Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

Ika is also bewildered by the sudden appearance of Marvin.

"... You have a s'and de-geso?"

I guess someone has read a bit of Jojos.

"I wasn't really planning on it," Wanda assures Botar, casting a healing spell on him in the hopes that might actually, well, heal him. "But I'm not going to let you die here either. If any of the Assassins want to try killing you now, they'll have to go through me first."

She casts a glance at the still-catatonic Mara, briefly looks down at her own hands once more, then shifts her focus back to Botar.

Before Pietro can answer Rico Jr, the blizzard catches him off-guard and blows him back. Shaking his head, the silver-haired speedster looks up at Jack.

   "You're that Jack Frost guy who's pals with Loki, aren't you? The one who's in love with an ice girl and only helping the Assassins because they're forcing you to,"    he says.    "Unless I seriously need my memory restored or something, I don't think we've ever actually met before. I'm Pietro."   

He sighs heavily, looking visibly reluctant.

   "And if everything he said about you was right, then I'd rather not have to fight you."   

Thor stands his ground and raises Stormbringer just in time to block Cyber's sword, engaging him in a fierce Blade Lock.

"All the denial in the Nine Realms won't change the fact that you started life as Epi and stole Tobajas' body!"

Using his free hand, he summons Mjolnir back to his waiting grasp before unleashing a point-blank lightning blast at Cyber.

Loki also stares in surprise when Teddy manages to physically overpower and slam Odin to the ground.

"Well, I'll be damned," he says. "And here I thought it would take Thor or Banner's more monstrous half to accomplish that sort of feat..."

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Aug 30th 2021 at 12:21:56 PM

Def

Defense

Defense kneels down next to Botar, projecting energy from his hand to try and heal the jailer's injuries.

—

X

X's look turns serious for a moment.    "There are things I have a grudge against, which the Travelers are willing to help me put down. Beings that-"   

His voice starts to crackle and distort, becoming unintelligible to Hub. It sounds as if... something is interfering with his attempt to explain. One word makes it through, clear as day:    "Zalgo."   

-

The Majinn turns its eye lasers directly on the clone that intercepted it!

—

Sagat

Sagat is walloped by Mr. L's Super Jump Punch, but he manages to land on his feet.

"I have gone this long without one eye... I can cope without both."

He suddenly rushes right up in Mr. L's face and delivers his own rising punch, the Tiger Uppercut!◊

—

Azrael

Azrael stomps into the smoke, grinning menacingly.

"Come out, little man. I'm still famished!"

Edited by KiriK on Aug 30th 2021 at 3:56:20 AM

Outside in General:

Ninten finally manages to find the right button, pressing it and letting the weapon shut off.

Once it has shut off, the weapon lowers itself back into the base, Ninten having to go along with it.

-

Outside, Front Lines

Hub looks confused once X, from Hub's perspective, starts speaking gibberish.

   "Well, I don't know who or what a Zalgo is, but you're not gonna find one here."   

Suddenly, Alwina, Cywina and Edwina try to trap X in place with a powerful binding spell. If successful, they'll open a portal behind him and try to throw him in.

The Travelers would eventually be able to find him after the battle if this is successful, but for the remainder of this particular battle, X would be MIA.

The Majinn does still destroy the Hub clone though, making Hub seem a little anxious.

   "We need to bring this battle to a close soon. I'm wasting extra lives left and right here."   

-

Azathoth and Bell now approach Mara carefully, the former looking worried.

"This is really bad. What if Mother stays like this forever?"

Upon being asked that question, Bell seems to start thinking. What if Mara stays like that forever? Then she and Azathoth go search for Seraphim, and-

A tiny gasp escaping from Azathoth's mouth brings Bell back to attention. Apparently the boy had seen something noteworthy, though Bell doesn't see anything.

Unbeknownst to her, there's a shadow creeping around Mara's still-hidden eyes, seeping away at the magic entrapping her.

Wanda's magic and Defense's energy don't seem to affect Botar, at least not completely. Everything that was broken seems to have been mostly mechanical in nature, and that's not something that can grow back so easily.

