2024-05-19: The One Who Is Fragmented
- Log: The One Who Is Fragmented
- Cast: Xantia, Dean Stark, Leon Albus, Lily Keil, Azoth, Ida Everstead-Rey, Citan Uzuki, Ethius Hesiod, Gwen Whitlock, Hannah Curie, Seraph Clarine
- Where: Ruins of Lahan
- Date: May 19, 2024
- Summary: For some time, a lone figure closely matching the description of the Demon of Elru has been attacking military encampments on both sides of the Aveh-Kislev war. Their true identity, however, is that of someone else that many know quite well... or did they never truly know them at all?
=============================<* Ruins of Lahan *>============================= Lahan was once a medium-sized village of 50 or so residents. Now, however, it is a ruin, with buildings smashed and their remnants scattered and scorched. Large gouges have been torn out of the grounds, and chunks of metal lie in the small creaters dotting the landscape. To the trained eye, it is clear that the village was decimated by a battle between Gears, and a few dozen marked graves nearby indicate that someone, at least, survived it. But whoever they were, they are long gone. A short distance from Lahan, atop a jagged cliff separated from the village by a rope bridge (currently dangling broken), a small home sits. According to signage at the base of the cliff, this is where the town doctor can be found. So that is helpful. BGM: Xenogears - Omen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM7BROS2sxM
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
The Demon of Elru. To some, an icon of destruction bordering on myth. To others, the tragic alter ego of a loved one. To most, a moniker not to be spoken lightly. Thankfully, there has been no cause for worry in this regard for quite some time.
This has changed over the course of a single week. Rumors are quick to spread - in the Ignas region of Filgaia, the words 'Demon of Elru' have once again been on the lips of many. Filtered down mostly from soldiers of Aveh and Kislev alike, forced to scatter after their military encampments were decimated by a single person. Long red hair, wearing black and red with gold trimmings, a gleeful destroyer boasting great power... who else could this assailant have been but the feared Demon?
There are those who have cause to suspect the answer to that question. For this description also matches Xantia, during her ever more frequent episodes where she appeared to lose control of herself in the middle of a fight. The most recent occurrence of which was during the battle with the twin Gryndille-type automatons that took place over a week ago. It was perhaps expected that she would follow the pattern of recovery once the battle was done, but that didn't happen this time. Instead, she'd run off on her own, not to be seen again since.
Not seen, but... perhaps heard of. But how would one go about finding her? By the time rumors of the most recent appearance of the Demon begin to spread, she would be long gone. And desert wasteland has a way of naturally erasing any tracks that might have been left. Especially given that most military encampments aren't exactly on anybody's beaten path.
Most... but not all. There is one encampment that is on many people's path, requiring constant vigilance to keep from stirring up a nearby hornet's nest while traveling from one planet to another. The Kislevi camp in the ruins of Lahan. Regardless of how one learns of it, this time there is an attack still in progress there, rather than one having taken place. No one could have planned for this - there is no opportunity to do much else except alert whatever nearby allies there may be and hurry towards the site while the attack is still happening. There should still be time. Even Xantia couldn't level an entire military camp that quickly.
*******
And yet. By the time you arrive, the attack is already over, leaving the camp in an unrecognizable state. Structures are reduced to rubble. Machines are reduced to scrap. There is fire everywhere. Surprisingly few casualties given the level of destruction - it would appear that the Kislevi soldiers were not considered targets, but neither were they spared, if they happened to be in the way. The aim here was to eliminate the war machine, the military resources present here. A feat that was accomplished with ruthless efficiency, and alarming speed.
Given this, there is cause for worry that the perpetrator may have already left, following the successful completion of their goal. However... not far from what used to be the campgrounds, on a raised mound of dirt within a sea of craters new and old, stands a lone figure. Back turned, long red hair billowing in the wind, unmoving otherwise. Having taken position in such a prominent, easily noticed position, one may already have guessed what that means before the figure speaks.
"So, you came."
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__5Bvicup44
You were expected. This may be a bad sign.
Even viewed from the back, it's obvious that the figure's armored bodysuit is in a rather poor state, but as for visual wounds, there are none. The outward appearance as well as the voice are indeed a match for Xantia, however... her previous behavior has made it clear that expecting her to act like the Xantia everyone knows would be a mistake. This is only accentuated further following the slow turning of her head, looking over her shoulder at those gathered there with callous indifference.
"The question is... why did you come? To stop me? I'm doing you a favor. This war serves no one's best interests except those of Solaris. Aveh, Kislev... even if one is more directly manipulated, both are puppets in equal measure."
A dangerous gleam appears in her eye, followed by that far too gleeful grin that she's sported during those moments she lost control in the past.
"...But no, that's not why you're here at all, is it?"
She turns, to fully face those she should consider allies, friends... even family. The large tear in the stomach area of her suit is still there, but there's no sign of the terrible wound the Gryndille had inflicted on her. The main signs of her having been in frequent battles of late are patches of dirt, grime, ash... some blood, likely not her own. Notably, a number of round marks that could be extrapolated as being impact zones of bullets - which failed to penetrate skin. The dark specter of Xantia spreads her arms wide as she addresses those before her.
"Let's hear it, then. Make your heartfelt pleas. Try your best to 'get through to me'. Should be good for a laugh!"
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean... hadn't heard of these attacks. This is because he'd been caught up in the discovery and excavation of a new Golem in the Slayheim salt flats. But that's been taken care of, and as much as he wants to dote on Cassini after the damages they sustained fighting Amaterasu and her Golem Inanna, Kaguya's taking care of it, and he knows she knows how best to take care of a Golem, so he's trusting her to handle it.
But after that battle, while they were pulling themselves together, he *did* hear about the Demon of Elru--or someone matching that description--rampaging around. And as a close friend of Fei's, and someone who's at least on speaking terms with Id, he had to go check this out too.
And so he arrives at an encampment that's already been leveled... There are dead soldiers, but most of them are fleeing from the burning wreckage of the site. And at the center is...
"Xantia..." He squints, looking over her form--the marks where bullets failed to penetrate, her callous indifference, that bloodthirsty grin, the strange questions. "No..."
It'd never occurred to Dean before. But the rumors of the 'Demon of Elru' and seeing Xantia like this make it click for him. If Fei has another side called 'Id,' then it's possible Xantia has something like that, too, right? Someone who is and isn't them?
"Who are you?"
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Hearing that the Demon of Elru made himself known -- well, Leon Albus isn't about to ignore such a thing. No, he couldn't dare. He doubts that it would truly be Id; he is familiar with Id in a way that few others are.
And, besides, the description matches Xantia.
So he went looking, and he ultimately went to the Kislevi camp. By the time he arrives, the attack is over; it is a ruin, now, though with far fewer dead than he would have expected.
"Of course," he says, to that armored figure. Argent Divider, as a shotgun, rests on his shoulder. Not, yet, aimed at her. It may come to that.
"And no, it's not," Leon says. "Xantia. I can't pretend to fully understand. Wanting to reclaim your memories -- a power that's greater than you knew. But you always have a place with us."
He shakes his head. "You can still come back with us."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
The Demon of Elru... Perhaps there'll be a Demon of Ignas, after this. Lily Keil has been hunting for Xantia. She took a night off to rest, and spoke with Magilou. This was... probably not a mistake. But after that, she returned. ?She would interrogate surviving soldiers; she would seach for Etheric resonances. But she hadn't found her.... until now.
Lily senses the Ether of Xantia's presence, and leads a group there. She may not be the only one.
But Lily is here, dressed in surplus military gear as always. She walks, her heavy boots crunching over the ruined earth. And there, she sees that lone figure...
Who expected them. Of course. Xantia could sense Lily as surely as Lily can sense Xantia.
"I don't care about Kislev or Aveh," Lily says, a listlessness in her voice as she discusses what once was her home. "You could level them, and I'd still have to think what I felt."
"Because you're right. That's not why I'm here."
"My 'heartfelt plea'... Xantia," she says, if indeed Dean isn't right and that's not who she is, "I've watched you for years. I understand more than most. ...And I know that your actions aren't your own, now."
"For that reason..."
"Leon," she says. "...The only language she speaks is violence, now."
"He's right," Lily says. "You always have a place with us..."
Lily steps forward, and Ether ignites around her. There is no announcement this time of the release of her limiters; there is only the clouding over of her eyes that become black without iris or sclera, and a sense of sheer power.
"And I'll drag you back to that place if I have to. You're our friend. If you want to step into this war..."
"We do it together."
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
As soon as Xantia had disappeared in the battle with the Gryndille models, Azoth had given chase. Between miasma, his own structural damages, and a low battery, that pursuit led to nothing at all. Then, the rumors. Azoth kept searching. Flitting between sides of a war in indiscriminate violence... It tugs at something. He can't identify what. That's a loophole he steals: it's familiar, it might lead to something, the overrides need to shut up and let him unearth any clue he can grasp. And it works, even though it's obvious. Azoth doesn't care about what he might or might nor remember right now.
He cares what Xantia remembers, and what she still needs to.
Azoth rushes onward, stopping not at the edge of the camp, but in the middle of it, barely giving a moment's pause at its destruction. There's no time to bother with what's already too late. There's only what he's not too late for yet.
"Xantia," he 'greets', if such a small, worried voice can be called a greeting. This does not behave much like the Xantia he and everyone else have come to know. Asking for their pleas like a taunt, but...
Azoth closes his eyes, head hung a moment before he draws his gaze up to give her a pained smile.
"You're right. That's not why I'm here. I'm here because we made a promise."
He draws no weapon, nor does the surge of an overclocked core show through his chassis.
"...Whatever either one of us remember, we're friends. And friends help correct each other when they're making a mistake, right?"
Azoth opens out his arms casually. In anyone else, it might be asking for a hug. But not here and now.
"So give me your best shot. Whoever you are or will be, Xantia... I can handle it. But it has to be all of you, and it isn't right now."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
How would Fei feel, seeing his home leveled yet again by one of his closest friends? Ida can only guess. The thought lingers in her mind as she walks through the ruins, her armored duster blowing in the breeze. She brought out the full suit for this one. She fought Xantia once before, when she wasn't in control. She knows she's going to need all the help she can get.
Ida trails after Dean, keeping an eye on him--but her gaze wanders, scanning for other threats. Her heart twists a little at the sight of a dead soldier, pinned beneath a collapsed wall--and another lying broken on the street like a dropped doll. A refurbished scouting Gear blazes nearby, black smoke billowing from its fuel tank. But these sights are... familiar in their horror. The sight of the woman perched atop the mound is fresh.
"Xantia," Ida breathes, fear in her voice. "Dean--be careful. That's not her in there." They think alike, it seems.
