2020-04-11: The Gang Comforts an Old Man
- Log: The Gang Comforts an Old Man
- Cast: Zed, Gwen Whitlock, Ida Everstead-Rey, Claude C. Kenny, Lily Keil, Hiro, Shade of Hyades
- Where: Under Traffic
- Date: April 12, 2020
- Summary: Having borne witness to the memories of Hyades' final days that were preserved within Doom Bringer, Zed and his friends are finally confronted by a spirit who has spent the last several hundred years trapped in a prison of self-inflicted guilt and suffering. They are faced with no choice but to do battle with the lingering ghost of one of Hyades' final, tragic heroes. They fight not only to save themselves, but to save his tormented soul... And prove that they have what it takes to shoulder the memories he carried with him from his dead, near-forgotten world.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Sorrow and pain, self-flagellation and self-hatred, they've traveled through all of these things to come to this point. It could have been called foolish. After all, Zed could have just... left Doom Bringer behind. Tossed it into another garbage pile, let it sit and the passage of time slowly turn its form to rust. A dull, cursed blade, abandoned by all, forgotten in some dark cave. Someday in the far future, someone might hear a rumor about a mysterious weapon resting within a haunted ruin and venture there to seize the power it promises for themselves.
He could have... But he didn't.
He traveled into the bowels of the earth, carrying an ancient malice upon his shoulders. He brought friends and confidants with him, and together they ventured into peril-- together, they suffered previously unimaginable pain. Witnessed, as one so succinctly described, the murder of a world.
They could have left it at that. Found some way out of the void they'd fallen into. They did not. The mystery could not be left unsolved.
Instead, having shunned the path of least resistance, they have come... Here.
Zed braces as darkness washes the world away, as shadow obliterates all that is... And replaces it with a twisted memory of all that once was. He stands on the shadow of a cracked street, the rough suggestion of what could possibly be fissures run up and down its length. Or perhaps that is simply where the memory is... Falling apart. How long has it been since the shade standing upon the broken road could even properly remember himself?
Red energy roils across the living Hyadean's chest, breaking against him like a wave against the shore. "You... Everything you've suffered, repeating over and over again all this time... And you still want to fight?" The malice in the shade's eyes is unmistakable. A violent impulse burns in its stare and boils in its scream. Zed grits his teeth and lifts... A perfect, mirror image of the shade's own sword. Doom Bringer is heavy in his hands.
"...Alright. Come on, then," Zed says, his stance lowering as his soles grind against the half-remembered stone of a dead world, "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get. If that's what it'll take for you to let us shoulder this pain, then that's how it'll have to be!"
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Foreign emotions crash over the redhead, alien in a literal sense, and oddly familiar. Memories of a father, a man who loved, who had a home, who had a life of friends, normalcy, duty, comraderie.
These... are the memories of a Hyadean? Children, born from a womb, of two people being together, a world that was not as centered on war and conquering as Gwen had assumed. A world where Mother was not the center. A world with no Mother.
A world they themselves would have lost, if Mother had managed to conquer everything. And now this remnant stands, angry still, a monument to what the Hyadeans had lost, and what Mother could have done to Filgaia.
A fragment, that will not sleep, despite his job now done. The merciful thing, in turn, is to....
Duty beckons the utterly ordinary and harmless courier, almost akin to a compulsion, prompting her ARM to whirr to attention, pyrite yellow light and all peeking through the fabric of her sleeve. Building static electricity stirs the curls of light red, turquoise earrings glinting in the light.
Death is a mercy.
"Zed, I'm following your lead," Gwen states suddenly, a nod in his direction. "I won't object to whatever you decide is best, as long as we come out alive on the other end of this." It feels like an odd thing for her to say, she realizes. But better this, than trusting her own judgement.
She's already loading bullets into her ARM, raising it with a quick bend to lodge them into place, when Zed has her answer. "Alright. Let's do this, then."
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Bounding Flight! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Bounding Flight for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper and Quick! applied to Gwen Whitlock!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The Shade's wrath pours out like a great deluge. To the others present within this strange place, it's like a shearing wind, an unstoppable flood, or a raging bonfire. Ida sets her feet, but there is only so much she can do in the face of such transcendent rage. The darkness sweeps over her. She raises arms to protect her face, and feels Hyadean exoskeleton unfurling to shield her. Her heart hammers against her ribs. Memories flash before her eyes, dredged from the depths of her mind by the onslaught.
--Zed, angrier than she'd ever seen him, snarling at her. 'I am neither dead, nor a monster...'--
--Gwen dropping limply to the ground, her arm disconnected at the shoulder. Having done the deed, Kalve turns to her, his face expressionless--
--Riesenlied, catching Ida's unstoppable strike with the palm of her hand. 'Grow up,' she says--
The flood of darkness flows past. In its wake, Ida is left on hands and knees, her fingers sharpened to claws that dig into the memory of flagstones. Her chest heaves with shallow, shuddering breaths. The memory of the ground beneath her is hard, and solid. Her shirt is smooth, and sticky with sweat. Bombarded on all sides by memory, Ida focuses on what her body feels, here and now. The air smells like the memory of ash and cordite. Zed's scarf is still bright orange. His hair is still green.
She's not ready to fight, but it's good enough.
Ida pushes herself upright. Her right eye is still bright emerald-green, and red linework traces down that side of her face, like a tattoo. Quicksilver and crimson stain her clothing, along with the unnatural hue of Mother's blood. She gives Zed and the others a single nod, to let them know she's as okay as she's going to get right now. Then, she turns to the Shade. She cannot help but remember Asura, locked in the bowels of the Water Temple. She remembers what she told him.
Ida touches her hands together, and slides her feet apart, executing the Hyadean martial bow that Kalve drilled into her during her training. "Then come," she says, to the specter. "Let it out."
DC: Shade of Hyades switches forms to Ancient Containment ARM Gryndille! DC: Shade of Hyades switches forms to Memory of Endings - Ancient Ire!
GS: Shade of Hyades spends 2 Combo on Inspire and Reload! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Cosmo Memory! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Cosmo Memory! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Zed with Cosmo Memory! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Lily Keil with Cosmo Memory! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Hiro with Cosmo Memory! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Cosmo Memory! GS: Shade of Hyades has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Shade of Hyades's Cosmo Memory for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! applied to Lily Keil! GS: Reload! Lily Keil gains 15 extra FP from Shade of Hyades! GS: Lily Keil gains a Combo from Inspire! +accept 1
GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Shade of Hyades's Cosmo Memory for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! applied to Zed! GS: Reload! Zed gains 15 extra FP from Shade of Hyades! GS: Zed gains a Combo from Inspire! GS: Hiro takes a solid hit from Shade of Hyades's Cosmo Memory for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! applied to Hiro! GS: Reload! Hiro gains 15 extra FP from Shade of Hyades! GS: Hiro gains a Combo from Inspire! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Shade of Hyades's Cosmo Memory for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Reload! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 15 extra FP from Shade of Hyades! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey gains a Combo from Inspire! GS: Claude C. Kenny takes a solid hit from Shade of Hyades's Cosmo Memory for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! applied to Claude C. Kenny! GS: Reload! Claude C. Kenny gains 15 extra FP from Shade of Hyades! GS: Claude C. Kenny gains a Combo from Inspire! GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Shade of Hyades's Cosmo Memory for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Reload! Gwen Whitlock gains 15 extra FP from Shade of Hyades! GS: Gwen Whitlock gains a Combo from Inspire! +Health
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude C. Kenny was really quiet during the last part of this mission. Maybe he was in the reserve party or something. Whatever the reason, he is here now, standing a bit behind Zed and off to one side, gritting his teeth as a wave of pure killing intent blasts out from the shadowy figure in front of them. Claude's hair whips and dances as the power washes over him. The last time he sensed something like this, it was Mother. Or maybe his mother.
(The two share more than a few similarities.)
"Alternatively, we could not fight it," Claude suggests half-seriously to Zed. "This might be like some sort of secret test of, like... sword character or something." He pauses, considering. "You could try hugging it, maybe," he adds as his own sword leaves its sheath. "I can give you some mood music if you need me to."
The blonde spaceman starts humming a short tune. For those who were present for the ancient sword barrows, they might recognize his rendition of '(Your Sword's Got Me) Crazy in Love.'
GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Zed with 104th Century Smack Talk! GS: Claude C. Kenny has gained 3 Combo! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Claude C. Kenny's 104th Century Smack Talk for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The Shade's wrath pours out like a great deluge. To the others present within this strange place, it's like a shearing wind, an unstoppable flood, or a raging bonfire. Ida sets her feet, but there is only so much she can do in the face of such transcendent rage. The darkness sweeps over her. She raises arms to protect her face, and feels Hyadean exoskeleton unfurling to shield her. Her heart hammers against her ribs. Memories flash before her eyes, dredged from the depths of her mind by the onslaught.
--Zed, angrier than she'd ever seen him, snarling at her. 'I am neither dead, nor a monster...'--
--Gwen dropping limply to the ground, her arm disconnected at the shoulder. Having done the deed, Kalve turns to her, his face expressionless--
--Riesenlied, catching Ida's unstoppable strike with the palm of her hand. 'Grow up,' she says--
The flood of darkness flows past. In its wake, Ida is left on hands and knees, her fingers sharpened to claws that dig into the memory of flagstones. Her chest heaves with shallow, shuddering breaths. The memory of the ground beneath her is hard, and solid. Her shirt is smooth, and sticky with sweat. Bombarded on all sides by memory, Ida focuses on what her body feels, here and now. The air smells like the memory of ash and cordite. Zed's scarf is still bright orange. His hair is still green.
She's not ready to fight, but it's good enough.
Ida pushes herself upright. Her right eye is still bright emerald-green, and red linework traces down that side of her face, like a tattoo. Quicksilver and crimson stain her clothing, along with the unnatural hue of Mother's blood. She gives Zed and the others a single nod, to let them know she's as okay as she's going to get right now. Then, she turns to the Shade. She cannot help but remember Asura, locked in the bowels of the Water Temple. She remembers what she told him.
