2020-06-06: Interdiction
- Log: Interdiction
- Cast: Caina, Zhang Xiumei, Victory Storm, Seraph Clarine, Gwen Whitlock, Eleanor Klein, Marivel Armitage, Ida Everstead-Rey, Matilda Whitehead, Fjolnir, Ratatoskr, Acacia Saitani
- Where: The Cape of Breath
- Date: June 06, 2020
- Summary: Until now, most of Odessa's operations have been directed elsewhere across Filgaia and the land of Spira alike. Meria Boule has stood largely untested by the terrorist organization's intent.
Until now. The strike on a Merian military installation to the north comes without warning, severing a key communications post and supply chain. To take the installation back will require significant strength in arms.
<Pose Tracker> Caina has posed.
DAYS AGO
"Is that the best they could do?" voices the sorceror and senior ranking operative within Odessa, prodding at the still form of the base commander with his foot. The operation center shows sign of the stuggle that had ensued just minutes before. A ruined door with depe gouges through sheer sheet metal. Blast marks on the walls. A table, overturned with one leg missing. One blinking light dangles limply from a broken ceiling panel.
But try as they might, the Merian forces never had a chance.
"This will be easier than I had thought," remarks Caina, then turns to his aide-de-camp. "Let Sir Vinsfeld know we have succeeded. Once we've consolidated our position, we shall advance as planned."
The woman nods and hurriedly departs the room.
Caina turns once she's gone, and regards the other figures in the room.
The demons.
"To me, Randolph!" he calls, drawing the Magic Key into position before working his art.
It would only be a matter of time.
NOW
There had been demons.
That, among other reasons, had been behind the urgent request from Meria:
Break into the compound.
Take it back.
Before an already bad situation became even worse.
Before there could be more of... them.
The initial assault had been costly to Meria's already strained forces following the attack in the harbor, and initial forays had proven that an all-out attack would bring their military might to its knees. And of course, another attack was likely coming. So thought the top brass. Thus, they had drawn upon other resources available.
ARMS of course had been the first to receive the call, but others, through various channels, had been called to action.
There had been demons outside the installation and within it. The advance towards the command center of the base had been a prolonged and difficult one.
At last, the ruined door to that chamber stands before them. It will only take one final push.
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
Xiumei stands near the front of the pact. She is already clad in her black bodysuit, and armor that looks mismatched -- like it comes from two sources, fused together. Strictly speaking, it does. She walks forward, with a frown; her hand is clutching the handcannon that she sometimes carries, and lifting it up.
"Demons," she repeats. She knows from the briefings that 'demons' could be many things, not all of them Hyadean. "This... I wonder what they are. Or how they got in there."
She looks back at Eleanor; she thinks to what Eleanor told her, once. A certain truth, not shared with all.
"...Do you know what to expect?"
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.
Victory Storm had heard the call while out and about in Meria. With most of his business done, he was mostly looking for a bit of pay as well. That, and demons can't be good! He got told somewhere that they were like Hellions! Time to go to work!
With that, the red haired elf was there already without any visible weapons on him other than the distinctive white coat that he wears.
Looking around, he looks over at the others involved. But otherwise, he's the one remaining silent for the most part. Yep. Totally silent. He's gonna have to check fully on what is going on, let alone who's who and who he's met before for that matter. No telling at this point!
Then again, probably the craziest worrying part is the lack of armor or the like on him. Or a weapon so far.
DC: Victory Storm switches forms to The Disillusioned Knight!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Report had come of an assault on a Merian military combat. As a member of ARMS, Clarine was, of course, called to action. She had expected to come face to face to Odessa... but what they encounter there can only be called demons.
It was quite the fight - they've forced their way through, but it wasn't easy. But now, finally, they're at the final door. While others work on that, Clarine handles a very important job.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Report had come of an assault on a Merian military combat. As a member of ARMS, Clarine was, of course, called to action. She had expected to come face to face to Odessa... but what they encounter there can only be called demons.
It was quite the fight - they've forced their way through, but it wasn't easy. But now, finally, they're at the final door. While others work on that, Clarine handles a very important job.
"Root of all creation, grant us the breath of life... Revitalize!" Clarine incants. A Seraphic glyph flares to life below everyone's feet, shining rejuvenating light on everyone to get them back to fighting strength.
Before long the light dies down, except that which surrounds herself naturally.
"...I have to wonder what awaits us beyond this door..." She murmurs. Her mirrors are already at the ready, floating around her protectively.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen Whitlock, super courier and possible human trafficker(THANKS ISIRIS), is here.
Dipping some fingers into the pouch at waist and loading them into her ARM with the air of... oh,,, polishing a scuff mark off her Gear, she hums. ".... Man." She squints. "Would there be enough time t'just... grab my Gear and come back? I ain't sure exactly what we'll be facin'. 'Demon' can mean a lotta things, y'know?"
She thinks on it a few moments with a tilt of her head, the light glinting off her turquoise earrings. "... Though... the amount of time and gas I'll waste might not make it worth it, really..."
Hopefully it's not a Ganondorf or a Ragnell out there. Or someone else she can't avoid fighting, like Yue, for that matter.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
There have been demons. The demons are ugly, disturbing creatures to be sure, unlike monsters more familiar to Eleanor, and there is something about them that causes her to recoil even before battle. But, she can't afford to stay back if she wants to help the others.
SHe's done her best to be encouraging to the others and to coordinate as she's able, deploying her Crests and other abilities to keep the information flowing and support the group. Now, with a few more demons ahead...
She looks to Xiumei thoughtfully, from closer to the back, where the support mage goes. "Honestly... I assume the demon summoner is ahead. That means we may have to deal with more still. "
She's ostensibly the squad leader today, by Marivel's direction, and has thus been trying to keep an eye on the whole battlefield as best she can. With Clarine's light, she sighs in relief. "There. That should do it..."
"So, we expect more demons, and a leader. Please be careful, everyone." She pauses. "...You wondered what they are--and that I don't know. But they feel... wrong. I've read about things like this, but I can't say for sure yet."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Demons, is it?
Marivel has been getting pounded emotionally lately. There's the situation with Erzebet. The troubles on Spira. What Brad has asked of her. Vasil. Marivel told the drifters who accompanied her into the depths of the Underground that she would be okay. But is she?
She has given the reins over to Eleanor today. Marivel is trying to find an appropriate FORCE CAPTAIN that isn't also a convict with a bomb collar or a guy that has a demon from another dimension residing in his body. Even if she had decided to lead herself today, it's anybody's guess whether she'd be in the proper mindset to do a good job here. Her mind is preoccupied with a lot right now and Odessa assaulting Meria with demons is, well, that's a step.
"Creatures from another subdimension called forth by a demonic key. Caina is here." Marivel says simply enough, though she doesn't give any direction on that matter. She nods to Eleanor's suggestion of caution--
--but it's Marivel who knows what she'll do?
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida has been expecting Odessa to capitalize on its surprise attack--in her eyes, it's just a matter of when and where. When the call went out, ARMS was mobilized, and so was she; as Xiumei and Eleanor advance, Ida is right behind them. Notably, she's avoided drawing her sidearm, relying on her fists and feet. Sweat drips down her brow as she takes up position. Stray locks of hair have come loose from her bun, hanging at the side of her face.
"Then I trust you to act as our spotter," Ida says. "As the one with the most experience in these matters." Ida pauses a beat, turns to Marivel. "Caina, then? Can you tell us more of how they operate?"
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel is quiet for a moment at Ida's question... then she adds, "When you have a demon key, everything starts to look like doors."
This is probably not reassuring.
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
Xiumei adjusts her posture a little, and she nods in Eleanor's direction. "All right... a leader. I suppose I'll try to find them, and take care of them." She smiles after making such a bold statement, which ruins the effect. Then her eyes glow, a lighter green than natural, as she starts to walk into the place.
"Caina," she repeats, after Marivel. Her nose wrinkles a little, and then she glances back at Ida. She blinks once. "Ah, actually... I believe Eleanor is in charge today, Miss Everstead-Rey. We should listen to her orders."
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"I was afraid of that," Eleanor remarks to Marivel. "That's exactly what I was hoping I was wrong about." She smiles at Xiumei at her plans to take care of the leader, though, and then inclines her head. "Right," she says at that. "I'll look out for them as well. I'll try to prevent him doing more of his magic if I can manage it."
<Pose Tracker> Caina has posed.
The door to the command center opens slowly. Sitting atop a desk in the middle of the room, its surroundings still bearing the scars of the initial attack, sits with his legs crossed no less than one of the four members of Odessa's inner circle, Caina.
He's not alone. Other than two large demons that flank the table, there are other members of Odessa here.
"Hmph. I knew you'd show up eventually," he remarks. Randolph the Magic Key hovers in a slow orbit about the sorceror, who then pushes off the table to land on his feet.
"Did you kill them all?" he asks, likely meaning the demons that had filled the base. "People like you are such a pain," the young man says, the key trailing behind him like a lonely puppy as he steps forward. "You came out here thinking you were gonna 'save the day' or something, right? That's so childish," the 'sorceror' remarks, shaking his head slowly.
Then, quite suddenly, he points for the door behind them. "Randolph!"
The key rises up slowly behind him, vomiting forth a color that can only exist in the gaps between worlds. It feels for an instant as if the entire world has tilted on its axis, but at a glance, nothing has changed. Unless they look behind them, that is.
The door... isn't there anymore.
A swirling pulse of a rend in reality throbs there instead.
"I knew you would come, you see. So, I prepared a little present for you! That's right," he says, his mouth twisting in a smirk. "You're in a place between dimensions now. I'm going to get rid of you all, right now, for Sir Vinsfeld's sake!"
He thrusts out a hand, calling Randolph into position just before him. "Come, Randolph! We'll scatter their ashes throughout the dimensions!"
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Vr2ySOOGI
An otherworldly shimmer rises around the alleged sorceror, winding its way upwards about the key.
The key pulses, once.
A rolling wave of un-fire, shimmering with a color that doesn't exist in this world, comes flooding in a rush towards Ida, Gwen and Eleanor.
Then the Key simply vanishes from sight. Unless Xiumei is quicker on the draw, she will find herself struck by that strange ARM. In an eyeblink again, it's gone again, having returned back to Caina's side.
GS: Caina has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Sarnath Wake! GS: Caina has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Sarnath Wake! GS: Caina has attacked Eleanor Klein with Sarnath Wake! GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock critically Guards a hit from Caina's Sarnath Wake for 28 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Caina has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Vacuum Rend! GS: Caina has gained 1 Combo! GS: Eleanor Klein takes a glancing hit from Caina's Sarnath Wake for 59 hit points! GS: Eleanor Klein's Force Evade activates! GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a glancing hit from Caina's Vacuum Rend for 71 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Caina's Sarnath Wake for 125 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda taking the field has become something of a rarity; her skills are actually best leveraged elsewhere, despite her... long, long history of pitched fighting, at this point. In some ways, that's been welcome, but...
... well, sometimes you're who happens to be available, for that very reason, as fire support.
Matilda's no bleeding heart, but this operation sits a little ill with her, in the way that... honestly a *lot* of what she gets read in on does. It's not that she's squeamish, but when a plurality of your combat operations involve demons and/or someone named the 'King of Evil,' that's... a little tricky to swallow. She gives a glance to Caina as the world tilts.
Stepping forward, Matilda draws her holdout pistol and her knife; Freischütz remains at her back, for now. "... I'm sorry we couldn't have lived in a better world," she says, as she advances toward Clarine; her pace is steady as she lays down fire from her pistol, doing her best to claim space 'behind' the shots.
GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Seraph Clarine with Repositioning Shot! GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: Seraph Clarine critically Guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Repositioning Shot for 26 hit points! GS: Seraph Clarine's Force Guard activates!
<Pose Tracker> Fjolnir has posed.
A WHILE AGO
"... Yes. I shall be under your command now, as was prescribed in the correspondence."
The soft sound of shackles are heard as the figure's hand shifts; as they glance over the laid-out plans. A Demon summoning. A trap, within a military base within the reaches of Meria Boule, as a follow-up to the attack on the port.
Truly, a sin.
Yes, a sin...
The long-haired figure lifts her head, slipping a mask-like helmet over her face.
"... Do not worry. That is her wish, thus... I will... oblige."
NOW
There were demons.
Demons, infesting the military installment nearby Meria Boule. Pitiable and monstrous creatures, the lot of them -- their faces contorted in just as much ire as it is pain and humiliation.
The demons do not end there.
As Caina's Magic Key rends reality and twists the space upon which the Drifters stand, there is the sound of clapping hooves.
There, in the distance. There rides a demon knight amongst them.
"You have endured much pain."
A demonic knight, clad head to toe in darkened steel, form-fitting plates plates interlocking in a quasi-chitinous manner. Their helmet bears the visage of a horned devil, almond-shaped eyes cutting an irisoid of blue amidst their black countenance.
"But you must yet endure more..."
Their voice is metallic and warped, filtered through the communication device equipped into the helmet.
But they do not stand-- they ride:
For the dark knight rides upon a steed of equal night. An enormous nightmare-horse that does not hide its automaton nature, crimson hooves stepping silently upon an ethereal pool of shadow.
It is not an unknown horse. Especially to the owner of the Crimson Castle, Marivel.
The steed is hers, belonging to the Castle. The one named Nyx.
Their hand rises, and a long twisted staff of black metal erupts to life within their arm, bearing two sharp lance-like ends.
"Come, Drifters. I am the Dark Knight, Fjolnir... and my steed and I shall be your opponent."
DC: Fjolnir switches forms to Odessa Cavalier Fjolnir!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
As Ratatoskr's face exists as something of a permanent gradient between 'grinning' and 'merely smiling,' it's tough to get a read of the Hyadean remnant's mood from time to time. (Other than 'being excited about something.' That one is always easy. On a 5x5 bingo card on the subject, there's a 3x3 set of free spaces dedicated to that. Who came up with the bingo card? Ptolomea is a prime suspect.)
Dutifully, being by the side of the Cocytus operative, he stands at a descriptor of 'passing resemblance to the concept of being still.'
There is a likeness to the times before, when his own people out-and-out slaughtered Arctica and Adlehyde and didn't pay them much further notice or dignity other than 'they got splattered real good.' It is in line with Vinsfeld's observation that the corrupt, weak foundations of Filgaia's governments are no match - but he wants to fight and remember pretty much all corners of Filgaia now that all of Filgaia is at war.
Due to subtle but real differences in how Hyadean sight works, he doesn't look where the strange color out of 'normal' space originates. The last time he did that, he learned there was an entirely different color of ichor in his body than he thought and he decided that was not great.