And Dean asks a very sensible question. Ida looks up at the woman with the face of her friend, and asks, simply: "Why?"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Is this Lahan's fate, Citan is left to wonder. It seems almost as if the village -- and the ruins of the village -- is doomed to become the site of further tragedy.
They had not been able to catch up to Xantia in her flight from the battle against Gryndille: the Ether she had manifested had prevented them from intercepting her as she was overcome by that fell mood. And then she had disappeared. There had been sightings since, but they had arrived too late each time, if in fact she had been present in the first place.
And then, the tales of the 'Demon of Elru' had spoken of an attack on the Kislevi encampment in the ruins of Lahan, close to the rift between Filgaia and Energy Nede. Asking Fei -- and Elly -- to stay behind, he had traveled with Leon and Lily to what was left of Lahan. He has not forgotten what Xenia had said.
They arrive in time to discover that the description might as well include 'what is left of the Kislevi encampment'.
But Xantia is still here.
...Yes, he does remember what Xenia had said to him of Xantia's 'true' nature.
"Is that your aim, Xantia? To break apart the puppets rather than the puppetmasters?" he asks of her. An ill wind rips through the wreckage of the camp. "I wonder... if that would be enough."
He turns his head to regard Leon and Lily in turn. Light, soft and hazy, seems to almost ghost about his form for the moment.
"It would be best if you were to heed their words. Yet... it is not that simple, is it?" He smiles, and it is a thin, tired expression. "Well... then so be it. Fei had made me promise to bring you back."
GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Citan Uzuki with Kouga! GS: Citan Uzuki has gained 2 Combo! GS: Citan Uzuki's stances have changed from Counter to Counter and Stoic! GS: Citan Uzuki gains 24 THP from his Cautious! GS: Citan Uzuki has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Citan Uzuki accepts Citan Uzuki's Kouga for 0 hit points! GS: Cover and Riposte applied to Citan Uzuki!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Matters on Nede and pertaining to it are a real handful, but life still goes on and it's an immediate alarm when the 'Demon of Elru' is being flung around again, and Ethius once again sets foot back on Filgaia. (It's not the 'known one,' a cursory investigation reveals, which is to say... he asked someone. Social niceties!)
That he doesn't have to travel far after the fact is... well.
That's its own set of alarms. Ethius' keen eyes catch the striking red hair where plumes of dust and soot would otherwise obscure all, the loud crackling of flames doing nothing to obscure the 'so, you came.'
The Symbologist stands as an outlier from a different angle and approach from the others. It's not clear if he's doing this from a place of observation or a place where one might prevent escape. (As if any one person could ever physically restrain or dissuade Xantia in any particular state of mind.)
"If I may ask," Ethius speaks up, standing tall with his quarterstaff held upright like one might a walking stick as he sizes up the damage to her battlesuit and makes considerations, "where, or what, do you plan to do when this crusade of yours ends?"
He doesn't make the approach, nor does he make the gesture to 'chamber' the beginning gestures of a Symbological spell. He knows even at this distance, Xantia could close on him faster than he could finish said spell.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah missed the final moments of what had happened to Xantia in the fight with the Gryndille--the arrival of a second (third) Gryndille had caught her by surprise, and in the crossfire of attacks by both tanks and expending a ridiculous amount of energy to protect herself, she'd passed out.
She'd gotten the summary after.
Even taking some time to recuperate, she'd still leant Zephyr to help her friends with the search efforts. She didn't know Xantia that well, but seeing everybody else's concern was enough to make her concerned, too.
And when the others had received word of trouble at Lahan, had started heading that way... Zephyr had sent word back to Hannah, and she'd gotten underway.
Zephyr is circling high overhead, staying clear out of the way of danger...
But hurrying up behind everyone else, her own hiking boots crunching as she darts her way carefully through the newly-ruined encampment, her black hooded robe flying behind her. She comes skidding to a stop with the rest of the group, listening as Xantia speaks.
"Attackin' Aveh and Kislev like this is only gonna prolong things. Their soldiers are just followin' orders, they ain't the cause of all this."
Her voice softens. "I don't know what's wrong, but... let us help."
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
It's hard to not notice the Halcyone as it circles around like a giant kingfisher, looking for its quarry. A very battered kingfisher, as it gets closer. Ambrosius had made his promise, but it won't be until after this that she'll seek him out. She doesn't intend on using it in battle regardless.
Making a landing nearby, Gwen makes note of the battlefield, following behind the many others that have come following the rumors. The sights make her decision on how to proceed for her; she'll do what Xantia had to do for her, once upon a time. There is no cake that'll bring Xantia's former personality back, but there is another language, as Lily says, that Xantia speaks.
And Gwen speaks it as well.
"I don't care what your reasoning is here. I told you I'd wrestle ya down after that battle, and I intend t'keep it." Gwen rolls the fingers of her right hand into a fist, tossing a look of solemn regret towards Dean, Azoth, and Leon as they make their thoughts known afterward.
It's a matter of timing. People want answers, as is natural, but once the process has begun, few things stop it. A dry enough well is one. Getting knocked out is another.
Charging up beside Lily, though its display is more visual than Lily's, showing the progress from her normal stance to one akin to a cup, ready to spill over. Shining nerves creep over her body and face, and the spot where her clockwork heart lies shines bold.
"Lily's... got the right of it," Gwen grunts. "... Answers, later."
The clenched fist opens with a bold of electricity weaving through it. Gwen then darts forward, intending on thrusting her right hand into Xantia's face, electricity and all.
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Xantia with Yliastrum! GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Access! Gwen Whitlock takes 30 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine had been taking a good, long rest. It's been a while since she was moved to act - instead preferring to wander the quiet places of the world along with her apprentice. Her rest might have continued for a while... but Clarine still kept track of the movements of mortals. And when she heard of what had become of Xantia, followed soon after by what appeared to be the resurgence of the Demon of Elru...
...Is it any wonder that she was moved to take action? Filgaia's spiritual presence is weak, but she can still hear the whispers, she can still see it in the glint of light.
And so, she moves.
Of course, she's aware that Xantia has many friends. It doesn't surprise her that others would follow the trail. The trail that leads back to where many would say it all began.
"Xantia." Clarine greets. She was expected. She listens as Xantia speaks... and, she shakes her head.
"...You are correct. I am not here for them." She admits freely. "Xantia... This wrath will destroy you. It will wear away at you until there is nothing left. When you have reached the end of this path... what will be left of you?"
Clarine shakes her head once more.
"...I do not wish to see it. You are a friend, and I will do what I must to help you." She insists.
...Even if it means fighting her.
GS: Xantia marginally charges Gwen Whitlock's Yliastrum for 149 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
To the credit of those Kislevi soldiers that yet remain, they do not seek to interfere with the standoff taking place, busying themselves only with bringing the wounded the safety. There is no gain left for them here. Only for those with a personal stake in the matter.
Xantia turns towards Dean and Ida first, frowning and crossing her arms as she regards the former. She does genuinely appear to give his words some thought before she replies.
"Now, that is the question, isn't it? Xantia is the only name I have. But who really is 'Xantia'? Who was she ever?" Turning to Ida almost lazily, all she can add to the matter of 'why' is, "Because I felt like it." As if no other motivation were necessary.
Turning her attention towards Hannah and Ethius, she goes into this further. "That's just it, isn't it? There isn't any point, to any of this. At the end of this path, there is likewise nothing." She almost smiles, looking at Clarine. Almost. "You should know... at the end, there won't be any more or less left of me. There wasn't anything there to begin with."
The Black Wolves... her family, she would have said once upon a time. Now, she regards them with only vague amusement, making a mock bow at the waist towards Leon. "That is a most magnanimous offer, o king. But the fact that you're making it shows that you don't understand." Lily, on the other hand... she smiles her most genuine smile yet at Lily. "But you... you understand. You've always understood."
To Citan, she deigns to expound a bit further. "If you pull the strings hard enough, those holding them will have no choice but to show themselves, wouldn't you say? Regardless... I don't mind if other fish bite the string instead. I've been dreadfully bored."
Azoth... she's been pointedly ignoring Azoth. He spoke to her a while ago, and she just... didn't reply. Didn't even look in his direction. This may be the greatest clue that Xantia does remember that promise. Her unwillingness to reply to him betrays her unwillingness to devalue that promise by arguing it.
Gwen handily solves the issue, by refusing to waste any time. Xantia stands her ground, taking that strike - but moving with it, backflipping through the air and landing on her feet a short distance away. She makes a show of rubbing her jaw, then her grin returns.
"...That's right. You get it. You see that in the end, what it all comes down to, the only thing that really matters, is the answer to one simple question."
So saying, Xantia closes her eyes, and begins to rise into the air. A torrent of pure, red-colored Ether bursts forth like a whirlwind, forceful enough to be physically felt even from a distance. A bright golden gleam radiates from her neck region - that normally jet black collar she wears - as something appears there which hasn't been seen for a very long time. An intricate, circuit-like pattern. What has not happened before is the same pattern appearing on her bracers, made of the same type of metal.
Blue sparks and bolts fly every which way as a certain process completes, one which not everyone may be familiar with given its relative rarity, and one which certainly shouldn't be happening with ARMs of recent make like Xantia's. But it's happening all the same. ARMs Synchronization.
When Xantia's eyes fly open, they glow a dangerous red, and a smirk appears on her lips, as she finally speaks that question she mentioned.
"Are you strong?"
DC: Xantia switches forms to WARNING - Full Synchro - Code: Forbidden Fruit!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARkZ-ORI9es
The swirling mass of Ether surrounding Xantia rapidly changes form, becoming a tempest of Fire, Ice and Lightning in equal measure. Gwen, due to proximity, is buffeted by the same storm that empowers Xantia when she charges past, her feet never touching the ground.
With blinding speed, she strikes several of those present in turn - Ida, Dean, Citan and Hannah - with a single palm strike in passing. The force of her strikes is tremendous as always, but there is a secondary effect: where her palms strike, they leave an intensely painful sensation that cannot be naturally experienced, as if burned by fire and frostbite simultaneously.
Whirling about in the air, her ARMs are actively employed for a second pass. Rather than the single blades commonly used by Xantia, each of her bracers produces a trio of red blades, curved like wicked claws, electricity dancing across their length. These, she uses to strike at Clarine, Leon, Lily, Ethius, and finally Azoth.
This is, of course, not the first time that Xantia attacked everyone around her indiscriminately. But those who were present years ago when the same thing happened in Dazil will notice some distinct differences between what happened then, and what's happening this time. Back then, she attacked with precise and ruthless efficiency, quickly adapting to her opponents, aiming to disable them swiftly while showing little in the way of emotion. But now?
While she isn't holding back on power, she doesn't vary her approach based on the individual. She's not targeting their specific weak points like she did before. This is simply violence for violence's sake, with no regard for who she hits or what she hits them with. That, and...
