2023-02-04: The One Who Is Torn Apart
- Log: The One Who Is Torn Apart
- Cast: Krelian, Fei Fong Wong, Lily Keil, Rikku, Elhaym van Houten, Emeralda Kasim, Ethius Hesiod, Citan Uzuki, Xantia, Billy Lee Black, Sheriff Star
- Where: The Fahrenheit
- Date: February 04, 2023
- Summary: Solaris is driven back. But a lone Solaris assailant had snuck into the Fahrenheit directly.
<Pose Tracker> Krelian has posed.
The bridge of the Fahrenheit has suddenly become a warzone. It's remarkable, in a way. In any other circumstance, the appearance of an airborne warship -- already rising into orbit, perhaps suggesting it is space-capable -- and the grievous wounding of Sin would demand every ounce of attention from Cid, the Al Bhed, and the visiting Shevat dignitaries.
But then Krelian simply appeared on the bridge.
He is a tall man, lean but powerful; he wears a yellow-and-brown uniform, with pale blonde hair, and cold eyes. He smiles, but there isn't humor or warmth in it. He steps towards one side of the bridge, where Cid, Brother, Queen Zephyr, and a couple of guards are gathered. Cid aims his machina pistol at him.
After the first shot did not stop him, Cid seems much less sure of that pistol. "Brother," he says, "Kad dra Xiaah yht ran baubma pamuf talgc. Kad nayto du ypyhtuh creb."
"Pid--"
"Zicd tu ed!" Cid snaps. Brother's eyes widen -- then he starts motioning the Queen down a stairwell, hurrying after only after her and her attendants are down. He gives one worried look to his father, before following. Cid aims his pistol.
Krelian sighs. "Very well, then. I'll cut through whoever I must," he says. "As I ever have."
DC: Krelian switches forms to Krelian - The Acting God!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong isn't really expecting Krelian to just appear when it happens. He has just hopped out of his gear, having had a close call with his alterego--not to mention Azoth--and is just about to be happy he was able to pull through without going berserk when Krelian appears.
Cid shoots him in the head.
"What! NO!" Fei shouts.
Then...Krelian seems to be just fun.
"Uh." He says. "...Wait...how did... How did you do that, Krelian?"
Fei has no idea why Krelian is here and he approaches him, guarded but--well, he has just showed up and stood around there so Fei isn't going to open fire. He's an old friend! A very very very very very old friend. And Fei has just enough memory of him bouncing around in his head that he'd rather try to ...
But it isn't just that. Unbeknownst to Fei, his hands are shaking. He's sweating. Now that he recognizes him as Krelian, sees him as he truly is--he's frightened.
He doesn't know why.
Fei curls his hands inward. Love is Filgaia's language, he reminds himself. Wouldn't it just be great if you could convince this guy to stop supporting the evil empire for...some reason?
"Krelian," He says, shakily but gently enough. "Why are you here? .... Why are you helping them?" He blinks slowly. "How are you helping them? You were there enemy once."
He looks to Cid. "Please...get out of here. I'll look after her."
He doesn't want Rikku to lose her father even if it's for super Al Bhed heroism and he doesn't think he can stop Rikku from getting involved.
"You can't beat every enemy with violence." He says. "Krelian... Please explain yourself."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
In other circumstances, Lily would concern herself more with that warship. But it's too distant for her to do anything about. Here, however--here, where she'd come to help evacuate the VIPs--Lily sees Krelian there. His eyes are so, so cold, and he survived a shot to the head.
...But Lily Keil knows what she has to do.
She understands what Cid is saying to Brother. And what he isn't saying. Lily looks to Brother as he starts hurrying them down, and that worried look from him gets a response from Lily:
"Fa'mm bnudald res, Brother."
Lily does not look away from Krelian again.
"Cut through me instead!" Lily shouts, and then for Fei says, "Fei--This isn't the time to try to negotiate!"
Lily abrubtly throws out her hands to either side--and begins to melt, her form glooping into utter shadow as her circuitry starts to fire. In an instant she is a shadow made flesh, standing there with glowing 'eyes' and an otherwise indistinct form. She surges forward, blades of Ether as tall as she is scything out from either hand, attempting to hack through Krelian with two strokes.
DC: Lily Keil switches forms to Omega - Synthesis!
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Krelian with Void Render! GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Krelian takes a solid hit from Lily Keil's Void Render for 83 hit points! GS: Poison blocked!
DC: Fei Fong Wong switches forms to Contact!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"But we don't even know what he wants yet! Maybe he just wants to, I don't know, eat the chili!" Fei protests.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku was already running across deck, beating feet to skid on past Krelian. "Dad!" Rikku looks somewhat panicked, at the vibe this figure puts off. "E's fedr oui!" Before calling down at Brother taking the Queen below deck, "Ku ku ku! E'mm pylg res ib!"
After all he apparently took a bullet to the face (She still sees the smear of blood but no other visible injuries) and got back up to tell the tale.
Facing Krelian she puts up both of her palms, "Now whoa whoa whoa! Look - I can see we got off on the wrong foot. Maybe let's-" Pause, long awkward pause, then she recoils into a defensive pose even as Fei tries to negotiate. And indeed she might have tried further too - if not for one thing! "-AAAaaaaa! You were the guy with Seymour!"
Rikku raises a finger, "Okay yeah I can see why Dad got all trigger happy. You see we're still a bit sore about what happened to Home you know with all that... murder so-" She all too casually throws a grenade at him, "-I'm going to have to back him up here in asking you to BUZZ OFF CREEP!"
Said grenade bursts quite effectively into a caustic cloud of anti-magic powder.
GS: Rikku has attacked Krelian with Use: Silence Grenade ! GS: Rikku has gained 1 Combo! GS: Rikku has completed her action. GS: Krelian solidly guards Rikku's Use: Silence Grenade for 31 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mute blocked! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Guard bonus activated!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly, just now, was in her Omnigear - lucky her! And even luckier is that Loren Voss seems to have left. To have withdrawn. He's on the drive, Elly could hear it in his voice, but he's still making a reasonable decision. He's strong...
Elly knew he was stronger than she was. Always did.
But then something else had happened. Something horrible.
Elly never got far from the Fahrenheit - she was probably prepared to use Regulus to defend it at the last ditch. (But that's not a surprise for her, is it?) But getting into the hangar was hard to do fast. Seeing a badly damaged Weltall was no better, although some of the terror there - the terror that threatened to bring tears back to her face - was eroded when an Al Bhed technician assured her that "Fei kud uid! Ymeja! Fryd'c fedr dryd lufmelg yhofyo?"
Elly didn't hear the rest of that but she got the idea. From there she hastened to the lift...
THE LIFT...
THE LIFT...!!
And that means she misses some of what happened. When she emerges, she sees Fei (thank god) and Lily - Lily is changing but Elly, caught in three different conflicting pressures, stammers - "w w w--"
i have to decide
people are going to die
i have to--
She can't stop Rikku or Lily. She can only control herself. That's the hardest lesson to learn.
She sucks in a deep breath and reaches over to grasp a piece of a nearby railing. Her eyes go down to either side of it. A flash of melting heat - there. Another one - there. She pulls the railing upwards, holding the piece of railing before her. Her eyes go back to Krelian.
"I don't want to fight you but I won't let you hurt them," Elly says, warily. Her face still has drying tears on it. "Put up your hands if you want to talk!"
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Krelian with Screamer! GS: Elhaym van Houten has gained 1 Combo! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
The bridge of the Fahrenheit is a warzone.
Emeralda was not expecting to be in a warzone today, but sometimes these things happen. They happen around her a lot. She will never take it in stride, precisely, but she's getting to the point where she can react pretty quickly when she has to.
Such as, say, now.
Brother goes down a stairwell. Someone else comes out of the stairwell. Rather than block the stairs for the party going down, a giant green hand that turns out to be a shaped mass of hair grips the railing and pulls Emeralda straight up to bridge level. It decoheres into hair again once Emeralda flips herself up and lands with a surprisingly loud CLANG on the bridge floor.
Emeralda looks up - and she freezes. She has seen this man before. He spoke words that she wasn't supposed to understand, in Solarian, and yet Emeralda knows what those words mean:
'I would like to use that nanotechnology product, 'Emeralda'.'
And then, later, words to her, also in Solarian. She remembers those too. She doesn't think he expected her to remember or understand them.
"What are you *doing* here, laboratory man?" Emeralda demands, recognizes Krelian by appearance and where she saw him but not, critically, by name. She knows the name of Krelian but has not associated it with the person she saw before. "Don't hurt them!"
Fei says not to attack, and though Emeralda's Ether surges, she throttles it down; the windstorm that erupts is disorienting and whips a cloud of dust and grit and dirt up (more than should be in the Fahrenheit given its recent cleaning; it's closer to an earth Ether than an air) but not actually painful.
GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Krelian with Terra Calligo! GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action. GS: Krelian takes a glancing hit from Elhaym van Houten's Screamer for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Disrupt and Interrupt applied to Krelian! GS: Hyper applied to Elhaym van Houten! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: COUNTER! Krelian counterattacks Emeralda Kasim with Counter Attack! GS: Krelian suffers a terrible blow from Emeralda Kasim's Terra Calligo for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Slow applied to Krelian! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Emeralda Kasim partially guards Krelian's Counter Attack for 101 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Things are noisy, surprising, dire, and... plenty of other things. One thing that hasn't changed about Ethius before and after a long string of humbling and revealing circumstances is that he doesn't sit there and gawk, as he lands and disengages from his Aiguille unit after a few close calls with Loren's unit.
Ethius has since stopped covering his face, showing off his short white-haired beard and somewhat more capacity for expressiveness than he's let on in the past.
He keeps a poker face through Fei whining about the possibility this is just about chili and Rikku noting 'you were the guy with Seymour' as Lily takes to the immediate offensive while Rikku throws grenades and Elly letting out tears.
It takes a disciplined eye to not be immediately drawn to Lily's shadow-melting form to notice the 'remains' that decorate the nearby wall that resemble half of a man's head, except--
Ethius blinks twice, and then, a quick series of Symbological hand-gestures and murmured syllables.
"Mirage Haze!" An immense swell of sense-warping heat occurs somewhere between Krelian and the rest, as if a called shot on...
"Something's not right here." Ethius' warning holds at that, a hand still outstretched and flexing as he 'chambers' the next spell (a practice to cut a fraction of a second off the next cast), as if at ever higher alert than the situation and emotional turbulence of some of the others suggests.
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Krelian with Mirage Haze! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Krelian solidly guards Ethius Hesiod's Mirage Haze for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Krelian's Jam Ward may block the effect! GS: Blind, Drowsy, Hex, and Jam applied to Krelian! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Citan had stayed behind to look after the Queen and the rest of the Shevite representatives. It had seemed the safest thing to do, particularly if there had been need to evacuate: better to use their reserve Gears for that, including his own Heimdall.
But the situation had gone from bad to worse: the fighting had attracted Sin, after which something -- formerly buried, Citan expects, in the ruins of northern Spira -- had managed to seriously damage it.
Then, there on the bridge, Krelian had appeared.
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXZd_8ErI1w
In silence, he had watched Krelian, his gaze interrupted only when Cid had shot the man in the head. It had not taken, precisely: Krelian rose again to his feet and Citan knows in this moment a new thing about the man.
He does not move to follow when Brother, ushering the Shevites below, makes his departure.
This is entirely because he knows, with perfect clarity, what is about to happen.
The door to the bridge slams open and into this place come Fei and the rest.
That is why he could not leave. He moves for the first time since Krelian appeared upon the bridge and it is simply to extend a hand as if to block Fei's passage forward. "Fei," he says, as if in warning. "You must not be here."
Though, in truth, he has realized it is already too late. There is nothing he can do but lose here.
If he were but back on Filgaia's soil-- but there is no time to even think like that.
"Emeralda-- Elly, Lily, you must not--"
Yes, it is indeed too late. The air around Citan visibly brightens as he prepares himself for what is to come.
GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Citan Uzuki with Kouga! GS: Citan Uzuki has gained 3 Combo! GS: Citan Uzuki's stances have changed from Counter to Counter and Stoic! GS: Citan Uzuki gains 21 THP from his Cautious! GS: Citan Uzuki has completed his action. GS: Citan Uzuki accepts Citan Uzuki's Kouga for 0 hit points! GS: Cover and Riposte applied to Citan Uzuki! GS: FP up! Gleam activated!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
With the retreat of the Solarian Gears, the battle is over, or so Xantia thinks. Good thing too, because after having to do more harm to Azoth than she wanted to while having a Fei/Id crisis on her hands, she really didn't want to also have to risk losing control of herself on top of it all. Maybe that's the trick, just make sure there's enough mentally stressful situations to keep her distracted and she won't black out and go berserk. Would that it be so easy. Well. 'Easy'.
