2018-08-04: Nemesis Games, Part 1

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<Pose Tracker> Boomerang has posed.

Last night, deep in the sewers, Hiro, Jean, and their allies had a fateful encounter with the Shadow Dragon Cult. That such a thing would occur the day before Lunn's tournament may well seem like an ill omen. That it came with the kidnapping of several children... that was a true, deep concern.

The tournament, however, is on -- with no time to rest, no time to breathe, no time to hesitate.

The tournament is a solemn, but not somber affair. The sands of Meribia are golden and pristine; the booths and stands ringing the sands are orderly, and the crowds are eager, but a quiet has fallen over the crowds. Anticipation builds, as Blue Master Lunn steps forward. His arms are folded, as he walks towards the podium. He calls out, loudly:

"My people," he says. "In recent days, our world has known little peace... for our nature would defy the love and bounty that our great Goddess gives us. In Glenwood, we wage bloody war. In Meribus, children live in fear."

He shakes his head. "Some might call this tournament foolish... but I would, gently, question their assumption. For what makes it foolish to show the strength in our hearts upon the sand? What makes it foolish to put our convictions to the test? To let them be our might, and to let our skill at arms reflect our true strength?"

He smiles. "Already, that strength has brought enemies together. Both Chancellor Bartlow of Hyland and Cardinal Runette of Rolance have ventured here--and, even now, they prepare to negotiate."

He nods his head, once, to the crowd. "So I say... let out strength shine, today. Let the tradition of Hell Mel continue--let Meribia's splendor and glory reflect upon you all!"

The crowd erupts, then, into cheers.

    -=-=-

    EARLIER -- MERIBIA CATACOMBS

The master of the Shadow Dragon Cult hid his face, even from his disciples. He certainly continued to hide it from a temporary ally. Several of his disciples nursed wounds; a few muttered. This new comrade, though, he looked down at the master, with a face hidden behind a mask of steel. "I see your dogs are still licking their wounds," he said. "How... unfortunate. I hope this won't bore me."

"It will not," he snapped. "And you will not address me like that. Do you know why I sought you out?"

"To inflict violence." The armored man's voice sounded bored.

"Don't say it so dispassionately," the master answered. "Violence is the only song that our world can truly sing. They thought to steal from us--to deny us the future that only the Shadow Dragon Cult can bring. I seek to remind them of what they are."

That prompted an amused noise from the armored man. "All right, then. And what would you have?"

"You are to kill Blue Master Lunn--and break Jean, after she has shown the might of our style... and its limitations. Make it known you work with us--that we care not for ideals. Only for the one morality that exists: power through violence."

The masked man laughed, but nodded.

    -=-=-

    PRESENT -- MERIBIA COLISEUM

Lunn's voice rings out, after the applause. "And the first bout shall begin with Marcus, one of the best of the Blue Dragon disciples... and Jean, dancer and warrior without peer!" Lunn slams a fist into his palm. "BEGIN!"

Marcus strides out onto the field. He looks up, clear blue eyes regarding Jean across the field. His blue bandana sways in the wind -- and then he is smashed into the ground, blood flying before he vanishes in a cloud of dust, as two blurs of light slam into the ground. The cries and shouts erupt from across the stands and stadium. Masked men and women, wearing black garb, leap out; one kicks down a Blue Dragon Fist fighter, while another slams down a Guardsmen. The Shadow Dragon cult erupts, as people screams. Violence shoots out.

And, as the dust clears, their new champion becomes clear:

A tall man, standing too tall to look quite human. He wears a huge dark brown duster, which billows out behind him, over an armored body. A pair of golden eyes look out, from behind an armored mask, and his expression is flat as he looks across the field -- and then up into the stands.

Beside him stands a figure familiar to some: a huge, violet wolf with red fur, and white spines coming from its jaws. Its tail swishes. It was the animal that attacked them, at the Pleasing Garden. Its eyes burn, with a baleful golden light.

Boomerang looks up, and laughs as he gets a good look at the stands. "You want to use fighting... to show your beliefs?" He laughs. "Rich. Let me tell you something: violence is its own point. Something I'll show all of you--when I RIP THIS CITY TO PIECES! This one's on me, Shadow Dragons!"

DC: Boomerang switches forms to An Asshole and His Dog!

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    Riesenlied did not leave the sewers in a good way last night.

    Already in a beleaguered state and beside herself in concern with her kidnapped children, the sewers had taken a lot out of her -- ending with the Shadow Dragon assassins nearly beating her down rather brutally even as she hung on to assist Hiro, Jean, Lemina, Noeline, Gwen, Fei and Elly in trying to save Janey.

    Save Janey, they did, but...

    LAST NIGHT

    "No, no--"

    Riesenlied watches as the demon-masked leader of the Shadow Dragon Cult seizes the pacified cultist. His bones pop and crack. She covers her hand with her mouth, watching helplessly as he's thrown aside. "How could you...?!"

    NOW

    Riesenlied jolts out of her reverie, looking pale as she clutches at her Tear. She smiles very faintly towards Lunn when he enters to speak; so, Cardinal Forton and the Chancellor are here to negotiate peace?

    She can only hope that can lead things for the better... but she hasn't forgotten the true purpose of this tournament--

    --to lure the Shadow Dragon out once more.

    Marcus steps out to the field... and in a horrific moment-- his blood flies, the cries and shouts erupt, and her eyes widen further as she stares towards the tall man in the duster. The huge wolf...

    "No... no..."

    Her eyes widen further as she covers her mouth with both her hands. She knows exactly who this is. The one who has a penchant for leaving notes stuck to daggers at father's doorstep.

    "Boomerang...?! W-why...?!" 

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.


The plan to use the Shadow Dragon Fist's own techniques to lure them out - Hiro had misgivings about this. He knew they'd be licking their wounds - and he knew they'd be desirous of revenge. And he also knew that every time Jean went back to that place that she seemed a little more lost.

Yet he'd promised her he'd support her. That he'd give her a place to come back to. As the tournament began though he felt hope.

It wasn't just a trap for the cult - it was a bid for peace. "It's a good speech." Hiro said, "Gives me some real hope for the future of Glenwood."

Ruby eyes the ring critically, "I dunno - I think it'll take spectacular brawls to get those two kingdoms to play nice. Oh hey - Jean's match is starting!"

Hiro leans up against the railing. "Well let's see how she does against one of Lunn's students." "You don't doubt she'll win right?" "Pfft - as if - you saw her stand up to her master last night Ruby! This guy will never see it-"

And then the Shadow Dragon cult erupts - with a tall champion in their midst. "-coming."

"Hiro get down there! Quick!" She didn't even need to say it though, he's already leaping out of the stands down into the arena.

"Who are you?" He says as he reaches for his boomerang - putting it into his hand, having no idea that he answered his own question in the weapon he's reaching for, "And you're really working with the cult to prove something like might making r-"

Hiro stops short not far from Jean in the arena as he gets a closer look... "You're a Metal Demon aren't you?"

It made sense. Their philosophy was so similar. Now displaced by Lucia's teleportation...

... it felt like this city was going to become collateral damage to some of them getting swept up in that.

<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

It is, as it turns out, difficult to keep Tethelle away from tournaments and exhibitions.

She's not a part of this one, but she wouldn't have missed watching it for the world, and so she is in the crowds; she has brought her greatsword, but it is politely peacebound by ribbons wound around the crossguard and the carrier to tie it in place. It can be removed, of course, but she'd have to spend a few moments to cut it free or a lot longer to untie it.

She had been perfectly happy to just watch... until circumstances arrange themselves that she could not.

Tethelle rises from her spot in the stands - more than rises; she leaps onto the stands themselves, getting the height that she normally lacks so she can see what's getting on. Her eyes narrow as she sees Boomerang, but that's not who she's focusing on.

Tethelle is focusing on the wolf.

The last time she saw it - her - was in the Pleasing Garden. Then, Tethelle told her team to run. This time, there's nowhere to run, but worse is what is what it means. If that wolf is with Boomerang, who is a Metal Demon, then -

"Luceid!" Tethelle calls down from the stands, before she makes a mad leap, clearing several lines of seats before touching down again and running toward the ring where Boomerand and Luceid are. "LUCEID! Why are you with your enemy? What are you doing here?"

She points her sword - still in the carrier, sheathed - at the great wolf and her companion. "I cannot let this happen! This city will be protected!"

And if she has to fight a Guardian, well... 

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Can you really keep a Zed away from a martial arts tournament? It has two of his favorite things in the whole, wide world! Martial arts! And fighting!

No, there is no way. It's impossible. Im...possible...!

Zed is all ready for the festivities! He's sitting cross-legged and half-hidden up on a particular pillar near the arena. The only sign that there's something wrong are the popcorn kernels tumbling down off the top of the column, the shock of green hair fluttering in the breeze, and the flock of hangry lunar pigeons seeking to separate the latter from the former. "Bah!" Zed yells, swinging his sword through the crowd of winged rats, "You seek to claim MY buttery snacks!? Never! Go find Riese instead, you feathery bastards--!"

And then something explodes.

And Zed suddenly has something else to do and somewhere else to be.

A shadow flits through the air, a bright orange scarf twists in the breeze. It yells a mighty kiai, tearing through the cloud of dust with a mighty, outstretched heel! "YOU!" Zed roars, hurtling right for that mysterious armored man...! "BOOOOOOMERAAAAANG!"

"What the heck are you doing!?" Zed demands mid-kick, because talking is a free action. "This is a tournament, you jerk! I was watching that!" 

DC: Zed switches forms to Manic Blade Master Zed!

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

    EARLIER, SOME DAYS AGO

     Malfi scouted out a tower with Ambrosius and Yarobeleedt down south in Glenwood. They chased a bunch of humans out and decided it was better to roost there as they figured out their next step. All Yarobeleedt knew or cared is that he couldn't find any more statues to smash, and also he didn't want Malfi or Ambrosius to find a statue to smash before him.

     A BIT MORE RECENT

     Yarobeleedt is skulking around Meribia's catacombs up in Meribus because... he kind of does skulk around by default. He only catches bits and pieces of a voice. It is a voice that reaches deep into his psyche and makes him shudder. He knows that voice... and they're here... if they're here... then that must mean...!

     IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY MEAN WHAT HE THINKS IT DOES, BUT NOW THE ACTUAL PRESENT

     "Fufufu... a chance for groly~" Yarobeleedt salivates as he grinds his arms from the shadows. He moves to pounce, darting faster than the eye can see as he has designs on Marcus while his back is turned--
     Yarobeleedt gets Marcus in the back, in so much that faster than even his eyes can see, Marcus slams into him back-first as both disappear into a cloud of dust to a spray of blood.
     Less gracefully, but no less thirstily, Yarobeleedt slithers out of the cloud of dust as one goopier arm drags against the field ground while the other - now in the form of a solid club with a lot of misshapen spikes on it - waves in the air threateningly while others address Boomerang. Boomerang, flanked by the Guardian of Desire, Luceid, and the Shadow Dragon cult all-around. All eye-catching, great threats.
     Yarobeleedt sits there, dripping, as he waves the club-arm again for ill effect as if to say 'um, notice me?'
     "Ummm? Here two... unless already afraid? Then okay. Stay a frayed... fu fu fu...!" 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna enjoyed a good tournament. The last one for her had been Lacour, and she was long since due for another one. Of course, there was one small complication - unlike Lacour, she actually had a price on her head here.

Nothing a good disguise couldn't solve, though.

Currently, she was dressed in a red vest and cape with gold trim with a white undershirt and a similarly-colored cravat, and long black pants with thick gloves and boots...and, of course, a black domino mask, only barely hiding the X-shaped scar across her face.

She was no longer Layna Manydays...she was the mysterious, nameless Dashing Pugilist.

She had no idea, of course, that the proceedings would go...well, like they ultimately did.

"...Who's this jerk?" Layna - er, the 'Dashing Pugilist' - mutters to herself, sitting up...and then cracks her knuckles.

"...Well, whatever. I was afraid I was gonna hafta wait my turn...but it looks like plans have changed!" She comments, standing from her seat in the stands. And then she jumps, her blonde hair streaming behind her. She lands somewhere near Tethelle...and sends the girl a wink.

...To those who knew her, it was pretty obvious that this was Layna. 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Violence is Filgaia's language and it seems Lunar shares the dialect.

Fei doesn't have very many memories, but sometimes he gets glimpses of other times, reminding him that he too speaks this language and has been speaking it for so long it is entrenched in his DNA. On some level, even now, he feels betrayed at ever having to learn it. That faraway promise was of a new future, not this.

But even for him, it's not all misery and failure. There's Elly and the way she makes his heart skips beats, how she makes him believe that there's another language to speak. It's a far more difficult language and it's easy to forget the words, but even now, even now he wishes to immerse himself in the culture that makes that language so moving.

His head is wrapped up in bandages, sure, but Fei is here. He promised he'd help and a few injuries and a concussion isn't going to stop that. He grimaces as Marcus is ambushed only to be replaced by a metal demon that...wants to destroy the city? Riesenlied asks why but Boomerang already provided the answer. "He's working with the Dragons." Fei says. "...Of course... they have much in common."

He starts to step forward when he blinks at the violet wolf. "oh shit."

He steps back. "Oh shit the wolf is here. The wolf is working with him." He points to the purple wolf, notably more fearful. "He has the wolf!! Damn it! He's got the wolf!"

Look that wolf ended up causing Fei a lot of problems.

Fei grimaces, gritting his teeth as he steps forward, swinging up his fists.

He doesn't want to fight. That's not his desire. Like Riesenlied, he desires a place he can live peacefully, but almost more than that he wants to know how they do it, he wants to be able to do it, to make such strong bonds so effortlessly, to touch the soul of the matter and see so clearly.

"The last guy..." Fei tells Boomerang. "That kind of thinking didn't go so well for him." He says, moving closer towards Jean, taking his defensive posture. "Though it's pretty surprising to see a metal demon working with a bunch of humans. Thought you hated us." 

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    Still feeling on edge after their altercation with the Shadow Dragon Cult, Noeline has made certain to venture to the Tournament at Riesenlied's side, watching the festivities with a deep-set frown on her face. Given the true objective they're chasing here, she doesn't expect this tournament to go nearly as well as the Lacour one - and that didn't exactly end pleasantly to begin with, to say the least. For a moment, she glances to one side at her partner, then nudges her way slightly across so as to keep in physical contact with her.

    It's for Noeline's sake as much as it is Riese's, right at this moment.

    Lunn's speech makes her exhale a quiet and private sigh, her brow furrowed; the words are pleasant enough, and the potential for an end to the war is certainly a very wholesome idea - but today she's feeling rather cynical about tests of strength and posturing, and not terrifically hopeful at the idea of humans managing to put aside their differences to work together. It's a more unpleasant and bitter feeling than she expected it to be, she wonders to herself ruefully at how much she's changed, but she's still rattled enough that she can't quite shake it.

    That foreboding turns out to be correct, but not in any kind of way she ever expected. Noeline is already tense as Jean makes her way out onto the field, a hand gripping the railing in front of her tightly; that means she's less surprised than she could be at the sudden attack, and as chaos suddenly erupts around the arena stands - but she still stares in astonishment at the two Metal Demons stood almost casually within the arena's walls.

    "--you're kidding me," she growls under her breath, her mind suddenly racing through possibilities - there's a very real and urgent question here as to whether their plan has gone completely awry and their quarry gone to ground during Boomerang's diversion, or whether the Shadow Dragon Cult will try to use the commotion to target Jean in an opportunistic strike. Perhaps they only have the enemy in front of them to contend with, but somehow Noeline doubts that - it seems too sloppy a plan for the Cult.

    Ultimately, Noeline can't really make that call - she simply doesn't know their adversary well enough to say for sure - so she settles for what she is certain about, moving to shield Riesenlied. "Riese! We need to get to Jean!" she calls, and then-- well, the best way to take the heat off everyone else is to make yourself a target, and Noeline's well aware of the best wa to do that when Metal Demons are concerned. Sorcery - the power of a Guardian - flickers suddenly around her as she yells. "Boomerang!" 

<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.

Jean has remained quiet, since last night. She kept to herself largely--isolated herself in an inn room of her own, to meditate and prepare for what was coming. The tournament was never an end in and of itself. Her wounds, likewise, she treated herself. She didn't see her friends again until morning--and then she gave them a smile but otherwise seemed focused, resolute. ...Hiro's not wrong, though.

Now, she waits; she waits, in the room before the arena, and looks down at herself, seated. 'Peerless warrior', she's called and has been called. Now, she is dressed in loose, sturdy clothing, easy to move in; long pants with simple shoes, a jacket with light molded armor, short sleeves. ...But most notable are the bracers wrapped about her wrists--the claws that extend from them, the weapons she hasn't worn for some time, three on each hand, extending from her wrists.

The grays, blacks, and purples of her attire set off her dark green hair, held back in a dark bandana. ...It's not a relief to dress in practical clothes, though, even if it's necessary. The only nod to her usual self is the bright red of the bandana.

She steps outside on cue, in time for the speech, looking to her opponent, distant. She can hear Lunn's wors; hear him talk about strength... It doesn't feel right, thinking of strength with what she plans to do. But apparently the tournament will be good for more than finding the Cult; the matter of peace...

Regardless, Jean is watching her opponent--when suddenly the light crashes down. Blood sprays, and Jean's eyes widen. "What--"

It might've been something, to fight one of Lunn's students. But instead, there is chaos. Chaos, and someone who claims--

Jean puts one foot back, lifts her clawed hands. "...I won't let you do that," she says, with a glance to the wolf, her focus on Boomerang. "You're wrong."

'Get to Jean' might be wise--she's down already with her opponent. She hears his name, but she starts forward immediately, starting to rush his way. 

DC: Jean switches forms to Shadow Dragon Apostate!

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    It had just been coincidence. A stroke of luck perhaps -- though Loren isn't so naive to think that it's automatically going to work out in his favor. For someone on the outs in his organization, though (at least, this is what he thinks, obsessing on recent failures) it isn't as if he can 'look a gift horse in the mouth', as they'd put it back in the Badlands.
    Come to think of it, he still doesn't understand that idiom, given the horses he's come to know.

    But it was clear that the Church -- and the Guard, linked to it -- were both behaving suspiciously, and aside from the matter with the forcefully-enlisted sailors and captains, there was the fact that Blue Master Lunn was hosting a tournament right in the area he's operating in. It's an opportunity he can't overlook.

    But as a man with a price on his head and little money in his pocket (thanks to the pirate he made a deal with, and thanks to the war in Glenwood making communications risky/impossible) it certainly closed off a few doors.

    This is how he ended up managing one of the concessions stands. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride.