He turns around to face the gathered as Caina asserts he will get rid of all of them. He's certain he will! So it's important he sees all of them, right there.
Especially Ida. He wasn't going to pretend her voice belonged to anyone else! This could be his last fight with her--
The wave of highly discomforting color blocks off his view of her and prevents him from interring himself her way with the usual one-way pleasantries. There's another who happens to be on the correct side of Caina's initial volleys. He knows that brilliant red hue and set of pointed ears from anywhere! (In this case... Kattelox.)
"You're here...? You're here!" And he was so quiet, too! So quiet, compared to... before. Silvery color deepens where his flesh is visible - mostly his face - as he adopts that combat stance not unlike Muay Thai. Arms raised, hands downward, one leg lifted and slightly bent at the knee. "Come on...! Show it to me one more time..."
That is not a 'normal people' request to someone like Victory. No one in their right mind would ever want to directly meet what he did then!
His eyes light up to a more brilliant yellow.
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ratatoskr with Boiling Quicksilver! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Boiling Quicksilver for 0 hit points! GS: Burst! applied to Ratatoskr!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor spots Caina as the doors open with his demons, and frowns. He knew they'd show up--well, that tracks well enough. The orange-haired elf steps forward from near the rear of the group. "Who are you to talk about 'childish'?" she demands of Caina, but her eyes widen as the colors change, and she finds herself with the others in... a different space. She is obviously one of the younger members of ARMS herself, authority or not. "We'll be a worse pain than that." Eleanor hefts her rifle, transferring the sleek dark ARM to her left hand as she pulls a Crest--and then shifts quickly to the side, avoiding the bulk of the strange, shimmering color. "...Because this finally explains it."
"I went to school in Sielje. I'm not afraid of the space between dimensions."
She then pauses, stopping in place as she half-stumbles, and her eyes glaze over--she stares into nothing, eyes faintly luminous. This lasts for a few long seconds, before she blinks, and shakes her head. Instead of her original plan--The crest she pulls is one of Muse and Fray, but she doesn't look immediately to Caina--instead, she applies her spell to Xiumei, sparkling light cascading around the both of them. "As the stars turn, so turns assault--Arcane Reflection!"
A brilliant shield of light cascades in front of Xiumei, next, as Eleanor slides her attention to Caina. "Watch out!" she says to the others. "The demons are going to move, but more quickly than you think!"
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Arcane Reflection! GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 1 Combo! GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action. GS: Caina has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Sarnath Wake! GS: Caina has completed his action. GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Caina's Sarnath Wake for 131 hit points! GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a solid hit from Eleanor Klein's Arcane Reflection for 0 hit points! GS: Shield and Surge! applied to Zhang Xiumei!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Ugghh." Marivel says as she is transported out of a normal realm and into a swirling alternate reality. This is what she meant about the doors, bro. She warned everyone about doors.
But there wasn't really an alternative. What were they going to do? Let the demons win? You can't do that with ALL your problems, folks! Even for Marivel it's going to take a while to figure this out and, really, Eleanor is a trained sorceress maybe she can break the trap somehow. This is fine dog.
Her instinct is to assault a keyblade wielder but her attention is drawn by a ... horned devil on a ... robot spooky horse that once belonged to her castle. It even has the same name as Tio's! Marivel doesn't mention she named all of her horses Nyx since it's sort of meant to be a drone type than a name exactly but WELL she doubts she stole the horse from Tio is the point. She sniffs once, twice.
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_bobVii13w
"With Eleanor taking over today... I don't have to worry so much about the team."
She stretches her arms from side to side then works her elbows and shakes them out.
"So I'm gonna devour you." Marivel crouches and snaps her finger into a smooth motion--pulling a--
--platter of donuts from Meria Boule's bakery out of space and time--
--and dropping it towards Fjolnir's head.
"Huh?" Marivel blinks. "Oh..the warped space must be interfering with my aport a bit."
She clears her throat. "I am still going to devour you?"
GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Fjolnir with Augmented Aport! GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action. GS: Fjolnir guards a hit from Marivel Armitage's Augmented Aport for 66 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
"You--"
Marivel, Xiumei realizes, wasn't kidding. Caina has a literal magical key. Her eyes widen a little, and then her eyes narrow. "We're not letting you do what you want with our city!"
That magical key appears in the blink of an eye. It comes near her, and there is a shout in her mind from Varius -- <MOVE!> -- and then she just manages to duck away. The key slams into her, impacting her side with a loud thunk of slamming into steel microfibers, armored padding, and skin alike.
With a hiss, Xiumei shoots forward, even as Eleanor's spell explodes around her. The barrier appears, and Xiumei shoots effortlessly through it. The Pulse Cannon fires, three bursts of energy flying in a straight line towards Caina.
GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Caina with Pulse Cannon - Triple Burst! GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Caina takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Cannon - Triple Burst for 127 hit points! GS: Mighty! applied to Zhang Xiumei!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's gaze lingers on Caina, sizing him up. He's not what she would picture if someone asked her to imagine Odessa's most senior summoner, but his work here speaks for him. "We are here," Ida says, "to prevent further loss of life." Her voice is even, level--and she's content to let Eleanor take point. Instead, she meets Ratatoskr's gaze, experiences a moment of deep frustration. She remembers what Cidney told her about Odessa. It is frustration given form, the Colonel said--the frustration of people who have been used and abused by the uncaring status quo. People whose home was reduced to salt and ash. People who fled the wreckage of Celesti with broken bodies and scarred souls. People who had nowhere else to turn because their world had come crashing down.
Even as Caina pronounces doom on them all--even as anger stirs in her heart over the violence he has already committed--Ida looks at the sorcerer, and wonders what his story is.
Ida has no idea what to expect. Randolph's attack catches her flat-footed; the force that should not be washes over her, forcing her to dig in her heels and raise both arms to protect herself. Hyadean biometal unfolds from her gauntleted arms, forming shields--but even that does little to blunt that cosmic fire. "Nghh--!" Ida chokes out. More biometal flows from her skin to cover the burns. Adrenaline, and its Hyadean equivalent, flood her system and blunt the pain.
As Eleanor moves to shield Xiumei, Ida places herself between Caina and the Crest Sorceress. She slips into a fighting stance, spreading her feet and opening her hands. She starts to circle Caina, even as she keeps on eye on that key. "That's quite the trick you have there," she says, her tone almost conversational. Her hands dart through a series of strikes, open-palm blows, and light, testing attacks. At the same time, she proves amazingly light on her feet.
This is Method Mercury for you: fluid, adaptable, reactive yet proactive.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Caina with Open Palm! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey assumes the Stoic stance! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's gaze lingers on Caina, sizing him up. He's not what she would picture if someone asked her to imagine Odessa's most senior summoner, but his work here speaks for him. "We are here," Ida says, "to prevent further loss of life." Her voice is even, level--and she's content to let Eleanor take point. Instead, she meets Ratatoskr's gaze, experiences a moment of deep frustration. She remembers what Cidney told her about Odessa. It is frustration given form, the Colonel said--the frustration of people who have been used and abused by the uncaring status quo. People whose home was reduced to salt and ash. People who fled the wreckage of Celesti with broken bodies and scarred souls. People who had nowhere else to turn because their world had come crashing down.
Reality skips and slides. Ida knows that sensation--she experienced this awful vertigo less than two days prior. She does not have to look to see what Caina has done, and what it says of him and his true power.
But even as Caina pronounces doom on them all--even as anger stirs in her heart over the violence he has already committed--Ida looks at the sorcerer, and wonders what his story is.
Ida has no idea what to expect. Randolph's attack catches her flat-footed; the force that should not be washes over her, forcing her to dig in her heels and raise both arms to protect herself. Hyadean biometal unfolds from her gauntleted arms, forming shields--but even that does little to blunt that cosmic fire. "Nghh--!" Ida chokes out. More biometal flows from her skin to cover the burns. Adrenaline, and its Hyadean equivalent, flood her system and blunt the pain.
As Eleanor moves to shield Xiumei, Ida places herself between Caina and the Crest Sorceress. She slips into a fighting stance, spreading her feet and opening her hands. She starts to circle Caina, even as she keeps on eye on that key. "That's quite the trick you have there," she says, her tone almost conversational. Her hands dart through a series of strikes, open-palm blows, and light, testing attacks. At the same time, she proves amazingly light on her feet.
This is Method Mercury for you: fluid, adaptable, reactive yet proactive.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine nods. Their leader... She has a feeling she knows who it is, and Marivel says it outright. Caina...
There are other people here, too - not members of ARMS, but Drifter allies. She recognizes them - they get a friendly nod of greeting, but she is otherwise focused on the mission.
And slowly, the door opens. There, as believed, is Caina - among others.
Clarine frowns at her words. Childish... well, it's better than letting them do as they please.
And then, a strange color issues forth from the key that makes her senses as a nature spirit twinge uncomfortably... and they find themselves trapped in a place between dimensions.
There are three more, here - a demon knight referring to themselves as Fjolnir, Ratatoskr, and...
Clarine hears the firing of an ARM. She's gotten more used to such things, in her time since emerging from the Shadow Vault. Her mirrors move into position to intercept the shots, bullets impacting their hard metal backs, and Clarine's attention is distracted away from Caina and toward Matilda. Clarine recognises her somewhat, from her various scrapes with Odessa.
She begins to ready a spell, but she pauses at her words. This might be the first time an agent of Odessa has actually apologized to her.
"...And will this better it?" Clarine asks. "...I am sorry, too - that we must fight."
Rather than a spell, Clarine gestures in Matilda's direction. One of her mirrors breaks away from the pack, swinging at Matilda before returning to a defensive positioning.
Her eyes flit over, occasionally, to the others, but right now her focus remains largely on Matilda. The way they're positioned right now, she would be unable to move and assist the others without opening herself up to further ARMSfire...
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Dancing Glass! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"If the demon summoner is behind those doors, then we're gettin' close." Gwen runs a hand through her pale red curls, dark with sweat, then thumbs up. "Just one big push n' we'll be able to go n' chow down!"
That smile Gwen displays for her comrades dissipates when they walk through those doors. Confusion enters in its wake, her eyes taking in the floating key. "I'm assumin'... you're Caina?"
The world tilts, something shifting in the fabric of the physical plane that only a part of Gwen can truly appreciate, if just in the form of a stomach ache and a flash of vertigo as everything resettles.
Then there is pain, a color unlike any leaving a terrible imprint on the back of her eyelids as Gwen doubles down, surprised by the blast from Caina.
The door they came through is gone. And Caina is not alone.
There is Matilda, the one who embraced the ideas that Odessa offered. Then, the battle-ready Ratatoskr, a being just as likely to be a foe as he was to be an ally, should the conditions be in someone's favor. And then... a knight...? Someone unfamiliar to Gwen.
False confidence has no place here.
Eleanor shouts her warning, and Gwen nods. "Don't have enough time to do a proper attack, but this's gotta help." The fabric of her sleeve begins to cling to the glowing ARM underneath, static electricity floating the drier strands from her head. "Take advantage of this while you can, guys!" Casting her right hand put wide, Gwen projects a circle of faintly pyrite yellow energy, expanding in quick bursts to cover as much area as she can manage, at that point.
Seeing Ida shield Eleanor, Gwen tries to position herself to their side, wary eyes scanning the area around them. "... I'll follow your lead, Eleanor."
GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from Seraph Clarine's Dancing Glass for 56 hit points! GS: Cover! applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Caina with St. Elmo's Fire! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Matilda Whitehead with St. Elmo's Fire! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ratatoskr with St. Elmo's Fire! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's St. Elmo's Fire for 0 hit points! GS: Jam! applied to Matilda Whitehead! GS: Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's St. Elmo's Fire for 0 hit points! GS: Jam! applied to Ratatoskr!
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia's stomach lurches as the world shifts around her, and the wave of nausea that rolls over her leaves her gritting her teeth and clutching at her temple to try to ward off the splitting, fragmented headache that comes along with it. She's already been on edge the entire trip through the complex, feeling the wrongness hang about the air, and now everything about this scene is at odds with her sense of practicality. She used to be a down-to-earth, simple reporter, and now she's facing down a demonic knight in a dimensional pocket.
She's not even sure what that means, damn it.
"I'm not stupid enough to think there was a day to save," she rubs at her mouth with a gloved hand as she squints through the pulsing of her head, keeping her guard up as she separates her feet. "If you seriously thought we wouldn't spot a giant flag saying 'hey this is a trap' a mile off, that's on you. Mostly I came to kick your ass," she growls under her breath. "And throw you out of Meria."
She says that, but she's still edging backwards from the imposing form of the knight on its horse, anger flashing in her eyes even as she glances this way and that, trying to figure out how exactly you punch someone on the back of a gigantic horse. The obvious answer is to tear them down from it, but even that seems like a massive proposition right now. One hand steals towards her jacket, feeling the weight of the pistol there.
"Two against one isn't all that fair," she finally decides, and dives to one side. She has a nasty feeling that the table she rams a foot into to send it tumbling on its side mid-motion might not last all that long in this reality, but so long as she can use it as cover, she'll do her best to keep it around.
Despite the tension of the situation - or perhaps because of the panic - she does feel a little spike of guilt as she draws her gun and squeezes the trigger. It might make the best tactical sense, but it's still trying to hobble a horse by shooting it in the leg.
GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Fjolnir with Bury the Lede! GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 1 Combo! GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.
Victory looks a bit shocked that well... squirrel rat guy is there! "How the hell did you get out of that block of ice?"
He steps up, then comments to the others, "I think I'm being called out."
Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulls, impossibly so, a full on trident from the pocket. One that gives of a distinct feel of Malevolence as he spins the weapon in hand. Then he sets himself in a martial stance, with the trident balanced against the back of his opposite hand. "I swear, you just can't keep people on ice these days."
Then he dashes forward suddenly, trident aiming before he suddenly thrusts the weapon on handed outwards at the rat in a burst of incredible speed. Enough that only a trail of shadows is left behind him.
GS: Victory Storm has attacked Ratatoskr with Sonic Trident! GS: Victory Storm has gained 1 Combo! GS: Victory Storm has completed his action. GS: Fjolnir takes a solid hit from Acacia Saitani's Bury the Lede for 107 hit points! GS: Cripple! applied to Fjolnir! GS: Caina takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Open Palm for 141 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Caina takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's St. Elmo's Fire for 0 hit points! GS: Jam! applied to Caina! GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Victory Storm's Sonic Trident for 118 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Riposte! applied to Victory Storm!
<Pose Tracker> Fjolnir has posed.
There is a pause as Marivel approaches the mounted cavalier, who looks her way and rises to full height. The knight spares a glance towards Gwen as well.
