Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

It's less that he only wanted one and more that he's polite and didn't want to take Jason's food from him.

"Damian told me about that too, yeah.", he says, now leaning on the windowsill, still outside.

"So, uh... where exactly are we? I've been leaping around since I got here a few days ago but nothing in this place looks familiar to me."

Jason finishes the remainder of his burger.

"We're not in Themyscira, that's for sure," he says. "Lucky for you, kid, I met a guy who told me everything I should know about this place. Kept talking to himself now and then, but he seemed pretty trustworthy."

He eats some more of his fries and raises an eyebrow at Jon.

"You sure you don't wanna come in? I don't have any kryptonite on me."

DNC, Avar-Laren, Vermintide: EPILOGUE

"I appreciate it, all of you." Frilda gave her regal nod of approval at their assurances of secrecy. "Truly, I do. You have all been a great help thus far…when all is resolved, you will have more gold than any adventurer could ask for, I swear you that." She took Kana’s concoction and wordlessly thanked her with a grim smile, planting it upon her belt where it hung but not yet using it.

At some point the downwards descent came to an end, and the passageway evened out. They moved unknown multitudes of meters beneath the surface; the battle-noises accompanying them only a few minutes ago were now little more than a mute and distant din. Kaisui’s sneeze traveled out into the darkness and returned off the walls that surrounded them. They strode beneath firm and compact dirt, with beams of wood that supported the tunnel and kept the dirt from collapsing upon them, though from the traces of rot and splintering in the planks, it was evident that the tunnel had undergone little maintenance for some time. If not for Medicine’s orb or the Happiness Duo’s oil lamps to guide their way they may not have known any of this at all, for not a shred of light from the world above had touched these hidden routes since their conception.

The air down here was cold and dank, a wetness that clung to their skin. Every now and then they came to a turn or a fork, the tunnels branching like a maze of dirt. "These passageways won’t lead us out of the castle—we ensured that our enemies could never use them against us—but one of the entrances’ll take us close enough to the portcullis that we can make a quick escape before anything realizes we were here. Here, just up ahead." Frilda turned a final time, a short walk down the tunnel to their right bringing them to a dead end. She drew her sword and looked at the roof—here was no soil over their heads, but rather the bottom of a wooden trapdoor. The Queen pushed her blade against the planks that were otherwise too tall to reach, gently opening it with a creak. She tapped the flat side onto a rolled-up mass of rope and wire which unfurled into a ladder.

She motioned for the girls to ascend first, then Ladwin, then the adventurers in whichever order they happened to follow, and finally herself.

When they emerged from the holes they were in a cloth-laden room; curtains of silk hung from the ceiling in every hue and tone imaginable, such that they were adrift in a flowing sea of color. Frilda navigated the layers of veils, pushing and folding them aside as she made a straight line towards the exit. They’d finally reached an end to the room where a torch flickered, mounted against the wall. The Queen’s hand had fallen upon the handle to the door, when came a shout and the ripping of fabric. She shot her head back, seeing Ladwin slicing his blade through a curtain—on it, the image of a shadow.

When the curtain fell and tumbled to the ground there was nothing which stood behind it, no man concealed in the room with them, but the shadow yet remained—a three dimensional figure best described as darkness give human form. And the moment the red curtain thudded against the ground the Princess Emilia gave a strangled gasp as the shadow danced behind her and the sound of a dagger sinking into flesh filled the silent void.

——

"Bitch." Luin snarled again, fists clenched and rising to her feet with Sebastien’s help. She shook her head and hurried over to Rime, making sure the Giadrome was alright before continuing. She spared a glance towards the Brachydios half-buried in the darkness. The Brute Wyvern was still, utterly and completely. It made naught a movement, did not grunt or blink or breathe. Luin sighed and disregarded it: if it wasn’t dead already, it would be before long and she doubted there was anything they could do to stop it. "Well…I doubt we’re gonna find what we’re looking for in here…looks like they picked the place clean." She turned and began to head out…but Sebastien, perhaps, might’ve hesitated, for something glimmered in the corner of his eye, a glowing blue plate embedded in the corpse of one of the Guardians very similar to the one the Poacher had taken.

——

Previous

The morning sun had cleared the distant hills when they came to the camp.

The air was heavy with exhaustion and grief. Men and woman in white clothes donning the golden lion-in-an-aegis pin of the Children of Man fastened to their chests and emblazoned upon their backs rushed to and fro, tending to the needs of the refugees and survivors. Few ever looked their way; they seemed not to know who the four were or what they’d done for them. In time they may, but for now…

There were medical tents quickly pitched, huddled in masses and beneath their canopy were all sorts—the adults, the elderly, the children—that either sat or lay in them; some had the strength to speak, some were immobile in cots, and others simply stared off into nothing. Despair was written on their faces—Father Enrico Pucci among their masses. He sat up in his cot while a medic examined a number of minor wounds crossing his chest, the more major injuries having been healed for the most part by Raex.

For the most part.

His eyes were stark white, and covered in a thick layer of fog. Beneath the lids, no iris nor pupil could be made out, their shape and color too vague in the glassy mist.