She's laughing. Gleefully and uncontrollably, the entire time.
GS: Xantia has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Elemental Mastery! GS: Xantia has gained 2 Combo! GS: Xantia has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Frostfire Palm Strike! GS: Xantia has gained 2 Combo! GS: Xantia has attacked Dean Stark with Frostfire Palm Strike! GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Xantia has attacked Citan Uzuki with Frostfire Palm Strike! GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Xantia has attacked Hannah Curie with Frostfire Palm Strike! GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Xantia has attacked Seraph Clarine with Thunder Cross Slash! GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Xantia has attacked Leon Albus with Thunder Cross Slash! GS: Xantia has attacked Lily Keil with Thunder Cross Slash! GS: Xantia has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Thunder Cross Slash! GS: Xantia has attacked Azoth with Thunder Cross Slash! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Access! Xantia takes 92 damage! GS: CRITICAL! Leon Albus mostly guards Xantia's Thunder Cross Slash for 107 hit points! GS: Jam applied to Leon Albus! GS: Poison blocked! GS: Hyper applied to Xantia! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Clarine marginally evades Xantia's Thunder Cross Slash for 176 hit points! GS: Jam applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Lily Keil fails to evade Xantia's Thunder Cross Slash for 169 hit points! GS: Jam applied to Lily Keil! GS: Hyper applied to Xantia! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Ethius Hesiod mostly evades Xantia's Thunder Cross Slash for 58 hit points! GS: Ethius Hesiod's Jam Ward may block the effect! GS: Jam blocked! GS: FP up! Countermeasures! GS: CRITICAL! Citan Uzuki mostly guards Xantia's Frostfire Palm Strike for 135 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Citan Uzuki! GS: COUNTER! Azoth counterattacks Xantia with Fault Current! GS: Azoth mostly charges Xantia's Thunder Cross Slash for 118 hit points! GS: Azoth's Poison Ward may block the effect! GS: Jam applied to Azoth! GS: Poison blocked! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Xantia fails to charge Azoth's Fault Current for 143 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Reaction bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"I was afraid of that, Lily," Leon says, with a glance sideways at the sorceress. He nods, once, and then looks to Citan too. "Mm. He did. And so we will."
He looks back at Xantia. His silver eyes narrow when she says he didn't understand. But he nods.
"I've never been the best at understanding others," he admits. "A flaw of mine, if I'm being honest. Fortunately... you don't always have to understand someone to help them."
He looks about -- from Lily, to Ida, and then to Clarine. A large group, all willing to fight her. "You've not shortage of people ready to do that."
She rises, aglow with red light; Ether swirls about her, and then crimson blades come down for him. The triangular, bronze-colored Raid Funnels fly from his belt; a barrier erupts around him, the blades held back for a moment even as it crackles.
Then, it fades, and two of them turn -- and fire blasts of aquamarine light off towards Xantia.
"Not like Dazil," he says. "She's... indiscriminate. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but--"
His voice is tight. The fight is on, after all.
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Xantia with PMU-Z2 Raid Beam! GS: Leon Albus has gained 3 Combo! GS: Leon Albus's stances have changed to Stoic! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Dean Stark perfectly guards Xantia's Frostfire Palm Strike for 58 hit points! GS: Cripple blocked! GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock critically fails to charge Xantia's Elemental Mastery for 167 hit points! GS: Cover, Mighty, and Riposte applied to Xantia! GS: Xantia marginally evades Leon Albus's PMU-Z2 Raid Beam for 87 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cover applied to Leon Albus! GS: CRITICAL! Ida Everstead-Rey fails to evade Xantia's Frostfire Palm Strike for 238 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Cripple Ward may block the effect! GS: Cripple blocked! GS: Hyper applied to Xantia! GS: FP up! Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean shoots a quick look to the others as they arrive--Azoth as he opens his arms and invites Xantia's attack, Leon and Lily as they say they're here to bring her back, Ida (whom Dean had come here with) warning him that this isn't Xantia and then asking her 'why,' Citan talking about puppets vs. puppetmasters and promises with Fei, Ethius asking what she plans to do afterwards, Hannah and Clarine asking for her to let them help--but before he gets to Gwen, Xantia, or whoever she is, answers.
Dean blinks over at her in surprise. "You mean you don't remember either? But you're not the Xantia we know, right? You're more like what Id is to Fei. That's why you were always so close to him. Right?" He frowns back in his own thought. "Is there some other name you want us to call you?"
But then, as Xantia is answering everyone else's questions--and pointedly ignoring Azoth--Gwen decides that talk is for chumps and zips forward to punch Xantia in the face with a lightning fist.
"Woah, Gwen, wait!" Dean shouts, reaching out, but it's too late. Xantia's taken the challenge for what it is, and now talk's over for *all* of them. Except, of course, for that once question.
"You'll see for yourself!" Dean calls, summoning Twin Fenrir into his hands with a flash of light. He crosses them before him defensively just in time for Xantia to zip in and smash into him with a palm strike. But she doesn't commit in the sense that she leans into the hit, since she's got so many other people to beat up; because of that, that secondary effect doesn't reach him. Dean whirls his combat rods/paired guns around as she zips away, laughing gleefully.
"Ida! You okay?" he calls over to his friend and fellow Seer, who also got a similar palm heel strike. "I'll slow her down so you can get in close!"
Maybe not the *best* idea to shout his intended move out loud, but honestly, Xantia doesn't seem like she's paying close attention. Dean whips his ARMs around, flipping through his secondary bullets, and aims at the whirlwind of destruction. Once he gets a good bead on her, he'll open fire not with a proper bullet, but a beam--a Freeze Ray, to be specific, that might freeze up her limbs and slow her down if it strikes true.
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Xantia with Freeze Ray! GS: Dean Stark has gained 1 Combo! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Of course Lily understands. ...is that an 'of course', though?
Citan may be right. And Azoth is here on the strength of a promise, too. But the way Xantia is talking...
Lily wonders if the soldiers will be able to remove their wounded.
"I don't believe that there's no point," Lily says. "...We can't find it on our own. We never could. That's why we need one another's wings to fly."
A golden gleam, and circuitry. it's been a long time...
'Are you strong?' Xantia asks, and she never touches the ground. Those wicked, clawlike blades sink into Lily's flesh, slowed by her armor--but they come away having marked blood. The wound is immediately cauterized by the electricity, but Lily grunts in pain all the same.
"...Xantia," she says. "...You don't want this."
"We have to strike as hard and fast as we can. There's no holding back!" that's her answer to Leon. "Her Ether... It's stronger than ever!"
She rises to her full height again, then. She didn't bring Dog to this battle. There's a reason for that.
"...But I know Ether as well as you do, Xantia. You ask if we're strong?"
She rises into the air, and extends her hand--purple-black Ether surges through her own circuits, and a blast of noxious magic erupts from the ground at Xantia's feet, aiming to twist her very being from accepting reinforcement.
"We'll find out."
The blood on the ground where Lily stood shines a silent vigil, as Lily extends her arms and conjures two huge blades of darkness.
"XANTIA!"
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Xantia with Affliction! GS: Lily Keil has gained 2 Combo! GS: Lily Keil's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Lily Keil gains 5 FP from her Daredevil! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Xantia fails to guard Dean Stark's Freeze Ray for 133 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Drowsy blocked! GS: Xantia mostly evades Lily Keil's Affliction for 63 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Disease blocked! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"You are equating yourself to... a targeted weapon with a specific purpose--" Ethius waits to speak his turn after Xantia appears done addressing a Gwen who is already engaging in desperate measures, only to be cut off by the torrent of red-hued Ether. He holds up his forearm to brace for the immense force and shield his eyes until he chances to see the gleam from the collar.
He hasn't time to speak. The first time she moves towards Ida, Dean, Citan, and Hannah, he's juked somewhat by the movement towards Citan, taking a step back as she pivots to whirl into the air.
He leans way back, eyes widening in the reminder that he is still a mortal, vulnerable human as an electrical current taps him by the very edges of the clawed blades' reach. Small droplets of his blood dot the landscape.
He shudders as he falls to a kneel while she laughs, and others shout their resolve. She's fast, but there's only one of her.
"A suite that intricate probably has too many failsafes to disable at distance," Ethius murmurs aloud - he has to because he can't hear himself think right now - as he starts to flex the fingers of his off-hand in intricate, wavy movements while murmuring the syllables of a complex spell.
He stops half-way to account for the movements of others, restarting again - but this time narrowing his eyes. He can't wait for the perfect clear opportunity.
"Mirage Haze!" He calls at the terminus, Symbological lights going off as the heat around Xantia becomes... disorienting, calibrated specifically to mess with any number of delicate sensory arrays she might be utilizing.
"Do you not intend to see through your own handiwork?" He asks at the end after he sucks in a breath (blinking once watching what Lily's doing over there).
GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated Force Action: Fury Shot! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Xantia with Mirage Haze! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Hannah Curie fails to charge Xantia's Frostfire Palm Strike for 202 hit points! GS: Cripple blocked!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"And why did you feel like it?" Ida asks. Her voice settles into something a bit more level as the others add their own questions. She's not alone here. Nor is Dean. They're all here because Xantia is a friend and comrade, and whatever's happening, they're not about to stand back and let it play out.
'Are you strong?'
Ida has no initial reply. Her eyes go wide at the display of power before her, and she slips into a defensive stance, feet set, arms braced in anticipation of sudden, intense violence.
Xantia's palm slams into Ida's crossed arms. The raw force of it blows the Seer off her feet, trailing motes of bright red Ether from a visible handprint burned into her armor. She slams into the wreckage of the burning Gear, a tremendous CLANG echoing through the ruined village--the armor gives a little on impact, and a few shreds of scorched metal break away, and fall to the ground.
Ida's hand reaches out, grips the edge of the Gear's leg, and clutches it tightly as she heaves herself upright. "Been better," she croaks, when Dean asks his question. "The strings, hm?" Ida adds, to Xantia. "Are you hoping to turn this on Solaris, or someone else?"
Ida hangs back, though, letting Dean take the fore. Her eyes narrow. Her hands tighten into fists. In the blink of an eye, quicksilver boils out of her body, sluicing up around her--encasing her in Hyadean exoskeleton from head to toe, all blue and gold and black. She's going to need it.
Even if it means taunting the bull. Ida knows exactly how Xantia feels about certain threats to Filgaia, former or otherwise.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Third Method - Shaping the Battle-Forged Shell! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 5 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Ida Everstead-Rey accepts Ida Everstead-Rey's Third Method - Shaping the Battle-Forged Shell for 0 hit points! GS: Shield applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Cover applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
No words. Azoth smiles more warmly at Xantia when she ignores him.
A plea that won't be mocked.