But as luck -- or rather unluck would have it -- Acacia is here too, accompanying Marivel. Fjolnir's expression is entirely unreadable underneath that mask, and perhaps it's a good thing that the armor offers them that much emotional protection.
Because it does not offer as much physical protection, as Acacia declares she's here to kick ass and take names and kick them out of Meria. Despite Two on one not being fair--
"Do not underestimate my steed."
--and indeed Acacia doesn't, because she shoots at Nyx and scores a hit that shears off some armor plating as it lets out a soft whinny;
I'm gonna devour you.
A worthy announcement from a worthy Crimson Noble, indeed. The dark knight is about to respond when--
*APORT*
A flurry of doughnuts become Lost in Time and Space and erupt ontop of Fjolnir's head. "Hmm...!" The cavalier moves swiftly, Nyx shifting to evade the charge of the torus treats, but it is too late. One by one, the donuts--
--stack up ontop of the dark knight's horns?!
"What manner of trickery is this? Cookie and caramel, chocolate sprinkles, and custard filling with a soft buttery inside...?!"
No, Fjolnir, at the very least, Marivel is not evil enough to drop Hostess pies onto you. Just as the dark knight seems stunned by the presence of donuts, their loyal steed at the very least springs into action, leaping back towards Acacia in vengeance as it twists at the last moment and gives her a kick--
--and gives Marivel a meaningful gaze.
GS: Fjolnir has attacked Acacia Saitani with Heel Crush! GS: Fjolnir has attacked Marivel Armitage with Nyx's Gaze! GS: Fjolnir has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
As far as fast opponents go, Victory is up there - and there's something about the way his shadowy afterimages just don't seem to play nicely with this pocket dimension to Ratatoskr's sight. Normally fleet of foot himself, Vic's approach is so quick, so true, that all he can meaningfully do to try and defend himself is to thrust an elbow strike up defensively to try and parry it.
The trident digs through the crimson armor plating and buries itself into Hyadean flesh, quicksilver leaping from the assuredly painful wound. Putting aside the unique circumstances behind Victory's weapon... there is something odd in the way Malevolence flows about where the weapon finds purchase.
...In that it simply cannot. Something about the Metal Demon foot soldiers of Mother - perhaps of all who descend from Hyades - seems unable to be stricken or afflicted by it.
Stabbing still works fine, though. There's less give in Hyadean flesh, but through tenacity and technique, Victory digs it in there, and Ratatoskr grins a bit more through the pain, because pain fails to do its job to properly teach.
"Ice melts..." He replies, uncharacteristically muted. Unless Victory decides to pull his trident out, though... it may not be a great call to keep it stuck in there, for aside from the utterance, Ratatoskr just goes all-in right from the jump - leaning inward and leading with a knee strike to Victory's gut before striking with the arm opposite of the one impaled. An elbow, into an outstretched backhand. It intensifies from there. More kicks, more elbowing. Ceaseless. Intense.
Over yonder... for those who were there on Vinsfeld's greeting to the world, some of the gathered may remember when Ratatoskr just bound in and pledges his allegiance to him. It was, in short, because he was such a huge fan of seeing one of the more recent human war heroes of Filgaia - one of its most brilliant tactical minds! - come back to declare war on virtually all of it. A joy, rather than a desperation or a sorrow.
All too innocent, to truly understand the whole of it takes out of them.
GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Force Action! GS: Ratatoskr spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Victory Storm with Ceaseless Conflict! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Marivel Armitage takes a solid hit from Fjolnir's Nyx's Gaze for 140 hit points! GS: Cripple! applied to Marivel Armitage!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
That burst of energy puts Matilda on her guard, and makes her momentarily fumble her pistol; as a result, when Clarine's mirror comes in, she's forced to hit the dirt *hard* rather than evade in any graceful kind of way. It also isn't a particularly *complete* evasion; the mirror swings into her back as she goes into a roll.
"... it has to," Matilda answers Clarine, though without a lot of joy in it. "Things never get better without hurting first." She scrambles back to her feet, and rather than continue her slow, deliberate approach, she just charges; thanks to Gwen's intervention, it's -- frankly -- the more prudent approach.
Once she gets near enough to Clarine, she comes in for a series of quick, small slashes with her knife. Much like her shots, these are more about taking up space (and denying that space to Clarine) than laying down the hurt... though, well, it's still a knife wielded by someone very talented with weapons. If she gets one or two good slashes in, that's *still* bad.
<Pose Tracker> Caina has posed.
"That's right. I am Caina, of Odessa's Cocytus."
Caina may be about twenty-one, twenty-two, but he manages to look even younger than that, adding to the possible surprise Ida might have, facing the alleged sorceror properly for the first time. "Then surrender," Caina replies. "Sir Vinsfeld gave you an offer. You're the ones who spat in his face!" A flash of anger, there.
And then reality becomes somewhat more unwound.
The walls -- just what are they attached to, anymore? What lies beyond the ceiling or floor for that matter? -- themselves seem to gently vibrate, as if they were being plucked upon by some far more powerful force. As if what's keeping everything 'together' here is a thin, frail thing.
But it's still holding. For now it's still holding.
"Say what you like," retorts the 'sorceror', gazing at Eleanor from across the room. "As long as you cling to your childish vision, you'll never succeed!"
She's not afraid of this, she counters. She went to school in Sielje.
"Tch. A city of fools. They fail to fully appreciate the power that dwells beyond!"
A frown graces the demon-summoner's face as Xiumei shouts that they can't just do what they like with Meria. "How are you going to do anything about that when you're trapped here?" Caina asks.
Though Xiumei does make her own point, with the business end of a cannon blast. The Key rises in an arc about Caina, trailing a shimmer of anti-green light--
Each strike laces eggshell cracks across the surface of the barrier about the demon-summoner, until the last.
It breaks it. Caina staggers back, a look of shock on his face. "You broke though it--?"
But he recovers swiftly. Stony-faced, he snaps his fingers.
The demons shift like stone statues slowly coming to life. They seem an order greater than the demons destroyed in the halls that had been just outside this chamber. But they move so seemingly slowly as they lumber forward. Step. Step.
Eleanor's warning cuts out across the room.
Step.
They move.
They move quickly enough that to blink would be to nearly miss their acceleration as they roar forward. In tandem, just as the sparkling light descends about Xiumei and herself, their claws cut through the very air itself.
In the meantime, Ida takes the fight to the sorceror more directly. Once again, the Key spins in a shimmering rise about the young man, leaving a barely-there barrier about the young man in its wake. 'That's quite the trick,' Ida says. "This the power granted to me by Randolph, the Magic Key," he replies, said key returned to a slow orbit about him. "Here, let me show you--"
It blinks out of existence as she presents a testing strike. In a heartbeat, three things happen:
A circle of yellow light rolls out from Gwen's spot in the room, causing the light surrounding the sorceror to take on a pixelated quality.
Ida strikes. Caina frowns as the barrier ripples disconcertingly under Ida's probing jab, then disintegrates outright as she slams an open-palmed strike into it. Again, the barrier is no more!
Randolph reappears just behind Ida, slamming into her at an (impossibly) high speed.
He backs away from her after, the key returning to his side. Caina's gaze shifts away from Ida, though--
Light, ghastly and empty, pulses about Randolph first.
Then, it pulses around Gwen. It's like falling into a lake. Or a pit.
Or the heart of a dead star.
GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Seraph Clarine with Pruning! GS: Matilda Whitehead assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: Caina has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Ruinous Swipe! GS: Caina has attacked Eleanor Klein with Antiworld Slash! GS: Caina has gained 1 Combo! GS: Caina has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Paradox Decay! GS: Caina has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Dead Abyss! GS: Caina has completed his action. GS: Seraph Clarine takes a solid hit from Matilda Whitehead's Pruning for 142 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a glancing hit from Caina's Ruinous Swipe for 61 hit points! GS: Zhang Xiumei's Force Evade activates! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Caina's Paradox Decay for 131 hit points! GS: Mighty! applied to Caina! GS: Eleanor Klein guards a hit from Caina's Antiworld Slash for 76 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Eleanor Klein gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Caina's Dead Abyss for 95 hit points! GS: Gwen Whitlock's Force Guard activates! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Caina drains Gwen Whitlock! Caina gains 48 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
"The effect he's having, on the environment--" Xiumei's eyes are a little wide in surprise. She sees the way the floor vibrates, as if reality itself could unwind. She sees the demons appear, rushing at her, and Xiumei's cannon vanishes. The weapon disappears into so many cubes of digital data--
--and the claws slash through them, dissipating them. One slams down into her shoulder, cutting into but not through the armored fiber of her bodysuit. She hisses, and then those same cubes of data erupt around her hand.
Her eyes dart, to Gwen and Ida, and then to Eleanor.
She needs space, she decides.
A cylinder appears, sleek and white, and her armored fingers curl around it. Then, a blade of green light burnt white at the center erupts. The blade extends, outward and outward, until it is a long whip.
And then, with a cry, Xiumei lashes out. The blade of light slashes out in a wide circle, trying to cut through -- or drive back the demons.
"They don't need to appreciate it! You can keep that power to yourself... and Vinsfeld's offer can stay with himself, too!"
GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Caina with Pulse Whip - Extend-Slash! GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo! GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Ah yes!" Marivel shouts over to Caia. "If only we OBEYED!"
She then glances towards Acacia. "Dang Acacia," Marivel manages, a ghost of a smile flickering on her lips. "You're really giving it to them today huh?" It doesn't quite cheer her up but it does improve her mood considerably.
She looks to Fjolnir and says, "Sorry Nyx-II!" Luckily Fjolnir's horse is fully combat ready and it slams into Marivel, knocking her to the ground. Being in a WEIRD SPACE makes it difficult for Marivel to use some of her tricks. This is not our reality, and until she discerns the nature of the sub-dimension she is going to be hesitant in doing anything TOO wacky.
Well beyond using APORT anyway. She rolls herself back and flips herself back into a crouch. "Well, this time... It'll work perfectly...!"
She draws out her microphone and raises it into the air like a wand, "APORT!"
ELSEWHERE
A young elf boy in a green tunic approaches a large golden chest with a key in his hands. He sticks the key inside, turns it and--
--the chest vanishes before his very eyes!
HERE
A large golden chest that is in the process of slowly opening up tumbles for Fjolnir's head!
"Gah--! That's not what I as aiming for either!" Marivel complains.
GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Fjolnir with Augmented Aport! GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action. GS: Fjolnir takes a solid hit from Marivel Armitage's Augmented Aport for 156 hit points! GS: Poison! applied to Fjolnir! GS: CRITICAL! Victory Storm guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Ceaseless Conflict for 100 hit points! GS: Acacia Saitani takes a solid hit from Fjolnir's Heel Crush for 122 hit points! GS: Mute! applied to Acacia Saitani! GS: Caina guards a hit from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Whip - Extend-Slash for 78 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Disrupt! applied to Caina!
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.
Victory quirks an eyebrow as his trident does skewer, but there's no sign of a great deal of pain. The first elbow is met with Victory's gut, but the second has him using the trident's reach to keep himself out of the way, followed by another kick met with one of his legs meeting it and a hand stopping the elbow. The last kick actually does move Victory back. And his response is to yank the trident out as well.
Walking around, and spitting out a bit of blood from one of the lucky elbow shots has Victory looking at Ratatoskr more carefully. "I see... I'll have to shatter it this time."
The trident's pointed tines are dragged on the ground before he suddenly swings the weapon in a feint. Instead of going for the weapon attempting to slam into the metal demon, Victory's shadow engulfed fist swings out instead as he attempts to back fist the rat away. Preferably by punch to the face, but he'll take what he can get here!
GS: Victory Storm has attacked Ratatoskr with Dark Smite! GS: Victory Storm has gained 1 Combo! GS: Victory Storm has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Victory Storm's Dark Smite for 120 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
'It has to', she says. There's a lot of different ways Clarine can take that.
"...And where do you stop the hurting...? It is one thing to apply that logic on a small scale, but to an entire world...?" Clarine wonders. "Too much hurt, and it will break... It is the same for people. There is healing that does not necessitate pain."
Matilda charges her. This is something Clarine is not quite as good as dealing with - she much prefers to fight at a longer range. Her mirrors move to try to intercept her charge but they're not enough to stop. Clarine tries to drift back out of reach, but she can't quite succeed. Matilda lands a few good slashes across her person.
She drifts back and, as she moves, a pair of mirrors lash out at Matilda. But in reality, that's a feint - the true attack comes from the ray of searing light that rushes down toward her from above.
Clarine winces - both from the wound, and the strange sensation all around her. This place, with the unnatural forces acting on it... it makes her feel deeply uncomfortable in a way wholly different from anything else.
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Limited Ray! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: Matilda Whitehead guards a hit from Seraph Clarine's Limited Ray for 93 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Matilda Whitehead gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Maybe Eleanor can find a way out--but before she can work with the magic around them, they'll have to contend with Caina himself. Caina, who--
"I'm not that much younger than you!" Eleanor counters about childishness too, and he calls Sielje a city of fools and she narrows her eyes. The key rises--
"Great work, Xiu!" Eleanor calls as she pushe through, bt then there is the reason for her spell--there, as the rushing demons come, her magic takes up most of the blow, giving Eleanor the chance to watch as reality shifts a little more. "Gh--Knew it!"
But she very much appreciates the whip--with Ida in the way of her and Caina, Eleanor retreats behind Xiumei away from the demons too. Gwen has said she'd follow her lead, which means she needs to have a lead to follow. Identifying the too-fast demons and their summoner...
"Focus on Caina, Gwen!" Eleanor suggests. "If we force him back we can address his magic!"
Then, she reaches into her bag and pulls not a Crest, but a bunch of berries. She breathes in, and they start to sparkle, shining with magical energy as Eleanor uses her sorceros powers to channel its inner power over the others fighting Caina directly. Sparkles dance down onto Ida, Gwen, Xiumei, and Eleanor herself.
Then she looks forward, and grits her teeth. "Don't get too close to the walls!"
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Mystic Berry! GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Mystic Berry! GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Mystic Berry! GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Eleanor Klein with Mystic Berry! GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 1 Combo! GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action. GS: Eleanor Klein heals Eleanor Klein! She gains 125 temporary hit points! GS: Eleanor Klein heals Ida Everstead-Rey! She gains 125 temporary hit points! GS: Eleanor Klein heals Gwen Whitlock! She gains 125 temporary hit points! GS: Eleanor Klein heals Zhang Xiumei! She gains 125 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda is not a creature of the natural flow of the world in the same way Clarine is; while the unnatural space they're in is a little disorienting for her, she's not nearly so dizzied as Clarine is. As a result, when that ray comes, she's ready for it, ducking low and bracing herself; while it hurts, she's still ready to advance on Clarine all over again when it comes down.