The situation was not all hopeless. There were faces familiar to two of Hyrule’s guardians—the boy and his sister, appearing suddenly from a crowd. Their shouts filled the air but their words could not be understood above the chatter. They both ran with tears in their eyes and arms outstretched, crashing into a kneeling woman in a tight embrace. She sobbed as she embraced the children—was she a sister, a mother? An aunt? It mattered not, she was family, and with her the children would be safe. They seemed not to even notice Raex or Murasa, but as the woman stood, with the boy at her side and carrying the girl, the youngest spied the two out from over the woman’s shoulder. She gave them a smile and a wave, and they disappeared into the mass of people.

Up ahead was a tent, taller and more grandiose than all the rest. This was not for any sort of needless vanity, thoughever, as the flaps were all drawn back to reveal bare the mechanisms of the command tent. Alwyen stood within, poring over a map laid out upon a table while a woman stood across from him, her appearance akin to the copper-skinned warriors seen in the tunnels beneath Hyrule. She wore the head of a lion mounted proudly over her own, its deflated arms and ebony claws resting on her broad shoulders. In one hand she wielded a savage hatchet with bronze rings threaded into the wood handle, with the other she gestured at some undefined scribblings on the war-map.

Edited by ISZATSO on Mar 28th 2024 at 10:10:37 AM

Avar-Laren

Sebastien gave the Brachydios a pitying look, but just as he turned to leave he noticed the glowing blue plate.

"Hang on, what's this thing?" he asked, approaching to get a closer look but not touching it yet. Who knows what kinda properties it might have.

DNC

Medicine glared at Kaisui when they sneezed. They're supposed to be quiet right now! Who knows where an enemy might be lurking.

Behind curtains apparently. She was one of the first of the group up due to being in the front of the adventurers so she quickly goes into action. She conjures up several more glowing orbs of generic danmaku magic before firing them at the shadowman with some tracking. While beings made of shadow aren't exactly common, she figures the light might be more effective. At the very least that darkness youkai she met had sensitive eyes.

Anyway assuming the shadowman is repelled away from the princess, she quickly runs to the aforementioned stabbing victim to get started on some first aid, trusting the others to keep it distracted if it's not dead in one round.

Here There Were Rats

Murasa sighed and stretched, she was still pretty exhausted but not to the point she'd collapse. She didn't mind nobody recognizing them or anything, Hijiri taught them to do stuff like this for the sake of doing good. She was glad nobody was unnerved by her at least, since some parts of her were still semi-transparent and glowing a ghostly green. Her form of being injured.

She smiled and waved back at the child as she left with her family, looking wistful for a moment. She then noticed Alwyen's command tent as it were and approached it out of curiosity.

Jack's eyes (or at least the glow representing where his eyes are) grow wide upon seeing that not only did he fail to finish the fight there, but everyone else couldn't get a killing blow either. Not expecting to have to actively shield himself, flames crash against flames as he's forced back from the barrage, his body still able to heal from the fireballs that make contact with him but the rate of regeneration visibly starting to slow.

   {How the hell is she still holding on!?}   

He's learning a lesson or two here - chiefly, not to underestimate what other fighters of the arena are capable of, even if they're on the verge of being brought down. He resorts to the same move that he did at the start of the fight, dashing to one side as quickly as possible to avoid bearing too much force. Once clear of the bombardment zone, he takes a moment to get his bearing and focus his energy, preparing to attack Azura again.

Tilra beat him to it though, and going by the nature of her attack, Jack decides that the smartest thing for himself to do is stay well out of the way. The problem there is that it doesn't give him much to do, what with the lack of anyone else to target. Sure, he could go up and see what THOR and Saitama are up to however many miles above they happen to be, but...

Something tells him to remain on the ground. Perhaps an instinct, or a flash of paranoia. There's just a feeling that he should stay here and stay in his current state. Every passing moment of the cells in his body repeatedly being burnt to a crisp and regenerated back is agonizing, but still, it's his strongest state. So for now, he moves a bit further away to stay clear, just in case Azura somehow survives whatever fresh hell Tilra's putting her through, then sits down and lets his thoughts begin to drift as he rests.

...Well, as much as one can rest given the current circumstances.

Vandalon, Avar-Laren

prev.

Merga’s targets froze in place, but before he could get a chance to smash the paused Fallen, an attack descended upon him from above.

One of the three captains, this one dual-wielding shock blades in its two “primary” hands and two laser pistols in its secondaries. The captain thrust a blade forwards at Merga’s neck while swiping the other sideways, aiming to cut into his torso. But his efforts did not go in vain—the Skitarii’s rifle bolts cut into the frozen Fallen made easy targets by him, slaying them and leaving upright corpses in their place.

Phillip’s gambit was met with success, the Captain hissing with some mix between pain and surprise as a scorched wound was left on its side despite its shields. It keeled over in pain and tumbled behind cover…the glint on a sniper rifle’s scope was Phillip’s only hint at an oncoming attack before a powerful laser bolt shot at him, a streak of blue that crossed the battlefield as quick as the flutter of an eye.

Lute, meanwhile, had successfully thinned the number of Dregs to almost nothing, the melee cannon fodder lying in bloody heaps around her.    "Woman!"    Roared Mordran, the earth trembling as he ran past her and into the no-man’s land.    "With me!'"    Frankly, the Techmarine was large enough that if Lute chose, she could just run behind him and be spared worry of getting caught in the enemy’s fire.

