2022-06-07: Arrhythmia: Difference between revisions

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  • Log: Arrhythmia
  • Cast: Fereydoon, Kaguya, Amaterasu, Ambrosius, Lan Lilac, Rixia, Zhang Xiumei, Gwen Whitlock, Venetia Vuong, Azoth, Matilda Whitehead, Magilou, Rebecca Streisand, Ida Everstead-Rey
  • Where: Celesti Wastelands
  • Date: May 07, 2022
  • Summary: Alcidamas Village's prosperity could only go unchallenged for so long. The curious and unsettling nature of Demetrioi's existence notwithstanding, the Zoara region of Aquvy finds itself at a turning point for both food security and repair of its ruined environment. As if a miracle, the people of Alcidamas Village have been more than happy to share their bounty to their neighbors about the region almost unconditionally. Under the leadership and guidance of one Homer Mecone, an era of renewal appears poised to take root in Filgaia.
    Others see not an opportunity to share... but to take. One wishes to take hold of a potential solution for a people whose existence is on a tightening time limit. Another takes no chances as the village is set ablaze.

<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    Where Chapapanga - and the other Guardians - have condemned the Veruni, somehow fortune found a way to outwardly smile upon them. A mysterious benevolent (question mark) plant-construct (also question mark) had recovered once thought irreversible ecological damage in war-torn Zoara. Based on Kaguya's reports, there was a game changer before them. With time not on their side, failure couldn't be an option. The decisive action had been planned and ready for some time, only seeking the best opportunity to ensure minimal complication.

     A staging ground was set somewhere in the wastes of Zoara, away from prying eyes. The Sentinel Persephone's intelligence indicated the strong possibility of Drifter influence, but the recent high-profile incident involving a Wels-infested train may have provided enough disarray that they'd be stretched thin - and that the likes of Guild Galad might even find that a convenient excuse not to intervene. Alcidamas Village was, and still is, a soft target even with increased communication and cooperation with the rest of the region.

     Veruni forces deploy two hours before sunset. Two different makeshift barracks are annihilated in a flash, flame and smoke rising in their wake - neither were occupied at the time. A third building of possible military value is uprooted skywards by an explosion, catching and spreading flame. A few catch glimpses of a figure who seems to exist only for fractions of a second between perceptive movement. Other, smaller-scale shows of power erupt all over Alcidamas.

     One by one, debris are bisected - and bisected again - until all are rendered as nothing but fine smoke and dust as a silhouette walks forth clad in indigo and black, a glowing mask of cyan hiding their face as he sheathes a large black blade onto his back. The RYGS_5013 Blade of Heaven. The weapon of Fereydoon, of the Sentinels. The number two man of the Veruni Radical faction, whose mask opens to reveal the face of a young man whose hardened expression does not waver as scrambling citizens and off-guard militia find themselves coralled towards the center of Alcidamas. The place where he will receive them.

     "Citizens of Alcidamas Village. Lay down your arms." The smoke clears, revealing Fereydoon in the open as he crosses his arms. "Demetrioi will be coming with us. Resistance will not avail you of this outcome." It's a compelling argument, for the precision of this display of force. "Your lives will be spared. Your present food stores untouched. For the greater good, they must come with us."

     Murmuring follows... but among the militia, even with a few hardened Celesti Civil War veterans, ARMs are being laid on the ground. (The first one to do so is fully aware of who the Veruni are and what they can do, and may have saved lives by being the one to 'go first.')

     Smooth, so far.

     "Bring forth your leader, one Homer Mecone, so that we may facilitate Demetrioi's relocation into our possession." It is his hope that Homer will see reason, present himself, and prevent the need for further action...

     But Homer does not appear.

Fereydoon gives Amaterasu, a direct subordinate, a nod and an gesture to spread out and find him, engage resistance if needed. They can't rule out the possibility Homer might have more friends - or "friends" - than anticipated.

     "Ambrosius," Fereydoon asides, "I detect anomalies in the atmospheric conditions." It is a bit windy, for one. "Gather as much data as you are able." Even in the middle of this, there's uncertainties he doesn't want to be caught unaware by - assuming Ambrosius is given the chance.

     Afterwards, Fereydoon looks to Kaguya for her read on the situation before he makes further judgment. The show of force on his part is already an unusual act of aggressive behavior by his standards. Spurred by both greater urgency and a tight time window to get in and get out before matters spill well out of hand, this show of force is already more than he's comfortable with. One can never take the behavior of humans outside of the Control Zones for granted, is... an adequate excuse.

     More words happen among the panicked villagers, and the thought that crosses Fereydoon's mind goes unspoken for there are dozens of people here voicing the same sentiment: where's the mayor? Several other nameless Veruni foot soldiers fan out to search.

<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

     MOMENTS BEFORE THE ATTACK

     A wall explodes out from a building at the peripheral edges of Alcidamas, the air smelling strongly of ozone as a large Beastfolk body finds itself hurled a good twenty-to-thirty feet before hitting the ground. It's Homer Mecone himself, the mayor of Alcidamas.

     Large, burly, and strong despite entering the twilight years of his life, he is a mass of bruises, burns, and open wounds... as though these above factors could have played no part in protecting him from this. Small stains of dark orange collect on the ground and further color his attaire as a human figure with a piercing gaze follows after that opening.

     It's Ethius, with that same purposeful stride free of any wasted motion, suppressing so many of the normal movements and tics of the human body as if to mimic a machine. Pitiless, unblinking... and hastening his steps when Homer so much as raises a hand to cover his gaze as the tip of a staff comes down and pins his wrist. A boot comes down on the opposite one, and whatever fight was left in Homer disappears in a pained gurgle.

     "If they are so precious to you, you will answer me." Ethius intones in that manner of speaking that had always been merely eccentric in less tense times, but here, it's downright chilling. "I have more patience than time, and you have even less."

     Explosions ring out. A fire spreads rapidly. Scared voices, rapid movement of feet, and dinstinctive sounds of weaponry pique his interest. A singular moment of opportunity in which Homer has to wriggle and destabilize Ethius' balance and struggle.

     Flung off-balance to a caught kneel, Ethius already has his hand out and ready for another Symbological spellcast - and this next one may be even less merciful.

     Unless someone intervenes.

     AND THEN FOR A REALLY FREAKIN' WEIRD FRIEND

     The shrubby plant thing with a face - the mysterious entity responsible for Alcidamas' good fortune - blinks a handful of times irregularly as the hustle and bustle of danger happens ahead of them.

o is something wrong on this good day :o it is okay you can be new friends too if you want :)

     If only all involved could reach across that wall and find common ground.

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

EARLIER:

"Oh, yeah, of course we've got to blow them up a little," Kaguya complains with a roll of her eyes. But that's the substance of the complaint; she doesn't break down the planning stages with a refusal, just occasionally gives a 'hmph' or a 'yeah, yeah' as she prepares for the operation.

If they'd just let her go in and take it herself... Well, 50/50 the Drifters would show up and bother her anyway, so...

NOW

A small woman in a Veruni armored containment suit is one of the operatives pushing people towards the center of Alcidamas, the familiar TK-38K gleaming with its plastics without firing the bursts of light it's so identifiable for. It marks Kaguya's presence. Only after Fereydoon lays down the score and Homer fails to appear does she reveal herself though. Kaguya reaches up to her goggles and brings the mask up her face, dropping the breathing mask a moment later. Her blonde hair is mussed by the mask, but recognizeable enough; her attire is as green as ever, though shows signs of recent repair.

"...The mayor's not that hard to miss," Kaguya says with a frown, looking around at the assembled militia and so forth before she turns her attention back to Fereydoon. "...Damn," she mutters, "Couldn't make this easy. Hey," she says, calling to Fereydoon, "I know where they keep it. I'll go handle it." She pauses. "They don't know how it works in the first place. Just make sure to keep them away from me while I do it."

But it's possible this is the time that others choose to get in her way. Just possible.

DC: Gwen Whitlock switches forms to Super Courier!
<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

    BEFORE

    She chuckles, smiling as she shakes her head. "Eager, are you? Worry not, Ka-ya. This should be a relatively painless operation." For their side, that is. "Sentinel Fereydoon is managing this mission, after all."

    Which says much about both the importance as well as the aims of the operation. If Volsung's wish is to obliterate, he has a piece prepared for the board. Should he wish to play a deceptive game, then there is another he could deploy. If gaining information and using confederates is his aim, then there is still another. But should he wish to instead conquer...

    NOW

    They arrive in force. A swift offensive has ever been, to Amaterasu's thinking, the ideal approach in war. Shock them and their resolve falters.

    When she arrives on the scene, it is not far apace after Fereydoon, her direct superior in such matters of war. A dry wind blows across the battered village, setting her long blonde hair aflutter. In her hand she bears a long polearm, its blade ahum with blue light. Veruni weaponry leaves little to chance. Clad in Veruni body armor similar in form to her superior, she stands not far to his right, her green eyed gaze steely.

    At a nod from Fereydoon, Amaterasu breaks off without a word to head out into what remains of the village.

    She stops only when Kaguya calls out to Fereydoon.

    She turns sharply towards Fereydoon. "Sentinel. I would request she come with me. Once we locate the mayor I will need her assistance to relocate it." She inclines her head, as if to show her respect.

<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    "Granted," Fereydoon asides as his eyes scan the gathered and the horizon beyond as the late afternoon is ready to take the remaining daylight with it. The gathered militia and villagers have effectively surrendered, but until the mayor is located...

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

How long has it been since Ambrosius took to the field as a soldier? He had retreated from the field of battle for a time, to hone his technology and spend time with Minerva and other friends. Now, however, he finds himself drawn back to it.

Ordinarily, he would feel some trepidation about this... but today is different. Today presents an Opportunity for his people, one that must be seized while they still have a chance. And so, he is here.

He watches Fereydoon's performance with interest. It is good, he thinks, that it is Fereydoon they sent of the Sentinels. He has great respect for Sentinel Elvis as a scientist and as a person, but the man's fervor is, at times... rather great. Confrontation would be likely - and the same could be said for Persephone.

Kartikeya... that is a thought that Ambrosius will not even begin to entertain. No, the level-headed Fereydoon is best.

"At once, Sentinel." Ambrosius replies to Fereydoon. He draws out a silver capsule and flips a switch. Within moments it unfolds into an antenna of sorts, scanning the area for any of the aforementioned anomalies. Data begins to flood in.

Naturally, this all looks pretty important! This might make it a target.

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

    Alcidamas is a perfectly lovely place. If you just ignore the way the Ley squirms, or how the spirits of the land writhe, it's a super nice place you could totally retire to. The villagers would probably take you in. They're so happy to share the land's unnatural bounty with anyone and everyone.

    It makes Lan feel ungrateful. Just because her intuition screams that this is wrong, and she doesn't even know why. The spirits can't tell her anything. She doesn't understand what Demetrioi even is, except 'way beyond even Solaris's technology' and 'kind of like a puppy, if a puppy were a computer and also a bush'.

    And what if she's wrong? What if the reason the spirits cry out is because they're warped too?

    How deep does the damage to the planet go?

    What if Solaris--

    But she can't let herself finish that thought. It's not true. They can't have the right of it.

    So she's come back to Alcidamas again, playing the part of a friendly Drifter tourist - which is easy, because that's exactly what she is. Lan is a bad liar and she's well aware of it. If she just... hangs out long enough, figures out the right questions to ask, surely she can figure it out.

    And then the Veruni come for Demetrioi.

    She'd stepped outside of town to clear her head and only started running back towards the center of town when the explosions began. Ahead of her, a wall explodes outwards, the heavy body of Alcidamas's mayor thrown into a battered heap on the ground. Homer Mecone has never been anything but welcoming to Lan. A dark-clad figure stands above him, and Lan throws herself forward-- only for Ethius Hesiod to be shoved clear and land in a kneel.

    "What are you DOING?!" the blonde shaman cries out, seizing Ethius's wrist and pulling him half-off of his knees to face her. "The town is on fire and you're trying to kill the mayor!?"

<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    LAST TIME ON CONFESSIONS OF A FOX BEASTGIRL VII: DYSFUNCTION HP-JUNCTION

    Rixia screams as she dangles off a Wels-infested armored train screaming towards Buckeye Station.

    TODAY ON CONFESSIONS OF A FOX BEASTGIRL VIII: MAYBE I'M A WION UWU
    ONE DAY BEFORE THE ATTACK

    "I'm gonna... I'm gonna adventure more in Filgaia, I'm going to become more experienced and be a cool Drifter," Rixia claps her cheeks. "I can't just rely on Ashe and Avril and everyone forever! C'mon, Rixia, get it together!" She claps her cheeks a second time, then whines as her face starts throbbing in pain. "Oww..."

    MOMENTS BEFORE THE ATTACK

    Rixia is in Alcimadas Village, which just happened to be her stop for the day. She's managed to scrounge up enough of the leftover green Rupees that she can have a nice strawberry-flavoured ice cream with a cherry ontop. The fox beastgirl kicks her cute boots up and down as she enjoys her frozen treat, ears waggling left and right.

    The flash, flame and smoke drop.

    The Ice Cream is DROPPED, FACE DOWN. The CHERRY is SOILED in muddy water. It's SYMBOLIC.

    NOW

    "w-w-w-who the heck are all these people?" a soot-faced Rixia whines as she hides behind a barrel, peeking out of the side of one of the buildings that has scarcely survived bombing. It's like the sky just turned red, and loud explosions happened everywhere, and then...

    There's strange men in strange suits, and a man with a black blade with a cyan mask that looks incredibly scary. They want the mayor? What's the mayor done? I mean, the Mayor of Sagahli was a jerk who was probably doing some kind of shady trade, so Rixia's not unfamiliar with jerk mayors, but blowing up a village like this...

    She spots Kaguya, but doesn't know it's Kaguya because she's all armoured. She seems to be next to a very strong-looking woman with blonde hair and a polearm, and a man in a red coat too...

    "uweeeeh....." Rixia puffs up her mouth to prevent herself from whining out loud, hunkered down with her arms above her head. what did she do to deserve thiiiiis????????

    she's so busy hiding she hasn't noticed her tail poking out of the side of the barrel

    oops

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

When Eleanor has a premonition... Zhang Xiumei tends to hear about it. It is just the way of things, being close to someone with the power to see the future. She received the warning, and so she came.

The ARMS operative arrives at Alcimadas Village, exactly as predicted; her eyes widen as she looks at the village, and the Veruni forces deploying. Her gloved fingers tighten into a fist for a moment, as she feels a little pulse of fear shooting through her chest. This could be bad.

No, this is bad. It could get worse.

She wears the armor granted by Model AV: a black bodysuit, composed of metallic fibers, white armor with green lining, and a crystal mounted on her chest. Her eyes glow, as she stands there. She holds a hand out to her side -- and a hand cannon appears, taking form as cubes of data that form into a shorter cannon. She grips it tightly. Deep breaths.

She looks at the Veruni commanders and considers -- before she steps forward -- and her eyes are drawn towards the capsule that Ambrosius produces. An antenna emerges from it. She doesn't need prophecy to know that should likely be stopped. So she lifts her hand cannon, takes aim, and fires a blast of pulse energy for it.

Then she calls out: "Stop! Turn back, all of you! ARMS won't allow this to go even a step further!"

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

When there are difficulties out there, even if they are only premonitions, Venetia Vuong feels a burden of responsibility - a burden, perhaps, of care. A position she is donning for herself. You'll hear more about that further.

Venetia is less fast moving than Xiumei. But not completely so. Trailing behind her skirts, she strides forwards and adjusts the strap on her Crest Graph pouch. One hip for that, the other for a gun. One is for spiritual conflict; the other, for fun.

"Indeed," Venetia states, resting a hand on her own weapon but not drawing it even as Xiumei pops off a shot. "The days in which you simply took are done. Traditionally one exchanges, for a thing; or entreats, for a person. And in either case, one provides *explanation*... And the option to *refuse*."

"If you are unwilling to provide these, then you may find these new days aren't much fun," Venetia says, before adding, to clarify, "for you."

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

---SLIGHTLY EARLIER---

    Gwen wishes she had Gulliver right about now. She could gallop up to the crest of a hill, have Gulliver rear up right as the sun strikes their back, along with the appropriate amount of wind to tussle both their gorgeous manes of hair and impeccible taste in fashion. Her blouse will be finely pressed, crisp and white, she will not be dealing with a terrible case of sunburn, and she will not be sweaty and stinky from riding around in a glorified metal chicken.

    When Gwen *peeks* over whatever can serve as a hill, she is out of her Gear for Reasons, she is sweaty, her blouse is stained, and she is dealing with some sunburn on her exposed freckled cheeks.

    And she does not announce her presence, because that's wayyy too many Veruni for Gwen to take on. *One* Veruni is enough to slam Gwen into the ground like a paver. Two is overkill. "Guardians... this is just... augh..." She sighs, to Ida, as well as any allies gathered nearby. "Lemme get the Halcyone. Whatever you guys are gonna do, better do it while they yell at me for being an idiot courier."

    Being known to do dumb stunts can be useful sometimes when you need an excuse.

    ---NOW---
    
    Just before Xiumei makes her entrance, there's a sound of propellers from the direction of the entrance to the village, with its pilot taking none of the precautions one would take in at least trying to be stealthy. If it's trying to bumrush into the village, it's a poor attempt as well, moseying up with the innocence of a mail carrier coming up to deliver mail to a house that is just about to explode the moment the doorbell is rung.

    It's the Halcyone, the blue-green (usually) Gear of one Gwen Whitlock, already slowing as it nears the village entrance. It slows to a stop, and the hatch opens, revealing a confused Gwen.

    "..... Aw damn." She rubs a hand through her hair. ".... I should've known this shit was gonna happen the one day I had to make a run here... Nonono, don't shoot! See? Got my hands away from the controls!" She's holding her hands up. "Like I'd take on a Veruni in this thing."
    

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

The business with Alcidamas Village and its curious 'benefactor' Demetrioi were unsettling for Azoth. And that's putting it in mild, informal person sorts of words and not Azoth's internal world of horrific, unstable calculations concerning the issue. Glitched data in, glitched data out. It isn't Azoth's idea of a good time.

But it is a creepy village trying to mind its own business. What Lan said, about how this place has its needs met, and taking that away... that isn't an act to be taken lightly, is something that sicks with him. A military power looking to take a construct like Demetrioi for itself...

After traveling through Alcidamas with Kaguya, Azoth has a strong hypothesis on why they are seeking this out. But the methods, the consequences... Plus, whatever Azoth feels about Demetrioi, he's not about to let a construct that's defined their weird, unsettling purpose be used as someone else's tool against their inscrutable will.

Data is how battles are won and lost. Thankfully, Xiumei's here! And shooting at that silver data capturing capsule looking device already. Azoth rushes up alongside her and Venetia, skidding to a halt with dust trailing behind him.

"Yes, yes, exactly. If we could cease all of this --" He gesticulates vaguely to the rising hostilities with a nervous grin, "-- and come up with some sort of mutual, logical sort of agreement for helping your people that does not involve upsetting an unfathomable technological power in the process, I think that would be great!"

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Matilda... has had a long recovery, owing mostly to her own bad decision-making; Judecca hurt her badly, and while she's been up to light work, it's hard to do much on a damaged knee. She has a tendency to push herself in small ways, leading eventually to a re-injury; this kept happening until roughly February, when she simply had someone else in the Carakin (who? it is a mystery) fully immobilize her knee.

Two months of *that* has finally gotten her back on her feet for real, though... -ish. She's had to make some mild accommodations even so -- not that they're appreciably visible.

Having been tipped off to strange happenings in Alcidamas, she's come to take a look for herself; she's been told to expect Veruni in the area, but that hasn't paid out *quite* yet. Matilda is in town, re-checking her gear and applying something to her leg when --

Ah. There we go.

Matilda's eyes track immediately to Kaguya; her expression sours near-immediately. Ambrosius, too, a moment later. ... Well -- she can't really do anything about it, but...

... she might as well try. "... I'll ask you to stop," she says, tone soft, "but I have a feeling I'm going to need to ask with a little force, unfortunately." She's... more than a little nervous about having to potentially oppose Kaguya, but... Matilda's tried this sort of thing for herself, and in the end, it didn't feel good. Maybe it'll feel better to stop it, instead.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Magilou came here from Honeysday, following one particular beleagured teenager*; she's no helicopter mother, but there are a few things Kaguya said last they spoke which are gnawing on her. (It might be Bienfu, inside her heart.) And Magilou, as it happens, is -- remarkably good at not being noticed, when she doesn't want to be, even accounting for her ridiculous jester's outfit.

    (They're her witch's raiments! Get it right!)

    Trailing that far behind, though, did tragically mean she lost track of her on the mainland -- but with all her talk about 'fixing the world'...

    Well, let's call it a hunch, which has Magilou change her route to move in towards Celesti, and a town which has sprung up nearby. It's a hunch which pans out perfectly well, as soon as she's able to magically 'ping' one of those elixirs Kaguya gave her to replace her inferior apple gels.

    "Sorry, kiddo," Magilou remarks, with a light shrug, as she moves with greater purpose towards Alcidamas.

    Alcidmas, as it happens, is a little bit assaulted as she approaches. Magilou sighs, and keeps on strolling in. Past those destroyed barracks, and...

    Hands laced behind her head, looking for all the world like she's unarmed and too ridiculous to be a threat in her book-skirt and mismatched joker's outfit, Magilou ambles into the hostage situation. She looks over, to Kaguya, with a loose grin.

