Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

"Easy. We'll just slip in and out before anyone even realizes we're there," Gwen assures. "I taught you how to sneak around, right?"

Granted, that task would be much easier if she had access to Miles' camouflage ability, but she was plenty confident in her own stealthiness. She could easily be a ghost spider if she wanted to.

"And hey, if we get caught, just try looking cute or something," she teases, showing Bailey a playful smile.

Broly winces at first, wondering if he might've put a little too much power into that throw. Thankfully, a mostly unscathed Kid Goku emerges from the wreckage with his Power Pole at the ready.

"So are you, smaller Kakarot."

Relieved, the hulking Saiyan rushes towards his opponent and throws a mighty punch before following up with an uppercut.

"I don't need to be taught to sneak.", Bailey says with a little grin. But then he looks comically offended.

"I'm not cute. C'mon, let's get going already."

Kid Goku smirks and hops up to avoid the punch, then ends up landing on Broly's uppercut.

"Power Pole extend!"

Moving quickly, he raises the now-growing Power Pole, then tries to bonk Broly on the head with it.

Church

Ovarr, while doing his thing, suddenly notices the huge group gathering near what he thinks is a church. At first he thinks they're there to pray or something, but he quickly realizes that the mood seems way off for it to be that.

No, something else is going on.

And finding out what sounds a lot more interesting to him than what he was meant to do here.

As such he approaches as the group enters the church, seeing if he can't blend in in the back.

Chuckling at Bailey's reaction, Gwen motions for him to follow her as she leaps onto the ceiling and crawls off in search of areas where technicians would most likely be found working. All the while, she keeps an eye out for the ghostly blue rabbit her sidekick had seen in his vision.

Kid Goku actually landing on his fist catches Broly off-guard, leaving him wide open to a solid whack on the head with the Power Pole. Staggering back with an audible grunt, he attempts to shake Kid Goku off his hand, then punt him like a spiky-haired football.

Bailey follows her. And while sticking to the ceilings isn't an issue (as long as they're not spotted), they'll find that there's no real openings for them to crawl through. At least not in this area.

However... surely there are air vents somewhere?

Yes, there is one not too far from them... but it's bolted shut.

Kid Goku gets shaken and is punt-

Actually, no, he avoids getting punted by wrapping his tail around Broly's wrist when he moves in to deliver the punt. As such, he's just kinda swung around, but he doesn't let go.

He now starts charging up energy.

"Kaaaaaa... meeeeeee..."

Church

Shit, looks like the scene is ripe for escalation.

Thankfully, Icarus' "emergency care package" already included an assembler, crafting supplies, and a handful of screens... This package, along with the ordered headsets and the Explorer, is currently being placed on a nearby roof by a cargo ship.

Artemis' attempt at informing Icarus sadly fails - the data she sends arrives and gets saved as a raw, unprocessed string of binary due to a lack of protocol. Icarus could decrypt it, but he doesn't have the time now.

"Way ahead of you with the recording bit. I'm eager to collect some evidence, I'll tell you that much. Oh, grab a headset, please, in case y'all get split up!"

From the cargo ship, a handful of drones emerges, each carrying an easily detachable headset underneath, and each flying towards each member of the confrontation team. The headsets are all connected to the same private radio channel, so whatever anyone says through them gets instantly transmitted to the others.

"And Gor is definitely real. I believe I've had an encounter with her, and she pretty much has the power to make her own worlds, as far as I can tell. So don't even try to beat her up."

Anything else... right, the recording. He hopes the others will have trust in his technology, he will most certainly be playing his recordings back today. Another group of drones emerges from the cargo ship in order to mount the screens on the building in a square tiling.

Though he did not speak, he watched. And from this encounter he had learned much already, and surely would learn yet more as the situation unfolded.

The silent Cittufeni turned his head as well, gazing where Sarah was. His optics magnified and on top of his sight, a thermal filter flickered on. He took a close look at each fave present in the area until he identified one as Meteorika, hers matching with a variety of images he’d seen on internet pages, websites, etc. discussing the church. Then the scene flashed bright—if he had been a human, he might’ve even been blinded by it—as a massive specimen appeared in front of the church. He looked back at Sarah.

