Riverside 19

[Hattish Thing]

[The Empress' Estate]

The child, simply eager to be freed from the confines of the chillingly cold armored vehicle, accepts the Empress' touch. Still highly disoriented by the situation, she clings tightly to the much taller being, finding some semblance of comfort there. Kramolagh responds after several seconds, carefully considering his next few words.

Clasping his hands together, he speaks.

"Vhe haff reason to b-believe zhat your blood is zhe key to answering zhe ultimate question, science's ultimate goal, zhe universal truth - zhe vhy of everyzhing."

"Vhe vhill study it, extensively."

--

He pauses, before continuing.

"In exchange... more children."

[UncleWolf]

The Empress' Estate

"You quite enjoy being vague, don't you?" The Empress asks, amusement in her voice before standing back up to stare down at the man. "You do not tell me what you are truly researching or how. If you wish to deal with me, speak plainly and do not give me vagueness or elaborate philosophies. But what you have said does tell me some measure of your goals. And there is only one real reason to wish for my blood and to study the Divinity within. You seek to find out what makes something a god, don't you?" She asks.

[Hattish Thing]

[The Empress' Estate]

As the Empress stands, the child steps to the side, likely towards the nearest female member of her court. Several members of the gray-coated man's entourage step forward, but Kramolagh himself shakes his head towards his own security, deciding to face the entity before him slightly ahead of his men.

His expression hardens somewhat here.

"To understand zhe nature of divinity is to understand zhe n-nature of zhe universe."

"You are correct."

[Felandria]

[The River Syde]

The golem suddenly gets up as the electrical attack on it no longer seems to hold it. Then it assumes a defensive position, almost curling up into a ball as the runes all over its body starts glowing a bit brighter.

The wrapped gravity aura fades, gravity now having returned to normal.

Felandria cries out in frustration as the monster curls up into a ball, completely ruining the really cool and awesome thing she was about to do.

But as gravity returns to normal, she comes to a realization.

She deactivates one of the Immovable rods and reabsorbs the third arm, pulls out her sword and lets go of the other rod.

As she plummets back to the ground, she holds the sword pointed straight down aiming for the cthonian, and she gets bigger as she falls, hoping her increased weight and velocity are enough to run this bastard through.

[UncleWolf]

The Empress' Estate

There is a long way to go for the nearest other person on The Empress' side for the girl, so it is likely best that she stay next to the giant. "And what would you do with these secrets? Control them? Store them away? Or go mad at their revelations? What you seek may not necessarily be what you find. If I am to do this, I would see how you make such a child in person." She declares, hefting her blade onto her shoulder. "As much as I would relish joining this battle, I can set it aside for the moment provided you have passage that can take me and my handmaiden."

Behind her, one of the Godless baring a ragged scar diagonally from her neck across her torso slips out of the gatehouse. She wears simple fur and leather armor made for cold climes and comes armed with a pair of vicious looking stone handaxes. She's entirely serious until she gets to the girl, where she grins and waves happily to her.

[Hattish Thing]

[The Empress' Estate]

Kramolagh narrows his eyes, breathing in deeply as he considers the situation at hand. So far, the divinity before him had proven herself a possibly liability, volatile and impulsive, the sort of individual which the gray-coated man was loathe to associate his organization with. However, what she offered was of great value, precious and irreplaceable.

After a few seconds, he responds.

"I seek knowledge for its own s-sake, a noble endeavor."

--

The girl, upon noticing the handmaiden, waves back timidly. In the meantime, Kramolagh continues, frowning somewhat. "Vhat you are requesting vhill be quite complicated, logistically. Our vhork is h-highly sensitive, for you see, from our inception, vhe haff been c-clandestine, intending to free participants from zhe shackles of convention and taboo."

"If you must insist upon visiting, I'm afraid vhe I vhill require your vhord."

--

At that, he retrieves a folder from his coat.

"Non-disclosure. I vhill vharn you... zhese contracts, zhey are enforced quite mercilessly."

[Recaiden]

[The River Syde]

Alice...can't do anything to help Felandria from this distance.
She radios Mia to report that Felandria is head of eastside now, but that the team is busy fighting this giant golem in Southside.

The General is still being carried off by the robot suit. Maybe it would like to put her down at some point? Or be worn and get back to fighting demons?

The firebird peels off fragments of its gathered energy, sending bolts of void shooting down into the water. Not to harm the chthonian directly, but to once again freeze the water around it and hold the thing in place for Felandria to strike.

[Shadowcaller]

[The River Syde]

Felandria falls upon the golem, though the runes that has made it withstand plummeting like a comet down to earth and several explosions may also be able to withstand her sword depending on what her sword exactly is. However, while the sword even if she can't seem to penetrate its hide directly she can seriously mess up its surface, which would ruin the runes that maintain the defensive spells that protect it from harm. It seems like she already destroyed the rune located where the sword met the golems hide. This might mean its vulnerable there now.
Regardless, as Felandria falls upon it the golem meets her gaze with its eerily blue eyes and attempts to grapple her wrists. If the golem manages to touch her, it will start to quickly drain heat and magical energy from her which would leave her relatively weak and feeble.
Then it opens its mouth and sends a beam of collected energy, including the one it gathered from the heat of the river and the impact of Felandria's sword, right back at her.