Xantia comes at them in a storm of elementary fury. Azoth advanced toward her violence, and this time, where his claws usually meet her blades, it's now a bright blue blade of ARM energy that meets Xantia's red bracer claws, barely able to maneuver to defend himself as she rakes across his chassis and sends red, erroneous sparks surging from the point of content. There's pure violence and glee on her face.
He's wanted to see that for a long time... But something's wrong about it now.
When did this all start happening? Xantia's always struggled with her memories, and sometimes with forgetting herself in battle as long as he's known her. Not like this, though. She's always enjoyed battle, but when did it begin becoming distressingly gleeful...? And does it have anything to do with her 'failsafes', with her 'objectives', with her 'purpose'?
Variables are wolf fenced, going from one side of Azoth's memories to the next. Here but not there. Not there but here. Oh, right, I should tell you...
Was it then?
Really, you gotta learn to not always calculate things.
...
"If you're truly happy with this, Xantia, then I'll gladly fight with you forever." Azoth snaps his finger, his blade forged of the ARM energy from his core twirling at his side. "But I don't think you are. You're scared. Because right now you're risking doing the only thing you've ever told me you're afraid of."
Azoth grabs his energy blade and charges Xantia with overclocked speed, cleaving the weapon at her to detonate it and blast her back as he he lets light surge through his core and circuits. He knows such a strike could not possibly sate her desire for violence alone.
"There is more to you than this, and I'm not going to let you give up on yourself...!"
GS: Azoth has attacked Xantia with Redline! GS: Azoth has gained 4 Combo! GS: Azoth's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Azoth gains 5 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Azoth gains 5 FP from Sufferer! GS: Azoth has completed his action. GS: Xantia perfectly guards Ethius Hesiod's Mirage Haze for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Xantia's Jam Ward may block the effect! GS: Misery adds Entangle! GS: Blind, Drowsy, Entangle, Hex, and Jam blocked! GS: Xantia fails to charge Azoth's Redline for 182 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"I see. You would sacrifice the 'puppets' for the opportunity to destroy their masters..." he remarks, furrowing his forehead. "It is said that 'war' requires sacrifice, but... is that the sort of person you are, Xantia?"
But then she continues. She goes on to say it doesn't matter if 'other fish' take the bait. "Is that what we are to you now, Xantia? What is it that you aim to accomplish? Is it really just the destruction of Solaris?"
Xenia's information had suggested that Xantia's true self would go to any lengths to exterminate Solaris from this world, but now he's wondering if, perhaps, she was incorrect.
"Gwen--!"
It's too late. It was likely too late even before Gwen threw that punch: he cannot fault her for what happens next.
"That collar-- those markings! Lily!" he calls out as synchronization winds up and comes to its natural completion: as Ether swirls and burns about Xantia.
She's fast. Faster than he's ever seen before, and he's sparred with her. Even in a guarded stance, she's able to slam that palm into his raised forearm before he can do anything more than that: she's simply there and away, gone from his space and that of so many others. His fingers spasm: his arm burns. Ice and flame woven into the same attack--
"...To think even you would become like this," he says of Xantia, glancing Leon's way. "No. She is not at all like she was in Dazil. Is she being controlled again now? I wonder..."
He draws on the ambient Ether, pulling on the source of all life that drifts in the air even in a place such as this. It's only by a little bit: only a little bit of energy returned to some of the people here, and in fits and starts, as thin as the faint fog he can pull upon.
"Lily-- if you are certain...!"
Then he'll leave it up to her.
GS: Citan Uzuki has activated Force Action: Extend! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Hannah Curie with Sazanami! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Sazanami! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Sazanami! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Lily Keil with Sazanami! GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Seraph Clarine with Sazanami! GS: Citan Uzuki gains 22 THP from his Cautious! GS: Citan Uzuki gains 5 FP from Gleam! GS: Citan Uzuki has completed his action. GS: Citan Uzuki heals Lily Keil! She gains 35 temporary hit points! GS: Regen applied to Lily Keil! GS: Citan Uzuki heals Seraph Clarine! She gains 40 temporary hit points! GS: Regen applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: CRITICAL! Citan Uzuki heals Gwen Whitlock! She gains 47 temporary hit points! GS: Regen applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Citan Uzuki heals Ida Everstead-Rey! She gains 36 temporary hit points! GS: Regen applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
At the end, there won't be any more or less left of her. There wasn't anything to begin with...
"I do not believe that." Clarine insists. "Perhaps you cannot see it, but I have never felt emptiness from you. You have always been vibrant, and full of life. A bit headstrong, perhaps, and prone to rashness... but yours has ever been a bright soul!"
And then, a question is asked. The question, perhaps. 'Are you strong'?
Xantia attacks. Swiftly and brutally, violence for the sake of violence. Clarine braces herself as Xantia rushes in, bracers forming into electrified red claws. They slice across her form, motes of light fluttering away, and Clarine is forced back, sliding to a stop. Citan's Ether reaches her - the damage to her spiritual form starts to mend itself, bright spots slowly sealing once more. She sends him a brief, grateful nod, before turning her attention back to Xantia.
"...Very well, Xantia. If this is your desire... then I shall face you." Clarine rises up - and with a swirl, her mirrors spin out around her. "Prepare yourself! If it is my strength you wish to see, then you shall have it!"
She casts a hand out toward Xantia - and light shines outward, a ray of blinding light focused directly on her.
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Xantia with Blinding Flash! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Clarine gains 5 FP from Gleam! GS: Seraph Clarine gains 33 THP from Regen! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: Citan Uzuki heals Hannah Curie! She gains 34 temporary hit points! GS: Regen applied to Hannah Curie!
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Who is 'Xantia'? That's... a question that feels a little familiar to Hannah, who has started trying to figure out her own origins and who she is. (And, by proxy, the cause for her magic strangeness.)
"Who do you want her to be, then?" asks Hannah to that. "Sometimes the most important part of your identity is what you choose for yourself."
But not any point... "Then it ain't too late to pick a different path."
Hannah throws an arm up to shield herself as Xantia releases that pure red either, squinting into that blinding light trying to keep an eye on what it is that's occurring. The pressure is immense, and she grunts with the effort of maintaining her footing against such force.
And against that immense pressure of Xantia's Ether buffeting her, something within herself rebels, pressing back against it as if it could shield her from the force. Hannah grits her teeth as she desperately tries to shove that down. "Grr... dangit..."
Circuit patterns, on the collar and bracers...
"Holy... is that what I think it is?" Synchronization, on top of everything else. She really ought to inquire about this more. But first they have to resolve this standoff--or survive it.
'Are you strong?'
Why does everything keep coming back to strength lately?
But there's no time to ponder that as Xantia rushes for her--she doesn't even have time to think about reaching for a crest graph for protection, let alone to reach for one. She is sent flying back as Xantia's proximity--not to mention that strike--makes maintaining her footing impossible. She goes tumbling for a few moments, eventually rolling to a stop.
She groans, arms and legs struggling to lift her upright once more. But her mind is exerting a different kind of effort, her own unknown power roiling within her from the strike and such close proximity.
But Citan returns some energy to the few that he can, and Hannah finds that she finally has the strength to stand after. She rises to her feet, slumped over for a moment with one hand clutching her stomach. She's visibly straining, even once standing, and it takes her a few moments too long to start a course of action.
"... Fine. If that's the way it's gotta be..."
She goes for a crest graph from her pouch. Fractal blue wisps pour off of it as she lifts it high and then slams it to the ground with a shout of "Winter's Grasp!" Something bursts within her and pours into the spell. Ice explodes outwards from her crest graph along the ground--sharp, jagged spires tilted forwards as if looking to skewer a target race forward at Xantia. When Hannah lifts her gaze again, her green eyes are glowing faintly, her own aura shimmering and twisting with her unknown power--though it still pales in comparison to Xantia's own.
GS: Xantia fails to guard Seraph Clarine's Blinding Flash for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Blind and Delay applied to Xantia! GS: Quick applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: Hannah Curie has attacked Xantia with Manifested Ice! GS: Hannah Curie has gained 1 Combo! GS: Hannah Curie's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Hannah Curie gains 5 FP from her Daredevil! GS: Hannah Curie gains 37 THP from Regen! GS: Hannah Curie has completed her action. GS: Xantia marginally evades Hannah Curie's Manifested Ice for 113 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mute blocked! GS: Hyper applied to Hannah Curie! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Sorry, Dean. Something was communicated to Gwen in the language of broken machines and scattered remains Gwen walked through to get here: Xantia will not hold back once she starts.
Gwen's made the mistake of hesitating one too many times with people she'd consider a 'lesser' threat, which, in comparison of Xantia right now, covers a wide area.
And Xantia's only getting started.
Gwen's expression is blank, her eyes betraying some sense of alarm as she registers a process that could be called similar to what she herself did minutes ago: ARMS Synchronization. However, Gwen's body isn't made to do this for very long. Someone like Xantia... what would she be capable of?
Gwen wouldn't keep up by herself-- but thankfully, she's not. Citan's healing staves off the Mockingbird's toll for a little while, giving the courier precious time.
Gwen's body disappears as the storm that heralds Xantia's ascension, but not for long, as she bursts through the the tempest to charge after her.
Weaving through the others' attacks, Gwen makes her move right when Xantia is facing her way, starting with a bright flash and a crack of what almost sounds like gunpowder, like the afterimage of a blast of fireworks.
The actual lightshow follows, whether Xantia is stunned or not: a circle of unconnected red magenta dots, zipping towards Xantia from Gwen's splayed out right hand.
GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Xantia with Crown Flash! GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 4 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock has launched an attack Link! GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Xantia with Brisingamen! GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock gains 39 THP from Regen! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Access! Gwen Whitlock takes 30 damage! GS: Xantia critically fails to evade Gwen Whitlock's Crown Flash for 0 hit points! GS: Xantia's Jam Ward may block the effect! GS: Jam blocked! GS: Xantia mostly guards Gwen Whitlock's Brisingamen for 109 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia shows little care for the result of her attacks - other than Azoth's counterstrike, which knocks her aside, but doesn't cause her to fall. It may be surprising, given her apparent elation at getting this battle underway, that Xantia pauses in the air after this, rather than immediately follow up. The following 'bring it' motion of her hand makes it clear, however - she wants to be attacked in turn.
The beams from Leon's Raid Funnels appear to penetrate the vortex of elemental Ether surrounding Xantia, but given that she only flinches slightly upon being struck, it seems as if the storm itself acts as somewhat of a barrier, absorbing energy to a degree. "...Hrm. Not bad. But not good either. Much like your rhetoric!" ...Did she just deliver a burn without using Fire Ether?