When the group moved towards the place of worship he was among their numbers, levitating a good dozen feet off the ground and flying at their shared destination. All he did once he arrived with them was stand off to the side, quiet and unmoving as ever, emotionless eyes and stone face watching. Calculating. Learning.

Crawling up to the nearby vent, Gwen moves to tear the grate clean off its hinges and web it to the wall, knowing that she might attract unwanted attention by allowing it to just clatter to the floor. If the path ahead winds up cleared, she'll give Bailey a quick thumbs up before making her way through the vent.

Seeing as attempting to shake his opponent off had proved unsuccessful, Broly attempts to grab Kid Goku with his free hand in a bid to outright pry him off his arm and fling him away before the latter can finish charging his Kamehameha. Should he succeed in doing so, he'll follow up by charging a bright green energy sphere in his palm.

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Mar 26th 2024 at 8:37:39 AM

Gwen does manage to pry it loose and web it to the wall. As such Bailey quickly follows her into the vent.

The vent seems to be a long one. They'll be able to vaguely hear music from other areas too.

About half a minute in though, there's the sounds of little footsteps. And it's clearly coming from inside the vent.

... from behind them even.

Looking back will show them the source of that noise. This creepy little thing◊.

Kid Goku gets grabbed and yeeted once again, hitting the ground. Still not one to just give up though, he hops back on his feet and continues.

"Haaaaaa... meeeeeee...!"

Guild Hall

"Oltura -ZERO-..." she rolled the word around in her head. "As good a name as any I suppose. I'm the one leading this investigation so I get to choose anyway. Maybe classify it as a 'Special Species' too since those tend to be affected by things from other worlds, like the Destruction Wyvern Rathalos."

She hums as she pulls out a notebook and scribbles in it. She soon presents a rough Hunter's Notes style page on the Elder Dragon, with a big "?" for an icon and the new name and classification.

"Any other information you might have, your majesty?" she asks.

Xion

Barricade raises his batons to block only to find them getting sliced through, just barely dodging back in time with wide optics to avoid losing his hands entirely.

"Alright, this is officially out of my pay grade now. Weird bulletproof stubbies and their murder ghosts." Barricade says, transforming to car mode and Frenzy hopping in before he puts the metal to the pedal and starts driving off at high speed.

Church

"Long time no see, Thor." Flandre greets him, Laevateinn twitching in her grip briefly as its bloodlust manifests at his presence. Then she gets brain blasted by Artemis and is on guard. She activates her Umbrella Spell Card and tosses away her physical umbrella, which vanishes into red mist as it gets teleported back home.

It's pretty heavily cloudy but one can't be too safe, she muses as the spell specially made by Patchouli activates. Essentially magic high grade sunscreen so she doesn't need to worry about burning.

She accepts the headset with a frown. Creator gods are certainly tricky to deal with. To put it mildly.

Swords

"Greenskin!"

William's glass blades appear from thin air again as he steps to the side and slams his blades against Okksbad's axe, making his own swords shatter on impact. This is part of an elaborate scheme to establish how "weak" he is as he creates another set of blades and begins swiping and slashing at the Greenskin.

...Hopefully he ran far enough away from Fighter for him to butt in. He can only hope.

....

Donte's stinger clash doesn't go well for him, he's launched into the air but quickly rolls backwards mid-launch to land and charge a triple overdrive whilst Dante charges up DSD's sword formation. Watching the blade gather energy does kinda awe him but he's obviously green with envy from it just based on that his face.

Gwen whips her head around to find that a Mini Music Man had been following her and Bailey. Figuring the creepy little thing probably wasn't here to help them, she attempts to neutralize it with a quick web ball.

"Well, if someone's trying to stop us, that means we've gotta be headed the right way," she remarks before continuing her crawl through the vent.

Letting out a mighty Saiyan battle cry, Broly thrusts his arm out and sends his Eraser Cannon hurtling straight towards Kid Goku as the latter continues charging his Kamehameha.

Corrin

Corrin could say he wasn't feeling eager for battle or anything like that but, seeing Grom approach him with an axe, all he saw was a greener, fatter Garon to put down again. And in him there was an urge to tear him apart all the same. It didn't matter if he only had backup from Ivory or Talion amongst others : he'd end Grom before his minions could make a move. And the rest of the Greenskins would back off after seeing that Corrin wasn't willing to bend the knee like Anna did.

