2017-07-29: Tournament Finals II - Side 2

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=========================<* Lacour - Arms Coliseum *>=========================

Situated immediately adjacent to Lacour Castle, the Arms Coliseum is a temple to the pursuit of perfection in physical prowess. Built more than three centuries ago by King Etienne I, the Coliseum is laid over with ancient Symbols that blunt weapons and protect combatants on the brink of death, allowing competitors to fight to the best of their ability without fear of killing their opponents.

The Coliseum is the site of the annual Lacour Tournament of Arms, a competition that fuels the spirit of martial artists and weapons merchants both. The Tournament is a spectacle that draws visitors and competitors from across Filgaia, and is the major event on the continent while it is running. A series of smaller tournaments are organized throughout the year; entering as a combatant is free of charge, but spectators pay a nominal fee that nonetheless provides a significant boost to Lacour's coffers.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s8YkgEYlvY

<Pose Tracker> Grahf has posed.
<SoundTracker> Grahf - Emperor of Darkness ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8PN255uz8k )

It starts as a single point in the sky. A speck of darkness, standing out amidst the vast blue dome of the heavens.

And with a roar, it descends. Growing larger by the moment, the Gear plummets downwards towards the Lacour stadium. And just when it seems that it is going to crash headlong into the tournament stage, sending destruction in all directions... it suddenly rights itself, coming to an absolute stop. Hovering with its arms crossed, the black and grey Gear looks down at the assembled masses with glowing yellow eyes, its arms crossed in front of its chest. For those who take the time to look at it, the machine is an impossibility - the armor plating has some segments to it, but the joints show no signs of mechanical connections - only the smooth flow of armor plates that seem to flex like a living creature, for all their metallic quality.

And on its shoulder stands a figure - one familiar to a certain amnesiac young man, for they had spoken once in the sandy plains outside of Lahan several months ago. Dressed in a reddish brown and dark grey cloak, with dark grey body armor and a helm that seems to have been cast in the likeness of a horned skull, the Gear's pilot looks down upon the assembled crowd with a pair of eyes that burn from within the dark recesses of his helm like a pair of molten embers. And when he speaks, his voice is a deep and powerful rumble, somehow amplified to be heard by all in the arena.

"I am Grahf, the Seeker of Power," the man declares. "I have observed your contention for title of the strongest, and remain unimpressed by the quality of the contenders you have produced. For a land unblemished by true conflict, your determination of strength may be sufficient - but the world is changing. Ancient powers rouse from their centuries of slumber, and they will inevitably come to force you to take a knee."

Those burning eyes turn to look at the champion and her contender, an unblinking gaze that seems to pierce Lunata for a moment. "Heir to Fell Power." His gaze turns, and he looks at Garan. "Scion of the a Distant Paradise. I have come to present you, and all who stand in this arena, with a true test of might."

Grahf turns his attention to Emil and Amon, who are standing looking up at him with the rest of the crowd. "Thou were promised a chance to show your true mettle before those whom had dismissed you as mere trash, those who had not the power to even succeed in the first round of this contest. I come now to grant that desire. The desire for strength untamed, potential unhindered. Power... unending."

It feels like all of the air in the arena is being pulled towards the dark Gear for a moment, and Grahf's eyes flare as he unleashes some energy into his machine. Bolts of red and yellow lightning travel across its surface, crawling along its armor as the Gear uncrosses its arms, right hand held upwards for a moment, fingers spread towards the heavens. And Grahf's voice booms out as he intones:

"I shall grant thee the power!

"My fist is the divine breath!"

The Gear lowers its hand, pointing towards the two men standing down below.

"Blossom o fallen seeds, and draw upon thy hidden powers!"

Energy surges - but for those who can sense such things, there is no sense of malevolence or darkness. The energy that erupts from the hand of the dark Gear is raw, untapped energy - so radiant that it feels for a moment that the sun has come to rest in the hand of the Gear.

"I grant unto thee a glimpse of the glory of the Shaper of Worlds!"

And with that, a shaft of yellow white light slams into the tournament stage, completely engulfing the two men who had muscled their way in only moments before. Emil and Amon are bathed in the power, their bodies drinking it in... and beginning to change into something different. Perhaps something greater.

Grahf takes a single step and drops from the shoulder of his gear. He lands on the tournament stage without even bending his knees, the ground breaking where his feet strike home, spider webs of cracks traveling out from his boots in all directions. And he holds up one hand... and gestures to the two men upon whom he has wrought his will.

"I give you my challenge - a glimpse of what may come. O lost souls, dwelling in your small pond - I grant you a glimpse of the vast ocean with which you must contend." 

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Emil Blegovich is a young man in a blue bodysuit and a breastplate, with blonde, spiky hair and wielding a massive two-handed greatsword. In another, more just world, he would be a heroic figure rescuing royalty or leading a resistance movement. Here, he has been a joke - losing in the second round to a man whose face is literally on T-Shirts proclaiming him to be the "King of the Jobbers."

This is not a just world.

Amon Rau was a squire for a dozen years to a lord of Slayheim, only to lose his chance at knighthood - along with his homeland - in a blaze of light and a pillar of salt. In another, more just world, he would be a knight-captain guarding the capital of his kingdom, or the lord of a holdfast and father to a knightly line.

This is not a just world.

Gripped by the energies flowing from the Seeker of Power, both men begin to swell, black-red lightning crawling across their bodies as they are transformed. Amon's mace lengthens into a poleaxe, a dark purple cape flaring out behind armour that shimmers with golden light. And Emil's clothing darkens, shifting into a long, black greatcoat, his blade crackling with arcane energies. "COME!" the swordsman screams, swinging his blade around effortlessly, carving arcs of night-black darkness out of the air as it passes.

"COME!" Amon roars, crashing poleaxe against his massive tower shield. "YOUR FRIENDS WILL NOT LONG MOURN YOUR PASSING!" 

<Pose Tracker> Grahf has posed.

GRAHF'S LEVEL OF INTEREST : 5 / 5 (Survive for 5 rounds!) 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

See Fei's cutscene for his general reaction to grahf's appearance.

Fei has run into Grahf twice already. He's only mentioned him to Lily, however, because she was the only person (aside from maybe Leon) whom he didn't think would treat him like a total nutjob. As it stands, he now has to stand up and admit that this fellow isn't just a hallucination. No--Doc saw him too that time as well. No.

"Leon," Fei says. "This man was there when my village was destroyed. And then he came after me again, summoning a monster to force me into Weltall." He looks back over to Leon and adds, "He's incredibly dangerous and delusional." He stretches out his arms and swings them from side to side. It's pretty clear quick what he intends to do. "I know I'm at least partly to blame for what happened to Lahan." He frowns. "But that man's the rest of it."

He looks to Xantia. If he tells her to get out of here, well, that won't work. He knows Xantia that well at least. "Xantia." He says after a moment. "I'll try to stall him. Please...Live to find your memories."

And then he rushes off towards Grahf as you might expect. He runs towards the front of the stairs, gesturing wildly to the arena, "RUN AWAY!" He screams before hopping on the edge of the arena, and then launching himself for Grahf, spinning in midair before swinging his head down for Grahf's skull.

FEI PSYCHO MULTIPLIER UP

"Leave these people alone!!" He shouts. For a guy who hates fighting, he's pretty quick to make an exception for this Seeker of Power guy. 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Grahf with Headstomp!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

The booming roar of engines shatters the silence. Leo's head whips up, his lips parting in a grimace as the shockwave hits him. He draws his blade, shielding his eyes with his other arm as the Gear descends--his cape billows out behind him. "Garan!" Leo cries, though he's not sure if his subordinate can hear him over the cacophony. Around him, the crowd starts to stir, jubilation turning to panic. For the second time in as many weeks, it looks like the Lacour Coliseum guards will have their hands full preventing fatalities from a crowd stampede. "Remain calm, citizens!" Leo bellows. "The finest warriors from two worlds stand ready to protect you!" He's hoping it has at least some effect, though his destiny clearly lies elsewhere. It's time for him to see to it.

Leo stomps his foot, and a pillar of earth shoots up from the ground just inside the arena. Leo puts a hand on the railing and vaults it, landing on the pillar--with a deep rumble, it sinks back into place, letting Leo off at ground level. He doesn't so much walk out into the center of the arena as strut; he looks up at the hovering Gear as though it wasn't mere seconds away from obliterating the coliseum and everyone in it. As if Grahf weren't radiating crushing, terrifying power from every pore. As if this were anything resembling an even match.

He has to. He is the White Knight of Althena, and he was charged with defending the realm from evil.

"You speak of true might and divine glory," Leo says, looking up at Grahf. "I see nothing of the sort." He's calling Garan and Lunata out. Both of them are still wounded, and both of them are people he has an obligation to protect. He glances at Garan, and gestures towards the edge of the arena--the earth there rises up, shifting into a ramp to enable Garan and Lunata's escape. Amon and Emil go tearing off. Leo grits his teeth, and holds his blade.

"If you claim divine power, then show me!"

Leo what are you doing

Leo springs into the air, his face pulled tight. wind whipping his hair and cape around. He has to stop this man, or at least keep him busy until the evacuation is complete. Nothing good can come from this fell power.

Leo this is a terrible idea

"HYAAAAAAH!" Leo roars. He falls at Grahf blade-first, in a single, overwhelming strike. There is terrifying force behind it.

leo no 

GS: White Knight Leo has attacked Grahf with This Is A Seriously Terrible Idea!
GS: White Knight Leo has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon Albus had been watching, in the stands. Lily had left at one point -- and he was far enough away to not be aware of the fight between her and Ethius. He had started to worry, though. She had been away for awhile. Still, he watched the end of the fight -- until his attention, like so many here, is directed upward. Directed up at the great Gear, floating in the skies, arms crossed, and the figure standing upon the shoulder.

Imbuing some with power. Making a dire proclamation.

His mouth hangs open, for a moment, and his mind rushes to make sense of it. And, thankfully, Fei is there to explain. He looks sideways at his younger friend; his eyes widen a moment, before he nods. "Dangerous and delusional," he says. "Yes. Sounds right. Then, he..."

His jaw sets and he nods. "Fei. Xantia." He only sort of knows her name. "We should--"

But Fei cries out like that and he goes rushing in, running to the edge of the arena, and leaps over it. His eyes widen a moment, before he cries out sharply: "Fei! Hold on!"

He doesn't know where Lily is. That thought fills him with nervousness. He rushes down the stairs, and Argent Divider swings from his coat. He whips the shotgun out, aiming right for the Seeker of Power -- and fires, a shell exploding from the barrel. It erupts into so many flechettes that rain down into the armored figure only a moment before the White Knight's strike. 

GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's Headstomp for 50 hit points!
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from White Knight Leo's This Is A Seriously Terrible Idea for 40 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon Albus had been watching, in the stands. Lily had left at one point -- and he was far enough away to not be aware of the fight between her and Ethius. He had started to worry, though. She had been away for awhile. Still, he watched the end of the fight -- until his attention, like so many here, is directed upward. Directed up at the great Gear, floating in the skies, arms crossed, and the figure standing upon the shoulder.

Imbuing some with power. Making a dire proclamation.

His mouth hangs open, for a moment, and his mind rushes to make sense of it. And, thankfully, Fei is there to explain. He looks sideways at his younger friend; his eyes widen a moment, before he nods. "Dangerous and delusional," he says. "Yes. Sounds right. Then, he..."

His jaw sets and he nods. "Fei. Xantia." He only sort of knows her name. "We should--"

But Fei cries out like that and he goes rushing in, running to the edge of the arena, and leaps over it. His eyes widen a moment, before he cries out sharply: "Fei! Hold on!"

He doesn't know where Lily is. That thought fills him with nervousness. He rushes down the stairs, and Argent Divider swings from his coat. He whips the shotgun out, aiming right for the Seeker of Power -- and fires, a slug hurtling from the barrel -- and it shoots right by the White Knight, before it continues into that terrible red and black armor. 

GS: Leon Albus has attacked Grahf with Shotgun Blast!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

Elena had opted to spectate all of four matches. She disliked fighting, especially for the sake of fighting, and so spent most of her time on stand-by reading from holy texts or perusing souvenirs from the event. Out of those four matches, this now makes two that have gone awry.

As if she needed more reasons to dislike this tournament. Fighting for the sake of fighting truly breeds evil.

It's not the sight of the incoming disaster that spurs her into action; it's the sight of Fei, and putting some puzzle pieces together. The grand way Grahf speaks, the fact Fei is immediatly leaping in despite his dislike for fighting. Elena dashes (to the best of her ability, which is not very good at all) towards the commotion, a mix of concerned and desiring to help. Maybe, just maybe, it's seeing the White Knight himself dash into the fray too that pushes her to help and not just support.

"M-Mister Fei! Is that... is that the man you told me about, the man who asked you to slay God?" Of course she's unhappy about that. Kill Lord Granas? Pls don't, Grahf, Elena needs her god. For worship purposes, largely.

Her scepter (repaired, thank you very much Lady Harken for cutting it in half) is raised, her Mana Egg clenched in one hand. "O winds, I implore you, attack my enemies!"

The Mana Egg shines brightly. To everyone it probably looks like Symbology. To Grahf, well, it's Ether, plain and simple, that egg isn't going to fool him of all people. The winds howl, forming bladed rings, and with a wave of Elena's scythe the wind blades all converge in on Grahf, attempting to cage him in with Fei and Leo!

Don't worry, she'll try to lecture him if Fei confirms the question. 

GS: Elena has attacked Grahf with Howl!
GS: Elena has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

How could these guys crash Lunie's big moment?, is Neriah Parringer's first thought.

Her second thought is to yelp and hide under the seat reserved for Fastred Furlong, whom she tied up in a basement earlier this morning. Again.

There's not enough room under the seat for a human being, so the best Neriah can do is hunker down behind it and pull her newsboy hat down over her head, cringing away. A part of her debates fighting - Lunie is out there, after all, and she can hear or feel Fei somewhere in the breaking wave of battle - but Marilyn seems somehow so inadequate to the task of confronting someone like Grahf, who --

Who doesn't seem to ooze anything. Neriah opens her eyes and blinks a couple of times as it dawns on her that she doesn't actually feel anything from him aside from a general awareness that this being is hurling around some kind of incredibly raw power. Her right hand doesn't hurt at all. She relaxes her grip on her hat.

Wide-eyed, Neriah peeks between a couple of seats and watches the fight unfold, hunkering down and praying to whichever god out there cares about her that this Grahf doesn't realize someone in the audience has not run away. 

<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.

"!!!" June goggles at the sight of the Gear. Her vision is not good enough to make out fine details, but she knows what the hell a Gear is. The man atop it speaks with clarity and projection, immediately insults her style, and draws anger in her gut.

Then he draws energy forth. June can only feel it in the most general sense, somewhere in her guts or the more subtle bodily shells that no axe or longsword can disturb save by slaying them. That raw force rises upwards - lands upon those two men...

And the agent of this change and this force lands down with sufficient force to put a crack in an arena floor.

For a moment June feels her entire spinal muscle array tighten up, locking in sheer terror. A huge amount of her wants to scream and run. This man is imperious, impetuous - he's just simply walked into Lacour with an entire Gear, and even if the Kislev armor fist comes in in ten minutes, he's here NOW. Wasn't this how Adelhyde went? June thinks.

He's just standing there, June thinks.

Her eyes cut towards the Gear, floating above them. June hikes up her prosthetic leg on the back of the seat in front of her as other people begin, quite sensibly, to panic and run away. June detaches a weighted spike that resembles a camp heel, tugs on the cable for a moment, looks down at it, then up and around. Her gaze searches - am I actually doing this? she thinks as she spots where a banner strung across the top of the arena has, miraculously, not yet come down.

"Well, it's only gotta stand up for long enough," June hears herself say, as she hurls the weighted spike out and high - it flies - the tight-wound cable behind it dangles -

Fei is running in. "Showin' me up, man," June says as she leaps out of the stands and starts to swing like a pendulum arc. Fei strikes his blow as June swings ahead and prays to the Guardians that the knots aren't gonna give way instantly. They can do it if they want, she thinks as she swings upside down in the background. Just not right now -

The prayer is answered, or maybe it's just luck. June smacks the dusty ground to further her arc, fluttering the grip on the cable's retracting spring as she comes in closer and closer. Her hair flutters in the breeze as she calls to the man in the armor, "Hey!"

She would have said something else along the way but a gun just fired. June feels the banner string give way as she applies real force on it, but she's already sailing... The retracting cable comes up behind her as she rises, bringing herself down low, drawing back her prosthetic arm.

Maybe I owe that Chloe lady a vote of thanks, June thinks on the final approach. I'd totally snap my arm if I did this two weeks ago.

June aims to brake herself with her fist against the man in red. Against, in fact, his midsection. 

GS: June Lim Ze has attacked Grahf with Liver Greeting!
GS: June Lim Ze has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

The Malevolence comes instead from beneath, for one, and from wherever else it might be. But that is before the arrival of the strange Gear. Down in the backstage areas, Lily Keil is poised to finish off her opponent if she can, swinging her spectral weapon... But already, Ethius is moving, moving away from what would be a fatal blow with his skill and his speed.

Maybe she could have compensated, maybe not, but she doesn't get that chance as an invisible force seizes her blade. Lily does not let go; nothing has ever gripped her magic in quite this way, and so her wrists are wrenched as she tries to wrest it free and is launched backwards to slam into the wall with a shower of dust thanks to momentum, her weapon winking out in an instant in a faint cloud of darkness.

"You," Lily says, turning to face her with one hand up at Thessaly and one hand pointed where Ethius was. That softspoken voice sounds odd to her, but there is soething else odd. Something...