She extends a palm forward as a defense against Dean's weapon... which doesn't appear to work very well, her hand getting knocked aside as the beam strikes her dead-on. Except it doesn't freeze her. Her means of defense came in the form of the Fire Ether that she did choose to employ this time, cancelling out its main effect. She rubs her hand, the only part of her body that does notice a decrease a temperature. "...Nice try. But you might as well give up. Including on the nonsense you're talking about. How many times must I say it? I am nothing! Xantia is nothing!"
Well, she clearly thinks she's making sense, at any rate. Though one might wonder how clearly she's thinking given the maniacal grin plastered on her face when she says it.
She turns upon Hannah next, shouting, "My path was never my choice to begin with!" as fire flares up around her once more. Once more, she weakens the impact of the ice, but impact it still does. This seems to be a pattern - a demonstration, perhaps? Is she trying to prove that she can handle anything they throw at her?
She next locks eyes with Ethius - watching him very, very carefully. She knows what to expect from him, and how crucial it is that she avoid a certain thing from occuring that she knows him to excel at. It is for that reason that she carefully focuses her mind to manipulate her Ether in a way so as to actively combat the Symbology she has to contend with. The result is... a tie. She can't directly stop Ethius's attempts, but neither can his attempts significantly manipulate the storm surrounding her.
"...I won't let you stop me. What comes after doesn't matter... I can't let you stop the only thing that does!"
Then Clarine's words, strangely... seem to greatly anger her. "How... dare you! How dare you lie like that! You couldn't have felt anything from me, there's nothing there, I know there isn't!"
That moment is all the distraction that was needed. Xantia fails to shield her eyes from what she should have known was coming, the blinding light setting her up perfectly for Gwen to take the shot with her ARM. She instinctively guards with her left arm, still, but to little avail as she's knocked back down to ground level.
Ida and Citan support others rather than attacking her. This too, annoys her, but she replies to them all the same as she restores some of her eyesight through Ether manipulation, one hand splayed across her face. "You're both assuming there's some greater purpose to all this... but it doesn't matter! None of it matters! Stop thinking about it and just fight! All you have to do is just fight!!" Is it still them she is talking to...?
In the end, she is left to contend with Azoth and Lily. Those who, of all those present, she should be the closest to. Her expression doesn't give anything away about her feelings. But she does admit it at least partially, to Azoth.
"I'm... not happy." Throwing her arm to the side, she declares, "I was never meant to be!"
She charges directly at him, when he comes for her. But she loses out in the exchange, getting blasted backwards, and landing hard on her back. Is his resolve stronger than hers...? "Hnng... dammit!"
It doesn't take long for her to be back on her feet. Now it's Lily's turn to try to reason with her. That need for another's wing, again... the saying that even Id seems fond of... is soundly rejected. "I don't even have a single wing. Why don't I pluck yours and take them all for myself?!"
It all comes down to a contest of Ether, in the end. Lily's dark, noxious Ether bursts from the ground, enveloping her own elemental Ether, pressing against it... and yet, Xantia only grins.
"...You almost know Ether as well as I do."
With that as the only warning, the storm turns into a vortex, Xantia actively drawing all the Ether from her surroundings into herself... and then expelling it, in the form of something that barely even resembles Ether anymore. This is what remains of it when all the beneficial properties have been sucked out. All that remains is a foul, corrupted miasma, a dark noxious cloud of magical exhaust fumes, quickly spreading across the battlefield. A gas both choking and blinding, causing all manner of debilitations to all it manages to seep into.
Xantia remains at the center, as the only one unaffected, letting out a laugh... though it seems half-hearted, at this point. "You see now? This is all I'm good for. Drawing the good out of everything. And what remains is..."
GS: Xantia has activated Force Action: Extend! GS: Xantia has activated Force Action: Lock On! GS: Xantia spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Xantia has attacked Xantia with Erratic Apotheosis! GS: Xantia has launched an attack Link! GS: CRITICAL! Xantia heals Xantia! She gains 35 temporary hit points! GS: Pray adds Regen, Surge, Quick, and Shield! GS: Quick, Regen, Shield, and Surge applied to Xantia! GS: Xantia has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Etheric Asphyxiation! GS: Xantia has attacked Hannah Curie with Etheric Asphyxiation! GS: Xantia has attacked Seraph Clarine with Etheric Asphyxiation! GS: Xantia has attacked Citan Uzuki with Etheric Asphyxiation! GS: Xantia has attacked Azoth with Etheric Asphyxiation! GS: Xantia has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Etheric Asphyxiation! GS: Xantia has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Etheric Asphyxiation! GS: Xantia has attacked Lily Keil with Etheric Asphyxiation! GS: Xantia has attacked Dean Stark with Etheric Asphyxiation! GS: Xantia has attacked Leon Albus with Etheric Asphyxiation! GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo! GS: You have finished a Link/Follow chain! GS: Xantia has activated a Boss Action! GS: You have activated the Boss Action Blink! GS: Xantia has activated a Boss Action! GS: You have activated the Boss Action Titan! GS: Xantia has activated a Boss Action! She enters a Counter stance! GS: Xantia gains 26 THP from Regen! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Ida Everstead-Rey mostly guards Xantia's Etheric Asphyxiation for 55 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery adds Slow, Jam, and Shieldbreak! GS: Jam, Poison, Shieldbreak, and Slow applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Hyper applied to Xantia! GS: FP up! Power Burst! GS: CRITICAL! Leon Albus marginally guards Xantia's Etheric Asphyxiation for 100 hit points! GS: Leon Albus's Break Ward may block the effect! GS: Misery adds Weaken, Break, and Interrupt! GS: Break, Interrupt, Poison, and Weaken applied to Leon Albus! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Lily Keil critically fails to guard Xantia's Etheric Asphyxiation for 133 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery adds Interrupt, Break, and Hex! GS: Break, Hex, Interrupt, and Poison applied to Lily Keil! GS: Seraph Clarine critically fails to guard Xantia's Etheric Asphyxiation for 132 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery adds Interrupt, Cripple, and Jam! GS: Cripple, Interrupt, Jam, and Poison applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: COUNTER! Citan Uzuki counterattacks Xantia with Mufuu! GS: Citan Uzuki fails to charge Xantia's Etheric Asphyxiation for 125 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Citan Uzuki gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery adds Mute, Blind, and Disease! GS: Blind, Disease, Mute, and Poison applied to Citan Uzuki! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: CRITICAL! Dean Stark fails to charge Xantia's Etheric Asphyxiation for 159 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dean Stark gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery adds Interrupt, Entangle, and Jam! GS: Entangle, Interrupt, Jam, and Poison applied to Dean Stark! GS: Hyper applied to Xantia! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Ethius Hesiod mostly guards Xantia's Etheric Asphyxiation for 58 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery adds Break, Hex, and Entangle! GS: Entangle, Hex, and Poison applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: Break blocked! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Azoth mostly charges Xantia's Etheric Asphyxiation for 105 hit points! GS: Azoth's Poison Ward may block the effect! GS: Misery adds Hex, Slow, and Mute! GS: Hex and Mute applied to Azoth! GS: Poison and Slow blocked! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Azoth enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"No holding back, then," Leon confirms to Lily, with a firm nod. "Be careful, Lily." A beat. "...Within reason."
He looks at Citan -- hesitates -- then shakes his head. "I'm uncertain," he admits. "What Xenia said... that gives me pause. But I also know that there is something we're missing, too."
The vortex of Ether rips at him -- the Raid Funnels falter and wobble in midair. Leon hesitates for a moment, before he lifts up Argent Divider. The shotgun is aimed towards her, as the cloud rushes over him. He coughs.
Then, he shouts over the raging winds: "Xantia! You say there is nothing within... but I've felt nothing! You're a flame and a storm--and that emptiness is all ice and still!"
He fires at Xantia, two shotgun shells firing one after the other for her, in the heart of the maelstrom.
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Xantia with RR-2 Friendship! GS: Leon Albus has gained 1 Combo! GS: Interrupt expired! GS: Leon Albus takes 44 damage from Poison! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Xantia fails to guard Citan Uzuki's Mufuu for 135 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst! GS: Xantia perfectly guards Leon Albus's RR-2 Friendship for 50 hit points! GS: Cover and Riposte applied to Leon Albus!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
The others recognize something to those markings on Xantia's collar and bracers. Dean is clueless, not least in part because for him it happens so naturally that there's barely anything to notice--but he can at least tell from the others' reactions that it's something important.
'Been better,' Ida tells Dean. Yeah, given how hard Xantia hit her, that's apparent. Still, Dean gives her an encouraging smile and a nod. She takes the time to shore up her defenses with the liquid metal within her body, and Dean pours on the Freeze Ray on Xantia. While the attack itself might be effective, it's just not enough to counter all the Ether she's using, including Fire Ether, to actually freeze her in place.
Meanwhile, she tells him a bunch of what *he* considers nonsense. "No way! You told me once you'd never give up. And I'm the same way! You can do anything as long as you don't give up!!" Dean counters. "So quit trying to sell me a line you don't even believe yourself and tell me what name you wanna be called already!"
After all, Clarine is telling her she sensed something in Xantia, and Xantia's insisting it's a lie. It makes more sense to Dean that Xantia's just trying to fool herself. He doesn't understand why, though.
Nor does he have time to think about it--not when Xantia takes all that Ether around her, sucks it in, and then expels it into a noxious miasma. This kind of attack is one Dean wasn't expecting, and he sucks in a big lungful that sends him spasming with hacking coughs. Even as that happens, though, sending poison in his veins and weakening his aim and focus as it blinds him and sends him into spasms, he still doesn't give up.
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Xantia with Fire Bullet! GS: Dean Stark has gained 1 Combo! GS: Interrupt expired! GS: Dean Stark takes 46 damage from Poison! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Gwen Whitlock critically fails to evade Xantia's Etheric Asphyxiation for 121 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery adds Slow, Break, and Disrupt! GS: Break, Disrupt, Poison, and Slow applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Hyper applied to Xantia! GS: CRITICAL! Hannah Curie mostly charges Xantia's Etheric Asphyxiation for 122 hit points! GS: Misery adds Hex, Slow, and Disrupt! GS: Disrupt, Hex, Poison, and Slow applied to Hannah Curie! GS: Hyper applied to Xantia! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Hannah Curie enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Xantia mostly guards Dean Stark's Fire Bullet for 81 hit points! GS: Break applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
If Xantia in this state can block even Ethius's capabilities... Lily frowns, in concentration. She said there was no holding back, but now she's even more certain of it. "Hesiod!" she calls. "Don't give up!"
Citan calls to her, and Lily answers. "You're right. It's totally different. Do you think this is the 'final stage'?" Lily wonders.
Azoth... Azoth has more to offer Xantia than Lily does, it feels like. But Leon has something for her. Careful within reason... Lily nods. "Will do... Captain."