Ida touches her hands together, and slides her feet apart, executing the Hyadean martial bow that Kalve drilled into her during her training. "Then come," she says, to the specter. "Let it out."
Ida's aura ignites again. The inner core of fire leaps around her, erratically, as if blown about by a violent wind--but the outer aura, the one that's always been there, is a brilliant golden halo. Ida steps forwards, each movement slow, deliberate, and gentle. Her right hand reaches out in a motion both swift and calm, to grasp the Shade's forearm and redirect its wrath.
After all, Method Mercury always moves with such uncompromising force.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Shade of Hyades with Open Palm! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey assumes the Stoic stance! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Open Palm for 126 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily's eyes do their best, her mind attempts to process the signals she has been given. Is it even her eyes? It is hard to say. But all is darkness, and suggestions of places will have to do, suggestions of a world, a phantom of a memory that is perhaps less than nothing.
Her eyes open again; she has finished her destructive work. What she sees is gold, for 'self', red for 'anger', and this may be enough. There is a sword, and wielding a sword is someone to fight. These suggest a reality.
She has said nothing since those last memories, memories of family and of happiness destroyed, even the great wave of darkness did not seem to move her. As form coalesces, Lily stares towards it. Red light blows off, a scream tears forth, and Lily opens her stance, stepping over nothing in particular that may never have been anything at all. "The character of a sword is in how it cuts," Lily says with a shrug. "...Ida. Don't hold back."
Flame erupts around her hands, orange-red circuitry gleaming on her skin. "...I would want to fight, too."
She twists and whirls forward, two blades of fire extending from the flames about her hands as she brings them down in a paired strike for their opponent.
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Shade of Hyades with Flamme Rend! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Shade of Hyades guards a hit from Lily Keil's Flamme Rend for 69 hit points! GS: Mighty! applied to Lily Keil! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Hiro's head gives a small shake, as visions fade. He's always had a Grandfather, but he's never had a mother. And for one brief moment in time, the orphan wonders... if his Mother might have looked at him that way, after he was born.
But like many other times in his life, darkness steals away these moments, these thoughts. Just like Zophar stealing away the awe he had of witnessing Lucia in her full power. The quiet reverence on his expression steels itself into resolve so swiftly. As he reaches for his sword hilt, drawing it and holding it at an angle just above his waistline as he slides his front foot forward.
"He's been here a long time." He says to Zed. "Long enough that he's lost something important - but I guess, that's still too much of a part of him to ever really go away."
It's a hard thing for him to swallow, that even if his suffering had consumed so much, that he might still be a grim Warrior Shade. It sends a shiver down the boy's spine. "I don't understand everything you've been through, even after all I've seen."
The boy says, quietly, the pressure of knowing how difficult this battle is going to be getting to him. "But maybe after you cross swords with all of us - we'll really be able to hear what you want us to."
Then there's Claude's suggestion, and the boy blinks his eyes, as if suddenly at a loss for words. Like the suggestion felt entirely dissonant to the situation. Whereas Ruby suddenly floats over Claude's head, flap flap flapping her wings. "How about you go hug it? Then you'll pass the test - and if you're wrong then only you will get stabbed."
Perhaps he'd been inclined to do as Gwen is doing, follow Zed's lead but then - Ida attacks first, and even as calm as she is, Lily attacks next. And perhaps her words are enough to sway him forward, as if a starting gun had gone off. Suddenly he darts forward in a burst of movement.
His sword moves in a flurry of blows from high to low and back again, stabbing and probing to try and strike a vulnerable point. It may be shadow and malice, but the hint of armor still implies it is protecting something. And if he knows anything about wielding a sword its that 'something' is where you must strike in a fight like this.
GS: Hiro has attacked Shade of Hyades with Sword Dance! GS: Hiro has completed his action. GS: Shade of Hyades guards a hit from Hiro's Sword Dance for 69 hit points! GS: Cripple! applied to Shade of Hyades!
<Pose Tracker> Shade of Hyades has posed.
'You still want to fight?'
A creature like the Shade reveals little about its emotions; it scarcely has a face to reveal them. Burning golden eyes look at Zed, regarding him with a certain calm that fits so neatly with the pained, enraged scream before.
"I'm beyond want," he says. "Beyond desire. Battle is all I know... all I will accept!"
His eyes are on Zed, mostly. He recognizes the blade he wields; it keeps, before the battle begins, his attention upon Zed and his blade. And yet, his eyes do move -- to Gwen and her ARM, then Ida and her mismatched eyes. And then his eyes turn to Claude, and really look for a moment.
He shakes his head slowly.
Ida charges first, open palm striking into his chest. He proves solid enough, armor bending the way she would expect. He slams his copy of Doom Bringer down, piercing the ground -- like it was rock -- and skids back, before stopping himself. The blade tears from the ground; stones fly free and then fade to a shadowy smoke, as he does, and then he catches the two blades of fire. Each is parried, and Lily's flames blow apart into sparks.
But Hiro follows up, a moment later. His blade slams into the shadow of Doom Bringer, beating it back with a flash of steel and sparks, and then Hiro's blade slams into armor, before the sword chops down -- and slams it away.
And then the Shade screams. It shakes the ground around them as he goes rushing forward. His blade dances with strange, too-block red flames. He slashes it at Ida and Hir, and then moves past into a spin. The sword slashes at Gwen, too. Flame wafts away as he finishes his spin, and then throws up one outstretched palm.
A bolt of dark light forms -- and then flies, explosively, for Lily. At the same time, the fire comes back, and he lunges, stabbing at Claude. A blast of fire explodes off the blade.
But his rush ends with Zed. He swings the blade back, and it grows heavy with darkness; black shade drips off the blade as, with another scream, he chops down across the fellow Hyadean.
GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Hellfire Wheel! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Hellfire Wheel! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Hiro with Hellfire Wheel! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Lily Keil with Dark Force! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Burning Sky Blade! GS: Shade of Hyades has gained 1 Combo! GS: Shade of Hyades's Stoic stance ends. He enters the Avenger stance! GS: Shade of Hyades spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Zed with Doom Bringer! GS: Shade of Hyades has gained 2 Combo! GS: Shade of Hyades has completed his action. GS: Hiro guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Hellfire Wheel for 69 hit points! GS: Claude C. Kenny critically Guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Burning Sky Blade for 31 hit points! GS: Lily Keil critically Guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Dark Force for 25 hit points! +Health
GS: Zed critically Guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Doom Bringer for 30 hit points! GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Shade of Hyades's Hellfire Wheel for 114 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Shade of Hyades's Hellfire Wheel for 57 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Force Evade activates!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
"...well, sometimes it's got to be a secret test of character," Claude C. Kenny grumps. "My mom was very clear about..." He stops talking, a memory rising in his mind.
'YEARS EARLIER'
"Okay, Claude," Ilia Silvestri-Kenny says to her son, pointing at him with her left hand, which is holding a beer bottle. (The other hand is also holding a beer bottle.) "So if you ever find yourself in, like, some sort of mystical world of internal kung fu or whatever..."
"This seems... really unlikely," a nine-year-old Claude says.
"Zip it - it happens more than you think." Ilia downs the beer and then twists open the other one. "Anyway, you might find yourself fighting a shadowy version of yourself or something. Or maybe your weapon. Or Roddick. Or your dad, for that matter." Ilia's expression darkens as Claude starts to smile. "ANYWAY. When that happens, there's a chance it's like a secret test of character or something. Like, you're supposed to demonstrate your worth by suppressing your inner darkness. You want to watch out for that."
MiniClaude frowns. "So... I should, like... hug it or something?"
"HELL NO!" Ilia shouts, jabbing her beer hand toward her son. (The first hand is also holding a beer again.) "I expect you to KICK ITS ASS!"
"But... what about surrendering control to regain control?"
"THAT SOUND SLIKE TALK FROM PEOPLE WHO LIKE LOSING FIGHTS!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH"
'NOW'
"Or maybe not," Claude grunts as the dark figure surges and weaves; the blonde swordsman backsteps to his right and turns, bringing his own sword down in a two-handed block. However, there are advantages to being Zed's regular sparring partner, one of which is that Claude is well aware of Doom bringer's rather special properties, and has been (literally) burned by them enough times that he knows they're coming and has built up countermeasures. As a result, his parry is angled diagonally down and away from his hip; this allows the inevitable fire discharge to blast past Claude, doing little more then scorch his trousers.
Still, the force of the impact sends shivers up the young man's arms; he grits his teeth and clenches his fist. "I tried to be nice!" he shouts, raising his right hand up. Blue fire wreathes his hand, which is covered in a black leather glove, into which red letters have been stitched:
EFF YOU
GOESTS!
While Claude knows how to spell now, he does not know if the Ghost-Punching Gloves work with proper, non-eight-year-old English grammar and usage. He sends his right hand surging forward, aimed to connect with the dark combatant square in its perfect shadowy jawline, as Claude all the while hums Huey Lewis's 'I want New Drug'.
GS: Claude C. Kenny spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Shade of Hyades with Meteor Palm! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Claude I am pretty sure that hugging is not going to fix this. I am good at hugs, but I don't think I am THIS good at hugs--" It takes only a split second's distraction from the battle for Zed to completely miss his chance to do anything about Ida and Lily and Hiro sallying forth to meet the shade on his own terms. "--Also I'm pretty sure hugging isn't an option anymore anyway."
If it even was an option before.
Zed clicks his teeth as unnaturally black flame scorches the battlefield. His eyes snap back to fix upon the Shade of Hyades-- and thereafter seem unable to pull away. Every instinct is screaming against the inside of his skull: this one is a threat, this one is a manifestation of mortal danger. "Gwen, I-- Appreciate it. I'll do my best!" His grin is forced, but characteristically toothy nonetheless. "And as for you..."
Too fast. The shade is already mid-rush, bladework flashing like a river of liquid violence across the memory of this broken world. Steel sinew contracts with incredible speed. As the Shade's swings his blade down, Zed swings his up to meet it.
