2018-06-23: Limit Two Skies
- Log: Limit Two Skies
- Cast: Yarobeleedt, Ambrosius, Malfi, Elvis, Catenna, Mihaya, Dean Stark, Fei Fong Wong, Seraph Beast, Avril Vent Fleur
- Where: Mount Zulan
- Date:2018-06-23
- Summary: The first of three Guardian Statues on Lunar is in jeopardy! Will it be sealed or smashed?
==============================<* Mount Zulan *>=============================== The largest peak on the Meribus continent, Mount Zulan is estimated to be more than five thousand feet in height. None have ever reached the summit; the peak is populated by angry and predominantly carnivorous wildlife, and the approach is treacherous. Landslides and rockfalls are common, with little warning. Despite the dangers, the mountain still attracts the occasional adventurer, drawn by rumours of ancient ruins from the first days of the Goddess's reign, said to lie buried beneath the ice and snows. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yawlRq0VMss
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
There's a lot of buzz about that odd statue on Mount Zulan. There's also a lot of blizzard about that Mount Zulan. Maybe the statue has something to do with that? There's also that jerk yeti that keeps prowling about the mountain. It's all speculation. Left without much direction, the displaced natives of the Blue Star conduct their business as they will. Can they ever get home?
With little better to do, most pick coincidental times to go scale the peak. Though the winds blow cold air at great speed, the air itself is thin and hard to breathe, and it's just so dang cold, the route up is mostly without incident today. There's a sense that whatever's involved wants people to come to it.
It's not at the exact peak, but there is a level area with one heck of a view of the land south. The Blue Star is visible in the evening sky, illuminating the way - and casting a silhouette upon a great hunk of rock carved with delicate care in the form of something that is in no way, shape, or form the Goddess Althena.
They would have to draw closer to be certain. Would? They must. They will find themselves compelled closer to see, as the reflecting light of the Blue Star gives further clarity to its featur--
There is a sudden burst of snow and rock, and also a blur of metallic ochre. There is also screeching, as a sickle-like arm slams into the snow ahead of them.
"Y? Why here?? Make sense. Fufufu. Did not find before, not there?" Rasp-screeches a certain familiar someone. They look awful. Emanciated. The other arm is goopier than usual. "But here. Send here? Is here? All along, not a short...!" He's... surprised, relieved, agitated, but also... eager.
____YAROBELEEDT____
Lowly Advance Scout
"Sorais Enz, Guardian of Sky...!" He also has the name wrong. "Hide in other sky?? Fact is under Yarobeleedt's skin. Now... make sky f--"
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Another burst of snow follows. A great muscular white-furred beast pounds their chest, and then brings both fists down upon Yarobeleedt with a squeal.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The beast doesn't charge into them under the cover of snow? They roar with all the expected bloodlust for those who have had the (mis?)fortune of becoming familiar with this ferocious beast, but they do not approach.
They fall. The fall is not voluntary, as it finds itself tumbling uncontrollably past the collected. The uprooted snow swirls from this latest geyser a few times, obscuring the features of this latest complication in what seems to be a pile-up of competing wills in so far as this hunk of stone goes.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Rumors of a statue among the peaks of Mount Zulan, appearing vastly unlike the Goddess Statues that were a common occurrence throughout the world of Lunar...
There were many things it could be, but the way the rumor was worded...well, Ambrosius had his suspicions. And even if it wasn't what he suspected, it was important to verify it, just in case.
But still...a Guardian Statue, here? If this was true, then perhaps it was fortuitous that they had arrived on Lunar. There was still work yet to be done. And so, he had met with the Metal Demons, and together they set out.
The advance scout provides their route. Following Yarobeleedt in anything is...unpleasant, but even Ambrosius cannot deny that he had his uses.
Shortly after Yarobeleedt's encounter with the tyrant of the mountain, a man clad from head to toe in body armor unlike anything produced on Lunar emerges from the tunnel, his head concealed beneath a helmet. Pouches line his person, filled with all manner of things.
He does not say a word. He does not pose dramatically. He simply walks toward the statue in the distance, his steps full of purpose.
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi steps cautiously out of Yarobeleedt's tunnel, wariness in her bearing. She is in her true form, tall and golden, and armed with her traditional lance. Maybe she's moving carefully because the tunnel is lined with Yarobeleedt's slime, yuck...
<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.
What the heck was that, and who is this person leading them?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIS SPEECH. "I am a scientist and I didn't understand ANY of that," says a tall fellow built like something that has escaped a gladiator pit. "We should try to assemble a cipher to help him," he comments to Ambrosius as he hustles through the hole dug by this... what is he again? Why is he melting?!
"I don't understand any of this." He has seen like, five things in the space of a few minutes that confound him, and each one gets a note in his research. The sludge accumulating on the scout's path is of particular note, and gets a frowny face next to it. UGH HIS BOOTS.
A look to Elvis' notes. What he did know is that there was rumors of a statuesque rock, depicting an odd character. "Oh come ON, leave some for us, eh?" Elvis calls from the tunnel, seeing light, feeling the chill from the rush of air at an exposed path.
The man steps out of the hole, looking across the rime-coated landscape. He spots the object in question. "There it is! Perhaps we can get some real work done this time!" Not that anyone here is responsible for slowing work down. Besides himself. LOOK FINDING A TEENAGER IS HARD.
Elvis takes out a pair of glasses, wiping them clean of a smuch of ochre, and puts them on daintly as he readies to see just what information can be pried from this strange effigy...
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Catenna hadn't been able to find that wolf. It bothered her more than it had any right to.
Fate had taken her away from that worry and into another - and it's a shock she hadn't anticipated.
"Solais Emsu? Here?" Catenna gasps, her eyes growing wide with amazement - and something Riesenlied once told her nags at a corner of her mind. So there were Statues on Lunar after all!
Wrapped up in her fur cloak over a long and utilitarian dress, Catenna darts forward, towards that tunnel - but as shapes begin to emerge, she brings herself up short. The first one the spots is not the blob demon, though.
Catenna fixes her eyes on Ambrosius, pressing her lips together firmly. "So we meet again," she says levelly. So much for her hope that Ambrosius could turn out to be like Riesenlied, or even with a little of Kaguya in him - enough that he could be persuaded to place some value on these worlds.
Swallowing a surge of disappointment, Catenna focuses on the ugly reality: She's going to have to do what she should've done back in the Malevolent grotto on Filgaia. She draws her silver sword and moves it into her right hand, holding it in a ready stance but not moving to attack just yet.
"You know that I cannot allow you to take this path. By the light of the Moon, I will not permit it."
From within Catenna's hood, the Owlet peeks out to watch the scene intently. The little bird stares at Ambrosius as if trying to read him like a book.
<Pose Tracker> Mihaya has posed.
Mihaya has been keeping an eye out for unusual things.
This isn't hard, there is a LOT unusual going on around Lunar at this point, and she's gotten eyes on some strange people and even stranger artifacts that some of these people are carrying. The rather crazy battle that had taken place around Lastonbell had shown that the strange visitors from another world had changed the Silver Star forever, and she knew that she needed to understand just what sort of strange new things these strangers from another land had brought with them.
And preferably capture some of those artifacts for her own use.
And so she has been tailing this rather odd little group for a while now, with the strange... thing that is Yarobeleedt having caught her attention at first, and the smaller and less interesting companions the strange beast had accompanying it having been something of an afterthought. For a while Mihaya had been able to track them without having to follow in the trail of slime that the creature was leaving behind, but unfortunately as the snows had gotten deeper and the trail had become more restricted, she had to accept that her boots were just not going to be in great shape after this.
It's hard to tell just what the well wrapped figure who emerges from the tunnel - well after the Metal Demons and their allies - happens to be, as Mihaya has wrapped her face with a heavy scarf, as well as adding a heavy cloak to help beat back the chill atop the mountain on top of her normal clothes. But her eyes gaze out from under the hood she has pulled up over her head, and they narrow as someone confronts the creatures moving up the path. She doesn't know what is going on here - it's a situation outside of her normal experience, and who can say which group has the right of it?
Her gut tells her that the person opposing the rather horrifying monster beast is likely on the side of right, however. Which would be narrow minded and prejudicial of her, yes - but when you have to make snap judgments, what can you do?
Mihaya tosses her pack aside, pausing only to pull her staff free from where it is tied by a loop of hide against the side. "Guardian!" she calls out to Catenna. "Do you require assistance in dealing with these...?" Pause. "...'guests'?"
She has no idea that Catenna doesn't live here, but it's not a bad assumption. (It totally is.)
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Bare midriffs on snowy mountains aren't the smartest of ideas. Dean comes fully clothed to Mt. Zulan. Why come? Well, there's the whole abominable snowman and all, of course. He and Avril and Rebecca and Fei have all been here before, and it's been a while for him in particular since he checked in on the townspeople. Then there was an explosion or something like that up on top of the mountain, and there was talk of a Statue, and, well, Dean just *has* to check it out.
"It *is* a Statue!" he declares, running up to the edge of the clearing and spotting the stone statue in question. Whether it's actually a Statue statue is another matter, but Dean honestly doesn't know the difference, and Catenna seems convinced, and he understands she's a shaman so she'd know, right? "What're you guys trying to do with it?!"
Well, it's kind of a no-brainer, really. He recognizes Malfi in the group, and quasi-recognizes Yaro, and he knows the Metal Demons don't have good designs on the Statues. But then there's also Ambrosius, which is kind of a surprise, and then--
"AAHH! IT'S YOU!" Dean thrusts a finger at Elvis. "THE MUSCLE PROFESSOR!! What're *you* doing here?! You can't break that Statue, it'll cause a lot of problems!!" Jumping to conclusions, possibly, but maybe it's not that big of a leap. And while Dean may not actually technically know Elvis's name, he *does* know him well enough to know he has no problem with causing problems.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Wait a Guardian Statue on the moon??? What!! What!!! Since when! Who! What! How??
Now naturally this statue is not exactly confirmed to be a Guardian Statue but it could be and even if it's not, by god, Fei isn't going to let someone smash apart a statue either! He doesn't actually check to see it himself because Yaro calls it Sorais Einz! Fei, who is just arriving to investigate the rumors, doesn't know what that means. CATENNA however points out that it's Solais Emsu! And again Fei doesn't check to make sure because obviously Catenna would know that it's Solais Emsu and not, say, some other statue right? Right. Or she's assuming that because Yaro said one name that it IS Solais Emsu and hasn't checked herself but what are the odds on that exactly? Probably not very high. These are all valid assumptions to make and who wouldn't trust Shaman Moon? You should always listen to what Shaman Moon says. And either way, Fei's gaze turns towards Ambrosius.
He remembers you, buddy, and how you're helping destroy the statues. He looks towards Elvis though and his dramatic staredown at Ambrosius is already interrupted.
He blinks a few times. He can already tell just by looking at Elvis that he's quite the character. And more to the point, those muscles!
Fei whistles. Someone doesn't skip leg day. Or arm day. Or core day. Or abs day. Honestly even his head looks cut. And he thinks maybe he should be wearing an outfit that's one size larger than what he's wearing.
"Hey...you with these guys?" Fei asks of Elvis, raising his fists. "If so I'm gonna have to ask you to back away from the--"
MUSCLE PROFESSOR. ... ... yeah that tracks.
"So he is here to break the statue...?" Fei raises one foot up and brings his arms up to guard his head and body. "Back away from the statue, buddy!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
The Beast of Lohgrin is in the area, because, you know, there's someone very concerning she has to take care of. But there are so many humans to take care of in the world! For instance: the village of Zulan, who she still worries about, even after the caravan had gotten them their medicine.
It's for this reason that she's come here again, and for this reason that she hears something which makes her climb the mountain again. It's not so hard, as a Seraph, especially on a mild day like this. She cheats. She can just use wind magic to get over the slippery ice.
And there she finds - a statue. Not a statue like her vessel, mind, many metal plates held together in a draconic form by wind magic. Not a statue of the Goddess, for that matter. It's a complete unknown, and she steps forward to try and see its features -
- only to be interrupted by -
- um -
- a lot of things happen in a short period of time, and the Beast watches. There is no emotion, reflected on the twinned plates which make up her upper and lower face. The look she casts to Catenna, who seems to know more than she does, could only be described as 'hollow-eyed'. And yet, there's confusion in her voice, for any who can hear it. "Er..."
That gloopy creature's misadventures are soon matched by other figures, emerging from the tunnel. Catenna and Dean, at least, seem quite convinced that whatever they mean to do with that statue is ill-advised. "Hold a moment," the Beast calls to those tunnel-goers. "If we could just talk about this - if perhaps you could explain your purpose here..."
Because talking has always helped, right?
That she is a giant statue trying to apply diplomacy to breaking another statue is humour which goes right over her head like a little mystical bird.
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
If Malfi were able to hear Seraph Beast, she would have replied, "We're here to destroy the Statue. These Statues are imprisoning our Mother. She suffers." Unfortunately, she has no Resonance to speak of, so what she sees is a silent draconic statue floating by itself, and the reply never happens.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It's a cold world up on the mountaintop. Avril may have as a tendency a favor towards ice, but that doesn't mean she can prance around unprotected. The mysterious maiden has exchanged her usual robes for the clothing favored by the townsfolk in the village below.
She even has a scarf.
Suffice to say, they had ventured here once before, crossing paths with a strange symbol after a clash with a beast atop the peak had sent them plummeting. But though Rebecca had been the one to look into the matter...
And now there's been an explosion. Rumors swirling about a statue. Perhaps people once traveled to Lunar from Filgaia in the past. It's enough to go on, in the end.
"Dean, be careful--"
She sees it too, in the distance. The Statue. But, is that a Guardian Statue?
Absolute Zero makes its appearance in a flash, blade materializing at the hilt from seemingly nowhere. "There's a number of them. Perhaps if we--"
She cuts herself off, her gaze zeroing in on one unmistakeable figure amidst those arrayed before the statue.
"He... survived that after all," Avril comments, tilting her head to one side as if a little nonplussed. Then blinks. "But, then why is he --Dean! --Fei! Are either of you able to reach the Statue?"
<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.
All seems well on this research outing, well, until it isn't. To be fair it was bad the moment that gunk got on his good raised-heel boots, but that can be overlooked, at least for 'allies'. They were allies, right? He didn't think to ask Volsung what the deal was. It just seemed like a good plan to find out about a potentially magical rock.
And then humans show up. "What do they want? This is our rock thing! Shoo!" Elvis says, batting a hand away. "Go find your own rock! There are plenty out there!"
They seem determined. WAIT.
That hair. That coat. THAT SMUG LOOK. "YOU!" Elvis bellows. "You are the one who took the mirror! You left me in that mine!!! I could have DIED!" The man huffs and flexes a fist so pwoerfully you can hear bones and muscles creak. "Do you know how long it took me to get out of there?!" he thinks for a moment. "Well, not long, BUT IT WAS ANNOYING!"