    "Soooo," she drawls, "this is the Veruni's latest evil plan, huh? Crush the helpless under foot and steal the plant which cannot be? Love it. Quick question," she adds, tone and foot loose as she leans back to spread her arms out in a wide stretch, as if she hasn't at all recognised just how outgunned she is. "What's your plan if that kid gets mad?"

    Magilou taps a hand to her cheek, smiling brightly. "Come on! Don't tell me you didn't even think about how Demetrioi would react to a warm welcome like this." She should be talking to Fereydoon, but she's looking right at Kaguya. "You're smarter than that, right? Riiight?"

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.

~Earlier~

"No that doesn't quite work..." Lounging against a tree near the village, she gives a look towards Demetrioi in the distance, "You're definitely no muse." Rebecca crosses out 'gelidly' above a list of other descriptors such as icily, bitingly, frigidly. "No no. That's not what I want... I need something with a more positive spin. Nngh, why is every word like that a negative!"

And then the explosions began, and Rebecca gets a hiatus in her Writer's Block

~Now~

Rebecca hasn't ever known what to make of Alcidamas Village. It makes her uneasy, but the people there are ones she can empathize with - they're just trying to get by. If a Demetrioi appeared and offered prosperity, they'd have been suspicious, but they probably wouldn't have turned it down.

The ways the village tried to misdirect them, make them go away. She doesn't blame them. They just want a peaceful life, away from conflicts like this...

... that doesn't matter one whit to the Veruni though. Just like so many locations they've seen along the way, there's no peace or prosperity to be had for people when the Veruni decide to involve themselves in the life of humans. And as often as Kaguya shows she's the exception - she's here right now isn't she? It doesn't matter what she wants, when people more powerful than her order it.

Which is why Rebecca is sizing up Fereydoon right now with her ARM from a low position in the grass, mouthing 'Sentinel' as Kaguya's sister calls him that. If he were a person she'd be sure she could take him with one shot. Yet he's a Veruni so she's second guessing herself. He looks like the leader here, once he goes down or retreats - Kaguya might be convinced to let this place be. Maybe.

Rebecca shoots Gwen a look in her Gear which seems to say 'Really!? Put your hands down!' Yet it probably won't be seen. ARMS makes their point explosively, Rebecca calls out from her position in the grass, "How about we make an ultimatum of our own. Leave these people be and don't come back and you can leave without reporting that you got bested by a handful of'Drifters. You Veruni don't have the right to ruin what they've built for themselves here."

A glint of gunmetal might just give her position away though...

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Alcidamas has been a quiet, looming presence in the back of Ida's mind, full of promise and peril. In a perfect world, its people would be left to prosper, and to share the fruits of their labor with others. This is not a perfect world. Demetrioi--the strange, frightening construct that drove her dear friend to a frenzy--is not part of it. It's only a matter of time until someone does.

    And then, the warning came, from Ida's usual source in ARMS. It was a simple enough matter to leave the cleanup and Reaper control taskforce in Buckeye, citing 'urgent ARMS matters'--because it's the literal truth.

    EARLIER, ON THE HILL

    "Normally I'd ask you to reconsider," Ida says, turning to Gwen. "But this must be decided quickly." She can see the villagers gathered in the square; they're terrified, and the slightest bit of resistance might stain the ground red. "Get their attention."

    NOW

    Halcyone does just that. Gwen doesn't get thirty meters before she has guns pointed at her--a small but not-inconsiderable portion of the patrolling troopers. "OUT!" one of them demands; she steps forward, aiming for the cockpit glass. "Down! On the ground! Hands where we can see them!" Someone's gunning for their superiors' favor.

    Then someone emerges from the shadows beneath the awning of the general store behind the patrol. The first guard has no warning; Ida's fist catches him in the back, smashing into his armor and staving it in. He barely has time to scream in pain before she sweeps his legs out from beneath him and stomps his instep. Ida launches herself at her next enemy--the scream alerted the rest, and she's greeted with gunfire. A beam of white-hot force lances past her right ear. Another clips her right thigh. The armor blunts most of that. Ida pulls back a gauntleted fist--

    About twenty seconds later, the patrol leader screams for backup over the local radio. Two seconds after that, she flies backwards towards the rounded-up villagers as if launched from a gun; she hits ground with a crunch, shoulder-first, and struggles to get up.

    Ida steps into view a moment later. She's clad in full combat armor, a mixture of restored Filgaian armor from the Metal Demon War, and Hyadean armor of more recent vintage. Her bulletproof buffcoat blows around her; her arms are armored to the shoulder with biometal gauntlets.

    "'For the greater good', I'm sure," Ida says, her voice brimming with carefully-controlled fury. "You certainly love to punch below your weight class, don't you? Here's a proposition. Listen to Magilou, over there." Ida glances meaningfully at the witch. "I know it sounds absurd, but she does have good points every now and then, and this is one of them."

<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    Fereydoon's gaze falls upon the Halcyon just showing up like it's a routine thing (and it could be) as Gwen shows up like the giant distraction that she is.

     "Your business can wait." Fereydoon replies, until Gwen talks about how she'd 'take on a Veruni in this thing' in a moment of sarcasm, and his eyes narrow. A gesture is made for some of the surrounding escort soldiers to raise weapons at her, as one gives her commands as to what to do.

     "A ruse." Fereydoon identifies it for what it is. This shallow trick will be dealt with. Persephone's intel, however, fails to account for the existence of another source of information the Drifters have... and the call is made too late, and there is a fight taken to them.

     In a straight fight, Ida would have her hands full. Even the "regular" Veruni soldiers outmatch nearly the rest of the two worlds both physically and technologically. Yet, with the element of surprise and unrelenting will forged in flame, she makes one hell of a statement by flinging a battered patrol leader before them.

     Magilou asks a pointed question aimed at another, as Xiumei codifies most of this being an ARMS response. Other patrols raise their ire and anger, along the lines of 'know your place' and 'do you know who we are?'

     Rebecca calls out her position to make demands, at which point Fereydoon signals to those Veruni soldiers in range to hold their fire. One protests, and only a turn of his head sees them silenced. He holds his emotions tight, unmoving, as if hardly feeling threatened - but the idea he'd punch down.

     "I do not wish harm to the people of Alcidamas. Their continued survival is not in question. Their food stockpiles ensure none in this region will be left starving. I am made to understand Demetrioi's aims, such as they are, are to see to the happiness and well-being of those around them." Reasonable dialgoue, so far.

     "I have my orders to see them to where their capabilities can be put to better use." Fereydoon responds as he looks to the gathered. "To call this action an intent to ruin is short-sighted. If you will persist in simple tricks and threats..."

     His mask goes back on, glowing blue lights. "...Then I no longer see you as bystanders!" His movement is swift, rushing towards Rebecca's position and swinging his ARM blade outward to sever and annihilate the grass in which she hides without touching a hair on her head (yet), and again, upwards, in a show of force to try and sever some part of the Halcyon as demonstrative and coax Gwen closer.

     A hand sign, curling the outer fingers inward as the others point up, held closer to his face and then slowly lowered. Earthen energies from the strange Veruni sorcery course throughout the ground towards Gwen's and Rebecca's positions, affecting the quality of metal of their armaments. Attempting to weaken them, leave them brittle.

     "Ambrosius! Kaguya! Amaterasu! Deal with any who raise arms until they yield. The rest... see that those surrendered and unresisting do not come to harm. Locate the mayor and prepare to secure Demetrioi!"

GS: Fereydoon has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Brittle Offense!
GS: Fereydoon has attacked Rebecca Streisand with Brittle Offense!
GS: Fereydoon has gained 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    MEANWHILE - WITH A VERY STRANGE MAN UP TO MISBEHAVIOR

     A twinge of pain runs up Ethius' wrist, destabilizing the gesticulation component of whatever spell he had in mind as an exasperated, furious Lan ask him why.

     He yanks his wrist free with a strength and urgency that belies Lan's superior martial technique, to break from facing her.

     "This doesn't concern you," all that just to try and dismiss her outright. Lan can see Homer trying to run off... in the direction of the chaos? It may not be a measured reasonable response in crisis.

     "I can't let that one out of my sight again. There is more at stake than I have time to talk about," Ethius' stoicism slips as he tries to take off, and there are two Veruni patrols and a gasping, panicked Homer. Ethius (and Lan!) can catch up in time to see a badly battered Homer at gunpoint (until one lowers the rifle of the other, remembering their orders).

     That opening can allow Lan an opening to strike if she so chooses, for Ethius works up a higher-yield electrical Symbology spell to strike the one admonishing the other.

     "Th-they're not with you?" Homer bleats out in confusion, as if expecting these two incidents to be entirely related, and also a look in his eyes to Lan that scream 'help me'

     AS FOR DEMETRIOI

     The... thing of the hour makes a strange cooing noise of confusion as their head turns to the right within the monitor, like they simply do not understand what the hey is going on!

GS: Rebecca Streisand partially guards Fereydoon's Brittle Offense for 39 hit points!
GS: Weaken applied to Rebecca Streisand!
GS: COUNTER! Gwen Whitlock counterattacks Fereydoon with !
GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Fereydoon's Brittle Offense for 69 hit points!
GS: Weaken applied to Gwen Whitlock!
GS: Fereydoon takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's  for 46 hit points!
GS: Fereydoon activates Evade bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

THEN

"...Yeah," Kaguya answers Amaterasu. "It should be. The Sentinel knows what he's doing."

NOW

"Sentinel.' Amaterasu calls, and Kaguya pauses to look back to her sister. She lifts an eyebrow briefly, but then nods. "All right," she says. "We can do that." It's not quite the same as her own plan--and she doesn't show nearly the military discipline that Amaterasu does--but she's going to need someone to keep people off of her while she interfaces with Demetrioi anyway, so there's no need to argue. ...Not that it would work out if she did.

"All right, sis. Let's find him. He's a big guy, he shouldn't be hard to spot."

Kaguya doesn't notice Rixia at first; she's not looking for her.

"ARMS is here??" Kaguya's gaze snaps to Xiumei for a moment, passes over Venetia and Azoth, another surprise--but only a moment. After all... Someone else is here. Matilda is here. Kaguya turns towards her and stops short, eyes widening. "You..."

She asks them to stop.

"...The wall no one can climb, huh?" Kaguya says, as if repeating something she's been told many times--because she is. Kaguya glances to Amaterasu, once, and then looks back to Matilda. "...Guess I can't just ask you to leave and let me handle it, huh?" she asks her, glumly. "Yeah, all right. But I can't hold back. This is... more important than I can tell you."

Then she snaps to another, "Oh, and if we'd offered a nice high price in cash for the device, you'd have let them go with that, right? You'd have let them make deals with the nice intimidating Veruni if we just went about it nicely, right?"

Kaguya shakes her head. "Come on. Even if I'd been able to convince the higher-ups to treat with humans like equals, you guys would've come in to make sure we couldn't get something like this for our own purposes. I know, because I sure wouldn't let my enemy take hold of something like this."

Magilou... "What are you doing here?" Kaguya asks first. "...Butt out. This is none of your business anyway. Why don't you go harangue someone who cares?" But she does care. She's annoyed, clearly. Magilou's presence, and the very question that she had asked herself when she wanted to do this silently, privately... but that's not the Veruni way. And then--

"You don't get it," Kaguya answers Ida. "One village, as the cost for a whole planet. It's a pretty good deal, if you think about it. Yeah it's for the greater good. Do you think this thing can last? Do you think if not us, then Guild Galad won't come to see why this part of Celesti isn't dependent on them anymore? If Solaris doesn't beat them to it. Do you really think any of your human governments are any better?"

But no. No, they won't listen. None of them will LISTEN. Kaguya steps back a moment, breathes in hard, and lifts a hand to her chest, as if from a sudden pain. "You--"

"There's no 'rights', Rebecca! There's just the strong, and the weak. ...That's the Veruni way. It was stupid to think I could get around it. Well, not anymore!"

It's been a long time since she's drawn on this power... But there's no other way. She knows how strong her 'friends' over there are, but she knows how strong Fereydoon is, too. It's going to be a bloodbath. And it's because--It's because--

"No one ever LISTENS to me! Then FINE! I'll just DO IT MYSELF!"

The first thing to notice is not the sky. The sky is the same as it always has been, with Demetrioi. The first thing to notice is not Kaguya herself; she undergoes no obvious change. No, the thing to notice is a small circle, beginning at her feet, that grows:

A circle of rot.

"You idiots. You absolute IDIOTS. If you'd just LISTEN to me then I could FIX it, but even if you win here it doesn't end! You're only making it worse and you don't even know why! So you WON'T!"

Grass buckles at her feet. It browns, and sickens, and withers, the earth beginning to smell of decay in a widening circle around the small Veruni.

Her eyes open and they are deep red. "Come on, then." Kaguya's feet lift off the ground a good six inches as she hefts her ARM, the entire device gleaming with a crimson aura that fades within it. "Idiots. Morons. FOOLS. You have no IDEA the power you're dealing with."

And there is a sense of presence about her suddenly, a pressure that forces those uninvolved in the fight to their knees with sheer might--and threatens to do the same to the fighters. But even as that WEIGHT streaks forth, Kaguya moves, quickly pulling a cartridge from an ammo belt and slotting it into her weapon, cla-CLACK. She quickly raises it towards Magilou and fires. The blast of light bursts into a weakening smoke, a magic-suppressant technology. "You know it's not as simple as you're painting it. You KNOW it!"

She throws out her hand next, and the rot spreads, a line underneath a sudden projectile of magical energy that crashes straight for Ida with bone-chilling effect--but it is not cold. It is hot, a piping rage, an overwhelming HATRED that could rend flesh from bone in an instant.

"And YOU, you self-righteous twit. Here's my counter-proposition, IDA. EAT MY ASS!"

And to those with ears to hear it, the Guardians begin to scream. The very air around Kaguya stains red. It is not Ether, not even the Veruni's strange variety of it.

DC: Kaguya switches forms to Calamity Umbra Kaguya!
GS: Kaguya has attacked Magilou with Inhibition Shell!
GS: Kaguya has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Kaguya has attacked Magilou with Inhibition Shell!
GS: Kaguya has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Kaguya has completed her action.
GS: Kaguya has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Malign Prayer!
GS: Kaguya has completed her action.
GS: Magilou's Mute Ward prevents an effect!
GS: CRITICAL! Magilou takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Inhibition Shell for 102 hit points!
GS: Weaken applied to Magilou!
GS: Kaguya has canceled their attack on Magilou.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

The presence of Drifters isn't entirely unexpected. They're a resourceful bunch, after all, and always seem to have their ear to the ground - ready to take action when needed. Ambrosius backpedals quickly at the sensation of building energy... it is not fired at him, however, but the antenna. The pulse energy strikes the silver device solidly before it can begin to affix itself to the ground and it is sent clattering to the dirt, bent at an angle that does not look conducive to performing its duty.

In one swift motion Ambrosius turns and draws his revolver, Conversator, before pointing it at Xiumei.

"ARMS." He repeats. "I have no quarrel with your organization, but I cannot cede to your authority. We will not stop. And we will not turn back."

Xiumei isn't alone, however, for soon Venetia and Azoth appear. Others have begun to make their appearance, too - but it is these three who demand his immediate attention. Conversator is trained on each of them in turn. His free hand does not remain idle, however - it begins to make subtle swirling motions, the moisture beginning to gather around it.

"I am afraid this is not a matter in which we can accept rejection. We take no joy in this, but neither can we step aside." He says for Venetia. And as for Azoth...

"If you speak of Demetrioi, rest assured that we have no intentions of upsetting them. As the Sentinel says, their people shall remain unharmed and their stores untouched." He replies.

In the distance, Fereydoon, too, has met with obstruction, and orders have been given. Well, it's not like he didn't expect this.

"If at any point you wish to stand down or retreat, you may. For now, however -" Following this, in one swift motion Ambrosius gestures in Azoth's direction. The moisture he had been gathering has since turned into a swirling blade of water pressure, and sent sailing Azoth's way. With a turn he fires twice with Conversator, once each upon Xiumei and Venetia, the reports through the air sounding a grim punctuation to his trailing sentence.

GS: Ambrosius spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Azoth with Aqua Cutter!
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Venetia Vuong with Conversator!
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


"Those're your orders huh? It's not your call to make on where their capabilities can be put to better use." Rebecca says acerbically, "You think we haven't seen what awaits them under Veruni rule?"

As she then snaps a look Kaguya's way, intense in the way she stares at her. "Yeah, thought that'd be what you'd say... when your people are around to hear you." Rebecca though doesn't seem to believe it for a second, even if by the telltale hum of energy she knows that Kaguya isn't holding back.

And yet as he lowers his mask, Rebecca takes aim with her ARM. As fast as she is, Fereydoon is faster. Slicing the grass away as she tries to duck and roll. Still the hand sign of his Veruni Sorcery is familiar and she raises her Medium quickly, a runic bubble of Solais Emsu's Shamanistic magic forming to blunt the force. Still she feels the spell taking hold in her pistol and realizes it might not hold up if she's not careful.

All the same, she charges up a shot as she backpeddles. A shining bullet rushing forth with riotous force to try and slam into one of his knees.

"Gwen-! He's a Sentinel! Don't hold back!"

And yet is she not holding back herself by aiming at his knee? As she turns her words back on him. "You must think we're stupid. Time and time again - we've seen the results of the Veruni deciding to seize control of people's lives. You think just because you're sparing them we should graciously accept what happens to them next?"

GS: Ambrosius has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Conversator!
GS: Ambrosius has completed his action.
GS: Zhang Xiumei's Jam Ward prevents an effect!
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a solid hit from Ambrosius's Conversator for 125 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Ambrosius!
GS: Azoth suffers a terrible blow from Ambrosius's Aqua Cutter for 236 hit points!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has attacked Fereydoon with Round Beat!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has completed her action.
GS: Fereydoon takes a solid hit from Rebecca Streisand's Round Beat for 114 hit points!
GS: Disrupt applied to Fereydoon!
GS: Fereydoon activates Evade bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Xiumei glances sideways at Azoth -- and shoots him a smile. It's anxious; she might have years of experience, now, but she remains the person she always was. She cannot just summon an ability to feel at peace when she is about to be fighting. "All three of us are glad you're here," she says.

Some day, she thinks, they'll be able to tell him themselves.

She glances sideways at Venetia, then -- she knows her less well -- and nods her head, once, before she looks back at Kaguya. She gives her a hard look. Then, her eyes widen; she does something. Xiumei doesn't know what.

She looks back at Ambrosius, then; her eyes note the damage to the antenna-armed device, and then she shakes her head. A blast of water comes shooting at her -- and Xiumei leaps, where it clips her shoulder, and sends her into a midair roll.

"Azoth!" she calls out, seeing the blade of water coming for him.

Then, back at Ambrosius. She sails through the air -- and lowers her cannon, firing. Three bolts of green-white energy shoot down in rapid succession for the Veruni operative. "You don't get to decide this, though! You don't have some authority over these people... or this place!"

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Ambrosius with Pulse Cannon - Triple Burst!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey partially evades Kaguya's Malign Prayer for 35 hit points!
GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Delay, Poison, and Slow applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Venetia Vuong takes a solid hit from Ambrosius's Conversator for 108 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "Whoahwhoahwhoah, of course, of course, sheesh." Gwen plays her part well, offering only the barest of grumbles as her chosen means of resistance as she climbs out of the Halcyone. And it's not as if the Halcyone would be useful even if it was armed for taking on a force like this. There's too many bystanders, and Gwen doesn't have the skill to ensure no one is harmed in the scramble.

    Gwen barely is able to get on her knees before Ida makes her move, and the courier has to bow her head slightly to avoid giving it a second early with her proud grin at how well it all set up.

    Thankfully, Gwen's always ARMed. And while it's no real secret for Veruni, she's but one fish in a very, very large barrel. Several mooks would have no chance of knowing. The dangerous ones? Gwen doubts her luck can be *that* good. "It ain't like I was lyin', by the way." She gets up in that space where Fereydoon holds his soldiers back, but does not make any move to attack. "My Gear ain't meant for this kinda stuff. I don't want anybody harmed because of a stray bullet, so at least we're in agreement there."

    But like when Fereydoon heard Gwen's lackadaisical quip about not wanting to take on a Veruni, Gwen's own expression darkens as he explains the proper outcome for Demetrioi. "Y'see, y'lost me in the second part. It creeps me out, sure, but I'd like t'keep it at that!"

    The Veruni's mask slides back into place, and Gwen is caught off guard by just how quickly he's able to swing his blade, forcing Rebecca backwards--

    --and Gwen, forwards, using her ARM to try to parry away Fereydoon's own as she ducks in. There's the quickest glint of metal as Gwen's left hand draws a knife from the cuff of her boot and flings it forward, trying to catch Fereydoon in the calf.

    "..... Sentinel?!" Rebecca can see the acknowledgement in Gwen's eyes, the way they widen as she takes in the full sense of the term. Her expression straightens, and settles into a small, forced smile. "Guardians, this's gonna be a real toughie, then!"

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Fereydoon with Letter Rip!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Fereydoon partially evades Gwen Whitlock's Letter Rip for 43 hit points!
GS: Entangle applied to Fereydoon!
GS: Fereydoon activates Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

"Better use?" Azoth repeats, and there's a smile on his face, but his eyes aren't in on it. "By whose definition?"

