Yeah, agreed. Shiryu walks up to Tyraaxos and, if not stopped in time, attempts to end his life with a powerful thrust of his sword, no question asked.
... What? He'll say. He's had his time to talk trash the whole fight. He got his piece sorted out. Now he's dead. Shut up.
Zehahahahahaha! A man's last words define who they were, Shiryu!
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterJoshua and Zeloai both look up to Max as she fired the bullet, Zeloai's eyes widening, and shot a hand out to pull the bullet away. He wouldn't be able to though, as the blinding flash of light from Rhino's sudden appearance dazes Zeloai briefly. He matches Arad's serious tone with a stern look of his own.
More important to the Jedi master though, was the droideka spraying aimlessly into the air. Walking up to Warrick, Zeloai leans in close enough that the droid shouldn't hear him.
"I would rather not further reveal our presence on the off chance we still have some degree of surprise. I think it's time to make use of the restraining bolt."
Regardless of any response, Zeloai steps away and turns to the assassin, who he as well hadn't noticed the attempted suicide until it was thwarted. Ben, just in the nick of time manages to land the pommel right into the assassin's gut. Zeloai leaps through the air and to the assassin, landing just next to Ben.
Joshua looks up from his gun repair briefly to Ben,
"Yeah we could make something work, but we don't take prisoners for a reason. Make him squeal, and then we can get on with our mission."
Zeloai doesn't match Joshua's enthusiasm to leave the assassin for dead, obvious by the disappointed look on his face after the spartan's comment.
"Regrettably I do believe he is correct."
Zeloai falls to one knee, inspecting the assassin. Noticing that the suit the assassin wears is damaged around the throat area, Zeloai lets out a disgruntled sigh. Rising back to his feet, the Jedi master turns to those assisting with said interrogation.
"I doubt this one can speak above a whisper."
Thinking for a moment, Zeloai soon has an idea. Turning to Caulimón, Maxi, and the Giant Bunny, Zeloai gives each of them a peculiar glance.
"Place your hands on my shoulders, with your help I should be able to enter the mind of our attacker and discover anything of note."
Looking to both Ben and Arad, he says
"That goes for the two of you as well."
After some trial and error with the barrel, mostly just beating it back into place, Joshua stands back up and revs the assault cannon. With a satisfied look underneath his helmet, he turns to Noble Six. Something seemed familiar to him about Noble Six, but he had that feeling with pretty much every spartan he encountered. Giving Warrick a quick glance, he lets out a quick laugh.
"A spartan? Yeah, but I definitely wouldn't say he's a Spartan-II like me. A generation or two past me, maybe."
Pausing for a moment, he inspects Noble Six's armor from the front and nods his head.
"Unless they gave Spartan-I Is a new set of standard-issue armor. What's your service number and callsign?"
He asks, hoisting the assault cannon over his head and holstering it. Giving a quick glance to the trio that had looted lightsabers for themselves, he waves them over, pulling the holo map from his belt, still unscathed after the battle. Giving Max a quick look, Joshua waves her over. If she walks over, the spartan will gesture to a tent nearby.
"Thermal detonators and standard-issue imperial blaster rifles are in that tent if you'd like to stock up on some supplies."
Looking down at the lightsaber she had grabbed, he continues.
"Though if you become proficient enough with that, you won't really need another weapon. At least, with how these jedi use it."
Tyraaxos - Aftermath
Super Pamp gives Thranix a Wisedom Fruit with an assuring nod.
Joka, stay with him.
After that, the couple approaches the dragon. Super Love is talking him with the microphone:
Hear me well: you have another chance to redemption. But it's the last one.
Intrigue
Enter to his mind? That sounds interesting!
Maxi and the animals put their hands (and paws) on Zeloai's shoulders.
Meanwhile, the other three went to the tent Joshua pointed, grabbing some detonators, a rifle for each human (and the Bunny), and other items.
Three freaking ghosts!Hooking his lightsaber to his belt once more, Ben looks just as disappointed with Joshua as Zeloai was.
"Sith or not, this isn't the Jedi way..."
He walks over to the Jedi Master's side, raises a hand, and attempts to peer into the Sith Assassin's mind with the Force.
Edited by IchigoMontoya on Jan 3rd 2022 at 9:27:55 AM
Arad seemed hesitant to place his hand on another man's shoulder, but figured that was the best way to get some damn answers.
And so it was so that Rhino reached out, a big, bulky hand landing on the Jedi’s right shoulder.
——
"Hang in there!" Luin called out, rushing towards her Barroth as her idea took shape within the confines of her mind.