[Riverside - VIGIL/AMEN Confusion==> Mad Magic World]

The bear barely pauses as they expected some kind of trick. They then menacingly approach the woman, if she wanted to explain something, she better do it fast. Anika wasn't planning to leave bear form without her original body and she couldn't see MageMcElf anywhere so either this person better tell how they could get out of mad magic land or they were going to start breaking some legs.
These thoughts are all summarized in the brief break the bear gives purple woman, she had her chance, better not waste it.

[Bus Ride to the Gardens]

The sorceress gets into the bus, but almost wish she didn't when she sees Jezebel removing the sword from her own chest. By Artaris holy words, how did she just do that?

Cessie frowns when he uses the word 'coward'. Even suggesting that that a person who had just nearly died fighting the monsters invading the city could be a coward infuriated her. "Don't even use that word in the same sentence as her, Adir." She warns him before she turns to Jezebel. Adir's sudden optimism was lost on her too, Jezebel was proposing something quite dangerous.

"I'll do my best." She promises as she carefully accepts the relic. Yet she had to ask Jezebel's councilors what just had been proposed even meant. They were playing with fire at the moment, any number of things could get wrong especially as the plan seemed to depend on wielding some magical artifact she had no experience with. Last time that had happened, she had almost died.

Musical Duo

The gargoyles struggle but cannot match the wind and can't do anything this round.
The angel however is teleported away by Topaz...

[Northside Hospital - Pre-Invasion]

((Will edit in this section soon.))

Triumfens Handth - The Demon's Capital Ship

There are only four alternatives here.
Either they go through the corridor towards the pit fiends they were hearing earlier, the very same fiends that Vlad spotted at that door he destroyed.
Or they go backwards, moving in the other direction through the corridor, wherever that might lead.
They could also go back to the hangar they came from to possibly escape (providing they can blast the other door open).
Finally, they could go through one of the many unmarked doors along the corridor.

It seems like they are picking the first option though.

Soon enough, they will see the door that should lead into the resurrection chamber by Vlad's calculations, distinct from the other doors by looking sturdier and the fact its marked with a weird sun symbol.

However, they will also spot the security team that Vlad spotted earlier.

Its a total of six pit fiends are coming down the corridor before them, five of them appear to be the standard soldiers that have been rummaging around the city, heavily armored and armed with big swords and some sort of magical-energy-launcher. However, the sixth fiend barely has any armor as all, instead being surrounded by a force-shield that appears to be made of liquid gold. Probably some kind of nerdy wizard type even if they also have a sword it has all these magical runes and even seem to have some sort of spell book in their belt.

However, there is also a much larger and sturdier golem walking right behind them. It appears to be projecting some sort of force field around the pit fiend group. The group might recognize from the faintly blue of this field that sorrunded the capital ship, which they briefly got trapped in.

Finally, there are three vicious looking dog-like creatures following the pit fiend group like some manner of oversized guard dogs.
This team are spread out in a line, making it difficult, if not impossible, to force their way past them and are are shouting words in that alien language of theirs as they spot the mag-boys unless they fly over them.

They could easily reach the sun-door before the security team but then there is the trouble of getting it open.

[Westside High]

The pit lord will spend a moment freeing the other one so the archer is getting a head start. They will chase after her but if she knows her way around the school, she can take the quickest route out through the back door.

However, as she comes out on the school yard, there is a lone woman standing there in an outfit that does not fit the war ravaged city around them. A bit like the archers own outfit, honestly.
She is clad in a long, wide, dark-purple dress embodied with elegant patterns in the colors of red and gold. The dress is distinctively low-cut with a collar of black feathers around her neck and long black gloves with long wrist tassels made of purple colored cloth hanging from her wrists. Her shiny black hair is hanging so far down that is touches the ground as she stands there.

Most notably however is her mask. Yet despite its eye covering design, the woman is reacting to the archers presence as she purses her lips and frowns. "And who do you think you are? Let her go. Now." She states coldly.

Her request causes the pixie to stop bawling for a moment. "M-master!"

Then, the human woman pursed lips suddenly break into a smile. "Hold on, I recognize you. That outfit... you are Achera. That 'superhero'."

[Northside Safe Zone- Into the Breach==> Malechenar Castle]

As they go through the portal, the world briefly goes completely blue before they suddenly find themselves in a small triangular room which metal walls are covered in faintly teal glowing markings. Otherwise the room seem nearly completely empty besides the portal they just came from. There is a muscular apeman in the same teal poncho as Sekai and Zula sitting on the floor that gets up as they emerge.

"Finally, what took you so long?" The man remarks.
Yet Zula looks ready to break down as she sees him. "By all what's sacred, you're safe." She walks up and hugs the man who doesn't seem as touch even as he returns the hug.
"I'd hope so, if these monsters broke down our wards so easily I'd deserve my fate."

She let's go, taking a step back and smoothens out her poncho. "Alright... so what's the situation?"

"Same as before, they did stop attempting to force the doors open eventually but I'm pretty sure they're watching the doors." The doors in question are three, one on each side of this strange triangular room. Each one is marked with a series of letters and a number.

𝔶３４０

𝔵３３０

𝔷３２０

But before they can focus too much on the doors, the group will feel a sudden movement underneath them. It feels like...

"The castle is moving! Why?" Zula looks around in sudden panic.

The man looks just as confused however. "Have they already gained control?" He asks, rhetorically. "That just means we have to hurry." He turns to the group. "You are the muscle, yeah? Can you force our way out of here if we open the doors? There should be monsters just outside." He gestures at the one numbered 340.