He sets his attention on Ambrosius. "Intentions are one thing. Actions and their actual consequences are quite another. You know this is kidnapping at best, right? That's generally defined as upsetting!"

This isn't a conversation anymore. It never was one. It's a fight. Azoth glances back at Xiumei with a more genuine smile. Not quite warm, but reassuring. "Glad to see the three of you, too."

He promised Varius he'd help look after Xiumei. He'll have to do what he can to that here, regardless of how anything else turns out.

...That's not as easy a promise to keep for new reasons. The swirling blades of water crash into him directly, impacting enough to force its way past water proofed defenses. Azoth sparks wildly, his own energy arcing over his limbs. He lets out a glitched beeping with it, holding out his arm as light flows through his arm in a glitched pulse.

"All right. If you want to see how an AI might adapt itself to feeling threatened, guess I'll give you a preview."

The power overflows in a wild mess of sparks as Azoth dashes for Ambrosius like a bolt of lightning himself, swiping out with an arc of ARM energy like a blade (and is a blade, but one in existence possibly too briefly to confirm) to detonate against him.

Azoth's joints appear to be detonating themselves.

GS: Azoth has attacked Ambrosius with Overclock!
GS: Azoth has entered Avenger Stance!
GS: Azoth gains 10 FP from him Daredevil!
GS: Azoth has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

"Who are you talking about," Venetia asks Azoth about the unfathomable technological power.

Fereydoon speaks... he is not that forthcoming but Venetia feels a certain abstract hope. Enough that she folds her arms from her current position, frowning but still present. Her eyes flick over others who arrive - Magilou is very memorable, and Ida of course she knows; others less well, but they are not unfamiliar to her. She adjusts the ribbon tie of her mask at one point.

But then matters accelerate. Fereydoon addresses some of their points, but rejects the proposal; Kaguya, Venetia can tell, is doing the same, but with more swearing. She takes a deep breath and lets it out.

"Sounds like you're in a rough spot," she tells Ambrosius, "and I appreciate the politeness. I would of course be glad to return the same courtesy. And--"

A GUN!

Her one weakness.

How did he know? Venetia is grazed in the leg, wincing, flinching, and rolling off to the side and behind a piece of horse-related infrastructure in the process. "Hmhfh. Well, now. As she said, and I'd like to ask if you could encourage your peers, perhaps, to move elsewhere if we're going to be negotiating in these terms?"

Venetia does not get out of cover. Her answer to Ambrosius-- is MAGIC: a Crest Graph is ficked upwards, and an oblong patch of the ground suddenly turns gray, damp, and alkaline-fragrance. Down about a foot and a half; and it's going to dry up *damn* fast.

After this, she shouts to Azoth, "I don't know if you're aware of this but you seem to be exploding! If it's deliberate, carry on."

GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Ambrosius with Pozzolanic Sign ~Zone of Adhesion~!
GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
GS: Ambrosius solidly guards Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Cannon - Triple Burst for 64 hit points!
GS: Mighty applied to Zhang Xiumei!
GS: Ambrosius activates Countermeasures!
GS: CRITICAL! Ambrosius suffers a terrible blow from Azoth's Overclock for 250 hit points!
GS: Ambrosius activates Countermeasures!
GS: Strain! Azoth takes 62 damage!
GS: Ambrosius solidly guards Venetia Vuong's Pozzolanic Sign ~Zone of Adhesion~ for 31 hit points!
GS: Cripple and Entangle applied to Ambrosius!
<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

    BEFORE

    "Indeed. We shall finish this quickly, and then you will be able to investigate it to your heart's content. If what you have learned is true, then..."

    It may mark a turning point for their control over this world, from top to bottom.

    NOW

    Some have arrayed themselves before them with apparent intent to hold their own against the invading Veruni. Impassive, Amaterasu's gaze sweeps the lot of them, as if to take their measure. "Are they friends of yours, Kaguya?" The situation is serious enough at least that Amaterasu does not call her sister 'Ka-ya' in front of everyone. "Stand down," she says to those before them, "and you will be permitted to walk away. I have no interest in fighting those who seek to flee."

    But something catches her eye just then. Fleetingly, Amaterasu glances to her right.

    "...Hold," she says. She turns suddenly then towards a nearby set of barrels, having noticed a particular tail poking out from the side of one of them. With the butt of her polearm, she simply sweeps the barrels aside, revealing the cowering Rixia.

    ...Except, to Amaterasu's gaze, it seems to her more the crouch of a warrior, lying in wait.

    "Ah. So there are more of you. You were well-prepared, I see. You seek to stand against us regardless of what it may cost you," she says, surveying first Rixia then turning her attention back towards the others who have already presented themselves as the village's defenders. "Sentinel, it appears they intend to fight against us. Your orders?"

    Fereydoon makes clear the manner in which they are to operate.

    "Very well," Amaterasu says, and much like with him, her own faceplate slams into place, illuminated by sickly green light. "Know that this will not change the outcome here today... but I admire your spirit. Come now, let us fight! On your feet, warrior!"
    The last is spoken towards Rixia in particular, and is punctuated by a swing of her weapon for the crouched vulpine woman. It is merely a test of Rixia's reflexes... for now.

    BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2PyK7HT350

    Turning, she jabs that weapon low, towards the woman that Kaguya had spoken to--
    The woman to whom Kaguya, just now, had shown remarkable tenderness.

    "So... it was you," she says, all calm pleasantries in this precise moment. "Now I understand her hesitation. And yet, it will avail you not. If you think yourself worthy of my sister, then come! Show me that you can protect her!"

    Amaterasu must still think of Kaguya as defenseless. As someone who needs a sword and shield, someone who...

    Someone who is spitting invectives at those arrayed before them, enough so that even here, Amaterasu, a trained soldier, drops back a few steps to turn her head towards her sister. "That is enough, this is a battlefield, not..."

    But the words die on her lips. The grass around Kaguya's feet is beginning to rot.

    And when she opens her eyes...

    "...Ka-ya? What are...?"

    What power is this, that makes even her heart feel as if it has dropped into the very pit of her stomach? What power has her sister gained?

    "Your experiments?" Amaterasu murmurs aloud, barely audible as she watches her sister become a very avatar of rot and decay. But she herself had already said it.

    This is a battlefield, and there is no longer room for anything else but.

GS: Amaterasu has attacked Rixia with Sine Qua Non!
GS: Amaterasu has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Amaterasu has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Sub Judice!
GS: Amaterasu has completed her action.
GS: COUNTER! Rixia counterattacks Amaterasu with Draw - Counter Magic!
GS: Rixia takes a solid hit from Amaterasu's Sine Qua Non for 129 hit points!
GS: Amaterasu solidly guards Rixia's Draw - Counter Magic for 62 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

    Ethius yanks his arm free, but Lan feels like she's already kind of made her point. He snaps about how it's none of her business and he doesn't have time and Lan barely refrains from rolling her eyes because it never helps. "Can't you run and talk at the same time?" she asks a bit sourly, but he's already chasing after Homer and Lan takes off in hot pursuit.

    Lan may really really distrust everything about Demetrioi's presence here (she does) but as far as she knows, Homer Mecone doesn't deserve to be beaten to death in the street (he might, it's not like he and Lan have had any heart-to-hearts or anything).

    Well fine then! If Ethius is going to be a stubborn brat, it's not like he's the only person with a working mouth here. They catch up with the mayor of Alcidamas when he runs into Veruni patrols; Lan takes advantage of the moment's confusion to blast cannonballs of silver starlight at the soldiers. "MISTER MECONE!" she yells hands still raised in her casting position, feet planted wide apart on the street. "Why is Ethius so mad at you?!"

    She's not planning to blast Homer too (unless he gives her a good reason, he's already really beat up) and is in fact halfway to lowering her hands when something washes across her senses like plagued miasma.

    Rot. Decay. The Guardians screaming in a dissonant chorus of horror and agony. Lan, who has spoken to the gods of this planet since she was a child, feels it perhaps more keenly than some. Hands clamped over her ears can't block it out. "Ugh-- what is that?!" Eyes watering, Lan forces herself to lower her hands and be ready to restrain Ethius again. "What the hell's wrong with this town?!"

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida lets the injured trooper struggle to her feet, but doesn't let her out of her sight. Fortunately, she has the sense to back off as her superiors take the field, leaving Ida's attention on them.

    "And yet, you didn't think to ask," Ida shoots back, as if Fereydoon weren't a force of nature in his own right. "The stores will run out. The land will grow barren." She doesn't know that, but it's reasonable supposition. "'Better use--'"

    'You don't get it. One village, as the cost for a whole planet.'

    Ida's gaze locks on Kaguya. Her jaw tightens. She has a point--eventually the Master's people would find out, or Solaris would find out, and they'd be doing this exact dance, but with a different partner. "But you got to them first," Ida says. "I thought you were better than this, Kaguya." There's pain in her voice, and anger, and she's not sure where it's coming from. She glances back at Matilda--God, she thinks, how long has it been?--and nods once, her whole face tight. She thinks back to a fight in the lab in the Photosphere, and how tried to convince Kalve that Mother wasn't merely sick. How he'd fought her until the lie collapsed, and he embraced her, sobbing.

    Quietly, she's hoping Matilda can pull that off--but Kalve was alone, and Kaguya is not.

    And then Ida's eyes flick down, and widen as she sees the grass withering. Kaguya erupts in a torrent of verbal fury; Ida jerks back, raising an arm. She's reminded of... Krosse. The border station. How Kaguya mangled her hand, and gave her the perfect opening to reveal her transformation.

    Ida's lips pull back from her teeth as The flame that sustains the world twists in terror, and rage, and it's wrong, it's wrong--

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    There's no time to respond to Kaguya's crude challenge; Ida will be scandalized when she isn't in mortal danger. She whips to the side, and the projectile glances off her right shoulder. It's like almost being hit by a fiery bolt, or a laser beam, except instead of second-degree burns and horrible, searing pain, it's rage, hatred, thick and vile. Her flesh twists and bubbles beneath her coat, and the exoskeleton does the same, visibly. She staggers, clutching at her injured arm. The heat settles in, racing up her nerves into her brain.

    Ida sucks in a breath, lets some of the hate out with it. She's no stranger to these feelings, and it's this experience that keeps her from being immediately overwhelmed. "Ah," Ida says, her face twisted into a rictus halfway between a sad smile and a look of rage. "So you've fallen, too," she says.

    Ida blurs forwards. It looks like it's going to be a frontal assault, but at the last second, she steps to the side, starts circling Kaguya. Her hands are open before her, and she strikes with the tips of her fingers and her palms. "Counterproposal," Ida says. "You eat dirt."

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Kaguya with Water Dragon Form!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has entered Stoic Stance!
GS: Delay expired!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes 36 damage from Poison!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Kaguya solidly guards Ida Everstead-Rey's Water Dragon Form for 31 hit points!
GS: Kaguya activates Power Burst!
GS: Matilda Whitehead suffers a terrible blow from Amaterasu's Sub Judice for 143 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Amaterasu!
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    A large number of Drifters are here. She even recognises some of them. There's Ida, and Xiumei! Wait, why does she have that mysterious-looking armour on? Oh no! She's not a Gear too, right? She'd feel so guilty talking so much bad about Gears in front of her...

    She doesn't really have a lot of time to worry about the others right now, though, since she sees Kaguya -- and she's talking about something she doesn't really understand. One village for the whole planet? ... what's a planet? Is it that weird-talking plant that's honestly kinda soothing at this point in time? She gets more mad and her eyes go red, uweeeeeeh--

    "W-what's Kaguya doing? I don't think she's here with the Guard right now... I don't see Mister Leo or Miss Hilde anywhere..." Rixia nervously looks around. She's so stuck in her own thoughts she doesn't even notice Amaterasu walking up to her barrel, and--

    boink

    "Waaah!" Rixia exclaims! The jig is up! She's going to die, she's going to die! She's so surprised she just falls on her bum, which is perhaps some kind of mysterious Warriorly Stance: To Connect One's Posterior to the Earth and Thus Become Grounded with the Affairs of the World. ... maybe.

    Amaterasu orders her to get on her feet and calls her a WARRIOR! "W-wait, I'm not--" she hunkers up tighter, definitely crying more than a little at this point as the polearm comes for her!! Oh no, this is the end, the end--

    >> threshold for self-preservation exceeded
    >> self-activating, initialising scanning modules
    >> confirmed: detected extreme threat levels of danger to user
    >> confirmed: non-zero risk of self-termination independent of user survival rates
    >> adjusting... ... ... ...

    --zzzZZZZOT, a complex Symbological glyph appears at the last moment and clashes against Amaterasu's weapon, resisting the Veruni commander with a brief and erratic jolt of energy that pushes her back.

    "I'm not a warrior! I just wanted to have ice cream today...!" Rixia mopes, even as her device continues to rapid-issue commands and bubbles her in a green, protective casing of energy without her noticing. "It was strawberry with a cherry on top! It was going to be nice!"

    She balks out at the only person right now she can notice. "Kaguya! What's going on?? Who're these strange masked people in the armour?? What's going on with you??? Does your tummy hurt?"

GS: Rixia has attacked Rixia with Draw - Benefic!
GS: Rixia enters a Counter stance!
GS: Rixia has completed her action.
GS: Rixia heals Rixia! She gains 200 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

"... You know where I'm at, at this point," Matilda says, quietly. It's all she can do; she knows what she told Kaguya, years ago. She knows how what that feeling *means* has changed, too. In the end, Matilda doesn't think what the Veruni are planning here will actually make that world.

It's... difficult to miss what's happening with Kaguya, to say the least; Matilda is dead to the Guardians as much by choice as by nature, and yet... she recognizes that wrongness. She looks down and away, one fist clenching -- and before long, she's drawn knife and gun, slipping into a tall stance, gun arm out, knife held close to parry.

"Kaguya..." There's defeat in her voice. It's... a familiar feeling, in some senses -- seeing this rot and fetor and decay. The wreckage of Filgaia twisting into a weapon against people one might otherwise care for -- against her, at that, out of some perceived sense that they -- and she -- are too foolish to know what's best.

Amaterasu comes forth, and her weapon bites into Matilda. She crumples a little -- not enough to force a retreat, but enough to make her feel acutely outmatched. She weaves from side to side a bit, trying to plan. ... what she needs now is separation.

Matilda launches herself away from Amaterasu, first with a long leap backward, then a shorter one to one side. "It's not that I think I can protect her anymore," Matilda says, tone gentle despite her abrupt movement. As she fires a quick shot off, she murmurs -- inaudible amid the din of combat:

"I just don't want to lose anyone else the way I lost me."

... maybe it's naive to think that's still on the table.

GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Amaterasu with Repositioning Shot!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    This is an ARMS operation! And one particular member of ARMS just, really, REALLY didn't want to come here. But when the battle begins threatening the villagers of Alcidmas, the breeze of that windy day picks up...

    ... and the breeze forms a barrier, between the huddling masses and the overwhelming strength of the Veruni.

    (Boudicca, who is currently a ribbon tied around an object painted on the background layer because she hates this place SO MUCH, isn't coming out for love or money. Not between the horrific, soul-rending forces of Demetrioi and whatever is happening with Kaguya right now. Not happening. But the villagers are innocent, in all of this. She can at least make sure they don't get hurt... a feeling just like Fereydoon's, apparently.)

    So, that's what's happening with Ida's partner, in all this.

    But why is Magilou here, if this is an ARMS operation? Magilou isn't part of ARMS. Or is she? Maybe she joined when you weren't looking. Can you really say Magilou isn't part of every faction? Is anyone going to tell her to go away if she suddenly turns up at the meetings? Who could possibly constrain Mazhigigika Miludin do Din Nolurun Dou?

    Anyway, Kaguya asks the question -- and Magilou grins, with easy, loose movements as she sways in place. "I wasn't about to let you have all the fun! I haven't gotten in on an evil plan for ages!" She... wants in..?

    Certainly, her eyes narrow with a measure of consideration, as Kaguya says she could exchange one village for an entire planet.

    Or -- maybe it's just in the way she looks from Amaterasu to Matilda. "Waaait wait-waitwaiwait, YOU'RE her sister? And Kaguya's smooching on the SUICIDE QUEEN? Oh. My gods." Magilou clutches her fists in front of her, with a little wriggle. "This was SO worth it?"

    Is Magilou even listening to Kaguya? Oh, wait, now she's screaming about how no one is listening to her. Oopsie-doodle. Magilou turns back to Kaguya, and --

    She sighs, pulling a paper doll out of her sleeve.

    "Heeey, foxy lady!" She yells, to Rixia. "Looks like you're all caught up~ in the fun zone~!" Is that what she's calling the ever-expanding circle of rot, whose magical signature is decay, consuming all in its path?

    She steps back quickly -- in the business, we call this a Quick Step -- from the cartridge Kaguya fires, but as it hits the water-barrel she dodges behind, the smoke manages to catch her anyway. Unfortunately for Kaguya, it's harder than that to shut Magilou up; she's so finely-tuned towards suppressing magic herself that it's remarkably difficult to suppress Magilou.

    That doesn't help the way it saps her physical muscles, though. She coughs, waving away the smoke. "Come on, kid," she says, a shade more serious, to Kaguya. "We both know the calculus here is heavy business. You want someone to listen?" She flicks her shikigami down; it elongates, and she sits on it, hovering at seat-height in the air.

    "Let's hear it. What about this hole in reality can patch up the miserable world we're standing on? What kind of healing are you hoping to achieve, with the disease cascade you're sending out here? How are you going to fix it, Kaguya?"

    As the circle of rot reaches her, she asides, as if an afterthought: "Spell Absorber."

    And she makes no comment on how surprising it is to see her bring her nullification into play as a fight begins.

GS: Magilou has attacked Kaguya with Spell Absorber!
GS: Magilou enters a Counter stance!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
GS: Kaguya suffers a terrible blow from Magilou's Spell Absorber for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Mute applied to Kaguya!
GS: Hyper applied to Magilou!
GS: Kaguya activates Sufferer!
GS: CRITICAL! Amaterasu solidly guards Matilda Whitehead's Repositioning Shot for 69 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

"...Yes. But, that much is unfortunately necessary." Ambrosius admits to Azoth. He doesn't think Demetrioi would simply agree to leave Alcimidas of their own free will. As for Venetia...

"...My apologies. I have no authority to call for negotiations." He says. He is but a soldier, after all, and it may be a failing that he thinks of himself that way.

Xiumei fires, then - sending out three bolts of energy. Ambrosius braces himself, raising an arm to intercept. Green-white shots collide with red armor, crackling against a barrier that is briefly visible only faintly before disappearing once more.

"No, we do not." Ambrosius admits to her. Some among the Veruni would claim that yes, they in fact do have that authority, but that part has long since left him. The people of Filgaia are no longer the enemy he thought they were... but they remain opposed all the same. "But that does not change what we must do."

It's distraction enough that he doesn't notice Azoth until he's almost upon him. Behind his helmet his eyes go wide as Azoth charges in like a bolt of lightning, sending an arc of energy. He has only a second to brace himself, but it's not enough - the arc explodes against him and sends him recoiling back several steps.

...And in his last step, a foot lands solidly in a patch of grey, dramp earth courtesy of Venetia, which immediately begins to dry around it, locking him firmly into place. He frowns, taking note of this, before turning his attention toward Azoth.

"...So you are... I see. I apologize, I didn't recognize... though I should have." He comments. He has, after all, been personally responsible for the creation of a few AI.

Be that as it may, it's still a fight. He gestures with his free hand again and water rises to his call. This time, rather than a blade it crashes toward Azoth against all sides. In one swift moment, then, his revolver is stowed away in favor of a red and white ARM. He takes aim and fires off a sickly green beam toward Xiumei. It's unpleasant to be struck by, invoking a temporary feeling of illness.

For Venetia... Ambrosius charges toward her, fragments of earth exploding from around him as he partially frees himself from her earthen trap. Some of it still clings to him, slowing his movements... But with his long arms his reach is deceptively long. Not a gun this time but a combat knife is drawn from the depths of his poncho, swinging for her like the head of a scythe.

GS: Ambrosius has attacked Azoth with Surging Tides!
GS: Ambrosius spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Zhang Xiumei with VV-VENENO!
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Venetia Vuong with Scything Swing!
GS: Ambrosius has completed his action.
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a glancing hit from Ambrosius's VV-VENENO for 58 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Zhang Xiumei gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Disease and Poison applied to Zhang Xiumei!
GS: Zhang Xiumei activates Evade bonus!
GS: Zhang Xiumei loses 0 THP from Disease!
GS: Venetia Vuong takes a glancing hit from Ambrosius's Scything Swing for 47 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Venetia Vuong gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Mighty applied to Ambrosius!
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    'You think we haven't seen what awaits them under Veruni rule?' Rebecca asks that pointed question. A nerve holds under the touch, reminder of whispers he sometimes catches about those he is close to in his life - and the expectations made of one in his station, all processed internally as Gwen parries his ARM skillfully.

     "It is my duty to see them there." He does not voice what more is at stake out loud - something both Kaguya and himself are both aware of. He would not dare have excluded Kaguya from any of this because of that...

     "Kaguya. Do not let them..." He doesn't finish, when an incredible power signature bleeds through her unchecked emotions. There are questions. There are statements. There are two hostile targets before him. Fereydoon has found comfort and immense success in breaking down objectives into exacting numbers to bring to zero (until Persephone bottoms it out anyway).