"...What ARE you?" Lily breathes, golden eyes widening at Thessaly. She doesn't answer her in that moment, makes no promises of movement. She just stares at what she feels, at what she knows deep in her bones. "How--"

Leo is already gone, though she saw him. And suddenly there is rumbling from above. Leo says to deal with them. Lily narrows her eyes. "I'm not interested in--" The rumble comes. The feeling comes, and Lily eyes both of them. "I'm not done with you," the bloodied, torn woman spits at Ethius. She shudders a moment later, in clear difficulty. The contrasts she can feel... On the other hand...

Lily looks more peaceful as she looks back at Thessaly. "I have questions for you later. But not while the arena is coming down around us." She dips her head... and with a glare at Ethius, lowers her arms and sprints towards the arena. She isn't that fast, but she doesn't especially stop either. She has to find...

When she emerges shortly, she sees Fei charging, and there's one. She looks towards this enemy, whose words she could hear while running, and sees the second.

"Heh," she murmurs, and skids to a stop. "There is no power that cannot be ended," Lily shouts back and looks like she's already been in a nasty fight because she has. "I'm planning to specialize in it."

Her hands come up and blue runic circles burst from both before, with a flash of light, blue ice cracks into existence in a spear large enough for a Gear, and rockets straight for Grahf's heart if she can hit it.

"Captain!" Lily shouts to Leon, "Status report!" 

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Grahf with Iceflash!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Leon Albus's Shotgun Blast for 48 hit points!
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Elena's Howl for 46 hit points!
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from June Lim Ze's Liver Greeting for 25 hit points!
GS: June Lim Ze takes Cover! She gains 50 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

It all happens so fast. One moment, Xantia is getting swept up in the crowd's reaction, cheering for Lunata's victory. The next, a small riot is breaking out, and a mysterious gear arrives to escalate the situation beyond what any could have expected.

Fei provides the necessary context. Someone who's incredibly dangerous, that's never caused her to run before. And hearing that he had something to do with the destruction of Lahan... well, she never believed Fei was to blame for any of that. So obviously that means that whoever this Grahf may be, as far as she's concerned, he's fully responsible for what happened to Fei's village.

Xantia frowns deeply. It's easy enough to read what she plans on doing. Fei tries to indirectly dissuade her, which puzzles her. She questions only, "Fei?" And then he's gone rushing off.

Hopefully Fei wasn't actually expecting that to do anything, because Xantia doesn't even begin to hesitate. Once he's off, so is she, not about to stick around and listen to whatever undoubtedly better ideas Leon could come up with. She favors the direct approach anyway, and besides, she'd never just run when people she cares about are doing something dangerous.

And so, right after Fei performs his headstomp, there's Xantia leaping down off the arena, coming in with a flying kick. Either bouncing back with a backflip or just landing on the ground, depending, but she seeks to rejoin Fei's side as quickly as possible, taking a resolute fighting stance. "Stupid," she chides him. "You're part of my memories, I'm not leaving you."

She ruins at least some of the dramatic tension by still wearing her Death Waitress hat. Ugh, custom appearance equipment carrying over into cutscenes. 

GS: Xantia has attacked Grahf with Crash Kick!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

It is a tense stand-off between Lily, Ethius, and Thessaly... for all of a few seconds. The circumstances change rapidly. Ethius keeps his mouth covered as Lily glares daggers at him. He says very little in return.

Ethius comes up a short time after Lily. He has to do ensure three things, first:

A) that he has his bandanna back around his face (and thus remove evidence of his being down there).

B) Grondo Rawlos remains unconscious (so that he takes the fall for this, shall we say, side tour of the facilities).

C) burn other tattered scraps of clothes he can find. He doesn't have much time to work with, the lighting is terrible (where it isn't completely wrecked).

In his haste, he steps upon the mark of a black wolf emblem, of Kislevi military style. It sticks to his boot for a short ways until it flits off and rests under the cracks of light that shine through the metal bulkhead door that leads back out.

Not that much longer from then, Lily will find Ethius standing by her side (uninvited, worthy of getting punched). He has that bandanna back on his face that she yanked off of him in their very friendly sparring match of good fun and cheer. He adds some casting of his own, chanting and forming lights from his tattoos and other shapes that come into being as sparks shower from an outstretched palm.

"Volt Shoot!"

Whatever parts of her ice lance melt upon Grahf - if it does - he dares to electrify it in a one-two punch, working with familiarity regarding her suite of powers.

For the moment, an unspoken understanding on Ethius' end that this presence... in spite of the two of them having come within inches of killing each other outright several times... is a far, far bigger fish to fry. 

GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Grahf with Volt Shoot!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Lily Keil's Iceflash for 27 hit points!
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Xantia's Crash Kick for 59 hit points!
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Volt Shoot for 49 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Thessaly has posed.

At Ethius' lift of a staff towards her direction, she regards him quietly, a glance down to the weapon, and then lifting up to what is visible of his face.

What ARE you?

Lily effortlessly wrenches her attention away from him. Determined, violet eyes cool visibly from above the translucent veil Thessaly wears; in the darkness of the coliseum's underbelly, she blends seamlessly with the lack of light, standing still even as Leo leaves his directive and vacates her proximity in an attempt to investigate the sudden, strange rumbling from above their heads. She says nothing for a while, that heavy, weighted stare on the other mage, pale hand lowering to rest against the decadent silk of her black gown.

She does not reply to the query, but at the promise for more questions, long lashes kiss her cheeks in a brief flutter. "I thought you might," she murmurs. "I have questions for you, also. You are treading dangerous ground, my lady. If you persist in the way you are now, you will destroy yourself, everything, and everyone that you love."

The quiet, dulcet notes hold absolutely no hostility; it is a statement of fact, and something else - quiet experience, laden heavily with sorrow.

With that, she takes a step backwards, deeper into the shadows. She has absolutely no time, really, to go the long way around. Ethius and Lily would not be impeded from their progress out, but should either of them look behind their shoulders, she would already be gone.

In the darkest alcoves of the arena floor, her form melts out of it, the stygian shades parting to make room for her purposeful, gliding strides. She is hurrying as much as she can, long skirts dragging across the ground, but her gemlike stare sweeps over the chaos - just in time to see the Guard's commander hurls himself towards one of the augmented warriors wreaking havoc in the ring.

She does nothing to assist him. Not yet. She'll move to find Garan Dantear first, and banish him to safety before doing so, and in spite of the screams and the promise of unadulterated destruction, she manages to find him with ease. 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

YEARS AGO ----

"Unh-" A younger, frailer Gwen looks on with despair as the tenth teacup falls from her stiff right hand. The delicate china teacup, already having been glued together with some amount of success, tumbles off its saucer, shattering with a heart-breakingly soft crash into many more pieces.

The grey-haired woman looked up from her notes, noting Gwen's failure with a neutral gaze. "The feedback isn't quite where we need it to be, just yet, looks like." The metal appendage was installed a few months ago, but even now, its movements still felt foreign to Gwen's body, which wasn't used to the addition of any arm at all, much less this one. The older woman sighed as she stood up from her chair, causing the younger girl to burst out.

"I-I'm sorry, Auntie, I just-"

Gwen feels a finger to her lips, Frea stopping her apology short with a single touch. "Your mind cannot possibly understand the full weight of your abilities until you've seen the consequences, over and over. A teacup can be replaced. Or mended. We'll just start again." She sighs, kneeling down to pick up the white shards. "That *was* a nice design, however. It'd be difficult to repair it this time."

This. This is what happens when power is gifted to those who couldn't understand its weight. Rushing back into the arena, the courier sights the massive gear and its occupant, as well as the transforming forms below. People are rushing the field while observers flee in fear, nearly trampling her for going the opposite direction. Grasping ahold of a railing, Gwen lifts herself up to the seats just to the side, hooking her feet and legs in order to hold steady. "This way! Everyone, over here!"

Directing a portion of the occupants, Gwen attempts to discreetly take off her right glove, earning more than her share of staring from the more distracted fleers. "Okay.... not exactly a good crackshot, but..."

She shifts positions, nearly crashing into another fleeing occupant. "Sorry!"

It wouldn't be a great idea to possibly risk having her little contribution grab the mystery man's attention while there's innocent civilians around her. Holding her lower arm steady against the railing, Gwen takes out a bullet and loads it, aiming it at Grahf.

It makes it easier to shoot when you can't see their entire face. Then, they're just another teacup to handle. 

DC: One or more attacks with that name already exist. If you are replacing an attack, please delete the original first.

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Grahf with Crackshot!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Grahf guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Crackshot for 37 hit points!
GS: Grahf enters CONDITION GREEN!!

<Pose Tracker> Grahf has posed.

The first reaction is, not unexpectedly, the boy. The skull shaped helmet turns as soon as Fei shouts, and those burning embers of eyes seem to narrow for a moment in response to Fei's rather daring action. As the boy leaps at him, Grahf brings one hand up to catch the incoming foot, barely budging as he absorbs the blow and pushes back against the young martial artist. But Grahf's response is measured, and actually sounds somewhat amused. "Good - there is fire in your eyes once more. I had wondered what might awaken your spirit, crushed as it was by the events in Lahan." The Seeker of Power turns his hand, thrusting it in an open palmed strike towards Fei's chest. The blow is a light one... but even a light blow from Grahf contains considerable power.

"I see your base nature remains unchanged. But you must channel that rage if you are to regain your true power."

But there is another challenge being thrust at him, and Grahf turns his head slightly as the White Knight comes roaring towards him, sword leading the way. The man's mask shows no expression, no reaction as this champion of justice comes charging it towards him. "Another Lunarian - the event that has brought the lot of you here seems to have taken a rather diverse selection from your garden world." The Seeker of Power brings his hand up... and blocks Leo's blade with his forearm, the weapon vibrating from the impact as it rebounds from the glowing red aura that springs up around Grahf.

His other hand opens, a ball of burning red energy gathering in its center. "But fools from an idyllic paradise are of little threat to me. Begone, you who know nothing of true suffering." And he turns, aiming to slam that ball of concentrated power into Leo's stomach.

The report of a shotgun echoes through the tournament stage as Leon unleashes a blast from his weapon, the heavy slamming into Grahf. The mass of metal flattens out and shatters as it impacts the man in black, the iron of the slug smoking as it drops to the ground with a loud clatter. Grahf looks at the mark it has left on his armor for a moment, and then up at Leon. He seems about ready to speak when a burst of magic slams into him from the side, as Elena unleashes her own sorcery. The slashing winds impact the glowing aura around the man for a moment, twisting and turning as the two struggle for supremacy. But Grahf raises one hand...

...and turns, shards of ice suddenly coming to a stop as they strike his aura of energy from the other side as Lily's assault strikes home as well. A moment later Ethius adds his own attack to the mix, a bolt of lightning erupting out to join in the swiling mass of magic attempting to penetrate the Seeker's defenses. "Clever - is this coordination intentional, or merely the result of desperation?" He closes his fist, his aura dimming slightly... and the trio of magicks shatter into pieces, the energy dispersing around the Seeker like an expanding ring of green and white.

"Your power is impressive. But you are both taking your first steps with these energies, while I have bent them to my will long ago." He considers saying something else, when June makes a rather dramatic leap across the tournament's central stage, launching herself straight towards him. And Grahf... does nothing. He simply waits, watching the girl as she launches a strike straight towards him. The metallic arm slams home, a loud *THUD* sounding as he strikes the armor on Grahf's stomach. He grunts for a moment from the impact, and then looks down at her. "I cannot fault your bravery, child. But the difference between foolhardiness and bravery is measured in pain."

He barely even moves, but the back of Grahf's fist comes around in a rapid arc, aimed directly at June's stomach in a blow that will send her sprawling if it connects.

There are others who are joining the fight as well - Xantia is speaking to Fei, even as she launches herself as Grahf with her kick. There is a moment of interest - those burning eyes look into the girl's face for a moment as he brings one arm around to block that kick, absorbing the blow for a moment. And then they look at Fei again... and Grahf makes a quiet noise of disgust. "If you are to walk his path, girl, you will find that it is a trail of hardship. Weep not if you find the way too difficult."

There is a loud crack as Gwen's shot echoes from the stands, and her bullet speeds across the arena, aimed directly at the head of the man in black. And with an impossible burst of speed, Grahf reaches up... and snatches the bullet out of the air. There is a crunch as it strikes his glove, and he takes a moment look down at the mangled round resting in his gloved hand, burning eyes impassive. "It seems there are no end of those who would challenge the unknown. Impressive. Foolish... but impressive."

And with that, Grahf reaches up... and touches a part of his armor set just below his helm. The cape around his shoulders twists and flexes for a moment... and then disappears, seemingly drawn into the armor around his shoulders in an instant. He rotates one arm for a moment, as if working out a stiff muscle... and then brings his right foot down into a fighting stance. "Very well, I will indulge you for a time. If you care for more than a glimpse of what awaits, then watch closely.

"If you blink, only death awaits you."

And with that... the red aura around Grahf erupts outwards, expanding in a dome of energy that rips off pieces of the tournament stage and sends them flying outwards in all directions. Those not directly involved will find themselves safe from the blast, but anyone else had best move quickly... when the dome of red light fades, traces of smoke rise from the blackened ground in an expansive gyre that stretches in all directions from the man in black. 

GS: Grahf has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Open Palm Strike!
GS: Grahf has attacked White Knight Leo with Focused Energy!
GS: Grahf has attacked June Lim Ze with Rock Breaking Fist!
GS: Grahf has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Storm of Power!
GS: Grahf has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Storm of Power!
GS: Grahf has attacked Xantia with Storm of Power!
GS: Grahf has attacked Lily Keil with Storm of Power!
GS: Grahf has attacked Elena with Storm of Power!
GS: Grahf has attacked Leon Albus with Storm of Power!
GS: Leon Albus takes a glancing hit from Grahf's Storm of Power for 69 hit points!
GS: White Knight Leo takes a solid hit from Grahf's Focused Energy for 204 hit points!
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Grahf's Storm of Power for 143 hit points!
GS: You do not have any attacks from that person in queue.
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Grahf's Storm of Power for 91 hit points!
GS: Elena takes a solid hit from Grahf's Storm of Power for 152 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Grahf has posed.

GRAHF'S LEVEL OF INTEREST : 4 / 5 (Survive for 4 more rounds!) 

GS: Xantia takes a glancing hit from Grahf's Storm of Power for 72 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Grahf's Open Palm Strike for 63 hit points!
GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Grahf's Storm of Power for 152 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

One source of worry for Leon is cleared away in an instant -- when Lily Keil erupts from below the arena's stands, and a spear of ice comes smashing down towards Grahf. He turns to look at her. There is, almost, a smile on the blonde-haired man's face. But, this isn't the time to be smiling. "Lieutenant!" he calls out. "You picked a good time to arrive! This man showed up. We need to buy time for the crowd to evacuate!"

He can see that his shotgun blast -- that all of their attacks -- have done little against this darkly-armored man. He swallows, before he looks sideways to Lily and Ethius alike. What is he doing here? His brow furrows, but he looks back at Grahf -- and the dome of raw, red power comes flying out. He rushes in -- and leaps, cresting over the top of it. It still burns some of his pants black, as Leon swings his shotgun backward. The weapon's barrels unfold, revealing a long, slender, double-edged silver blade.

It glints in the light, reflecting the devastation wrought in Grahf's wake. And then he swings down, doing a long, mighty slash as he comes crashing down towards Grahf directly. "Filgaia's known enough madmen ready to level a city!" he shouts at the Seeker, mid-slash. It leaves an angry red tear of ki in his wake. 

GS: Leon Albus has attacked Grahf with Riot Crash!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
GS: Grahf critically Guards a hit from Leon Albus's Riot Crash for 18 hit points!
GS: Grahf enters CONDITION GREEN!!

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei narrows his eyes in concentration. He flips off of Grahf's palm. So far this is about what he expected. He hasn't actually fought Grahf directly before but his presence, his aura, his...familiarity... Fei didn't go into this expecting to actually DEFEAT Grahf which seems like such a far off pipe dream that he won't even consider it.

"Leon!" He shouts. "You should be taking Lily and--" He pauses for a moment before turning back towards Lily, reconsidering who the one more likely to listen to him on this is. "Lily! You need to take the Captain and get out of here! We can't beat him!"

It's pretty clear what Fei's hoping for and what he's worried about. He thinks Grahf is going to kill them. The absolute terror in his voice isn't for them. He knows Xantia can't be stopped. Maybe her mysterious power is greater than Grahf's. Hey, a man can dream, but Lily and Leon are supposed to be REASONABLE people.

He sees that Ethius is going after Grahf. "Wha--you too??"

ETHIUS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE REASONABLE SMART ONE!

He brings up his arms just in time to block Grahf's 'light' palm thrust. It doesn't even fucking matter. He goes flying into the back wall, cracking his head. If he hadn't blocked that, he'd probably at least be unconcious. You can even see the impact he made into the wall, cracking outward still even as Fei falls back into a crouch.

"Nggh... My rage..?" He shakes his head. "You... First Adelhyde, then Lahan..."

He runs forward, his body blurring as he gets in close to Grahf to throw several quick elbow strikes to his gut and then leap up to tap dance on his skull again. He seems to be trying to slink past Grahf's guard. If he can hurt him enough--or annoy him enough--maybe he'll GO AWAY.

"Is there no city I can live in that won't be thrown into conflict? That won't be destroyed?!"

His rage is definitely growing at the very least, but is it being CHANNELED? No. Grahf knows what Fei's rage looks like. 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Grahf with Hoten!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.

DC: MISS! Grahf completely evades Hoten from Fei Fong Wong!

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

The impact travels up Leo's arms, and through his chest. It's like hitting solid steel, except steel doesn't glare at you with the eyes of a demon and tell you that you are helpless before it. Faced with such a monstrosity, Leo does what comes to him instinctively--he doubles down. He lands in the Gear's hand, raises his blade. "I'll be the judge of--"

Leo swings again, but to Grahf, he might as well be announcing everything days beforehand. The sphere of power rushes at him before he can blink. It slams into his chest head-on, exploding in a spray of light that looks too much like blood. Leo's entire body ragdolls around the punch, the sword flying from his hand as he takes the hit. There is no time for him to react, or even to collect his thoughts--his whole world is light and heat and complete, all-encompassing agony. He flies across the arena like he's been shot from a cannon, slams into a structural support, and then through it. A cloud of dust rises from the stone structure. Nothing punches out the back.

