!

GS: Id has attacked Jude Moshe with Nightmare Shockwave!

GS: Id has attacked Neriah Parringer with Nightmare Shockwave!

GS: Id has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Nightmare Shockwave!

GS: Id has attacked Zedder Robo with Anti-Causality!

GS: Jude Moshe takes a solid hit from Id's Nightmare Shockwave for 163 hit points!

GS: Id has attacked Xantia with Demon Fist!

GS: Id has attacked Lady Harken with Crimson Shot!

GS: Id has attacked Riesenlied with Crimson Shot!

GS: CRITICAL! Zedder Robo takes a solid hit from Id's Anti-Causality for 0 hit points!

GS: Jam and Mute! Statuses applied to Zedder Robo!

GS: Id has activated a Force Action!

GS: Id has attacked Siegfried with Big Bang!

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Id's Nightmare Shockwave for 158 hit points!

GS: Id has completed his action.

GS: Neriah Parringer takes a glancing hit from Id's Nightmare Shockwave for 138 hit points!

DC: MISS! Lady Harken completely evades Crimson Shot from Id!

GS: Riesenlied takes a glancing hit from Id's Crimson Shot for 75 hit points!

GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Riesenlied!

DC: MISS! Xantia completely evades Demon Fist from Id!

GS: Siegfried takes a solid hit from Id's Big Bang for 254 hit points!

GS: Id takes Cover! He gains 50 temporary hit points!

GS: Siegfried has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!

<Pose Tracker> Siegfried has posed.

For just a moment, Siegfried thinks he destroyed him.

He realizes, quickly, how wrong he is. Against Weltall, he could parry. Against this Gear, he cannot -- and the blows slam into him, rapidly, smashing him backward, and then the circle of light burns bright around him. The Quarter Knight /screams/ as the fire rips at him. Pieces of his armor crumble and blacken into ash, as the singularity is smashed into him.

And then the energy explodes outward. Siegfried flies back, ramming his Dark Spear into the ground. It cuts a rend into the earth, and he tries to brace against the powerful force of the Big Bang.

It glows, a bright white tinged with terrible black, and soon even Siegfried's outline is gone.

When it fades, Glumzambor's blade is dug into the earth. The eye blinks rapidly. The arm attached to the hand clutching its hilt hangs, limply. At the elbow, a mixture of wires, circuit, and deep purple blood spill out.

Siegfried lays on the ground in a heap, a distance away. A smear of purple blood covers the ground between him and the blade. He doesn't rise.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

In the midst of this, something miraculous is happening:

Some Drifters are desperately making their escape, barely avoiding death in the wake of the latest crimson shot that's just shattered their position. The village is all but collapsed at this point, greatly aflame. No one is fighting anymore, outside of those brave few that dare to stand up to the crimson threat. They dash towards one of the dragons -- Muni-Muni -- and stopping cold in their tracks. This was it. They were trapped, between demon and Demon--

Cetiri stops and stares blankly at the Drifters for a moment, before growling, "There is no time for quarrel. If you value your life, then climb aboard. No funny business."

"Y-yes, sir-- er, ma'am, er-- dog??" A tail whip near their feet get them to climb onboard, with several soldiers following, carrying a one-limbed Tainted along with them.

It isn't much. But in the wake of the red-hued terror, a strange collaboration between demon and human, the first in what could possibly be a thousand years, was happening. The seeds of something much more beautiful was happening.

Back at the battle:

"Twice...?" Riesenlied lets out a faint cough as she finds herself severely grazed upon one end, red blood flowing freely from her arm. She can't let herself be distracted. But that was deeply significant. Twice now, Siegfried has fought this... monstrosity? Just what history do they have between them?

This red flash... this demon of Elru... if he has been slain before, then does that mean that he could possibly have possessed others, like some type of malevolent spirit? No, the sensation is different. She knows now, thanks in part to K.K. and Seraph Ragnell. This was not Malevolence. But... it does not make it any less dangerous, and it does not make it any less threatening.

"Not for a lack of trying...!" Riesenlied exclaims in turn to Id, wounded in her voice. "You think that we had /fun/?! You think that we all judge humanity such?! I--"

"I can't let you fight that thing alone!"

Riesenlied knew Noeline would say that. Her heart wrenches still as she thinks desperately on what they could do-- what she could do to help stop this devastation quicker. Did the answer truly lie in the heart of battle? Was there only mutual and assured destruction here, between them or the red-haired Gear? Would she die on this battlefield, not even truly understanding...

...understanding.

She wishes to understand.

It may be their only option. It is foolish, and beyond suicidal even by a reckless fool's notion. It may simply not even work. Her power wanes in comparison to what they face before them-- but even as she watches helplessly as the Gear presses in on Lord Siegfried, enveloping him in a crushing darkness that seems fatal...

...she knows she must do.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

The Tainted's body rises softly into the air, her arms spread to either side of her. Slowly, she gathers all the errant Pinions that she's deployed -- and they form towards a cohesive whole in front of her, cascading into a sword that splits open at its centre. It is an errant blade, a weapon of twisted and braided metal mottled with the discoloration of her wings. A weapon of the Tainted. It is poor to call it a sword. It is fragile... but it is hers.

A weapon of the heart.

The spiraling weave of light begins to erupt once more, cascading out of every portion of the skeletal fragment of the wings on her back and through her hands to the front, where they incandescently grow the blade, rising as a pillar of light would beyond this darkness.

Those that were at the Fairgrounds during the attack have seen it before. That light, incandescently piercing the clouds.

"The cruelty of humankind is only limited by their cowardice," Siegfried says. "We will never succumb to weakness. His death was gruesome... but it will be set right, in time."

"To you, Crimson One, we are but convicts, ever struggling for acceptance.
With scorn cast upon us, the world thinks us anathema.

"... rest assured. I am not about to go skipping off ever again. You have me, now," Noeline admits, perhaps grandstanding a little through sheer force of habit. "Nervous or not, spirited or not, I am at your side. And I am only interested in your eyes on me."

But we say to thee:
This is our torch in the dark!

Lily's still displeased, still bothered, but Riesenlied speaks to her, and Lily looks right back at her thoughtfully. "...You told me that before," Lily answers her. "About some of your people. It made me realize I had something in common with them, that's all."

A stand against the winds of your malice!
Even if a harsh fate awaits us, our hope shall shine everlasting!

