| The End of Days | ||
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| Summary: In possibly the biggest scene the game ever had, almost everyone jumped in and went to war as the forces of Hell, the citizens and Council of Twisted, and anyone else who happened to get in the way jumped in for one grand uber-battle that nearly killed the game, in more ways than one. It was even too big for LiveJournal or Gmail to allow it to be posted/sent in one piece. This is epic, right here. Look upon me and tremble. Then tell all of your friends. The only characters not in this scene are literally in other scenes going on at the same time. Who: Alessa, Ami, Azul_y_Rosa, Cale, Concordance, Crux, Excel, Felina, Fooby, Freakazoid, Gegoshi, Guarlesia, Hyatt, Iloken, Kaen, Kuroneko_Kukan, Myra, Nancy, Oz, Rick, Samantha, Satyrn, Tenna, Trinune, Valtiel, Wolfe, Xue, Zyrael When: February 14, 2010 Where: TwistedMUCK                             |
ContentsThe 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 of 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 Senor 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 Senor 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. Concordance turns her head slightly as Oz appears behind her and drives the knife towards her back. "You should have chosen me. Now, my place is set, and all the pieces fall into place." Her wing snaps backwards, hitting the side of the blade as she turns herself in the air, sending it off course, though it still slides slightly on her side. No blood comes from the wound, though there is red liquid under the skin. Turning fully upon Oz, she turns her scythe in her hands, "Guarlesia, I release your hundredth seal. Do my will. Be my will." She says, never swinging the scythe towards Oz. --- Guarlesia's face breaks into a giant smile and the girl stands up, her six wings fanning out. She turns towards a soul eater that is devouring a human and gestures her fingers for it to come, and it sails over towards her. She catches her hand upon its side, and speaks too it, "Transmute." She says, and the eater does, changing into a humanoid body, with six arms, each with long biting heads. "Forget." She says, and it goes limp. "Feed." She pulls her hand away, and the creature lunges towards a nearby dead human corpse, which hasn't been added to that big pile yet. Its body turns black and the corpse rises up, changing itself over into a doppleganger of the creature that attacked it. These two start going after other dead or wounded targets, absorbing them briefly before they turn into mirrors of themselves. Slowly, they begin to spread outwards from Guarlesia, who looks up towards Skeeve, and pulls her sword free. As Alessa appears and yells towards her, though the woman doesn't look towards her, since she's facing Oz at the moment, her voice does speak across Twisted again, "Worship me, call to me, and you can have them as well. All I ask is your obedience." Though Oz could take this as being spoken to him as well, I suppose.
Her old acquaintance's approach momentarily lost on her, Samantha stands with attention rapt upon Myra as battles of power and will continue around them. To a master of chi, the growth and throb of the earth's energetic manifestation is palpable; to a dabbling mage, the hum of background magicks is almost painful. And to those with human blood, the mounting terror is beyond all mortal reckoning. Truly, this must be the End of Days. It it also just beginning. The catgirl's mouth sets in a line as she watches the Planet of Fire, denying the effect of his charisma to focus upon the underlying message. Even before the temperature skyrockets, she can sense it well enough; he does not run, and he is too confident for the response she so fervently wishes for. Her left eyelid droops, a brief squint as she focuses her own willpower, and in a flickering instant her clothing disappears, to be replaced by an entirely different outfit. Armour. A red breast and backplate, pauldrons, bracers and greaves. Light enough to appear elegant, yet heavy enough to offer ample protection, it also seems unaffected by the heat pouring from Myra as he alights. The silver bracer already upon her wrist is the only anomaly to the uniform crimson; except, for an adornment upon the backplate. A white star. The young woman appears more confident as she adjusts the grip upon her extended weapon, runes pulsing. "You call yourself a Planet of Fire," she speaks boldly, circling around - enough to finally get a proper look at Skeeve, and the attack flaring through the air toward him. His words lie at the back of her mind. Suddenly she cries out. "Skeeve!" It's part acknowledgement, part warning, as she shoves her left hand through the air, releasing a blast of blue-white chi, roughly circular but rough and ready. A desperate attempt - all she can spare - to deflect the attack away from the hovering magi. Her gaze is quickly back upon the threat before her. "I'm just a woman, Myra. But I've come too far to lose to /anybody/. It's you or me, and I'm not gonna die. Not now, an' sure as hell not here." Her eyes bore into his, though she makes no move to attack him; she knows nothing about his capabilities, knows only that he burns and sears. She has walked through the fire. Let him come to her. The End of Days: Part 2"I see. So in the end, all you are is what people make of you?" Oz's voice seems to reverberate again as he speaks, though not a great deal, just a minor hum, this time. And it drops out of the Russian accent. "Disappointing." The weapon slides past Concordance... and then the tip seems to be swallowed by the air, before emerging at a downward angle from the air roughly three inches above Concordance's shoulder. "He would laugh at me for having ever been cautious of you." At roughly the same time, the chi ball Satyrn threw his way disappears into a ripple in the air, to re-emerge roughly three-inches away from Concordance's waist, which it is now on trajectory to collide with. Not bothering to actually stick around to see if his handiwork has any effect, 'Oz' slowly drops down towards Guarlesia. The blonde in his hair slowly filters out, as if his hair was going grayscale, and he discards the longcoat, revealing a rather fancy-looking watch, and a small sheath that looks as though it might hold maybe a combat knife at best. His black shirt, it turns out, is a t-shirt, and that white cross goes all the way to the sleeves. He descends at about the speed of a very smooth elevator ride, and those blue eyes of his seem to dissolve into a golden hue. Before the man finishes his descent, however, he reaches up into the air. His hand disappears into another ripple, and appears near Satyrn's foot, intending to grab her by the ankle and sling her down through the ripple to face him. If he succeeds, he only has three words for Satyrn before he lets himself drop full speed down towards Guarlesia. The words have that same reverberation to them, and a powerful compulsion woven into them, but not even remotely as powerful as the one levied upon Guarlesia a moment ago. Still, on a human scale of will, it's pretty good. However, the words are probably a bit surprising. "...Stop Myra. Now." ... And just when you thought he wasn't paying attention, d'aww.
Skeeve slides his sword away as he continues towards Samantha - blade's not going to do him much good in the air, and cries out a wordless warning as her opponent seemingly explodes in flame. As Satyrn's blast of ki sails through the first of his defensive spells, he whirls in midair, casting a stronger, active shield just in time for Satyrn's blast and Samantha's to impact with a rather impressive explosion, rocking the mage back in the air. Unfortunately for him and his continued safety, Guarlesia's attention on Skeeve goes unnoticed as of yet, as he yells back at Satyrn, "Oh, come *ON*! We don't have the *TIME* for this crap!" Still floating fourty or fifty feet off the air, he starts drawing in a tremendous amount of magical power, starting to cast spell after rapid-fire spell on himself - looks like he's not holding back any more, a flaring blue aura starting to glow around him.
Alessa extends her arms out to the side, splaying her fingers. The Pillar that holds her up grows and expands, mimicking her stance. The metal fingers wiggle and extend unnaturally far, growing into something monsterus. "Gods do not give their 'obedience'." The tall piller of bodies that was blown away by Rick, leaving the large skeletal structure moprhs into weapons, shaped like the Great Knives. With a high pitched white static noise, they fly to each elongated finger on each hand. The fingers wrap around the bone, embedding razors into the weapons, secureing their set. Blood slings off the edges as their whipped around, and one can see that Alessa has been watching someone sword fight. 3 of the fingers whip out towards Guarlesia, with speed beyond what one would think from something so large. Whatever creatures that are in that immediate area turn, drool and blood dripping from any oriface that they do, at her. LUNGE! They attack with no heed to what might happen to them. They know only that their mistress Calls. Alessa steps forward on her pillar, arms streched behind her as the Goddess screams in anger, the mob of still bodies shifting into action. The Shuffling, the Crawling, the creeping, they all move, the Pyramid heads bodies bluging and snapping as they regain new strenght under their Mistress. As Alessa screams, 5 more of the bone blades zip out towards Concordences' back, the pillar feeding them all they wire they need for their reach. They spin and stab and generally try to destroy the area she's currently inhabiting.