A snapped look towards Fei. "I can do what I want with it! The research gained from such an item would be incredubly valuable!" Whether or not it involves breaking it is irrelevant. He wants it! A look is given to Avril as well, squinting and recognizing her. Somehow.
She must have been with that Dean kid. Yeah, that's it.
"NONE of you are getting near the statue! You took the mirror from me! I GET TO HAVE SOMETHING NOW." Elvis looks toward Ambrosius. "We're gonna have to fight for it, it looks like! Be on your guard!" He hopes Malfi and Yarobeleedt will hold their own as well.
The elderly muscle man raises his hands, and snaps them out in opposite directions. Swaths of shaped cloth come out from his blouse, and they quickly encompass his hands, with what's left dangling below his wrists.
BGM Change: Elvis PALB_3106 (Battle) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gExsYSfKvGA
Elvis falls into a combat ready stance.
"You can have it if you can get past ME!"Elvis crouches down, and like a puma erupting after his prey, leaps into action as the ground udner him cracks and gives way to immense pressure. Like a surging tidal wave he closes the distance between himself and Dean, throwing a myriad of powerful punches his way, like a lightning bolt with fists!
Avril and Fei is not spared his wrath, as one of those fists is thrown into the ground, and a surge of magic underneath the two causes the ground to colvulse and erupt, threatening to cave in on them!
DC: Elvis switches forms to THE PROFESSOR!
GS: Elvis has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Hi-Crush! GS: Elvis has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Hi-Crush! GS: Elvis has attacked Dean Stark with Rapid Punch! GS: Elvis has completed its action. GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Elvis's Hi-Crush for 75 hit points! GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a glancing hit from Elvis's Hi-Crush for 135 hit points! GS: Dean Stark guards a hit from Elvis's Rapid Punch for 108 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
"I find it is best to...let him babble..." Ambrosius comments, with a glance toward Elvis.
Indeed - it was almost as if trying to understand Yarobeleedt just lead to one becoming even more confused, in his experience.
As he emerges from the tunnel, Ambrosius is pretty easy to spot. The red of his armor(the traditional armor of Veruni operatives, though there were not many present who would know it by sight) stands out strongly against the blindingly white snow surround him.
Unfortunately, it would seem they are not here alone. In the distance, he spots a familiar figure - Catenna. Concealed beneath his helmet, the corners of his lips tug into a slight frown.
"...Indeed." He replies, continuing toward Catenna and the Statue. "And you know that I cannot allow you to stop me."
He glances toward Fei as the young man look toward him, but his gaze is soon distracted away by Elvis.
He's pretty distracting, it's fine.
"Understood." Ambrosius replies with a nod toward Elvis, his tone a respectful one. Besides, he sees a new problem - emerging behind them is someone else, who does not appear to be an ally.
They were followed? His frown deepens even more. Well then. There are a number of foes arrayed against them, but he remains confident.
Unfortunately for the Beast, Ambrosius is not resonant enough to hear her voice - otherwise, he might have a response to her. For now, however, he stares down Catenna, appraising her for a moment.
Haven't encountered her before, he knew how dangerous she was. If allowed to freely support the others, this could turn around quickly. He could not allow that. And so he begins to walk slowly toward her...before rushing her down at high speeds, drawing a knife as he moves and swinging it toward her violently.
If it connected, fine - but his main intention was to cut her off from the others, and make it difficult for them to join her.
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Catenna with Scything Swing! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Catenna takes a solid hit from Ambrosius's Scything Swing for 122 hit points! GS: Mighty! Statuses applied to Ambrosius!
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi recognizes Dean and Fei as they move into attack Elvis. She hopes they'll have sense enough to surrender and not die here. Dean is her only human friend (so far). She concentrates her attention on the mysterious floating statue, obviously a magical artifact of some kind. Like most of her people, she mistrusts magic (evidently the sentiment is mutual). Malfi jabs her lance at the statue experimentally, aiming for gaps between the plates...
GS: Malfi has attacked Seraph Beast with Improv Tango! GS: Malfi has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
They all assemble. Yarobeleedt postures. He has been humiliated, beaten, and taken away from all he ever knew and loved in the process. (Which is not even the whole of what he deserves, but these points stand.) In that statue up ahead, he finds redemption. He knew it was so weird that they couldn't account for every known Guardian on Filgaia! This is why! And now, he, alone, will--
He turns behind him and deflates visibly as Ambrosius, Elvis, and even Malfi just casually walk along up towards it with ill intent in their hearts of indeterminate colors. "I CUT IT 1ST," he childishly chides, screeching as he lashes out a scythe-arm in the snow to try and grab their attentio--
There is a great big shambling metal statue of a dragon. Yarobeleedt's almost googly eyes track in its direction. His jaw hangs open, a tongue lolling out as it dribbles disgusting venomous drool to stain the white snow beneath him "...Is ^Metal Beast^? Home no? Home yes??" He seems so entranced by the idea of... um... what, exactly? "Is another forcement???" ...Is he confusing the shambling floating pile of metal pieces for something else entirely? Meanwhile, while Yarobeleedt appears distracted, the curious elf's biases seem to have the right of it. Yarobeleedt is an unsightly naga-blob-bug-thing with a pulsating, crackling lower body as it fights against being frozen solid, with at least one arm reconfiguring in some strange, alien, unfathomable way into a big noodly whip with spikes on it. It waves for attention from the floating pile of metal plates.
"Mother, Mother! Watch Favorite Chum, Metal Darkman Yarobeleedt, prepare breakfast~" ...Um. While he's busy trying to flag the metallic dragon, the elf has a clear shot at his backside.
GS: Yarobeleedt has completed its action. GS: Seraph Beast takes a solid hit from Malfi's Improv Tango for 93 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Catenna is suddenly called a Guardian. She blinks twice. That word has different connotations for her.
"That would be ideal, yes," she calls back to Mihaya, sweeping her arm towards the foursome emerging from the tunnel. "Please do not allow them to break that statue!"
But there's Beast, too - and the Beast would have no idea what a Guardian is. "The Statues are sealing a terrible evil... they are trying to shatter them!" she calls to the Seraph.
All this trying to bring her friends up to speed has consequences. It takes her eye off the ball.
By the time she looks back towards Ambrosius, he's already a foot and a half away from her and swinging a knife. She begins to take a step.
It's not nearly quick enough. Before Catenna can so much as figure out where to dodge to, Ambrosius hits her quite a bit more solidly than he might've dreamed likely. The knife slips between two of Catenna's ribs and digs into her to the hilt before she jerks back.
The Moon Shaman's eyes cloud and go wide as blood gushes from the wound. She coughs up a mouthful of it, staggering backwards and sweeping her sword out weakly to try and cover herself, though the swing really couldn't hurt a mouse, much less a Hyadean. Her left leg gives out in short order; she loses her footing, dropping to her knee. Her sword slips out of her hand as she presses her palm over the wound.
She thrusts her left hand out sharply and snaps her head up with a sudden hiss of breath. A surge of magic ripples in the air.
Gravity attempts to seize Ambrosius and hurl him backwards several metres, the surge of it enough to toy with his muscles and wreak havoc. Catenna may be bleeding out, but she's not going to lose sight of the battle again.
Too much is at stake.
GS: Catenna has attacked Ambrosius with Grav! GS: Catenna has completed her action. GS: Ambrosius guards a hit from Catenna's Grav for 67 hit points! GS: Poison! Statuses applied to Ambrosius!
<Pose Tracker> Mihaya has posed.
". . ."
That's really Mihaya's reaction as the huge, metal monster starts spouting out the most ridiculous nonsense that she has ever heard. Of course, others have turned up as well, and she can see that the situation is... probably complicated?
Let's be fair, Mihaya really has no clue exactly what is going on here, but she figures that this strange shouting metal contraption is probably up to no good... and then Catenna gives her some details for the situation. That's better!
"So, evil demon monster wants to smash important statue to unleash even greater evil demon monster," she states, and claps her hands together, her staff still held in one. "Alright, that makes some sense at least." It at least gives her something to work with, and SOME direction on what she should do here!
And thus, the cloaked woman turns and points her staff at Yaro, shouting something that sounds like a battle of noise or some other odd language. And she waits.
...and waits.
Yaro just shouts at the metallic statue that makes up Beast's physical body, saying things that really make NO DAMN SENSE, and Mihaya just sort of... flattens slightly, her violet eyes taking on an expression under her hood that would just scream 'Are we REALLY doing this right now?' to anyone who saw them. And then she shouts, "OU! HEY! Metal Monster thing! Hey!"
Yaro continues to babble.
And Mihaya holds out one hand, channeling her symbiological power...
...and hucks a ball of flame right at the back of Yaro's head.
"STOP IGNORING ME!"
GS: Mihaya has attacked Yarobeleedt with Basic Fire Spell! GS: Mihaya has completed her action.
DC: MISS! Yarobeleedt completely evades Basic Fire Spell from Mihaya!
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
"Not a 'great evil' or 'evil demon monster'! The statues are sealing OUR MOTHER!" Malfi yells, unable to resist responding to her opponents' ignorance. Wouldn't they want to help THEIR mothers? Especially if they were imprisoned and in pain?
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
Here's the funny thing about having a big, obvious vessel:
A lot more people can see the Beast of Lohgrin than can hear her.
Luckily, Catenna can, and her swift explanation is absorbed with a nod of those headplates and a grave tone of voice. "I see. Do they not -"
Two things happen here, in quick succession. The gloopy creature starts talking to her and trying to get her attention, and a crackling lance darts out as the golden-skinned woman tries to find a gap in her armor. The latter firmly ensures she has no time to focus on the former, and poor Yarobeleedt goes ignored.
Now, here's another funny thing: the Beast of Lohgrin is made entirely of gaps. A statue so large could not move if it were one fused object. There are spaces between the plates, and though Malfi cannot possibly see it - they are filled with the magical presence of the Seraph.
This is what her lance snags as the Beast leaps away, lance catching between one wingplate and the other. There is no resistance; it is entirely incorporeal. Without a body and nerve endings, it's difficult to describe the sensation as 'hurt'.
'Decidedly unpleasant' might be a fine compromise.
"I do not wish to harm you," the Beast says as she lands, turning back towards the creature she is not sure she can quite describe as 'human' at all. "But I trust Catenna's judgement in this, and destruction is ever a hasty act."
And so, the wind picks up around her - blows straight towards Malfi, to unsettle her footing and distract her.
GS: Seraph Beast has attacked Malfi with Buffeting Headwind! GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action. GS: Malfi guards a hit from Seraph Beast's Buffeting Headwind for 64 hit points! GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Malfi!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"What?! It's not just a rock!" Dean argues with Elvis, nettling. "And that mirror was never yours to begin with! Someone almost DIED because you up and took it!" Elvis counters that *he* could've died, the way they left him in the cave like that. Dean hesitates a second, then rallies. "Well... Sorry about that! But you caught a boulder with your bare hands, you were probably gonna be okay!" And he *is* okay, and in point of fact he's describing the experience as merely 'annoying,' so Dean's having trouble feeling more than passingly bad about it!!
"Yeah, he must be! He's with the Metal Demons and all!" Dean calls to Fei. Except--wait, research? Does the Muscle Professor actually... *not*... want to break it? Dean pauses for a second, wondering if it would be okay to just let him look at it... but then he remembers Berserk and his sealed-Statue-breaking weapon. *That* had to be the result of research. So no, he can't just let this pass!
He glances over at Malfi and Ambrosius. It looks like nobody's going to be backing down any... They've got their own opponents, and he's not sure how to feel about that. For now, though, they've got to concentrate on getting these guys to back off and give up on the Statue.
"Don't worry, I won't go down easy!" Dean reassures Avril. It's not *quite* what Avril was saying, but... well, it's Dean after all. Elvis declares they'll have to get past him if they want the Statue, and the young man focuses in on him. He knows well he can't let his attention wander if they want to beat him. "Bring it on!" he roars, Twin Fenrir flashing into his hands.
And so the Muscle Professor does, by way of leaping at him and showering him with a thunderstorm of rapid punches. Dean grits his teeth as he takes the overwhelming assault--he feels like a piece of steak caught in a tenderizer--but while he's left panting and beat up, he still manages, somehow, to stay on his feet. For now, anyway. A few more hits like that, and...
But he can't give up just yet! "I don't think this guy's gonna just let me get past him--but if you think you can, me and Fei can try to keep him busy!" he calls over his shoulder at Avril. Then he leaps at Elvis, the combat rods from his paired pistols flashing as he attempts to whallop every inch of Elvis he can reach--which wouldn't be much if those rods weren't several feet long, able to reach well beyond what Dean normally would. The only problem here is if he can hit hard enough for this wall of meat to feel it!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Hmm. Perhaps that was a little much right off the bat. Still, it was no matter - it had the intended effect. He watches as she staggers backward, then swings her sword at him. He takes a step back and it glances off his armor and slips out of her hand.
Behind the helmet he opens his mouth to speak, but abruptly she thrusts her left hand out and he finds himself hurled backward as gravity takes him. He skids through the snow, sliding back a distance before landing on one knee.
Though it caused him some pain, he fights against the pull of gravity and forces himself to his feet once more. She'd made some distance for herself, but he could use this, as well. He extends a hand, and the snow behind Catenna begins to ripple and turn to water before surging toward her left shoulder. It turns back into ice almost immediately, practically becoming something of a spear.
Was it due to the sheer cold, or Ambrosius's sorcery? It was difficult to tell.
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Catenna with Sudden Ice! GS: Ambrosius takes 9 damage from Poison! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Catenna takes a glancing hit from Ambrosius's Sudden Ice for 49 hit points! GS: Dean Stark has attacked Elvis with Double Strike! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi staggers a bit as Beast's winds build up. She takes a moment to regain her footing before stabbing again at this strange...construct? Golem? Unfortunately, she still has no Resonance and cannot hear Beast's words of, if not peace, then at least reason.
GS: Malfi has attacked Seraph Beast with Beyond the Impale! GS: Malfi has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Beast guards a hit from Malfi's Beyond the Impale for 53 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Seraph Beast! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Malfi!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
He has his own battle theme?? (Oh shut up Fei you unofficially picked up like 12).
Fei turns his head towards Dean. He blinks a few times and mouths the word 'mirror?' at him. What kind of crazy life has Dean been leading while Fei has been kind of assuming he's just been living a carefree life with Rebecca and Avril who ok was sometimes not living a carefree life judging by how ... cold ... she got sometimes. And okay there was Wehaca... okay maybe he's just feeling that he was living that kind of life because of how chipper he has been about everything.
- obscure grumbling*
Mirror aside, Fei's expression becomes progressively more deadpan the longer Elvis speaks. It's really the phrase that 'I GET TO HAVE SOMETHING NOW' that really makes him somehow sympathize and yet also somehow be a little unimpressed. Only a little, though, because those seem very very real and he does seem to be smart even if his maturity is lacking and sadly--as some people make clear...maturity has very little impact on combat.
