Difference between revisions of "2010-02-14 (PreU) The End of Days"

The End of Days: Part 1

Nightmares. The very things that keep us up at night, and scare the young into hiding under their sheets. Such things only come out in the day except for times of war. But it would seem that this is one of those times. Everyone one could look beasts which where once human, with few exceptions, are literally tearing each others eyes out upon the main street of Twisted, and the adjoining areas. One one side of the fight the creations of Alessa Gillespie, a crazed woman who was tortured by everyone and everything she loves into a dark monster to create a being capable of destroying the world to remake it as paradise. On the other side the creations of a very different Alessa Gillespie from a world where the girl made a pact with a demon to banish those which hurt her into a nightmarish world out of revenge. Both are the same, but both are different.

The distinctions are apparent in their creations as well. On one side of the street a series of men with pyramid-like helmets bolted onto them stand weidling swords called 'Great Knives' are fighting against another series of similar looking monsters, but with the helmets bound to them with barbed wire. Nurses with faces turned inside out are attacking infants with mechanical arms. Dogs with their heads ripped in half are biting and gnashing huge monsters with metal hooks for hands. In other words mass hysteria…

When this began the beasts broke into houses and tried to kill anyone they saw, but since the second group of beasts arrived they've begun to attack each other instead. Perhaps this is a good thing? At least for the moment the innocent people of Twisted are spared. But is this a fluke, or by design? Barbed wire seems to be snaking around the sidewalks like living tenticales, eagerly clinging to whatever they come across. A dense fog has clung heavily to the streets. Day or night, it all slowly merges together in a way totally befitting of Twisted itself. How this will end is anyone's guess...

A cold, dense fog, restricting visibility to perhaps fifty feet or less. This is not too big of an issue for Rick, who at the first hint of trouble transformed himself into the black clad figure known simply as the void knight.. He is standing atop the UR, listening carefully to the commotion, tryiong to get a good idea in his head just what exactly is going on. Meanwhile, from inside the UR istelf, the slender, white furred form of the catgirl known as Felina emerges, jade eyes glancing about in the gloom, and remaining close to the building, her claws extended.. "mmm.. I think mayhaps this is going to be quite an eventful night.."

As the carnage rips up Twisted and the two armies of horror battle each other, further down the street, a white feather comes from a single dark cloud in the sky above. The cloud fades away as the feather falls, and when it hits the ground, an explosion of white floods upwards into the shape of a woman, or whatever Concordance really is. Her white wings fan out around her, and the sound of glory floods out from around her body. Her eyes look into the distance, towards the two armies, and she flaps her wings once. A wind comes to life and lifts her into the air, her hair whipping about behind her. As the wind catches her hair, it becomes visible, a long cascading flowing white of light in the sky behind her and her wings. She holds her left hand out, and a scythe appears.

Gunshots ring out in the murk, warping tainted flash and raising guttural cries from unearthly throats. But the horde keeps coming; where it does not fight itself, it seeks out the fleshy spaces filled by the human element. But where it might have found fearful, quaking wrecks of men, it is oft surprised to find resistance. The people of Twisted fight for all they hold dear. For life, or what amounts to it. From building to building, small bands of men and women hide in the shadows, awaiting the invasion of their homes before they open fire with acquisitioned ammunition, or simply swing away with knife, sword and axe. This is a siege; and they do not stand idly by.

One such building, an old convenience store none too far from the Usual Restaurant, has been turned into a makeshift headquarters for this desperate resistance. No banners festoon it, but a portion of the fighting seems to be centred around this point, and in addition to bursts of semi-automatic fire, an occasional lick of flame bursts from the door, sending demons staggering back with ferocious howls. Upon the flat roof of the building, perched next to a boarded-up skylight and an open trapdoor, is a figure with cat ears and tail.

Her black hair is pulled back from her face, which is set in determination though it may be pale with suppressed fear. She wears a sheathed blade upon her back, and holds a palm out toward the street below, one eye faintly closed as she scans the commotion, watching for any creature that should straggle near to her fortress. For the moment, most are absorbed in their Hell-sent likenesses, but Samantha is ready. Her fingers twitch occasionally - betraying some impatience, and the other hand tightens to a fist at her waist.

This battle will be lost over her dead body. This is not just a battle between Councils, this is not a battle of the sisters alone... this is a battle for the people. For a happiness, of sorts. For /life/.

As nightmarish constructions of twisted imaginations rage against each other from one horizon to the other, there are more than just the nightmares and the bystanders. By its very nature, Twisted has its own way of defending against and rejecting such malevolent forces. A dark knight, standing on the rooftop, seeing without sight. A slender green-eyed girl with feline ears and claws. Another girl long since thought dead, leading a resistance of sorts. An angelic figure, radiating glory and wielding a scythe to cull the living from the dead. These are just a few of the individuals that are responding to the violent maelstrom of death that churns through Twisted Street. Their motives may be different, even opposing, but that too is part of the inherent checkes and balances that chaos brings to a place as infinite as this.