The Rathian, with a snarl, flew directly into and through the waterballs, even evaporating a few with flames curling around her mouth, as she headed Corrin's way, planning to stab into him with her chinspike.
With great power…you know the rest.Max looks frustrated when she's stared at, though any manner of answer dies before it can be formed: it's a pretty big Warframe, and she'd rather not risk being stomped to death by it in a fit of anger. Accepting Joshua's invitation, she nods quietly and goes to the tent first, out of fear the quartet would steal some stuff from her.
Processing the rush of killing for the first time, Max wordlessly attempts to figure out how the fuck to reload. Guessing that Joshua could help, since he's the one who's not being mean to her, she approaches and hold up the blaster.
Huh... how do I reload this? She asks, with an awkward smirk.
...
Corrin flies directly towards the Rathian. Instead of bringing Yato to bare, he throws his fist back and clench it, before flying over the spike to try to directly punch it in the face. While it's vastly larger than he is, the strength may actually get it to reel back or at least it'll feel like it's been smacked by an equal.
If it does happens, and it is stunned, then Corrin fly to try to grab its spike with both arms, though he keeps himself away from the pointy bit obviously. Grunting and straining heavily, with a few veins popping up on his face or the armor itself, he attempts to shoulder-toss the beast away from the Huntress and her oversized pets, so as to give her more time to act or proceed.
The strain of it means that instead of attacking again, he's left panting in mid-air, the task leaving him sore.
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterThe Wraith screeches in seeming pain as the massive beams rain down upon it. The corruption around it is vaporized... or so it seems.
It's dispelled for a moment, but right after the attack ends it just reforms. Because that is the nature of Magicant. This land within a mental realm will always use its energy to reform. The hole in the ground that Ryu and Margaret came through has already long since closed up. The corruption is not volatile energy eating away at Magicant, it's volatile energy mixed with Magicant's. They are one and the same, and thus it inherits its regenerative properties.
If the corruption could just be destroyed, surely the Forgotten Man wouldn't have noted that the only way to solve this mess is to get to its source. But that is the only way. No elemental and power advantage will change that. Because if it could... Margaret could've probably saved this realm right here and now.
...
But the Wraith itself though... it looks pretty much down for the count, weakly laying amongst the rubble of the ruins. It lets out soft, painful-sounding grunts.
... So what now?
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay."Gods are supposed to care for their creations, not treat them as playthings." Reyna walks up to Tyraaxos.
"And for the record... this is for the people I love." She joins the finishing blows with a simple overhead smash using her Insect Glaive.
Dedede hefts his hammer over his shoulder and strikes a triumphant pose. "Who needs gods when you've got me?"
Domon lets out a sigh and powers down, staring at the wreckage of Burning Gundam.
And finally, Safi just blasts open a portal back to the mainline Arena by channeling the cosmic energy around them, and dips out prematurely through it.
At Zeloai's prompting, Warrick turns to the Rude Droideka and says, "Chill out. We don't want to call the attention of any more enemies if we have the chance to get the drop on them."
{{droidspeak:FINE...}}
Wow, that was almost at a normal, reasonable volume!
—
"..." Noble Six says nothing.
"Mute?" notes Warrick. "That's gonna make this a problem."
"Rey-B312!" he suddenly snaps in a voice tinged with a harsh, psychotic edge. "Noble Six!"
"... Oooookay. You good?"
"Enemies. Where?"
Ryu throws some punches and kicks at the air and turns away, folding his arms, as his Ranger suit dissipates.
As Margaret dismisses Izanagi-no-Okami, she looks down upon the Wraith from above. "Can you understand me?" she asks.
Edited by KiriK on Jan 3rd 2022 at 3:36:20 AM
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."The Wraith looks up at Margaret, but doesn't vocally respond. That's not much help. But it doesn't really look like she's going to get more than that.
Except... is that a tear under one of its eyes?
The Wraith then gets up, not looking all that balanced, before burrowing into the castle ruins (and likely the ground below it) to escape the area.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.Margaret notices the lone tear. "So, whoever that is, the corruption didn't completely overwrite everything they used to be. The personality is suppressed rather than erased... It's time to go, Ryu."
"Fine by me."
Margaret opens another shimmering door and leaves through it accompanied by Ryu, heading back to the Arena. Just before the portal closes, Margaret turns around and unleashes a blast of pure unimaginable destructive force, aiming to push the corruption away so it can't chase them out, just in case.
Edited by KiriK on Jan 3rd 2022 at 3:45:53 AM
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."The energy makes no attempt to follow them out even before the blast, as if it's content with Margaret and Ryu leaving.
Back in the Crystal Cavern, the corruption falls back from the exit as the Forgotten Man reappears.