"Filgaia's language huh..." Fei murmurs before snapping his head to Malfi. "Oh come on! Youre mother wants to kill us all!"
That's a bad idea, being distracted, because suddenly in that panel as he's looking towards Malfi--there's just this giant fist the size of Fei's head next to his head (it's actually heading towards Dean). In the next panel is just Fei in a Fei-shaped crater in the snow thanks to the magic deciding to have the ground say 'hi' to Fei.
Fei stands himself up dizzily before he says, "It doesn't look like there's much technique..." Fei murmurs. "But in actuality it's so refined that it comes across as very fluid."
He raises his arms again. "What is this mirror???" He asks. You should probably break it into a million shards of light.
He nods once to Dean and says, "Don't worry... he's good... but..."
He throws several quick kicks for Elvis's body. Despite Fei being considerably smaller than Elvis, his strikes still pack a significant punch which might surprise Elvis. Or maybe not. He does look like he knows his stuff.
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Elvis with Hagan! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Elvis critically Guards a hit from Dean Stark's Double Strike for 15 hit points! GS: Elvis critically Guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Hagan for 20 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Mihaya's shouting startles the noodly nonsensical creature of equal parts horror and bewilderment. His head dips sharply, and the flying fireball glances off his not-quite-helmet head, creating a not small plume of steam in the side of the icy rock that it strikes into not far off.
He blinks irregularly as he looks back in Mihaya's direction. "So loud. Loud loud loud. Want say hello to Mother before unstroy?!" Um. "Fufufu. ^Gray Liar Land^ now for Mother too." This place is called Gray Liar Land now, apparently. Mihaya's height is imposing, putting good use to the extra inches afforded to her by her heritage.
Yarobeleedt, snake-like creature he is, rises up higher to try and loom over her back. He looks emboldened by this turn of events, no matter how much of this turn may be imagined or mistaken. An ear-splitting screeching comes as he grinds the tips of one more blobby arm against one that's only barely a solid structure to begin with. Sparks from where they make contact.
"No more starve... no more alone... statue here three me," for him, he means. He gibbers more violently as he sends that whipping arm right into - and around - Mihaya, breaking out into more poorly transcribed laughter as poison continues to seep out of that ugly maw. "It is best calendar mark...! Do not postpone!!!"
He sounds happy? Kind of? Put it that way, he is having a good day, isn't he.
GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Mihaya with Luna Way! GS: Yarobeleedt has completed its action.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Sometimes Catenna wishes Veruni didn't have magic tricks of their own. Things were much easier when she was fighting Metal Demons, who decidedly don't have such tricks. Except Riese.
Catenna keeps her hand pressed to her wound, breathing steadily as she struggles to keep from blacking out even as she continues to bleed. As Ambrosius hurtles back, she keeps her left hand at the ready, preparing to attack him again if he decides to close in.
Ambrosius does something else. Catenna gasps as water surges towards her and hardens into a spear. Hurling herself to the ground and rolling to the side, she winces and gasps as the spear grazes across her right arm, ripping her dress and leaving a bleeding slash behind. She comes up again, grasping for her sword, her breath steaming in the air.
"You and your people have done too much already for the sake of Mother," she growls as she holds her hand out. "The world is not yours or theirs to take, and I will not stand by while you spread your sick intentions to this world as well!"
She utters a few words in her own languae. They echo with a ring of power. One of them is more clear than others.
"Lucadia"
Shimmering blue sparkles dance around Catenna in a ring before arcane magic swells upwards, blossoming into a massive tidal wave. The huge wave crests, bearing down on Ambrosius with crushing force before descending and seeking to sweep him away! The water doesn't freeze.
It's ocean water.
GS: Catenna has attacked Ambrosius with Tidal Wave! GS: Catenna has completed her action. GS: Ambrosius critically Guards a hit from Catenna's Tidal Wave for 28 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
They're trying to unseal their mother.
Their mother wants to kill everyone.
The statue regards Malfi with empty eyes, and there is no hint of sadness or compassion in them. A mask cannot convey emotion at all.
A mother who only wants to destroy -
There's no hope for understanding, as that lance flashes out again. This time the plates lock together, the statue compressing itself to guard against the dragon-killing point. Electricity catches on the iron, and the whole thing crackles for a moment.
And the Beast of Lohgrin darts forward, upper and lower headplates separating and coming down, firmly intending to bite at the shoulder of that lance-arm. She keeps herself compressed, acting defensively.
GS: Seraph Beast has attacked Malfi with Stubborn Bite! GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action. GS: Malfi critically Guards a hit from Seraph Beast's Stubborn Bite for 12 hit points! GS: Cover! Statuses applied to Seraph Beast!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"We returned the mirror to the people it belonged to," Avril states, boots crunching against the snow as she takes that step forward. "It was not yours to seize to begin with." Her blue-eyed gaze shifts, briefly, from Elvis towards the statue beyond him. He's here with the Metal Demons... and another. Is that Ambrosius...? ...Surely she's mistaken.
"...I apologize for leaving you behind, but there was little that we could have done to stop the collapse. If we had lingered, it would have been all four of us rather than only one. Nor would our losses have ceased there. We had to return the mirror." Chuck's life had been on the line.
It's a cold, cold statement from the young woman. But it's also true -- that had been how she'd felt back then. Now, perhaps, she could have made other choices, but...
Though it's doubtful to be any form of reassurance to Elvis.
Elvis, who has made his intent to fight back against them all quite clear.
"Look out--"
Is as much as Avril gets out before the earth beneath their feet -- beneath the snow -- folds in on itself. Avril stumbles then outright collapses into the elemental surge as it roars upwards in a wave of earth and slush, before she's promptly flung to one side to land hard in a drift.
It takes her a moment, but she does rise, snow cascading off her body as she finds her footing.
Dean shouts that he doesn't think that the mysterious professor will just let him get past. Avril, wrenching Absolute Zero from where it lies in the snow, answers that assessment with a shouted, "Understood! Both of you-- hold him back!"
In a flash, she produces a familiar octagonal shape from her pockets with her free hand. The True Original Medium glitters with light as Avril holds invokes the distant power of the Sea Guardian, Lucadia. "Please, answer my call!"
Like walls of the sea, a phantasmal ocean rises around her and her allies, the foam shimmering in the light of an absent sun before vanishing. With that settled, unless she is stopped, Avril breaks into a dash for the statue.
The current terrain will make the act of getting there difficult, however...
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Tidal Wall! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Dean Stark with Tidal Wall! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Tidal Wall! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a solid hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Tidal Wall for 0 hit points! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Avril Vent Fleur! GS: Dean Stark takes a solid hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Tidal Wall for 0 hit points! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Dean Stark! GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Tidal Wall for 0 hit points! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Fei Fong Wong!
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
The Beast of Lohgrin bites down, only to find Malfi's metal flesh denser than she expected -- not to mention Malfi's "armor" shifts and flows, growing thicker as she presses down. A trickle of mercury-based silverblood trickles down Malfi's shoulder; it would be poisonous to a meat-creature, but fortunately Beast is spared. Malfi, startled, reacts reflexively, zapping her attacker with an electrical charge!
GS: Malfi has attacked Seraph Beast with Assault with Batteries! GS: Malfi has completed her action. GS: Seraph Beast critically Guards a hit from Malfi's Assault with Batteries for 21 hit points! GS: Mihaya takes a glancing hit from Yarobeleedt's Luna Way for 34 hit points! GS: Entangle! Statuses applied to Mihaya!
<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.
"Whatever it is, I intend to use what I learn from it to great effect!" Elvis shouts over the sound of his fists flying at Dean. Even with all the attacks thrown his way, the fella remains standing. "You know how to take a hit, kid!" the Professor states, after causing undue comfort to Dean's compatriots. "You didn't know I was going to be okay!!!"
Dean comes in with a pair of mini attack staves! Or whatever you call those things. Oh no that is going to bug him all day. Elvis brings up his guard to block them as a flurry of attacks is traded in turn. The man seems wholly unphased at first glance--
"OW MY FOREARM!" he says, suddenly rubbing it from a particularly snappy strike from Dean. "Ghh! You'll pay for that!" The man rears back like many a druken fighter and swings downward ridiculously hard, attempting to either crater his opponent or the ground. It is anyone's guess who he is aiming for.
Sudden kicks from Fei take him by surprise, as the fellow didn't stay down after his attack. They cause him to drop to a knee momentarily before rising again. "AH! Oh, OH! Is that how it is? Way to team up on me! FIGHT ME ONE ON ONE!" and Fei has a full arm punch lobbed his way, looking to plant a ringer on him!
And yes, he does have his own theme.
"I dont CARE whose mirror it was! I needed it for something! I would have given it back!" Eventually. Probably long after the poor person sentenced to death met his fate. Eyes are upon Avril as she summons magical power of some kind. Some sort of watery assistance. "What was that?! What did you just do?!
Elvis seems momentarily distracted as an intellectual mind rushes to make a conclusion on what he just saw.
GS: Elvis has attacked Dean Stark with Dire Haymaker! GS: Elvis has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Elvis has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Dropping Straight! GS: Elvis has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
Ah.
Not human at all, then. Not even a Beastman.
None of them have metal flesh, after all.
And it's metal on metal, as Malfi's poisonous defences trickle down iron teeth. This close, there's no way to avoid the electricity - but it's strange.
Because in the instant the Beast sees it coming, she releases Malfi's shoulder, ensuring that the two of them are not grounded together. Metal conducts electricity; it would not have been difficult for her to hold on and see if Malfi follows such logic.
She does not.
That inscrutable statue ensures there is some scant space between them, as electricity arcs through its plates again.
But it's quite clear to her, when the electricity fades, that she needs to do something about that electrical lance - so she launches herself towards her foe, and it ought to be difficult in their close quarters. If she obeyed the law of muscle and sinew, it would be difficult to gain the leverage to leap upon her.
It is so clear in the movement that she is only a pantomime of a living creature, only treats those rules as suggestions. Because she moves by the power of the wind, not by any leverage upon the ground.
She means to knock Malfi down entirely.
GS: Seraph Beast has attacked Malfi with Leap and Tear! GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action. GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Elvis's Dropping Straight for 106 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Fei Fong Wong!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
He's still a little off-balance. Hm. The grip of gravity still remained strong. Behind his helmet, however, his eyes narrow as Catenna speaks to him, then speaks something in a different language. There's one word he recognizes, however, and he braces himself for what's to come.
Catenna begins to glow, and then it happens - magic grows into a massive tidal wave. He frowns slightly, and then extends a hand as it descends upon him, seeking to crush him and sweep him away.
For a moment, he disappears within the brine as it pushes past him, washing and melting away a good portion of the snow around him.
And when it clears...he is still there, forced to one knee with his hand still extended. That water...infused with the power of a Guardian, he felt it in his very core, screaming against him.
He could not allow this.
Water, pulled from the snow around him, surges as he forces himself to his feet and turns his gaze upon Catenna once more.
"In truth, I care little for Mother. She is only a means to an end. I fight for the sake of my people - the people the Guardians have condemned to death. Who do you fight for, Miss Catenna? Are they truly worth this struggle?" He replies, and then launches it toward her in a high-powered jet.
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Catenna with Aqua Cutter! GS: Ambrosius takes 9 damage from Poison! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action. GS: Malfi takes a glancing hit from Seraph Beast's Leap and Tear for 31 hit points! GS: Weaken! Statuses applied to Malfi! GS: CRITICAL! Catenna takes a glancing hit from Ambrosius's Aqua Cutter for 102 hit points! GS: Dean Stark guards a hit from Elvis's Dire Haymaker for 98 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Beast's attack staggers Malfi but doesn't knock her down. She has time to move away before Malfi recovers her bearings...
GS: Malfi has completed her action. GS: Catenna has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Mihaya has posed.
Well, that certainly got its attention. Mihaya spins her staff around to a ready position, although from her build she certainly does not look like the traditional fighter sort. No, her speciality is making things go boom in various traditional manners, and while this strange monster may be different and mostly incomprehensible... well, it's not too far outside the norm.
As the long arm whips around to strike at her, the Symbologist brings her staff around to deflect the blow in a single swift motion. The arm doesnât' score a direct hit, instead clipping her shoulder and tearing the hood and scarf off of her head, sending cloth fluttering away in the breeze. Her mouth set in a grimace of pain from the force of the blow, Mihaya pulls her hair out of the back of her cloak, allowing it to resume its usual position in somewhat short spikey tail tied off high atop her head, and her long slender ears twitch for a moment in amusement at the line of gibberish Yaro is spouting.
"I'm not sure what gibberish you are babbling, but I'm used to not being understood myself," she states, considering Yaro's form. It seems somewhat metallic - so that means she should probably consider something that is more... conductive? Well, it's worth a try at least. "I've not heard of your mother, but I suspect that you are a creature that only a mother could care for - you certainly seem a intimidating fiend! But also not quite a creature of flesh - quite interesting..."
With that, the elf leaps backwards, bringing her staff down as she channels her magic once more. This time she unlashes a different element - an electrical discharge that arcs across the snowfield to strike Yaro in the chest. It might be resistant, but only one way to find out...!
GS: Mihaya has attacked Yarobeleedt with Bolt Lightning! GS: Mihaya has completed her action. GS: Yarobeleedt guards a hit from Mihaya's Bolt Lightning for 61 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Yeah, Dean's been through some things. It's easy to assume he has no problems or worries based on how he acts, though.
Fei goes ??? over the mirror Elvis and Dean reference. "We'll explain later!" Dean tells him. "This guy's real tough!" As evidenced by the fact that his attacks may as well have been made with a wiffle bat, while Dean's limbs feel like pulverized rubber. ...actually maybe the latter has something to do with the former. Still!! As long as they work together, they can at least drive this guy back! He doesn't really know about technique and fluidity or anything like that, but Dean still adds, "Yeah, and he hits really hard, too!!"
Avril weighs in about the whole leaving-Elvis-behind matter. As cold as her words are, they're all true. Dean had a promise to keep. The fact that he was able to--that that decision meant that Chuck lived--is what lets him retort, "Yeah, but you ARE fine! And you're just as strong as ever!!"
Elvis hurls more attacks, both at his friends and at Dean himself. He attempts to defend himself and so avoids getting hit dead-on by that fist... but that's not much cause to celebrate, since instead, that knotted cord of a bicep catches him right in the face and knocks him flat on his back, sending him flying backwards until he's half-buried in snow. And Avril looked like she'd had it back with the earth and snow attack...! At least her Medium is able to call up a barrier around the three of them so that Dean's able to get back up to his feet, bursting through the snow, rather than getting knocked out on the spot.
