2022-12-06: Demon And/Or Irrepressible Dignity

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  • Log: 2022-12-06: Demon And/Or Irrepressible Dignity
  • Cast: Ethius Hesiod, Kaguya
  • Where: The Crater Sea
  • Date: December 06, 2022
  • Summary: The first two to reach the peak of Mount Liverfeast, Kaguya and Ethius, both have their own ideas as to how to address an out-of-control Demetrioi in front of them. No solution, should one exist, comes to either of them before years of mutual animosity drives their conflict to a boiling point. (This scene ICly takes place on December 9th.)
==============================<* The Crater Sea *>==============================
The Crater Sea rests at the center of Southern Aquvy. Rumors abound that ancient cities and other ruins are submerged underneath the sea, and in the shallower portions, Diggers have reported that great expanses of submerged glass have been found. The people of Southern Aquvy know that Crater Sea is not just a name. In the past, some great calamity shattered the ancient continent of Greater Aquvy, and in doing so, left the many smaller islands of the south. These waters are well-traveled, though not as much as they once were, after the fall of Celesti.

BGM: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - The Great Sea

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    December 9th, 504 Post Collapse - Just as interested parties make their approach...
 
     The ascent to the peak of Mount Liverfeast is among the most perilous, life-threatening undertakings for even the best adventurers of today. Living bodies aren't meant to handle the oscillation between temperature extremes, the rapid changes in air pressure, or any number of once thought impossible meteorological disasters presently occuring.
 
     Demetrioi rests at the peak of the dormant volcano, though 'rests' may not be the correct word for it. They are active. Fidgety, overstimulated, running so many different calculations within their very being. They have tried ever harder to find the one that works to the satisfaction of whatever criteria drives them if it isn't just the fuzzy idea of 'everyone is happy.'
 
     Their face is strained, but forces a smile. The shrubby tree-like body it boasts has enlargened significantly in the days that have passed since it was discarded here by the Veruni. Immense roots burrow deeper down the mountain, further and further down, intertwining through caverns and out in the open. Fractal patterns dance off of leaves and strange fruits they bear, burning colors that bleed in and out of the visible spectrum. Even the skies around them have taken strange hues, warping the sunlight as such it doesn't parse into a spectrum dangerous to those sensitive to UV lights. (This may be the only positive trait of this chaos.)
 
     They are aware of the presence of others, approaching.
 
     They are trying their very, very hardest.
 
     The sky is falling, and it seems as though the only way to help is to make more of the sky fall even faster. 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya's Gear is still there, at the base of the mountain, where she left it to approach on foot. With the damage suffered to her containment suit in the battle with Azoth, she doesn't have its armor to rely on, nor its sealed environment to protect her from all the strangeness. So she has to go up on her own, still recovering from injury. So she has.

Dressed in typical enough Filgaian clothes, still wearing the Alathfar cloakpin, Kaguya has fought her way up the dormant volcano. She has pushed through hot rivers, battered against rocky collapses, left torches and tomatoes lying around, left green scorch marks in places where it's necessary, and clawed her way to the top.

The roots... This is Demetrioi's 'true form', in a way, isn't it? But Demetrioi is aware that she is here. She is sure of that much. The sky is falling, but...

"Hey, buddy," Kaguya says. "You're working really hard, huh...?"

She can't entirely keep the sadness out of her tone, despite her best efforts. She is not happy.

"...Doing your best." 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

o heeeLLo kAguyAA yOu arRRRrre heeeEEeere :) iii Am AlwaaAAyyySs dooOoooInnnG mY bEeeSSt :)
 
     The smile on that strained face softens, a tension dispersed if not relieved, to see Kaguya here. Of almost everyone they've known since their time in Alcidamas, so much of it was spent in Kaguya's watchful eye and careful experimentation. Roots about the peak part ways as if to allow Kaguya a closer approach, surrounding the sides of the peak as if they were making sure she would be present, safe, and happy about the environs. The only way to and from the peak on foot is in the caverns Kaguya would have had to emerge from to get here.
 
) yOoooU arrrE chiLLy rIghT noooWWW :o bUt alSooooOoo tooOO waAArrM kaguya :o 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"That's right. You're always doing your best. It's one of the things I like about you."

Kaguya's voice is gentle, as she approaches; roots about the peak part, and Kaguya steps closer, from the caverns towards the others. She is present; she is... safe-ish. She's a little worse for wear.