He crossed the lightshow of live rounds and laser bolts, and Mordran burst into the enemy lines. With his two-handed axe creating fountains of blood from flesh, he cut a beeline towards the third and final Captain, intending for Lute to follow.

——

"Hm?" Luin doubled back and wandered towards Sebastien, crouching down in front of the object amidst the gravel. "No clue…but look, it’s everywhere." She gestured across the sandpit, and indeed there were plentiful other such discs, all hidden in the ruined remains of the slain Guardians. "Isn’t this…what the Poachers were looking for? What is it?" She questioned, her fingers wandering towards the plate…

She yelped and jumped up, scrambling away from the device. She gaped in shock, searching desperately for the words to come. "I saw…I-I saw…" Hesitantly, the woman crawled back to the disc, laying her hand upon it once more. The shock in her eyes was replaced with awe, and she held it up for Sebastien to hold as well.

"Holy shit. Sebs, you gotta see this.."

Edited by ISZATSO on Mar 28th 2024 at 11:28:25 AM

Sebastien gave Luin a suspicious look. Had the stress finally gotten to her and she snapped, going insane? Probably not or there would be more hallucinations of Nergigantes. He hesitantly reached out for the disk.

"Ok but if I don't see anything I'll be questioning your sanity." He said. Mostly joking.

The moment Sebastien’s hand made contact with the disc, he saw for himself:

Groups of people, three-dimensional silhouettes of blue light, moved across the sandpits. Market stalls with an effect that Sebastien would identify as almost holographic in typical sci-fi fashion if he were genre savvy lined the arena’s walls, and the realization hit Luin at once: this was not an Arena at all. To this alternate world, it was an assembly building.

Crowding near Luin and Sebastien, staring at the two outsiders in wonder, were more of these holographs. They exuded an almost haunted aura, as though the two were peering into an ancient past…

The figures stood nearly nine feet tall each, slender and frail. There was a fair amount of distortion to their image that made any other feature difficult to notice, leaving only blue things with the shape of humanoids. One lifted its bony finger and pointed at either of the two, and from it came a harsh sound, rising and falling in cadence. Dialogue, muffled and unsettling like the crackling of static, or somebody trying to speak through a thick door.

Church Of Gor

Artemis reflexively dodges the first few rapid-fire punches- but once she gets hit, she finds herself slowing down...

Huh? Oh, that's irritating...

Just before the attempted strike on her mana crystal, she relocates herself to a different point in space, before breaking out of the time magic by... using time magic. Simple enough.

...

It's so cold.

Artemis watches Tilra's attack unfold, her eyes simply staring up at the sky as whatever happens, happens.

"..."

Desummoning her sword, she simply stands there, watching for any signs of Azura still actually existing. The fireballs disperse against a shield of pale light.

Vandalon

Merga feints backwards, summoning a pure black sword in his hand before summoning three more, two gripped by shadowy hands on his body. He thrusts his blades forward, before sweeping them to the side at the last moment- aiming to disarm the captain in one sweep of his blades.

Phillip scrambles to move once he sees the glint of a scope, but he's a bit too slow.

"-agh!!"

The laser finds its way right through his shoulder, disrupting the sealed environment of his suit and burning a hole clean through his left arm, which promptly goes limp. He collapses behind cover, gritting his teeth. He'd managed to drag his rifle behind cover with him, at least.

"Ow, hell, this burns something bad..! I need a medic, or something..!"

Meanwhile, at the bellowed command from Mordran, Lute charges forward, letting out a war cry of her own as she brings the might of her chainsword on any foes who dare to get too close on their approach. Her eyes, visible behind her helmet, lock onto the captain that fired upon Phillip, murderous fury visible within her eyes.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR HURTING HIM, YOU ALIEN FUCK!!"

Edited by RainbyPlays on Mar 29th 2024 at 11:09:02 AM

DNC

"We should be careful of an ambush," Hange said as they navigated the twisting corridors and cold, wet air. Her expression was relaxed and confident, yet her eye was alert. "If the enemy has a way of knowing our whereabouts, we might just walk right into a trap."

She steps back as the ladder drops down, and climbs it well.

The cloth room existed on a level of extravagance that Hange was not used to seeing. In her world, textiles like this indicated wealth just as well as in this one, except... nobody, back on Paradis, had textiles like this, on a scale like this. It was sort of amazing, in an ironic sort of way.

Until the stroke of Ladwin's blade fell upon the dark curtain.

Hange instantly lifts her ODM gear's hand grips from their holsters, and yet, hesitates to fire the bullets loaded in the build-in repeating pistol.

"If I use this, it will create a sound loud enough to be heard from anywhere in the castle. Even if they don't suspect it was me, someone is bound to come looking. So, if that's the case..."

She darts both of her ODM gear's hand-grips to the blades at her hips, attaching a superhard steel blade to each. In the face of this danger, she prioritizes her own life, especially with the lack of knowledge of the other's mortality in mind.

"Throwing my life away carelessly is just what this shadow might want. If any of the others can take a hit better than I can, then I'll let them do just that."