"Th-thanks, Avril! Go get 'em!" he calls, staggering. He shakes his head, attempting to fling away the snow, and focuses back in on Elvis. "Maybe you would've given it back, but we had to get it back *immediately*! Someone was gonna get executed because they got blamed for what *you* stole! We couldn't just sit back and let that happen! If it was so important and you were gonna bring it back, why didn't you ask permission to take it in the first place?!"
He lifts up his own Medium them, a copy of the Sword Medium. The snow keeps him from moving too quickly, so he can't get to a good leyline hex, but that's fine--the bashing gale force that whirlwinds around Elvis and aims to smash into him with physical force will just have to do. "Hyah!!"
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Elvis with Elemental Crush! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Elvis takes a glancing hit from Dean Stark's Elemental Crush for 49 hit points! GS: Mighty! Statuses applied to Dean Stark!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
It's well that Malfi is able to avoid the knockdown - she is large, but the Beast of Lohgrin is larger still. She turns on the metal creature, and sees the way she tries to recover.
"I would rather speak with you," the Beast says, regret in her voice. "... but I suppose you cannot hear me at all."
They fight for their Mother. They fight for their people - people condemned to death. There is much she does not understand, here. There is much she would like to understand.
There is one thing she does understand: they threaten humanity, and as sad as their story may be, it cannot be allowed. The mortal world is under her protection.
And so she does not give Malfi a chance to regain her bearings at all, another gust of wind picking up to blow her about - a kinder prospect perhaps than leaping on her, but no less disorienting.
GS: Seraph Beast has attacked Malfi with Buffeting Headwind! GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action. GS: Malfi guards a hit from Seraph Beast's Buffeting Headwind for 64 hit points! GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Malfi!
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
From its spot in Catenna's hood, the Owlet looks on impassively.
Catenna clicks her teeth together as a sudden surge of indignation sets the pit of her stomach on fire. "And your people have condemned us to slavery and genocide, you damned gaslighting hypocrite!" she suddenly shouts across the distance, a rare spark of rage searing through her voice.
Then Ambrosius blasts her and just about decapitates her in the process.
Catenna darts away from the water blast, but she's lost enough blood at this point that it's futile; the burst hits her solidly, ripping across her upper body and shredding her cloak and part of her dress. Blood sprays as she's hurled violently off her feet. The Moon Shaman hits the snow with a thump, blood pooling among the white fluff to stain it crimson.
The Owlet tumbles out of her hood. The little bird hunkers down in the snow, poking its head out to watch the fight with surprisingly little emotion.
Catenna struggles to get up. Blood runs down the front of her dress and down her chin. Taking a second, she touches the Owlet's head with a trembling hand.
"Please go to Cyre if I die," she whispers. "He will know what to do."
Eyes hardening, the bloody Shaman pushes off the ground and shrugs her cloak off. She levels one hand towards Ambrosius with a scowl. "Understand this," she calls across the distance. "The Guardians are the spirits of Filgaia, and I am their servant. You are an interloper. Yet for all that, I would gladly live alongside you. But you have chosen to treat humans as slaves and chattel. So long as you think so, you are the enemy."
Catenna narrows her eyes. "So long as you stand against Filgaia, I will destroy you."
Curling her fingers, Catenna utters a few power words - and the force of gravity begins to close in. An immense force pressures Ambrosius, attempting to compress him into something roughly the size of a Rubik's cube.
GS: Catenna has attacked Ambrosius with Polarity Clutch! GS: Catenna has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
This time Beast's attack does knock Malfi off her feet, leaving her no recourse but to use her only distance counterattack as she struggles to regain them. "What ARE you?" she asks her enormous metal attacker, but of course she cannot hear any reply.
GS: Malfi has attacked Seraph Beast with Assault with Batteries! GS: Malfi has completed her action. GS: Ambrosius guards a hit from Catenna's Polarity Clutch for 120 hit points! GS: Seraph Beast enters CONDITION GREEN!!
DC: MISS! Seraph Beast completely evades Assault with Batteries from Malfi!
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Zap! Electricity courses through Yarobeleedt. The whip-like arm that looks to have ensnared Mihaya unfurls from the electrical jolt, slapping a nearby overhang of icicles that provide a dangerous bit of dynamic scenery as they crash and clatter dangerously close behind where Catenna and Ambrosius currently fight - chilling ambience to what is at stake, as the statue imbued with the power of the skies of Filgaia rests this high up underneath a sky it should not be underneath by their reckoning.
This gesture, though painful, does allow the electricity to escape his body. It does not escape the notion of him looking ridiculous, various blobby bits becoming prickly and pointy, momentarily solid. Even Yarobeleedt's tongue sticks out like it were a rail spike as the scent of burnt ozone dominates the cold air between the two of them.
His words don't make sense, but at least the visceral reaction is coherent enough - that took him off guard, and hurt.
"What? I am banking??" Yarobeleedt recoils. "You are the gibberish!!" Um. That's quite a weird reaction to being called 'interesting.' "How you not know Mother??" Maybe he is shocked by the words more than the spell? The whip-arm goes limp, tightening its metallic biomass up tighter as it reconfigures itself to some sort of spiky apparatus that would be physically unwieldy and improbable as an actual wielded weapon by a mortal.
As he appears to have the freedom to change the character of his arms at whim, he seems to be able to arm himself with whatever whimsy in its appearance, like some sort of nailbat that wishes to be non-euclidian, swinging it at her as he slithers across the snow and ice.
"Soon you will not only know! You will yes." Um. Okay? The meaning of this phrase is less important than the battering rapid-fire swipes headed the elf Symbologist's way.
GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Mihaya with Battle Up! GS: Yarobeleedt has completed its action. GS: Mihaya guards a hit from Yarobeleedt's Battle Up for 66 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
Electricity arcs; the wind picks up, and the Beast of Lohgrin leaps over the assault entirely. It does not catch on her plates, it does not arc amongst them, it does not crackle at the things between the gaps which Malfi cannot possibly see.
She lands; she rounds on the fallen metal creature.
"I -" - the Beast of Lohgrin hesitates, a claw raising as she realises she cannot answer the question at all.
She is not unused to being unable to reach those around her with her words. It is a depressingly common occurrence.
And yet, in her iron vessel, she is able to reach them through her actions.
Malfi has been knocked down, her threat handled for the moment. There is time enough to try and reach her.
The breeze which meets her this time is not a tearing gale; it does not unseat her at all. It flows around her, supportive and spring-scented, and seems entirely an uplifting thing.
She has some experience with mothers. If only she could reach her...
GS: Seraph Beast has attacked Malfi with Fortifying Tailwind! GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action. GS: Malfi takes a solid hit from Seraph Beast's Fortifying Tailwind for 0 hit points! GS: Quick and Shield! Statuses applied to Malfi! GS: Malfi enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"If I let you fight Dean one on one I'd just run past you and then you'd have to give us the statue." Fei says. "So are you sure you want to fight one on one?" He can't believe he's going along with this but he's going along with this. Really though he hopes that Elvis doesn't take this deal of his because that would mean Dean fighting this beast (not Beast) on his own.
"Wait he stole the mirror? You can't just steal things you want for your research! That's a breach of scientific ethics!" Fei says which is probably pretty hilarious if you consider his backstory but see, Kim Kasim had important work to do, that's what makes it different in his case see. The best thing about being a mad scientist is that being a hypocrite is part of the fun.
There's another comic panel of Elvis's fist and Fei's head. But this time the next panel is of Fei getting clobbered in the face by it.
Avril's shield shimmers around Fei as he lies there on the dirt, just a moment too late. "Thanks Avril," Fei sas, again not getting up immediately because his vision is kind of blurry AND DEAN HAS A MEDIUM NOW?
"They were going to execute someone? For stealing a mirror??" Fei asks. "You don't execute people for stealing! Like, chopping off their hand I get but--that's barbaric too!" He considers this. "Maybe they shouldn't have this mirror if they execute people who take it. It doesn't seem right."
His guard is broken but--that can be done both ways, he reasons as he darts in throwing one quick jab for Elvis, and then his arm glows with brilliant chi as he throws another strike at the exact same spot to try and blow open Elvis's defenses!
"Try and get him now, Dean!" Fei says, hoping it actually worked.
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Elvis with Raijin! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The terrain makes the going all the more difficult, as snow slows her footsteps and in places threatens to send her sliding. Meanwhile, combat erupts all about her, sending what was already a treacherous path into one that's utterly fraught. An electrical current from Malfi -- towards the Seraph Beast, close at hand -- forces her to pull up and stop. Meanwhile, the Seraph's counter only lends its weight into an impassible obstacle, right in front of the path leading to the statue.
Avril, stopped where she stands, turns her attention this way and that, in search of another route.
Elvis' call -- and thus, the implication that his eyes are upon her -- reaches her.
Avril turns.
"The power of a Guardian," Avril answers simply, staring down Elvis as chaos detonates on all sides around her. Lifting her blade to point right at him, she takes up an incongruously timed pose here on the icy ledge. "Dean, I am afraid I cannot reach the statue quite yet. Allow me to assist you."
While her goal above all else is to reach the statue -- if she can, if the path is clear -- current circumstances simply won't allow it. Best to face on the threats you can manage, than get cut down in another's duel. Formally, she lowers her sword next, dipping it low and to her side.
One heartbeat. Then, she moves.
Snow is driven upwards into the air when she swings that blade, pressurized air closing the distance between where she now stands and Elvis.
"I will not permit you to take this statue!"
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Elvis with Spirit Saber! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi blinkblinks as she realizes Beast has just helped her. "You - you don't want to fight, is that it? Can you understand me? We don't HAVE to fight, if you'll just let me at that statue over there," (pointing at Solais Emsu). "If you understand me, bob three times." That should be easy for the floating-statue-entity...IF it comprehends!
GS: Malfi has completed her action. GS: Elvis guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Raijin for 29 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Elvis! GS: Elvis guards a hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Spirit Saber for 72 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
The statue's headplates bob up and down, once - twice - three times. And then it stands, pads over to stand between Malfi and the statue, and sits down, wingplates spreading. It does not attack her while she is down at all, and yet it seems to be trying to communicate something...
After all, the Beast of Lohgrin understands her. And she will not let her at the statue.
GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Mihaya has posed.
"No trust me, I'm not speaking gibberish. If you want what's going to sound like ACTUAL gibberish, then how about..." And then Mihaya begins shouting something at Yaro that, true to form, he's probably never heard before. But there's one thing that's evident.
It's mocking in tone.
It's succinct.
And it's probably a little rude. Maybe? It's hard to tell.
"Although truth be told you still make more sense than my mother in law!" she adds after a moment with a grin, bringing her staff around as Yaro begins to lash out at her with his claws. She grimaces as one of the blows gets through her guard, but the others she manages to dodge or knock away. Hiding a grimace, the elf tucks one arm against her side for a moment as she assesses the damage that hit managed to cause.
"...ugh but you hit about as hard as I would expect something your size to..."
The reaction to electricity was interesting - perhaps she should try another element, and see if that was effective? Mihaya plants her staff in the ground, the gem set into its top turning a shimmering blue as she begins to channel energy through the symbology tattoos from down her legs, passing the energy up her body and out into her arms. None of it is visible thanks to the clothing she is wearing, but after a moment she snatches the staff from the ground and raises it above her head.
The air whistles above Yaro... and then flickering blue magic condenses into an extremely large boulder of clear ice.
Which then proceeds to plummet down onto Yaro.
GS: Mihaya has attacked Yarobeleedt with Freeze! GS: Mihaya has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi pauses to ponder. The metal beast in front of her isn't just a monster, it's sentient. And stubborn. "I'm sorry: I can't let you stop me," Malfi says, before resuming her attacks. "We have to free Mother."
GS: Malfi has attacked Seraph Beast with Rakurai! GS: Malfi has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Yarobeleedt critically Guards a hit from Mihaya's Freeze for 30 hit points! GS: Hyper and Shield! Statuses applied to Mihaya! GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Beast critically Guards a hit from Malfi's Rakurai for 17 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Seraph Beast! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Malfi!
<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.
"I could have filled you in on those cliffnotes!" Elvis retorts, hearing Dean's conversation to his two friends. Why do humans meddle in such important affairs?! Their adventurous spirit gets them in to so much trouble! Actually, to be fair, there are other things here besides humans it looks like. He has no idea what to make of Seraph Beast over there. It also makes him want the statue EVEN MORE because it might be able to do that!
"I LEFT A NOTE!" is the response to Dean's accusation.
To be fair, he did. he totally left a note.
But he didn't have a pen.
So it was jsut a piece of paper.
Thw wind suddenly picks up at high speed all around. Elvis attempts to jump and dodge his way out of it, but gets caught halfway out, flipped over, and lands hard on his stomach. A painful exhale of air can be heard before he jumps to his feet and holds his chest. "What is it with you kids and magic?!" he snipes back.
"Ethics aren't my concern!" In a case where an entire civilization is at stake, in his eyes, they aren't. People every day are dying from the VR Factor, and if some humans just happen to go missing a magic mirror for a while, they can deal with it. Or any other item that could help his cause. "See?! They are dumb for wanting to do tha-- OOF!"
The hulk of a professor moves to block that first hit, and does so perfectly. But he doesn't predict the explosive power of chi on the follow-up as Fei hammers the gap with spiritual power. It sends his arms flying away from his face and Fei clocks him on good, causing him to stagger back and hold it with one gloved hand. "GAH! Good hit! But not enough!"
He moves his hand away, and boy is he going to have a shiner later. It can already be seen appearing and swelling. His raging at Fei leaves him open however. Avril surges in with that mysterious chilling grace, and strikes him thoroughly in the back, sending him sprawling on the ground. "Nngh...! I try to be nice and send you home with a few scratches!"
Elvis slams his fists into the ground, and the ground cracks udner Fei and Avril, as heated waters springs up as a gesyer!
"BUT NO, you couldn't take NO for an ANSWER!"
He clences his fists, ans pallid blue and lanvender energy surrounds him. He tenses, his eyes focus, and he seems sharper than ever.
"Fine! I will show you what I really can do!"
Elvis raises his fists to the air, and cries out a battle cry.
"READY YOURSELVES, WHELPS!"
GS: Elvis has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Hydro Pressure! GS: Elvis has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Hydro Pressure! GS: Elvis has attacked Elvis with Ready Yourselves!! GS: Elvis has completed his action. GS: Elvis takes a solid hit from Elvis's Ready Yourselves! for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Elvis!
DC: MISS! Fei Fong Wong completely evades Hydro Pressure from Elvis!
GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a glancing hit from Elvis's Hydro Pressure for 96 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
"Huh?? Also Mother? ^Gray Liar Land^ also has a Mother?" Yarobeleedt cocks his head as he withdraws the reconfigured arm. "Fufufu. But if ^Gray Liar Land,^ in law, no Mother." He seems content with this deduction, as he moves to turn that arm of his into a ginormous axe-like limb.
It makes a loud 'tink' noise at the condensing ice above him. He looks up.
His limb goes limp.