"That's OK," Kaguya says. "I'm comfortable enough. So you don't have to worry about me right now, OK?"

The small Veruni steps further forward, until she's closer to Demetrioi. "I'm here. I wanted to tell you that you're really trying hard, and that's great. But do you think, maybe, you've tried this direction enough? Can I give you some readings from my research that would help you make everyone really happy?" 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

D thaAAaaannNNk YoooouuuuUUU kaGGggguYaaAAaa :) i hoPEee oTheEERrrrS FeeEEeeeL thEEEEeee SaaaaMmmmmeEee tooOooo :)
 
     Kaguya insists she's comfortable enough, and Demetrioi's head turns at the idea of it - but the smile doesn't leave them. Kaguya is allowed to approach. She presents the idea that maybe this direction has already been tried enough, an offer to share readings from research.
 
o aaaaLl pRevIouSS modEeeeelS aNd peRmuTatiiiiOOOnnnSss faAAaiiiLllEd :o buuuUttT iF yoU haaaaAvVVeeEe a nnnEeeEwwwWw oooNe iI stIlL waaaaAAnt toOoo sseeEEeEee :)
 
     Above, a small Gebler troop transport ship tries to pierce the storm, and based on the engines being on fire, well. It's not long for service.
 
     It crashes noisily into the side of the mountain, debris spewing up into the air. A large piece of sheet metal plating catches against the side of the cavern that Kaguya left. Kaguya is in no immediate danger, but in the grander scale of things that was a near miss.
 
     (Some of the soldiers survive the drop. It is likely a party will run into them. That is another part of the story that may or may not come to light!) 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya knows a lot about Demetrioi--which tells her how much she doesn't know. She still doesn't know the exact mechanisms of their function, lacking the tools to analyze the presumable nanomachines doing the work of altering the local weather. But she knows more or less how they work in practice.

...And she notices the Gebler troop transport crash down. "..."

She doesn't have much time. "That's not entirely true," Kaguya says. "I have some models here..." She pulls out her tablet and starts tapping away on it, "Your work in Alcidamas was very good, actually. It made people happy for a long time. Subtle changes are going to have more of the desired effect; gross alterations to weather patterns in an immediate sense have made people nervous, whch prevents them from being happy. If you'll look here, at this projection," Kaguya says, and displays the screen to Demetrioi, "You can see..."

She points out a lot of technical data--specific temperatures, humidity, rates of precipitation.

"A good way to determine whether you're on the right track is to look at the success of local plantlife; plantlife is important to humans, and most living beings. The track you're on right now, if we follow these projections..."

Kaguya turns the page again, tapping away and showing.

"If you keep up at this rate," she says softly, "Then everything on this planet will die. And then no one will be happy." A feeling wells up within her for an instant to argue--but she shakes it off, for now.

"So... Please, use the model I've given you." 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    The scope of what Demetrioi is pulling is, progressively, intensifying. It is much more accurate to claim it is 'worsening.' Magnetic fields are starting to go completely out of whack, going by what their roots are doing underground. Artificial sunlight, what was once applied with subtle care, is being applied in increasingly vulgar and outright strange ways.
 
     It seems less a question of how far Demetrioi will go, and more how far can they go? Their influence already overpowers the natural influence of the Guardians and the Ley without significant concentration and effort, and that was while they were at their most stable at Alcidamas Village.
 
     Their gaze leans as 'close' to the screen as possible that allows them to keep the entirety of their facial features present, even though logically there should be no limit to 'space' beyond its screen there for detail.
 
o i DooOo notTtt undErrstAaaannnDD :o alCiDamaSss reQuiRReeeD haaRrrd wooooOooRk to ReeStoorRReee haPpyYY liViiiNgg conDittionNNsSssSs :o
 
     These are words Kaguya probably did not want to hear, but Demetrioi is still going over the models. Over and over and over. Each one, a likeness to already failed, discarded models - but Kaguya is a friend. Kaguya would not lie to their dear friend. It is, by standards of computers and their capability to run circles over organics in terms of computations, unfathomably kind and patient that they entertain this. It seems their makers wanted to be sure that Demetrioi here did interact with others with the full intention of personable kindness and patience for the fallacies and sluggishness of meat-brains. 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

 
o haRrrrMonnndE wAsss noooTtt aaaSss Inn neeEeeed bUt weRE noT hApPyyy aaAAAnnnD i I i I caNNoT noT nOt nooooTt noT trRRryy :o BuuuTtt yoooOouuu aRrree FriIIIeeeNnnD annnD i wAnT yoU and everrrRRyyyoooNnneEe herEe aNd afTeerrrR to be haAaaaApPppy :)
 
     Can Kaguya convince Demetrioi to change course on the current model? The changes in the atmosphere haven't softened. The absolute chaos of this place does not subside. Demetrioi continues to 'lean closer' to better read Kaguya's model. Another knife to juggle.
 