Botar winces again, and tries to get up on his feet once more, still struggling with it.

"I appreciate your concern, but I just said I could be replaced. I am a soldier of the order, I am prepared for a lethal outcome. Even if there are no others of my kind left, Ninten can still perform my duties."

Going by his words, Botar seems to be under the impression that his allies consider him as just a soldier with useful powers. A strictly professional relationship, and nothing more than that, instead of an actual friend they wouldn't want to see die.

He winces once more, and a few bits of energy briefly appear around the group, though fade just as fast. His head glows again during that brief period though...

"Azathoth, step back.", Bell's voice then says, loudly enough for Defense, Wanda and Botar to hear. Botar looks, and if Wanda and Defense do too, they'll find Mara still standing there, but she has her head turned to show Wanda a creepy, wide-eyed side glance. Somehow, this is far more scary to look at than if she'd glare or grin.

It doesn't help that she's not actually saying anything to any of them either, just harshly breathing.

-

Rico Jr gets engulfed for a moment, and upon landing, he groans in pain.

"Crud... too hurt... gonna have to tag out..."

He then vanishes with his wind magic.

Tobduk still gets back up, but waits with attacking just to see if Pietro's attempt to talk him down works.

Jackblack looks at Pietro, expression neutral.

   "Well, I don't have much choice in the matter. The lives of the people in my world depend on my actions here. And in this state of shared being, I'm not exactly held back by morality."   

He bumps the ground with the underside of his staff, turning the rocks and sands underneath Tobduk and Pietro black. If they stand in it for too long, it'll act as a quicksand too powerful for them to escape from on their own.

-

The Hunter's chain is deflected, and he immediately pulls it back with a single tug. However, he then gets hit by Oden's rib-slice, still remaining silent but clearly hurt by the attack, as he stumbles to the side and clutches onto his ribs.

Unable to immediately dodge, the following diagonal slash hits as well... but it does not cut through, as it instead hits one of the blades strapped to the Hunter's back.

As such, he is able to react to the kick despite his wound, attempting to entangle Oden's leg with his chain for just a moment, then attempting to cut it off with his blade.

—

Outside, Mountains

As it turns out, Porter has just fled completely.

Leaving Tyler and Tom as the main threats here. A swift sphere of nature energy launched at EVE's arm makes her drop Andropov, but this time the soldier knows when to fold them and starts running.

With EVE too far away to get to them and Lloyd not being a threat to them, the fairies keep their attention on Azrael now.

"Sorry to disappoint, but that guy is a coward."

"Not really his fault, he was programmed that way."

"But if it makes you feel any better."

"We're still up to play!"

The two play another note on their violins, sending a powerful magic wave Azrael's way.

—

Outside, Back Lines

"Well... this isn't a battle I can win at this point.", General Logi says as Odin is unsummoned. "I would retreat, but I doubt you'd let me."

   "Your doubt is correct."   , Tuyet says, brandishing her sword threateningly.

"Hold on. This one's not even an Assassin, right? Will we really gain anything from killing him outright?", Teddy asks.

   "I'll gain something. Satisfaction. Now stop your yapping."   

-

   "WHA-"   

Mr. L gets Tiger Uppercutted into the sky, flying higher in a cartoonish fashion before he too vanishes in a Team Rocket twinkle.

-

Cyber gets blasted back a fair amount, needing a moment to snap back to it.

"Is that right?", he asks, sounding surprisingly hateful for an AI at this moment.

"Then what are you going to destroy first? The few remainders of Epi's life..."

The armor on his chest then opens up, completely putting a part of Tobajas body in potential danger by exposing it.

"Or Tobajas' body?"

Pseudo shows Cyber an unimpressed glare, then begins to charge an Annihilator Beam.

"You do not care that Tobajas will die?"

"The Great Light will get his soul back if he dies. And they'll figure something out to revive him."

Cyber chuckles.

"I thought you, as a fellow AI, were supposed to be smart. If the curse takes him, the Great Light will receive nothing. Then what will their reaction be?"

This reminder does make Pseudo doubt what he was about to do though, now much less sure about how to react to Tobajas being used as a hostage.

