2021-03-20: At The Mountains Of Madness

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<Pose Tracker> Caina has posed.

    It is said that in the eye of a storm, there is a pocket of calm. Here and nowhere else in the chromatic chaos of the Emulator Zone, there is what can be called order.

    "Hmph. It took you long enough," says one of the two figures that stand at the heart of this 'world'. He may be familiar to some of those present: palehaired, dressed in the robes of a magician, with a silvery key bobbing about at his side.

    Caina, of Odessa's Cocytus. Caina, the warlock and wielder of Randolph the Magic Key.

    "It's too bad. I thought you might get eaten up by the Emulator Zone. It would make things easier. But it's fine. We'll take care of you here."

    We, because he's not alone.

    "Indeed we will, Master Caina." The second voice--smooth, velvety, full of menace--seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. The space next to Caina contorts upon itself, tying into a knot of impossible color: red-blue, infragreen, the pale hue of dying time. The knot twists once, twice, and then unravels into strands of light, revealing the second figure. He wears a military uniform of sorts--a bright red jacket that hangs unbuttoned, black slacks, white boots. Symbological tattoos trace their way across his dark skin.

    "Indeed we will." Scythe Riebaure always loves to make an entrance, no matter how complex the spatial geometry involved. He grins like a razor, exposing pointed canines. He sits on mid-air, folding one leg over the other. "But I do hope they try, nevertheless. It would be so boring to simply cut them down where they stand. Especially--" Scythe's gaze falls upon Ashley, his eyes narrowing, his lips twisting in a sneer. "That one."

    Caina smiles nastily. "You didn't think we'd let you leave, did you? You've just saved us time coming after you. Now, Randolph! Close the Way!"

    Randolph, previously floating about Caina in a slow and lazy orbit comes to a halt in front of the warlock. It spins the once and a pulse the color of the red-black behind the eyes washes forth from the key.

    There had been a way into this place at the center of the Emulator Zone. It doesn't exist anymore.

    Scythe's razor grin grows even wide. He raises a hand, snaps his fingers--

    And then the air seems to grow thin for a moment, as if spacetime itself were stretching like putty in Scythe's hands. It's subtler, compared to Randolph's cosmic might, but this little pocket-within-a-pocket has been sealed that much tighter.

    And even afterwards, a lingering tension remains in the air. As though the very nature of this place were awaiting further commands.

DC: Scythe Riebaure switches forms to Crimson Noble Scythe!
DC: Caina switches forms to Special Cocytus Squad Member Caina!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Xiumei thought someone would be behind this.

She gets her answer. She slows to a stop, still clad in her black bodysuit and white-and-green armor. Her eyes, lightly glowing from the Biometal's armor, look towards Caina and Scythe. She hesitates for a second as she looks at Caina and Scythe; she recognizes both in an instant. She draws in a gasp.

Then she grits her teeth, as Randolph simply undoes the way forward. She draws in a sharp gasp -- then Xiumei shakes her head sharply. "No!"

She looks back at Caina, then at Scythe. Her fingers curl around the Pulse Saber; the weapon was already drawn, and a blade of pale green light had already formed. It tapers to a tip, the air around it fuzzing. She lowers her head, then her eyes narrow. "We're not... we're not going to roll over, and let you take away our chance to get home!"

She yells it out. Then, she surges ahead of Eleanor, Marivel, and Kamui. Model AV lets her be fast, when she aims to be -- and today, she aims. She is a blur of white and greez, zig-zagging, and then comes to a stop in front of Scythe. The Pulse Saber slashes down, then back up at a diagonal as she completes the back swing.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Pulse Saber - Double Slash!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 3 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

Can you really say that you called it when you had already lived through a trap very much like this at least once already? Ashley could smell Caina's work all over this twisted region of space-time. Who else would have both the means and the motivation to seal ARMS into a pocket hellspace?

Well.

There might be one more person.

"Caina..." Ashley growls. He racks his ARM, a cartrige already sliding into place, the weapon full and ready to turn the eldritch manipulator into honeycomb...! "I knew you were behind this. Let us go, Caina. You and I both know that you can't keep us here. If you could, you wouldn't have stayed behind to finish us off personally."

But then... Someone else emerges. Someone else that Ashley also recognizes.

It's... it's...!

"Ah!" The Musketeer blinks. "It's... Sickle...?"

Beat.

"Saif?"

... Beat.

"You!" Ashley finishes, then fires his ARM right at the not-vampire's midsection. "You're involved too!?"

...Marivel might be rubbing off on him. This may or may not be a bad thing???

GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Shot Weapon!
GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.

    Kamui emerges into the centre of the Emulator Zone with a new circlet around her head; it has a red gem set at the centre of a V-fin, with yellow metallic ears set on one end of a circular guard.

    It's strange.

    It's strange how calm Kamui's become since her almost overwhelming rage past the point of no return -- to when she discovered another Capsule of Dr. Lumen's and was filled with such white-hot rage that...

    She pointed her Buster at her creator.

    It's symbolic, of course -- she's just a hologram. But it means so, so much more; it's the end of the line for her, an absolute exhaustion at the very reason for her existence. A grim conclusion she's come to after her five-thousand years of life.

    But it's a strange, calming, almost... relieving conclusion.

    She finally remembers everything; she finally has no more doubt in her mind.

    "It's been a while since I've been in a space like this. It's almost nostalgic..." intones the little Reploid, as the rest of the Fourth Armour -- the pearlescent-white greaves and gauntlets hemmed with blue and green -- manifests around her.

    There's two opponents. There's that Scythe that Master -- Acacia -- detests so much. But right now, she's got more interest in the person who created this space. She's curious. Is it based on the same technology as she knows? Different?

    "So that Key is the focus for all this. But... it's fine. You also saved me time coming after you," Kamui answers Caina with indifferent coldness in her voice. Her hair flashes to an Acacia-like redness, flickering and flowing as an unrestrained flame would.

    The X-Buster raises, and a column of flame pools for a moment, then erupts from underneath Caina. Unlike the wackiness of Kamui's prior weapons, this one is clearly a weapon of war. A relic of the past. A Hunter Arte...

    Because she understands everything now. She now understands what a Maverick is...

    "I'm here to kill you."

    ...and she's fine with it.

GS: Kamui has attacked Caina with Hunter Arte - Rising Fire!
GS: Kamui has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Kamui has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Saber - Double Slash for 187 hit points!
GS: Scythe Riebaure guards a hit from Ashley Winchester's Shot Weapon for 67 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

This entire situation is bad enough in its own right, but now Venetia Vuong is faced with the crisis at the howling core of whatever space this is. Ashley is reasonably certain that they can get through this, but Venetia is starting to think he has carbohydrate poisoning and would be relentlessly cheerful if he had all his limbs cut off with a meataxe by the Meat Axe Slayer of Void Twenty.

"The... 'Emulator Zone,' is it?" Venetia says, as they come up from - from - it doesn't bear thinking. They're in some kind of space and she doesn't want to look too far or too hard ahead or behind. Just think of it as a series of hallways.

Fortunately, Venetia is in many ways anchored by fury. The man she knows as Thomas was part of this fury. Now she has these new targets. And even so. Ashley speaks with confidence, and Venetia does not share that confidence. This is the other side to her implacable determination. But she threw her greatest sorceries against the enigmatic Blue and did nothing but put ripples in it.

"Awfully baroque of you all to send us to some sort of hell-hole in space just to derail a ****ing train," Venetia says, and as she says this, she draws on the vampire.

She has, at least, had recent experience in trying to shoot vampires in the head. The gunsmoke revolver is heavy-weight and perhaps even over-powered, although Venetia's relatively thick arms (get it? arms?) bears it well enough!

GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Scythe Riebaure with What If You Had A Gun?!
GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
GS: Caina guards a hit from Kamui's Hunter Arte - Rising Fire for 88 hit points!
GS: Poison applied to Caina!
GS: Gamble: Moderate! Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Venetia Vuong's What If You Had A Gun? for 145 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

It has been difficult for Clarine, in this unnatural, chaotic space. But with the support of her friends she has pushed through and finds herself at the very heart of the Emulator Zone.

"Ah... everyone made it here, as well..." Clarine says, relieved, as others begin to appear from various paths. But then her attention turns to Caina, and Clarine frowns.

"This is your doing... I should have known." Clarine replies. "You, who toys with unnatural forces..."

She flinches back as, one after the other, Caina and Scythe enact their foul plans and the space they're in twists in on itself. It feels like she's being twisted, too - she lets out a sharp intake of breath, but pushes through the ill feeling that washes over her.

She watches Kamui lunge after Caina in... a manner that concerns her. But, a fight... it's clear that's the only thing left.

"Kamui, everyone... you have my support..." Clarine says, and casts her arms out. "Acuteness...!"

From her position, a ring of red light expands. As it makes contact with the allies closest to her current position they find themselves briefly aglow with red light - a light that enhances their strength.

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Kamui with Acuteness!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Azoth with Acuteness!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Tio with Acuteness!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Marivel Armitage with Acuteness!
GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Kamui accepts Seraph Clarine's Acuteness for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Kamui!
GS: Tio accepts Seraph Clarine's Acuteness for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Tio!
GS: Azoth accepts Seraph Clarine's Acuteness for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Azoth!
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.

    The calm is finally here and it is much desired. It means Tio can see without pain for once, here in the Emulator Zone. And what she can see are two figures, who are not subtle about their alleigances. "Enemies identified."

    The blue haired automaton steps forward, chakrams drawn, her new outfits with cuts and tears from the monsters in here. Sorry Eleanor. She gasps, however, when the path behind her closes. "What!?" So the others were right. It was explicitly a trap. Hopefully Avril's not stranded back there too.

    Then Kamui makes her announcement, and Tio gasps again, eyes widening at her new headpiece and form. And her much more serious demeanor. "Sister!" There's a friendly sight. Still, this is what she was built for, wasn't it? She's a Combat Automaton. And she's fighting alongside her Sister. That's what she was hoping for since she woke up, right? "Acknowledged. Eliminating threat."

    She graps the Mana Egg hanging around her neck, transferring both her charkrams to her left hand, then points at Caina. "Purple." A pyramid of electricity starts to surround him, aiming to close tight before a bolt descends from above. In terms of damage, it's harmless. But if Caina's caught in it, it will sap his strength and weaken his defenses. A harsh first move for locking down an enemy.

GS: Tio has attacked Caina with Stram!
GS: Tio has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth's sensors have been scrambled and assaulted since arriving in this alternate dimension, and he's only just started to made progress in functional algorithms to compensate for this new reality. Now, it seems, there's someone in command of these terrible choices in color -- among numerous other problems -- able to demand control over it as if it were a simulation at their fingertips.

Not an idea he's fond of.

He looks to the key, twisting his wrist and flexing his fingers a few times with a spark in his joints. Clarine's red light washes over him, and briefly, the geometric 'veins' of circuitry in his arm light up with the same color. "Sorry, I didn't realize someone was waiting for us," he says to Caina, cheerfully enough.

"But... I'd really like to leave now, so..."

He rushes toward Caina and Randolph, speaking to the latter instead of the former. "Sorry about this." Then he forms a -- something. Presumably it's one of his blades of light, but it detonates immediately upon creation as he tries to catch Caina in the explosion. Azoth's prepared for the explosion this time, however unpredictable its power output, and rides the recoil deftly to hop back from his own attack.

GS: Azoth has attacked Caina with Voltage Drop!
GS: Azoth has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Azoth has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Took them long enough. Eleanor lifts an eyebrow, looking over the two figures as she does. "Oh, it was just a nice walk in the park," she comments. "Surely you didn't really think something like that would take care of us." The dimensional sretching, the weird colors--Eleanor suppresses a twitch of her lip and of her eye at them, looking over Scythe. And over--

"We'll have to be careful," Eleanor cautions about the control they seem to have over the area. "But if their control were absolute, they wouldn't have to fight us."

"...So we'll fight our way home." Her eyes narrow, yellow and strange, and she pulls her rifle. Xiumei surges ahead of her--

"The dimensional fabric is unstable," Eleanor comments, "But it's stable enough for guns and bullets to work. As well as..." Eleanor pulls a Crest, this one imbued with the powers of Geo and Fray, even here in this place shining. Maybe she has to put some extra power into it to make it work, though--it's hard to say. For now though...

"Xiumei! I'll cover you!"

She casts her spell, and a fiery shield erupts before Xiumei in a swirl of sparkling magic.

GS: Eleanor Klein spends 1 Combo on Reload!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Stone Targe!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Caina! How lovely," Marivel says. "I was starting to think that I lost my opportunity to get my licks in." Her usual arrogance by the sounds of it.

But she does stretch her arms from side to side needlessly. "You're getting better at using that Key there. I really gotta thank you for all the help you've given us--"

She rests a hand on Kamui's shoulder gently. "Kamui..." Pause. "If that's what you want to do, I'm not going to tell you no but...Are you certain you wish to?" She is quiet for a moment and then adds, "It might trap us in here. It might not. Perhaps we can negotiate with his partner."

She isn't talking about Scythe there. She looks to Caina.

She looks to Caina and rubs the back of her neck and adds, "You know, maybe you're right and we're all corrupt and horrible... But humans are corrupt by nature. Nobody is perfect. Your crusade... Are you certain you aren't simply going to make the whole world your enemy at this rate?"

And with that she extends her own hand as if preparing to attack but--

She lowers her hand and then turns to Kamui, "Hold on you got some smutz..." She polishes some of Kamui's armor and cheek so it's shining and gives her a kiss on the cheek.

"There, okay. Now we're ready."

She smiles. "I'm rather irritated after what you did to Brad, but I'm not a big fan of war so I'm always willing to step back and negotiate for a united Filgaia."

She crosses her arms. "Whadaya say?"

GS: Marivel Armitage accepts Seraph Clarine's Acuteness for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Marivel Armitage!
GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Kamui with Mom's Love!
GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
GS: Kamui accepts Marivel Armitage's Mom's Love for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield applied to Kamui!
GS: CRITICAL! Caina takes a solid hit from Tio's Stram for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Break and Weaken applied to Caina!
GS: Charge!! You gain 30 FP!
GS: Gamble: Low! Caina takes a solid hit from Azoth's Voltage Drop for 102 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

    Acacia had lost track of the others in the shifting space, and it's only thanks to a lot of improvization with her ether and probably a good deal of luck that she manages to stumble across the rest of the group - almost literally, ejected into the central zone. Accompanying it is a rush of relief and confidence at the sight of the rest of ARMS - and then a grim frown as she realizes who is waiting for them.

    The first time she encountered Scythe was at a small facility outside Guild Galad - at least, that's what Acacia assumes. Whether he was actually there or not is kind of an open question given how quickly she fled the place after being discovered, leading her onto the strange path in life that ultimately led to a newspaper in Meria Boule and more houseguests than she can count. But she certainly assumes, given what the strange man can do, that he had some kind of involement with what she saw there.

    Given everything she's been through since, the thought of the second time is almost comical. They were on the way to-- to reclaim a bit of Kamui's past, she thinks? She doesn't remember much except a path up a mountain, and suddenly and unexpectedly being accosted by Odessa on the way. No fanfare, no grand extradimensional space, just a dirt road and some rock walls and getting pinned to the wall by the embodiment of the last couple of years of stored paranoia.

    Crimson Noble, her ass. Whatever the man is, it's impossible for her to equate him with Marivel - even after she's seen the latter at her worst and most furious.

    Her eyes tug away towards the Reploid, and she feels her lips tighten in quiet fear. Intuition and the way that Kamui's carrying herself tells Acacia that she missed something, and-- well, she doesn't need Kamui bursting into a fiery red to tell that she missed something big. Her jaw sets for a moment, and she finds herself sucking in a breath that's more shaky than she expected. Part of her resolves to tug the Reploid aside later, and quite possibly just into a rare hug--

    --but they have to get out of here first, and her patience with Odessa has become razor-thin. And somehow, she can't really bring herself to be scared; rather, she can only quietly chuckle under her breath at the sight of Marivel fussing over her.