     "Coronal Shell!" 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    A bright flash like a massive ball of sunlight sweeps out over the area. It reflects blindingly off of Demetrioi's face-screen, causing it to momentarily stutter and glitch out. What would it do to Kaguya's screen? Or, really, her eyes at all? Even with the rude blinding, there's that hint in the voice. There's only one person it can be, and once the light subsides...
 
     They're not completely recognizeable in form, though they bear the same height, body language, and drawn quarterstaff with an outstretched hand.
 
o_O wE arE exPeriEnciiIing an unExpecTeeeED soLaaaRrr evEeEeenT xo pLeeEaAassE staAAanD bY foOOrrrR coRrEeCttIiioooN :S
 
     "Your time with the Demetrioi is done." As the light subsides, their entire face is hidden beneath a battered, bird-like mask. Ethius has always hidden at least half his face at all times, but now, it seems he's keen on putting aside the entirety of anything resembling a relatable, identifiable person.
 
     Fog rises to filter and obscure sunlight, as storm clouds gather overhead to further blot out the supposed 'solar event' from above. Hail and lightning all fall about the arena surrounding the two of them, but none strike either.
 
     "It doesn't belong here." 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya is, at least, doing her best herself. There are similarities in the models, but she tries to continue regardless. It is 'worsening', and Kaguya is almost surprised that her machine even works with the alteration to the local magnetic field. Artificial sunlight...

Kaguya can guess at how far Demetrioi can go. Her models have predicted it. At this rate of progresion, it is not a matter of centuries or even years anymore. Now that she sees this, 'Months' was too conservative. And yet...

"It did," Kaguya agrees, "But once you had them in place, they remained fairly stable, right?"

Over and over, Kaguya sees that it isn't working. He cannot...

Kaguya was afraid of that. "You can't not try, huh...? So no matter what, you can't give up. You can't hold back." The words feel to her like hammers dropping from the sky, or maybe just into her heart. Demetrioi can't complete his mission, and that means...

'Coronal Shell!'

"Gah--" Kaguya drops the tablet, where its screen fractures against the ground with a clatter, closing her eyes instinctively. If not for the superior durability she enjoys as a Veruni, she would be entirely blinded even so. As it stands, she's merely linded for a few moments, and that because she wasn't the main target. But only one person...

"It's not a solar event!" Kaguya calls to the Demetrioi, and rises from the ground, turning to face Ethius. Her eyes narrow, still full of spots. "...Ethius Hesiod," the small Veruni states, and memories of her confrontations with him flash through her mind--ever since that first, at the Statue.

"Over and over, you can't stop getting in my way."

She doesn't draw her ARM. Instead, she rolls her shoulders. "..."

Her hardened jaw relents a little. "Maybe you're right," she admits. "But what's your plan? Brute force? Demetrioi's too powerful for that. If you try to attack him, he'll just escalate until this?" She gestures at the storm starting around them, "This will seem like child's play. I've run the math, Hesiod. If Demetrioi isn't convinced to stop... This world is doomed."

"So you've got one chance..."

Kaguya draws up to her full height, such as it is. "Because you know what?"

Kaguya extends her hands to either sides, and flowers start to bloom at her feet, vines enwrapping her and fading into her form as she gathers up Power through Veruni magic. She figures there's only one way this can go.

"You don't belong here either."

BGM INTERRUPT: Sleigh Bells - Demons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4oqf4reGh0

 <Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
<poem> A long time ago, as Kaguya showed her true colors, Ethius made the mistake of coming in arm's reach to be suplexed into exposed seafloor. Were it not for the immediate care he received after the fact... he wouldn't be here today.
 
     That he didn't lose any motor function long term is a miracle.
 
     He doesn't approach Kaguya any closer. Getting in arm's reach of her, even now, stands to be certain death - but she may notice that there's no one behind him. Like herself, he came alone. He scaled the mortally dangerous perils of Mount Liverfeast alone.
 
     Demetrioi's weird sense of 'voice' and 'sound' puts out a pleasant-sounding (for once!) static as they continue to reel from the aftereffects of the Coronal Shell, leaving their commentary out for the moment as Kaguya says her part.
 