Northside Safe Zone - Contact

"Destruction of the castle? What do you mean by that? But any help you could offer at this point would be immensely helpful." Celestel replies.

Northside Disaster Area

The gorgon looks ready to shout some orders when three things happen:

1. The singing angel, Lathamiel, is teleported into the middle of the soldiers by Topaz. This close, the angel will illuminate the entire area with its radiance and suddenly empower everyone close to it to a even greater degree.
2. Malechenar castle suddenly starts moving.
3. The flamegoyles suddenly starts flying straight towards the castle, not even bothering with the defenders, just flying out of range of their weapons. The rest of the demons suddenly just retreat for seemingly no good reason.

The soldiers hesitate, some of them looking up and the suddenly moving castle in confusion.
Many ask what is going on, but it seems like the gorgon is just as clueless as them. "Keep at your positions, I'm going to try to contact the castle again..." She takes up a communication device from the pocket of her vest, a crystal orb of some sort, and whispers some words into it. Doesn't seem to yield much results however...

[Skies above Riverside]

Malechenar castle, the flying castle which have loomed above Northside for many years now, suddenly starts moving again.
The entire structure shakes slightly as it slowly starts flying straight up north, away from the city. Was it leaving?

Similarly, every flamegoyle and a few of the undead vultures who seem to have recovered somewhat from their daze (though still don't seem to react to being shot at) starts heading straight towards the flying structure.

Similarly, the demonic force that was heading towards northside starts retreating.

Something was going on.

[Darkcomet]

[VIGIL/AMEN Confusion]

No vocal response comes from above, but it's quite fortunate that Zenon elected to look up at where the cloaked robot went. The energy from those attacks, the waves that blasted all the shrapnel about, clearly isn't gone, and he might notice faster if he wasn't looking in the exact wrong direction. Larger chunks of debris from the blast suddenly flare red, and launch back at him-this time with the objective of slamming onto his strange maw-arm and even briefly latching on and restraining it, ideally slamming him into the ground with the grip. Wenomir gets to hear an observation.

Energy absorption by that arm, regeneration against physical attacks.

Let's try both.

Following that declaration, the air blurs as the machine charges downward through the air with the goal of planting a foot on Zenon's chest or back (whichever based on what happened with the crude debris trick), telekinetically locking itself in place, and activating the propulsion system in that foot, expelling waves of raw force and deadly heat directly into Zenon to bypass the maw-arm's energy absorbing ability.

[Gullara]

[Westside High]

The pit lord will spend a moment freeing the other one so the archer is getting a head start. They will chase after her but if she knows her way around the school, she can take the quickest route out through the back door.

However, as she comes out on the school yard, there is a lone woman standing there in an outfit that does not fit the war ravaged city around them. A bit like the archers own outfit, honestly.
She is clad in a long, wide, dark-purple dress embodied with elegant patterns in the colors of red and gold. The dress is distinctively low-cut with a collar of black feathers around her neck and long black gloves with long wrist tassels made of purple colored cloth hanging from her wrists. Her shiny black hair is hanging so far down that is touches the ground as she stands there.

Most notably however is her mask. Yet despite its eye covering design, the woman is reacting to the archers presence as she purses her lips and frowns. "And who do you think you are? Let her go. Now." She states coldly.

Her request causes the pixie to stop bawling for a moment. "M-master!"

Then, the human woman pursed lips suddenly break into a smile. "Hold on, I recognize you. That outfit... you are Achera. That 'superhero'."

[Westside High]

Achera skids to a stop. Not what she was expecting, but someone important. This could be good. "No. In fact, I think you'll be coming with me too." She throws her arm back, sending a spray of water over the door she just exited through. It freezes, sealing the door at least for now. "I'd recommend giving yourself up, because I'm not in a very giving mood." Based on where they are, the river is not too far away... She puts out a silent call.

[Zefir]

Northside Safe Zone - Contact

"Destruction of the castle? What do you mean by that? But any help you could offer at this point would be immensely helpful." Celestel replies.

Northside Safe Zone - Contact

"There is a powerfull weapon here in Dmside. Mostly build against that ghost ship. It just has a very low range. if you can bring the castle close to me I#m sure I could destroy it." in a second thought this sounds more like a threat. "We didn't use ityet since the demon ship is to high up to hit it and we also have only one shot due to the energie level.."

Mia hits a few buttons.
"In any case I send two robots over. is there any destination you would like them to land?"
Those two will be the one send to eastside and are still at the garden.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[VIGIL/AMEN Confusion-> Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere]

The mawsphere near Omiko bounces upwards, and lands on her, maw open, mouth first, swallowing her up as it splashes on the ground into a dark miasma that quickly dissipates. She'll find herself once more in the pocket dimension she and Zenon used to chat before arriving here. One of the maws that appears on the wall speaks to her, its eyes a strange shade of orange.

"Zenon will be along shortly. We do not have much for comforts here, but it is at least a chance for you to rest."

Zenon himself comments to Wenomir, not looking at the VIGIL leader, but rather, watching the robot.

"I look forward to seeing you try." There isn't time to say more, as Zenon himself opens his mouth wide, just as the maw-creature on his arm does. The robot's psychic energy flows into Zenon's mouth, while the physical debris flows into the maw-creature's. As soon as either crosses into what would be their throats, it is gone, completely severed from the reality of the Nexus, consumed utterly by the Devourer itself.....and then, the maw-creature warps itself around, growing in size slightly to engulf Zenon himself, before exploding into another cloud of black miasma just as the robot's flying kick connects with it. The entire action takes a split second, if that, happening so quickly that those without superhuman senses might not be able to see it as more than Zenon blurring into a black blob that then explodes into dark mist. Both hear a final, echoing sentence in their minds, though, as the miasma dissipates.