All of the rest of the monsters, as in those not currently morphed into Alessa's beast, still stand guard along the sides of the streets in all directions. They all watch silently save for one. One figure which comes walking up the center of the street in the distance - Alessa's personal servant, Valtiel. Like a smaller Pyramid Head without a helmet, with his face wrapped like the nurses, the creature weilds nothing as it stands at the end of the street with his back to the Wastelands. It says nothing, it does nothing. It's only here to watch and wait after all. Luckily it's far enough away to stay out of the matters at hand. It would take a deal of effort to even notice him in the distance, and that's exactly what the servant wants...
Myra's face, which can't really be called that at the moment, since his entire body is really just a mass of flame that is sort of holding his prior bodies shape, smiles at the catgirl, and his words come out, the light sound of fire sizzling against water sounding as they do, "Unfortunately, I'm not going to lose the love of my life, either. Cause if I lose, she dies. Which means I have to win!" The body of flame jerks to the side, burning the air around it and then washing forwards towards the catgirl, intent on attempting to simply enevelope her within the massive pyre and burn her to ash! The beep on her Gegoshi-pad lets Satyrn know about whatever disturbance is happening as Oz's hand comes through nothing towards her. Since her fist ball of chi exploded already, and the other is moving off course towards Concordance, she lapses her attention at its control in time to jerk her foot away from the hand, instead kicking out towards it, intent on breaking the wrist that its attatched too. "Always games with these people. Never a straight up fight. This is hardly worth it." She says, checking the chi in the wrist to make sure it's that Oz fellows. Yep. Concordance responds to Oz's question, "I am Concordance. I am the place that must be filled. Now, however..." She says, trailing off as the knife dips down into her shoulder, digging its way in, again no blood comes from the wound, but a wound is still there, marring her body. The chi orb from Satyrn is caught by her hand as she pulls it from her scythe, and she tosses it woards Alessa as the 5 bone blades tear into her body. Again, there is no blood. "...I see problems have occured." She says, looking down at herself. She swings her scythe, twirling it once, cutting everything beneath her, and hopefully the bone blades. Either way, Twisted itself cracks, a giant fissure erupting down its center, and many beings falling down within its depths. Guarlesia jumps into the air as the creatures come after her, flapping her six wings and becoming airborne immediately, she looks over towards Concordance, stabbed and bleeding, and red. Her hands reaches out, fingers splayed towards the one that created her, and she says, "Reset." Her sword then coming out and slashing a white arc of pure energy down towards a few of the beasts that lunged in the air towards her. The red along Concordance's body suddenly rips itself back inwards and the trails running from her eyes reverse and flow, disappearing completely. The wounds in her body close, even if the bone things are still stabbing through her at this point. The red lights that are spearing everything in the area disappear, and the halo above her head begins to shimmer a bright, bright gold light. "You have your place, Alessa. I see it is not mine afterall. And Twisted." She says, gesturing towards everything with her scythe, shearing off a number of rooftops in the distance by doing so, and likely cutting a number of things in half, "You deny me as well. Yet, I released Guarlesia's seal." She licks her lips, then says, "Oops."
A glowing purple portal opens above Samantha, through which Xue drops, landing lightly on her feet, eyes glowing a faint purplish color themselves. The portal closes behind her, as she takes in the carnage "You sure can pick em.....". Immediately after her arrival, the temperature begins to plunge in the area around her, which potentially stabilizes with the flame attacks being sent. She, too, is radiating large amounts of magic, as well as another, seemingly more divine power that anything evil, undead, or celestial would recognize as such. Her sword is drawn, and awash with cold blue flame as she addresses Sam further "What's the score so far?". Her gaze meanwhile is on the events occuring, trying to make out who is friend, and who is foe.....
Samantha is having a hard pretending this situation is under control; the building is on fire, there are people trapped below - between a horde and a hot place - and the being responsible for the latter is standing scant feet away from her. On reflection, it would be much better had she actually studied magic for more than a few months. But there's little time for reflection. A torrent of flame pours toward her, and her scalding feet, protected only partly by enchanted metal, slide instinctively apart. Her posture sinks, and she flips backwards, turning twice in the air before coming around with blade held before her, a hand pressed to the warm metal. The backdraught would still catch her, and she begins to hiss with the pre-emptiveness of pain. The intervention of a friend saves the moment. A shudder runs the length of her spine, the shift in temperature as alarming to the body as it is welcome to the deeper instincts. Those geared solely for survival. "Xue..." She breathes, focusing upon the half-elf as she flips once more and drops to the ground, tail lashing behind her to stabilise her flight path back to the rooftop. Her landing is expertly done, and she rises smoothly to her full height, already lunging back in toward Myra. She can't let him keep this up; but she can come closer now, his advantage mitigated by the presence of a countering energy. Hoping this will be enough, she thrusts her right arm forth, kicking one leg up as she crosses the gap to the Councillor in an instant, eyes burning bright and expression savage. "BURNING!!" She screams, aware of the irony yet too incensed to care. A cold blue flare of chi envelops her limb, streaming up the hilt of her sword as she grips it in the striking fist. The weapon adds weight to the blow, and as Sammy plants her feet from the strike - assuming it can impact with anything but flame - she immediately twists about, body an inhuman blur as all her speed comes to the fore. She turns a full circle, her arm coming about to deliver a backhanded slash. The ninjato angles downward, blade moving to slice to the centre of Myra's inferno, and even through it should it be able. A strike dealt with emotion and force. She had a reason to fight before, and now she has the means. "I understand how y'feel!" She yells into the blaze, "But who's your lover? A moon? A star?" Her grin pulls wider, and she casts her gaze sidelong to Xue. There's little more she can say as she prepares for Myra's reaction; but her vigour should say it all. The battle has just begun.
Oz/Crux grimaces at the 'wings', and waves a hand, causing them to fade from view. He turns to Guarlesia, just in time to see her leap away from approaching threats. He doesn't dodge, himself, but rather remains right where he is. Still, nothing touches him. He slowly turns around to look at Alessa, then Concordance, then Guarlesia in turn. He doesn't seem pleased. "You are a vessel, controlled by what others place inside. I will tell you what I believe of you. I believe that if you have an ounce of self-determination, you will sweep those creatures away like the protector you often professed yourself to be. And I will deal with your mistake." The now silver-haired man turns towards the soul eaters that are multiplying, and does what he can for them, first. "Regain yourselves." The voice rings out in the mind of every single one of the creatures whose original form ever drank with Oz in the Usual Restaurant. Unsurprisingly, this category includes a rather large number of the Usual's patrons, as Oz was offering free drinks on pretty much a daily basis. Those who hear come into contest, attempting to revert to their original, deceased forms with a power that is not their own. It's hard to say if it will work or not, but Crux imagines it will at least hold many of them quite still while they struggle. And that's when he actually... almost does something! It all happens in the space of an instant. Crux steps off of the ground, zipping through the air exactly one tiny ounce faster than would allow anyone to see the movement, to pass Alessa. As he does so, his voice reverberates in the air around her. "Don't claim to be something unless you're prepared to fight over the title." That may sound a bit threatening, but Crux zooms past her without even a moment spared, and up to Satyrn, where he can look her in the eyes. "Never attack me again." And then he's gone, again. Doing his best impersonation of the speed of light, which it turns out is actually quite good, Crux finally ends up facing Guarlesia once more, this time in the air. The man gets around, you have to give him that. Yet for all the zipping about he's done, he doesn't look phased. Then again, he didn't look phased when he /died/, either, so that's not really a good indication of what shape he's in. "...Stop, Guarlesia. You have one chance, this one moment. Nothing will save you if you refuse." He sounds ... pretty certain about that. Blowhard. Showoff.