The yellowish metal thing that is so incomprehensible that almost any word with an added '-ish' ending could apply (let's go with apprehensish, which is demonstrative of nothing other than the commitmentish to this statement) quivers, crouches, and seems to pull forth a shiny sheet of metallic fabric from... somewhere... which glistens and shines under the light of the Blue Star as the great big chunk of ice loudly crackles and explodes from the point of impact. It sprays icy shrapnel every which way, leaving a large hunk of it on top of the sheet that looks more like a cocoon under that clear ice. It continues to shake, as though fearful.
It parts open momentarily just for an eye that can barely hold still and focus in place to look at Mihaya, blink once, and close it shut. It shifts, turns around, as if trying to face the other way - towards the statue.
It begs to be poked with a stick, whether metaphorical or literal, while it can't get out from under the ice proper.
GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Yarobeleedt with Skin And Or! GS: Yarobeleedt has completed its action. GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Yarobeleedt's Skin And Or for 0 hit points! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Yarobeleedt!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius frowns slightly, but says nothing right away. Instead, he starts to move toward her as she collapses into the snow. Was she dead? ...No, there was still life in her.
That was good. He had no intention of killing her, if at all possible.
He listens as she speaks to him, as she utters a few words. And then, once more, the force of gravity closes in. But this time, it came from all sides, more vicious and intense than before as she tries to simply crush him.
If he were an ordinary human, it may very well do so. But he is not an ordinary human.
Still, however, it forces him to his knees as the crushing, compressing force weighs down on him from every angle.
"...I wish...neeeither slavery...nor geeenocide..." He replies. He's sounding a lot more like his normal self, but that's mostly due to the strain of speaking while Catenna's trying to squish him into a cube. "But huuumans...without guidance...they resort to pointless war and deeestruction... We have spoken of this already..."
And with that, he slowly forces himself to his feet, fighting against the gravitic force every way.
"That was true on Filgaia. And that is true here, as well." He replies, marching toward her slowly.
Being plunked down right in the middle of an active warzone had clearly not helped his view of humanity at all.
"Ideally, I would not stand against you or Filgaia. But I will not abandon my people, either." He's right in front of her now, and then winds up, and lashes out with a quick strike aimed toward her gut, allowing for a quicker move into a defensive stance.
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Catenna with Guarded Strike! GS: Ambrosius takes 7 damage from Poison! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action. GS: Catenna takes a glancing hit from Ambrosius's Guarded Strike for 64 hit points! GS: Cover! Statuses applied to Ambrosius!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
Metal is unyielding; metal does not bend for anything.
And the Beast of Lohgrin has been iron for so long...
... can the wind forget how to flow?
Malfi reveals herself a threat again as she rises, and there is a puff of breeze from the statue, not unlike a sigh. That lance flashes out, and plates lock against its piercing edge; the statue layers its plates over themselves, defensively. It is determined force met by an immovable guardian, and sparks fly at the point of impact.
An iron mask can betray no emotion at all.
"I wish..." The Beast of Lohgrin starts, shakes her headplates. "... it matters not."
They are a threat which she cannot allow at mortals, no matter their sympathies.
The statue takes a step back, and the wind picks up - this time launching itself forward, bodily, like an arrow loosed from some unseen bow except it's a giant creature coursing right for Malfi's centre of mass, plates locked together and horns forward.
It seems it's decided the most sensible option is just to run Malfi down.
GS: Seraph Beast has attacked Malfi with Ramming Speed! GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Malfi critically Guards a hit from Seraph Beast's Ramming Speed for 29 hit points! GS: Malfi enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi sidesteps at the last moment, so that Beast strikes her in her wounded shoulder. It hurts; it wasn't quite done regenerating. The flow of blood renews. She gasps with pain but has presence of mind enough to counterattack. "Stand down! What is the statue to you?" she asks.
GS: Malfi has attacked Seraph Beast with Rakurai! GS: Malfi has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Beast critically Guards a hit from Malfi's Rakurai for 18 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Seraph Beast! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Malfi!
<Pose Tracker> Mihaya has posed.
Well that worked... well not as well as expected, because it doesn't seem to have done that much damage, but it did work somewhat! Having flattened the thing underneath a large chunk of ice for a moment is all well and good, but it doesn't seem to have actually *stopped* the thing now, has it?
"No, she is a lot more terrifying than whatever mother you are talking about. Then again, she is *my* relative and not yours, so... I guess all things are relative?" the elf asks, more as a rhetorical question than anything else. But it seems that Yaro still wants a piece of the statue, and that isn't any good, especially given what Catenna had said about a great evil being unleashed if it is destroyed.
"But if you donât mind, I'm going to have to capture you now - I've never seen anything quite *like* you before, and there's so much to learn from a new fiend like this. Monsters from another land... another world even?" That was certainly something that she should try and bring back. Although freezing it in a block of ice would not be a long-term solution, it WOULD buy her some time at least.
And with that, the elf raises her staff as she invokes another ice spell. It might not be a stick, but a shard of intense cold erupts from the ground, trying to freeze part of Yaro that is sticking out from under the ice boulder into place. If she can build up enough ice, that should allow her to freeze this monster solid before too long.
Provided Yaro cooperates. Mihaya... isn't optimistic.
GS: Mihaya has attacked Yarobeleedt with Ice Burst! GS: Mihaya has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
DEAN'S ALWAYS HAD A MEDIUM, FEI, OR AT LEAST FOR AS LONG AS YOU'VE KNOWN HIM. He just tends to fight with his ARMs. ANYWAY THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW.
"THAT'S NOT WHAT THE VERUNI IN CHARGE OF THE TOWN SAID!" Dean roars back at Elvis's excuse. Which is also true! Considering they probably wouldn't have seen a blank piece of paper as a note, there's no reason for them to have mentioned anything like that, even *without* their abysmal anti-humanism. "And it wasn't about the research, it was about someone *dying* if we didn't get that mirror back right away!!" Why doesn't that seem to matter to him?! Even Fei gets it, and he never even heard about this until just now! It boggles Dean's mind that someone could be so callous!
Yet that's what it appears to be when Elvis shoots back to Fei that he doesn't care about ethics in journali--I mean, scientific research. And that's what solidifies it for Dean, too. If this guy just doesn't care if people live or die so long as he gets to do his research, then there's absolutely no way they can let him get ahold of that Statue! Who knows what kind of "research" he'd get up to...!
"It's okay!" he calls to Avril when she says she can't get through. "They wouldn't let us get that close so easily anyway! Let's send this guy packing together!!" He doesn't even acknowledge the possibility of a one-on-one fight--he's not necessarily against it, but the stakes here are higher than would warrant that. "And that's not magic, that was a Medium!!" he adds to Elvis. Although that's not really important right now... though at least it's a follow-up to what Avril said about the Guardians?
Fei hits Elvis with a solid punch-- "Thanks, Fei! I'll take it from--" only for Elvis to counter mightily, not just against Fei but Avril too as he unleashes his FULL POWERRR. Dean's eyes widen, but whalloping two of his close friends... "You don't scare me!! We WILL get you to retreat!" he shouts. "Avril! Fei! Let's all attack him together! HWAAAARRRGH!!"
He lifts both of Twin Fenrir to point at Elvis, wrists crossed in the way that you never would in real life but are totally okay to do on Lunar and Filgaia because Rule Of Cool, and pulls the triggers in rapid succession, roaring, "BULLET SHOWER!!" This unleashes a hail of bullets on either side of the meaty Professor, which should hopefully pin him in place for any follow-up attacks from Fei and Avril even as it does damage on its own.
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Elvis with Bullet Shower! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action.
GS: Yarobeleedt takes a glancing hit from Mihaya's Ice Burst for 48 hit points! GS: Elvis guards a hit from Dean Stark's Bullet Shower for 66 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
"Your people literally conquered and enslaved most of my continent," Catenna says flatly, her voice burdened with exhaustion and pain, but with a defiant flintiness. "Do not think I do not know about the mines. The slaves. You declare war on us and enslave us, and then condescendingly call us brutes and primitive for fighting back. You have absolutely no ground to stand on because all you stand for is evil and tyranny."
Catenna clenches her right hand. "You conquer and conquer and conquer, and then rewrite history in your own minds so that you are right."
Her piece said, Catenna can't hold the spell any longer - and Ambrosius comes at her. Bloodied though he is, she can see him coming. Sliding a boot back in the snow, she sweeps her right arm forward to smack her arm against the inside of his, taking advantage of some of the self-defense training Kourin gave her to try and knock away the blow he's hurling at her.
It's not quite enough. The fist doesn't hit solidly, but it does hit her stab wound. Catenna gags and staggers backwards, nearly falling to her feet. She swings her arm a couple times without any real hope of hitting, mostly to buy herself some cover as she darts backwards.
"I do not like to fight," she manages, more tired now. "But what you stand for is the destruction of Filgaia. I will not allow it."
Catenna levels one hand skyward. Clutching the other to her heart, she begins to chant sonorously in the Zortroan tongue. Her words echo across the snowy landscape. Shimmers of blue light halo around her, brightening and brightening.
The light expands outwards into a whorl of ocean water, which explodes upwards in a vast column. The pillar of water bursts towards the heavens - and a writhing blue shape can be seen within it for just a moment. A massive sea serpent, soon swallowed by the water.
The water column bursts at its very apex. It descends as shimmering rain, the droplets of it falling across the battlefield - yet the power of the Guardian of the Sea spares no love or kindness for Metal Demons or Veruni. Only those defenders of the Statue in range of the rain receive its healing blessing, invigorating flesh and body alike.
GS: Catenna has attacked Catenna with Material - Sovereign of the Deep! GS: Catenna has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Material - Sovereign of the Deep! GS: Catenna has attacked Seraph Beast with Material - Sovereign of the Deep! GS: Catenna has completed her action. GS: Catenna heals Catenna! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Catenna gains a Combo from Inspire! GS: Catenna heals Seraph Beast! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Seraph Beast gains a Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
Ah. Metal which feels pain.
Unfortunate.
The Beast of Lohgrin's plates are already locked together; the lance may try to find a gap as it passes, but there's little hope. The screech of metal announces it as she passes Malfi - and there's some distance gained there, as she pulls herself up and rounds on the metal creature again.
"Its destruction promises to harm mankind," the Beast explains, unheard. "I will not allow this to happen."
Rain falls down, dripping in between metal plates, to soothe the unseen energies beneath. Damp metal is, perhaps, a worse target for electricity - but the Beast of Lohgrin seems restored by the efforts.
A metal mask cannot reflect the concern brought upon by Catenna's words, and there is little time in a battle to ask.
The statue bounds forward again, claws flashing out to tear at Malfi's armor, metal on metal again.
GS: Seraph Beast has attacked Malfi with Savage Claw! GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action. GS: Malfi guards a hit from Seraph Beast's Savage Claw for 48 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"If you don't follow scientific ethics then it leads to people dying!" Fei says, sounding more frustrated than angry. "Though I completely agree with you that the town was behaving stupidly for trying to execute someone for stealing a bloody mirror! But towns are stupid sometimes so it was something you could have anticipated probably because you're clearly an intelligent individual who should be able to consider the possible results of their actions! You have a mustache!!"
What does having a mustache have to do with anything? Good question but this time, it seems, he is ready for being attacked by the floor. "You are summoning geysers from the ground, that's magic too!" He pauses. "Probably???"
He sidesteps at the last moment. Fei can be pretty quick on his feet sometimes. He has an agility of 5! That isn't the lowest number!
But it seems that Elvis is getting serious. That's okay, because Dean is getting serious too. (HWAAAAARGGGGH) okay maybe he's just getting mostly serious. "Mediums aren't magic?" Okay. The rain from Catenna soothes Fei's wounds considerably and it happens to work well with Avril's shield, reinforcing it as well. "Thanks Catenna." He says but there's no time to do more than that.
He nods once to Avril and charges after Dean.
And then he jumps on Dean's head.
And then he jumps off Dean's head and throws himself in a double flying kick for Elvis's face!
GS: Catenna heals Fei Fong Wong! He gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong gains a Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean Stark +100
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Elvis with Lahan's Lament! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
More ice appears, sandwiching the shiny metal cocoon thing between what of the previous giant surviving ice crystal survives, and what is conjured underneath. The icy prison shines as it sandwiches the monstrous babbling thing between its clutches. Capture seems certain. Then the mass of ice shifts, shudders...
...flips one-eighty, facing back towards Mihaya (maybe? It's hard to tell the head from the butt inside the cocoon). One more set of jostles, and it's no jape or jive.
The ice cracks wide open, as Yarobeleedt screams out of there with a sharp sword-lance like arm in one arm, and a goopier one in another, "IT IS SIGH!!" Psyche. He means psyche. "STATUE IS wait"
His gaze flattens as he realizes he is flying head-on towards Mihaya, and not the statue. It's great that he's not aligned to do a great cutting blow to the statue as a massive sea serpent gives their blessing to those who would dare fight on behalf of Filgaia's well-being, as he flies by a windy confrontation between Malfi and Beast.
That's still a big heavy flying sharp thing headed towards Mihaya. He doesn't seem pleased with this development, as evidenced by the shrieking. Shrieking might be a good idea for either end of the exchange, really.
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi winces as Beast's claws scrape across her side. The wound isn't serious but it is painful. At least the cold here should stop the bleeding quickly. They seem to be evenly matched. Malfi decides to alter her approach a bit, trying to use Beast's strength against her --particularly since she's received magical healing recently!
GS: Malfi enters a Counter stance! GS: Malfi has attacked Seraph Beast with Transfuse! GS: Malfi has completed her action. GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Mihaya with Bleak Flee! GS: Yarobeleedt has completed its action. GS: Mihaya critically Guards a hit from Yarobeleedt's Bleak Flee for 23 hit points! GS: Seraph Beast guards a hit from Malfi's Transfuse for 76 hit points! GS: Malfi drains Seraph Beast! Malfi gains 38 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Yes, then we can concern ourselves with the others."
Elvis, after all, isn't the only threat on the field.
The ground underfoot trembles. Unwilling to experience a second blow like before, Avril breaks into a run -- or as much a run as current conditions will allow.
It spares her, but it doesn't save her any pain; the radius of the geyserblast is wide, far wider than she had anticipated. Some of the boiling water grazes her, and the blast again sends her sprawling out, though as before her recovery is swift enough for current conditions.
To say nothing of the magical battering Elvis had given her prior.
She exhales out a breath, ARMblade held before her. "This has... gone far enough..." she utters, staring Elvis down. "As I said, I cannot permit you to touch this statue, whatever your intentions may be. The company you keep does not speak well of you. We must--" Another breath. "--Yes. We shall force you to leave!"
Absolute Zero is tilted towards the sky, the blade vanishing as if it had never been. Instead, there is the grip of the ARM and her finger seeks the trigger.