"... you Assassins are all the same, aren't you? Is there one willing member of yours who's actually against using hostages?"

"If there are, why would I tell you?"

—

Some of the Hub clones get a barrier up in time, but all the others get blasted to nothing.

   "Chips ready!"   

All of the remaining Hub clones activate Guts Arm chips. They then try to surround Mechagodzilla and try to use the chips' strength to let them pick the giant robot up, ultimately intending on throwing it to the ground so that it may get stuck by being unable to get back up.

—

A third mountain

The mountain may go, but the Huntress leapt away before she could've been crushed by the impact and debris.

"Nice and strong. I wonder if there's a bounty on you.", she grins, attempting to land on Bahamut KAI's head. If successful, she'll try to use her gun to shoot a piercing shot downwards through said head.

—

Inside

RIP to the Hub clones, all of them stabbed and destroyed as a result.

"WE SHALL MOVE OUT TO DESTROY THE REMAINING ENEMIES.", the Vahki says to the Timekeeper Vahki, after which the Vahki group starts moving.

-

"Wait, you're WHAT!? Are you freaking crazy!? This isn't your fight!", Ken Tahn now yells at the communication device, only to then realize it's already gone over to its long beep.

After a moment of conflicted feelings, he becomes furious and looks up at the ceiling. ... though he probably means to symbolically look at the sky.

"Is this some kind of cruel joke or something!? Do you think I'm gonna play hero!? News flash, world! I'm no freaking hero! I'm ditching this joint, and I don't care what happens because of that! Keep your bullshit away from me!"

He drops the communication device on the ground, then starts running in search of an exit.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Aug 31st 2021 at 10:52:54 AM

Majima growls. He can't do anything here, not anymore...

—

Bahamut glares up at the Huntress as she leaps.

   "No."   

The shot pierces his head... and does nothing. Where there should be metal, rubber and exposed wires, there is only an all-consuming light of destruction underneath.

The light soon fades, leaving his head perfectly intact as if he were never harmed. And this with the Huntress currently standing on said head...

With a flick of his head so fast you'd miss it if you blinked, he tries to snatch her in his mouth and trap her in there, his teeth like a cage. If successful, there is nowhere that the mouth leads - nowhere to escape to. It's more like a room that opens and closes than a literal animalistic maw.

—

The Timekeeper Vahki follows with the rest.

—

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. Something massive this way comes.

   "HAH!"   

In an instant, before the Hub clones have acted, a figure of the same relative size as Bahamut and Mechagodzilla◊ has driven his arm through Mecha G's face, completely shattering its head with a palm strike.

Hades' Infernal Theme - Kid Icarus Uprising

It is as if time has slowed to a crawl. The pieces of Mechagodzilla's cranium almost seem to float, and among them... is Ruby. In a flash of movement, Hades's hand closes around her, pulling back to himself as things resume their normal flow, and the decapitated Mechagodzilla topples over.

   "Hmhmhm, look what we have here!"   

Edited by KiriK on Aug 30th 2021 at 4:28:51 AM

Reprium

"How the heck..."

A girl seemed to be confused on where she was, and she seemed to just be waking up too, though she was dressed in her normal clothes, crop top and shorts

"Did Chris put me up to this?"

She was also clutching a diary, and was tall, around 6'2. She was scared, she thought she was suddenly contracted for a new season

"Anyone there?! Hello?!"

Whoah! Even when you get hurt you're silent?! You must be pretty crazy! Wahahaha! As he speaks, Oden's leg get caught thanks to his opponent's swiftness. He decide to trust in his Haki now that the song's been gone, and armor up his leg while preparing a strike.

Luckily, the Haki is good enough. Less luckily, the blade does deal enough damage to wound Oden in the leg! He even let out a little surprised scream, though he retrieves his cool and smiles.

Nice swords though! HERE IS MINE! ODEN NITORYU! Oden tries to decapitate the hunter with a scissor style swing with his sword. Should that fail, he quickly slams the blades together, pointed in the Hunter, and tries to stab at him multiple times with it.

Reprium

She could hear the voices of 4 beings arguing near there. They are standing outside of their mid-sized UFO.