    NOW

    "We're out," he informs a would-be customer. Maybe when the tournament gets underway he'll be able to slip off and find something more useful than 'just how many hot dogs the citizens of Meribia can consume' before the matches even start.

    "What? No, because you just bought eight and now we're out." Customer service might not be his strong suit.

    "Listen, we have popcorn, we have peanuts, and we have pretzels. Take it or leave it." On the plus side, no one seems to have recognized him yet. A change of clothing, some hairdye, and the absence of his usual glasses help here.

    A commotion stirs up in the moments following. His current customer tormentor and he both crane to make out what's happening, out on the proving grounds themselves.
    A voice booms out.
    He and the customer share a look.
    Loren shoves a bag of popcorn across the counter before stating flatly, "Booth's closed."

    And slips out through the back. Damn, damn, of course something like this has to happen--
    And of course he's going to have to do something about it. Slipping into the storage area, he pauses momentarily to transmit a short message over encrypted lines -- just in case he doesn't make it back out -- before he shoves the device into his bag, shoulders it and grabs the blade.

    And then, much to his eternal regret, runs back for the field.

    I HATE Metal Demons-- 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Turns out, that yellow scarf that Zed gave Gwen, while it's a color that doesn't do much for her skin tone and hair, the strangely resilient fabric is great for covering up the still sore injuries to both of her shoulders. Even so, she couldn't bear to cut a gift just to use them for makeshift bandages, so the fabric is simply looped from one arm to the other, as if she was trying to make some strange fashion statement. Better than looking like she got in a fight with a lot of skilled deadly martial artists and got chucked into dirty water because of the recoil of her own damn ARM.

    ... Yeah, that last bit meant she was taking bath after bath once they got back to Taben Peak. And wait, there's a tournament?

    So there's Gwen, sitting alongside Ruby and Hiro, making the most of it by downing lots and lots of delicious Meribian treats, chewing on a large soft pretzel as she listens to the speech from Lunn. "'Bout time," she comments, thankfully after swallowing her mouthful of delicious doughiness. "It may just be talks, but that's a start. Can't break the ice with just good intentions. Y'need an in, and this is as 'in' as it gets. As for Jean, well-"

    A new challenger has arrived, looks like, pushing Marcus aside like yesterday's news. "Whoah!" Maybe it's... part of the show? Judging by everyone's looks, probabbbllyy nooot.

    Especially since, once the smoke clears, it becomes evident that the new challenger is- "A Metal Demon?!" Gwen stands up, abandoning her poor half-finished pretzel in the seat next to her in order to run after Hiro. "H-hey! Wait up!" It's a rhetorical command, a way of saying 'I'm coming too'.

    And she will, but not before noticing- "Eh? Zed?" She drops down into the arena, wincing as she straightens. "You know this guy?"

    And where *did* Marcus go- ..... oh. Uh. "Hey, is that...?" It's that Metal Demon, the one named Yarobeleedt, though Gwen certainly doesn't know that. The one Gwen thought she had killed, and got all sad over. She's seen him before but never was quite sure if it was him (also, she was extremely distracted), but now, she's certain.

     Gwen then gestures to Bommerang, pointing directly at him. She pauses. She.... needs to make some sort of declaration here, isn't she? "... Hey, uh. You, with the nice... dog? Wolf? Yeah, uh, could you kinda throw us a bone here and explain what the heck is goin' on?" 

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.


    At the gate to the arena, a scarred, silver haired guardswoman waits, as her partner chats to her. "...I mean, who's going to interrupt a fighting tournament, held by Master Lunn of all people? It's like going after a fully armoured knight with a willow branch!"

    And then the commotion starts.

    While the Shadow Dragon Cults new 'allies' make their introduction, the cultists among the crowd make themselves known with brutal efficiency. The chatty guardsman's body hits the ground bloodily, his partner nowhere to be seen as a Shadow Dragon Cultist makes her way toward the ring.

    Her movements are pained, though she goes to great lengths not to show it. Pearl can't afford her injuries from the last night to slow her down. Her orders are similar to Boomerang's: Make Jean use the Shadow Dragon fist. Break her. Do not fail again.

    As Jean charges at Boomerang, the cultist lands in her path, swinging her own clawed hand up to match Jean's assault. For a brief second it's like seeing a pair of reflections face each other. A clash of steel on steel.

    Pearl's grey eyes fixate on Jean, her mask hiding all other expressions. No words are spoken, as she drops back into a fighting stance. One thing is clear: If Jean wants to deal with the Metal Demons, she'll have to go through this opponent first. 

<Pose Tracker> Boomerang has posed.

Boomerang turns his head, slowly. His face isn't hidden; his face is the featureless, metal mask that makes up his head. The eyes that turn to look at Riesenlied are wholly robotic, and the seemingly proud, bloodthirsty tone in the Metal Demon's voice is anything but imagined. "Riesenlied," he says. "I've wanted to see you for a long, long time now. Congratulations, girl. You've got more guts than I ever gave you credit for. Turning on us like that..."

He laughs. "Getting that piece of shit Berserk killed. You did good work. You've finally made these humans interesting, again."

He looks back over the arena. "Why? Because this is what I am. This is who we are!" He waves a hand out, across the whole of them, and then he turns. His eyes look down at Hiro. "I am. Gotta say... I'm impressed you've come out this far."

Luceid turns his head, then. The wolf-like Guardian turns to gaze right at Tethelle. His eyes are the same, hateful, almost molten gold that they were. It becomes clear, as he looks at her, that something is different. This is not the distant, but loving impression that many Guardians can leave their shamans with. There is a raw feeling of hatred, elemental in its nature, that roils off Luceid -- and yet, this is not a corruption.

"I stand with the ones who do not betray what I wish. I stand for the one... whose heart beats with a desire for bloodshed that rivals my own!" the Guardian snaps back at her.

Boomerang cracks his neck, glancing at Zed. "I'm improving the quality of your entertainment, traitor. Glad you finally got some balls," he says. "Too bad I'm going to rip them off. Yarobeleedt!" He doesn't even miss a beat. "Let's show them... what it is to be a Metal Demon."

His eyes meet Jean's -- mechanical upon flesh. "No," he says. "As much as I want to--because that would be a grand time--there's someone else. Pearl," he says. He glances at the cultist, as she lands. "Break her."

Then he turns, to look at those approaching. His hand shoots out to the side -- and a blade appears there. Much like his namesake, the weapon is a slightly jagged, shallow V-shaped sword with a handle at each end, and a wicked glint along the edge. Sabre Fang is pointed towards the lot of them. "If you don't know who I am, I'm Boomerang... and this is my companion, Luceid."

"I'm not like the others," he says. "I like you humans... because you're interesting, again, finally. You're the one thing that gives my life purpose. So... c'mon. Let's--"

He swings the blade out. It screams over their heads -- and smashes into the podium that Blue Master Lunn stands on. It explodes apart into shards of wood, Lunn diving away from it, before Sabre Fangs whips back through the air, and he clutches it.

"--MAKE A SHOW OF IT!"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    "He is a Metal Demon," Riesenlied answers-- hesitating as Hiro jumps down, looking around and not certain whether she should join the battle in her state or help the civilians evacuate. "Not just any, however..."

    She lowers her head. "One powerful enough to be considered a Quarter Knight on his own right."

    Tethelle's cry snaps her attention to the wolf -- an enigma she hadn't been able to figure out. She would normally be happy to see a Guardian working with a Hyadean. That's part of her desire with Odoryuk, after all, but...

    But this was a truly unusual alliance.

    Yarobeleedt is there too, prompting a surprise from her -- she hadn't seen him since Filgaia long ago, but it shouldn't be surprising that he was caught in the blast of the Pleasing Gardens' teleportation... is Malfi here too?

    She casts her glance at Fei, her chest twisting a little as she bites her lip and hears Noeline's urge to go help Jean. Yes... Jean needs the assistance right now... oh no-- oh no, and Pearl is here too.

    But Boomerang's chilling voice cuts through her, as she hurries in a less graceful manner down towards the arena with the others.

    "... I did not bring Berserk to his end. He brought himself to that end -- and you know that. To the end... living life in the only way he wished to know how, fighting until the end..."

    Riesenlied's legs are trembling as she clutches her hand closer to her Tear. "So why, Boomerang, Yarobeleedt? Why -here-, of all places -- what does causing carnage here in Lunar bring? It won't bring Mother back! It does not serve your plans!"

    She wasn't informed there are Guardian Statues here, to be fair.

    Still, the girl standing here is a far cry from the one Siegfried trained himself, Tainted or not; the degeneration has taken her rather severely, the scales encroaching further up and around her.

    Luceid howls her desire for bloodshed... it's a horrifying realisation, that there is a Guardian with such desire for battle and destruction that she would ally with her brethren.

    She casts her eyes to Noeline, withering for a moment. "Let's be cautious, and work carefully..."

    She casts her eyes to Hiro and the others. "We're here to support Jean and the others today." 

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

    'Yarobeleedt!'
     Yarobeleedt, whom presently is making a kind of weak show of looking threatening and awful - okay, no, he's making a great show of looking awful, he always does. He ducks low to the dirt as his name is called, like the worm he basically is. Boomerang's lust for battle is beyond description. To be called by name is, more often than not, to be called to battle. Yarobeleedt has himself one of the exceedingly rare honors of being called by name rather than being struck down on the spot, and this is lost upon a craven worm like hi--
     'Let's show them... what it is to be a Metal Demon.'
     "...Ohhhhhhh? Yesyesyesyesyes. Yes. Off course!! Metal Demon is all about kill the humans...!" Yarobeleedt rises up, equal parts emboldened and frightened and Oh Mother I Am Not Dying By Boomerang's Blades Right Now Yay!!
     He lurches forward, the more melty of his two arms configuring itself into something sharp and jagged. Among Metal Demons, he is a wounded warrior whose body seems ready to just collapse into unformed metallic biomass at any moment. His own kind treat him with spite and derision - and as he is a wholly petty and unpleasant individual, it is one of the rarer cases of the universe being completely fair about it.
     Rather than seek the warmth and camaraderie of those who might open their hearts to accept another, he laughs to himself again as he snaps an arm out against the air as Riesenlied asks him the pointed question.
     "Fu fu fu...! Mother a weights Yarobeleedt to come back...! Once Mother come back..." A tongue lolls out the other side of his mouth, fouling the ground beneath with quicksilver plus whatever venomous substances he's been ingesting. "Not die screaming!! Nonononono. Will live screaming. Is big subtraction...!"
     He quakes with fear underneath the bravado. That is Boomerang. Even he knows that if he tries to run, he would never outrun the Saber Fangs. 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Gwen don't call the wolf a dog that's rude." Fei says. "Wait it's fucking Luceid??" He takes another look, blinking a few times. "It's fucking Luceid."

Guess Noeline wasn't the only one to superhero team up with a Guardian

What's a superhero, Fei wonders and the red voice goes quiet in indignation.

Fei manages through enormous willpower to not snicker at Boomerang's comment to Zed. SOLIDARITY! SOLIDARITY! Boomerang is certainly very unlike Berserk. "Gotta admit," Fei says grudgingly. "It's nice to fight someone who doesn't hate everything. Of course, that it's because of the bloodshed humanity is capable of inflicting is unnerving." He doesn't seem surprised that a guardian is working with the metal demons TOO much, and certainly is less surprised that they like bloodshed.

Fei darts forward past Pearl, giving Jean a small nod. He believes in her implicitely.

And then he throws a quick barrage of kicks for Boomerang's body, largely hoping that Luceid will be sporting enough to not bite off his leg.

"You know," Fei says conversationally. "When we came here we thought Lunar would be a vacation but it's literally all the same problems. Barely any different."

Powerful enough to be considered a Quarter Knight, Fei thinks, this is going to suuuuck. 

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

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"This," Zed answers Gwen, "Is Boomerang. The bloodthistiest, battle-hungriest Metal Demon there ever was. And that still counts Berserk! So you can imagine just what that means! This guy," the mossy-haired Hyadean points, "Is the most infamous demon to have ever come out of the Photosphere! Everyone knows his name, the Knight of the Fifth Quarter, Bloodluster Boomerang! He... He...!"

"IS THE COOLEST GUY," Zed... squeals? No, that's not quite it. It's a mix between a fanboyish squeal and a gutteral growl, and so comes off as something entirely... weird. "Boomerang is a hero to all metal demons who carry the mote of rebellion and betrayal high in their hearts! He goes where he likes and does what he pleases and flouts his bad self all up in every authority he can find! Which is why I am VERY CONFUSED as to what the heck is happening!"

"You!" Zed growls, "Boomerang, calling me a traitor!? You've got a lot of nerve, mister goes-off-in-the-middle-of-the-war-'cause-he's-bored!" Zed snaps back, his own blade being torn from its makeshift sheath in a flourish of shredding cloth. It's pretty hard, finding a decent scabbard for a sword like Doombringer; this way is way more dramatic. "I'm just doing what I feel like doing. These black wings are free as a bird! And right now, they're telling me to punch you in the face for interrupting a decent fight! AUTOGRAPH MY FISTS, YOU BASTARD!"

Zed... goes to do exactly that. He surges in, fist arcing upward in a rushing uppercut with the sort of kiai one might come to expect from Zed by this point. But it's little more than a feint- he carries the momentum through, twisting upward into a series of revolving slashes! 

GS: Zed has attacked Boomerang with Dark Horse - Supreme Tornado!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
GS: Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Fei Fong Wong's Hoten for 54 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Zed's Dark Horse - Supreme Tornado for 101 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

Tethelle gives Layna (well, okay, the DASHING PUGILIST) a slight nod, but she is rather too distracted to do much more than that.

"I have something to do," she says, quietly, to Layna. "Do what you need to. I don't want any cult to destroy this city, or any Metal Demon." Her head twitches, as if she wanted to gesture to Boomerang or Yaro but didn't want to break her gaze to do it.

She doesn't look away from Luceid the entire time, but when Luceid looks back, it's hard to not be the first one to break the gaze. Tethelle's grip tightens on her sword hilt with one hand as she draws her knife with the other, slitting the row of ribbons and bindings and returning the knife to her belt in a smooth motion before she draws the great sword.

Tethelle finally steps onto the sandy pit proper, digging her boots into it to get the feel of it. "Guardian you may be," she says, raising her voice, "but I will stop you if you wish to shed innocent blood, you and your Metal Demon. My name is Tethelle Cirdian, priestess of Equites, and I challenge you, Luceid. Fight me, instead!"

You are going to die, a little voice in her head tells her. You can't fight a Guardian!

Tethelle ignores it. The only sign of nervousness is the slight whiteness to her knuckles as she holds her sword a hair too tight, only relaxing it to the more correct position as she shifts to attack - by sweeping her sword in a great arc!

Chi glitters on the edge of the blade, drawing a crescent in the air in front of her, before - fully formed - it rockets toward Luceid, trailing wisps of light behind it. 

GS: Tethelle Cirdian has attacked Boomerang with Comet Blade!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.


'Boomerang!' 'Boomerang!' 'Boomerang!' 'Boomerang!'

Hiro hears it four times, then looks sideways at the weapon in his hand. "Ah - sure guys!"

Hiro cocks back his arm and - 'I'm Boomerang!'

And Hiro stops mid-throw. "Wait - THAT'S your name?" He looks to Riese and Zed for confirmation. "Whoa! He's that strong?" Before nodding at Riese, "Let's get this under control then. For Jean's sake."

That momentary lapse costs him as Boomerang proves it - because Boomerang swings his blade at the stands at Blue Master Lunn and the stands explode into shards.

Just as the most elite cultist they'd fought starts towards Jean. "Jean-! I'd say they're lured out - you can fight like you want now!"

"Yeah!" Ruby cries in support. "You beat her once as you are right?"

Metal Demon that powerful or Pearl? How does he choose?

"Well buddy. I'm not sure if I'm going to remember a name like that." Hiro says with a grin, "Hiro don't you dare."

He says as he cocks his wrist back and lets it fly in a swooping arc.

"No need to introduce yourself again though. I'm sure..." Fei make him stop!"

And then as it comes close to the Metal Demon Boomerang's position to clang off him with force he says - "...it'll come back to me."

"I AM IN PAIN HIRO! DON'T YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE BOOMERANG PUN!?"

Signs point to no.

GS: Hiro has attacked Boomerang with Boomerang Throw!
GS: Hiro has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"HIRO NO." Fei shouts, too late! 

<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.

Jean doesn't know much about the Guardians, but she knows she doesn't like Boomerang or his companion much. Her eyes are narrowed at the both of them. The Metal Demons, coming in force--it can't help but remind Jean of Adlehyde, of Lady Harken. Getting to Jean would have been a good idea, but--

Her hand shifts up as she runs, but she's stopped short in an instant, claw clashing with claw and knocking Jean's assault off-course. Jean's brown eyes snap to Pearl. "You--"

She can only spare an instant to glance at Boomerang before she understands that there will be no reaching him for now. ...To hear his answer. "You--"

There's no time. Jean's eyes lock back onto Pearls, widened for an instance as she hears her name. "Pearl," she repeats. "...I remember you."

It could be a reunion--but their way was never that kind.

Jean twists in place and follows up with her free hand, letting the other that was knocked away stay back as she reaches to seize Pearl's wrist--and her hand flashes suddenly with purple-black ki. It's easy to feel the surge of darkness as Jean starts to release power to her opponent--

And leans back almost too quickly to follow, her foot snapping up in a bone-cracking roundhouse straight for the Cultist's nose. Without looking, she nods at Fei as he passes mid-strike.

"Hiro! Be careful!" It's too late for her to back down now. She doesn't expect Pearl to give her the opportunity, even mid-strike. 

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"HIRO YES," Zed yells, so impossibly happy 

GS: Jean has attacked Pearl with Umbral Shock!
GS: Jean has completed her action.
DC: MISS! Pearl completely evades Umbral Shock from Jean!

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    Riesenlied pauses at Hiro's wisecrack and Ruby's response, blinking. "I don't understand it... ..." before realising. "Oh, it just hit me." She cringes. 

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    Under her breath, Noeline makes a quiet 'guh' sound, a mixture of both exasperation and realization all at once at the way Gwen is guilelessly leaping down into the arena; she spots someone familiar at the same time, as Pearl places herself in Jean's way, and that question of what exactly the rest of the Cultists intend to do is made terribly clear. Her hands twitch on the railing, her own indecision buried for the moment as she simply tries to keep track of as many people as she can, pick out where she's needed, summon up what little she knows and has heard of Boomerang, limited to whispered tales between neonates centuries ago...