     Power courses through the peak, where they stand. Hexagonal emanations express the displacement of forces by the vines that gather around Kaguya's form. A presence. A strength.
 
     "You speak as though you know the whole of it," the voice from the dented bird-like mask... even now, he won't drop that impassive, neutral tone when it's just the two of them. That could be a form of condescending, imperious tone all unto itself.
 
     "You would tell me you hold the solution here and now? Everything of the Demetrioi is beyond you. Your numbers, your models, your predictions..."
 
     Ethius slams the butt of his quarterstaff against it, displacing snow and ice like the whirling dust of sand and stone he would normally work with in defiance.
 
     "My presence is all that stands between this, and..."
 
     He doesn't finish the sentence. A bowing of his head is the only betraying tell of an otherwise stoic, immovable figure. He bursts into movement. His mask obfuscates the ease of hearing murmured syllables as his free hand flexes fingers in well-practiced, difficult sequences of gestures as a rising heat washes through the area, attempting to dehydrate and deprive the vines and blooms of moisture.
 
     "Overheat!"
 
SIMULTANEOUS BGM INTERRUPT: Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness - Irrepresible Dignity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq4wmPVTRp0 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya was so, so much less careful with her power back then. She has learned a great deal about responsibility since. Maybe, though... Maybe some would say her mistake was in fighting him haphazardly, rather than striking to kill in the moment. That sentimentality may cost her now.

She notices there's no one behind him, all right.

"Let me guess. There's more to the story that you're not telling anyone, because we 'don't need to know.' Right? Because you get to decide that. You're always the one who gets to decide what other people need to know."

That mask--she frowns at it. She frowns at his seeming condescension.

"I've got a deal better a chance at it than you do," Kaguya says. "Your power has never been enough. You think putting on a fancy mask and coat is going to change that?"

His presence...

Ethius bursts into movement and Kaguya does the same. Rising heat gathers at the vines, but she's already gained some power from them. She darts to the side, avoiding Demetrioi's 'roots' to draw Ethius's attention away from the machine. If she's right, then his efforts will only worsen the problem.

Calculations flood through her mind. The rising heat is already starting to sap away her strength, but Ethius is maintaining his distance. Her ARMs wouldn't help much against him. So, that leaves her with a third option...

Kaguya bends at the knee and leaps upward towards the cavern ceiling, spinning in place as she charges up more Veruni Ether-like power. This time it is not vines, but freezing cold, as mist gathers about her. She works with the hail instead of against it, trying to build on Demetrioi's power.

Turning to face him again as the apex of her fall sends her closer, she extends both hands. A ball of frigid, supercooled air crashes towards him, meant to explode and hold him in place. "You won't get your way. You can't hide this from the world anymore!" 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Kaguya does not make playing keep-away easy, the way she leaps. Tactically, the whole of the encounter could come down to a game of catch. A simple mask and coat does not make a great improvement in the potency of one's capabilities. How much injury did he suffer making the climb? His heavy manner of dress obfuscates this - perhaps purposefully.
 
     He takes a step back and flexes his fingers again as the ball of frigid, supercooled air comes down. Another Symbological spellcast goes off underneath it as it expodes outward, its temperature significantly heated as it crashes against him. It will not leave him encased in ice--
 
     --but it is a slipping hazard, a haphazard back-roll that gives Kaguya a net gain on closing the distance between them. Distressed Ley energies from Demetrioi's meddling with the ecosystem rise from the hexagonal emanations. The common Fray-aspected energies to this part of the region assert themselves somewhere. Wing and Geo energies soon follow to roost elsewhere, each one giving the other Ley energy presences ample space between them. Muse does not make its presence known.
 
     "Tell me, what good would the world do with the Demetrioi?" Ethius probably wouldn't give her a chance as he staggers back up to a stand, the use of a quarterstaff being a saving grace to prevent him from falling on his seat. He nonetheless asks. "Even with the means available to the Veruni and others at similar capability, does your models not show you the same result?"
 
     He rolls back a second time, suddenly, to pull himself out of the newly-formed cold puddle of water filled with various sediments and other small detritus, and Kaguya can watch him mid-motion flex and curl his fingers to an end only made certain as he unleashes the next spell.
 
     "Recurrent Current!" Lights faintly visible through the sleeves go off as electricity jumps into the puddle he leaves, and keeps doing its thing there for a short while to buy some time to keep Kaguya from approaching him at that direction before righting himself up.
 