A bit of a blunt tactic, but, it sounds a mite bit better than leaping at an enemy she knows nothing about.

Vermintide - Aftermath

Within the command tent, Melia coordinated alongside Alwyen and the woman. She was dressed differently and more simply, somewhat diminishing her regal presence among the many injured and needy. Yet, in here, she was as equal with the others organizing the effort to provide aid.

And she was not alone.

Fiora was with her as well, doing her best to fill in the shoes of other less available individuals. And indeed, Fiora was not the only one from Melia's world that had come to assist. Nia was elsewhere, providing her unmatched healing talents for the many, many injured, while arrays of soldiers and medics under Melia's own command offered support across the board.

The people from Melia's world were of a varied sort. Some seemed so human that they blended in well with the hylians, yet others sported the same headwings as Melia, all in various shapes and colors, though most wings were white. There were those with cat-ears and bulky frames, or those whose skin was marked with stone. Some, even, were entirely mechanical, the humble Machina, who were few in number but most helpful in experience.

Isolated few broke the mold. They were "blades", with core-crystals set in the center of their chests, whose forms were unchanging yet arbitrary constructs of programmable matter.

As a whole, these many disparate peoples seemed to blend together seamlessly, as though their differences did not bother them at all. Friendly, helpful, and prepared. You could tell, without even listening, that Melia's world had to be beautiful and hard-fought. That Melia herself was not simply a decent general, but someone beloved by her people.

One of the captain’s (we’ll call him C1) blades was knocked from its hands as Merga pushed on, but the foe continued its assault: both pistols unleashed a hail of bullets at Merga’s center of mass while the Captain kept mobile from a close (but not melee-range) distance, bounding in circles around Merga in efforts to make itself more difficult to hit combined with the shield protecting its form.

One of the Skitarii, with back hunched and avoid peeking over the various half-walls and cargo boxes that constituted cover, hurried towards Phillip.

Wordlessly, it lowered its rifle and placed a hand over the hole in his suit left by the bullet. A white vapor hissed from its palm and froze over the tear, serv8’g as a temporary fix until a more permanent one could be achieved.

They were besieged by Sikarii fire and one of their Captains faced off against a creature beyond understanding, but by far the most immediate threat to the Fallen were Lute and Mordran. Limbs and viscera flew in the duo’s wake as they carved a path made in blood towards the Captain (we’ll say C3) who’d began panicking as it stumbled away and lobbed a grenade at the Techmarine. He batted it out of the air and let it fall into a huddled mass of Fallen, before breaking out into a sprint at it.

The rifle-bearing Captain (C2) that had shot at Phillip turned its attention now to Lute, swerving its rifle around to face her…but it did not fire. Instead, it reached to its belt and chucked a grenade of some sort at her, exploding into a visible dome of blue electricity that shocked anything caught within.

Pica-Verse

Both staying Drawings, Emi and Nacho, wave goodbye at the group.

...

After the chosen ones exit from the drawing dimension, Hatch pulls the drawing off the classroom wall, puts it on the ground, and draws a magical circle around it.

"This is gonna take a while. If you want, talk a while, plan your next steps, you can even explore the school or walk outside, just don't get so far away."

And then, he starts to chant an enchantment.

DNC

The explorers' hearts skipped a beat after hearing the sneeze, nor because of the fear of being caught on the move, but because that sneeze brought them back old memories of their time before the Arena.

Back at their homeland, they had a magical treehouse, that only appeared if somebody says the password.

The password? Achoo.

They briefly hoped their beloved treehouse appeared just within those grim catacombs... But nothing happened.

When they finally arrived at the end of the hall, they exited at last place, to illuminate the way upwards with their lamps.

They got marveled at the amount of colorful clothes that hang from the ceiling... But their awe ended with the sound of Emilia being attacked.

No!

Sands of Church

Just after Azura got hit by the missiles, Bely uppercuts her foot.

When she began to carpetbomb the battlefield, Bely hid behind Sarah's umbrella, morphs again into Cowgirl, and begins to fire a round of bullets at Azura from behind the umbrella.

Edited by BombonBombin on Mar 28th 2024 at 10:56:46 AM

Jax

With Empower activated at the start of the turn, Jax smirked, a taunting chuckle passing his lips as he twirled his lamp overhead and approached Corrupted Freddy as fast as the game would allow him to move, leaping high into the air above the abomination to strike down with supreme force.

Leap Strike

Mana: 885

Raex - Vs Narktus

Previous

Raex takes a brief solace in landing a rocker hit, but is aware this battle is far from over. Gluing his eyes to Narktus as the conqueror is sent careening through the air, Raex moves to continue pressing his offensive, unmarred by his opponent's mid-air recovery. Raex can't fly, and leaping into the air after Narktus would be little more than suicidal, so the templar creates a wireframe circular shield in his hand, a divine construct of pure faith. Its limits are Raex's limits, each construct governed by similar rules to him, a golden aura similar to the one surrounding Raex swiftly expanding from its edges.

Tossing the shield into the air, Raex leaps after it, only a few feet off the ground, grasping the shield like a discus, then building ludicrous momentum with a spin before releasing the shield-turned-projectile in a wide arc. Its aura lingers between Raex's fingers for less than an instant before rocketing forward in the shield's same path.