    She's faster than Riesenlied, electing to simply vault down into the sands on the arena floor, landing nimbly enough to catch the other Hyadean on the way down and help her back to her feet; she grits her teeth as she straightens back up, sucking in a slow and shaky breath. Boomerang isn't a Quarter Knight, but only by dint of refusing; instead, he simply wandered off into the world. It would be too much to hope he learnt the same lessons about humanity that she did, she thinks glumly.

    The Guardians care not for mortal men. It's a lesson she's already known well enough - she's seen it first hand, seen the way in which they've responded to some of the entreaties cast towards them. In a way, it reminds her that she and the rest of the Tainted are incredibly, tremendously lucky - to have been given a chance by Equites and the other Guardians, to have been the target of Duras Drum's odd hopes for a change in the future. For a time, she'd even forgotten that the Guardians were still, despite their beliefs and priorities, a disparate group - but Luceid's growl makes it abundantly clear that isn't the case.

    She looks to Riesenlied, then nods in recognition, sucking out a breath. "--alright. Be careful. I've got your back... as much as I can," she admits with a lopsided smile, lacking just a little in confidence before she reaches for her partner's hand to place it in hers. It's a quiet moment - perhaps it's out of place, stolen like this as the arena blossoms into chaos, but it feels like something that needs saying once again, for the both of them.

    Then she's drawn out a breath, and turned to face down the most slippery adversary here, in every sense of the word. "--Yaro! Get out of here now, or face a Guardian's blade!" ... perhaps it's too much to hope that alone would do it, but she can at least try. 

GS: Noeline has spent 1 Combo on Reload!
GS: Noeline has attacked Riesenlied with When I'm With You...!
GS: Noeline has completed her action.
GS: Riesenlied guards a hit from Noeline's When I'm With You... for 0 hit points!
GS: Reload! Riesenlied gains 15 extra FP from Noeline!
GS: Riesenlied has spent 1 Combo on Reload!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Noeline with ...I am not Afraid...!
GS: Riesenlied has entered a Reflect stance!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Riesenlied heals Noeline! She gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Reload! Noeline gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"Aye, lass." Layna replies with a nod toward Tethelle and offers her a brief pat on the shoulder. "I'll keep 'em safe. You go take care o' business, aye?"

Tethelle had her own personal business to take care of. She had an idea what that was, from what she said here and her words in the Pleasing Gardens. She'd do what she could to make sure she was able to do it right.

While Tethelle makes for the Guardian and their Metal Demon ally, Layna rushes toward the other Metal Demon on the scene(as opposed to the self-titled Hyadeans, who were actually helping), drawing a fist back.

"'Live screaming, aye'? Good, good. Scream for me, why don't you?" She says with a wide, predatorial grin on her face, as she aims to deliver a punch right toward him.

It's a good thing she's wearing gloves, otherwise this might be the worst. 

GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Yarobeleedt with Pillager!
GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Yarobeleedt guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Pillager for 76 hit points!
GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Yarobeleedt!
GS: Hyper and Quick! Statuses applied to Layna Manydays!
GS: Boomerang takes a solid hit from Tethelle Cirdian's Comet Blade for 103 hit points!
GS: Mighty! Statuses applied to Tethelle Cirdian!
GS: Boomerang takes a solid hit from Hiro's Boomerang Throw for 58 hit points!
GS: Cover! Statuses applied to Hiro!

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    The whole situation is ridiculous. Logically, he should retreat and leave Meribia to its own devices. He can't exactly hope that he'll receive any sort of backup here if things start to go south. It might be 'just the one' but he's faced off against enough of them to know that 'just the one' can itself be a problem.

    And yet, he can already hear the conversation that would ensue if he left and returned to base. 'So you didn't do anything except report in and leave. Why didn't you take advantage of the situation?'
    'Why didn't you attempt to change the situation?'

    Theirs is a precarious one. Between the war, with communications cut off, the Malevolent creatures, and more. And now this, too.
    Metal Demons are their enemies, and if there's one of them, there's bound to be more. More than that pair from Wayside, at the least.

    He pushes through the crowd, hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

    ...What is that wolf? It's not a normal creature. Not a Hellion either. It's--

    His skin crawls. One hand rests atop his bag for a moment in reflex; even the Medium within it is resonating. He can... feel it, on the edges of his perception. The Mountain Guardian recognizes the wolf for what it is, and Loren too soon realizes how familiar parts of that being's presence are.

    It's a Guardian. Made real, not just some manifestation.
    What's... this supposed to mean? They can do that? Or is there something different--

    He lingers for a moment, then, light flickering about himself in a short manifestation of etheric force, leaps over the edge to the field below. Just once, there's a crackle along the barrier invisibly lining his body as he lands, the spell absorbing the brunt of the impact.

    Still clad in the uniform of a concessions worker, he draws Solomonov from its sheath and assumes a defensive stance. He's still an amateur, but at least by now he's starting to gain the rudimentaries of using a blade. Thank his 'teacher' for that.
    ...Possibly.

    For now, he says nothing, his gaze lingering more on the wolven Guardian than the Metal Demon proper. That's a problem. That's possibly an enormous problem. Can you kill something like a 'god'?

    ...Command might know something. 

GS: Loren Voss has attacked Loren Voss with Barrier Factor!
GS: Loren Voss has completed his action.
GS: Loren Voss takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Barrier Factor for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Loren Voss!

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    As Fei rushes past her, Pearl makes no move to stop him. She doesn't care about him today. Let the demons have him. Jean's move for Pearl's wrist connects, but a flare of black-purple ki matches Jean's through Pearl's grabbed hand. As the kick comes for her face, Pearl slips backwards and to the side, the kick flying past her face close enough to feel the air flowing after it.

    But rather than trying to release herself from Jean's grip, Pearl painfully twists her body to remain connected and grabbing onto Jean's arm. From there she tries to force Jean's arm into a roll up, with the goal of getting herself face to face with her opponent. But Pearl's life is too cruel to let Jean's words reach her now. She growls. "I had started to think you'd forgotten us."

    Suddenly, Pearl attempts to drive a knee into Jean's stomach, glowing with the ki of the Shadow Dragon cult, with the intent of using their closeness to deny Jean any chance of escaping the sudden attack. 

GS: Pearl has attacked Jean with Shadow Assault!
GS: Pearl has completed her action.

DC: MISS! Jean completely evades Shadow Assault from Pearl!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    So. The mysterious Metal Demon is:
    * strong enough to be called a Quarter Knight in his own right
    * definitely a Metal Demon
    * not only that, the bloodthistiest, battle-hungriest Metal Demon there ever was, by Zed's estimates.
    * also the coolest guy.
    * his dog is not a dog, it's a wolf (thanks, Fei)
    * he is named Boomerang.

    And Hiro seems to be picking up on that. "Come *on*, Hiro, you used that one already! Ruby, y'gotta get this guy exposed to more culture if he's gonna have any chance of thinkin' of new puns, like..." Gwen raises her finger to provide another pun, but she overhears Riesenlied beat her to the punch, possibly intentionally?

    Also, Lunn was nearly killed, which sort of... redirects Gwen's focus back to just how many danger they're in. Jean is occupied with Pearl, that other Metal Demon is joining in, and Gwen...

    Well, Gwen just left a very delicious pretzel in the stands, so she's good. Delivered by a suspiciously familiar vendor, no less! ... Nah, she knows that was Thomas Blackwell. He'd be real handy to have around, right now.

    Pressing back as the others rush forward, Gwen draws back the protective 'sleeves' of that yellow scarf, loading a few pellets from her vest into the exposed opening. "Steady...." she murmurs, as she aims. She only needs just the right spot, the proper window of oppurtunity- "Aha!" She shoots her ARM, her feet absorbing the recoil. 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Boomerang with Crackshot!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
DC: MISS! Boomerang completely evades Crackshot from Gwen Whitlock!

<Pose Tracker> Boomerang has posed.

"He wasn't strong enough," Boomerang answers Riesenlied. "You were. You can say it was the people you care about... or the people with you." Golden eyes flicker, for a moment, to Noeline. He looks back at her, racked by degeneration, and then he shakes his head. "It's because you push yourself. Because, when you decide you need to win... you'll rip your body apart, rather than let yourself lose. I like that about you."

He lifts his chin, head still tilted. "...It's too bad I'll have to kill you. I wonder if Siegfried will forgive that."

Fei comes rushing in -- is the first to close the distance -- and Boomerang swings a jacketed arm up, parrying the punch that he throws. "Two worlds, same damn problems... it's glorious. It's what I always wanted," he says. "I hated the idea that, somewhere, there'd be a world so boring that people didn't struggle. That struggle is what makes us what we are!"

He would grin, if he had a mouth. Then, he whips around, and Zed's fist slams into his chin. It sends him stumbling backward, before he looks down at Zed. "Of fucking course I go where I want and do what I please, Zed," Boomerang spits back. "Here's the difference between me and you: I don't assign any meaning to it. The only meaning I need... is in the space between life and death."

Boomerang turns -- and his namesake weapon comes flying in. It smashes into his armor, leaving a gouge, and he looks at Hiro. His head is tilted.

"Huh," he remarks. "I forgot what it feels like when humans make puns at me. Heh."

Gwen's shot comes in -- and Boomerang is suddenly /gone/. He leaps through the air and /smashes down into the stands, ripping through the railing and landing on the wood. He turns, looking down at them. His golden eyes regard them all, dispassionately.

Luceid's head swivels back, towards Tethelle. The only sign of nervousness may be the whiteness of her knuckles, but a being as ancient as a Guardian Lord recognizes well even the smallest signs. His jaws open, into something reminiscent of a smile -- and then the kiai from Tethelle's technique slams into the Guardian's body. It turns, jaws open, and roars at her.

"GOOD! I'd hate for you to be boring before I crush you between my jaws...!" the creature roars back at her. His eyes shift, momentarily, towards Ruby; then, back to Hiro.

"Eh, Luceid," Boomerang says. "Let's make it clear what you are... what you really are. What are we, Luceid!"

"WHAT WE FEEL! WHAT WE HATE!"

"Show them!"

Luceid's head arches up -- and he howls, a rage-filled thing. Many here have felt the magic of the Guardians before. Some have had it turned against them. Now, they feel a jolt of light as a violet and gold shockwave comes out: raw and pure, so unlike Malevolence, and yet heavy with a sensation of anger and dread that it dares them to feel those emotions.

"THIS!" Boomerang declares. "This is who we are! This is what we are! This is the power that moves two worlds--that joins us all together!"

GS: Boomerang has attacked Zed with Curse!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Curse!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Tethelle Cirdian with Curse!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Hiro with Curse!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Riesenlied with Curse!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Curse!
GS: Boomerang has completed its action.
DC: MISS! Riesenlied completely evades Curse from Boomerang!
GS: Hiro critically Guards a hit from Boomerang's Curse for 0 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Zed takes a glancing hit from Boomerang's Curse for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Boomerang!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian guards a hit from Boomerang's Curse for 0 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

    Even now, her heart set on protection and a righteous peaceful path, Noeline seems intent to try and reach out to Yarobeleedt's better nature - or maybe just his base one, because everyone knows by now he is a horrible coward and will almost always flee at first sign of danger. There is danger all around. He is far from home, far from support. He looks even meltier than before. Less threatening, less capable. Physically deteriorating, emotionally a wreck, spiritually... let's not go there.
     "No! You leaf! You make like tree? I make unlike tree that is hated!!" This nonsensical threat built off the corpse of an untranslateable set of wordplay aside, he continues to shake and quiver. Noeline can see it plainly that his gaze wavers back every so often to where Boomerang is, and so it becomes abundantly clear - he cannot run. Standing and looking fierce is about all he has.
     Layna just walks up and punches at him. He throws the goopier, less-solid spiky forearm up in the way of her fist, and the results are visceral as it buckles and splashes inward like putty that wants to become soup to disperse the amount of force applied, but cannot, as Yarobeleedt ducks underneath it.
     "slam up slam up slam up" Yarobeleedt whimper-curses as he flails the indistinct, goopier arm at Layna. As an actual 'punch,' it is limp-wristed and weak, unfitting of a member of a warrior race. However, there's a lot of barbs on there and it might scratch her up something fierce.
     Noeline, however, may find her defenses poked and prodded much more enthusiastically, as the more solid arm reconfigures into something lance-like as he snaps it out in a long-range whip-spearing, trying to run her through any available opening as one of his unfocused eyes tries to hold itself in place to stare her down. It doesn't quite take.
     He rears back that stabby arm to try again - no, wait, it tries to slide right past Noeline and stab Riesenlied in one of her legs, unannounced and as though waiting to try and do so when Riese may not be looking directly at him! All while he's averting his eyes from the spray of power from Luceid - the hatred of the Guardians - as though expecting to be zapped by it at any point. 

GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Layna Manydays with Score Atch!
GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Noeline with Sue Tabbing!
GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Riesenlied with Sue Tabbing!
GS: Yarobeleedt has completed its action.
GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Yarobeleedt's Sue Tabbing for 104 hit points!
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Boomerang's Curse for 0 hit points!
DC: MISS! Layna Manydays completely evades Score Atch from Yarobeleedt!
DC: MISS! Noeline completely evades Sue Tabbing from Yarobeleedt!
GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Boomerang's Curse for 0 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    Riesenlied is jittering and silent as she whispers, "... that much is true. I found strength in Wayside. In the Tainted that wished for it. A strength in kinship that the Photosphere has found worthy... but I wish to show all our brethren that there is value in such a thing, in coexistence, in camaraderie."

    Her knees buckle and tremble as Luceid's howl echoes throughout the field-- she gasps and holds her head for a moment; she cringes and gasps, whispering, "Luceid... Guardian of Desire..."

    She grimaces as she focuses on the Dragon's Tear--

    And light whelms the space around her as she resists against that raw hatred. "Violence is not the only language that links Filgaia and Lunar together. I will show you... what I have learnt from all these months, all these years -- the mercy and grace that Equites and Odoryuk have shown me, Luceid!"

    It's strong words, which leaves her open with an 'eek!' as one of Yarobeleedt's elongated, stretchy arms pierces through her calf and causes her to falter.

    Talking may be a free action, but it can also leave you free to attacks, Riesenlied...

    Riesenlied bites her lip and grasps onto her leg as she pulls away, looking towards Yarobeleedt to whisper, "Please, Yaro. Don't antagonise a world that has nothing to do with you, all for nothing... Wayside would still happily welcome you...!"

    Her power gathers once more, as she opens her mouth--

    Her hands gathered around the Dragon's Tear, as she sings an aural chant, wordless, yet with emotion and power carried around every syllable...

    Light spreads around the arena, in a whirling spiral of motes that suffuse each of her companions with strength and confidence. Everyone, as she senses Jean and Pearl's desperate fight to overcome one another... as Hiro, Fei and Gwen each square against Boomerang. She sees Tethelle in her mind's eye as well, remembering her well from the Tower of Life and when they met at Vane...

    ... and who's that curious masked fighter, resisting Yarobeleedt with her beloved? She doesn't know, even with emotional powers.

    (riese is that gullible to disguises) 

GS: Riesenlied has spent 1 Combo on Inspire and Reload!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Tethelle Cirdian with Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Noeline with Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Hiro with Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Jean with Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Layna Manydays with Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Tethelle Cirdian takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Tethelle Cirdian!
GS: Reload! Tethelle Cirdian gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian gains a Combo from Inspire!
GS: Jean takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Jean!
GS: Reload! Jean gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
GS: Jean gains a Combo from Inspire!
GS: Layna Manydays takes a glancing hit from Riesenlied's Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World for 0 hit points!
GS: Reload! Layna Manydays gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
GS: Layna Manydays gains a Combo from Inspire!
GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Noeline!
GS: Reload! Noeline gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
GS: Noeline gains a Combo from Inspire!
GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Fei Fong Wong!
GS: Reload! Fei Fong Wong gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
GS: Fei Fong Wong gains a Combo from Inspire!

<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

The roar washes over Tethelle. She feels it in her bones as the shockwave radiates away from Luceid, and it's more by instinct than intent that she actually reacts to it - she slashes at it with her sword, cutting into the violet-gold shockwave with the pale blue of her chi.

She actually carves a line through it, just enough for the shockwave to part around her. It's not by much, and she still feels the emotional force of Luceid's power, but she is - for the moment, at least - safe from it. Riesenlied's power helps.

"Hate," Tethelle says, her voice a little tight, "is not desire!"

Tethelle rushes forward, once again focusing on Luceid over Boomerang. There are plenty of people going after the Metal Demon, and though she hates him, she feels it more important to understand Luceid. And Tethelle has always been best at understanding someone through her sword. Her master said on more than one occasion that you didn't truly know someone until you fought them, and Tethelle is inclined to agree.

Darting around Luceid, Tethelle strikes with her sword in a backhanded blow before adopting an unusual stance for being mid-combat - her sword pointing backwards rather than forward, about hip-height, with her body angled sharply so that she presents her left side toward Luceid. The stance seems suitable for a sweeping horizontal cut, though Tethelle does not immediately use one; she seems to be more building up than anything else.

Holding her sword away doesn't stop her from moving, though, a slow sidle now as she circles, warily. "Guardian of Desire, is bloodlust all you stand for? I thought you were better than that." 

GS: Tethelle Cirdian has attacked Boomerang with Reverse Edge!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian has entered a Reflect stance!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian has completed her action.
GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Gwen Whitlock!
GS: Reload! Gwen Whitlock gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
GS: Gwen Whitlock gains a Combo from Inspire!
GS: Hiro takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Empathic Prayer - Seek the New World for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Hiro!
GS: Reload! Hiro gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
GS: Hiro gains a Combo from Inspire!
GS: Boomerang takes a solid hit from Tethelle Cirdian's Reverse Edge for 106 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna listens to the Metal Demon named 'Boomerang' as he speaks. A lot of what he says...well, she can sympathise with. She, too, was one who felt most alive during a difficult fight, where she wasn't sure she'd walk away.

It's impressive, really...and a part of her felt like testing herself against him...but it wasn't her fight. Tethelle had that right first.

No, for now, her focus is on the goopy one. He goes to retaliate with a goopy, barbed arm...but Layna isn't there.

No, somehow, she's ended up behind him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Layna comments with a raised eyebrow. As she remarks this, though, she feels a light emitting from nearby. A light that fills her with energy and hope. She grins, and sends Riesenlied a wink and a thumbs-up.

As if carried on the wind, a black hat with a vibrant white plume drops down. She catches it with one hand, affixes it to her head...

And then, she thrusts a hand wreathed with energy toward Yarobeleedt, a wild grin on her face.

"Well, whatever. What's yours is mine!" She says. If she manages to grasp him that hand, Yarobeleedt will feel as if he's having the strength drained right out of him. 

GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Yarobeleedt with Plunder Power!
GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action.
GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Layna Manydays's Plunder Power for 74 hit points!
GS: Weaken! Statuses applied to Yarobeleedt!
GS: Mighty! Statuses applied to Layna Manydays!