   Fine! We finally arrived to a new world! What will be our conquering scheme now?   

Conquering? We are there for tourism!

Is there a nearby town? I gotta go to the loo.

LOCATION SCAN FINISHED. POTENTIALLY HOSTILE PLACE.

"Oh shoot"

She whispered, its a good thing she was used to weirdness, or else she would be screaming her head off

She snuck over to them, hiding behind some bushes to eavesdrop, all the while scribbling something down in her diary

Reprium

The 3 aliens are still arguing and they didn't saw the girl... But the robot, named Robot, did detect her.

HUMAN PRESENCE DETECTED. WHO ARE YOU?

...well, he is more like a Cyborg, since his body is mostly human-like, only his head is entirely robotic, but still...

Edited by BombonBombin on Aug 30th 2021 at 5:28:30 AM

She slowly raised herself from the bushes, with her hands in the air, one hand still holding the journal

"I'm Heather, please don't hurt me at all thank you"

Her hands were shaking, clearly nervous about the situation

The green pear-shaped alien talks: Don't worry, we will not harm you!

   What? She could-   

Be quiet, Doctor! The yellow one with the brains showing out shush the parasite on his brain. Let me introduce us. My name is Washington Carrasco, and the guy over me is the Doctor Cifuentes.

I am Shazam Barrera, and he is... Robot. Do you know where we are?

Wanda fixes Botar with an incredulous look.

"You're not expendable, Botar. Not to me, Pietro, Thor, Loki, or anyone," she says. "Do you honestly think that's how we see you? You're our friend, and that's never going to change. Believe me when I say that."

She then notices Mara snapping out of her illusion and shudders at the sight of her wide-eyed gaze. Figuring that the Divine Guardian was likely done playing around now, she conjures up the strongest barrier she can muster.

"Could you get Botar to safety? I don't want to see if Mara plans on making him suffer for... what I did to her," she says to Defense, mentally preparing herself for whatever Mara was preparing to do.

Pietro takes a quick glance at the ground before turning to Tobduk.

   "Whatever this stuff is, my gut's telling me we probably shouldn't be standing on it!"   

He dashes off of the black sand and over to Majima.

   "And you might wanna get out of this fight, man! You're not gonna be much good to anyone frozen to death."   

Then he attempts to ensnare Jack with a pair of Chaos Chains.

   "Look, I know you don't wanna do this either. Maybe there's something we could do to help you. Something that doesn't involve using your revived friends as bargaining chips."   

Thor scowls, fixing Cyber with a glare that could chill even a Frost Giant's blood.

"Is that all you and your minions are capable of, Cyber? Whimpering behind hostages for the sake of claiming victory and manipulation? You're all pathetic."

He hurls Mjolnir just past Cyber's face, only for the hammer to suddenly do a complete 180 and rocket straight towards the back of his head in an attempt to destroy his helmet and/or incapacitate him long enough for capture. Regardless of whether or not Thor's gambit succeeds, the legendary weapon soars back into the god of thunder's hand afterwards.

"Epi wouldn't want the remainders of his life to be used for wicked purposes," he says, "let alone the theft of an innocent boy's body."

Then he notices Hades destroying Mechagodzilla in a single blow.

"Damn it! How long have the Assassins had that giant in their ranks?"

Loki moves to push Tuyet's sword down with Nightbane's ebon blade.

"As my friend here pointed out, there would be nothing to gain from killing him. But rest assured, there will be plenty of opportunities to whet your bloodlust against true Assassins," he says.

His gaze flickers to Logi.

"You might want to leave while you still can."

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Aug 30th 2021 at 4:27:02 AM

Marvin chuckles a little at the mention of stands.

"I ain't someone's spirit animal, I'm an independent soul-battery-powersource-whateverthefuck just chilling in some social nut's body" He comments to Ika before turning to Josie.

"pffff don't worry about it I aint hurtin a fly, 'cept for blueberries over here"

He pats Will on the head

"I don't know where I am either"

She answered truthfully, beginning to back away slowly

"If you guys aren't gonna hurt me I think I'm gonna...uh find something to eat"

That's fine.