    Her pistol is old and battered, the chambers blocked, but that doesn't matter. It's comfortable in her hands, and it's a long time since it fired bullets. Instead, a solid line of light sears through the air, impacting between Scythe's feet.

    "Next one's going to be about three feet higher," she declares solemnly.

GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Acacia Saitani with Exposee!
GS: Acacia Saitani assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action.
GS: Acacia Saitani accepts Acacia Saitani's Exposee for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    LAST TIME, ON COURIER GWEN Z-

    Gwen reveals, when she is faced with an impossible color of blue, that she is completely fine emotionally and mentally and has not suffered any lingering aftereffects of the time she transformed into a flaming demon(?) as a result of the Stranger's machinations over a period of several months.

    Because that impossible shade of blue was completely not something that reminds her of the Stranger's eyes, especially since it was and was not(?) the same shade, in the way it was surreal and not natural, like radioactive cornflowers screaming at you from a windowsill.

    Anyway, Gwen punched the concept of blue and walked through the crack she made (with everyone helping her not just collapse from her overwhelming 'I'm fine'-ness with their own attacks), and Gwen went through to scout ahead while the others stayed behind.

    ".... It's that vampire guy," Gwen clarifies, for Ashley's benefit. "... I think. Are Crimson Nobles vampires, or are vampires Crimson Nobles? Though, I think Marivel *did* mention somethin' 'bout how he wasn't one, so I guess it don't matter anyway-- oh, hey, Marivel!" The courier'd ask, but it's really not the place for such questions, and really, the light-hearted banter is more for her benefit to keep from collapsing against the thrum of this swirling miasma of non-Euclidean abstract oil paintings.

    She eyes the area behind her, beginning to close up, where she had left her party members behind. "... Damn it, I should've had them come with me..." She begins to load bullets into the nook of her right arm as Xiumei, Ashley, and Venetia advance towards Scythe. Looking at the last bullet, she thinks better of it, and presses it back into the pouch at her sleeve. ""Guess we gotta convince you guys all violent-like."

    And by that, she means, to move right up to Scythe and clock him straight in the jaw.

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Shoryu-gwen!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Shoryu-gwen for 79 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Shieldbreak applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Zhang Xiumei accepts Eleanor Klein's Stone Targe for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield applied to Zhang Xiumei!
GS: Zhang Xiumei activates Eleanor Klein's Reload!!
<Pose Tracker> Scythe Riebaure has posed.

    Scythe's teeth gleam in the eldritch light. "Of course," he says to Xiumei, looking down his nose from his perch in mid-air. "Struggle all you like. It won't save you. It will, however, provide us with exquisite entertainment." Scythe stands, setting feet on the unearthly ground and turning his focus to Ashley. He still hasn't lived down his humiliating defeat at the man's hands. "As for you--"

    'It's... Sickle?'

    "You--"

    'Saif'?'

    "Scythe Riebaure, Crimson Noble sorcerer and the very man who will make you beg at his feet for mercy--!"

    Of course, Ashley does more than channel Marivel. Slug fire tears through the air, aimed right at Scythe in what should be a clear gut shot...

    Space warps at the last possible second. Instead of blowing a hole in Scythe's abdomen, it grazes off his side, drawing bright crimson blood. "Ghh--!"

    Marivel Armitage ignores him completely, instead opting to tend to her robot daughter. "You," he says. "Has that doll of yours finally figured out what war is, Armitaghhhk--"

    Scythe took his eye off Xiumei for three seconds. That was all it took for her to land a pair of telling blows, carving a smoking, blackened 'X' into Scythe's chest. At first it seems like it might be a telling blow, but Xiumei can feel something's off. Her blade cut deep, but at the same time, it's barely penetrated his skin. It makes no sense. It does give Venetia the opening she needs to straight-up shoot him. Her bullet flies true, and clips the sorceror's shoulder with another spray of blood.

    Gwen lunges in to punch him. Scythe ducks back, and for a few seconds, space itself seems to thicken around Gwen's fist. It's like she's trying to throw a punch while immersed in water. It's testament to her strength that the punch connects at all, striking the Crimson Noble's chin with a crack.

    And then, Acacia--who is Truly Done With This Shit--delivers her grim ultimatum.

    Scythe glares directly at her, licking blood from his lips. "You again," he says. "I'm going to bring Commander Vinsfeld your head."

    The Crimson Noble is suddenly right there, in front of her, knife in hand. He drives the weapon down at Acacia in a stabbing strike aimed for her right shoulder. Another heartbeat, and he's gone again, standing behind Gwen. He thrusts a hand forwards, light flickering off his tattoos. "Warding flame, attend me! Veil of a Thousand Embers!" The air shimmers. Countless tiny sparks ignite around Scythe's body, orbiting him like miniature stars. He makes an imperious sweep of his hand, and some go flying off towards Gwen and Venetia. Each one is white-hot, and burns like a cruel brand if it strikes home.

    "Primordial flame, smite my enemies!" Scythe spreads his arms wide. The air flickers again, and a sphere of fire the size of a blitzball ignites in front of Scythe. "INFERNO!" The sphere explodes like a star going nova. At once, it is above Eleanor, behind Xiumei, and flanking Ashley. It should be in one place at a time. It's not.

GS: Scythe Riebaure spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Acacia Saitani with Empty the Vein!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Venetia Vuong with Veil of A Thousand Embers!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure assumes the Stoic stance!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Veil of A Thousand Embers!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Inferno!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Ashley Winchester with Inferno!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Eleanor Klein with Inferno!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Caina has posed.

    "Ah, the spirit. I've told Lord Vinsfeld that we need to learn more about your kind." He shrugs, almost languidly, as Clarine faces him down. "I've had enough of your pretension, though. Stop acting like you're the 'good guys'! Maybe I can find a better place for you. Elsewhere." he retorts, and with a wave of his hands a swirl of inky green-glittering darkness pools at her feet, attempting to drag her down into its depths...!

    "'Help'? Hold your tongue, dog of Valeria! I've not helped you yet!" He turns towards her, the key hovering and at the ready. If anything kind can be said of him, it's that he waits a moment for her to make her case before outright laughing at it.

    "That's it? That's your argument? If the whole world will be my enemy, then let it be my enemy! I follow only Lord Vinsfeld!"

    At his side, Randolph vanishes. "Now, Randolph!"

    And reappears close by her, gunning to strike at her as if it had traveled very far at high speeds rather than the several feet of distance that separate her and him in reality.

    "I don't think so. I've had enough of your bothering Lord Vinsfeld," the young demon summoner proclaims with a sniff, to Ashley. "You'll stay in here and you'll die in here! I'll make certain of that myself." Before him, Randolph spins in a lopsided dance, preparing for the attack that is sure to come--

    But Ashley turns his attack on Scythe, Caina's partner in this venture, and instead Caina receives a threat from a different corner:

    Kamui.

    "What in the world are you?" asks the warlock as she addresses him directly, speaking of Randolph which actually halts in its spin for a moment, as if it were inspecting her in some way. "Some sort of living machine...? How interesting. Maybe we'll cart your parts back for Lord Vinsfeld later," he muses, one hand on his hip.
    Which ends up being the same moment that Kamui shoots at him. A column of flame rises where the Odessa demon summoner had stood... and where he still stands as the heat and light fade away. Randolph is before him, a glittering barrier about itself and Caina, the edges of the shield sparking with the effort of holding the onslaught at bay. "Tch... not as easy as I thought. But that's fine," Caina remarks, frowning. Now, let's see how you care for... this!

    Randolph vanishes for a fleeting moment, appearing at an angle to one side of where Kamui stands. It comes in quickly for her, then vanishes again.

    But it still means that it's not at Caina's side for a few moments, and that's a situation that Tio quickly seizes on: electricity sparks around the warlock and strikes, staggering him. "What did you...?!" Randolph is quickly again at his side, circling him almost as if it's concerned. "Another machine? How many do we have here today?" the warlock wonders aloud, still suffering from the effects of the spell. But he snaps his fingers and a swirl of brilliant multi-hued light arises about Tio. And bursts.

    "Not with them? Too bad for you--" Azoth closes in on the warlock, offering apologies to both him and his key as he cuts that remark quite short; Randolph swings in as if to intercept the strike that is to come, but it appears to have guessed wrongly. Azoth comes in with a blazing blade from the other direction, cutting Caina across his arm and chest. The retort from the key is abrupt: it vanishes from sight even inches away from Azoth and reappears behind him, already moving at quite high speeds from its jump through space.

GS: Caina has attacked Seraph Clarine with Dead Abyss!
GS: Caina has attacked Marivel Armitage with Hyperphase Destruction!
GS: Caina has attacked Kamui with Vacuum Rend!
GS: Caina has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Caina has attacked Tio with Torment Grasp!
GS: Caina has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Caina has attacked Azoth with Paradox Decay!
GS: Caina has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Caina takes 23 damage from Poison!
GS: Caina has completed his action.
GS: Ashley Winchester guards a hit from Scythe Riebaure's Inferno for 90 hit points!
GS: Ashley Winchester activates Guard bonus!
GS: CRITICAL! Kamui guards a hit from Caina's Vacuum Rend for 103 hit points!
GS: Seraph Clarine takes a glancing hit from Caina's Dead Abyss for 61 hit points!
GS: Caina drains Seraph Clarine! Caina gains 30 temporary hit points!
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a solid hit from Scythe Riebaure's Inferno for 135 hit points!
GS: Zhang Xiumei enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Azoth takes a glancing hit from Caina's Paradox Decay for 68 hit points!
GS: Delay applied to Azoth!
GS: Azoth activates Countermeasures!
GS: Eleanor Klein takes a glancing hit from Scythe Riebaure's Inferno for 70 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.

    So many allies have gathered; Clarine supports her as a ring of red (fortunately, not THAT kind of ring of red, bad for X-devices...) that enhances her power. Kamui's expression softens as she looks at her, then to Tio. "... let's do this together, Tio, Clarine."

    Azoth is here too... and Marivel asks if she's certain that's what she wants to do.

    "That Key of his... I am certain it is behind it," Kamui murmurs. "As long as we can get our hands on it... it should be fine."

    But she blinks when Marivel goes to spoil her, wiping some smutz off her cheek and armour!! And a kiss too!!

    "... M-Mom," Kamui grumbles, just a little bit of that edge blunted. Her eyes flick over towards Acacia for a moment, but it looks like she's distracted with that guy. She has her fight to pick...

    The Key, on the other hand, seems to have a barrier-effect; Kamui's one good eye shimmers at Caina as she mutters, "I am a Reploid. You and your kin have exhausted so many of us..."

    Randolph comes for her, and she raises her guard with her gauntlets, shock absorbers activating as the Key delivers a solid blow onto her. No matter.

    Her hair naturally becomes stiff and crystalline as it flows from red to icy blue, and she wholesale steals an Avril Vent Fleur move as she raises her fingers--

    And an octet of icy blades erupts out of nowhere, manifested by the Weapon Copy System. "Go," she intones, cribbing her own Ice Queen moment as each of the blades seeks to impale the demon summoner.

    (shhhh all rulers former or otherwise go through this phase be supportive)

GS: Kamui has attacked Caina with Hunter Arte - Frost Tower!
GS: Kamui has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Kamui has completed her action.
GS: Tio takes a glancing hit from Caina's Torment Grasp for 61 hit points!
GS: Blind applied to Tio!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Be careful, Nora!" Xiumei calls back to Eleanor, even as the fiery light erupts around her -- and in front of her -- and gives her a little more speed, a little more force as she completes the charge forward.

Her blade strikes true. She can tell, in an instant, that she didn't strike the way she expected. Xiumei stumbles back, brow furrowed in surprise.

Her eyes tuurn towards Kamui. She is, for a moment, greatly concerned. Then, she glances once at Acacia. "Do you know him?"

She asks that -- as the blast of flame explodes behind her. Impossibly, in several places at once. It strikes Xiumei, hurtling her forward. Her Pulse Saber is dropped; it hits the ground and vanishes.

Xiumei rolls a couple of times, breathing hard and then looks up at Scythe. "You'll do no such thing!"

She holds her hand out -- and the Barrier Cross appears, the weapon flashing into existence. The cross-shaped piece of white metal ignites as she runs forward. She throws it -- and it cuts across Scythe in an arc.

Then, she leaps -- and the Pulse Saber appears in her hand again. Xiumei grips it with both hand, swinging the weapon back, and crashes down -- slashing at Scythe as she drops down.

GS: Zhang Xiumei spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Formation! Zhang Xiumei has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Soaring Cross Strike!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has launched an attack Link!
GS: Zhang Xiumei spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Formation! Zhang Xiumei has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Rushing Pulse Blitz!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Gwen Whitlock critically guards Scythe Riebaure's Veil of A Thousand Embers for 30 hit points!
GS: Gwen Whitlock activates Guard bonus!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has activated a Force Action!
GS: Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Soaring Cross Strike for 213 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure fully evades Zhang Xiumei's Rushing Pulse Blitz for 0 hit points!
GS: Scythe Riebaure activates Evade bonus!
GS: Venetia Vuong guards a hit from Scythe Riebaure's Veil of A Thousand Embers for 84 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Acacia Saitani takes a solid hit from Scythe Riebaure's Empty the Vein for 146 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Caina guards a hit from Kamui's Hunter Arte - Frost Tower for 85 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Disease applied to Caina!
GS: CRITICAL! Marivel Armitage takes a glancing hit from Caina's Hyperphase Destruction for 87 hit points!
GS: Marivel Armitage activates Evade bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"Exquisite, is it?" Eleanor challenges Scythe. "I don't think we'll be doing any begging today."

But at more of a distgance than most of the others, she can see the way blows don't quite stick to Scythe, the way space ties itself around him and does more than enough to show that he does have some control.

She ducks out of the way of the flames that burst above her, the force impacting her harder than the heat thanks to a few magical trinkets she keeps around--though the force is enough that she has to force herself up from where she'd ducked down, almost losing her footing on the strange 'ground'.

"I will!" Eleanor calls back to Xiumei about being careful, holding her rifle carefully as she pulls another Crest. She sees so much magic in the air around Scythe... Maybe she should do something about that.

"Wandering star, waver here before us!" Eleanor's Crest blazes with Fray and Muse and gold light, and she extends her hand forward. "Release unlimited energy! Dazzling Negation!"

Interacting with that very same magical force, Eleanor presses forward her magical attack to violently undo the spells already on him.

Right after Xiumei makes her strikes.

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Dazzling Negation!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.

    Tio nods to Kamui. Together. They can do this. "Yes." Tio readies herself, and sees the light coming in. She flips back hurriedly, but not far enough to escape, and lets out a yelp of pain, and blinks rapidly. Her ocular sensors hurt again. That's not what she wanted. Her antennae flare to light, flashing another number of colours to try and locate Caina. It's not as accurate, sure, but if they work in here she'll take it.

    "There are three of us." Tio respondsto Caina, an edge to her voice. "And we will defeat you." And then she raises her hand above her head a chakram in hand. A chakram that splits into three, some illusion of the light. "Lotus Flower, bloom!"

    And then the spinning trio of circular lights flies straight for Caina at full speed. A frankly dizzying speed, if she's honest. Still, her accuracy is impaired. That might be all the window Caina needs.