Rise meets fall. Twin swords clash, shedding sparks of phantasmagoric light into the oppressive dark. He skids back, forced away and yet locked in mortal combat all at once. "You... You sound like we did, back then," he whispers, expression lost in a storm of confused emotion. It lasts only for a moment. Zed steels his resolve, he roars and pushes, flame of his own make billowing out as he completes his rising slash. "Mother is gone, she's dead!" He yells, smashing a crater into the flagstones with his heel as he steps into a follow-up strike. "We killed her! We learned what she was, and we killed her! I know it won't change what happened here, what happened to you-- to our people! But that has to count for something, doesn't it!?"
GS: Zed has attacked Shade of Hyades with Saint Arts - Summer's Fervor! GS: Zed has gained 1 Combo! GS: Zed assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Zed has completed his action. GS: Shade of Hyades completely evades a hit from Claude C. Kenny's Meteor Palm! GS: Shade of Hyades guards a hit from Zed's Saint Arts - Summer's Fervor for 76 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Claude is suggesting hugs. 'Wait', says the purest part of Gwen ever, 'that sounds like a great idea, why didn't I think of that?'
Also, is Claude's glove mispelled
It may be too late for hugs, Zed counters.
"I mean, huggin's always an option," Gwen chimes in, more seemingly her old, guileless self. And exhibit B: she basically straight up eats a strong blow from the Shade's sword. Well, not _literally_, since that would be even more painful.
"Guah!!" Gwen is sent spiraling back to tumble against the hard, hard ground.
eff u goests, indeed.
Leaping onto her feet in a manner that suggests adrenaline has not yet allowed her to fully appreciate the consequences of her actions just yet, Gwen wipes at a scrape on her cheek, smearing freckles with a layer of red.
".... Okay- now it's time t'pound some sense right back into you!"
And so, she runs, fist pulled back.
"I'll punch you like I punched Mother!"
she is going to punch a ghost
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Shade of Hyades with Shoryu-gwen! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Shade of Hyades critically Guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Shoryu-gwen for 18 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The Shade speaks. Ida's eyes lock on his face, and her mouth opens, ever-so-slightly. The Shade looks back at her, and while her hand is already halfway to his chest, the look on her face is one of genuine surprise. "There is," she begins, and for a moment, it's all she can get out. Ida wastes no energy on overexertion--as the Shade digs in blade and heels, she snaps back into her fighting stance, open hands raised. She starts to circle him, moving fluidly and without taking her eyes off him. "There's still an 'I' beneath it all, isn't there?" Somehow, she was afraid that there was nothing more than a mass of horrid memories.
The Shade screams. The sound shreds through Ida's consciousness like a razor drawn across her nerves. Her teeth come together with an audible 'clack'. The phantom copy of Doom Bringer blurs directly at her face.
Ida's right hand is in motion before she realizes it's moving. The bonfire around her reignites, burning steadily. She feels something solid in her hand, the hilt of a blade--in a single, practiced sweep, it catches the Shade's weapon, directing the blow away from her face and towards her right shoulder. The phantom of Doom Bringer slams into her exoskeleton with bone-jarring force, but that's markedly less unpleasant than what could've happened.
What could've--
Ida's left hand holds another blade. She steps in closer, sweeping it at the Shade's ribs in a swift strike that nevertheless leaves little opportunity for counterattack. Balance offense and defense.
Internally, Ida realizes that she recognizes those blades--they're the ones Odessa stole. For the moment, she has more pressing matters; terror can come later.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Shade of Hyades with Muscle Memory! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Stoic stance ends. GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Shade of Hyades takes a glancing hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Muscle Memory for 49 hit points! GS: Mighty! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
All he knows; all he will accept. Lily thought as much--it brought her to bring an attack to begin, and now her blades are met with parrying strikes. Her flame is just gone and that is a surprise--she weaves backward to let Hiro in, and listens to the scream again. Strange flame, spinning...
There--dark light flies for Lily and she stares at it, another explosion of darkness meeting it just before both touch her; the initial blast is too big to block entirely, but she moves to the side and then forward despite the injury. Maybe sometimes it is a secret test of character, but--
"I learned different lessons about character." 'Back then', Zed says...
"You're a connection to that past," Lily says to him. But she does not continue; instead she watches Gwen push forward, and pulls something from her side--a round object that holds a pin and a handle, the pin rattling to the ground. "Down!" Lily calls, as she hurls the grenade to the opposite side of their foe. But she looks thoughtful, still, strangely distant.
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Shade of Hyades with Pineapple Schnapps! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
The impact of his sword being batted away jars his arm, such that he even takes a moment to massage it with his other hand and shake it out. This is fortunate because the shade's scream alerts him to the coming retaliation. With his shield up, he manages to partially divert the force of that blade trailing red flames, but he almost diverts it straight into his face until he whips up his sword to meet it.
Screeching off of it in parry, he backsteps suddenly and turns a blow that might have burned part of his face off into one that singed his bangs and eyebrows.
Hiro gets ready to swing again but the Shade is already moving towards Zed. The two are already locked together. And as soon as he moves in to join them. Suddenly Lily is shouting Down, and he screeches to a halt.
Deciding to keep his distance in the wake of the grenade's explosion, he says, "We did." Hiro agrees with Zed, "All of us did. Maybe it's not about balancing some scales though."
It wasn't so long ago that Hiro felt he had to make Siegfried pay for what he did to Lucia. Wanted to make him pay. And then when he died - independent of anything he could do, save witnessing it, he found such feelings were ultimately hollow. "Just knowing she's gone, may not be enough to bring him any peace at all."
The boy says, before jutting his shield hand forward, and making a gesture with it. As he feels hollow feeling well up inside him, purplish runes begin to form upon the ground beneath the Spectre.
"Oh twisted Door of Distortion - open wide!" They glow, conjoining with lines that flow about from one to the next. A shadowy orb beginning to coalesce overhead, growing larger and more animate with every moment. "Negative Gate!"
The pulsating sphere strikes again and again, an art intended to blunt the edge of its spiritual power.
GS: Hiro has attacked Shade of Hyades with Negative Gate! GS: Hiro has gained 1 Combo! GS: Hiro has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Shade of Hyades guards a hit from Lily Keil's Pineapple Schnapps for 100 hit points! GS: Cover! applied to Lily Keil!
GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Hiro's Negative Gate for 110 hit points! GS: Mute! applied to Shade of Hyades!
<Pose Tracker> Shade of Hyades has posed.
The Shade snarls in response to Claude -- and his glove. The punch slams in, but the Shade proves slippery. He ducks, an afterimage trailing, and Claude's blow manages to do little but shoot through those afterimages. He turns, then, while crouching. With a backhanded slash, he tries to cut into Claude -- and then a blast of darkness flies off the blade.
"One more death... do you think one more death ends a battlefield!?" the Shade shouts back at Zed, as he swings up his copy of Doom Bringer. The twin blades meet, the Shade crouching. The impact drives him down, a cracked crater exploding out under his feet. Then, he surges forward, and swings the blade around.
There is something in his eyes -- relief, regret. And then, again, anger. He swings his blade about, and slams it for Zed's side. A blast of darkness explodes off it, too.
He turns, then, and throws up a hand. His armored hand, the plates in it becoming more defined by each movement, catches Gwen's hand. Her punch sends a ripple up his arm, and yet he holds. He turns, and then he ducks aside from Ida's punch. It just grazes along his armored side.
And he leaps, throws a hand downward, and a bolt of shadow flies down. It slams into the ground between the two women, then explodes out in a rippling wave of shadow. He lands, though, in time for Lily's grenade to strike. The fiery blast throws him backward.
He rolls a couple of times, and then he charges. He rushes for Lily, with a wordless shout. His own copy of Doom Bringer flashes out, as he slashes for her side -- and it drips with the same shadow he commanded before. He turns, not a moment later, to see Hiro's spell.
The blasts of force from the shadowy orb slam into him, knocking him back from Lily. He skids away, in a three-point stance, and then swings up his own hand. A bolt of shade appears -- and this time, hurtles across the field for Hiro instead.
GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Nightsever! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Zed with Nightsever! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Dark Matter! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Dark Matter! GS: Shade of Hyades spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Lily Keil with Doom Bringer! GS: Shade of Hyades has gained 1 Combo! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Hiro with Dark Force! GS: Shade of Hyades has completed his action. GS: Hiro takes a solid hit from Shade of Hyades's Dark Force for 128 hit points! GS: Claude C. Kenny completely evades a hit from Shade of Hyades's Nightsever! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: CRITICAL! Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Shade of Hyades's Doom Bringer for 237 hit points! GS: Poison! applied to Lily Keil! GS: Zed guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Nightsever for 55 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak! applied to Zed! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades a hit from Shade of Hyades's Dark Matter! GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Dark Matter for 71 hit points! GS: Gwen Whitlock's Force Guard activates! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
"Tch," Claude C. Kenny puffs through bared teeth as his fist hits nothing but-- okay, barely much more than air. Afterimages are a nice trick, and one that has Claude off-balance and open for a reprisal. Moving with surprising speed for his size, the blonde swordsman powers through the direction of his momentum, turning an off-balance stumble into a dive-roll. The flaming, tenebrous blade hums through the air above him - taking a few stray hairs in the process - but then Claude is free of the fight and rolling back up to his feet, unhacked and unimpaled.
Unfortunately, others are not quite so lucky, and Claude winces as Lily takes what, to his eyes, is a tremendous hit. "Ren-- Cec-- God damn it, HOW AM I THE HEALER HERE?" the young man shouts, his voice crackling with surprise and indignation both. Seriously, Zed, learn to organize a party.
Despite the complaint, Claude shows no hesitation in his potential new role; he drops to one knee beside Lily, placing his sword beside him. "Sorry for taking liberties with your person," he says, touching the fingertips of his left hand to Lily's back. His right covers her wound. "But it's in a good cause. And, uh... this is probably gonna feel weird." The young man's eyes unfocus, he draws in a deep breath, and lets it out forcefully.