     "You have only left a mess no other can clean," he adds in its aftermath, "you need not know the stakes to know what must be done." 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Neither does Ethius make catching him simple--his continued movements prevent Kaguya from bringing her greater strength to bear easily. While she's down her usual armoring, Ethius simply doesn't have the defenses to contend with her Veruni strength and martial arts.

...Unfortunately for Kaguya, though, a magical duel favors the Symbologist. He is able to easily counter her spell with one of his own, and even if he slips she hasn't quite caught up to him. She feels the Ley differences, though--the points of power on the ground, where she can best use Demetrioi's power...

Maybe it would be easier, if she identified him to Demetrioi as a threat to her happiness. Maybe it would be easier if she tried to direct the machine to harm him. ...But that would be using him 'against his purpose'--something she promised with Azoth not to do.

So instead--

"Not much," Kaguya admits of what 'good' Demetrioi will do. "Terrafroming an inhabited planet is dicey to begin with. Doing it with unknown, unstable technology is worse. Demetrioi's doing his best, but my models show the same result every iteration." It almost sounds like she's agreeing with him. Almost.

He rolls back, and she sees that next spell--Lightning jumps into the puddle, an Kaguya is left to tank it for long enough for Ethius to get away. She grits her teeth at the electrocution, twitching in place, but frees herself once the spell completes itself--and turns to face Ethius. "Hmph. You think that," she says. "And I've thought the same way before. A mess 'only I can clean up', a thing 'only I can do'. Well, you know what? I've learned--it's bullshit!"

Kaguya 'feels' her way around, instinctively reaching out the Ley around her to find what she needs. And she does. When she leaps next, it's not towards Ethius, but somewhere else.

"But even if you're still in the same trap, it's too late now," Kaguya says. "I already called in the others. If I fail here..."

"Then they're too stupid to stay away! They'll handle it!"

Kaguya hits the ground hard, the earth cracking beneath her feet with the power of a wind hex that she makes use of immediately. Kaguya lifts both of her hands and channels her alien magic, a fragrant storm erupting around her, briefly replacing the hail. Leaves and vines, all razor-sharp, cascade around her and then slam towards Ethius, aiming to overwhelm him with the Ley-boosted power of her strongest magic.

"Face it! Your way has LOST!" 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    What was witnessed at Harmonde would point to that grisly, awful potential as a weapon. Even Kartikeya, he who delights in death and disarray, was left agape at the novelty and sheer magnitude of what it was going on around him. That a construct designed to alter the surrounding environs until people are happy - and keep being happy - could be used as a weapon...
 
     That Kaguya resolved to another who struggles with their nature as an unstoppable weapon shows restraint, but whose lot is it to hold that restraint to a construct so unable to be contained?
 
     If Ethius could appreciate that knowledge... would he let it show? Could he? What he did - several times over - to Lydia and OS alike in pursuit of his goals have been nothing short of heartbreaking and cruel in their moments of decisiveness. To say nothing of Riesenlied, or his attempts to cover up Timotheus Lovelace's activities, his participation in the assassination of Cardinal Runette Forton, the way he has coasted on Jay's unending patience and support...
 
     'I already called in the others.'
 
     "You did what?" Ethius comes shy of outright exclaiming his feelings then and there, as if it were that point that were worthy of comment more than the soul searching about whether something can be done by oneself.
 
     Kaguya does not give him room to breathe or talk, when she surrenders the chase to instead channel her power through borrowed - maybe even stolen - energy. Hail turns to fragrant blossoms, new sprouts of plantlife daring to be evergreen against a land that cannot support life.
 
     Leaves and vines intertwine and curve and beng, surrounding him from all angles as he's pushed into the hexagonal emanations of Geo's power from bludgeoning force of the weight of the vines. Its leaves and thorns, razor-sharp, start to put the clamp on and around him from there.
 
     Kaguya has caught him. She could pull. She could push further. She could break his fragile human form and put a stop to all of this once and for all.
 
     'Face it! Your way has LOST!' The fight, for all intents and purposes, appears to be. Kaguya won't be able to hear pained groans or anguished yelps, if there are any to be had. His quarterstaff drops as his gloved hands clutch at it, the less-crunched half of the mask peering from behind the mass of plantlife. Fingers twitch, flex. It looks for all the world like the final throes of a dying--
 
     "...Grave Dust." The words are spoken muted, strained. His Symbology does not draw from the Ley, but the swirling Geo energies around him make for an ill portent.
 