It barely even registers what's happening in the background. The warship. Sin. It can all wait. She's feeling so drained right now. Nap first, then she can worry about what's next. As long as the people at the conference are safe, and the alliance went through.
...Wait, did that happen? She was so busy keeping Azoth away from there, she has no idea what actually happened on the other side of the deck. She should make sure of that, first of all. She looks over in that direction, exactly at the moment a gunshot rings out.
And that's when she sees him. With half a face, that is soon a whole face again. It only serves to reinforce her impression of the man. An impression reinforced by what she saw and learned back in the Macalania Temple. Both from his words... and from her memories. Memories that screamed at her to take action. She couldn't get to him, then. But now, he's there. He's right there. Everything she knows, and every vague impression borne of faded memory, all coalesces to summarize what is standing there in a single word.
Monster
It may not even be clear where Xantia suddenly came from. She moved that fast, bridging the distance in an instant, surrounded by an aura of burning flame as she leaps for Krelian, seeking to deliver a solid punch before anything else.
She remains where she lands, breathing heavily. Her glare is murderous. Her mind is hazy. Everything is wrong. When she finally speaks, even that is wrong. A halting stutter, followed by words dripping with venom.
"You-you-you... you must... I must..."
GS: Xantia has attacked Krelian with Elemental Fury! GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Xantia's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Xantia gains 10 FP from her Daredevil! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Krelian solidly guards Xantia's Elemental Fury for 31 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Hyper and Mighty applied to Xantia! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Billy Lee Black was working backline support. Sometimes you keep a reserve! That's a concept even an Etone knows.
He had been on the bridge, watching with white-knuckle concern as the enemy ship rose...as Sin took a seemingly critical blow...as Solaris decided its battle was lost.
He'd thought the active battle over. But when Krelian appears with more or less no fanfare, Billy whirls around, eyes narrowing, and his gunsmoke Cold slipping easily from its holster into his hand during the turn. He watches. Listens.
Xantia, that's what alarms him first and most. After their discussion not so long ago... "Breaths, sister," Billy calls to her, hoping it will reach through her twisting mind.
Ultimately, he decides for himself. He holds his left hand out, weaponfree, and signs the cross before himself. "Almighty Father, in the name of your Holy Spirit I call out and beg benediction and protection in this moment of strife."
A wave of light races away from him, seeking to shroud the dignitaries, but also a few of the fighters, before a man his father has taught him to fear strikes.
GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Billy Lee Black with Sacred Veil! GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Xantia with Sacred Veil! GS: Billy Lee Black has gained 2 Combo! GS: Billy Lee Black has completed his action. GS: Billy Lee Black heals Xantia! She gains 97 temporary hit points! GS: Shield and Surge applied to Xantia! GS: Billy Lee Black heals Billy Lee Black! He gains 101 temporary hit points! GS: Shield and Surge applied to Billy Lee Black!
<Pose Tracker> Krelian has posed.
"I was many things," Krelian says, cutting Fei a look. "I've learned about necessity. About what is required, to make the world that I wish. And sometimes, violence is necessary. And more than that..."
He looks at the stairs. He looks at where Brother, Queen Zephyr, and the rest fled. He stares for a moment. "...There's certain things I must bring to task."
Cid looks at Fei, then to Rikku. "But--Rikku!" he says, looking at his daughter. "Ymm nekrd! Pid tuh'd tu yhodrehk E fuimth'd--tuh'd tu yhodrehk cdibet!"
Then, Cid turns and runs.
Krelian turns, looking at Rikku. "I was," he says. "The Maester proved useful to me for a time." He reaches out -- and grabs the grenade. His fingers squeeze around it. Then, there is a sudden shift in the air; the grenade seems to turn into thin grey sand, and falls out of his fingers before it can explode.
"Your father has chosen to stand with someone that he should not," he says. "If you survive this... advise him to hide on an island, again, and never trouble Filgaian matters."
Blades of Ether strike into Krelian. He turns, looking at Lily, and stares at her for a moment. His body bleeds -- but under it, there is a silvery color. Then, there is a shuddering, twisting FLASH from him. Nanomachines can't always be seen.
And in this case, that rolling wave is a manipulation of the quantum state by his nanomachines. That wave rolls through Lily -- and her Ether blades simply vanish in a blink, and the effect rolls through Lily. The bloody cuts in Krelian's side begin to heal.
He looks to Elly -- and his expression is unreadable. Distant, for a moment. "This world doesn't allow such choices... Elly. I'm sorry that it's still like this."
Emeralda shouts a demand at him -- and he turns. There's a flash of recognition in his eyes; one of his projects. Krelian holds his left hand out, and there are several flashes of light, before a sleek gunmetal pistol forms in his hand. Emeralda's cloud of dust whips around him, prompting no small amount of trouble. He fires through it, sending a shot at her. Then, he fires three more times.
The first shot is straightforward. The next three aren't -- the bullets, mid-course, suddenly arc out into three different directions, and come hurtling in towards Emeralda from three different directions. "You survived," he says. "Good. A work of art like you... how tragic if it was despoiled by this foul world."
His pale eyes turn towards Ethius. He follows the Symbological hand geestures -- and heat wells up, making his vision hazy for a moment. Krelian throws a hand up, then, and there is a gleam of light above his hand.
Then, a beam of white light explodes down from the roof -- forming out of nothing, rather than blowing a hole through it -- and shoots down towards the top of Ethius's head.
Then, he looks to Citan. His eyes narrow -- and his lips curl into a smile. "Ah, Doctor Uzuki," he says. "Kind of you to attend upon them."
He throws that same hand out. A ball of light appears near Citan -- and it explodes out into a flash of white light, then it draws into a bead -- and explodes again as a shuddering sphere of darkness that threatens to pitch the doctor across the bridge.
To Xantia's credit, he doesn't see her first either. He turns -- and she punches him. His body is like punching a pillar of steel -- it suddenly has the wrong consistency, something more of solid metal than flesh and blood. He doesn't even flinch, as she strikes him. "Many tell me they must."
A beam of blue light explodes off his right arm, forming into a blade hovering over it. With a jack-knifing motion, Krelian strikes brutally across Xantia's midsection. "But so few do."
The blade of blue light extending from Krelian's arm suddenly flashes, then turns into a bright red. Ether swirls around it -- twisting, turning lines of red light swirling in a cyclone. Then, Krelian slams it downward, and shouts: "Flame Nova!"
A cone of fire explodes off the blade, hurtling towards Fei, Rikku, and Elly.
Then, he looks to Billy -- catching, perhaps, the gleam of light off Cid as he flees down the stairs -- and cocks an eyebrow. "Ah, a man of the cloth. What is the saying?" he asks. "Yes--let there be light."
The blade of energy vanishes from his arm, as Krelian thrusts his hand outward. Then, a bolt of sheer golden light explodes off the ground, and fires across it. It cuts through one of the consoles -- and then comes crashing down for Billy Lee Black.
GS: Krelian spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Krelian has attacked Lily Keil with H-EFFECT R! GS: Krelian has attacked Emeralda Kasim with MAGDALENE 16! GS: Krelian has gained 2 Combo! GS: Krelian has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Ray of Punishment! GS: Interrupt expired! GS: Krelian has attacked Citan Uzuki with ECHIDNA! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Krelian has attacked Xantia with R-BLADE! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Krelian has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Flame Nova! GS: Krelian has attacked Rikku with Flame Nova! GS: Krelian has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Flame Nova! GS: Krelian has gained 2 Combo! GS: Krelian has attacked Billy Lee Black with Photon Edge! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Krelian has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: Low! Emeralda Kasim fully evades Krelian's MAGDALENE 16 for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Emeralda Kasim gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cover applied to Krelian! GS: Rikku suffers a terrible blow from Krelian's Flame Nova for 194 hit points! GS: Elhaym van Houten partially evades Krelian's Flame Nova for 136 hit points! GS: FP up! Arcane Font activated! GS: CRITICAL! Lily Keil suffers a terrible blow from Krelian's H-EFFECT R for 151 hit points! GS: Disrupt and Poison applied to Lily Keil! GS: CRITICAL! Xantia takes a solid hit from Krelian's R-BLADE for 329 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Krelian's Ray of Punishment for 201 hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong partially guards Krelian's Flame Nova for 118 hit points! GS: FP up! Arcane Font activated! GS: CRITICAL! Billy Lee Black solidly guards Krelian's Photon Edge for 101 hit points! GS: Cover applied to Krelian! GS: Citan Uzuki takes a solid hit from Krelian's ECHIDNA for 178 hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Krelian! GS: FP up! Evade bonus and Gleam activated!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei says, "Is this about Shevat's betrayal?" to Krelian. His eyes widen. "Are you going to kill her??"
HE SHOOTS AT EMERALDA and Fei's hesitation in fighting Krelian dies alone on the battlefield. He screams in rage as he steps forward and--
Citan is in the way. THere's a blink of confusion.
Fei. You must not be here.
Some part of him tells him that Citan is absolutely correct. Most of him, really. But a long time ago, Bart cursed him with words of his own.
You aren't the type of person to look away when there are people in trouble and you can help them.
"...Fucking Bart..." Fei mutters under his breath. The heat fades somewhat, though not entirely--probably because Emeralda IS still okay--but he does focus on Citan.
"You're right." He says, smiling a little sadly at his oldest and dearest friend and mentor.
"But I don't think he's gonna give me much choice." If leaving would protect Emeralda, and Elly--he would.
But he knows it won't.
Krelian winds up and his eyes widen. "DOC!"
He steps forward, throwing himself towards Krelian. "Xantia, stay cool! Don't let him rile you up! We're here with you!"
And with that he goes STRAIGHT to using the Dark Ether, channeling power into his hands as he sends a double palm thrust explosion of a black hole centered around Krelian.
"She's more than art! She's family! And you ... you took her.. You..."
He's having trouble focusing on his martial arts even now because that fear is just not leaving him.
He thought he could handle this. He CAN handle this.
But something within him really can't. And that voice is louder.
"You can't build a better future on bones, Krelian!"
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Krelian with Infinite Darkness Ether Channel! GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 2 Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Krelian partially guards Fei Fong Wong's Infinite Darkness Ether Channel for 78 hit points! GS: FP up! Charge bonus and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Citan calls to her to stop, but Lily has no time for that. If she doesn't get Krelian's attention, Cid is likely to die. And that she can't have. She knows there are others she can count on, here, at leas. The others' demands--
Lily surges forward. Her blades strike home--but he only stares. "What?" Lily says at the silvery color. Then, there is a flash; Lily's blades disappear and her friends will hear a mechanical SHRIEK that is as much error as it is scream, as Lily stumbles backward, her flesh immediately coalescing into an ordinary form again. Her circuitry shorts, flashes, and she hits the ground hard. "Gh--"
She listens to Fei. A better future...
"And what's this 'world you wish'?" Lily demands. "Solaris dominating everyone?"
She rises, and puts forth both of her hands. Abrubtly, there is flame. Lily extends both hands, palms forward, and a gout of white-hot fire rushes towards Krelian.
"Xantia!" Lily calls. "Pull it together!"
DC: Lily Keil switches forms to Etheric Witch Lily!
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Krelian with Ignition! GS: Lily Keil has gained 3 Combo! GS: Lily Keil's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Lily Keil gains 10 FP from her Daredevil! GS: Lily Keil takes 28 damage from Poison! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku dusts off her hands, as her father gives her directions, and she gives him a Thumbs Up as he flees, "Hudrehk oui fuimth'd tu! Kud ed! Cu dryd sayhc bnaddo silr ajanodrehk ec uh dra dypma!"
Then Rikku sees her grenade turn to grey sand. And she may turn a shade paler, "That's new."
Despite being scared out of her wits on some level, she still finds enough courage to say, "I don't think that's particularly fair of you-! That's what Yevon has told us to do our whole existence basically! So how are you any different from them? If it's a choice of being swept under the rug again or taking a chance at something better?"
Rikku holds up a finger, "Then I think we're going to take a stand-!" However much courage she tried to muster with that, it's nearly dashed away as he begins his assault.
That cone of fire washes over her, and that heat sends her sprawling to the deck with a cry of pain, as she tries to pat out the flames, before springing back up, her skin definitely an uncomfortable shade of red. "H'okay! Jerk move!"
As Rikku then tosses something up high, the alchemical concoction bursting into gem like shields that look like translucent gem facets, the energy quickening the movements of everyone touched.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Others are coming. Emeralda is justly upset. Rikku, of course, lives her; this is her family and it is just their bad luck that this battle must happen on their home, their SECOND home in its way. Xantia reacts in one of those ways that suggests, to Elly, that perhaps there isn't much but fortune that separates them. Billy with Xantia, and Dr. Uzuki--
'This world doesn't allow such choices...'
Elly might, in a different moment, just gasp. She might, in another different world, file it away and continue fighting because of the imminent threat of death. But here, now, she just saw off a person who she - somehow - still considers a friend.
And now--
Elly screams.