The blades meant for Concordance snap as she severs them, leaving chunks and shards in her. Not detured, the creation doesn't stop, withdrawing from the vibrations of severance, only to swing back out at her, the remains just as dangurous as the whole piece. Another blade strikes out towardsa Concorence in attempts to turn the fight. Guarlesia's blades arching upwards to follow her movements. The final free blade strikes out towards Guarlesia from the sky, trying to pinch her in between strikes. The creatures below starting climbing each other, over eager to do the bidding of Alessa. They slowly build towards Guarlesia, claws and hands and teeth reaching and snapping towards her floating frame. Alessa hisses as Crux passes her, her voice echoing in time. "I've fought time and again for what I /am/. Don't question me, child." Did she just call him a child? She did, but her time is starting to count down.
At the end of the street, Valtiel shakes his head. The servant is aware of the sound of the clock in his mind. Seemingly unfazed by even Concordance's destruction upon Twisted, the creature stomps forwards another few feet closer pausing only to steal a Great Knife from one of the Pyramid Heads still standing. With what seems like a heavy sigh, it swings it around behind himself and resumes watching. Tick tick tick… the time is nearly here...
Satyrn scoffs at Oz/Crux as he blinks past her like that. This is ridiculous, now Concordance isn't trying to destroy Twisted, or is she? Ya know, does it matter at this point? She's getting irritated now, losing some of her patience. Her tail taps against her ankle, and she looks over at Xue, Samantha, and Myra over on the building in the distance. Then at Oz..Alessa...oh screw it. She blurs into speed, appearing behind Alessa and bringing a foot around to try and impact the back of the girls head with a kick. Myra falls back as Xue suddenly appears and only slightly scorches the catgirl. What the...here he is, having a good fight and trying to burn someone into ash, when some ice girl shows up and tempers down his heat? "Elf!" He responds to the catgirl as the sword slash comes in towards him. His body of fire pulls back, but the blade still slides across his stomach, and ?fire? splurts out, kind of like blood, sizzling the ground around him. He tosses a hand, and a fireball is sent directly towards Xue, while he flicks another with his other towards Samantha. "I mean, really, now...what? -What-? Why? Oh brother." He says to seemingly himself, and immediately starts hopping backwards to avoid any counterattacks, holding his hands up, "Going back to neutral for a second here, Gegoshi's chittering in my head again. Pause, pause!" ......well, he expects to be listened too it seems. Concordance says, "Your words are treasures to those that believe them. But few, if any, believe I am their protector, or goddess. No. Twisted doesn't require me to be either. In fact, it would seem, my Focusing here has been a great waste, for there are already a great many fighting for the world without looking to me." Concordance lets the boneblades impale her body, and she swings her scythe again, trying to sever the new ones that have impaled her, another giant crack ripping open Twisteds surface. "It's enough. The problem is, Guarlesia, but...this world is no longer my concern." She opens her hands and the scythe she's holding disappears, and blood suddenly starts pouring from the wounds along her body as she starts to fall from the sky, unless of course the things impaling her keep her aloft. Guarlesia flaps her six wings, getting up higher as the bodies begin to pile over themselves to get at her. She dips two of her wings, causing her to cascade into a fast twirling movement as that final weapon comes towards her. She strikes out with her sword, trying to either cut it or deflect it, just as Oz appears in front of her and speaks. Her eyes meet Crux, and she says to him, "Forget." She says, and Crux will find an a force of power attempting to erase his entire memory coming from the girl.
Xue looks at Myra as he does what he does, and Sam as she hits him. THEN..... he goes and says that. Course, she assumes he is talking to her. The temperature immediatedly starts dropping further, the terrain directly around her even begins to develop a coat of ice, and her eyes glow a deeper purple, a look of anger assuming itself upon her face. Then she does something she rarely does. She shouts "Fuck you!". The magical aura she gives off, as well as the divine, both double, the fireball thrown at her disintegrating fmor the sheer cold temperature forming around her. She swings her sword in an upward slash, sending a wave of frozen power at Myra. SOMEone struck a nerve of sorts, it seems. Deliberately or not. Xue does NOT take kindly to being called an Elf, appearantly.
On the roof of the building next to the burning one the air begins to shimmer before reality breaks apart like glass. The shards float seemingly suspended in midair, then begin to fly around in a circle. Golden light forms in the middle of the spinning shards. The light flashes outwards and fades leaving Wolfe standing on the ground, chain belt off and wrapped around his forearm, his demon Furfur floating mere inches above him. Slowly the shards and Furfur dissipate. "Judgement awakens, Death stands poised above Fool, Tower supports World... and a poor support it is too." His eyes glance over the scene before him. He turns slightly to glance at Myra, raising one arm palm out towards the fire creature. Furfur reappears above him in the same pose. A bull of wind forms in the demon's outstretched hand, a high pitched keening as it gains speed before launching out in a concentrated blast towards Myra.
"A planet and a person?" Even through the battle-focused rage, the will to fight and live, the catgirl sounds genuinely amused as she springs back from Myra, spinning the ninjato around in her grip, flame cascading off the blood in a fine spray that sears the air. "That's sorta poetic, in a totally-" The half-elf screams, and a fireball closes in almost faster than Samantha can track. Deep blue eyes widen, and her leading arm rises, rippling with magical energy. An amateur she may be; but a talented one, and the sheet of chill water that streams from the point of her elbow to her quivering knuckles does a great deal to soak the heat of the blow. But the kinetic energy still drives her back across the rooftop, feet sending signals of pain to her feverishly working brain as friction adds to their already considerable temperature. She breathes out and in /hard/, clenching her teeth as the in-breath singes her nostrils. "No!" She rejoins with her own cry, though it is more controlled than Xue's; a determined objection to the request for a lull in the fighting. She made her promise to Myra, and he made his in turn. She steps forward once, arms waving before her, the blade cutting a glowing orange arc through the air. Twice, and in tandem with the summoned sorceries from her flanks she brings her own to bear. Her black hair, as dry as might be expected, flows outward in a sympathetic wave as she leads a third step with her left hand outward. This time, twin streams of water emerge, forming an angry maelstrom before her that sweeps toward the Planet of Fire. Not as impressive as either Xue's or Wolfe's, it carries it's own less-than-subtle power. Raw ability can come through in a pinch. "This ain't a fight the Council can win. RUN OR DIE!"
The eye contact between Crux and Guarlesia holds steady for a moment, and the silver-haired Advent simply stares at the other girl. The power washes over him, pries at him, at his mind, and he tsks. He's already forgotten everything once, it didn't work out well for him. He's awakened, now, though, and his mind is pretty strictly off-limits. A shame, but it seems like Guarlesia's is, too. "...No thanks." He breaks eye contact after what feels like an eternity, looking past Guarlesia. Well, technically, she hasn't done anything since he told her to stop, and he /really/ doesn't want to fight her, so he'll let her go on a technicality. As he watches the situation in the convenience store from where he is, Concordance falls, and he grimaces. "...Sure, you have to 'die' before you realize what I was telling you all along." His eyes turn back to Guarlesia, and he sighs. "...You see what I have to deal with? Even now, I bet you're going to try and fight me, rather than help me fix this." ... God, does he ever stop talking?