It is a kind of understanding, there; as Riesenlied and Cecilia declare such similar desires. If circumstances would humor them only that small bit... But she does not curse her back. She does not mock her dream. She tips her eyes down, and murmurs, "What a lovely world that would be."

For this Fallen Sword shall carve through all barriers and open the gates to the new world!"

The light descends. It seeks to bring light to where there is none -- illuminating the very darkest corners of the mind and soul where the most stained linger. It is not a weapon of destruction -- the light passes through, seemingly harmlessly, emitting no heat nor energy nor force...

"And its name is..."

It envelops the vision, the senses, all of them. Within the light, everything seems to fall into a tranquil lull, so far removed from the harshness, tension and immediacy of combat. A soft little flower struggles to blossom in the midst of an arid, cracked wasteland, an improbability that nonetheless wishes to make itself known...

"Laevateiiiiiinnn!!"

She reaches out -- upon a space beyond physical means. A connection that she did not even know she could create, a link that she did not know she could bridge -- once more only fanned from a kindling flame by the works of the Crucible, as she honed her senses to awaken to a level a machine should never even fancy itself able to.

She reaches out... to form an understanding. With Id.

This... is a bad idea.

GS: Riesenlied has activated a Force Action!

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Id with Fallen Sword - 'Laevateinn'!

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

Fei... Lily mumbles, in the midst of the rest of her progressively less coherent words, and Jude's brows furrow inward. He says nothing of it, though; for now, there's no more exchanges offered, no more jokes. He's focused entirely on gaining some distance between that monster wearing a human face and Lily and himself, even if it ends up being the others have to slow the thing down for him.

If he's feeling bad about that particular reality, he doesn't seem to show it.

Not that it matters, when your enemy is the type that can cross distances and barriers in the span of an eyeblink.

"Shit, look out--" he starts; he only has the time to turn himself about to make sure that Lily's not caught up in the violence even incidentally. What it means is that the sheer, hulk-like strength of the red-headed... thing.... ends up, very little, mashing Jude into Ida like, again, two action figures being smacked into each other; his skull strikes against the woman's with enough of an impact to jar him and crack bone, blood spilling warm across the cold sweat dabbing at his forehead as he stumbles backwards and -forces- himself to not go tumbling off his feet.

The world spins in smudges of color; his ribs are bruised from both the bodily impact and the smash of the red Gear's foot. About the only thing worthwhile he can tell himself is that he's still alive, probably, and Lily is too.

... He looks down to doublecheck that fact quickly. He's pretty sure she is. Then again, he's also pretty sure he might have a concussion, so he'd rather not waste too much time figuring it out.

"Hurgk--ghh--okay that was... that was a treat, we all have something to remember it by now, so--" And he sees the growing light spectacle beyond, as the Gear just about wipes all of Old Petra's floors with the broken body of a Quarter Knight and the Demon known as Riesenlied turns her attentions upon it.

"--so it's about time we -get out-, Ms. Rey -- you can stay here if you want, but trust me--"

And here, Jude will just let his ARM fall back into his coat so he can pull up Lily with both his arms, to better focus on falling back, as swiftly as possible

"--sometimes you need to know when to pick your battles. This?"

He nods his head towards the massive annihilating wave that has become the red demon and his Gear and finishes, just before he starts to make his way towards the outer perimeter and towards the safety of the cliffside he knows full well how to get lost in.

"This is -not- a a battle to pick."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida doesn't see blood. She sees the man in red take three shots to the abdomen, two to the sternum, and one to the shoulder, and just kind of... backpedal a step or two. There's not even any marks on his clothing. Ida has been sweating for a good long while now, but that just sort of drives it home, that she's engaged in combat with a monster wearing a man's face in order to keep him from killing everyone for miles around.

There is no doubt in Ida's mind that the man in red will do just that, if he is allowed to. And Ida is equally certain that she will be unable to stop him, if it comes to that. Faced with these two thoughts, the one thing Ida can try to do is focus on staying alive.

She ejects the magazine, her fingers almost moving on their own as they work her ARM's mag release. "MOVE YOU IDIOT," Ida screams, in Zed's general direction, as the Gear's foot comes down--and then she stares, for a moment, at the... thing Zed became. It feels like there's something there, like an in-joke, but she doesn't get it. She doesn't have time to get it. It's just another layer in the obscene joke on the nature of war that this fight has become. She slides the new clip home just as the man in red appears before her. She didn't even see him move--one moment he's not there, the next he is.

CRACK

Ida sees stars. Her head whips back with enough force to make it look like the man in red just broke her neck; she takes a stumbling step back, and her legs give out beneath her, pitching her onto the ground. She can't think. She lies there for a good few minutes, all but insensate as a great cataclysm breaks loose above her. By the time she claws her way back to consciousness, Siegfried's down. Ida doesn't realize it, because she's too busy running on raw self-preservation instinct--she stumbles to her feet, barely registering what Jude said.

"Starting to agree," she says, the words slurred. She fumbles through her belt for the sturdy case, though, her thoughts finally condensing enough to spit out a plan. Is it a terrible plan? Probably, but /someone/ needs to keep that monstrosity off the evacuees, and that someone is not Ida. Who is that someone?

"LADY HARKEN!" Ida roars, removing something from her belt and just kind of chucking it into the air at the Quarter Knight. It's bright green glass, and it has a label: OLD MAN ETTLESBURY'S OLDE-FASHIONED HEAL BERRY LIQUEUR

The bottle flies at Harken. Ida takes off in the opposite direction, scanning about for Sibyn. It doesn't help that her vision is blurry.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!!

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Lady Harken with Heal Berry Tonic!

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey heals Lady Harken! She gains 100 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Ida finds Sibyn not far from where she barked orders -- she's looking extremely shocked and confused as she tries to implausibly try to lift an entire broken beam from where it's collapsed on both what looks like one of Adlehyde's soldiers and one of her fellow metal demons, who are both bleeding out. "M-Miss! Please, lend me your strength! I can't leave them here?!" Her speech is slurred, clearly not used to fear on a level anywhere /close/ to this. It's... it's just unreal. Nothing about what happened on this day -- on the day the sky turned red -- will ever feel real to her.


<Pose Tracker> Zedder Robo has posed.

A virus?

A VIRUS!?

Zedder Robo sparks, the light in its eyes flickers and flashes. "What..." Zed gasps. "What have you done...? What is thi--"

Chuyow~ Chur systems are now under my control!