She doesn't answer rhetoric. "Then we'll BREAK whatever makes it not your choice!" Lily calls. "We'll destroy it, with our own hands!"
But Xantia...
Xantia rejects it, and Lily shakes her head. "...No," she says. An there, there is the Ether she sends--
The storm expels in a gas, and Lily coughs, gasping as she hits one knee. She keeps coughing, unable to breathe. Because in the state she's in, Lily still has that frailty. There's only one way...
"Almost..."
Lily melts into the ground, a pool of shadow, and for a moment. that is all.
Then there is a scream.
"I'm not done," Lily's voice echoes from all directions. From that pool of shadow, into the gas and above it, arises a terrible Thing. "<Organic core rewritten.>" In the Ancient Tongue Lily intones something that was heard once before--once, when she lost control entirely.
Chalk-white skin has a too-smooth texture. Dull, unshining eyes possess black sclera and white pupil, with blue iris. Long, blonde hair may as well be made of some synthetic fiber. But the 'face' has no mouth or nose, just an incline along its central line. Her body is fixed with bony plating in place of clothes, with ridges at the shoulders and joints, 'claws' on all segments of its fingers, spikes at the wrist and elbows and knees and feet and hips. All over the body are the obvious signs of circuitry, glowing gray to shift into violet as magic is used. She hovers off the ground even at rest, dust floating around her. Gravity no longer applies to her.
"Xantia!" Lily calls, her voice distorted, still coming from all directions. "...It's not true. You're good for so much more."
"...We love you."
Then, she leans her head back--and a SHRIEK echoes across the battlefield. Parts of equipment cease to exist outright; mounds of earth wear away. And space-time wrenches painfully, tugging at one's very being.
The roar echoes through reality, an explosion of Etheric power.
DC: Lily Keil switches forms to Omega - Division!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Lily Keil has attacked Xantia with Dimension Roar! GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lily Keil takes 52 damage from Poison! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Access! Lily Keil takes 30 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Symbology is a commitment - the learning of the spell, the engraving on one's own flesh, and its invocation. The way the air discolors as Ether counteracts the attempt to apply deleterious, focused heat comes to completely novel visual bursts of color and shimmer in the air. In that moment where eyes meet and resolves are tested...
"I can't let let you stop me stopping you," Ethius almost stammers - even back when Lily and himself were having it out under Lacour, the malleable nature of Ether is ever difficult to counteract.
5tHe can't think of a better comeback in the moment, having to withdraw his gaze as to not accidentally be struck by Clarine's blinding lights (not that she ever would intentionally, that he knows, everyone is throwing a lot of things at the wall Xantia has put up mentally and verbally).
The Ether storm grows more violent and expels forth that noxious Ether.
Ethius has exactly a three-second benefit of watching those closer start to cough and sputter that he thinks of covering his face, a classic yellow bandanna thrust up over his lower face. It's not airtight, and there's a more sorcerous element that circumvents this sort of thing - but it's peace of mind enough in the moment to feel otherwise.
We don't always get to choose how we came into being, he thinks, but cannot say because he's watching his own breathing even as he feels too heavy to move too quickly - and like something's starting to eat him up.
The circumstances that shape us aren't always kind, he wants to say, but that miasma's too dangerous to shout over. He focuses, inching forward as the force of that Ether vortex keeps his hair and clothes whipping violently against it. Drawing closer is dangerous - especially when he has to watch what Gwen's doing.
Lily speaks, and he stops until he can confirm the shape that concludes where she is even if he can't fully comprehend or predict the movement or the displacement of color or the SHRIEK.
Reality is defied, shaped, twisted. He is stepping ever closer into displays of power and might he can't fully comprehend the natures and workings of, as a mere mortal man who is no different from the fragments of equipment unmade around the field.
In place of words that Xantia may be waiting to hear and rebuke, Ethius grits his teeth, takes his hand off his face in risk of taking in more miasma, drawing back his quarterstaff...
And lunges for the base of the neck from the utmost limit of his reach with his weapon, following the distinct circuitry patterns.
He is that determined to stop her, even under duress of a cross-section of dangerous greater powers.
GS: Ethius Hesiod spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Xantia with Far Point! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod takes 49 damage from Poison! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"It... is possible," Citan tells Lily.
"I understand what was intended of you, Xantia." Or at least he thinks he does -- based on what Xenia thinks it was. The truth is that they can only guess based on the crumbs of hints. Does he have the right of it? Does he really know what is going on?
"If there is no meaning, then what is the purpose of fighting? Does that serve to fill the void within you?"
Once upon a time, he had not been very dissimilar at all.
Her Ether erupts outwards, choking and smothering in its magesty. Perhaps he could shield himself against it. Perhaps there are pockets of air uncontaminated by its force. But rather than do either of these things, Citan this time plunges into the miasma and he can feel himself burn for it. He does not have a sword: he gave up the way of the blade a long time ago. Yet, it feels to him that his body can nearly feel as if he holds one again in both hands. His right hand cleaves through the haze: the pressure wave carries ahead of him, towards that place Xantia stands.
Even he gasps for air afterwards, coughing, blinded by the fumes. But they're all still standing and that will have to be good enough.
They're operating with gaps. It's an unfortunate situation, especially for someone like him. Drawing himself up, he nods at what Leon says. "Yes... what we must do is subdue her, for her own good. Then, we might see what can be done." If they can. If that's possible, after what's become of her. If there's anything left to save.
But there is no helping 'maybes' in the moment. Even he can only accept that.
But first, to do so, he needs to level the playing field. There is still water untouched by the wages of war: breathing deep, Citan shifts his stance and focuses within. It is a matter of metabolism: a matter of shunting out what must not be and replacing it with what ought to be. Of sealing the gates shut afterwards in preparation for the siege to come. The body, too, can be a battlefield.
"...Xantia," he says, opening his eyes again. "You would not say that to Fei." it is no condemnation: it is merely fact.
GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Citan Uzuki with Shinsuisei -Mu-! GS: Citan Uzuki enters a Counter stance! GS: Citan Uzuki has gained 2 Combo! GS: Citan Uzuki gains 6 THP from his Cautious! GS: Citan Uzuki gains 5 FP from Gleam! GS: Citan Uzuki takes 48 damage from Poison! GS: Cover and Riposte expired! GS: Citan Uzuki has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Citan Uzuki accepts Citan Uzuki's Shinsuisei -Mu- for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Blind, Cripple, and Disease removed! GS: Burst and Lock state applied to Citan Uzuki! GS: CRITICAL! Xantia critically fails to guard Lily Keil's Dimension Roar for 400 hit points! GS: Xantia critically fails to guard Ethius Hesiod's Far Point for 123 hit points! GS: Xantia's Jam Ward may block the effect! GS: Cripple applied to Xantia! GS: Jam blocked! GS: FP up! Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
"Clearly you are something if all of these people came to help you!" retorts Hannah to Xantia's claim of being nothing. There's something about this way of thinking that's bugging her--but she's not sure if her breath is better saved for her magic.
Her path was never her choice. "An' why ain't it!? You c'n think and feel, you c'n make choices, too." She does watch as that fire flares up to weaken the impact of the ice. Maybe not the best choice of opener, but--
It's the one she has the most practice using, even with her magic doing whatever it's doing.
But foul, noxious Ether comes sweeping through the battlefield. More energy pressing at her, against her own magic. She doesn't even go for a crest graph this time, crossing her arms in front of herself. Her own magic rebels against Xantia's befouled ether, a clash of magic versus magic as the air around Hannah twists and ripples sharply with the effort. Hannah's robe billows randomly around her, caught in the torrents of clashing energies.
She heaves a breath and breaks into a coughing fit as the poison passes by her, sagging and hunching over. She catches herself, elbows on her knees as she struggles to draw in clean air.
"... If you're feelin' like you don't matter, that nobody... *cough*... that nobody ain't ever gonna be able to understand you... or ever gonna be able t' forgive you..." Who said anything about forgiveness, here? "... then's when you gotta reach out to your loved ones the most."
She straightens up, pulling a crest graph from her pouch. It explodes with light and sparks as she channels magic into it, and the resulting ball of lightning she summons forth is a gnarled mass of electric tendrils roiling and twisting around each other. With a snap of her fingers, she unleashes that gordian knot of writhing energy, launching it right for Xantia.
GS: Hannah Curie enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Hannah Curie has attacked Xantia with Ball Lightning! GS: Hannah Curie has gained 3 Combo! GS: Hannah Curie gains 5 FP from her Daredevil! GS: Hannah Curie enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Hannah Curie takes 44 damage from Poison! GS: Hannah Curie has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Citan's magic is subtle, but at this point, Ida's fought alongside him enough to know the signs. The pain of her burns and bruised ribs abates under the flow of something like a cool, refreshing spring. She glances at him, sparing a moment for a nod. They're of similar mind on this.
"Whomever you are," Ida says, edging closer. That tempest of Ether is a potent deterrent--it stalemated Dean, and she's not sure she'd fare much better if she touched it. "I can't let you take this out on the world. I wouldn't let Fei or Id do it, and they didn't let me do it, either!"
The miasma blankets the battlefield. Ida can't sense the finer details. What she does sense is suffocation--it's not merely smothering her, it's choking off her chi. Ida's eyes start to water. Her head swims.
Lily intones a terrifying phrase. Ida's eyes go wider, panic welling up inside her. But no, this isn't the engine of violence she fought before. Lily's in control.
In the wake of that rending scream, Ida takes a chance. She rushes forwards, golden-white chi billowing around her right hand. It's a faint flame at best, but if her palm strikes home--a mirror of Xantia's earlier strike--the burning energy will sink into her, trying to choke off the source of her foul power.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Xantia with Searing Ember Strike! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 5 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes 35 damage from Poison! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
The synchronization of Xantia with her ARMs... Xenia wanted me to have this for some reason, though she thought it could be dangerous. If I can figure out more from this... Will they learn anything in this battle? Xantia's feelings of emptiness... it hurts to understand it. It's always hurt to know she understands him.
But Azoth manages to land his strike, and Xantia beckons for more. His eyes flash with brilliant blue and fuchsia. He's not immune to the call of violence, but there's an undeniable corruption to this. Data that doesn't flow smoothly.
Xantia's not happy. She wasn't meant to be.
"Neither was I," he tells her as she's blasted backwards. "But... someone convinced me I could have everything. All of my memories, and all of myself. That the impossible can be made possible. Even the absurdity of my own happiness."
The miasma seeps in, flooding the area. Azoth's eyes flicker and sputter while sparks spit from his joints, blue and red and then in a discordant, deep violet, as if the energy flowing through him had been stained by this poisoned Ether. As a machine, Azoth cannot experience literal poison, but he can feel his gears screeching inside himself and his circuits fritzing with the disruption of his functions.