Amongst those who would do more than watch in fear, strides a man with long blonde hair, dressed in a black longcoat that nearly touches the ground as he walks. Just another face in the crowd, Dade Larushki Oz's blue eyes and blue jeans don't really make him stand out in this mess any more than his black shirt with a faint white cross spread across the chest makes him look like a holy man. Which he's not, of course. If the flask of vodka he's constantly tipping back wasn't an indication that Oz is far from a member of any respectable clergy, the way he's dispatching any nightmare that attacks him would surely clarify matters.

Brutal and swift, the blonde-haired man uses the bare minimum amount of effort to separate any attackers from their status as living beings -- or unliving beings, dimensional constructs -- beings of any kind, really. He isn't exactly wading into the thick of the fight, just taking out some stragglers, but he doesn't seem particularly worried about the horde, either. In fact, there doesn't seem much that worries Oz at all, except for perhaps where his next drink might be coming from.

"You kreatures, you are always with the making it hard to sleep, yes?" The back of the man's hand finds a pouncing 'dog' torn from the air, sent sailing into the main fray with a strength that shouldn't come from someone with a fairly average frame. He extends a foot backward to let a large, charging humanoid mass slam into it, before bringing it up, over, and back down in front of him. The twitching-mass lands on one of the swirling pieces of barbed wire, and Oz seamlessly transitions into using it as a stepping stone. From his new perch, the blonde man surveys the carnage, and shakes his head. "Terrible sense of fear. I am thinking maybe American sensibility. In the Motherland, if army rises from fog, housewife beats them to death with rolling pin and carries on with day."

... ... ...And with that, he takes another swig from his flask.

Running down the street comes a small group of people, some faces familiar, some not. Among them is Tenna who seems to squeak as she runs thanks to the toy clutched tightly in her hands. One of the dog-creatures is hot on her heals, leaping on her at the last second. Tenna screams as she hits it with Spooky. *SQUEEK* "BAD DOG!!" *SQUEEK*

As if waiting for her, two of the larger more menacing Pyramid Heads turn towards Concordance and stand guard trying to block her way. The two say nothing as they breathe heavily, ignoring everything going on around them. Interestingly enough it seems to be one from each faction of creatures fighting. Why are only these two getting along? Is their dislike for Concordance that great?

Standing on the rooftop next to Rick suddenly appears Nancy, one of Twisted's Council and currently one with an expression of horror on her face. The words 'this isn't real' are mouthed as she watches the bloodshed down below. She came to help… but what is there to do?

In the center of the street, some of the slain monsters and civilians are being piled together. While this isn't something that one would notice at first, there definitely seem to be some sort of pattern forming. All of the less barbed-wire looking creatures are literally throwing slain creatures in the same pile each time one falls. What could they be planning…?

the appearance of nancy beside him give the Void Knight a moment's pause, nodding just faintly, "This seems bad enough, but I have a feeling that they are going to get a whole lot worse. The way that the bodies are being piled up is what is giving me real concern." his words are quiet, as he forms his shimmering black staff in hand.. "That said I do not think I should interfere right now, it might only make things worse." In the meantime, Felina, on the ground is rushed at by a pair of the nurses, and she reacts with absolute panic, the mechanical arms that they are showing is a thing from her darkest nightmares... or perhaps even a throwback to terrible memories.. "Get away from me!" she yells, bounding across the street rapidly, towards the building where the gunfire is coming from.. Indeed, the creatures there are somewhat less disturbing to her mind, as they are not quite the same amalgamation of flesh and technology.

Suddenly, from the mass of feuding Hellions comes a creature with a head like the shop of a particularly disorganised butcher. Flaps of flesh tremble, seeping rivulets of ichor patter across the street surface, and in shuddering steps it makes it's way to the door of the tiny convenience store. How convenient. The thing is huge - the Andre of hideous zombies, and the naked bulk would be disarming had the catgirl up above not fought a thousand similar creatures. Her lips curl in a humourless smile, a split-second before her forearm snaps forward, pistonlike.

"Hishouken!" It's a bare hiss from a throat dry with anticipation; but the syllables are passionate, enough to lend extra fuel to the lance of blue-white energy that flies from her extended palm. It strikes the being dead on in tandem with a sudden gout of flame, blazing from a broken window upon the shop's entrance. Chi sends the foe backward, whilst fire gives it reason to hesitate; and it buys Samantha time to whirl upon the sudden appearance of Myra at her flank.