"What." Zed's voice is flat. It's incredulous. In his vision, dancing across the battlefield, are... Are dozens and dozens of... Small, cute, pink animals?! "No. Seriously. What is this even?"

Siegfried is waylayed. Explosions and nega-suns detonate everywhere. Zedder Robo just sort of hovers in place, staring disbelievingly into the empty air.

We are the Chu-Chu. Resistance is Chutile!!

Zed reaches.

Chu will be acchumilat-chow! S-stop that! What're chu--

Zed is...

Petting this small, cute animal.

No, more accurately, he is squishing its soft, cuddly, squishy cheeks. "Ah. Ahahahaha! You're... You're adorable!"

No! We're chunstoppable! Your chuniqueness will be added to the chuwar--mmmm noooooo not the eaaaaaarsssss~

"Well." Zedder Robo is... Running its hands vaguely through the empty air. "This is MEGA CUTE and all, but..." Riese goes flying by with a GLOWING SWORD. "Hm. I have work to chu. Do. WORK TO DO! Yes."

SEE, RESISTANCE IS CHU-TYAOW~

"Nope." Zed clenches a fist. "NOPE. I GOT A ROBOT TO PUNCH."

And so Zedder Robo surges up from RIGHT BEHIND Riesenlied. He too attempts to communicate with this giant red robot.

By punching it.

Talking with one's fists is a thing, right?


GS: Zedder Robo has attacked Id with Counter Combination!

GS: Zedder Robo has completed his action.

DC: MISS! Id completely evades Counter Combination from Zedder Robo!

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

In her heart, Neriah wasn't expecting to have much impact by shooting a giant robot in the back of the knee with a popgun, even if it's a popgun made out of the nostrils of a metal dragon.

She bites her lower lip bitterly anyway and begins to recoil away, loading another couple of rounds into the chamber.

She doesn't have any time to fire them off before Some Goddamned Asshole is diving down and attacking. The girl sucks in a breath and tries to train her pistol - but it does her no good. She leaps to the side but she's a normal human being and not fast enough to make it work. Some Asshole's strike doesn't land clearly the first time. It clips her in the side and sends her spinning, but the next hit slams her in the gut. She buckles at the midsection and coughs up a spray of blood.

The third roundhouse hits her in the chest and something goes *CRACK.*

Trailing blood from her mouth, Neriah goes sailing backwards and crashes through a half-smashed wall. Debris rains down around her as she crumples into the wreckage; only luck prevents any of it from landing /on/ her. Groaning thinly, the girl pulls herself up to a sitting position after a few stunned, pained seconds. It hurts to do so; she presses her left hand to her midsection but lurches forward anyway, clenching her teeth.

Marilyn's not going to be very useful against this guy. He's too strong. Whatever power he has is too great. And something burns into her consciousness. It burns like a branding iron.

It is not entirely external.

"So you like suffering," Neriah growls as she begins to step towards the Gear with the Man mounted upon it. Blood drips from her right palm; it's soaked most of her glove into a slick, red mess.

That hand tightens. It clenches, then splays as she lifts it high and struggles to control that torturous thing she dreads controlling. Beneath Neriah's stolen military jacket, her body shudders. And another horrible feeling begins to manifest on the senses. It intrudes itself like hot needles driven into souls.

Sucking in a breath, Neriah gasps, a pained, wrenching sound. Coils of energy begin to extrude from her bloody right hand. They are as black as the night and yet they glow. Excruciating pain wracks her body as she raises her right hand towards the Red Gear, and opens her mouth.

It hurts. It never feels nice. It feels like she's dying.

And then something euphoric floods her senses. Her eyelids flutter. She breathes in the fumes and does not scream. Amid agony, a second of pure ecstasy.

The black magic vibrates in a dreadful thrum that resonates like a thunderstorm taking place just below the range of human hearing, in that sense-fooling range that toys with the mind and creates shadows and paranoia for some. The spiritual feel of it is like a metaphysical taint. Negative energy coils into a vast, upward-soaring column. It coalesces into a rippling, darklit thing laden with writhing magical pseudopods. It almost resembles a vast talon, but undulating sickeningly.

That magical, talonious coil of horrific unlight reaches for the Red Gear - and attempts to tear into it with an immense pressure that seems to want to decay and taint and fracture away anything it touches.

GS: Neriah Parringer has attacked Id with HARVEST!

GS: Neriah Parringer has completed her action.

GS: Id critically Guards a hit from Neriah Parringer's HARVEST for 10 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ebon Zero has posed.

Choking out a breath, the form of Ebon Zero wills herself to continue through the maelstrom of energies. She's honestly not sure what is even going on anymore, an odd state for someone who fancies herself one of the finer intelligence agents the Metal Demons have. Id's presence has washed that all away, blowing apart their expectations as quickly as he did their structures, and all that she's got left are a series of certainties that she can at least grasp onto as hard as she can.

She catches Cetiri's command to the Drifters, for instance, the order drifting through her linked communications, and finds herself letting out a soft chuckle in response. "... Ebony Wings... thank you. And keep them safe. We'll-- we'll catch up," she promises, her voice edged with a solemn note even as it hefts with tension - though it's more a promise to herself, if she's being honest, an attempt to reassure herself and bolster her aching muscles forward.

Slowly, she realizes that - against all probability - human and demon are starting to come together against this threat. The realization is bittersweet: thankful, certainly, but also wishing that it hadn't taken something to this level, something so shattering and fierce, to act as the catalyst.

But then the sky explodes in a warm, welcoming, golden light.

The sight draws the senses - it captures Noeline, rendering her immediately silent and still. The soft sigh she makes as she witnesses it is completely genuine, lost and relieved in equal measure. She would never say it out loud to anyone else, but there is one thing that can tie her down, there is one cause that the most flighty of Metal Demons will put herself behind, totally and utterly - and it is the light of that Fallen Sword and the feelings behind it.

--and with that thought, she's moving again, letting the glow above spur her on, knowing that there's every chance it might leave Riesenlied desperate and open in its wake. Actually attacking seems pointless - useless, when Riesenlied hopes to forge a peace - so she doesn't even try, simply concentrating on making it to the commander's side. The mutter of "--you idiot--" isn't exactly unexpected, but carries far more emotion to it than any Metal Demon should know.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

The lack of words isn't a bad thing; talking is at once difficult and something she wants to do at the moment, and difficulty can win out. She still feels dazed; she wonders dimly whether she hit her head and didn't notice it, though it's likely the mix of pain and strange auras that still get to her even now.