Satyrn's foot should be found to be sliced to ribbons, as the buzzing swirl of wire shards remaining serve as a shield for Alessa's enemies. The Goddess doesn't even bother acknowledging the Sayian's exsitance. The bone blades are sliced again as Concordence cuts them, allowing Her body to start falling. One of the blades havn't had enough blood and duck under and up to impale her in the air, something like a trophy in a game room. Guarlesia manges to reflect all 4 blades somehow, only to find the other 5 waiting for her. Their blades have been replaced though, by something akin to flesh daggers, having grabbed limbs of creatures as the fingers flew by, conforming them to the design intended. Their not as sharp, obviously, but if nothing else, they will pack a serious punch. Being wielded in Alessa's determined space allows for the monster to 'figure 8' the blades in 9 directions, all where Guarlesia is, allowing for her trying to dodge again. It's unreal how something so large is so nimble and quick, but being fueled by rage can be a powerful thing. The 9 blades attacking Guarlesia also don't pay attention to Crux, if he gets caught in the cross fire. It's nothing personal, as the Goddess doesn't even really know the Advent, but her flaw is single-mindedness when it comes to battles of this magnitude, for these reasons.
Tick… tick… tick…. Valtiel decides it's time to move forwards again. Dragging the weapon behind him he begins to take long, pained steps towards his Goddess. He moves like he has all the time in the world… or maybe he's moving with regret. It's hard to tell when his face has been twisted into such a horrible configuration. Tick… scrape… tick...
Concordance does get impaled, her eyes having lost their Focus before the fall even started. More blood pours from the discarded avatar of a body as it slides down the barbed wire towards the ground along it. The wings on the girls back drooping down. Twisted rumbles loudly, smoking fissures issuing up from the few cracks that Concordance's scythe made, but then grows still. Guarlesia smiles towards Crux, but doesn't say anything in response, since there's nine blades coming in towards her. She brings her blade up to meet the first one, and then darts around Crux, shoving out with her hand to let his body intercept three of them. The fourth cuts into her leg, and she smashes it with her blade, knicking it away. Still, there's five more, and they all find her body, one through her two shoulders, another through her legs, and one through her right hand. "Teleport." She says, and her body disappears, reappearing fifty feet in the sky above. "Reset." She says, the wounds on her body closing themselves up. She looks down to where her six armed abominations have been changing discarded creatures into copied versions of themselves, "Sacrifice." She says to them, and each one gives a gutteral scream and leap up in the air towards Crux, limbs reaching out to grab ahold of him, if they get within ten feet, they'll explode into guts and gore...no real damage, but a bit disgusting. Myra gives Xue an odd look as he waves a hand, "No, no, I have a girl, her name's....!" He stops as the wave of ice comes towards him and his body flares upwards, a long trail of fire behind him, but the wave of ice power still impacts and the lower half of his body freezes up, from the waist down, if he had a defined waist anymore. "NOT AGAIN!" He screams, loud and powerful, his body flaring brighter and brighter, the ice incasing him starting to melt away into water, but then the ball of wind from Wolfe hits him. A tether of flame grabs onto the ice, but finds water there to hold as the wind whips his body away from his upper half. "Curse you, curse every single ONE OF YOU!" He screams as then Samantha sends her twin streams of water towards him. He throws a hand up, throwing a fireball at the water quickly, but not managing to completly douse their powers. He smashes into the ice encompassed roof, going through the now ice fragile boards and to the level below. Impacting he screams! "You think you'll win?! Win?!" He screams, smashing his now one good arm into the floor as he rages beyond general reason, "I'll let everything burn. Everything! BURN! For her! She'll love me if everything here -burns-!" His body explodes outwards with fire, smashing into roof, floor, and walls with an insane amount of heat, the said walls, floor, and wolf, immediately burn into ash, sort of like when the first impact of a nuclear explosion hits a building but it's much more concentrated on the building then anything else. Satyrn's foot doesn't shred as the metal and wire impact against it, her saiyan skin is tough enough to deal with something like that. But, it does impede her foot for getting into the angle she wanted. She rips her foot free, which does draw blood along it, and flickers out of human eyesight backwards about ten feet. Holding her palms out to her sides, six balls of black and grey mixed chi form around each of her hands, which then go sailing in multiple angles towards Alessa, each one strong enough to make a good sized crater explosion on impact. A swirling blue portal explodes into existence in the skies above the Usual Restaurant, disturbing the flower petals that were once an elf in the process. Out comes Trinune and Cale, who looks to of been more or less tossed through the portal, "Ano, Trinune, what ar eyou talking ab..." He stops talking as he looks around the state of Twisted. His eyes suddenly narrow down and he reaches his hand back, as if about to grip Trinune where she used to be sheathed there, but he stops mid movement and just clenches his hand into a fist. "What is going -on-?" He says with a growl in his throat. All of these people, dieing? Monsters devouring people? How could he of been so distracted in the Metropolis universe not to of noticed all his runes going off he has spread around the place? Too much of it? No, something else...all of the power around here, it's not normal stuff. Still, there's a run down in the UR, another a slight ways behind him...he nods at Trinune as she takes a quick account of all of them that are still functional. "Well, I know what to go after down below, what about them?" He says, looking up at Alessa, Concordance, Guarlesia, and Crux. Oh, Crux? He glances at Trinune again, and looks to Samantha, Xue, and Wolfe over in the distance as well. !! Wait, Samantha? "Split up." He says to Trinune, and flies up into the air, calling out to Crux, "Hey! Who's good and who's bad?!" He asks! - Trinune erupts into lightning, reappearing with a crackle of thunder near Samantha and Xue, but floating in the air, "Hello." She says to Samantha, then looks down at the exploding Myra, and brings her hand out, a black wall flowing out underneath her, and Samantha, if she cares to jump up onto it, but it doesn't go forcing her or anything.
Xue still looks furious, lost in her divine rage. Power of the same divine sort starts flowing off her in larger amounts than the magical, and her eyes are now solid with violet fire. She looks absolutely furious, to boot. She doesn't notice Cale or Wolfe, or anyone else but her target, aside from a vague awareness of Samantha. As Myra talks of burning it all, she focuses what she has to create a bubble of solid, magicly enhanced ice around him in a sphere, in an effort to contain the blast, as well as to try to slowly freeze the interior to as close to absolute zero temperature as she can. This has ALL her focus and attention, however. No words come from her.
Wolfe's demon flashes out from above him, reappearing infront of him in almost the same instant. A half-sphere of light forming infront of him, the waves of heat and ash rolling along it. Both Furfur and Wolfe look strained from the effort of keeping it up, until it shatters and Furfur vanishes, sending the teen flying a short distance to land on his ass, smoldering, the tips of his hair darkened and eyebrows singed. He drags himself to his feet, grunting slightly. He holds his hands infront of him a foot apart, Furfur reappearing ofer his head once again in a mimic of his stance. Another ball of wind begining to form between the demon's hands, this one stronger than the last. He grits his teeth, sweat damping his brow as he pours what he can into forming his attack and holding it for the right shot.
"Hnngh!" Samantha's teeth are clenched as she recovers from the sudden effort. Magic is not something she's employed in a situation like this, not since her first lesson with a certain Dragonmaster... but for all it strains the senses and pushes her body, it also seems to invigorate her. Enough, at least, that she can keep maintaining an effort, and whilst Myra suffers before the onslaught - whilst he rages for death and destruction, she pumps more and more power into her arms. Pure magical energy, faint and transparent, coats her toned arms in a flowing sheen. "You're insane, Myra!" She spits, forced to shout over the noise. "But this is a good death!" Her frame quivers and shakes; her knees begin to buckle. And then with an all-too familiar flash, a figure from the past flashes into being, a figure so closely aligned with one swimming at the back of her thoughts already. In panicked disbelief, the catgirl almost releases everything she has brought to bear, and it leaves her scant time to react to the explosion that ensues. She'd speak the name on her lips, but she has to move. She has to act. "SYAAAAAA!" Spittle flecks the air as she roars, hurling her blade forth, using it as a focus for an awesome torrent, a veritable geyser that explodes into being down it's length. The tip seems to slice the water to whipping ribbons, endless spirals amassing to an aquatic force of nature that thunders against Xue's hastily summoned shield. As it flows, her own very physical energy dissipates, her back bowing and muscles rippling about her over-burdened frame. Through it all, as water freezes to ice and the shield about them is fed, her sapphire eyes find the sword-maiden who stands but an unbelievable pace away. It takes astonishing effort, but Samantha's lips curl into a smile. She even speaks, breathless as she is. "H-Hello, Trinune..."