And then it starts to feel weird.
Blue chi surges through Claude's left fingertips and into Lily's body, coursing through her Ether channels (Claude doesn't know what they are, but when God gives you a wounded person with naturally-made channels for conducting energy through their body quickly, well, you say thank you and get on with the damned job). The sensation is roughly akin to a quart of Vicks Vapo-Rub applied directly on her nerves, all the way throughout her body, and then really intensely over the place she just got cut.
The energy floods through Lily's system for what feels like a minute but is actually only a second or two, after which Claude pulls his hands away and steps back. "Best I can do," he says, wiping her blood off on his pants like a classy gentleman.
GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Lily Keil with Sword of Life! GS: Claude C. Kenny has gained 1 Combo! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"That-- that wasn't what I was trying to--" Zed hardly has a chance to protest before the shade steps out from under his strike. A blade wreathed in darkness, slams hard into Zed's side. It's only his years of experience and weapon-nature that see him flick his own blade to absorb the blow in time. Even then, the force there is incredible. His metal ribs buckle and crack as he's sent flying, carried by a wave of deepest dark. He rolls out of it as the energies dissolve, catching himself in a three-point landing of his own. "That... That wasn't what I was trying to say! Damnit. Damnit. Why do words have to be--"
Zed snarls. He lifts a hand... And strikes himself across the face. "What I was trying to do!" He shouts around the rising welt on his cheek, "Is tell you-- tell you about us. About all the things that have happened! I don't know if you've been able to see, trapped in here. In these memories. In my sword. But! Your people-- our people-- they're still alive! We're on a new world, a different world, one that's not doing so well-- but it's one that we're all trying to get by in. Some of us aren't doing so well, either. We've spent so long being weapons that we had no idea how to be people again. But..."
Zed raises his sword high. Doom Bringer glows as he channels through it. Flame twists up and into the air, whirling and spiralling up into a thin spire of light. "...We'll get through it. We'll figure it out! I... If you don't know! My name is Zed! I'm six feet tall! My favorite food is fried rice! I was born a thousand years back, then got pushed into a fridge and put to sleep until just a few years ago! These are my friends, they've come all this way just to help me out, and I love them for it!" Zed's rant continues as he swings his blade down, chopping through the air. It doesn't fire a beam or anything like that--
Instead that pillar of light he shot into the air comes screaming back down, smashing right down onto the ground on which the Shade stands. "There are so many things I want to tell you. So much that you need to know, about what happened after... everything you've been through! I don't have enough words! But I'll try anyway-- because you deserve to know!"
+Attack MM=Heaven
GS: That attack doesn't exist. [] GS: That attack doesn't exist. [] +attacks
GS: Zed has attacked Shade of Hyades with Inner Secret - Heaven's Howl! GS: Zed has gained 1 Combo! GS: Zed has completed his action. GS: Claude C. Kenny heals Lily Keil! She gains 100 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Poison removed! GS: Shade of Hyades guards a hit from Zed's Inner Secret - Heaven's Howl for 75 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Claude's indignation earns him an apologetic glance from Gwen. "The medium I had kinda sorta did stuff like that, but then my ARM ate it." She briefly considers how a person could heal physical wounds with electricity.
.....
Suddenly her general attitude of 'assume everyone is capable of surviving the wounds they get' makes so much more sense. Gwen is a Punch Ranger, not a Heal Ranger.
Though, it seems, Gwen's punching tactic doesn't work all that well with what is basically the embodiment of hatred and yearning, a stray ember from a world long dead and passed into oblivion. Yet somehow, a dying ember is more than enough to take on all of them.
Maybe, it'd be better to slow him down. With a...!
_EARLIER_
Gwen blankly looks at her client, who shrugs. "I'm kinnndaaa ouuta money, Miss Whitlock, I don't know what to say. I was hoping to win big with this last shipment, but I kinda overestimated my clientbase's need for my product."
Gwen looks up at the sign, which reads, 'CLIVE'S CHEAP THROWING KNIVES & FESTIVAL ORNAMENTS OUTLET'.
_NOW_
Drawing a cheap throwing knife from her boot as she crouches, Gwen squints, listening to Zed's heartful speech. It seemed... bad, to throw a knife during it.
If they could just pierce that mantle of ages, and pull the 'I' within, as Ida observed, maybe...
"Hnmp!" Gwen flings the blade at the Shade with her right arm at what she feels is the best moment, right at one of the ghost's supposed legs- perhaps the suggestion of it hitting would translate into something that would slow the Shade down.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Strike, and counterstrike. It's fair. Lily plants herself in place, preparing to meet the Shade's charge. It doesn't avail her much this time; she moves, planning to take advantage of the strike and simply heal the wound later, but the sheer force behind the Shade's Doom Bringer slams into her; there's quite a bit of blood actually as it bites in and knocks her to the side, slamming into the forgotten ground and rolling along what may once have been cobblestones before she comes to a stop, hitting a hand to start to push herself--but she can't immediately. She spots Claude, recognizing what that shout was a moment ago.
"Heh," Lily answers raspily, "I'm actually a medic..." She shakes her head about the apology, and then she isn't doing much of anything for a moment as her eyes abrubtly glow blue; the chi surges through her Ether channels, which seem to absorb it hungrily; to Lily it definitely feels like more time has passed than has, and she stares into nothing for the few seconds it actually takes. Her wounds start to heal over visibly; there is a much smaller gash, visible skin where the cloth can't heal the same way.
Her eyes dim to normal and she blinks at Claude. "What...?" She starts, "Oh--Yes, thank you," she starts, and is still a little light when she pushes herself up the rest of the way. She starts to understand Zed's set of words partway through it, but definitely can't catch all of them. "...Yeah," she says, but it's a little fond. "Column 'I' all right."
"...There's a simplicity to battle," Lily says as she finishes standing. "When nothing makes sense, the clash of weapon to weapon, of shot against shot--that does. You put it forward..." She shakes her head. "No, knowing your enemy is gone doesn't bring enough peace," she agrees with Hiro, and starts to widen the space between her hands, darkness gathering between them. "But that's still true for me, anyway. Nothing seems as right as..." Darkness grows further, air tself collapsing towards a central point between her hands, as Lily extends them--and the spell slams all that energy into a single point.
The point opens beside the Shade in an explosion of photonegative darkness, absence like what makes this place. Another implodes nearby; another, another, and another,
"...This."
GS: Lily Keil has activated a Force Action! GS: Lily Keil has attacked Shade of Hyades with Hexenhammer! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Shade of Hyades with Letter Rip! GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Shade of Hyades guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Letter Rip for 30 hit points! GS: Entangle! applied to Shade of Hyades! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Shade of Hyades critically Guards a hit from Lily Keil's Hexenhammer for 37 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"Nothing?" Hiro says to Lily, and its hard to say whether he sounds sad when he says it. In the haze of his spell's dissipation, Hiro doesn't see the bolt of shade coming from the Shadow's new position until it's already hurtling towards him.
Slamming into his gut, the boy makes a nauseated noise, as he doubles over, weak-kneed and stumbling, placing an arm over his gut as if the wound had been from a thrown blade.
Hiro sucks in a deep breath, before straightening himself up as he continues to work through the gut wrenching pain. Yet he sees how hard Zed is trying and... he decides to follow up.
"Zed's our friend. I met him - a lot of your people back when I came to their new world for the first time. He helped us out a lot." A small, pained grin splits on his face, "Then things changed and I guess we were rivals - enemies for a while too. But the war's over - it's done. We're back on the same side. And now that my friend needs a hand, I couldn't be happier to return the favor."
Right now he returns the favor more simply. Whipping his hand out, he casts out a boomerang with a flick of his wrist. It hurtles through the air in a predictable arc - then at the last moment, it splits into two, veering to try to strike the shade on both sides at the exact same moment with deceptive force.
Ruby, who had been fluttering one way to another across the shadowy battlefield of a broken world suddenly stops and hovers. "Wait... Return the Favor? Boomerang? ... ... ... HIRO!"
He's not sorry at all.
GS: Hiro has attacked Shade of Hyades with Cross Boomerang ! GS: Hiro has gained 1 Combo! GS: Hyper expired! GS: Hiro has completed his action. GS: Shade of Hyades critically Guards a hit from Hiro's Cross Boomerang for 27 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
'...do you think one more death ends a battlefield?!'
"No," Ida says, "it doesn't." But she sees that brief flicker in the Shade's eyes. The paired blades wink out of existence, dissipating back into shadowy memory-stuff. Time--or at least Ida's perception of it--slows to a crawl. She sees Lily take that hit, and her lip curls; intellectually, she has seen Lily shrug off worse, but that does nothing to stop the sudden spike of anger. She takes a step forwards, preparing to press the attack...
Something stops her. No. Wide open--
This time, Ida reacts before he does. She throws herself to the side, hitting the ground shoulder-first and rolling. The Shade's attack slams into the memory-ground behind her, with mere inches to spare. She can feel the unearthly chill on her exposed skin. She doesn't want to think about what would've happened if he'd hit.
"Hh--" Ida grates out, as she leaps to her feet again. That was too close for comfort, but everyone's still up. She turns to the Shade once more, raising both hands. "I cannot imagine," she begins, "what it would feel like to gain so much, and then lose it in the next heartbeat." She pauses. Her throat feels dry. "Your son," she whispers. "Do you remember his name?"
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Shade of Hyades with Second Method - Combat Therapy Technique! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Ida Everstead-Rey's attack becomes clear! GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Devil's Draw for 163 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
For a moment, it looks as though Ida has let down her guard. This could not be further from the truth.
Her right hand is a blur. In the space of a heartbeat, she whips Devil's Due from its holster and puts a round downrange, aiming at the Shade's weapon rather than its body. Does she still hold out hope of disarming him?
<Pose Tracker> Shade of Hyades has posed.