Lowering his other hand, a golden whip falls from his wrist, lengthening to the point he can swing and reach his in-transit shield. With a stifled grunt, Raex pivots again, still in the air to bring the whip from its resting position on the ground below cracking upward in an arc to meet the construct shield halfway to its destination, splitting the air and somehow releasing a loud crack as it struck the shield, multiplying it into more than a dozen of itself.

This also multiplies the auras, each shield a homing missile on Narktus's current and future position. If Narktus ran, he'd give the auras time to catch up to their shields, strengthening their speed and power, tanking it would allow the same. Hoping Narktus's choice was to obliterate his constructs, Raex recoils the whip, cracking it behind him before sending it rocketing forward at Narktus, lengthening it so the whip may perhaps coil around the conqueror and bring him back to Raex.

Not one word had passed the templar's lips once the fight had begun, a once quiet fury in the depths of his heart erupting through his blood, a boiling heat coursing through Raex's skin. Never had Raex been so close to his ultimate goal, and now it had eluded him. Failure was not a concept the templar had become accustomed to, nor was it one he wished to familiarize himself with.

Yet even as he controlled it, his fury was uncouth, and the templar was aware. Quelling the building inferno in his heart could wait until this battle had reached its close, Raex was sure.

Raex - Rats Epilogue

Raex eyed the masses silently, towering above most in his shining azure armor with crossed arms, yet he did not believe himself above them. Close to the medical tent housing Pucci, his eyes wander the crowd until he spies the boy and his sister. A smile stretches across the templar's face, raising a hand to wave back. Relief swept over Raex as he observed the masses, the full weight of the deed his group had accomplished setting in only now. Rarely had Raex seen such success in saving so many people, but it was always a welcome sight.

Lowering his arms to his sides, Raex looked up to the glaring sun above, a bright light to supersede the infinite chaos that had swept it away a few hours prior, a constant reminder that what was righteous would always return. Yet the star meant more to Raex than a light in the day. More than life, the star of home Was.

One thing, however, troubled Raex in the sea of optimistic appraisals, family reunions, and victory. He stepped back into Father Pucci's medical tent, carefully navigating around the staff. The armored clink of his boots echoed quietly amidst the noise as he reached Pucci's bed, waiting for the medic to step away before locking his gaze on Enrico.

"This attack was well coordinated, obviously premeditated for months before the assault."

Raex crossed his arms, his statement of the obvious a veil for the templar to levy an accusation against Pucci, something the man could likely pick up on before it happened. The templar's gaze wandered as he took a quiet breath, leaning against one of the pillars of the tent.

"The wizard knew their leaders, I wonder if you share his knowledge. I also wonder if you knew what was coming before it happened, and did little to prevent it."

Raex's accusation is hefty, but the templar's certainty says he's experienced something similar enough that's driving his thought process to accuse Pucci of either negligence or willing participation in the slaughter.

Edited by KrampusTheTherapist on Mar 28th 2024 at 11:34:27 AM

Avar-Laren

Suffice to say Sebastien is rather surprised by this. He's also rather unnerved as well, seeing these strange phantoms or whatever the fuck they are. Phantoms seemed the most accurate term from what he could see so far anyway.

"What the hell are these... things?" he asked aloud.

Emma's still in shock, she can't really take in that she can't forcibly regenerate a semi-perpetuating source of power, as it's technically a part of her as long as it's active. When Azura gets the upper hand and stomps her. The pain is new, foreign, unbearable.

Amidst her wailing, screaming, yelling, and hollering is Emma trying to adapt to this situation. Her mind manages to scramble itself back together as her shouting turns into one of confident rage.

From her wound sprouts forth an entire arm made of pure energy. She barely has any control over it, as it isn't a regenerated limb but an entirely new appendage she conjures. It's like trying to make a bullet move similarly her actual arm. She struggles to use it defensively against Azura herself.

"HELL IF I CARE IF WHAT SHE'S DOING'LL HURT, I'M K—"

Emma's snatched up by Sarah, who'd probably find it akin to picking up a child from their tantrum. She's a weightless snatch. Her blind rage tempers but she still has kind words to say about Azura.

"I'M GOING BACK OUT THERE TO KILL A MAGE"

If Azura is still alive despite Tilra's efforts, she would engage in melee. If not, she slams her energy fist on the ground. There is nothing destructive from it, only her pure frustration as it would dissipate.

"Damnit..."

"I am only here to watch over—"

Lucas thinks over his words for a moment, he isn't talking to someone in the Empyrreich so mentioning the first objective related to magic would be much worse than...

"A search party for a precious resource that can only be found here."

He pauses again and notices Pucci's expression fade, he's noting that for later.

"Albeit, staring into the wider arena for 24 hours a day, does get monotonous at times. Taking 'a break' is what most would call this."

VOID

Saitama and THOR are fighting somewhere impossibly far from where the fight between the Pillars and the Raid team is concluding. Yet, it's a credit to Tilra's powers that Saitama is still reached and affected despite it, eyes widening as he feels his heart stopping. At a bad time, too : Thor is charging towards him, wreathed in lightning, hammer held out for yet another clash.