He didn't know what he would do afterwards or what would happen to Grom's own scattered lieutenants but he knew he'd never involve himself in these matters again. He'd be happy reaching the end of his long life never seeing another fucking one of those Greenskins.

So, of course, he'd be seeing another one of those before the end of the next minute.

Entering the room with undeniable presence, reducing an explosion of violence into a wimpering spark of dissent at best, was Grimgor Ironhide. Given Luin's comment and Anna's groveling, the warlord likely exceeded Grom's in quite a few aspects. And it certainly wasn't only because of his mightier army, with the bold way he was presenting himself. Grom, all too eager to kill lesser Greenskins or off-guard warriors, certainly seemed placated. And Grimgor seemed like he thought everyone else was also going to politely return to their table and listen to his incoherent rambling.

A year ago, Corrin would've disabused him of the notion with a sword to the chest. That maybe wouldn't have killed him, maybe he'd have been beaten to shit in front of the entire group and killed himself, but he'd have stood up at the very least. And that mattered.

But that righteous anger that animated Corrin against Grom was gone. Perhaps because Grimgor was that much of a warlord, or because he hadn't fed the flames within in time... Maybe he had been a paper tiger all along, who would've faltered in the face of Grom? Either way, Corrin was impotent. Some could mistake his continuous standing-up as defiance, but the truth is that he was simply unable to move.

Unwilling to sit down, yet unwilling to stand up. A complicated choice, wasn't it? Here he was standing before two paths and he felt like he could take neither because someone had chopped his legs in half.

Being generous to himself, maybe he simply couldn't inflict pain upon thinking beings, even if the greenskins were stretching the definition?

It didn't change anything.

He had two paths, but even if he could take them, they were leading the exact same way : a wall.

Curse you, Anna. Curse you, Grimgor. And curse you, Grom, you grotesque blob. I should've added more venom to my meal.

Corrin spreads his wings and glance around, seeing if there was anyone near him who'd be willing to escape. Should there be someone like that, then Corrin would seize them and take to the sky, flying to a wooden plank and barreling through it effortlessly... likewise punching a big hole through the stone around the wood, Corrin drilling through the stone to escape into the air outside of Gobbotown.

With one big flap of his wings, he then start flying away at great speed, propelling himself across the air to leave the city as fast as possible, hoping he'd never see it again.

His swords sit on his back, unused against the Greenskin, Corrin close his eyes, grit his teeth, and keep flying.

"Wait!", Bailey quickly says as he catches Gwen's web ball before it can hit the Mini Music Man.

"If that thing's tied to a system and it stops moving, someone's gonna come check, and if they find it stuck like that they'll sound the alarm immediately! We'll get caught!"

It approaches rapidly. Bailey looks back for a moment, then at Gwen.

"We just gotta hurry and exit the vent before it catches up."

He starts crawling faster.

"Haaaaaaaa!"

Kid Goku fires the Kamehameha Wave straight at Broly's attack, and...

Kid Goku's attack is consumed, leaving him staring in dumbfounded shock before he gets blasted into yet another house.

Which then also collapses in on him.

Ouch.

... well, to be honest, did anyone expect a battle between these two to not end in a curbstomp from Broly?

"Alright. If that little creeper gets too close, though, I'm kicking it."

Gwen begins hurriedly crawling through the vent as well, looking to leave the pursuing Mini Music Man in her and Bailey's metaphorical dust.

Hurrying over to the hut Kid Goku had crashed into after being blasted by the Eraser Cannon, Broly wastes no time digging him out of the rubble to see if he was still alright.

Thankfully Gwen and Bailey have more speed and stamina to them than any regular 12-14 year old would have in this situation. Why such a specific comparison? I think we all know why.

Anyhow, they make it to the other end. It has another grate, but Gwen will have no issue pushing it out and, if she's fast enough, webbing it to the outside wall before it falls. They can then just climb out, and the moment they're out of the vent the Mini Music Man just turns around and leaves again.

"Phew."

If they now look in front of them, they'll see Roxy Raceway◊ in front of them... and below them. Yeah, they're high enough to almost be on the roof right now. But at least that means nobody will really see them from way down there.