Leo's blade sinks into the turf point-first. 

GS: June Lim Ze takes a solid hit from Grahf's Rock Breaking Fist for 189 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Neriah is content to stay hidden in the mostly-empty seats. Most people, by now, have been smart enough to run.

At least, Neriah's content to stay there until Grahf's power tears into the tournament stage and sends the remnants of it hurtling through the area like so much rubble. A huge chunk of rigging hurtles into the audience. With a yelp, Neriah hunkers down all the more deeply -

Anyone close enough to hear her will find the sound of her voice cutting off abruptly. There's a surge of something in the air - like a localized taint in one corner of the stands. Against the backdrop of Grahf and so many other strong powers being thrown around, it's easily missed.

The chunk of debris slams into the stage and scrapes its way up, carving away rows of chairs. When the dust clears, however, Neriah's still there. She's hunkered down within a semi-transparent shell of black unlight, separating her from the fight completely. She can't hear anything outside her eldritch shell anymore.

She opens her eyes, breathing more steadily. Pain races through her, pulsing in her chest, but it's not as bad as it used to be. Virginia's gift to her has served her well in this case.

The shell fades out of existence after a moment. "Ow," she squeaks, turning to begin clambering up the wreckage of her section of the seating area.

But it's mostly to hide behind the thrown debris, and to continue to watch.

Fei's out there. She has to know if he makes it. 

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

What IS that aura around Grahf? It's certainly... well, it MIGHT be magic, it sure looks like it at least. Elena has to struggle quite a bit to even get a dent on the monster, and it's largely thanks to others that she manages it. Or maybe she should look at it from the perspective that she helped someone else pierce that defense? One of the two.

Grahf is certainly right, though, Elena is a novice spellcaster at best. She doesn't have some hidden potential or a great sleeping power within her. She has average Ether! Which, granted, is odd outside of Solaris, but not all that spectacular either, and it wouldn't make someone stand out amidst a crowd of wizards and mages. Not on its own, anyway. Not that she even knows much about her own magic.

Fei had called it dangerous. Now that she recalls that, she never asked him why he thought that, or why he called it Ether.

A flash of red, raw power pushes back against the Songstress. She doesn't stand her ground, finding herself launched back and tumbling on the ground hard. She holds onto her scepter and egg, as hard as she can, as she tumbles and rolls and eventually stops to rise again. Her knees barely cooperate.

"Why does this keep happening?!" she complains, mostly to herself.

Her scepter rises, and her voice rings out, deciding to chastise Grahf after Fei more or less confirms her suspicions. "Why do you wish to destroy God?! What has Lord Granas done to you?" No, wait, the logical conclusion would be... "Are you an agent of the Dark God?!" Dark armor, promising power to people, wants to kill God. It checks out! And really, it's not like Elena has any other reference point for what Grahf could be.

She mutters a prayer under her breath, her Mana Egg flaring up a bright blue as healing energy gathers overhead, forming circles of water that rain life upon Fei, Leo and herself, in an attempt to recover from that last blast. 

GS: Elena has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Droplets of Life!
GS: Elena has attacked Elena with Droplets of Life!
GS: Elena has attacked White Knight Leo with Droplets of Life!
GS: Elena has completed her action.
GS: Elena heals Elena! She gains 100 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Thessaly's advice--warning--something--? strikes Lily. Her eyes stay wide, unusually golden-bright, her own touches to her appearance largely worn off by the battle. But she says questions, "...So we both have a reason," Lily agrees, though there's something uneasy in her voice.

She will destroy...

Now Lily is here in the arena, and Leon answers her, just as she worried he might not. She ertainly doesn't smile back at him, but she nods crisply, even as she looks a little terrible--very burned. "You remember my timing, sir," she says, and she really could be smiling. A beat before, "Evacuate. Right!"

So she's already decided when Fei talks to her, and Lily shakes her head. "We're not leaving you, Fei." There's no exclamation in it, barely any emotion. But there it is.

Lily doesn't punch Ethius in the face though; standing beside him, she turns once with her head to look his way. They stand together, despite their loud fight. Lily narrows her eyes at Grahf at his sheer power, imagining angles, ways to get past him...

"Intentional," she answers him with her head held high. "I'm a soldier." But he mentions impressive power, and she narrows her eyes. "...All right. I have a long way to go. That's fine."

Grahf's talk of indulgene, of blinking, and Lily does not blink; the dome crashes around her, and Lily throws up her hands to counter it with a shield of black, crackling with violet, trying to sap energy with it--and that spares her life, but sents her hurtling backward into a wall which cracks beneath her, sending her to the ground. "Tch..." She was already in some pain before, but that...

"I'm not done challenging yet," she murmurs. Lily sprints again, straight back to Leon beside Grahf, and skids to a halt before casting her hand out towards him. "Captain!" Lily calls, and brilliant ruby light bursts into being about her hand, sparkles down all around him to mend wounds and give energy. "I'm with you no matter what!" 

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Leon Albus with Red Light!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.

A Long Time Ago

"You think too little of them."

"No. That is not the problem; 'tis that I can ill afford to think too little of them."

A soft huff escapes empty space in a vast, shadowed chamber. The lone illumination shines from the room in a spreading ray of yellow sunlight, like a shard of light in a morass of shadow. Two figures sit here -- one perched near that window, half-overcast and half-illuminated, the other on a simple chair further away, designed to look more like a sacramental ornamentation than actual furnishings.

"Every day they are out there, taking advantage of your generosity without so much as acknowledgement nor care. They glut themselves upon your good grace. You know the kinds of things they have inflicted."

"And I know the things that they have accomplished. They have a boundless capacity for growth, if you would but look. It is what makes them beautiful."

The figure at the window tilts their head towards the window. Gold eyes stare at a sprawling cityscape beneath them, teeming with life. Flourishing.

"It is what makes them terrifying."

---

A scar burns itself into the celebrated arenas of Lacour.

In deed, this damage it will last months, perhaps years. In thought, this day will last for those it has been inflicted upon... exactly as long as it must.

A column of gilded light pours forth from the coliseum like a beacon announcing the arrival of something beyond the ken. Something touched upon the divine.

It reflects, bright and beyond fathoming, within the golden gaze of the one who now watches the spectacle from afar like so many spectators who had come before to watch the safer festivities only to have fled in the midst of all the panic.

It is like bearing witness to a force of nature being made into a grand event; the force of the Seeker's appearance makes winds buffet outward far enough and violently enough to billow the light tan of the robes the observer is swaddled in. They watch from far away, and yet still, the raw force of the man in black reaches even to the peripheries of the coliseum, upon the high tower on which they perch. They can see it. No.

They can feel it. Something vast, and unfathomable.

Potential, realized.

Gold eyes peer from beneath an overshadowed hood, exposed in brief bursts of wind before they are overcast once more.

"... Know you now your limits." 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Is Ethius really the smart one, Fei? A better question is...

Why is Ethius here?

Why does he choose to stand by Lily and her commanding officer, Leon? He holds his 'shooting' pose as blood continues to seep from a wound to his forehead. To simply hurl himself in the thick of it all, outwardly appearing only to acknowledge the superficial elements of what is a frightening visage of depths he cannot grasp... Grahf's words might cut deep.

'...or merely the result of desperation?'

Ethius would like to know why he's here, in a broader sense.

Ethius doesn't find his answers within the depths of the coliseum. Putting the pieces together - entering with his name, blatantly passing himself off as a weaker, fraudulent smoke-and-mirrors trickster, the way even the announcer of his match with Shalune derides him with playfulness rather than malice, and the overall unfamiliarity from the one person who most closely resembles an enemy... agent? ...that accosts him. He comes to accept the secret isn't in the coliseum. Enough doesn't add up, even with the original motive to his participation largely fulfilled.

Is it desperation, then, in a scramble to reclaim comprehension of some greater purpose, in which he fights against the unknown?

Ethius holds his quarterstaff outward in both hands, switching to a defensive posture. He kneels, sticking it against the ground for traction. This is true for only a second, as the blast - no, a veritable storm - of power envelopes him.

Ethius hits one of the far walls of the arena pit, falling flat as he is showered by stone and shrapnel. He coughs. His battle with Lily took much out of him. His wounds are fresh, and show no sign of wishing to knit themselves magically closed.

He pulls himself up anyway, at a slower clip.

"The unknown." Ethius murmurs a fragment of Grahf's words. What about the unknown sticks out to him? He has no idea. He clenches a fist, as he begins to chant. His stomach rattles. His body is hungry, weakening from all the spellcasting he's already been up to.

"Overheat." Ethius calls the name in a muted tone, struggling to direct the area in which he attempts to turn up the heat around the figure that seems... out of reach. Out of reason. Out of knowledge. Out of the known.

A complete unknown, that he has no business daring to raise a hand towards. 

GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Grahf with It Can Never Go High Enough!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
GS: Grahf guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's It Can Never Go High Enough for 23 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Thessaly has posed.

Once she has managed to see to Garan's health and safety, Thessaly manages to straighten up just in time to see White Knight Leo go flying after his charge. It is almost to difficult to see the comet-tail of the streak he makes through humid air and the surrounding miasma of dust particles, until he crumples against the wall, his sword stabbing into the earth, blade-first; a knight's white flag of surrender.

Fingers lift and gesture, a ripple of power closing over the fallen commander and his blade, pushing into the wall until he sinks completely through it, vanishing from view. The other members of the Guard will retrieve him and Garan both.

There is a glance over her shoulder towards the fray, and the dark-haired woman she had just confronted moments before. With little reason to linger, she takes a step forward, with every intention to exit from the proceedings.

But something stops her. The words she had uttered below come back to haunt her.

There are too many. Too many things can go wrong. Too many people could die. Too many reasons to unleash.

She knows and it is the burden of knowing that anchors her in her place.

Hidden lips part in a quiet sigh.

With a sudden pivot, she turns to extend a hand towards the center of the unfolding chaos. That palm tilts, cupping the air and pushing upwards. A single, arcane word leaves her lips, lost in the roar.

Underneath Grahf, ephemeral energies twist and shoot upwards from underneath the ground, deadly spikes comprised completely of dark matter and pulsing with something fell and sick. They rise from the ground and unleash while those who have been thrown off of the man's proximity have yet to recover. It wouldn't do, after all, to victimize anyone with friendly fire. 

GS: Thessaly has attacked Grahf with Devil's Trill!
GS: Thessaly has completed her action.
GS: Lily Keil heals Leon Albus! He gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Elena heals Fei Fong Wong! He gains 100 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.

The blow from Grahf does, in fact, connect.

June hits the ground and she tumbles. She hits the ground and she bounces. Twice. She tumbles; she skids; in the end, the only thing that keeps her from going off the edge of the arena itself is that she was already moving in an unusual direction, and so some of Grahf's terrible force went into creating a pop-fly effect.

That wasn't an effect that felt good. June coughs wetly and feels something inside of her trying to contract in a way it isn't supposed to. Blood wells up from her pale lips and she doesn't get up immediately. Other people pour in with fist and spell and ARM fire.

June puts her hand on the ground. That's the first step. Rising upwards, she makes herself breathe inwards as the man invokes a vast sphere; only her relative distance keeps June from having to leap away from THAT too. That would probably be bad.

Frustration rises in her, helplessness too. June breathes in and presses down on it, imagining it squashing beneath her diaphragm. She shifts her posture then and -

Does nothing?

No; it's a pretty rational thing to do, June thinks. She's looking for an opening, somewhere when she can lunge in.

She may be waiting a long time, of course, but even now June does not quite fathom what she's dived into. A moment of flickering glance away tells her that at least the crowd seems to be receding, so, she thinks, there's that, at least. Hopefully they can keep running.

Blood stops welling from her mouth about two breaths later. 

GS: June Lim Ze has attacked June Lim Ze with Cut Branch Doesn't Bleed!
GS: June Lim Ze has completed her action.
GS: June Lim Ze heals June Lim Ze! She gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Thessaly's Devil's Trill for 40 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Despite her attack being blocked, and several others similarly not having any noticable effect, Xantia remains unintimidated, facing Grahf without fear in her eyes. Courage born from ignorance, perhaps - she doesn't have the faintest idea what she's up against. She doesn't even consider the possibility that her fists might not be strong enough to overcome all obstacles. But even if she did have some inkling, the response to the words spoken to her now would still be the same: a reinforcement of what she already said, just now. "I don't care how hard it'll be, I'm staying with Fei!"

In response, a wave of pure force erupts from Grahf, knocking Xantia aside with ease. She never saw it coming - but she does react quickly afterwards, flipping over in the air to land on her feet, and immediately breaking into a run to escape from any further damage it might be capable of causing. She grits her teeth. Magic, huh. Not exactly her forte. It'll be difficult to get in close without any idea what to expect. She'll have to look for some kind of opening.

Naturally, her eyes remain on Fei as she circles around. She wishes she could be of some comfort, but all things considered, that may be impossible right now. Not while that man is still here. Until then, she'll just stick to doing the only thing she knows how to do. She has all this strength, this is the time to make use of it.

Fei makes his charge, busying Grahf and providing the opening she sought. With dazzling speed, she rushes in from the flank, leaving afterimages in her wake. Her aim is to deliver only a single strike, delivered with the open palm, aimed for an area vital in chi circulation within the midsection.

A very, VERY familiar technique, indeed, belonging to THAT school. How does this girl know of it? 

GS: Xantia has attacked Grahf with Disrupting Palm Strike!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Grahf takes a solid hit from Xantia's Disrupting Palm Strike for 50 hit points!
GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Grahf!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

A part of Gwen feels oddly glad that the bullet didn't hit home, even if the results show just how powerful the strange man is. She wasn't prepared to kill a man; she simply reacted.

There was another part of her, far more practical, that was glad her shot hit at all.

It's just that it hit _his hand_. "Whoah..." She had looked on the two Grahf had affected with some measure of sadness, but it's clear that the source of their power was something else entirely. And it's someone who seems to know Fei and, just maybe, was connected to the events at Lahan. The quilted cloth of connecting threads begins to draw tight in Gwen's mind, so quickly that if you blink-

'... you will miss it.'

Gwen is propelled back by the force, crashing into some nearby benches as shrapnel barely misses her head by a few inches. A scream redirects her attention upwards, towards an older couple that were just outside the blast's range. "U-uh- just go to the exit over there, and-" Oh. That's... her ARM arm that she's directing at them with. "Oh, uh, don't scr-" One of the ladies, already shaken, shrieks as her gaze falls on Gwen's right arm, but her friend tugs on her arm, her mouth set as she mouths a silent 'thank you' in the collapsed Gwen's direction.

Hefting herself to her feet, Gwen sights White Knight Leo nearby. "H-hold on, I'm comin' over!" Sighting an opening on Grahf, possibly following Xantia's attack, Gwen pulls up her sleeve and yet another bullet, pressing the ammunition in. "Okay, just need to..." Setting her body against the steps as leverage, Gwen straightens her right arm. Steady.... steady... aim....

Fire. 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Grahf with Coil Cannon EX!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Elena heals White Knight Leo! He gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Grahf guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Coil Cannon EX for 37 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Grahf has posed.

It seems some of them are bouncing back faster than others - the young man with the gun shows a considerable amount of gumption as he comes straight at Grahf, unfolding his weapon and lashing out with an overhead blow. But Leon's blow is met by Grahf's upraised hand... and the dark clad warrior grabs Leon's blade and brings his momentum to a halt in mid-air. Grahf holds Leon aloft by his weapon through sheer strength, and replies to his comment with a level voice. "Leveling cities is beneath me. Should I desire it, this entire country would be naught but flames er the week is out." He turns, using his leverage to pull Leon in close before gathering energy and unleashing a single, crushing blow to the young man's midsection.

"And so your bravery inspires others - but if they fall here, will you be crushed by the despair of knowing your actions might have encouraged their recklessness?" Grahf replies to Fei, as he shouts to the others to back off, to get away, to not fight against this menace. "Attachments will only bring you pain. Cast them aside. Embrace your destiny!" As Fei leaps at him once more, Grahf moves quickly - reaching into that storm of blows to grab onto the young martial artist and spin him around. For a moment, unless he can break free, Fei will only see the sky as Grahf whips him over one shoulder... and then drives him to the ground.

But there is a question that is shouted towards him, a demand to know why he wishes to kill God. So, the boy had spoken to others. Those glowing eyes turn to Elena, and Grahf answers her question with derision. "I serve no dark god - I bend my knee to no master, for I am the Seeker of Power. Granas, Valmar, the Guardians - all those who would seek to shape the destiny of this world will fall in the end." He raises one hand, a part of the red aura around him coalescing into a surge of energy... and he launches it at Elena, enough power behind it to knock her back off the stage if she doesn't get out of the way.

The flames roar up around Grahf for a moment as Ethius focuses his own power, trying to break through the Seeker's defenses with a surge of energy. The flames roar higher, pushing against the man's aura of energy... and then he snaps his hand to the side, his own surge of energy shattering Ethius' magical construct. Almost as if he can sense the uncertainty in the man, Grahf intones, "Your focus is weak. Your determination is lacking. If thou would overcome my power, then embrace your rage to its utmost!"

He starts to take a step, and then pauses as tendrils of dark magic erupt upwards to impale him. Several of the spikes slam into him, red sparks shooting out as they clash with the red aura around the seeker... and then with a twisting motion, Grahf takes a step - the spikes shattering as he moves away from them, leaving behind small smoking holes in his armor that seem to shrink as each moment passes.