     Nonetheless, Rebecca is correct. That's a Sentinel, and he's fast. Rebecca fires her ARM with conviction and purpose as he seems to move as a blur, and she will find the bullet sinks into his shinguard. It's a moment of curiosity for him. He finds no fault with her aim, but he did mention atmospheric... weirdness. It throws off movement calculations.

     Enough for Gwen to slash at about calf level on the same leg he was just shot. His armor is kind of poofy and it's tough to gauge when it's a clean hit, but there's blood, as he stands back.

     "You are aware, and yet you would fight. You are not incorrect. I am Fereydoon, of the Sentinels." Bit late for polite introduction, as he asides to the more distant Rebecca. "Would you graciously accept what would happen next were we not to secure Demetrioi, then?" There are other powers out there... or this means something else.

     His free hand makes the same sign again before plunging it into Gwen's chest, merciless, to try and push her aside as he engages the blade-like ARM to flare a hot beam of energy to life, sweeping outward to try and catch Rebecca in a horizontal swing meant to cut down a small group.

GS: Fereydoon has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Chakra Seal!
GS: Fereydoon has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fereydoon has completed his action.
GS: Fereydoon has attacked Rebecca Streisand with Scatter Slice!
GS: Rebecca Streisand suffers a terrible blow from Fereydoon's Scatter Slice for 140 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Rebecca Streisand gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hyper applied to Fereydoon!
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    MEANWHILE - WITH LAN, A RUDE MAN, AND SOME OTHER MAN

     The Guardians cry out, and Lan is momentarily stunned. Ethius moves in to disable the other Veruni scout with just as much sorcerous precision as he did the other. Some gesticulations, some chanting, both expertly honed and trained to be done at record speed under duress at a level very, very few Symbologists on Filgaia can ever match. One electrical shock, one horrid gurgling of agony as it courses about them, and... one may hope unconsciousness.

     "Ethius?" Homer remembers that extremely excitable young woman Lydia talk about him. A mere trash collector. He holds his hands up defensively though his gaze is transfixed about the two disabled Veruni right then and there. "I, I dunno, I've never met this psycho before!" Ethius' face hardens upon overhearing that.

     "The hell's goin' on? You burnin' down Alcidama--"

     Ethius sticks his staff right into Homer's chest again, looking unamused as he peeks out ahead, and over to Lan as she screams about what the hell's wrong with this town. His hand goes to his forehead for a different reason.

     "I can't deal with both at the same time," he lets that slip aloud, as he looks to Lan, "can't leave him with her."

     "We have to get there," he points across the distance. To Demetrioi. "Before the Veruni." A concession. A gasping Homer is pulled up... to a point, he's too heavy for Ethius to lift outright. "Get up."

     Homer's fingers start to make some signs resembling Symbology, until Ethius brings his free hand around his wrist and squeezes. Which is impressive, Homer's not a small fellow.

     "I can't let them take you either."

     AT DEMETRIOI'S DEMETRIOI

     :o why is there so much anger what is wrong friends :o kaguya come be happy with your friend i remember how happy you were :)

     The voice wavers in places, as if still struggling to parse how Alcidamas was so happy for some time, and now suddenly... not. To say nothing of one... stand-out individual.

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"They're here to... to take an AI?" Xiumei asks Azoth, her eyes shifting to him. There is alarm in them; she came because Eleanor sensed something, because ARMS cannot very well sit by during this. That changes her calculations; it makes this more personal to her, in an instant.

She looks back to Ambrosius, then. Her eyes widen at what he says. "Why, then? Why do the Veruni have to do this!?"

She sees that sickly green ray of light shooting for her and dives -- and it just goes over her head, some of it leaking onto her and seeping against the armor. She hits the ground -- pushes up with one hand -- and throws the Pulse Cannon to the side. It vanishes into cubes of light the moment it leaves her hand.

Those same cubes then form a cylindrical handle; a blade of energy shoots out, green burnt to white at the core. It extends outward, into a whip, and Xiumei snaps it out.

The beam whip slashes across Ambrosius with that single, fluid motion.

GS: Zhang Xiumei spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Ambrosius with Pulse Whip - Extend-Slash!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes 26 damage from Poison!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Yeah," Kaguya answers Amaterasu. "They're my friends, I guess. Some of them anyway." She doesn't spot Rixia yet, because she's not checking for hidden people. She's just kinda stopped. And when Amaterasu finds a hidden warrior, that's fine, right?

But Matilda--and Amatereasu. Kaguya clenches her teeth for a moment. If it weren't such a terrible clusterfuck, it would be really AWKWARD. "...Why I was hesitating, huh? I guess..."

But Rebecca doesn't seem to believe her, and Kaguya looks at her. "...Sorry. I tried it the other way. But it's not going to work out."

But the violence begins, and Kaguya seems to exult in it, stronger than ever. "Nope," the small Veruni says with a smirk at Ida. "This isn't Malevolence. That's a human problem." She watches Ida blur, but she doesn't react until that last second--when Ida steps to the side, and circles. She brings up her arms, still floating off the ground, blocking each strike with her forearm. Ida's blows are nevertheless powerful enough to leave dents in Veruni armor--was that always the case? Or has she just grown stronger?

"Your precious Guardians gave me this power. Did you think a genius couldn't figure it out? How to redirect the hatred of an entire world bent to killing me?"

"THIS IS THEIR POWER!" Amaterasu asked, and so Kaguya confirms, "My experiments. They bore fruit, you know. You've only seen a TASTE of what I can do."

"It's fine, though--the way I talk?" Kaguya says to Amaterasu, picking back up on what she'd started to say, "I'm just speaking in a language they understand. They--"

But Rixia calls out to Kaguya, and Kaguya's red eyes snap towards her in an instant. She blinks in surprise--but that surprise can't cut through all of the rage. "You should've run, Rixia!" Kaguya calls. "Now you're fighting my sister! So you'd better not hold back if you ever want ICE CREAM again! Show me your resolve!" It's irritating. A Guard problem, here. When the Guard could've been the ones to help with this, to settle all of this, if they'd only followed her. Kaguya can feel the antipathy rising. "...Sis. Try not to kill her," she settles on, and leaves it at that. Instead...

She can't hear Matilda's murmur. But she can hear the rest of her quiet words. She knows where she's at... and she hears that defeat, and--

"Don't talk to me like that!" Kaguya snaps at Matilda. "You KNOW why I'm doing what I'm doing!" It makes her... angry. Once, she would've accepted that protection. Now, she knows it's gone--but that defeat, that certainty...

It makes Kaguya hate one more person, and it isn't Matilda.

...But there's someone else she already kind of hated, and Kaguya's sickle-smile turns on her instead, as she thinks.

"C'mon, Ida. Don't act so prissy about it. How many people do you think your boyfriend has killed for his experiments? How many humans has he destroyed in the war? ...After the war? You know what he's been up to." Yes, that's right. "Humans and Veruni can't bridge that gap. Maybe Hyadeans can... but certainly not you. You're just a science experiment who someone let out of the lab too soon. ...Oh, I get it--that's why he's into you, isn't it? More data!" A miasma travels from about Kaguya's feet, starting to wend its way around Ida, too, as she sighs loudly.

Kaguya pulls back--she doesn't have to jump, simply sliding through the air from one place to the next, untroubled by gravity. She lifts a hand, off of her ARM, and points it at Ida--though in her position now, it points to Matilda, too. "...You know you're out of your league, Atida. You don't have to make this fight yours. You have any idea how LONG I spent hiding you from these people?"

The miasma grows. But the aura of rot... does not. It does not because while it is not magic in any conventional sense, not a magic Magilou could be familiar with, her spell manages to start to suck it up. And magilou... "YEAH I want someone to--"

...She looks at her sister. She looks at Rebecca. She looks at Magilou. "Rrrr...."

She can't go into it. Not here. Not with all these people. They're secrets too dangerous to share, knowledge too perilous for most of them to KNOW. All of these people would be dead. And Magilou--

Magilou...

"You're asking NOW!? Now, after al this!? After it's too late!?"

Spell Absorber is happening. Kaguya's red eyees gleam. "RRRRRRR--"

She throws out her hand, and this time it is not her ARM working, but a different kind of nullification--she tries again, but with magic. The red aura around her seethes forth, not Ether and not Sorcery and not quite anything except raw hate in the moment, as Kaguya just tries to batter down Magilou completely. The red power seethes, and it lights up the pathways of the Ley, of the body's life energy, of ARMs' electrical circuits, lights up everything that carries anything and IGNITES it of a sudden, Kaguya's attempt to overwhelm Magilou's magic absorption outright.

"This is just the Guardians' power set loose. If it's killing anything, it's because they're already dying. But with Demetriori we can fix it! it's just like how if you do surgery you have to cut up your patient a little to get to the bad! LEAVE IT AT THAT!"

Fereydoon has orders for Kaguya that he doesn't finish. Kaguya looks at him and starts to reply--before she hears Demetriori's voice....

"Demetrioi!" Kaguya calls louder. "I'll be there soon!"

Then she narrows her eyes. "So, do you guys want to be the reason he gets upset?"

GS: Kaguya has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Withering Sigh!
GS: Kaguya has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Withering Sigh!
GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Kaguya has entered Avenger Stance!
GS: Gwen Whitlock's Jam Ward prevents an effect!
GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Fereydoon's Chakra Seal for 129 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Break, Cripple, Mute, Slow, and Weaken applied to Gwen Whitlock!
GS: Kaguya has attacked Magilou with Inevitable Decay!
GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Kaguya has completed her action.
GS: COUNTER! Magilou counterattacks Kaguya with !
GS: Magilou takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Inevitable Decay for 88 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Magilou gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Dispel! Hyper removed!
GS: Cripple and Disease applied to Magilou!
GS: Magilou activates Arcane Font!
GS: Magilou loses 0 THP from Disease!
GS: CRITICAL! Azoth suffers a terrible blow from Ambrosius's Surging Tides for 148 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Azoth gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Kaguya suffers a terrible blow from Magilou's  for 99 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Kaguya activates Sufferer!
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Kaguya's rage is real, and she can feel it from over here. Rebecca doesn't know why she thinks she can fix anything with Demetrioi - but the cost...? Well... as she says she tried but it's not gonna work out. "Yeah... don't think I'm that unaware of the position you're in." She doesn't know the specifics, but she doesn't need to to understand what'll happen if she doesn't play ball.

Rebecca's reply to Gwen cracks a little, "Gwen - get serious!" Despite the deadliness of the situation, she almost giggled at her saying 'this's gonna be a real toughie, then!' Almost. She reigned it in. "It took everything we had to hold off Kartikeya!"

And she knows that Dean just didn't the two times he encountered Volsung, barely surviving the experience.

"You can stuff your 'duty'! You think saying it's your duty washes your hands of what you're doing right now?"

Yet no matter how she sends her outrage his way, he just seems, calm. And in that calmness Rebecca is unsettled in a different way that Kartikeya's unhinged slaughter... yet still unsettled.

She's about to answer him on would she accept it. Yet as he stabs Gwen, she raises her ARM to fire, but then he's right there. That hot beam of energy slicing her way, and as she bends over backwards, she feels the burning as it sears into the flesh. The smell of her own flesh burning makes her nauseous. As she staggers backwards near a piece of smoldering wreckage as she tries not to swoon from the pain.

"Of... course not! We'd take these people and go! Because we know what you'd do to them if they stuck around for your retaliation!"

Steadying herself, she gives him the same courtesy, "Rebecca Streisand... Drifter." A beat, and on foolish impulse she adds, "I'm with Avril Vent Fleur."

There's a quirk of her lip, as suddenly energy flares into life around her, red ley energy erupting around her since he'd forced her onto a Fire Ley, "Maybe you wouldn't guess that, because unlike her, I burn a little hotter."

Suddenly flames rise around from the Shamanistic invocation of her Original Medium, flaring into a curtain that tries to surround the sentinel and cut him off as she tries to return the favor by searing his flesh with her magic.

GS: Rebecca Streisand has attacked Fereydoon with Ley Blast!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey suffers a terrible blow from Kaguya's Withering Sigh for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Hex, Slow, and Weaken applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: CRITICAL! Fereydoon takes a glancing hit from Rebecca Streisand's Ley Blast for 65 hit points!
GS: Mighty applied to Rebecca Streisand!
<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

    "She is my sister, yes," Amaterasu replies to Magilou, not without a slight bit of pride. "Challenge us at your own peril."

    Worth noting, particularly as they stand near enough to one another: Amaterasu has nearly two feet of height on Kaguya.

    And it's a masterful change of stance when encountering an unexpected opponent from Rixia! ...Maybe.

    But if there were any doubts lingering in the depths of Amaterasu's heart where it comes to Rixia's prowess, they are quickly squelched when her testing jab is met with a glyph that manifests out of thin air. Even sorcery would be hard-pressed to so quickly counter her strike -- at least, not the sorcery of a simple hedgewizard. "Ah, an adept, are you? This should be interesting!" proclaims Amaterasu. "Now, brandish me your weapon!"

    This will not end well.

    "So you do not think yourself capable?" Amaterasu sounds... disappointed? It's entirely possible she may have misunderstood, entirely, what it was that Matilda was trying to say. "I see! Very well! I shall see for myself how suitable you are! Do not think I shall entrust her wellbeing to another idly!"
    Not all things can be spoken with words. The body speaks for itself, as Amaterasu knows well. Matilda has her own answer for the attack Amaterasu made upon her, and it comes in the form of a sudden bullet, cracking the side of Amaterasu's torso armor. Glancing downards, she stops her advance upon Matilda just long enough.

    "Impressive," she says.

    "But let me see how you withstand this!"

    This, being an absolute whirlwind of a strike with every part of her polearm but its sizzling blade, snapping the end towards vulnerable points and joints and slamming the shaft about in an attempt to lay Matilda out. It's a display that does not end with Matilda, either: the wardance continues across this section of the village-turned battlefield, gathering up Rixia and even Magilou -- nearest to the whirlwind of Veruni metal -- in her rolling storm.

    At times the art of war is to break the enemy's ability to fight rather than to simply lay them low... or perhaps, this is her testing them further, to see how they might now strike against her.

    But eventually she cannot maintain her rolling wall of violence much longer, for her sister...

    Something has overtaken Kaguya. She says it is the Guardians.

    "Your experiments," Amaterasu repeats, as if stunned yet behind that battlemask. "You managed it? You have shackled the Guardians to your will? And this might go further?"

    Is it wonder, now, in her voice? Or is it horror?
    Perhaps it might be both.

    "...Mind your health, Ka-ya," is among her last remarks to her sister. Her poor, sickly, little sister.

    "But let us show them the might of the Veruni!"

GS: Amaterasu has attacked Magilou with Debellatio!
GS: Amaterasu has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Debellatio!
GS: Amaterasu has attacked Rixia with Debellatio!
GS: Amaterasu has completed her action.
GS: COUNTER! Rixia counterattacks Amaterasu with Draw - Counter Magic!
GS: Rixia takes a solid hit from Amaterasu's Debellatio for 0 hit points!
GS: Break and Slow applied to Rixia!
GS: Rixia enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Magilou suffers a terrible blow from Amaterasu's Debellatio for 0 hit points!
GS: Break and Slow applied to Magilou!
GS: Magilou enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Amaterasu solidly guards Rixia's Draw - Counter Magic for 59 hit points!
GS: Amaterasu activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

"It's what they're after," Azoth explains to Venetia, with a grim nod to Xiumei. "Can't say I understand their true nature, but..." He shrugs his shoulders. But nothing. The data is precious little -- so is the time to explain it, if he had it.

Because for now there is violence! And pain.

There's a lot of pain in particular.

Azoth maintains his facade by giving a wincing smile through his rather disastrous condition, hopping back and forth like he's just got too much energy to sit still. This is literally true. If he doesn't expend something, somehow, someway, it's going to rip him open from the inside.

Bouncing from foot to foot is definitely not enough.

"You're not worried about activating some manner of defense protocol? I do not want to see what this energy repurposed into a self-defense weapon looks like, personally speaking."

He gives a weaker smile. "And it'd be nice, for once, to not have one of us scooped up and used as a tool for the first person who thinks we've got 'better uses' than the existences we already have. But... that one probably doesn't mean anything to you..."

Weaponizing guilt is another adaptation, maybe. It does not protect against tidal surges, sadly. Azoth's own erroneous arcs of electricity jolt through the waters, making the whole collision worse as he's smashed into from every angle, leaving him to drop to the ground without much momentum to get back up with. Not moving is bad.

"It might be a little erroneous, but no need to panic!" Azoth calls to Venetia. His shoulder bursts with enough force to jostle him to one side. "Ow."

Azoth lurches back to his feet and charges Ambrosius. He leaps for him, trying to punch into the ground to let the overheated, excess energy burst out of his body in a shockwave.

GS: Azoth enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Azoth has attacked Ambrosius with Thermal Runaway!
GS: Azoth has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Azoth gains 10 FP from him Daredevil!
GS: Azoth enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Azoth has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

    You have a bag of grain, a pig, and a wolf that you must ferry across a river. You have a dinky little boat and can only take one across the river with you at a time. If you leave the bag of grain with the pig, the bag of grain will totally fall for whatever the pig says because the pig is desperate and the bag of grain is kind of gullible-- wait. Wrong logic puzzle.

    The screams of her gods grate across her soul. It hurts, it hurts, it's wrong, it hurts. Lan looks from Homer (who has never seen that psycho before in his life) to Ethius (whose inner monologue has become an outer one) and grits her teeth. "Nngh. Then come on!"

    It's been a while since she used her ribbon. She's been getting better, stronger. She can do this.

    Eyes squinting against the pain in her head, Lan invokes the power given to her by Rigdobrite and the vast force of her own innate magic. She shoulders Homer's other side, bolstering the Beastman with her physical strength.

    Ethius and Homer will find themselves practically floating on their toes as Lan pours her will into stretching her ribbon's magic as far as it will go. "Then RUN!"

GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Withering Sigh for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Matilda Whitehead gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Disease, Hex, and Weaken applied to Matilda Whitehead!
GS: Matilda Whitehead activates Guard bonus!
GS: Matilda Whitehead loses 0 THP from Disease!
GS: Matilda Whitehead fully evades Amaterasu's Debellatio for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Matilda Whitehead gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Matilda Whitehead enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

"Perhaps you should get it," Venetia advises Ambrosius, but this is the sum total of the big-headed advice that she can give because she is ASSAILED!

The invoked cementarian material is not enough to restrain Ambrosius in the power of his scholarly and also likely Verunian fury and power. Ripped loose, he approaches Venetia, who is already standing up and reaching for her gun. The knife comes in and the gun is not brought out because the knife has pinned part of her arm against the side of the hitching post!!

Mostly the fabric.

Mostly.

Venetia looks towards Ambrosius then, looks up towards him. "Must," she says. "That must be relieving, to not have to *think* like that. I'd say I'm jealous but I'm not." She feints a hand up as if to pop him in the mouth! In that moment she rips aside, leaving cloth and a little blood on the hitching post.

"Not having nearly so many musts has been good for my own academic career," she concludes, running... across the little street, raising up a Crest Graph as she goes. Any indignity in this level of fleeing is muted when there is a thrum in the lay, a gathering of light - a single crystal above her head and thirteen smaller ones, all of them snaking out like homing missiles towards Ambrosius even as Azoth comes in to

explode some more.

"Really now," Venetia says, glancing at Xiumei as she does, perhaps not wanting to judge a man for explosions he cannot help. (Venetia is not entirely clear on this AI thing as of yet.)

GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Ambrosius with Amethyst Sign ~Second Month's Decision~!
GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
GS: Ambrosius suffers a terrible blow from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Whip - Extend-Slash for 196 hit points!
GS: Ambrosius activates Countermeasures!
GS: CRITICAL! Ambrosius solidly guards Azoth's Thermal Runaway for 108 hit points!
GS: Hyper, Mighty, and Quick applied to Azoth!
GS: Ambrosius activates Guard bonus and Countermeasures!
GS: Ambrosius enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Strain! Azoth takes 36 damage!
GS: Ambrosius partially guards Venetia Vuong's Amethyst Sign ~Second Month's Decision~ for 91 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Of course it's not Malevolence, Ida thinks--she can recognize its smell from miles away. This isn't that. This feels different, terrible in a whole new way.

    'Your precious Guardians gave me this power. Did you think a genius couldn't figure it out? How to redirect the hatred of an entire world bent to killing me?'

    Ida's face twists into a rictus of fear, even as that hatred surges through her, making her see red. Her pupils dilate. Her eyes widen until Kaguya can see rings of white around her irises. "You," she says, as the pieces click into place. "You don't know what you're toying with. Taking his power into you--" Bubbles rise in the exoskeleton encasing Ida's shoulder. She grits her teeth as her jaw starts to creak.

    And then Kaguya hits below the belt. Like any good slander, there's little bits of truth in it. The secret lab, the research he can't talk about, and she doesn't dare ask about. The absences. The excuses. Red haze creeps into Ida's vision, and she stops circling, her face twisting into a snarl of rage. "You leave him out of this," she growls, but as she takes a breath, the miasma thickens and rises, seeping into her lungs. Ida lets out a horrible cough, nearly doubling over from the pain in her chest. The rage is so bad she can barely think--

    She hears Demetrioi's 'voice', distant and panicked in a way she's never heard them before. "Bullshit," Ida spits, and unwholesome ichor drips from her lips. It would be so, so easy to give in to this and make Kaguya hurt the way she made Ida hurt in Krosse, and she'd deserve it--

    But that would be an insult to anger, and its purpose.