And it's quite a long way down too. If they were to jump down they'd get hurt when they hit the ground, even with their strong durability.

He finds Kid Goku quickly, buried upside down in the rubble.

"No, grampa, I didn't break the wall this time...", he mumbles, babbling a little. He's dazed, but otherwise fine... enough.

"Hey, I was just doing a patrol you savage!" Emma shouts at Thor sighs and would whack Artemis over the head with that absolute bombshell of an introduction somehow surpassing Thor's but she still has to try and be diplomatic at least.

Emma's telepathic network has communicated with Icarus in the past and if the rest of the headsets follow the same protocol she can still communicate with the others, so she didn't take her own, besides she wants to continue keeping up the front.

She walks ahead of most of them and Meteorika's shown a search warrant, one to search for clergical documents in an assumed archive within the church.

"Hub Centralis MP, Ma'am."

Artemis' info dump makes her feel physically sick whilst showing the warrant, she can't make any fault in her front though, so she coughs.

Once she and Bailey have escaped the Mini Music Man via her pushing through the grate webbing it to the wall, Gwen looks down at Roxy Raceway below them and lets out a low whistle.

"Heck of a view from up here, huh?"

Relieved that he hadn't accidentally obliterated Kid Goku, Broly gives him a light nudge.

"Are you okay, smaller Kakarot?"

Church of Gor

Bely returns to her usual dress, and follows the group to the church, where Meteorika and Thor are.

Can somebody explain me what's happening here?

Pica-Verse

"Juglares, malabaristas y saltimbanquis"

The world where the group just arrived is bigger than it seems: it's like a huge city, inhabited entirely by Pica-Picas... But every one of them looks as if they were drawn by children... Because they were drawn by children. The buildings, trees, streets, even the sun, everything looks as if were a big drawing.

As the group walks through the street, they are greeted by the drawings, and they greet back. From time to time, a new trio spawns in a random spot, along some scenery.

Oh, you finally arrived!

The voice of one Belén can be heard, addressing at the group. They are notable because they are the better drawn people around.

Edited by BombonBombin on Mar 18th 2024 at 9:04:15 AM

For the most part, the happenings around the church aren't of particular note to the white-haired man, who splits his attention between keeping an eye on the situation and salvaging the wrecked remains of his own car. His method of dealing with the scrap is apparently to just shove it back in the container and let something in there sort everything out. Evidently there's something more advanced under the hood...

The thing that shakes his attention fully back to church-related events is when THOR makes a dramatic entrance, causing the white-haired man to flinch and drop the car engine he'd been meaning to salvage. If one were particularly perceptive, they'd notice the white-haired man briefly tensing up in a "combat ready" way, along with brief flickers of flame and electricity sparking around his body. But since there isn't actually any fighting to be done, he's able to relax, at least for now. Still, the gathering clearly interests him a lot more now.

"Whatever's going on here, I need to check this out."

Once done with salvage, he inputs another couple of codes into the container-machine, which promptly spits out a very heavy-looking sledgehammer-shaped weapon and locks itself down. Picking up the sledgehammer and resting it over one shoulder, he walks over to investigate the church and those gathered around it more closely, preferring to hang near the back for now since he lacks a lot of information.

Atlantis - Makai

In a change of pace, this stage is somehow a swimming stage. Luckily for Peppino, there's a few talking anchovies ready to give Peppino a quick tutorial bit. The toppins still need to be rescued in order to unlock the portal to the boss room. The enemies here are predatory fish hungry for cartoonish humans, but their obvious tells make them easy to dodge.

A dozen minutes earlier...

Gor's warnings had been cryp-understandably vague so as to keep some doubt going and help Meteorika work through figuring out the truth. It had warned Thor of something, Thor knew it had been warned by it, and there was a chance that allies of Thor could come knocking at the door to figure out what had happened. Because, as Meteorika understood it, Thor had been sent after none other than Odin himself.

A powerful deity, and one that had hung out way outside the Arena for a while now. Meteorika knew why and how and had anticipated there'd be a visit to the Church. And when she "saw" that bolt of lightning and a call for allies, with helpful assistance from Loki to figure out what they were talking about, she quickly worked something out.