Her other hand is already up, sizzling and popping with faintly visible magical energy, before the boy's stance steadies her. Slowly her eyes begin to burn with welcoming enthusiasm, and she fires off a wide, crooked grin. "I've seen enough that I'm not even gonna ask," she replies, raising her free, non-magicked hand to flip off a casual salute in greeting, "Samantha Li-Bogard. I'd worship, but-" Her form blurs. She spins away, leaving the grin behind as she vaults over the rooftop, landing in a crouch at the building's fore, in a deft three-point stance. The creature whirls upon her, only to meet a vigorous boot to the jaw as she rises, swinging her leg in a wide arc to the front and side. On the rebound, she comes back with a right hook, blood exploding from the point of impact.

"I'M KINDA BUSY!" This is yelled up to the newcomer, even as her glowing hand whips up toward the approaching Felina. "Bet Ort." Behind her fellow catgirl, in front of those pursuing nurses, a hiss-pop of a fuse meeting an explosive, and a beat later the air is alight with fireworks. Reds, blues, yellows and greens all burn the retina as the display rages for several seconds - drawing further frustrated noises from the horde. Hell isn't big on light shows.

A smile is thrown to Felina, but as quickly as Samantha appears she is gone, flipping back up to the rooftop, landing with an intake of breath next to the self-proclaimed Planet of Fire. "Don't think I'm not pleased to see ya, though. Got any neat tricks?"

Rats in a maze. The struggle continues, with those notable few fighters making hardly a dent thus fa rin the horde. Amongst them, Oz continues looking about, and then places a hand to the back of his ear. "NORN."

[Yes Dade?]

"I am feeling, maybe you should be analyzing the pattern of the bodies being strewn about. Cross reference with all known works of occult fiction and religious texts." He offers a small smile and pauses with his flask almost all the way to his mouth. "Also... I am thinking, put some Origa on for me to listen to. This noise is without art."

[Right away Dade.]

On a completely separate note, and utterly unrelated to the events at hand, there was once a doctor that roamed Twisted Street. His name was Crux Caedon, and he perished resisting the judgement of the Twisted Council. The man has not been seen since a tournament allowed the dead to once more roam amongst the living for a brief span. Coincidentally, that is roughly how long it has been since Oz began making regular appearances at the Usual Restaurant. Certainly, there could be no causal relationship between the two milestones.

So where we? Ah, yes, Rats in a maze. Oz turns to look at Gegoshi as she calls out to him, ignoring the creature charging at him from behind. It drags its Great Knife along the ground as it moves, sending out sparks and sounds that are all but impossible to notice, yet the blonde man doesn't seem to be paying attention. "What I am wanting, devushka, is some quiet once more, for good drinking." He holds the flask up to Gegoshi in offering, as if her taking a sip is of greater concern to him than the rest of the scene at hand. "A sip for the lady?"

[Dade.] The computer known as NORN directly stimulates the bones of Oz's inner ear, making eavesdropping effectively impossible, and ensuring he will always be able to hear it. [While I am analyzing the pattern, I thought you should know that one the key surnames in my database has just been referenced nearby.]

"Spasiba, NORN."

Another familiar face dashes through the crowd at lightning speed, energies crackling around like blue lightning bolts, before the figure comes to a halt at the foot of one of the nurses. "HELLOOOOOOOOOOO NURSE!" Freakazoid makes a random appearance, eying one of the figures from the feet up. As his eyes fall upon more and more of her his smile slowly falls into a grimace of horror. He winces before he ever makes eye contact. "EWWWWW!!! She's looks like Grammy trying to sunbathe." The Freak turns to run away as another nurse blocks his path. "Whoa. Whoa. Ladies. I'm not here to sign autographs. I… uh…" he pats down his skin-tight red costume. "I forgot my pen, yeah… so if you'll just let me dash home real quick, maybe I can mail you something lat-!" Freakazoid is literally cut off as one of them slashes at him with a scalpel. He backs up, leaping atop the first nurse like a cat. "MA!! I WANNA GO HOME!!!" Some hero…

Meanwhile Tenna isn't doing so well herself. The squeaks only managing to annoy the split dog more than anything. Biting her arm and sending a spray of blood into the air, the girl does the only thing she can really manage. Scream and kick it between the legs. Somehow it works and seconds later the girl is pushing herself away, still kicking and screaming.

Taking notice, Freakazoid dashes over, picking the girl up and smiling. "Aww. Someone needs a nurse!" He looks towards the duo approaching them. "Maybe a different nurse?"

Tenna nods and in a flash the two vanish from sight. Is anyone but this typist scared of those two hanging out together?

The two Pyramid Heads 'blocking' Concordance's path have an interesting reaction to her scythe as she brandishes it. They lift their weapons into the air towards her and scream. "...haaaaail our lord!!" What? They're voices are raspy and weak, but they speak none the less. Perhaps this is the first time one has ever been seen speaking, but then again, maybe it's for a reason.

Nancy takes notice when the two react to Connie's presence. With a raised eyebrow she looks at Concordance and then back to the creatures. Was this part of the plan? She looks to Rick as if expecting him to have some answer and then shakes her head. "...I've gotta think of something I can do to help…"

The pile of bodies grows larger, but what is it for? That will just have to be saved for a little while longer. It's definitely occult in origins, though...