    Ida's body twists back, then snaps forward, her fingertips burning with Breath: golden-white encircling fiery red-orange, tainted with veins of Kaguya's unwholesome energy. She jabs two fingers forward, trying to catch Kaguya's torso--to give as well as she got. If she hits, Ida's Breath leaps free, and into Kaguya's body, disrupting the flow of her power.

    That's the theory, anyway.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Kaguya with Searing Ember Strike!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes 22 damage from Poison!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    Magilou calls out to her, and Rixia exclaims, "You have a really weird idea of fun!! Why can't we just eat treats like a regular person?!"

    Amaterasu orders her to brandish her weapon, and she's groggily coming to her feet as she whines, "H-hey, shouldn't you worry more about your sister right now...?" Still, Amaterasu is Amaterasu, and she becomes a whirlwind of steel, a war dance drawing the village towards her flash of Veruni metal;

    >> compensating for user inaction

    There's a FLASH, and a silver sword with a strange gun mechanism mounted onto its hilt erupts in her hands at the last moment. Rixia, at this point, is raising her hands up to get chopped, which conveniently turns into a rather uncomfortable parry instead.

    Still, Amaterasu's force is mighty, and it blows her back to skid on her feet.

    Rixia doesn't notice her before, but there's a woman who seems to know Kaguya with a gun and a knife (a gunknife? a knifegun?) who looks like she knows what she's doing, so she ends up scampering to her feet to kind of (subconsciously) hurry behind her because she looks big and strong.

    "H-hi! I'm Rixia! Nice to meet you, scary stuff happening right now, a-aha, ahaha..." she whimpers, to Matilda.

    Kaguya speaks onward, though. Some Guardian gave her that power? Directing the hate of an entire world bent to killing her? Guardian, Guardian, Guardian... Like a parent, guardian?

    "I don't get it... are your parents being jerks too?" Rixia tries to grasp at a conversation she has no idea about. "I mean, I get the Blue Star's kinda ruddy at places, I wouldn't call this patch of land outside wonderful... but I got told all my life the Blue Star's dead and buried already."

    Rixia scrunches her face up, cheeks puffing up. "I got to have ice cream today here! I got to have a nice sitdown on a bench and enjoy some sun! Gosh, you're all talking about the hatred of the world and how you gotta break a village-egg to make a big world-saving omelette... maybe I'm a village dunce, yeah... I don't get talking in real big terms like that..."

    She starts yelling. "Even I'm not enough of a dumbo to know that's hurting you right now! What the heck!"

    >> strategic plan 11, concentrating on tactical level
    >> sorting, assessing elements of greatest threat to risk of continued existence
    >> acquiring... acquired: enhancing

    Still, if Amaterasu's going to bring it on a wide scale, her weapon is going to as well; the gunblade starts to shine once more, Artificial Symbology escalating on a wide UP3-violating scale as a celestial realm erupts for a precious three seconds.

    "Come on, help me out...!"

    The entire village is a night sky for three seconds, upon which are painted the beautiful constellations of the distant stars -- some of which the Veruni may even have been present for. The stars shine bright, baby, and descend, their light surrounding Matilda, Magilou, Ida and Rixia herself with what feels like the power of the stars themselves.

GS: Rixia has attacked Magilou with Celestial Stasis!
GS: Rixia has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Celestial Stasis!
GS: Rixia has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Celestial Stasis!
GS: Rixia has attacked Rixia with Celestial Stasis!
GS: Rixia has completed her action.
GS: Rixia heals Rixia! She gains 125 temporary hit points!
GS: Blitz and Hyper applied to Rixia!
GS: Rixia heals Ida Everstead-Rey! She gains 125 temporary hit points!
GS: Blitz and Hyper applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Magilou accepts Rixia's Celestial Stasis for 0 hit points! Disease prevents the heal!
GS: Blitz and Hyper applied to Magilou!
GS: Kaguya suffers a terrible blow from Ida Everstead-Rey's Searing Ember Strike for 0 hit points!
GS: Cripple and Disease applied to Kaguya!
GS: Kaguya activates Power Burst and Sufferer!
GS: Kaguya loses 0 THP from Disease!
GS: Matilda Whitehead accepts Rixia's Celestial Stasis for 0 hit points! Disease prevents the heal!
GS: Blitz and Hyper applied to Matilda Whitehead!
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Magilou laughs, fingers tapping at her temple. "I love peril! She's a cutie! Oh, she'd punch me in the throat if I tried anything, but that's half the fun!" Magilou pauses, and looks back to Amateratsu. "Wait, hang on, I'm thinking of pearls. Yeah, Pearl's what I'm thinking of." Magilou might just be an idiot. Have they ruled that out yet?

    Even so... the 'hatred' of an entire world... when she hears that, a grin splits Magilou's face, all carved in, all sharpened out.

    But -- when Kaguya says she wants someone to listen, when she growls -- when that happens, Magilou isn't smiling, any more. "... I thought we had more time," she says, and she sounds honestly apologetic. "That's on me."

    Magilou's an old, old woman, as Kaguya has often noted. She's lived every minute, but it's still given her a warped perspective on time, a mortal neighbour to the spirits.

    (She can feel the earth screaming, too -- because Bienfu is having quite a time of it, inside her heart. He's not coming out, either.)

    The world rots around Magilou -- but not within the light which shines, around her. Red aura pours into her, and seemingly just disappears, under the witch's impassive face. Even when the storm of Veruni metal passes over her, the polearm's shaft seems to pass into the light and through, meeting no resistance, finding no mark.

    That isn't... entirely... true.

    Magilou's improvements of Spell Absorber came with some cost; as she takes the offensive power poured into her and reduces it to nothing, all that hurt has to go somewhere -- it lands deep to her skin and her bones, the place where her heart ought to be.

    Which means that when Magilou echoes, "The might of the Veruni, huh?", she's not just speaking hypothetically -- she's quite aware of just what Kaguya and Amaterasu both are bringing to the table. "Not bad. But I'm going to have to mark you down for having stolen half of it."

    She stands, from her shikigami; it twists around her, and she plucks it into her hands, fun-sized again. "It's a good trick, though. Like this one -- Calamity Flare." And all at once the horrible, overwhelming might of the Veruni is the Veruni's problem -- a tidal wave of flame, twice as tall as anyone even measuring by Amaterasu's standards, pouring over the sisters.

    "I can do this all day," Magilou assures Kaguya, eyelids lidding over her eyes, tone too, too light. "Anyway, it seems to me that if Demetrioi can fix the world, you could just ask the little guy to do it instead of marching in. Bit of a doormat, if you ask me, but hey, some people like helping people."

GS: Magilou has activated a Force Action!
GS: Blitz! Magilou has attacked Kaguya with Calamity Flare!
GS: Blitz! Magilou has attacked Amaterasu with Calamity Flare!
GS: Magilou has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Magilou gains 10 FP from her Daredevil!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
GS: Gamble: High! Kaguya solidly guards Magilou's Calamity Flare for 112 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Kaguya activates Sufferer!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "Believe me, I know! The guy scared th'pants off me!" Gwen's lips spread in a wide grin as she looks over her shoulder at Rebecca. "But if you can still laugh, it means you can still fight!" There is a method to Gwen's... unusual way of doing things, for sure.

    Which isn't to say Gwen is not taking Fereydoon seriously. Fereydoon's calm response, while mannerly, presents him as much of a danger as Kartikeya's chaotic laughter.

    Demetrioi's response feels just as dangerous, like the whiff of smoke on a dry summer day. ".... At least the little guy's still upbeat 'bout things..." What would happen if it gained enough awareness to not be happy? Her gaze rolls back from the entity's direction back to Fereydoon. Rebecca introduces herself, and Gwen follows in suit. "Gwen Whitlock, super courier. I believe that the natural result was set t'happen the moment you stepped in here. I trust Kaguya's abilities, but I _don't_ trust the Veruni as a whole. Unlike us, we got no idea what's gonna happen when it feels something is wrong."

    Gwen Whitlock, adopted child and project of Frea, a noted researcher who had tried to study the possibilities of ARMs, as well as the mysteries of synchronization itself, in order to possibly rejuvenate or outright force the synchronization of Veruni.

    And, when Fereydoon uses his hand to impact against Gwen's chest, he'll feel something definitely off underneath the clothing and human skin, fat, and muscle that his hand parries aside.

    There is something metal there, where a heart should be. Or, something *like* metal, because it doesn't respond the way more mundane, brittle metal should.

    The effect is the same, at least, and Gwen is cast aside, rolling on the ground and, stamping her fist on the ground to come to a stop, coughing and grasping her chest for a good moment.

    The right hand, stamped on the ground, begins to glow as she gets back up, spreading its light in twig-thin patterns up Gwen's right arm, showing through the fabric of her sleeve. Reaching up her neck and into her right eye, Gwen's coughing subsides, and her expression pacifies.

    Unfortunately, at this moment, she's not there to back Rebecca up, but very soon, she'll remedy that.

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Bounding Flight!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Gwen Whitlock accepts Gwen Whitlock's Bounding Flight for 0 hit points!
GS: Restore! Break, Cripple, Mute, and Slow removed!
GS: Amplify, Hyper, and Quick applied to Gwen Whitlock!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

"It's *because* I know that it's so upsetting!" comes Matilda's shout back to Kaguya, as she roots herself in place, preparing to defend again. "I saw how this ends five years ago, Kaguya! I'm going to have to bury you, like I did my mother and father, because of this -- this *wretched* planet!"

Rooted as she is, Matilda withers under the flow of Kaguya's power. "You think that because I gave up on Odessa, I stopped feeling that way?! I feel more helpless than ever! I just got tired of seeing other people hurting!" Even as those stars shine bright on Matilda, filling her up in the same measure that the rot around Kaguya drains her, that helplessness creeps in. This is the last thing she would've wanted.

This time, Matilda moves to meet Amaterasu; *feeling* powerless doesn't mean *being* powerless, and blade crosses with blade. A moment later, Matilda shoulders *into* Amaterasu's reach, mirroring the polearm's movements with her own, avoiding all but the smallest taps.

"I don't have any answers for this, anymore," Matilda admits, staying in close with Amaterasu; she's never had the talent for mass combat. She has always been a single person, battling single people... or maybe she just doesn't want to hurt Kaguya. She moves with her usual wastelessness, aiming to trip Amaterasu and then stomp firmly on her chest. "... I just know I tried giving in to that hatred and didn't find I got anything for it."

GS: Blitz! Matilda Whitehead has attacked Amaterasu with Planting!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
GS: Gamble: Low! Amaterasu takes a solid hit from Magilou's Calamity Flare for 134 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Amaterasu gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Dispel! Hyper removed!
GS: Amaterasu solidly guards Matilda Whitehead's Planting for 65 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Amaterasu gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Amaterasu activates Guard bonus!
GS: Amaterasu enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

"Our people need them. It is not simply a matter of simply a matter of seeing something we do not have and deciding we must have it." Ambrosius replies to Xiumei. Azoth points out the possibility that they might activate a defense protocol.

"It is possible. But I do not think it will happen. I trust her judgment on this." Ambrosius replies. He doesn't clarify who he's talking about. It could be any number of people, probably!

...As for his comment about AI being scooped up and used as a tool, Azoth receives only silence. A pointed silence - Ambrosius knows he cannot come up with a proper response to that and does, indeed, feel a bit of guilt.

Venetia, though... he frowns, just slightly, though it isn't visible, as she speaks.

"...I envy you, then - you who are free of responsibilities." He replies.

Ambrosius notes with interest as Xiumei throws her weapon aside - particularly, the way it vanishes into cubes of light soon after. As an engineer he's intrigued, but he can't dwell on it as the cubes reform into a whip that is sent his direction. He raises both arms to defend himself against this time, but the flexible head of the whip is difficult to defends against it. It slashes across him. The barrier crackles once more but isn't quite able of wholly intercepting it this time - a charred streak is left across his armor despite its protection.

Azoth leaps for him next and Ambrosius backpedals defensively... but it isn't Ambrosius he strikes but the ground. The resulting shockwave bursts against him as crystalline missiles home in from all directions - this having given Venetia enough time to move out of range to cast her spell. Ambrosius grunts as he is stricken fourteen times, crystals shattering against his armor with force.

...They are all quite strong. The situation may be getting serious, at least for him - it's enough to demand his full attention. He can't spare a glance for the rest of the battlefield.

His ARM, Veritas Varia, is leveled at Azoth next. It looks slightly different than when he aimed at Xiumei, however - and when he fires this time, the beam is a colorless grey. It doesn't inflict any physical harm... but for those who come into contact everything seems that much more difficult, as if an imperceivable weight has been forced upon them.

Wasting no time the ARM is stowed away as he moves toward Xiumei next, unleashing a quick flurry of rapid strikes. There's a shift in the atmosphere, however, even as he does this. Even through his attacks he's preparing another spell. It's one he's already cast before - his final movement has him facing Venetia, and with a gesture he sends out another swirling blade of water for her, this time.

GS: Ambrosius has attacked Azoth with VV-DIRITAS!
GS: Ambrosius enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Advancing Charge!
GS: Ambrosius has entered Avenger Stance!
GS: Ambrosius spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling!
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Venetia Vuong with Aqua Cutter!
GS: Cripple and Entangle expired!
GS: Ambrosius has completed his action.
GS: Venetia Vuong takes a solid hit from Ambrosius's Aqua Cutter for 160 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Venetia Vuong gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Azoth solidly guards Ambrosius's VV-DIRITAS for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Azoth gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Break, Cripple, Jam, Mute, Slow, and Weaken applied to Azoth!
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    Even Fereydoon is inwardly impressed at the idea that Kartikeya would let anyone who crossed him live by choice. Might even be mildly horrified by the idea that Gwen can laugh about it by proxy. Mildly, as he puts weight on the less struck leg as Rebecca continues to reject his 'duty,' as he holds his composure.

     "Then take them to safety. Disengage, and I will not follow. I will not permit another under my command to let you or the others come to harm." There is the introduction, and the mention she's with Avril. This isn't completely a surprise by intel, but to know she continues to elude their grasp and have it be paraded around as an open tease, well.

     The backflip comes almost too late as the Guardians' ire is focused into that flame, blackening some of the indigo accents of his outfit. When he lands, from behind the glowing mask Fereydoon starts to take in the movements and weaknesses of Gwen after such a strike, knowing he hit something... and sees the inner workings of her ARM-arm restore strength that should be taken. The technology in question...

     He decides not to go back on his word. Disengage, and they will not follow - but he will inform further about Gwen.

     "And yet, all observations of Demetrioi's abilities and demeanor show they will be amenable to putting themselves to a better end than just a single corner of Zoara." Zoara, a land whose primary claim to fame (beyond 'seat of Granas religion') is not having yet turned itself into a massive pile of salt like Slayheim.

     With another hand seal, he brings forth his power over the earth anew as the terrain - carved out in a hex shape, for some reason - encompasses the three of them, where he holds steady as earthquake-like force emanates and threatens to shake up the both of them.

     His gaze changes as he spots something in the distance...

GS: Fereydoon has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Red Zone!
GS: Fereydoon has attacked Rebecca Streisand with Red Zone!
GS: Fereydoon has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fereydoon has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    OUR PLUCKY TRIO

     Homer winces as Lan helps bolster Homer underneath her strength, and blesses them with Rigdobrite's power into antigravity. Ethius, meanwhile, has his gaze darting everywhere. Some of the oppressive hatred bears down, but with a dip of his head he focuses ahead at the thing whose colors bleed just outside of the visual spectrum, whose shapes are on the verge of escaping three dimensional space.

     Lan can see the man blink and loosen a breath as his gloved hands tighten... but a wash of power as they pass another's battle (vague as it is) threatens to throw the antigravity out of whack and send the three of them off-course, into two Veruni regulars who take this as an aggressive action and open fire.

     "A-Are you all right," Homer looks to Lan, "looked like ya were in pain a moment ago, did ya get hurt?"

     Loud electrical noises and bright flashes of lightning escape Ethius' form where their weapons have impact, protecting the three of them altogether - but it is Lan's power, all of it, that speeds them towards their final destination.

     "S-So, lemme get this... straight?" Homer's trying to laugh down the pain of having a newly broken wrist and working up the courage he has to even speak to his assailant. "If ya wanted to see Demetrioi, why'd ya... jump me all the way back there? I woulda let ya visit--"

     "You would let everyone visit Demetrioi." Ethius' exasperation bleeds through the blank statement.

     "Of course! 'sides a few folks, they're love makin' friends, and they do so much good... lemme tell ya, after livin' as long as I have--"

     "No." Ethius interrupts. Thanks to Lan's help, the three of them find themselves before... the shrub-tree thing. Homer collapses into coughing, and Ethius stabs the tip of the staff into the ground for balance... and footing. Lan can see him exhale, like it might be a breath he's held for a long time.

o :o :o

     Ethius stares back, and raises a hand up.

o this is a new friend but they are also not happy :o am i not trying hard enough to make everyone happy there is no reason for anyone to be sad or angry :o

     Ethius raises a hand, and his expression hardens... and the face on the monitor starts to shrink, as it simply can't read his half-hidden face.

     "THE MAYOR IS HERE!" One of the Veruni scouts calls, as they raise weapons towards them, which is when Fereydoon gets word.

     "Amaterasu! Kaguya! Ambrosius! Move to secure them at once!" Easier said than done, when some of the greatest Drifters of the modern day are holding their attention.

GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a solid hit from Ambrosius's Advancing Charge for 109 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Zhang Xiumei gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hyper applied to Ambrosius!
GS: ROU|LET|TE: Severe! Rebecca Streisand takes a solid hit from Fereydoon's Red Zone for 152 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Rebecca Streisand gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Rebecca Streisand activates Guard bonus!
GS: ROU|LET|TE: Low! Gwen Whitlock suffers a terrible blow from Fereydoon's Red Zone for 87 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Quick applied to Fereydoon!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth can only meet silence with a continued, sad smile. If it can't work to get him what he wants, he may, just a little bit spitefully, hopes it haunts Ambrosius' thoughts later. There's only so much influence a trapped little robot can have about these sorts of things, in the end.

But if Kaguya can make this happen peacefully, why is it being orchestrated like this...? Azoth, naturally, has his doubts.

He pulls back to his feet, shaking out his arm and hand as sparks and smoke rise from him, lights pulsing occasionally through his body like his veins were on fire. If he had veins. He's got wires, and that's pretty close.

"Come on," he hisses at himself, then extends his arm forward to erect a shield against Veritas Varia's grey beam. It avails him not, colliding with a shield that is still connected enough to himself that its strange power infects Azoth to the core all the same. Azoth convulses, dropping down into a kneel.

The weight of it smothers his power. It's enough to calculate clearer through. His eyes flash as he watches Ambrosius. There's a call from their scouts and a command given. A command Azoth decides to do his utmost to interrupt before Demetrioi ends up feeling swarmed. (But Azoth worries it may be too late for that.)

"Armor structure analysis complete. Uploading data," Azoth says, voice monotone. A wireless signal goes out, beeped and all, trying to find compatibility with her Biometal and give Varius and Avile data they can hopefully give to Xiumei: where to strike. It doesn't need be that complex. For Venetia's benefit, Azoth arms a finger gun at Ambrosius, one eye closed, and speaks a playful, "Ba~m," while a bright, blue dot of light from his eye locks on right where he wants it against that red armor.

He follows it up by immediately forming a javelin of bright, crackling light and hurls it for that same spot.

Azoth explodes, again, in the same moment as he releases his attack, hurled back by the recoil. All systems are fantastic, everything's fine.

GS: Azoth spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Azoth enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Azoth has attacked Azoth with Convergence!
GS: Azoth has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Convergence!
GS: Azoth has attacked Venetia Vuong with Convergence!
GS: Azoth has launched an attack Link!
GS: Azoth has activated a Force Action!
GS: Azoth has activated a Force Action!
GS: Azoth accepts Azoth's Convergence for 0 hit points!
GS: Blitz applied to Azoth!
GS: Blitz! Azoth has attacked Ambrosius with Circuit Breaker!
GS: Azoth gains 10 FP from him Daredevil!
GS: Azoth has completed his action.
GS: Venetia Vuong accepts Azoth's Convergence for 0 hit points!
GS: Blitz applied to Venetia Vuong!
GS: Zhang Xiumei accepts Azoth's Convergence for 0 hit points!
GS: Blitz applied to Zhang Xiumei!
GS: Zhang Xiumei enters CONDITION GREEN!!



<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Rebecca... Rebecca does get it. And Kaguya can't say much against her for it. It's for the best that she doesn't have to fight her right now. "Tch," is all she says to her for now.

It is easier to answer Amaterasu, who finally seems to see her with the respect she's due for her brilliance. ...That's it, isn't it? Of course that's what it is.

"I've done it, I have," Kaguya confirms. "I tried to hold it back... But that's over, now."

'Mind your health, Ka-ya.' "Heheheheheh. Sure." She focuses on Ida for the moment, though--and that's like minding her health, considering that Ida is her opponent just now. And so she sees her eyes widen, that fear and then that anger. "DON'T TELL ME WHAT I DON'T KNOW!" Kaguya screams at Ida in return. "YOU DON'T KNOW! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS TO HAVE AN ENTIRE PLANET HATE YOU! You sit there with your togetherness and your wealth and your position," Kaguya sneers, "And act like your people treat humans any better than the Veruni do. But you've been exploiting the dead for CENTURIES and the only thing the Guardians give you is a pat on the back! You think that MEANS anything!?"