Jude tells her to look out and she stirs, unaware of being spared. What is she going to do about that? When Jude is jarred, Lily is jarred, murmuring a noise of pain at all the motions, still bleeding. The ex-soldier's breathing is still going though, and while she's pale... She was pale to begin with. She hasn't lost so much blood yet that she won't survive.

He says to trust him to Ida and a strangled sound like a laugh escapes Lily's lips. "Sorry... can't... focus..."

There's shouting. She's not interested in the shouting. But she looks up at Riesenlied's light and stares, having seen it once before. Will it work here? Will it affect her again? It's such a strange feeling.

"Riesenlied... Get out alreay." This one comes down to a whisper.

Ida Everstead-Rey has connected.

<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.

Who even knows what the dreadful scythe in Harken's hands is forged from? Alhazred, probably, which is arguably worse than nobody knowing at all. Never has the blade met resistance in its (admittedly short) lifetime until now. The scythe's blade is caught with inexplicable grace in the fingertips of the mysterious gear, and the Scarlet Knight's descent comes to a screeching halt (you know, the screech of metal on metal) with that. But there's little shock on the Demon's face, only recognition of a greater threat. She glances upwards, dangling from the Gear's hand, to better judge her next course of action.

"Not bad... not a single gripe about justice, or the human spirit." Harken mutters to herself, perhaps finding some solace in this strange jerk's attitude towards battle. Enough to offset the rising tide of irritation at Zed's very presence in the back of her mind.

The pitch of the battle, however, soon rises. The Gear's owner moves quicker than the eye can follow. Even the Quarter Knights, it seems, have trouble tracking such movements. Only instinct guides Harken free from harm, the beast in scarlet kicking off of Weltall's strange and evil replacement a heartbeat before a searing blast of rippling crimson sears the air where she once hung.

For that tiny victory, many losses are stacking up. Alarm is evident on Harken's face as a great and terrible brightness and a deafening roar soon precede Siegfried's alarmed screams--a sound that she has not heard once before. Her superior and, perhaps, the sole person she respects is as still upon the ground as a corpse.

Riesenlied is wielding that damnable sword--and Harken knows the price it exacts on her body. Her grip tightens on Azrael, whose steely blade has darkened the colour of long-dried blood, and whose aura of menace has become a visible thing: crackling arcs of ruby and scarlet. It almost (almost) occludes the familiar yell from Ida, a voice belonging to the interesting woman with the demonbone weapon, and the breaking of a bottle on the back of her head. She... she must have meant well.

Harken rushes Id. It's simple to say, but then, it's a simple act. That Gear might herald the end of civilizations, but consider this: Siegfried's death might as well herald the end of the Metal Demons, in the Quarter Knight's mind. Their leader's recovery is of the utmost importance. If Riesenlied wants to form some kind of beautiful understanding together, that's her business--Harken wants That Gear clear of her commander.

So, when Harken brings that scythe to bear on the world's common foe, trailing arcs of scarlet at some appreciable fraction of the speed of light, it isn't for play. It's just that--whether she cleaves the Gear's leg off or strikes thin air, the outcome is all the same. The hulking Quarter Knight uses the momentum and speed of her attack to whirl, scoop the fallen, much-larger-than-her form of her superior into her arms as if Siegfried weighed no more than a newborn babe, and leap free of the entire melee again in one smooth movement.

Yes, that's right. Harken ran away.


<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Why, Lily? Because Xantia is an idiot who doesn't know what she's doing, clearly. Surely that's all the explanation anybody needs for anything she does.

Things like stand and fight somebody who's already displayed so much power. Did she even notice all the power that was brought to bear previously? Why would you even try to physically punch someone like that? She doesn't even seem surprised at the (relative lack of) result, so on some level she must have realized she wasn't dealing with someone ordinary. His words, however...

I wonder what you are, exactly.

That causes her eyes to widen. This is the first time that phrasing even occured to her. All this time, she's been wondering who she is. She was told once that she was asking the wrong question. Could the correct question have been what she is?

She shakes her head, violently rejecting the thought. The last thing she needs is to start doubting her own humanity. She's just... a little stronger than most people, that's all. There's probably a perfectly good explanation for that.

Distraction can be fatal. When Xantia just remains standing there in a daze caused by self-doubt, Id has all the time in the world to come down again and give her a wake-up call. Except... the expected impact doesn't happen. Id lands on the ground, rather than Xantia's head. How could she have seen that coming? It's almost like someone tried to use that same trick on her once before...

Siegfried's beam attack slams into the red Gear shortly after, and Xantia... Xantia is just gone. It isn't immediately apparent where she went. She wasn't seen leaving the area, but as the Gear rises back into action to retaliate against the Quarter Knight, she's yet nowhere to be found.

Unless... one were to look on top of Weltall, to see a figure glowing white in the midst of all that red, standing on its right shoulder. While Id was otherwise occupied, she finally hitched that ride she asked for before.

This is, bar none, quite solidly the dumbest thing she's ever done. Xantia realizes this, on some level. She feels extremely sick just being where she is. But, for some reason, she felt an urge, a need to act in this way. To persist in pursuing this man she knows nothing about, nothing except his frightening strength and obvious malice. Realizing on some level that the most pressing question she has about this entire situation is somehow related to all this.

"Where is Fei...?"

With that, she brings both hands together, aiming to send a hammer blow crashing into the side of the Gear's head. Even her significant strength probably would have little effect here... were it not for the wave of electricity released on impact. Lightning arcs across the metal, lingering for a moment until dissipating. Xantia, meanwhile, drops to her knees, now needing her hands just to keep from falling. This... may not end well.

GS: Xantia has attacked Id with Thunderstruck!

GS: Xantia has completed her action.

GS: Id takes a solid hit from Xantia's Thunderstruck for 180 hit points!

GS: Id takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Fallen Sword - 'Laevateinn' for 204 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

Lets call a spade a spade. The Demon of Elru walks towards Siegfried. With his gear. He isn't taking this to chance. He raises a glowing hand at him. He thought he killed Siegfried before and was incorrect. Luckily this is a problem that he feels like he can fix. He says, "Die content. You will soon be free from the humans you despise so much." He's just about to fire when--

HARKEN INTERRUPT. The power of the FAST DRAW actually rips through the gear's leg--it doesn't cut it off, but it does rip through the joints through those very joints that got shot earlier, wrecking them and causing the gear to stumble. The Demon of Elru's blast explodes near Siegfried--but not into him--as he's jostled by the Gear's fumbling. "That speed...! Is that...!" The Demon of Elru exclaims but Harken's gone before he can retaliate. "Tch...." He grunts. "It would have been better if he died here..."