"Cale! About time! Look, I need you to--" The soul eaters below lurch up towards Crux and explode, violently, showering him with .. uncomfortable things. "--..." After the shower ends, he looks untouched, but extremely queasy, and his left eye twitches. "..." A vein slowly starts to bulge on his forehead. "Scorch the sky, Cale." The air around Crux begins to vibrate, and then he's behind Satyrn again. How he keeps traveling too fast for even her eyes is a subject she should probably ask about, but the first thing he does is place his hands on her arms at that same speed. He certainly can't hold her physically, if she resists, but... "If you ever want to fight again, come with me. Otherwise, I'll let you die, and I'll resurrect you as a pacifist. Wouldn't that be a kicker?" Assuming Satyrn doesn't resist him, Crux will portal straight down to the ground next to Valtiel. And about time, really.
What's this? A flying nurse bearing gifts of pain and tourture to the sayian? YES! Bearing scaples and having been thrown by a Pyramid Head below, it attacks towards Satyrns' back. Not very effective or smart, but these guys arn't known for their brains. If Crux manages to steal Satryn away, the Nurse will flee harmlessly past Alessa. If not, well, I guess there's a nurse with pointy sharp things headed for Crux's back. Alessa senses the fire, though one doesn't know why she didn't notice sooner with the BURNING DUDE ON THE ROOF. Alessa gasps, turning around to see both Satyrn and the flames. She lowers her head, her hands extending out again to quite literally steal a chunk of Myra's fire. She builds upon it, her voice ringing out again. "BURN IT ALL!" Sadly, she never head Myra, and has no idea that she's copying part of his speech. Instantly, a small flame turns into an inferno. A large portion of it floats in the air to try to surround Satyrn, Concordance's discarded body and Gurleshia. If they do, they will decrese in size, but not heat. The fire licks at the buildings, at the street, and all that are on it. The army of Creatures writhe and burn, the smell of boiling flesh rising up above the scent of anything else. The screaming echos through out the City, the sound of the undead... well.... dying. Parts of the Street begin to bubble and pop, specifically the bits under and next to Alessa. The End of Days: Part 3Scrape… tick… scraaaaaaaape… tick… Valtiel draws closer, the arrival of more people mean nothing to this obedient servant. His Goddess ordered him with one instruction only and he intends to carry it out, no matter how much it bothers him to do it. He is the opener of worlds, after all. The bringer of nightfall. The guardian of Alessa. But his goals are kept secret, even from his own thoughts. As the creature slowly comes into view, some may start to notice him. Although in light of everything none will probably give him any attention at all. Which is good. His task is… "NYAH!!" Valtiel stares at the small black cat suddenly in his path and hisses. The cat ignores him. He hisses again. Nothing. He raises the Great Knife into the air… "NYAH!!!!" The blade falls onto the ground again and Valtiel makes a wide birth around the black cat before continuing on his original path. Strange... Scrape… tick… scrape… tick… nyah… Fire. Everything is on fire. Valtiel has lived in fire. He walks through it like water. He is a being born of destruction. A being that knows his limits and knows what he can and can't do. A world on fire means nothing to him, even as it burns everything around him - fellow creatures included. As Alessa strikes out, he notes that she falls lower to the ground. The creature takes the Great Knife in his teeth like a comical pirate and leaps through the air, hissing… "I am a sssssservant of the Goddessssss Alesssssa… " He takes the blade from his mouth and slashes at her diagonally… "And you… are not her…." Being a creature of a similar world, and having served her so long to gain her praises, he passes through her protections, passes through her sphere, and presumably his weapon soon passes through her before anyone can react to stop him...
Some of Myra's blast does get contained of course, though a large chunk of the building is now on fire from that which did escape the enclosure. Still, Myra himself is insideof the ice bubble. He expands himself outwards, swirling and flaming and burning, attempting to try and melt the large ball of ice that holds him, there is an amazing amount of heat starting to form, growing on the verge of something akin to a sun, though it's not there yet of course, but there are the beginnings of it. But what with Samantha's water being poured down onto it, it's not looking so great for him to be getting out of there right away. Much to his fury! Satyrn's arms get grabbed, but she was busy with the orbs and throwing them at Alessa. She's about to jerk her head back to headbutt Crux when he talks to her, "People talking during battle always makes it more fun, but I know you don't have that kind of power." Then she gets teleported...or whatever it is that Crux is doing, down next to Valtiel. "What, new target?" The saiyan asks, sick of these games. If the flames still go around her after the teleport, she'll actually say to Crux, "Don't let us burn now." Concordance's body doesn't stir much, it's just kind of bleeding away, and when the whirling fire comes around it, it starts to catch fire, blackening as the wheel shrinks down more and more, the flesh starting to burn as the clothing catches fire. She'll be incinerated quite soon now, but her body doesn't even scream. Is she dead? Well, her eyes aren't closed and they are unfocused...but no one's going in for a pulse check, so who knows! Guarlesia clasps her sword in front of her as the wheel of fire closes in on her body. Her six wings begin to smolder, small fires starting at the ends of them, the runes along the blade hum loudly, hitting just the right note to hurt the ear, "Colder." She says, and the air around her suddenly grows icy cold, the fire running into a coldfront that should cause it to sputter out and die, or at the least, stop it from closing in on the...whatever Guarlesia is now that her hundred seals are off. The Thetalmualgy....however you spell that, that holds The Council and TASK begins to topple out of the sky, plummeting down towards Twisted with a great wrenching sound, like the earth grinding against the sun. Trinune nods her head in response to Samantha's hello towards her. Her blueblue eyes move over the magic flowing through the area, since she really more or less see's with magic, it's not a hard thing for the sword to do. Fire and burning of the building below, the impact of the fire goes against the black wall at her feet and fizzles around the sides, leaving Trinune relatively unscathed, though slightly warmed. Her eyes move down to the ice ball that's now getting water poured onto it. She holds a over towards it and blue light flows up around her left index finger. Pieces of ice begin to form around the ice and water of the sphere, which should start to increase its size and stability, despite the increasing heat coming from inside of it. The sword has nothing else to say, it seems. ||| Cale gives a nod towards Crux, then erms, "W-wait, the sky? Are you...sure..." He says as Crux disappears. What? The dragonmaster looks up at the sky, uh, Alessa, Guarlessia? So they're the enemies? Okay, big fire spell then..! But, then Alessia summons an inferno?! What?! A black sphere floods up around him and he taps the side, turning the sphere to red so the heat and fire doesn't come through at him. "Anooo..." Now Alessia is scorching the sky! Isn't that what Crux said he should do? So, is it Alessia then?! "Mouuu! Seriously! Hey CRUX!" He yells, "I need a description or something!" He says, and then snaps his wings back, arcing downwards towards the ground as black spheres pop up into existence around him. They begin sailing towards people that are still alive, impacting against them and popping them into little spheres of protection! When in doubt, save people! o O ( Trinune! Oh...okay! ) He thinks to her, and hundreds of spheres go flying out from Trinune, impacting onto as many innocents as can be found in the area to keep them from burning to death or being devoured by evil minions. Well, they try to stop it, anyway!