Shazam enters into the UFO, and then exits carrying a bunch of vacuum packages for the girl.

I hope those can be useful for you. Those are astronaut meals... Not have the flavor of a good ol' homemade diner, but are good in a pinch.

Washington looks at the girl's notebook.

Can I ask what do you write there?

"Oh"

She grabbed the food and put her hands down, before hiding the journal behind her back quickly, looking even more nervous

"Its just a journal, nothing to worry about at all."

"Sand? Spirit Animal? I have no idea what you guys are talking about, but neat!" Josie exclaims, clearly missing that Ika was making a pun. Then, she lowers her body out of sight suddenly. She's gone for about a minute before she hauls herself up onto the Tournament Platform, in her human guise.

Ika seems slightly indignant.

"You shouldn't hurt Will either de-geso! That's very shellfish."

She seems worried for a second when Josie disappears from existence for a moment, before remembering 'oh yeah, she is size now'.

"You should find a better s'and de-geso," she whispers to William. "This one is mean."

mgdronnorndalds
The troper then proceeded to have a stroke in the titlespace.

"Thank you!"

She grabbed a borgar and proceed to...

s i t .

Roth's energy was unpleasant — but easily sensible. It had a certain... tinge to it, but it was hard to say what it was tinged with. While it was not chaotic, Oca might recognize the feeling...

Somehow, some way, Roth's energy had a tinge of the presence of a demon — and a potent one, too, though it was clear that he was not the demon himself.

   "Damn... I'm starting to get thirsty. You guys wanna grab some drinks?"   

"I was concerned you going to say food again — we just ate before coming here! But yes, I would — and also, Oca, I'm very curious as to what sort of ki abilities you have. I don't think I ever got a proper chance to ask you about that before."

Hm, yes, demons. ... Not particularly uncommon, actually. Back home, they're just another species bumping around. This is in contrast to daemons, physics-defying chaotic monstrosities from beyond the bounds of the material universe.

"I'M going to get food. But sure, let's go! That bean is also crammed with the equivalent of a five-course meal in terms of calories."

Oca blinks.

"Well, if you were interested, why haven't you? Glad ta!"

"You just want the 'how ki shit works' spiel or like. The 'what are my superpowers' showcase?"

Front Lines

Defense

Defense sighs a heavy sigh.

Defense: "Sure thing, pal. If you can take the heat for a bit, I'll get him to safety."

Defense moves over to where Botar is, keeping one eye on Mara.

Defense: "My base of op has some of the best services around. He'll be better than fine. Be right back~"

He attempts to pick up Botar and carefully sling him over his shoulder. If he's successful, he'll rocket off to Travelers Tower.

X

X is got...

But Neo Screen Divide is activated, a Z formation being sliced into the portal, breaking it!

Unwavering Net Enforcer

X skids a bit, still being magically pulled for a second, just towards nothing.

X:    "So, they called out another Omega?"   

Having stopped entirely, X looks to where the Travelers logo, and before that the Gravitas logo, used to be on his glove, now donning a golden omega symbol.

Colonel.EXE flashes the same Omega logo on the same spot, back of his right hand, before turning and glaring needles at Hub.

Colonel: "MegaMan! What is the meaning of this?"

X steps up to right in front of where he was before, flashing the most devious grin at Mara's disciples.

X:    "Now, where were we?"   

Outside, Mountians

Azrael grins at the two remaining faeries.

Azrael: "Damn, all that coward did was make me hungry again... I suppose the two of you will have to do!"

Azrael punches up some ground, serving as a barrier against the magic wave. The barrier is easily shattered, but the wave weakens enough for Azrael to power through it, taking mild damage as he goes to grab Tom and throw him against a nearby mountain!

Back Lines

Sagat

Sagat looks at the twinkle, rubbing his eye enough to get mostly better, and capable of proper sight again. Or, as proper as he can be, anyway.

He looks around for more potential opponents, seemingly not quite satisfied.

Vs. Hades

"Your saviors have arrived!"