Concordance floats in the sky, as she ha been since she got there. Her eyes pass over towards Myra, Felina, Samantha, and then to Gegoshi and Oz, then over to Nancy, then, of course, they go back to the Pyramid heads as they pronounce her their lord. The grip on her scythe visibly tightens and the white light beyind her sends trails of red smashing into the sky and earth, though only an impact is heard, and no visible damage is made to the street, ground, or anything else the streams hit. She tilts her head down to look at both of them more closley. The red streams starting to slowly retreat back into the neverending flow of white behind her, but where they come in, the white turns a slight ruddish pink color. This is unexpected. But, then, everything does have its place. She pulls a hand from her scythe and holds it out towards the two Pyramid heads, palm upwards, and her voice is heard all across Twisted when she speaks, though it isn't loud, it's simply everywhere, "What of Senior Diablo, isn't he your god?" More red streams into the white, and a chorus of voices begins to sing in the air around Concordance, reminiscent of praises, but there's a slight undertone of dischord beneath it all.

Myra watches Samantha closely as she goes about her work of destroying the attacking creatures. He exhales a sigh as works at protecting the fortification they're keeping, more or less, safe. "More than I ever counted, but..." He says, shrugging his shoulders and giving a big grin, "...not supposed to help unless you say something about Concordance, although really, right now, it sounds to me like you're saying you don't care about her at all. See? I bet that's everyones opinion about her." He grins, finding an inside joke humorous, he looks over towards Felina as she approaches, sending a stream of fire from his arm to burn into a few grotesque monstrosities rumbling through the street, either after her or just after the people in the building, how knows, but he nukes them anyway, and calls to the girl, "Hey! Myra! Planet of fire, on The Council for Twisted." He says, glancing towards Samantha as she nukes the nurses, "See the woma in the sky? That's Concordance, if you call her your goddess or protector, we should be good to go here at any second. What do you say? Look, I'll do it first." He looks up at Concordance and yells, flames writhing up around his body as he does so, "Hey! CONCORDANCE! Yeah, I worship you and all that! As long as I get that date from Harpanic! All hail the queen of fire!" He finishes and chuckles at himself, before looking at Felina, and Samantha as well, for any answers that care to be given. Hey, no fire off his coal if they want to deny Concordance. Not that he has any idea of what the consequences would be if they did.

Gegoshi giggles at Oz as she's offered a drink. She quickly lands down on the ground next to him. The clothing around her body turns silver and then flows around her, coloring itself into shades of varying reds as it creates a tank top, mini-skirt, and cropped leather jacket. A pair of sunglasses rest upon her nose and she dips her head, looking over them towards the man, "Why, how could a girl like me ever refuse a man like you?" And she reaches out to take the proffered sip, but her eyes dance around his shoulder, "There's something behind you, kind gentlemen. Oh, and if you look to the lady Concordance in the sky of Twisted, and profess her to be your goddess or protector, I'm sure good things will come your way." Her hair twines itself back into a long thick braid, the roots and then the rest of it sliding from blonde to crimson.

Satyrn appears in the sky above Twisted street. Her saiyan tail wrapped around her left leg, the tip of it twitching idly. She'd been out dimension for a time, and wow, what a time to be out dimension. Look at all of this fighting she was missing? Her eyes move over the monsters battling back and forth. What? Really? "Is this it? Where's the real enemy?" She asks, referring to likely Senior Diablo and anyone else from the Hell's Council. Her eyes look over at Concordance and her light show, and she inclines her head, thought it's doubtful the other woman can see the acknowledgement since both of them are a few hundred yards apart. She pulls a brush out from her clothing and starts to brush her hair, has to look good all the time, afterall.

"Oh, ya'd be surprised how many people I don't care about," Samantha fires back at Myra, a streak of dry humour in her tone. She does not look at him, however; keeping her attention riveted upon the street below, an approving nod and grin given as Felina shows herself to be a thoroughly capable catgirl in her own right. As she approaches the building, Sammy stamps sharply upon the rooftop, and the door flies open, a rather burly civilian stepping out to cover Felina's entrance, firing off a couple of short bursts from a military-issue carbine.

Hurrah for the black market, as inside lurk many similar men and women. All rather grizzled as the 'average' goes, they are armed to the gills with an assortment of weapons - including the aforementioned flamethrower positioned on a tripod a short distance from the doorway. The store itself is a mess, all overturned displays and piled-up furniture. A door leads into the back, and a ladder has been propped in one corner, leading to the rooftop.