It gives Xantia a moment to leap forward, and she breaks through Grahf's guard with a quick and decisive blow. The strike slams home, landing just where Xantia had aimed it. And there is a faint explosion of breath from Grahf's lungs, and he pauses for just a moment, looking down at the girl. Looming over her, really.

Yes, he recognizes that school. "Bold, girl. Very bold. More bold than most here, at least. But allow me to demonstrate how that blow should *properly* be performed." Grahf turns, bringing his hands around in a posture that should be quite familiar to Fei... and then he slams his fist towards the same point on Xantia. The difference in power, however, might make this far more painful to experience...

The next shell from Gwen's cannon does strike Grahf head on, but the aura around him warps and twists the shot, pushing it aside and causing it to glance off of his armor. His raw energy seems to protect him against most attacks, but it is possible to break through. Beyond that... it is impossible to tell if Grahf is amused, irritated, or just bored, thanks to his all-encompassing outfit, and that expressionless mask.

Then he helps make part of his feelings clear. "Those who would face me directly are brave enough, worthy of respect. But for the rest - circling like a pack of jackals will not avail you this day!" And with that, Grahf leaps backwards, landing towards one edge of the arena. Both fists slam together, his aura fading for a moment as a reddish black light gathers before him... and then erupts across the arena in a wave of destruction, the surge of energy cutting across the tournament arena and tossing debris and unfortunate victims before it like a true tidal wave of destruction. 

GS: Grahf has attacked Leon Albus with Black Dragon Strike!
GS: Grahf has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Ground Slam!
GS: Grahf has attacked Elena with Super Guided Shot!
GS: Grahf has attacked Xantia with Soul Shattering Strike!
GS: Grahf has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Light of the Netherworld!
GS: Grahf has attacked June Lim Ze with Light of the Netherworld!
GS: Grahf has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Light of the Netherworld!
GS: Grahf has attacked Lily Keil with Light of the Netherworld!
GS: Grahf has attacked Thessaly with Light of the Netherworld!
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Grahf's Light of the Netherworld for 122 hit points!
GS: June Lim Ze critically Guards a hit from Grahf's Light of the Netherworld for 72 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Grahf has posed.

GRAHF'S LEVEL OF INTEREST : 3 / 5 (Survive for 3 more rounds!) 

DC: MISS! Leon Albus completely evades Black Dragon Strike from Grahf!

GS: Thessaly takes a solid hit from Grahf's Light of the Netherworld for 200 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Grahf's Ground Slam for 52 hit points!
GS: Xantia guards a hit from Grahf's Soul Shattering Strike for 80 hit points!
GS: Cripple, Slow, and Weaken! Statuses applied to Xantia!

DC: MISS! Elena completely evades Super Guided Shot from Grahf!

GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a glancing hit from Grahf's Light of the Netherworld for 124 hit points!
GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Grahf's Light of the Netherworld for 104 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon is, suffice to say, utterly shocked when Grahf holds the blade of Argent Divider in a hand and seems utterly unharmed by the blow. His eyes are widened sharply as Grahf makes a claim to his own power -- and the Black Wolf Captain does nothing to counter that idea.

The attack comes, as Grahf pulls him in close. He has only a split second to act. He leans in closer, kicking off Grahf's armored chestplate -- and then he leaps just over a fist crackling with dread power, which smashes clean through thin air instead of Leon Albus. He lands in a crouch, before he stands up.

"Fei!" Leon shouts, turning to look at the martial artist from Lahan. "Don't presume that we would leave you behind here! Lily and I won't--and I doubt that Xantia would either!" He doesn't know her well, but it's not the sort of thing that one would point out in the midst of a fight. Instead, he shakes his head firmly.

Ruby light rushes over him, washing across his body, and then infuses into him. Some of the scrapes and burns on his legs are healed in an instant, from where he brushed against the red surge of power before.

"I know," he says, looking at Lily. "But we need to be ready to run. He might be beyond anything we can handle." Fei certainly seemed to think so. Nothing he has seen indicates otherwise. He believes Grahf.

He could level a nation.

Which is all the more reason to try to hold him back that little bit longer. The stands aren't cleared, yet. He rushes in, sword held to his side -- and then he lunges to the side at the last moment. He snaps his sword up -- and the barrels fold out. He fires as soon as they're connected, pointed at Grahf. The round explodes in a spray of shrapnel at his armored side. 

GS: Leon Albus has attacked Grahf with Shellbreak Round!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
GS: Grahf takes a glancing hit from Leon Albus's Shellbreak Round for 0 hit points!
GS: Break! Statuses applied to Grahf!

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

There's a growing shortage of places where Neriah can safely watch the fight unfold. Grahf's thunderous wave of energy ravages the tournament grounds and pushes more debris ahead of it. Neriah widens her eyes as chairs from her former seating area splinter and vapourize, more chunks of stone hurtling her way. She holds her right hand out again -

And she's too late. A huge piece of debris slams into the one she's hiding behind; it in turn is thrown back and away, taking Neriah with it. With a yelp, she's carried further up the stands, eventually left sailing through the air to land unceremoniously in one of the cheap seats. Her legs twitch in the air for a second before she flops down into the aisle, landing on her hip and letting out a yelp.

Staying to see who this guy is was a stupid idea! she realizes. I couldn't do anything to him if I wanted to! Not even if I used my powers!

Swallowing deeply, Neriah drops into a crouch, then braces herself again. Her eyes remain fixed forward. Beneath her right glove, something pulses with the rhythm of her heartbeat.

"Ghhhk," she groans as she calls up her eldritch sphere once more, and wreathes herself in that shell of unlight. It functionally separates her fron the rest of the battle. The tainted feeling of her magic may be felt, but it's a mere footnote to the havoc of the battle. 

<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.

June listens to what Grahf has to say, in part because she has no choice, but her eyes remain focused on him. When he says 'jackals,' June starts to run forwards because, in at least one very limited sense, she thinks she has his measure. This is a man trying to make a statement.

This means June is in a peculiar position with regards to the wave of destruction. The black light screams at every cell in her body to run away from it, but she raises the prosthetic arm to shield her face and leaps with her newly-elongated one in the lead and -

The wavefront rattles her; the layered, lacquered wood smoulders; but despite a massive undertow, one that means she comes back two meters or so away from where she started her leap, she lands.

June resumes running as if nothing ever happened. 'Nothing' is a relative term of course because the smouldering continues and she staggers after two or three steps, even as she raises her voice to answer the Seeker of Power:

"You trying to goad us into attacking you all out--!?" Her voice is thin and shrill, she thinks, even as she keeps closing the distance, her irregular if fluid gait evening out as she spots those marks, even as they're sealing up. "What are you, some kind of Metal Demon--!?"

That is a real shitty epitaph, June thinks even as she twists her leg around, aiming to slam the metal-plated limb against Grahf's side as she twists herself around from the counter levering force. The narrow 'foot' pad at the end of it is aimed to scrape across his armor which would accomplish nothing BUT the lever-action SLAM of a shotgun round - this one, for once, not a tournament blank, but something loaded to take out small animals at twenty yards - just might. 

GS: June Lim Ze has attacked Grahf with Shotgun Kick!
GS: June Lim Ze has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Thessaly has posed.

Let there be light.

It blinds her before Grahf's attack knocks her off her feet, unable to call up a magical barrier in time to save her from the brunt of it. The wake of it blows dust all around her, and for a moment, she is obscured from view, a pile of dark silk on the ground and for a moment, it looks as if it might have killed her. For a creature so delicate, certainly something has broken on impact.

But if there had been, it isn't apparent - black is helpful in swallowing up crimson life, keeping any vulnerabilities hidden as she rises from the ground on her knees. She doesn't stagger, but the fact that she remains in one spot is telling. She dimly hears the man's chastisement in the seemingly scant distance between herself and the other attackers - but that is preferrable. She needs the room to work.

Her head tilts back to look at the heavens, obscured as it is by smoke, senses detecting the faint, coppery tang of blood. The deep, vibrant color of her eyes slowly fades into the whites of them. Briefly, clouds darken, heralded by the roll of distant thunder.

And a black bolt of lightning wreathed with violet energy splits the sky and bears down on Grahf's head. 

GS: Thessaly has attacked Grahf with Through Blood by Thunder!
GS: Thessaly has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"You... you wish to also slay the Devil of Darkness?" But... Valmar isn't even around anymore! Well sure there's those... obscure rituals you hear about every now and again in the history of the Church, to keep Valmar's evil at bay, but that's not really the same thing at all. "E-Even so, I cannot allow this! As a Songstress of Granas it is my duty to stop your advance!" Good luck, Elena, you're going to need it.

Speaking of luck.

The massive blast of light screams towards Elena. She throws herself to her left, and barely, just barely, gets out of the way. The ray of light obliterates the ground where she was standing, leaving a scorched, smoking crater and trail. She swallows, hard, realizing what'll happen if she stands still for him to try that one more time.

First Lady Harken, now a Seeker of Power. Elena's first forrays into proper combat are leaving a very poor impression on her.

Her scepter twirls in her hand, green and blue magic gathering at its tip, flowing from her hands and Mana Egg. "Light, lend support to my allies!" she beckons, and fires a stream of healing wind towards Xantia, seeing her take the assault from Grahf head on. Xantia will feel revitalized, empowered, her debilitating ailments gone in a flash.

But Elena isn't done! The remainder of the magic grows, the wind gets cold, and pointing the staff at Grahf, she intones: "And now, wind, water, slow down this foe! Crackling!"

A stream of ice shoots towards Grahf, attempting to freeze him in place! ... or so it might stand a chance of doing, if not for his terrifying aura of power. It might slow him down and give him brainfreeze, maybe?

That'd probably be good enough. 

GS: CRITICAL! Grahf critically Guards a hit from June Lim Ze's Shotgun Kick for 18 hit points!
GS: Elena used Mystic on Xantia! 100 Temporary HP gained! All statuses cleared!
GS: Elena has activated a Force Action!
GS: Elena has attacked Grahf with Crackling!
GS: Elena has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei is being called brave. Fei doesn't feel brave. Fei feels terrified. He sees June, there, now too (his head is pounding so he missed what she had said). June has been brusque, but her life story was intensely powerful. If she were to fall here...

What are you doing, Fei thinks to himself, they're not going to listen. That's not how Drifters are? They never listen. They never fucking listen. They're too GOOD to listen. But you know better don't you, Fei? That this isn't how the real world works? Being kind and good don't always work. Sometimes they're just a noble way toe end your own life.

"Damn it...Lily..." He says. He is intensely frustrated. Grateful, but frustrated, and terrified. The emotions threaten to overflow out of him. Sometimes the emotions don't have to be negative emotions to be beyond his ability to manage. The confusing conflicting mess that wells up in his heart--

FEI PSYCHO 60

He pushes it out of his head. He just has to do his best. That's the only thing he can do. "Please, please just be careful." He says desperately.

Fei feels familiar Ether energy flowing into him. He can't look at the source because if he looks away from Grahf for long he's going to probably chi blast him into a volcano.

Let me out, I can kill him, let me out, let me out, let me out

"Shutup....!" Fei yells at himself because those words have been a constant throughline in his heart.

Fei moves in once more but Grahf grabs onto him.

His swirl of emotions is briefly interrupted by dread. "Fuck." He says.

He is promptly piledrived into the ground. He lies in there face first for a bit. "Thanks Elena. Please run or you know whatever I know nobody's actually going to listen to common sense here. Ughhh."

He sits himself up. "If he wouldn't make me pay for it, I would run. He isn't bluffing--"

And then he sees it.

He sees Grahf's posture and he sees a man.

No he sees a movie of a man.

No he sees a younger version of himself watching a movie of a man performing katas with that younger version of himself.

He shakes his head. "I see... Maybe I can... try it." He cricks his neck and shifts to a posture. It looks EXACTLY like Grahf's. It's not like with Xantia where everything is a bit different. No. It's precisely the same.

And then he darts forward, throwing a couple of punches before he twists into a trio of kicks, finishing off the combo with a BACK FLIP kick for Grahf and following through with a dashing double palm strike for his chest.

Leon confirms his thoughts on how they'll behave too. God damn everything, Fei thinks. "Then whatever you do--" He gives up. "LIVE!" 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Grahf with Senretsu!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Grahf takes a glancing hit from Elena's Crackling for 0 hit points!
GS: Slow! Statuses applied to Grahf!
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Thessaly's Through Blood by Thunder for 45 hit points!
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's Senretsu for 52 hit points!
GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Grahf!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily in turn has gained an understanding of Ethius's magic by now as well, from the very same battle that sapped them both. If she'd known this would happen, would she still have gone after him...?

Most likely.

But it means she understands that kind of magic. "Finally have something to say?" Lily comments to Ethius, as she moves.

Thessaly's magic feels something like dancing to Lily, beautiful in its way; fell energies in a spell do not particularly stop Lily. More questions for later, since there nevertheless is something... wrong.

Lily isn't exactly expecting Leon's weapon to be held in place as he moves though; Lily sucks in another breath and tries to get loser, already on the move. "Right," she says when Leon can reply to her, looking back at him. 'I know' says all that needs to be said between them for that moment. "So far he is. I'll try to dent him if I can."

Grahf talks about bravery, circling like jackals, and Lily narrows her eyes at him. "You really think--" A surge of energy, of black light crashes around her. Lily surrounds herself with chill air, with ice crystals that stop debris by turns but also let some through, leave her with a thick red spot at her waist gleaming wetly through her clothes, with cuts on her arms and bruises all over.

"Bravery..." Lily widens her stance. Fei tells her to Live, along with all of the others. She knows what they'll do. She knows what she'll do.

"Bravery is a good way to die without completing your mission!" Lily calls out to Grahf, and skids his direction until she can raise both hands and conjure a torrent of flame from the heavens, easily wide enough to engulf her many times over, tall enough for same. 

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Grahf with Conflagration!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

'Embrace rage to its utmost!' Grahf... taunts? Instructs? Ethius' bones shudder under the directed words, as he attempts to recover from that first impact. He is given no time to rest when the destructive wave tears up the grounds anew. With a burst of adrenaline, Ethius vaults with help of his quarterstaff to try and leap, dive off to his left...

Ethius narrowly avoids outright disintegration.

His congratulatory pat on the head by the forces that rule the universe reward him with another burst of velocity from the erupting ground and displaced air. His mid-air dive is cushioned (that is not what the word means in this context, at all) by more loosened debris and shrapnel. A large piece stabs into his side. Another buries itself in his right shoulder. His landing tumble is not on level ground, bludgeoning and cutting him as he somersalts against the upturned arena and all of its underlying structures hidden from plain view.

It takes him closer towards the center of the arena. He props himself up from his elbows, coughing and sputtering as the blood from his forehead wound gets in one eye again. He wipes it off, then uses his quarterstaff for support to stand anew.

He has trouble drawing in breath with the moments that pass. He now looks upon the Seeker of Power. The overbearing aura could compress his lungs. He has no idea who, or what, this is.

...

Something about that idea compels him.

He limps two steps towards the Seeker as he draws his quarterstaff... and closer.

He tunes out the surrounding chaos and friendly fire. There is a curious rhythm to his pacing. He doesn't turn his head to where others are shooting or casting from, but the steps he does or doesn't take seem to coincide nicely with allowing much to flit past, and around him. His eyes don't say all that much. They're there. They're aware. They seem more focused on being aware, being... there, than communicating much.

'Your focus is weak. Your determination is lacking.'

Sacrificing his crutch for balance, the quarterstaff's tip is lifted from the ground as he thrusts at Grahf from his current distance - closing in towards traditional melee range - as he uses the utmost extent of the range his weapon of choice affords him. He chances injured, sore muscles and worse as he stretches his body to its limit to give it the reach he can afford with it, lunging forward with a single stabbing strike.

"Far Point!" That is the something he has to say, Lily, for the time being. 

GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Grahf with Not Quite On Point!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
GS: Grahf critically Guards a hit from Lily Keil's Conflagration for 20 hit points!
GS: Grahf enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Not Quite On Point for 51 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

"I'd agree on attachments bringin' pain. My life'd be a lot easier if I didn't feel the need to stick around." Gwen raises her voice just loud enough, trying to make sure those around her who are paying attention can hear her. "But life ain't about bein' easy. You can't see what's beyond the horizon if you're just stickin' your head in the sand. We're here because we choose to be. Fei's got no say in what we do, anymore than I do."

She's running as she speaks, moving towards where she saw White Knight Leo crash last. And finally-

No, there's a reddish black wave of energy and debris, freshly served to Gwen by Grahf for her hubris. Pushed back against the railings as a piece of metal rips an arc of blood off her left shoulder, Gwen collapses to the ground. "Ngh..." Falling behind some stands, she crawls forward just a bit more, falling into the pit White Knight Leo had made with his impact.

Finally, she's here. Just far more injured than when she first started her trek.

The man may be hunting for Lucia, Hiro, and the rest of the gang, but he, ultimately, is not an evil person.

He's shown that.

"Hold on, I'm here." She checks over his body. Thankfully, due to Elena's healing, he seems to be fine, just unconscious. Taking off the handkerchief around her neck, Gwen presses against a still bleeding wound, pinning Leo's hand against it. "There we go... Not as bad as I thought it was gonna be..."

Still, Grahf could come over here, and coverfire may not cut it. It's looking like gunshots don't really have as much effect as taking him straight on. Though she denies it, Fei *is* inspiring something that's about to happen. "Ho'kay, time to do this..."

There's a running figure that bursts from the wreckage White Knight Leo was just in- Gwen. She races forward, her fist at the ready.

The Bum Who May Not Be Vash may not like what she's about to do, but man, it'll feel very, very satisfying when she leaps down and crashes a fist right against that extravagant mask of Grahf's. "Haaahhhhhh!" 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Grahf with Return to Sender!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Return to Sender for 14 hit points!
GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Grahf!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia experiences a moment of elation, landing a solid blow on her much taller opponent. It doesn't matter who it is, there's no way that landing that strike won't affect them. It's a setup she plans to capitalize on in short order.