"All I have seen is the end! Repeated, over and over--and whatever comes after that end..." The Shade hesitates. He would say, 'what does it matter,' but he does not feel such a thing, even through the haze of half-remembered pasts and truth. Did he not, once, seek this?
The pillar of light slams into him, blowing him backward -- and yet he stands, through it. He looks up, solid fiery golden eyes narrowing. "I am..."
And yet, he cannot finish that. Gwen's thrown knife strikes into his leg -- sticking out, making him lean to a side. He grunts, then swings Doom Bringer up. The blade is raised to meet the point of darkness that Lily unleashes. The blast explodes into him -- and then he swings the sword down for it, and he slashes into it.
Blade meets energy, over and over.
And he cuts through each, with a master's skill -- leaving them parting around him, and his armored body singed but not broken. He reaches down, then flicks the knife away; the Shade stands up, straighter, but his leg lists to the side.
He swings the blade, then -- and it clashes with the boomerangs, as they split. They both bounce away, with a spray of sparks. The Shade is, for a moment silent. The silence is broken by the boom of Devil's Due; the shot blasts him backward.
"I remember... nothing. What I cannot remember... what I cannot remember--is it even real, if it is forgotten!?" the Shade demands of them, a tension in his voice.
And he leaps, then, into the air -- and he hangs there.
The Shade slashes out with his Doom Bringer, then. The first slash cuts through the air here, leaving a wicked gash in reality; a crackling, black thing. Then, he slashes horizontally -- and a second gash, this one red, appears. The two mix, then flare with a dark brilliance.
And then a rolling shockwave of fire and darkness shoots out, tearing across the battlefield. Stones are overturned; the silhouettes of buildings shake. The blast of power continues, rushing on and on, towards all of them.
GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Grand Death Cross! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Zed with Grand Death Cross! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Lily Keil with Grand Death Cross! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Grand Death Cross! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Hiro with Grand Death Cross! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Grand Death Cross! GS: Hiro critically Guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Grand Death Cross for 60 hit points! GS: Hiro enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Gwen Whitlock critically Guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Grand Death Cross for 63 hit points! GS: Zed takes a glancing hit from Shade of Hyades's Grand Death Cross for 145 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Zed enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
For what it's worth, even if this is a secret test of sword character, Claude C. Kenny is starting to agree with his mom's point of view on these things. He has barely healed Lily and got his sword back in his hands when the, he doesn't know, unholy spirit of Doom Bringer or Zed's bad decisions or both is back among them. Whatever it is, however, this thing is good - it darts around a classic parry-pas-six and whips its sword around in a half-moon arc; Claude barely manages to twist his sword into its path before the attack sends him and his broken guard flying away.
Claude lands hard, and gets up slowly... but pensive. He is far from the best swordsman in the world (Jobber King, Boy From Earth!) but he is a good enough swordsman to know when he's not as good as the guy he's fighting. And he's not. Neither is his Hyadean rival - this thing is like Zed, only without all of the... Zedness... that occasionally pushes him over the top but mostly acts as a brake on his potential. It's a level of pure, unadulterated skill that can only be reached by a near-immortal with pure focus on the craft of violence.
A solution presents itself - disrupt that focus.
Claude inhales sharply and lifts his right foot; he slams it down into the floor and sends waves of crawling stone ripping out to either side of the Hyadean shadow beast - not so much an attack as an attempt to hamper its movements. The blonde swordsman charges forward, firing a couple of Air Slashes in his opponent's direction, the sizzling blades aimed just to either side of the creature. As he closes, Claude's arms and shoulders swell as he prepares to unleash a towering blow, his grip on his sword tightening... and then loosening as he lightly tosses it in an underhand motion toward the creature. "Try this one," he offers, the broad blade almost floating through the air toward the thing's face. It makes a heck of a visual block.
As the sword passes toward the creature's eyes, Claude drops to one knee in front of it, bringing his head down in line with roughly waist level, his arms slightly lower than that. The young man roars a battle cry as he unloads a barrage of punches, the blue-yellow sparks of his chi igniting around his body, his arms blurring with the speed of his strikes.
GS: Claude C. Kenny enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Formation! Claude C. Kenny has attacked Shade of Hyades with One Hundred Thundering Hammers of the Hidden Globes! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Claude C. Kenny's attack becomes clear! GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Claude C. Kenny's Freestyle Combat Arts for 166 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Seeing Hiro thrown back as she makes her appeal, Gwen is wrenched back from the trance of the fight, choking back a cry as she watches him struggle through the pain of that exchange, and straighten. And then, pushing himself further, he speaks, adding his words to Zed's.
The Shade can't remember. That's his reply to Ida, over the topic of his son. He can't remember. Gwen seizes on that now, adding onto it. "... What would you have named your son? What... would have been the names you would have considered?"
Dark and fire, nearly its opposite, seize the battlefield, causing Gwen to throw up her ARM as a ready shield, the impact shoving her backwards a few good steps. Almost on instinct, she straightens her ARM and fires it, delivering a brilliant flash of energy before the weapon's shaking forces her to stop.
Taking a moment to breathe through the shuddering pain of her ARM as she bends down, hands on her knees, Gwen suddenly coughs out an abrupt laugh, the sound arriving like it had snuck up on her.
"H-he said... return the favor, and-" A snort manages to escape her before the courier tamps her laughter down, not wanting to encourage Pun Fiend Hiro.
She clears her throat and straightens.
Showing the shade a shakey smile, a sort of apologetic half-grin the courier employs in rough situations. ".... I don't remember my own parents, to be fair. But I know they existed. What I felt from you, earlier- that was a father's love, right? I could've only hoped my dad loved me like that, when I was born." Shaking her head, Gwen runs a blooded glove through her static-y hair, the effort only making it look even worse. "I know what this looks like, sayin' stuff like this while throwin' things at you, but it feels like what you want is a fight, so I'll do that. I'll speak t'you in that language as best I can, while speakin' to you."
She casts a warm smile towards Zed then. "I mean, I *did* say I was followin' Zed's lead. He made the decision to engage you, despite the potential chances we had to get outta this place. He wants to connect with you, and as a Hyadean, he wants to know what he lost. Ignorance is bliss, n' all that; Mother pretty much took any chance of your descendants having the same life as you did, but now... they got a chance to reclaim it."
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Shade of Hyades with Coil Cannon EX! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"It WAS real!" Zed screams back, even as the roiling waves of hateful hellfire threaten to swallow him up completely. He brings his own Doom Bringer to bear, the weapon blazing with a light of its own. It's not enough, not by half. But he pushes regardless, screaming out of pain and exertion in equal measure as he struggles to part the sea of power flooding toward him. It's all he can do to stand against the flame and shadow, to keep himself from being consumed and turned to ash and memory.
He emerges, winded, in its wake. Doom Bringer's successor staggers and stumbles, but catches himself, using his blade as a makeshift crutch. "...He did exist. He had to have. The memory alone--" Zed forces himself up, muscles screaming in protest. He pushes through it. Whether this is real or not, the pain is reality enough.
Claude's analysis is accurate, but they're up against more than mere skill. It almost feels like fighting Siegfried-- like fighting against someone who has so thoroughly honed their inner strength that their mere presence could turn the tide of battle. But they have to push through-- to get through to it. Zed hears the pain in the Shade's voice, the tension and the anguish. How much is it hurting? He can't even imagine--
No. It'd be an insult to try and say that he knows how much it hurts.
"He existed. The life you had before it all, it was real," Zed insists, flame whirling again around his blade. "We saw it for ourselves-- but what we saw doesn't matter. The pain in your heart, the fact that you saw the end! The strength that it took to get there! It had to come from somewhere! Hate couldn't have taken you all that way on its own!"
"What came after... You had to have been fighting for that at some point. Fighting for something beyond the end! You had to have been carrying something with you... How could anyone hold on for so long without something like that...!?" He lunges, taking off like a shot. Every step hurts, every motion is agony. But muscle memory takes care of everything his conscious mind is too tied up in suffering to handle. He's practiced this maneuver a thousand times-- a dashing slash that every proper swordsman would know by heart.
Few would know how to execute it while one's rival is busy punching the enemy repeatedly in the jewels.
It's a simple maneuver. Run, use the momentum from your forward motion to strike. But Claude would know what the twin streams of energy arcing up the blade mean. Zed used a similar technique against him that day in Adlehyde. Where light meets dark-- or in this case, where fire meets cold-- where opposites become one, they combine, obliterate one another, and unleash their combined energies as a single burst of power...!
GS: Zed has attacked Shade of Hyades with Saint Arts - Empty Sky Form! GS: Zed has gained 2 Combo! GS: Zed's Avenger stance ends. GS: Shieldbreak expired! GS: Zed has completed his action. GS: Shade of Hyades completely evades a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Coil Cannon EX! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Zed's Saint Arts - Empty Sky Form for 133 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Hiro may keep a straight face for a moment like it was intentional when Ruby accuses him, but when Gwen follows up he cracks up a little, "Yeah - sorry - I couldn't help it Gwen. It just slipped out!"
What the shade says though steals away that laughter quickly, "That's... what you've been through?" The boy suddenly draws himself up, in shock. After walking through a field of the corpses of people he cares about, he could not imagine a worse hell. One is presented though. The idea that it would repeat. Over, and over.
That kind of thing being stuck in his imagination is something that will haunt him. Catching one of his boomerangs on the rebound, he suddenly crosses it with his sword in an X in front of him - bringing it up to meet the terrible fire and darkness. Barking out a word, a gust of wind strikes it right in front of him, attempting to divert this awful power upwards.
It works - kind of. The boy stands there, bent, wisps of smoke that seem eerily dark rising off of him.
"I don't feel like I'm the guy to tell you what you've been through is... fake or real." He says as he suddenly jams his boomerang in his belt, and holds up his sword. "All I can tell you is that Zed..."
Suddenly spreading out his hands, green energy gathers in his blade hand around his fingers, as swirling wind currents. And in the other hand, pulsating violet darkness.
"... he's real. He's one of the most genuine guys I know. If you're having trouble figuring things out then - focus on what he has to say."