The bald man's focus is broken for one second at most, but that second might be a year of inattention with the fighters's sheer speed and power. And as Saitama mentally bemoans his massive intaking of crêpes coming to bite him at the last possible second, he's surprised to find THOR stopping, the God's electric glowing eyes widening in surprise before he halt his entire momentum at once, as if he'd never moved to start with.

There's no need for THOR to ask Saitama's what going on. And Saitama himself get it. He doesn't really know how to practice self-CPR, or if self-CPR is a thing, so he just slap his heart and look up to THOR, shrugging. That'd have to do.

Thanks for stopping. Would have been a cheap shot.

YES! IT WOULD BE A STAIN ON MY HONOR TO WIN A FIGHT BECAUSE OF A PERFID INTERVENTION SUCH AS THIS ONE! Thor then slaps Saitama in the face with a backhand, though Saitama's answer to this is to grab upon Thor's hand. And because the GOD typically never does anything half-assed, he swing his arm all the way to the left, until his hand is all the way behind his back. And because he's so used to Saitama going flying with every strike, he initially chalk his dissapearance down to this.

For once, his massive strength and invulnerability are a disadvantage. Unable to notice the weight of Saitama on his limb, and having swung his arm with superior strength, THOR offers Saitama a very good opportunity to let himself be swung back before he swing himself forward, letting go of THOR's hand as he impact his back with a flying dropkick. And probably because of wear and tear, or because Saitama is working with momentum from THOR's own strength coupled with his own immense one, or because of his strength increasing at that particular moment...

... He flies through THOR, kicking his way through his spine and organs and winding up covered in the God's blood, guts and bones. THOR screams in pain and surprise as lightning streams from the massive wound on his stomach. And Saitama, for his part, look shocked and worried at the damage he's inflicted. Had he really just done that? Could the fight really have that anticlimatic an ending? He had imagined a fancier farewell, both warriors getting to have a last clash at least before death.

With how dissapointed Saitama is, he fails to react to a bolt of lightning that engulfs him entirely. Saitama scream in pain, clapping the lightning away with both hands and looking up at where Thor was to see more lightning crashing all around him. Big bolts of it especially crash in cubical worlds, spearing through them and causing them to explode on their way to Saitama.

Deducing that Thor probably wasn't dead, Saitama slap one such bolt away into another, causing the bolt to crash into it and bounce away between it and itself, forming a zigzag pattern that Saitama goes after, kicking the air at first to get to the first strand and then jumping on each strand until he's reached the still-racing tip as it goes on its way to the source of the lightning.

Saitama throws his fist back in preparation for THOR but, out of the corner of his vision, he sees a black shape rush towards him. And the bald man's great speed and reflexes for once fail him as he gets violently shoved off his improvised ride by a hit so strong as to make him scream in surprise and pain yet again. For the briefest of instants, he can feel something cold hit his face with all the weight of worlds but that's all there is to it - and as he goes flying yet again, being ragdolled across worlds, he breaks into another cubical miniature realm. A peaceful forest, surrounded by a ring of mountains, with a great lake in the middle.

Amazing. There is no greater mortal word to describe your prowess, my friend! Had it been any other God than me or the Allfathers, perhaps you would have won by now!

But before he can try and land on it to regain his bearing, innumbrable enormous bolts of lightning assault him, setting the forest below on fire before a particularly large thunderbolt cleave through the world, slamming Saitama further down into the void. Held in place by the phenomenon, Saitama is vulnerable to THOR coming in for a second blow.

The God's figure has turned black, with Saitama's bleeding hole poking through, and his electric blue eyes have gone yellow, lightning vomiting from his mouth whenever he open it to speak. Mjolnir is by his side, steady no matter what. BUT YOU FACE ME! Mjolnir swings forward and Saitama is barely fast enough to cross his arms over his face as defense, but it does little to stop him from getting violently blasted deeper into the void.

Thor follows close, spinning Mjolnir over his head and surrounding it with a circle of lightning before he comes swinging down at Saitama with yet another devastating blow, shoving him into an edge. An edge of the void. Saitama is delighted to find himself being briefly stretched to the edge of the world before being violently bounced back forward, THOR having vanished to greet him at what appears to be the center of said world.

THESE WILL BE GOLDEN DAYS WHEN MORTALS AND GODS SHALL SURPASS MY MIGHT! FOR I WILL KNOW THEM READY FOR THE WORLD TO COME AFTER RAGNAROK! THOR stands at the center of a massive divine thunderstorm, cataclysmic bolts spreading from his back like a spider-web, tearing through all the small worlds into the void, purposefully sparing only one from annihilation.

As Saitama is sent flying further and further ahead of THOR, though, his face is lit up in a huge grin. And when THOR hurls a veritable army of thunderbolts his way, each so enormous as to be like a galaxy hurled together, Saitama just throw his fist back in answer.