She's stunned by how quickly Grahf turns to face her afterwards, immediately altering her plans to drop into a defensive stance instead. She has good instincts, if nothing else. Good enough to read what's coming, and perfectly guard the area being aimed for a moment before the retaliatory strike happens.

It doesn't make a difference. Grahf's power smashes straight through her guard as if it wasn't there at all. She staggers back, clutching her abdomen. "H-how...?" She doesn't get further than that, feeling her strength ebbing away, causing her to drop down to one knee.

There's many ways she could have finished that question. How does he know the same move she does? How could he still manage to make it feel like a direct hit when she was protecting that area? How could he be that much stronger than she is?

But the words won't come. It takes the greatest effort to just keep her eyes open, and witness the following exchange between Fei and Grahf. She sees it. The identical stances. The one that she can come close to emulating, but is ultimately improvised. There must be a connection between them. Is there a connection with her, too?

A soft, warm wind envelops her then, and she feels the crippling pain ebbing away. Magic... she has no idea where it came from, but she knows it for what it is. Someone is helping her. She has to get up. She has to keep fighting.

And so she does, as soon as she reasonably feels capable of it again. "So what if you're stronger than me... I still won't give up!" It's a straightforward charge directly for Grahf, right up until the moment where she leaps into the air, spinning about several times before her leg shoots out, aiming a kick directly for the head. Upon her landing afterwards, she declares, "I have a feeling you won't just tell me, but... if you have anything to do with my past, I'll find out!" 

GS: Xantia has attacked Grahf with Whirlwind Kick!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Grahf takes a solid hit from Xantia's Whirlwind Kick for 80 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

Leo is so still that at first it looks like he might be dead. There's only the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, and that's shallow. Grahf's handprint is literally burned into him, and lines of blood spiral out from it. Nevertheless, he manages to murmur something as Gwen arrives, and as she approaches, he raises his head just a little.

"Just... a moment," Leo manages, once she's done treating him. "Keep him... busy." 

<Pose Tracker> Grahf has posed.

Grahf isn't taken completely by surprise by Leon's rather bold maneuver, but he is pleased to see such creativity - and a willingness to charge into certain death head on as well. It seemed that this man and two of these women were companions to the boy - interesting. If only they knew, would they be so eager to support him...

But Leon brings his gun around, unleashing the breaker round. The fact that the shell is designed differently than a normal one means Grahf isn't quite able to defend against it as well as he normally could, and it seems that the weapon has at least disoriented him for the moment. The dark clad man lets out a sound that almost seems to be an animal growl for a moment, and then takes a step forward.

His fist lashes out once, twice, thrice - but how many blows did he actually just throw at Leon? Or will the young man be able to actually recognize just how many times he was actually struck in that moment? A moment later June shouts at him, and Grahf turns around as she unleashes a brutal series of blows towards him. But those armored fists intercept each strike in turn, turning aside the blasts from the integrated gun in a quick and leaving them to discharge harmlessly into space.

"If this is your best, then it might be best to simply put you out of your misery here, lest you prove a burden to others in the future," he states dismissively, before pivoting and unleashing punishing straight kick towards June's midsection. He only has a moment to recover before the spell casters are pushing him again - first another bolt of dark magic erupting from the strange woman who did not show her face. The black lightning slams into Grahf, pushing him backwards for a moment before he knocks the magic away with one hand. And that is followed up after a moment by a dramatic drop in temperature, ice forming on the edges of the man's armor as Elena attempts to drop the temperature enough to slow him down. The songstress is certainly pushing herself to try and provide both support for her allies and to keep Grahf from destroying them outright.

Another inferno washes across the stage as Lily pours her own contribution into trying to give Grahf the elemental trifecta of destruction. His aura flares for a moment, pushing the flames away, bending the magic through sheer force of power as Lily's own will struggles against his. "Death is for the weak. Those with true power can overcome any obstacle." And he clenches one fist, the fire around him collapsing into a sphere that hovers above the Seeker's head, drawing in the other elemental energies that are swirling around him as well. "Curse your weakness. Despise that you lack what is needed. And grow strong!"

And Grahf reaches up, shoving his hand into that surging ball of Ether... and draws it into himself, his aura surrounding the energy and consuming it entirely. His eyes glow brilliantly, and he declares, "THIS is what it means to have dominance. THIS IS THE POWER."

And he drops one hand down, pointing it directly at Lily. Who will have just a moment to try and dodge before a beam of red energy gouges out the part of the stage where she is standing, tossing debris up into the stands in the distance.

And then Fei is charging at him once more, bringing his own fists to bear. The two clash for a moment, and Fei pushes through the dark man's guard, delivering a series of blows in rapid succession. Grahf grunts once, before the two disengage - or rather, the Seeker of Power brings his foot down, causing a chunk of the stage floor to flip upwards for a moment and forcing he and Fei apart. "Yes..." he whispers. "Yes, that is good Fei. With each passing moment, you shave away that which is unnecessary. Continue to fight. Continue to struggle! Find your strength, and embrace your destiny!"

Grahf slams both of his hands together, and then snaps them forward - a bolt of energy roaring out directly towards the martial artist. It is enough to blast Fei backwards across the arena - giving Grahf room to deal with the others about him for a moment.

First Gwen decides to get up close and personal, launching an attack straight at Grahf's helmet. The blow connects solidly, turning his head to the side for a moment as she applies a considerable amount of force to that mask. But for all of the force of that blow, one hand comes up and grabs Gwen's arm. And with an almost contemptuous motion, Grahf brings the young woman over one shoulder and tosses her at the ground nearby, aiming to leave a bit of an impression on either Gwen... or the ground.

Ethius' strike slams into the back of the armored man, pushing him forward a step. The blow certainly seems to have had some impact, and the mask turns to gaze at him for a moment. "It seems that this exercise has not been a total loss, however. Perhaps the tree might be encouraged to produce worthwhile fruit if it is shaken with greater frequency and vigor." He pivots on one foot, delivering a rapid, single strike towards Ethius' midsection.

Xantia comes at him a moment later, shouting questions. The Seeker of Power takes several blows from her, each one slamming into his chest and abdomen with a considerable amount of force. It pushes him backwards, before he finally blocks the last blow, those burning eyes narrowing inside of his helmet. "Your past? A foolish question - if there is knowledge you wish to gain, then grow strong enough to seize it yourself, rather than demanding from those who gain nothing from telling you."

And as he pushes Xantia away, Grahf raises his fist to the sky. The feeling of Ether moving through the environment is enough to be apparent even to those who are not normally sensitive to magic, so great is the amount of energy that the Seeker gathers. The air distorts around Grahf's fist... and then he slams it into the stage.

The ground around him erupts in an explosion of flame, leaving a large symbol burning on the ground. A moment later six other pillars erupt outwards around that symbol, eruptions of flame reaching to the sky and seeking to burn those out of Grahf's immediate reach. 

GS: Grahf has attacked Grahf with THIS IS THE POWER!
GS: Grahf heals Grahf! He gains 200 temporary hit points!
GS: Grahf has attacked Leon Albus with Demon Hundred Fists!
GS: Grahf has completed his action.
GS: Grahf has attacked June Lim Ze with Sky Severing Kick!
GS: Grahf has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Super Guided Shot!
GS: Grahf has attacked Lily Keil with Focused Energy!
GS: Grahf has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Lasting Impression!
GS: Grahf has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Black Dragon Strike!
GS: Grahf has attacked Xantia with Seven Hells!
GS: Grahf has attacked Elena with Seven Hells!
GS: Grahf has attacked Thessaly with Seven Hells!
GS: Grahf has completed his action.
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Grahf's Lasting Impression for 137 hit points!
GS: Ethius Hesiod critically Guards a hit from Grahf's Black Dragon Strike for 43 hit points!
GS: Thessaly takes a solid hit from Grahf's Seven Hells for 225 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Grahf has posed.

GRAHF'S LEVEL OF INTEREST : 2 / 5 (Survive for 2 more rounds!) 

GS: June Lim Ze guards a hit from Grahf's Sky Severing Kick for 127 hit points!
GS: Leon Albus takes a glancing hit from Grahf's Demon Hundred Fists for 125 hit points!
GS: Elena critically Guards a hit from Grahf's Seven Hells for 43 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Grahf's Super Guided Shot for 145 hit points!
GS: Xantia takes a glancing hit from Grahf's Seven Hells for 109 hit points!
GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Grahf's Focused Energy for 153 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

Another burst of power. Elena calls upon another blast of ice, the beams of wind and water forming a very, very briefly lived shield around the Songstress, just long enough that she isn't incinerated when Grahf's power erupts out of the ground. The impact is still staggering, and the heat still scorching. She's forced to drop her scepter, the metal rod heating up from the few moments spent in the flames. By the time Elena manages to get out of the way, she's suffering a few more minor burns, but it beats being caught by the blast unguarded.

Who IS this man? 'Curse your weakness, despise that you lack what is needed and grow strong'? Power, dominance? Not to mention he seems to be egging Fei on, but to what end? Fei kept insisting he was the one who destroyed Lahan, and Elena had kind of... disbelieved it, because surely one man couldn't cause so much damage to a village?

Well, she's realizing how wrong she was.

"Lord Granas, please, rain life upon my allies once more, allow them to defeat this foe!" Elena's favorite god might be fast asleep but luckily, she isn't. Another pulse of clear blue water, in stark contrast to Grahf's red symbols and flames. Three circles form over the arena, rotating, raining large droplets of glowing magic onto Lily, Thessaly and Gwen, who seem the most injured of those present. It comes at a cost; Elena seems to be exhausting herself more than just a bit, and spending so much time supporting others leaves her open to the Seeker of Power's ire, if he chooses to take the opening. 

GS: Elena has attacked Lily Keil with Droplets of Life!
GS: Elena has attacked Thessaly with Droplets of Life!
GS: Elena has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Droplets of Life!
GS: Elena has completed her action.
GS: Elena heals Gwen Whitlock! She gains 100 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.

This man is a terror. Momentum alone is most of what keeps June from fleeing or falling, keeps her standing on her feet near the Seeker of Power. Well, foot. The point remains. She grits her teeth as the discharged shotgun shell vanishes elsewhere. He sends a kick towards her -

His words ripple through June -

And her leg crosses against his. There is a severe CRACK like a Gear just got hit with a shell. June flies away from Grahf, spinning. She lands in a low horse stance several meters away from him, breathing heavily. The blow is sending agony up her thigh.

And yet.

'lest you prove a burden to others in the future'

A LONG WHILE AGO

June, laying in the mud in the yard of the Raya estate, struggles not to cry. Near her, a man with one arm is crouched down, his bearded face calm and patient.

"Because I don't - wanna - I -"

A wet and snuffly interval later, June, younger at the time, finishes her thought: "I don't want to be a burden on all of you, okay?!"

"Do you think," Jim Raya says softly, "that you're the only person to think that, June? How much would you want to bet?"

HERE

"You come here... in a GEAR... with your ARM suit... and you LECTURE us... about how WEAK we are? You -- !!!!" June's words fail her, a thousand possible slurs rising inside of her throat like bile as she whirls around, Grahf having moved on to murdering other people. When he moves to slam his fist down in that burst of flame, June leaps --

To try and smash him in the back of the head with a kick! Her face is twisted, the tinted glasses having flown off after that clash of arms. When her leg rebounds, whether from the arena floor or Grahf himself, the same heavy metal spike she'd used as a pivot to sweep in remains. Somewhere or other.

Raw fury is keeping her floating above the terror. She's soaking with sweat, the only reason it isn't pouring off her enough to interfere with things being what (June thinks) is dreadfully potent fire Symbology. "You --!!" June screeches again, her prosthetic hand clenching hard enough to make a noise of steel scraping against steel. 

GS: June Lim Ze has attacked Grahf with Sling Blade Lasher!
GS: June Lim Ze has completed her action.
GS: Grahf guards a hit from June Lim Ze's Sling Blade Lasher for 16 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei isn't getting much in the way of memories here. "Don't talk shit about June! She beat me in the tournament!" God did you even watch the tournament DAD? It occurs to him a moment later maybe he shouldn't be sharing that information with POWER Grahf over there if he can help it but dangit, June deserves respect. She knows a unique brand of kung fu involving shot gun legs and other assorted equipment! Yes Fei tends to focus on the shotgun leg. It's a shotgun leg! And okay maybe her prosthetics were smashed about several times but that's not relevent ok?? It just means, like, upgrades right?

Fei lunges in again but finds himself forced to stop lest he collide face first into the stage. This has happened several times in his life already, he doesn't need it to happen again.

"Dammit--" Fei mutters. He doesn't like that Grahf is happy with him but to be honest, he kind of has to make Grahf happy with him if he wants him to not try and take out Lahan again. It WAS him right? No, it was HIM but HE had a hand in it, didn't he? Uggh, this is so frustrating!

Ugh, can't you even give Xantia a hint, he thinks.

But Grahf can't do anything to help anyone else. Not himself, or others, because Grahf is throwing a hefty guided shot at him. Fei answers it with his own guided shot. His struggles against Grahf's strength but it's like the end of a DBZ saga. This beam struggle is one sided as hell.

The Super Guided Shot pushes through Fei's and into Fei himself. He is pushed against the arena wall again and it crumbles behind him, pushing him through the stands now, his back and the back of his head colliding against the bleachers rapidly.

It dissipitates. You know, eventually.

The brilliant light fades...but Fei isn't there. Was he disintegrated?

No, rather than take Grahf's EVERYTHING, he has instead elected to leap up high into the air. He rears back with both hands and sends a second guided shot down at an angle for Grahf's body. He ruminates on the irony as he does so. He has cursed that memory, that 'LIVE' in his heart, for months now. And here he is here passing it on to them.

"I..." He begins, but he actually has no snappy comeback for Grahf. He recognizes that Grahf's moves, his stance--they're familiar. Thanks to Xantia, he has cause to think about it. Who is this masked man? How does he know so much about him? How come he expects so much from him? He's just a peasant.

"I understand I can't just live a peaceful life now," He manages. "So please stop hurting them--please stop--" 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Grahf with Guided Shot!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Grahf critically Guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Guided Shot for 7 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily has nothing to say for now to Far Point, save to set her teeth and attempt to understand it and find nothing. She can only devote so much of her energy to that. The rest demands attention to the battle, and soon even that small amount she left aside is on Grahf, is on the possibility of his Gear lowering, is on Leon attempting to attack and being blocked. Her riflewoman's eyes may be enough to see a number of blows. But not enough to do anything with it. She hears words, but even then she is busy.

Lily Keil, in black clothes ripped and burned in places but not so much that she doesn't remain entirely covered, gloves on her hands, throws Ether into stopping Grahf, or as she put it, denting him. She does neither; Lily is still staring when Grahf flares his aura, bends his magic, and her will is not the strongest today. She half-stops breathing as her magic is held. "Death..." True power.

Curse her weakness. "I have," she spits out at him. "And I intend to." Grahf glows, and Lily doesn't know how he just did that, but she knows in an instant that she wants to know on her own. There's more she can do.

She doesn't dodge at all. Lily isn't fast enough for it, but she has to do something, so she tries something of the same trick, throwing out an utterly black shield of ephemeral shadowstuff to try to shift away this beam, and it partly works. Lily is merely engulfed by red energy but not erased by it, crashing down into what was the stage with the smell of burning flesh and the sight, of those who look within, of more blood than before.

The sound amidst the battle is of coughing; her palms are exposed, gloved half burned off, sleeves torn further. "You..."

"Captain!" Lily rasps, dragging herself up out of the wreckage, "...I'm going to keep fighting, but..."

She doesn't look so good. She doesn't feel so good.

Lily glares, and there's a faint glow from her glove of blue, easy to miss, as mist crashes down about Grahf and explodes into gigantic ice formations all at once, enough to wrench through ground and make new debris.

Lily hasn't managed to make it to a standing position yet. One of her eyes is stuck closed, blood running down her face. But the other is golden and brilliant, staring at her opponent with a fierceness unusual to the quiet woman. "I'll work up power enough," she breathes. "FEI!" she says more loudly, "Get ready!" 

GS: Elena heals Lily Keil! She gains 100 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily has nothing to say for now to Far Point, save to set her teeth and attempt to understand it and find nothing. She can only devote so much of her energy to that. The rest demands attention to the battle, and soon even that small amount she left aside is on Grahf, is on the possibility of his Gear lowering, is on Leon attempting to attack and being blocked. Her riflewoman's eyes may be enough to see a number of blows. But not enough to do anything with it. She hears words, but even then she is busy.

Lily Keil, in black clothes ripped and burned in places but not so much that she doesn't remain entirely covered, gloves on her hands, throws Ether into stopping Grahf, or as she put it, denting him. She does neither; Lily is still staring when Grahf flares his aura, bends his magic, and her will is not the strongest today. She half-stops breathing as her magic is held. "Death..." True power.

Curse her weakness. "I have," she spits out at him. "And I intend to." Grahf glows, and Lily doesn't know how he just did that, but she knows in an instant that she wants to know on her own. There's more she can do.

She doesn't dodge at all. Lily isn't fast enough for it, but she has to do something, so she tries something of the same trick, throwing out an utterly black shield of ephemeral shadowstuff to try to shift away this beam, and it partly works. Lily is merely engulfed by red energy but not erased by it, crashing down into what was the stage with the smell of burning flesh and the sight, of those who look within, of more blood than before.

The sound amidst the battle is of coughing; her palms are exposed, gloved half burned off, sleeves torn further. "You..." But magic washes over her, and that gives her the strength to keep moving. Elena's magic, speciically, so very different from her own.

"Captain!" Lily rasps, dragging herself up out of the wreckage, "...I'm going to keep fighting, but..."