Xue s fury matches Myras. As his temperature goes up, hers goes down. Ice begins to form around her in sheets upon the ground, and it seems things come to a stalemate for the moment. What happens when you have something trying to heat things up to full speed, while something else tries to slow them to zero speed? Exactly that. Her attention remains on him, however, and unaware of much else around her.
With a lashing out of his hands the ball of wind flies at the ice sphere containing Myra. Wolfe and Furfur both continue a series of gestures that cause the wind to circle the prison, the wind becoming colder and colder as it licks across the ice, forming a secondary barrier of polar winds around it, leaving pathways for the water to continue to pour in. The teen mutters as he keeps up the motions, obviously needing to keep the spell sustained, his breathing his heavy between his whispered words, bloodshot eyes fixed on one spot.
In the building below the fire-and-ice combatants, thankful few people remain; most had gathered outside during the upspike in the affray, when it became clear that nowhere would be safe for much longer. Whether they are now safe or not, they are free from the frail integrity of the building as it begins to give, one wall collapsing entirely and the ceiling beginning to buckle - with it, the rooftop. Magical napalm coats the floor, scalding to ash the remaining produce inside the store, sending up foul-smelling tendrils. But the shield does not break, and within minutes it will be the only structure left. Samantha's gaze flickers from Trinune to her footing, a swift adjustment made as she almost collapses, a combined effort of lost solidity and ailing physicality. Gritting her teeth, she draws back her weapon, sinking to a half-crouch, breaths coming ragged and drawn. Completely unshielded from the heat that still emanates within the icy field, she is starting to flag, vision blurring. But it blurs upon Myra, and with the dual figures of two beloved friends to either side, the catgirl draws a fresh reserve of strength. Throwing her shoulders up, she takes a step forward, drawing alongside Trinune. Even being that much closer to her quarry, the heat is intense. Her head begins to ache; not a dull throb, but a blistering scream. With a stagger, she loses that strength, and falls to one knee, a hand going out to steady her... and finding the dark platform on which the sword-maiden stands. Shaking, she hauls herself onto it, almost curling up with her forehead against the blue-eyed weapon's leg. "We can't stay to finish this," she breathes, as much to herself as anything, and licks her parched lips, directing a sidelong glance to Xue. "XUE!" It comes as half a croak, but it has volume. "DON'T PUSH THIS ANY FURTHER!" Her eyes hold an imploring quality as she tries to catch the half-elf's eye. She needs to get across the rooftop. Now. Too much power can only be a bad thing...
Thankful that Satyrn didn't break him in half, because it /sucks/ when she does that, Crux is quick to acquiesce to her demands when she says not to let them burn. "As you wish." Without so much as a gesture, Crux moves a large portal around Satyrn from behind her, intending to send her back to that pocket dimension he utilizes so much. What? If she's not here, she won't get burned. ... Also, he's just a tiny bit miffed right now, and her telling him that he lacks the power to do something may have rubbed him just a little the wrong way. Oh well, it's not like there's a lack of air or anything there... Meanwhile, Crux looks over to Valtiel, and watches the servant leap for Alessa. Some instinct tells him he should probably do something about the situation, but he doesn't know what, so he leaves it alone, simply murmuring in one of those reverb voices that goes straight to Alessa's ear. "Warned you." He outline-flickers over to Cale, more to avoid possible reprisals from Satyrn if he missed her than anything else, and speaks. "Sky people bad, Cale." Sarcasm. Yaaaaaay. And then he's gone again, really, someone should tell him that this popping in and out thing is annoying. He's simply not visible for a moment, and then he's in the convenience store, where Myra is getting pressured by people that he was pressuring a moment ago. Crux glances at everyone that isn't Myra, nodding to each of them politely, and then looks at Myra, inside the sphere. "..." He slips inside the sphere as if it wasn't there, or perhaps as if /He/ wasn't there, and speaks into Myra's ear. "...Concordance is gone. If you want a date that badly, come with me, or these fine, upstanding people will end you. And after all the effort that went into bringing her back..." And with that, Crux opens up a portal to the same place he sent Satyrn, in the sphere where Myra can flee if the firey character so chooses. "... I won't keep it open long. Make your choice now." And then... he actually slips inside the portal himself. Wait, he's leaving? The portal remains open for... well... not much longer.
Alessa pays no mind to Valtiel, why should she? She turns to him though, as he speaks, her face alight with confusion. Not his Goddess? She's been with him for Eons. If the Goddess of Blood were to have a mate of any kind, it would be him, her second in command, her right hand. His blade tears through her small body, a splay of black blood spraying over his face and chest. She collapses. Her inferno curls away to nothing, the smoke rolling off the street and buildings all that remains of her war with the other Sister, and Concordance. The barbed wire sets in the ground, vanishing under the thin layer of liquid asphalt. Countless bodies, all in fact that was in this part of town are total ash, and are swept away by Wolfe's breeze, well, the after effects of it. All that remains is Alessa, a painfull gash across her chest. *SPLAT* Organs fall from her stomach, burned to a crisp, as they've always been since she died. The eight year old girl's deep brown eyes are frozen open in shock, one single tear washing a line of her soot covered cheek. She falls backwards, her days as a Goddess and as an entity done. What is left in the aftermath? Nothing but her body, and her murderer. "Now weary Traveller, rest your head. For just like me, you're utterly dead." - Arnold J Rimmer.
From out of nowhere, a cheap musical tone can be heard! Fooby, the kamikazi watermelon, flies from out of a burning building, heading right towards Valtiel! He lives here, TOO, ya know, and he hasta try to do what kamikazi watermelons do to save the day! or make a mess.....
Valtiel hits the ground only seconds after Alessa's body. It stops and stares as the being it's served for so long lays severed before him. Emotions flood over the usually silent beast. Beneath it's mutilated face, Valtiel begins to cry. Why was this the way he had to do this? What was the point of making her suffer so? Before he can ponder this further a surge of energies hit him and the world for Valtiel goes black. Seconds later the world seems to follow in his path. The shadows of Twisted suddenly spread, blanketing the world in blackness for the briefest of moments before all of them pull towards the mangled face of Valtiel. For a moment he hovers in the air, mirroring the power of his fallen Goddess as her powers and position flood into him uncontrollably. With a scream of pain it hits the ground again in a standing position, taking a moment to fling the former Hell Councilwoman over his shoulder. Was that it? No reaction besides a scream? It would seem so. Hell now has a new member on it's Council, and before anyone can ponder the slightest bit of fanfare a watermelon explodes at his feet. Valtiel scowls as he vanishes in a wisp of shadows...