The world will 'break' from too much pain? That prompts a genuine *snarl* from Matilda as she approaches again. "The world's already broken!" she shouts, bitterly, as she advances with a high rising knee. "As far as anyone alive right now's concerned, it *came* broken!" She moves to seize Clarine by the shoulder and plant her forcefully into the ground.
Pressing her advantage to the extent she's able with another knee strike on her (hopefully) now-downed opponent, she cries, "Pulling Filgaia and Lunar out of their endless death spiral is going to hurt, no matter what!"
GS: Matilda Whitehead enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Seraph Clarine with Planting! GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jam expired! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Clarine critically Guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Planting for 39 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Seraph Clarine's Force Guard activates!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"You think highly of him," Ida says, when that anger flashes across Caina's face. "Did he recruit you, or did you join him?" Then the walls begin to roil, like a thin film of oil on the surface of water. Ida's stomach tightens into a thin little knot. Does this man have the power to tear open this space, and cast them all out into the void--or worse? It's not a terribly comforting thought. As she regains control and resumes her assault, she takes her eyes off Randolph for a fraction of a second. That second is all it takes.
Randolph slams into Ida's right shoulder. The sharp crack of snapping bone echoes off the walls, somehow amplified by the nature of this place--as is Ida's cry of pain and surprise. She sags to one side, her face contorted, her left hand gripping her right elbow. Then a familiar bright heat bubbles up beneath her skin. The pain begins to dull; the flesh stretches noticeably, strangely, as Hyadean tissue seeps in to heal the break. Eleanor's sorcery only accelerates the process. Ida gives the Crest Sorceress a grateful look, rolls her not-exactly-broken-anymore shoulder, and lets it settle into place with a *pop*.
Beneath the surface, something roils. Ida feels the wave coming and flows with it, letting Fafnir's old reflexes get to work. As it turns out, he already seems to have a response to being attacked by an enemy sorceror:
In the space of a blink, Ida closes the distance and drives the tips of her fingers at Caina's throat. The armor on her left hand thickens, flowing out like brass knuckles as she drives that fist towards Caina's nose. A third strike follows, a jab to the sorcerer's solar plexus.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Caina with Muscle Memory! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Stoic stance ends. GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Victory will notice something else as he draws the weapon back - the bloodflow from where Ratatoskr got skewered ceases leaking more quicksilver. It is part of what made the Metal Demon army so dangerous to fight - their regenerative capacity. A wound like the one he inflicted earlier would have likely stopped a fight right then and there, but this is a taste of what many of his friends had to go through a few years ago when Mother was on the cusp of consuming Filgaia's very heart.
Victory's confidence and skill drive him forward. Ratatoskr has the advantage of superior wingspan and, were he of the mind, would make for a frustrating out-fighter in hand-to-hand... but Vic's feint seems to catch him off guard and allow him to get that 'in' with the backfist. Right to the face, as he desires! The eye on the side struck dims as spittle mixed with silver escapes between sharp teeth. His recoil is not so dramatic for such a solid strike as he hunches over and touches a hand to the ground. His squirrel-like tail of segmented metal plates flares out, flexes, and stays erect. He feels a little disoriented. Was it the pulse wave from earlier coming from the 'Super Courier' over there?
"...Why are you holding back...?" Ratatoskr asks, his voice building up in volume as he is about to do that irritating thing that-- "Why are you holding back!!"
...that he follows something that's a query right into an exclamation. Ahem. Caina's words were clear on the matter: this would be the place where they die. He knows Victory has more to him than this! He has no reason to doubt that this could be the last he ever gets to see, hear, feel, and experience all of this! The Crest Sorcery of Eleanor! The blob of light (the light that looks correct) that talks and punches back when he fights it! That strange armored woman with the neat beam weapons! ...He's seen some Odessa operatives lay down their lives as part of operations too... it could be the last he get to witness the more muted resolve of Matilda there, too.
To say nothing about Ida Everstead-Rey, who appears to have inherited and mastered a number of unique martial disciplines between humans and Hyadeans...
Victory may notice that Ratatoskr's hands end in claws. Claws that could very easily rend and tear flesh, and probably most conventional metal too. When he rights himself up, he rushes towards Vic and tries to grab him with both hands, lift him up into the air. The grip is firm, and yet, with a delicate touch that - mysteriously! - does not involve digging those talons into their flesh.
"Come onnnnnn!!" Ratatoskr sneers as both his palms discharge compressed air to try and launch Victory away. "...I want to see it again... I want to feel it again... I want to fight it again...!"
Garm, inexplicably, has a fan.
GS: Ratatoskr used Mystic on Ratatoskr! Status effect durations increased by 2! Temporary HP duration increased by 2! GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Force Action! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Victory Storm with Skyward Scatter! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Victory Storm takes a glancing hit from Ratatoskr's Skyward Scatter for 70 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Victory Storm gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mighty! applied to Ratatoskr! GS: Victory Storm's Force Evade activates! GS: CRITICAL! Caina takes a glancing hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Muscle Memory for 52 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mighty! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
'Sir Vinsfeld gave you an offer. You're the ones who spat in his face!'
"Last I remember, Mr. Caina, we got teleported to another continent completely." Gwen frowns, unbuckling the strap on her right glove. "Which worked in its own way, though I can't say the people there truely appreciated our sudden appearance. Then again, it's all a moot point, 'cause the moment he made that speech, my respect for him dipped into negative digits. I mean, a mercenary king wantin' his own place? That's respectable, but the rest..."
Gwen prattles on as Caina continues, her thread of thought (and subsequent attempt at antagonistic levity) slowing to an eventual stop as she notices the exchange between Ida and Caina, Ida's arts placed against Caina's key.
Randolph pulses, and Gwen finds herself drawn in.
No, falling. Cold, pulsing, beyond, ice, water, trailing down beyond the edges of sharp needles to a new expanse beyond, a chill existing in a new arena just like the impossible color the key painted minutes before.
In it, is a comforting shelter placed there by someone else, an empty throne, where a instrument, strung by razor wire, lies. She clings to it in her mind, the unplayed song filling her head. Reminding her of who the blue-eyed assassin feels she is.
As a creature of air, she floats back up, the minutes passing from her life where a few seconds should have passed instead.
"Kh..." Gwen doubles over and crashes on the ground. Rising to her feet like a woman possessed, she grasps her side, her lax right hand clenching.
'Focus on Caina, Gwen', says Eleanor. The spike of anger, fueled by the cold ocean Isiris planted in her core, makes the command just another cord in the song beating in her head.
Ida flows from strike to strike, her Method practiced and true. It may succeed, if Gwen had stayed back. It may still do so, in spite of the angered courier throwing herself at the summoner.
Gwen is simply a wall of emotion, hurtling past Ida, throwing her right hand forward, palm open, towards Caina's face.
A thin line of gold pulses in the edge of Gwen's right iris, her lips agape slightly, uttering one word.
"_Don't_."
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Caina with Lucky Break! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"Believe me, I'm not!" yells Acacia back, more out of sheer spite and defiance than any actual attempt to hold a sensible conversation. And because it's true - nightmare aside, she remembers her first month in Meria Boule being interrupted by a bout of concussion after she approached a horse from the wrong direction. She learnt a harsh lesson then about the dangers of being a city kid newly arrived in the countryside.
Even if the horse in question is a giant, demonic thing, it's still a horse - so when it starts to twist and rear up in a single motion, that experience tells Acacia exactly what to expect, and she stifles a swearword under her breath as she starts to dive to one side. Were it a regular creature, that might have worked. Instead, her world jolts as the hooves make contact with her, and only the start of her dive turns it from a head wound into a shot in her gut.
It sends her flying anyway, scattering backwards into a tumbling sort of sideways roll. A moment's shadow tells her to duck her head lower to avoid smacking it against the underside of another table - then she's too busy coughing and trying to catch her breath to really think more.
Something inside of her makes her pull herself together, sliding out from beneath the table and using one of its legs to haul herself back to her feet. She does catch the vampire's comment, though the quick smile she sends in return is a little thin given she just got booted in the head for it. "Don't underestimate us, either," she mutters back to the knight, using the time to wonder what the hell to try next and focus past the throb of pain.
When she moves, it's to try to surprise the impassive figure: she doesn't retreat this time but rushes in instead, swinging around into a roundhouse kick at one of the horse's legs. The purchase she gains lets her climb for height, springboarding into the air enough to stare down the featureless mask - and with one arm drawn back as fire suddenly swirls around her fist, then shoved forwards in a lunging straight.
GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Fjolnir with Red Tape! GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 1 Combo! GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action.
DC: Victory Storm switches forms to Mist Knight Garm!
GS: CRITICAL! Fjolnir guards a hit from Acacia Saitani's Red Tape for 123 hit points! GS: Slow! applied to Fjolnir! GS: Infect!! All debuffs' duration extended by 2 rounds!!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine's eyes open wide in surprise as Matilda barrels right through her ray, moving right toward her. That rising knee would be enough to knock the wind out of a mortal, but Clarine is spared from that due to her Seraph physiology. While it aggravates her wounds, it is not as serious as it could have been - but it does mean that she is unable to stop herself from being forced to the ground.
...But, she is as ever a being of light. As Matilda goes to land another knee strike, Clarine's form disperses into motes of light - and these motes of light reform behind her as two Clarines, their expressions grim.
"And Odessa's answer to that is to take more lives... To make dealings with demons and Kings of Evil... to attack isolated villages, and temples completely unaware of their existence... They are not the first band of short-sighted mortals to assume their cruelty is the only solution..." One of the Clarines replies. They both extend their hands toward Matilda, unleashing unleashing glimmers of light that burn at the touch.
"They have done nothing but destroy and take lives... So I must ask you again - where do you stop the hurting...? If your solution to a broken world is to break it even further... then you, too, are short-sighted..." The other concludes.
GS: Seraph Clarine enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Dispersion Feint! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Caina takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's Lucky Break for 69 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.
Victory ends up flying backwards, flipping over in mid-air to land neatly a good distance from Ratatoskr. "It?" He pauses, then glances at his trident before looking at Ratatoskr. "Huh... never thought someone would ask to fight it."
Taking a breath, he looks at Ratatoskr, "Fine, you want it... you got it."
Raising the trident tines high, Victory swings it around, leaving a white halo overhead before the weapon stabs it and bright light shines down on him. The first thing that's noticeable about the new figure is that it's a bit taller than the elf that was there.
The next is the armor. Sea green metal comes out of the light show. And a surge of Malevolence as the new figure roars even as the light show breaks piece by piece.
Sea green armor bursts out of the light first, seemingly shattering it before the trident comes down to slam butt first into the ground. The wolf-like knight's eyes look right at Ratatoskr, but the undeniable feeling of wrongness. Of the Malevolence is there for everyone to feel. Whoever, whatever Victory is, the new form is distinctly different in a lot of ways. "You wanted Garm, you get him, Rat."
Then the armored figure charges again, this time with the trident behind him before he swings the now enlarged, more ornate weapon around to repeat the earlier skewering, quick motion. With surprisingly more shadows... around the tips of the weapon? That's a bit different.
GS: Victory Storm has attacked Ratatoskr with Demon Trident! GS: Victory Storm has gained 1 Combo! GS: Riposte expired! GS: Victory Storm has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Matilda Whitehead completely evades a hit from Seraph Clarine's Dispersion Feint! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Matilda Whitehead gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Riposte! applied to Seraph Clarine! GS: Ratatoskr guards a hit from Victory Storm's Demon Trident for 106 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Victory Storm drains Ratatoskr! Victory Storm gains 50 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Fjolnir has posed.
Acacia, as Marivel says, is really givin' it to them today.
The reporter darts in for a roundhouse kick, and manages to connect -- and the mechanical horse trips to one side as the dark knight leaps straight off their mount and lets them rebound off a pool of darkness, hopping to one side.
"That is enough for today, Nyx. You did well."
The Nyx unit gives Marivel a long look, though one that does not seem particularly in duress -- before nodding and teleporting away into that same pool of shadow that surrounds its movement.
But there isn't a lot of time, because another APORT is coming and--
A golden chest comes on flying from the air. It takes a lot of effort for the dark knight to flip up, reach inside the golden light and withdraw--
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ardSWkEE_Ek )
20 Rupees! Now the Dark Knight has some pocket change!
...
...
Wow, what a letdown.
The knight drops down to the ground with the chest, brandishing their staff menacingly. "I am not yet defeated. Now, witness..."
A gloaming trio of black, wispy energy begins to erupt from the tip of the staff -- for a moment, the two Drifters can feel something resonate in the air, as something within the knight's armour begins to radiate an off and awful feeling. There is a slightly muffled grunt from the knight and--
"Master of all Swords... Cut Energy."
The knight's staff is thrust forward-- and twin impaling blades of ephemeral darkness score out of Caina's dimension, seeking to leech their very energy!
GS: Fjolnir has attacked Acacia Saitani with Night Sword! GS: Fjolnir has attacked Marivel Armitage with Night Sword! GS: Fjolnir takes 21 damage from Poison! GS: Fjolnir has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Caina has posed.
"Age is more than years!" retorts the 'sorceror' with a bit more force than is strictly necessary, when Eleanor points out that there's really not all that great a difference in their years (both in actuality and in appearance).
The walls are buckling, some of them gaining enormous indentations, as if something outside the space in which they now all stand were making a gainful attempt to pull them away. Even the ceiling begins to show cracks and signs of stress.
What lies without this room...?
Just as Eleanor predicted, the demons come at the two of them quickly. Fleetingly, Caina narrows his eyes, before Ida takes up the bulk of his attention.
"That is none of your business," he informs her. He backsteps, trying to get out of her immediate range; as long as that distortion flung by Gwen remains, it seems, the Key's abilities are impacted...
Ida makes the most of it. She closes on him, drives her fingers in for his throat.
She finds instead Randolph, the key interposing itself between herself and him. An attempt to bloody his nose is similarly rebuffed. But even a teleporting magic demon-summong key can't be everywhere at once. Her fist connects heavily with his solar plexus, and some things, even a high-ranking operative can't defend against. He drops to the floor, for the moment prone.
The key hovers in the air just above him, as if it were taking stock of this situation.
And then it shines a sickly violet and vanishes.
To appear again, just inches from Ida, and driving at her with full force.
Slowly, rising from the floor, the demon-summoner begins to pull himself together, one hand pressed against his stomach.
Xiumei's whip sings through the air, scoring a deep rend across not just one but both of the demons. A deep inky fluid weeps from the wound. But they are tougher foes than even those demons they faced in coming here, and they descend again upon the two young women, this time the both of them ganging up on Eleanor as she draws upon the hidden power within a bunch of berries.