GS: Tio has attacked Caina with Lotus Flower!
GS: Tio has completed her action.
GS: ROU|LET|TE: Severe! Scythe Riebaure takes a glancing hit from Eleanor Klein's Dazzling Negation for 92 hit points!
GS: Dispel! Hyper and Quick removed!
GS: Scythe Riebaure activates Arcane Font!
GS: CRITICAL! Caina takes a solid hit from Tio's Lotus Flower for 130 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Caina has lost 1 Combo from Interrupt!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Sorry I love all the Kamuis in my life." Marivel says but isn't going to stop Kamui from being edgy. She's Marivel. Come on.

The dog of Valeria doesn't argue the moniker even if THE BIG DOG LUCEID...well, she isn't going to think about that right now. Instead she waits for Caina to laugh at her.

"I can't hate someone as loyal as you." Marivel says. "But don't blame us if it doesn't go the way you want. You're the ones gambling for the big pot."

Something still feels off about this area, but Marivel sets that thought aside as she dashes to the side to avoid that KEYBLADE strike--

--only to still get struck by its edge and sent flying off into the unknown..

This gives Caina time enough to talk about taking Kamui's parts back to Vinsfeld. This presses one of Marivel's buttons.

"So you've chosen death." Marivel says as she floats up into the space, crimson wings ripping out from her back, her good humor gone entirely.

"I won't let anybody hurt her again. Her life is her own, and her path is her own. But why waste time with pleasantries such as this."

She vanishes, appearing behind Caina, even in this space that fights against her, a crimson claw ripping out of one of her arms as she swipes for his back. "When we can skip the foreplay and murder each other blissfully forever. In this space, it is impossible to never die, and to never live."

Marivel licks her fangs in anticipation.

Is Marivel rubbing off on Ashley?! Well, maybe Ashley is rubbing off on Marivel. It's hard to see that right now though. In this space, the demon need not fear the UV....right?

DC: Marivel Armitage switches forms to Crimson Noble Marivel!
GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Caina with Bloody Mari!
GS: Marivel Armitage has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Darkness pools at Clarine's feet. It wraps around her and she briefly panics as she can feel it draning her away, but... the sight of everyone fighting pulls her out of it. Light flares out around her, burning away the tethers clinging to her and allowing her to glide backwards, away from the pool. Hints of darkness still burn at her ankles.

"I am... flattered that you wish to learn more about me, but I must refuse. I will be returning with the others, even if we must go through you." Clarine replies.

She looks toward Kamui, then, and nods.

"Yes... let's." She agrees... and pauses, as Kamui points something out. The Key... "...I see."

But she elects not to make a move just yet. If they can weaken Caina more...

Clarine gestures with a hand, bringing a a ray of shining light crashing down toward Caina!

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Caina with Limited Ray!
GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

    The flare of pain in her arm and the deep hiss she makes is the first indication that Acacia's been stabbed. The visual stimulus only catches up afterwards, at about the same time as she starts to buckle - then catches herself, refusing to give the 'Crimson Noble' the satisfaction of watching something like that. In the back of her mind, she knows why Scythe's delivered an attack of that nature, feeling the wetness of her blood coming from the wound.

    "You're placing that much faith in me?" she finds herself snorting, her humour dark. "Here I figured I was the least important out of this lot." The bravado gives her time to check herself over, and work her arm slightly; she nearly goes to pull out the knife, but thinks better of it. That would probably just be playing into his hands, and she's always joked that one of the best things to keep her going is spite.

    "That thing isn't either," she tells Gwen. "It's just playing at both." That might be true, or at least founded in some kind of logic... or it might not. Acacia isn't really worried either way. It's not about being factual, it's about riling him up as much as possible to give Xiumei and Eleanor space to work.

    (She grimaces at that thought, and reminds herself yet again to never apply that logic to the rest of her work.)

    She might be distracted, but she can still find time to glance back at Kamui, concern for the Reploid never exactly far from her mind. "... we've got your back, whatever you want to do," she promises quietly, and with the same determination that she's displayed every time she refused to just be a 'Master'. She doesn't know what happened with the hologram of Dr. Lumen - but that's okay, because she's not Dr. Lumen, and could never be. She's just herself, doing what she thinks is best.

    She waits for Xiumei and Eleanor's attack a second time, then grits her teeth. She's not as flashy as the others, nor as powerful, but that suits her fine, because she doesn't have to be. Instead, she uses the power of their attacks as cover - only to slip from behind them at the last moment, driving an elbow forwards into the man's gut and then a shoulder, tripping the man over her leg and down to the ground.

    "Warned you," she adds, pistol out and energy already coalescing at its barrel. Whatever she might have promised, Acacia is not quite so done with it as to follow the threat through - and besides, it's not like she needs to. At this distance, all she needs to do is cover her eyes and set her feet as she bathes the self-proclaimed vampire in light.

    ... it's not painful. It's actually just light. But there's a hell of a lot of it.

GS: Acacia Saitani spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Stop the Press!!
GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Acacia Saitani has launched an attack Link!
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

The fire bursts out towards Venetia before she can think too deeply of the futility of what she has just done. That shot should stun an armored man and kill (if perhaps slowly) one not so armored; this son of a butt is just shaking it off. A moment later she is diving desperately to the side, the flame singing and licking at her boots as she rolls.

Perhaps the reaction would have been faster if she'd had a Graph already to hand, but she did not. Eleanor beats her on the draw, but Venetia pushes herself up quickly enough, baring her teeth and saying, "Well then if we can't beat you with just throwing firepower down range--"

Then what?

Venetia forces out breath through her teeth. Up comes another graph, one not often summoned forth. Venetia presses its edge to her forehead as she murmurs to herself, and then raises it up even as she herself rises from her crouch.

"Precipitate, wickedness! Get out of my workspace! PURIFY - GROUND!"

There is a ripple of clean scent, like rain falling on a sunbaked and dusty rock in a welcome relief of heat. The Ley here is thick enough for that much, but the resulting ring of faery-pale light aimed to encompass where Scythe stands is rather muted visually, compared to the madness of the Emulator Zone.

GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Hit Piece!
GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action.
GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Purify Ground!
GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

It isn't that Azoth thinks Kamui would need his help, but the way Caina speaks of her -- of him and of Tio by implication -- still sets off a protective need unique from Azoth's usual motivations to guard those around him. How quickly they're thought of to be remade as tools...

Randolph vanishes. Azoth's calculations and sensors try to track the Key. He whips around, but it's nearly too late then: the Key is there, grazing across Azoth's body with a flash of warning in his own UI while he's knocked to the ground, tumbling, but able to flip up and right himself. It moved so fast, he could barely get a rid on where it is, let alone what it is. Azoth smiles nervously. "So all this violent color and weird space is you, huh...? I wish we could talk this out...!"

But the Key seems loyal to Caina, and Azoth flicks out his arm. Light gathers, arm sparking with blue and yellow. With a wind up and throw, the light turns into a bright lance that launches straight for Caina light a javelin. There's another recoiling explosion as it leaves his body, Azoth grabbing his wrist after he fires it and hoping the shot doesn't detonate early.

GS: Azoth spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Azoth has attacked Caina with Critical Process!
GS: Azoth has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Delay expired!
GS: Azoth has completed his action.
GS: Caina takes a solid hit from Marivel Armitage's Bloody Mari for 159 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Charge!! You gain 40 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

Sorry Caina. While Ashley certainly wants to continue their dance... Right now, he only has a single gun to fire, and two targets to choose from.

Besides, the last time they tangoed, Ashley...

...Well.

Nevermind. For now.

"Right!! Scythe!!!" Ashley nods vigorouosly. He didn't totally just forget his name. It's fine! Really! He's not having his memories consumed by a hostile <s>Guardian Force</s> Demon Lord or anything like that. "Sorry, it's been kind of a... trip, this past few hours." Can't blame a guy for having fuzzy memories after a trip through THE NULL TIME ZONE.

Besides, he's got his mind on other things right now. Like how... angry Kamui seems. He's never felt that kind of hostility from her before. Marivel gets a concerned, sympathetic look-- is everything okay?

No.

But there's nothing that they can do here, now, to make it better. Nothing except escaping from here, that is. "We'll see about that," he answers the Key(blade) Master. "I have a pretty good track record of breaking out of these kinds of things. It's... not usually something I'd like to brag about, but still!"

(And most of them have been Caina's fault anyway.)

But then, just as he's going to continue bickering, an inferno abruptly bathes the Musketeer in a baptism of flame. Ashley shouts in abrupt surprise and pain-- that didn't look like it was coming anywhere near him. And yet...

Time and space... are a little bit more malleable than they should be, here, aren't they?

But two can play at that game.

The Musketeer leaps out of the fire, singed and scorched, but not slain. His weapon discharges, the Bayonet firing a steely canister over at the vampire. It bursts in the air in front of him, showering the area in WAR CRIMES.

That is, auto-igniting napalm gel.

The secret to Ashley's optimism, as it happens, is at least one part access to heavy and frankly unethical weaponry.

GS: Ashley Winchester spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Canister - Incendiary Round!
GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action.
GS: Scythe Riebaure guards a hit from Acacia Saitani's Stop the Press! for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Break and Hex applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Scythe Riebaure takes a glancing hit from Acacia Saitani's Hit Piece for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Weaken applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Scythe Riebaure takes a glancing hit from Venetia Vuong's Purify Ground for 44 hit points!
GS: Mute applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Scythe Riebaure activates Arcane Font!
GS: Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Ashley Winchester's Canister - Incendiary Round for 161 hit points!
GS: Poison applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Caina takes a glancing hit from Seraph Clarine's Limited Ray for 65 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "Ahhhh, that makes sense," Gwen says, nodding quickly at Acacia.

    'Has that doll of yours finally figured out what war is--'

    Gwen may not know Kamui personally, but she knows enough from the times they've fought in the same battles to know that much. ".... How 'bout you keep yer garbage opinions to yourself? Or are you good for clappin' those gum--" Of course, Marivel has better ways of responding to threats, both with bark *and* bite, as she shortly displays with Caina.

    Meanwhile, Scythe knows how to burn, causing Gwen to complusively *flinch* back with the force of someone who's not taking too kindly to any sort of magical flame being anywhere near her. She flails her arms and shrieks, fire dancing up her guarding arms with painful glee.

    Notagainnotagainnotagainnotagainnotaginnotgaaianbdn

    Stamping the last of the flames out, Gwen wipes her face, centering her focus right back on Scythe and on this moment, angling her beret back with a nervous, angry look in her eyes.

    ".... I'm gonna slam you so hard y'ain't gonna wanna come back even if you *were* a Crimson Vampire Guy, _just for that_."

    Because if they can't beat Scythe with just throwing firepower down range, Gwen will just wait until the WAR CRIMES have aired out to throw another mighty delivery his way. Of a fist, that is. Gwen's right fist.

GS: Delay! Attack weakened!
GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: Moderate! Caina critically guards Azoth's Critical Process for 13 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Quick and Shield applied to Azoth!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Formation! Gwen Whitlock has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Special Delivery!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Scythe Riebaure critically guards Gwen Whitlock's Special Delivery for 35 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Caina has posed.

    "You won't?" Caina says to Clarine, tilting his head to one side. "I don't recall you having a choice in the matter. It can be you or it can be another. It doesn't matter to me."

    He scoffs, as if somehow amused by Azoth's line of questions. "Of course. I, Caina of Odessa's Cocytus, and bearer of Randolph the Magic Key, alone possess this power!" It would seem that warlocks really are wizards, regardless of their affiliation and source of powers...

    "Hmph," Caina sniffs, at Marivel's arguments. "We'll just have to see, won't we? Anyway, getting rid of you here will help us along--"!

    He frowns. "'So many of us'? Do you mean the ones that hold your leash? If ARMS would get out of our way, it would make it easier for us." He pauses a moment, craning his head to one side. "But it doesn't matter to me how you want to do it! Hard, easy -- I'll end it here!"

    A bold boast, and one that Kamui counters with an assault of her own: shards of icy blades rip through the air one after another. Appearing and disappearing, Randolph moves to intercept them individually. "Tch," utters Caina, furrowing his brow as one of them-- slipping through the key's intervention -- cuts closes as the demon summoner dodges to the side. That icy blade of Kamui's tastes blood. "Randolph, be careful!" Caina calls out to it, shaking off the chill. The key bobs the once as if in response and in a flash, vanishes

    And reappears to slam into Kamui's side.

    "Three of you?" Caina wonders, at Tio's response. "I only see two of you. Randolph!" he calls again, a warning for the key as it seems that Tio is ready to strike. But instead, that weapon of hers seems to split into three, a clear illusion--
    That the key tries to deflect, seizing on the 'true' chakram.
    That is not entirely illusion. The rest of which slams into the warlock and sends him, for the moment, to one knee. "You--" Randolph's retort to this attack on its master is for it to vanish out of sight for an eyeblink and then reappear mere inches from Tio, flying at speed for her.

    He is again, not defended when Marivel comes in from behind. He turns, sharply, colors burning from his hand as he gestures. But he doesn't form the spell fast enough before she lunges for him.

    There is a spray of red. On his hands and knees for the moment, blood spattering the platform about him, the warlock remains crouched like that, Randolph appearing to hover worriedly at his side.

    "Life... death..."

    And he starts to laugh. With one finger, he paints on the floor before him a glyph in his own blood and rises abruptly to his feet. His robes flutter as he spreads out his hands, strange colors rising from his body in a haze. "Come! Feel the touch of the 'other world'!" he calls, as those colors -- those tides, those swirls of primordial force -- flash out from him in an eyeblink.

    And all the while, the key remains hovering as if it were a watchdog, intent on guarding its masters from the attacks laid upon it:

    The light that scorches through the chromatic inferno, burning for a moment a hole in that fog. It bounces off of Randolph to cut a groove in the floor.

    Or that javelin-like projectile of light, that comes in hard and fast for the conjurer at the heart of the storm. It impacts the key instead; the explosion coming soon after. While the key rockets back about a foot in the air or so, it still remains at a glance completely unscathed.

GS: Caina has attacked Kamui with Symmetry Breaker!
GS: Caina has gained 1 Combo!
GS: That attack doesn't exist. []
GS: Caina has attacked Caina with Initiate's Fervor!
GS: Caina accepts Caina's Initiate's Fervor for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Caina!
GS: Riposte applied to Caina!
GS: Caina has attacked Tio with Hyperphase Destruction!
GS: Caina has attacked Marivel Armitage with Sarnath Wake!
GS: Caina has attacked Seraph Clarine with Sarnath Wake!
GS: Caina has attacked Azoth with Sarnath Wake!
GS: Caina has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Caina takes 19 damage from Poison!
GS: Caina has completed his action.
GS: Seraph Clarine guards a hit from Caina's Sarnath Wake for 61 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Kamui guards a hit from Caina's Symmetry Breaker for 80 hit points!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Azoth guards a hit from Caina's Sarnath Wake for 72 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Azoth gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Tio takes a solid hit from Caina's Hyperphase Destruction for 139 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Scythe Riebaure has posed.

    "Proud words from mortals who have yet to learn their place," Scythe snarls. Xiumei hurt him worse than he wants to let on--that first strike could've easily killed him if he didn't have the home field advantage. And despite his own towering arrogance, he hasn't missed the fact that Eleanor's providing sorcerous support. He watches her as she draws her weapon...

    And then Eleanor does something he doesn't expect, something he can't evade with his usual methods. Her spell starts to shred through something--Eleanor can sense it, and the energies powering it would be unlike anything she's ever seen if she had never seen the Emulator Zone. If she'd never sensed Lord Blazer's presence. There's a distinct wrongness in it, a quality that is literally not of this world. Scythe lets out an undignified "Hghk," more blood dribbling from his lips. He looks up at Eleanor, fury in his eyes as he realizes what she did...

    Xiumei strikes. The Barrier Cross cuts a third line into Scythe's torso, tracing a bloody gash across his abdomen. Once again, it should cut deep, but it doesn't. Eleanor put her finger on it--the fabric of this place is warping itself ever-so-slightly to keep Scythe from mortal injury, without his conscious input.