Find me later, and we shall have a real duel, blade to blade and man to man, Wenomir, one on one, with no interference.

With that, all traces of both Zenon and Omiko have disappeared.

Zenon himself will appear in the pocket dimension with Omiko after a moment, with an odd expression on his face.

"Well, that was interesting."


Musical Duo

Electra's aim compensates in an instant, following, then leading Zefir's movement. But she pauses before firing again, and shifts as the tanks appear, the hail of bolts ending as Topaz teleports the angel away and charges the tanks. The angel is safe for the time being, but she should still try and protect Topaz. Zefir can wait for now.

Her left pauldron's gem glows for an instant, before what look to be five bright blue energy spheres streak towards the tanks, each one targeting a different tank. Only the one Topaz is charging is left alone, mostly to keep her out of the blast radius, as each sphere explodes on impact, each one packing the power of an armor piercing anti-tank rocket. Hyper Mode has changed how many of her weapons work, along with how powerful they are, and she's hoping Topaz can take care of herself enough to handle the tank she's charging, since Electra herself is unsure she'd be able to shoot around the musician and not have her get caught in the back blast from her weapons. Nonetheless, she starts making her way towards the tanks after firing, hopefully quickly enough to get Topaz out if things go south.

[UncleWolf]

Bus Ride to the Gardens => the Lotus Gardens

The answer to Cessie's question would be that Jezebel could remove the blade because of drugs. Lots and lots of drugs.

Jezebel closes her eyes, letting out a long and weary breath before speaking. "The man is entitled to his opinion. But I have never been a coward. For all my faults, that has never been one of them." She explains as the bus comes to a halt just outside of the Gardens when it is unable to progress any further due to the barriers in place to keep vehicles from just driving into the area. Instead of standing right away, she reaches out to try and set her hand on the Cessie-Elemental's shoulder. "Just...be careful with that. If it gets to be too much, stop. We'll figure out something else. That...is the source of everything I can do and is connected to my soul. I would never ask this of you if I thought there was a better way, but if you have doubts, please say so. I...am obviously not in the best state of repair. Do what you think would be best."

Finally she attempts to stand after that, but two of the three Hunters are already close and simply slip under her arms to help carry her out. The last hunter waits until everyone is off the bus before locking up and tucking the key into his pocket. It'd be a shame for a bus to be stolen by hooligans after all of this. If no one else does, he'll even grab Jezebel's weapon and the head she'd taken just in case.

It doesn't take long for the group to reach Cessie's actual body, Hunter Jones, The Magos, and Mr. Squiggles near the Chapel. As soon as they're in sight, Masks head in to grab both a table and Jezebel's office chair while the Magos examines her.

++...COULD YOU HAVE DONE ANYTHING AT ALL TO MITIGATE THIS?++ He asks, his voice a robotic monotone yet somehow sounding like a disapproving father-figure while metal cables and tendrils slide out from under his red robe. The appendages poke, prod, collect samples, and take her vitals, and despite having most of his face replaced by a metal plate, it is easy to tell that the tech-priest is frowning. ++STIMM. SLAUGHT. TRACES OF OBSCURA AND HALO AND HALF A DOZEN OTHER COMPOUNDS THAT ARE <DATA EXPUNGED> AND HIGHLY ILLEGAL AND DANGEROUS IN OUR HOME SYSTEM. ONLY THE OMNISSIAH KNOWS HOW YOU ARE STILL ALIVE LET ALONE NOT FALLING APART. IT ALSO MEANS NO PAINKILLERS FOR WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. UNFORTUNATE BUT THEY WILL MAKE YOUR VITALS DROP TOO MUCH IF I AM TO REPAIR YOUR BLOOD VESSELS. AND LET US NOT GET STARTED ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOUR ARM. WHO HERE CAN DONATE TO OA POSITIVE BLOOD? IF YOU DO NOT KNOW, I CAN TEST.++ He asks as Jezebel is guided to her chair to be sat down. Hunter Jones raises his hand before shrugging off his coat.

"Belt." Jezebel asks of him, and after it is given she bites down on the leather before nodding to the Magos.

The Tech-priest doesn't need another invitation and he simply reaches out to rip the duct tape from her chest before a mechadendrite pushes against the wound. It covers the wound entirely, but there's easily audible crunches coming from within the woman and mechanical whirs can be heard from the tendril itself. After a moment, an oxygen mask is offered by the Magos. ++BLOOD OXYGEN LEVELS ARE DROPPING. YOU EITHER TAKE THIS OR I INTUBATE .++

When she spits out the belt and nods, the mask is applied and she closes her eyes to concentrate on breathing and whatever fanciful mental images she could come up with to avoid thinking about the excruciating pain.

(the rest of the scenes will come later)

[Reinholdt]

[The Lotus Gardens]

Mecha Squiggles did not chase after the flaming gargoyles bombing the city. He can't save everyone and there were vulnerable(ish) people right here so here he stayed on the defensive. Fortunately for him, it was not exciting. Just the way he prefers. He'd much rather nothing happen.