And what she screams is, "WHY!?????"
It isn't a scream of rage, it's the scream of a wounded girl. At least she amplifies, if with thickness in her voice: "Everything-- everyone acts like that's true -- but it's always something they decided to do!! Or it's a mistake!! Is - is it really -"
It's too late. The war has begun again. Flame is coming towards them, a hideously powerful derivation of Fire Ether. Elly, for all her talents, can only push against it; make some of it billow harmlessly* up into the upper reaches of the Fahrenheit's piloting deck instead of people's bodies.
"Her name is Emeralda!" Elly chokes out because it's something her brain can grasp onto. She doesn't have a spell to hand in the way Lily does, or even one of Fei's technique. But what she does have is that railing she'd taken up as a thing of defense. And it stays a thing of defense, in its way, because Elly leaps forwards while holding it outwards, aiming to strike Krelian in the neck - to knock him down, to --
To DO SOMETHING. That is where Elly is at right now, at least.
GS: Rikku has attacked Rikku with Al-Bhed Tested Rikku-Approved: Mighty G!! GS: Rikku has attacked Lily Keil with Al-Bhed Tested Rikku-Approved: Mighty G!! GS: Rikku has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Al-Bhed Tested Rikku-Approved: Mighty G!! GS: Rikku has attacked Xantia with Al-Bhed Tested Rikku-Approved: Mighty G!! GS: Rikku has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Al-Bhed Tested Rikku-Approved: Mighty G!! GS: Rikku has gained 2 Combo! GS: Rikku has completed her action. GS: Rikku accepts Rikku's Al-Bhed Tested Rikku-Approved: Mighty G! for 0 hit points! GS: Quick and Shield applied to Rikku! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Krelian with Sky Attack! GS: Elhaym van Houten has gained 1 Combo! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action. GS: Lily Keil accepts Rikku's Al-Bhed Tested Rikku-Approved: Mighty G! for 0 hit points! GS: Quick and Shield applied to Lily Keil! GS: Krelian solidly guards Lily Keil's Ignition for 22 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Delay applied to Krelian! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: CRITICAL! Fei Fong Wong accepts Rikku's Al-Bhed Tested Rikku-Approved: Mighty G! for 0 hit points! GS: Quick and Shield applied to Fei Fong Wong! GS: Xantia accepts Rikku's Al-Bhed Tested Rikku-Approved: Mighty G! for 0 hit points! GS: Quick and Shield applied to Xantia! GS: Krelian takes a solid hit from Elhaym van Houten's Sky Attack for 53 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Oh that's a bullet.
The first bullet - the one that doesn't have any tricks, the one that was aimed right at her - actually connects with Emeralda's shoulder. It's enough to drive her back a step, back against the railing she just pulled herself up with; she doesn't bleed, but there is a splash of silver as part of her clothes lose colour entirely, then reform back into their normal black and red.
The second, third, and fourth bullets hit her hair, which forms something between the shape of a hand, a wing, and a shield and protects her from the front. It rings like a bell, but leaves her untouched beneath it. Her hair reforms a second time afterwards as Emeralda steps forward again.
'A work of art like you...'
"You told me that before," Emeralda says, slowly. "I remember. You said, <you are the ultimate 'work of art' that technology gave birth to...>" She says it in Solarian, something that she seems surprised to be able to do herself, let alone everyone else.
Why did he say that? Who is he, really?
Elly and Fei give her the nudge she needs to keep going. "...but my name is EMERALDA! I know who I am now! The scientists can't put me in the trash!" Emeralda's reaction is loud and rather aggressive. She lunges forward, dropping into a forward somersault -
Emeralda's entire body turns into a ball the colour of her flesh, except for a band of green. The whole ball rolls forward, slamming at Krelian before she uncurls out of it, feet firmly on the floor again. "And I told you not to hurt people! You're hurting her just by being!" She means Xantia, this time.
GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Krelian with Rolling Star! GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod accepts Rikku's Al-Bhed Tested Rikku-Approved: Mighty G! for 0 hit points! GS: Quick and Shield applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: Krelian critically guards Emeralda Kasim's Rolling Star for 21 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Krelian's Jam Ward may block the effect! GS: Jam blocked! GS: Shield applied to Emeralda Kasim! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius watches in the aftermath of that twisting haze of heat, as if gauging... but one of the benefits Krelian has in dealing with a crowd is that wxact targets don't always know when they are being aimed at, even in the split-second where eyes meet between an intensely focused gaze from a man that outwardly should have no further stake in anything here and one that several here have significant stake in.
Ethius isn't aware of the target of the beam of light that descends from the ceiling until it envelopes him in scalding, blinding light. He throws his arms up as he yelps in shock and pain, a hiss from between his teeth as there's some physical impact that throws him back. His sight comes back to him in time to better witness some of the greater drama - and raw power - Krelian masters and exudes, smoothly working around whatever anyone's throwing.
He nearly gets clipped by that Flame Nova just by trying to stand up.
Rikku's alchemical concoction grenade gives him cover to stand back up as Emeralda's personhood is asserted (and, quietly, more than agreed with).
"So, you gave an influential figure in Spiran society assistance from Solaris," Ethius starts, trying to get a word in edge-wise when the emotional intensity and shouting makes it difficult. It's not easy for him either, taking in a breath to keep up the outward calm as he transitions to slurred syllables in skillful sequence. He sweeps an arm in as his fingers flutter.
"Ashen Veil!" A wave of ash flies for Krelian's position from a direction a bit more favorable to not trip up the melee attackers as he works up the next question.
"So... who gave assistance to Solaris?"
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Krelian with Ashen Veil! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Krelian solidly guards Ethius Hesiod's Ashen Veil for 15 hit points! GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!! GS: Delay applied to Krelian! GS: FP up! Guard bonus and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Another time, perhaps, Citan might have smiled at such a pronouncement from Fei, in spite of such terrible odds. Here and now, his expression remains serious, carefully so. But he nods. "...I see," he says, his gaze turning back towards Krelian. He narrows his eyes. "You may be correct. Then I shall do what I can."
When Xantia enters the room, Citan realizes in that moment that something is extremely amiss with her.
"Xantia--!"
Billy may have the matter in hand. Billy may have to have the matter in hand.
For Krelian looks to him. There is much that can be concealed in the slight movement of the mouth, of the eyes. There is too much that cannot be understood. Especially here, now.
He does not reply. There is nothing he could say--
And there is no space in which to say it.
Citan darts to the left immediately as the brilliant sphere manifests to his side but even that is not quick enough to escape what follows: the sphere shudders then explodes outwards in a burst of darkness, hurtling him bodily across the bridge.
Rising slowly from where he's landed, he steadies himself for the moment against the console against which he'd landed and cannot help but wince. If things were different, if circumstances were different... But there is no time for such thoughts. There is only one thing that matters.
He reaches out to the very moisture in the air and requests its aid. The mists consolidate, swirling about the Wolves. And then, they part.
If he can at all manage it... they must not die here.
GS: Citan Uzuki has activated Force Action: Extend! GS: You have activated the Force Action Extend! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Sazanami! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Sazanami! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Billy Lee Black with Sazanami! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Lily Keil with Sazanami! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Sazanami! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Xantia with Sazanami! GS: Citan Uzuki gains 23 THP from his Cautious! GS: Citan Uzuki has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Lily Keil accepts Citan Uzuki's Sazanami for 0 hit points! GS: Regen applied to Lily Keil! GS: CRITICAL! Xantia accepts Citan Uzuki's Sazanami for 0 hit points! GS: Regen applied to Xantia! GS: CRITICAL! Elhaym van Houten accepts Citan Uzuki's Sazanami for 0 hit points! GS: Regen applied to Elhaym van Houten! GS: Billy Lee Black accepts Citan Uzuki's Sazanami for 0 hit points! GS: Regen applied to Billy Lee Black! GS: Emeralda Kasim accepts Citan Uzuki's Sazanami for 0 hit points! GS: Regen applied to Emeralda Kasim! GS: FP up! Gleam activated!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
It's a terrible thing - the realization that you're losing your mind, yet there being nothing you can do to stop it. This is what it like to Xantia, being pushed forward by something she doesn't understand, coming from a place she cannot recall. It feels like she knows she much about Krelian, yet at the same time, she doesn't know anything. All that remains is an uncontrollable urge, a need to stop this man, at all costs. While the details may not be clear just from looking at her, going by the state she's inn one thing is clear enough. Fei is not the only one who must not be here.
Still, it doesn't appear to be too late. When Billy appears, speaking soothing words and supplying aid just as soothing, she turns her head to him. That hateful look is gone, now she looks just as scared as she feels. "Billy, I..." she begins. But no other words will come, before she grips the sides of her head. She hears other voices call out to her. She wants to listen. But whatever's happening...
"I can't... control myself...!"
That's when Krelian strikes, lashing out with an ARM from his, well, arm. Its nature is reminiscent of Xantia's own, which may be why, in a reflex, she activates her own. And yet, it takes but a touch of Krelian's Ether construct to cause hers to fall apart. The fact that Xantia backed away in shock may be the only thing that saves her from fatal injury. Still, the weapon slices through her armor like it was nothing, and Xantia's expression and the way she stumbles afterwards is telling enough. She's hurt, and probably badly so.
There's nothing stopping it now. She's no longer even capable of acknowledging Rikku and Citan's assistance. In this condition, Xantia is completely unable to resist her will from succumbing. Making a fist, her ARM's blade flares back to life, larger and burning more brightly than before. She charges right back at Krelian, hacking away with her weapon, again and again. Brutal and unrefined, bent only on doing as much damage as she can. Any less is not an option anymore - because, as she intones, lifelessly:
"...Without you... Solaris is finished."
GS: Xantia has attacked Krelian with Vermilion Sundering! GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Xantia gains 10 FP from her Daredevil! GS: Xantia gains 60 THP from Regen! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Gamble: Very High! Krelian suffers a terrible blow from Xantia's Vermilion Sundering for 186 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Billy's curtains of light flicker into being, veils that should protect against attack for some good few moments. He looks over, beginning, "Xantia, focus on--"
He thought he'd have longer. That shot from Krelian explodes through the console between Billy and Krellian, and then into Billy himself. He throws his arms up protectively, the light slamming into that veil and then scattering both to motes. He huffs for air and sees that Xantia's control has lost completely. "Xantia..." he murmurs. "...very well."
He'll take what responsibility he must. He returns his eyes to Krelian.
"It is," Billy breathes. Peaceful resolution isn't happening, then. He must protect the Queen and Cid, both. Fortunately they've taken a run for it. Hopefully he can hold out. "It is the blessing God gave to us at the start. A stellar light, by which Creation might flourish. Only in light can Man's world thrive."
The air fills with a high PING, as a coin arcs into the air from his concealed hand.
"Though I suppose most of that passed your desk, first," Billy says, and snaps his pistol up, one, two, shots toward Krelian's center mass, and then flicking the muzzle up to the tumbling coin to ping a third shot off of it, the bullet pinging off that to hopefully take his shields off-guard and strike home.
GS: Billy Lee Black spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Krelian with Adam's Apple! GS: Billy Lee Black has gained 1 Combo! GS: Billy Lee Black gains 60 THP from Regen! GS: Billy Lee Black has completed his action. GS: Krelian solidly guards Billy Lee Black's Adam's Apple for 29 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple applied to Krelian! GS: Quick applied to Billy Lee Black! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Sufferer activated! GS: Fei Fong Wong accepts Citan Uzuki's Sazanami for 0 hit points! GS: Regen applied to Fei Fong Wong!
<Pose Tracker> Krelian has posed.
"Do you think your power independent of the world?" Krelian asks Lily. "Whatever twisting has happened to make you so, it is not. You are not. And thus, it is mine."
Flame slams into him. It washes over him, but over. It doesn't catch his clothing or hair afire; it doesn't burn his flesh or incinerate him. It wafts away, as he steps from it.
"And is this world fair? Is this world kind?" Krelian says. "Are you not fighting to change this world, Rikku? Because... you should learn something. Changing the world means that we must always lose something."
His eyes turn towards Elly, then, when he says that. Elly leaps at him. Railing slams into his neck -- and bends into a U-shape around him, before he brushes it aside. "Why?" he asks her. "Why show her such kindness? You must know what will come of it. What will always come of it, in this dying world."
He looks, then, at Emeralda. His eyes widen a fraction -- to hear her speak Solarian. He thought she couldn't. "You shall learn, then, if you insist upon the mistake of personhood--" He throws a hand out, and Emeralda's ball-like form slams into it, then gets bounced backward with a mighty shove. "--that to exist is to hurt. How will your existence hurt them, Emeralda? How has it already?"
Krelian turns, as ash flies over him. His eyes meet Ethius's, for a moment. "No, not assistance. He didn't know who I was," he says. "I used him to acquire information... to learn more of Spira. An interesting place. But then I discovered the lie that Spira is built upon -- the sacrifice of summoners. Another lie that must end."