Rock You Like A Hurricane

Black Bandicoot Mk.IV zooms in, hopping off of a nearby mountain to accomplish the speed necessary to try and slam into Hades, firing off multiple shots of its nose cannon!

"Eat plasma, and grovel before your superiors!"

Crunch rockets out of the back of the mech with a jetpack, ready to intercept Ruby for however she may be released from Hades' grip.

Edited by DefRevenge24601 on Aug 31st 2021 at 7:49:07 AM

Reprium

A journal? As a travel journal?

MY HARD DRIVE HAS ALL OF OUR TRAVEL LOGS.

...Can we see it?

Outside, Front Lines

Alwina, Cywina and Edwina are shocked.

"How did someone cut our portal to pieces!?"

"I don't know. Stay on guard, girls."

"There!", Edwina says upon Colonel's arrival. The three keep their distance, while Hub is showing a look of surprise on his face when he sees him.

   "Colonel..."   

His smile grows, but not in a pleasant way.

   "You, of all people, should be able to guess what the meaning of this is."   , he chuckles, bringing forth a Dark Chip and putting it into his arm.

''DARK SPREAD. MAX HP DECREASED BY 1'

   "Shame I can't take in two of the same Net Navi Data Chip. But that doesn't mean I can't just kill you anyway."   , he says, smile now growing into an evil grin.

He then fires the Dark Spread shot, aiming to engulf both Colonel and X in a huge explosion.

Regardless of how well X takes this attack, the girls know they've lost the element of surprise, so they now abandon the field and start flying towards Mara, unaware of the circumstances happening over there.

-

Botar appears surprised at Wanda's words, as well as her being willing to endanger their defense mission to protect him. Said surprise is, for once, completely visible in his expression as well.

He is now back up on his feet and tries to look at Defense when he approaches. His head then glows again though, and small portals start to open across their part of the battlefield. Nothing actually comes out of said portals, but Botar's initial confused expression that then gives away to one of shock seems to imply that the damage to his head is making him lose control over his powers.

Upon this realization, he almost outright pushes Defense back when he tries to pick him up.

"Do not come near me! I'm not in control of my powers anymore! If you touch me, who knows where you could end up! I-I don't know if I have enough time to come with you!"

There is a sense of panic and vulnerability in Botar's voice that none of his allies have ever heard before. Which should tip them off that they'd have to be careful right now.

Mara now fully turns around, letting out a soft yet intimidating growl. A dark aura tinged with bits of pink starts to surround her, most likely heightening her powers to their fullest extent.

She narrows her eyes while not uttering a single word.

Botar holds onto his head again, wincing once more, then notices that his hand is starting to phase out, as if he is about to warp. To where, who knows? He cannot even choose a destination of his own anymore, and his allies cannot help him. One touch and-

"..."

What happens next takes exactly one second.

In the time that it would take Wanda and Defense to blink, Mara suddenly moves from her spot to right in front of Wanda, shattering through her barrier like it's nothing, using the speed and power she used against Sarah to overwhelm anything Wanda could muster in such a short time. Which means that, without a single doubt, she is going for the kill right now.

Her hand is reaching out. Mara intends to grab Wanda and crush her into pieces with a single motion. No prolonging, no monologuing or taunting, none of those cliches. This is meant to be instant death.

Then, however, she is the one who is grabbed, as Botar has moved forward and is grabbing her face.

Mara glances at him for a moment, then simply brings out a sword and goes for a swing, aiming to behead Botar instantly. In mid-swing though, she notices that Botar's head is glowing. Her eyes go wide with realization, and then...

Then, at the passing of the second, both of them are gone. It may take a moment for it to sink in with Defense and Wanda, but Botar, who would've started warping without control over any of the process, decided that his potentially final action would be to take Mara with him, to prevent her from killing the friends who chose not to abandon him.

After a few seconds of silence, Alwina, Cywina and Edwina, who had also seen it happen, finally realize exactly what happened, and they freak out.

"TEACHER!" "TEACHER!" "TEACHER!"

Azathoth and Bell stare as well. Azathoth then quickly pats the ground with his foot once, sending out a (completely harmless) seismic signal to try to locate her.