    Scythe's eyes dart upwards as Xiumei drops at him. "No," he says. Space warps and pops in front of her; the Pulse Saber cuts through empty air. Scythe is suddenly behind her, with a second knife in his other hand, driving it into the lighter portions of her armor. As long as it draws blood, it can give him something to work with.

    But Venetia follows up with purifying magic of her own. The air around Scythe shudders, and rays of impossible color spill from his body. That dark, eerie purple that seems to make one's thoughts fuzz over. A bright, bloody crimson. Pale, icy blue that arrests molecular motion. The warlock chokes again, reaches for something in his jacket.

    'Thing', Acacia says, and Scythe sees red. He whirls around, only to get shoulder-tackled. With nothing more than her own gumption and martial skill, Acacia lays Scythe out on the ground. He whips his arms up to protect himself, but the flash is a moment quicker. Afterimages dance mockingly on a field of white. Scythe screams in rage, which quickly turns to agony as Ashley's canister explodes, coating him in flame. Every inch of him is burning. His blinded eyes glow crimson. Blood glistens on pearly-white teeth. Flames lick at his hair, skin, and clothing.

    Scythe vanishes. The flaming gel--most of it, anyway--splatters to the ground, where it continues to burn. The Crimson Noble reappears behind Eleanor, already biting the cork off a vial full of crimson fluid. He swallows its contents in a few quick gulps, feels her power reigniting within him. Gwen throws a punch at him...

    And suddenly Scythe's hand is there, clasped around her clenched fist. His burned face contorts in a look of rage as he pushes back against that punch, stopping it cold. Something tugs uncomfortably in his shoulder, but it's a small price to pay.

    And then he's gone. A pop of rushing air is all the warning Eleanor gets before Scythe is right behind her, driving his knife at her kidneys--and if he succeeds in bloodying her, he draws it back, licks it clean.

    And then he's gone again, only to reappear driving a fist for Venetia's head. Should that connect, the Crimson Noble twists her into a grotesque parody of an embrace, bares fangs, and sinks his fangs into the junction of neck and shoulder.

    From behind Venetia's shoulder, Scythe casts a cold, hateful stare at the others. "Apocalypse consume you," he snarls. "RED CATACLYSM!"

    Threads of flame weave into impossible patterns around Gwen, Ashley, and Acacia--knotwork that somehow encircles all of them without intersecting with the others' personal space. The threads erupt a moment later, like the incendiaries Ashley just unleashed.

GS: Scythe Riebaure spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Empty the Vein!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Venetia Vuong with Crimson Feast!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Eleanor Klein with Noble's Privilege!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Scythe Riebaure with The Blood is Life!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure accepts Scythe Riebaure's The Blood is Life for 0 hit points!
GS: Lock State and Surge applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Mighty applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Ashley Winchester with Red Cataclysm!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Acacia Saitani with Red Cataclysm!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Red Cataclysm!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a glancing hit from Scythe Riebaure's Empty the Vein for 50 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Zhang Xiumei gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Zhang Xiumei enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Venetia Vuong takes a solid hit from Scythe Riebaure's Crimson Feast for 157 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Venetia Vuong gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Disease applied to Venetia Vuong!
GS: Venetia Vuong activates Sufferer!
GS: Venetia Vuong enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Scythe Riebaure drains Venetia Vuong! Scythe Riebaure gains 78 temporary hit points!
GS: Ashley Winchester takes a glancing hit from Scythe Riebaure's Red Cataclysm for 143 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ashley Winchester gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Acacia Saitani guards a hit from Scythe Riebaure's Red Cataclysm for 106 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Acacia Saitani gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein takes a solid hit from Scythe Riebaure's Noble's Privilege for 93 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Eleanor Klein gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Xiumei does her best to stay out of the way of Acacia's and Ashley's bullets. The others are easier to work with -- and she has a good sense of where Crest Sorcery might come from, thanks to being familiar with Eleanor.

She hops backward, as she finds she trikes through nothing. Scythe is, abruptly, behind her -- and she only just ducks to the side, the blade cutting into the metal fiber bodysuit, and drawing blood.

She hisses as she turns to face Scythe. But he's already away, knocked back by Acacia and then caught aflame -- and vanishing. The Pulse Saber vanishes; cubes of data swirl out, and then reform into the large hand cannon.

She takes aim -- just a moment after he appears behind Eleanor. "Eleanor!" she yells. "Get down! Everyone--look out!"

She fires. A trio of energy blasts fire from the barrel of her gun -- they cut three holes into the fire -- and careen onward, towards Scythe.

GS: Zhang Xiumei enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Pulse Cannon - Triple Burst!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Gwen Whitlock critically guards Scythe Riebaure's Red Cataclysm for 94 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.

    It rather seems Kamui takes the threat of being turned into parts in stride, though there's a quiet moment of approval when Marivel and Gwen in turn speak up. A pause, as she looks to Acacia. "You'd best look after yourself, Master. That man doesn't seem to want to play around..."

    A pause, when she glances to Azoth and Tio and intones to Caina, "That is the impetus of any human, it seems... to scuttle us for parts for your own morbid curiosity. I will have none of it."

    The Key vanishes--

    *SLAM*

    --and reppears to slam into her side, sending her flying. She skids to one side, shock absorbers once more doing their work as an errant hydraulic pump hisses and warps with electricity.

    "I was curious of something, Caina. You manipulate dimensions... and forces from another world, do you not?" Kamui asks, almost plain and inquisitive. "What drives you to do such a thing?"

    Even as she speaks, however, the X-Buster is charging; the Reploid is shrouded in light as she primes her arm cannon, her aim wavering as she seeks a path unimpeded by Randolph--

    There.

    "Whether machines... or demons..."

    She punctuates that by disappearing in her own light, a hurtling blast of super-charged plasma flying Caina's way.

GS: Kamui enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Kamui has attacked Caina with X-Buster - Charge Shot!
GS: Kamui has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Kamui has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Scythe Riebaure takes a glancing hit from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Cannon - Triple Burst for 87 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Mighty applied to Zhang Xiumei!
GS: Caina takes a solid hit from Kamui's X-Buster - Charge Shot for 159 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

Venetia is no sooner fully upright, trying to gather her thoughts, than she sees Scythe move with his impossible velocity. A certain gut-wrenching futility in her stomach as she grasps at her cresh pouch again. A moment later she is struck in the head.

A simple thing. But it is world shattering. Everything loses focus. Her mask slips partway loose. She staggers for a moment longer. A moment later something carves into her neck deep enough to send shrieks of agony up her spine.

The heat is cold almost immediately. Something wet is running down her sides. Ah, Venetia thinks as the mask slides further from her face. That's blood, isn't it.

She makes a noise something like 'whuff' and stares into chaos and her lips go slack. She stares at nobody in particular. The angle is wrong.

There is a peculiar thing that happens when you have well trained reflexes and are thrown into a crisis situation. Instead of acting according to your nature or by pure reflex - the same way one might spit out an unpleasant thing, or kick when struck just-so in the knee - you follow the training. The mold in which your nervous system has been cast. Nurture may, in the crux, overcome nature. And when the two work together, sometimes miracles happen.

They are not always the loudest ones in the world.

Venetia Vuong, probably, was using her reason and motivation when she tried to weakly slap at the side of Scythe's head while he was casting his spell, using her body as cover. But it is difficult on a philosophical level to say that she intentionally did what happens a moment after that, which is to grab at the side of his head more firmly. That's still pretty weak, the reflexive flailings of a gored bearcow, perhaps.

Then Scythe would see Venetia's thumb enormously close, and oh, yes: that's where the reflex comes in.

"get - off me!!" Venetia gasps.

GS: Venetia Vuong enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Underground Balance!
GS: Venetia Vuong enters a Counter stance!
GS: Venetia Vuong enters the  stance!
GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor is glad not to be alone on the sorcerous support side here--Venetia's presence is a reassuring one, two sorceresses being better than one here and this foe being... strange. But she doesn't comment on 'mortals' in the moment--instead focusing on the magic she disrupts for the moment, eyeing it and analyzing it through each shearing moment. She has sensed many strange, 'wrong' things by this point, and here she sees this. Blood dribbles from his lips, and his fury meets her calm calculation as she looks right back to him.

She doesn't even notice the war crimes! Napalm's just normal operating. Maybe Filgaia needs more standards.

"I think the firepower's a good idea too," she comments, though her cool demeanor is interrupted a bit by a "Ghk--" as Scythe reappears behind her, and it may not be a kidney but it's a bloody blow all the same. The rushing air is apparenly just enough to turn the blow nonfadal, but when she sees Scythe go for Venetia's shoulder, her eyes widen. "Don't TOUCH her you--filthy, obscene reprobate!"

'Eleanor! Get down!'

Eleanor drops immediately, hitting the floor and rolling to a laying position with her rifle up, not quite a crouch but something well out of the way of Xiumei's blasts. But her rifle is a spoiler for the moment, something to keep attention as she pulls another Crest, the same elements as before but in a strangely different configuration. Fray and Muse dance together in the air as she starts calling on its power. "O heavenly motion! Arrest your rotation and burst forth before my enemy!"

Blazing light bursts into being in a ring around Scythe, intensifying moment by moment. "LUMINOUS CONJURATION!"

She directs the spell and it explodes in golden power.

Then she pushes herself back up and starts rushing towards her colleague. She knows how that feels, after all. "Are you all right!?"

GS: Eleanor Klein spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Luminous Conjuration!
GS: Lock state expired!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.

    Randolph comes in fast, and agile as she is, Tio isn't quick enough to evade the Magic Key, sending her tumbling and sliding backwards, metallic clangs sounding as she bounces off the ground. Tio is many things, but built for durability isn't one of them.

    Tio's eyes track to Azoth, then to Kamui. Caina doesn't recognize Azoth as what he is? Fine. She'll not correct the mistake right now. But Kamui... doesn't sound at all like the cheery reploid she knew. She sounds harder, more ruthless. It's concerning to Tio. It shouldn't, but it is. "Sister..." Tio manages, as she pulls hyerself to her feet. No. Now isn't the time to distract her.

    Instead she focuses on Randolph and Caina. The key is hard to pin down, certainly, but it se4ems to defend it's master. Threaten the master sufficiently and...

    "Blue." Tio says, arm outstretched, and the Soul Egg responds, glowing blue. A ring of blue lightning forms on the ground, hopefully around Caina, limiting escape options. And then Tio cast her hand upwards, and from eight points of the circle, lightning arcs skyward and strikes in towards Caina in solid, pointed bolts.

    "Can your key protect you against this?"

GS: Tio has attacked Caina with GadZap!
GS: Lock state expired!
GS: Tio has completed her action.
GS: Marivel Armitage takes a solid hit from Caina's Sarnath Wake for 119 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Marivel Armitage gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Marivel Armitage enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Caina guards a hit from Tio's GadZap for 91 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure takes a glancing hit from Venetia Vuong's Underground Balance for 68 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Eleanor Klein's Luminous Conjuration for 204 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Jam applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Quick applied to Eleanor Klein!
GS: Scythe Riebaure activates Arcane Font!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel glances towards Scythe briefly. He can't possibly be responsible for this place. Can Caina? Perhaps, but it feels like something else is in play here. But it's just a feeling. She can't be certain.

"That's true. It would help you." Marivel can't really argue against that. Marivel understands that sometimes people just have a differnet view of things than you and will happily crush your skull to enforce it. Marivel isn't so different from that, or wasn't once, but seeing the fall of the Zeboim--and then the wars since, particularly the Spiran-Althenian War... she really can't get too excited about it. It's honestly kind of a drag.

Unless it's a metal demon war in which case it's kind of a dragon!

"damn you're extra," Marivel murmurs.

SHe readies her own guard, but something about that chromatic inferno punches through Marivel's defenses and she is thrown back, fire lingering on her form as she sinks to her knees. In this space, nothing has to follow the normal rules.

"To linger between worlds...Is a blessing... But nothing compared to the blessing...of having a home."

Crimson light erupts out of Marivel, the true form of Marivel rapidly obscured in smoke as a mouth, hidden within the smoke, intends to open up and clamp down on Caina's neck and BITE.

And drink!

"But seriously, nothing like that Scythe guy. He's not one of us, okay? He's just a LARPer...!"

GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Caina with Life Drain!
GS: Marivel Armitage has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

    There's a smirk on Acacia's face at the way Scythe's temper is rising, her expression somehow managing to be mirthless and full of relish all at once. In his storm of teleportation, she still loses track of him a few times - but she's slowly getting faster at picking up his presence again, watching for patterns in the way he moves and attacks.

    Well... that's what she'd like to think, but the reality is that she's only getting there.. She whirls suddenly to drive her fist into thin air just behind her, over her right shoulder, and it would have been terribly impressive if she hadn't misstepped entirely. Venetia is the one he's chosen to drink from, not her, and so all she connects with is empty air, left gritting her teeth as she feels the air around her start to overheat.

    The sight of Scythe making good on his threats to drink someone's blood brings back a distinctly unpleasant memory, and perhaps the vampire isn't the only one seeing red. "Oh, hell no, don't you dare," she rumbles out, and despite the way the lattice is moving with her and entrapping her, she puts one foot in front of the other, breaking into a run towards Venetia.

    The explosion of heat sends her staggering; for a moment all she can hear is ringing in her ears and the world is a murky darkness, but that actually means she manages to stumble underneath Xiumei's attack for long enough to shake the disorientation away. If she could get rid of the burning smell in her nose, that would also be good - but she grins and bears it as Kamui gives her... a very Kamui kind of quiet encouragement.

    "Yeah," she says back, half to herself and half to the Reploid. "But it's okay. I've got pique for days."

    "Stay still," she adds with more of a growl, not even bothering to try to find her pistol; she thinks she dropped it somewhere in her half-fall, but it's not as important as stopping the man in front of her. The sight of her lining up a fingergun might be ridiculous, but the overall effect; several more lances of light bolt out of her index finger as she aims for his legs, seeking to hobble the vampire.

GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Red Tape!
GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action.
GS: Caina takes a solid hit from Marivel Armitage's Life Drain for 200 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Marivel Armitage drains Caina! Marivel Armitage gains 100 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    If Gwen wasn't already angry, wasn't already running at Scythe to throw that punch, she'd likely be too beside herself with horror to properly react.
    
    Fist meets hand, and Gwen finds herself staring into what a burned face actually looks like, when that face still lives. The force of Gwen's fist is enough to strain Scythe, but even if he had no strength to force Gwen's fist back, the painfully angry look of him saps the force behind that fist until he disappears again.

    Bullets would be a better choice right now, until Gwen regains her nerve. But the man is moving too fast to aim, and appearing to close to her companions to risk a lucky shot.

    "S-shit!" Eleanor is stabbed, and in the next eyeblink Scythe is gone, and, no, he's over there, sinking his fangs into Venetia's neck.

    Xiumei yells a warning, which is likely the main reason Gwen isn't too stunned by the sight of Venetia struggle to throw out a small shield of pyrite yellow energy from her ARM, which is likely why the suddenly constricting veins of napalm fire only hurt half as much as they burn through her sleeves and back. Which, unfortunately, is still a lot. It burns at her will as well, leaving fear in its place like the gifts of a terrible house guest. If she doesn't focus on something, she'll begin to buckle, so instead--

    "_That blouse cost me_!"

    The blouse, that nice white blouse, with the pleated center and the belled sleeves, the faux pearl buttons and the crisp poet's collar, now ruined for anything other than simply surviving.

    Bullets will definitely have to do, as Gwen whips up her exposed right ARM, praying that her aim isn't so compromised that her bullet misses Scythe's head completely and instead makes Venetia's no-good very bad day a hell of a lot worse.

GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Crackshot!
GS: Lock state expired!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Scythe Riebaure takes a glancing hit from Acacia Saitani's Red Tape for 104 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Infect! Break removed!
GS: Slow applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Scythe Riebaure guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Crackshot for 43 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Cripple applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Scythe Riebaure activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

Apocalypse consume you!

Ashley... frowns.

Scythe weaves together threads of brilliant flame. A red cataclysm consumes the Musketeer, ensnares him in knots and tangles of fire. The otherworldly sky glows the angry colors of the End. Ashley grits his teeth as space itself seems to burn. And yet...

He leaps out of the flames again, still smoldering. His gaze is full of defiance, and full of...

Absolute, overwhelming exhaustion. It's only a flash, but still very visible on his features. "...You say that like I'm not already," he laughs, grim and sardonic, even as his weapon is again raised and ready. Conveniently, his combat roll brought him out of the line of Xiumei's buster shots, and gives him just the right vantage...

To charge in. This may be unwise, given the strange spatial properties of this strange and twisted world. It's a gabmit-- a potentially dangerous one-- to make the pseudo-vampire focus on him for once.

He darts, thrusting with the blade of the Bayonet--

But feints, dipping the tip at the last moment before slamming his foot into the ground. A hidden panel at the base of his boots engages, unleashing a shockwave of pure seismic force at point blank range...!

GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Shockwave Crash!
GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth thrusts his palms forward, erecting a shield of light around himself as the wave of sorcery lashes out. It smashes into the hexagonal veil, sending cracks of every garish color across the surface before it finally shatters. An explosion of light and color assaults Azoth's senses, his blue eyes becoming like static as a mechanical, strained beep strangles from him.

He holds his ground, gripping onto his own arm as he lets his own energy surge. Randolph keeps exceptional guard of Caina, while also able to strike out at any of them.

"I suppose I see a bit of myself in you," he says to the Key with an awkward smile. "I don't know why you're defending him, or what you get out of all of this, but... I hope he's treating you well."

The Key also isn't the only one here who wants to defend those at his side.

Azoth arcs with excessive energy as he builds it in his body, then holds up his shaking arm and snaps his fingers with a rising swell of light. It bursts out of him, weaving toward the others on the field with him to wrap them in its protections -- but the energy is wild and strange, out of Azoth's control, and may adapt to them uniquely.

GS: Scythe Riebaure takes a glancing hit from Ashley Winchester's Shockwave Crash for 74 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hex removed!
GS: Cripple applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Mighty applied to Ashley Winchester!
GS: Azoth has attacked Tio with Body Electric!
GS: Azoth has attacked Kamui with Body Electric!
GS: Azoth has attacked Seraph Clarine with Body Electric!
GS: Azoth has attacked Marivel Armitage with Body Electric!
GS: Azoth has attacked Azoth with Body Electric!
GS: Azoth has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Lock state expired!
GS: Azoth has completed his action.
GS: Scythe Riebaure takes 16 damage from Poison!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has completed his action.
GS: Gamble! Azoth heals Tio! She gains 80 temporary hit points!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Quick applied to Tio!
GS: Gamble! Azoth heals Seraph Clarine! She gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Burst and Surge applied to Seraph Clarine!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"And I do not recall you having any authority to decide such." Clarine retorts, her tone hardening. "We are not specimens for you to examine and use as you see fit. Not myself and others like me, nor Kamui and Tio."

Her light is intercepted by Randolph... and soon enough, Caina weaponises the unreal colors against them all. Clarine's mirrors swirl out, forming a wall to intercept the surge of colors. The way they move and swirl... it makes Clarine feel ill in a way Seraphim are usually not capable of. It forces her back, and she takes a second to have to restabilize herself afterward.

This is aided in part by a surge of light and energy courtesy of Azoth. It plays well with her spiritual form - she takes the energy in allowing it to empower herself.

"You have my gratitude!" She says with a nod toward Azoth, before looking back toward Caina.

Light still wreathed around her form she charges toward him... but then, in a flash, her light disperses into three identical forms, each Clarine herself. All three gesture with a hand, sending a flurry of light projectiles at Caina from all direction. They each seem very real.

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Caina with Dispersion Feint!
GS: Lock state expired!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Caina critically guards Seraph Clarine's Dispersion Feint for 24 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Riposte applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Caina activates Guard bonus!
GS: Gamble! Azoth heals Azoth! He gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Shield applied to Azoth!
<Pose Tracker> Scythe Riebaure has posed.

    As soon as Eleanor's blood touches his tongue, Scythe's eyes roll upwards. A look of unguarded bliss crosses his face as he tastes the young woman's power, clear and bright and intoxicating. He wants more. But right now...

    Venetia shifts her weight forwards. Scythe feels her tensing, reflexively, and jerks his head back as her hand rushes up at him. Her thumbnail trails a bright red scratch down his burned face, just barely missing his right eye. Scythe lets go of the Galadian woman, twists to the side--

    Eleanor catches him before he can teleport again. Light washes up around him, a torrent of burning power. A scream tears free from his throat, and for a moment it seems like maybe Marivel wasn't quite telling the truth after all. Maybe he is a Crimson Noble, if it hurt him that bad.

    But no. Scythe is still standing when the light clears, pupils dilated with pain and fury. His skin is a mess of burns, and his jacket clings to his frame in tatters. The Brionac insignia on his shoulder is almost completely singed away.

    "No," Scythe hisses, as Xiumei takes aim. He twists to the right, the air blurring as Scythe moves one way, and the shots of burning energy move the other. One of them clips him, and the pain is enough to make him see white for a few seconds. "No," he says again, as Acacia's lightning arcs at him, slamming directly into his injured chest. Scythe's whole body jerks back and forth like a marionette on strings; he lifts upwards, off the ground. "N--no," he says, mustering up reserves of willpower to spit defiance at Gwen. He holds out a hand, a spatial barrier forming just in front of his palm. Gwen's bullet slams into it, but the impact carries through enough to force Scythe back a few inches.

    Ashley charges. Ashley, who is still on his feet and still fighting and still in control of the THING INSIDE HIM WHY HAS HE NOT BEEN CONSUMED.

    The shockwave hits home. It throws Scythe back, and the blood that spills from his myriad wounds is all his. He wobbles unsteadily in the air, lips twisted in a manic grin. It might be from blood loss and pain. He laughs, his whole body shuddering, even though it hurts so much. But he has to stay focused. He has to stay focused, just like when--

    Despite his mounting injuries, Scythe snaps back into some semblance of focus--and despite his arrogance, he is here to return the favor for man who helped him. In a heartbeat, Scythe is holding not just one blood vial, but three, each filled with more of that otherworldly ichor. To those with the sense for it, they all but thrum with power, reacting to Scythe, or to the nature of this place--

    No. Both.

    Scythe uncorks them, throws back his head, and drinks them down. The coppery tang flows across his tongue, and the rush of power roars in his ears. His hand uncurls; the vials fall to the ground, glass shattering. Blood splatters the pristine white, and smoke the color of dead time wafts from where it sizzles into tangible reality.

    It's the entirety of Scythe's reserves.

<Pose Tracker> Scythe Riebaure has posed.

    "Fools." Scythe's head snaps up. His eyes are unfocused. He sees everything and nothing at once. "This is my domain. Our domain. OUR DOMAIN!" The air itself seems to catch Scythe's voice, refracting it across a dozen different ones like light split through a prism. Only one sounds vaguely his--vaguely human. The rest sound as wrong as the light looks. "And for your insolence, it will become YOUR TOMB!"

    BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N96g6ehwscY

    Reality--or whatever passes for it in this place--begins to split. The chunk of pseudo-land at the center of the Emulator Zone shudders as Scythe's blood-fueled will cuts into it. Though Caina, the others, and the horde of demons are less than a hundred feet away, those caught within Scythe's web can run as fast as they like, and never reach them. And then

everything

dissolves

Each of Scythe's opponents is falling--running?--there's a sensation of movement towards some impending doom, and light the color of murdered time grows brighter ahead of them. They must do the impossible: arrest their fall, or tumble headlong into a void where the fourth dimension breaks down entirely.

    And then that terrible, sickly off-violet has them in its grip. Simply being in its presence is enough to make one feel sluggish, languid--it saps the will, dulls one's sense of identity. They must break free from its grip before their selves are crushed beneath the weight of eons.

    Then that horrible icy-blue. The blue that drains heat and motion, that clings to everything it touches. Keep moving, keep moving.

    And then

    an inversion.

    They're spat back into the Emulator Zone, having seen the horrors of some of the elements that reign here.

_____________________________| QUICK TIME EVENT!!!|_____________________________
_                             The Light of Dead Eons                           _
_                                                                              _
_                                                                              _
_  Ashley Winchester, Acacia Saitani, Gwen Whitlock, Venetia Vuong, Zhang      _
_ Xiumei, and Eleanor Klein:                                                   _
_  +qte/react <guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge>   _
<Pose Tracker> Caina has posed.

    "Authority! That's all I hear you 'heroes' ever talk about," retorts Caina, shaking his head. "Authority this, justice that. Someday someone's going to teach you that 'power' is the only true force in this world..." At his side is again the key, ready and waiting.

    "What drives me?" Caina huffs out an irritated breath, as Kamui asks the question of him. "I've already told you. All I need is Lord Vinsfeld's vision."

    Kamui aims carefully, her form veiled in light and hidden from the warlock. Even with Randolph in a slow orbit about Caina, it is hardly infalliable. Kamui finds her opening, and she quickly seizes it.

    The light cuts across the distance. It slams full-on into Caina, who reels a moment from the impact, steadying himself even as Randolph appears by his side.

    Maybe its presence here -- in this moment -- maybe this is the reason why, as Tio, draws upon the power of her Soul Egg, the key quickly vanishes to intercept the bolts in flashes of white light. It shudders violently with each impact. Perhaps irritatingly, the wounded warlock smiles, even as he recovers from Kamui's hit.

    "A home? Who needs something as pitiful as a home?" asks Caina of the vampire. In a sense, he receives his answer in a particular form.

    As the storm of colors die down, there may be for a moment an impression of a haze before Caina -- a haze that burns brilliantly red as it grows before him. Though he tries to twist away from it, it gives chase, it sinks against him and slips its -- her -- teeth into his neck. He cries out hoarsely, colored haze erupting from his hands as he tries to push her away. Once she finally releases her grip he falls back, hand to his neck, as the key revolves in a slow and almost worried orbit about him.

    It wobbles the once when Azoth addresses it directly. It's not entirely certain what that might mean. And then it spins quickly. ...That's equally as unintelligible.
    Caina for his part directs a somewhat suspicious glance Azoth's way but says nothing, for the moment only watching as that field of light erupts off the apparent young man.

    Perhaps the key was anticipating something similar after the previous attack on Caina's person, courtesy of Tio. This time as Clarine splits into three, it stays close to Caina and projects about the both of them a shimmering barrier. It crackles as the projections are flung at it in a barrage, but yet holds firm.

    The glyph that Caina had drawn in his own blood begins to shimmer softly.

    "Did you really think this wasn't a trap?" the warlock sneers, baring his teeth. "Randolph, to me! OPEN THE GATE!"

    As so invoked, the key appears right before him, completely still in that place where it hovers in the air. A hideous and impossible magenta light flares from Randolph, its power arcing in bolts for the glyph on the floor.

    And the world

    rips open.

    For Ashley, it might be a familiar sort of feeling: a looping of one space into another. And as before, the way is open. There is an invitation to the beyond. It's one that very quickly receives an answer.

    Demons pour into this dimensional space, eager for the freedom to do as they please. There are a lot of them. No, there are far too many of them--

    They come at you in droves, slavering from too many mouths as they lunge and try to catch up to you. At their size and number, the best option would be to not be where they are.

    One especially large demon swings a clawed arm for the lot of you, its arm splitting and branching midswing to try to stop you from escaping.

    Smaller demons pile upon you, blocking off your exits and preventing an easy escape. There are too many of them to fight directly.

    And more still are coming. Even if you survive the initial sortie, at this rate you'll be overwhelmed. There is no apparent way to fight back or escape the demons.

_____________________________| QUICK TIME EVENT!!!|_____________________________
_                               Six Billion Demons                             _
_                                                                              _
_                                                                              _
_  Kamui, Tio, Azoth, Marivel Armitage, and Seraph Clarine:                    _
_  +qte/react <guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge>   _
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Kamui takes 97 damage and gains 45 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Eleanor Klein takes 73 damage and gains 30 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Venetia Vuong takes 84 damage and gains 45 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Seraph Clarine takes 109 damage and gains 45 FP!
GS: Gamble! Azoth heals Marivel Armitage! She gains 110 temporary hit points!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Amplify applied to Marivel Armitage!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Zhang Xiumei takes 100 damage and gains 45 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Tio takes 96 damage and gains 45 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Acacia Saitani takes 81 damage and gains 45 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Marivel Armitage takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Azoth takes 115 damage and gains 45 FP!
QTE: That's the last target of your QTE done!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Ashley Winchester takes 86 damage and gains 45 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"We'll try to keep him off you, Miss Vuong!" Xiumei calls out, as she lowers her Pulse Cannon. The weapon vanishes, exploding into so many cubes of data. Those cubes vanish in blinks, a moment later.

She makes a face, though, at Scythe's reaction to Eleanor's blood. She wishes she still had her hand cannon.

And then he breaks the world.

Xiumei calls out, but it's a shocked reaction -- wordless in her panic. SHe slams through a void, multi-colored lights all around. Xiumei slams a hand out -- the Pulse Saber forms -- and it scrapes against the void. Then, she sees the way that it grows languid.

She leaps -- twice -- off nothing -- and comes ahead of the wall of blue. Then, she slams into the ground, breathing hard, and looks at Scythe. She throws her hand out -- and then the Pulse Saber extends out into a whip. It slashes across Scythe.

It's a feint -- for the Barrier Cross. It swings out, slashing across his torso. But Xiumei is already running, as she did at the start. She leaves afterimages in her wake, a trio of them.

And the hand cannon is back. Three blasts fire, rapidly. The last one strikes just ahead of Xiumei. She charges, then slides over the ground. Blade held like a katana, she slashes across Scythe's middle with one, singular stroke.

"Keep your hands off Eleanor!" she shouts.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has activated a Force Action!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has activated a Force Action!
GS: Zhang Xiumei spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Formation! Zhang Xiumei has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Soaring Cross Strike!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has launched an attack Link!
GS: Zhang Xiumei spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Formation! Zhang Xiumei has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Rushing Pulse Blitz!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Lock state expired!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

The theory was sound. It was the weakness of the demons they'd used; perfect replicas, down to the last atom. Not genetic copies, but total, exact duplicates.

A bomb that operates on dimensional vibration. An enemy whose armor resisted all material force. A bunker hardened against all penetration.

The theory was sound. Lure them together. Set every one of them off. It should tear the whole zone apart like wrapping paper on Christmas morning. And him, sure. But someone had to break the stalemate. And he should be worth that much.

And of course, he had no way to say what would happen at the epicenter of a dimensional shearing like that.

                *

It has been 176,342,123 years. It has been twelve seconds. It hasn't happened. That's the trick to time and space being the same thing, he could understand that much. LIke being dragged away from what seemed like calm waters by a riptide; dragged under into a world unfamiliar and deadly.

But, he had to return.

Words, from the greatest man he knew. Bullets whizzing overhead. ARMs blasting geysers of light across the gap. He'd been so afraid, in that moment.

    "Heroes never die. Not as long as they have something to believe in."

He remembers a crooked grin. They'd survived, that day. And the next. And many, many more besides, until the light took that man away. And then, sometime later, he'd fallen into darkness.

But that man had survived the light. So he could survive the darkness. That was obvious enough.

The theory is sound.