Particularly since she warns about the walls, a warning that might be justified given the stress evident on them now but...
Caina frowns nonetheless, his gaze lingering on Eleanor.
But Xiumei tells Caina exactly what she thinks of his -- Vinsfeld's -- offer. Marivel similarly chimes in.
To call Caina's expression 'wrathful' would be to do it a disservice. He is a stormcloud, mere moments before the lightning comes.
"Then die!" he snarls, drawing Randolph in before him. Amber symbols begin to trace their way at speed across the floor, circling around Xiumei. Golden -- if gold were poison, if gold were venom -- light begins to spill from the Key.
This is not the gate. This is only another path to the gate. If the path went through the air and under the ground at the same time, the unkind wind and cruel stone ripping their way across one's body--
Gwen hurtles past Ida. She hurtles into the heart of the incantation. She may well become caught up in it. But she moves across that golden path.
Her palm collides with force with the sorceror's face.
Blood, briefly, dances in an arc in the air. Caina for the second time is hurled backwards. He collides with the table and slumps against it for a moment. He touches a gloved hand to his face and sees it come away red.
And then, he starts to laugh.
GS: Caina spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Caina has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Zero Point Rupture! GS: Caina enters a Counter stance! GS: Caina has attacked Eleanor Klein with Ruinous Swipe! GS: Caina has gained 2 Combo! GS: Caina has attacked Caina with Initiate's Fervor! GS: You cannot act while you still have attacks in queue. GS: Caina takes a solid hit from Caina's Initiate's Fervor for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! applied to Caina! GS: Riposte! applied to Caina! GS: You do not have enough actions remaining to use that attack. GS: Marivel Armitage takes a solid hit from Fjolnir's Night Sword for 167 hit points! GS: Fjolnir drains Marivel Armitage! Fjolnir gains 50 temporary hit points! GS: Caina spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Caina has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Claws of Sebile! GS: Caina has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Claws of Sebile! GS: Caina has gained 1 Combo! GS: Caina has completed his action. GS: Acacia Saitani takes a solid hit from Fjolnir's Night Sword for 148 hit points! GS: Fjolnir drains Acacia Saitani! Fjolnir gains 50 temporary hit points! GS: Zhang Xiumei critically Guards a hit from Caina's Claws of Sebile for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Zhang Xiumei enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Eleanor Klein takes a glancing hit from Caina's Ruinous Swipe for 67 hit points! GS: Mute! applied to Eleanor Klein!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
The sparkles of light swirl about Xiumei. They dance up the length of her beam whip, then swirl about her and infuse her. Some of the bruises under her armor fade as they settle in, and Xiumei nods. "Nora! Thank you!"
She turns, angry, as she looks at Eleanor. Her eyes widen as she sees the two demons rushing for her. Her blood runs cold, her gut clenches, and she grips the beam whip tighter. The whip turns back into a sword; a long saber of light.
'Then die!'
"Not... today!" she calls out, as she slashes out at the amber symbols that appear around her. The blade slashes through them, and before the light can spill out, she cuts through them in the nick of time. She turns and bolts after that.
The Pulse Saber vanishes in a burst cubes of light. She turns, hand reaching out. "Nora!"
<I have this! Don't worry!> Avile cries out in her mind. Xiumei's eyes widen -- and then the gems mounted in her forehead armor and her chest armor flash. Light ripples outward, across the ground. A few stray purple hairs that fell from her head suddenly freeze, the color bleeding out of them to grey.
And on and on it spreads, as time around the demons grasping at Nora, the Magic Key floating in the air, and Caina himself comes to a stop.
GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Caina with Timestopper! GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
It is a blatantly insane and dangerous request. What's next? Is Ratatoskr going to walk up to Ashley and ask to fight Knight Blazer right from the jump?! It may not be mathematically possible to fail a Wisdom check like that. Nonetheless...
Ratatoskr watches with a growing grin as Garm re-emerges. The horn on his forehead - occasionally crackling impotently with disrupted energy from the disorienting pulse from Gwen earlier - quiets its discord as the sea green armor reappears. The purple miasma erupts to... surprisingly little fanfare, on Ratatoskr's part.
"Yes...!" The last time Ratatoskr fought him, Victory more or less left him for dead in a block of ice. There is no reason to assume it will end differently, for the Mist Knight is a thing of terror. A creature of unrelenting fury. Not even the two Oracles of Filgaia had the means to cleanse the beast.
Ratatoskr's hands both clasp around the trident as it sticks into his chest. With luck, that's the correct part of the chest to go to stop him from breathing and uttering complete nonsense like 'yay I want to fight the horrible hellion beast \^_^'.' The Hyadean makes weird gurgling sounds as the polymorphic nature of Hyadean physiology corrects this problem, so, no, no dice there.
It's a losing prospect on Ratatoskr's part as he's forced to his knees. The trident buries deeper, bit by bit. Once more, Victory will see that while he's absorbing something... the Malevolence isn't infesting, even this shy of Ratatoskr throwing himself on top of it (even he's not that crazy). It just can't. (The stabbing part, ostensibly, is still working as intended.)
NOT LONG AGO
Zed leads a bunch of trusted folks and acquaintances to look into the cursed sword, and into the sad history of one of the very last to have the strength and will to dare stand to Mother. To feel, in part, countless years of agony, shame, and anger on a level and timescale he is simply too young to comprehend - left stunned in its wake he could do naught but watch as Zed and the others fought that spectre.
NOW
"...Why are you angry...?" Ratatoskr asks of the manifested Garm. That anger that seems to go far and beyond the level of aggression between warriors - bereft of fear of what could be impending death. Malevolence is a much different beast from whatever went down with the Doom Bringer, but Ratatoskr is just at the baseline level of Resonance needed to see and interact with it. It's that touch of emotional likeness - the anger - that parses.
"...Why are you angry!" He shouts, as the horn on his forehead glows with gathering energy of ARMs of totally alien make to either Filgaia or Lunar (...aside from ample historical salvage). "Why would you be upset to fight?!" The Odessa convert rises to his feet. The joy of meeting Garm again gives way to his own anger, and he bloodily rips the trident out of him with a force that might even make the armored Hellion have to give an inch back. "I don't understand...!"
His body is too wounded from shock to move with martial grace. But the horn on his forehead, a potent weapon unto itself? It just needs the energy to charge, and it has it in spades - practically glowing with the threat of warping it from accumulated heat before the energy discharges head-on into Garm.
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Caina's Claws of Sebile for 0 hit points! GS: Poison and Reaper! applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Gwen Whitlock takes an additional 50 damage from Reaper! GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Force Action! GS: Ratatoskr spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Victory Storm with Yggdrasil Burst! GS: Burst and Jam expired! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"I do what I know *works!*" Matilda shoots back, ducking low and starting to weave through those glimmers of light. It's a delicate business, but that's not how Matilda makes it *look* -- she weaves and leaps like the world has slowed down just for her, until she's in close with Clarine again.
"The only thing you can do in a world this broken is claw your way back in blood!" She'd *like* to address the comment about the King of Evil, about the demons, about how for so much of Odessa it feels like the cruelty is itself the point... but to say what she'd like to say in front of Caina is -- risky at best.
So naturally, she doesn't. Instead, she rushes in with her elbow ahead of her to block any further shots, charging into one of the Clarines and then kicking at the other in hopes of finding the 'real' Clarine (assuming that Clarine isn't simply bilocating, anyway).
GS: Matilda Whitehead enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Seraph Clarine with Elbow Charge! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Matilda Whitehead's attack becomes clear! GS: Seraph Clarine takes a solid hit from Matilda Whitehead's Iron in the Garden for 183 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey guards a hit from Caina's Zero Point Rupture for 122 hit points! GS: Victory Storm critically Guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Yggdrasil Burst for 28 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Victory Storm gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Surprise! It's not just an elbow charge at all. Once one of Matilda's attacks finds purchase, she quickly hurls her knife into Clarine at point-blank range, then draws another and *tackles* her. "We don't have hundreds, thousands of years to wait for our world to fix itself!" she half-cries, half-pleads as she slashes two more times. "If you want to call that 'short-sighted,' then -- so be it!"
GS: COUNTER! Caina counterattacks Zhang Xiumeiwith Counter Attack! GS: Caina takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Timestopper for 0 hit points! GS: Entangle and Shieldbreak! applied to Caina! GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a glancing hit from Caina's Counter Attack for 68 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Zhang Xiumei gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Zhang Xiumei enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel smiles at Acacia for a moment.
She looks back to Nyx. She doesn't say anything, but she clearly isn't upset at HORSE here. She waves a small hand towards the robohorse as it teleports away into SHADOW.
Ugh! It seems like the Dark Knight is coming out ahead! They are now 20 rupees richer!! Those are worth 20 rupees!! Nevertheless, Marivel isn't out of this yet--not even after the DARK KNIGHT grunts and unleashes... the essence of cutting.
"Oh heck." Marivel says, throwing herself back but the ephemeral darkness still swipes into her and, well, she may be a vampire but she's getting clobbered hard here.
It would make sense at this point to try a powerful spell! But instead what Marivel calls upon is...
ELSEWHERE
Hammer beams brightly, a new toolbox in his arms. "Oh man, with these I can really do some good work on Vierge next time it's in the shop!" He says. "Miss Elly's going to be so pleased by its improved performance! I'm so glad I saved up my pay so I could afford--"
Hammer's arms wrap around nothing.
"..." Hammer blinks. "Huh? M...My tools...!" He drops down to his hands and knees. "...This...is the fate a bit player like me deserves..."
HERE
A fresh toolbox with a ribbon wrapped around it tumbles towards the Dark Knight's head!
"Nggghh...!!" Marivel complains. "I almost got it...!"
DO you Marivel? DO YOU?
GS: Marivel Armitage enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Fjolnir with Augmented Aport! GS: Cripple expired! GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.
The odd monster that is the Mist Knight Garm looks at the incoming horn attack. And rips the trident free of Ratatoskr's flesh to bring it up and actually tank the attack itself. Heedless of the outcome, the Knight is still pushed back a bit before shadow and ice flare to break through the attack.
The trident is spun in hand, one handed as shadowy copies seem to manifest and the Knight lays into Ratatoskr. Hard, effortlessly as the trident seems to dance, slashing out rather than stabbing the metal demon.
"Why am I angry? Because of what this form does to me. Because the beast within begs for things that I do not like." He answers Ratatoskr. The violent, spinning death wheel of the trident stops finally. A violent, spinning death that was a dance of sheer death for many a monster before he stabs it out violently at Ratatoskr again. Quite a lot harder, and with a loud crack of thunder as the weapon tries to both pierce and knock the metal demon away.
"I'm still human underneath this, whatever you are! I'm not about to fall to the demon within so eagerly! What you're facing is something else entirely! Now away with you before I freeze you again!"
GS: Victory Storm spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Victory Storm has attacked Ratatoskr with Shadow Trident Dance! GS: Victory Storm has gained 2 Combo! GS: Victory Storm has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Victory Storm's Shadow Trident Dance for 144 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Caina with School of the Demon Fist! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida feels more than sees the pulse Randolph emits as it pulls Gwen in. It's an echo of what she felt when she witnessed the fall of Hyades secondhand, magnified and distorted until it's almost unrecognizable. It's a light gone out, a husk adrift in the uncaring--
"GWEN!" Ida cries out. For a moment, the cosmic horror of Randolph's power is eclipsed by the much more personal horror of losing a dear friend. Gwen reappears from that unearthly light, and in that moment, Ida breathes again.
Malevolence dances along Ida's nerves. She sees Caina slump to the ground, pulls back a foot, and makes ready to kick him. Go ahead, the anger tells her. It's the least he deserves, the pain tells her.
"No," Ida grates out. She's angry, but she can't let that anger distract her. Randolph blurs towards her. Fafnir's reflexes seize control of her limbs, and she makes no attempt to fight them. Gauntleted hands grip the key as it drives towards her, Hyadean biometal grinding and scraping against whatever the hell Randolph is made from. Ida's feet skid back, but Fafnir's reflexes spring into action again, correcting her stance. When the assault subsides, there is a vaguely Randolph-shaped indentation in the armor on both of Ida's palms. Both shoulders ache, the injured one moreso.
And then Xiumei pulls out something that Ida last saw while she was under Avile's control. A grin dawns on her face, even as anxiety builds in the pit of her stomach. Can she do that in this space? Could Caina stop her if he wanted to? And what if--
No. She won't waste this chance.
Ida steps forwards, throws a straight punch with her right arm. It's a deceptively simple movement--every muscle in her body works in tandem to support it, and every ounce of her lifeforce flows exactly as it should. This is the style of the Demon Fist, put into practice.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"Hmph!" Eleanor calls back at Caina. But she looks with a troubled eye on the walls falling, coparing them to the vision in her mind. Ida's questions ring for her, but she has two demons giving her trouble in the next moment. She has to focus only on them. She looks as they come--
But Caina may notice that she looks to where they're going to be before she looks at where they are, starts to move before their motion is complete. She isn't fast enough to fully carry it off, but she steps out of the way of the first demon's terrible slash, and only takes the second demon's on an arm that shreds her sleeve and leaves deep red lines, between her movement and her defensive magic.
But their second swipes will surely hit home, until abrubtly, they stop. They bleed out to gray, and Eleanor blinks rapidly before she realizes she's not hit, and quickly steps back. The Timestopper effect certainly won't last for long, so Eleanor, instead of pulling a crest, pulls something else from her back where she'd stowed it instead:
A large, glossy rose-brown ARM, in the style of a rifle. It's already loaded, so she takes aim nearly point-blank at one demon and fires, straight for its face, and then the other. The recoil is enough that in both cases it scoots the young elf backward and jars her arm a little.
"Thanks, Xiu!" Eleanor calls at that, and narrows her eyes, starting to aim at Caina. ....And wonders for a moment if Gwen is okay--followed by Ida worrying her for that matter. She moves forward, "We can do it if we stay calm!"
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Caina with Wizard's Got A Gun! GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Ida Everstead-Rey's attack becomes clear! GS: CRITICAL! Caina takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Devil's Draw for 183 hit points! GS: Caina takes a solid hit from Eleanor Klein's Wizard's Got A Gun for 94 hit points! GS: Fjolnir critically Guards a hit from Marivel Armitage's Augmented Aport for 23 hit points! GS: Fjolnir's Force Guard activates! GS: Fjolnir enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia manages to unseat the figure, if only on their own terms - that's a tiny victory, at least, and it gives her time to pant and gather her breath. In any other situation, she might try to press the attack further and capitalize on the situation, but the implacability of the armored figure tells her that this is the time to hang back and hold her ground, and that the fight's not nearly done yet.