Leave him out of this, Ida says, and coughs. She wants Ida to give in to the anger; she wants to crush, and crush and crush, though--

Though strangely, Kaguya hasn't attacked with her raw strength at all since adopting this form. Only her ARM and her magic. The rest of her just... floats.

Red-orange and golden-white jab forward though, and Ida pierces through the already-buckling armor at Kaguya's torso, the Breath leaping free to suffuse her. "Ghhh--" The fire leaps around Kaguya... but rather than just interfering, it seems to ignite. There is more power there, and Kaguya is heedless of the cost.

And to Magilou--"Well," she says to Magilou, as her smile departs. "We didn't." It's a hollow thing, a hurt inside of her as she sees that in Magilou,and the pain only makes her angrier. Maybe they could've averted this, if she'd been willing to trust this stupid old woman. Maybe maybe maybe...

But Matilda..."...You always knew I was on borrowed time, Atida." Kaguya's mouth twists as her eyes, reddened at the edges as well as the iris, lock onto her for a moment. "We already knew how this ends. I just wanted..." She blinks away a tear, "I just wanted to FIX something before I went. And so I will. No matter what. NO MATTER WHAT, DO YOU HEAR ME!?"

Tired of seeing other people hurting... Kaguya is, too. And she hates it. But, "You all... You're just not strong enough to do it your way. Don't you understand? You can't do it. It's too hard. That's why i have to--why I HAVE to--!"

It's too late--Magilou's flames are too close, and while Amaterasu tries to shield her, Kaguya throws out her hand. Crimson force lashes out in a hemisphere as Kaguya starts to drain off energy from the fire--no, starts to drain it into herself just like Magilou was doing to her. It's a good trick when she does it, too. She says she can do it all day....

Kaguya's armor starts to melt off from the sheer power she absorbs, revealing ordianry Filgaian clothes beneath; a dress shirt, trousers. It's singed in places. Butshe rises higher into the air, and lifts her ARM. "Can't play much more..." She looks to Magilou, "I can do this all day, too. Are you willing to see what happens if we do?" It glows scarlet with roiling power at the barrel, and she takes aim quickly. Shot-shot-shot come balls of red light that explode into rotting power, the full force of an attuned ARM unleashed towards Magilou first and then shot-shot-shot towards Ida. Whatever doesn't hit them will leave craters in the ground around them.

"...HEY SIS!" Kaguya calls, "I'll cover you--but i need to get moving!" She fires off a few more shots--much less apocalyptic--at Rixia and even Matilda, though... Matilda may notice they're more 'at her feet' than 'directly at her vital bits.' Rixia might, too.

'THE MAYOR IS HERE!'

"That way! Cover me!" Kaguya brings up her arms and bolts, rushing through the air towads Demetrioi and the others.

"HESIOD! GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

There are brief, brief moments before Kaguya is close enough.

GS: Kaguya has activated a Force Action!
GS: Kaguya has activated a Force Action!
GS: Kaguya has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Extermination Mechanism!
GS: Kaguya has attacked Magilou with Extermination Mechanism!
GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Kaguya has attacked Rixia with Death Spiral !
GS: Kaguya has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Death Spiral !
GS: Kaguya has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: Moderate! Matilda Whitehead takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Death Spiral  for 167 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Matilda Whitehead gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Gamble: Low! Rixia partially guards Kaguya's Death Spiral  for 95 hit points!
GS: Rixia enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Rixia has activated a Force Action!
GS: Magilou suffers a terrible blow from Kaguya's Extermination Mechanism for 191 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Magilou gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Break applied to Magilou!
GS: Magilou enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey partially evades Kaguya's Extermination Mechanism for 138 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Break applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"That's... that's horrible!" Xiumei answers Azoth, with a concerned look -- even in the midst of battle. "We can't let them do that."

Even if Azoth can't hear it, Varius and then Avile chime in their agreement: <No way.> <We'll stop them!>

Then, she looks at Venetia. Xiumei hesitates a second -- then smiles. "W-Well--ah, he'll be fine. Just have faith in him!"

She looks back at Ambrosius. "There has to be--to be some other answer!"

She can't find one, right now, though. After firing on Azoth, Ambrosius strikes at her -- closing the distance quickly -- and strikes repeatedly. She manages to deflect them, one after the other, slam into her armor. There are flashes of light, and the metal dents inward. She is slammed backward.

Azoth floods information into her, through the Biometal. Outwardly, there isn't some sign of it; for Xiumei, though, her eyes suddenly show more information -- lines pointed to damaged spots in Ambrosius's armor, information about his movements, and highlighted pieces across the battlefield. "Azoth--thank you!"

His javelin of light fires, slamming at Ambrosius. It gives her an opening.

So Xiumei steps back, swinging up her beam whip. It slashes up across the front of the Veruni Operative. Then, her other hand grabs around a cross of white steel that forms in the air. She throws it, at point blank range, trying to drive Ambrosius backward.

This is when she leaps forward. The beam whip condenses down -- into a saber of stark, white-green light. The blade swings down, striking in a diagonal slash across him, then sweeping back up as Xiumei steps towards him.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has activated a Force Action!
GS: Zhang Xiumei spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Formation! Blitz! Zhang Xiumei has attacked Ambrosius with Soaring Cross Strike!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has launched an attack Link!
GS: Zhang Xiumei spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Formation! Blitz! Zhang Xiumei has attacked Ambrosius with Rushing Pulse Blitz!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes 32 damage from Poison!
GS: Disease and Poison expired!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.

Gwen 'Believe me I know. The guy...' "Don't!" '...scared th'pants off me!' Rebecca tries her best not to snerk this time and fails with a pained nasally noise, before she sounds both irritated and amused at once, "I know that! Look what you made me do!" The accusation is in and of itself a bit childish, but that's the level Gwen's brought her to perhaps.

Fereydoon though offers a way out. The idea that they can just lead them to safety. That they will just not follow. And Rebecca narrows her eyes in suspicion. "Does that include the Mayor? You think we're just gonna let you have your way with him after the hospitality he showed us?"

And as one of the Veruni scouts calls out about the Mayor, she takes it proving her point.

Suddenly however, the earth begins to enclose them in a hex shape, and Rebecca is thrown off her feet and battered by the blunt force surrounding her, she can't invoke her Medium in time to protect against his Sorcery.

"You're not taking him." Rebecca says almost pathetically given what she just went through, severely battered and pained as she forces herself to get back up - and pushing through the pain springs out of the Red Zone Fereydoon formed right at the Sentinel. It's an extremely bad idea. Fereydoon's specialty is this kind of fight, and his ARM is better at it than hers. Yet she's committed, and she lets herself get thrown into the movement. It starts with a single kick. Then another. And another, a series of round house kicks that start to burst with concussive force every time she strikes him. A flash of light, then a sound like a Thunderclap each time she attempts to make contact. Countless times.

With one final kick, she tries to kick off him(or the ground if she misses into the air) and seems to just... suspend herself in the air. Then she unloads her ARM over his position in a scattering burst meant to try and outpace his speed with a rain of bullets - a continuous shower with more of them than by all rights she should have in her ARM's clip. It's cylinder only holds six bullets! Yet she keeps firing. Then with one final charged shot, there's a riotous column erupts from it in an attempt to get him caught up in a shower of white energy.

"You disengage first." She warns in a statement which sounds more bluster than anything if he's still standing after that - he is a Sentinel after all, and she looks like she's barely on her feet after that.

GS: Rebecca Streisand spends 3 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Formation! Rebecca Streisand has attacked Fereydoon with Flegel Jahre!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Weaken expired!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Fereydoon solidly guards Rebecca Streisand's Flegel Jahre for 116 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Fereydoon gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Your next attack with the Counter flag will display with the name Ad Hoc.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

"Free of responsibilities?" Venetia asks - and her eyes narrow slightly at that. Her head tilts for a moment but he is answering with water as well. The incoming blade smashes towards her dead center.

It comes ever nearer and

                SMASH!

Venetia goes toppling backwards, a look of astonishment and pain on her face as she is thrown to land on a piece of improvised boardwalking against any mud that might come; old and recovered rail-trestles shatter beneath her impact.

ow, Venetia thinks.

She pulls herself upwards, looking at the Amethyst Sign Crest Graph in her hand. It has bent nearly sixty degrees out of true, although to a wonder, she thinks, it has held. Did the metathallium dissipate the form before it could skewer through me? Venetia thinks, followed by: Oh! That's the gallbladder, isn't it? That sensation.

At this point she sees Azoth and she sees that he's indicated a point. He then hurls a burst of his own and detonates, also again.

Venetia raises her voice over Azoth's explosions. "Don't get me wrong, sir. I was speaking cruelly and arrogantly, because I am cruel and arrogant, but I didn't *lie* to you. I don't envy you, but I do; and the 'do' is because," here Venetia gets to her feet and puts the damaged Crest Graph into its pouch, with some difficulty.

"I'm sure that you have some role in your nation - your peer there, he treated you with respect, or at least he knows your *name* - and no doubt you were taught how to become that... you grew into the role; someone could guide you."

Venetia spreads her arms: "But I had no one at all to teach me how to become the world's greatest magician!"

Up come her hands! One of them took out another Crest Graph! Fortunately, as this one seems to have some charge time, Xiumei is coming in. "Beat, tattoo of the ancient titans' drum!" And then the entire space thrums for a moment, rumbling a little as hexagonal spaces ripple until they reach Ambrosius's immediate area -- at which point they burst and erupt upwards, the ground itself pulled out in stony shearing pillars of metamorphic stone that rise, punch, topple aside and fragment! The village will surely be rich in garbage stone after this!

And poorer one horse hitch, but eh, well, you lose some.

GS: Venetia Vuong spends 4 Combo on Interrupt and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Blitz! Venetia Vuong has attacked Ambrosius with Hexagonal Prism Sign ~Giant's Causeway~!
GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

    Amaterasu's expression is well-hidden behind that faceplate, light pouring out from a hextet of slits. "Whatever are you talking about?" she asks, clearly baffled to go by the tone of her voice. "Speak some sense, wizard!" ...At least she has the right idea regarding Magilou's particular strengths on the battlefield.

    It may have been aided by the manner in which Magilou manages her blunted strikes, the apparent sorcery on display familiar enough to the life-long soldier. No, Veruni magic doesn't do this, precisely, or something like this. But rather instead--
    It's the style of it that reminds her.

    "I will worry about my sister on my own time," Amaterasu tells Rixia plainly, in those moments before she catapults into action of a most nonlethal -- but still painful -- sort.

    And yet again, her strikes are met with equal and opposite action, if not in the same manner that they had been prior. No, as she had requested, Rixia has indeed armed herself, and brandishes a most unusual blade just in time to--

    *tink*

    --parry a few of Amaterasu's strikes. "Now, that is an interesting blade you wield, girl. I have never before seen its like." In her hands, she spins about that weapon of her own. "Let me test it further!"

    And she comes for Rixia with her weapon braced for a charge.

    "'Stolen'? That is a grave charge you wield, wizard," Amaterasu counters Magilou, taking the moment to shake her head as if aggrieved. She brandishes her weapon before her, as if readying for another charge.
    But before that, there is scouring flame. The rolling fire earns Magilou a gasp from Amaterasu, but more than that, the shout that follows:

    "Kaguya! Behind me!"
    It's already too late, but she means to shield her sister from the flames.

    This very action, this pivot as she moves about the battlefield to intercept (even too late) the spell throws her into a dance with Matilda.

    "If you have no answers, then seek them out," she tells Matilda, even as their own fighting takes them in close, close, closer. She moves her weapon to try to match blow with blow, parrying Matilda at a distance too close to strike properly with her weapon. Her long legs are fleetingly her weakpoint, when a choice moment causes Amaterasu to stumble, a missed step in their dance that permits Matilda to, with one rising leg, meet her opponent's chest with her own foot.

    Amaterasu rolls with it, letting the momentum behind the strike knock her back. Twisting with it, she grasps hold of it to let it carry her further still, somersaulting backwards to then flip herself upright with her left hand. "One without purpose, know that I will not tolerate one such as you near my sister!"

    Into this moment, the reality of their mission intrudes, however.

    'THE MAYOR IS HERE!'

    All at once, Amaterasu's attention shifts. "Kaguya! We must go!"

    Kaguya will cover her, will she? Amaterasu hesitates, but her work -- their work -- takes priority. She nods, crisply.

    That blade of hers seems to almost burn with purpose as she swings in a large half-moon sweep for Matilda, Magilou, and Ida; the very air sizzles with the force of her blow as it carries, still, across the distance.

    It's an action that Amaterasu punctuates with a backward leap, as if to join her sister. They must find the mayor.

GS: Amaterasu has attacked Rixia with Actus Reus!
GS: Amaterasu has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Trial De Novo!
GS: Amaterasu enters a Counter stance!
GS: Amaterasu has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Trial De Novo!
GS: Amaterasu enters a Counter stance!
GS: Amaterasu has attacked Magilou with Trial De Novo!
GS: Amaterasu enters a Counter stance!
GS: Amaterasu has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Amaterasu has completed her action.
GS: Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Amaterasu's Actus Reus for 294 hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Amaterasu's Trial De Novo for 151 hit points!
GS: Magilou takes a solid hit from Amaterasu's Trial De Novo for 156 hit points!
GS: Magilou activates Guard bonus and Gleam!
GS: Rixia has activated a Force Action!
GS: CRITICAL! Ambrosius suffers a terrible blow from Azoth's Circuit Breaker for 298 hit points!
GS: Shieldbreak applied to Ambrosius!
GS: Ambrosius activates Countermeasures!
GS: Strain! Azoth takes 32 damage!
GS: Ambrosius solidly guards Zhang Xiumei's Soaring Cross Strike for 54 hit points!
GS: Ambrosius activates Countermeasures!
GS: Ambrosius suffers a terrible blow from Zhang Xiumei's Rushing Pulse Blitz for 230 hit points!
GS: Ambrosius activates Countermeasures!
GS: Ambrosius solidly guards Venetia Vuong's Hexagonal Prism Sign ~Giant's Causeway~ for 106 hit points!
GS: Ambrosius activates Guard bonus!
GS: Ambrosius has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!
GS: Ambrosius has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

    "m'okay," Lan grunts as they run for it. "Just-- something's wrong, the Guardians are screaming-- something's rotting but..." The psychic reek of festering earth gets strong enough to make Lan clamp her mouth shut tight as they pass the battle between the Veruni elite and the Drifters. Lan hopes they're okay, wishes she could stay and try to do something about that awfulness... but getting away from whatever's surrounding Kaguya -- was it really Kaguya? -- is a much more palatable option.

    She keeps her head down as they run and trusts that the others can take care of themselves.

    They make it, but are they in time?

    Homer collapses, coughing, while Ethius examines Demetrioi. It's so unhappy. "Demetrioi," she says, helplessly, glancing at Homer in concern. He's really, really not looking good. "It's not your fault that people are angry. People get angry for all kinds of reasons, but normally it's because of other people. Or we get angry at ourselves, because we... we weren't able to do something we wanted to. Nobody can be happy all the time--"

    'THE MAYOR IS HERE!'

    A chill goes up Lan's spine as she turns to look behind them and sees Veruni weapons pointed at them. Turning away from Demetrioi and Ethius, she steps deliberately between them and the rifles.

    Her head is pounding, her brain feels like it's bleeding sand. She's not going to be a match for them not like she is now.

    The Stranger's poison bubbles in her veins. Her head is splitting. Can she-- should she--

    One of these days she might not come back--

<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    Rixia pauses at Matilda after her greeting, and quietly shies away as she speaks of giving into hatred, and the emptiness that resulted from it. Everyone's talking about hatred right now... everyone's really high-strung and stressed out. It's kinda weird, being an outsider like this... is this what's waiting for her if she does this for a year, two years, five years? A village is burning down to the ground for a reason she doesn't understand and everyone's talking about the fate of the world...

    ...

    There's a familiar sense of powerlessness there, isn't there? When you're a tiny shrimp, sharks don't notice you underflow as they tussle... that's probably why dad left, too...

    Just as her thoughts start to waver, Kaguya shouts as her sister -- and tells her she has to get moving. Kaguya looks really wounded now, but -- she levels her gun and shoots at HER.

    Today, Rixia is introduced to a gun as a bullet grazes her calf, piercing the barrier and letting sticky red blood flow out as she stumbles to one knee.

    "K-Kaguya? Why..."

    Kaguya's not about to harm Rixia greatly, but the sudden shock of pain is immense to someone who's so unused to combat. The gunshot also makes her falter at the worst time imaginable -- in time for Amaterasu to come at her with a bracing charge with her spear; she shrieks and tries to tuck her way to one side, and the leg pain flares up--

    "Aaah!!"

    And she ends up partially impaled on Amaterasu's polearm, hooked more on her clothes than her flesh, fortunately. Still, the dual barrage of pain coursing through her nerves--

    >> user physical, emotional and mental vitals moving out of normal reference range
    >> patterns, analysing: consciousness - heartbeat - blood pressure - mental state - thought pattern - level of focus detected patterns aligned: condition level A3 - severe shock from physical trauma
    >> compensating.

    The nanomachines work in overdrive, releasing a steady stream of synthesised compounds and letting them pass through Rixia's blood stream, and the tenseness in her body suddenly slacks; there's agitation and jittering that's suddenly stopped. The tears have stopped. She's not chattering her teeth in terror anymore. Both natural and artificial adrenaline courses through her body.

    >> user consciousness level below combat-awareness
    >> enhancing user motor functions, rerouting strategy to direct elimination
    >> obtaining risk factor: chance of permanent neural damage 7 percent
    >> assessing... ... ...
    >> risk accepted on behalf of user.

    Rixia levels her gaze at Amaterasu and Kaguya. The fear is gone. But it's not the look of a warrior, full of verve and spirit and focus in there. The veins on her cheeks are a little purple at this point, strained as they are. There's just...

    (bgm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGkGOdrmPrg )

    "There's no running from this pain..."

    Her voice is a mildly synthetic warble as she gathers pulsating purple energy into her hand, even still dangling off Amaterasu's polearm. She motions as if to throw it underhand--

    Then disappears, reappearing slightly to the left and above the two Veruni, atop a short shack's rooftop that miraculously hasn't caved in yet.

    She launches her gunblade at that point, aimed less at the Veruni commander and Kaguya and at the ground instead. The sword stabs onto the ground, wreathed purple with power, into scorched Alcidamas soil, and an enormous Symbological mandala ERUPTS out of the ground.

    A split-second later, rays of hot-white light trail out of each of the curves and lines, signalling short-lived but deadly fissures of pure star-energy threatening to swallow them in an apocalyptic clash of raw power.

    "Absolute denial......."

GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Formation! Blitz! Rixia has attacked Kaguya with End of Heart!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Formation! Blitz! Rixia has attacked Amaterasu with End of Heart!
GS: Break and Slow expired!
GS: Rixia has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Kaguya takes a glancing hit from Rixia's End of Heart for 165 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Purge! Cripple and Mute removed!
GS: Kaguya activates Sufferer!
GS: Strain! Rixia takes 67 damage!
GS: COUNTER! Amaterasu counterattacks Rixia with Ad Hoc!
GS: Amaterasu takes a solid hit from Rixia's End of Heart for 253 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Amaterasu gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Charge!! You gain 65 FP!
GS: Amaterasu enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Strain! Rixia takes 59 damage!
GS: CRITICAL! Rixia takes a solid hit from Amaterasu's Ad Hoc for 265 hit points!
GS: Rixia enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: CRITICAL! Matilda Whitehead suffers a terrible blow from Amaterasu's Trial De Novo for 229 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Matilda Whitehead gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    The heavens open. Blessed light pours down, shielding Ida in its radiance. It's not enough to make the #-1 FUNCTION (ANSI) EXPECTS 2 ARGUMENTS BUT GOT 1 stop, but it's relief, and she glances at the woman responsible. 'Keep fighting,' she tries to say to Rixia, with eyes alone. 'We're here.'

    And then Kaguya lays into her again. Ida knows she's being baited, but the Veruni knows her weaknesses, and choking back the hatred is like trying to swallow an endless tide of bile. She coughs again; unwholesome, orange-red ichor dripping from her lips. Matilda--

    At times, it feels like she and Matilda are a pair of planets, circling the same star but in different orbits--but every so often, there's a convergence. Matilda lays out her heart and Ida feels the raw emotion there, and while the hate tells her this is Kaguya's fault, MAKE HER SUFFER--

    Ida breathes. The hatred flows through, and out.

    Ida sees the ARM whip towards her. She steps to the side, twisting her body in a movement too smooth and flexible to be purely human. One of the bolts slams into her side, scorching through her breastplate. Ida chokes back a scream. Amaterasu comes out of nowhere, and her blade scythes for the back of Ida's leg. It cuts through the coat, her thigh, and the air, leaving the smell of superheated metal in its wake. Blood pours from the cut, crimson and quicksilver

    'THE MAYOR IS HERE!'

    'HESIOD! GET AWAY FROM HIM!'

    The one good thing about all that hateful anger? Ida's gotten skilled at turning it into raw adrenaline. As Kaguya bolts, Ida tucks into a crouch, living metal twisting out and across the wound on her thigh. She springs for the fleeing Veruni, sweeping out an arm to catch Kaguya and clinch her waist. Ida's feet touch down, and skid in the turf. If she manages the grab, her next action will be to take all that momentum, and turn it into a throw--potentially sending Kaguya sprawling with terrible force.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Blitz! Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Kaguya with Overturn the Black Tortoise!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes 26 damage from Poison!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    The heavens open. Blessed light pours down, shielding Ida in its radiance. It's not enough to make the hate stop, but it's relief, and she glances at the woman responsible. 'Keep fighting,' she tries to say to Rixia, with eyes alone. 'We're here.'