Actualization

Don't know why but... This god dude makes me want to go all-out! Saitama goes in with a CONSECUTIVE SERIOUS PUNCHES attack, his fists becoming red and black blurs. Much to THOR's shock, his ominous figure lifting the closest thing it has an to an eyebrow, Saitama repel the lightning and head towards Thor. Through all the noise and thunder, through all of THOR's shouting and declarations, he can feel nothing but the rythm of his heart pounding in his chest. More than go all-out! I wanna go at 200%! 300%! 500%! 900%!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! THOR swings his hammer to the left in preparation, the mere movement of doing so causing the Void all around-them to shatter into a black mass, illuminated by the incredibly potent bolts THOR is still tossing around. His actual figure is nothing more than lightning itself shaped into a humanoid mass, with only two glowing yellow eyes, his snarling mouth, his beard and hammer to picture himself.

1000% SUPER SERIOUS PUNCH! Saitama yells in ecstasy, slamming his two fists forward as THOR slams all of his mass forward.

Meanwhile, in The Desert, Azura just keep on attacking, sending in as much power as possible. But one that Sarah is able to handle with help from Cittufeni. And before soon, Tilra appears facing her. Azura's eyes widen in fear and horror, realizing her folly in taking Tilra's unconsciousness for granted.

But there isn't much she can do at this point. Beside scream in defiance even as her magic is torn from her, and even as the world itself become sentient and very angry at her. Azura's screams refuse become undignified screams of torment despite the full weight of Tilra's power collapsing in on her. Only at the very end, as she is engulfed in light, does the fear and terror in her voice become apparent.

It is a mercy, then, that it is promptly cut off by the pillars of light, leaving behind a barren spot where she had used to stand. Sarah looks midly perturbed at Azura's death, but take it as being just another casualty of the "war". She's not sure Azura would have been so remorseful if she had overpowered and killed them.

Being used to violence and cataclysmic shifting, Sarah just point at Tilra to Ovarr. I fought that. She says, almost proudly, before patting Emma on the back. Dispelling the necro-umbrella, she then rush over to Tilra and anyone who had been nearby, to see if they were okay. She knew that Tilra could be unconscious after an attack as big as this, so she want to check on her to make sure that she's okay.

If Tilra is awake and fine, Sarah nods respectfully and flash her a thumbs-up. Could be dangerous given all the Eldritch Abominations she had unleashed but, hey! Sad for her but good work, Tee!

If Tilra is indeed going mimimimimimimi or is otherwise out, Sarah picks her up. It's a bit awkward to have to carry someone of Tilra's height around like that but she figures that the others aren't in a good shape to do it. In that instance, she turns to the team to say something...

... But doesn't get to. Because the clash between THOR and Saitama is very visible in the sky, lightning and black cracks spreading forth from the point of impact. I hope Thor's gonna win. She says. And then a bright white light engulf the group, and they'll realize that the ground is gone a sparse second before they realize that the ground is back. And it's pavement instead of sand.

They're back in Hub Centralis, but something is different. The city is quiet and dark. The Church of Gor sit alone and unattended by the group's left. And a sky full of stars is iluminating the group in the absence of lights from the house. Spinning nebulas dance over the group's head in seeming acknowledgment of their victory, accompanied by galaxies and stars, the dots of white light seeming so hapless before the movements of the celestial bodies.

There's two massive red orbs hovering in the sky, but more closely is THOR, standing in front of the group with Saitama's tattered cape in his arms. HAHAH! IT SEEMS YOU WERE JUST A BIT FASTER IN BESTING YOUR OPPONENTS THAN I WAS IN BESTING MINE! He laughs, unbothered by the massive hole in his stomach.

Sarah point a finger at it, unbothered, but freeze when she notice someone standing behind THOR. Visible through the gaping hole in his body.

Mahito.

Mahito, on the ground and sweaty, the dim orange lights of nearby lamplights falling down upon him as he glance at the group. Said group being completly healed of their injuries as well, with their full energy and gear restored to how they were prior to the fight.

Ah... ha... you...... how could you.......

Kill him.

Then we will talk with you;.

Church - Hub Centralis..?

In a flash, they're back to the city... albeit, one Artemis feels isn't the actual city.

She looks at Mahito and smirks.

"How could we? Well, I don't think that needs an explanation..."

Artemis' aura expands over the downed Mahito, pressing down on his soul, driving 'spikes' into it one by one. Aiming to shatter it completely.

"Heh... I've been waiting a long fucking time to do something like this. To see how you like the feeling of nails being driven into your very soul..."

Artemis has a disturbing grin on her face, her eyes cloaked in shadow, and her arms crossed over her chest. She doesn't need to move to completely tear him apart...

Church

Tilra looks at Sarah, standing straight. She doesn't look as tired as she maybe even should be.

   ...?   

She raises an eyebrow.

Suddenly, then, Tilra finds her reserves of energy completely restored, and she suspects she knows who was responsible. Not Mahito, certainly, but, she sensed no mechanism whatsoever by which it was done.

Which, really, was enough by itself to know she didn't actually want to try and fight Gor if she could help it. These circumstances reminded her more of their battle with Anne's God than anything else.

Except, she didn't have any reason to trust Gor.

Still, there was a reason she had come. It was because, in the end, she felt she had to help Sarah, even if it was remarkably stupid.

   .Um.   

   ?OK?   

She doesn't try anything. Could be a trap, she doesn't know.

Church(?)

Well. Flandre is rather impressed to say the least by Tilra's attack, as well as the small sample of Thor in action.

Then they're abruptly respawned outside (seemingly anyway, can't ever be too trusting) restored and with Mahito in front of them.