"Is it?" Krelian asks Xantia calmly. That calm doesn't match the way she strikes at him, with such brutality -- and without control. Her blade slashes into him; blood splashes and clothing is rent. He steps back after only a moment.
Flesh begins to knit back together, rapidly. "Is that what you believe? Or... is that what someone else does?"
He stares at her for a moment more, before he looks to Billy. The bullets slam into him. They punch through his body. Blood begins to spread, bright red blossoms -- which then begin to fade, as cloth and skin alike reknit together. "I won't deny it," he says. "And yet you hold to those teachings?"
Then, Krelian turns his head. His eyes meet Fei's.
"No, Fei," Krelian says. "I won't kill the Queen." And then he smiles at the man who -- once, perhaps -- was his friend. "For I am not so merciful."
He lets that hang in the air.
Fei throws himself at him. Krelian is struck by the dark ether, shadow bleeding and hurtling outward. The double palm strike hits him, with an explosion of shade punctuating it. He is thrown backward into a console, and it smashes under him.
"The future is built upon bones. All futures are," he says. "Do you not realize, Fei? If you are who I think you are... the power that you command. The power that comes to you, naturally. Others can only grasp at it. They cannot have it. It can only be... borrowed."
He holds his hand out in front of him. Lines of light appear -- tracing out a segmented sword, with two halves and a split down the middle. There is a circular hole in the center, where energy spins around it like a ring. Repeatedly.
"Monado!" Krelian cries out. "LEND ME YOUR POWER!"
Then, the blade becomes a deep red thing. A beam of blue light explodes out from it -- and Krelian launches forward, slashing that energy sword across Fei's body before he pushes past him. He swings around, then chops the sword downward -- and sends a shockwave of blue light exploding off it towards Lily, Rikku, and Emeralda.
Krelian spins, then, to face Elly. He throws a hand out, and a massive gout of flame explodes off it, billowing out towards her. It scorches the floor black -- and threatens to throw her back into the wall.
He rushes, then, for Ethius. The Solarian moves fast enough to be a blur, and comes in low -- and his energy blade slashes across Ethius's legs, before he comes back up to his full height.
He throws his hand out towards Citan. Another explosive blast of flame rolls off his open palm, hurtling towards Citan, to match the same one he threw at Elly a moment before. Like that one, it explodes with a fiery blast upon impact.
Even as that fiery blast flies for Citan, though, Krelian is on the move. His energy blade spins around, and then slashes in an upward blow across Xantia as he comes in close to her. Then, he rushes past, swings back the blade -- and the blue energy blade flashes, and he slams it across Billy.
GS: Krelian has attacked Krelian with Monado Armour! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Delay expired! GS: Krelian heals Krelian! He gains 168 temporary hit points! GS: Hyper and Shield applied to Krelian! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Krelian spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Krelian has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Monado Burst! GS: Krelian has gained 3 Combo! GS: Krelian's stances have changed to Stoic! GS: Krelian has attacked Lily Keil with Monado Storm! GS: Krelian has attacked Rikku with Monado Storm! GS: Krelian has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Monado Storm! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Krelian spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Krelian has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Prominence Revolt! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Krelian spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Krelian has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Monado Beat! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Krelian spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Krelian has attacked Citan Uzuki with Prominence Revolt! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Krelian has attacked Xantia with Monado Striker! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Krelian spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Krelian has attacked Billy Lee Black with Monado Burst! GS: Krelian has gained 3 Combo! GS: Krelian gains 22 THP from his Cautious! GS: Krelian has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Rikku solidly guards Krelian's Monado Storm for 103 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Rikku gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Gleam activated! GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: Low! Ethius Hesiod solidly guards Krelian's Monado Beat for 83 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple and Poison applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: FP up! Countermeasures activated! GS: CRITICAL! Lily Keil solidly guards Krelian's Monado Storm for 89 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: Lily Keil enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Emeralda Kasim solidly guards Krelian's Monado Storm for 76 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Emeralda Kasim gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: CRITICAL! Elhaym van Houten solidly guards Krelian's Prominence Revolt for 125 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Elhaym van Houten gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Arcane Font activated! GS: CRITICAL! Xantia takes a solid hit from Krelian's Monado Striker for 192 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: CRITICAL! Citan Uzuki takes a glancing hit from Krelian's Prominence Revolt for 134 hit points! GS: FP up! Gleam activated!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
'WHY!?' Lily winces at Elly's scream. She hears--feels--that wound in her friend. She doesn't think Elly will get her peaceful resolution today. But she hears Rikku, too. She sharpens her gaze. "Rikku!" Lily calls, and gambles that Krelian doesn't know the language. "Ev ouin creamt lyh rumt, E lyh pio ic desa fedr y cbamm! Frah E tu ed, bnabyna ajanodrehk oui ryja yc y dnyb!"
Only in Light can Man's world thrive... Lily's lips purse as she listens to Billy. She is not a creature of light. But there is something she can do, even so. If she can just survive his counterattack--
"Independent?" Lily questions, baffled. "...My power--"
He won't kill the Queen, he says. "What do you--"
Suddenly, the Monado comes. Lily has no idea what it is. But that blue light crashes into her, and Lily can only throw up her arms, block with a shield of purest darkness. Once again, her strange not-quite Ether surges, her circuity flaring to violet and violent life. "No!"
She nevertheless is slammed backward, forced against the wall of the bridge. She hits the railing and almost goes over. She catches herself, but only just. Then, she stands.
Escape - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERxpokOo9K0
"Fine," Lily says. "If I can't hit you... It's not you I need to hit."
LIly lifts her hands, and begins to call an unwholesome power. Channeling every bit of Ether she's able, Lily begins to glow violet, and the sheer force of her spell even being cast is enough to begin to draw unattended objects towards her.
In the Zeboim language, "Limiters released. Ether output: 300%."
"Aaaaah!"
It hurts, to use it--but Lily throws out her hands, and there is a mirror CRACK in the world itself, as she attempts to cut off the very locality of Krelian's space.
GS: Lily Keil has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Lily Keil spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Lily Keil has attacked Krelian with Astral Collapse! GS: Lily Keil has gained 2 Combo! GS: Lily Keil gains 10 FP from her Daredevil! GS: Lily Keil takes 22 damage from Poison! GS: Lily Keil gains 64 THP from Regen! GS: Disrupt and Poison expired! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Krelian has activated Force Action: Guard! GS: Krelian suffers a terrible blow from Lily Keil's Astral Collapse for 432 hit points! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Strain! Lily Keil takes 55 damage! GS: CRITICAL! Fei Fong Wong critically guards Krelian's Monado Burst for 86 hit points! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: CRITICAL! Billy Lee Black suffers a terrible blow from Krelian's Monado Burst for 291 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Billy Lee Black gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Is the world fair? No. Is the world kind? No. Rikku learned long ago it's neither of those things. But his idea to change things, you must lose someone? "I don't think so! That's the thing people say when they want the world to stay the same as it always has! Lady Yunalesca told Yunie to pick someone to lose if she wanted to give back to the people of Spira."
Rikku just sounds proud of her, "Yunie rejected that. She sacrificed the system. You!" She points at him, "Sound just like HER!"
Almost as if she were imagining Yunalesca superimposed over Krelian's form.
"We're going to build the future on something other than sacrifices!"
Lily calls out a plan and Rikku just shouts back, "E'ja kud zicd dra drehk! Ku vun ed! Syga ed y PEK PUUS!"
Her hands are at work, when he brings out the Monado, and Rikku has no idea what that is on sight, save how intimidating it looks.
She gets a SUPER bad feeling about it, and as the Shockwave of Blue Light launches down, she hunkers down behind the gem like shields that erupt in front of her to try and preserve her life.
And yet the shields crack, and nearly break outright, before Rikku bounces back up on her feet, bouncing from leg to leg.
Space warps, and distorts. And Rikku suddenly is on the move in a flash of every single thief skill she's ever worked upon.
The moment space stops distorting, Krelian may see Rikku right in his face waving, "Neat ARM! Mind if I take a look at it?" As if she were feigning that she was going to try to steal it.
He might notice her goggles are down over her eyes though, and she pops a rebreather in her mouth, waggling her fingers at him as she abruptly leaps back.
Which is the same moment the trap she set up for Lily is spring. The grenade just behind him detonates into a titanic pulsed burst, one after the other of a myriad colored chemical cloud, as the multi-faceted biochemical explosion just tries to pour out over his form, one after another in an attempt to overwhelm him.
In ancient Filgaia this probably would have been a war crime. In Spira it's just Rikku!
"Ruba dryd fungc vun fryd oui ryt eh seht!" She says to Lily with a cheery tone.
GS: Rikku spends 4 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Rikku has attacked Krelian with CHAOS GRENADE! GS: Rikku has gained 2 Combo! GS: Rikku has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda hits the outstretched hand, rebounds off, and still manages to land on her feet. Rolling is unstoppable.
"I'd rather be a people than a not-people," she shoots back. "And you aren't listening. Stop hurting them! I don't know why you came to the Fahrenheit, or why Solaris is here," aside from the fact that they'd definitely not want Shevat to make friends with anybody, but..."
"I won't let you attack the Queen, or Cid, or any of my friends! Kindness is important!! - Lily!" She saw that injury, self-inflicted as it was. And there's Xantia. And Billy, and Citan, and Rikku - she has to defend all of them.
Emeralda lunges again... through the blast of energy. It washes over her, burning, but it doesn't stop Emeralda from driving her head directly at Krelian's center of mass in a single massive headbutt. She weighs better than two hundred pounds. It isn't a mild impact.
More critical is that Emeralda's hair is once again attacking. It swells, twisting together into an enormous dragon's head nearly the size of the rest of Emeralda - and it chomps, biting down on Krelian's arm, trying to take the 'Monado' away from him and leave her holding it in her hair-jaws.
GS: Emeralda Kasim has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Krelian with Hungry Dragon! GS: Emeralda Kasim gains 63 THP from Regen! GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action. GS: Krelian solidly guards Rikku's CHAOS GRENADE for 58 hit points! GS: Blind, Mute, and Poison applied to Krelian! GS: Drowsy blocked! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong says, "I... I know it's been that way so far, but if we don't believe in anything bigger than that--what's the point? At the very least we have to try!" Much of what Krelian is saying he has told himself. Not even just Id telling him. Fei himself has felt that in the past. And not even the distant past. But for him, it is something that comes and goes. For Id it is a prevailing truth that he cannot enforce and struggles against. But for Krelian...
It feels like just an innate truth of existence he has just accepted.
That dreadful feeling rises up within him. He is relieved that Cid has fled, grateful that Rikku is supporting everyone with her protection--as well as Citan's! Not even whatever Krelian did to himself can last forever, a small voice tells him. Eventually the cellular repair will struggle to keep up with the damage. It goes for Emeralda as much as it would Krelian.
But...
Is that even what he wants? Wasn't he a friend at some point? Like Siegfried?
FEI PSYCHO UP
Fei pushes the thought out of his head.
There is another tremor of fear in his body as Krelian calls out the Monado. A blade that can manipulate ehter. A blade that can cut through fate.
"Then...WHY? You're not after Cid, you're not after the Queen... Why???" Fei shouts.
he power that comes to him naturally. In Fei's head it's chi, but in reality it's ether.
Krelian goes to swing that energy sword across Fei's body.
Fei catches it in his hands and tries to hold Krelian still by the blade. Two nigh-omnipotent forces of ether collide against one another--briefly--as the energies burn across Fei's body and he can't redirect it in time. He lets out a scream and Krelian is able to move past him to do spare some stabbing for others.
Fei's hands, when all is said and done, are scorched black.
"Who...who do you think I am?"
Fei turns to look to Krelian.
Why is he so DAMNED SCARED?
Xantia can't control herself. "This--this isn't good for Xantia." The programming is taking over, however that was built.
Fei tries centering himself, circling his hands around just like his father..his father taught him?
And then he throws a double palm thrust once more for Krelian, one to strike for his chin, the other making a quick burst towards his chest.
"Please... You can have the heavens, just let us have the earth..."
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Krelian with Yin Yang Strike! GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 3 Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong gains 61 THP from Regen! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Krelian solidly guards Emeralda Kasim's Hungry Dragon for 43 hit points! GS: FP up! Countermeasures, Guard bonus, and Sufferer activated! GS: Emeralda Kasim drains Krelian! Emeralda Kasim gains 24 temporary hit points! GS: Krelian takes a glancing hit from Fei Fong Wong's Yin Yang Strike for 49 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Relieving mist washes over Elly. She is used to this from Citan. Any reflexive defense of hers relaxes immediately at this touch, which may be interesting for Citan to know in the future! You know, if she's delirious or has been struck with confusion or something.