    And then Kaguya lays into her again. Ida knows she's being baited, but the Veruni knows her weaknesses, and choking back the hatred is like trying to swallow an endless tide of bile. She coughs again; unwholesome, orange-red ichor dripping from her lips. Matilda--

    At times, it feels like she and Matilda are a pair of planets, circling the same star but in different orbits--but every so often, there's a convergence. Matilda lays out her heart and Ida feels the raw emotion there, and while the hate tells her this is Kaguya's fault, MAKE HER SUFFER--

    Ida breathes. The hatred flows through, and out.

    Ida sees the ARM whip towards her. She steps to the side, twisting her body in a movement too smooth and flexible to be purely human. One of the bolts slams into her side, scorching through her breastplate. Ida chokes back a scream. Amaterasu comes out of nowhere, and her blade scythes for the back of Ida's leg. It cuts through the coat, her thigh, and the air, leaving the smell of superheated metal in its wake. Blood pours from the cut, crimson and quicksilver.

    'THE MAYOR IS HERE!'

    'HESIOD! GET AWAY FROM HIM!'

    The one good thing about all that hateful anger? Ida's gotten skilled at turning it into raw adrenaline. As Kaguya bolts, Ida tucks into a crouch, living metal twisting out and across the wound on her thigh. She springs for the fleeing Veruni, sweeping out an arm to catch Kaguya and clinch her waist. Ida's feet touch down, and skid in the turf. If she manages the grab, her next action will be to take all that momentum, and turn it into a throw--potentially sending Kaguya sprawling with terrible force.

GS: Kaguya takes a glancing hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Overturn the Black Tortoise for 73 hit points!
GS: Kaguya activates Evade bonus, Power Burst, and Sufferer!
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "You're probably right," Magilou agrees, too easily, to Matilda's anguish. "A puppet can't change anything. You'll be stuck going through the motions of another burial just to please a crowd thirsting for catharsis. Sucks, right?"

    She shrugs. The motion is its own punctuation. "... but if hatred's eating your girl up like this, I wonder what some other emotion would do. Don't ask me!" She discards the whole line of thought, cheerfully.

    All the world hates her... so, 'no matter what'...

    ... no wonder Magilou told her that story, huh?

    "Unlike you, I never said I cared about this world," Magilou answers Kaguya, breezily. "I've armed its destroyers and its deliverers both. Buuuut... you should be sympathetic to something like that, right~?" She asks, bringing her shikigami around in a motion which feels entirely too casual, entirely too dismissive.

    The lesser spirit within the paper screams, as the rot of Kaguya's ARM impacts it. This is no verbal thing -- rather spoken to the heart; in the hollow where Magilou's ought to go it echoes, bouncing off the walls of her chest, causing her eyes to lid in such a way that all the light drains away from her gaze.

    She's always been a cruel mistress. Don't expect her to apologise.

    Magilou pulls another shikigami from her sleeve, and this is the shield which meets Amaterasu's burning blade, held stiff in front of her. It sizzles at the paper, but Magilou's shikigami were never just paper. Still smoking, Magilou drops it to the ground, and hops upon it -- swooping after Kaguya, a falcon in the dive.

    What happens if they do this all day?

    What happens to Magilou?

    Rixia summons an Arte far beyond her ken -- Magilou thinks Ida may well be doing her a favour, as she takes advantage of the way the Gunblade's assault steals her footing to throw her with all her martial might. Magilou soars overhead, grasping Kaguya by the wrist; she flips herself over the Veruni, and seamlessly shifts her grip to pull her in when she lands on her feet, surely as they were dancing.

    Whether this stops Kaguya from landing on her face may be an open question.

    "When people who care about you tell you not to kill yourself any faster," Magilou says, all chill, all quiet, "you should listen to them, Kaguya. Your sister, Matilda -- even Rixia, and I daresay I heard Rebecca giving a damn back there, too. But women like you are stubborn," she isn't letting go, "so I'm going to do you a favour, and I tell you what: you can do whatever you like when I'm done."

    Her other arm comes around her, firm and sure pressure, to the back of her head above all those straps.

    "Super Absorber."

    And what was an instance is now her existence, pink going to red, black going to white; the nullification of Magilou zeroes out Kaguya's hatred, because it's not the opposite to love.

    Apathy is its other pole.

DC: Magilou switches forms to Scourge of the Self-Righteous ~ Face the Wrath of Magilou Mayvin!!
GS: Magilou gains 10 FP from her Daredevil!
GS: Cripple, Disease, and Slow expired!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    To see Rebecca still able to have enough humor to keep going allows Gwen some levity. Rebecca understands where it's coming from, as well as the context.

    They're against some mighty odds. Even as the Mockingbird's power punctures some of the pain of Fereydoon's strike, Gwen can still feel it, as well as how the skin around that glowing heart will bruise purple like the petals around the yellow center of a flower.

    Kaguya's anger and Rixia's push forward threaten to redirect Gwen's attention, but she keeps her attention centered on Fereydoon, who seems more determined than ever, laying a promise at her and Rebecca's feet.

    It's a tempting one. Gwen doesn't quite know what to think about Demetrioi, except that it could turn from a creepily cheerful boon for a village to something that isn't just an implication of danger, but a reality.

    One that is further emphasized in Gwen's mind by the unrelated but equally dangerous shake of the ground itself under Fereydoon's command. "Ngh!" Gwen throws herself back, glancing towards Rebecca in concern as the fellow redhead forces herself up.

    "... Mr Fereydoon." Gwen only speaks after Rebecca has her short say. "I know you'll hold yourself to your word, but. I've *fought* your leader." All of the humor Gwen had (and inflicted on Rebecca) is now smoldering under the weight of that encounter. "The man scares me. He scares me so much that I *will* fight you, and Kartikeya, and Kaguya, and Ambrosia, and whoever the hell else I got to just to make sure I *don't* have to see what he's got in store!"

    Gwen is no Dean, but she will do her best to properly coordinate with Rebecca's onslaught of impossibly (and thankfully) numerous bullets. Where Rebecca provides the number, Gwen provides the weight. "Keep going, Rebecca! I got your back!" She slides in, blasting a blast of bright light right into Fereydoon's face, and, as Rebecca finishes her attack, follows with a bright, powerful blast of pale yellow energy from her right palm.

    Right in time for Rebecca's final words.

GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Fereydoon with Quasar Palm!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has launched an attack Link!
GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Gwen Whitlock has attacked Fereydoon with Ringshine!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Fereydoon takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's Quasar Palm for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Fereydoon gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Blind applied to Fereydoon!
GS: CRITICAL! Fereydoon solidly guards Gwen Whitlock's Ringshine for 104 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Fereydoon gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Matilda flinches at 'We already knew how this ends.' It's near-immediate, and it opens her up to shots from both Kaguya and Amaterasu; she struggles to defend herself at this stage.

"... I let myself believe it wasn't," Matilda says, as she sags beneath the covering fire. She wishes, for a moment, she had the anger and the fire she used to have -- but time has stripped that away in full, leaving her with... not much. Magilou twists the knife a little bit -- a puppet, going through the motions of another burial...

"... I've been seeking," Matilda replies, as that enormous sweep of a polearm leaves her with something to remember Amaterasu by -- a slash that bites through armor, leaves a gouge in skin. As Matilda bleeds, she's never felt weaker.

She doesn't have it in her to give chase, here -- doesn't have the heart. After untangling all the anger, what Matilda found was a heart so inured to mistrust and so frustrated where mistrusting everyone else led it that, well...

... gotta mistrust *someone*, right?

Matilda does what she trusts herself to do, in the moment, which is: nothing at all. She withdraws, finally drawing Freischütz; rather than press forward, she loads a healing charge into the reservoir.

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

That sad smile... it hurts. Ambrosius is forced to look away. He doesn't quite look at Xiumei, either, as she speaks.

"Perhaps. But other answers are scarce, as is time. We cannot waste time looking for other answers when there is an opportunity right in front of us." He replies.

An order is given, then - to move to secure Demetrioi. Ambrosius frowns and takes a step back... but, it is not as if they will simply let him retreat to pursue the mission. Azoth takes aim and fires. Ambrosius braces himself. That javelin stalls in the air for a moment as it meets his armor's barrier, and then, there's a bright flash as it breaks through completely, piercing straight through.

"Gh-" Ambrosius recoils back... but there's no time to recover as Xiumei moves to capitalize on the opening Azoth created. He raises an arm to deflect the beam whip, but the cross of white steel that comes in next catches him squarely in the gut and pushes him back - putting him right where she wants him. The saber descends, cleaving diagonally through his armor before sweeping back up, slicing through it again.

He's too focused at the moment to respond to Venetia's words, but it's fine - for they've given her more than enough time to cast. From all sides, pillars of stone rise up, slamming and shattering against him from all sides.

Finally, this is enough - with a grunt of effort Ambrosius stumbles back, nearly tripping over some of the garbage stone from Venetia's spell, before finally collapsing to one knee. He makes an effort to rise...

...But it is at that moment that the atmosphere around them goes chill. From above a figure drops(always from above, somehow), a woman clad in blue clothes and silver armor, with a horned helmet that covers her eyes - no, not this time, this time blue eyes stare out at those present. She does not touch the ground - stopping just above it, somehow.

She could be mistaken for one of the Veruni, and she was clearly designed that way, but upon closer inspection she is, in fact, a machine. Minerva, Ambrosius's assistant.

"...Ambrosius's condition has exceeded acceptable levels. I am extracting him." She declares - for the sake of Veruni and Drifter both. In one swift gesture, the both of them are surrounding in a dome of ice which shatters and falls away... and when the ice clears, neither of them are visible.

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Wait!" Xiumei calls, as Minerva appears -- and the dome of ice surrounds them both. It shatters, and they're both gone. Xiumei had a hand outstretched -- but there's no answers and no Ambrosius. She lowers it, and frowns. Her pulse saber lowers, too. The beam blade touches the ground -- burns it black in an instant -- and then winks out.

She sighs, once.

Then, she looks back at Azoth and Venetia. "Are both of you okay? We need to get to the person they came for, if you're both able."

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth, scattered some distance away, twitches like poorly designed clockwork. His sparks sputter and die off, the lights in his eyes dimming. "ERROR. Thermal shut down -- whoa, wait wait, abort...!"

His eyes flicker back on, light low but still blue as he plops down onto the ground, running on the lowest amount of power he can to let his system cool down. A few sparks dance off of his fingers until he closes his fists. It's enough awareness to see that his opponent seems to be in an equally bad spot.

Until -- ! Azoth beeps in alarm, eyes bright before settling again. He watches Minerva descend and gives her a casual salute-wave once he recognizes what she is. "Sorry about the trouble," he says, suspecting he's made her objectives a little more difficult today.

That sad, silent look Ambrosius gave him... Hopefully it was born of something that means this assistant of his is well taken care of.

One shattered dome of ice later and Azoth's able to stand back up again, eyes approaching a normal level of brightness. He nods to Xiumei. "I can manage. Let's go."

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

Ambrosius stumbles back into the spoils and dross. Venetia breathes deep, lets it out. He falls. Venetia feels victory (easy, familiar, fun) but also something of a note of sorrow.

"Ah!" she says as someone descends - from somewhere - a woman in blue and silver. Stark blue eyes. A dome forms, and is then absent.

The air is cooled. Venetia is briefly struck by wonder.

Venetia shivers a little in the aftermath, as if coming back to herself. She toys with her damaged Graph as Xiumei answers a question, but then squares her shoulders. "the world's greatest magician didn't come to play, Xiumei, where is this "AI"?"

She also swats at Azoth. "Do you need a Heal Berry or something, Dinoginos wept."

<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    Rebecca's will becomes action, throwing that kick into Fereydoon's midsection. This is the first and only truly 'clean' blow before he brings the (presently disengaged) blade in front of himself in a defensive position that Rebecca savages, enough to provide an opening for Gwen's blinding strike - but any physical blows following that have roughly the same level of success. Kinetic force bleeds through the make of the ARM with thundering sound for every blow, with Rebecca's kick-off enough to have his boots glide back two whole inches as she kicks off and rains bullets.

     Bullets that are met with swatches of thin, slicing light as the very bulk (but not all!) of the shots are sliced apart... where he plants the blade's energy into the ground to meet the explosive column of power and cleave, redirect it... at the same time to block that pale yellow energy from Gwen.

     'You disengage first,' Rebecca says, as he still stands - though there are at least three identifiable points of perforation in his uniform and his helmet's lights dimming and glowing to represent the need to correct his returning vision.

     "Not bad," is his concession. "You speak true of your battles, with strength like that," he wouldn't admit it out loud, the talk of fear and unease - or the relief that may await them as he taps a finger to the side of his head. "Understood, Minerva. You have my clearance." That aside made...

     "Know this... sentiment alone will not change my course," as once again the hand seal comes to his face and he Concentrates...

     There is a period of time where either young woman may find themselves in the crosshairs of exacting scrutiny. Every movement, every breath, every facet. Compared to the bombastic aura of threat and presence Kartikeya carries, there's that complete stillness like the ground itself. A premonition.

     A premonition that doesn't come to pass for an imminent event, but relief may not truly come for that grace.

<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    AT DEMETRIOI

     Ethius remains stoic the whole time Lan tries to soothe Demetrioi, who in this sequence gazes over her and takes in what Lan has to say. At least, has the seeming appearance to, given the way the right head-tilt seems to facilitate looking into the tired, exhausted Lan.

o . . . :o that just means i will try harder and keep trying harder :D The very strange shrub-tree-what-the-hell-is-that-thing says.

) thank you for telling me :D now it is time to make it less angry and happy :D

With minor apologies to the space-time continuum, this is now around the part where the Veruni regulars point out the Mayor's presence, and Ethius chillingly has very little to say or reinforce about Lan's life lessons. It's even more eerie that Ethius doesn't even turn back to face the Veruni that might be about ready to put the others full of holes here. He seems entirely focused in what he's about to do, and that posture he's taking is... familiar.

     'HESIOD! GET AWAY FROM HIM!' Kaguya yells, and suddenly there's more life in Homer's eyes. Maybe it's something he heard and forgot the finer details of, it's been stressful. One of his hands is broken outright, he's battered, bruised, bleeding... and he's a bit dizzy from the sudden stop on the antigravity run, but...

     Mecone grits his teeth, steps between... Lan and Ethius? And hurls his entire body weight into Ethius' back, above the Veruni shouting. They have orders not to harm Homer, nor shoot Demetrioi, and for all the flaws of the Veruni culture, they aren't Kartikeya's soldiers.

     "A Hesiod, huh...!" Homer coughs the once... but he sees the complex smile of Demetrioi's face as a partially conscious Ethius grimaces. "Well, ain't that makin' some sense now. Look here, Hesiod, they're a simple folk here. We got somethin' good," beat, looking to the Veruni and Lan, "uh, mighta had, somethin' good. Let's not... drag 'em onto innocent peop--"

Ethius gets upright in a fashion Ida may recognize, readily, as the product of naked anger as strikes a balled-up fist right into Homer's throat, re-opens that hand, and digs those gloved fingers into him with Demetrioi to one side, Lan in front of him struggling with the whispers, and Veruni shouting at them.

     "Not... another... word. This doesn't--"

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"You can't play around on a battlefield!" Kaguya shouts at Rixia. "Go HOME already if you don't want to die! You don't understand battles like this!"

Why? She hates it. An innocent kid, wrapped up in all of this. But Kaguya was innocent once, too...

She hates it.

Meanwhile, Kaguya is baiting Ida, and she's good at it. She knows how to wield words as surely as any ARM, knows how to bite and tear with nothing but sound, and she revels in doing it. Every moment Ida feels that hate is a moment it builds within Kaguya, too, gives her an uncomplicated opponent.

Ida doesn't quite scream as Amaterasu takes her down. Kaguya smirks. "...Big sis is too big for you."

And to Matilda--she sees her flinch, and she regrets it, and that fuels her hate more. Not against Matilda, but all the same. "...Sorry," she says. "I guess I never did."

But Rixia... "That's right," Kaguya says to Rixia's strange warble, but she disappears. The gunblade stabs into the ground, and the Symbological mandala bursts into being. Kaguya sees it--and her eyes widen slightly before she leaps, sailing across the broken earth such that she is only in the mandala for moments.

Moments that cause her to burn, to crackle against her defenses as red power surges within her to overtake the moment. Pure star energy clashes with raw hatred, and Kaguya hits the ground again, rolling hard along the ground.

It's here that Ida catches up with her, while she's already getting ready to be on the move again. Ida's arm wraps about Kaguya's waist, and she grabs--they skid, as Kaguya is briefly caught, but all that momentum SLAMS into a throw. Kaguya finds she can't escape--she SNARLS--but then she remembers the lesson of the Perfect Orbit.

Kaguya relaxes sharply in the hold, allowing herself to be thrown without further resistance. Instead of fighting against Ida, she surges into the momentum. Hitting the ground again hard, Kaguya hits arm-first (not ARM), and there's a snapping noise as the bone buckles beneath her. It hurts. It hurts a LOT.

...But Kaguya seethes up again, and the pain gives her focus. She rises, without having to pick herself up, just up into the air again. "You've gotten better," she compliments Ida. "...But you should've tried for the throat."

Then Magilou grabs her. And she says a chill, quiet thing, which makes Kaguya openly growl at her, sharp teeth and all. Until... she continues, and says she'll do a favor. Kaguya blinks--she can't get free in time, though And then... Pressure--

"Gh--" The Super Absorber starts to take effect; redirected power meets another redirection. ...And Kaguya sees Matilda drawing her ARM, instead of pressing forward, loading a healing charge.

Kaguya coughs, and stumbles, shifting to the side as the red aura disappears. The shrieking of the Guardians and the rot and the decay all stop--though Demetrioi's domain remains exactly as it was.

"You..."

It gives her a moment--it doesn't cancel out all her feelings. it doesn't make her apathetic. She's still angry. She's just no longer completely suffused with that hatred. And her shoulders sag. She looks... tired.

...Is her hair a little longer?

"...it's the only way," she tells Magilou, and turns towards Ethius. She hears Minerva's declaration across the battlefield. She knows what she has to do, before Ida or the others can convene to stop her. ...Before more people...

"...Take care of them, Rebecca," she murmurs, and turns--her hand comes up, the one that isn't attached to a broken arm, and blurs with Veruni speed--

She is suddenly behind Ethius, reachhes from where he is struggling with Lan and Herod. Kaguya slams her head forward into his, leaping up in a headbutt that may be enough on its own to take him out--if not for the fact that she follows up by yanking him out of the grips of the others and hurling him upward, spinning around to leap into the air and slam kick him some distance away. "...I said get away," she says, impassionately, though the redness of her eyes hasn't abated--only the red in her irises.

"...C'mon, buddy," she says to Demetrioi instead, "A lot of people are going to be really happy to see you. You can help even more people than you already have..."

Click, click. Her arm struggles with her teleporter, the cylinder in her hand and not... working. "SIS!" Kaguya calls. "Gonna need some coverage here!"

<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    Homer, on his seat, hasn't any ability to talk back until Kaguya shows up and just does away with Ethius like he's a ragdoll. A headbutt, hurled up, and simply punted like he weren't a factor any further. The Veruni regulars take noticeable steps back. Kaguya is a powerful warrior despite her health, but that level of strength she recently demonstrated and now...

     Before Homer can speak and Kaguya gets to work on the teleporter, she runs into an issue. There may be too much... Demetrioi to move.

o i understand what is going on :) it is okay kaguya you do not need to worry :D

     For all the violence, uncertainty, and chaos, the odd... tree-thing looks over to Lan.

) you must be angry at me like my friend here said :D but when you are done all being angry i will help :)

     "Demetrioi... um, what're ya doin'?" Homer asks.

     The wind picks up a little more. A drizzle fills the late afternoon sky from brewing clouds, and then underneath the earth... sickening, shrieking, slithering noise of things that shouldn't be moving or interacting in this space like they do start to tunnel under the ground, barely visible but definitely felt, all receding towards the point where Demetrioi is. The branches, the leaves, even the odd 'flame' itsel fall contort and fold in ways impossible in 3D space but... compacting, smaller and smaller yet until it's the size of a large cargo crate. If Kaguya picks it up, its weight is... indescribable. Like it shouldn't be able to be lifted, but is.

D it is okay homer i will see these friends happy too :D as long as it takes i will try harder :)

     With one last look, Lan gets a sense of someone or something looking upon her.

) thank you so much for explaining :D now do not be angry with one another any more today :)

     The villagers all cry the name, as the strange atmosphere Demetrioi created... dissipates. The quality of the soil doesn't degenerate on the spot, the crops do not rot, but the climate feels more arid and... heavy, like it used to, the wind and the drizzle disappearing.

<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    Word comes in, and Fereydoon nods.

     "It was believed the mayor's cooperation would have been necessary to secure Demetrioi," Fereydoon explains, "but that does not appear to be so." His posture softens. "My forces will be withdrawing." Whether that is of comfort to Rebecca or Gwen, the mayor has been saved by their efforts - by everyone's. "This is Fereydoon. Our objective has been accomplished. Rescinding the order to secure the mayor. Disengage. Ignore further provocation unless a threat to life or limb."