Samantha steps close to the trapdoor, propping it a little further open with her right calf as she calls down to Felina. "Hey, artillery girl! Could use you on the roof!" She lets that hang without further introduction; she'll do the niceties when they're closer to one another. Swinging back toward Myra, she stalks across to the building's flank, sending a cursory glance down into the alleyway besides it. "Look, Myra," she speaks distantly, lifting a hand to get a grip on the hilt of the ninjato across her back. She loosens the blade with a quick tug. "I'm just tryin' to keep people alive here. Twisted has to look after itself, but nobody needs to /worship/ anybody. Wanna help these folk out? Then do it." She smiles, glancing up at the Councillor, the expression reaching her sapphire eyes if only for an instant. "I'll be grateful. Really. But I don't owe this Concordance anything, and I don't owe you. Not yet."

The pretty young defender gives a single shake of her head to punctuate the statement, loose hair bouncing at the nape of her neck. Her gaze slides away from Myra and from her fortress, through the maelstrom of chaos that rages along Twisted Street. It settles upon Concordance. Even from here she can feel the aura around the woman; it burns in an entirely different way from the stink of Hell that surrounds them. It's not something she's familiar with, and it's too much to consider at this moment - there is so much more at stake.

As Gegoshi reaches out to take his flask, Oz smiles, before her warning kicks in. He places it into her hand as he turns to look at the oncoming threat. He looks to be a bit late, though. Powerful arms tear that Great Knife through the concrete, barbed wire, and corpse below Oz, in a vertical slash that would surely tear him in half if left unchecked. If.

Rather than step to one side and risk letting Gegoshi get slashed, Oz simply kicks his left foot out to one side. The toe of his boot catches the top of the blade and guides the cut diagonally away and around the two of them, leaving the creature wielding it quite exposed. Oz turns quickly back to Gegoshi, one hand flicking at the chain hanging from his right pocket. In the time it takes him to turn around, the bestial humanoid is slammed down onto the carcass of the other, the chain having wrapped around its neck and pulled.

"Spasiba, devushka. You always were a good girl." He grins at that, and speaks quietly. "But I am too... what is the word... Narcoleptic... to worship someone else." Perhaps the word he was looking for was 'narcissistic'? Or maybe it was just a freudian slip. Whatever the case, he places a hand on his hip as he grins at Gegoshi. "Well?" It may seem like he's asking Gegoshi if she's going to take a sip, but actually, he's speaking to NORN.

[The name, Dade?] "Da." [Bogard.]

Oz's head literally pulls back a bit, the first time he's shown surprise in public... well, pretty much ever. He begins looking around again for a moment, obviously searching for something. [The convenience store a hundred yards to your right, Dade.] "..." The blonde's vision snaps into place upon the building in question, and then his eyes narrow a bit. "... Keep the drink, Devushka. And the outfit. I am thinking it looks good on you." It looks like Oz has business elsewhere.

In an /actually/ unrelated event, a whirling tornado of fire about five people wide springs up exactly in the middle of the horde, with flaming kunai and firebirds being flung in every direction as it slowly but effectively tears through various nightmares. Apparently not /everyone/ is content with being just another face in the crowd.

In the mist of Chaos, the blood shed and the alcohol, the friendships and the haterd, something odd happens. As Concordence calls for praise, as Myra screams to the heavens at her, as the populus watches, the creatures of Hell's Alessa stop. Thousands of voices rise above the din.. They all repeat the same thing. "Long Live Concordance. All hail Concordance." If one looks closely, the flowing barbed wire has Concordance's face within them, but it's only for the briefest second. Must be your imagination. The mass turns back and lunges back into the battle, as though the pause never happened.

Rick's assault indeed draws their attention. Roughly ten or more creatures turn from their fighting to converge on him after he disrupts their creation. Beneath the pile of bodies, those that where thrown down first have begun to fuse into a morbid pillar of bone, flesh, and stone. While the purpose STILL remains unknown, what is obvious is it's disturbing, and in light of things that might be all the motivation behind it.

A gaggle of nurses stop fighting to look up at Concordance as she asks her question. In broken but unified voices they respond, "Ssseenior Diiiaablo issss not our creeatooor… Nor our God…"

As Alessa's troups begin to chant, the rest begin to join in. Admidst the fighting, one by one, each of them praise Concordance with strained voices. "All hail Concordance!! We follow thee!! Our lord and master!" Suddenly the non-barbed wire forces stop joining in and praise something a bit different. "Our Goddess bekons us to slaughter and kill… slay the innocent… burn the homes… eat the souls… ALL HAIL CONCORDANCE AND HER MIGHTY EMPIRE!!" As abruptly and as unified as it started the entire second army once more begins to strike back at not only the other monsters but anything and everything around them.

Skeeve sprints out of an alley between the ruins of two buildings, diving and twisting through the air to cast a flurry of fireballs down at whatever's chasing him. As they explode, the mage hits the ground and rolls back to his feet, drawing his sword and shearing it through the body of another nearby monster. As he finally takes in the sight of the sheer carnage and the great roiling horde of monsters on the Street, he falters a little, and, in a shaky voice, says, "Oh, fuck me with a bag of bees..."