She doesn't look so good. She doesn't feel so good.

Lily glares, and there's a faint glow from her glove of blue, easy to miss, as mist crashes down about Grahf and explodes into gigantic ice formations all at once, enough to wrench through ground and make new debris.

Lily hasn't managed to make it to a standing position yet. One of her eyes is stuck closed, blood running down her face. But the other is golden and brilliant, staring at her opponent with a fierceness unusual to the quiet woman. "I'll work up power enough," she breathes. "FEI!" she says more loudly, "Get ready!" And another breath, "Thank you, whoever the priestess is.." She starts trying to get to her feet. 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

'Perhaps the tree might be encouraged to produce worthwhile fruit if it is shaken with greater frequency and vigor.' Ethius inwardly dislikes the eloquence of this man's speech, failing to reflect upon how these word choices are similar to his own.

Ethius defies death with a defensive stance, turning the quarterstaff diagonal to place it against the oncoming blow. That he could process ths speed in which he was about to take a punch to his midsection, even this wounded...

The Seeker of Power's strikes are never trivially defended. His quarterstaff flies out of his hands. Ethius himself is shoved over, tumbling back into a seated position further away from Grahf. Where his weapon goes, Ethius does not see.

He lifts up a hand, as if preparing to cast... but ceases. He has seen how this otherworldly, impossible being has survived and dealt with countless blasts of sorcery. His go-to answer in probing the weaknesses of an unknown thing will do him no good. Grahf's masterful martial arts strikes far surpass anything he can individually accomplish - but the way he stumbles a step from that earlier strike (among other evidence from the other close-quarters combat folks) is definitive proof that this is the only visible, theoretical chink in his armor. As he contemplates, he ducks his head underneath some more blasting debris that sails over him.

A rod-shaped piece of scrap rolls near him. He gives it a grip. The balance is off. He wouldn't carry this in battle by choice. It's the closest he's going to get to having a weapon at all, as he uses it to stand up again... and limp forward.

He shoots a glance back towards Lily, just pulling herself out of wreckage. She screams a name he can't make out in the chaos.

He tries to point to Grahf's back, parting his left hand from the grip of the pole for a second. That is where he has achieved something that vaguely resembles success. It is too noisy to risk shouting, and lose strength for it. This is as much as he feels comfortable communicating, his breath faltering as he nears that overbearing aura once more.

Ethius does not seem much a man of passion, even at death's door. A stoicism seems to hold him together as the bleeding eats away at what vitality he still has to stand and resist. He takes the pole of shrapnel in both hands, lifting it on high...

Then plants end of the metallic shrapnel pole into the damaged ground under his feat, and leaps towards Grahf as he maintains his grip on the weapon. He reaches out with his feet as he whirls about the pole by his hands, looking to bear into Grahf with every rotation.

"Tornado Strike!" Calls the Vandal of Diablo, pulling his reserves not from rage and desperation, but a detaching calculation tethered by the realities of weakening flesh. 

GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Grahf with Tornado Strike!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Grahf with Icegleam!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon looks sideways at Fei, when he says that. Then, he thinks, Grahf may want to goad Fei. It makes him ask a question that he has asked even before he met him.

Who is Fei Fong Wong, really?

He has more of an answer, now. "Fei!" he yells. "Don't lose sight of why we're here. They need time to take down those men he altered--we need to let the arena evacuate! We can still do this!" They don't have to defeat him, he all but says. But, would that really be a victory? He thinks of Gryndille and he isn't so certain of that.

And he gets a lesson in that, as Grahf slams his fist at him -- several times, more than he can count. Each blow strikes, causing his ribs to crack painfully, and snap his head back. The blows come in faster than he can see, and they throw him back. He hits the ground, rolling a few times, and comes up. His lip is split; his head rings with pain. And he sees a huge beam of red light rip across the stage and hurtle at--

"LILY!"

He sees it hit her. His blood runs cold, when he sees it overcome the shield of black energy -- and when the fire fades, he realizes she still stands. He stares at her, then he nods at her words. He sucks a breath in, and then he snaps his weapon. Argent Divider's sword unfolds.

He starts running at Grahf.

He doesn't notice the way his eyes abruptly flash with silver light, and he swings Argent Divider back in a two-handed grip, and leaps. The side of the blade lights up, a digital code in green and blue light spelling out:

Code.29

The sword swings back over his shoulder, and silver light explodes off it. It doesn't form a solid blade, the way it does when he activates the CLARENT protocol. Instead, it shimmers and burns out from around the blade. And then, Leon chops it down, and letters spell out across the blade again.

JOYEUSE

The light explodes off it -- and turns into four huge crescents of light that burn a brilliant gold. They fly down as one, striking at Grahf from each side, before they explode in a shower of fire too golden to be natural. 

GS: Leon Albus has attacked Grahf with Code.29 JOYEUSE!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
GS: Grahf critically Guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's Tornado Strike for 16 hit points!
GS: Grahf critically Guards a hit from Lily Keil's Icegleam for 17 hit points!

DC: MISS! Grahf completely evades Code.29 JOYEUSE from Leon Albus!

<Pose Tracker> Thessaly has posed.

There are a few rising to the mysterious figure's provocation somewhere before her, but it is becoming too difficult to hear - the buzzing in her head grows, hearing the shriek of her darker half. While she has managed not to get incinerated by the last attack, Thessaly remains on her knees, her breathing labored and her head lowered, smoke rising from her hunkered down form. Violet eyes stare on the ground, almost unseeing; in this instance, the pain is secondary to the very urgent need to seize her inner reins and wrest herself back in control.

She can't risk it. She can't push past her limits without Garan to make sure that there is a mechanism in hand to prevent the worst. Her head lifts again to watch the battlefield. Through the dreadful haze, the other is rising to her feet.

She murmurs quietly under her breath; underneath her, her own shadow comes alive, shooting like a rocket across the ground and seeking something, someone compatible. She wouldn't have to look very far. She knows there is someone else that is similar to her, someone who can function as an indirect conduit.

And where Lily stands...

That twisting, writhing part of herself latches onto the other mage's; not to attack, not to harm, but to feed her own. A potent surge of power coruscates through the established link, connecting both women from a span of a distance. Through the thin film of dust, those violet eyes burn...

...and for the time being, gives Lily access to the endless well of magic trapped within her, on loan to a body that is less delicate and sturdier than her own. 

GS: Elena heals Thessaly! She gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Thessaly has attacked Lily Keil with Black Burn!
GS: Thessaly has completed her action.
GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Thessaly's Black Burn for 65 hit points!
GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Lily Keil!

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

From within her eldritch sphere, way off in what's left of the stands, Neriah does her best to watch the fight. Every gout of flame and blast of energy simply totals more and more of the tournament grounds. There's a little sphere of serenity, though, contained within the girl's bubble of unlight, which she's been holding up for quite awhile now, relative to how long she's used her unusual magic in the past.

Neriah's right hand throbs. She looks down into her palm, lips held slightly apart. Her breath comes slowly through a haze of constant mid-level pain, like an ache that radiates out from her chest and reaches all of her.

But something else is there, too. A lightness. An elation.

A sureness she didn't feel before now. The girl lifts her head. Her eyes focus on Grahf.

She says something within her sphere but no sound escapes it - but there's something in her eyes that's almost admiring, in the way she stares at the mysterious man.

The sphere finally shimmers and collapses in on itself. Neriah gasps as she reaches the limits of her ability to hold that power in place. She slouches to her side, shielded from view by the debris, probably not going to bother anyone from this point on. 

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

No matter how much of her abnormally high physical strength Xantia puts into her blows, Grahf refuses to buckle even slightly. It might lead one to start thinking it's pointless to persist in fighting. Regardless of the amount of good sense that would make, Xantia has never had that thought for as long as she can remember, and isn't about to start now.

She has no retort for the reply she receives. It's simple enough to understand, and there's nothing about it that she can find fault with. It's a convenient enough answer, too - continuing to grow stronger is something she intends to do anyway. And when all you have is your fists, every problem looks like a particularly punchable face.

She stares at Grahf's raised fist as it manipulates the environment, a bit longer than is strictly wise. She can't help but wonder if that, too, is similar to what she can do. But she can't wonder about it for too long, as flame pillars are sent forth. After her previous unfortunate experience getting caught in those, she's not particularly looking for a repeat. In the face of this, all she can really do is run. Run away from Grahf, to not be at the center of that magic-like explosion, and try to steer clear of those pillars.

It's a partial success. Avoiding complete immolation may seem like a victory, but the searing heat she's surrounded by for far longer than comfortable still takes its toll. She needs another moment to catch her breath, looking around for Fei, distressed when she doesn't immediately see him. But, soon enough, there he is, still attacking Grahf. Good. All she has to do is follow suit, and everything will be okay, right?

She hears Lily's call for Fei to 'get ready'. She doesn't know what that means, exactly, but it seems wise to stick close, so she can follow along with the getting ready. She's pretty confident that'll work out, she's a good improviser if nothing else.

When Xantia comes charging in again, any sort of subtlety there was in her technique is no longer there. This time, she's just trying to do as much damage as she can. Though it's nowhere near on the level of what Grahf just displayed, there is somewhat of a similarity in the way a soft white light gathers in her palm. Her hand closes around it, just before she comes within range to swing her fist in an uppercut for Grahf's head. Whether the strike ultimately impacts or not, energy explodes outward from her fist, adding additional force to her already considerable strength.

Reaching Fei's side, she assures him, "Don't worry, Fei! We'll make him stop! We can do it!" Even now, she's got optimism to spare. 

GS: Xantia has attacked Grahf with Exploding Fist!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Grahf guards a hit from Xantia's Exploding Fist for 52 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

'Just... a moment,' Leo had said. 'Keep him... busy.'

Gwen did that. And certainly, it did feel satisfying to see and feel the reaction of her metal ARM slam against Grahf's head.

It would also make sense that, in the face of such a foolhardy, crude attack, that the man dressed in black would react by using his considerable experience of hand-to-hand combat to eclipse Gwen's own meager offering. The world turns upsidedown as Gwen is tossed over one shoulder, crashing into the ground nearby.

When the healing waves of Elena's magic wash over her, Gwen groans and shifts back onto her feet unsteadily, rubbing her face. Taking a direct approach was considerably harder than she thought it would. Looking over in the distance to see the praying Elena, Gwen gives her a grateful smile and a quiet wave of thanks.

But even with that temporary boost, Gwen feels the exhaustion and pain from that last blow. This really isn't her battle. She can't possibly stand for very long against a man of this caliber, even if she had two ARMs to call on, let alone one.

In that brief moment of despair, as the courier attempts to figure out her next move, she watches Fei beg Grahf to stop hurting them. To stop-

Why does he have to beg this man for anything, Fei of all people, she just can't-

Gwen's bared ARM begins to whir, bright gold energy coursing through the black spaces between each plate in slowly pulsing waves that gradually speed up until they match the accelerated beat of her own heart. The world feels slightly distorted as a rush of adrenaline fills Gwen's mind, and in a blink of an eye...

It's clear. Clearer than before.

Her ARM clenches its fist, then loosens, Gwen rolling her neck.

She'll try to protect that bit of hope for a normal life. ".... Just another teacup..."

Something precious to try to protect. And in this moment of time, she'll try to protect it, with that hand of hers. 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Bounding Flight!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Bounding Flight for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Quick! Statuses applied to Gwen Whitlock!
GS: Thessaly has activated a Force Action!

<Pose Tracker> Grahf has posed.

Who is this man indeed - a question that a number of people would probably want to have answered. But Grahf isn't telling, and instead he simply continues to press his attack against those that are standing against him. He hadn't encouraged them to continue this fight - instead, he had offered them a more suitable challenge. But there were those who were going to aspire to the greater challenge, and Grahf would not deny them an opportunity to see how far they had yet to grow.

June shouts out her challenge, roaring at Grahf for having walked in here and basically doing whatever it was that he pleased. The masked man brings his hand up as June lashes out at him, knocking her blow and its metal spike to the side to impact on the arena floor, sending chips of rock in all directions. "Such protests only make your weakness apparent to all," Grahf replies coldly. "If you seek to prove yourself otherwise, then demonstrate real strength."

The others are battered, but they are continuing to fight. Ethius comes rushing in, bringing his staff around to try and deliver a crushing blow to the Seeker, but Grahf spins around and unleashes a strike of his own, knocking the first rotation away before Ethius can really get going with the rapid fire strike. And then... Leon and Lily unleash their attacks in the same moment, a freezing storm of energy, and blades of light that streak towards the masked man. Grahf watches the attacks approach for a moment... and then he throws back his head and ROARS. The Ether erupts off of him in waves, shattering the energy that had been throw against him and dispersing it to the four winds. As he finishes that roar, the Seeker of Power lowers his head, and takes a deep breath.

The difference in power is terrible, but as Grahf had promised them - this was a taste of what it meant to contend with the world they had not yet seen. A world of gods and monsters which was invisible to those who lived on the ground, only able to comprehend their own limited view. As Xantia rushes in, determined to make a good showing of herself, Grahf meets her charge with an extended arm, blocking several of her most direct attacks, even as she unleashes a bolt of energy. That slams into his shoulder, pushing the larger man back a pace before he knocks her back with a single, directed strike.

The others are fortifying themselves, gathering strength to try and resist. Admirable, not running even at this point in the battle. There is something to be said for determination. But in the end, these efforts are not Grahf's main focus.

Fei's struggles, on the other hand, are a thing of some interest. Grahf wasn't going to disintegrate him out of hand, but he had implied that the boy had deeper powers that he had not yet unleashed. He was continuing to tap into them, growing stronger with each battle. His true self still slumbered, but... "Then you have taken the first step," Grahf replies, even as Fei lashes out with a bolt of energy. The masked man smashes it aside, the chi blast arcing away to clip the top of the arena and send a shower of pebbles into the sky. "This world will show you no mercy - it deserves none in return. Trust will bring you only suffering. Only power will allow you to shape it to your desire. In the end... you and I will destroy the wretched God who rules over this world."

"But."

Grahf holds his hands out... and then claps them together in front of his face. The energy surges across his body, and Fei and the others who are sensitive to Ether can feel the energy gathering around the Seeker of Power. "There is no mercy for the weak in this world. Man and beast fall to darkness. If thou would seek true power... then show me you are worthy of it!"

The masked man pulls his hands apart.

And there is a single, terrible speck of burning white held between them.

It flares for only an instant... and then the world turns black, an explosion of Ether erupting outwards in all directions, hurling stone and wood like grass in a storm tossed sea. As for those standing on the platform... it is up to them to see if they can withstand the eruption of raw power.

GRAHF'S LEVEL OF INTEREST : 1 / 5 

GS: Grahf has attacked Gwen Whitlock with The Emperor of Darkness!
GS: Grahf has attacked Xantia with The Emperor of Darkness!
GS: Grahf has attacked Thessaly with The Emperor of Darkness!
GS: Grahf has attacked Leon Albus with The Emperor of Darkness!
GS: Grahf has attacked Lily Keil with The Emperor of Darkness!
GS: Grahf has attacked Ethius Hesiod with The Emperor of Darkness!
GS: Grahf has attacked Fei Fong Wong with The Emperor of Darkness!
GS: Grahf has attacked June Lim Ze with The Emperor of Darkness!
GS: Grahf has attacked Elena with The Emperor of Darkness!
GS: Elena takes a solid hit from Grahf's The Emperor of Darkness for 226 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! June Lim Ze takes a solid hit from Grahf's The Emperor of Darkness for 331 hit points!
GS: June Lim Ze has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
GS: Leon Albus takes a glancing hit from Grahf's The Emperor of Darkness for 111 hit points!
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Grahf's The Emperor of Darkness for 138 hit points!
GS: Ethius Hesiod guards a hit from Grahf's The Emperor of Darkness for 133 hit points!
GS: Xantia critically Guards a hit from Grahf's The Emperor of Darkness for 44 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong used the Force Action Protect! He takes Grahf's attack on Lily Keil on himself!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action!
GS: Fei Fong Wong critically Guards a hit from Grahf's The Emperor of Darkness for 46 hit points!

DC: MISS! Thessaly completely evades The Emperor of Darkness from Grahf!

GS: Grahf has attacked Fei Fong Wong with The Emperor of Darkness!
GS: Grahf has completed his action.
GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Grahf's The Emperor of Darkness for 217 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Grahf's Ether rips outward, blowing through the ARM-made blades of energy that Leon hurled for him. He stares -- both amazed, for a brief moment, that he could unleash such an attack and then amazed that Grahf could simply counter them so effortlessly. Fei was right, he realizes, and not for the first time in this fight.

He gets thrown backward in the backblast -- and then sees another wave of power coming for him as Grahf unleashes that shockwave. He leaps -- soaring over a broken chunk of stone that flies ahead -- but he gets clipped by several pieces of the arena that are shorn free. He hits the ground and rolls a few times. Lily was hurt, he realizes.

He turns to look at her -- and his eyes go wide. "Lily, get clear! Quick! Before--" 

GS: Leon Albus has attacked Lily Keil with Deployment Tactics!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Leon Albus's Deployment Tactics for 0 hit points!
GS: Reload! Lily Keil gains 15 extra FP from Leon Albus!

<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.

June's ruthlessness is repaid in the currency of Grahf: Pain. Another twisting strike and this time it sends her whirling around with a profound wet SNAP as she twists and hits the ground and tumbles. Soon enough she falls off the edge of the remains of the arena floor.

There is a smear of blood where she struck the arena floor. A lot? Well: Enough. 

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

Healing and support at a cost. Elena can't fuel on thanks alone - actually, she doesn't have much time to acknowledge or feel good for herself when people look at her with thanks in her eyes for the magic. She's running her magical reserves dry - again - because she doesn't know what self-control means.