The Idle Transfigured humans have been transported around town. One word from you, and the whole place will become a desert of guts and blood. Loki says, the red-haired man clad in a suit and sunglasses. It's no wonder why the other Loki is still the "god of lies", with dumb as shit mortals and minor deities like that to compare to. Loki scoffs.

   Right. I'll only need to touch Sarah for the odds to get in our favor,    Meteorika said, wriggling her hands together. Both she and Loki stood in her crumbled old desk in a tower far up in the Church, Loki having cast a spell of his to ensure no one would hear the conversation even with great hearing. A natural reflex when dealing with Sarah.    Saitama will take care of Artemis and Thor. You, Azura and Evelyn ambush the rest. Prioritize killing Cittefuni and Flandre, we'll have Sarah to help with that. Veilman will take care of their backlines. Quick and easy, and we can make Sarah look like a lunatic. And the others look like idiots for following her. Not that making Emma or that fucking dress girl look dumb is all that hard to do.   

Careful, Artemis could know a thing or two about what you can do. Loki advises. And this is the Arena, you don't know what could happen to your powers. Touch-based instant deaths like yours seem to be... Loki freezes, glancing up at something behind Meteorika and instantly shutting up. Meteorika doesn't turn around - she knew that Great Gor had deigned to visit them, its small silhouette hovering behind her.

   you will not do that    Gor says, putting a clawed hand on Meteorika's shoulder.

   we want to see the church's elite members   

   the black pillars   

   into action   

   against a fully-powered group of champions of stagnation   

   do that   

   and we will help you smooth over any rough edges   

   fail   

   and ill scatter your helpless atoms across an unending sea    Gor says, not breaking off its calm tone or smile. Meteorika simply nod, understanding that, if Gor were to will it, then she should do as asked.

Besides, Loki was right that it could be difficult to fully subdue Sarah with her touch. And some of the group - like Cittefuni - could take action anyway, under the belief that killing Meteorika would deactivate her powers. A charming notion, and one she could easily abuse, but with the likely possibility of some of them just not caring, it was better to go for something more complex.

Loki nodded - he knew what he had to do.

...

Ovarr and that guy with the oversized metal block were new additions but nothing Meteorika found threatening as she watched over the group. Icarus's recordings were hardly surprising coming from him, but if all of that were to work out, she was sure and certain that they'd be gone. And beside that, she didn't plan on the confrontation being public.

   Cute.    Meteorika scoffs at Emma.

   I have several Idle Transfigured humans scattered across Hub Centralis. Do the slightest thing to displease me and the whole city will become a bloodbath,    Meteorika raise a finger.    I'll keep them on a leash if you follow me into the Church. And don't even try to play anti-hero and squash me flat anyway,    Meteorika says, seeing Thor and Sarah stepping up.    I'm a mere double with none of the power to trigger or undo all this. Kill me, and the bloodbath begin and you gain nothing.   

So much for being a benevolent church, Sarah snarls. Give a little wave to the cameras before heading out, will ya? I think this is going to be your last public appearance in a little while.

ENOUGH OF THIS! BRING US TO YOUR DEGENERATE HORDES THAT WE MAY ROB YOU OF THEM! Assures Thor.

Meteorika scoffs.    Any of you veer off-path, I get the Transfigured Humans going.    Sarah glances back at the group, as if to silently warn them to comply. Maybe Ovarr or Cittefuni wouldn't care, but she did. And THOR likewise did, the way he decided to also follow Meteorika into the Church. Explanations would be for later, though Artemis could likely take care of that for her.

As the group enters the Church, they'll notice it's empty of life. Perhaps more worriedly, and less obviously, the Black Pillars of the Church are gathered and invisible.

Loki, the Godworlder of trickery and lies, has combined his forces with Azura, the Elven Sorceress, to cloak his entire team in a powerful field of invisibility, allowing the less sneaky ones, like Veilman the Faltine or Evelyn the Demon-Infested to observe the group from a distance. Evelyn is noticeably the closest, with a nasty smell that Loki is trying hard to suppress, but can still be noticed with a good nose.

Her demonic powers offer banes and boons to her and the group alike. And the closest she is to affect the team with these, the better.