As the figures begin to converge upon him, the Void knight chuckles darkly, "Okay here we go.. " he raises his voice, "That's right you ugly bastards! Come and get me if you can!" he begins to whirl his staff quickly to keep the creatures away from himself, but still obviously intending to take their attention.. indeed, he cartwheels towards more of the creatures, as if he is hoping to get as many as possible into a relatively small area. In the meantime, Felina takes the trapdoor up to the roof of the convenience store following Samantha's calling her, "Ok.. Name's Felina... Lemme guess, you want me to start nuking those freaks to keep them away from here?"

Myra manages to trail after Samantha, though he's sure to keep in earshot of Felina as well, since he's trying to keep two conversations going, or at least be in hearing range of the two catgirls. "Well, can't say I didn't try." He says with a glance up at Concordance, wondering what her reaction will be to it. This is what she gets for dating that jerk Caliga, anyway. And Felina didn't do anything with Concordance either. Well, what are you gonna do! He heads up to the roof with the two catgirls and looks out across the armies who are praising Concordance, and turns his head to look at her. "...this isn't gonna be good." He says, rubbing the back of his head, "Ice." He swears. Well, it's a curse for him anyway.

Satyrn looks across at the monsters hailing Concordance. That's unexpected. She looks over at Concordance in the air, and stops brushing her hair for a bit, twirling the brush between her fingers. The tip of her tail twitches again, this time in impatience. Normally, she has a lot of it, at least for a saiyan, but she came over here to get some good fighting in, not to battle armies of weak opponents. She pulls her G-pad out, putting the brush away and taps her G-pad, but big red text displays saying "PLEASE WAIT" with an ETA of 999:99:99 on it that doesn't even start ticking down.

Concordance's body visibly trembles, and the world of Twisted shuddenly shakes, like a giant earthquake occured, but it's only for a moment, and it is very brief. Things weren't supposed to go this way. The palm extended out towards the pyramid heads slowly turns, encompassing all of the armies as each piece in turns hails her, lord and goddess. She pulls her hand back and places it around her scythe. "I am denied." Her voice says across Twisted. Her body begins to sink out of the air, and the white stream behind her begins to fizzle, flicker, and fade. The beautiful chorus quiets and grows remorseful and sad. She comes closer to the ground, and Guarlesia simply appears next to her. The six winged woman looks up towards Concordance and extends her hand out towards her, "I really could use some wine." She says. Concordance turns to look at Guarlesia and she touches down on the ground, the light behind her flickers...fades...and then...surges again to new life. The womans body soars up into the sky, and the light erupts from out of her body, the red streams striking out all around in every direction, though they pass through things, only the impact is -heard-. The music rises up again, but this time it is a sound of destruction, of hate, and death. The wings upon Concordances back spread outwards, and the red of her eyes drains down across her cheeks, forming veined runed patterns that then run across the breadth of her wings. The scythe in her hands begins to drip blood, and she looks down upon Twisted. "Now, I am called and praised. So now Twisted, say farewell." - Guarlesia, who stayed on the ground, takes a step backwards and then falls to her knees, closing her eyes and bowing her head. Her hand falls down upon the sword that rests at her hip. "Hear me, my children!" Concordance calls, to the armies of Hell, "Take and devour your fill for eternity!"

Gegoshi takes the flask in hand as it's offered to her and she watches with a smile of mirth on her face. As he turns back towards her she tilts her head to the side, and takes a sip! Whatever the flavor or taste, she responds with, "Mmmmm!" Because that's what Gegoshi does. Her head cocks to the other side at his refusal about Concordance, and the girls wings shrug, but then she blushes slightly at the mention of her outfit, giggling and looking downwards, "I like yours too..." She says, a bit shyly. Then takes another sip from the drink. She looks up towards Concordance and over at everyone praising her, or well, the armies praising her. Blue text flashes over her eyes, briefly scrolling over them, "This units attentions must be focused elsewhere. We hope you enjoyed your time!" And she disappears in a flash of white teleporting energy.

Looking down upon Concordance, Samantha sees the scene unfold - and feels a leaden weight sink into her gut. Her knees begin to tremble before she can exercise self-control, and her knuckles whiten upon the hilt of her ninjato. She hears Felina speak to her, and turns to look, but she is aghast; and only dimly listens. Emotional override saves her from poor conduct, though, and with an automated bow of her head she replies, "Sammy. And yes... please..."

As the last word trails away, she is already turning, placing her flank-on to the Planet of Fire. Red light begins to stream from Concordance, streaking down at the rooftop, but the catgirl does not heed it. She considers Myra with a long, pained stare, then draws her weapon with a faintly audible hiss of unnaturally sharp steel. The blade glows with orange light, pouring from a series of runes upon the surface - an effect made most surreal under the effect already provided by Twisted's would-be protector.