When Grahf goes to town, she can't shield herself, much less dive out of the way. She goes flying, clothes shredded in part by the blast of power, until she gracefully gets stopped by what must have been a hotdog stand of some kind but is now scraps on fire with a Songstress on top. It'd be hard to say if all the red on her white clothes is chili, ketchup or blood. Probably all three.

But she's not down for the count yet. She half gets up, falling to one knee when her left leg decides it's done for the day. The Mana Egg is dull and she's got not an ounce of spellcasting left in her. So then what?

She shuffles in the rags of her priestly outfit and pulls a large grenade out. She glares Grahf's way and musters up all her strength.

"YOU ARE A VERY RUDE MAN, DO YOU KNOW THAT?!"

She's still dizzy, cut her some slack.

Dizzy or not she's got a hell of a baseball pitch.

Grahf, meet bomb! 

GS: Elena has attacked Grahf with Impact Bomb!
GS: Elena has completed her action.
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Elena's Impact Bomb for 88 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Thessaly has posed.

It is only thanks to the priestess Elena that she has managed to recover enough of her health and wits to see what's coming.

Too crippled, really, to move out of the way, and unable to move regardless while shadow-tethered to Lily Keil, there is only one thing she can do to save herself from Grahf's all-encompassing might. As the wave of power surges towards her...

She expends whatever magic she can spare, her form fading into translucence, willing herself to become insubstantial - like a spectre, or a ghost - for just a few seconds. It is all she can do without expending the concentration she needs to keep her link alive and accessible to the other woman.

And it works.

She solidifies almost instantly once the danger is behind her, completely unharmed by the last devastating wave.

A pale, shaking hand lifts, to point towards Graf. If she can do little to harm him through her surroundings, she will seek a solution from within.

There is no visible effect - certainly nothing like what she has done earlier, from her shadow tether to her lightning to her spikes created from dark magic. But her presence will be felt underneath his skin, a sibillant hiss of foul intention uttered from underneath her veil, her wrist twisting up and her fingers curling into talons - as if to squeeze the man's heart from where she's kneeling. 

GS: Thessaly has attacked Grahf with Malevolent Curse!
GS: Thessaly has completed her action.
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Thessaly's Malevolent Curse for 43 hit points!
GS: Poison and Disease! Statuses applied to Grahf!
GS: Grahf enters CONDITION GREEN!!

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Something instinctive within Fei Fong Wong knows what's about to happen before it happens. He doesn't know whom Grahf is, he can feel whom Grahf is. He knows him. And yet--he doesn't know him. The conflicting realities pulse into his identity. He grabs at his forehead with his hand as he lands, stumbling briefly. No, he thinks, not NOW. He hears Grahf's words.

'This world will show you no mercy'

That feels like an absolute truth. The world has never shown you mercy Fei. Not this time, not the last time, not the other hundreds of times. It hasn't shown her mercy either. No, it's all brutality, suffering, and early painful deaths full of misery all the way up and down the ladder. Why, Fei wonders, why is it always like this? Why do all his dreams end in blood?

"Dammit... I can't..."

Leon calls out to him. The first time, to remind him of why they are there. It's not to win. "Captain..." He says. "Leon..."

He turns his head and sees June. Or...what's left of her. Blood. Blood on the sand.

It's everywhere. Why won't it stop? Why won't it stop, Elly, you just have to live, Elly, then we can finish mother.

You just have to live.

You have to--

Fei screams in rage and pain.

'It deserves none in return. Trust will only bring you suffering.'

Fei understands that instinctively to be true as well. But...

'Trust means that if he ever puts a knife in her ribs then it will have been worth it.'

Fei's heart thumps heavily against his chest. He turns. Did June die, is she alive? Maybe she can still be saved. He doesn't know what to do. But for Lily he knows what to do.

He throws himself in front of Lily, and fans his hands out forward. "The Black Wolves, at least..." He swears. "They're not dying here!!"

He slams his hands forward into the ether, his hands push against it and he's easily pushed back by Grahf's power. It pulses into him, but not past him, not through him, INTO him. He screams. He screams. He just keeps on screaming. For a moment, Lily might recall a past moment of himself. It does not sound like the screams of those with long for this world.

But then it stops suddenly.

The push back slows. It stops. Fei is still being pushed back, but it's more resiliant now. To everyone else, Fei's body is so enshrouded in the light of Grahf's attack that it's impossible to see just what's going on (and besides, they are busy).

But Lily can see it.

Fei? turns his head back and gives Lily a smile. He says, "I am not their monkey."

A red aura ripples around him, pressing back into Grahf's powerful blast. IT doesn't dissipitate it or overpower it, it just stalls it.

And it's only for a moment, long enough for Lily to find cover. And then it's over. The blast fades and Fei collapses forward onto his hands and knees, the light dimming, the red aura fading.

Fei pants for breath, hands punching into the ground, bloody and burnt as is most of the rest of him.

He stands up, slowly, and definitely dizzily--Before he dives for Grahf, smiling now strangely, but any presence to it is gone.

He throws a quick trio of kicks, an elbow strike, then another kick, fully intent on sending Grahf flying into the air. Fei is clearly all about the c-c-c-combos.

He doesn't say anything pithy to Grahf this time. Lily is alive, and he can still yet hope June is too. 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Grahf with Tenbu!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's Tenbu for 103 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Where Lily stands, when Thessaly looks at her, is almost where she falls. A surge of power, a twisting mote of darkness that becomes more, settles through Lily Keil as she stands up straighter and stairs, her golden eyes wide as for a moment she is unaware at all what is happening.

...But it's not bad, entirely; Thessaly can feel in turn Lily's power, surging all around, now enhanced by this well that she accepts a moment later. It burns through her, like acid, in the process, but her magic was touched by this once. Turning lightly, Lily looks to the woman with violet eyes and inclines her head. She doesn't smile. But in this, they can work together. Maybe this is how...

Lily's black hair is blown out behind her by the storm of energy and the blade of light, but Lily can see what happens for herself. Pure power, her own Ether fragmented and gone unpleasantly, like it's still connected. But she began that spell before she had this new magic. Lily looks for a good angle. She looks for Fei, being spoken of. The things Grahf says...

It's not like it's all bad that someone she has to oppose has some valid points. Because he does.

But that Ether surges, and Lily's eyes widen. "You--" Power erupts, and Lily is hurt. Lily cannot move quickly as she would need to, and Lily's shields are not powerful enough for this. But they don't have to be, suddenly. Fei is before her and she stares. "Fei, no--" She trusts him. But she doesn't want to see him hurt. But what he says of the Black Wolves...

Lily remembers a lot about Fei. There is screaming, and there is... something... strange happening

The black-haired sorceress, the woman from Kislev, stares at that smile, her skin crawling, her mind sounding alarms. "...Right, you're..." The ripple moves, and Lily nods, "Thank you," and drops straight back into the stagework into the stone that can afford her some amount of cover. At leas t she can walk again.

Lily is not down for long, dragging herself back up with a hand to take a knee and draw in a breath. "I know," she says to him, loudly, putting out both of her hands as violet energy, violet circles crackle around them. Leon mentions getting clear, and she nods to him. "Last shot. Then I have to pull out, Captain. ...Sorry to worry you..."

Lily grits her teeth and the violet magic intensifies, once, twice, three times until a burst of black, the size of a pool cue, bursts into being before Grahf. "Now..." It shrinks in on itself, gray and white all around it before it explodes into black-rimmed violet all around, implodes and explodes, implodes and explodes in a riot of dark power.

As Lily stars, her eyes have gone completely black, without sclera or iris. She can't stand easily, but she can hold this set of explosions as long as she can. 

GS: Lily Keil has activated a Force Action!
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Grahf with Gloomhammer!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Lily Keil's Gloomhammer for 116 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Ethius finds himself spinning down to a poorly-landed crouch with his back turned as Grahf effortlessly parries the assault. What he thinks, what he feels, what he might do - it is something of a footnote, and does the events that have just happens next a disservice by delaying its mention through a number of extra paragraphs.

When Grahf stops speaking, he doesn't see what's going on. He doesn't feel what's going on. It's an educated guess, with the cadence of the man's voice and discussions, that tells him... move.

Ethius rolls on the ground to the left, to an upturned piece of debris. It's too smouth to grip into. He can fix that. He nearly ties up his tongue going through the necessary syllables of the chant for the proper application of a lower-end heat spell to make some of the mass pliable. He curls his fingers into it to force a grip - the pain is agonizing. Ethius gasps audibly in pain, as the other hand grips the top.

His makeshift shield is all that prevents him from being disintegrated by the explosion of Ether as the surface of the impromptu protection withers and fractures away. Some smaller pieces of it slap against his face, shoulder, and upper back. By the time it's all over, one hand is tightly clenched around a mass not much larger than a curling stone. The burnt hand twitches, the cooler air around it feeling like it's being stabbed every time it moves against it, as he lets the useless chunk drop to the ground.

He watches as Fei stands and moves to attack again. Thanks to his cover, he can't appreciate the magnitude of what the man just withstood for sake of another, but that Fei is still standing and leaping at him at all...

What kind of man is Fei, in truth? He remembers him running around like a scared, confused, clumsy, desperate oaf back when they first met in the Sult Ruins.

Ethius sucks in another breath as he picks up another rod-shaped piece of debris. This one's better balanced, but short, so it's kind of straddling the line between a staff and a club - fighting through the immense pain running through the burnt hand as he forces himself to flex it, grip, and move it.

"This doesn't belong here," is all he utters, his undeservedly calm tone of voice maintaining his usual tone and tempo. The connotation is too soft. He could have used stronger words. He settles with 'this doesn't belong here.' If they are a rallying cry for himself, then that is good enough for him, as he comes within swinging range.

"Ground Gain!" Ethius goes for the legs - to find some way to simply try and throw the armored enigma off balance, to make it more difficult for him to defend against any other attacks in the sequence headed their way as he stands roughly by Fei's side, off to their left, as Lily peppers the Emperor of Darkness with her own claim to darkness royalty.

Though his actions in the recent past seem at odds with the goals of the Yggdrasil Alliance, based on what little information he has given, it would seem they are united in the cause of trying to hold back a terror that almost none of them have any business ever daring to stand up to. 

GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Grahf with Ground Gain!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Ground Gain for 28 hit points!
GS: Slow! Statuses applied to Grahf!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

She's still alive. Somehow. The world had turned black, then sheer pain, leaving Gwen to pant, halfway collapsed against the ground.

If she was any weaker, if she hadn't willed her ARM to come to full power, she'd be on the ground entirely.

And even with that, if if weren't for those around her, she'd be *in* the ground.

As to lend evidence to that notion, Gwen watches Elena, the healer probably responsible for keeping her alive, chuck a grenade at Grahf. "W-whoah..." And not too long after that Fei charges in with his own furious attacks. One of these days... She'll just have to see if Fei could possibly teach her a few of those moves. If they even survive, that is.

And the mysterious woman in black just beyond, managing to hold her own on a battlefield without what Gwen assumes is her knight. Wouldn't that also be her lover? That's usually how that went, in stories. She'll need some help later; perhaps Gwen could thank her then.

And Xantia. Did she learn anything at all? She's been trying so hard to find out about her past.

Ethius, well. Gwen's still scared of him, but as long as he's on their side...

Leo. Is he still alive? Hopefully he's staying put.

June. A person who also had a metal arm, who Gwen admired briefly when they first met before the first rounds of the tournament.

Lily and Leon. What was their bond and their story? What are the Black Wolves?

She's just one part of this, but even if her part is small...

Electricity arcs throughout Gwen's ARM as it readies itself for one final stand. She flings herself into another charge, pulling her fist back. Sure, it'll be the second time she's done this move, but this time...

No matter what her part is, Gwen will do her best to make this crackling punch *count*. 

GS: You do not have that Force Action. [full]
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: You have activated the Force Action Full Clip!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Grahf with Special Delivery!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Special Delivery for 55 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia is a simple soul. She doesn't understand much about the ways of the world, and is hardly qualified to refute what Grahf is saying about them to Fei. All she knows is that she doesn't like the words that are being spoken. And that is enough. She looks between the two, and decides to interject her own opinion, first to Grahf: "Fei's not going anywhere with you!" and then to Fei: "Don't listen to him, Fei!"

It's not working. Fei's losing it. Xantia extends a hand in his direction, but remains where she is. Wanting desperately to help in some way, but not knowing how.

Her gaze snaps back to Grahf, starting to summon the terrible powers at his command. Xantia can't possibly know the full extent of what's going to happen. And yet, when that energy starts accumulating, a powerful sense of alarm, of mortal danger, runs through every fiber of her being. Whatever's about to happen, she knows it is not something she can afford to be caught in the middle of.

And Fei's taking a position as if to stop it. "Fei, no, wait...!"

Instinct takes over, when the titanic erupt of energy happens. With a mighty leap backwards, Xantia gets herself clear from the immediate danger zone, just in time to avoid being caught in the middle of it. She'll hate her own self-preservation instinct for this later, feeling like she should have tried to do more to help Fei. Even if he may not have needed it. He's managing to hold that energy back, somehow.

Duly impressed, she's about to shout something encouraging, when a huge slab of stone, severed from the arena by Grahf's power, is sent flying straight towards her. Too large and approaching too quickly to be able to avoid, she has a mere fraction of a second to react. So she does. In the next instant, the two halves of the stone stab fly past her on either side, neatly severed straight down the middle.

It takes a second for Xantia herself to realize what happened, bringing up her right arm to stare at it in surprise. Her bracer, the advanced ARM of unknown origin... it did something. It had produced a long, bright red blade, made up out of pure energy, now sticking out over her fist, evidently powerful enough to cut through solid stone like butter. On some level, she recognizes this, realizes that she knew all along that this is what it was for. Though something stirs in her mind, frustratingly, the full memory ultimately remains dormant.

Her head jerks towards Grahf, currently beleaguered by Fei. She doesn't waste any more time. She may not be very used to handling this weapon, but its function seems simple enough. Rushing over in that direction, Xantia dives towards Grahf, red energy blade extended, attempting to pierce straight through, or at least give him a scar to remember. Her wishes at this current time are expressed easily enough: "Go away!!" 

GS: Xantia has attacked Grahf with Crimson Flash!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Grahf takes a solid hit from Xantia's Crimson Flash for 60 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Grahf has posed.

That there are still so many standing after that blast shows that there is... potential here. Grahf had wondered if taking the time to engage with these people was a wise use of his time, and he can see that once again... they would gather around 'him'. Another band of brave souls, marching to their doom.

Fodder to help him attain his destiny.

There is one last push - Elena launches her bomb, and Thessaly unleashes her curse, and both the explosive and the dark magic slam into the masked man, adding to the burden of energy he is expending protecting himself. The real challenge comes as Lily unleashes as much of her power as she dares, the sphere of black energy slamming into Grahf and expanding around him. The surging power tears at him, a frenzy of violence that would rip a normal man limb from limb.

With a snarl, Grahf shatters the magical energy, sending shards of blackness out in all directions. But they still keep coming, and Grahf staggers a step as Ethius lashes out at his legs, trying to knock the masked man off balance for a moment. And then Gwen follows up, her fist slamming into Grahf's chest as she attempts to deliver a massive electrical jolt, a forceful attempt to try and push through some damage, to slow him down. To do something to bring Grahf to a halt.

But he keeps moving, shrugging off the punch after a moment as he knocks Gwen and Ethius back with a single motion. Xantia's blade comes whistling in, and slams into Grahf's upraised arm - the blade extending all the way through it for a moment. But there is no blood, and the Seeker clenches his arm, pulling the weapon out and stepping away almost contemptuously.

Walking straight towards Fei, as the young man continues to struggle with his inner demons, that red aura manifesting around his body for a moment. "Your inner struggle continues," the Seeker of Power notes, almost in an offhand manner. And as Fei launches himself at Grahf, the man in black accepts the blows, blocking several - but Fei manages to get several through, his fists slamming into Grahf's chest and abdomen with solid, meaty sounding impacts.

And yet for all of this, the masked man seems almost unphased. Those standing against him have certainly inflicted *some* damage - no creature of flesh and blood could take such hits and not be affected somehow. But Grahf... is something different, it seems.

If a demon could be said to walk the land, perhaps it stands within Lacour new, preparing to strike down those who would oppose it.

But something catches Grahf's attention, and he turns to look in the direction of his two pawns. He says nothing, and turns to the group arrayed before him... his cape suddenly appearing from under his armor, falling down to cover most of his body once more.

From the heavens, the vast black and grey Gear suddenly descends to the earth, alighting on the ground behind Grahf and extending its hand. He steps onto the proffered metal platform, boots making a hollow, metallic sound as they cross the robot's surface.

He could turn - to give words of encouragement, derision, a prophecy of doom or scathing rejection of the efforts of his foes. And yet he does none of those things.

There is a roar as the Gear's engine begins to spin up... and then it rises into the air at a rapid pace, quickly accelerating towards the sky. Grahf does not look back.

There will be other challenges. Let them rejoice in their survival until then. 

<Pose Tracker> Thessaly has posed.

And just like that, it's over.

With Grahf vacating the battlefield, Thessaly grits her teeth from behind closed lips, squeezing her eyes shut and wrestling with the stubborn hold of the shadow thread tethering her to Lily Keil. Soon, it unravels, her presence and power withdrawing away from the other woman to slip back towards her until there is nothing but the accurate silhouette of her kneeling on the ground. Drawing a deep inhale, she moves to stand, swaying sideways once lightheadedness hits her and the world suddenly lurches in a dizzying loop.

She closes her eyes, her hand reaching up to clutch at the front of her dress. Pain pulses with every laborious beat of her heart, but she manages, at least, to regain her same, straight-backed grace.

There is some comfort to be had that nobody has died, not from where she could see. Sharp eyes catch the rise and fall of June's chest where she has fallen.