Azura stands the second closest, having great physical might and powerful magic to stand a chance against the team's heavy-hitters while being able to outtrick its more versatile members.

Veilman stands third, the Faltine is a sorcerer too but he is more proficient in the matter of casting and manipulating energy. Though he's a lot more straightforward than the others members of the Pillars aside from the last one, he has a lot more raw power, range and surprising versatility with the way he can shape energy, with a particularly durable body.

Loki is the farthest. The God of Lies and Trickery has a sturdy body and a lot of great powers he can use to frustrate, mislead, trick and enrage do-gooders. And though his raw physical power is amongst the group's weakest, he is still a god with the physical power to match.

Their invisibilities aren't perfect. Anyone with sharp senses or good means of detection could perhaps try and see them coming, which will be important for the fight that's to come. Granted, on top of being invisible, the sounds they produce are much quieter than usual.

Saitama is the closest, and the one who isn't invisible. The World's Strongest Man doesn't have any extra ability to his name because he doesn't need to. With one punch, he made THOR crumple to his knees. And the God of Thunder clearly remember his memory as he flex his arms, proudly showcasing his new tools. Jarngreipr, his gauntlets which he use to enhance his strength, and Megingjord, his belt, which... also increase his strength.

Both seem simple enough but with THOR's immense physical power, it only add to his seriousness that he'd go with both.

However, Saitama isn't well-versed in Nordic myths, so he just raise a curious eyebrow at THOR. He doesn't so much as glance at the rest of the group anyhow.

   Please keep following Meteorika to the bowels of the Church,    he says, voice monotone.    Blood doesn't come off these stones easy, so don't try anything until then, k?    There's not a hint of arrogance or menace in his voice as he say that. Saitama's just that confident in his ability to easily handle any dissent.

Meteorika chuckles along, leading the group through the Church's immense halls until they reach the praying ground. As she walks, her whole appearance, including her clothes, change and shift as she becomes Mahito, having no actual reason to hide it anymore - and liking that form better.

There, he goes towards an altar, and, with a flick of her wrist, the altar proceeds to raise up into the air to reveal a set of hidden stairs below.

   You're going to be fighting the Black Pillars of the Church soon. As Gor wants,    Mahito says, pointing down at the stairs and getting off to the side.    If you win, Gor will abandon me and you'll get to realize that your friend Thor is not under any mind control, he's just a stupid fuck.    Mahito laughs a little at seeing Sarah's grimace of disapproval.    If you lose, then your bodies and memories will be mine. And anything you've recorded will be erased. You'll be back to square one, under my thumb. Won't that be nice? A lot of you are in dire need of religion, I'll say.   

You're going to be in need of a new one soon. Sarah says, walking towards the stairs. She then freeze at them and glance at THOR, apparently fearful that he, Ovarr, engine guy or Cittefuni might be too large to fit through. But, lo and behold, by the time she turns around, the stairs are tall enough.

Gor's large mural at the end of the room winks.

Edited by Bolded1 on Mar 19th 2024 at 3:01:29 PM

Meteorika was trying to threaten them with…other people? It was a concept that made little sense: why would they be scared of her “Transfigured Humans” attacking others, none of them were at any risk. Was she stupid or something? If he had deemed it fit for her to be dead—which he didn’t, as he was here to watch for now, above anything else—he would’ve attacked…until she revealed that the form was merely a double.

Then she is more clever than first apparent, Cittufeni mused, or perhaps it is simply a bluff. Either way…

"A most strange proposition," He spoke aloud after entering the church and hearing Meteo…Mahito’s deal. "Why not kill them where they stand?" He asked Sarah, not quite grasping the concept of avoiding collateral damage. "I have seen footage of your forces assembled here: the one known as THOR is of unimaginable strength, the one known as Icarus is almost endless in his resource count, the one known as Flandre’s destruction is absolute, and the one known as Artemis is a vastly adept sorcerer. And you…I have faced you, one known as Sarah, and I know that you are perhaps most impressive of all specimens here."

Church of Gor

Artemis's eyes narrow. She didn't know what to expect, but this? This seems about right.

As she walks in, her eyes are closed- her body focused on detecting anything hidden. It's a good thing she did, seeing as this brand of invisibility is greater than your average spell.