Azoth's insides emit a mechanical, inhuman whine under the strain. But his eyes glow through the noxious cloud, never leaving Xantia.
Blades of light pierce through the miasma at Azoth's back as he zips toward Xantia, moving so fast it seems he's not even touching the ground. But Azoth lost his own 'wings' a long time ago. It's merely a surge of speed, and as he gets close to her, he reaches back to 'grab' one of the wing blades, never quite touching it, to swing into Xantia.
GS: Azoth has attacked Xantia with Winged Edge! GS: Azoth gains 5 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Azoth gains 5 FP from Sufferer! GS: Azoth has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Xantia critically fails to guard Hannah Curie's Ball Lightning for 189 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Xantia! GS: Mighty applied to Hannah Curie! GS: Xantia critically fails to guard Ida Everstead-Rey's Searing Ember Strike for 68 hit points! GS: Cripple and Disease applied to Xantia! GS: FP up! Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
There are words Gwen would like to say to what Xantia is saying.
Those words require a mouth that doesn't feel like it's moving slower than it should, in this distorted view the Mockingbird gives. Things appear to more slower to Gwen's eye, but speech, on the other hand, is still decipherable, like the way a pair of eyes somehow see as one. It's an ability that came with experience, and maybe with time, she can speak more fluidly as well. Maybe, in time, she can let her view become less narrowed down, expand her awareness beyond a single point in front of her.
Until then....
She has nothing to say that her friends here can't say so much better. And even if her power only keeps her close to Xantia's level, Lily is able to go that much further.
Gwen will keep moving, instead. As the ether expelled by Xantia poisons her very being, Gwen pauses, her lips twisting into a grimace.
However, Xantia's words manage to hit the hardest.
But it's grounds for a demonstration of the Mockingbird's main trick, which Gwen makes very visible.
With some effort, Gwen wills her ARM to draw in the miasma, converting a fraction of it into energy. The exchange is lopsided; Gwen can't use it to clear the area, but she can use it to power herself, just a little further.
Just like all the times Xantia did the same for her, and others, never stopping, and never caring--
"..... Don't. Care."
She gives Xantia a shaky grin, then assumes a fighting pose, motioning Xantia to come at her.
"Keep, going."
Remember the part of this process that you love, Xantia.
GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Fool's Luster! GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 4 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Gwen Whitlock takes 43 damage from Poison! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Access! Gwen Whitlock takes 30 damage! GS: Gwen Whitlock heals Gwen Whitlock! She gains 133 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Break, Disrupt, and Poison removed! GS: COUNTER! Xantia counterattacks Azoth with Wingdinged! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Azoth's attack becomes clear! GS: Xantia critically fails to charge Azoth's Call by Future for 370 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dispel! Cover, Mighty, Quick, and Riposte removed! GS: Strain! Azoth takes 63 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Every blade fades, proving nothing more than a holographic projection as Azoth uses them in a feint for his real purpose.
He thrusts out to try and reach her collar, discharging his own chaotic, ancient energy to try and disrupt -- but not destroy -- as he locks eyes with her.
"...It's because of you, Xantia. I'd have already destroyed myself if not for you."
GS: CRITICAL! Azoth fails to guard Xantia's Wingdinged for 308 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Azoth gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Xantia... sounds angry. She accuses her of lying, and Clarine stands resolute.
"I have spoken no lies. I speak only of what I have seen and experienced! Perhaps it is easier to view yourself as empty... But that, I believe, is the lie! To yourself, as much as any of us!" Clarine declares. "If this is what it takes to bring the truth the fore...!"
...But, Xantia is still fighting. Of course she still is. Xantia draws upon the darkness, and it spreads. The Ether... it's as if it has been turned inside out, foul and corrupted, and even Clarine finds herself gasping for what passes as breath to a spirit as it washes over her.
"What is this...?" She gasps out. Her power briefly overwhelmed, she is forced to her feet. She stumbles... and watches with horror as Lily transforms and roars. But she still speaks - still seems in control of herself...
Small miracles, at least.
She has to recover... It shines weakly for a moment, but a light gathers at her feet, forming a Seraphic circle as she readies her spell.
"...Nurse!" Clarine calls out. Light swirls around her, like little winged sprites, before flying off, settling over every in reach. To restore health, as much as she can manage. They will need it, if they are to continue this fight.
Xantia...
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Seraph Clarine with Nurse! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Azoth with Nurse! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Nurse! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Nurse! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Hannah Curie with Nurse! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Citan Uzuki with Nurse! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Nurse! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Lily Keil with Nurse! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Dean Stark with Nurse! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Leon Albus with Nurse! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 2 Combo! GS: Interrupt expired! GS: Seraph Clarine gains 5 FP from Gleam! GS: Seraph Clarine takes 45 damage from Poison! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Clarine heals Seraph Clarine! She gains 138 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Cripple, Jam, and Poison removed! GS: Seraph Clarine heals Ida Everstead-Rey! She gains 119 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Jam, Poison, and Shieldbreak removed! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Seraph Clarine heals Azoth! He gains 123 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Hex removed! GS: Seraph Clarine heals Hannah Curie! She gains 116 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Hex removed! GS: Quick applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: Lily Keil accepts Seraph Clarine's Nurse for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Hex removed! GS: Shield applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: Seraph Clarine heals Ethius Hesiod! He gains 116 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Hex removed! GS: Seraph Clarine heals Gwen Whitlock! She gains 123 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Slow removed! GS: Quick and Shield applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: Seraph Clarine heals Citan Uzuki! He gains 122 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Mute and Poison removed! GS: Shield applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: Seraph Clarine heals Leon Albus! He gains 129 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Break, Jam, and Weaken removed! GS: Seraph Clarine heals Dean Stark! He gains 116 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Entangle, Jam, and Poison removed!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
As a natural result of Xantia's actions, she is left without the elemental tempest to protect her... but as evidenced from the fact that the noxious anti-Ether she expelled doesn't affect her at all, what she absorbed from all that Ether has increased her strength all the more for it. Had she fully capitalized, she might have been able to end the battle right there for at least some of the combatants present. Instead... instead she just stood there, laughing in a very disingenuous tone.
She is rightly called out for this. Even though Leon and Dean see firsthand the lack of penetration power that bullets have on her in her current form, they don't fail to hit their mark. Though it's their words that send her reeling moreso. "And yet you insist! After all this, still you insist! Do you need to be right that badly? Is it that important to you?!" 'Am I that important to you', she may have been thinking, though she does not say it.
Ethius takes advantage by coming up from behind, forcing his way through the miasma to strike with his staff. Xantia was not expecting this at all, turning quickly and moving to block, but when it's Ethius's face she sees... she quickly moves her bracers out of the way. The bracers, of course. They're responsible for Xantia's current state, and Ethius would be the most capable of rendering them inoperable. Fully focused on preventing that from happening, she instead takes the blow full on the head, the solid strike sending her staggering back, momentarily disoriented.
"Nggh," she complains, in Hannah's general direction. "You don't... know me. Any more than anyone else, they just think they do! Just... just mind your own business, and--" That's the moment she's attacked with lightning, an element she should be capable of dealing with very well. However, she's been unbalanced too much to muster any kind of response to it, and so for once, the same thing that happens to everything else also happens to Xantia when struck by lightning.
The fire that burns her in short order is positively mild by comparison... except that halts the flow of the miasma from her body, trapping it within. She now only manages to still expel it when she starts coughing, starting to feel violently ill as a result. She shoots Ida, the one responsible, a hateful look for this, demanding, "What have you done?!" before stumbling away, heavily agitated.
With Clarine's light dispersing the dark cloud surrounding the other combatants, she starts to protest, "Don't..." but finishes it a different way in response to what she was told. "...Don't say things like that... The lies... The lies go deeper than you know..."
Citan touches upon this also. She can only shake her head. What she is doing now isn't working to fill the void at all. But when he hits her with the simple fact that she's saying things that she would never dream of saying to Fei, or anyone else for that matter... that's when her body truly begins to sag, and she would seem to be defeated. All she has for Gwen now is a tired glance. She can't keep going. Not like this.
As if in response to her flagging state, the light of those circuits on her bracers and collar flare up, and she screams as the toxins are forcibly purged from her body, brought back towards the state she should be in. A state to fight. But before she can meet anyone else's challenge... Lily, who had seemed to suffer most of all from what she did, re-emerges, in a form that... perhaps she should find terrifying, but Xantia never would, no matter the state she's in. As she is, right now, she prepares to face whatever may come head-on, and strike back in kind. Her focus and resolve in this is absolute.
...Right up to the moment when Lily claims that she is loved. Only a widening of her eyes can be seen, before that unearthly roar based in Etheric force rips directly across where she is standing, and--
Somehow, Xantia remains on her feet, throughout it all. Her only visible action: to cross her bracers in front of her. She'd focused everything she could muster to stand against this, managing an impressive act of defiance... but when it is over, Xantia sinks through her knees, her bracers sputtering and going dead. The circuits on her collar flicker, but remain present, as she forces herself back to her feet. Forces herself to look directly at Azoth. Wordlessly communicating something to him. One final push.
He does not disappoint. Gritting her teeth, Xantia employs everything she has left to suppress the pain, and force herself into a charge. Every bit of Ether she can still spare after that is channeled towards her right hand. She thinks to see his move coming, and strikes at Azoth's midsection to counter the incoming wing strike...
But the actual attack is directed at her collar, disrupting its electronics and causing a surge. A choked noise escapes her, but she is left with neither the energy nor the will to resist. Fighting her fading consciousness, she keeps her eyes trained on Azoth for as long as she possibly can. Long enough for her to force out some final words.
"A... zoth... ...Hold... me..."
Her strength gives out, and she collapses, trusting that her wish will be granted, though she won't be able to consciously experience it.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon has a worried look on his face to see Lily in that form -- alien and strange, but more than that, a reminder of the time she lost control of herself. A time not unlike, if dissimilar in other ways, the fight he is doing now. He sets his jaw, then nods.
Lily is in control, now. He can live with that; he can work with that.
Light from Clarine's Seraphic Arte swirls over him; as do a couple of little winged sprites, which does much to restore the haggard look that started to grip him, in the wake of the Ether storm. He looks at her. "My thanks, Lady Clarine," he says.
He looks at Xantia. "I've no particular attachment to being right. But I'm here for you," he says. "Take it as you will."
Xantia, finally, collapses -- she falls down, unconscious -- and Leon watches. He falls quiet, then, as he looks at her. "Bloody hell," he murmurs. "Lily, we better check on her."