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you," Samantha demands, her tone somewhat flat, and barely loud enough to reach the boy over the din of Alessa's minions. Without care for the Councillor's origin or allegiance, she bridges the gap between them with her sword, the tip hovering a few inches from his throat. "Tell me those /things/ are trying to fool us." She speaks, whilst much of the city is already acting, and even below them, the shop door opens, several of the defenders stepping out as the creatures stop fighting to salute Concordance. A ripple of uncertainty runs through the streets. The woman's lips curl in a snarl.

"If y'can't do that much, then leave! Get the hell away from me."

For every nightmare the small firey tornado in the center of the horde reduces to carbon, a gout of flame erupts from the ground and takes out another two. It's whipping about pretty quickly, too, so that's a decent number. Still, in the scale of things, whoever's steering that tornado is only making themselves a target, not exactly thinning the herd. Which is why it's terribly convenient when targets directly in the tornado's path start freezing solid in small, swirling gusts of ice magic. And we all know what happens when fire and ice mix.

Of course, the ice didn't exactly appear because Myra's 'curse' summoned it or anything. What started as a cremation routine becomes an exercise in explosions, thanks to a girl perched on a partially-fallen street lamp. Her voice is too soft to hear over the din, but the blue-haired girl is certainly getting results.

As the horde lifts their voice to Concordance, two children watch from their place in a side alley. The young brother and sister, perhaps no more than six year sold, are holding hands. Hints of green shine in their eyes as they stare, motionless, soulless, and observe like the simple sensory organs they now are. The barbed wire never approaches them successfully, even from below, writhing in an all-consuming green flame whenever it comes near the pair. As Concordance seems to tremble and change, they both smile. Corruption is the sweetest taste to their master, after all.

The reaction Oz has to the raised voices is, of course, a bit different. He nods at Gegoshi's departure, shrugging. "Of course you are, devushka." He yanks on that chain one more time, and the creature behind him makes a snapping sound, presumably as its neckbones are shattered. It makes a final attempt to spear the blonde man with its Great Knife, but he simply turns to the side now that Gegoshi is gone and grabs the weapon by the flat, halting it. "... A mere toothpick." With the creature dying, it's no difficulty it all to pull it away, and Oz does just that, spinning it about until he can hold it in one hand. "... It is light."

[It weighs roughly five hundred pounds, Dade.] "Da. Light." [Not every sword can be as large as Gram, Dade.] "...Good enough for now." Oz looks over towards Concordance and Guarlesia, his attention swayed more by the horde calling her name than his momentary distraction. Priorities. He hefts the Great Knife up, and lets it rest on his shoulder while he walks.

It's a strange and familiar walk. One moment, he's walking towards Guarlesia, the next he's maybe two to three yards away from her. He looks at the girl, and then pulls out another flask. "...You shared a drink with me once, girl." He offers the flask her way. "Sit here, and wait for me to return, so that we can share another." He releases the flask, and it floats in the air towards Guarlesia slowly. The neat trick isn't the floating, though. It's the actual fact that when he speaks, it's more than a suggestion, or even a command. His voice seems to reverberate through the air, and the compulsion suddenly placed upon Guarlesia to sit and wait is quite intense. The stuff of demigods, at least. But Oz doesn't wait to see if she listens.

He simply starts walking again, this time up into the air, as if climbing a flight of stairs. Once more, he is walking one moment, and then about three feet behind Concordance in the next. He spins the Great Knife easily in his hands once more, as if anyone needed any reminding that he was carrying it.

"You should have had a drink with me too that day, Concordance. This would have gone easier." And with that simple pronouncement, he drives the Great Knife forward, ostensibly into her back. It may be a mere 'toothpick', but it has its place in the grand scheme of things. "...Too late now."

Skeeve manages to recover from his incredulity; fortunately enough for him, his near-lethal moment of hesitation fortunately covered by the hideous creatures' moment of worship. Taking off down the street at high speed, he turns towards the bunkered-down store where civilians are doing a better job of clearing to space. Noting the survivors on the rooftop, Skeeve desparately parries a pipe swung by one of the creatures and launches himself aerial, wings borne of telekinesis as he heads on towards the other people. "You guys look like you might welcome a helping hand! Mind if I-" Startled, but still soaring forwards, Skeeve continues, "Samantha Miller, is that you?"

With so much going on it's almost hard to keep track of the massive gathering of monsters which more and more seem to only be here to make Concordance madder. But then, maybe that was the point as well. Although their numbers have greatly dwindled there seems to always be more and more. Like a crowd in the background of a cartoon that never seems to thin no matter how many of them are sent into the air by the rampaging heroin. Yet, somehow no one seems to overwhelmed as if by some unseen design. It's as if they are -just- showing up enough to keep everyone busy. Suddenly the winds shift. The crowd stops fighting as if objecting to Concordance's orders and the all stand to the side covering the sidewalks and watching, waiting… expecting… Something is headed this way.