Turning on slippered feet, all too cognizant of her weakened state and the potential danger that would bring to everyone else remaining, she turns to start shuffling towards the arena exit, determined to push forward despite her blurring vision and the white-hot jolts of pain lancing up her legs at every step. 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

It wasn't a complete awakening. It's gone now. Fei is just Fei again. Sometimes Fei finds himself in agreement with that little voice or, at least, that little voice lends a hand for his own purposes. Either way, such miracles--or catastrophes--remain brief. It's not complete. Sometimes a bittersweet moment can even reach that little voice.

He starts when he sees the guy literally be impaled and not bleed. That--that okay is pretty impossible. He feels compelled to give maximum effort to stop Grahf.

It still isn't enough. He knew it wouldn't be enough, but his concious mind can't believe what his heart knows.

Grahf isn't someone you really defeat by punching really hard. That kind of phrasing is familiar too, and there is a faint realization on his face. There is more going on here than meets the eye.

He stands there, panting for breath as Grahf...just leaves.

He just unceremoniously leaves, having made his point. It's not really a pleasant point but it is a simple enough point to understand. They need power. They can either seize it for themselves or have it hoisted upon them.

Any remaining energy is extingusihed. Fei rests a hand on Xantia's shoulder for a moment. Is he going to remark on how strangely similar that red energy is? Is he going to admonish her for not fleeing?

"That was amazing," He says. "You were amazing. I'll be right back." He wants to reassure her more, but people are too hurt for that.

Instead he turns towards Lily. He sees the strangeness in her eyes but he doesn't admonish her for that either. Instead he says, "And the way you threw all those explosions at him--that was incredible. I thought for sure he'd kill us all, but he didn't kill anybody!"

He pauses as he remembers: June.

"...June." He rushes off to check on her. "Elena!" He shouts. "Can you lend a hand here! June's hurt!"

But not dead, he realizes. Nobody died.

They lived, somehow, they all lived. The impossible happened. He's crying and laughing with relief.

FEI PSYCHO 30 

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

It's hard to say if Grahf leaving is a victory or a warning for next time. It could be both, maybe? Elena's too concerned to really think of this as anything but an omen.

With the smoke settling, she starts making her way towards Fei specifically, disregarding his brief burst of incredible power (and evil?!) in favor of seeing if the man is alright. This would probably work better if she could walk straight and wasn't limping. She didn't break a leg or anything but she's pretty hurt.

Lucky her, Fei spots her.

"I... o-of course, mister Fei! If... if it would not burden you too greatly, I believe I could use... some help walking, yes?" She should have probably heeded his warning, but like Ida, Fei has to learn Elena doesn't like to listen to people who aren't in religious garb. And even then...

"I am exhausted, but if I can catch my breath I should be able to cast another healing spell!" Should. As long as there aren't a dozen people in critical need of healing, she won't pass out. Sadly, this was Grahf, so there probably are. 

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon stares, as the Gear makes its exit. Lily's display of power was impressive, to be certain, but he is familiar with it. He walks over towards Fei, Lily, and the rest. He smiles for a moment, that relieved look on his face, and then slings his blade over his shoulder. He looks to Elena, when she says that. "If you can, priestess, it may be wise."

Then, he looks to Fei. He said he would protect the Black Wolves -- and he kept Lily safe. He stays quiet for a moment, but then nods his thanks. "Good job," he says. "All of you. I won't pretend we drove him back... but we kept everyone safe."

It's a victory. It isn't a complete victory, but it is one. 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei nods to Leon. The Captain speaks to the heart of the matter. He is of the same mind. Did they drive him off? No. But with the correct priorities, it's damn good enough. This is why Fei will follow Leon to hell, certainly.

He'll jog off to help Elena move over. "You helped me out earlier too. I couldn't thank you then properly so--thank you. Sorry he said all that shit to you." He admits.

He pauses. "Sorry for saying shit."

SHIT!

He really doesn't know what's kosher for Granas. 

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Satisfying though it may be to stab Grahf through the arm, he certainly didn't care nearly as much about that as Xantia would've hoped. No blood, no pain, nothing. Even with Fei giving it all he's got after her attack, and with all the damage he took previously, it still doesn't look like their enemy is any closer to going down than he was at the very beginning.

But then, just as even she's beginning to have doubts about being able to win, he just sort of... leaves? That's all she can make of it, you can't really call it fleeing when you weren't actually losing. Or did he actually decide to listen to her request? Wouldn't it be nice if all bad guys left when you just asked them to?

She smiles when Fei comes over to compliment her. "Yeah! We really showed him, didn't we?" Well, probably, she supposes? They must have, he did leave, after all.

With the immediate crisis past, she is soon distracted by that red blade again, studying it for a moment, and giving it a few testing swings. It feels... right. Like something she's meant to use. If only she knew why she has this feeling, or where she got it in the first place.

Looking about, she searches for - and finds - Gwen, waving to her with her energy blade-bearing arm. "Gweeeeeen! Look, look! It did something!" Looks like that earlier assessment was right. All it took was the right set of circumstances.

Frowning slightly, she looks back at the weapon. "Now, how do you turn it--" The energy immediately disperses, the blade vanishing in an instant. "--oh, there we go!" She tests it a few more times, activating and deactivating the weapon in quick succession. This is so easy, how could she not manage to do this before? 

<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.

Fei - perhaps coming with others - can find June laying with some of the rubble of that side of the arena. A large stone is laying on her right arm at an awkward angle but there isn't a lot of blood - not surprisingly. The source of most of that blood seemed to be a streak of abraded skin on her side.

As Fei comes nearer, along with Elena, June breathes in, then out, shallowly.

In her mind her heart is beating so slow and so loud. Ever since she was hurt for the first time, her blood has seemed to thunder. It eases when she's meditating, it rises when she's upset, and now she feels cold and residual and weak.

Breathe out. Breathe in.

There is a sudden feeling of stabbing pain in her arm where it isn't even more. Semi-conscious, she tightens her arm and shoves it forwards as if to grind against that agonized feeling -

As Fei gets closer June's right arm suddenly seems to rise upwards, extending up in the air, which is a little weird because the chunk of masonry on top of it is falling away from it. The wood panelling of the prosthetic is cracked but the hand is still clenched into a fist.

"Wuh?" is June's response. THEN SUDDENLY she sits bolt upright. "Yahh!! Is that son of a -"

June looks around at some length. Finally her attention rests on Fei. She points at Elena with her fist, which doesn't seem to be coming unclenched. "She looks bad," she says. "Oughta get her to... uh... somebody. Is he gone??" 

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"I believe these circumstances are grave enough that some profanity will be able to slip under the radar," Elena reassures Fei. Maybe it's that she's in no state to lecture him about his awful dirty tongue, or that she really doesn't care considering what Grahf did. Bit of both. Also let's be fair here but Fei saw Elena be kind of a huge jerk to Cyre so the Songstress may not have any ground to stand on.

"Are you fine? He was being much meaner to you than I, and it must have been painful to face that man again after..." You know, Lahan. That whole story.

Elena makes it to June, slowly, nodding to Leon. She slumps down onto her knees to rest once near enough, taking her Mana Egg out again and trying to focus on it, watery blue wisps flowing around it. She can't channel some great cleansing holy light right now, but a simple healing spell shouldn't be TOO hard - or that was the idea, anyway! There June is, upright, apparently... fine?

"Y-You should probably not be standing after suffering such injuries!" she insists, sternly. Pot, meet kettle. 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

They all lived, somehow. Gwen rubs the spot where Grahf had smoothly shoved her aside as he leaves, wincing at the touch.

"Everyone's okay, eh? Well, okayish?" She looks around to assess everyone's damage, ready to engage in some first aid.

A departing shadow manages to catch the courier's attention. "Lemme go help her," she says with a nod to Fei and the rest. "Here." Taking out her first aid kit, she offers it out. "Should be some bandages and stuff there. I got more at my wagon, so use em up. I can just bandage myself when I go check on Gulliver." She flexes an arm. "You guys take care! Y'know where to reach me if any of y'need anything."

She just wants to go collapse someplace and sleep, really. Sleep that sort of awkward, numb, splayed out sort of sleep, where she's rude and uncouth to anyone who bothers to wake her. Maybe eat a lot of fried food, before that. But first-

---

"Um." That may be Thessaly's first warning that someone is approaching her: Gwen, in all her bloody, splintered glory, no handkerchief to mask the creep of a burn scar from underneath her sweat-stained blouse, as well as the metal glean of her ARM, now at resting at her side. "Thank you for helping us. I saw you at some of the earlier matches- you're Mr. Dantear's companion, right?"

She holds out a hand in offering, though if Thessaly seems faint, she'll throw aside the courtesy and attempt to support her herself.

"-Here," she says, her voice still rough from earlier. "Let me help you get to where Mr. Dantear is. I'm tired myself, but it's the least I can do, for your help." 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily's black eyes stay on Grahf as her magic does its work. She waits through it, tries to send through more as she can, drawing on Thessaly's power as well as she does until Grahf shatters it, and Lily is left gasping for breath and having to use a hand to hold herself up even on one knee.

But it worked. It started to work.

In short order her dizzied vision takes in more and more of the rest, including just how strong Grahf is, and she thinks she's going to nhave to orce herself to run until Grahf instead moves. That's that. He leaves. They lived.

The bond starts to break, and Lily can't move through it, looking over to where she sensed, briefly, Thessaly in her intent to speak with her. But Fei comes to her and Lily looks up at him, black eyes hard to look into but expression ever-so-slightly relieved. More relieved than she looks. "I did what I could," she says. "He left though, for whatever reason."

June. Ah. Someone's hurt. Elena speaks up and she seems a little bit familiar. But Leon speaks up and Lily nods to him. "We did. And we managed to keep ourselves safe." She pauses at that, and looks over at Fei. "But Fei saved me. I can barely walk right now, and I was about to face his magic directly." Magic? Well, she thinks it's magic. "If he weren't running all over, I'd tell him so.."

She starts to try o get to her feet, though if Leon comes to join her, she'll lean on him. "I can help these people before we leave," she says. A call to Elena, "Priestess! Let me..." Huff.

"Two fights at once. Is it wrong that..." A shake of her head. "Nevermind." 

<Pose Tracker> June Lim Ze has posed.

June is upright now, if sore and battered and in visible pain. She seems to be able to gut it pretty well. "You're the one who should sit down," she says to Elena. Then she looks at Lily, who comes up. "I'd give you a hand, but it's not working right now," she tells Lily.

June then staggers visibly, but... thanks to Elena, that moment of half-desperate 'scrabble to safety' energy is not fading completely.

"Screw that guy," June then grouches, not caring at all that she's in front of a religious woman. "Screw him and his toy box."

There is a certain sense in her voice, obstinate and vinegar-filled as she has often been, that she is whistling past the graveyard-- and knows it. 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

Ethius finds himself thrown into one last hard tumble with Grahf's dismissive sweep of an arm. The mysterious white-haired Symbologist comes to rest propping himself up with one elbow. Trying to put too much weight on both makes his burned hand... you know, burn some more.

when the Gear descends, Ethius thrusts the burnt palm upwards. He chants something. There's lights coming from him. He tries to cast something in defiance, but to say what it was, or its effect might have been, is useless as little more than window dressing. Grahf, unable to be halted, blasts away on his Gear as displaced air washes over him.

Then... his eyes sweep the battlefield, as he wipes blood off his forehead one more time. He watches that mysterious woman that interrupted his encounter with Lily take her quiet leave. He sees the commander, Leon, smile and praise the gathered. He watches Fei see to the well-being of Xantia, to the fallen June, to his concern for Lily's well-being.

To Lily, of whom he was deeply embroiled in a battle that could not have ended otherwise outside of death... he does not move to accost her, or to speak to her. His hand could use medical attention - to say nothing of the rest of his wounds suffered. The cuts. The bruises. Elena's healing could be of service - if ne's not mistaken, he might have seen Lily do the same for another. Which is... interesting.

A sense of urgency prevents him from seeking care. He feels exposed, standing as he does.

Ethius chants one more time, clutching the second satchel - the first having been expended during his battle with Lily. One chant later, he tosses it down and creates another smoke cover in which to escape.

His business here in Lacour is concluded. The Technology Hunter's bizarre, obsessive, endless search would continue elsewhere, to whatever end he seeks. To whatever end that he won't be open about, even under the threat of dissection...

Is it won't... or can't?

Whatever answers there are to claim of him for his recent actions - and some not so recent - it would seem it will wait for another time as he seeks his own.

Their paths would not remain divergent for much longer. 

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"Perhaps... some rest would not be ill-advised," Elena sighs, defeatedly, shifting from on her knees to sitting down proper. She even joins June in the complaining! "He was a very rude man! What kind of selfish imbelice seeks power to further their own ends rather than benefit others?!" Oh look the mean words are slipping out again, in company that might just mind them. "To... to... kill and destroy like this?! This is not the correct path!!" Oh no, is she... getting more energetic? Is she being energized by her lecture?

No, don't worry, her head droops down like she has a brief dizzy spell and she stops talking, before shaking her head to regain focus. She looks at Lily, nodding. "Thank you, the help would be appreciated... I do not think I can heal all of these people on my own right now!" 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"I'm doing pretty good," Fei says. "I mean, the city's still here and I don't think anybody died." That's a much bigger improvement than before. Besides, he felt a power inside him that he was able to tap into, however briefly. It was scary but also kind of...good. It seems like Xantia learned how to do something too. It became easier, did it? He'll ask if she remembered something later.

Cyre probably had it coming though.

"Guess it looked worse than it was," Fei chirps. He gives Gwen a brief hug because she has not established a major mental dysfunction in his direction before and sometimes that's all the reason you need to give someone a hug.

He looks towards Ethius who departs under cloud of smoke.

"I don't know about the rest of you," Fei says. "But I think he has the right idea."

"It's about time to skip town." 

<Pose Tracker> Thessaly has posed.

By the time Lily turns around to try and look for her, Thessaly is already gone, though she does not escape unnoticed. Gwen Whitlock trots towards the direction in which she has vanished from view.

She has every intention of reuniting with Garan before anything else happens. Step after determined step, the world darkens around her when she reaches the awning leading into the cooler climes of the ring's interior. A pale hand moves to rest on the wall, black lacquered nails dragging across it as she keeps moving. The buzzing, shrieking cacophony continues to echo in her skull, the color of her surroundings blurring and bleeding together. The sound that only she can hear is so loud that she does not notice Gwen's approach until her hand rests on her arm and mentions a name.

The super courier's unconditional kindness has her head jerking upwards. "No," she murmurs. "Wait, it is too dangerou-- "

The moment the redhead touches her everything changes. Black smoke and purple flame suddenly expels from under her sleeve, bloodcurdling screaming assaulting Gwen's senses and echoing her own. The growing darkness engulfs them in a bubble and for a moment, the world suddenly ceases to exist for the both of them. Before gray-blue eyes is not the face of a woman, when the shadows finally part.

Something avian, beautiful, but terrible and huge, looming over her in this black pocket of space, with wide eyes wreathed with purple flames. The massive beak suddenly parts open, the scream only the two of them can hear plowing through their senses and causing nerves to shake....

And it wants Gwen.

It is HUNGRY and it needs to FEED.

And just as suddenly as it has arrived, the mirage cracks apart and shatters into a million fragments, drifting around them like smoke and curling between their bodies like threads of intangible ether...

But not.

Whatever that was, it was not ether.

Thessaly collapses on her knees, every ounce of mental strength left expended to seal the vision back to where it belongs.

"Forgive me," she pants, burying her face in her hands. "Forgive me it cannot...I cannot..." 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

There's about a chance in hell that Lily will heal Ethius Hesiod with her magic or skill at this point, given how recently she was trying to kill him. She can't help but notice him out there... But their mutual help here is enough reason not to try to continue a fight while they're both doing so poorly.

Lily moves on Leon's arm towards June then, looks her over as the other woman makes that comment about giving her a hand.

Lily actually laughs aloud, sharply but not too unkindly, at the joke. This probably surprises most of those who know her and are present. "I'll manage. Just stay still, and I'll look you over."

She pauses, as she thinks she feels something... else. But Ethius is gone, and...

"...Let's just make it quick." She pauses. "Soon, Fei. You and I need to talk."

She's not laughing anymore. 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

When Fei hugs Gwen, the courier is surprised, but is quick to return it. Which, considering that arm of hers, is just hearty enough, stopping at being painful. "Hang in there, Fei," she says quietly, before breaking her grip. "If you ever need a ride someplace, you're always welcome on the wagon. I may not have any answers, but I can listen. Or Gulliver can. He's listened to me talk about lots of things."

Kindness. It's the sort of trait that could get someone in trouble, in a world like this.

But it's because the world is the way it is that she wishes to be kind.

A world, will so many wonderful things, and also-

This. The amalgam of situations that led to this.

A beautiful, horrible shadow, an avian being that wished to just eat her whole.

Kindness attracts cruelty, it seems; due to the attentions of Isiris, a man whose name she does not know, Gwen finds herself facing something even more terrible than what she faced briefly on that night.

Gwen is on her knees as well, shaking, her breath a trembling line of inhales and exhales. "...." She can't speak. She barely has the ability to move.

But what is even more terrifying is the vision of a woman, exhausted, quietly issuing her apologies. "... So that's why you were..." It wasn't just a bid to get away and recoup her wits in peace. If it took this woman that much to keep that thing at bay, how could she have walked and done so at the same time?

Gwen shifts her body closer to Thessaly. Gently, she takes a breath, as if ready to press her hands into a roaring fire. Then, in one motion, so she wouldn't have a chance to back out-

She gathers Thessaly up. "Concentrate on doing... whatever you're doin'. I'll do the walkin' for you. Just tell me where to go." She gives Thessaly a smile as she straightens with a soft exhale of effort, those blue grey eyes clouded with the beginnings of tears. "I'm a courier, so I'm used to this. Would you believe... you're the second person I've had to deliver...?"

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