"B... Bell? Bell, I can't sense her anywhere. I can't sense her anywhere in the Arena, Bell!", he then says, slowly becoming more panicked.

"You mean she's... gone?", Bell asks, her expression unreadable. It's as if she doesn't know how to feel about this? Should she be shocked? Sad? Happy? Relieved? Free?

... Free...

"We have to do something! Bell, we have to search for her!"

"We can't!", Bell quickly says, then coming up with an excuse because Azathoth is, of course, confused by her response.

"If she's not here, then we won't be able to locate her. M... maybe she'll find her way back on her own. She is our mother, after all."

God, does she hope that Mara doesn't actually find her way back.

"But... I...", he mutters. Bell puts her hands on his shoulders.

"Tell you what... let's go search for Seraphim, and... and then we'll start planning on what to do from here on out."

"We're not going back to the base?"

"Those guys were just nice to us because they were scared of Mother. If she's gone, they might not be so nice anymore."

A total lie. Bell just figured this would make it harder for Mara to find them if she does come back. Luckily, Azathoth buys her logic.

"O... okay..."

Bell casts a momentary glance at the witch girls, who are still freaking out, then grabs her younger brother's hand and starts flying away. She feels a little bad for abandoning them, as they aren't nearly as nasty as Mara is, but she has to get Azathoth to safety as fast as possible, not wanting to risk Defense trying to stop them and kill them. She knows from Wanda, at least, that she seems to genuinely want them to be safe, but Bell knows nothing about Defense. She can't take that risk.

-

Jackblack gets caught, but a burst of icy winds around him force the chains back off of him.

   "The only way to help me is if you can sever Mara's hold on the people she has revived without killing them. As far as I know, only Mara herself can do that. So you can't help me."   

He spins his staff, then swings it to launch icicles at Pietro and Tobduk.

Tobduk agrees with Pietro, leaping back to avoid the black sand, then blasting some incoming icicles with a beam of light. He then turns to Majima and tries to pick him up.

"If you cannot walk, allow me to bring you to safety."

-

The Hunter actually gets decapitated, not reacting in time, and his body hits the ground before fading away. The ease by which this happened may surprise Oden.

But probably not as much as what happens next.

A pentagram then appears right next to Oden. One that would just feel dangerous to even stand near.

The Hunter now appears within that pentagram, quite literally having his head back on his shoulders. He does move his head to the left and right a little to crack his neck though, then draws his sword again.

"..."

But he doesn't make the first move.

—

Outside, Mountains

"Oh cru-", Tom says before getting yeeted against a nearby mountain, apparently having underestimated Azrael's speed and strength.

"Don't you know never to anger the Fey?", Tyler says, glaring, then suddenly brandishing his violin's bow as a sword or dagger. He then goes for a fence-like stab, attempting to hit Azrael with it.

If successfully hit and wounded, fairy magic will explosively burst from his wound a few times, potentially dealing additional damage.

—

Outside, Back Lines

Tuyet glances at Teddy, then Loki, then sighs as she puts her sword back on her back.

   "Fine, let him go then."   

"... you sure gave up quickly.", Teddy says, not buying it. Tuyet scoffs.

   "These little emergencies you sometimes find yourselves in are the only reprieve I have from jail. Do you think I want to give Botar even less reasons to let me run around a bit?"   

With the three having decided to let him go, General Logi starts his retreat. Once near the edge of the island, he'd be joined by Andropov, who managed to escape from EVE, and they quickly leave.

-

Judging by his body language being jittery for a moment, it seems that Cyber is intimidated by Thor's glare.

But that won't stop him from thinking analytically. When Mjolnir is thrown past him, he already knows what to expect, and as such he starts flying up instead when Mjolnir is on its way back.

He is about to try to blast Mjolnir in an attempt to destroy it, but then he halts, happening to notice what goes down on Mara's part of the battlefield.

"... wait... this... this is bad. Really bad..."

His visor activates as he, presumably, tries to contact the other Assassins still present on the battlefield.

Pseudo looks up at him in confusion, then tries to see what's gotten Cyber caught off guard. By the time he looks, Mara and Botar are already gone, so Pseudo isn't immediately aware of what happened.