Taking his time, he whispers an incantation which seems to weave both kinds of emotion, both elements of Sorcery, both together and separate at once.
A small imprint of wind swirls on the ground at its feet, before he releases the power into a tempestuous column of wind that smashes the shade from below, attempting to bring it off the ground. But even if it can't, it intends to simply keep it contained within a chaotic vortex of slashing wind currents. "Oh lightless blades of transience that rain down!"
Bringing up his opposite hand and drawing it across, the apocalyptic sky above the thing becomes dotted with blobby imprints of liquid shadow. As they congeal, they sharpen into incandescent slivers. "Embrace the winds of change! Sever unceasing despair-"
Suddenly drawing his sword back, he seems to flash around the battlefield, each time slicing his sword down. And each time he does, several of the slivers hurtle down at the shade, obeying the drum beat of his blade, until all of them vanish.
"-BLACK STORM!"
And then as if a storm did indeed blow through, the moment that last sliver falls, the sorcery dissipates as if it had never existed.
GS: Hiro has activated a Force Action! GS: Hiro has attacked Shade of Hyades with Black Storm! GS: Hiro has completed his action. GS: Shade of Hyades guards a hit from Hiro's Black Storm for 105 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
'I am...'
"Go on," Ida says, as though this were a simple conversation, and not a life-or-death struggle. It's all she can do to keep the pain out of her voice. "I have no right to dispute what you feel. But I will ask--" Ida twirls Devil's Due around her finger, a fanciful flourish to keep the Shade guessing. "Does it feel better, to have pushed the one memory of love so deep that you barely acknowledge it?"
Zed takes point again. "You were a husband, once," Ida says. "A father. A trusted friend. A devoted soldier. Anger changes us--fear, too. But do you know what the secret is?" She doesn't get the chance to finish the thought. The Shade is already striking, and the eruption of shadow-flame races across the battlefield. It slams into Ida, knocking her off her feet; she tumbles across the broken ground, trailing smoke. She comes to a halt, coughing violently, plumes of smoke rising from her body. Blood wells up in the fresh burn marks on her face, and her exposed exoskeleton is visibly charred.
"Your past does not have to be your future." Reflex takes over. As Zed and Claude move in to engage, Ida takes full advantage. She charges, racing across the distance between her and the Shade, energy cracking around her clenched fingers. At the last second, she unclenches her fist, and jabs it solidly at the Shade's neck--somewhat more dignified than Claude's attack, but the principle is the same. Keep the enemy off-balance!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Shade of Hyades with Burning Infusion! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Avenger stance ends. GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Shade of Hyades guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Burning Infusion for 0 hit points! GS: Cripple and Disease! applied to Shade of Hyades!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"The end, again and again..."
Lily nods the Shade's way in respect at the way he parries each one of her blasts with such deft technique. But his demands? She will try to answer them--but cannot at first. At first she can only work to defend, throwing up shields of darkness about herself at each strike, not quite fast enough to block it out. She goes back again, but this time keeps her feet, boots dragging in what might have been dirt. "Gh..."
"...I never knew most of my past in the first place," Lily answers. "Or if I did, I don't remember knowing. But I know it by the things that were left. Most of what was there is gone--most of the evidence may as well have never been."
"I know it by hints and implications, but it's real. And now we know at least some of your story. Maybe there are other pieces that have survived. Like your sword has. Like your sword has carried some of that."
"I can't make it better. But this man," she notes to Zed, "Is entirely too dumb to give up on you and your story. If anyone can pass on at least the knowledge that you lived... It's him."
"...But I'll remember this." Lily extends her hand, and a sword of her own bursts into being, made of darkness itself yet having shape; the shadows whirl about it, a Kislevi broadsword. She adopts a stance--and charges. "Hiro!" she calls. "...I knew you had it in you!"
GS: Lily Keil spends 1 Combo on Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling! GS: Formation! Lily Keil has attacked Shade of Hyades with Black Wolf's Claw! GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo! GS: Cover expired! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Shade of Hyades guards a hit from Lily Keil's Black Wolf's Claw for 120 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen Whitlock lol
<Pose Tracker> Shade of Hyades has posed.
The Shade lands after unleashing that strike.
They come, which he seems to have expected. He raises his copy of Doom Bringer, the blade parrying Claude's before it hits his eyes. He grunts with a sharp surprise -- and then Claude's fists slam into his midsection, armor resolving into sharper focus, only to be dented inward. "Nngh!" he grunts, the first real cry of pain from him.
Then he cries out, and a raw blast of red light explodes out from him. The Shade bellows, and it reshapes around his sword. He chops down, a single overhead strike with both hands, that unleashes as a fiery blast into Claude.
And then he spins, to face Gwen. "Descendants... you speak of a future, but--" His eyes grow smaller. "I lost that future. I forgot the past, that gives that future definition!"
Gwen's ARM blasts into him, the shot blowing him backward. The Shade nods, and then slams his blade into the ground. Then a ring of crimson swords, tinged black, appear. They fly out in a terrible arc. Several hurtle for Gwen; another pair rush for Lily, and then a final pair scream through the dark air for Hiro. When they fly, they leave wicked, crackling red lightning in their wake, and slash too deeply.
hose blades are lucky to pierce Hiro's storm. They still do -- and it is upon the Shade, slamming him backward, and cutting into him. Parts of his armor and being are wispy, now; instead of being indistinct, parts seem to threaten to waft into nothingness.
The moment after those blades fly for Lily, the sorceress is on him. Her blade slams into his side, as he doesn't quite move away in time. He grunts, armor cracked, and then steps back with a heavy breath. "What...? This one--the one who wields my blade--"
He looks from Lily to Zed.
"What is the future without the past?" the Shade demands of Ida. Energy surrounds her fist, and she slams it into his neck. His body spasms, for one brief moment. Control falters; he seems to obey some rule of biology, in this space, at least. He is slowed, though, as he looks up -- and then Zed brings down his Doom Bringer.
The blow slams into him, and sends him flying. He rolls a few times, from that strike so like one used in Adlehyde -- and he comes up, staggered but not down. The Shade looks back. "What I fought for... the future... I can't forget it, I can't--AAAAAAAAH!"
He screams. A primal, angry thing; the attempt to remember giving way to such pain. He lunges, then, and swings back Doom Bringer. He remembers its name, now. He comes down, chopping down; Hrunting strikes down, and explodes with red fire and fury. Then, a moment later, the shockwave explodes outward -- and slams for Ida, a rolling wave of fire that tries to throw her backward.
And, at the center of the maelstrom, the Shade stands, ragged and with few answers.
GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Liberation of Wrath! GS: Shade of Hyades has gained 4 Combo! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Hiro with Hundred Razor Circle! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Lily Keil with Hundred Razor Circle! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Hundred Razor Circle! GS: Shade of Hyades has gained 1 Combo! GS: Shade of Hyades spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Zed with Exalted Blade - Hrunting! GS: Shade of Hyades has gained 1 Combo! GS: Shade of Hyades has launched an attack Link! GS: Shade of Hyades spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Shade of Hyades has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Umbral Overlord! GS: Shade of Hyades has gained 1 Combo! GS: Shade of Hyades has completed his action. GS: Claude C. Kenny guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Liberation of Wrath for 103 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Hiro guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Hundred Razor Circle for 170 hit points! GS: Hiro's Force Guard activates! GS: Claude C. Kenny has activated a Force Action! GS: Claude C. Kenny has activated a Force Action! GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Hundred Razor Circle for 119 hit points! GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Shade of Hyades's Exalted Blade - Hrunting for 175 hit points! GS: Claude C. Kenny has activated a Force Action! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Umbral Overlord for 119 hit points! GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Shade of Hyades's Hundred Razor Circle for 131 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude C. Kenny is just about sick of being set on fire; then again, this thing is probably sick of getting hingled in his mccringleberries, so fair enough. He follows the sage advice of legendary kung fu masters and rolls away from the guy trying to murder him, trying to stifle the flames as he goes. Thankfully the Federation armourweave is reasonably flame-retardant, or at least much more so than Claude's hair, which takes a bit more effort to put out.
By the time Claude has tended to the fire, he takes a second to survey the field. First, he notices he is without a sword (see previous re: throwing it at the bad guy), which is bad. On the other hand, he is not dead, which is good. On the other other hand, his friends and also Ruby are keeping the thing busy fighting which is even better. On the other other other hand, this thing wants to talk, which is best. After all, Ilia Silvestri-Kenny has a rule about bad guys who like to talk: it gives you time to charge up a really good punch to the face.
This rule applies to most social situations, actually.
In the months that comprised Claude C. Kenny's second sojourn on Lunar, he spent much less time running a mercenary company or getting involved in local politics or other terrible things like that. Instead he bodyguarded Cecilia (which was easy, as she was in vacation mode), practiced his blacksmithing while she was reading, and spent a lot of time sitting with her staring at the ocean. This last activity is typically thought of as great for thinking deep thoughts, or meditating, or self-reflecting, all of which Cecilia enjoyed.
None of these are things Claude enjoys, but he was too polite to say so. So he spent the time practicing his qigong instead.
Claude exhales slowly, pulling his chi out of the dantian and setting to work. Rather than simply blast power out of whatever appendage he's using, Claude takes the necessary seconds to shape it, layering the energy over top of itself like folds of silk. The result is a much more dense, more defined, more focused energy that flows smoothly up and out, along his torso and up into his arms. The boy from Earth pulls as much as he can for five seconds, then condenses it into a focused ball roughly the size of a watermelon. His arms shake, his teeth chatter as he tries to ease a little more in; he feels the ball quiver as he reaches his limits, and abandons the effort.
The young man waits for the others to make their moves, then crouches and leaps up into the air, holding a now barrel-sized globe of power in between his two hands. "Get clear!" Claude shouts; he gives them the time it takes to suck in a breath and then throws his hands forward, screaming two words. His chi surges forward like a living thing, twining into an elongated ribbon of light and hate; as it approaches the shadow, its features sharpen into scales, talons, and a tooth-filled maw. Serpent and spaceman roar in unison, and then the serpent slams down toward the creature and detonates.