"... They must have been able to escape before she got them."
He lets out a long, sad sigh.
"Good luck..."
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.《I do not know whether or not to be insulted by your offer of redemption, truly. Your kind were the ones who wished to see my people fall to extinction so long ago — and now one of you stands here offering some form of attunement, while another holds a gun to my broken body? I will never understand you humans...》
The Dreamwalker cleared her throat and simply said, "... I don't know how to tell you this, but... none of us three are exactly human, big guy."
《... The Gods truly never tire of their cosmic jokes, do they? Very well. Do what you will.》
Megan exhaled, closed her eyes, and pulled the trigger. Zophiel's psychic spike and the Dreamweaver's razor-flower followed close behind, shortly joined by Reyna and Shiryu's blades. Clean strikes — a quick end instead of a slow one.
Megan's hands shook as she holstered her weaponry. She held one up to look at it... and realized that on that back of her hand were scales of gleaming crystal once more. Her forehead, her arms, probably her legs and back as well — all had recovered that distinctive pattern of scales that had once been lost.
"... Whew..."
"How do you feel?"
"Tired... and like I could use a long-ass nap. Well, after we grab what we can."
Hadraniel, with much more control than Safi'jiiva, opened a gateway back to Fallen Mira. The Black Spire spun, fragmented, in orbit around the reformed BLAD Es HQ — one sign of many that this place had been changed by its previous denizen, and by this conflict.
"I think I will refrain from taking any of... the loot, respectfully. I'd like to put this chapter of my life behind me."
The Fae and the Alchemist nodded in understanding, though they both shared a treasure-hungry gleam in their eyes.
—
As for Thranix, he gratefully ate of the Wisedom fruit to heal his wounds.
"Man... that's tasty. I'll be with you guys soon, I just need to uh..."
He looked over the various bits of dragon laying across the battlefield.
"... I'm gonna need some materials."
"... Are you sure you don't need a therapist? That seems excessively grisly, even for you."
Thranix simply shrugged, unsure.
"The Stick has sentimental value. It's like an enormous, hideous teddy bear we can kill things with." -rikalousReyna briefly considers carving Tyraaxos, only to decide against it. This is the one time she's willing to let that flesh and power just rot.
"Wow, your dracomorph parts were one thing I wasn't expecting to see return," she notes, looking up and down Megan. "But they're cool."
Dedede takes a piece of claw or talon as a trophy and makes his exit.
"Do you think you'll get your tail back, too?" wonders Domon.
Hub Centralis
Refia
◊ is out on the town late in the evening when she hears a chilling voice from all around.
"Well, well, well. Miss me, little fruit bat?"
She whips around, rapidly searching for the source of the voice, only to turn and see a face suddenly right up against hers. There stands a sight she hoped she'd never have to see again. An incubus, with similar features to herself, but curlier horns, red-tipped claws, and skin as black as the night around them.
◊ His piercing red eyes shone bright in the dark compared to Refia's duller, softer red.
"How are you in one piece?" Refia asks, slowly backing away, but he keeps pace, staying right up against her.
The incubus puts a hand over his chest. "To be honest, I was just a few scraps of skin before recently. But I was still alive and aware, and that moron Defense left an opening for me to slip into this world. Apparently, it considered me dead, because what was left of me blacked out before instantly returning good as new. That's how this place works, after all."
"No..." Refia gasps. She turns and starts running away.
"Fine, then. I just wanted to say hi. And if you're leaving already, then I'll just get right to doing everyone in sight."
She freezes. She's so scared. She couldn't possibly defeat Volcras, her oldest brother, without the help of Defense and Areui. But she knows the right thing to do - she knows she has to do something to stop him from going on a sex rampage. The fear and indecision paralyze her.
Edited by KiriK on Aug 8th 2022 at 2:09:09 PM
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."how about i help you with your thing... booms a far-away voice, though it quickly becomes louder and louder as its recipient approaches. Without a warning, besides the clanging of a metal, a dark-haired youth swings into the scene via a chain she stabbed into the facade of the building they're standing under, like a arachnid-themed superhero.
And like that same hero, she attempts to end her swing by slamming her two feet right into the right side of the incubus's face, meaning to hurl him in and even through the structure entirely!
BY FUCKING YOU UP! WHOAH! Looking proud of her stunt, Sandra let go of the chain, roll along the ground, and glance at Refia.
You should leave... or take out your camera or something, things are gonna get pretty spicy in there! Huh, because I'm gonna familiarize his face with the pavement, duh.
...
Corrin attempts to block the tail with Yato, raising the sword in front of himself and swinging it at the tail. He doesn't get to overpower it, but he at least manages to stop it short of directly poisoning him.