Satyrn gets desposited in Crux's pocket dimension and left there. She narrows her eyes slowly, and clenches her hands into fists. She meant for him to snuff it out. She was promised a fight, a big fight! And she was denied it! She tried to start one, but no, Crux interferes. What is wrong with him? What an idiot. He should of stayed dead. She turns and waits for Crux to come back into this place, so she can give him a good punch in the face. Seriously! Surges inside of the ice ball he's contained within, while the ice does refract most of the light, it's growing brighter and brighter, and hotter and hotter. The heat of a small sun starting to form within its depths, then the water from Wolfe comes sailing in, and the continued holding by Xue. There's only so much fire can take with this on it. Myra burns and surges, "That's it! That is IT! I will BRING myself here!" He screams with fire as a planet starts to merge inside of the ice sphere, and then Crux is there, talking at him. He snaps at him, "LIAR! She..." There's a pause as he begins to slip through the portal upon realizing that Concordance is no longer around. Where does that leave him? "Someday." He fumes softly, "I will burn you all." And retreats into Crux's little portal realm. Disappearing into its depths. Trinune's finger stops glowing blue, and she reaches out a hand, placing it against Samantha's shoulder next to her, the black floor they stand on rising up and around them into a black sphere that stops the heat from penetrating it any further. Her hand then glow green, which then pours down to try and surround the catgirl and begin healing her with its magical energies. - Cale keeps a lot of people from dieing, Trinune and him managing to cover at least a thousand if not more from the death of fire and destruction that came down at the end. Still, it wasn't enough. He couldn't save them all, and he came too late. He looks up in the sky towards...Guarlesia's there. Crux says sky people are bad, huh? Hm. Well, Alessia's down. He flaps his wings, taking him over to where Trinune, Samantha, Xue, and Wolfe are gathered, shaking his head slightly, "Greetings! Everyone all right" He asks, then looks up at Guarlesia, "And anybody know anything about her?" He asks next, a white orb forming in his hand and then darting off towards the woman in the sky. Guarlesia lowers her sword down from in front of her. She looks around the whole of Twisted, noting the end of the fire and most of the cracks in the earth. Well, maybe the people of hell are done doing their job, but she's not finished. She brings her sword out to her side, "Cut." She says, and swings the blade downwards. It impacts into the ground, causing a massive crack to rip open on Twisted, buildings and dimensions exploding downwards as she does so. Pieces of the Thelmaturlurgy suddenly explode, and Twisted rocks and shakes. The building, already on fire, starts to come apart, pieces of it flying down out of the sky as it breaks apart and TASK members begin to pour out of it. Multiple flashes of white light occur, signs of teleport, of course, from around the sides of the building.
Xue is about to enact a plan, when the firey being escapes. She drops her spell, the large, thick ball of ice dropping, empty. Her eyes begin to return to normal, and she falls to one knee, coughing up blood. Almost losing control like that always takes a lot out of her..... could even kill her if not careful. Shes can only watch for the moment as things occur causing much damage and destruction of Twisted, not daring to try tapping that power again so soon. She has no words for the sight, all to familiar. At least SHE isnt its cause this time. She shakily stands "What... is the plan?". Despite her exhaustion, her eyes still have that hard, cold, determined edge to them.
Wolfe falls to his knees as Myra vanishes from the ice prison, Furfur vanishing as Wolfe ceases his hand motions.. His wind spell disipating outwards until only a breeze wafts for a few moments before finally settling. He leans forward, supporting himself with his hands on the rooftop. He takes a few deep breaths, "No.. calm.. Stay sleeping, not yet, it is not yet time for you to come forth.. Shhh..." He lifts his head, to look at Cale, over-dialated pupils trying to focus on the Dragonmaster with little success. Instead he turns his head to look to Guarlesia as yet more havoc is unleashed on Twisted. "The smell.. the burning.. I can feel him hungering. So angry. Watch him Furfur, close the door.."
Samantha's gaze darts wildly between Xue, Wolfe and the general carnage as Myra makes his unexpected exit. A frown briefly passes over her brow at the apparition responsible for taking him away, but it soon fades, whisked away with a shake of the head; there is still a more pressing concern, even with Trinune here. The catgirl's scrambled brain pauses on that, and with a soft 'hm' she glances upward, staring up at the sword-maiden in almost childlike fashion. "The plan..." She muses, responding to Xue, and gradually pulling away to look at her. "I don't think we need one." It's stated quite simply, with a slight edge of wonderment, and she starts to push herself upright. The healing energies working their way through her form are doing a great deal; though she is now particularly aware that her right hand is verging on a blackened husk. Punching planets of flame is not the best idea. Despite this, a concerned stare goes to Wolfe - an unknown element, even if they have met - and she would linger longer, if it were not... For Cale. She almost surges forward in spite of her state, before her fingers brush the sphere and she stops, looking back at Trinune with a smile. It would be jubilant if not for the nagging concern for the world around them as it falls apart, but the expression holds a great deal of relief. From the blue-eyed girl to Cale once more, and it widens, becoming a gentle laugh that is little more than a breath. "Seems like we're alive..." she states quietly, lifting her chin up as she looks at the Dragonmaster. Looks long, and hard. She isn't sure what else to say.
Dragonmaster Cale shakes his head slightly at Xue, not having a plan just yet. But, figuring something needs to be done. She just kind of cut the planet with a swing of her sword though. Uh. He looks over at Samantha, and a fanged smile comes over his face, despite the danger their in right now. "Definately." He says, "It's good to see you again, ya know?" He says, then looks over at Guarlesia and then to the falling building. He exhales and looks at Trinune. The sword nods her head, and all of the people in spheres are suddenly teleported to one of the sub-basements of the UR. Sure. It's maybe not the safest place right now, but it does have a really nice swimming pool and a bar! He then exhales, the white orb having stopped in the air a good distance before hitting Guarlesia. It starts scanning her, and he waits, tapping his foot to get some results that aren't...well, most of the magical scan is coming back...blurred is a good word, or unreadable. That's a first. Normally he or Trinune gets nothing or something... There's a flash of white teleport energy and Gegoshi appears near the group of heros! She smiles brightly, there's coluumns of blue text flooding across her eyes, and the lower half of her body is just a thin trail of silver rather then actual legs. "Hello! I'm Gegoshi!" She says, "Unfortunately, due to the expiration of Concordance, many of the bonds formed upon Twisted with links to her soul have now been broken and have been placed upon me. This has overtaxed my systems, resulting a large stress in my processing systems! As you can see, the building holding The Council chambers and TASK is now falling towards the ground as it explodes. Guarlesia, who is now on record as one of the remaining five members, is currently damanging the integrity of the planet of Twisted and the dimensions it contains. Also, due to Concordance being my contractual owner, without ownership, I am supposed to cease all current orders given to me by her. This would however result in the death of many lives, as the Thematulurgy is now cascading towards many portals which leads to heavily populated worlds. Any pieces falling into these portals will explode once they move through the portals. Normally, I would begin functions to either close the portals, or stop the building from falling, but I am taxed. Would any of you care to help the mass populace, or should I discontinue operation until my contract is picked up by another?" Guarlesia looks over towards the building as it falls and pieces of it explode outwards. Her eyes come back to Twisted though, "Sink." She says, and swings her sword again, and a piece of Twisted simply sinks downwards, buildings stretching beyond their normal size, like someone pulling a rubber band, except its part of Twisted itself that's being pulled. She should be able to end things soon enough.
Violet ambient light begins to fill the area around the group. Looking back, Xues eyes are again glowing with purple flame as before. She speaks only two words: "Not again". Some blood dribbles form her mouth as she begins casting. It isn't a complex spell, but the target is a big one. Telekenesis, but with divine power backing it. Lots of it. Slightly more than a few moments ago. She looks visibly strained, blood beginning to seep from the edges of her eyes, from her ears, and nose as capillaries burst all over her body. Her objective is accomplished, however. The Thematulurgy, while it doesnt stop, slows down dramaticly. After about a full minute or two it finally lands with a hard CRASH, crushing anything below it, cracking concrete. Explosion? THAT doesn't happen. The damage is kept at a minimum. Afterwards, the glow fades, and she falls over, with a pool of crimson forming under her.