                *

The darkness thins around him. He'd focused his energy on proving his existence, to himself and the ARM at his side. Small improvements, new ideas; these meant he was real. Now there was something else. A pinpoint. Distant, so distant, but...

    '...wasn't a trap?'

        'Randolph, to me!

            "OPEN THE GATE!"

He runs. It's a longshot. But if the door is open...

The theory is sound.

                *

The demons close in, clawing and screaming. Optimized on the most existential of levels to kill and destroy. It's an exquisite trap. A horde from all sides, in a space you control completely. A perfect trap!

Until the missiles start raining down, a barrage of explosive fire raining down from somewhere completely outside the throng! Explosions shatter the strange quiet of this place, almost as much as the spattering sound of shredded demons flying in every direction. The horde thins.

Behind it is a tall man, with deep brown skin, wrapped in a tattered cloak. His skin is rough, from long exposure to the beating sun, not helped by his apparent love of tank-tops. On one hand, a massive mechanical gauntlet; on the other, a heavy combat brace. His wild hair, black with a shock of white hair, is held back from his eyes by a red bandana.

Brad Evans. A dead man.

He throws aside the spent missile launcher - it's the size of a refrigerator and doesn't so much clatter as it lands, once, with an extremely decisive THUNK. "Caina," he says, roughly. "Guess I owe you some thanks."

He thrusts his hand out as light gathers around his Mechanical Glove, another Heavy ARM building rapidly around it.

"But first," he says, as a battleship beam cannon the size of a small house gathers around his arm. It plants to the ground, anchoring hydraulics hissing loudly as it settles. He yanks his arm to the side, the targeting computer sliding into place in front of him. "Pest control."

The Thunderbolt fires with a noise so loud you can't hear it, a column of light shearing through the gathered demons on its way to pulverize Caina and his key.

GS: Brad Evans spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Brad Evans has attacked Caina with Force Limit Released - ARM X1!
GS: Brad Evans has launched an attack Link!
GS: Brad Evans spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Brad Evans has attacked Caina with Dual Heavy ARM Deployment - ARM X2!
GS: Brad Evans has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Brad Evans has completed his action.
GS: Gamble: Very High! Caina takes a solid hit from Brad Evans's Force Limit Released - ARM X1 for 224 hit points!
GS: Caina guards a hit from Brad Evans's Dual Heavy ARM Deployment - ARM X2 for 106 hit points!
GS: Caina activates Guard bonus!
GS: Caina enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Break and Poison expired!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Gwen Whitlock takes 112 damage and gains 45 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.

    Kamui pauses at Caina's words, and-- finds herself barking out a dry and sick laugh. "Do you truly believe that I believe in authority? The sick and twisted abomination of human authority that plagues these lands..."

    She catches herself, finding her words boiling over again. "You think Odessa is different, better... but you are no different. You are ALL still humans -- just another the latest and freshest set of livery on the same warped heartbeat of desires that keeps you all going!"

    Yeah, she's kind of going off the end, but she can't hold it in right now.

    Her rant is kind of clipped when Caina does the unspeakable, and OPENS THE GATE--

    And demons pour out into this dimensional space; the Reploid doesn't seem afraid at all. Her pupils shrink as her grin gets toothy, and she's clawed into, a black fluid that passes for blood but is probably some kind of cooling fluid pouring out of her forearm.

    She blasts, and blasts, but they keep going; they're going to be overwhelmed. More cuts and nicks keep coming towards her, and she's rendered slower and slower with each exchange.

    She still looks excited, drunk on her battle fury-- but even her face halts as a sudden barrage of missiles lands in the battlefield. There's only one man that she knows could use such a device--

    It's him.

    Somehow, he's back. Is he another doppelganger? A strange twist of fate? Anything can happen in this bizarre devil-space. But first, Brad advises, Pest control.

    "... Right," Kamui answers, heightened; she's going to use something wicked in turn; she turns towards the rest of her allies and shouts, "I'm going to give you an opening! Send everything you have into him!"

    Her smile turns especially wicked as she turns to Caina and comments, as the gem embedded upon her chest shimmers:

    "You aren't the only one who can do twisted things to space. Watch... and LEARN--"

                        ...---=== TIME STOPS ===---...

                         It is an -awful- sensation.

  Every colour has inverted; all eyes see the very space they're in through a
   negative lens. Flesh blackened. Outlines white. The twisted colour of the
Emulator Zone, made worse. Something dark and twisted has applied itself to the
space, and there is seemingly no magic involved in this. No, this is the result
     of a machine brain one can call genius and another absolute madness.

 In this space, granted a precious several seconds, Kamui alone walks forward
    with purpose. The X-Buster lifts. A spiral pattern of suspended plasma
 encircles Caina, in a manner that seeks to choke out all forms of escape and
                                   defence.

                 She turns, and calmly slicks her hair back...

                   ...---=== AND THUS TIME RESUMES ===---...

    ... and so does physics, as each of the spheres of plasma converge in on a single point -- around the demon summoner.

    "... welcome back, Brad," Kamui adds.

GS: Gamble! Azoth heals Kamui! She gains 120 temporary hit points!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Lock State and Quick applied to Kamui!
GS: Kamui spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Kamui has attacked Caina with Hunter Arte - Dark Hold!
GS: Kamui has launched an attack Link!
GS: Kamui has activated a Force Action!
GS: Kamui has activated a Force Action!
GS: Kamui has cancelled 2 Force Actions.
GS: Kamui has activated a Force Action!
GS: Kamui spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling!
GS: Formation! Kamui has attacked Caina with Spiral Crush Buster!
GS: Kamui has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Kamui has completed her action.
GS: Caina takes a glancing hit from Kamui's Hunter Arte - Dark Hold for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Entangle and Shieldbreak applied to Caina!
GS: Caina guards a hit from Kamui's Spiral Crush Buster for 130 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Caina activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel says, "Shit! It's the care bear cousins!"

The demons surge into Marivel. Marivel swipes a claw into one of the demons and it vanishes--absorbed into Marivel. Indeed, countless of demonic entities swarm Marivel. She can't quite get to all of them, though, and she is soon covered in the creatures. Is she destroyed?!

No.

The ones near Marivel simply--are drawn into Marivel's claw as if absorbed by her utterly.

Marivel straightens up her head and says, "Caina..." She says softly. "I may be a demon, but I'm a demon that consumes demons. I eat 'em for breakfast..."

But even so, even saying that--there's too much for Marivel to chow down on and she's sure to be overwhelmed despite her arrogance. Right? Right?

And then Marivel sees him.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hAJBDZe21w

NEARLY FOUR MONTHS AGO

Merrill cannot, quite, suppress a sob, a hand over her mouth. She stands rigid, supporting herself. You have to be that strong to try to be a 'normal villager', out here.

Billy just looks at Marivel. His gaze is a million, billion miles away. When he breathes, it's slow.

"He," he croaks, words forming. He shifts in his chair, more quickly than before. "He......."

He squirms, an uncomfortable thing to look at. "He...!"

His eyes go wide, tension alive through his entire body, fingers gripping the rocking chair's armrests with sudden white-knuckle power they shouldn't even possess. "Hero...!!"

He shifts, throwing the rocking chair aside. His legs are paralyzed; he falls immediately to his knees. But not before he grabs Marivel by the shoulders.

And meets her eyes.

And for a second, she can see him - the man Brad Evans loved. A wild smirk on his face, his eyes kind but focused. She can practically hear the danger in the air. Like a memory lived out.

"Heroes never die," he says, with total, perfect clarity.

"Not as long as they have the will to fight."

A second passes, then two, then three, and then his legs fail him and he falls to his side.

NOW#-1 FUNCTION (

MARIVEL'S EYES WIDEN FAINTLY, HER ARROGANT DEMEANOR COLLAPSING IN ITS ENTIRELY AS SHOCK AND PAIN FILL HER EYES.

SHE TURNS HER ATTENTION COMPLETELY OFF CAINA AND FLOATS HER WAY TOWARDS BRAD, SHEDDING HER HUMAN FORM THE WAY ONE MIGHT REMOVING A JACKET. CRIMSON WINGS, SOME KIND OF RED BODY WITH EYES, SO MANY EYES ALL STARING TOWARDS BRAD.

ITS TALONS SLAM DOWN IN THE GROUND NEAR BRAD AND HE CAN SEE THE TEARS IN THE CRIMSON MIST'S EYES.

"HE WAS RIGHT." MARIVEL SAYS QUIETLY, PRESSING A CLAW AGAINST BRAD'S CHEEK FOR A MOMENT. "...."

"...."

AND THEN MARIVEL SWINGS A CLAWED FIST INTO BRAD'S FACE.

"DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN...!" SHE WAILS, GIVING HIM A BIG HUG, SLOWLY REFORMING BACK INTO MARIVEL'S HUMANOID FORM ) NOT FOUND as dark light erupts out from the wings, providing time for this emotional moment by destroying demons.

Once completely humanoid again, she just clings to him. "We've missed you. We've all missed you so much. Thank you for living. Thank you."

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel says, "Shit! It's the care bear cousins!"

The demons surge into Marivel. Marivel swipes a claw into one of the demons and it vanishes--absorbed into Marivel. Indeed, countless of demonic entities swarm Marivel. She can't quite get to all of them, though, and she is soon covered in the creatures. Is she destroyed?!

No.

The ones near Marivel simply--are drawn into Marivel's claw as if absorbed by her utterly.

Marivel straightens up her head and says, "Caina..." She says softly. "I may be a demon, but I'm a demon that consumes demons. I eat 'em for breakfast..."

But even so, even saying that--there's too much for Marivel to chow down on and she's sure to be overwhelmed despite her arrogance. Right? Right?

And then Marivel sees him.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hAJBDZe21w

NEARLY FOUR MONTHS AGO

Merrill cannot, quite, suppress a sob, a hand over her mouth. She stands rigid, supporting herself. You have to be that strong to try to be a 'normal villager', out here.

Billy just looks at Marivel. His gaze is a million, billion miles away. When he breathes, it's slow.

"He," he croaks, words forming. He shifts in his chair, more quickly than before. "He......."

He squirms, an uncomfortable thing to look at. "He...!"

His eyes go wide, tension alive through his entire body, fingers gripping the rocking chair's armrests with sudden white-knuckle power they shouldn't even possess. "Hero...!!"

He shifts, throwing the rocking chair aside. His legs are paralyzed; he falls immediately to his knees. But not before he grabs Marivel by the shoulders.

And meets her eyes.

And for a second, she can see him - the man Brad Evans loved. A wild smirk on his face, his eyes kind but focused. She can practically hear the danger in the air. Like a memory lived out.

"Heroes never die," he says, with total, perfect clarity.

"Not as long as they have the will to fight."

A second passes, then two, then three, and then his legs fail him and he falls to his side.

NOW

Marivel's eyes widen faintly, her arrogant demeanor collapsing in its entirely as shock and pain fill her eyes.

She turns her attention completely off Caina and floats her way towards Brad, shedding her human form the way one might removing a jacket. Crimson wings, some kind of red body with eyes, so many eyes all staring towards Brad.

Its talons slam down in the ground near Brad and he can see the tears in the Crimson Mist's eyes.

"He was right." Marivel says quietly, pressing a claw against Brad's cheek for a moment. "...."

"...."

And then Marivel swings a clawed fist into Brad's face.

"Don't you ever do that to me again...!" She wails, giving him a big hug, slowly reforming back into Marivel's humanoid form (which Brad can just sort of add to his inventory rather than worry about being in the way) as dark light erupts out from the wings, providing time for this emotional moment by destroying demons.

Once completely humanoid again, she just clings to him. "We've missed you. We've all missed you so much. Thank you for living. Thank you."

GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Brad Evans with Crybaby!
GS: Marivel Armitage has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Lock state expired!
GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
GS: Brad Evans accepts Marivel Armitage's Crybaby for 66 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Always the blood. Eleanor wobbles away from Scythe in the moment after the stabbing, but she cannot stop to deal with pain for the moment. She has a spell to cast, and things to do. Eleanor catches Scythe before he teleports, and her jaw tightens at his scream. She doesn't doubt Marivel... but she does notice how strong the ancient Elw magic was against him. But then, that's what it's for, isn't it? A payment from Avril for a service...

Pain and fury both. And the world... breaks. Eleanor looks in alarm as she feels the world shift before she sees it. His domain, he claims, and the voice refracts. She starts to gather herself up.

Fall, fall, fall. Eleanor feels herself tumbling through the air and she hangs onto her rifle like it's driftwood, reaching towards it and gripping it to keep it between her and her foe in a guarding formation. The world is dissolving all around. But off-violet is next, and Eleanor feels it--it is wrong, it is not as the world must be. Time...

But time is a burden Eleanor knows well, and she forces it aside with a motion she does not entirely understand, exerting mystical strength beyond that of which she is aware. And everything drains, and drains... But she keeps moving, for all that it drains from her as she does. Inversion--

"Gh--" Eleanor hits the ground of the Emulator Zone again, moving to a crouch, and she hears the others. She saw the demons all over. For not the first time, the sheer alien nature of this place, the distance from 'home' strikes her. But that is not all that strikes her. "Xiu..." Keep his hands off of her, Xiumei tells him.

Humans. The same twisted and warped desires. Is that how Kamui feels...? Is that how humans are?

But then, in an instant--He's there. The one she thought was gone, the one she still saw in dreams. "Brad!?"

There he is. Eleanor sees him, and she smiles, but that smile cuts off an instant later. Her eyes blaze yellow-gold as she sees--

Colors span the world, in all directions; a train crashes through an obstacle. Swirling, moving--and then--

A dark shape, full of horror. Bright, colorless eyes staring forward. And...

"I've seen better tombs," Eleanor snaps at Scythe, and aims her weapon. She aims not at him, but elsewhere, out in the air, into the strange realms at hand--

At where he will be. Her eyes still blazing, she points her large weapon, readies it--

And fires the gigantic bronze-gold firearm, letting loose every bullet readied for it one by one straight for where he's about to be. "Consider your domain annexed!"

Humans. More... humans...

But Brad is here.

GS: Eleanor Klein spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Eleanor Klein with Foresight!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein has launched an attack Link!
GS: Eleanor Klein enters the Avenger stance!
GS: Eleanor Klein has activated a Force Action!
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Eleanor Klein! She gains 115 temporary hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Eleanor Klein!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Abundance!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
GS: Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Soaring Cross Strike for 247 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Rushing Pulse Blitz for 284 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: Moderate! Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Eleanor Klein's Abundance for 214 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Delay applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

It all

                        Falls

        Apart

Reality was already an ephemeral concept here in the Emulator Zone. But it is ultimately Scythe's plaything, and he does with it what he wishes. The world turns inside out, space and time bend in ways that would drive even the most well-grounded of minds to insanity. Color itself turns against them, a negative rainbow, an alien spectrum, hurls them into the abyss, crushes them under infinite gravity, and swallows all life and all warmth.

But even beyond all that, the feeling that crushes Ashley Winchester's heart the most...

Is that all-too-familiar wrongness. The scent of rampant demonica in the air. Caina is conjuring, and...

Springs the trap.

Demons flood into the space. Demons. So many demons. An uncountable number. An impossible number.

The circumstances grow dire. Ashley shuts his eyes and whispers a prayer to whoever will listen.

Unfortunately, he knows that there's only one divinity that ever would.

"This may be your world..." Ashley whispers, his arm struggling through the rippling menagerie of chromatic madness. His hand... presses against his heart. It still beats, in spite of everything. "But... You made a mistake. You brought me here, Caina. Scythe."

"This is your world... And if the only way out is for us to tear a way out, then...""

                           "I will do so gladly."

The members of ARMS would be, broadly speaking, used to the awful sensation of Knight Blazer emerging into the world. But under normal circumstances, it does so into the spiritual backdrop of Filgaia or Lunar. Not here. Here, there is just... This alien, abstract landscape. This place that takes concepts and metaphors and gives them shape, form and color.