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei says, "The struggle is everywhere," to Boomerang. "Finding a place that allows you to live peacefully, now that's a challenge. You could run to the end of the world and not find a place like that." He tries not to think about the screaming Luceid but the presence of Elly is fresh in his heart. He doesn't comment on whether or not Siegfried would forgive Boomerang because if he answered that honestly he suspects this maniac would be like 'YES A CHANCE TO FIGHT SIEGFRIED SWEET' and the last thing this guy needs is encouragement or inspiration.

He is briefly distracted as Riesenlied says violence isn't the only language that link Filgaia and Lunar together. Is she reading his mind??

Well sometimes but that's not the point here, Fei. The point is AHH LOOK OUT THE WOLF IS DOING A THING.

"Gahh!!" Fei sinks to one knee, the raw anger of the attack shackling Fei's feet to the floor. A voice screams at him to hate back, to destroy this city, but for the moment--he still resists. And easily this time. Perhaps it's thanks to that time in Uzda Il Jam--but regardless, the same thing can't be said for Luceid's attack. When Fei rises again he is slow to get up. A light fills him up, and he throws a series of palm strikes for Boomerang, striking at what on a human would be their pressure points, but the true purpose of this technique is for Fei to stabilize his inner chi. 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Boomerang with Yin Yang Strike!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Fei Fong Wong's Yin Yang Strike for 63 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    Noeline can recognize the signs of a duel; Jean and Pearl have no eyes for anything else in this battle, concentrating on each other to the abandon of everything around them. Does the Shadow Dragon Cult have enough of a sense of honour, twisted though it may be, to make Jean safe for the time being? --if they did, would Boomerang honour it in turn? She can be reasonably sure of the latter - but the former almost makes her pause, before she decides that all she can do is go with it and keep an eye out.

    She can at least grit her teeth as Boomerang speaks, though, catching the Hyadean-- the Metal Demon's eyeless gaze upon her. The fact that he's entirely correct about Riesenlied's propensity to destroy herself stings a little, and plays upon her fears more than she'd like to admit. "You're doing the same damn thing that Berserk did, the same as the rest of them. Fighting for the sake of fighting alone - as if people didn't have to struggle enough in this damned world! Kill us if you can - but we've heard those words plenty of times before!" she growls, her knuckles whitening on the hilt of her sword as she grips it tightly.

    She already knows the words won't be enough. When are they ever? But all she can do is say them.

    Luceid's howl cuts through her like ice; it doesn't hurt, it's not even directed at her, but something inside of her quivers at it anyway, all the moreso given her newfound spiritual sensitivity. This is a Guardian that truly wants her and everyone else bleeding and dead; compared to Equites' cool and clinical detachment, it's truly a unique and terrible feeling.

    Yarobeleedt doesn't run, and Noeline can only curse under her breath. As opportunistic as her attempt to intimidate the Metal Demon was, as much as she didn't expect it to work, she does at least get something out of it - an important clue as to why, and not for the first time she feels a brief stab of sympathy. She's been in that situation herself, and even if it were for entirely different reasons, she can understand wanting to run from something but being unable to.

    Yaro's arms stretch out far more than Noeline expected; she's forced to duck low on sheer instinct, simultaneously impressed and berating herself for having her attention stolen away. The rolling dodge she suddenly makes to one side is more controlled, born from her knowledge and understanding of her own capabilities - the Errant Blade is a smaller-scale version of Yaro's physiology, perhaps, but operates on many of the same principles as Kalve and her opponent.

    Riesenlied's wave of energy, very much an answer to Luceid's roar, catches her just as she pushes herself back up, twisting to turn her roll into a sweeping, lifting spin with her sword. There's no real target in mind, the move more defensive in nature - but there doesn't need to be. Yarobeleedt's range may be an advantage - but when that range is his own body rather than a weapon, it becomes just as easy to capitalize upon. "What meaning is there to fight here? You're not even doing it in the service of Mother! Was Yarobeleedt that unfaithful to her?" she taunts, grasping for something to try to bite home with. 

GS: Noeline has spent 3 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Noeline has attacked Yarobeleedt with Black Velvet!
GS: Noeline has entered a Reflect stance!
GS: Noeline has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.


The boomerang comes back into his hand, "Come on guys it wasn't that bad!" Ruby however agrees with Gwen, "Don't I know it Gwen. Don't I- RIESE! COME ON! DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM!" Hiro grins, "She gets it! It's just only natural!" Entirely not getting that it was an accident.

Just around them Jean and Pearl clash in a battle so dizzying that Hiro's eyes can even follow it. It feels like he'd more get in the way in a fight like that.

Ruby cringes as Luceid stares her down, "I really don't like the way this guy is looking at me!" And now he has problems of his own.

Luceid howls his anger and rage - a violet and gold shockwave coming out and spanning the arena. It sinks into his bones - makes it feel hard to move. Much less fight.

The Boomerang comes back to his hand and he fumbles the grab. "Crud-!" Before being sent down to one knee.

The anger is so intense that he sees red. The despair is so intense that he wants to fall down and not get up again. Taking a deep breath he rasps, "... Is this - how you feel?"

-=-=-

In the stands there's a woman who is trying to move inexorably towards the arena. It's difficult. The tide of people move against her - threaten to trample her. Looking lost and dizzy - the woman who was named the Lord of Calamity tries to make it through.

Which is when Luceid's howl hits her ears.

Hastening - she pushes further and further until the tide of people parts so suddenly she stumbles forward. Only to make it to the railing. The thin liminal barrier that seperates such spaces. Only to hear Boomerang's pronouncement.

"You are wrong."

So pronounces Lucia - almost mechanically. Before her attention turns onto Jean.

"Jean!" This she says emotionally, as she grips the railing - white knuckled. What she says next is softer - but still in a tone that cannot fail to reach her ears, "What kind of future do you want?"

It parallels her earlier statement to her. But now it is a question.

A question for Jean to answer for herself.

-=-=-

Hiro's eyes reach Lucia in the stands and - "Lucia! You're..." Hiro spins his boomerang around in his hand - finding strength in the light of their bonds. With Lucia's eyes on him - he feels like he can pick himself up and... keep going.

"I get how you must feel but-"

He lets it fly - and this time it breaks apart mid-flight into two seperate boomerangs, that each fly in seperate weaving arcs - one aimed at its namesake - the other at Luceid, "-we're putting an end to this right now!"

GS: Hiro has attacked Boomerang with Cross Boomerang!
GS: Hiro has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.

The blasts of black-purple ki explode together, briefly obscuring for any visitors their forearms and hands both. Jean's foot goes past Pearl's head as she slips backwards and sideways, just too slow, leaving the older woman spinning down still--and when Pearl twists, Jean's arm is wrenched back, twisting her towards her opponent, holding her in place for a tense instant.

Here, she's face to face with Pearl. "...Never," Jean answers about forgetting. "Even if I tried."

Riesenlied's motes of light surround her, suffuse her, sinking into the shadows about her. Does she feel Riesenlied's hope? There's no way to tell, no way to read her heart yet.

Not locked in combat with this woman she once knew. They're close, too close, and Pearl's knee drives straight upward. There's no room to get back, so Jean doesn't bother--she just springs up, twisting hard enough that her feet come off the ground and over her head in a flip to right her arm again, uses her whole body's momentum and a flare of power to wrench free, landing just inches away. With Pearl's knee still in the air, Jean shoves out, using a claw to feint forward--and then black power crackles all around her as she lets loose the darkness within. They're both covered in shadows for the next moments--

When the shadows fade, two Jeans step away to either side, diagonal with Pearl, both every bit as real, touched with purple smoke. It's impossible to tell them apart to look, and then both narrow their eyes, claw forward.

"You're right. I left you."

In perfect sync, the two Jeans whirl forward, dual hard kicks pointed straight for their opponent's solar plexus.

They don't disappear after the attack. ...What kind of future does Jean want? She's fighting for something. 

GS: Jean has attacked Pearl with Shadow Dance!
GS: Jean has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

    "Wh-- what the heck are you talking about!?" Zed snaps back at one of the two members of the five Quarter Knights who Zed actually still kind of (really) admires. It's a strange but increasingly familiar feeling. He whirls away, backflipping once and then again to end up right back onto his feet. "You're barking about some kind of philosophy too, you know! This freedom-- this freedom is important to me! Why wouldn't I try to find meaning in it!?"

He readies his blade, lifting the heavy sword up high as if he were preparing for yet another Zedderly final attack and then...

And then--

The wolf howls.

Wrath and despair alike wash over him in equal measure. This, too, is something that is quickly becoming unusually familiar to him. How many times now has the presence of the Guardians laid him low? Four? Five? At least that number. But this... Something in this darkness is different. Zed blinks as the howl pours through him. It's not Malevolence, not the same kind of vile blight that washes off of him like water from the back of a duck. It's something else. Something more fundamental to the very nature of the world. It pulses through him, finding something within the young demon to take hold of, to resonate with. A crack in the armor. A mote of fury that rages at his place in the world. A spark of hatred that draws its blade against the fetters.

Zed drops to a knee, clutching at his heart as the darkness explodes from him, violent power raging in a halo of terrible un-light called to catastrophic action by the Guardian's howl. "What--" Zed growls through the pain as a lance of that anti-star's foul radiance erupts from his back. "What is this--?! These feelings, why--?"

Zed... Is in a pinch...! 

GS: Zed has attacked Zed with Resonant Reaction!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Zed's Resonant Reaction for 145 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Noeline's Black Velvet for 276 hit points!
GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Noeline!
GS: Pearl guards a hit from Jean's Shadow Dance for 81 hit points!
GS: Mighty and Riposte! Statuses applied to Jean!
GS: Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Hiro's Cross Boomerang for 63 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    As Jean launches herself upwards, Pearl is left with no option but to release her grip, engulfedin the shadows... and suddenly the fight is two on one. The shadow clones are one thing. Unless you're in darkness, you can see the difference. This is different. This is a whole different level of skill than Pearl can manage.

    This is why Jean was the best.

    The assault from two directions leaves Pearl unable to dodge, and so she braces, catching the kicks with each arm and getting lifted off the ground from the force and sliding back. But even as she slides, clones of shadow emerge in her wake, standing as Pearl does. Her eyes dart between the two Jeans, and she tries to work out which is real. Ultimately, she can't. The acknowledgement of guilt on Jean's behalf does nothing to temper her anger. Instead, Pearl and the clones launch into the air, two at each of Jean and her Doppelganger. Less effective, perhaps, but a better chance of hitting as she flies forward with a kick. Even as she moves past, Pearl's clones dissolve into shadows and smoke as soon as the attack finishes, even as she turns to face her opponent. 

GS: Pearl has attacked Jean with Needle Kick!
GS: Pearl has completed her action.
GS: Jean takes a glancing hit from Pearl's Needle Kick for 33 hit points!
GS: Break! Statuses applied to Jean!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Damn. Gwen winces and mutters a quiet swear as the shot reaches empty air in the space where her target should be. This is turning out to be a lot different from battling the likes of Berserk, that's for sure.

    Berserk didn't have a Guardian fighting by his side. The howl tears through the redhead's mind, causing her to briefly double over. "Ngh...!" The power, that joins all worlds together.

    A part of her is far too quick to agree. Struggle, hate, anger, fear. They were the rules that small Badlands towns were ruled by, if they weren't ruled by something else in its place. You had to show your might to survive. The powerful ruled over the weak, the noteworthy and sly snuffing out the detritus of those content to cower and make do in the shadows. The sand could only claim those who didn't struggle to dig themselves back out, time and time again, even if it meant pushing others down in the process.

    But there was something else present. Something else that made it all worthwhile. It was....

    'You are wrong.' Lucia's interjection jerks Gwen from her malaise.

    Gwen shakes her head and rubs her face. "I don't know whether I like your moxie or if it's annoyin', to be honest." Gwen gives a nervous chuckle, one hand shifting from her face to run through her short curls. "Struggle is a part of life, I'll agree on that." Her smile falters, the cheery glint in her eye replaced with a sober gaze. "But it ain't the be all and end all. Both worlds are united by their imperfection. But they're united by something else. Somethin' you'll need to figure out, if you think that'll be enough to keep us down."

    She catches Zed's body collapsing onto one knee, the strange power within him beginning to gain hold. Her expression betrays her concern, but she pushes it back.

    This is her chance. "You may talk all nice, like you're here for the glory of the fight, but from the sounds of it, well. You sound like you're under orders, maybe even from the Shadow Dragon Cult themselves. Which means..."

    Riesenlied's light bolsters Gwen's resolve. Maybe, unnecessarily so, as she steps quickly towards the Metal Demon, to stand by the fallen Zed's side. "Fei's right."

    The courier raises her chin, lifting her ARM towards Boomerang. "The only dog here... is you!" 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has spent 2 Combo on Smite!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has spent 2 Combo on Smite!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Boomerang with Coil Cannon EX!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has entered a Reflect stance!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Boomerang takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Coil Cannon EX for 132 hit points!
GS: Jam! Statuses applied to Boomerang!

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Maybe Command might know. But they're not here. No one else is here except him and the monsters and 'god' before him -- Boomerang, who he doesn't know, and that rubbery fellow, who he does, at least from the depths of Wayside.

    'He wasn't strong enough.'

    The particulars of the conversation mean little to him -- information to divulge later, maybe. His gaze shifts from Boomerang and Luceid, from Yarobeleedt, to those gathered to stand against the Metal Demons. Of course those two from Wayside are here. Of course he -- the one van Houten was observing, the pilot -- is here. So is that pirate -- probably most of the contents of his wallet, too, if he's any judge.
    Other faces he recognizes dimly but can't pin a name to.
    And... oh hell, of course that courier is here.

    And her.
    Jean, wasn't it? Why is she here? ...She's facing off against an unfamiliar woman.
    A woman she unleashes a familiar sort of attack upon; it's enough to pin his attention to her and her fight for a handful of seconds.
    Because there are now two Jeans.

    Fixes it there until Luceid declares its intentions, and even the frankly impossible physics of what Jean is now unleashing upon Pearl can't hold his focus. Even if such a thing were possible, in the heart of a fight.

    The Guardian of Desire.
    What you feel. What you hate.
    "Hatred. I felt her hatred."
    With a powerful enough emotion standing behind it... anything can reach the limit. Or move past it.

    It's simple enough -- to desire is to want. And when others have what you want...

    'Can you kill something like a 'god'?'

    His hand tightens on the hilt of the sword in his hand; he stands at the edge of that rage-tinged howl, staring for the moment at the form of the Guardian of Desire.
    He knows this feeling. It's--

    Why are YOU asking that, the other half of him accusationally points out. You keep forgetting! What you are, what should be yours -- or are you just going to let them trample over you again? Reach out and take it! Not even a 'god' can stand in your way!

    He grits his teeth, draws in enough air to fill his lungs. His will shifts, downwards, grabbing for the unstablity baked into the earth, pulling it together. Letting the stress build.
    I want to be someone. I want to fight.

    And he lets
    go.

    "Let's find out, then, what you really are!"

    Let's find out if you can kill a 'god'.

    The ground shakes. It's a singular warning. The pillar of rock, splintering and steaming from the stress forced into it, slams upwards beneath the wolven Guardian. 

GS: Loren Voss has attacked Boomerang with Terra Set!
GS: Loren Voss has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

    Noeline skillfully parries the much more solid arm in so much that she doesn't parry it - she comes just shy of cutting it freely off said arm in a visceral spray of quicksilver to cake and befoul the ground around her. The nearly severed biomass hangs onto the rest of it by mere threads, as the alien biology of the Metal Demon moves to dedicate and shift what biomass it can to fix this problem.
     Even gravely wounded and never again looking able to return to his original form, Yarobeleedt remains dreadfully difficult to properly slay. The pained screeching goes without saying.
     "All in serve ice to Mother!" Yaro screeches back, retorting as he pulls the arm back and nurses it. Like he were sucking on it, in-between garbled words. "If Mother want fry other world, Mother give fries with it! So happens, Yaro do it before she ask?? Fufufu." That's some impressive mental gymnastics. "You do not no, do you? Yes you do not no. Look be back." Look behind. If Noeline does, this turns out to not actually be an attempt to smack her in the face while distracted but to actually inform her of... um?
     That's just a plain ol' Goddess Statue, which everyone here might have visited before taking their seats. They're everywhere on Lunar.
     "It is Celesdue!!" No it is not. Oh your Guardians. That is not Celesdue at all. "Not note ice? So silly ^Crimson Fable^. So silly, silly, silly--" He's right, this is silly. On his part.
     All the more patient and loving, Riese once again appeals that Wayside would have him.
     "DO NOT WANT!" Yarobeleedt screeches. "Wayside go away! Wayside go sideways a ways!! Only want Mother! Only need Mother!!" His calls for it are repetitive, unmoving. A mind so warped with hatred and devotion that, even in the face of the extraordinary efforts of all ahead of him, he cannot comprehend otherwise. "Silly ^Tainted^!!! No wonder ^Tainted^. So silly, silly, silly, sil--"
     He lost track of Layna. She's behind him. He cranes his neck back further than anything ever looks like they should. His tongue lolls out, upside down. "Uhhhhhh."
     Then she jams that hand into his back, and he writhes and bucks like he were a wild bull. (He is not a wild bull.) He writhes and bounces about as crazily as anything with a serpentine lower body is ever going to, as Layna reaches in and grasps his power to take for herself.

     GET EQUIPPED WITH: A Hand You Need To Wash, Ma'am
     (it's so gross and foul that it deals bonus damage both to one's health and also their dignity)

     Ahem. Regardless, Layna finds herself possibly stuck on an impromptu Yarobeleedt rodeo, which will itself be something of an adventure as he threatens to wriggle her into any interesting piece of the scenery.
     This amusing imagery inside, he is drawing ever closer to where Noeline and Riesenlied stand. The less solid arm goes for Noeline, turning once more into something of a needle point - like he were to try and inject any number of unpleasant venom fluids he's consumed into her, if he can stab it deep enough into her left bicep.
     The much, much more solid arm, however, is going straight for Riesenlied. Said solid arm looks more like a badly-balanced battle axe. His anger and fury are not rational, and neither is the attack. He'd have much more effect if he kept lifting it up above her and swinging downward. No, he's trying to poke her with the head of it, over and over. Then again, that part almost got severed off clean. Maybe it's not sturdy enough for a proper axe-hand swing. 

GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Layna Manydays with Yellow Belly Rodeo!!!!
GS: Yarobeleedt has spent 1 Combo on Disease!
GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Noeline with Lily River!
GS: Yarobeleedt has spent 4 Combo on Gatling!
GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Riesenlied with Faint Hard!
GS: Yarobeleedt has completed its action.
GS: Layna Manydays takes a glancing hit from Yarobeleedt's Yellow Belly Rodeo!!! for 55 hit points!
GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Yarobeleedt's Faint Hard for 218 hit points!
GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Yarobeleedt's Lily River for 122 hit points!
GS: Disease! Statuses applied to Noeline!
GS: Noeline has been weakened by Disease! They take 0 damage, and burn off their temporary hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Boomerang takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Terra Set for 190 hit points!
GS: Break and Mute! Statuses applied to Boomerang!
GS: Hyper and Mighty! Statuses applied to Loren Voss!

<Pose Tracker> Boomerang has posed.

"If you think to woo me by speaking of the mercies of my wayward brothers... then you sorely underestimate my tolerance for their weakness!" Luceid snarls back at Riesenlied. "I haven't forgotten what men, Elw, and Metal Demons have done to this world! I throw my lot in with the only one who sees the world for what it is...!"

Tethelle addresses Luceid, but it is Boomerang who answers her. "And what do you know of desire, eh?" the Metal Demon asks, his voice calm. "Desire... is what our hearts cry for. Good or bad--pain or gain--love or hate--desire isn't a judgment, it's what is!"

Her blade bites into Luceid. Though the Guardian is substantial, it is not flesh and blood; it is wisps of raw, violet and crimson power that waft away like smoke and drip like ambrosia, instead of meat and blood that tears. The Guardian turns, jaws open -- and takes a fierce bite for Tethelle's side. Those jaws drip, in a moment, with a gurgling spiritual poison.

Fei is back on him, then, and his punches come in. Two of them slam into the flat of Sabre Fang, as he lifts it and parries the strikes. Another, however, catches his shoulder, and sends him twisting into a pivot. But, he swings out, and carves upward with a brutal slash with the boomerang-shaped blade.

"No one wants peace," he answers. "Not really... a battle without end--that's all I've ever asked for! A battle to remind me that I'm still alive!"

The boomerangs hurled by Hiro strike into both Boomerang and Luceid at once. The wolf-Guardian is snapped to the side, stumbling, and kept away from Tethelle for a moment. Its head snivels, snout sniffing at the air, quite like a canine -- looking towards the sound of a voice. Boomerang's head tilts, to the side, for a moment. "...Tch. Of course it is."

Boomerang's head turns, then, and stares at Zed as the darkness and light erupts from Zed. For some, it would be a question; for others, it might be a chance to mock them. For Boomerang, it is simple: "Zed... stop fighting your inner demons," he snarls, and then leaps. He swings back Sabre Fang. Then, he chops it down with a single, massive strike down the center of Zed's body.

"AND FIGHT ME!"

Just as he finishes slashing downward, Gwen fires -- and her ARM blasts a hole into the armored man's body and through it. It blows out the back, leaving a gaping hole in his duster. His feet slam down, and he turns to look at Gwen.

"What's wrong with dogs?" he asks, mildly.

Also, Sabre Fang flashes quickly, and he tries to chop her head off her shoulders with a quick snap of his wrist.

Luceid's howl, suddenly, punctuates the air. There is a terrible ripple there -- a sense of something going suddenly wrong, and his head whirls around. His golden eyes lock, finally, onto the form of Lucia up in the stands. Something blazes, then, and he goes charging forward. The Guardian of Desire bounds, and snaps his head up for Hiro's midsection. He tries to gore Hiro with his horns and hurl him away like a charging bull -- and then is beyond.

The Guardian slams down into the stands, directly in front of Lucia, and opens his jaws. He roars, shaking the wood -- and the recognition is clear, briefly, in both yellow and blue eyes alike. Luceid knows Lucia; Lucia knows Luceid.

When Luceid makes his demands of her, those demands are in a tongue that none would know: "Cin... Cin...! Treneri-nin! Treneri-nin'o Althena! I'im lothron rist-hen lanc ed! So i'im lothron on-hen delu emel na nin meld Anastasia!"

'Let's find out, then, what you really are.'

Before Luceid can pounce, a single massive spike of stone rips up through the ground and spears the Guardian through the skull. Raw, boiling purple and crimson energy explodes out and the being's body thrashes sharply to the side. It shudders, then it slumps...

And then the head tears free, half of it hanging there. It begins to flash, knit back together, and stares at Loren. Luceid opens his mouth and speaks again, this time with words that Loren can understand:

"UNMAKE THIS FLESH."

Loren feels one hint of what is to come: an eerie pinprick inside of his left knee. If he doesn't move in time, he finds a problem, as a massive globe of black energy explodes out right for his knee and lower body. Wood chips burn and dissolve; air boils and sizzles away; ice forms a moment later, crystallizing over the shattered stands.

GS: Boomerang has spent 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Tethelle Cirdian with Venom Bite!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Crescent Fang!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Zed with Boomerang Dynamic!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Crescent Fang!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Hiro with Mad Luceid!
GS: Boomerang has activated a Force Action!
GS: Boomerang has activated a Force Action!
GS: Boomerang has spent 7 Combo on Headshot and Gatling!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Loren Voss with Dark Matter!
GS: Boomerang has completed his action.
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Boomerang's Crescent Fang for 92 hit points!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian guards a hit from Boomerang's Venom Bite for 69 hit points!
GS: Disrupt and Toxin! Statuses applied to Tethelle Cirdian!
GS: Hiro critically Guards a hit from Boomerang's Mad Luceid for 39 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Zed takes a glancing hit from Boomerang's Boomerang Dynamic for 120 hit points!
GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Boomerang!
GS: Fei Fong Wong used the Force Action Protect! He takes Boomerang's attack on Loren Voss on himself!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action!
GS: CRITICAL! Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Boomerang's Dark Matter for 265 hit points!
GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Boomerang!
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Boomerang's Crescent Fang for 96 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.

No obvious difference exists between the two Jeans, even in the full light of the arena. Both radiate the same dark power, rushing in perfect sync. ...It is a dark mirror indeed of the dances she prefers. Desire; hate. ...The lines between them can be thin indeed.

As Pearl braces, lifted off the ground, the two are already recovering, feet arcing back to the ground so that they can prepare to move ahead. But Pearl, too, is adept--before they return to ready position, Pearl and her clones are already launching through the air. The Jean on the left dives to the left, bending back to whirl on one leg, evading the first kick, even as the one on the right blocks with her arms in a cross. The next kick hits full, impacting Jean's chest with a crack that should debilitate most fighters, even as the second Jean stands her ground against both one after the other.

As Pearl stands ready to face Jean, the two circle, claws up as the smoke and shadows waft past them. It's still two on one. "...I don't deny it. I left."

No one wants peace, Boomerang says.

"I was thoughtless--considered only myself. Hot-headed, and young."

The Jeans are in sync once again--until suddenly both dive forward, from front and back, the front feinting with one claw and advancing with the next, and both glow with necrotic ki. From the rear, the other Jean drops down to brutally sweep Pearl's legs from behind her.

But if Pearl looks, she can see the strain in Jean's eyes, the tightness of her expression suggesting the concentration necessary to keep both. ...But she might not. She might only feel the anger, feel the darkness flooding her. It's been so long, but it's so familiar.

"I was weak!" 

GS: Jean has attacked Pearl with Inverse Claw!
GS: Jean has completed her action.
DC: MISS! Pearl completely evades Inverse Claw from Jean!

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    There is something to be said about what Boomerang said earlier.

    When Riesenlied wants something bad enough, when Riesenlied believes in something fervently enough-- she'll let her body fall apart and crumble before she gives up and chooses to lose.

    Riesenlied grimaces as Yarobeleedt continues to yell against her -- but she endures. She withers and whispers, "I know, Yaro. Mother's grace... Mother's kindness... it was all that supported me through my darkest times. I can't ask you to turn away from that at the drop of a gella."

    She stares towards that arm, that misshapen battle axe which looks a little like a polygon an intern would be proud of-- she tries to get out of the way, but that previous wound causes her to cry out as she stumbles, trips and gets struck over and over again with an axe-poke, blood drawing out of her as she shivers and struggles to one side.

    Riesenlied is one of terrible priority sorting, because even as an axe-blade is plunged into her, and she holds onto that nearly tattered arm...

    "But please, when you are at your darkest, please do not remember that our doors are open. We won't cast you aside... Yaro..."

    As she slumps to one side, Luceid snarls at her, speaking of how he disdains the other Guardians' weakness. "A friend told us... about the atrocities caused in the past. But do you believe Mother knows best? Do you truly believe that? You will die, along with the others that sustain this world, if she were to awaken, Luceid...! I do not understand! Yours is an existence predicated upon Filgaia's survival, is it not?!"

    She hears Lucia from far above, encouraging Jean to fight for the future she desires. It fills her with a hope, as she clutches onto her side and gasps desperately for air--

    --and she flickers, her form dissipating into familiar motes of light as she desperately tries to give herself space from Yarobeleedt as she encroaches upon her. She listens to Luceid as she speaks in some language that Riesenlied does not understand.

    She feels she can hear a name, but it's lost on her as she glances to Hiro and Jean. She can't tell whether or not their plan is really working or not. They drew Pearl out, but where were the rest of the Shadow Dragon Cult -- and what about their leader?

    Was that horrifying man waiting... in ambush?

    Riesenlied's broken wings billow out as she reforms, not too far away, cascading feathers of light streaming out from underneath her. The wings that can feel love's reflection, writing a neverending story... 

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Riesenlied with White Reflection!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's White Reflection for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Riesenlied!

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna is listening to what Yarobeleedt has to say, but it's pretty hard to follow. She catches the world Celesdue, though! She also catches something else. Fortunately not any diseases, which one might expect to happen from sticking one's hand into...

...That.

She catches a hold of him, and this causes him to flail wildly. Layna, however, doesn't try to free herself. She just grins even wider as he runs about, doing what he does, smacking her into things as she tries to hold on.

Unlike Riesenlied, though, Layna will cast him aside. She tries to get a good grip...and once she does, she does just that - right, as it happens, toward the wall of the stands. 

GS: Layna Manydays enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Yarobeleedt with Standing Ovation!
GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action.
GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Layna Manydays's Standing Ovation for 151 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.


    Pearl's attack hits solidly, but it leaves her between the two Jeans. This is not the best positioning for her, that much is clear. As Jean circles, Pearl's stance constantly shifts, trying to work out from where the attack will come. "You ran." Pearl responds, finally. The comments finally goading something from the younger woman.

    As the claws surge towards her, Pearl launches herself directly upward, flying above both attacks and leaving the two Jeans aligned below her. But something shifts. The insinuation that Jean was weak, that causes some anger to flow to Pearl. "You were the strongest." She growls, through gritted teeth. "If you were weak..." Her arm glows with the black-purple ki, the same ki Jean just threw at her. She seems to flip mid air, surging downwards, to slash at both at once with her claw.

    "If you were weak, what the hell were we!?" 

GS: Pearl has attacked Jean with Inverse Claw!
GS: Pearl has completed her action.
GS: Jean takes a glancing hit from Pearl's Inverse Claw for 71 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.


"Uh there are better ways to confirm you're still alive other than fighting all the time you know? Like I dunno - even Siegfried fell in love..."

Luceid charges at Hiro, and Hiro snaps up his shield in time for the horn to gore through the shield - just missing his face. It snaps him up off the ground effortless, and flings him away. The top of his shield splintering as he's thrown across the arena.

"Hiro!" Lucia cries in concern. Lucia freezes the moment Luceid addresses her - whereas before she seemed fully confident - now the roles are reversed. The two know each other. It's clear. And the tongue he speaks to her in - she seems to understand.

There's this sense of light panic on her expression and something deeper still, "I don't know - I - I don't know!" And then... "Pentagulia - We're going to Pentagulia to look."

A burst of wind keeps Hiro from crashing against the side as he lands - shield halved but still strapped to his arm. 'I was weak!' Jean says.

"And now you're one of the strongest people I know Jean." Hiro says so matter of factly as he raises his sword and begins a spinning choreography as he moves towards Luceid. "You - tell me!" The wind picking up and swirling towards it - being sucked inwardly like a vacuum. The roiling air gathers and gathers - until he slashes and he sends it outwards. The roiling air mass is a seething mass that upon striking, detonates outwards with all the force of a hurricane blast.

And once the sound clears he demands, "How do you know Lucia?"

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong says, "You're wrong!" surprisingly quickly to Boomerang. "Even if that's what my own heart desires, I've seen a desire for peace within others resonate so strongly...that it can make even a man like me yearn for it!" Fei gets sliced up across the chest by the boomerang before he can respond but he does, at least, step back enough that the cut is relatively shallow.

But then he hears what Luceid has to say.

I haven't forgotten what men, Elw, and Metal Demons have done to this world

Fei grabs at his head, shaking and sinking to one knee, succumbing to those chains from earlier. Perhaps all are to blame, but whose responsibility was it to carry that weight, Fei? The name Lacan...it sounds so familiar, doesn't it? Siegfried...he's...

He can't let them kill Riesenlied, he thinks. Riesenlied is a hope for peace that must live. No matter what. No matter how she martyrs herself, it's better for his own blood to be shed than hers. Too much like Elly. Together maybe they can...

Anastasia?

But then the Wolf is seemingly skewered by a great hero, clearly, a great...

Fei blinks, his own self hatred dissipitating almost entirely thanks to the confusion.

A great...hot dog man? "That's the hot dog man." Fei says. He knew hot dog men were heroes but he didn't think they were this kind of hero. Fei manages to stand. Which is good for Loren because Fei sees what is about to come when Luceid regenerates and Fei runs for the hot dog man. He must save hot dog man too. Hot dog man is brave after all. Hot dog man is good.

Fei essentailly hipchecks Loren out of the way of the way. The pinprick expands instead against Fei and briefly he's subsumed by black energy. WEll his lower half is. Fei tries to shift his chi to match that which is hurting him, but it keeps CHANGING, changing faster than Fei can react.

So Fei feels the pain. He screams. His leg boils, his other leg freezes, his arms are shredded and black energy ripples around him.

Fei drops to one knee, punching his fist into the ground with gritted teeth.

"He...sells hot dogs." Fei tells Luceid, blood dripping down his knuckles. "If you want something to blame for Filgaia...then blame me!"

Fei hacks out some blood but something keeps him up. His knee shakes as he stands back up at full height. It probably helps he wasn't THAT bad off until this thing caught him.

We won't be caged

"I'll try to keep 'em off you." Fei manages, this time running for Luceid. He's seen what Boomerang can do but Luceid is a higher power even so.

They think they know hatred. Let's show them ten thousand years of hate!

A red aura ripples around Fei as he throws himself full force for Luceid. His body crackles with hot red light as he essentially tries to psycho crusher a wolf.

And a small unheard part of him.

'Let's show them ten thousand years of love!' 

GS: Hiro has spent 3 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Hiro has attacked Boomerang with Sybillium Sword!
GS: Hiro has completed his action.
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Boomerang with Ten Thousand Years Of Hate!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

Tethelle keeps her blade held backwards as she prepares, drawing her own energy into the blade. It shines, gleaming with chi as she prepares for a maneuver.

Luceid snaps his fangs at her, and Tethelle staggers back - but only one step. He's drawn blood from her forward arm, but Tethelle holds her ground even as she feels the burning spread through her arm from the poison.

And through the haze of pain, Tethelle pushes on. She hears the words around her in the fight, and files them away for later, the parts she can understand.

The feel of the battle is something she is trained to... well, feel. She can't fight in a purely mechanical style; she has to let her instincts flow, to feel the battle as much as see it. It's said that the masters of her order could fight as well blind simply because they felt the ebb and flow before they saw it anyway, and while Tethelle would never try that, sometimes she reaches an instinctive moment of enlightenment.

Right now, there is one.

"Desire," Tethelle responds to Boomerang, or Luceid, or both before trailing off. She picks it up again moments later, shifting the grip on her sword, changing the angle of her blade, though it still points away. "Desire is a need to act. We all desire different things, and sometimes our desires are in conflict - and then we fight, as today. You want to destroy the city, and I stand against you. But what desire is is the drive! Without desire, we would do nothing, but merely wait for death. It is not bloodlust, though there can be a desire to hurt. It is not hate. It is need."

Tethelle flares with power. Not sorcery; there is no part of what she does that belongs to the Guardians, or any other form of magic. Pure technique, as some of the masters of orders do; it ripples around her, shining bright before focusing along her blade.

"The First Divine Art of the Sword is Desire, for it is by Desire we choose to act! And what I desire is to be a blade against the darkness - and you, if you stand with it!"

Tethelle rushes. She is moving far faster than she was before, and when her arms move it's so fast that they - and her sword - blur, looking almost like she is striking from two or three or five angles at once. It forms a veritable shield of edges before her as she strikes, over and over again, at Luceid, almost daring him to strike back in the face of Tethelle's skill and power.

It won't last long. It can't last long; Tethelle feels it slipping away from her as fast as it came. But for the instant, she holds onto it, as hard as she can. 

GS: Tethelle Cirdian has activated a Force Action!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian enters a Counter stance!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian has attacked Boomerang with First Divine Art!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian takes 14 damage from Toxin!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

This is truth. Hatred. Rage. Desperation. The heartbeat of all that live, the final emotional impulse that remains when all else is gone and only the last sliver of life remains. This is the domain of Desire. The desire to see your foe beaten. The desire to live at all costs. The desire to deny the world that would snuff you out.

In this way, it could be said that the Metal Demons, crushed as they are by the very living heart of the world, have been driven closest to that core, fundamental desire.

The flames of hatred lick at Zed's soul. His shoulders seize as he struggles to stand, his eyes focusing through the blackened haze, dimly aware that Gwen is standing nearby. Dimly aware--

He's coming.

"Gwen, move!" Zed yells, shoving the courier out of the way as Boomerang's blade scythes down and into the hollow of his chest. His voice splits with pain, quicksilver blood splashing against the crumbling arena.

But.

His sword has locked with Boomerang's own. Zed struggles against the blow, dragging it slowly out of the crevasse it carved into his shoulder. Not a killing blow. Not yet. "I don't know-- I don't know how you've managed to... connect with that Guardian of yours, but..."

The Desire- the impulse- to live truly is universal. Uniting two worlds, three, more. The blue and silver stars, the flotillas of the Veruni, and even distant and forgotten Hyades. That impulse unites them all. And Zed...!

"I'm not--" His eyes burn with that same desire, shining even amidst the suffocating darkness! He roars, his blade shining with power as he throws Boomerang's sword free and steps forward to deliver one of his own! "I'm not going to die to some... stupid jerk and his... stupid dog!" 