Which is a terrifically cold comfort for her aching limbs and her throbbing head. But her bravado is still running strong, and all she can think to do is shake out her hands and suck in a long sigh as she watches the horse vanish to wherever it came from, shifting her feet in readiness as the pronged staff is pointed in her direction.
The trouble is that she was expecting the staff to actually originate the attack, and is a bit too grounded a person to really consider the ways in which the space they're trapped in could be used against them. She's ready for the thrust itself, twisting to one side - but she's not ready for the way in which the lance of darkness spikes suddenly out of the wall next to her, which is no longer a wall but a momentary void of rippling black.
"Guh--" she blurts, and it takes a moment for her to even realize the hit isn't physical - her skin isn't broken, there's no impact wound, it's just a sapping, heavy feeling that covers her body like an iron blanket and almost pulls her to the ground.
The world swims around her as she struggles to keep her footing. "--Marivel--" she hisses, squinting up as she reaches back into her jacket - but this time it's not for her gun. "You're up." Instead, she's pulled out her camera. Whatever happens here, she's got faith in the vampire to get every member of ARMS to safety so long as she has the power left to do so.
Her job is to learn whatever she can about their enemies - so she lifts the viewfinder to her eye with a grim frown, pulls Caina and the knight into frame, and just out of her own sense of spite grits her teeth as she marshals together the power of Ether around her. "--say cheese."
GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Fjolnir with Paparazzi! GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 1 Combo! GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Fjolnir guards a hit from Acacia Saitani's Paparazzi for 0 hit points! GS: Disrupt, Entangle, and Shieldbreak! applied to Fjolnir! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine is taken aback at how swiftly Matilda manages to weave through her volley. She's not sure if it's due to the disorientation or if Matilda is just that good, but the result is the same either way - Matilda charges one of the Clarines kicks at the other.
As it happens, both of them are indeed the real Clarine. Light may disperse, but all of it can be said to be the real light - and so, they both converge again in hopes of avoiding further damage. But it's not quick enough to avoid a knife from Matilda, and then a tackle.
Clarine's... almost surprised at the tone of her voice. She's taken aback - a part of her wonders if maybe she was too harsh with her.
It takes her a bit longer to disperse away this time, exhausted as she is, long enough for Matilda to get in a couple of slashes.
This time, though, there's only the one Clarine, and she isn't looking good. She isn't made for drawn-out, close-quarters fights.
"...I-I am... sorry." Clarine apologizes, shaking her head. "However... I cannot see how Odessa's actions will fix anything... You will claw your way back in blood... and blood is all you will find."
She rises, and a Seraphic glyph flares to life beneath her feet.
""One thousand divine lights..." She starts... but seems to second guess herself before the incantation fully completes. The light begins to die... but before it does she draws it into her hand. It begins to build, and as it does she extends her hands out toward Matilda, projecting it forward in a disorientating flash of light, capable of causing temporary blindness.
"...Why Odessa?" She asks, then.
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Blinding Flash! GS: Cover expired! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Matilda Whitehead guards a hit from Seraph Clarine's Blinding Flash for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Matilda Whitehead gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple and Jam! applied to Matilda Whitehead!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Momentum is a force to be reckoned with, and with anger urging Gwen on to attempt to return some of that pain right back to its sender. Even if Gwen wanted to stop, it'd be hard to, as she slides across that sick gold line.
The curse of that attack, aimed towards Xiumei, is inflicted on the courier. Eleanor's healing magic shields her slightly, giving her health for the curse to fragment away.
No worries, Eleanor, Gwen is perfectly f i n e.
Straightening, Gwen pants through an open mouth, looking towards the slumped Caina, who laughs at his bloodied hand.
They can do it, if they _keep calm_.
Gwen wills herself back, spreading her gaze to finally take sense of where everyone is, the surrounding walls that threaten to buckle away, and finally, to the few battling Caina directly: Xiumei with her amazing gift (which Gwen should really ask the nature of sometime), Eleanor with her... gun(?), and Ida.
"Ida, you holdin' okay?" Something bothers her in her gut now that Gwen's taken a moment to recollect herself. "Sorry, I kinda lost control back there. But, gimme a sec..." Crouching slightly, Gwen draws on her ARM, a rush of her own yellow energy expelling the sickly curse that tries to stick to her bones.
She lets out a shakey breath, closing her eyes. "We'll all be okay." Blue-grey eyes open, a sober glance sweeping towards Caina. "Mr. Caina? You better prepare yourself. I ain't holdin' back now, n' I think I'll be the least of your worries, lookin' at the rest of my friends here."
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Bounding Flight! GS: Gwen Whitlock takes an additional 15 damage from Reaper! GS: Gwen Whitlock takes 31 damage from Poison! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Bounding Flight for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Poison and Reaper removed! GS: Hyper and Quick! applied to Gwen Whitlock!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
'... and blood is all you will find.' That stings, for Matilda -- more than she'd like to admit; that's always been the fear, really. That all of this is pointless. She has no answer to that bright flash of light, and finds herself momentarily blinded -- which, for better or for worse, gives her time to think.
*Part* of that thinking is devoted to practical things, of course. Matilda quickly fishes something out of her pack; after a moment, she jabs it directly into her thigh with a visible wince. Her vision... *starts* to clear, at least... and she backs up a few steps, giving Clarine some space back -- which may, of course, have been what she wanted all along.
"... Drifters, ARMS -- all of you think love is enough, even if you don't admit it," Matilda finally answers. "That if we just care enough and try hard enough we'll save the world." She fishes another knife out of her pack and hurls it at Clarine, albeit with still-blurry vision. "I just... can't think that way anymore. Not after everything I've lost trying to."
GS: Matilda Whitehead spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Matilda Whitehead enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Casting the Bullet! GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo! GS: Matilda Whitehead has launched an attack Link! GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a solid hit from Matilda Whitehead's Casting the Bullet for 0 hit points! GS: Amplify, Burst, and Hyper! applied to Matilda Whitehead! GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Seraph Clarine with Tilling! GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo! GS: Matilda Whitehead's Avenger stance ends. She enters the Stoic stance! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: Seraph Clarine guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Tilling for 67 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
It's a feint. Ida's hand flows out of the punch just as easily as it began. It darts around the small of her back, finding the grip of Devil's Due and whipping the ARM from its holster. The naturalist takes aim at Randolph, and fires two quick shots, the sharp crack-crack echoing throughout the liminal space!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
The Mist Knight's might is as such that even a powerful weapon from a body that basically is a deadly weapon unto itself does not leave a lasting scratch. A most fell power to call upon - a most foolish move to ask to have it inflicted upon oneself.
When the shadowy figures come, Ratatoskr lunges at them, treating the shadows as though they were also things to punch. It is such a deeply ingrained thought process in him - the compulsion to liken almost any force of nature or expression of physics as something akin to a body you can fight against - that lets his less developed Resonance interact with Seraphim so. This much is fruitless as a counter-offense. The aggressive movements he is making allows him to graze the worst of the blows, but there are many... and they add up.
His crimson hued armor is caked in splotches of quicksilver from the cuts. It wins Garm's body donor a reprise to explain why the anger. The squirrel-like Hyadean comes down to a three-point stance as more quicksilver puddles underneath him (and also turns a weird color on making contact with the ground, because distorted space gets weird when you start interacting with the defined boundaries of it). Easily lined up for a finishing blow.
It is that final blow that is the only clean miss of the sequence, as the tip stabs into one of the walls - to whatever disruptive but ultimately tactically irrelevant effect that would provide.
"So... a demon... and a human...!" Ratatoskr misses the irony in saying this, because his back is turned to Ida and currently he's not that far off from her. "...What are you holding it back from... if not fighting?" Oh no, he's going to exclaim it, isn't he, through that wheezy, raspy, wound-up voice that's already annoying enough to have to deal with when he's at peak performance.
Then he just /lunges himself/ into it. The Malevolence already cannot infect Ratatoskr, and he seems particularly hell bent on continuing to fight anyway. That single-minded drive, free of dissonant thought. He's not sure what Victory/Garm is holding back from if it's not just fighting - that anger doesn't make sense, so he makes sense of it the only way he knows how which is...
...yes, to keep fighting it.
Adrenaline pushes into overdrive, and those limbs snap out again heedless of what otherwise superior protection the Mist Knight has. Elbows. Knees. Fists. Kicks. Somewhere in this sequence, compressed air-firing ARMs fire from his joints to try and force them upward as a dramatic cut-in happens of Ratatoskr's close-up grinning face.
"...Hyahaha--! Then I'll face this something else! I'll remember this something else...!" Energy builds through the horn again as he directs it to wherever the Mist Knight is, either standing there or up in the air depending on how well they deal with that physical combination. A final, tremendous beam-like burst emerges as he calls the name of the technique.
Serpent's Outrage...!
GS: Ratatoskr spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Victory Storm with Serpent's Outrage! GS: Mighty expired! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Victory Storm takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Serpent's Outrage for 175 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Fjolnir has posed.
The power of Acacia's Ether gathers rather cloyingly around the Knight, whose armor starts to sizzle -- enough for Acacia to get a shot of a unit mounted along the back of the armour, looking as if it's part of the knight's spine, which flashes a corrupt red as she takes her shot.
"Hmmphg--" grunts the Knight, as they drop to one knee, their armour seemingly acting up and having issues?! As Acacia puts it-- this could be Marivel's chance!
Marivel has nearly got it... Nearly--
A box of tools tumbles down towards her head, which has the side-effect of squishing the donuts on the Dark Knight's helmet.
"What is this, Marivel Armitage?! First doughnuts, then a gift-box of home-appropriate tools... a soldering gun, a set of twelve screwdrivers and a 'Yours Truly, Hammer' hammer..."
THE INNER COUNCIL OF FJOLNIR'S HEAD
A moustachio'd Yue sits on the grand judge's head. "SHE FOUND OUT ALREADYYYYYyyy," flails Judge Yue on the throne.
"Calm down. This is only the first meeting. And Marivel is known to be very whimsical to all opponents, not just us," speaks a red-coated, white-cravated Prosecutor Yue.
"That's true, that's true!" speaks a spiky-headed, blue-coated Defense Attorney Yue. "There's nothing to worry about! We haven't blown our cover yet..."
The Spirit Medium Yue beside the Defense Attorney is busy trying to eat her own magatama. "??"
REALITY
"Even if you have slowed me... I shall not yet yield."
The Dark Knight Rises once more (out of that terrible movie), and the staff gradually melds once more with their armour -- and from their gauntleted hand manifests...
A sword.
A strangely familiar sword that they hold aloft at their chest, shimmering with an eerie blue light. A grand swelling of darkness withers, warping the air of the distorted dimension that Caina has created around them, before focusing on a single point.
"Justice is not the only right in this world. Someday..."
The Dark Knight brandishes their blade, and a cascading dark wave floods out of the very tip of their weapon, threatening to overwhelm the two!
"...you will see."
GS: Fjolnir has attacked Acacia Saitani with Flood of Darkness! GS: Fjolnir has attacked Marivel Armitage with Flood of Darkness! GS: Fjolnir assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Fjolnir takes 26 damage from Poison! GS: Fjolnir has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.
The Malevolence wasn't the main worry for Victory. He's not that worried about it infecting anyone. It hasn't before, to his knowledge. It's contained. It's his strength in this case.
A pulse of something causes a distraction as the armored form hunkers down, doing it's best to withstand the attacks before being launched solidly into the air. The trident's still in hand before the beam blasts the Knight and he falls in a cloud of dust. From being slammed into a wall no less at that. A slam that leaves a Garm shaped crater into it considering the force of the burst-like beam.
Getting up unsteadily, using his trident to stand, another small pulse seems to go off from the Malevolence around the Knight. "... damn it. When did it shorten again?"
Then the Knight brings the trident up, pointing at Ratatoskr as an all too familiar ball of ice blue energy forms on the end. "You'll have to find out... another day... what I fight to stop... like this..."
Then the Knight lets loose with the attack as he twists the trident. "
GS: Acacia Saitani takes a solid hit from Fjolnir's Flood of Darkness for 206 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.
The Malevolence wasn't the main worry for Victory. He's not that worried about it infecting anyone. It hasn't before, to his knowledge. It's contained. It's his strength in this case.
A pulse of something causes a distraction as the armored form hunkers down, doing it's best to withstand the attacks before being launched solidly into the air. The trident's still in hand before the beam blasts the Knight and he falls in a cloud of dust. From being slammed into a wall no less at that. A slam that leaves a Garm shaped crater into it considering the force of the burst-like beam.
Getting up unsteadily, using his trident to stand, another small pulse seems to go off from the Malevolence around the Knight. "... damn it. When did it shorten again?"
Then the Knight brings the trident up, pointing at Ratatoskr as an all too familiar ball of ice blue energy forms on the end. "You'll have to find out... another day... what I fight to stop... like this..."
Then the Knight lets loose with the attack as he twists the trident. "BOREAL... BLAZER!"
And off launches a literal tornado of icey energy at the metal demon. Afterwards, the Knight's transformation changes back to Victory. Who is leaning heavily on his trident. And probably bleeding here and there, too!
GS: Victory Storm has attacked Ratatoskr with Boreal Blazer! GS: Victory Storm has gained 2 Combo! GS: Victory Storm has completed his action.
DC: Victory Storm switches forms to The Disillusioned Knight!
GS: Ratatoskr completely evades a hit from Victory Storm's Boreal Blazer! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Marivel Armitage takes a glancing hit from Fjolnir's Flood of Darkness for 112 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Caina has posed.
"Be quiet!" he snaps at Gwen, as she similarly impugns Vinsfeld's motivations. "I will not have you speak of Sir Vinsfeld that way!" Perhaps it's mere fuel for the fire as it were. She, too, ends up caught in the curse that soon follows. Perhaps it was not merely by chance in that sense...
Caina laughs at the wound she's dealt him.
Laughs, as the walls are all-too-suddenly gone, shattering-dissolving into a million billion pieces. There never were walls, now. There never was a ceiling.
What lies beyond the threshold of the frail shard of reality upon which they now stand is...
Another dimension, perhaps. Another place, where to look upon it long is to have the mind recoil at the sight.
The rules here aren't the rules of the universe. And what is keeping this small piece of their universe from similarly adhering to those laws is uncertain.
But for now the floor is stable and steady. For now they're still standing upon a piece of reality that makes sense.
And then time stops.
The demons attacking Eleanor freeze in place. The Odessa demon-summoner remains frozen, still slumped against the table, caught in mid-laugh. In that moment, everything stops.