Since he's still hurled in mid-air, he spins before dive-bombing straight at the Rathian's back via hi own pair of wings.
Edited by Bolded1 on Jan 3rd 2022 at 1:00:16 PM
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterSoon enough, a powerful presence arrived at Hub Centralis, carrying along a gust of wind. A fashionably dressed demon
◊ walked up to the pair.
"Well well well, if it isn't the little Miss Refia! How have you been doing?" Belphegor tipped his hat to Refia as he glanced over to her brother, Volcras.
"I pretty much heard everything, and while I normally don't care about an incubus running around fucking people, I would always lend a hand to a fellow demon. So... give me your word and I'm your buddy for this conflict."
Belphegor simply placed a hand on his katana, ready to combat the powerful incubus. Truth to be told, he doesn't really like this guy. Volcras is way too crass and vulgar for his taste.
Hub Centralis
A certain Arcane half-dragon comes across the confrontation between Refia and Volcras. Without a moment's hesitation, she cracks her neck and unleashes an Arcane Beam at the latter.
"How about no, Assanova? God knows the last thing this friggin' place needs is someone like you running around," Nicole remarks.
Edited by IchigoMontoya on Jan 3rd 2022 at 4:24:32 AM
The Rathian, flying back from the divebomb, turns in midair. In her mouth, she begins building up a deadly fireball…
Luin, finally ready, has been running towards her Barroth for the past few moments, the monster already knowing the plan, perhaps through the connection between Rider and Hunter. The Brute Wyvern lowers his head, as she steps onto the flat carapace, before being launched into the air, drawing her Greatsword and charging it as she draws nearer to the battle in the sky. Finally, she slashes downwards just as she reaches Rathian, sending scales flying from her head, the fully charged blow being enough to knock the Flying Wyvern out of the sky. The Queen of the Land plummets towards the ground, crashing with a cloud of sand.
___
Out into the cool of the evening, strolls the Pretender.
Taking a breath of the cool air, Piovre smiles, his gray and brown hair blowing with a short gust of wind. His robes shift and move elegantly as he does, the man not having a chance to have enjoyed himself for quite some time, what with the chaos that came with first arriving here. Finally, an opportunity to get away, perhaps have some nice tea, a night on the town, free of trouble-
"Piovre! Demons! Three of them! They are near!" Ah, but no such luck.
Everyone has their inner demons. Piovre's was a demon inside of his head. He hadn’t asked for the damn thing to merge with his body, but that was the way things had gone, and in the two hundred years since, he had grown accustomed to him. Still, he oftentimes wanted to throttle him for his constant search for trouble, only couldn’t due to a lack of body existing outside of Piovre's.
"Alright, alright..I’ll check it out." Piovre groaned, the locations of the three demons that his own had sensed being relayed to his brain. The Italian wearily strolled towards the scene, hanging back for now to observe the odd beings attacking without any context. Ah, bloodthirsty murderhobos, never change.
Edited by ISZATSO on Jan 3rd 2022 at 4:13:55 AM
With great power…you know the rest.The incubus... casually blocks Sandra's opening strike with one arm. "Oh yeah? You and what ar-" Cue Nicole's Arcane Beam beaning his head, momentarily shutting him up.
"Nicole! Belphegor!" Refia runs towards them. "That's Volcras, my oldest brother. We need to run!"
"Not. A. Chance." Volcras raises his hands to the sky, crossing them at the wrists, and sweeps his arms out, creating a 50-meter-radius dome of inky blackness centered on himself, trapping everyone around him inside.
"Let's see here. An adventurer is nothing new, but - *gasp!* A demon lord, a dracomorph, a gene-chimera, and a past demonhost. Why, Refia, you got a present? For me?" His face splits into a maniacal Slasher Smile as more of the black goop starts to bubble up from the very ground at his feet.
The Firstborn of Lilith (Desire Below (Flow) - Fire Emblem Fates)
He melts into a living blob of black, which hurtles at Nicole, aiming to slam her into a wall. If it makes impact, it bounces away and retakes solid form, whereas if it misses, it splats against the wall and reforms into Volcras. Either way, he proceeds to fire a barrage of black energy projectiles at the others.
Edited by KiriK on Jan 3rd 2022 at 6:29:19 AM
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."So much for the cool entrance, ngrhhmrhgh.
Sandra begins to jump around the place, sprouting chains from the palms of her hands and spinning them to deflect the black energy. After a few rounds of spinning, she proceeds to yeet one of them at Volcras. If it hit, it'll try to slam into his torso hard. If he dodges, then Sandra pull herself towards him with the remaining chain in tow, and attempts to sort of slide past him while using her other chain to try to entrap him via wrapping the otherwordly metal around him.