He looks to Azoth, then -- and back at Xantia, the worry plain on his face.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Thanks to that choking miasma, there's a good chunk of the battle that Dean misses. Thankfully, Clarine's healing light clears away not just the miasma but its effects, restoring Dean's lungs and re-energizing him. He stands up straight and throws her a grateful smile and thumbs-up. He trades that smile for a fierce, determined stare at Xantia.
"Being right isn't what's important! YOU'RE what's important!" he shoots back without the slightest inkling that those words might well have been what were actually in her heart. "It doesn't matter what you say! You're a part of Xantia, and that means you're our friend too, and we won't give up on you either, just like Xantia wouldn't give up on us!!"
The bullets not penetrating, meanwhile, is the point. Dean doesn't want to hurt her--not seriously. Whoever it is at the fore right now... well, he just said it. She's a part of Xantia, and therefore she's their friend too, whoever she is.
The others pour in their own strength, from Ida pushing that miasma back into Xantia and Lily and her transformation and massive power. Xantia weathers it, but only barely, sinking to her knees as her bracers sputter. She whispers last words to Azoth, and then passes out.
"Xantia!" Dean calls--but while he does job up, he doesn't try to grab her. Instead, he stops a short distance away, then looks over at Azoth and gives him a nod. Then he looks to Leon, saying to Lily they should check on her.
"Hold on--let Azoth go to her first," he says. "That's what she wanted."
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Getting in this close to Xantia means being brutalized in Xantia's own elemental tempest. The light of Clarine's spell lands on Azoth. Energy pulses, briefly purifying Azoth's sputtering energy to a clean, bright white before it manages to normalize back to its typical blue. It's energy he can feed on to keep himself functioning under the stress.
He knew going in that this would be a risk. He also knew he would have to accept the next strike if one was coming his way. Azoth cannot give up. Azoth will not give up, even if his resolve crumbles him to pieces.
Xantia's broken request barely has to leave her mouth before Azoth closes the remaining space between them. He wraps his arms around her, catching her from her collapse.
Slowly, he lowers to the ground with her, but he does not let go.
His hug only tightens.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Citan can't rule it out, it seems--which is alarming to Lily. If Xenia was right...
Lily does not speak of lies. She just sees Xantia's resolve, and knows she must do her utmost. That, she does. And Lily finds not her magic, but her words might have struck the most telling blow. ...No, it surely required both.
"Xantia," Lily says in her distorted voice, in worry, in concern, in things that a voice like this has no right to have. But Azoth helps. And what she asks--
Lily floats down to the ground, in her form as Division. Azoth...
And Clarine. In this form, Lily cannot benefit from such magics fully; the light swirls around her, but finds no purchase. All the same, the intent warms her heart.
"Everyone..."
Lily closes her photonegative eyes, and begins to focus. "<Restoring organic core...>"
With a wince, Lily slowly takes on her old form, as if it grows out of the old; chitinous flesh sloughs off, a shell shed.
But her hair does not return to its normal color, though her eyes do. She doesn't notice at first. Instead she focuses on Xantia. "Yes," Lily agrees with Leon, and walks rather than floats the distance, though her legs feel strange beneath her. "Hesiod," she suggests. "Can you identify whether she's likely to do that again in the next few minutes?" He's the technological expert; even her awakened roboticist memories don't stand up to his demolitional expertise. But Lily herself kneels next to Azoth and Xantia. She doesn't reach her before Azoth, so there's no need for her to argue it.
She looks to Azoth. "May I?" She's going to check Xantia's pulse, for starters. Decide what she needs...
Help her.
She will not ask him to let go. But she will ask, "Citan?" Between them, maybe...
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Citan has made what he feels about that state that Lily now assumes clear before; here it is a necessity if they are to meet Xantia on her own level and subdue her successfully.
He just hopes they can finish it before -- if -- Lily should lose control.
But he can see that Xantia's energy is flagging. He can see that she is not able to respond the way she had before. Perhaps time is on their side.
A Seraphic Arte blooms about him, at once serving to invigorate and mend the wounds he had not had the opportunity to attend himself. He finds that he breathes that much more easily; glancing Clarine's way, he nods in her direction. This may be the most acknowledgement he can afford in the moment.
For he is steeling himself for the attack he is sure is coming, preparing himself for what he believes might next be necessary.
But in one fleeting moment--
He is reminded of how badly simply scraping her collar had pained Xantia, long ago. Whatever she might feel now--
It is not a surprise that this single strike was enough to return her (it seems) to her senses.
"Captain, Lily--!"
He'll make his approach with the both of them. Stabilizing her after all that's happened may not be easy. But between them both, they should be enough. He glances at Dean when he asks they delay treatment to let Azoth go to her first, but, in the end, it may not matter.
Azoth reaches her first regardless.
"Please, permit us to help her," he asks, arriving soon after Lily.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
It's a delayed, perhaps tense moment before Azoth lifts his head to look to Lily and Citan.
The Black Wolves. They're her family. Her friends. They fought for her today, too, as strong as they needed to be, like Azoth once tried to reassure they would be. ...It's okay. It'll be okay.
Gently, Azoth eases his grip, allowing space to check on Xantia.
But he stays and he holds her, as if her wish were a promise.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Xantia says the lies go deeper than she knows.
"...That is alright. We can sort through them together. You are not alone, Xantia." Clarine replies.
"You are quite welcome." She says with a nod toward Leon, before turning her attention back to Xantia. She watches her carefully - but this seems to be enough. The collar...
Xantia's collapse is to drive those thoughts from her head, for a moment.
"Xantia...!" Clarine gasps out. In a moment, Clarine's mirrors return to her sleeves - but at Dean's suggestion, she nods.
"Very well." She says - she smiles, just a little, as Azoth catches her - then, hurries to close the distance.
...She hopes that Lily and Citan may be able to do anything for her. For now, she watches - if she is needed, she'll be here.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Clarine's rescue with Nurse clears some of the Etheric miasma's effects, in so much that Ethius is certain he's not about to asphyxiate in the next minute or two after risking what oxygen he had in that strike. He swings an arm inward in that moment to complete the rapidly-performed spell for his Symbological shielding, just in case. He knows how fast Xantia is, and he's got too much sensory overload this close--
Things play out as they do, leaving Xantia murmuring something to Azoth (he doesn't catch the second half). Had he had the opportunity to speak of how far he had to go for his own mission,w hen perhaps he only had to go... somewhere not that far, but--
'Hesiod.' He looks up, as Lily addresses her.
He coughs a few times. "If I may be honest, the... everyone here, perhaps knows better than I would," that's oxygen in his lungs now, yes? He's talking, that's oxygen. He coughs again. His hand goes to his forehead. "She does not strike me as someone who would feign weakness, confident in her strength and mission as she... presented," the break-up is due to another cough. He does take several steps closer down to a kneel to better inspect and be sure. "Which, which is to say, Miss Lily," he shakes his head, "it seems clear."
That's for Xantia herself to decide, ultimately, but she has plenty of help for making that decision if she chooses to.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
There's something to be said for the communication of battle. While words carry their weight as well on the battlefield as they do outside it, some things speak just as loud.
Case in point: a simple glance, delivered after Citan's critical attack hits Xantia where it hurts most. Gwen's stance relaxes. She shifts back, adopting a stance that runs counter to the 'shoot first' tactics she began with. This gives plenty of room for attacks like Lily's, power in energy and love.
Still, Xantia keeps going, all until Azoth deploys a more subtle way of stopping her, one Gwen would have never thought of herself.
'Hold... me...'
Gwen relaxes.
There's a final way the Chrysopoeia process can be stopped: by Gwen's own will, once that impowered state has been achieved. It's a disconcerting feeling, like letting go of a life preserver and letting yourself fall below the water's surface, down into the cold.
"Azoth, do you... got her?" Gwen breathes heavily, her hands on her knees, then collapses down into a sitting position as Azoth holds Xantia close, arms dangling off her bent knees.
Watching dazedly as Lily reforms, sloughing off the chitinous stuffings of her impowered self. "..... Huh, handy... I guess the new hair color suits you too." She grins. ".... Thanks. I... really got a ways to go before I can catch up with Xantia... Uh, let me know if you guys need my help, here..."
It's formality at this point; Gwen is liable to fall asleep on Xantia if she tried to carry her.
Besides, that's a task for Azoth.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida shrinks back under that hateful stare, but her gaze stays focused. Her lungs are burning. She needs air--
Clarine provides. The tiny, glimmering light swirls around her, and the poison drains from her veins. The world starts to stabilize.
"Stop you from... more regrets," Ida manages, between gasping breaths.
Azoth ends it. Xantia falls, and he catches her. "We've got you," Ida says. She turns away, letting them have the moment. There will be time to figure out what the hell happened here when everyone's recovered. And Gwen is sounding, again, like she's going to fall asleep on the bloodstained earth if no one carries her out.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Clarine's light brings some relief from all of the noxious ether still affecting Hannah, and she breathes a little easier as it eases some of her suffering. "Thank you kindly," she says with a nod to Clarine.
Hannah doesn't know Xantia, she says. And, well... "Yeah, we ain't really talked much, so that's fair. Maybe I'm just takin' a wild stab in the dark." But do the others only just think they know her? "Now that I have a hard time believin'."
There is still a little bit of fight left, it seems, and Hannah pulls two crests graphs out--one glowing red, the other orange--as she watches, tensely. But Azoth gets the final blow, and Xantia has some last words before she loses consciousness.
The sorceress heaves a sigh of relief and puts those crests away. She promptly collapses right onto the ground.
It's... fine. She's sitting upright. But she does close her eyes and begin taking slow, measured breaths. When she finally opens them again they're not glowing, and her magic has settled.
Zephyr swoops down from high above to land on her shoulder, and turns his head to chirp at her curiously.
Hannah just nods, still watching as others who know Xantia better go to take care of her. "Yeah, I'm fine. Jus'... thinkin', 'bout what might've been..."
If she hadn't run from everyone who would've supported her, if she'd allowed herself to accept help five years sooner, if she had even just asked for help. if and if and if a million times older.
Xantia's right, Hannah doesn't know her, not really, but... Hannah doesn't think she's entirely missed the mark, either.
She slowly pushes herself up to standing again, leaning down to dust her clothes off. To Zephyr, she comments quietly, "Here's hopin' we kept her from makin' the same mistake I made."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Though out like a light, Xantia's breathing and pulse are steady. Leave it to her to appear to be simply sleeping peacefully after everything that just happened. The most distressing part about her condition might be that the danger her bracers turned out to represent can't be entirely avoided in any immediate way, as - try as anyone might - there seems to be no way to remove them. It's probably a good idea to keep a close watch, just to make sure the incident will not repeat itself when she awakens.
For the current moment in time, however, the crisis has come to an end. Xantia has nothing left, and certainly won't be capable of moving for a while. If Azoth were to feel as if Xantia was leaning into his arms for a moment there... well, surely that had to have been his imagination.