GS: Zed has attacked Boomerang with RayBlade - Zed Saber!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Hiro's Sybillium Sword for 125 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.

Jean keeps looking for weakness, keeps looking for an opening in Pearl's shifting stances. It's true that she seems only to have eyes for her opponent--but because she knows that if she gives anything less, if she makes a wrong move, Pearl could kill her as surely as Jean could kill someone else.

She ran, Pearl finally replies, and then neither Jean finds purchase against the air where Pearl once was. But in perfect sync, the two Jean's shift through each other. Even colliding they don't break, don't work against themselves, just look up to Pearl as she growls through--

They are standing together when Pearl surges downwards, and only one is fast enough to get out of the way. The other takes the slash straight across the chest, claws punching through armor and coming away wet with red blood. That Jean steps back quickly, gritting her teeth--but crying out no more than Pearl would.

"Skill at fighting isn't the only strength!" Jean shouts back as she surge around. "I was powerful. But I left you like a coward! I wasn't strong where it mattered!" She hears Hiro's support. It's a tie; a memory, as surely as what Lucia told her.

But she doesn't answer it directly. She just stops stock-still for an instant, both Jeans paused, taking a breath, as if inviting reprisal. "...You should have been my responsibility."

She lunges then--front and back, claw up and back, reaching out for a grip as if she intends to seize Pearl's wrist and throw her. 

GS: Jean has attacked Pearl with Umbral Grip!
GS: Jean has completed her action.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Fei Fong Wong's attack becomes clear!
GS: Boomerang critically Guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Ultra Idstinct for 48 hit points!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Jean's attack becomes clear!
GS: CRITICAL! Pearl takes a solid hit from Jean's Shadow Dragon Palm for 330 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.

But it isn't a throw at all. The Jean behind Pearl dissipates in a flash of smoke and shadow, completely unreal again, as the forward Jean snaps up her other hand. Her palm radiates dark power, radiates the anger that surges through her, that burns her even using. All she needs is a touch to send a surge of her ki through Pearl's, and set purple-black power to explode between and around them. 

GS: Boomerang takes a solid hit from Tethelle Cirdian's First Divine Art for 112 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    The metal demon spy sets her jaw as she feels Lucia speak, far more than she hears it; something at the quiet voice so removed from the struggle in the arena sets her on edge for a little too long a moment, enough for Luceid's next howl to cut through her senses again. She has to wonder if it's something to do with her Medium that's affecting her in this way, her head swimming for an uncertain moment - before she pushes through it as best she can, gritting her teeth as she resolves to ask her patron about this later.

    She's smart enough to not be misdirected by the other metal demon, but the disorientation is quite enough; it gives Yarobeleedt enough time to press a speech, then an attack, and Noeline finds herself buffeted backwards. Though she instinctively lifts her blade to try to block, it's a futile effort, as the metal demon's tendrils simply arc around the metal to sting against her. She pushes past the pain as best she can, trying her best to dive to one side and intercept the attack on Riesenlied, but her movement is too restricted, and this time her head swims with a completely different set of sensations.

    She's been dismissive of poisons and diseases in the past, as befits her rather unique anatomy, but this is a problem; she winces, muttering something under her breath about this not being the time or place, and tries to shake it away with an irritated noise. "And when exactly did Mother tell you to do this?!" she challenges, gritting her teeth as she tries to steady her senses, pressing the point more to stall for time than anything. "What has she done?"

    Her blade winks away from her hands all of a sudden, freed from the pulsing and dripping tendrils - rather than it disappear, she's just subsumed it into herself, giving her enough time to twist away from the other Hyadean as she reorients herself. Layna makes it easier, throwing the demon against the side of the arena; that gives Noeline time to look, with a moment of panic, at the ground where Riesenlied fell. It turns out she's still standing - but the breath that Noeline lets out isn't exactly one of relief, but a pent-up frustration that's been building since the Cultist's attack.

    She can't give into it, she knows that much, knows that it would undo any hope that Riesenlied might ever instil - but her knuckles are white on the hilt of her sword as it reforms in her hands. Without preamble, she rushes forwards, seeking to capitalize on Layna's move; she bears down on the metal demon, the flat of her blade turned forwards rather than the edge. If Yarobeleedt can't leave the fight of his own volition, she's more than prepared to try to force the point for him - and her strike, when it comes, is a battering and lifting one, more or less trying to use the weight of her blade to simply batter the demon out of the arena. 

GS: Noeline has activated a Force Action!
GS: Noeline has spent 3 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Noeline has attacked Yarobeleedt with Whispered Silk!
GS: Noeline has completed her action.
GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Noeline's Whispered Silk for 210 hit points!

DC: MISS! Boomerang completely evades RayBlade - Zed Saber from Zed!

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    He has by turns a handful of seconds before the chain reaction he's set beneath the earth's surface erupts outwards. In that time the Guardian speaks words that are as much gibberish to his ears as the tongue he's heard Lily use. At best he can pick out a pair of names amidst the morass of syllables -- one without meaning, and one with.
    Althena?

    Perhaps somewhere, the Major might approve of this.

    Did that do it, he thinks in the moments following, as the Guardian twitches and slumps against the summoned stone pillar impaling it. Maybe--
    An impression of hope doesn't last long and soon dies; the Guardian rips itself free from the spike and speaks but two furious words to him.
    He has in the next heartbeat the impression of a furious power bundling underfoot; he takes one small step backwards, but it doesn't feel like it's centered on the ground as much as it's...
    ...centered on him.

    Did I overreach...?
    This time the other half of his psyche remains mute.
    It starts to build, pinpricks of pressure and pain hinting at just how badly this is going to become. He takes a breath, burning out ether as a bulwark--

    And Fei Fong Wong, noted pilot of SLIDE-1 and general problem for Gebler, slams him out of the way. The sound Loren makes as he's thrown sidelong more or less amounts to a 'wh' before he hits the ground with a grunt and rolls a handful of feet to one side.
    The implosion of dark energy can still be felt; it scrapes its metaphorical claws across the air around and over where he lies.
    He springs to his feet a moment later.

    That Lamb saved him. ...Because he thought Loren was just another one of them.

    He actually thinks I'm...? runs the thought, as he races to reclaim his fallen sword. His hand closes around the hilt.
    Reclaiming in the same breath the ambient ether, still unspent.

    ...Command wouldn't like it if he died here.

    And he directs that ether outwards in his next exhalation, lines and streaks of green earthborn energy sliding fractally along Fei's form.
    Patching wounds. Sinking in. Strengthening. 

GS: Loren Voss has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Healing Function!
GS: Loren Voss has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    'Gwen, move!' Gwen balks, not realizing the exact angle of Boomerang's attack. Zed knows better, knowing *exactly* how to push Gwen out of the way, receiving the full force of the attack meant for him. "Zed!"
    
    'What's wrong with dogs?' The simple question causes Gwen, in her dazed position, to blink. "... Well, nothin' really I gues-" *CLANG* The Sabre Fang swings, threatening to separate head from shoulders with inhuman speed. The Sabra meets instead with the metal of the Mockingbird, drawing a gasp of pain as she falls back, her ARM beginning to spark from the blow.

    "Damn..." Gwen leans forward into a crouch, her left hand grasping for her knife, hidden within her left boot. "..."

    She'll use this to her advantage, using Boomerang's attention on Zed and the others to swing that knife forward with her left hand, in order to stab it into some vital weakness in Boomerang's armor, whether percieved incorrectly or not.

    Either way, she's in a tight spot, having moved on a powerful Metal Demon armed with nothing more than a normal Filagian knife.

    "Zed, show him! Show him what a real hero's like!"

    Wait, no, Gwen, Boomerang did not mention anything about heroes, what are you even talking about-

    "A dark hero!" 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Boomerang with Comet Clip!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's Comet Clip for 22 hit points!
GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Boomerang!
GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Fei Fong Wong!
GS: Loren Voss heals Fei Fong Wong! He gains 100 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Boomerang has posed.

Luceid finds himself under attack from Hiro. The slashes cut deep into the Guardian, leaving vicious rends in his flesh -- and forcing him backward, step back step. He turns, snarling at Hiro. "If I find her... then you know what I will do!" he snarls back to Lucia, before he lunges for Hiro. Luceid's jaws snap down, trying to bite into Hiro's shoulder.

He tears past, then, but finds Fei -- Fei, who took the blow meant for Loren, and somehow still stands under the sorcerous assault that Luceid brought to bear. His eyes blaze; and then, the Guardian leaps, jaws chomping down and tearing for his side.

"If you wish it... then so be it!"

Fei slams into Luceid, though, and with a flash of red -- the Guardian of Desire is hurled backward. He slams into the sand and rolls a few times, before he comes up, snarling. Before the Guardian can leap, though, Tethelle draws his attention. She moves with such speed; her sword moves with such purpose. There is, for a moment, an envy. "You... you would define what desire is TO ME!?}" Luceid screams at her. Her blade bites deep, another massive gash torn through.

Light and energy bleed away from Luceid -- before he surges forward, head lowered, and tries to slam those two hooked horns into her midsection, then throw her aside.

Luceid looks up, slowly, at Riesenlied -- and in this molten eyes, there is nothing but a hatred that is impersonal and unfocused. It reaches out, for the entire world. "It is better to die with the pleasure of ruining your enemies... than to live on in a world that cannot be saved.}"

Zed's blade and Boomerang's clash, a titanic spray of sparks as the two ARMs slam together. Boomerang does not grit nonexistent teeth, nor spit down. There is that eerie, metal confidence in his voice as he speaks. "We don't choose when we die, Zed. That is what makes battle glorious--that we live in the eternity of a second, not knowing what will come--"

And come Zed's blade does, alight brilliance, and comes carving downward. Boomerang moves in that trademark flash. Zed's sword rips through more of the stands, and wood chips fly in the air. Boomerang's flash teleport leaves him above Zed.

And falling down, Sabre Fang swung back.

"--THAT is what I live for! And you live for it too!" he shouts. "I see it in your eyes... you aren't like me, or Siegfried, or Riesenlied...! You live only for the hunt!"

He swings the boomerang-shaped blade down, slashing out in a titanic arc before him. Light explodes off the Metal Demon's weapon as he slashes for both Gwen and Zed. His blow strikes, just as Gwen's knife slams into his side. He stumbles.

"A hero--tch...!"

Boomerang lurches, before he spins.

And his eyes meet Blue Master Lunn's. Lunn stands up from a trio of broken, battered Shadow Dragon cultists -- blood running down the side of his face, but no worse for the wear. Except, he finds, Sabre Fang is spinning and twisting, hurtling right at him. His mouth opens, and--

GS: Boomerang has attacked Hiro with Shadow Fangs!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Shadow Fangs!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Tethelle Cirdian with Mad Luceid!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Riesenlied with Enraged Desire!
GS: Boomerang has spent 4 Combo on Gatling!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Zed with Violent Reaper!
GS: Boomerang has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Violent Reaper!
GS: Boomerang has completed his action.
GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Boomerang's Enraged Desire for 0 hit points!
GS: Riesenlied loses a Combo from Interrupt!
GS: Hiro guards a hit from Boomerang's Shadow Fangs for 95 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Boomerang's Shadow Fangs for 136 hit points!
GS: Zed takes a glancing hit from Boomerang's Violent Reaper for 130 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock critically Guards a hit from Boomerang's Violent Reaper for 65 hit points!
GS: Hyper, Quick, and Shield! Statuses applied to Boomerang!

<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

There is a black-violet shimmer near Lunn, and part of the air seems to invert.

An enormous, enormous man - seven feet tall or more, even before you take into account the floating platform he is riding or the pointed hat atop his head, and very bulky to boot - appears out of it. In one pudgy hand, he is holding a great staff with a short banner affixed to it, parallel to the ground, and next to him floats a small metallic orb.

Sabre Fang hits the space around him and bounces against a pulsing white field that exists for only a second. A second is all it needs to exist for.

"Not one hero," Black Wizard Borgan booms, "but two. Or none, if you prefer. Lunn! Leave this to the other... heroes. You will not be menaced by the likes of these cultists."

Space twists again in a manner not especially comfortable to look upon, and Borgan - along with Lunn - vanish into the black-violet distortion. When it fades, the pair are gone. 

GS: COUNTER! Tethelle Cirdian strikes at Boomerang with a counter attack!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian guards a hit from Boomerang's Mad Luceid for 145 hit points!
GS: Boomerang takes a solid hit from Tethelle Cirdian's Counter Attack for 165 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

    "You do knot know!!!" Yarobeleedt snaps. "Because you are silly ^Tainted^!!" The name calling. He is considered such too, but nonetheless, he projects that loathing right onto Riesenlied - a truly loving, patient figure who holds onto that arm. It says to her strength, and also the laws of leverage, that she can keep hold of it as he tries to wriggle it free. Wriggle wiggle. Riggle? Can Riggle be a word? She continues to extend such incredible kindness, to reach out and touch what must be there. There must be good in everyone, right? Waiting to be reached out, to be drawn out into the open into a world of acceptance. The new world they seek, with all they desire.
     He seethes, acrid poison dripping out of his maw, with added bits of leaking quicksilver from accumulated injury not helped by Layna plunging her fist deep into him. He hisses, he chokes, he tries to contort and twist to squish Layna. He does not succeed. She grips in deep, and just... flings him. As Riesenlied turns to motes of light, his arm is freed.
     He bounces off the wall, lying low before the feet of both Noeline and Riesenlied. Terrible things happen all around them, the words of the Guardian of Desire lost in the heat of the moment. He writhes, hissing. His eyes are unfocused, as they usually are, all googly as he tries to crawl towards them. Noeline appeals to some logic driving behind this action of his, endangering and creating panic among the people of Lunar.
     "Kkkkkkkhhhhh," he gurgles. "When back, she will say do so. Then I say already do so~" This is illogical. He's doing it because he thinks Mother will want it anyway... and also because probably Boomerang is there and could cut him down, but-- he's not trembling so much in raw fear. No, there's a predatory stillness that-- doesn't get to be appreciated as he's batted away, hurling him into the stand walls again, which collapse around him. There is a great, big cloud of dust. They know of Yarobeleedt as a burrower. He might have used the opportunity to dig and run. He is the sort to think he's more clever than he truly is.
     ...Layna will feel it first. There's something moving underground. It keeps moving. It keeps circling. It's not quite hidden. The ground shifts some more, then stops. They might be able to pinpoint where he's going to emerge, based on where 'it' seems to have stopped.
     It does not. It tries to erupt from behind Riesenlied, angled as if to challenge Noeline to dare move to intercept them. He whirls forward in the air, arms joined together like one sort of goopy, half-melted drill as he twists and turns in a straight line that neatly captures all three of them - Layna, Noeline, Riesenlied - together.
     "Surprise," screams Yarobeleedt. "That is a twisted ending by yours!"
     There might not actually be anyone or anything to appeal to. Not in the sense that there is a living husk devoid of a personality, extracted and then maintained by some dark means. Not because of the intervention of some dark power impressing itself on his psyche. Even in the times before Arctica, Yarobeleedt was self-aggrandizing and insufferable - and only ever seemed to care about Mother, or his own glory, as a mere advance scout.
     His words may devolve into utter nonsense. Logic may no longer apply, if it ever did. His words are not the words of an individual who desires to be reasonable, or to share, or to do anything beyond have life go exactly by what terms he would wish to dictate.
     This one is not compatible with the new world they seek. 

GS: Yarobeleedt has activated a Force Action!
GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Layna Manydays with Is This Cowardice!
GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Noeline with Is This Cowardice!
GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Riesenlied with Is This Cowardice!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Yarobeleedt's attack becomes clear!
GS: CRITICAL! Riesenlied guards a hit from Yarobeleedt's Coward Ace! for 162 hit points!
GS: Poison! Statuses applied to Riesenlied!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Yarobeleedt's attack becomes clear!
GS: Layna Manydays takes a solid hit from Yarobeleedt's Coward Ace! for 169 hit points!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Yarobeleedt's attack becomes clear!
GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Yarobeleedt's Coward Ace! for 161 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    Some part of Pearl relishes the fact that she's drawn blood on Jean. Part of her is angry that it's just not enough. But she's fulfilled her first purpose. Force Jean to fight with the true style. Force her to use it. Now she just has to-

    Pearl's eyes widen. "Your responsibility?" She spits. "Your RESPONSIBILITY!?" Rage flows through Pearl ki starting to flow to her hands. "Your responsibility was to stand atop our corpses and END him! You ruined the only chance of any of this ever stopping!"

    She charges Jean as Jean stands still, the power of the shadow dragon palm flowing through as she goes for that kill blow. But Jean moves faster. Pearl is easily grabbed by her wrist, her attack going nowhere. The palm impacts Pearl's back. The killing blow of the Shadow Dragon Cult, with nothing to temper it.

    For the first second, nothing happens. But then, to an untrained observer, it might look almost like Pearl bursts with energy. And then the blood starts flowing. Cuts start appearing, cutting outwards from her body, blood spurting into the air. The wounds of last night reopen swiftly and brutally, a long cut across her back starts leaking blood to the floor. Silver hair springs forth from behind Pearl's mask as a new cut across her face tears open. She drops to her knees as veins in her legs burst open violently, exploding as the combined power of Jean and Pearl's black ki work to kill the young cultist. The bones in her left arm crack, and there's a sudden, grotesque sound as the bones her upper arm convulse, then her arm falls limp as it bends the wrong way, bones sticking out of her flesh.

    Finally, for the first time in years, Pearl screams in pain. Blood flies from her mouth as she does so.

    And yet, even now, even in this moment, she refuses to die. She still has her mission.

                                   break her

tShe pulls her body up from the ground, in agony. She looks Jean dead in the eye. She can't speak. It hurts too much for that. It hurts too much to do anything but hate.

    If Pearl doesn't do something with this energy flowing through her now, it will destroy her. She raises her unbroken left arm, and starts channelling ki through it. Her pose is unstable, she'll be unable to control it properly. Even Jean can see that. The Shadow Dragon Wave will still take it's toll on her. She will be exerting her own life energy along with the Shadow Dragon ki to fire this off. And still she prepares to do it.

                                       Break Her

    Pearl's arm suddenly twists and turns to aim at Hiro. Jean's 'best student'. Blood oozes out between her teeth as she smiles. "Shadow... Dragon... Wave." The burst of horrid, murderous ki flies from her hand at the swordsman's back, not caring who else is between or past him, the energy wave scoring through everything.

                                       BREAK HER 

GS: Pearl has activated a Force Action!
GS: Pearl has spent 4 Combo on Gatling!
GS: Pearl has attacked Hiro with Shadow Dragon Wave!
GS: Pearl has completed her action.
GS: Hiro takes a solid hit from Pearl's Shadow Dragon Wave for 252 hit points!
GS: Hiro enters CONDITION GREEN!!