GS: Claude C. Kenny spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Shade of Hyades with Dragon's Howl! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida steps back, settling into a fighting stance once again. It's difficult to tell if the Shade is reaching the limit of his endurance--she sees the way his body seems to fray at the edges where Hiro hit him, but the rest of him seems perfectly intact. Rather than answer the Shade's question, she repeats his words: "'I forgot the past that gives that future definition.'" Ida pauses, letting the weight of those words sink in. "Even in death, you carry the weight of your murdered world. No one was made to do that alone." Her voice is soft, gentle, a sharp contrast to the violence all around her. She speaks from experience. "I cannot demand you forgive yourself--"
The Shade's ragged howl tears through the air, and Ida's eyes widen. A second shockwave explodes across the battlefield, heralded by the deafening roar of displaced air. There's no running from it. Ida plants her heels in the memory-turf, raises her arms, and deploys her shields. Ragged, scorched Hyadean exoskeleton unfolds, forming a barrier between Ida and the enemy.
It barely holds.
The shockwave slams into the martial artist head-on. Pain shoots through her chest as her battered ribs threaten to crack. Her breath rushes from her lungs a split-second before the impact knocks the wind out of her. Her next breath in is full of fire, and in this case, it might as well be literal--the superheated air rushes down her throat. Ida tastes copper in the back of her mouth, lurches forwards, and coughs two-toned blood onto the ground.
The young woman clenches her fists. The Hyadean tissue in her lungs reacts, unbidden; cells replicate flawlessly at lightning-speed, constructing scaffolding to stabilize her ribs and patches to repair the burns. Blood trickles from Ida's lip as she manages a slow, somber smile. She pulls Devil's Due from its holster--the motion is slow, deliberate, and visible to people whose perceptions run at human-normal speed. Her shoulders rise as she breathes in. Claude can likely see the flow of energy around her as her weird two-layered aura ignites and pours into her lungs. With an almost meditative focus, she aims Devil's Due at the Shade's center of mass.
"Zed," Ida whispers, "I can only do this once--take advantage." Ida pulls the trigger. Dragonfire erupts from the weapon's barrel, shaping itself into something much like Claude's projection as it races at the Shade. Normally, it takes on a decidedly draconic form, but this time, the wings it grows trail feathers, and its head has a beak and crest. The firebird-projection trails flame, and erupts with cataclysmic force.
The Shade is not a thing of Malevolence. Ida's power as a Seer cannot Purify it, because there is nothing to Purify. But she can help her dear friend in a moment of need.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Inhalation! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has launched an attack Link! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's stance ends. She enters the Avenger stance! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Inhalation for 0 hit points! GS: Amplify! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 2 Combo on Poison and Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Shade of Hyades with Breath Of The Fire Dragon! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Claude C. Kenny's Dragon's Howl for 154 hit points! GS: Mighty! applied to Claude C. Kenny! GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Breath Of The Fire Dragon for 173 hit points! GS: Poison! applied to Shade of Hyades!
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Hiro staggers a step, and by the vacant look in his eyes its like he lost consciousness for half a second after he finished that display. Instead of falling over though, he does so on one knee, orange scarf fluttering. "I did it..."
He's seen much greater mages manage such feats before, Lemina, Lily, Elly, and the Dragonmaster. He'd marked doing that as a milestone for his growth in magic. It took a lot out of him though. Still, he manages a smile at Lily, "...I worked really hard at it."
A ring of crimson swords tinged with black appear, and acting more on reflex, he brings up his sword to split one of the crackling electrical arcs.
The other though, slices the side of his neck - the electrical lightning flashing. And in the wake of it, the boy has a searing burn on the left edge of his neck, like the blade both cut then cauterized it in one. "Gh-" The boy gurgles out a syllable, then brings himself up on weak knees.
"You haven't lost the future though - even if you don't remember what gives it such meaning to you - it's still there, waiting..."
Weakly he traces his blade in a circle, and slowly wind currents build around it, condensing around it further and further until it feels like they spark, and ignite. "... move forward anyway. See it with your own eyes and find out what it means for others."
The burst of flame stoked by the wind currents, it flares up in a continuous circuit around his sword. "And maybe, just maybe, what is kindled within you will bring back a measure of what you've lost."
His steps are slow at first, but then they pick up momentum, until the exhausted youth pushes himself into a desperate final charge at the shade. As he crosses by the memory of the warrior lost, he makes three slashes, each one trailing dancing flame that marks the path of his blade.
GS: Hiro has activated a Force Action! GS: Hiro spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Hiro has attacked Shade of Hyades with Battalion Sword! GS: Hiro has completed his action. GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Hiro's Battalion Sword for 189 hit points! GS: Shade of Hyades has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Crimson, tinged in black. Gwen sees the colors before she rushes into them, a miscalculation that costs her, but feeds her hungry ARM as it collides painfully with her body.
Her movement forward is slowed by the cutting red blades, her expression thrown in shadow from the brilliant flash of Claude's chi.
Being around her friends has kept Gwen from falling too far into this field of blue.
Hearing the Shade's despair and his pain hits a vein in Gwen, something briefly exposed in the aftermath of that impact. The ragged spirit calls to her, like a siren's song spilling through wrapped cords, sounding through the cold ocean plains. Gwen's pain fades into the background, beating blood in time with each note.
She begins to resume her journey towards the Shade, positioning her body within what feels to be a good range to deliver her next blow. Her right hand clutches itself into a claw, fingers bent inward as if to deliver a sharp, savage blow across the face.
Which likely makes the soft words delivered from her lips a definite contrast to anyone who manages to hear them.
"... Your duty is over. You may now rest." Her words are like a lullaby, a night sky cooling exposed, inflamed skin.
Within that sky is a meteor, the second or third of many that have landed so far, the first being Claude's. Gwen takes just as much time building hers, the Mockingbird shuddering with the supplied energy from her own body, plates shifting and vibrating with life.
In that moment, Hiro rushes in, sword drawn and blazing. Ida closes in and delivers her contribution, drawing from her powers as a Seer while Hyadean living metal attempts to heal the damage her body as taken.
They're both wounded. Painful ones, like Lily's own. The realization snaps Gwen out of her seeming reverie briefly, allowing the courier to shout out a quick warning. "Flash n' bullet incoming! Look away! Same deal as Ida; Zed, get ready!"
The first part is a bright burst of energy, illuminating the dark environment for a brief moment, the next pierced by a brilliant rag of yellow gold from Gwen's palm.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
The one who wields his blade. Is that really all that there should be to connect them? Just a line of one warrior picking up another's weapon. Zed doesn't even know its real name. The shade, lost in a haze of madness and pain, resumes its assault. It's a sudden thing, a cataclysmic thing, a meteorite of a blow. Zed lifts his own blade to absorb the strike-- and finds his defense wanting. Fire and shadow boils out in a nightmarish nova of destructive force. He is at its epicenter, subjected to the worst of it.
Zed grits his teeth and glares up through the blossoming disaster. It hurts, every part of his biology struggles against the hateful impact. Doom Bringer will not fail here. A blade cannot defeat itself, cannot cut itself. But Zed is not subject to the same rule. He endures, even as the ground cracks and craters underneath him. Even as he drops to a knee, his leg failing as he tries to keep from being buried under his predecessor's incredible might.
When it's over, when it passes and the fire and the fury are spent, the shade still stands...
And Zed is face-down in the pavement.
...
...!
His hand... Curls into a fist. He forces himself up, knuckles down. Everything hurts. His body is scorched, it's still smoldering. One arm hangs limply at his side, only barely clutching the hilt of the weapon he and the Shade both share. With his scarf gripped in his teeth, he slings it around his crippled limb and pulls. Something snaps back into its socket with a wet and painful pop--
Lily called him an idiot. Hiro called him genuine.
Both are true.
He is a genuine idiot. He'd have to be. To take that kind of punishment and get up again. But maybe the shade would find something familiar in Zed's unfaltering stare. Maybe determination is something else that they both share.
"I... Nothing I say-- nothing I do-- can ever... Erase what happened to you. But they'll know. Our people, the people of Hyades, they'll know. I'll tell them about the hero who fought until the very, bitter end. And they won't believe me. I know they won't. Not at first. But maybe eventually, one of them will-- Then another, then another. I don't know, I can't promise anything. I can't make the pain go away, but I can make it matter."
Zed draws his blade back. Energy surges down through his half-broken arm, into the razor-thin edge of his ancient weapon. "Because it did. It did matter. That someone fought for us, that you've been fighting all this time. It mattered. It mattered! There was someone who cared enough, who hurt enough, to fight the same battle for a thousand years and more! Who could never let go, even when everything else was gone! I am Zed of Hyades," he roars, eyes flashing with violent intent, "And you are an inspiration!"
"Everything I have left--" He surges, charging with every ounce of strength he can summon. He strikes once. Twice. Three times. Each blow carving a blazing 'Z' into the crushing darkness. "I'll give it my all! You deserve to be remembered! And you deserve everything I've still got!"
One more strike cuts the burning letter across its center...
...It hangs there for a moment, and then explodes.
+force
GS: You do not have that Force Action. [Flull Clip] +Attacks
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action! +Force Full Clip
GS: Zed has activated a Force Action! GS: You have activated the Force Action Full Clip! +Health
GS: Zed has activated a Force Action! GS: You have activated the Force Action Snipe! +Attack MM=Split Ladle
GS: Zed spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Zed has attacked Shade of Hyades with Split Ladle Sakura Supernova! GS: Zed has gained 2 Combo! GS: Zed has completed his action. GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action! GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Shade of Hyades with Quasar Palm! GS: Gwen Whitlock has launched an attack Link! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Shade of Hyades with Corona Discharge! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily shoves through scything blades to take her swing, crackling red light preceding more blood disappearing into a forgotten world as Lily endures the blades as best she can. By the time she's delivered her strike--she catches that question. "Yes," Lily confirms. "Him."