Xantia then takes care of Id's momentary astonishment. Xantia slams her fists into the gear and send it tumbling to the ground with her mighty strike. "Who cares!?" The Demon of Elru shouts back at Xantia as he crashes to the ground. "I don't MIND killing you here but--" He leaps off the red gear.

He grabs it by the hand. He swings it around and slams it into Zedder Robo's fist, smashing it inwards for its efforts.

Jude Moshe evacuates Lily. For whatever reason, The Demon of Elru doesn't seem inclined to chase after him. Maybe he loses interest in that which flees or stops moving. Maybe he does have his limits and is conserving what he has. Who knows? Who cares? It's some asshole after all. The important thing if Lily survives today, it'll hbe thanks to Jude Moshe. Truly, this has been an awful week for Lily Keil. It's okay. Fei had an awful week too. He sympathizes.

Neriah unleashes her own magic for the gear and The Demon of Elru. The Demon of Elru lets out a wild scream, a scream of pain, a scream of DYING. A tortured scream of unimaginable pain. It's like the howl of a wounded animal as Neirah rips into the gear with those tendrils.

The Demon of Elru looks down towards Neirah and says, wiping some blood from his mouth from biting his tongue. "I've felt that pain before." He says, with the closest he's given to actual kindness so far this entire day. "Leave. I am destroying this place regardless of who is in it."

He slams his mech back down into the ground and looks up towards Riesenlied.

He has his own memories. None of them are as kind as the ones that Riesenlied has. He is barred from such beautiful imagery. Riesenlied wants to have a heart to heart with the Demon of Elru.

As the Demon of Elru is stymied by the attacks of Drifters and Metal Demons alike, he can't avoid it.

The light envelopes him.

And darkness envelopes Riesenlied. The red gear and Id go still for precious moments. Perfect time to enact last minute plans. Who knows how long he'll be frozen by Riesenlied's maneuver.


<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida smells blood, and hears someone's voice. She turns, a little woozily, to see Sibyn, again, and she steps towards her. She should run. She should get out of here. Every second she stays is another second the man in red can use to kill her.

And yet, she has seen so much horror that even the slightest gesture she can make against it feels like an act of cosmic defiance. No, things don't have to be this way. She can fix them.

Ida's flesh is not saturated with durable, high-tensile organometallides. She is still recovering from serious damage to her right arm, and it may never completely heal. The man in red hit her so hard she's probably got a concussion. She rushes forwards anyway, gripping the beam and lifting from the knees, like Claude taught her to. Moments later, something starts boiling at the edge of her consciousness, something horrible and vile and completely different from the horror that was already threatening to drown her. The muscles in Ida's neck stand out like cords. She grits her teeth. She stares straight ahead, as if desperately trying to fend off something that has her mind in a vise-grip.

<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Eventide has posed.

Leading the soldiers she can to safety, Clarissa continued to observe the fight from a widening distance. Some, she assisted onto the back of a giant dog-like entity, deciding to trust Cetiri with the lives of the troops in the wake of all this madness. Besides, most of those she traded were already injured to some degree, which would only slow the retreat down. Still. "You let them die, and I'll hunt you down until you're locked up in a cage in my lab for the rest of your...life." She frowned skeptically at this last word, as though uncertain if it fit the odd metallic monster.

As for the rest of her makeshift wing of infantry, she guided them away from the battlefield, before a pang of responsibility caused her to turn around and witness the faraway battle. Leaving her soldiers to recuperate, she commissioned a horse from the supply train, and galloped her way back to the bloodshed.

Now, Claire approaches from the ruined battlegrounds, tugging her trusty black-dappled white mare to a trot as she surveys the extent of the damage and searches for survivors.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Ida and Sibyn lift -- as much as Sibyn would like to brag, her arms are also probably not saturated with durable, high-tensile organometallides. No, you have to make a hundred years to get that, she's just standard grade at present. They heave-- they grunt-- and the beam slowly moves--

--and a larger arm helps them, finally giving them that last nudge needed to move everything apart and get to the survivors underneath. It's a huge demon, with graying hair and strange lenses for eyes. "Mister J-Jedan!" Sibyn gasps.

"Too old for this," Jedan grunts in complaint again. But then he cracks a grin as he looks towards the skies. "... but still lovin' this shit."

The old demon is huge and strong enough to just heave all -four- people onto his broad shoulders, and then just jet -- Ida can see that they're carrying her towards one of the armored carriers, ready for lift-off. "We're beyond capacity with these four! Let's go!"


<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah recognizes that scream. It's one she's given off many a time in her own right. But not this time.

Right now she feels like she could float away.

The darkness rends at the Gear and the Demon alike, before finally coiling into itself and collapsing, folding irregularly back downwards and receding into Neriah as if someone had hit a vast cosmic reset button. The girl's body jerks and spasms like a puppet dangling from a string. Her eyes are momentarily blank.

She slouches forward, groaning thinly as the pain she expected to come finally comes. It grips her like a claw around her heart. "F-fine... do what... do what you want," she rasps, her voice laced with anguish and barely audible. "But someday I'll... murder you."

That calling forth of the darkness took all Neriah had. Staggering, she turns and begins to limp towards the gate; she's a distance behind Ida, leaving a trail of blood droplets behind as her hand continues to slowly bleed out. Her left hand clutches to her chest as if she could somehow guard her heart against whatever it is she feels.

But why do I feel so exhilarated...?

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia experiences a brief resurgence of energy when Id responds to her, enough to shout back, "I care!" But that's about all the defiance she can muster at this point. She's... tired, so tired. And extremely lucky that she managed to actually drive the Gear to the ground with her attack, because she soon loses her grip, tumbling off the machine and landing face-first in the dirt.

That hurt, but considering the stunt she just pulled, and the distance she would have fallen had the Gear still been standing, she got off exceptionally well. Her prone position would've made it easy to take advantage, but Id is otherwise occupied. Another extremely lucky thing - she's not about to get up immediately. She's going to need a moment. Possibly a lengthy one.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Riesenlied finds herself in a dark space, seated in a wooden chair. A giant cross ripples through space before her drifting from side to side like a pendulum above her head. Riesenlied can see clearly that there's a red jewel in the center and spikes pushing out from each end. Across from her is a red curtain, blocking off a section of the dark space.