As Gegoshi makes her statement about ownership, a fog begins to spread. This is a bit different than Alessa's fog, but will probably cause a similar reaction. It takes a while for the fog to thicken to the proper level but once it does it immediately begins to dissipate leaving a very out of breath Nancy in it's wake. She stands before Gegoshi panting desperately as she reaches out to put a hand on her shoulder. "You… me… wait…" Well, that came out wrong. The girl shakes her head and tries again. "Ownership. You mentioned ownership. I heard you…" *gasp* "You…. Uh… what would it take for me to claim ownership of you? I can handle it. Trade it to me so you don't have to overdo it… it's not like anyone can do more than what the Council already did to me." She says this last part with a weary grin. The girl is slowly getting herself back together. Something has certainty taxed her as well. Where the heck has she been this whole time, anyways? Nancy doesn't take the time to survey everything going on around her, there's bigger issues at stake here after all. "Well? Is it possible? If it keeps you from dying or going back to where you came from, isn't it worth it? PLEASE… we need you…"
A few more heavy gasps and Wolfe's breathing returns to normal as he slowly pulls himself up. His nostril's flare at the scent of blood coming from Xue, but there's no more reaction that that, his eyes now focused on Guarlesia. "I'm out of my league on this one." He gives the briefest shake of his head, eyes focusing once more on the Dragonmaster, then to the collapsed Xue. "I think we need a doctor.. or at the very least some healing magic." Isn't he a wonderful observer of the obvious?
"Good," Samantha echoes Cale with a few vague, unsteady nods, "Yeah." All this, before she promptly collapses to her knees, the effort of being healed taking it's toll on a body that has not channelled these forces in a long time. She slumps there, almost meditating, keeping her breathing shallow and stable, only barely fixating on Gegoshi as the perky AI appears and speaks her piece. The words are a flood of cryptic nothing, festering in her addled brain like endless strings of binary. She couldn't translate it fully if she wanted to; but somehow, she knows it can't be good. Drawing a shuddering breath, she looks to Cale, before deeper senses send her attention rushing to Xue... "Nn," she manages, trying to pull herself upright, no longer fed by the vestiges of adrenaline. No longer buoyed by the power she called up from without and within. She watches in a mostly helpless state as the half-elf takes that step she feared, as she places herself in mortal peril; and given the nature of the power, a nature which resonates with one that the catgirl has wielded herself, it could imperil far more. She doesn't understand what's at stake. Not yet. And she would stop this if she could. When it's over, when Xue lies in a pool of blood, Sammy has only managed to do one thing. She clasps at Trinune's ankle, pulling herself around to look up at the sword-maiden. "Help her." She anunciates it perfectly, clearly, and her eyes blaze with the request. It's not an order, but it comes close, a moment of clarity through the dawn of confusion. She may be weakened, but she's not the one that needs helping.
Gegoshi blinks as Nancy appears, "Hello Council member Nancy!" The synth says as more of her body turns silvery, and then disappears all together, leaving just her golden halo twirling in the air and her voice coming out of it now! "Ownership of the prototype Synth 3.0 is not available to anyone. You must fill out proper forms and submit them to The Core. Unfortunately, due to circumstances and dimensional blockings put in place by the deceased Council member Concordance, The Core is unable to be contacted. Please wait while I look for an alternate solution!" A few seconds pass, the halo spinning around insanely fast as they do, "While this is outside standard protocols, due to the extenuiating circumstances, you will be allowed to take ownership of this model for a period of three days. Afterwhich, your lease will expire and the proper channels will attempt to be used again. How would you like to pay for this transaction? Based off of prior rates, a three day leased ownership is an equivalent worth to the monetary value of a small planet. We can accept multiple forms of payment, including trade for items of equal value! I'm sorry, I can no longer manifest in this area! To continue speaking, please contact me in the lobby of TASK!" The halo disappears in a flash of white light! Dragonmaster Cale sweatdrops bigtime at Gegoshi's speech, "E-er...w-well..eh.." He's about to suggest some options, but Xue beats him to the punch, which is probably good since hesitation isn't one of the greatest things that should be going on right now. The wings on his back shift a bit and he rushes over as Xue collapses, catching her in his arms before she just hits the ground or anything! He looks over at Wolfe and nods quickly, "Yeah, of course!" He says, and glances over at Trinune. The sword looks down at Samantha and nods her head, "Okay." She says in response, Cale was asking her too in his head as well, and it's not as if Trinune generally says no to people's requests. Well, I suppose it does depend on the request. She holds the hand not holding Samantha's shoulder out towards Xue and a green orb flashes out and impacts against the woman (unless its opposed for some reason!) and splatters against her body, spreading out and spreading magical green healing energies throughout her! There's a lot of energy there too, Trinune has plenty to spare. Cale nods his head, looking over at Samantha next and frowning, "Anoo..." He looks up at Guarlesia, then over at Nancy and Gegoshi, "Ehhh...she's kind of...well, I guess no one's really alive around here right now." He says, talking about Guarlesia of course, he looks over at Samantha, "Mmm, I don't supposed you've mastered any sealing spells or something, eh heh? All I have are my sealed dimensions, but it'd take a lot of coordination to make the right runes in the right places, and I don't know if it would even work n stuff...or do you have any ideas on what to do? I guess I could try fighting her. We can't just let her keep destroying everything, afterall." He looks to Wolfe as well, even though he has stated he has little idea on what to do either. Guarlesia brings her sword back in line next to her body. She begins to float off, moving to another part of Twisted, sending her sword sweeping and opening another massive crack into the planet itself. The planet rumbles and shakes. Of course, pieces of Twisted are dimensional shifting itself back into places to fill some of this giant gaps, but who knows how long things will hold together if she keeps it up.
Xue is physicly healed as much as can be. The damage done to the body is complete, but the damage done deeper than that still lingers, and will for some time. The temperature around her is normal, the magical cold gone as she slowly awakens, coughing a splash of blood, a line of which still lingers at the corner of her mouth. Her left eye begins to bleed very slightly as well. She looks weakly at Cale "Is it stopped? Did it explode?". Her tone is faint, but worried.
Nancy growls in frustration and yells at the space Gegoshi was just occupying. "GET BACK HERE!!!" The fog rolls back in a little thicker this time, and with it subsiding Nancy is gone as well. o_O Are we still writing this off as normal for Twisted? This typist isn't so sure anymore...
Wolfe remains silent as his eyes slowly go over the scene in front of him. "Beings with this kind of power... should not exist." He slowly wraps the chain back around his waist, linking it shut with a soft click. "Yes, I can feel that. Thank you." He's silent for a moment. "Yes, someday I will confront him, but it is not yet time." The teen slowly exhales as he turns back around. "I assume that this has ended for now?" He gives a short nod as if he already thinks he knows what the answer is.
Wolfe shakes his head. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll just head out myself. I need to... think." With that Furfur appears one last time over the teen's head. Both are engulfed in a golden light and vanish.
Guarlesia is indeed floating off into the distance, occasionaly swinging her sword here and there. As if she has a purpose in the way she is doing it...or else she's just very, very select about here she decides there should be a giant crack in the planet. Who knows! Well, Guarlesia...
(Thanks, Trinune. I'm glad you're here.) Samantha does it without, as it were, thinking. Slipping back into an old habit through all the layers of exhaustion and disbelief. Instinctively. Cale's question draws a more verbal response, but she has to blink several times, watching the whole exchange between him and the dwindling Xue before she manages to get her own words together. He is still looking at her, so she decides the response remains worthwhile. "Only know whatcha taught me... jus'... made it bigger..." She smiles, woozy and uncertain, clinging to the expression because it makes a bad situation feel a lot better; and because there are a few things to be very glad for here. "Need more classes... maybe tomorrow!" She perks up with the last, eyebrows lifting, eyes frank and wide, before the smile fades and she collapses against Trinune's leg like a sack of very battered potatoes. She's heavier than she used to be, but even if she'd had time to think about it... the swordgirl, of all people, she would reckon to be capable of taking her weight. Besides, nothing so uncomfortable ever felt so right.
Dragonmaster Cale nods his head and lets out a slow breath, "All right, off we go then." He says, a large blue swirling portal forming, through which he carries the passed out Xue. Trinune reaches down and picks up the catgirl into her arms, and will carry her through after Cale, the portal swirling closed behind her afterwards with a whoosh! OOC AftermathGuarlesia (OOC) exclaims, "Now, everyone who is tired should get some sleepz!" | |
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