It isn't pulled yet. Dean lets loose with a barrage of bullets. In the space between the hail of ARMfire, Avril is on the move, coming in from the left of the younger boy as Fei--
Luckily, Avril's attention is elsewhere as Fei uses Dean's head as a platform, or there might be Words later.
But back in the here and now she's focused almost utterly on Elvis, aware of her allies only as moving objects in the periphery of her vision. Her position relative to them, the projected arc of her incoming strike, where is safest to direct her blows -- she can gauge it, all of this sense of space and power earned by countless hours of practice she no longer recalls.
And only now does she pull the trigger. Light immediately erupts from the ARM.
She aims low, each lash of the light-beam weaponry for Elvis directed at a downward angle, the last punctuated by a brief horizontal swipe. Wound him. Knock him away.
She, in counterpoint to Dean, doesn't say a word.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Elvis with Absolute Zero - Plasma Arc! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
The lance, this time, catches on iron so recently rained-upon, and there is a strange sensation of taking -
- but the Beast of Lohgrin is not man or beast. She has no pound of flesh to give; only magic and iron. It is a mercy, perhaps.
The wind picks up again; but it is not simply a gust, now. It is the storm, a howling, roaring thing, which swirls about the Beast of Lohgrin before it pours in towards Malfi in a perfect localised disaster.
<Pose Tracker> Mihaya has posed.
Well it seemed to be working so far, and freezing it in place might well allow Mihaya to... maybe find a way to collect this strange monster and drag it off for some sort of examination, as long as she could-
And then Yaro erupts out of the ice with a scream of some sort of terrible, terrible noise.
She really has no idea what exactly Yaro is going on about, but what she DOES know is that he's just... doing things. Like jumping around and HURLING HIMSELF at her in some crazed, perhaps suicidal attack? It's... it's...
"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO CONFUSING!?!" Mihaya shouts after a moment as she brings her staff around. She plants it in the ground, an electrical field springing up in front of her and absorbing the majority of the impact from the massive Metal Demon as it crashes into her. But it still sends both of them sliding backwards, and the elf gives a bit of an undignified shriek before they finally come to a halt.
"...that... is... a bit... INFURIATING YOU KNOW!" she shouts, and just... gives Yaro a kick. It's not particularly strong, but it does show her irritation with the strange monstrosity. "Can't you stay frozen or something like a good fiend! Do you know how much work it is trying to freeze something as large as you are!?!" she shouts. Just... irritated, with her ears pulled back against her head as she GLARES at Yaro.
As if the anger would just frighten him into submission, although she has no idea if that would even be a possibility.
GS: Mihaya enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Mihaya has attacked Yarobeleedt with Aya KICK!! GS: Mihaya has completed her action. GS: Seraph Beast has attacked Malfi with Howling Gale! GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action. GS: Malfi takes a solid hit from Seraph Beast's Howling Gale for 219 hit points! GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Mihaya's Aya KICK! for 90 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi shrieks as Beast's winds howl about her, made worse by the freezing weather. She uses the cold, the pain, for motivation as she strikes back at her armored tormentor. "Just. Hand. Over. The. Statue."
GS: Please provide a more specific attack name. [imp] GS: Malfi has attacked Seraph Beast with Improv Tango! GS: Malfi has completed her action. GS: Elvis takes a glancing hit from Fei Fong Wong's Lahan's Lament for 54 hit points! GS: Elvis guards a hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Absolute Zero - Plasma Arc for 102 hit points! GS: Break! Statuses applied to Elvis! GS: Seraph Beast guards a hit from Malfi's Improv Tango for 69 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
"I will not," replies the Beast of Lohgrin, steadfast and sad.
She does not enjoy hurting this woman with metal made flesh.
She does not enjoy it at all.
(There is little about her which would complain about the discomfort of the lance's electricity, its piercing point, even as it catches at the place where one plate layers another and pushes in.)
That lance is matched as tailpieces lash out, locked together to create a whip which is more force than finesse. They mean to catch Malfi, to trip her up, to send her to the ground again.
If only she would stay down...
GS: Seraph Beast has attacked Malfi with Overwhelm! GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action. GS: Malfi critically Guards a hit from Seraph Beast's Overwhelm for 20 hit points! GS: Malfi enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi growls and decides to answer one whip-attack with another!
GS: Malfi enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Malfi has attacked Seraph Beast with Spider's Grasp! GS: Malfi has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Malfi has completed her action. GS: Seraph Beast takes a solid hit from Malfi's Spider's Grasp for 0 hit points! GS: Entangle! Statuses applied to Seraph Beast!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
The Beast of Lohgrin tries to leap away from the entanglement - but it catches about the gaps in her plates. Animated by wind, it's not, strictly speaking, something which stops her from moving around - but it certainly makes it more difficult to move her pieces in concordance. Kept in melee range, she lashes out with a bite of her own.
GS: Seraph Beast has attacked Malfi with Stubborn Bite! GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action. GS: Malfi guards a hit from Seraph Beast's Stubborn Bite for 40 hit points! GS: Cover! Statuses applied to Seraph Beast!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Catenna is knocked backward by the force of his strike. He had to admit, it was impressive that she remained standing for this long with those wounds.
Ambrosius pauses for a moment and sighs, standing straight. He fixes Catenna with his eyes, staring quietly. He does not say anything, but watches her as staggers back, and invokes the power of the Guardians.
"...I do not enjoy this, either." He says quietly. He stares up at that writhing blue shape as it appears - if only for a moment. Rains falls upon the battlefield, warm and soothing - but not for him.
No, from them, he receives only scorn.
He responds quickly. Within the span of but a few seconds, several objects are drawn from his pouch, combined to form what looks like an ARM. He points it at Catenna and fires, a green beam launching toward her.
It does not hurt much - physically. But the light seeks to eat away at and turn the healing power of the Guardians against her. He can do nothing about the others who have been affected similarly, but he will simply have to trust that the others can handle it.
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Catenna with VV-VENENO! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action. GS: Catenna takes a solid hit from Ambrosius's VV-VENENO for 95 hit points! GS: Disease and Toxin! Statuses applied to Catenna! GS: Catenna has been weakened by Disease! They take 10.5 damage, and burn off their temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
"Grbahlgerbilehrhglb!!" The bounce off the defensive electrical field is an unpleasant enough collision for the Yarobeleedt to suffer. He gets swept up in the outer edges of the Howling Gale, making a full rotation before he is slingshot back out against the conjured ice which shatters and does the very opposite of cushioning his fall. He flops over onto his back, tongue lolling out as his eyes spin. They usually move. They're spinning outright out of dizziness. He convluses and squirms as he tries to come to his senses.
Aya kicks him. When she kicks him in the metallic, blobby bulk, she may make some interesting scientific discoveries. 1) She does not break her foot. 2) His blobby lower half sure has a lot of give. 3) Such metallic biomass might actually be a sweet foot massager and maybe she should kick him some more, if he lets her.
His head turns a bit. He look into her eyes. Her angry, angry, angry eyes. They are scary eyes, and also angry. His eyes widen a little. His eyes are also kind of scary in that they're weird, maybe too much surface area in which to house a singular eye. Like maybe there should be more of them.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: We apologize for eye-shaming.)
Meanwhile, over there, he sees one of the so-called ^Metal Beasts^ chewing up the ^Creature Creature^. Wait. Why would the ^Creature Creature^ be a victim of--
Oh no.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-----"
He tries to leap up into Aya's arms. He is larger than her. This is a nonsense visual and he might squash her.
"----AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi punches Beast as she bites her, trying to convince her to let go. Iron teeth puncture her OTHER shoulder this time, and again chromeblood flows. She isn't sure what kind of creature this is, but it sure has managed to hurt her today! Malfi counters as best she can.
GS: Yarobeleedt enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Mihaya with AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! GS: Yarobeleedt has completed its action. GS: Malfi has attacked Seraph Beast with Improv Tango! GS: Malfi has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Beast guards a hit from Malfi's Improv Tango for 69 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Seraph Beast! GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Malfi! GS: Mihaya guards a hit from Yarobeleedt's AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA for 56 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
One metal body bleeds; one does not.
One has a face to flinch; one does not.
The only hint that this statue has been engaged in such a strenuous battle is the way its plates seem to lag a little as it moves.
Metal fists impact metal chest plates, and the Beast of Lohgrin releases her, but she does not leave her alone for long. Claws flash up, to tear at her armor.
It's frankly unfair. At range, she can buffet her with wind. Up close, every part of her seems pointy.
<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.
"what?!" is all Elvis can muster to respond with. How did they not get his note? It was right there! "GAH! You just don't get it!" he says dismissively. They would never understand the utter pressure, the fate of so many lives that rests on him. If a person must perish to save so many, then so be it.
"Mediums? And they can do that! Fascinating..." A powerful source of magic! It may be worth investigating some time. For now though, a prize awaits.
The ferocity of Dean is remarkable for sunch a young'un. Dean opens fire, and Elvis can only guard against the incoming spray of metal. It riddles his arms and torso with wounds and tears up his blouse something fierce. "MY GOOD SHIRT!" he shouts mournfully. As if someone had their dog shot. THe man barely gets to look beyond his guard before he sees a pair of feet suddenly there, which plant well and firm into their intended target. "AUGH! Well I HAD a moustache! I have a MESS NOW!" Indeed, his moustache looks a wreck, like he touched an electrical source. A bad one.
And then the painful attacks come. Whatever Avril uses against Elvis, it hurts. a LOT. like, an unnatural amount. He does his best to try and guard against them, but it is a futile effort. THe lashes come from such disparaging angles it makes it hard to try and counter as well. The finally hit sends him to the ground, tumbling over himself.
He stands up, glaring at Avril. He has bad lacerations and burn marks along the parts of hi mwhere his shirt is torn away. His vest has several scorch marks as well. One of thos even snapped off a piece of his boot. HIS GOOD BOOTS-- ah, Yarobeleedt ruined them already. SHE MADE THEM WORSE.
Elvis takes a deep breath! "It doesn't matter!" he says, huffing and readiny for an assault. "I get what I need! Anything you say about who it belonged to is irreleveant! Yo ugot it back! So LET ME HAVE THIS!" Amidst the hail of Deun's gunfire is a swiling energy around one of Elvis' fists, and from a distance, throws a punch that he moves with jsut as fast. The energy of the punch seems to swirl and deflect bullets, as the incoming attack may as well be one of those high-flying pieces of metal, except gigantic.
The man turns to Fei, who STEPPED ON HIS FACE, and whirls around with a spinning punch as he closes the distance to where he lands. As the spin comes close, it is seen that at some point, one hand became free of a glove.
And it comes in for a grab.
Avril will receive a gift shortly thereafter, in the form of a friend flying mach speed at her, or in the case of Fei being clever enough to dodge, the nearest unanchored object regardless of size.
GS: Elvis enters a Counter stance! GS: Elvis has attacked Dean Stark with Corkscrew Cross! GS: Seraph Beast has attacked Malfi with Savage Claw! GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action. GS: Elvis has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Lariat Grab! GS: Elvis has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with DRIFTER EXPRESS! GS: Elvis has completed his action. GS: Malfi takes a solid hit from Seraph Beast's Savage Claw for 73 hit points! GS: Malfi has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi slinks back into Yarobeleedt's snowtunnel, shaking her head ruefully. She's failed again. Failed Mother again... She'll worry about that later. Right now she has wounds to bind.
GS: Dean Stark guards a hit from Elvis's Corkscrew Cross for 104 hit points! GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a glancing hit from Elvis's DRIFTER EXPRESS for 56 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
The Beast of Lohgrin is perfectly willing to let her foe retreat. She takes a sentinel's position before the statue.
GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a glancing hit from Elvis's Lariat Grab for 55 hit points! GS: Entangle! Statuses applied to Fei Fong Wong!
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Catenna flicks her hair back and draws in a breath. Most of her wounds have closed and she cna honestly say that she feels a little better.
And then Ambrosius blasts her and just about kills her.
The green beam hits her dead to rights. The Moon Shaman twitches as the energy arcs through her, and she shrieks as her wounds immediately reopen, green arcs of energy spilling from them and pouring across her. Blood streams from far too many places as she falls forward again, collapsing into the snow once more.
Closing her eyes, Catenna draws in a shaking breath, then lets it out.
Good! I hope I do die. I have failed the Guardians one time too many, she reflects bitterly. If I cannot save so much as one Statue - if I cannot stand against even one person who wishes to destroy us all--
She lifts her head - and her eyes grow wide as she spots something.
Forgotten in the depths of the fighting, the Owlet has moved from its hiding spot. The fluffy white-and-grey bird is presently toddling across the snow, back towards the statue - and in its bill, it is holding Catenna's sealing rod.
Her heart pounds a little quicker. Catenna closes her right hand, then turns her head away, up towards the big Veruni across from her.
She can't beat Ambrosius. She's far too weak. But she might be able to buy the Owlet time.
Lunging off the ground unsteadily, Catenna slams her right hand out with a shapeless shout. The air around Ambrosius groans.
And gravity crunches inward to seize him. One part of his body is suddenly subjected to enormous pressures as the pull of the earth inverts for all of him above the waist and deepens for all of him below it. It is as if gravity itself is trying to rip him in half.
Please kill me and please let the Owlet and Beast figure out how to seal the Statue while he's distracted, she prays internally. Please, Celesdue...!
GS: Catenna has attacked Ambrosius with Polarity Clutch! GS: Catenna takes 12 damage from Toxin! GS: Catenna has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Mihaya has posed.
There are two possible outcomes here. One is that Mihaya would see this as some sort of comical attempt to hide from the fact that the statue swirling with strange spiritual energies is attacking another one of the Metal Demons, which is probably terrifying to Yaro for some reason and might lead to him doing something crazy like attempting to climb on top of her for safety.
If Yaro were about a tenth the size, this might be the outcome that would have occurred.
On the other hand, Yarobeleedt is both incredibly huge, frightening looking, and is apparently trying to unleash some ancient terrible evil upon the world. Mihaya would probably be inclined to not trust him at the best of times due to these additional circumstances. And while it may appear that he is screaming in terror, Yaro is a terrifying and alien creature and the fact that he is screaming is more taken for being some sort of battle cry that he is attempting to intimidate the elf with rather than anything else.
In fact, she basically takes this as an attempt to squash her using the Metal Demon's massive body, and Mihaya tries to shove him away and keep the entire bulk of Yaro from falling on top of her.
It works... to some limited effect.
Really the best she can do is to try and use Yaro's own momentum to keep him moving as he crashes into her. The force of the impact is enough to be bruising, and the Symbologist stumbles backwards before she tries to use her staff as a lever to send Yaro careening onwards down the slope. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING..." Aya shouts, "...BUT SQUASHING ME IS *NOT ACCEPTABLE*!"