For instance, here's an example of something he'd rather not be happening. Jezebel was emanating all sorts of squishing and crunching sounds, almost none of which were good. He does fear for the worse and hope she's ok, but more than that, he fears for his lunch. Which he swiftly loses. Ever an attempted gentleman, he does at least try to find some sort of pot or vase or at least a nearby out of the way corner. The insides of a giant dire spider's stomach isn't much more appealing than the insides of Jezebel's stomach, even if the context is wildly different.

Once he's, ahem, feeling better or at least empty, he'll rejoin them and chitters queasily at the group. He has no idea what his blood type is. What Mister Squiggles does know is that his blood is probably blessed since the day he fell into Lolth's ritual cup. But he's also literally being held together by machines in a manner not unlike Darth Vader, so there might not be enough blood to share. But he's willing to give what he can if it will help.

Of course, this is all communicated by a bunch of chitters, clacks, and clicks.

[Murkus]

[The Lotus Gardens]

Adir crosses his arms and bows his head, leaning against one of the bus's walls for the remainder of the ride. He's not going to argue with Cessie. It might not have been the time, but Adir had never been good about keeping his thoughts to himself.

Once they're all together in the church and Jezebel can be seen to by that... thing, Adir just tries to keep well out of the way. "I don't know what my blood type is, but if you want to test..." He offers.

The stag will comfort Cessie if she needs someone to turn to for this. He imagines they don't want the sorceress near the table. Adir has some experience being a shoulder to cry on, but he wasn't sure what exactly to expect out of Cessie. She was strong. He doubted this - as disgusting as it was to hear and half-see - would do more than churn her stomach.

Adir does try to turn to Mister Squiggles once the huge arachnid is done voiding his stomach. He half understands all those chittering clacks and clicks. He can usually speak with animals pretty well, spiders were just... like a very heavy accent. And usually the small ones didn't have much to say.

"Mister Squiggles?" He speaks up. "I'm gonna be trying to get Ilpholin back in a few minutes. It's probably going to get a little rough. I just... want you to know someone's trying to get her back. We all are."

[Lord Magtok]

Triumfens Handth - The Demon's Capital Ship

There are only four alternatives here.
Either they go through the corridor towards the pit fiends they were hearing earlier, the very same fiends that Vlad spotted at that door he destroyed.
Or they go backwards, moving in the other direction through the corridor, wherever that might lead.
They could also go back to the hangar they came from to possibly escape (providing they can blast the other door open).
Finally, they could go through one of the many unmarked doors along the corridor.

It seems like they are picking the first option though.

Soon enough, they will see the door that should lead into the resurrection chamber by Vlad's calculations, distinct from the other doors by looking sturdier and the fact its marked with a weird sun symbol.

However, they will also spot the security team that Vlad spotted earlier.

Its a total of six pit fiends are coming down the corridor before them, five of them appear to be the standard soldiers that have been rummaging around the city, heavily armored and armed with big swords and some sort of magical-energy-launcher. However, the sixth fiend barely has any armor as all, instead being surrounded by a force-shield that appears to be made of liquid gold. Probably some kind of nerdy wizard type even if they also have a sword it has all these magical runes and even seem to have some sort of spell book in their belt.

However, there is also a much larger and sturdier golem walking right behind them. It appears to be projecting some sort of force field around the pit fiend group. The group might recognize from the faintly blue of this field that sorrunded the capital ship, which they briefly got trapped in.

Finally, there are three vicious looking dog-like creatures following the pit fiend group like some manner of oversized guard dogs.
This team are spread out in a line, making it difficult, if not impossible, to force their way past them and are are shouting words in that alien language of theirs as they spot the mag-boys unless they fly over them.

They could easily reach the sun-door before the security team but then there is the trouble of getting it open.

Oh crap, the team's outnumbered and surrounded! Fortunately, HazMag has a plan.

"Alright listen, I know how this looks, but I've got a plan, okay? We've just got to get through the small one, then-"

Even more fortunately, Ambriel has an even better plan.

"NOPE NOPE NOPE NO DOGS F*** THIS I'M OUT. WE'RE NOT HELPING ANYONE BY GETTING KILLED BY DEMONS WE'RE GOING HOME AND TRYING AGAIN SOME OTHER DAY," he exclaims, wresting the lightsaber away from Haz, and hurriedly carving a circle in the floor, a hole big enough for a full-grown human being to jump through and get the hell out of here. Haz would love to protest against this decision, as would Vlad, but Ambriel's terror propels him along too quickly for them to think of some clever remark. He grabs the both of them, and tries to dive through his new escape hatch, refusing to even consider sticking around here and dying like a chump for a city that doesn't even know he exists. Especially not when dog monsters are involved, thanks you very much It might be the angelic thing to do, but Ambriel, as he knows all too well, is not even close to a real angel. Hell with this; we're leaving, goodbye.

[UncleWolf]

The Empress' Estate

"My word is not enough?" The Empress asks, somewhat amused as she takes the folder and begins to read. "But yes, I do insist on seeing not just how these children are made but also what you plan to do with my blood." She remarks. "Out of curiosity, did you not try In Vitro?"

Malechnar Castle

I really need to ask for a raise after this. Eric thinks before letting out a breath and gripping his borrowed sword tighter. "I'm about as much muscle that can be spared so I'll do my best. Open the door and I'll break us out." He promises. He'd been little more than an intellectual for hire before this invasion! At a brothel! Now he was a gatecrasher and siegebreaker. How times had changed. Once they begin opening the door, the quarter-dragon will charge forward recklessly but nigh unstoppable.