The piece of metal she had stolen to use and improvise ends up bending into a U-shape around Krelian's neck. Elly pulls back in alarm and looks at the piece of metal with frankly honest and complete surprise, bordering on stupidity, before answering Krelian -
"Why shouldn't I be kind?" She looks at him. That's when Emeralda slams in and the conversation wanes. Elly backpedals quickly, looking at the piece of metal for a few moments in what would probably be a black-comic turn were not the stakes so genuinely serious. She hurls it aside: very well then. (At least Rikku can bend it back right around Brother's head later.)
Krelian has no such limitations. Krelian calls a sword of power from the ether itself - the metaphorical as well as literal, perhaps. Elly stares at it with a sick sort of dread. A wave of horrid force washes towards her and she throws out her hands; it bursts against her, and she screams, and she's shoved back a good two yards, stumbling over a console and leaning against it even as she hears Rikku.
She what? Elly looks towards Rikku blinking several times. She rejected -- ??
Back to the others. Krelian isn't after -- who?? Then who is he after?! Elly thinks with a sort of helpless frustration. He's here and he's defending himself but he might have come here to kill someone ELSE or to execute some OTHER plan and it's all - it's all going -
He's going to kill everyone, Elly thinks, and so she ends up blurting out to Rikku instead. "I'm sorry," she says to her, sounding halfway back to tears. "I'm sorry we brought this - all of this to you - I, I didn't want any of this to happen - everyone here has been kind, even the cruel people could have, could have just killed us and they didn't and we've - I'm -"
I'm pretty useless, in the end.
Please...
I don't care what happens to me.
But everyone else...
Fei; Emeralda... Lily, Leon.
Dr. Uzuki and his wife, his daughter.
Billy and the children under his watch.
Mr. Hesiod; Xantia...
What can I -
Isn't the sky beautiful?
Elly snuffles for a moment. Another moment to suck in an enormous breath, one that makes her straighten up visibly. She raises her head to look at Rikku. "-- Is, is everyone - on board?"
Her head turns back towards Krelian. Elly did not throw a pity party of sufficient magnitude to completely forget that. Her hand comes up, fingers splayed out, another quirking of Ether; the mist in the air in part condenses and flies out as jagged icicles towards Krelian. He can take it, Elly thinks, after THAT.
"I mean is there anyone we'd leave behind?" she tries to say to Rikku, though her eyes are forward, on what is, for better or worse, their enemy now.
GS: Elhaym van Houten enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Krelian with Ether Icicles! GS: Elhaym van Houten has gained 1 Combo! GS: Elhaym van Houten enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Elhaym van Houten gains 62 THP from Regen! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action. GS: Krelian solidly guards Elhaym van Houten's Ether Icicles for 26 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Guard bonus and Sufferer activated! GS: Healthy! For entering Condition Green, Krelian receives 100 temporary hit points. GS: Krelian enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Should they indeed all survive this, it may well be a useful thing for Citan Uzuki to know about Elly. For some hypothetical, future moment in which she is no longer quite herself.
What is Krelian's purpose here? Is it simply to disrupt the deliberations? Are the Ministry and he aligned in...
Or, Citan thinks, looking between Krelian and Fei in that moment, is it instead a... test? "Fei," he says, and that is all he says, his name almost a warning in and of itself.
"...You mean to kill the Al Bhed and leave the Queen to live," Citan says to Krelian at last. "For you are the reason she has lived these past five hundred years." Such is almost common knowledge among the people of Shevat, that the man named Krelian had come once to their city after the war. After the world had been shattered.
And that was the other reason why Shevat roamed alone in the skies.
'It can only be borrowed,' speaks Krelian, and here the man produces a blade.
That... sword. That power, that rolls off of it. It's undeniable. What is it? He has never heard of such a...
There are secrets at home of which even the Emperor may not be aware. That, or...
"That power-- what is...!"
Krelian moves and he may as well be a blur, his attention shifting from person to person. Citan has already broken off from the point in which he had stood into a run but it is as if Krelian already predicted where he would go. All he can do is throw up an arm and twist, shielding at least some part of himself from the inferno that rolls over him.
It's all over in an instant, the clothing on his left forearm and torso charred from that otherwordly flame. With light, with darkness, perhaps there is not much he can manage with the Jugend-derived arts he knows well. But against flame, there is something he can do. Water swirls about himself in a fleeting wash and it will have to suffice.
Xantia, though... Xantia is not well. Fei himself remarks upon it.
Citan shakes his head vehemently. "You must hold on, Xantia! You must not give in...!" If she slips, she may never return.
GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Citan Uzuki with Gensoseii! GS: Citan Uzuki has gained 1 Combo! GS: Citan Uzuki gains 20 THP from his Cautious! GS: Cover and Riposte expired! GS: Citan Uzuki has completed his action. GS: Citan Uzuki heals Citan Uzuki! He gains 174 temporary hit points! GS: Surge applied to Citan Uzuki! GS: FP up! Gleam activated!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia just hacks away like a woman possessed, which from looking at her, may not be far from the truth. The level of ferocity and brutality that she's displaying now is quite unlike the way she normally fights. There's no joy, no conviction, not even any desperation. She's seeking a slaughter, and nothing else. Which in the case of Krelian is not something easily accomplished, and she seems to know that. So she does the best she can, not caring how much of his blood she gets covered in in the process of doing so.
...She's not very capable of answering Krelian's question, in this state. But seeing the state she's in right now, acting completely out of her control... what she believes likely doesn't factor into this, at all. And the most solid gamble would be betting on her having no idea who does believe what she said.
There's still a part of her that's listening, all the same. If circumstances were at all normal, she'd be chiming in with words of support for Fei, telling him in turn not to let Krelian's words get to him. But she can't. She's wholly unable to do anything but attack the man before her.
"...This is..."
Or...? That sounded kind of like Xantia's regular voice. What little emotion was there seemed to be dismay. Even in this state, she's noticing the lack of results. This man... may be immortal. She should really stop, and think about this. Even still, she can't.
It takes the summoning of a mysterious blade to finally put a stop to Xantia's attempts to get her stabbing to stick, her ARM's blade once again no match against a more powerful one. She flies straight up along the strike she tried her best to block, landing painfully on her back after coming back down. Her armor now has a vertical gash to go along with the horizontal one. It may be mostly Citan's forethought that's keeping her going. That, and the fact that she's started actively drawing Ether out of the surrouding air herself. She's not capable of healing instantly, but she can accelate the healing of her wounds this way. Which in turn tires her out faster.
All in all, things are not looking good. But still, she can't stop. She has no choice but to get back to her feet, and charge back towards Krelian. Or perhaps 'charge' is not the proper word. She takes a step forward, and in an instant, she's on the opposite side of Krelian, having already attempted to run him through at blinding speed, leaving afterimages in her wake.
'Is there anything that can be done to stop this...?' She manages the thought, but not the words.
GS: Xantia has attacked Krelian with Blade Blitz! GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Xantia gains 10 FP from her Daredevil! GS: Xantia gains 60 THP from Regen! GS: Mighty expired! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: ROU|LET|TE: Moderate! Krelian solidly guards Xantia's Blade Blitz for 31 hit points! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Hex applied to Krelian! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
"They are beautiful things to believe," Billy says, watching the inhuman thing Krelian has become heal from critical blows. "Your people had a gift for poetry. They taught me to love people who need it, and offer my hand to the lowest first. Distractions, I'm sure, from daring to point my eyes to the demon above!"
A...Monado? What in the devil is that? He gets an answer shortly, as Krelian's blade of energy crashes into him and nearly through him. Billy tries to surge aside with a nimble leap, but he's caught square in the chest and SLAMMED to the ground, his jacket and shirt torn and blood spraying from the wound. He lies there, for several long seconds. Waiting. Watching. Gasping.
Finally, his weapon slips higher, staring down the sights. Waiting. Seconds. Knowing.
"Growing up...can mean learning which lessons mattered," he breathes.
There.
A single bullet, pressed by the silent Ether of pure intention to strike the target, striking for Krelian's heart.
GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Krelian with Kill With Your Heart! GS: Billy Lee Black has gained 1 Combo! GS: Billy Lee Black gains 59 THP from Regen! GS: Billy Lee Black has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Krelian disambiguates the relation of what was offered or taken between himself and Seymour. That this is all novel to him... Ethius remembers what they saw underneath Zanarkand. That ancient city, the handful of surviving kiosks spouting off its founding history...
He doesn't have an immediate capacity to follow up as others start getting their blows in. He moves to reposition as the ash cloud proves no deterrent to Krelian's capabilities, ceasing only as Krelian hoists a strange blade above him.
He tumbles away from the shockwave of blue light that he's otherwise at the edge of, and Krelian nearly catches him in his blurring movement. Ethius slurs syllables as he swings an arm inward, spreading his legs as such as he refreshes the Symbological shielding spell. It should catch whatever make of ARM that is.
Should.
The deep red blade rakes across his legs shallowly as he pushes back with his staff a split-second later. That his limbs aren't severed underneath him is a feather in Ethius' cap for positioning his legs and balancing himself just right as he sways, but the way it cuts into the legs regardless without feedback... that has implications.
He knows what his personal anti-tech Symbological shielding is rated for. The only specialists he knows that can boast higher are fully dedicated demolition experts and/or maintenance engineers of certain exotic energy technologies and even /then/ the margin isn't by much.
There wasn't a ping of electricity or a flash of light on contact, which... without going into hard numbers about what the composition is if it can bypass that...
"That level of technology," Ethius says with a certain shakiness in his voice. This is different from the man who stood as the shield between Demetrioi's final tantrum and the desperate last efforts of the people of the two worlds (and Juni) to stop them as he helps fill in Citan's words with further context. "That's nothing I've ever seen..."
He can say this even while Lily's doing her own thing which is its own brand of existential terror, while Xantia's struggles give further context about why she asked him what he did about whether or not he changed, or could change, after getting his memories back.
While blood continues to seep down his legs, Ethius at last has an opportunity to speak again.
"The people of Spira will choose for themselves," a quick glance over to Rikku showing enthusiasm about the 'neat ARM' which he's already considering the possibility of how to get it away from her if she miraculously did take it, "as it appears they already have."
Bereft of the instinctual fear born of a vast history beyond the scope of a simple mortal life like his in a moment of emboldening, chances going around the immense tear in reality that Lily's power has left to try and blindside Krelian, drawing perilously close. Going in 'touch' range of nanotechnology is always putting life in one's hands.
"I can't let you do as you please," Ethius regains some manner of his composure of a man who is both sure of what and why he's doing something (which was once frustratingly just the what), expertly blending movement with chanting and gesticulating as it terminates in a point-blank...
"Recurrent Current!" He calls, trying to send a surge of electrical power through Krelian's form.
"Wherever that's from... it doesn't belong here!"
GS: Krelian takes a solid hit from Billy Lee Black's Kill With Your Heart for 78 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Countermeasures, Charge bonus, and Sufferer activated! GS: Ethius Hesiod spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Krelian with Recurrent Current! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod takes 27 damage from Poison! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Krelian solidly guards Ethius Hesiod's Recurrent Current for 32 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Krelian gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Poison blocked! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Krelian has posed.
There is a crack in the world's mirror, centered upon Krelian.
And he is briefly shorn from reality. He half-fades from existence -- but then his energy blade slams down into the crack in the world. Krelian focuses -- and his body, which became blurred and fuzzed -- snaps back into being. He looks at Lily for a moment.
"This world," he says, "has need of me. Why would it let you tear me from it?"
He lifts off the ground, and holds his arms outward. Light crackles over him -- and his eyes flash, for a moment. Then, there is a titanic blast of energy that shoots from his chest -- condenses down into a tight, thin beam -- and hurtles towards Lily. The moment it impacts, there is a sudden shift in the world -- time seems to speed up around her -- and then it shudders, before there is a brilliant white explosion cnetered upon her.
"A future without sacrifices is a noble goal," he says. "But I doubt you will go far enough to make it a reality!" Krelian answers Rikku, before he looks up -- and then he pulls away as she comes in. Which leaves him open for Rikku's grenades. They detonate over him, flashes of color and chemical. He hacks -- before he pushes through it.
He stumbles for two steps, until he rights himself, and drills down upon Rikku. He swings the Monado backward, but it ignites. Flame explodes up along it, a raging storm of the stuff, which swings down towards Rikku when Krelian slashes. The fire leaves the energy blade, and explodes outward in a brilliant flash that hurtles towards her.
"Blazing End!"
He swings the blade backward. Emeralda dives in. He turns his head, looking to her, and then gets struck into. He bounces backward -- her mass is significant -- and her hair spirals out. It bites down onto the red blade.
And suddenly, inside of Emeralda's mind, there is an overwhelming flash of LIGHT. It is information and emotion; it is a sense of the infinite; it is a sense of nothingness. It is a stretching, endless eternity and all of its possibilities -- and yet it is wrong. Like eternity filtered through a sieve, drip fed to her. Like seeing the endless through a grainy, flickering television set.