GS: Mihaya has attacked Yarobeleedt with Full Force Fend! GS: Mihaya has completed her action. GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Mihaya's Full Force Fend for 99 hit points! GS: Ambrosius critically Guards a hit from Catenna's Polarity Clutch for 36 hit points! GS: Ambrosius enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
The Beast of Lohgrin spies something in the midst of the battle - something small and cute and utterly defensible. She moves to scoop up the owlet with a wingplate, ushering her the rest of the way to the statue. "Have you an idea?" She asks, as she raises it to the statue's face.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
Yarobeleedt's mind is alight with fright at just how Malfi is brutally taken down in a series of close quarter exchanges. The thing he thought was a reinforcement is anything but, as it goes to park itself in front of the statue. It is frightening to consider that he does not think about the logistics of the impossible thing he is doing.
This is his chance to redeem himself, and once again, reduced to a screaming, frightful, silly mess as the elf manages to use leverage and momentum to stop herself from getting squished. He crashes and clatters atop sharp fragments of ice as he tumbles down, down, do--
An arm stabs into the steep hill that almost deposits him outside of the pitched battle.
"Hih?" A typo'd 'huh' escapes him as his eyes glaze over. A miracle of Filgaian life and spirituality, a tiny Owlet bearing a Sealing Rod in its beak makes its way towards the statue.
"N... noooooo!" Yaro screams, weakly. His blobbier arm has problems forming into anything firm enough to pull himself up. It is a struggle. It is a great moment for Mihaya to start casting her next, nastiest spell. He throws his bulk up against this hill, crawling and slithering as he pulls himself up a would-be glacier at a glacial pace.
Of all the distractions and frights, he's about to be shamed again! Not even the simple joy of watching Malfi fail so that he might succeed where she hasn't registers. This is his chance. This may be his only, final chance...!
He gibbers incoherently as he just crests the top of this steep drop. His firmer arm holds him in place. His other arm tries to form into lengthier, more solid weapons. Damn that should-be corpse of a human who kept moving after he crushed her limp body...! She did this to him!! Almost like... that one back in Arctica...!
The noodlier arm remains a danger in that it can form spikes and blades, if less comprehensive. He swings it everywhere.
No matter how far he can stretch it, he can't reach the Owlet. It comes close. It slaps the snow and ice, threatening to shower it with some. Mihaya has him on the ropes.
Maybe Seraph Beast might see it fit to move forth and smack away the flailing arm, as Yarobeleedt's screeching grows ever more panicked and frantic. Once the Beast picks up the Owlet, it is forevermore safely outside of his reach. There lies only one issue at hand.
Who present knows the incantation?
GS: Yarobeleedt has completed its action.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius watches pensively as the beam strikes Catenna. It was severe, but that was to be expected, considering the extent of her wounds.
Catenna spots something, but Ambrosius does not know what as she soon gives him plenty of motivation not to. Particularly when she lunges up and slams her right hand out. He can feel it - once more, the force of gravity seizes him. But this time, rather than throwing him backward or attempting to crush him from all angles, it instead tries to pull.
If successful, this would have fatal results.
...But, Ambrosius breathes out and strengthens his stance. He fights against the force of gravity itself, fights against the pain, and endures it.
It does not last as long as Catenna might like, but it has achieved its intended goal - Ambrosius's attention is firmly on her. He adjusts his ARM briefly and walks up to her, taking a moment to aim directly at him.
...But, there's a moment of hesitation.
Whatever his plan was he reconsiders it, and instead lashes out with the butt of the ARM.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei lands shortly after his kick by flipping off of Elvis's face. He still has no idea who this person is but with that many muscles--he had to throw a punch regardless of what happened. He lands in a crouch and he looks towards Beast who seems to be guarding the statue. He wonders, for a moment, what Beast will actually DO. She seems pretty devoted to Althena's teachings but...maybe she will just make sure nobody gets to it. That's actually still a win, he reasons.
Fei sees the man coming for a grab and he steps backwards but not so far enough that Elvis grabs nothing. Indeed, Elvis is able to get a fistful of Fei's shirt.
And he manages to--yes!--rip it off and send it flying for Avril. Unfortunately for Avril, that shirt is weighed down like in --DRAGON BALL Z-- so it may still hurt should it collide with her.
Fei, with his shirt off, clearly has rock solid abs and has toned his body nearly to the extent that Elvis has. This may be why Fei went after Elvis in the first place, actually! "I understand." Fei says after a moment, squaring his eyes against Elvis before he starts flexing like he's trying to POWER UP.
He literally bursts into flames. The fire doesn't seem to bother him. It's from his chi. Fei can't pull off an Armstrong flex but he is beefy enough for what he has to do. "You want to wrestle."
"Avril! The owlet! Seal the statue!" Fei shouts as he throws himself for Elvis and intends to grapple him with both arms before the fire chi detonates around him!
It's a losing battle--Elvis is in a whole 'nother weight class--but Fei is still strong.
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Catenna with Veritas Varia Strike! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action. GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action! GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Elvis with Kakei! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: COUNTER! Elvis strikes at Fei Fong Wong with a counter attack! GS: CRITICAL! Elvis guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Kakei for 119 hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong critically Guards a hit from Elvis's Counter Attack for 44 hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Catenna takes a solid hit from Ambrosius's Veritas Varia Strike for 129 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
The gloopy creature reaches for the owlet; a whipping tail slaps the hand away as the Seraph scoops her up, and whisks her to the statue.
The Beast of Lohgrin can protect the owlet and her sealing rod, and her protective presence ensures it will be difficult to interfere, but... she does not know how to use it.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean is totally serious!! Though Fei makes a good point about Mediums apparently =/= magic. "Not all the time! The Sword Medium is mostly about physical attacks and stuff! It's just sometimes those physical attacks have elements!" he explains. "Anyway, it's not magic!!" (If you say so, Dean. (Though actually he is correct here.)) As for Elvis--yeah, it seems like there's nothing more to discuss there.
Then Fei jumps up and uses Dean's head as a springboard. "OW," he yelps, faceplanting directly into the snow. A-at least Avril didn't see that, or else there'd be a massacre here...
Though to a certain extent, it is anyway. Fei flying-kicks Elvis, and Avril unleashes her beam weapon from her ARM. Dean pushes himself back upright in time for Elvis to speaking of letting him have this. "It's not yours to have! And it's not ours to give away!!" Dean shouts back. "If we let you do whatever you want, then even MORE people could be put at risk! But you don't care, do you?!" Even Dean, dense as he is, can understand a message when it's told to him bluntly over and over again.
RIP Elvis's 'stache, though. And his shirt. And his shoes. Truly, even if he wins today, his victory will be pyrrhic.
Elvis punches through the shower of bullets. How does he do that?? Dean is impressed even as the physical force of the punch slams into him from a distance, once more sending him flying at frankly dangerous speeds. If it weren't for all the snow, it might be straight-up *deadly*. He slams into the powdery blanket of snow, lodging him into it and bloodying his face and chest from both the impact of Elvis's attack and the cut of ice crystals as he passes. He struggles to get up, in time to see Elvis attempt to grab Fei and *hurl* him at Avril.
"Avril! Fei!!" he shouts, pushing himself up onto his feet, breathing heavily. Another couple of blows like that and it'll be lights out for him. But Fei seems to be all right--even throws his clothes off!--and calls to AVril to seal the Statue. "Yeah, we'll cover you! Go, go, *go*!" Dean urges her--while his focus might be on Elvis, he *did* catch that Malfi's retreated.
With a fierce shout, he leaps up, aiming Twin Fenrir at Elvis again. This time, he aims them both straight-on, and instead calls upon the power of the copy Sword Medium. With its strength, time seems to slow for him as his vision sharpens, training in towards Elvis's weak points--or the next best thing, if he doesn't have any. Then he opens fire with full clips from both of them, with all the strength he's got--possibly with enough strength to stagger the Sentinel!
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Elvis with Twin Fenrir - Sonic Vision! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Elvis takes a solid hit from Dean Stark's Twin Fenrir - Sonic Vision for 189 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Mihaya has posed.
Mihaya has fought enough monsters to know that the best thing that you can do is put them down while they are vulnerable. And as she sees Yaro go tumbling, she jams her staff into the snow in front of her once more, closing her eyes as she begins to concentrate. "It is a pity that I won't be able to get a better look at you... but both you and your kind seem to be up to no good, and the people of this land do not need a new terror to come upon them. They do not need more pain and suffering on top of what is already occurring."
The elf smiles, and it is a faint, sad one. Most monsters do not act because it is their wish, but more because they have been driven to it by some other power. If shown respect and guided properly, then they would never have become monsters in the first place. And so destroying them should be done with respect, for their lot could easily be that of others.
"I am not sure if you will survive, strange foe. But if you do, know that I will do my best to ensure that you find tranquility one day."
Given Yaro's precarious position, the fact that Mihaya's strongest spell is relies on heat and flames may well do more to send him tumbling down the mountain in a cascade of melted ice and snow. But the elf closes her eyes, invoking enough of her symbols that the glow can be seen radiating out the seams of her clothing for a moment. The crystal on her staff flares a brilliant ruby color...
And all around Yaro a hundred tiny spheres of light appear. Each one burning hot, and then they begin to collapse into a single point directly in front of him. A point which grows as it absorbs each ruby spark of magic... until it explodes in a colossal eruption of heat and flame.
Yaro might be able to protect himself, or even jump clear. But where would that leave him, in so precious a position...?
GS: Mihaya has attacked Yarobeleedt with Flare! GS: Mihaya has completed her action. GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Mihaya's Flare for 212 hit points! GS: Yarobeleedt has Fallen! It is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
The Owlet immediately hops off the wingplate and toddles over to stand on Beast's head. It looks absolutely ludicrous holding the sealing wand; it's longer than the Owlet is tall by a good margin. The tiny bird somehow manages anyway.
Unfortunately, the Owlet is an Owlet. It doesn't know how to humanspeak. It looks up at the Statue intently, its eyes steady, almost as if it's imagining the words and trying to beam them to Solais Emsu through its eyes.
Eventually it taps the Statue with the wand and wiggles itself suggestively. No one ever accused the Owlet of being a great communicator.
As for Catenna, she can't muster enough power to actually crush Ambrosius anymore. Her magic is basically spent and all she's got left is whatever willpower she can muster. Slouching to her knees, she lets out a heavy breath. It rushes in her ears like a whirlwind.
It's the only thing she can hear clearly right now, and even then, it's secondary to the fact that she can see the grooves inside of Ambrosius's weapon.
Ambrosius swings at her before she can do anything. The rifle butt strikes her on one side of the head. Blood spurts from between her lips as she staggers backwards, landing on her side in the snow. For a moment, she lies there panting.
Behind her, someone's shouting. Avril. Dean. Fei.
The Owlet.
Catenna has literally nothing left in the tank and is fairly sure she's going to pass out and bleed to death any second. All she has left is a sliver of consciousness. Whatever her body can muster.
It'll have to be enough. She inhales.
And rolls over in the snow - and with a shockingly feral screech, she attempts to latch on to Ambrosius's calf and dig her teeth into his hamstring again and again.
GS: Catenna has attacked Ambrosius with Last Ditch Cunctator Maneuver! GS: Catenna takes 9 damage from Toxin! GS: Catenna has completed her action. GS: Ambrosius guards a hit from Catenna's Last Ditch Cunctator Maneuver for 62 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
The owlet wiggles, but the Beast of Lohgrin is nonplussed. "I am sorry," she says, "I do not understand. Do you mean to touch the statue?" She lifts the owlet and her sealing rod up, to tap the statue's face. With no words to speak, it means little.
She shakes her headplates, and looks back. "Catenna!" She calls out. "I-I - I do not know what I must do!" It's now that she sees just how dire Catenna's situation is - and in a moment the Beast realises she must try to help, and healing breeze collects around her. "Catenna!"
GS: Seraph Beast has attacked Catenna with Soothing Breeze! GS: Seraph Beast has completed her action. GS: DISEASE! Seraph Beast tries to heal Catenna, but it doesn't work!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The beam fades soon after, the ARM returned to an empty hilt once again.
Avril falls back a step or two, feet slipping on the slush the snowpack has been rendered into. Her chest rises and falls as she takes a breath followed by another.
"It matters not what you say. I cannot permit it," she says to Elvis once again. "I will protect this Statue!"
This is before Fei is scooped up.
Or rather, his shirt is.
Avril's eyes widen as the tragically weighted shirt is flung her way at a speed that no shirt should attain this side of a T-shirt cannon. Though she dives sidelong, she still takes a glancing hit along an arm that will surely rise into a bruise later. Still, she hasn't been knocked from the fight yet.
Fei shouts something at her. She, the rush of battle still roaring in her veins, blinks, only parsing what he's saying -- and turning her head to finally see the tiny form of the bird darting across the field -- at the remove of several seconds.
Fei and Dean will see Elvis doesn't follow. The important thing is to claim the sealing rod.
Recite the incantation.
Seal the statue.
She doesn't waste time on words. Instead, Avril turns to race across the field of slush for the bird.
And then, the statue.
It really is just her will that speeds her on her path. The slush underfoot her glitters as if sunlight has fallen upon it then becomes more slick, her boots retaining their grip as she speeds along not unlike an ice skater.
This is magic.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Frost Hollow! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a solid hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Frost Hollow for 0 hit points! GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Avril Vent Fleur!
<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.
Elvis begins to breathe heavily from the beating he has endured, which would have flattened lesser men outright. "Buncha upstart kids! I have fought far worse in my hayday! I'm not finished yet!"
The man turns to Fei, who has literally started glowing with fire! "I like it!" Elvis says, working his shoulder as Fei takes a moment to reach full potential. Elvis flexes in turn, muscles churning in preparation for conflict. "Hey! Leave my statue alone!" he calls out in reply, but he can't step in, as Fei flies at him full force. "LET'S GO!" he bellows, and throws a powerful fist toward Fei on collision!
The two attacks collide as the snowy ground cracks and heaves below their colliding might. Power riplles to both, but Fei, it turns out, with his spiritual power, bested Elvis in the collision, sendign the man skidding back with scorch marks from the attack covering the frton half of his body. "Good hit... good hit..."
A look towards Avril. "GET AWAY FROM THERE!" Now tha tthe collision of muscle has ended, Elvis begins to charge Avril, and gets utterly caught by the combined might of ARM and Medium. The brickhouse professor takes all of it, and is sent reeling down the ridge slightly, having to drive a fist into the ground to keep from skidding further. "If you only understood... Nothing is that simple!" comes muffled through snow, as Elvis rises from under a pile of it.
A pained arm is held, bleeding from the onslaught of Dean's accurate weaponry. "I still have enough in me to knock all of you off your feet and down this mountain!"
That fist goes down to the ground again, and Fei has to deal with the earth being his enemy once more, becoming unstable and collapsing.
But Dean has angered the Muscle Professor. Elvis closes distance supernaturally fast, in just the perfect rush of form and function. His one good arm comes down and up in a hooking motion, an attack Elvis puts everything into.