[Morty]

[Now only Vigil Confusion]

Wenomir almost slumps to the ground, but leans on the Answer and stays upright. As angry as he is, he realizes Zenon's challenge means little. Someone that the Answer bounced off of harmlessly can't really offer him a fair duel, can he? He growls in rage...

"Those AMEN vermin... they manage to make every situation worse just by being involved, without any actual benefit to even themselves. But Anika jumped into that creature's... stomach, so I have to believe she knows what she's doing." He looks up. "But I'm done running around like a headless chicken. I'll try to contact Cessie."

And, indeed, Cessie will head her Vigil communicator come to life.

"Cessie? This is... believe or not, Wenomir. I'll explain later. We just fought AMEN and lost some people."

[Recaiden]

[Other Side of Nowhere]

The mawsphere near Omiko bounces upwards, and lands on her, maw open, mouth first, swallowing her up as it splashes on the ground into a dark miasma that quickly dissipates. She'll find herself once more in the pocket dimension she and Zenon used to chat before arriving here. One of the maws that appears on the wall speaks to her, its eyes a strange shade of orange.

"Zenon will be along shortly. We do not have much for comforts here, but it is at least a chance for you to rest."

Zenon himself comments to Wenomir, not looking at the VIGIL leader, but rather, watching the robot.

"I look forward to seeing you try." There isn't time to say more, as Zenon himself opens his mouth wide, just as the maw-creature on his arm does. The robot's psychic energy flows into Zenon's mouth, while the physical debris flows into the maw-creature's. As soon as either crosses into what would be their throats, it is gone, completely severed from the reality of the Nexus, consumed utterly by the Devourer itself.....and then, the maw-creature warps itself around, growing in size slightly to engulf Zenon himself, before exploding into another cloud of black miasma just as the robot's flying kick connects with it. The entire action takes a split second, if that, happening so quickly that those without superhuman senses might not be able to see it as more than Zenon blurring into a black blob that then explodes into dark mist. Both hear a final, echoing sentence in their minds, though, as the miasma dissipates.

Find me later, and we shall have a real duel, blade to blade and man to man, Wenomir, one on one, with no interference.

With that, all traces of both Zenon and Omiko have disappeared.

Zenon himself will appear in the pocket dimension with Omiko after a moment, with an odd expression on his face.

"Well, that was interesting."

"Uh-huh. Nice timing." replies one of the extra mouths. Omiko's skin settles down, leaving her with just one mouth and two eyes, one of which is still basically blinded from the magical light. She flops down to the floor, or whatever passes for the ground here.

By the time Zenon arrives, the bleeding is stopped, though there are still several ugly wounds across her torso. "That was amazing! Oh man, I haven't had so much fun since the time that witch almost baked us into a pie. Did you see how confused Wenomir was?"

[Mad Magic World]

The bear barely pauses as they expected some kind of trick. They then menacingly approach the woman, if she wanted to explain something, she better do it fast. Anika wasn't planning to leave bear form without her original body and she couldn't see MageMcElf anywhere so either this person better tell how they could get out of mad magic land or they were going to start breaking some legs.
These thoughts are all summarized in the brief break the bear gives purple woman, she had her chance, better not waste it.

The purple woman props her chin on her hands and leans in to look at Anika with those big soulful eyes. "The demons think we're expendable pawns they can just throw away, but we're not on anyone's side but our own. I brought you guys here so you'd be safe while they think you were dealt with more permanently. I'll let you go once it's time to strike back."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Other Side of Nowhere]

"Indeed," Zenon says with an amused smile. "Though that blade of his is troublesome."

"That isn't the half of it, and you know it!" One of the other maw spheres interjects. "That thing stings!"

Zenon nods. He felt the Devourer's pain when Wenomir's blade managed to cut some of the Devourer's tongues. Irksome wounds, but none serious. They will require energy to heal, though, what an annoyance. If Wenomir takes him up on his challenge, he'll have to be a bit more serious about avoiding damage. Not that he expects the VIGIL leader to humor him, but perhaps they'll meet on the battlefield again later. He eyes Omiko's wounds.

"Are you all right? You are probably not as resilient as we are; will you be able to regenerate that?"

[Felandria]

[The River Syde]

Felandria falls upon the golem, though the runes that has made it withstand plummeting like a comet down to earth and several explosions may also be able to withstand her sword depending on what her sword exactly is. However, while the sword even if she can't seem to penetrate its hide directly she can seriously mess up its surface, which would ruin the runes that maintain the defensive spells that protect it from harm. It seems like she already destroyed the rune located where the sword met the golems hide. This might mean its vulnerable there now.
Regardless, as Felandria falls upon it the golem meets her gaze with its eerily blue eyes and attempts to grapple her wrists. If the golem manages to touch her, it will start to quickly drain heat and magical energy from her which would leave her relatively weak and feeble.
Then it opens its mouth and sends a beam of collected energy, including the one it gathered from the heat of the river and the impact of Felandria's sword, right back at her.

As the golem attempts to grapple Felandria, she will try and grab it by the wrists and shove them towards him like she is crossing his arms so she can try and pin them down with her legs.

If so, when the monster opens it’s mouth she will sadly pull out the head of the monster she decapitated earlier and shove it down its throat.

MEANWHILE!!!