If that works, Sandra digs her feet on the ground and hold unto the chain with both hands, attempting to restrain him to give the others an easier time with landing attacks.
Nghhh! And my name is... Sandra! Not... Gene Chimera!
Edited by Bolded1 on Jan 3rd 2022 at 1:33:17 PM
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitter"Well, now that he attacked me, I suppose I will have to join in!" Belphegor ducked under the energy projectile and drew his katana, bringing out a quick wind slash that flew towards Volcras at a high speed.
Before it hits the incubus, however, Belphegor snapped his fingers and caused the arc of wind to explode, blowing a lot of what appears to be moth glitter right at Volcras. "My personal moth powder! I hope you enjoy it!" The powder, if it makes contact with Volcras, would cause his skin to itch uncontrollably and make him sneeze and tear up.

Vs. Tyraaxos — FINALE
Sekiha Tenkyoken struck the Tyrant right in the chest, blasting away his protective plating and leaving him with a crater of a wound where a fair few of his internal organs used to be. This problem was quickly expanded into what some might define as "a big fucking deal", going from pretty bad, to really bad, to "How are you even still conscious?" as the other attacks struck him!
Sporacles's momentum — and knives — shot him up through the wound and out between the dragon's wings, with an extra slash finishing off the nearly-severed wing that Shiryu had attacked prior. Megumin's Dragon Explosion expanded that wound into a smouldering cavity, as crackling dragon energy spread through the Tyrant's broken body — damage that was only made more painful and more humiliating by Safi's own Kiss of Death, ripping his insides apart with the fury of the Sapphire Star. Blackbeard's quake impact the back of Dedede's hammer, smashing the Crimson Tyrant into the ground once more...
And impossibly, despite everything, he got back up again.
Megan, during this time, had shifted back into her humanoid form. Zophiel was trying to catch her breath, feeling her skull pounding as her body adjusted to the sudden drop in stored mana. Thranix was in fighting condition — and so when the Tyrant made one last suicidal charge, the only person who could do anything...
Happened to be seated at the controls of a fucking railgun designed to destroy planets.
"ENOUGH!"
The slug ripped through the air with a thunderous boom, trailing a helix of sparks behind it — before slamming directly down the Tyrant's open maw and through his body. The shot ripped out of his back, destroying just about every internal organ the dragon had short of his brain, and smashing bone and scale to dust. The shot traveled out into the vast dark of the cosmos, before vanishing with as a twinkle of light...
And the dragon, spent in body, soul, and spirit, fell one last time to the ground — barely breathing, no longer moving aside from the odd twitch. His singular eye turned upwards to see Megan, Zophiel, and the Dreamwalker (who apparently had dismounted the gun just after firing) standing over him.
Aftermath
Megan, exhausted, raised her revolver to the Dragon's mangled head, and pressed the barrel against his scales.
The Dreamwalker spun up her Flower of Focus one last time, unsure what sort of plan her counterpart had.
Zophiel merely raised her hand, gathering a pinpoint mote of the boundless energies still swirling around them all.
Amidst all this, the Tyrant spoke — or, well, "spoke". He no longer had lungs or vocal chords — or even really a heart.
《Oh please, spare me the theatrics. I was dead the moment I rushed at you lot. At least I'll have died on my own terms.》
"It will take you at least five minutes of inexpressible mortal agony to die. I was going to offer you a quick death."
《PAH! Mercy is a meaningless concept at this point.》
The chamber of Megan's revolver clicked into place as she began to squeeze the trigger...
"You, who left me to die in a ditch because I, a being of your own making, wasn't good enough for you — you have no right to speak of mercy."
《And yet it is because of me that you exist at all, insolent husk!》
Zophiel's eyes narrowed as her hand went from flat with her fingers together, to a claw, grasping the tiny mote and agitating it into a spike.
《And what are you going to tell me, insect? That I'm a danger to mortalkind? That my existence is an affront to the gods? There is nothing you could possibly say to me that will matter — you aren't even a mortal anymore, much less a Human.》
The Dreamwalker though for a bit on that, not terribly bothered.
"So what if I'm not human? Neither are they, and this is their vengeance too. My mother told me, before you murdered her, that tales of monsters don't exist for people to be afraid of monsters."
Megan spoke up, finishing the quote.
"They exist so that people know they can be killed."
《How very drole... Are you going to kill me, or are you going to keep quoting the dead until I die on my own?》
"The Stick has sentimental value. It's like an enormous, hideous teddy bear we can kill things with." -rikalous