Flame consumes Ashley Winchester entirely. The fire spreads, a column of apocalyptic, eye-searing unlight that chars the very conceptual landscape black and dead rises where Ashley stands within the crushing, demonic tide. Where there was once the Musketeer, there is now only Knight Blazer. Its eyes flash. A blade of blue flame ignites in one hand. With a devastating roar, he drives the sword into the alien land under his own feet...

And the flame surges outward. It's a tidal wave of fire, a cascade of destructive power that finally, FINALLY seems so utterly overjoyed to be allowed to indulge in its need to CONSUME that it doesn't even seem to mind how Ashley is subtly guiding its fury away from his comrades.

Nothing else is spared.

Nothing else.

...Until, at least, something cuts through the desperation and the fury. A bright, shining, Brad-shaped ray of light that blasts hope straight into the black knight's burning heart. "It... it can't be--" Ashley's voice hesitates amidst the billowing blaze, even as the destructive tide seems to writhe in defiance and-- disappointment?? "Brad... Brad, is that you? You... you're alive...!?"

DC: Ashley Winchester switches forms to Knight Blazer!
GS: Ashley Winchester has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ashley Winchester has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ashley Winchester has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Caina with Abyssal Incineration!
GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Abyssal Incineration!
GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action.
GS: Caina takes a solid hit from Ashley Winchester's Abyssal Incineration for 217 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Kamui is speaking of humanity -- and not in the most favorable light. Something inside Azoth's core throbs with pain, but it's phantom feedback to data that's been encrypted. He can only know what feelings he concluded from the data, not the data itself. He doesn't need to know, though, to worry for her, knowing what he does, and knowing what Tio's added.

As the rift opens, and the demons appear, Azoth's calculations are instantly overrun. He can't keep up with the number, and now he needs to move, dashing from his position and weaving through claws and fangs. A shield of light helps guard from claws. But there are far too many. Azoth forms blades of light for himself, cutting through as many a he's able. Several detonate, but other blades form to take their place. He spins, twists, and snaps his fingers again, trying to rain down his arsenal of light with as many blades as he can force this chassis to conjure at once.

It's not enough. Azoth's eyes flicker red briefly in error -- and his blades with it. He's overheating, sparks crawling across his shaken arm. It doesn't quiver like a human's shoulder. It's more of a twitchy vibration.

But respite comes. Azoth shoots his gaze up to a man he doesn't know, but was sure he watched die trying to destroy Juno. Azoth was on a different side of the battle, then. Not that anyone would know it was him.

Analyzing all of that data is for later. Azoth can't lose this opportunity. A few swords remain undetonated by his side. With a surge through his circuitry, he sweeps out his arm and commands them to move into formation with his gesture. Then he charges Caina in the wake of Brad's attack, his swords chasing after him. With another guiding swing of his arm, he commands the set of them in a slash, fluidly guiding them back around to slam down in an explosive barrage with enough force that Azoth sends himself flying. He flips through the air to land safely in a crouch some distance away.

GS: Azoth has activated a Force Action!
GS: Azoth spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Formation! Azoth has attacked Caina with If Then!
GS: Azoth has launched an attack Link!
GS: Formation! Azoth has attacked Caina with End If!
GS: Azoth assumes the Stoic stance!
GS: Azoth has completed his action.
GS: Caina takes a solid hit from Azoth's If Then for 180 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Caina has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.

    Caina isues out his lofty ideals and callous view. She watches him SMILE after her lightning connects. It puts her ill at ease. Kamui responds with harsh words that are nonetheless true. After what they saw in Neo-Arcadia, she can't really blame her. Are humans truly the evil Kamui says they are? Certainly some of them, if Caina is anything to go off.

    She would like to have some retort to Caina's words, but she comes up empty. "Is following a Master all that matters to you?" It's a quiet question, that Caina may well not care bout. But it's one that's been burning in Tio's soul for a while now. Something she's been wondering about herself. For a long time, all that mattered was following Eleanor's instructions, because that alone gave her purpose. Not that Eleanor ever gave any. But things have changed. "Surely, even someone like you needs more than that."

    Azoth's light falls over her, and Tio feels her strength return. She gives a weak smile and a silent thank you via antennae lights. It helps to brace her for whats to come.

    The demons poor in, and Tio is ill equipped to face them. Claws shread at her outfit and her metal skin. For better or worse, it holds: An ARMs Meister who can repair Tio might be hard to find. She screams out as the large demon slams her. In a moment they will be overwhelmed.

    And then rescue arrives in the form of explosions, and Tio looks up at their rescuer. "You're..." Someone she barely knows, but a member of ARMS regardless. Tio pulls herself up, and then Kamui yells about an opening and then... something happens. Caina is surrounded by a powerful X-Buster attack. She gives a firm nod to her Sister. "I won't waste this!"

    "Release wind."

    And then Tio, raises her chakrams to her right side, then up to the sky. And wind starts emanating from her. Whisking around her and turning red. She starts into a pirouette and keeps turning, growing ever faster. As she does, the wind around her turns into a blood red tornado, before she stops suddenly, toes en point, her right hand outstretched towards Caina with her left behind her holding the chakrams.

    And then the tornado surges toward him, picking up anything in it's way, collecting them into it's winds with no intent on stopping until it rises into the sky, dragging it's victims with it, before releasing them to plummet harshly into whatever passes for earth here.

GS: CRITICAL! Caina takes a solid hit from Azoth's End If for 258 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP!
GS: Caina has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
GS: Tio has activated a Force Action!
GS: Tio has attacked Caina with Tornado!
GS: Tio has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Blind expired!
GS: Tio has completed her action.
GS: Caina takes a solid hit from Tio's Tornado for 176 hit points!
GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP!
GS: Caina has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

    "Your domain doesn't mean shit," Acacia bites back, her own anger rising and feeding off the fear that edges around it as space begins to warp even more unnaturally than before. "I didn't ask for this fight. Nor did Kamui. But every time, you all force it and force it and--"

    Whatever she was saying floats away from her - almost literally, as the floor doesn't so much give way as plummet with her, distending suddenly downwards until down has no meaning. Whatever saves her from the mass of enemies there, she isn't completely sure. The little voice that tells her to keep moving is definitely hers and definitely instinct distilled down to its purest form - there is no pride when she tells herself that's what she's best at, even if it rankles to run away from something Scythe has inflicted on her.

    The rest of it, though, she might never remember clearly; something vaguely like clawing at the firmament of the pit to gain for height, pressing against the edge of it to try tearing the boundaries that make it up in a fit of angry contrariness. What she does know, when the world somewhat reforms around her, is that her limbs are suddenly leaden. Even if they don't show physically, she can feel a hundred bruises and scratches and tears.

    "--so if you ask me," she grinds out, wincing as she forces her legs to stay steady. More than anything else, she isn't prepared to give that much to Odessa, not if there's even the tiniest bit of will left in her. She's pretty sure she's in shock, because everything feels far too muted. She'll process Brad later; she'll process whatever the hell Kamui just did later, because even the memory of it makes her teeth ache and her brain rattle.

    Her pistol's back in her hands. She's not sure when she picked it up. A little wild thought says that maybe it stopped being a physical thing a long while ago. "This is all on you. You can take that back to Vinsfeld." She raises it, braces her feet - and pours as much of herself into the shot as she can, a rolling horizontal column of light. The recoil nearly takes her off her feet, or perhaps her belief that something like this should recoil. Perception and reality aren't far apart here.

GS: Acacia Saitani spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Acacia Saitani enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Mightier than the Sword!
GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action.
GS: Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Acacia Saitani's Mightier than the Sword for 186 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Infect! Cripple removed!
GS: Scythe Riebaure activates Arcane Font!
GS: Scythe Riebaure enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
GS: Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Ashley Winchester's Abyssal Incineration for 221 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Scythe Riebaure gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"Power is not eternal, Caina. Those who believe they have power oft find it slipping through their finger when they need it most. It can be quite the ephemeral thing." All three Clarines reply in unison, shaking their heads. "Do you believe you are the first to come to this revelation?"

She glances, briefly, toward Kamui, who seems to be on much the same wavelength in this regard.

Randolph intercepts her shots, however, and buys Caina time to do something truly terrible. The impossible space rips open and Clarine doubles over, gasping for breath. Such blatant defiance of natural order... it's painful to her. And then she seems them - the countless demons that begin to surge through. With her eyes open wide the three Clarines drift backward, and at their command great beams of light begin to roar downward to tear through the demon hordes.

...But it isn't enough. It isn't nearly enough. There are still far too many. They're upon them, the other two Clarines are quickly overwhelmed, dispersed into light and returning to the one that remains. Fighting them is exhausting, and the injures are piling up...

...But then, a miracle happens.

Explosions tear through the horde, and soon, a figure walks through the flames. A familiar figure. Clarine's eyes open wide. She stares in disbelief.

"B-Brad...? It cannot... it cannot possibly..." She starts, shaking her head. ...Was this a trick? A trick devised by Caina, to break their spirits? But... no. No, it couldn't be. She did not want it to be. "I am... very much relieved to see you...!"

But Brad and Kamui have provided them with an opening.

"Understood...!" Clarine nods, turning back to face Caina.

"Very well... if 'power' is all you understand, then let it be so. May the light scorn you forevermore!" She shouts. With a gesture, a series of mirrors fly from her sleeves, quickly arranging themselves around this space.

She does not recite an incantation this time. With a wordless gesture toward Caina, arrows of golden light appear, swirling around her before firing off. But not at Caina directly - they impact off the mirrors, bounding and rebounding into the area is aglow with light until the mirrors shift, and every light arrow is sent flying toward Caina to overwhelm him from every possible angle.

GS: Seraph Clarine has activated a Force Action!
GS: Seraph Clarine spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Caina with Radiant Cannonade!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Caina takes a solid hit from Seraph Clarine's Radiant Cannonade for 174 hit points!
GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP!
GS: Caina has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Gwen sees those vials, and she aims, a shot ringing out uselessly by a few feet, the vials already consumed in that tiny space of time. It wouldn't have mattered even if she did hit.

    Because it's too late, once Scythe bellows his threat.

    R e n d r e n d r e nd rend split, dissolve, despair, fall, k n e e l

    give up
        give in
        
    She won't fall a second time. As much as she cared and appreciated the bond she gained with a being she would have otherwise have not have.

    Not again. She won't do that again, if she does--

    Flames. Gwen flinches back as she finds herself back, seeing the figure of Knight Blazer manifest black and red in the dim moment where they're at their last thread of hope.

    She wanted to spare Ashley all of this, but she can't even manage to hold all that power in and not go crazy, not unless her soul was held back.

    And would it even be enough, even if she had?

    ------------ ------ ------------- - --- ---- There's another way she could fight.

    If she could get back because everyone supported her, back in that time in Luca, couldn't the same be said of Ashley? If everyone who cared about him called for him, when that grim deadline approached, he'd find his way back, right? Because he's like her, in that way.
    
    Breaking through, Gwen pivots her head and aims towards Scythe, gritting her teeth, Brilliant lines of gold feed up her ARM, and a giant flash erupts, followed by a gold beam of energy.

    There should be a pithy comment here, but as the beam recedes in the aftershadow of her eyes, Gwen finds she's unable to say much of anything at all.

    Except--

    Brad's here. Is she...?

    "Did I die...?" Gwen touches her face.

    Also, he's... that's... what he's doing, there, and with the artillery, and the comeback, a-and...

    Do her cheeks feel warm? They're definitely warm. She's definitely blushing.

    It almost makes up for what just ha p p e n e d...

    ... No, it doesn't.

    But it does make her feel a little better for getting through it.

GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Quasar Palm!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has launched an attack Link!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Corona Discharge!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

With Scythe no longer on her, the only thing making her blood go outside of her is... her own heart. Venetia's hand slaps onto her torn neck as she staggers backwards, glowering at Scythe, left eye through the lace as she struggles to compose her words. She can't come up with anything cutting right now.

"Is he actually...? Or am I hallucinating," Venetia mutters to those near her, most likely Eleanor. Press, she thinks. If you can, squeeze. Her head lifts up, despite the pain. "Sorry, for the trouble," she answers Xiumei wanly, grinding her teeth together.

And
then
things
get
weird.

Venetia perceives herself briefly as an enormous flower and can see the space in her past that is a singular stem because it has already happened from this point of perception, as well as the diaphanous manifold leading upwards. It is dismaying to her that the branch points seem to be very regular, and that nine out of ten of them end. The mathematics are but dimly comprehensible to hear but she reaches down that one in ten that isn't about to die -

- she is smaller yet, her hand held by her uncle's. She knows that because he lost most of his index finger in an explosion, giving him a peculiarly ticklish quality. She is staring upwards as she was just now. She sees a painting.

'Who are they, Uncle Ant?'
'That's the first President, and the only Dean of Astronomy.'

Venetia gazes at the woman who might be her, vaguely cherubic in a lace mask, and the towering black man in a hat behind him. The two stand, arms around each other. She can tell they are pleased, despite the masks hiding their face. She has never seen anyone else's bare face and won't for four more years, excepting the sunshine trips up to the top, once a month, in school.

'What's astronomy?'
'The study of the stars.'
'What are those?'
'Tiny lights in the night-time sky.'
'Why did someone study them?'
'They matter,' says Uncle Ant. 'That's where power comes from.'

Venetia wonders...

... and she runs...

And something she hadn't known was being suppressed returns, and with a burst of horror and pain, she runs away. Away from a cold, a light, a blue that she has come to hate. She was never a big fan of blue, but it is now, officially, her least favorite color, despite its adjacency to violet. Away she runs. As she runs she begins to taste things, to glimpse things. Hidden powers. She is sensitive enough to feel them.

She runs, and then she trips, and she falls flat on her face--

-- and that's how she is in the return of ordinary time, at least in this extraordinary place.

Venetia drips blood from her neck. Ow, she thinks.

Her head tilts upwards. Somewhere in that hyperspace she lost her mask, revealing incredibly ordinary features. Her lip curls up again as this dawns on her. It seems profoundly infuriating. "You miserable maniac," Venetia tells Scythe. "I don't know who you are or what you came here to do. But you call this a tomb? That's... awfully convenient."

Venetia pulls out a newer looking Crest Graph. She doesn't get up. She fumbles it around the distorting crystallization of time, getting blood on the bronze-with-silver-inlay. She raises it upwards.

"... it means we can just leave your body here."

Please, Venetia thinks as the Crest Graph gleams. Come on. Hit a high spike.

The air tightens. Something not entirely unlike the strange bifurications that Venetia saw/perceived happens, but it is more like a complicated tangle inside of the etheric meta-space here. Drawing on the strange Ley energies, seeking for something. Something the same way a tree will seek for water, if it takes it thirty years, and if it ruins a highway to do it. That same thing, but profoundly sped up.

And then there is a twinkle and the roots all transition from imaginary space into the real.

And just maybe, a lot of them are inside of that man, Scythe Riebaure.

GS: Venetia Vuong enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Scythe Riebaure with Deepest Art: Hypothetical Root!
GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Disease expired!
GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
GS: Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Quasar Palm for 0 hit points!
GS: Jam applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
GS: CRITICAL! Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Corona Discharge for 219 hit points!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
GS: ROU|LET|TE: Ruinous! Scythe Riebaure takes a solid hit from Venetia Vuong's Deepest Art: Hypothetical Root for 223
hit points!
GS: Entangle applied to Scythe Riebaure!
GS: Scythe Riebaure activates Arcane Font!
GS: Scythe Riebaure has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Scythe Riebaure has posed.

    In the heart of the Emulator Zone, Scythe Riebaure takes a deep, ragged breath. Everything hurts, and not even her blood is a potent enough anaesthetic to dull the pain. He threw everything he had left into opening that vortex. He was not expecting anyone to emerge alive.