The Key slowly rotates in place, just before Caina's still form. Then it winks out of existence. In a blink, it appears, already mid-flight for Xiumei. A retaliation, of a sort...?!
Eleanor meanwhile takes advantage of the frozen time and shoots first one then the other demon in the face. They are still only statues now, but once time reasserts itself...
There's no way even a demon can take that sort of shot to the head and still live.
Ida's fist slams into the time-frozen demon-summoner. It's a simple enough strike.
Until it isn't. A couple shots ring out, striking the Key dead on just as it appears again at Caina's side. A metallic sound echoes through the room and the Key drops to the floor.
Time spasms to a start. The demons, predictably, collapse to the floor, a blackish ooze leaking from their wounds. Caina makes a sound that could either be a little bit of a gasp or possibly pained laughter. "Randolph... are you..." The Key, in response, begins to slowly rise, wobbling slightly as if it has been hurt.
"You'll... you'll regret that," he promises to Ida. If wrath had burned hot when they had spoken ill of Vinsfeld, then this fury now is cold, indeed.
"Do you really think... you'll escape?" he breathes at Gwen's words, pushing himself up off the table.
He stretches out a hand as if to reach for Randolph, which has assumed an almost defensive stance just above where the sorceror stands.
"H-hey! Randolph!"
The Key shimmers, burning with a violet-gold light.
"Open the gate!"
Lines race across the floor of this room, light chasing them in their wake. Circles draw out with speed about the feet of Eleanor, Xuimei, Ida, and Gwen; these two burn bright with an otherworldly fire.
And above them, the gate opens.
There is but a flash of light, before those graced by the magic circles are permitted to see what lies beyond.
If only for an instant.
The passage through the gate does not leave one unscathed.
GS: Caina has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Gate of Isolde! GS: Caina has attacked Eleanor Klein with Gate of Isolde! GS: Caina has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Gate of Isolde! GS: Caina has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Gate of Isolde! GS: Caina has gained 2 Combo! GS: Jam, Mighty, and Riposte expired! GS: Caina has completed his action. GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Caina's Gate of Isolde for 0 hit points! GS: Break, Cripple, Jam, Mute, Slow, and Weaken! applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Gwen Whitlock's Force Guard activates! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Eleanor Klein takes a solid hit from Caina's Gate of Isolde for 0 hit points! GS: Break, Cripple, Jam, Mute, Slow, and Weaken! applied to Eleanor Klein! GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a glancing hit from Caina's Gate of Isolde for 0 hit points! GS: Break, Cripple, Jam, Mute, Slow, and Weaken! applied to Zhang Xiumei!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine does take advantage of the situation, taking some time to back away herself. She listens as Matilda explains her reasoning... and goes quiet.
She can sympathise with her, somewhat. In another time, another place... She might have felt similarly.
"...I see." Clarine replies, finally breaking her silence. One of her mirrors moves to intercept the knife, but it isn't quite quick enough to deflect it fully. It still makes contact, but it's enough to avoid a more serious hit.
"...Then... out of respect for your decision, I will not try to dissuade you any further." She shakes her head. "...But I will still try to stop you."
"One thousand divine lights, arise and light the path to tomorrow..." Clarine incants, resuming the incantation. The Seraphic glyph appears beneath her feet once more, and her mirrors start to move into position around Matilda. "Radiant Cannonade!"
At her command, numerous beams of light emanate from her position. They aim not for Matilda, but for the mirrors strewn about the battlefield. They connect and then reflect to another, and another... and then the mirrors angle themselves, sending the volley of light toward Matilda. They come from every angle - so much so that it is impossible to dodge every one of them.
And then, her energy spent, Clarine sinks to the ground. Her footing is unsteady due, but she doesn't have the power to hover any longer.
GS: Seraph Clarine spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Seraph Clarine enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Radiant Cannonade! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo! GS: Riposte expired! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: Matilda Whitehead guards a hit from Seraph Clarine's Radiant Cannonade for 109 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
There is a final, tremendous chill breeze. Ratatoskr seems to disappear within the flurry, and aside from the howling of these furious wintry winds and whatever sort of sensory damage comes from having strange and unsightly color bleed into other means of perception... there does not appear to be much of anything left. No frozen cube of Ratatoskr, but plenty of solid frozen patches of quicksilver.
...Then there is a drip of quicksilver in front of the exhausted, enervated Victory which is only a split-second spoiler to what has just happened. (What did happen? Let's back up a bit.)
SPLIT SECONDS BEFORE AND REALLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN INSERTED IN THE ORIGINAL PARAGRAPH TO BEGIN WITH - I BLAME THIS DISTORTED SPACE
Ratatoskr backs away into one of the boundaries. The boundary does not like being touched. The boundary out-and-out expels him across the concept of length that exists within this place. In mid-air, he fans out his limbs and brings forth the liquid metal patagium that allows him to glide.
He goes right over it.
Then he catches up with the present.
NOW - ACTUALLY WHY EVEN HAVE THIS, A NEW PARAGRAPH IS FINE
Ratatoskr descends upon Victory with a diving knee, into another elbow strike the moment he touches the ground, and extends that arm outward - the arm that got pierced right at the beginning of the fight, moving like it was never pierced at all from the way his wounds start to knit together best they can when he has even worse to deal with around his torso - placing a palm around Victory's face and just expelling another burst of compressed air from the ARM he has assimilated right into his very limbs.
"...Another day...?" Ratatoskr hisses. "...Another day!" He shouts incredulously, defiantly - this outburst being timed with that last shot.
GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Force Action! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Victory Storm with One Armed Dual Wield! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel says, "Huh? Isn't it obvious?" She looks up. "You don't think I'm just being charmingly whimsical do you?" HAS SHE FIGURED IT OUT?! She straightens up, sending one hand thrusting forward, forming a magic seal around her body--the darkness ripples around Marivel rather than crashing into her directly, but weathering that force takes a lot out of Marivel and she sinks into a crouch again, swallowing as she tries to maintain focus. If she gets discorporated here, it'll be a long while before she finds her way back to Filgaia. Possibly years. She has no intention of letting that happen.
"Caina is not the only one who can open up paths across subspace. He may have a demon key, but I am a demon..." Her eyes glow crimson. "And as we're trapped in a subdimension. I am using space sorcery that connects to our world. If I can get APORT to work properly... then that means I can find a path to tear us back to our world. Or did you think I'd be content to be trapped here forever?!"
And then she claps her hands once--
--and a pail materializes above Fjolnir's head--and plummets towards it as gravity takes control.
Marivel turns to look to Acacia with a dumb grin on her face and a thumbsup before smoke blows out of her mouth in tremendous portions from heavy Fjolnir inflicted damage.
GS: Victory Storm takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's One Armed Dual Wield for 136 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Victory Storm gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Fjolnir with Augmented Aport! GS: Marivel Armitage has gained 1 Combo! GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
Time is frozen, and Xiumei thinks she must be safe. It is Avile that realizes the Key was not subject to such a thing; it is Avile that cries out her warning.
<Xiumei! Look out!>
The key slams into Xiumei. She manages to move to the side, feet scraping across the floor in this strange space. They skid, and she looks up, eyes widening, as time comes back to a start. She lets out a shakey breath, and then sees the circle drawn around her feet. It flashes up, and there is a flash of light, as she sees something terrifying. Words escape her.
Her voice catches in her throat.
<I'm getting sick... of this guy's tricks!> Varius shouts in her mind. Xiumei shakes her head, then she looks back at Eleanor. Her eyes are on the demons, for a moment. She holds a hand out -- and her cross-shaped boomerang appears. She throws it, and it whips out through the air. A trail of green light is left in its wake.
It slashes across the demons' bodies, as they lay prone, and then swings around to slam into Caina too. Xiumei starts running, and as she does, the Pulse Cannon forms in her hand just a moment before she lifts it. Shots fire, energy blasts raining out towards Caina.
"No one... no one needs to see that! We're going to push that back where it belongs!" Xiumei cries out to Caina. The blasts rain down at him, before she catches the Barrier Cross. It vanishes; the Pulse Cannon does, too.
Then, the Pulse Saber appears. Both hands grip the cylindrical handle, and then a long blade of energy appears. Xiumei leaps -- and then comes down for Caina, slashing her blade down over her head.
GS: Zhang Xiumei has activated a Force Action! GS: Zhang Xiumei has activated a Force Action! GS: Zhang Xiumei spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Formation! Zhang Xiumei has attacked Caina with Soaring Cross Strike! GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo! GS: Zhang Xiumei has launched an attack Link! GS: Zhang Xiumei's stance ends. She enters the Avenger stance! GS: Zhang Xiumei spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Formation! Zhang Xiumei has attacked Caina with Rushing Pulse Blitz! GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo! GS: Fjolnir takes a solid hit from Marivel Armitage's Augmented Aport for 154 hit points! GS: Poison! applied to Fjolnir! GS: Hyper! applied to Marivel Armitage! GS: Fjolnir enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Mighty, Shield, and Surge expired! GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.
Not having seen what was going on, the first clue that he somehow missed with a freaking tornado of ice is the drip of quicksilver. Victory looks down, then up only to get a knee to the face and his pushed back even as he tries to move.
He stumbles back, then turns and swings with the trident, attempting to bat Ratatoskr away with it.
Then it hits him and he raises an eyebrow. He looks at the path of icey doom that he left, then at the metal demon. Then back and forth a few times.
"How the hell did you dodge that!?" He asks in disbelief, readying himself as best as he can. Despite being as covered in wounds as the rat man it looks like. How his coat is still pristine white is a good question there.
GS: Caina guards a hit from Zhang Xiumei's Soaring Cross Strike for 100 hit points! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: Victory Storm has attacked Ratatoskr with Grand Swing! GS: Victory Storm has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Caina takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Rushing Pulse Blitz for 260 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Victory Storm's Grand Swing for 67 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Getting attacked from that many angles... Matilda can't really think of a way to maneuver *around* that, especially if Clarine's clever enough not to have them all converge on a single point. Accordingly, she yet again accepts pain and just pulls in on herself, hunkering down and trying to grit her teeth through it.
She's still standing, though, when the light clears -- albeit with holes in her uniform and burns across her body. "... then there's nothing left to say," Matilda reflects quietly, at last unshouldering Freischütz. She doesn't bother to load it with anything special; its flexibility has been... eroding, anyway. Best to simply keep it loaded with standard rounds.
On the other hand, there's precisely nothing wrong with standard rounds, and Matilda is an exceptional markswoman. She continues to keep her distance, even if Clarine seems to struggle up close; maybe her heart's not entirely in the fight anymore.
GS: Matilda Whitehead has activated a Force Action! GS: Matilda Whitehead enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Seraph Clarine with Freeshooter! GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo! GS: Matilda Whitehead's Stoic stance ends. GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: Seraph Clarine takes a solid hit from Matilda Whitehead's Freeshooter for 195 hit points! GS: Seraph Clarine has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Even after all that, Matilda is still standing. When Matilda draws her ARM, one of Clarine's mirrors moves in an attempt to intercept the shot... but, it is not quick enough. It impacts Clarine solidly, sending her reeling back.
"...I hope... that at the end of things... you find the world you seek. Otherwise..." She murmurs. Her form goes indistinct for a moment, as it begins to dissipate into motes of light...but then stops, becoming visible again.
In this space between worlds, she is unable to retreat to her vessel for safety as she normally would. ...And even if she could, she is unsure that doing so would be exactly... safe.
And so, absent the energy to remain standing, she collapses forward.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Does Acacia have any idea who hides underneath the segmented armor? ... probably not. She'd like to think she's fairly smart and savvy at the best of times, but that more involves putting together pieces of information she already has to hand, drawing lines and connections between points. She's not exactly great at dramatic intuition, nor does she know what a unit on the back of the figure's armor might signify - at least, not yet. Give her time, maybe.
More than that, it shows on her face. She's not that great at hiding her expression, a bit too honest and open for her line of work - and while the open defiance and determination is something she's shown Yue before in the midst of their fights, there's no hint of recognition there along with it.
"... we're not going to yield either. Given what yielding means, can you blame us?" she rumbles out through her gritted teeth. There's a brief moment of petulance; part of her really wishes she could shrug off the fatigue running through her bones as easily as the figure could, and she's only got words to try to bite back with as she tries to shake off the sapping effect of the attack that caught her last time.
So when she does her best to stand her ground it's with her pistol held tight enough in her hands that her knuckles are bright white, only hope and bravado to stand against the rolling wave of darkness that bears down on her. "I'm not here-- to give a damn about justice!" she yells against the encroaching wall. "I'm here to survive!"
The wall of black is pierced for just a moment - by a shining bolt of white, a line of focused etheric power propelling one of her bullets forwards through it. It's a last-ditch, desperate attempt - underlined by the way she's blown backwards with a yell of pain as the wave washes over her.
GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Fjolnir with Deadline! GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 1 Combo! GS: Mute expired! GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action. GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Caina's Gate of Isolde for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Break, Cripple, Jam, Mute, Slow, and Weaken! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Fjolnir takes a solid hit from Acacia Saitani's Deadline for 168 hit points! GS: Disease! applied to Fjolnir! GS: Fjolnir has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
As long as Gwen's fine! Whew. Eleanor watches her anyway for some reason. She watches, as Caina speaks so heatedly of Vinsfeld...
"..." Eleanor huffs a breath as she watches the walls disappear; it's gone as she imagined, once reality began to fade, but the sense of deja vu she experiences does not much help the difficulty looking too far into the distance at the moment. She directs her gaze at Caina, not past him, to focus. The floor, when she can't look at him.
...Or the demons, as she shoots.
She sighs in relief this time as the demons go down, even as Caina might be laughing again. "We'll do more than escape!" Eleanor promises, starting to aim her weapon at Caina, now. Unfortunately... this is when the key shimmers. This is when light lances across the floor. There's a burning, and above them--
Eleanor glances up and rocks visibly, stumbling backward with a cry and hitting one knee, her eyes squeezing shut. She seems nauseous, if anything, a couple of tears stinging her eyes. "You..."
"I'm--I'll help!" Eleanor calls as she forces her eyes back open and looks up again, focusing on Caina as she pushes herself upward. Her gun is transferred to the other hand.
"We won't be stopped here," she partly echoes Marivel to Caina, looking about Ida and Gwen and Xiu all quickly. Then, she pulls a Crest, its upright twinned Fray and intricate curves and lines almost seeming to shine golden in the light of this strange place. "Wandering, wondering, wavering... Lost under the beaten sun of Time!"
Eleanor throws out her hand, brilliant light cascading around her. "Desert of Years!"