Well, this is interesting.

The Demon of Elru walks through the darkness towards Riesenlied. Riesenlied finds that she cannot leave the chair as a deep malevolence is thick in this space. She asked for this Idtervention and now it's happening whether she wants it to or not. The man's mouth moves and she hears his voice in her mind. Likewise, Riesenlied finds she can respond to him. It's through the mind but she can use her mouth if she'd like. Or not. There's no real purpose to battling in here at least not with energy blasts. Ideas are far more deadly here.

An empathy weapon doesn't really suit the metal 'demons', so you surprised me, but I guess it suits a coward like you just fine.

He provides a bright childlike smile that doesn't quite suit his adult form.

How do you do it? Make all those wonderful little friends and then stab them right in the back? You don't even enjoy the cruelty, you don't even cut them off for your 'higher cause'--not really. You know they still love you. That's what you're wiping off the face of this planet. Your friends. At the end of the day, no matter how much honor you have, or the painless methods you seek to employ...you will have to kill them to live on this planet. They won't have it any other way. It's happened before, it'll happen again, it'll be wiped clean just like Zeboim.

You know just because she's your 'Mother' doesn't mean she cares one whit for you. People like you and Siggy, so dishonest. So cruel. Makes me come off as the nice guy. You should be more like Berserk. You can act all high and mighty as you want, but you know the truth. You know that in the end it doesn't matter how cute or noble you pretend to be. It's those 'higher causes' you have that get the reeeeaaaal body counts going...Your little Ebony Wings. You've already caused more deaths than Berserk ever will. You want to know why?

He ducks down, right there getting into Riesenlied's personal space. She still can't find herself the ability to move, stuck right there in his malevolence. He looks into Riesenlied's eyes. He presses his finger into Riesenlied's eyes and pulls something out of it. It seems the empathy is two-way and Id is accustomed to visitors to his mind space. So accustomed.

What he pulls out is a vision. It's a vision of her talking to Siegfried.

"Mankind will destroy itself--and destroy us with it, if they can. See that they don't."

Then just as casually, The Demon squishes Siegfried between his fingers.

You're just a coward like HIM. Making excuses, pinning blame on others, passing the pain to others. What you did was worse than what Berserk will ever do. Not out of kindness, but of cowardice. Siegfried may not be as strong as he thinks he is, but at least he's not a coward. They call you 'Tainted', don't they? Your comrades must truly care for you.

He uses 'Tainted' in a different way than what Riesenlied might be used to. It isn't The Demon of Elru disregarding Riesenlied. If anything...it's a challenge. Challenges aren't rare for Metal Demons nor the duels that follow but this challenge is a bit more metaphysical in nature.

You want to understand me?

He presses his forehead against Riesenlied's. I'll give you something to call me by. Id. Lets see how long you can listen

That's when it comes. Id was not boasting when he told Neria he felt that pain before. He has. And not just once. Not just once in a while. Constantly. For a very long time, he's been through unimaginable torture. And that isn't the most painful thing he's felt.

Death. He's died before. Somehow. He's died many times. He's been shot. He's been run over by a chariot. He's been choked. He's been left to starve. He's been impaled. He's been crucified. He's been dying over and over and over and over and over again. Riesenlied doesn't see visions with these feelings. She just feels the pain. The experience.

Id will only stop feeding this to Riesenlied once she screams for him. He's got hundreds.

BGM INTERRUPT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egn_VNVKzI4

<Pose Tracker> Ebon Zero has posed.

"--hold your fire!" roars the figure of Ebon Zero as she lands on the rooftop beneath Riesenlied, her voice hoarse as she calls to human and demon alike - it's not like using her communicator would help at this point, their forces split and intermingled as they are. As someone trapped between human and demon, she knows how fragile both sides can be - knows how tenuous the link between them can become, threadbare in this moment as Riesenlied makes the attempt to understand the flame-haired demon.

And, as pragmatic as she can be, there's a desperate sensation at the back of her mind that tells her this might be their only chance to stop this fight - that any threatening motions might simply kick the destruction off once more. "Don't provoke him further!"

She scans the battlefield as quickly as she can, her mind reeling as she does her best to try to take it in. She's not a leader - not much of a general - and as much as she can plan and prepare, she's not as great as she could be when in the moment.

"--Jedan--" she calls for the Ebony Wing to assist the pair scrabbling at the rubble, but the big man is already on it; she takes stock of how many dragons are left, knowing grimly that she and Riese are probably going to have to face the music of the remaining human forces when all is said and done.

Impulse makes her bolt forwards as Xantia falls away from the glowing light; her blade winks away, falling behind her into so many motes, as she catches the girl in her arms. The landing is a little rough, certainly, and Noeline's muscles complain at the impact - but it's better than falling onto stone and rubble, and the demon turns to set her down more gently. "... thank you," she mumbles, and turns towards Neriah as well - before her expression tugs upwards again, pensively watching the Gear and her friend hanging in sync in the air. Fei Fong Wong (Fei) pages: (I decided to go against pressing on grahf's schtick but be as badass as you'd like)

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

There's a pause -- as Sibyn thrusts her hand out. "N-no, one more, please!" She doesn't know why she feels like this. She's never felt this way before. Never, in her training in the Photosphere, amidst the arenas and challenges and obstacle courses and trial fights. It wasn't until she came out to learn under the Filgaian sun that she felt like this. "Look!"

Jedan stares, and says, "All right, just one more."

He leaps off Salamandra's back to support Neriah on her shoulder. "Hold on a moment, darkness girl, this might get a bit rough--" and he leaps across, to land on the carrier.

Clarissa's stern warning gets an amused... little noise from Cetiri -- who, I should correct, isn't giant, but a roughly big dog-sized metal demon seated atop a giant yellow dragon. Shaped like an onion. Ah, they're all strange anyway. "A scientific type, hmm? Amusing. Your men are safe. This is no time for quarrel."


<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida slurs something that might be "Thank you", but between the probable concussion, the exertion, and her own fear, it's hard to make it out. It occurs to her that she is being evacuated by the enemy, and Granas knows what happens after this.

"Here," she manages, once Jedan deposits her on the floor of the carrier. She reaches down to the hard-shell case she took the tonic out of. There's plenty more in there. People need it.