It may overwhelm her.
What almost certainly will, though, is the way that nanites near her suddenly make the air grow heavier -- no, make a well of gravity. Another appears near Fei, and then more between them, as Fei dances in. His palm slams into Krelian' cest, and hurls her back.
"Heaven and earth are the same, Fei," Krelian says, as he is knocked backward. "And... no. I did not say I was not after the Queen. But I won't kill her."
His smile is cold. "The get of Shevat do not receive such mercy from me. I will not end her suffering."
The nanite-made gravity wells suddenly pulse. Then, flashes of violet and black light explode between Fei and Emeralda both. Purple lightning leaps between them -- and Emeralda is subjected to nanites blasting through her, as each gravity well explodes.
Then, the air chills and condenses around him. Frost forms across his unform -- and icicles shoot into him. Some spear into him, drawing blood; others shatter against his body as it hardens. But the blood begins to vanish; the wounds begin to heal.
"It is not that you shouldn't be kind," Krelian tells Elly. "It's that the world should be broken, so your kindess may mean something, Elhaym."
He throws up his other hand. A beam of light shoots into the ir -- and then explodes apart, into several immense arcs of lightning. Bolts of it come screaming down, hurtling towards Elly.
Then, he looks towards Citan. "Ah," he says. "Yes. Just so. Her long years are my gift to her. And her pain is her sentence -- and it is unfinished."
He rushes for Citan. The Monado is swung 'round again, and once more, flame ignites up it. The flames leap and grow, glowing brilliantly. As they do, they extend the length of the sowrd. Krelian then brings it down, and it detonates in a massive explosion with his downward swing.
Xantia shoots at him again. She stabs her ARM blade out -- and runs him through. His mouth opens, into a bloody rictus -- and then he steps off, hacking a glob of blood onto the ground, as he begins to reknit together. "Tch."
He looks to Billy, then looks at his gun. His eyes widen--as the bullet slams into the left side of his chest, where his heart should be. Krelian's pupils dilate. His mind reaches out--and he touches the slumbering man-made god.
>subject krelian
>ACCESS GRANTED
>history correction protocol
>ACCESS GRANTED
>change biological development to reflect a condition of dextrocardia
>THY WILL AFFIRMED
Krelian's heart is not suddenly on the right side of his chest. It has always been on the right side of his chest. He was born that way; he briefly reflects on the time that a doctor informed his mother of the highly unusual condition. Billy's bullet cuts through the comparatively empty left side of his chest, instead.
Krelian smiles. A moment later, and his heart is back on the left side of his chest. Then, he looks towards Ethius. "Our blessing and our curse," he says. "But... you are correct. You cannot let -- much less stop -- me from doing anything."
Electrical power slams into him. It makes him shudder; he convulses a couple of times. He simply... rides the whole of it out, until the last few pops echo, and the sparks fade. Then, Krelian holds his hand into the air.
"Sacred Arrow!"
And lances of light rain down, hurtling towards Billy, Ethius, and Xantia -- each exploding with titanic flashes of golden light.
GS: Krelian has attacked Krelian with Monado Speed! GS: Krelian has gained 2 Combo! GS: Recover! Hex removed from Krelian! GS: CRITICAL! Krelian accepts Krelian's Monado Speed for 0 hit points! GS: Recover! Cripple, Disrupt, and Drowsy removed from Krelian! GS: Lock state and Quick applied to Krelian! GS: Riposte applied to Krelian! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Krelian has activated Force Action: Lock On! GS: Krelian has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Krelian spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Krelian has attacked Lily Keil with X-BUSTER! GS: Krelian has gained 2 Combo! GS: Krelian spends 1 Combo on Interrupt! GS: Krelian has attacked Rikku with Blazing End! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Krelian has attacked Emeralda Kasim with U-TERENITAS! GS: Krelian has attacked Fei Fong Wong with U-TERENITAS! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Krelian spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Krelian has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Lightning Buster! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Krelian spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Krelian has attacked Citan Uzuki with Burning Sword! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Krelian has attacked Xantia with Sacred Arrow! GS: Krelian has attacked Billy Lee Black with Sacred Arrow! GS: Krelian has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Sacred Arrow! GS: Krelian has gained 1 Combo! GS: Gamble: Moderate! Emeralda Kasim solidly guards Krelian's U-TERENITAS for 191 hit points! GS: FP up! Guard bonus and Gleam activated! GS: Emeralda Kasim enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Krelian's X-BUSTER for 347 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple and Poison applied to Lily Keil! GS: FP up! SOS Overdrive activated! GS: Lily Keil enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Citan Uzuki solidly guards Krelian's Burning Sword for 214 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Citan Uzuki gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Citan Uzuki's Cripple Ward may block the effect! GS: Cripple and Poison applied to Citan Uzuki! GS: Mighty applied to Krelian! GS: FP up! Guard bonus and Gleam activated! GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: Low! Rikku suffers a terrible blow from Krelian's Blazing End for 259 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Rikku gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Interrupt applied to Rikku! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Rikku has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt! GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: High! Fei Fong Wong suffers a terrible blow from Krelian's U-TERENITAS for 389 hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Krelian's Sacred Arrow for 285 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated! GS: CRITICAL! Xantia partially guards Krelian's Sacred Arrow for 184 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Elhaym van Houten suffers a terrible blow from Krelian's Lightning Buster for 340 hit points! GS: Cripple and Poison applied to Elhaym van Houten! GS: Cover applied to Krelian! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Emeralda calls out to her. "I'm fine!" Lily insists, despite her breach in discipline a moment ago. Then, to Rikku, "Yeah, that's just what I had in mind--"
Ethius of all people is struck by an ARM. Lily finds herself offended by that--no, alarmed. Even Ethius hasn't seen this technology...
"Hesiod," Lily cautions. "Even you can't shut it down?"
Krelian's blade slams into the crack ni the world. He is back, despite her most powerful spell, the peak of all she has learned to control. And he says--
"T-the world... itself...?" Lily experiences something very unusual for her. She experiences fear. She's going up against someone 'blessed by the world', somehow. It is worse. "Gh--"
That blast approaches. Lily's magic isn't fast enough, this time; time slows down around her, and the gigantic impact, the shift in the world rending through her. When Lily is visible again, she is badly burned. That brilliant white explosion has shattered her armor, and she is on the railing, hanging on by one hand. "Gh--"
Her nose is bleeding.
"I... I won't..."
She grips the railing, and pulls herself up. She drags herself back to the platform, and tries to call up a spell.
...It doesn't work. Her concentration is completely gone. Her control is gone. She starts to shiver, as ice begins to travel about her form, uncontrolled Ether shielding her already. "I--"
Lily grits her teeth. "Even if the world needs you!" Lily calls. "I--"
She lunges for him, pulling a knife mid-motion. She brings it up above her head and stabs it straight down for him, again and again, in a desperate set of attacks while she can't use her magic. SHe feels dizzy. The ice is growing, stiffening.
So she strikes, and slashes, and stabs, and pours all her strength into it before she ice seizes her up.
GS: Lily Keil has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Lily Keil has activated Force Action: Lock On! GS: Lily Keil spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Formation! Lily Keil has attacked Krelian with Black Wolf's Claw! GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lily Keil gains 10 FP from her Daredevil! GS: Lily Keil takes 32 damage from Poison! GS: Lily Keil gains 62 THP from Regen! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Krelian partially guards Lily Keil's Black Wolf's Claw for 167 hit points! GS: FP up! Guard bonus and Sufferer activated! GS: Krelian enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Krelian gains 18 THP from his Cautious! GS: Krelian takes 29 damage from Poison! GS: Krelian has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku can't help but be pleased about delivering precisely on what Lily asked for. Krelian however tells her about the nobility of their goals, but expresses doubt... and the Monado bursts into flames, Rikku tries to leap out of the way, as flame swings towards her in a brilliant flash.
Her Alchemical shields boil, distorting like melting glass. And Rikku shrieks from the heat, no matter how indirect it might be, it still hurts. The pressure of the pyrrhic detonation bowling her away until she smashes into a console.
One breath after another, she clutches her singed throat and finding herself able to speak, with a breath, she gives Krelian a look of defiance, "Talk down about me all you want. But you don't get to decide how Yunie's limits are!"
Shehe then looks towards Elly, before she apologizes, "We really don't blame any of you Elly! We Al Bhed have few enough allies! We cherish the ones we've got!"
However she then asks if they'd leave anyone behind, and her eyes light up like she just got the idea, "Nope!"
Rikku then uses her alchemically quickened form to run over to one console, and there's great metallic hissing outside, and those inside might note the ship is suddenly a touch unbalanced in how it rocks.
She then rushes towards Brother's pilot seat, and jumps in, hitting the start up launch sequence. The Fahrenheit's titanic engines suddenly whirr to life.
"You better not mind THIS joyride Dad-!"
Rikku says nervously - and as the ship starts to take off, she tosses an object at the Port side of the cockpit dome just behind her. - Which detonates, showering the cockpit with glass as a giant breach forms in the cockpit dome - the howl of atmospheric wind growing louder by the moment.
"HANG ON EVERYONE!" She yells, and the moment the ship gets just enough altitude over the flooded Calm Lands - she starts making a gradual but HARD turn to Port.
GS: Rikku has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda manages to get her (?) teeth (??) on Krelian's sword-arm - and sword - and pries.
It was not the most well thought out plan she has ever had.
Emeralda yells, an unpleasant, uncomfortable bubbling undertone to the scream. It's *too* much, but she can't pull away from it; she needs to stop Krelian from using the blade, though it's arguable how much of that is really a conscious thought and how much of that is holding on because she's already holding on.
And something about it connects with her, too. It's infinity, not in a way she can parse it but approaching one. It's like holding onto a live wire and for much the same reason; her mind is locked into it, and can't pull away from the current.
It takes the gravity to do that. The gravity well forms around Emeralda and presses her in, pulling her away from Krelian; it presses her down, back into the ball she made before as she curls up to absorb the pressure. She's still disoriented, not really thinking as the gravity well bursts, sending her flying to slam against the far wall.
She hits so hard she dents it.
Emeralda slides down the wall, landing on her hands and knees as the nanites imparted by Krelian's spell conflict with *her* nanites. She's still holding her teenaged form together, but it's doing unpleasant to look at things, as if part of her outer layer was bubbling or churning and then changing into something Else, though it's hard to tell exactly what - none of it matches anything else.
With a decided effort, Emeralda pulls herself together, her skin smoothing and regaining its normal colour, her clothes flattening back into clothes. Even her hair acts like hair again as Emeralda breathes hard, pushing herself slightly further up. "Can't - do that - to me...!"
...though she does find herself starting to slide across the deck as Rikku turns. Emeralda scrambles to grab onto a chair.
GS: Emeralda Kasim enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Solid Flow! GS: Emeralda Kasim has gained 2 Combo! GS: Emeralda Kasim's stances have changed to Stoic! GS: Emeralda Kasim enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Emeralda Kasim gains 58 THP from Regen! GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action. GS: Emeralda Kasim heals Emeralda Kasim! She gains 206 temporary hit points! GS: Regen applied to Emeralda Kasim! GS: Shield applied to Emeralda Kasim! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: CRITICAL! Billy Lee Black solidly guards Krelian's Sacred Arrow for 133 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Billy Lee Black gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Just let him have her!! Or you'll lose someone actually important!
Fei is distracted by Id's voice at the worst possible time and a surge of lightning and a gravity well explodes all around him. He screams, predictably as he goes flying into a wall. He impacts HARD and falls over, bleeding severely.
He pants for breath.
"C...can't..." Fei says. "She told us about dad. Whatever he's doing to her won't be good."
Shevat should suffer! Shevat should suffer more!!
Fei steadies himself once more. But it's getting increasingly difficult to control his own body. Losing a lot of blood will do that to him. He holds on for now.
At the very least, Shevat deserves it more than THEM. All you have to do is give up and let him pass!
But, Fei thinks, his friends would never just let him past now would they? If this doesn't end soon, Xantia might be lost forever! And if they let him past...
If they just punish the sins of the past agian and again...
Nothing will change.
Fei sees Rikku running for it. Fei's eyes slant to her for a moment and...he knows what he has to do.
"Emeralda..." He manages. "Elly..."
And for the first time. "Xantia..."
He pushes up to his feet as impossible levels of ether surge into his body, a crackling blue aura rippling around him.
"Live."
Despite Rikku's request that everybody hang on--Fei doesn't! In fact, he's doing the opposite of hanging on. Rather, he is timing a leap for Krelian--
--right as Rikku makes that hard turn to port--
--aiming to tackle Krelian right off the ship and, almost assuredly...
Himself along with him.
GS: Fei Fong Wong spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Krelian with Third Eye Sleepwalking! GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong gains 60 THP from Regen! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Krelian solidly guards Fei Fong Wong's Third Eye Sleepwalking for 85 hit points! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
The burning blade strikes, impacting the barrier Citan had summoned forth just moments before solidly.