     If there's any last barbs or parting shots to be made, now's the time.

<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

    "You have been seeking?" Amaterasu echoes. "And you have not yet found. Thus, you intend to give up. Is that right?" Kaguya would know it best: the tone of voice that suggests her elder sister's cold form of fury, as chill as the dark magic for which she has so strong an affinity.

    "Begone, then. One who would abandon their search has no place before me... or Kaguya."

    She will not give chase after Matilda, any more than Matilda will give chase after her.

    Valkyrja's plasmic blade passes through not flesh but clothing, the shaft for a moment hooking Rixia and trapping her in place. It would seem to be the end of the road for the young woman, but instead...

    ...something happens. To Amaterasu's view, a change works itself over Rixia's form: she no longer holds herself as rigidly, as if she were entering some sort of battle trance. At last, here is the moment which Amaterasu has been waiting for--

    But that isn't the look of a warrior gazing back at her. The look in her eyes is, rather--

    "What?" Amaterasu utters, as Rixia vanishes. Whipping about, she soon finds her target, advancing all of a few feet in her direction. "A cunning plan," she declares, while still moving. "Now, show me--"

    Rixia shows her, in a manner of speaking. All is light, and heat.
    And pain.

    Falling to one knee, Amaterasu leans on her weapon for support for a moment more, only to abruptly rise to her feet. With it, she brings her weapon up and forward, snapping off a short beam of energy for where Rixia stands from the polerarm's blade. In this specific moment, she is not playing around: this is an attempt to swat Rixia down where she stands. The girl has just presented herself as the first real threat that Amaterasu has witnessed since Sin.

    But her sister's cry takes precedence over even a most dangerous foe. As does their mission. Turning, Amaterasu races across the field towards the direction of Kaguya's voice, skidding into this site closest to Demetrioi. It may be the first that she's seen it for what it is, for here she lingers a moment, gazing upon it. But her attention turns towards Kaguya, no longer possessed with that power of the Guardians. It must not be something she can maintain for long, she thinks with an internal curse.

    Kaguya is looking even frailer than ever. "Behind me," she says, and it's not a suggestion, more of an order as she plants herself before her sister.

    She holds Valkyrja level before her and remains perfectly still, as if she could launch herself in a dozen different directions at an instant if prompted.

    "Come no further," she warns Magilou and Ida and all the rest. "Or you shall die."

    The plan had been for Kaguya to teleport out with Demetrioi, once it was secured. But it appears it may be simply too much to move--

    Amaterasu glances over her shoulder. Or, perhaps, not.

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Xiumei gives Venetia a look -- confused, maybe, for a moment -- and then she nods. She starts moving, sure that Azoth and the greatest mage whoever lived* will be behind her. She hurries -- and she comes to a stop as she sees the mayor, mercifully, is saved. She breathes a sigh of relief at that.

It doesn't last. It registers that Kaguya must be trying to grab Demetrioi; she expected something closer to Azoth, or perhaps more like Varius and Avile now. She didn't expect what she sees. She stares for a second.

Then she produces her hand cannon, raising it. "Stop! Step back!" she shouts.

But, she's arrived late -- and the hand cannon is coming up much too late -- and that fact is regisering her, visible as a sad look in her expression.

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

    Her gods are screaming and it hurts. It hurts and Lan hurts and she will always hurt and the Stranger carves another piece of her away and it hurts and she can feel the blood pulsing in her veins

    and it stops.

    The howling din in the back of her mind goes quiet. Like closing a door on a fight, like an injection of painkillers out of Loren's medical kit after she'd been hurt. Blessed silence.

    Lan sags for all of the span of a breath before she pushes herself to stand upright again-- just in time for Homer Mecone to show another side of himself, the one Ethius must have always known about. She draws back a single step, making a fist--

    Kaguya stops the fight far more thoroughly than Lan would have. She backpedals. "Wha--"

    "What... are you doing?" she asks, and she isn't sure if she's asking Kaguya, or Demetrioi.

    She can feel it. Everybody can. The uncomfortable, backwards blessing placed on this land folding up like paper. The Ley will take time to untangle itself. The spirits of the land will be soothed.

    "Hey," she tries again, putting a questioning hand on Kaguya's shoulder. Ignoring Amaterasu. "You're not going to hurt it, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth exaggerates the impact of Venetia's swat as she smothers out the last bits of embers on him, grinning at her sheepishly.

"Ah, sorry. Thanks." Funny how often he's always saying both of those things. "No berries for me. I can't eat anyway."

He chases after Xiumei, both of them and their greatest mage moments too late to do much at all.

"Lan!" he calls out, concerned, then, "Ethius?!" in a different kind of concern. Whatever Kaguya is trying to do has Azoth stone still, and suddenly there's nothing about what's going on that Azoth can perceive except for Demetrioi and the violations of reality as he knows it take place.

It is not some incomprehensible lethal disaster, as he might have feared. At least, not yet. And the tensions aren't over. He rushes to Lan, prioritizing making sure something doesn't happen to her over taking any shots to get Demetrioi back.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Once upon a time, a man wished to destroy emotion and preserve humanity under a misheard creed.

    Once upon a now, iteration upon iteration, there's only one way to build a prototype of oblivion: straight down.

    Magilou takes the hatred of an entire world, and as it pours out, she erases it. Nullifies it. It never was -- never to poison their veins with Malevolence, never to lead them towards sin and decay, never to lure them away from righteousness.

    This the most pure, most honest, most basal form of the magic carved into Magilou.

    Don't expect her to look very sad about it.

    Don't expect her to wear much expression at all.

    "Those words, again," she murmurs, at Kaguya's ear, no volume to them. 'It's the only way'... she's heard it so many times. An association which could condemn her, but for the way she absolves her, all breath and no substance: "... oh, you're just like her."

    She does not step away from Kaguya as much as she falls -- a controlled descent, the stumble of a woman with heel caught on a crack, sinking down before she call fall on her face. She catches herself on a knee; looks up, as the girl visits such violence on Ethius. (Well, Magilou supposes, distantly -- he's still alive.) With the emotional horror she's drained from Kaguya, she could command the greatest magics of her world to visit fire and water upon them, consume in darkness, shock them to submission.

    But didn't she just tell her?

    She can do what she likes, if she's acting with clear eyes.

    "Calm down," she says, to Amaterasu, dispassionate, as she picks herself up. "I'm not going to fight you. I just saved your sister from burning herself up, you damn fool."

    She turns, looks to Ida, instead. "I'll zero out your hatred just the same, if you push the issue. Listen to the little guy," Demetrioi, presumably. "We can't solve this issue like that." Not when the world is twisting and wending, in ways which ache like another layer of reality, where man is forbidden to tread.

    "We'll just find another way."

    Magilou goes off to find where Rixia's ended up; if nothing else, she owes the fox girl an escort to a place which is less of an active war zone today.

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

Venetia looks dubious at Azoth from behind her lacy mask, but does not dispute him. Xiumei moves, and so does she, albeit in the rear.

She is, tragically, trailing behind he and Xiumei both - and if she could have done anything, she comes just a bit too late to do so.

<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.


    >> critical thresholds exceeded
    >> proceeding to self-hibernation mode: prioritising self-preservation

    Rixia has essentially no recourse after Amaterasu's final attack washes against her and sends her down to the ground. The final flickers of consciousness as everything starts washing away, like she's sinking into an ocean of mud, gunsmoke and fire...

    Go HOME already, if you don't want to die!

    ...

    Home...

        What's there back home? There's nothing...
          Everyone left home.
      If she stays home, she'll lose everyone.
         Nowhere's colder and more empty... than home.
            That's one thing she knows for sure... ...

    Fortunately, it's not hard for Magilou to find her, and she's breathing when the witch finds her. Breathing. Breathing, dreaming a dreamless dream...

      Yes, this is all just a bad, bad dream...
         Just forget... everything you don't like.

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Gwen voices her fear of Volsung and the others and something seizes ice cold in her chest as she thinks about fighting him. She saw how Dean turned out against him twice. It's not a happy thought.

Rebecca is under no illusions that she can beat Fereydoon, she never has been since the moment he said he was a Sentinel. Just hold him off for a while. Maybe Homer might come out of this alive. No matter what he's involved in, he's just a hospitable small town mayor trying to survive and do right by his people. She can respect that.

So when he says just 'Not bad.' and casually gives orders to her best attack in concert with Gwen's best attack, she knows she's in trouble. 'Know this... sentiment alone will not change my course.' The oppressive stillness that follows causes her to look Gwen's way for a desperate solution to what's assuredly coming next as she tries to consider her next move.

And then just like that... he stops.

The Mayor isn't needed anymore.

Rebecca though, points her ARM down, giving Fereydoon a look. For a moment, she wonders how much worse this could have been if Kartikeya was the one sent. It's enough for her to consider gratitude towards Fereydoon being here. And yet, she thinks of Kaguya who's here just because of the Veruni power dynamics - and something clamps down hard inside of her. "... Don't expect me to thank you - just because you're not so cruel as to go beyond what your duty calls for. Given who you're serving... your duty is cruelty."

'Take care of them,Rebecca'

Rebecca takes a deep breath at the weight on their shoulders. There's still more commotion up hill, at Demetrioi's departure, the air already is growing more arid... "We should gather up the townsfolk Gwen - convince them all we need to go now. Bring them somewhere that the Outreach can take care of them for a while."

It might not be as hard to convince most of them with the sudden changes apparent, but there will always be holdouts. When you're asking people to leave their home. Even in her own hometown she'd doubt she could convince them all to pack up and leave.

"We can't trust that the Veruni won't send someone else later - if they chance staying and seeing how things pan out."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Bone breaks. Ida feels a grim, angry sort of satisfaction at having hurt Kaguya, but it's short-lived. The scientist slips free of her grasp with what seems like barely any effort. A backhanded compliment. Ida plants fingers in the turf, and shoves herself to her feet; her wounded leg wobbles beneath her, but she prepares to give chase again.

    "Magilou!" Ida chokes out, as the sorceress intervenes. She says something, and it's soft--Ida can't hear it through the rage, the pain, and her patron screaming about this unholy taint that must be BURNED.

    And then, one of those things stops. Ida presses a hand to her chest, as if she could still the frantic beating of her heart. Her gaze fixes on Amaterasu, and she takes a single, unsteady step towards the lot of them. She doesn't do anything more. They're outmatched, all of them, and her heart twists and the hatred of helplessness ignites within her chest, old and familiar.

    There's nothing she can do. "Demetrioi," she whispers. "Please. Be safe." It's already too late for the people here. Ida can only watch, hands clenched, as Kaguya ejects Ethius from the premises, violently, and then--

    "Magilou," Ida chokes up. The look on her face is one of fear and barely-restrained rage. "I know. Help." Get the poison out of her.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Bone breaks. Ida feels a grim, angry sort of satisfaction at having hurt Kaguya, but it's short-lived. The scientist slips free of her grasp with what seems like barely any effort. A backhanded compliment. Ida plants fingers in the turf, and shoves herself to her feet; her wounded leg wobbles beneath her, but she prepares to give chase again.

    "Magilou!" Ida chokes out, as the sorceress intervenes. She says something, and it's soft--Ida can't hear it through the rage, the pain, and her patron screaming about this unholy taint that must be BURNED.

    And then, one of those things stops. Ida presses a hand to her chest, as if she could still the frantic beating of her heart. Her gaze fixes on Amaterasu, and she takes a single, unsteady step towards the lot of them. She doesn't do anything more. They're outmatched, all of them, and her heart twists and the hatred of helplessness ignites within her chest, old and familiar.

    There's nothing she can do. "Demetrioi," she whispers. "Please. Be safe." It's already too late for the people here. Ida can only watch, hands clenched, as Kaguya ejects Ethius from the premises, violently, and then--

    "Magilou," Ida chokes up. The look on her face is one of fear and barely-restrained rage. "I know. Help." Get the poison out of her.

    "This doesn't end here," Ida says, raising her voice as Kaguya approaches Demetrioi. "We'll find another way. And then maybe you can look Matilda in the eye and realize what you've done."

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

*Has* Matilda given up? Is that the ultimate form of her resolve? A stronger person would say no, that she seeks still, but...

... right now, Matilda can't do this. What turned her journey from petty self-interest to the hope of something else was Kaguya -- Kaguya, who apparently felt from the start that it was always going to end like this. She's told to begone, and does not need to be told twice.

She has nothing to offer in convincing people to leave, either; she, who was all too eager to wander, has no convincing she can do for those who want to stay.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    And like that... they're gone. Gwen had been inching towards Rebecca all this time, with her ultimate plan seeming to be her trying to at least shield Rebecca should things get very nasty, very fast. She wouldn't want to see Dean and Avril's faces if she had neglected to at least try.

    But the choice never comes, and they are instead left with the uneasy aftermath, with not one life taken, but everyone's livelihoods at stake instead.

    Gwen sighs, shaking her head, pausing to pull her hand through her hair. She definitely feels the change, like any good courier should, to know just where and when to push that trail, and what to expect.

    She knows what will be coming, for this region, and somehow, it'll be sad enough to see it slowly return to what it was before. "... _Damn it_!" She kicks a rock, sending it sailing away, then squats down, holding her arms around herself. ".... I don't even know if we were makin' the right decision, but I doubt it'll lead to any region gettin' better..."

    It takes Rebecca's more centered words to tip Gwen out of her hole of pity, if temporarily.

    "Probably for the best. Gather all the resources, n' give everyone time to breathe somewhere safe." Gwen stands up, straightening, and wipes her eyes with her neckerchief. ".... I've seen a lot of dead towns... Don't wanna see what it's like when one becomes one in front of me. We'll figure somethin' out."

     She'll let herself have a big ol' cry about it later.

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Yeah," Kaguya says to Demetrioi, "You get it, right? Just... try to relax. It'll be calmer soon."

Just like her, is it? Kaguya doesn't interfere in the matter of Amaterasu and Magilou. She does not confirm or deny what Magilou just did. She doesn't even call her out for admitting to having helped her! Instead...

"No," Kaguya says to Lan, "I'm not gonna hurt him. He's going to save a lot of lives." She looks... tired. "Now back up if you don't want to get teleported with me." Pause. "You DON'T want that."

Kaguya makes no move to take Lan with her--Azoth can get her clear of the radius easily.

There's no time to stop Kaguya from taking Demetrioi without risking harm to the people all around her. There's just her last words, echoing as she fades into green light.

"...This is the other way, Ida. It already is."

Kaguya doesn't look at Matilda as she fades.

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

    Lan does not want to get teleported, at all. She obediently backs the hell up. "It's just a child," she tries to explain, even though Lan knows that isn't correct at all. But she doesn't know how else to put it.

    Luckily Azoth is here, a much more comfortable sort of artificial person. He speaks with way fewer rainbows and the world doesn't feel like it's trying to un-make-re-make itself at his very presence. Azoth is, paradoxically, very soothing even when he isn't being Helpful Adventurer Azoth.

    He's still smoking in a couple of places but Lan goes in for a quick hug, as if reassuring herself that he's not going to get kidnapped too. "Homer's hurt and also totally sketchy and Ethius probably has head trauma." And they're kidnapping Demetrioi. And this town will die.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Rixia is sleeping. "Hey, you, get out here," Magilou reaches inside herself -- yoinks out a Seraph, bug-eyed and quailing

    "NononononoNONONONONONONONONONONO," Bienfu insists, trying his level best to run, which is fruitless, because she's holding him firmly by the scruff. She doesn't look impressed by his efforts; she doesn't look much of anything at all.

    "Prep her to move," Magilou tells him, dropping him and drop-kicking him in the same instance to send him tumbling over to Rixia.

    "Biiiiiennnn....!" Bienfu sobs, but he nonetheless pulls the geoboard out (from nowhere; it's an ancient Normin trick) and goes about trying to figure out how to roll the sleeping Rixia onto the board. Somehow, he might even manage to do it without waking her up. This may not be down to Bienfu's skill in manual handling; his paw-hands are shaking far too much.

    Magilou turns, and stalks over to Ida -- clapping a hand on her shoulder. "Here," she says, and directs her passive absorption to Ida, instead.

    Spell Absorber absorbs magic, but the principles...

    The first principles it was derived from...

    ... let's just say Magilou is much too good at this.

    "Don't make a habit of it," she tells Ida, when she's finished, as she steps away. "... because this was someone's 'no other way', long, long ago. As for me, I just refined the concept."

    If she were in a better mood, she might have said something like, 'not that you can improve on me!'

    She isn't in a mood, though.

    ... she'll make sure Rixia wakes up somewhere better, at least.

<Pose Tracker> Fereydoon has posed.

    'Your duty is cruelty,' Rebecca's words are as sharp as any knife. Many here gathered have seen what Volsung is capable of - and some of what he intends to do with that capability. Kartikeya should seem like the norm, against that backdrop. Someone like that would be more believable as the right-hand man of Volsung himself... but no, it's this one.

     The RYGS_5013 "Blade of Heaven" is promptly sheathed at Fereydoon's back. He kneels down, and after a flash of movement... he's gone, not choosing to jockey for the final word against Rebecca's verbal fire. The other Veruni follow suit in their own fashions, and Homer reaches out a hand ineffectually towards Kaguya, unable to argue over much in the wake of having gone through as much as he has.

     He coughs up some more orange-ish blood. The other pig- or boar-like Beastfolk on both worlds do not have orange blood. Ethius did more than a few numbers on him, and... Ethius is a ways over there, presently unconscious.

     "...not much of a mayor, huhhh," Homer coughs. "I'm just... at least they weren't... aren't, uh," he seems at a loss for words. "Felt good, for a few years... lemme say," he says to Lan, who is expressing her doubts and worries as she disengages to go to help Azoth.

     Maybe she doesn't want to listen to him, and he can't really find it in him to say more. There are listless, worried people everywhere. Demetrioi is gone. What will happen to their livelihoods? Who were all those people? Where was Guild Galad? Uncertainty hangs in the air, uncertain where it's hanging from but knows that it is in fact hanging in the air.

     As Magilou talks about how things were once someone else's 'no other way,' is this Demetrioi kidnapping a 'no other way,' or 'another way?'

     ...

     MEANWHILE - BELATEDLY BUT TO THE RESCUE!!

     Seraph Lanval marches up that hill that leads to Demetrioi. He also falls down it thrice, because of the way he stumbles. But he gets back up again. In one hand, his drinking gourd. In the other...

     A broken bottle. A broken bottle of the worst, most wasteful 'wine' ever made to his tastes. The bottle's breakage is an ideal combination of reach and lengthy serrated edges, and when he crests up to the top of the hill where Demetrioi once was, he gives it... which is to say, the thin air...

     A mighty stab! A swing! Really going at it, a few times over, until he stops, looks...

     "Mmmmmph. It'sh gone?" Lanval seems puzzled. Boudicca was certain it was here, and there's the gloom of collective unhappiness in the air, and it makes little sense. That Demetrioi thing was bad news, and if it's gone, then everyone should be more... relieved, happy? But the air is devoid of even the smallest joy. Well, that's a lot of broken bottles for nothing, he had to go into the four-hundreds to get the perfect broken bottle.

     He just flops on his back onto the impression in which Demetrioi used to be, and decides heck, he'll just lick the last traces of flavor off that bottle's innards--

     Then the impression folds in on itself and Lanval sinks in there with an aggravated 'mmmmph.'

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    That Ida is asking Magilou to do this--letting her get this close, and allowing her to use strange, frightening sorcery--speaks to how serious she feels this is. If it were mere emotional manipulation, she could go punch a tree, or walk it off, or scream, or sob, or do anything else. This is spiritual poison.

    Ida looks over her shoulder, and nods, her eyes big--the rage still plays in them. She forces herself to go still, and then there's a...

    Ida does not have any sorcery to speak of. All she has is the blessing of Moor Gault, via Boudicca, refined by her strength of spirit. Nevertheless, she feels an odd, growing emptiness inside her as Magilou gets to work. The rage vanishes, and with it, the horrid pain she had to push through. But with it goes some of the fear, and the righteous anger, and broken-heartedness.

    "Gh," Ida says, softly. She meets Magilou's gaze, and nods. She understands. "I can still cry," she says. "I think I'm going to do that now."

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.

"Yeah... yeah." She says quietly to Gwen, "...prefer not."

Rebecca thinks of Capo Bronco being a dead town some day if the Veruni find out where they're from. It's not a happy thought. She hears so many people saying they want to cry. She refuses to let herself cry though. She's refused ever since she first picked up her ARM.

Rebecca considers going to the Mayor first - but one look at him tells him he's barely in a state to lead. She could maybe do something about that - but that feels like kicking a man while he's down.

So Rebecca starts addressing the townspeople who she knows are in shock, "Alright. Everyone who can walk - start tending to the people who can't. Call out if you don't know how to help someone. If you don't know anything about first aid - then start gathering up any supplies over there. We'll sort through the essentials later."

She looks around at them one by one, "I know you're all still processing how your lives have all changed - but we need to worry about that later. We do what we can right now to keep you from losing any more than you have to. Then... we help you survive as best as we can. We're not cold-hearted Drifters who'd just say this is your problem to deal with. We'll get you through this... somehow."

Rebecca keeps trying her best to catch the attention of everyone, since they need to start acting quickly, "We have to move fast though. Because you heard them on 'repurposing' all of you. We can't trust that one of them won't come back to make good on that."