In the brief pause, from the wrong direction, something indeed does come this way. Excel and Hyatt, riding atop a pink and blue unicorn, come charging through the suddenly missing crowd in confusion. "Ney… Hat-chan? Why are the monsters backing away?"

Hyatt blinks and chirps, "Sempai… maybe they are too impressed with us?"

Excel nods her head happily. "HAI! ALL SHALL STAND IN FEAR OF OUR MIGHTY AWESOMNESS!! EXCEL AND HAT-CHAN, AGENTS FOR THE IDEOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION ACROSS DO HEARBY CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF THE DESTRUCTION OF TWIS-" She's abruptly cut off.

Hyatt coughs up blood, "Sempai? Why aren't we stopping?"

The two unicorns cackle and keep running. "WE ARE ON A JOURNEY!" "Yeah! A journey!" "We're going to candy mountain, Sempai!" "Yeaaaah! Candy mountain!!" "Que el flujo de las calles con la sangre de los no creyentes!" "YAY BLOOD!"

An air raid siren managed to quake across the War. In the distance of bodies, something can be seen. It starts small but one can see the rusted barbed wire starting to flow like a small stream through the battle, leaving it's trail clear. A child's voice calls out. "Concordence! How /DARE/ you claim my creatures." The stream turns into a river of steel, and column begins rising up, writhing blood flowing through it. "These are mine, and I'll not have you taking them from me, you worthless whore." The girl's voice quivers in rage, and the river bubbles with it. Once it matches Concordence height in the sky, the pillar rips open, sending splinters of barbed wire everywhere. Most of it falls, but enough floats in a circle around The Goddess of Blood, Alessa, in a sphere shape to look cool.

Alessa's hair flutters at her back slightly as the buildings start looking worse for the wear, even without the marks from the battle below. The walls disolve, leaving only rusted metal grating, cockroaches with human faces scuttling upon the ground. What light there is fades slightly as the fog thickens.

Alessa says, "THIS IS MY TIME!"

Satyrn just stares at Concordance and her...well, profession of Twisted's doom? "You've got to be kidding me." She says, glancing down at the Gegoshi pad again and tapping it. Some text scrolls over it, and she tilts her head to the side, then looks down at the armies, then over at Skeeve, Oz, Rick, Felina, Samantha, Myra, and the others gathered here. Hmm...some of these aren't slouches. She rolls her shoulders, cracking them, then fluffs her hair. "Hey! Any of you heroes down there know how to fly?!" She yells over the chaos. And then see's Skeeve take flight, and Oz attack Concordance. Oh, so hard to choose. She holds her hand upwards, two grey and black mixed balls of chi forming, one rocketing towards Skeeve, the other towards Oz, both of which will cause minor crater explosions on whatever they impact against.

Iloken leaps up over a pyramid head as it falls and lands down in a semi-clear area. She looks over at Concordance and frowns. This isn't something she wanted to have happen at all. "Is my praise worth nothing, Concordance?" She asks, but gets no reply. She leaps away from an attack of an ugly soul eating black tendriled beast, that has come out to devour the dieing, and lands on the top of the Usual Restaurant. She emits a deep elven sigh and looks over towards a group of humans that are barely staving off death at the hands of multiple creatures. "The price is too high." She says to Concordance, who she is sure can hear her. She holds her blade out and lets it go, and the blade tumbles from her hand, turning into a sequence of white flower petals before it hits the roof. The elf sighs again and sits down on the roof as her own body begins to change into the same, soon nothing more than a large statue of petals, which then collapses down in on itself, the wind drawing a few petals away and off of the roof.

Myra rubs the back of his head as he watches Concordance and hears what she says. "Ahhh...wow, they're all so ugly, too." He says, referring to the monsters roaming around the streets. Well, nothing he can do about it! He looks at Samantha as the sword points towards his neck, and he holds his hands up to either side of him, "Woah, woah, beautiful girl. There's no reason you shouldn't kill me, in fact, you're going to have to try really hard to do so. But, you can't really blame me for it." He says, and his entire body turns into writhing fire, the ground beneath him and the nearby roof catching flame as he does so, "I did try to get you guys to accept her first. Not my fault the enemy worships and praises her when you chose not too accept her help, but I'm not losing Harpanic." He says. If Samantha's clothing isn't fireproof, they may be catching fire as well!

Guarlesia stands up slowly from her bowed posture as Oz comes over towards her and the drink is senting floating at her, and the commanding voice is spoken, or suggestion, whatever it is. Her hand reaches out and she takes the drink into her hand, and chugs it back, she then sits down on the ground, the six wings on her back twitching. Having chugged the contents, she tosses the drink away, and reaches out and places her hand on the hilt of her sword again, the runes inlaid across the weapon humming gently.