Water is the counter to fire, in the Jugend school of teaching. A barrier of water, properly deployed, will nullify incoming fire ether. But...
The blade strikes and his shield is simply gone, as if that otherworldy sword had consumed it. Citan feels heat on his skin and his eyes widen at the implication. His gaze locks with Krelian's for just that solitary instant before the man moves to his next target.
As if he already knew where to go. He's moving too fast to even contend with properly. It's all Citan can do to catch up with the aftermath.
"Lily--" He's spotted her, badly wounded and hanging onto a railing within the bridge. "You must not-- in your state--"
But he knows already. She is the sort to die rather than be killed.
And then the entire ship lurches.
The glass shatters.
And he knows what she's attempting to do.
"Miss Rikku!"
It is no easy thing to keep one's footing as the ship pitches sharply, even if someone is holding onto anything -- anything at all. One wrong step, and one would fall out to tumble to world below.
And yet, the dash across the bridge is one that Citan manages with apparent grace, moving swiftly across the unsteady surface. In his wake trails the thinnest brume, a means to perhaps set right some of what Krelian would will otherwise. Grabbing hold of the back of Rikku's seat, he steadies himself there. "I am by no means an expert in Al Bhed Machina, but if I may--"
He never finishes his sentence, glancing back over his shoulder at the chaos behind just in time to see Fei--
lunge for Krelian.
For the gap surrounded by broken glass.
"Fei! No!!"
GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Renki! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Citan Uzuki with Renki! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Renki! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Lily Keil with Renki! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Rikku with Renki! GS: Citan Uzuki has gained 1 Combo! GS: Citan Uzuki gains 19 THP from his Cautious! GS: Citan Uzuki takes 30 damage from Poison! GS: Citan Uzuki has completed his action. GS: Citan Uzuki accepts Citan Uzuki's Renki for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Cripple and Poison removed! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Rikku accepts Citan Uzuki's Renki for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Interrupt removed! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Elhaym van Houten accepts Citan Uzuki's Renki for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Cripple and Poison removed!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
This world has need of him.
It does?
Emeralda is smashed aside, or something changes. Krelian says he won't have mercy for the Queen. The 'get' of Shevat. Elly has heard enough people speak about others in such terms to sense the worst from some expressions.
And it isn't like the rest of what Krelian is saying is encouraging.
Elly smiles a little at Rikku then, which is the last completely controlled action she takes, because she is looking back at Krelian, and a moment later she is thunderstruck. It is quite literal.
Look at it in tiny slivers of time. Elly's senses are able to pick up the formation of the coming pattern of Ether, or Ether-analogue. A blooming spread of something protective comes, starting from the most important part of the body for this purpose; the heart, with a natural incline upwards, to protect the brain as well. The heart and the brain - almost everything else can be healed, or will not slay you swiftly from a disorder. The lungs are reached by this spreading manifestation, because it is TERRIBLY hard to simply call it up from nothing.
Krelian's spell comes at about the time when the blooming protective aura has surrounded the vital regions and reached the middle of the abdomen and the shoulders. It is tight and well developed, so the lightning IS deflected; but it smashes close enough to arc into Elly's side and flank and she doesn't even scream because it goes through much of her body in agonizing instants. The nervous system lights up. Everything spasms and screams. Elly doesn't; she just twitches, seeming temporarily paralyzed. It is a blessing that you can't share some sensations.
This would be a great time to stop.
if I stop now
then
then--
Elly's eyes are still moving fine even if she finds she can't say anything much. (Her diaphragm is spasming, she thinks. And she was exhaling at the moment of the strike.) The tumbling makes her do what she can to try and hook herself into some railing with the crook of her arm, which makes her dangle, but she's able to turn her head afterwards.
Her eyes narrow as she looks towards Krelian. She doesn't speak anything to him. Perhaps --
the kindness is
its own reward
-- Her shoulders raise upwards. The Ether construction radiates up and out from the flesh there. Invisibly it knits together, twining up above her in tightening intensification. There is a limit on how hot she can make a strand of Fire ether - Plasma - but she can make multiple strands. Weave them together, weave on weave, and form a tapestry. And a tapestry is a great place --
The flame erupts downwards in a curving arc, invisible for part of the way other than as a slight blur in the air before potential becomes reality and there is a sudden white hot SCREAM as if from a great predatory bird, aiming down to dart at and perhaps THROUGH Krelian, a strike with deep-seated blowthrough -- but even at the last moment there is perhaps hesitation, because the angle would have only grazed him.
Perhaps it was Fei --
oh no
FEI!!
-- but no, it was because she had to make sure there was nothing directly behind him, and that burst of almost-unfathomable intensity is a great way to do just that. (sorry, Cid, she'll pay for it)
GS: Elhaym van Houten has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Elhaym van Houten has activated Force Action: Lock On! GS: Elhaym van Houten spends 4 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Krelian with Thermo Incinerate! GS: Elhaym van Houten has gained 1 Combo! GS: Elhaym van Houten gains 64 THP from Regen! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action. GS: Krelian solidly guards Elhaym van Houten's Thermo Incinerate for 80 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Krelian! GS: Hyper applied to Elhaym van Houten! GS: FP up! Guard bonus and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Billy's shot is true. He knows it. He felt the shot was pure. So why....
Why was he shooting at the wrong spot...?
He shakes his head. He has to force himself up. He has to move, he's been seen, but--
He does, for a blessing, see the blast coming. He's able to throw his will and spirit between himself and the blow, eroding its worst down to a manageable aggravation of wounds and scorch marks. He's alive...Krelian's stuck here, for now...but what can they do...! How do they...!
Fei's going to get himself killed, Billy realizes, dully. So all he can do is...
He drops to his knees and breathes, "Father of All Stars..." as rippling waves of strength reach out from him, filling bodies with power and vigor. He has to believe. In Fei, and Elly, and all the rest. If his gun won't solve this problem, perhaps their strength will!
GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Billy Lee Black with Holy Light! GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Holy Light! GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Holy Light! GS: Billy Lee Black has gained 2 Combo! GS: Billy Lee Black gains 57 THP from Regen! GS: Regen, Shield, and Surge expired! GS: Billy Lee Black has completed his action. GS: Ethius Hesiod accepts Citan Uzuki's Renki for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Cripple and Poison removed! GS: Billy Lee Black heals Fei Fong Wong! He gains 180 temporary hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Fei Fong Wong!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia turns back to Krelian after her strike, just in time to see him get shot in the heart, or so it seemed, which ended up doing just as much nothing as everything else did. She sags a little, at that. It's... really starting to seem futile. Even when acting out of her control, she's not immune to the frustration of things that should absolutely be working just... not doing what they should. Before she can strike again, light spears rain from the heavens, and it's all she can do to raise her bracer to intercept one coming down straight for her. A transparent barrier briefly shimmers into view, but the explosion of light that follows is still plenty to knock her down onto her back.
This isn't working. It's all pointless. She should just stay down. Regardless of such thoughts, she lurches back to her feed, hunched over forward. She looks like a broken doll at this point. And still, still... the compulsion remains. Is she just... going to have to keep fighting, until her body breaks?
She straightens up, once more. It's clearly visible now that the two strikes Krelian landed on her armor just happen to have ended up forming the shape of a christian cross on her torso, blood seeping out from the gashes. Of course that's what would happen. Of course it is. When the going gets dire and drama is high, what better to drive it home than random religious symbolism?
A hand lands on Xantia's ARM-bearing right arm. It's her own left hand. She's fighting it. Somehow, she's managing to hold herself back. Her ARM sputters, and the blade fades into nothing, even as Xantia digs her nails into her opposite arm, drawing yet more blood.
"...Krelian... you..."
It's taking the greatest effort to even speak. But somehow, she manages. When the need to say something is this great, she manages.
"Where were you... when she needed saving...?"
It may not be clear, but she speaks of Xenia - the original, human Xenia, the one who died in Shevat some twenty years ago. The woman who looked almost exactly like her. The woman who couldn't be saved... but could have, if Krelian can indeed do what Citan claimed.
"If you... won't even save an innocent... who suffered so much... then you're not a savior... that anybody needs...!"
She's losing her hold over herself, she can feel it. Soon, she'll lose control again. There's no way to prevent it, no way to fight it--
Live.
Her name, followed by that word. She never would have thought hearing that could have such a profound impact. Her head abruptly jerks to the side, just in time to see...
"Fei!!!"
It's already too late to do anything. It's lucky enough that a reflex causes her to grasp the railing behind her, or she might have tumbled right off the ship as well as Rikku forces it into a sharp turn. There's... nothing she could do...
GS: Xantia has attacked Xantia with What Good Is Power When It Cannot Protect What You Hold Dear...?! GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Xantia's stances have changed from Avenger to Sage! GS: Xantia gains 56 THP from Regen! GS: Hyper, Quick, Regen, and Surge expired! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Xantia accepts Xantia's What Good Is Power When It Cannot Protect What You Hold Dear...? for 0 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Billy Lee Black heals Billy Lee Black! He gains 240 temporary hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Billy Lee Black!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
'Hesiod, even you can't shut it down?' Ethius hears the question and can't answer that. Lily can see that eye contact is made in the moment to ensure he did hear the question and he has no answer.
He does catch where Billy's shooting should have hit a heart in transit to his spellcasting, but didn't, and operates further on an incorrect base on Ethius' own part - where is Krelian's 'core'? He doesn't have time to mull on that as Krelian smiles and says his words. The Recurrent Current does not do much to deter him as the lances of light rain down, and Ethius covers his head and runs.
It avails him not, explosions of light blinding, scorching, and throwing him across the bridge anew to be left sprawling on his back. Cannot let him, but cannot stop him from doing anything.
He's had his suspicions, and there's already other issues that would draw (and demand) attention from those he works (or worked, he'd be listed MIA/KIA by now) for. He almost seems out of the action then and there, sitting up and finding the twinge of pain from when he got sliced shallowly along the legs worsening.
Fei starts speaking solemnly with that great blue glow, and Ethius takes stock of this as he soaks the latest wave of pain.
Citan works his magic to alleviate some of this as Rikku goes to do something reckless. He hears her instructions, but he's not quite close enough to hold onto something to start when that sharp turn happens. Ethius has the presence of mind to grab something just as he comes shy of falling, of which he's no stranger to the danger of after a length career in his young adulthood.
Moments later, Fei tries to tackle Krelian to pitch both of them off the ship.
Ethius lashes out his right hand to grab onto some part of Fei - probably his leg.
"No." He calls, feeling the wash of Fire Ether from Elly in vague proximity. He can weather the haze of it, holding fast to his once undefinable, bizarre convictions as fast as he reacts to everyone and everything flying and tumbling.
"You won't be another victim today." He tells Fei. He already spends plenty enough time around another victim of Krelian's to know that preventing this is something he can accomplish.
GS: Quick and Shield expired! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Krelian has posed.
"Where was I?" Krelian asks. "Perhaps I failed. But there is one I want to save, above all."
Lily rushes Krelian. Her knife stabs into his shoulder, blood drawing -- but he backhands her, smashing her away. The wound at his shoulder begins to close. It is fast...
...but, perhaps, not as fast as it was.
Then, the windows of the Fahrenheit's bridge SHATTER. Several shards of glass embed into Krelian's face -- and he growls, knocking them away, before his eyes turn towards Rikku. "What--ghah!"
The movement of the Fahrenheit sends him flying, and he slams into a wall, before he finds his footing. He takes a moment to do so; whatever control he has, he can't stop what he never saw coming. But he looks up -- and he sees Fei coming.
He gets slammed into, first, by Elly's firebird. It slams him backward -- but only a couple of steps. He is much too strong; much too solid to be thrown off. But those couple of steps let Fei slam into him. He goes flying, through the broken window -- the path cleared for him.
And Fei comes with, until Ethius reaches out. He grabs Fei -- and Krelian falls, alone, into the blue expanse.
The bridge falls quiet for a moment.
Krelian tumbles downward.
When he lands on Spira's shores, he slams down -- and then rises up, his body knitting back together even as it shatters. He sighs -- lifting the Monado up -- and prepares to teleport again. But, then, he sees a ripple of light across the ocean.
Across every ocean, every lake, every surface of water on both Filgaia and Lunar. A voice comes through, over it. It is Vinsfeld Rhadamanthus's voice, but it isn't the one that, four years ago, commanded such attention from a whole word. There is something worn to it. Something broken.
"... There is a fable I often think about."
It could be almost grandfatherly.
"On a wintry day, a Woodsman was returning home from a hard day of work when upon his path he saw something long and black, laid out across the snow. Coming closer, he saw the thing to be a Serpent at death's door. The Woodsman could have simply abandoned the slithering creature to its fate, but no; instead? Instead, he gathered the Serpent up, held it close to his bosom to keep it warm, and rushed home, placing the feeble thing near his very hearth, near his children, to warm its scaly hide and drag it from the edge of its own demise.