    But Xiumei does. She's on him before he can blink, her weapons carving into him, one, two. Again, there's that sense that he's being cut, but not deep enough to reach muscle or bone or the organs beneath. Again, it's the power of this place, and not his own, that keeps him from being sliced open by her blades. It does nothing to stop the humiliation that rips through him. Scythe falls out of the air, sinks to a knee, spits blood onto the false ground. "How did you...?!"

    Acacia emerges from the vortex a moment later, and Scythe's face draws tight. His hands clench into fists. Blood drips down his fingers. He stares her down, sucking wind as she takes aim. Scythe focuses--

    --And that focus slips. Nothing happens. Acacia's beam sizzles through the air, slams into his shoulder. Acacia herself absorbed most of the recoil, and when Scythe falls backwards, it's from the overwhelming pain. His skin is a mess of blood and soot. Smoke rises from his hair; his jacket is mostly ash and scraps. Through the fog, he hears Venetia's voice. She wants to leave his body here. He feels her drawing, impossibly, on the energy of this place.

    Focus. Focus, his uncle would tell him. Come on--

    Radiant, branching glyphs reach out, gripping Scythe's leg and tearing into his skin. He jerks back, leaving more blood on the ground--and then the air around him twists with a snap-pop as he finally, manages to get away from the greedy, grasping roots. He reappears fifty feet away, sinks to his knees, and Eleanor is waiting for him. Her bullet slams into his right thigh, missing his femoral artery by inches. Even now, in his weakness, this place protects him. Gwen's beam catches him between the shoulderblades. A scream of agony rips from his throat.

    "You..." Scythe croaks, as Ashley makes his dread transformation. "All of you..." His handsome face is barely recognizable beneath the burns, but the look of cold hatred is clear as day. He sees Caina's demons dying as a dead man opens fire on them. It doesn't matter nearly as much as his pain, his humiliation.

    The flames of disaster wash across him.

    BRIONAC HEADQUARTERS, FILGAIA

    Augst Henriksen and Lambda Zellweger stand outside the door to Scythe's quarters. Lambda appears lost in thought; Augst knows him well enough to know what this means. He waits, patiently, as his commander returns to reality. "Shall I knock again? She may well be in there, you know that her grip on reality is... tenuous, at times."

    "No," Lambda says. "Let me."

    He twists the latch, and the door slides open with no resistance--as if he knew it would be unlocked. The room beyond is lit only by embers scattered across the metal floor, burning like signal flares in the dark. None of them match any color found in nature. "I wasn't expecting this," says Lambda, rubbing his chin. He glances at a chair, which sits ajar--as if someone had been sitting there moments before, and knocked it over in haste. "Someone disrupted the plan."

    "Perhaps she just went out for a stroll," Augst says, though his heart isn't in it.

    "No," says Lambda, as if he didn't get the joke. "In fact, I know exactly where she is."

<Pose Tracker> Scythe Riebaure has posed.

    THE EMULATOR ZONE

    The sky of the Emulator Zone--part of it, anyway--inverts itself. Pale, sickly blue pours from the sky in great streaks, sapping the energy of Knight Blazer's flames. The other colors begin to swirl, forming a whirlpool of impossible hues. Something appears from within, a black silhouette. It's drawing closer.

    The air shrieks as the shape erupts from the portal, its impossible momentum arrested completely within heartbeats. It hovers over Scythe, chasing the flames away with that sickly light--it looks like a hole in reality, a vaguely humanoid shape from which no light can escape. A halo of alien hues surround it like an event horizon. Its eyes are points of colorless light.

    It kneels down. Tenderly, it gathers Scythe into its arms, and rises off the ground. Fractal wings unspool from its back. Those horrid eyes look at Eleanor, then at the others, each in turn--

    Then at Knight Blazer. All the while, a palpable sense of hatred courses from the being's body.

    Then it vanishes into the portal, disappearing as abruptly as it arrived.

<Pose Tracker> Caina has posed.

    Caina laughs, right in Clarine's face. "Not eternal? What do you think this is?!" he utters, light and color burning from his body as the magic key dances near to him. "I draw upon the power of 'the other side' itself! Or have you forgotten where you stand?" The light of the Emulator Zone itself twists, echoing a fraction of his apparent control over this place.

    "Call it whatever you want! It's nothing but a justification!" replies the warlock to Kamui, the key dropping in to hover close at his side.

    It's the rest of the words that spill from her that seem to catch him off-guard. "Aren't you--" he sputters, before finding his 'footing' once again. "Valeria is another human! Don't tell me you're not his dog!"

    All his attention -- or nearly that -- then is poured into keeping the door between worlds open. "Then choke on them, dog of Valeria," he says simply to Marivel, his eyes aglow as he channels the power that permits him to open the gate and the way.

    'You brought me here, Caina. Scythe.'

    Caina's focus may be upon holding the gate open in this moment but he still turns his head as if listening.

    Then there is flame. It roars about the warlock even as Caina is forced to peel his focus away from the gate and his key, back towards the 'reality' of the Emulator Zone. Colors burn a moment at his hands; they are a poor shield against Lord Blazer's might. But the door between worlds remains open even if he is so burnt.

    It may be a good thing that it does. Demons aren't the only thing that pour out of the gate.

    There's also...

    Him.

    "You!" Caina snarls, shock and fury writ large across his face. Colors pulse about his hands as he draws himself back up once the missile bombardment comes to and end. He turns towards Brad as the big man erupts from the gate, casting the launcher aside. "How could you-- you were killed!"

    It's then that Brad responds by pulling out an absolutely enormous ARM. There is enough time for Randolph to impose itself between him and Brad. And then time stops altogether.

    He is in a transposed reality. He tries to move. He can't. He can't even blink. Plasma burns brilliantly about him in this place that even Randolph cannot breach. And then time resumes once more.

    The plasma burns into him. He might try to stave off even a part of it with an invocation, but it's too little, too late.

    Brad's ARM whirrs to life in the next second.

    There are demons, standing between Brad and Caina.
    There were demons, standing between Brad and Caina. It is an exquisitely simple form of math, writ boldly by Brad's armament. Not so much as scraps remain: there is no room for anything to 'survive' under a barrage like that.

    The only reason Caina is still alive, still able to stand when it's over is the presence of the key before him. It halfway hangs in the air, as if it were almost... wounded. "Randolph--!" the warlock cries out in alarm, reaching out a bloodied hand for the key.

    The demon gate slowly weaves itself shuttered again, a mere indent in 'reality' within this place. Then, not even that.

    The storm comes for him after that. The windstorm that Tio calls down is cruel and unrelenting, and even the key is merely buffeted by about by the gales in its attempts -- it throws off a strange light now and again -- to stop Caina from being consumed by the storm. "Randolph, stop!" the warlock calls out, reeling to one side for a moment as he struggles to stay upright.

    It's Clarine who first takes him off his feet. Though the key vanishes from sight in an attempt to intercept the beams that are flung Caina's way, it seems to be operating at a delay, a delay no doubt inflicted by Brad's ARMs. Caina himself staggers as he's struck. He stumbles. He falls to his knees. Only with an effort does he again stand.

    Into this situation comes Azoth. There's something strange about Azoth that the warlock has noticed, but it is also the sort of thing that has ended up rather shuffled to the back of the line in current circumstances. The key tries to dart in, still wobbling in the air. Caina pushes it aside. Azoth -- and the blades that chase him -- carve into him in series, twisting the warlock's body about in the air.

    He stands for only a moment before he collapses to the ground, the key following him down. Vaguely, he's aware of the presence and power of 'another' but only vaguely.

    "Randolph," Caina says to the key wetly as he pushes himself up onto his knees, "take me from here. And... undo this place." The key begins to glow with a brilliant light. Rasping, he draws in a breath. "Fools!" he calls out hoarsely. "You will never see Filgaia again! Enjoy your last moments together!"

    He touches a hand to the key's surface and both vanish in a flash of light.

    The Emulator Zone roils and shudders. The colors within it begin to pale.

    ...Hurry. There is little time.

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Xiumei's not unused to the feeling of Knight Blazer's arrival. But that never makes it comforting -- and the vision they see here makes her blood run cold.

But then she spots what makes Ashley hesitates. Or, rather, who does.

"M-Mister Evans!" Xiumei cries out, eyes widen -- and disbelief in her voice. She feels -- and sounds -- more like a clerk than a hardened fighter, for just a moment.

But then she lets out a shaky breath. Her eyes turn -- to Eleanor, then at Kamui and Acacia -- and then at the way out.

"We need to hurry!" she says. "I-I think our reunion should wait until we're out of this place!"

She bolts for the train, rushing as fast as she can.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

There, what she'd seen--Eleanor stares at the thing that gathers up Scythe, and then as the world starts crumbling further... Well. Xiumei has it right. "Come on!" Eleanor says, looking around for anyone who's slowed as she pushes herself back to her feet and starts to run. "Come on! Brad!"

She bolts right after Xiumei, running as fast as she can, too. Everything she can process... later.

But Eleanor is not very fast, and it will be a narrow thing making it onto the train in time herself.

<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

That figure that whisked Scythe away... He could feel the absolute *fury* in her gaze. "Even a guy like Scythe that has someone who loves him, huh...?" The Blazer shakes his head and turns... toward Brad.

He runs towards Brad, even as the awful, inverted realm begins to pale.

And then he...

Gives the big man a great big hug, not as the Knight Blazer (becuse that would Cause Problems), but rather just as... Ashley Winchester, baker. "I'm so glad you're alive... How... are you alive?"

Beat.

"Oh. Oh! I have a present. But, later. We need to get out of here-- come on! There's a train!"

Beat.

...Beat.

"I don't know how the train is going to get us out, but that's still better than standing here! Come on!"

<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.

    Kamui realises only too late that the run of power coursing through her isn't entirely hers; she looks to Azoth for a moment, quietly nodding in turn. Tio berates Caina in turn, asking if following a Master is all that matters... well, she certainly has some choice words to that. And Clarine in turn... has an understanding of what happens to those who only chase after power.

    "Do you believe me loyal to Valeria?" Kamui's eye shines red in this twisted moment. "Don't you worry about that..."

    There is flame; Lord Blazer's flame. A powerful struggle of energies, brought about by Azoth's bladework; Tio's tempestuous wind; Marivel's dark light; Clarine's powerful beams.

    Then Caina speaks the words to undo the Zone. So it is the Key, after all. There's a laugh in turn, as the warlock disappears in brilliant light.

    "Don't you worry about that at all, Caina..." Kamui speaks to someone who isn't here anymore. She places a finger to her lip, even as she looks at where Marivel and Ashley, and others are having a moment with Brad.

    They're allowed to.

    "When the time comes... I'm not going to let anyone stop me," she murmurs to herself, whirling around and pacing back to perch ontop of the train.

<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

Brad stands resolute as people stammer in stunned excitement that he's returned from Hell. The most stunning of all these is Marivel, who gradually sheds her mortal corpus and approaches him in the form of something far more dreadful.

Brad looks her in the eye, quiet and unmoving as the weeping chaos draws near.

Then she clocks him right in the jaw, sending his head jerking back.

He chuckles, low, and lets her weep against him. A moment later, he wraps his unarmed hand around her shoulders. "Brad Evans, returning from an extended absence, ma'am."

He looks over her, toward Caina.

"A hero never dies, Caina," Brad says, firmly. "Not as long as they have the will to fight."

He draws in a deep breath, eyes briefly shutting before reopening with intense purpose. "You tell Vinsfeld," he says, releasing Marivel. The Mechanical Glove has kept the Thunderbolt out - and Brad grabs the firing lever like it's ready to fire again. "This is my answer."

Caina flees, instead. Brad chuckles, releasing the lever; this time the device does scatter to dust, as the strange technomagic of the Glove releases its grip on the device.

Then he gets tackled by some kind of baker man!! He gives Ashley a slightly crooked grin, but, sadly, the universe is falling apart right now.

"We should go," he notes. He half-turns, seeing Eleanor lead the way. "Yes!"

He will literally pick up and carry Ashley and Marivel if necessary.

<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.

    When it comes to the battle being won, Tio simply watches as Caina disappears into the void. The world starts to crumble, and she looks to her fellows. Everyone seems to be capable of moving, and is doing so. There is a concerned glance to Eleanor, but Xiumei probably has her sorted.

    It's Kamui she's worried about, as she runs to follow along aftr her. "Sister, are you alright?" She asks, with a real fear she won't get an answer. "Sister...?"

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"Do you truly believe you control it?" Clarine replies, shaking her head. "You are meddling with unnatural forces."

With the return of Brad, the fight swings in their favor. His sheer level of firepower is enough to simply erase the army of demons summoned by Caina. And with that, the odds are in their favor... and soon, Scythe is extracted and Caina is forced to retreat.

Clarine frowns. ...Well, what do they do now? A decision seems to be made - to return to the train. Clarine nods.

"Yes... that would be best." Clarine agrees, before looking toward Brad. "It... really is good to have you back, Brad."

And then, she starts to follow, glancing toward Tio as she does. ...She doesn't say it out loud, though she does quietly share her concerns about Kamui...

<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

    Knight Blazer is another on the long list of things that Acacia can't bring herself to focus on too hard right now. There's too much going on, and she can't concern herself with all of it, not when she can feel the malice radiating off of the creature in front of her. She has a faint but definite feeling that, if she lowers her pistol, she might just get torn apart on the spot. Instead, she fixes her gaze forwards, watching as it...

    'saves Scythe' does not seem like the right wording at all, she realizes, and it's only after a moment that she carefully tries using 'recover' instead, as if the Emulator Zone might bite her head off if she got the wrong term.

    Only once they're gone does she allow herself to sag to the ground, nearly kneeling but instead just squatting as she lets out an accumulated breath of fear and anxiety. She can hear the yells to head for the train, but she needs this much; a quiet moment to herself, just to try to recentre and let some of the adrenaline drain out of her. Peeking through her hair, she watches as the others welcome Brad back - and then watches as Tio scurries after a Kamui she's not used to seeing.

    That's another thing she needs to focus on, even if she hasn't a clue where to start. Or whether she should. Or whether she even can. She's got a responsibility to at least try to live up to.

    But getting out of here comes first, and she winces as her shoulder flares with pain - oh, right, the knife - and several joints pop in her legs as she stands up. She's hobbling a little, but turns with a frown of determination as she heads for the train and hopefully a way out.

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Watching the way Randolph struggles to defend Caina, and the way Caina, at the last moments, tries to defend Randolph in turn... Azoth's core aches. But even with pain, it doesn't shift the priorities he has. He has to get out of here, and so does everyone else.

There's another surge of energy here that vibrates in his core. Terrible. Familiar? Azoth's eyes are red and flashing. He grabs his chest and squeezes, gaze empty. He feels nearly on the cusp of something in his data clicking together, then --

The train. Azoth's attention snaps to it with laser focus, and he rushes with the others, pausing to make sure everyone's able to come along before continuing forward.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel has gone chibi at this point and is readily heftable by Brad.

HE's going to have to because she is looking to Kamui and going, "ANA LOVES YOU TOO SHE MADE YOU THIS MECHANICAL LUNCHBOX AND DREW A BUNCH OF ROBOT FRIENDS AND--"

She goes on like this for the rest of the escape.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    That... happened.

    That *all* happened.

    Gwen's just still processing the part where she was set on fire.

    And the fact that Brad's alive.

    "Brad, you're alive." The initial blush on her face grows into a blotchy red as she begins to cry instead, her psyche beginning its comfortable slide into blubbering emotions as the pocket universe seems to follow suit. "You're alive, n' you're not a clone, and if you're clone, you're one that's not killing people, and you're alive!"

    yeah brad probably has to just scoot a crying Gwen towards the train