Giles will detect the General’s desire to rejoin the fight and stop fleeing the scene, allowing The General to take temporary control and get back in there if that is the General’s wish.

[Earl of Purple]

Malechenar Castle- The Breach

"Um, I'm not quite 'muscle', but... I'll help." Tallya looks very nervous, grips her hammer and shield and will try to Soothe away the fear and worry of everyone in the room, including Eric. It won't work so well on anyone who is further from human, demons or so on, but it should help to raise the morale of the mortals.

Northside Disaster Area

Sister Fatimah is still unconscious, and now the flying threat is retreating the wall of swords she summoned flies back to her, forming a very spiky barricade around the unconscious cleric. She's still within, but it's hard to see her through the dome of points and blades.

[Zefir]

Musical Duo

When Topaz senses the tanks appearing and reopens her eyes, her shoulders don't even fall. She should have expected this, really. Most of her magic, music, and personal strength had been used and sacrificed already making sure that the angel's music would be protected and continued, so there wasn't much left that she could do. But, there were two things left.

First, she concentrates for a moment, calling back all of her discarded scales-turned-crystals. Her sphere shrinks and hardens until it surrounds only the angel before being flung away. It might disrupt the music, but the last of her magic could at least carry the angel towards Northside where hopefully it would be safer.

And with that done, there was just one choice left. She stands, stopping fingers to grip her bladed-electric guitar tight in both hands before taking a deep breath to steady her emaciated bloody form. "FOR VAL HALEN!" She shouts, charging forward in one final burst of enhanced speed and strength as she attempts to close with the closest tank. Should her axe connect, it'll rip right through hull and send a powerful acoustic burst ripping through the tank that'd shred any occupants and scramble machinery.

Of course, given that she has absolutely no defense anymore, not even her natural scales, she could very well be shredded apart before that.

Musical Duo

The gargoyles struggle but cannot match the wind and can't do anything this round.
The angel however is teleported away by Topaz...

Musical Duo

Electra's aim compensates in an instant, following, then leading Zefir's movement. But she pauses before firing again, and shifts as the tanks appear, the hail of bolts ending as Topaz teleports the angel away and charges the tanks. The angel is safe for the time being, but she should still try and protect Topaz. Zefir can wait for now.

Her left pauldron's gem glows for an instant, before what look to be five bright blue energy spheres streak towards the tanks, each one targeting a different tank. Only the one Topaz is charging is left alone, mostly to keep her out of the blast radius, as each sphere explodes on impact, each one packing the power of an armor piercing anti-tank rocket. Hyper Mode has changed how many of her weapons work, along with how powerful they are, and she's hoping Topaz can take care of herself enough to handle the tank she's charging, since Electra herself is unsure she'd be able to shoot around the musician and not have her get caught in the back blast from her weapons. Nonetheless, she starts making her way towards the tanks after firing, hopefully quickly enough to get Topaz out if things go south.

Musical Duo

As Topaz dashes for the tank it tries to make one shot at her, but the aim of the henchman is bad and hitting a fast moving person with a tank cannon is kinda immpossible. Nethertheless one henchman is smart (or frightrnd) enougth to climb out the tank in panik befor the axe connects and shred the tank. thought the drill in fron will only be slightly damaged. Not that it matters since it won't work without a tank.

The other tanks don't get so lucky four of them got a direct hit from the spheres only one survives rather unharmed as the sphere hit the drill instead of the henchmans cabin. The drills are reinforced to dig through heavly ground. Thought now under fire it will dig back underground.

Zefir curses. He felt the disapearing of the singer including the weakening of the aura it created. So his target escaped. He can feel where the magic teleported her, but it's to far away for him to reach it with the rocket under his feet. Well, not really the main problem right now. There is a monster that doesn't appear to let him go easily, but let's try out something and see what happens.
Since he is close to the ground he looks at the gargoyles and adjusts the rocket so it will fly directly into them. He will jump off after the rocket is on course rolling up on the ground. He moves on without a pause and heads for a nearby building to hide from futher plasma blasts. He needs to make his way north since that is his new target now.
The rocket will fly at the gargoyls in obviously uncontrolled way. Should any of them get connected with the rocket it will end up in a hugh explosion likly causing the buildings around to shake and pushing away everything that's not nailed.

[Recaiden]

[The River Syde]

The General takes a moment to get her bearings in the robot suit, and then f lies back in towards the chthonian, one fist extended, aiming to hit it right where the runes have been broken. Her powers over fire and not-fire are useless here, but hitting it as hard as she and the suit can manage? That might do something.

Alice sighs. Felandria shouldn't have warned her away. She would have been fine! Maybe!
She paces carefully back towards the river, keeping her fields close and defensive, looking for an opening.

The phoenix circles around, getting closer to the monstrous golem, preparing to dive...

[Other Side of Nowhere]

"I'm okay. It looks bad, but I can recover from basically anything. Just need some time."
Omiko wouldn't be so cavalier if she'd been cut with the Answer, but luckily the Devourer took all those hits.
"Wish I hadn't left my gun behind though. Won't be able to replace that till after the battle."
The living arms shrug. Nothing to be done now.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Other Side of Nowhere]

"Oh? Interesting," Zenon says, a small smile of relief evident on his lips. Is he actually worried about her? Hard to say. "How are our guests doing?"