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

What is ten thousand years to a Guardian?

Still, Fei did at least stop him from killing a...remarkably powerful hot dog vendor. Fei would normally be suspicious of this, but for all of Gebler's skills at Specops he just CAN'T imagine one ever deciding to play the role of a hot dog vendor. That's just a bit beyond his ability to stretch his disbelief.

But he did save Loren all the same, thinking he was 'one of them' or not, and it's largely thanks to Loren's intervention that when Luceid sinks his fangs into Fei, he doesn't just die right then and there. Hot dog vendors are pretty strong on Lunar, but Fei supposes that's probably normal here.

As it is, Fei is able to push Luceid back at least. He collapses back down into a crouch shortly thereafter. His legs took the most damage there. He glances behind him to see where that healing energy came from and he gives Loren a smile. He's alright.

He wonders if this is how Elly feels sometimes, Fei thinks.

He sees Boomerang nearly kill Lunn and for a moment he wonders if he was wrong to mistrust the kung fu master (never trust a kung fu master - fei fong wong) but then Borgan arrives and he starts to wonder if he's on the wrong side. Just--nobody that looks like that can be a good guy right?

Junior that's really pathetic, don't judge someone by what they look

Yeah, yeah, Fei thinks. Maybe because he looks...well like a cartoon supervillain he has devoted himself to being kinder than any man. It's possible, right? Right. Don't judge a book by its cover. This man may be the greatest on Lunar.

Then Borgan just fucks off with Lunn.

Okay no fuck that guy

Yeah, Fei thinks. Fuck that guy. Fei doesn't quite stand but he does summon what reserves of energy he has yet to--

--wait what's going on with Pearl. He blinks at her. Ruined any chances of it ever stopping.

Never stopping.

It doesn't stop.

"Jean...Jean...you can do it." Fei manages. "You're not just powerful, you're strong! Remember that!" Great, he thinks, using K.K's words but they were right weren't they? "Help her believe--!" But no she's attacking not Jean but rather Hiro. Id howls in rage at the misdirection but Fei can't even get over there, he has to just believe and keep up the fight here.

He then finally manages to stand up, that reserve of energy giving him enough to throw himself up into the air and then--

--yes!--throw himself like an exploding bomb at Boomerang covered in fire. 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has spent 3 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Boomerang with Kakei!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Boomerang takes a glancing hit from Fei Fong Wong's Kakei for 119 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    Riesenlied casts that gaze upon Luceid, as the wolf of Desire casts it back upon her. She gazes straight upon that hatred. That seething anger that has contorted through her entire form, seeming as if it would engulf the entirety of Filgaia and Lunar.

    "Lombardia said much the same thing... but she was different. Even if she could not bear to hold the weight of the world anymore, she at least gave us, the future generation, a chance to remand what has already been done!"

    She gasps aloud as she stumbles to one side. "Because you are right, Boomerang. Nobody wants peace."

    wait what

    "Peace is an outcome of what we all desire -- respect. Acknowledgement. Fulfilment..."

    A pause.

    "Love."

    She withers further, murmuring, "Under that myopic hierarchy of the Photosphere -- the Tainted could not find any love. We were as empty shells, not knowing peace, until we braved it for ourselves to find a different way to live...!"

    She gasps as that Sabre Fang flies towards Lunn in the midst of his dispatching cultists, and exclaims, "Blue Master Lunn--"

    There is a clash. A mighty wizard emerges out of nowhere, floating above on a platform of his own. "Was that... Black Wizard Borgan?" She's relieved to see him all right, though they're not out of danger yet...

    In many ways, Yarobeleedt reminds Riesenlied a lot of when she speaks to Ida and Matilda. Not... because they are physically similar in any way, no--

    --but because Yaro, too, is someone she is at great risk of belittling just by her words alone. Her words, which are... in many ways immature, at risk of just prescribing onto others platitudes and half-baked truths that only serve to make her seem arrogant and inapproachable at best, and manipulative at worst.

    She must do better.

    "I don't--" Riesenlied continues to be a burden, as she doesn't see him in that cloud... she blinks a few times, looking around-- and gasping quietly as she turns and suddenly realises that he's behind her--

    "Hrk--"

    Such is the gurgle as the thin, drill-like arm melts through her and pierces a wing at its base; she slumps down once more, gasping in pain as she mutters, looking to Noeline--

    "I don't know. So tell me, Yarobeleedt. Tell me of your pain, tell me what you feel, because I can't pretend to know..."

    She slumps down as she feels the limits of her strength, already so withered from repeated abuse the night before.

    "I..." 

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Yarobeleedt with I Want to Know!
GS: Riesenlied takes 8 damage from Poison!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's I Want to Know for 0 hit points!
GS: Yarobeleedt gains a Combo from Inspire!

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna sends Noeline an approving nod as the Hyadean follows up on the opening she created to smack Yarobeleedt good with the flat of her sword, sending him crashing right through the walls of the stands.

Layna lets her guard down for just a second. This is all he needs. She whirls around as something rushes out of the ground, stabbing right into - and through - her.

For a moment, she doubles over. There's blood. For a moment, it seems like he might have killed her. This might give him some amount of confidence.

But then she twitches, looks up, and turns toward him. Her grin is as wide as ever.

"Good, good, good... So you do have some bite to you after all, aye? That was a good one. I liked that. Now I don't have to feel bad about this." She says.

She doesn't seek to understand him. Her bracers, concealed beneath her gloves, ignite and she starts walking toward Yarobeleedt slowly...

...And then she vanishes.

She reappears directly behind him. A faint green aura appears around her hand for a second as a cyclone begins to stir, taking the flame into it before she punches it toward him viciously. 

GS: Layna Manydays has spent 3 Combo on Gatling!
GS: Layna Manydays enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Yarobeleedt with Dead Men Tell No Tales!
GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Tethelle Cirdian has posed.

"Boomerang asked what I knew of desire," Tethelle manages to reply, "so I answered. THAT is what I know of desire! I know you cannot forget, Guardian - but sometimes I feel as if you might appreciate the reminder!"

You are talking back to a Guardian, Tethelle's wiser part reminds her. More: you are talking back to the lost Guardian Lord. Luceid is going to murder you and you are going to deserve it. She realizes this.

But she can't stand back and let Boomerand and Luceid do... well, what they came to do. She wouldn't be Tethelle Cirdian if she did that, and while she has had a crisis of faith in the past, on this she is very clear. "As long as you are working with someone who wishes to destroy the people of this city, I stand against you." As long as you work with a Metal Demon, she thinks, but doesn't say out loud. She can't, not in front of Riesenlied and the rest.

Tethelle strikes with the phantom blades even as Luceid tears into her. Tethelle thinks that this is going to be it for a moment, that she is about to be ripped apart - she can feel the tenor of the battle starting to shift as Jean strikes at Pearl and Boomerang strikes at Lunn.

And so she does more talking. With her sword.

Tethelle leaps - completely over Luceid. She roars as she takes to the air - and then, suddenly, she's not doing it anymore but diving, angling to drive her swordpoint straight down at the Gaurdian and land on top of it, slamming it deeper into - or all the way through - with her momentum and body weight behind it!

"Get away from them!" she roars down at Luceid, wiggling the sword as she tries to pin him. 

GS: Tethelle Cirdian has activated a Force Action!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian has spent 3 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian has attacked Boomerang with Skydrive!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian takes 8 damage from Toxin!
GS: Tethelle Cirdian has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"I--" Zed snarls, levelling Doombringer's blade against the arc of killing radiance exploding from the Sabre Fang. Twin lights collide, like the solar wind hewing into the magnetosphere, shedding incendiary sparks and streams of stone-shattering power. Zed is pressed back, his heel digging a trench into the arena as the confluence of alien might tears at the darkness surrounding him. "I'm...!"

A hunter?

    A monster?

        A demon?

No.

No! Show him what a real hero's like!

"BOOMERANG!" He roars, eyes surging with light and desperate life. "You're right! When I fight, when I lock swords-- my heart, my soul, every fiber of my being sings. This... Conflict is where I belong. But... But...!" Power reverberates from Doombringer's edge, shattering the last dregs of that devastating arc, leaving Zed battered, bloodied, but smiling regardless, the grin on his face still seemingly as invincible as ever.

"Why..." He lifts his sword, power pulsing through his limbs in coruscating arcs. "Would I..."

"Why would I ever LIMIT MYSELF LIKE THAT!?" Zed roars, surging forward at speeds faster than the eye can see. "We might not choose where we die, but we CAN choose where we LIVE! Hunter! Monster! Demon! Hyadean! I'm these and more! I'm the DARK HERO! Take this! Unlucky Star Sword--!"

Zed strikes. His sword flashes! It carves a brilliant crescent into the air, into the space where Boomerang stands...

                      "Split Ladle - Sakura Supernova"

And then it blossoms and explodes 

GS: Zed has activated a Force Action!
GS: Zed has spent 2 Combo on Headshot and Gatling!
GS: Zed has attacked Boomerang with Split Ladle Sakura Supernova!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Layna Manydays's Dead Men Tell No Tales for 275 hit points!
GS: Yarobeleedt has Fallen! It is no longer able to fight!
GS: CRITICAL! Boomerang takes a solid hit from Tethelle Cirdian's Skydrive for 181 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Shield! Statuses applied to Tethelle Cirdian!

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.


Even as Luceid snarls at Hiro - Lucia actually seems to stand up straighter steel in her eyes that banish whatever anxiety and other feelings that came before. "Then you must not find her." Who is she to tell a Lord of Desire that his desires will not be indulged? My mission demands that you do not. Zophar must not be allowed to prevail."

Luceid's fangs bite down on Hiro's shoulder. Sinking into the armor - and the youth's face spasms in agony, "Gah!" The motion of Luceid tearing past sends him sprawling on the ground - his shoulder awash in red.

And he sees it as Boomerang charges at Lunn - only for... "Wait is that the Black Wizard?" Hiro says - pained.

It's a relief that Lunn was saved - not that... Hiro doubts that the man probably could take care of himself really well given Leo.

And then as he's rising-

He's blind-sided by the burst of horrid energy. The murderous Ki strikes him and sends him careening towards the opposite wall of the arena. Smashing into the stonework - he starts to slide down into a slump that drops him sideways. "HIRO!" Shout Lucia and Ruby at the attack.

Blood slides down his brow, and then his chin lifts up, his vision awash with spots.

"Jean-!" Hiro rasps, "Jean-!"

He says as he puts his sword point down, and tries to pry himself "It's... alright Jean... I can... take it..."

Ruby who has made it to him by then shouts at him, "Hiro what are you saying!? You're out of the fight!" "I... can... take it..." Hiro says through clenched teeth.

"Doesn't... hurt... much..."

And slowly, he pushes himself up to his feet, still holding heavily on the hilt of his sword. "See Jean? I'm... on my feet..."

It's such a kid thing to say. "See? It's no worse... than when... we're training...together."

He tries to smile.

"Gonna... walk... it... off..."

Is what he says - but he's facing Luceid - the dog which has thrown him around this whole fight. "Hiro you idiot! Don't go back in there! Come back here! Let Lucia heal you first-!" He's facing him - and prying his sword point out of the ground.

And he's raising that sword, even as the winds start to swirl at his back. He takes a step - and looks like he's going to fall over. And Ruby panics, "SHE'LL REMEMBER TO ACTUALLY DO IT THIS TIME!"

Then another. And then faster - and faster. He charges in a limping run at Luceid. His sword igniting in flame. And then he declares in a tone which sounds like he's probably a little concussed. "... Bad dog." ... More than a little.

His first slash is a shallow one, an arcing wave of flame. His second he's picking up momentum, the heat picking up in a swirling slash. Before he raises it up high - and drives it down - releasing an enormous blaze that geysers out into the Guardian's face.

GS: Hiro has activated a Force Action!
GS: Hiro has spent 1 Combo on Gatling!
GS: Hiro has attacked Boomerang with Battalion Sword!!
GS: Hiro has completed his action.
GS: Boomerang takes a solid hit from Zed's Split Ladle Sakura Supernova for 202 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Boomerang takes a solid hit from Hiro's Battalion Sword! for 284 hit points!
GS: Boomerang has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!

<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.

Blood. Yes, blood; even when the two Jeans are one again, the double dissipated into shadow, the wound remains, the hits on both lingering against the true one. And that first purpose is fulfilled in spades; Jean has not unleashed this much of the Shadow Dragon's power since that day long ago on the cliff. ...But she has broken that oath.

What else must break, before it is finished?

Pearl spits at her, and Jean's gaze back is hollow for an instant, hollow in memory, in self-recrimination. But she can't let it go unanswered. She can't--

"No!" she retorts quickly, shouting it as Pearl charges, and then... Then her attack sinks home. It's so, so easy in a way, despite the strain of the movements, despite the difficulty of the act. It is easy because it is as if she was made to channel this force, made to kill in precisely this way. And her palm impacts, and she knows that she's struck.

She cannot accept the reality Pearl has put before her. ...And it is too late to take back what she has done. Jean stands, and has no need to follow up her strike, no need to hit Pearl again. She simply flows back to a readied position, claws at her sides, body limber... Waiting.

Memory floods her as she sees this display. Last night; other nights. Nights in the heat of the desert, perfecting her techniques, destroying other students. How many wounds has she inflicted? How many has she hurt?

She hears Pearl's scream, and she stares. For an instant, she is vulnerable; for an instant, she is shocked, seeing what she has done, what she has done again.

Welcome home, her Master had said. ...And Pearl looks her dead in the eye, and Jean feels the anger inside her losing direction, fading--

...But it is not her that Pearl strikes at. Jean sees it--she startles, "Pearl, it could kill you--"

Her concern breaks. All that sadness, all that regret, the entire momentum towards stopping shatters as she turns to see Pearl's arm twist, sees her target. Even the disappearance of Lunn, the protection of him by the Black Wizard--even that cannot break the moment that comes upon her. Those words--

'Break her', Pearl was told, and Jean's shock gives way quickly. One doesn't even have to be near her to feel the pulse of necrotic ki from the dancer, to feel the surge of killing intent rise up within her. With a look of rage, Jean reaches out--reaches, and grabs Pearl's gi by the collar, yanks her forward for all her wounds, lifts her up with one hand uncaring of her injuries. "You hateful woman," she hisses. "Is there nothing else left in you? You would choose spite over your own life!?"

Jean's other hand shakes, her shoulders shuddering with anger as she holds the taller woman, grip tightening. She stares up into her eyes, this close, keeping her aloft, keeping her from falling. Hiro says he's all right. Hiro says he can take it, it's no worse, and she can only look sidelong once, for half an instant, before her attention focuses. She may as well be deaf to his reassurance, blind to his smile.

Her other hand lifts--that aura of killing power is strong, stronger than Jean has ever shown, and she sets her hand to point straight for Pearl's throat, claws making an easy, easy line. "You think... I'll forgive--"

Her hand shakes. Power gathers around her fist, the Wave building. At this close range, it could be nothing but fatal. Long moments pass, Jean's teeth gritted. She rears back--

And drops Pearl like a weight, shoving her roughly away and falling to one knee to shatter the stone beneath her, her blast of ki obliterating shards of rock all around her as she screams in sudden emotion.

How much else must break, before it is done?

Jean's hands don't stop shaking. 

GS: Jean has attacked Jean with Pain Surge!
GS: Jean has completed her action.
GS: Jean heals Jean! She gains 100 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    In Loren's defense, the choice had been made under duress.

    And so had this one. As far as the medic himself is aware, their interest in Fei extends to the Gear he stole alone.
    (there are other reasons, high above his paygrade)
    But up here, with no Gear, it could be that SLIDE-1 could remain lost if the pilot dies. Why create more problems?

    Even if that damn smile Fei flashes for him -- shortly after Loren wheels back a step or two, blade held in a guard -- makes something deep within him stir angrily.
    It's just because he thought I was a--
    Even logic barely can hold its ground against such feelings.

    His gaze snaps up. That weapon of Boomerang's swings straight for Lunn.
    Loren doesn't make the slightest movement to attempt stop or abate it. He just for those handful of seconds watches.

    Because if Blue Master Lunn dies--
    There's no room to think about it further. With a rupture of space, another figure appears on the scene, seeing to the martial arts master.
    Black Wizard Borgan. So that makes three showing their faces of late.

    And the field is reduced to those facing off against the Metal Demons... and those Metal Demons themselves. Dimly, he's aware of the continued duel between Jean and that other woman.

    But he's mostly aware of the Guardian.
    Why am I afraid of you? Why am I even thinking about you -- or any of you -- like you're close to a god? You're nothing but--
    Luceid continues to speak.

    "Better to die... than to live pitifully," Loren mutters, gazing at the Guardian of Desire.

    His hand tightens on the hilt. The other joins it, steadying his hold.

    Maybe that's right.

    What's the use of surviving, if all it means is you continue to live in such a state?

    He comes in sidelong, running in from Riesenlied's left.
    It's exactly the sort of thing his 'instructor' has been trying to beat out of him, the sort of unguarded rush on an opponent that anyone skilled would be able to fatally counter. But at times...
    Hate wins out, for someone so young.

    He slams the sword downwards, right for the Guardian.

    "Here's what I desire!" 

GS: Loren Voss has attacked Boomerang with Astral Hammer!
GS: Loren Voss has completed his action.
GS: Boomerang takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Astral Hammer for 106 hit points!
GS: Boomerang has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    "Kh!" Noeline yelps as Yarobeleedt suddenly explodes into unexpected motion, the stabbing, tearing attack landing clean enough to nearly punch a hole through her; only her borrowed armor from Lunar saves her, the impact of the hit glancing off the hardened metal and giving her just barely enough time to be buffeted to one side and away from the rest of the sluglike demon's bulk.

    She had underestimated the metal demon's fight-or-flight response, and in her dazed and overextended state it takes her a little too long to reposition; senses dulled, there's little hope of her being able to get back in time to shield Riesenlied, a fact that stabs at her chest harder than any physical hit.

    Sure enough, Riese cries out before Noeline is able to act; through the pain, the spy can sense the way her partner glances in her direction as she slumps - and yet still tries to talk to Yarobeleedt, still tries to get through to him even in the midst of their life-or-death fight. Even in the darkest of times, she can be relied upon to do that. Even if she doesn't wholly know herself, she can be relied upon to do that, Noeline thinks bitterly. Even if it's futile, every single damn time.

    Suddenly, she's seeing red. The rising wave of anger she's been feeling all day bubbles over before she can even realise it's coming, let alone hold it back. The flare of Duras Drum's power around her is instinctual, somehing she's simply learnt to reach for at times of trouble; before she really knows she's done it she's darted across the intervening space, aiming directly for Yarobeleedt's bulk.