It does let him spot Hades though, and he turns to Thor.

"We have no data on this one being one of the Assassins. It is more likely that he is an outside ally. Nevertheless, he is still a threat."

He glances up at Cyber for a moment.

"... He is distracted. Should we switch targets to that newcomer?", Pseudo asks Thor, wanting to see what he would think.

—

Sagat would find that the closest targets are the Hub clones that are now near Hades and Crunch, about to fire on the latter (and potentially Ruby) once he (or they) starts falling out of the air. Sagat's location is close to theirs, so if he acts fast enough he'll be able to prevent them from attacking.

—

The remains of a third mountain

The Huntress can only stare in surprise and shock at seeing what's underneath Bahamut KAI's armor, and she ends up getting snatched up by the dragon's mouth.

"Shit.", she mutters, now caught in its mouth and realizing the only exit is through the opening of said mouth. There's nothing else down there. "I don't think my song can reach the others from in here..."

She looks up at the ceiling of Bahamut KAI's mouth, though she's not really planning anything, just wanting to ask it something.

"Why are you locking me in here? I figured you'd try to kill me."

—

Inside

Locke drops to his knees, his powers dissipating. He's holding onto the sides of his head, breathing heavily.

"Can't... keep going on... my mind is fogging over... If I don't stop... but... I don't know if I can-"

BAM

Locke hits the ground, knocked unconscious by Ken Tahn using the Apple of Enlightenment as a weapon. He checks it for a moment to see that it didn't get budged, then crouches near Locke.

"Sorry, guy. Nothing personal, but you were guarding the fastest way out. You seemed to be in need of a nap anyway.", he says as if Locke can hear him and respond to him. He stands back up and walks over to the hole, though then realizes that it's too high up for him to easily reach. Of course, that giant Botar would have to be able to move around in these halls, so the ceiling would have to be high up.

The lights flickers again.

"Shit, power's starting to come back on.", Tahn mutters. "It's gonna be now or never."

-

A moment later, he crawls out of the hole, having decided to use his powers to get out right then and there before the cameras would have a chance to turn back on. He immediately hides in an alcove to remain unseen by those on the battlefield.

"Jesus, this really is an invasion.", he mutters as he sneaks a peek at the battlefield. He then looks back at the hole and realizes that, by knocking Locke out, he's left the base defenseless. On one hand he figures this is deserved for keeping him locked away for so long.

On the other hand, he himself has already experienced being left behind to die.

"... fucking hell...", he mutters. He forms a dark aura around his hand, then places said hand on the edge of the hole. It oozes over the hole, moving until it fully covers it.

"That should keep them from knowing the hole is unguarded. They'll have to handle the rest of this mess on their own.", he says, going back into hiding.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Aug 31st 2021 at 11:14:37 AM

Oden looks at his decapitated foe and smirks in victory. Wahahaha! This is why you don't underestimate KOZUKI ODEN! Then, entirely missing the demonic Pentagram, Oden glances about to find more enemies to attack. He does spot Hades but while he'd treat the god as a top priority, he also spots Jackblack, and remember how he brutalized some demon kids.

Deciding that he still has enough juice in him to teach two brutes a lesson, Oden take off for Jackblack entirely, missing the Hunter's resurrection as he make his way to the youth. Once again, he leaps in the air!

ODEN NITORYU! SNEAK ATTACK! Oden sails at Jackblack with a kick... THAT IS A TRICK! Should Jack dodge, then Oden stab Enma into the ground and use it to swing direction mid-air, guided by his Observation Haki. Using it as a sort of pole, he attempts to surprise the frost youth by swinging around shortly after missing him before trying to kick him in the feet, with an Haki-enhanced leg.

Regardless of success, Wano's Shogun take his sword out of the ground, crack his neck and grins.

Wahahaha! I've beaten the big guy! And now it's time for you to face someone your size! ... Not exactly, you're a bit pint-sized. But still, PREPARE TO FACE KOZU- Oden stops: From his position, he may be able to see the resurrected Hunter.

WUUATTTTTT?!