Of course they would,

Artemis thinks, before silently speaking to the others in the group.

They're using invisibility. Well, most of them. There's at least 4 hidden. Can't discern exact abilities, though... The invisibility is quite strong.

As they all continue to walk, Artemis starts to silently cast buffs on herself. The intoned words aren't heard by anyone but her.

Perfect Enhancement V. Greater Counter. Greater Reflection. Multi-Form Resistance. Energy Reinforcement, Dual. Godly Regeneration II. Mental Blockade. Aura Transferral Refinement VII. Anti-Magic Resistance.

All of these will extend to her allies once she extends her aura.

Then the last part comes.

"My body and memories? You can try. But the last time you tried that, I think I remember cutting your body to shreds."

Her voice is full of thinly-veiled hatred. Of course they would. They would be the sort to try and get all the strongest fighters of the Arena under their control. At this, Artemis focuses on one last set of spells.

Innate Magic: Hunter's Harvest. Godseeker III. World Barrier.

The crystal in her chest starts to shimmer, a golden light shining within. She contacts Ris.

Ris. Put the Cathedral on high alert. Be prepared for a possible fight against myself. I hope to win, but I'm not taking a risk. My legacy will live on, no matter what.

Understood, Lady Artemis. I wish you the best of luck.

Edited by RainbyPlays on Mar 19th 2024 at 11:10:27 AM

Church

"The Church takes hostages, duly noted. Dunno what ethical standard that practice is based on, but sure."

Icarus should have started investigating way sooner. Welp, at least Meteorika was generous enough to provide concrete evidence.

He's followed the group with his bulkier body and is now standing in the back. And he notices some things.

"I'm seeing humanoid figures on my infrared camera, keep your guard up", he informs the others over the headsets.

Outside, one of the drones moves a screen from the building to right over the Church's entrance... and starts playing Meteorika's hostage confession, along with Icarus' comment, on repeat. Anyone walking by will see that something's wrong. And of course, the recordings are streamed live and immediately backed up to an external database.

Icarus: Croque, need some help here. Some cult priest is holding the entire city hostage. Do you think you could ask the Church to evac and filter based on affiliation with the Church of Gor?

Inside the church, the robot lifts a finger. "Does this really have to end with a fight? We can talk things out-"

The winking interrupts him.

"Oh. Well, unless you have control over time itself..."

Oh.

There's one thing he could try.

The Gas Station

An assembly line out at the SS Nauvis's assembling bay jumps into motion, manufacturing a peculiar ship with a high data storage capacity.

The Gas Station

Croque is snapped out of her current work by a message from Icarus. She immediately shunts herself into a combat-oriented body.

Croque: I can certainly try. Though there's almost nobody inside the Church- there's a good amount on the streets, however.

Croque is already sending a few ships towards Centralis, and when she gets into radio range...

Hub Centralis

Hellooooo. This thing on? Who am I kidding, of course it is.

A ship shaped like a giant rounded cylinder opens up, deploying a mass of different Croque shells to the city.

Initalizing biological scans. Filtering based on recorded satellite data.
Of the 21,561 people in the area, a few hundred match no known person living in Centralis or related population centers.

Croque knows that some could simply be shapeshifters or new arrivals. The first one is more worrying, though that doesn't mean every shapeshifter is an enemy.

I've got some discrepancies here. Going to isolate any possible Transfigured.

How does Croque know what's going on? Well, Icarus is broadcasting.

Multiple Croque shells come down and start escorting civilians and non-lethally subduing possible Transfigured Humans. New to her models are the inclusion of Arts devices- giving them access to a small database of 'spells'- she hated the word -mostly relating to specific energy inputs and resonance producing specific effects.

Though she's primarily using loud sound to disorient and cuff- cuffing probably wouldn't work against actual Transfigured...

...but that's what the prison ship is for.

Containing cells made of a CM-compressed layer of steel a foot thick, being 10 times more compressed than 'normal' steel. Keep in mind, steel is more resistant to titanium, though more heavy.

Each possible discrepancy is funneled towards the ship. If any actual Transfigured Humans were to transform before then...

...well, that's what the Croque shells with 20mm autocannons and missile racks are for.

Edited by RainbyPlays on Mar 19th 2024 at 12:23:12 PM