Only then, when her duty is complete, does she collapse.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied's senses are themselves dulled as she enters the darkness that Id engulfs her in. In the space she -- was not aware she could create. She only grasped at straws, like a little girl playing house, before. She didn't know it would result in this. The din of battle seems so far away -- she can't see Zedder Robo rise behind her to strike, nor can she see Neriah's emergent black magic that thrusts out in coils to strike and consume and taint at the Red Gear and the Demon she's connected with. Xantia's wash of enormous electric power just seems to go unheeded to her.

She hears Lily's whisper, despite how impossible that is. It is because they're kindred spirits. She shakes her head. "I can't... I can't, Lily..."

She can hear Noeline calling her foolish, for a moment... but more importantly, she can feel that emotion within that sentiment. "... I am a fool, and I'm sorry, Noeline."

She's seated on the wooden chair, and all the voices wash away from her, though. Her eyes widen as she just realises where she is. She-- struggles, and finds that she's incapable of moving. No, it's not that she can't move-- she's within a space beyond her ability to influence.

"... maybe ... I am a coward," Riesenlied admits, as she comes face to face with him. Try as she might, she finds herself in a strange and unreal-feeling mixture between abject, absolute fear and... an unwavering resolve borne of some sense within her body she didn't know she had. That they could both stand side by side...

Her eyes lower into a settled manner afterwards, that wash of mockery seeming to cause her to buckle down for a moment.

"I don't believe that. I don't believe that such an impossible, invisible rift exists that this world must so reject us. There is hatred, yes, there is grief and wounds that exceed my age... they come from an age forgotten to all but a few. People like you, like Lord Siegfried, people of such long years that a milennia is still in your present..."

Her eyes widen again as the Demon of Elru suddenly springs in her space. She is vulnerable, here. She could be crushed, mentally, emotionally, at every moment. But he does not... he pulls a vision, from her eye -- from her memory. He draws Siegfried out.

"Mankind will destroy itself--and destroy us with it, if they can. See that they don't."

"I am a coward... because I could not expose myself and indulge in hate, like Lord Siegfried, or Lord Alhazred or Lord Berserk... hatred frightens me. It shakes me to my core, the capacity of hate. It is wounding, it is fatiguing... and it only spreads further and further, until it engulfs us all. The Photosphere, and everyone under its wing, in the last thousand years -- we've all been stained by the hatred of the past..."

She firms her lips as she murmurs, "... but I never said I fight alone -- because even as we speak, there are people who continue to resist you. Brave souls, all of them... the Drifters I've met in and around Ignas... and their desire to understand the past, to illuminate the sad and messy history of Filgaia and Lunar... that's what will carry us to a future where we won't make the same mistakes."

She hears a name. Id.

Then he places his hand onto her-- and she inflicts the understanding of a millenia -- no, more than a millenia -- wave upon wave of death. Not just the physical pain of being beaten, bloodied, tortured, crumbled, crushed, but the anguish and torment of loss and the grief of separation--

Her body spasms as Id feeds those emotions to her.

But for all the beautiful experiences she has had, she has untold sorrows as well. Not as many, and not all unfolded upon her...

A robed young woman of Ellurian origin, her face unseen, smiles as she reaches out towards her, her palm shining with the mirth of life... the power of life that so wilfully rejects her.

A looming shadow grows over her, judging, scorning her, oppressively rebuffing her. Anathema.

"--aa-aahhhggh--" Riesenlied gasps in a bemoaning, anguished cry, at long last. She lasted a while. More than most will. Her eyes widen as her pupils dilate--

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah is officially Darkness Girl.

Fortunately Jedan's there to help her out, because she looks like she's about to fall over. What little vigor she has left seems to fail her, but soon enough she's lugged up to the carrier. "Thank... you," she manages thinly as she eventually slumps off of him, falling to her hands and knees and hanging her head. The soldier hat she's wearing slides off her head, her short black hair sweat-soaked and hanging about her face.

She breathes heavily. Her bloody hand leaves a smear on the deck, but the bleeding itself seems to be slowing down now.

Neriah finally lifts her eyes. They find Ebon Zero, holding on the figure for a moment before looking back in the same direction she is, towards the Red Gear and the hovering Metal Demon woman.

"He understands," she murmurs, her eyes slowly widening.

She's aware Ida's there too, but the good news for Ms. Everstead-Rey is that Ida's emotional resonance feels completely normal now. She's not leaking spiritual ick anymore.


<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah is officially Darkness Girl.

Fortunately Jedan's there to help her out, because she looks like she's about to fall over. What little vigor she has left seems to fail her, but soon enough she's lugged up to the carrier. "Thank... you," she manages thinly as she eventually slumps off of him, falling to her hands and knees and hanging her head. The soldier hat she's wearing slides off her head, her short black hair sweat-soaked and hanging about her face.

She breathes heavily. Her bloody hand leaves a smear on the deck, but the bleeding itself seems to be slowing down now.

Neriah finally lifts her eyes. They find Ebon Zero, holding on the figure for a moment before looking back in the same direction she is, towards the Red Gear and the hovering Metal Demon woman.

"He understands," she murmurs, her eyes slowly widening.

She's aware Ida's there too, but the good news for Ms. Everstead-Rey is that Neriah's emotional resonance feels completely normal now. She's not leaking spiritual ick anymore.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

"Huh--" There's a soft sound from Xantia when she's unexpectedly caught. Her eyes open partially upon being set down, the girl dreadfully fatigued but still aware of her surroundings. She has no idea who this armored figure that's looking a bit blurry right now is, but since she's being thanked...

"No... problem." An automatic response, more than anything else. Though even if fully aware, she is the kind who would claim things were no problem when they very obviously were.

She's still going to need a moment. And then, once she can pick herself up, she's going to need food. Lots and lots of food. Neriah Parringer (Neriah) pages: ahahaha it's ok i'm being silly!! though now i need to catch you so ginny can walk my dreams


<Pose Tracker> Ebon Zero has posed.

"... you're not a fool," mutters Noeline softly under her breath, staring up at the skies above her as she swallows with fear and worry and affection. "I didn't mean that-- you /know/ I didn't mean that. You're anything but. If anyone can reach him - if anyone can bridge that gap - it's you. Don't you dare-- lose your way right now," she adds, her voice tight and more uncertain than it's ever been.