A fiery column erupts between her and Caina, seeking to travel to and overwhelm. The fire, though, leaves not ash but instead dust, rapidly dissipating a demon body along the way to its target as it assaults essence instead of body.
GS: Eleanor Klein has activated a Force Action! GS: Eleanor Klein spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Caina with Desert of Years! GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action. GS: Caina takes a glancing hit from Eleanor Klein's Desert of Years for 78 hit points! GS: Disease! applied to Caina! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr tries to grip hold of the trident as he and Victory get uncomfortably close. From here, the one with the appearance of a monster and the one with the appearance of prey seem to reverse. Ratatoskr's lithe, but not small - alien metal flesh struggling with itself but still trying to close wounds as he bears down upon Victory with the light in his eyes and that smile that never seems able to go away.
"...I hovered over it!" He says. The two of them are both exhausted and spent. The wrestling continues for a short while - but somehow, somewhere, Victory gets the heroic resolve and that last burst of energy to get the weapon pried loose enough so that he can deliver that last swing. It's sort of a mild 'thump' at best. A mild 'thump' does not stop a Hyadean soldier of Mother's fell make.
A mild 'thump' whose force presses against previously inflicted wounds that have yet to come back 'together,' aggravating them, reopening them, severing newly healed flesh asunder... it sees the overly enthusiastic student, observer, instigator, and hands-on participant of Filgaia's military history stagger back meekly... and fall back onto their seat, leaning against his knees and making unpleasant wheezing noises. (Almost all the noises he can make scarcely ever crest 'pleasant.')
"...What made you stop...?" Ratatoskr doesn't have the strength to follow that with the expected echoing exclamation.
<Pose Tracker> Fjolnir has posed.
Marivel tells her that it's obvious. Is it obvious? ... is it truly obvious? Is she just the most terribly transparent double agent of all time?! Uwaaaaaaa!!
... all of this, fortunately, is hidden underneath the demonic visage of the Dark Knight's mask. Whew, good thing masks that completely hide the utter terror of your double identity exists.
"I suppose... you have never been," answers the Knight, in regards to being trapped in a subdimension.
Acacia comments that they cannot yield, becuse of what that means -- and that she doesn't give a darn about justice. Just surviving.
"Hmm. A commendable outlook. Very well...! Come!"
There is a final clash between them, and white strikes against the darkness -- the bullet swishes on through as Acacia's Ether proves to be quite superior in this regard, however, and the bullet itself clashes against the armor and causes one such plating to warp horribly and explode against the knight as they are blown backwards in a torrid explosion.
They land, skidding to one knee, and nods quietly. "I see. We shall meet again..."
The knight begins to vanish, seemingly able to control the space between dimensions in her own right, before--
*APORT*
--the bucket lands and vanishes along with them.
SOME OTHER PLACE
The Dark Knight Fjolnir falls a good ten feet before landing on a pile of garbage.
...
...
A crystal hovers over their head, derisively laughing.
"You may wish to work on your line deliveries, dear daughter. You make an exquisitely awful villain. All that 'justice' nonsense. Have some more aplomb, daughter! Ahahahahaha!!"
Yue angrily throws the Dark Knight helmet in her direction.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
'Do you really think... you'll escape?'
The gate opens, called by the Key's will.
Light erupts under Gwen's boots, forcing her eyes upward.
This was a terrible mistake.
Parts of Gwen recoil at the momentary sight, fleeing into hibernation and leaving the colder parts of her psyche exposed to the air, a cold steel frame meant to be housed underneath the warmth of smiles and human graciousness.
"Ah."
Gwen closes her eyes against the curse of what she just saw, her eyes feeling like skin moments after being exposed to a searing flame.
"... Xiumei's right. We need to neutralize him or we won't be able to take it much longer."
A deadly sort of calm is instilled in Gwen's words, reflected in the way her eyes dully look down towards Caina.
In the space of a second, the courier rushes in towards the summoner again, something deeper fueling her speed than simple anger.
Gwen doesn't need to get close enough to punch Caina, not this time.
A flash erupts from Gwen's palm as it directs towards Caina's face.
Her lips part gently, to issue a soft command. "Sleep."
Piercing, burning stream of light follows from Gwen's palm, its light glinting off the dark grey in Gwen's eyes.
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action! GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Caina with Quasar Palm! GS: Gwen Whitlock has launched an attack Link! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Caina with Corona Discharge! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The room--if there ever was a room--dissolves. Ida's mouth drops open in shock, horror flashing across her eyes. She has to tear her gaze away from what lies beyond, and force herself to look back at Caina. Looking at it for too long would do far worse than enrapture her.
Ida flashes a grim little smile as Randolph falls out of the air. It's damaged, but not out of the fight--not yet. Gwen touched a nerve. Ida makes a mental note, but that's all she manages to do. "Will I," she growls, as Caina makes his threat.
As it turns out, she does. The sorcerous circle ignites around Ida's feet. The light overwhelms her.
When it fades, Ida kneels on the floor, hands clasping her head, eyes wide as saucers. Her whole body shudders with each breath, and she struggles to her feet; she still sees what lies beyond in the corner of her eye as she looks at Caina. She tries to speak, but all that comes out is empty breath.
Survive, she thinks. You have to--
Ida's body moves of its own accord. Her aura ignites, the brilliant red-gold flame all but drowning out the lighter golden-white. Energy condenses around her knuckles, forming a brilliant crown of light. In a heartbeat, she's right up in Caina's face, her right fist pulled back. In the next instant, she strikes, the shockwave of her punch ripping through the air a split-second before her fist connects.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 1 Combo on Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Caina with Unbroken Lotus Fist! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.
Victory coughs a bit, looking at Ratatoskr, "Well..." He looks confused by that, then shrugs, "If I don't stop at a certain point, I'm going to turn into something else... not sure what, but it's not pretty, a lot less sane, and I feel like it's far too dangerous to let loose anywhere."
He seems to consider, "Maybe up against Sin? Nah, probably die."
Victory sighs. "Thing is, I don't fight for just myself. Or because I'm angry. I fight mainly to stop madness like this happening..." He blinks a few times, then looks at Ratatoskr, "Why do you fight, anyways? You sounded eager to face me as Garm again."
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda could *almost certainly* do the 'smart' thing and confirm the kill -- but, frankly, she doesn't really want to; right now, she doesn't quite have the heart for it... nor the energy, quite frankly. Fighting Clarine took a *lot* out of her; even on her best days, she struggles to deal with sorcery.
So, for the moment, she starts retreating to the corner of the room, to take a few moments to patch her wounds. If the tide of the battle changes or needs her more direct intervention, she can handle that *then*. Right now, the most important thing she can do is make sure that she, herself, survives the engagement.
GS: Caina guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Quasar Palm for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Caina gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Jam! applied to Caina! GS: Reaction bonus! FP up! GS: CRITICAL! Caina takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Corona Discharge for 200 hit points! GS: Caina enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Disrupt expired! GS: Caina has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: Please react using the attack number in +queue. GS: Caina takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Unbroken Lotus Fist for 158 hit points! GS: Caina has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel plunks back down on her butt. "Ugh... they're getting more powerful warriors every day."
She mulls to herself that maybe she should have put her weight on the Odessa plan instead. She could've probably made it work.
She turns her head to look at Caina and listens to him laugh and watches him fight. She stands herself up slowly, coughing. "Hey... Matilda."
She pushes herself up into a standing position and looks at her as she retreats back. "How long you gonna embrace the rhetoric and forget the heart?"
She stumbles towards Acacia after, moving to support her.
"Eleanor, might have a path out. Give it good odds our insides will stay on the inside." Marivel doesn't give any order though. This is Eleanor's mission after all.
She looks to Acacia. "Are you okay there?"
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia definitely doesn't feel like she's won, hurled backwards by the wave of energy and landing in a heap on the floor, but that same grit and defiance pushes her to plant a hand against the ground as some kind of show of effort - to indicate that she's not done yet, even if she only has the strength for that much.
All she can do is watch as the knight vanishes away, and part of her dearly wants to just lay own on the floor and go to sleep, but an urgent voice in her head reminds her that she can't do that yet, not until they're out of this place. Lying around here is probably going to be a really, really bad idea.
If only her legs would listen to her, though. Fortunately there's a vampire there to support her, and she uses that impetus to try to struggle up to her feet. "Ow," is her only reply, but it's the spoken word rather than a noise of pain, which probably speaks for something.
<Pose Tracker> Caina has posed.
The brilliance winks out seemingly as quick as it came. The gate closes. The paths to it are lost. What was behind it is again safely shuttered.
Xiumei's reflexes see her forward. The boomerang she tosses off slices easily through the fallen demons: one begins to disintegrate from the damage done, the other is merely dealt a blow that would have been mortal had it not already been deceased.
In nearly the same heartbeat of a moment, Eleanor casts a spell.
There was a demon's body here, before the fiery column cut through it.
It's gone now.
Caina turns, seemingly too late.
There, interposing itself between the spell and the sorceror is quite suddenly the Key. It begins to glow a brilliant red-orange as it is swallowed up by the spell. Caina reaches out a hand for the strange ARM.
"Randolph! Stop! That's enough!"
A few flames kick past it but not enough to actually reach him. Dust falls free from the key's surface as it begins to cool. It shudders, once.
Into this, Xiumei discharges the cannon. The Key tries to generate a barrier about Caina, wobbling as it does so.
It's pierced through on the very first shot. The rest serve to lay the sorceror out across the floor once again, whereupon she intrudes, driving her blade down the Odessa demon-summoner.
He makes a slight croak in the aftermath, touching a hand to the wound.
And in spite of the situation he chuckles, only to rasp, "You... you keep on playing 'hero', don't you...? I hate... people like that!"
Against the odds, the Key nudging at his side like some worried sheepdog, Caina rises to his feet.
There is a flash. Caina blinks in its aftermath. A beam of light follows, too quickly to be warded against.
It doesn't catch Caina.
It catches, instead, the Key, having vanished from Caina's side to intercept the beam.
It clatters to the floor after, this time lying quite still. "No--"
And then, essentially, Ida decks him.
He drops, laid out once again across the floor of the chamber, sprawled alongside the Key. Slowly, he reaches out for it, pushes himself upwards with a grunt. "Do you... think you've won? Did you forget where... you were?"
A color the shade that might remain when all other colors have been consumed burns about the Key as it takes flight once more. Even in spite of his condition, in spite of the Key's condition, it seems he's not yet spent. "You'll never see Filgaia again! Now, Randolph--!"
The Key, still floating in the air, shudders as if pained.
There is, in the confines of what can scarce be considered a 'room' anymore the sensation of a jerk. Suddenly, there are walls again. There is a ceiling again.
There is a real doorway.
"Damn," hisses Caina, as the Key descends in a low limping orbit back for him. "The generator must have given out...! Tch..."
He pushes off against the floor, and heaves out a breath.
"Fine, then! Maybe you've won for today, but you haven't won this war! Next time, I'll kill you!"
Randolph the Magic Key shimmers a pale blue and Caina -- along with any other Odessa members who haven't prepared their own exits -- simply vanish from sight.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Oh," Marivel says, seeing the door has returned."I guess I didn't need to go to all that trouble. Eheheh...sorry Acacia!"
Marivel places her hand against the back of her neck and laughs like goku.
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
Xiumei lowers her Pulse Saber, as she lands. She looks up at Caina, where he is sprawled out -- and then she grimaces. Her eyes start to widen; she realizes that this Key might be able to do more than she realized. She backs up, eyes scanning every which way, until they are back on Caina.
And the walls reappear; the room comes back into focus, and she lets out her held breath.
"That guy..." She trails off. Then, she shakes her head, and turns to look back at Nora, Ida, and Gwen. "...is everyone okay?" she asks. "That was... that was a little intense. I don't know how to begin to explain the things he did..."
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr isn't in much physical state to be yelling or verbally probing - it sounds like he tries, but there's a bit of a wheeze as Victory explains his position. Something about if he doesn't stop at a certain point - like what, is what someone as impulsive as him would be trying to glean. It doesn't quite come out. It's around this time he finally does put a hand up to where he's taken a lot of punishment. It's dangerously close to where humans keep their heart! He's not human though, so it's probably okay.
Over yonder, Caina's plan to take the entire ARMS unit to their early (or on-time, depending on point of view) graves seems to come to a halt. Everyone largely lives, aside from those who fell before. Ratatoskr knew the name of at least three of the soldiers stationed here that he wanted to fight, so very badly. One of them was descended from a well-known saber-fighting discipline - one of the last known ones, even. (Demons got 'em.)
Why does he fight?
"...It's great... seeing all these heroes of war today... right here...!" The obsession, born from his own kin scarcely bothering to detail who or what they conquered other than 'the humans.' "...I want to meet them all... fight them all... remember them all... keep them all..."
He makes a breathy noise that sounds like an aborted 'hyahaha--' and that is for the best. "...Today could've been the last time..." but there is an acknowledgement, at least, that there will be a last time. That's a small change, isn't it?
Caina spatially warps out - and Ratatoskr disappears with them.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
'You'll never see Filgaia again! Now, Randolph--!'
Randolph burns with a hideous, alien light. Ida looks at Marivel, fear and desperation in her eyes. If there is any one being who can save them right now, it's her.
And then whatever sorcery displaced them comes to a screeching halt. Ida lets out a soft choking noise as reality reasserts itself, and Caina vanishes. His threat still lingers in the air. Ida does not relax until the Odessans are gone, and even then, she still seems wary. "I will be seeing that in my nightmares," Ida murmurs. "The rest, I can regenerate." Xiumei asks a very good question, one Ida does not have an answer to. For once, she's not sure if knowing the truth will make something easier to bear.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
It's over.
Gwen stares at the spot where Caina was, as if stares alone could will him back.
Is everyone alright?
"... Mmn." Gwen seems to regain some of her previous self, a sunny smile on her closed lips. She rubs her head, ruffling her curls. "No, not really. But I lucked out, I think. Ida?" Hearing Ida's answer, Gwen laughs. "Ain't that how it always goes? But, y'know, you get used to it. So it evens out, n' then you're good for a bit."
She breathes. "That Key... was really protective of him, wasn't it? Now that I think of it, it was like a dog, you know?"
This image seems to bring the rest of Gwen's program back online.
"... It was... kinda adorable, if it wasn't for the whole, uh... rest of it."
And if she doesn't think too deeply on the rest of it.
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.
Victory is pretty much okay. A bit bloody on clothes under his coat as he makes his way back over. He's still using the trident for support as well. The red haired elf looks around.
"Well... that was something... so you guys recruiting or the like? That was kinda fun."
This from a guy who just took on Ratatoskr in single combat no less. And was just talking with him.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
where