"Oh, you again. Not often I get to kill someone twice." she says with a rather sadistic grin. "I'd suggest you stay dead this time."

She joins Artemis in obliterating Mahito's ass, in her case by hefting up Laevateinn before throwing it at Mahito like a spear with bullet like speed. Trusting the sword to burn him to ash with its flames that burn even spirits.

Sarah patting Emma made her feel a bit better but they're back, as if nothing happened, even her ponytail's been tied up again.

"Shut up mage."

Emma just draws her handgun and gets to capping Mahito with .45acp.

FOREST

The dreadful Spectator madly lash out at the air, in the hope of eventually hitting and killing its target. All of its great intelligence and cunning had been cast away, although such imprudence was perhaps not to blame solely on its beastly nature. Either way, Zalade

Ourgh. Zalade flash a thumb-up while Mouz, the more physical of the two, help her back on her feet. He nods at Tarvek and draw his claymore, rushing in at the Spectator in sync. Each warrior get to destroy one more of the eyestalks, Tarvek electrocuing and slicing one in half whereas Mouz stuck to the latter. As the Spectator turned in rage, its useless eyestalks falling along to the ground, it wound up getting blasted by Magic Missiles from the mage of the group, who was still downed.

And she made an attractive target as such, but then Zalade blasted the great beast in its body, her Eldrich Blasts managing to knock it back so hard that it rammed its backend into a tree, splitting the tree in half and making the top half of it shatter over its head. Amazingly more irritated than truly taken down, the Spectator lash out with its remaining eyestalks, trying to blast its surroundings with a petryfing beam.

...

DNC

Kana is the one who handle bringing the assassin along unless someone else offer to help. She just wrap her arm around his waist and climb one handed. If the exit is small, she up and shove him through for someone else to handle. If not, she brings him along. The strain of lifting a grown man doesn't bother Kana, she doesn't so much as huff or breath just a bit more harshly.

And as they keep walking, Kana is a bit happy that things seem to be going well. They have caught the enemy, both princesses are safe, the queen is safe, they have the captain of their guard by their side. They've been swept off their feet by the black goo carrier but they have managed to recover well.

Or have they? Did they not land only to slip at the last moment?

Kana's ears are very sharp and accurate. But in this scenario, this mean she can only hear the sound of steel slicing through cloth and then flesh as a princess's life is endangered, or taken. Of course! The room was a good spot for an ambush! Could they have been predicted this easily?! Nonetheless, Kana decide to tackle the shadowy threat first. Drawing Yato from its sheath, she try to cut through the clothes in her way as she attempt to charge at the shadowy monster.

You'll pay for this!

Church

The first thing Icarus does upon arriving in "Centralis" is scan for his devices. He remembers placing screens on the Church and on the building opposite to it, and finds... none. He also expects to find a connection to one of his thousands of satellites, or a notification that he had reestablished a connection to his backup computer, or Croque waiting for him with a railgun aimed at him for safety reasons, and finds... none of these things.

We aren't in Centralis, that I can say with certainity. I would've found my devices by now.

He almost feels remorse at having contributed to the grand defeat of the Church's Pillars - especially Azura, who had seemed emotionally conflicted in the last phases of the fight, and who can blame her when she had to face... whatever it was that Tilra dealed to her.

But he feels no remorse towards Mahito.

"You're responsible for the mind-control bullshit, aren't you."

If there would be an upcoming fight against Gor, the tungsten rods he'd brought would be practically useless.

Almost demonstrably, along with all the other devastating attacks, he empties his entire supply of railgun ammo into what by this point must be Mahito's lifeless corpse.

"Hub Centralis"

Bely notices the sky back at the city is more beautiful than before.

She unleashes a last bullet on Mahito, without even looking.

Game

Emma puts up her Shield Wall, ensuring Corrupted Data Freddy won't be able to take down another party member... I mean unless it can attack the same one multiple times in one turn.

Charlie gasps as the Pot of Greed effect instantly charges her move. Resurrection activates. She vanishes and reappears hovering above Gregory, sclerae black like the Marionette, as she spreads her arms, showering him with Remnant.    "You are under my protection."   

Instead of doing what Remnant normally does when it interacts with a dead body, it simply revives Gregory and fully heals him.

Emma/Victoria is now immune to darkness!

"THERE!" Emma hastily points to Corrupted Data Freddy's position.

Min Min's

"Urk...Y-yeah, I'll be fine." Kirike slowly picks herself up.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was walking."

Meanwhile, Min Min starts hauling things inside.

Min Min's

Save

• "Pyra"'s Delivery Service

This place is really scenic, and according to the office, is a frequent destination for deliveries. It's good to get familiar with the area then - in the future maybe "Pyra" arrives not as a courier but as a patron (or maybe just playing bass at the side).

| You |

"T-this place is beautiful... d-do you come here often?"

After two-and-a-half trainwrecks involving attempts to socialise, "Pyra" comes of as a bit nervous here (though maybe third time's the charm). Ravenos, while unseen by the patrons (but not the readers), gently strokes "Pyra"'s back with its wings to somewhat soothe them.

Edited by TheTropingAlliancer on Mar 29th 2024 at 7:48:04 PM