It's for the best that the Shade is knocked backward after that by another blow; Lily needs to take a moment on one knee, recovering herself again. She revises her opinion of Claude's flammability. She gives a small, tight smile to Hiro. "I can tell."
As she stands up, she looks toward their foe, listens to the others. And she pulls something from what remains of her jacket, a ring-disc of some strange material inscribed with the text of a Medium. "...To remember, and make it matter..."
"Am I a memory, too?" Lily wonders to herself, watching Zed give his all. "Well."
"I can't well call you an idiot and then fail to stick with you, can I? I'll show you what I have, too, warrior of Hyades."
How long ago must it have been? How long? But now...
Lily lifts the medium, and it pulses with power of another world, a living world, that of Celesdue. There is a flash, and a bright initial beam from Lily's hand. Then, there is the larger gathering force, as Lily closes her eyes, draws in her power--
And golden nuclear flame transmutes darkness into light.
GS: Lily Keil spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Lily Keil has attacked Shade of Hyades with Moon - Intrude! GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lily Keil has launched an attack Link! GS: Lily Keil has activated a Force Action! GS: Lily Keil has attacked Shade of Hyades with Abstrahlung! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Zed's Split Ladle Sakura Supernova for 179 hit points! GS: Shade of Hyades has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Quasar Palm for 0 hit points! GS: Jam! applied to Shade of Hyades! GS: Shade of Hyades has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Corona Discharge for 178 hit points! GS: Shade of Hyades has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Lily Keil's Moon - Intrude for 99 hit points! GS: Shade of Hyades has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: Shade of Hyades takes a solid hit from Lily Keil's Abstrahlung for 177 hit points! GS: Shade of Hyades enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Shade of Hyades has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Shade of Hyades has posed.
Claude's chi slams into the Shade, light meeting shadow. He is not banished instantly, but he is assailed by talons and teeth of a serpent of light. It shreds into him, his body smoking and leaking away. The damage is real, but there is more than damage assailing him.
Dragonfire bursts from Devil's Due, and punches into him. The Shade stumbles, buying time for Hiro to slam his blade into him. The blade cuts deep -- and there's a burst of smoke, as if high pressure held inside him was released.
"The future..."
His eyes widen -- and then begin to shrink. Gwen's beam of light pierces him -- and this time, it pierces through. Golden nuclear fire, at Lily's command, surges up and burns into his being. And, finally, Zed rises. Those shrinking golden eyes look back at him.
And there is a moment of peace; a moment of relenting. A single nod.
His own copy of Doom Bringer vanishes. "Then... I'll go now," he says. "Knowing that my memory will be with you. That our people are, finally, free."
When Doom Bringer comes down, it is lit by the others; in gold and wind, in fire and light. The Z is carved--
--And then the Shade is no more, the shadow banished by the light.
"Thank you."
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"...We won't forget," Zed murmurs as light floods the empty world. He reaches out to catch the last motes of shadow as they flit into the brightening abyss. "Not you, or Hyades. Just keep your eyes open, wherever you go. I promise, I'll show you a future you can be proud of."
The light overwhelms, washing away the last dregs of lingering dark. When it finally abates, the memory of Hyades is gone. They are back in that chamber, deep under the earth. But something is different-- tangibly so. Equites' essence remains, but only in the sense that this is a place sacred to the Guardian. What's more obvious is conspicuous only in its absence.
That overwhelming feeling of malice that had washed over the chamber has faded. Zed is standing near the center of the room...
And in the hand in which he'd grasped at the last of the Shade's essence... There is only his trusty sword-- Doom Bringer.
...
He strikes a noble, solemn image, standing there in deep thought. It lasts for about five seconds before Zed abruptly topples over and grooooaaaans.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida lowers Devil's Due. Her shoulders sag as fatigue catches up with her, but she manages a smile nevertheless. "We'll remember," she whispers. Her throat is burned and raw, but she can say no less. "I promise you." Her chest aches, but she eases herself into that Hyadean martial bow once more. Ida holds the position until the Shade's image dissolves.
The martial artist sinks to her knees, and presses a hand to her chest. Her overcoat is burned, and at minimum, will need a thorough patch-job. Her eyes start to mist over with tears. "It's done, then." She looks over at Zed. "Is--is he really--"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"...Memory," Lily murmurs. She watches the space where the Shade was, and inclines her head. "Right," she agrees with Zed, and actually finds that to be a good, solid answer on his part. Back in teh chamber, deep underneath the earth, it feels different. And there... there is Zed, who...
"Heh," Lily answers after he falls over. Of course. Still.. It was a good image.
"No," Lily says. "...Yes, he's dead," she explains her meaning, "But that's been true a long, long time. The will to hang on that long... It's something special."
"But it's not done," she says, looking over the others, Zed and Ratatoskr in particular. "I think in some ways it's still just starting."
She looks absolutely terrible, of course. Fatigued is not the half of it. But that doesn't seem to bow her posture any. She closes her eyes, and inclines her head.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Blearily, Gwen stares at the spot where the Shade once was. Her throat dry, she totters slightly, and makes the wise decision to sit down on the ground while she's still able to. "Probably was waitin' a long time, to feel at peace."
She shuts her eyes, listening to the soft words spoken around her, a comforting song of comradery. ".... This was some weird stuff, Zed. A lot weirder than I thought it'd be, t'be honest. But, I'm glad I was able to help you out on this."
Zed's groan seems to remind the courier of something, snapping her out of her inward reflecting. "... Hey, uh. Hiro? Ida? Lily, Claude, you got some wounds too, right? Need t'take a look at Ratatoskr too." She fishes out her kit with her left hand, her right allowed to lay lax against the ground. "Human, Hyadean, Dragon, I'll see what I can do for alla ya before I conk out. Not a healer or a medic, but I can at least do first aid."
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
The only reply Ida gets for several seconds is a long, agonized groan. Eventually, Zed manages to pancake-flop himself onto his back and stick a thumbs up into the air.
This is all she gets, until he's able to pull himself back up. To a sit. Because everything hurts like wow. "He's more gone than he was," Zed says, craning his neck this way and that to stretch out the aches, "...I think we helped him, at least. I hope he was able to remember something important, at the end."
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Blearily, Gwen stares at the spot where the Shade once was. Her throat dry, she totters slightly, and makes the wise decision to sit down on the ground while she's still able to. "Probably was waitin' a long time, to feel at peace."
She shuts her eyes, listening to the soft words spoken around her, a comforting song of comradery. ".... This was some weird stuff, Zed. A lot weirder than I thought it'd be, t'be honest. But, I'm glad I was able to help you out on this."
Zed's groan seems to remind the courier of something, snapping her out of her inward reflecting. "... Hey, uh. Hiro? Ida? Lily, Claude, you got some wounds too, right? Need t'take a look at Ratatoskr too. Ruby, you okay?" She fishes out her kit with her left hand, her right allowed to lay lax against the ground. "Human, Hyadean, Dragon, I'll see what I can do for alla ya before I conk out. Not a healer or a medic, but I can at least do first aid."
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Maaaaaaan, I knowwww," Zed groans at Gwen. "I came down here thinking 'wow, maybe some kind of cool sword ghost thing will tell me I have to go on a quest to purify stuff!' And then we end up falling into the end of the world." Zed... Flops back down and wiggles his arms until they stop feeling so numb. "Yeees, healing good. Pain... Not so good."
Beat.
"I think he forgot what 'peace' felt like," Zed says from where he lies prone. "We reminded him of that, at least."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida has done a lot of crying today, and it does not look like she'll have the opportunity to stop any time soon. As Zed and Lily say what they think happened, she chokes back a sob. "Then we must remember." Ida's voice is a dry, pained creak. Tears stream down her face, reddening the skin around Fafnir's tattoos.
Gwen offers medical aid. "See to Hiro and Ruby," Ida says. "The rest of us can regenerate, and you sound almost bad as you did during the Temple." She forces a smile to her face, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "God," she whispers. "I don't even know where to start. I feel as though I barely made it through that..." Ida reaches up, and brushes metal-clad fingers down the tattoo. "And not just me."
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen, pulling out some bandages, squints. "Whooaahh, Claude can regenerate?" ..... somehow, Gwen doesn't even seem surprised at Lily. After all, Lily-
"Well, teeeccchhnically, I can regenerate, I guess? I just... uh... need a giant source of power than is pretty difficult to count on and would be downright rude to a Guardian, and, uh, I guess that just puts me in the 'can't regenerate' category?" She's swinging a package of bandages around on one finger.
She's failing at it
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"Be free."
In the immediate aftermath Hiro is standing. "I'm good Gwe-"
Oh wait, then he's not. His eyes just rolled back.
And then he's - well not quite face down. More like his face is turned to the side.
Ruby meanwhile lands, sitting on the side of his face.
She sits there for a while, for no apparent reason. But then when someone else says to see to them.
"Oh don't worry - he's fineeee - mostly just exhausted. See?"
Ruby puts a precious pink pawsie down in front of his lips, watching the pink fur blow with every breath.
"If he were really badly off then Lily wouldn't have waited this long to heal him."
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Claude's fine," Zed says from the ground, as if the words coming out of his mouth are the gospel truth and of utterly unquestionable logic, "He's Claude."
Beat.
"I'm trying to not process it just yet," Zed says to Ida. "Not... Not all at once. Too much processing for one day."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
<poem> "Yeah, I think the same," Lily answers. "Though sure, it was pretty weird. And..."
Lily walks over and sets a hand on Gwen's shoulder. "Don't worry about it." She shakes her head. "I'll--" Pause. 'Claude can regenerate???' Not her. Well. Gwen would know, wouldn't she?
"Zed's got the right of it. Your mind needs healing as much as your body after all that. Take it when you can."
She waits a beat, "But Ruby's right too. We'll all live. I can spare some more energy for healing, probably, but I'm gonna need a lot of rest myself after all this."
"So let the medic medic a bit, hm?"