     From Kaguya's space... the air suddenly gets choking, as fine particulate matter suffuses her person. Debilitating. Painful.
 
     Cruel, even, that the idea would be even entertained against organics, as Ethius presses a hand against the mass of plantlife pressing against him.
 
     "There is yet greater to be lost," he gets out, and there's a growling there. A breaking in the impartiality, as he starts to shove the overwhelming plantlife pressing and probing at himself off.
 
     "And that is a price I refuse to have paid." The buttons to his coat are undone. The mass of plantlife is inches away from piercing his chest and goring right through the heart--
 
     "For it stands against everything I fight for!"
 
     He throws that off with an outward sweep of his arm, labored breathing able to be heard from beyond that mask, slamming a boot down into it on the ground as if it'd be enough to keep it down.
 
     "Losing here... ceding ground... entertaining further outside interference... is not an option." 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya's Veruni upbringing would tell her that holding herself to this standard is a mistake--that all that matters is domination, to win by any means and show her strength. Kartikeya would certainly say so, even given his reaction to what had been present.

Regardless, Kaguya doesn't do it. Instead, she focuses on her own efforts to combat Ethius, who she imagines in the moment would never have made much of an ally--the things he's done to Lydia and OS, the things he's done to others, the many ethical breaches, his advantage taken of the CaraKin's patience...

But Ethius responds to Kaguya's statement about the others, and she smirks. "Yep," Kaguya says. "I figure I have the best chance of getting through to Demetrioi. ...But it's not a sure thing. So I made a backup plan."

She steals a little energy here. Ancient blossoms, native to a dying planet far from here, rush toward Ethius. The fight appears to be over, and Kaguya has finally caught Ethius. They crash around him, and his staff drops. His fingers twitch--and Kaguya narrows her eyes--

"Gh--"

That spell. Kaguya coughs, suddenly, her breathing mask hanging uselessly about her neck, as perhaps it could've helped if she'd only maintained the distance from the world that her fellow Veruni insist upon. But would she be here, if that were so?

"Gah--" Kaguya coughs, and then keeps coughing. She is not as ill as once she was, but neither is she completely recovered from years of illness, and the power of Geo is especially strong against her elemental nature. She stumbles backward, hearing him growl, and her spell goes free--free for him to break against.

A price...

"Gh--Ghk--"

She can't argue with him at the moment, except to, while still coughing, bring up one hand--and expose the bottom of her eyelid.

She makes a second, even ruder gesture, before she stumbles back. That she keeps her feet at all in this ongoing spell is perhaps the only thing her iron will affords her for now. 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Where Kaguya makes her rude gesture, she is met with perhaps something even greater, even ruder, as she struggles for breath.
 
     He collects his staff, gets casting again, and after another series of difficult gestures to make after nearly being gored through his very heart...
 
     Electricity flies out of an outstretched hand. Not to Kaguya.
 
     It strikes the plating of the crashed Gebler small transport that managed to find itself hurled before the only way up. He draws a hand back for a moment as if in consideration as to whether or not it'll shift its weight towards...
 
     It does, planting itself along the way, at which point he completes the aformentioned counter-rudeness to Kaguya for all she represents.
 
     He turns his back to her, like she isn't a threat. She isn't in consideration, any more, as he considers the edges he'll need to weld shut.
 
     "Every trace of the Demetrioi will be erased." Ethius says, before dedicating some of his speaking time to instead casting a spell and doing a somewhat energy-inefficient but necessary bit of spellcasting to start directing Symbologically created welding flames to shut the way.
 
     No escape for Kaguya, at her most vulnerable.
 
     No interference from outside.
 
     As his work completes, he starts taking measured steps towards Demetrioi, not so much as even casting a glance back towards the wounded Veruni struck where she's weakest. Demetrioi's scrambling screen is starting to right itself up again.
 
     "If you knew, you would agree their exclusion is the greatest kindness," he says, looking up to the enormity of what it is being tasked of him. If Kaguya looks carefully, she can see it in his body language.
 
     The way his fingers reassert their grip a few times over on the staff. That he has yet to cast the first in a barrage of spells that seem as though it'd be a long shot. What chance does a man like him stand against an unnatural force of nature, the height of the hubris of whatever heretical science or methods wrought this thing?
 
     As it will turn out, no more than a minute or two later...
 
     Others will not be stopped from their own pursuit.

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