Energy seems to drain out of her - the knowledge that most of the dragons have launched safely with their combination of human and demon passengers is a relief, if only a tiny one in the face of the danger that Riesenlied is facing down - a danger she has no idea how to face, and one that leaves her clenching her jaw at her powerlessness. "--Riesenlied!" she calls instead, at least choosing to hope that the winged demon can hear her.


<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.

Id listens to Riesenlied. In this space he has no choice. It doesn't stop him from passing on his 'feelings' to Riesenlied. It's what she wanted. He kind of wanted it too. He seems less amused by the time he's done. More thoughtful. Riesenlied lasted longer than he expected.

Resist me?

Id looks up towards the cross.

I am not someone you can beat in a fistfight, Riesenlied. Surely you knew that. That's why you used this instead. I don't hate you, Riesenlied... but your time will come like any other's.

Then he looks at his hands. I'd like to make you feel the rest, but even I have to keep secrets and we're out of time. I know I may seem like a madman, but I promise you--I will kill again. Come back again. I'd love to share the rest. It's exhilirating, someone accepting your thoughts. He isn't being sarcastic.

In this moment Riesenlied might realize that Id provided no good memories, no moments of solace. It's as if he hasn't had any of those.

Riesenlied finds herself back in reality. Id is hopping back onto his gear. He turns--and without firing another shot--jets off away at high speeds.

Fei is later found, wounded but alive some distance away in his gear, unconcious though it seems the bleeding sorted itself out in the meanwhile. Guess he missed the whole thing. Typical.

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

MEANWHILE

Yarobeleedt is digging his way back up to the surface, slowly, panicked. What if all the humans are dead and the Tainted still stand? Then they will give the ^Tainted^ all the glory! Good thing he happened upon a whole lot of old human remains he can just claim were from the attack force, and nobody will know the difference!

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied is trembling the moment Id stops tormenting her with his experiences with death. Her eyes are rolled back as her mouth gapes open, beads of sweat rolling down her bloodied forehead as she listens to him -- stares listlessly towards that cross.

"... I ..."

As her senses start to dilute back towards what feels like reality, she leaves him one message. An unusual message, for someone who's just been scabbed at, tortured, harmed:

"... I won't give up ... I will come back. And I will understand you."

As Noeline put it: Yep, kinda suicidal.

Riesenlied drops like a fly out of the air the moment that synchronicity between them ends, and as the red Gear flies away, she freefalls towards the burning remnants of Old Petra, unconscious.


<Pose Tracker> Ebon Zero has posed.

By now, Old Petra is in ruins; most of it is in rubble, the demon base smashed apart and in so many scattered and lost pieces. The vast majority of its inhabitants - those still alive, at any rate - have evacuated or fled, be they human or demons or temporary robots.

But she promised she'd be there no matter what - no matter who stands against them, no matter how difficult it gets.

And so Noeline has remained, still there to catch the other demon in her arms as the winged demon plummets to the ground. Immediately, she lets out a noise that she would never admit is a sob, letting herself crash downwards onto one knee from the impact as she drags Riesenlied's unconscious form towards her in an embrace, helmet torn from her head to leave a shaky, exhausted kiss in the demon's hair.

<Pose Tracker> Zedder Robo has posed.

Metal twists and buckles as fist meets fist and Id's somehow, inexplicably, proves even more resilient than one made out of refined Metal Demon alloys. It's almost like this guy regularly punches Gears into the sky and throws submarines around like they were tinker-toys.

"G-gwaaaah!" Zed roars as he's forced back, the raw force of the blow blasting him dozens of feet back, leaving him skidding across the ground as he struggles to find his footing. "This one's strength is... Unreal...!" Zed growls as an obnoxious pink fluffball continues to dance in his peripheral vision.

Chu~yow! There's no way chu could ever beat master Id! Chust give up already! Chuhuhuhuhu~

"Ugh," Zedder robo groans, rubbing furiously at his head. "Just chut up already. Now I know what Hiro has to deal with--" He needs to get up. Get back in there. Riese is still up there, still fighting, she needs help, she...

Zed glances aside.

He sees... Glumzambor, buried blade-deep in the ground, eye darting about like it's actually aware of the peril of its present situation. It locks eyes with Zed's for just a moment... And then seems to... look away? 'Please don't notice me' it seems to say. "Glumzambor--" Zed breathes. "We need to get you back to--"

The eye rolls furiously. No. Please. That'll be fine. It's okay. We can just leave me here--

Chuhuhuhu~ Give innnn~ let the Chu-Chu growing inside you take contro--chuwait, chustop, don't grab tha--

Glumzambor's eyes go wide. No. Please no--

Zed grabs the hilt.

Suddenly he feels the connection establish itself. Raw power surges up his arm and back down. Mental communication bridges a gap between demon and ARM. Zed feels Glumzambor's presence. Glumzambor... Gets a face-full of Zed Psyche and releases the most terrible, awful hisssssssssss.

At least it has something to occupy its time with.

In the sense that it's presently chewing cartoonishly on a pink hamster-thing.

Noooooo~ Chu haven't seen the last of meeeeee~

Glumzambor devours this corruption.

It burps. Indigestion.

"...Well." Zed grunts, resting the blade over his shoulder before sprinting off to recover the OTHER very important thing they're about to leave on this battlefield. "That fixes that. I'm sure there are no long term consequences to this what-so-ever!"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

The battle finally comes to a close.

The crimson threat has escaped, to fight another day, to exude its unrepenting, malevolent power upon another audience. And upon that day, may the Drifters, or the Demons, or whoever else is unfortunate enough to face him... may they be prepared, for it is a clear lesson that the Metal Demons nearly did not.

The other demons have escaped -- whether on foot, on horseback or on dragonback. Ida, Neriah, and the others that escaped by air would find that the Ebony Wings hold true to their words, depositing them at a nearby human settlement for emergency treatment and care, before heading off into the darkened night on the wings of dragons.

Old Petra lays in ruins -- what was once a simple village that's been rescued from the throes of death had for a brief time become a little home away from home for the Demons that hold the Ignasian frontlines. No more. It is a wreckage not even recognisable from what it was; the inn, the tavern and other houses lay shattered, burnt to cinders or crushed to rubble.

But there is the mine, from before -- a mine that no doubt held the secrets of what the Metal Demons had planned in their Ignasian campaign. They were unexpectedly buckled and laid humble here -- and the entrance lies open, with relatively few in the way of guards.

Gather yourselves, Drifters, and brave the depths of Old Petra... if you wish to seek the truth.

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