    When it comes, the strike is an unfocused thing - she has no weapon save for Duras Drum's sorcery, the black-purple flames surrounding her clawed hand as she tears first at the metal demon's skin and then lunges, jagged and twisting tendrils of the Errant Blade bursting from her arm to curl at her opponent. "--what will it take? What will it goddamn take?" she roars, her voice hoarse. The words don't even seem to be directed at Yarobeleedt, specifically. "When all we want to do is live, and even that is hard enough!"

    Her tendrils squeeze and pull inwards; Noeline hisses from between her teeth, a sharp noise as she tries to get herself under control, as she realizes what exactly she's doing. With an effort, she pushes-- and flings the metal demon back towards the stands, free of her grasp. Instead, she pulls at the air, summoning the six-foot greatsword into her hand and forwards into a lunging throw. 

GS: Noeline has activated a Force Action!
GS: Noeline has spent 3 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Noeline has attacked Yarobeleedt with The Errant Blade!
GS: Noeline has completed her action.
GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Noeline's The Errant Blade for 213 hit points!
GS: Yarobeleedt has Fallen! It is no longer able to fight!

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    The sword misses; for the second time in as many days, Noeline simply buries the weapon into the wall a few inches from the rest of Yarobeleedt's bulk, leaving it there to quiver slightly from the impact. It might have been a too-wild strike, or it might have been a message, but-- it isn't exactly clear, not when Noeline's left doubled over and panting heavily out of sheer emotion, her hand working into a fist and out to a claw repeatedly. 

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    Pearl does nothing to stop Jean. Even if she could, she wouldn't. This was what she was meant to do. She's succeeded. It's done. When Jean asks if there is anything else left in her, Pearl can only look at her as she's hauled off the ground. Tired, beaten, empty eyes look back at her. There was nothing else. Years ago, there might have still been something to save. But it's too late now.

    The claws that line up with her throat come as a blessing. A release. An escape. Jean finally doing what she was meant to do.

    'Stand atop our corpses and end him.'

    Surprise catches Pearl briefly as she hits the ground. She shouldn't be feeling anything anymore. There should be nothing left. She's unable to support herself, as she falls face first on the ground. Blood oozes around her. She failed after all. If Jean won't even kill HER, how could she be expected to finish things. Two failures in two days. Maybe bleeding out here is better than whatever awaits her if she returns. She came so close, only to fail at the last minute.

    As consciousness leaves her, she can only think of it. The physical pain. The pain of failure. The pain of knowing what she had hoped for will never come to pass. "...it hurts..." She mutters weakly, as everything else gives way to darkness. 

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

    He wounded them. He wounded all three of them. For all the way the world seems to brush him aside, the way he seems to get constantly outplayed, beaten down by those Drifters he tries in futility to put down... there is a malicious gleefulness in how he just runs all three of them through. The Tainted he hates so much, and that human who dared put their hand inside of him...! Quicksilver blood continues to seep out the back where her fist broke through. The slug-naga-whatever rises from the clouds of dust left in wake of his drilling dash in the air. His less-solid arm drags against the ground, pooling loose dirt around it as he undulates ever closer to a Riese who wants to know why - who wants to hear from him.
     "Fu... fu... fu..." He hisses out that noxious laughter of his. The irises of his eyes narrow as he rears back the much more intact arm, whose weapon configuration seems to be a point of indecision. He wants to hit Riesenlied with all of it, but the forms of the weapons themselves are mutually exclusive. He can't pulverize her with a scythe-spear-hammer-sword-bolo-claw-spoon. Biomass reconfigures endlessly from the elbow down to murderous desires he cannot simply decide on - only having the desire to come up with the most painful way to kill her he can imagine. She's open for it. He can kill her. His tongue lolls out the side of his mouth as the uptick of a sick smile spreads on his slimy face.
     "Recoloooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr<nowiki>~~~</nowiki>!!"
     There may be nothing more about him to learn. He is exactly that shallow, that spiteful, that slimy. He is nowhere near deserving of her patience and love - and he is well already at the end of Noeline's, as she has found herself subject to the stresses of seeing so much... hatred. Evil. Subjugation. Destruction. Her release might be what saves Riesenlied's life as he seems to decide to have his arm be the form of some kind of hammer-claw thing for crushing and strangulating with sharp spiky bits around the palm to further inject and puncture - a combination he never gets to enact as she strikes Yarobeleedt dead-center with such strength that both his arms flare out like exploded waterballoons, only to be caught at the edges of his body's very elasticity. He is flung into the stands anew, and the greatsword follows.
     * SHUNK *
     The stands shudder under the tossed greatsword lodged in the nearby wall. Yarobeleedt's breathing proves unsteady. Bleeding profusely, he still yet has it in him to slink down out the stands. Riesenlied is weak. He is not weak! He is not garbage, he is not... going to come at them vey quickly. He keeps moving out of sheer spite, gaze fixating upon the two of them.
     There is something poetic about the human - the one who he seemed to give the least amount of direct spite and attention towards, in favor of having tried to outright murder Noeline and Risenlied together - lining up to take a decisive blow. She inches on up with a challenging, confident grin as she ignites her bracers, vanishes... and leaves him going wide(r)-eyed, shaking his head, wondering where she even went. A coward at heart, Layna (perhaps not intentionally) shows the weakness of his character. If he stood and kept facing forward, he would have seen her when she reappeared.
     He turns his back, and in doing so, cyclone-force winds rip into metallic flesh and spray quicksilver blood all over as his back arches. His entire body mass wraps around Layna's arm and upper body before the follow-through of the flaming cyclone punch launches him clear out of sight. She is but an example of what Noeline and Riesenlied hope to achieve - a world they all dwell upon together, giving their strength into something greater than any of them could ever hope to by their lonesomes. That even in their most stressful, and their weakest, they have a friend right over there willing to lend a hand.
     A sentiment he will never truly understand. 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    The Sabre Fang slices the air, throwing an arc of painful light that slashes against Gwen's shielding ARM, drawing a cry of pain. Zed fares just as badly, silver blood flung into the air, but perseveres.

    Yes, he isn't just a hero.
    
    What he has is the strength of the dark hero, limitless, unchained, unfettered by the bonds of-

    'HIRO!'

    Hero. No, wait, Hiro. Where's-

    There he is. Standing up. Holding his blade. Smiling, claiming it wasn't that much.

    Genuine panic fills Gwen's face as she screams, her voice growing higher with each word. "Hiro, you goddamn idiot, stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop it! You're gonna die! You're..." He just might.

    If that isn't enough to break Jean, it might be enough to break others.

    She doesn't want to deal with that. Hiro's Hiro, he's supposed to laugh and crack bad jokes and have secret crushes on blue-haired young women, be dependable and happy and loyal, always pushing himself, even against impossible odds, faceless foes that curse people from afar, always

    there

    Gwen bolts from Zed's side, offering a quiet apology, as if one was really needed.

    It just scares her, is all. That she could honestly, really lose people she genuinely cares about. It just... had trouble filtering into her mind, despite all the dangers everyone's faced, and how many people have actually come close to death right in front of her.

    Hiro's just a normal person thrust into extraordinary circumstances. He can't die. Yet here he is, spending the last of his effort to take down a Guardian.

    Just like a hero.

    "That's ENOUGH." Gwen's hands latch onto Hiro as the last of the fire is cast, pulling him roughly backwards, forcing him to stay still, trying to assess his injuries. "It's okay," she corrects herself, her tone softer, her eyes wet with tears. "You need to stop." 

<Pose Tracker> Boomerang has posed.

Sabre Fang slams into sheer nothing and bounces away. There is a slight widening of Boomerang's mechanical eyes at the sudden presence of the Black Wizard upon the field. Lunn looks up, surprised, and blinks at Borgan. Hesitation is written across his face; then, however, he nods once to him. "Borgan... yes," he says. "Agreed. Battle on, heroes! Show them what you are made of!"

The two vanish away.

Boomerang holds a hand out -- and Crescent Blade flashes, then returns to his hand, called back to its master's grasp. Fei slams into him a moment later, fire exploding outward; the Metal Demon is slammed away from Zed and Gwen, and hits the ground, rolling a few times. Smoke wafts up from him, sand blasted outward. "Love... don't make me laugh. The only thing worth loving is the feeling of battle!"

He backhands Fei, slamming him across the field.

The Guardian of Desire turns -- and his stare at Lucia is baleful, and yet, he says nothing. Nor does he lunge again. He turns, instead.

Hiro rushes in, and his sword swings down again and again -- slashing hard into the Guardian Lord. He throws his head to the side; he gets slammed into by another sword, courtesy of Loren's strike. The Guardian does not even seem to stumble. He instead turns at the sound of a shout.

Towards Tethelle. He roars his defiance -- and the Guardian Lord opens his jaws to meet her. Then, however, her blade slams into his body and shreds through. He spasms again; he rips himself free, and the raw power of his form bleeds out. He turns his head, power beginning to form. The same pinprick that Loren felt in his knee is felt inside of Tethelle's stomach. A growing sense of wrongness, and then--

"Luceid."

The sense of wrongness stops. Luceid's head turns to look at Boomerang. "We're leaving," the Metal Demon says. "Yarobeleedt! Get the hell out of here. We did what we wanted... a hell of a fight."

"...Very well. Do not think I will forget this!"

There are two flashes of purple -- and then Boomerang and Luceid both vanish.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei goes flying. He hits the ground and crumples. Noeline asks a pertinent question.

What will it take?

Fei had answered that before. He worries one day they'll know that what it takes is blood. 

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.


Lucia and Luceid stare each other down but right now she's more concerned about the events surrounding Luceid than his professed desire.

Gwen is calling - but he's single-minded right now. She's calling - but he's just attacking. But after the third swing. Gwen's hands force him backwards. And he crumples - because he was running on fumes. He has no idea he was attacking the Guardian Lord of Desire.

There's a certain irony in a guy who suppresses his desires so hard doing that.

Instead Gwen tells him it's enough, and he forces himself to look at her.

"Can't... Can't stop... Gwen... I'm okay... but it's not... okay... Jean needs to know..."

And yet he's got no strength left, he's leaning so heavily against her - and his sword falls from his hand.

"...I promised... I'd give her... place to... come back to..."

He says as he swallows, "...needs to know... I'm alright... I don't... want her to... do anything..."

It might occur to Gwen that he didn't see what Jean just did.

He says in a voice that's just a whisper, "... she'd regret."

And then the big idiot slumps against her.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    Will Riesenlied realise that one day, the only answer is blood?

    It might be a truly dark day, on that one, when she can't effectively call herself what she is anymore... but as has been exposed lately-- who is she, anyway? A lost, little unnamed Dragon Unit searching for identity... ...

    She gazes towards Yarobeleedt with a gaze that is simultaneously soft and firm, contradictory in its existence. Looking on with a look defanged of venom and hatred, of fevour and ardour of battle, yet... with that resolve of someone who chooses to believe, no matter how foolish it might be.

    In that regard, Yarobeleedt has already found his answer, much more than she already has.

    Riesenlied's still kneeling, somehow not collapsed even from the extraordinary punishment levelled her way from both Luceid, Boomerang and Yarobeleedt all...

    But she hurts, because when she looks at Noeline, trembling as she hears that anger and frustration in her partner and knows she's caused so much of it, through her stubbornness and insistence to reach out even though she should know better. She reaches forward to cling onto Noeline's hands to murmur:

    "I'm sorry. ... for being such a pain. I'm sorry..."

    She looks towards Layna -- or rather, the mysterious, Dashing Pugilist, wondering who this strange yet striking figure who's saved them is. She bows her head down and whispers, "Thank you for aiding us -- and our friends too. Whoever you are... you have my gratitude..." 

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Zed hits Boomerang really hard. It's totally awesome.

"Boomerang..." Zed grunts, half-collapsing against his own blade. "I know... That you'll be back. And when you are, I'll be ready."

He is a Boomerang, after all.

...

...

Wait. Where's Gwen? Zed blinks, glancing left, glancing right, and finds...

OH NO, HIRO!?

"Hiro!?" Zed yelps, zipping over in a flurry of flash-steps over to where Gwen and Hiro and Lucia and the best cat-dragon ever have all coagulated together. "Come on!" Zed says, suddenly seeming more... serious than he had been all night. "We need to get them out of here before the Guard realizes."

"Everyone," he orders, "Onto my shoulders. We ride for the hills." 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

The cyclone roaring around Layna's fist quiets down and she stands up straight, watching as Yarobeleedt flies off into the distance. There's a proud look on her face, even if she's still looking a little wounded from the fight.

And then she hears a voice calling out to her. She looks back and offers Riesenlied a bright smile, doffing her cap and offering her a polite bow in return. Without the hat it's a little more obvious that it's Layna, but...

...Well, there was just something about a domino mask.

"Think nothing of it, lass! Promised a friend of mine that I'd keep an eye of things while she took care o' some personal business." She says. 

<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.

For a long moment, Jean stays on the ground, trying to get ahold of herself, to get a handle on her shaky breathing, on the painful energy flowing through her, turning on her now that she's not directing it outward. Her teeth grit, but that's the only concession she makes to how it feels, just enough to show she's blocking something. ...A long moment, before she turns, and looks at Pearl.

Pearl, still breathing.

The peace of that instant is broken quickly by a rising cry from those of the crowd still here, from guards along the edges. "She's one of them!" one shouts, and the mrmurs carry, sprading to the others.

"Get her! Get them both!"

Jean's eyes snap up and she looks around sharply, seeing the guards start to hesitantly make their way to her--guards in conventional armor, and practitioners from local dojos, too. Quickly, she'll be surrounded.

"...Sorry," she says, with a look towards the crowd, a moment's softness--before she shifts along the ground and puts both arms underneath Pearl, picking her up by the shoulder and knees both, arms supporting her, careful of the claws.

"But I can't stop here."

Jean closes her eyes, focuses--and draws on that energy. There's a moment's delay, a heartbeat's silence around her.

"Hurry! Before she can--"

Then the arena for yards around her explodes into shadow, a hazy darkness blocking all sight near her.

In the darkness, Jean's steps are silent. By the time she's visible, she's already disappearing into the exit... And set to run. And run she does. 

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    His blade slams into the Desire Guardian's side; it doesn't even make the lupine being slow its steps. There's little sign he'd hit it at all--

    That, alone, provokes an upwelling of fury. Logically, he should be grateful the creature's not trying to murder him as diligently as had been previously attempted. Logically, he should cut his losses now and fall back. But logic is in the process of being rapidly buried under the remembered sting of past insult and degredation, and he starts after the Guardian, shortly after Tethelle's strike slams home to--

    He's advanced on the enormous wolf all of a couple of steps when Boomerang speaks.

    When both Boomerang and Guardian vanish.

    He grits his teeth, staring into the spot the wolf had stood.

    Nice try, but you would have failed anyway. Right?
    He shakes his head, as if to mute that voice.
    Then he takes a breath and sheathes that sword. ...Stop it.

    There's no time for this. Not now. He's got to report in. Find out more, if he can. This likely isn't ending here, if his past experiences have taught him anyway.

    Though he takes a glance at the others, some of them in poor condition, the pilot included, he doesn't linger. He breaks off in a run across the field, apparently making for the stairs that would take him up and out.

    Though it does raise one question, as he goes:
    Do... concession stand employees all have swords on Lunar?
    Maybe the crowds get rowdier at these things than people think. 

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.


"You're kidding me Zed!"

"No Ruby he sounds very serious."

"He's being our noble steed - like Gulliver."

"... I don't have a sugar cube for a reward though."

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"THAT'S OKAY!" Zed throws a big thumbs up! "THAT WAS ALREADY PLENTY SWEET ENOUGH FOR ME." 

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    Noeline grits her teeth hard enough her head pulses with pain, forcing herself to face forward - to watch until Layna's strike on Yarobeleedt completes, until the metal demon has escaped at some velocity, until Boomerang and Luceid have slipped away with nothing more than taunts. In the wake of the attack, they are all left still standing, but there's no satisfaction in it - not when the same thing has happened before, not when the same thing will surely happen again. Always more Trials, always more struggles.

    The plan to draw out the Shadow Dragon leader is more or less in tatters, by her reckoning; they could possibly interrogate Pearl, but somehow Noeline doubts they'd get much out of her, and it's not as if anyone would be coming to save her. She can only watch dully as Jean absconds, as the cry goes up for them all to escape.

    At least it's a chance to bring herself under control, long and slow breaths as she pushes that frustration back down. She only swallows when she feels Riesenlied's hand in hers, the sensation pulling her back to reality a little; she looks down at her partner, sucking in a breath before she kneels down to pull Riese into a hug. "... it's not you I'm angry at," she murmurs softly and privately. "It's not your fault, for simply wanting to get through to them." 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    Riesenlied still has no idea that it's Layna, even without the hat.

    "A friend...? Okay..."

    I mean, Mystere, as a disguise, is going to be too difficult for her to perceive, one day. But she does accept Noeline as she pulls her in, as she glances to Lucia, Hiro, Gwen and Zed; as she looks to Jean absconding with Pearl in a burst of shadow, eyes widening.

    She doesn't look convinced, but does let Noeline tuck her in and pull her up as they, too, abscond away from the arena... 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Gwen doesn't say anything as Hiro voices what drove him.

    Instead, as she feels Hiro's weight slump against her, Gwen gathers him into a tearful hug. "She knows."

    The courier looks up to see Jean, but instead finds soldiers blocking her view, surrounding the green-haired young woman. Her breath hitches in her throat, her mind desperately trying to think of something, anything to quell the soldiers and the crowds' understandable fury.

    She comes up with nothing, instead, feeling Hiro's weight against her, understanding what it means. "I'll make sure he's okay, Jean," she murmurs quietly, as Jean disappears, carrying Pearl. "And we'll come find you. Bring you home."

    Now. How is she going to get out of here? Also, Hiro's kinda bleeding a lot. Thomas would be great here, he could heal Hiro-

    -if he was here.

    As Zed pulls up, Gwen looks up at him with immense, teary gratitude, even if the prospect of everyone getting on Zed's shoulders seems a little impossible, even for Zed.

    she's trust him, he's Zed

    "Thank you, Zed! Already, I owe you two times, n' it hasn't even been a proper amount of time!" She jokes, but her voice still shakes. She'll be fine, though.

    Jean is the one they need to worry about. 

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"Ahahahaha, don't worry about it!" Zed answers, lowering himself to allow everyone to dogpile right on top of him. "We'll call this one even. You were the one who helped wake me up back there, after all. Come on, all aboard and let's get gone!"

And then they do.

Provided they aren't, like, intercepted by a mysterious masked knight or something.

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