"Upon seeing the Woodsman's kindly act, his children were struck with curiosity and interest. They watched as the Woodsman's great deeds brought the Serpent slowly back to health, as his care dragged it from a brink he could have easily left it to. And as it roused, the children, knowing no better, reached out to pet the snake. To show it a same kindness as their father."
Krelian frowns. He hesitates a moment. On the airship, Cid steps onto the bridge; Queen Zephyr follows. They share a mutual look of 'what the hell just happened' and 'what the hell is happening.'
Vinsfeld keeps speaking.
"But the Serpent did not believe in kindness. It did not know gratitude for those who had saved it. It saw only opportunity to live within its nature. And so the Serpent raised its head, bearing fangs to fill the children's veins with its deadly poison.
"So the Woodsman seized his axe, and with one stroke, cut the Serpent in twain."
He waits, again, before he speaks; his voice drips with emotion.
"'Ah,' said he." Vinsfeld hesitates a moment more. "'No gratitude from the wicked.'"
Krelian's eyes narrow.
"I have attempted to give you everything, Filgaia. I have attempted to save you from yourself, despite your natures. A world for heroes, a world free of corruption; that would have been my gift for you. But you could not help but bear your fangs and bite, all the same, even knowing the futility of the gesture. You stole... something -irreplaceable-... from the man who tried to save you, without -knowing- better!"
On the Fahrenheit's bridge, Queen Zephyr begins to look pale. Cid's hand curls into a fist at his side.
Vinsfeld is silent for a long moment. Long enough that a few Al Bhed begin to murmur -- until he interrupts them, speaking again.
"But know this: I don't blame you. It's your nature.
"Heimdall Gozzo now belongs to Odessa; this wicked world now belongs to me.
"I don't expect your gratitude."
Krelian's eyes finally close. He exhales, then.
"But you would do well to expect the edge of my axe," Vinsfeld concludes. The light stops glimmering across ocean and lake, river and pond; the Odessa leader's voice falls silent.
Krelian vanishes again in a burst of light. But it is not the bridge of the Fahrenheit where he reappears.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Citan calls out to Lily. But she can't let up. Everything in her screams that, Ether or no, this enemy must be destroyed. Her mind has fractured in the moment, leaving only that instinct. Ice crashes around her, marking jagged lines at her elbows, at her knees where it becomes something of armor.
Lily does not hang on. Ethius had no answer for her, but now she has no answer for anyone, except for Krelian.
She stabs down, and his backhand knocks her free again. Lily just sails out of the way--
And down. Down, down, down, towards the negative space in the bridge, set to fall out just like Krelian did.
Vinsfeld's speech registers for her, on the way down. The Serpent...
Is that her nature? Is she simply striking against the good of the world itself...?
She doesn't know. There is so much that she doesn't know.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Citan calls at her, and Rikku doesn't respond at first because she's a little busy, but he catches hold of the back of her pilot seat and she looks at him in alarm, which calms down when she sees who it is.
"S-Sure!" She says shakily, apparently anxious about this gambit, "I'm pretty new to flying this thing!"
Before she can hand it off however, Citan calls out to Fei, and she looks in alarm to see Fei tackling their assailant.
"FEI!" She calls out herself, only for Ethius to grasp him. She expects Krelian to teleport up any second. Any second!
He doesn't. Rikku slowly levels off the Fahrenheit, hands glued white knuckled. And into the sky they soar, a front row seat as Vinsfeld's voice permeates the air, coming from the water itself.
She listens to the fable. Some part of her shifts in discomfort, understanding where this is going perhaps, even if she doesn't understand WHY it's going in that direction.
Then it's revealed, and she sucks in a breath. "Ra'c kuehk du..."
Rikku, uneasy, puts the ship in auto pilot. Or at least what she thinks is auto pilot (Thankfully she's correct.)
Standing up, she turns around and... "Dad!" Some part of her was worried that even with him escaping with the Queen, that they'd be intercepted by something else - something horrible. She doesn't know what.
And so she runs up to him and gives him a big hug. "Ruba oui tuh'd seht dra sacc...! Then after a moment's pause, looks at him with a big ol' smile and says, "Fa syta ed."
A thought occurs to her, as she gives a sideways glance and she whispers, "Xiaahc tuh'd seht rikc eh vnuhd uv dras nekrd?"
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
"Fei!!"
Emeralda pushes herself up even though she still feels her internal organs churning as the two kinds of nanites war with each other. She fights back the nausea as she lunges -
Ethius catches Fei. Emeralda is already in motion, and so she makes a grab at someone else pitching toward the hole - but by throwing herself at the hole, her arms and legs extending too far as she grabs the edges with fingers and toes - no, her feet are more hands, it's with two sets of hands that she holds herself in the way.
Lily gets to ram into Emeralda instead if she's timed this right. She's not very comfortable to slam into but it's a whole lot better than landing in the ocean.
Also, Emeralda - who is somewhat fluid at least some of the time - provides a minor echo of the words from the sea below, even while she's hanging and covering the gap. It's definitely a little weird.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei blinks as his leg is taken up.
And instead of falling to his death he falls like a foot into the deck of the ship.
KONK.
Fei thinks it's Leon, at first, or Citan and as he turns around and sees that it's Ethius.
He stares dumbly in disbelief.
Ethius feels an ancient presence within Fei gently observe him. And nothing more.
But the Fei that is here right here just says, "Oh." Pause. "Uh." He laughs, embarrassed. "Thanks. Thanks Ethius. You're alright."
He waits a moment to see if he's set on fire. He isn't.
"Yeah you're alight." He stands himself up, looking ... well he's looking embarrassed. Sure, he's glad he DIDN'T die heroically but he was sort of expecting to and he did the thing, he said the word, and he's still here!!
He clears his throat. "Well, least it worked right?"
Xantia seems hurt about Xenia but he'll do her a courtesy and talk to her about it later. He gives Citan an embarrassed look.
"I really thought it'd take that much."
But then he blinks as he realizes something and he laughs hysterically.
"YOU HEAR THAT ID? WE DIDN'T NEED YOU TO BLOW UP THE SHIP AFTER ALL!"
He punches the air like he's trying to punch at Id himself.
He flumps back down onto his butt. "God, finally over... Finally..."
There's a broadcast. ACross every surface of the ocean.
Fei presses his lips tightly together as he listens. Krelian disappears, Fei braces just in case--but Krelian doesn't reappear THERE. Whatever business he has with the Queen can, apparently, wait.
He slumps back down on the deck.
"Still," He says with a quiet kind of awe. "I can't believe nobody died."
He takes a moment to check that nobody died.
"Can't believe it..."
He goes flat on his back.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius' one-handed grip is strong but not infinite, and it's good that Fei's able to recover and get back up to safety before it becomes a near death for the both of them. He takes in another breath as things level out, sitting up and coughing. Without the masking around his face, Ethius does show some more actual emotion. The way he exhales and brings a hand up to his head, it looks like he's coming down from the adrenaline rush and knowing just how close to a fall he was.
To say nothing of the frightful displays of power that many display here, or that feeling of being... watched, observed. The discomfort with being observed comes with the territory of his work. That one place with the yellow crystals and the trials always got him with that trial of being watched.
There's a broadcast. Ethius listens.
"We've already seen what Heimdall Gazzo can do," he says. ARMS is probably mobilizing immediately to deal with it - another complication. He only has two hands.
Helping Spira choose its course, by its own hands, is what he can muster, as he allows those close friends (and family, counting Emeralda as that) to see to Fei's well-being.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Citan is able to ease her pain with a splash of mist. It eases her; Elly, after some struggle, is able to take a deep breath and with it she half-swoons for a moment, reeling. Fei, she thinks. Fei!!
Her eyes water. I can't -
I couldn't -
But then they come together.
Emeralda saves Lily - the 'work of art' that Elly had hesitated at, briefly, and came to love.
And where Elly is helpless, twitching, gasping for breath, it is *Ethius* who steps in. And saves Fei.
Elly relaxes the muscle groups that aren't still shaking. It's getting better but not quickly. She rolls her head to the side, swallowing several times and looking over at Fei. He's there. He's jumping around, cheering. He looks around, and Elly smiles. And when Fei flops over, Elly gets up to go to him --
Which doesn't work and leaves her landing, if not from a great height, on her belly. There's an undignified squeak.
She, too, laughs; with relief, and joy. "he's - he's wrong," she says between deep shaking breaths.
Elly has nothing to say about Vinsfeld's message; but then, she did just go through a lot.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Vinsfeld's speech barely registers to Xantia. Even if it fully did, she may not have properly interpreted it for what it is. Metaphors, her greatest weakness. Right now, however, she has other things on her mind.
Following the steadying of the airship, there's so many things that Xantia feels like she should be doing. Chief among them, all the things that she wanted to do before, and quite simply couldn't. Fei was saved, thank goodness... or thank Ethius, rather. By the time she takes stock of the situation, everyone still looks to be on board who should be... and Krelian doesn't appear to be coming back. Does that mean it's over...?
She quietly sinks to her knees, a hand covering the deepest of the wounds she took. She's only noticing the pain now that she can afford to, as well as her exhaustion. More than anything, she finds herself experiencing... embarrassment, for losing control like that. Everyone must have been so worried... and it doesn't feel like she did a single helpful thing. She'll have to apologize, and make up for this somehow... once she's recovered. She can't just go over and rejoin her friends like nothing happened, not right away. She'll need some time, after all this.
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
The miracle comes. Sort of. Billy's faith ensures Fei has the strength to survive, ensures the others can act decisively. He rises, and with the half-conscious rigor of a trained gunfighter, flicks open his Gunsmoke weapon and reloads it. Four shots the whole fight. Casings hit the ground. Clicks it shut. Auspicious, maybe.
Or not. The sea projects an image, as Vinsfeld's Odessa did before. Does that SHIP have its own Telepath Tower?!
Terrifyingly, not nearly the most concerning thing to think about right now.
He tucks the gunsmoke away only when an entire minute of silence has passed...
But it's much longer before his hand moves away.
<Pose Tracker> Sheriff Star has posed.
Cid gives Rikku a hug in kind, before he looks at her. He shakes his head. "Cra'mm meja."
Queen Zephyr steps up to the broken window, looking down at where Krelian fell. She stares for a moment longer, before closing her eyes. "...we survived," she says, her voice soft. "It is all I can ask. And we have allies, now... and I think we shall need them."
Then, she looks at Fei, when he falls flat. "O-oh. Is he quite all right?"
Brother steps onto the bridge, too. He looks to Rikku -- then at his pilot's seat, with a brief frown -- and he sits down, and looks at his console. He hesitates for a moment. "Sin," he says. He looks up. "Sin... is..." He struggles, to find the words. Then, he switches to Al Bhed: "Sin ec sujehk ihtan dra fydan. Dufyntc Pajamma. Drao teth'd gemm res."
"Sin's on the move. Think you're right about Heimdall Gazzo and ARMS," Cid says to Ethius. He rubs between his eyes. "Someone check on Yuna. Your majesty, we're going to need to handle that," he says. He looks at her. "Let us know if we can help."
Zephyr's eyes close. "...I'll speak with Irving," she says. "And see what armaments we can spare you. God help us all."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Between his basic understanding of Al Bhed technology and expertise in flying machines, perhaps it might have worked out, one way or another. But they never get to -- or need -- to discover what might have happened.
Krelian is pitched through the gap in the glass, Fei plummeting into the void after him. Citan lets go of the seat in that moment, scrambling as if he might, somehow manage to reach him. Or Lily, who, moments earlier and until-now unseen by Citan, had been knocked aside and also tumbles towards the hole leading to the sky. He already knows it's impossible. He's too far away to save either of them.
But Ethius, who is closer, manages the near-impossible with Fei. And Emeralda, who can reach, grabs hold of Lily and Fei both.
The Fahrenheit lurches as Rikku levels it out; Citan grabs for the railing then turns to look about himself. Surely, any moment, Krelian will...
He does not. Instead, it is a message sent across the sea that recounts a particular fable.
Moments have turned into minutes.
"Perhaps that... may be the reason for his departure," Citan remarks, releasing his white-knuckled hold at last on the railing. He exhales a breath, shaking off some of the adrenaline that had gripped him. Somehow, against the odds... they survived.
He does not waste time. "That was extremely reckless of you!" he tells Fei, hurrying to his side and kneeling alongside him. "Are you hurt? --You should not speak of such things," he appends when Fei speaks of Id. He shakes his head just as Fei falls over onto his back, having seemingly collapsed. His eyes widen; he lunges forward as if in grave concern. "Fei?!"
Nor is Fei the only one grievously hurt. With a quick sweep he can already see that Lily and Xantia are also in dire need. "Billy-- Elly-- if I might borrow you both!" he calls, straightening from where he leans over the fallen Fei.
The clinic will be busy tonight.