"I'll show you that it ISN'T NICE TO SHOOT PEOPLE!"
GS: Elvis enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Elvis has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Hi-Crush!
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The Beast's hand slap is not gentle. There's enough power behind her matronly swat that the elongated noodlier, blobbier arm just flies up, up, up and back, throwing Yarobeleedt's upper body out of balance and causing him to sink lower from where he clings on for dear shreds of dignity, if not so much life. (Maybe not so much shreds of dignity either, so let's leave it as 'from where he clings.')
That is when the elf speaks. Yarobeleedt's screeching goes to a faint whimper. Angles from where he dangles does not give Mihaya the face of an angel, as the staff stuck into the snow sees a crack starting to run down where he holds on. Something about that smile of hers.
He tries to reform the less-solid arm into something pick-like for grip, but the icy rock where he rests is too thick, too resistant to his machinations as Mihaya reads off the pre-emptive goodbye. "Nonononono," he whimpers. He can't even see the statue now, or what's going on.
"Not lose to ^Long Voweler^!!!" An act of spite. Spite is all he seems to have, when he's not cowering or fantasizing about unearned glory and unrealistic expectations of what rewards await him. What hurts most of all is that one of the people he hates most may yet be in a place to take his glory. He saw the statue first...!
"DO NOT WANT TRAMPOLINE!!" He screams at Mihaya and her heartfelt wish he finds tranquility. The ice and snow below start to shake. The air is filled with Symbological sorcery. He cannot do anything about this. He tries to slap that noodly arm up at her, but can't get the angle and leverage to do much.
All around him, spheres of light appear. He gibbers in fright, and then--
An explosion. A small, wet, squelchy piece of blobby metal splashes on one of Mihaya's shoes, guaranteeing it is ruined but at least leaving her a sample. This is almost as interesting as the all-encompassing fiery explosion that takes out even a chunk of the steep hill that once housed a yellow-ish metal menace. His screeching echoes across the valleys below as he drops.
He survived the explosion. He might survive the drops. Assuming he remained with enough life intact to blight the day of Lunar once again, one may yet care to think and wonder - so driven to this end, despite himself, could his psyche survive yet another loss of opportunity? Off a chance that seemed hand-crafted, just for him?
That's giving too much credit to the thought processes of a slobbering, two-thirds melted monstrosity of an alien.
GS: Elvis has activated a Force Action! GS: Elvis has attacked Dean Stark with Locus Upper! GS: CRITICAL! Dean Stark critically Guards a hit from Elvis's Locus Upper for 50 hit points! GS: Dean Stark enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Elvis's Hi-Crush for 89 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
As soon as Ambrosius strikes Catenna and she collapses, Ambrosius sighs. He looks down at her for a moment and then turns away at the sound of commotion.
...The Statue. It was not that he had forgotten it, but he had been busy with Catenna. Quickly, he takes aim with Veritas Varia, attempting to fire off the shot that had been meant for Catenna...but through it's scope, he sees her.
He hesitates. If he fired upon her, it would not go well for him, whether or not he managed to connect. This thought distracts him, for just a second...
...But a second is just long enough for Catenna to draw upon the reserves of strength remaining to her and lunge at him with a feral screech.
Even once one got past the body armor, this is a man that has walked away from having entire buildings collapsed upon him. Attempting to bite into him is like biting into steel(but less so than if one were trying to bite, say, a Metal Demon, for whom it would be exactly like that).
But, it still serves a purpose, and one that may prove vital to the world's continuation - it causes him to shift, and in a moment of surprise, he drops his ARM into the snow before he can reconsider his decision not to fire.
"Have you gone mad...!?" He hisses. Doesn't she know that struggling like this is going to make her bleed out faster...?
He reaches down, attempting to pull her off him, even as she tries to tear out his hamstring...
And then aims to just throw her away from him. Not off the mountain, thankfully, but toward the other defenders of the statue.
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Catenna with Grab and Toss! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action. GS: Catenna takes a solid hit from Ambrosius's Grab and Toss for 103 hit points! GS: Catenna enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Catenna has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight! GS: Elvis has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei bested Elvis in that collision BUT LIKE IN DBZ it still hits Fei pretty hard and, notably, Fei started that exchange worse off than Elvis was. The gap between their conditions has shrunk, but Fei remains beat to shit all the same. Fei pants for breath. "You're still... you're still up. Goddan dairam it."
He sinks to one knee, panting for breath, having held onto Elvis as long as he could. That also was not the optimal strike he could have gone for but sealing the statue comes first. Keeping Elvis from getting it, well, that comes second. The floor collapses underneath Fei but this time he is a bit more prepared and is able to catch the side of the floor that ISN'T caving in on itself. "GODDAN DAIRAM IT!" He shouts this time because this isn't a great situation.
He slowly pulls himself up to his feet and watches after Avril. He allows himself a smile. She's making it happen.
???
A small boy covered in blood scootches a chair forward. He can't help but wonder aloud, "That's not like her."
Fei, standing nearby, rests a hand on the chair. "I don't know what you know... But I do know people change."
The bloody boy stares ahead for a bit longer. She will protect it. She will protect the statue of all things? "Maybe she's just like us. She said she has amnesia. Maybe this isn't really who she is at all."
Fei hesitates but he adds. "Maybe not." Another pause. "But it could be."
The bloody boy smiles.
HERE
Fei straightens himself up. He takes one step forward, and then another. A red aura crackles briefly around Fei as he darts inward, not with rage exactly--no a determination to support Avril in this moment, to even support Dean in this moment in his support of Avril. Whatever their feelings are regarding the Ice Queen...regarding this mysterious girl...they seem to have come to a mutual agreement.
He throws one last chi powered strike for Elvis with what remains of his stamina. He doesn't even yell.
GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action! GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Elvis with All Together Now! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Fei Fong Wong's attack becomes clear! GS: Elvis takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's Ultra Idstinct for 231 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
The Owlet looks after Seraph Beast, cocking its head to the side slightly. One end of the Sealing Rod drags in the snow. It turns back and continues to tap it against the statue insistently.
But Avril - brave, daring Avril - comes dashing in as fast as her spells will take her. The Owlet turns and waits for her. It begins to hop up the Statue - and when Avril is close enough, the fluffy ball of bird holds the Sealing Rod out to her and lets her take it.
The Owlet hops onto Avril's shoulder and looks at her expectantly. Its eyes are as wide as full moons.
As for Catenna, she's trying to take a bite out of Ambrosius's leg right now. She's even prying off parts of his leg armour to get there, and clawing her way up his leg as she goes, bleeding out all over his armour in the process.
When Ambrosius does pick her up, she doesn't stop clawing at him. Instead she throws herself at him, attempting to pull his hair and pull his scarf and claw at his shoulders and kick at his kneecaps and generally make his life miserable. For a moment she latches on and tries to bite his nose, though he's strong enough to prevent her from doing it. The surge of power from Seraph Beast helps to buy her a few more moments of breath with which to flail and scrape and make Ambrosius's life difficult.
A few more seconds, she thinks with a silent plea. Just buy Avril a few more seconds. A FEW MORE SECONDS. Keep him distracted for a few. More. SECONDS.
Eventually, though, the fundamentals of the fight come into play. Ambrosius stabbed her early enough that she's lost too much blood to maintain her strength. Finally he's able to toss Catenna across the mountaintop. She hits the snow and slides for a few metres, coming to rest on her side. A long streak of bloody snow has been left behind her.
Catenna can't muster enough strength to move beyond turning her head the inch or so it takes to look towards the statue. Towards the sight of Avril Vent Fleur with Owlet and Sealing Rod at hand.
Thank you, she reflects internally.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Beast has posed.
The Beast of Lohgrin does not know what to do - but it seems someone does. She takes a sentinel's position beside the woman who rushes up; she may not know how to help, but she can certainly stop anyone else from interfering.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Her awareness of the world about her has closed to shapes and motions. She's aware, if dimly, of the fight between Fei and Dean and Elvis. She's aware of Ambrosius' struggle with Catenna, and the fact that Catenna collapses. She's aware of every inch of violence unfolding around the statue. But only dimly, only in the sense of relative action and distance.
Her only goal as she sides across the ice she's formed by her magic -- that power she's spend months practicing and honing in her off-hours -- is the bird.
She skids to a stop close to the Statue, reaches out one gloved hand and--
There. It's in her grasp.
The bird hops onto her shoulder, and for one precious second, she shares a look with it.
Communication is at times more than words alone.
And then, pressing the rod to the statue, she begins to intone the words that Halle had taught her all those months ago.
In this, her memory does not fail.
She remembers, as well as if she had done it countless times before.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Great googly moogly, it's not quite going well, is it? Elvis just won't go down, and Catenna's been severely hurt--something Dean's only peripherally aware of, due to being so busy with his opponent, but he's noticed that she's stopped moving--but at least Avril is giving it her all to get over to the Statue. And with her ice powers, she's at a huge advantage right now, right?
Which is great, considering the truth of what she says about permissions and protections. "Yeah! What she said!" Dean chimes in. (Avril always was way more eloquent than him.)
"T-told you... he was tough," Dean wheezes at Fei as his friend lands nearby, wounded after that epic clash with Elvis but with both of them still standing. Then the ground starts to collapse under Fei. "Fei, watch o--!" But then Elvis launches a massive fist down towards Dean, way faster than he could ever imagine someone that big ever being. It's like watching a tsunami in motion: overwhelming, towering force seconds away from crushing you and everything you know. He puts everything he's got into the attack, and it shows.
So Dean slams the rods of Twin Fenrir into a cross guard, tips buried into the frozen ground, and puts everything he's got into his defense.
He yells in pain when the impact comes, reverberating through his paired pistols and into his arms. His boots dig into the icy ground as he nearly buckles against the force of impact. But perhaps, to Elvis's eye, what's most impressive of all is how Twin Fenrir don't even show a dent in the wake of that attack. It's that, perhaps, that lets Dean get back on his feet--panting, pained, but still in one piece--when Elvis draws his fist back. Those ARMs are truly something else; technology like that hasn't been seen on Filgaia since...
Hm.
Since the days of the Ice Queen, as it were.
"IT ISN'T NICE TO PUNCH THEM INTO THE GROUND, EITHER!!" Dean roars back, ignorant of any observations Elvis might have made. Then, whirling the combat rods around, they glow with sudden heat as the young boy whirls them around to wail into the Meat Professor. It's an attack much like his opening one, with the crucial difference that those super-heated rods will leave some *serious* burns if they connect properly.
If outright force won't do the trick, then maybe getting burned will do it. Whatever the cost, they've got to buy Avril enough time to finish sealing the Statue. She's counting on them, after all. She's counting on *all* of them, and they're all counting on her. And the sooner they finish this fight, the sooner they can help Catenna and the others.
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Elvis with Burning Booster! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Elvis guards a hit from Dean Stark's Burning Booster for 56 hit points! GS: Toxin! Statuses applied to Elvis! GS: Elvis has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Elvis has posed.
Elvis feels that hit connect with Dean. It felt good to apply scientific justice!
But he still stands. His ARMs blocking the attack. His... ARMs... "How did..." is all that comes out of the man's mouth. Elvis has decimated much finer looking equipment in a single hit not near that strong. They must be something remarkable. Special. Much more potent in function than form.
A look toward Avril as she approaches the statue. "That magic!" Elvis says, in a much different tone that when he remarked on Mediums. A sound of familiarity, of something knowing.
Fei closes the gap, and Elvis turns to meet him. He brings up his good arm to block the obviously basic punch, but is met with a devastating explosion of chi, enough to overwhelm his guard. Deam attacks at the same time laying in to his flank with his heated weaponry.
For a few moments, Elvis remains standing, huffing, and puffing. After which he collapses into the snow, unmoving.
...
GIve or take about fifteen seconds, Elvis springs back up, breathing normally, though still wounded. He looks like he could easily still fight it out. He stares at the statue, then Dean, then Fei, judging them angrily. He then speaks.
"...I'M GOING HOME!"
he shouts this at the two, then storms off toward whatever godforsaken slimed tunnel he crawled out of. He has better things to do then fight some whippersnappers over a damn rock.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
It's impressive, the strength a human can generate when they believe they're going to die, but have the motivation and determination to continue on. It's difficult even for him to contain Catenna, and by the time Ambrosius is able to toss her away, it is too late. She already has the Sealing Rod, and the sealing ritual is already in motion.
There is no time to take aim and fire - before he could even reclaim Veritas Varia, the ritual would already be complete.
The sight of the Sentinel dropping does give him some alarm...but the fact that he bolts up not but a moment later is a relief.
Ambrosius claims his weapon, and then immediately considers the next order of business - an exit strategy. Getting to the tunnel would require going through the rest of the defenders of the statue, and they may not take kindly to what he's done here.
And, so as soon as Elvis passes through it, he reaches out toward the entrance of the tunnel. The snow ripples and surges...and then bursts upward, forming a solid wall of ice to prevent any form of pursuit. By the time any of them manage to get through that, the Sentinel will be long.
As for Ambrosius himself...he steps back, and returns his ARM to his pouch. The next time anyone turns to look for him...
...He'll be gone.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
The attackers retreat. There stands the statue of Solais Emsu, Guardian of the Sky. Worshipped on Filgaia, but instead, here on Lunar underneath a completely different Sky. Why is this here? Was there an argument with Rigdobrite about whether a sky reaches further than the stars, and as such has influenced events to place his seal upon Mother in another sky beyond the reach of the eyes of the Filgaian faithful?
Maybe Armengard knows. That's musing for another time.
Avril completes the sealing ritual without further delay, other than the bitter cold reminding everyone of the danger inherent to the environs. Though it is hard to breathe, most can breathe easy. All are witness to the miracle that sees to the safety of Solais Emsu's seal upon Mother - even from afar.
The Blue Star seems to shine a little brighter for it, but it may just be the low level of light pollution on Lunar. The night sky is beautiful. Once they all retreat to warmer environs and see that Catenna gets the urgent care she needs, they all have earned themselves a moment of respite.
Just as much as they have earned themselves a reminder that the fight to stop Mother from awakening to her tremendous, world-shattering power didn't follow them from Filgaia. It was waiting for them to arrive here, all along.
If the Metal Demons and Veruni have located one - this one - they may already be hot on the trail of others. Time will be of the essence.
MEANWHILE
Yarobeleedt crawls out from under a great pile of ice and snow. Maybe the word 'cockroach' needs to be thrown in the same bucket as the other words interchangeably used to refer to the bug-slug-snake-thing. He is not whimpering. He is not crying.
He is seething. He's also bleeding. But it's mostly seething.
"Aloss again," he hisses as he crawls out across the snow, "but Mother know. Mother yes. Yaro will do anythin--"
A shadow looms over him. He halts, looks upward.
A beefy white, furry arm slaps a big fleshy hand on top of his head. There is a singular snorting sound.
"mother"