[Recaiden]

[Northside Disaster Area]

Seeing that the demons are retreating, the worker angel scuttles over towards the much more powerful singing angel. Even though the song provides no benefits to the worker, Lathamiel is an important asset to the defense that needs to be protected.

Also there's curiosity about how the song works.

[Other Side of Nowhere]

Someone with misplaced concern for her? How...something. Sweet? Maybe.
"I can tell you all about me after the battle, if you want."

"As for the guests, I don't think the elf girl is actually going to be any use. It's complicated, but it doesn't look like the disruption from earlier is repeatable. We're still talking with the bear."

[Shadowcaller]

[Northside Hospital - Pre-Invasion]

Tori lets the administrator minister to her. "I'm half-human." She supplies. Her pulse is quickened, but slowing, and her pupils react normally. "I'm pretty sure fiends get scared too."

[Northside Hospital - Pre-Invasion]

Nigel waves the administrator off of him. I'm fine, it's fine. Just a fear response, I don't have any heart issues or anything.

He pulls out a pack of cigarettes from his satchel and pauses. Do you mind?

[Northside Hospital - Pre Invasion]

"Of course, though now I need to actually use this." Vax lifts the bowl to indicate it. "Feel free to wait out here for a minute and recover while I handle the spirits inside. There's no use exposing you to that again." She says diplomatically.

Northside Safe Zone - Contact

That did sound a bit like a threat, yes. "There is-" Suddenly it sounds like there is someone else speaking nearby, interrupting Celestel. "Hold on." Then nothing can be heard for a couple of minutes.
Then finally, she returns. "I apologize, but we now have another situation here. I don't suppose you could land them on the castle? Its moving. It's not supposed to do that." Her tone is now firmer, her breathing a bit heavier.

Malechenar Castle- The Breach

Zula gets close to Eric as the man very carefully approaches the door. He position himself at the side of it as he holds out his hand to grab the handle. There is a click and then he opens the door wide open.
At the other side is a corridor with fancy wooden doors at each side of it numbered 241, 242, etc. some of them appear to have been forced open however and there are splinters of some of them covering the floor of the corridor.
Standing in the middle of this corridor are two huge dog-like creatures whose gazes seem to have been trained at the door. They snarl loudly but do not have time to react before Eric comes charging.

With a thud he has knocked over both the demons who quickly are attempting to get on their feet again. Zula is at Eric's heels however, managing to run past the hounds before they can even get up.

At the door the man is gesturing for Tallya to move, he seems to want to go last.

Musical Duo

Poor gargoyles, many of them are blown up in the following explosions and the rest retreat back to northside. They had a new priority it seemed.

[The River Syde]

Felandria will feel that the golem is getting stronger as it's touch seem to be draining her. She will lock it in a standstill for now as it struggles against her but any moment now it will likely just overpower her if she continues to face it off like this.

She does manage to at least partly shove the infernal-skull into the chthonian's mouth, though not the entire way down its throat as it seems to lack one. Its just a rectangular space with its inner surface covered in a different type of runes.
Therefore, as the wave of death is to be unleashed, well...

KA-THOOOOOOM!

There is a blinding explosion as a number of safety runes activate. So bright and massive that it can be seen from any part of the city and so destructive that is sends ice shards flying as far as northside as it utterly obliterate the iceberg which had former around it.

Felandria will likely take the brunt of the blast as she is right next to the chthonian as the explosion happens. This is followed by a massive amount of water falling from the sky around the site as the parts of the iceberg that aren't sent flying instantly melts in the heat of the explosion.
But the light of the massive explosion fades, the golem only seem to have left behind large chunks of its head, the rest of its body mysteriously vanishing.

The Lotus Gardens

As they reach the actual Cessie, her elemental disappears as it hands over the artifact to herself. The mage opens her eyes the very next moment and gets up. She will follow Jezebel and the hunters along but then wait outside the room the former daemon is being treated in. Finding a chair to sit down in though can't remain still for very long, starting to wander back and fourth as she thinks.

But her thoughts are suddenly interrupted by Wenomir as her communication device activates. "Wenomir! Is everyone okay? Jezebel is in surgery in the gardens right now, but she will be alright. Adir is here as well, though it seems like the demons are planning to invade here next."

---

Elsewhere, a group of five pit lords suddenly appear in the gardens. "Ambassadors." One of them growls as soon as they spot a civilian or hunter. "We are to talk to your leader."

[Westside High]

The woman tilts her head in confusion, then smiles. "Right." Then she says something that Achera is pretty sure humans shouldn't even be able to pronounce as the woman's voice also change into a deep growl. As the words are spoken however, her features starts blurring and her form seemingly melts into a thick dark grey cloud.

That's all she can manage during this round however, Achera can still act as the woman's sudden transformation occurs.

The door she froze is still undisturbed so either the fiends are taking another way or haven't started to force it open yet.

[Northside Hospital - Pre Invasion]

The administrator gestures at a nearby "no-smoking" sign. "Afraid I am, regulations. You have to smoke outside the hospital, just like everyone else." She then turns to Tori. "And the, ah, other half?"

Zhareen nods in agreement with her wife. "Indeed, just be outside while me and Vax go into the bathroom together." She then winks at Vax. "Hopefully we can keep it professional in there, I know I will have a hard time to with such a beautiful maiden by my side." Then the merwoman opens the door, revealing a completely mundane public bathroom on the other side. "Just don't open the door now! Spooooky stuff will happen in there." She wiggles her fingers at them again.

Triumfens Handth - The Demon's Capital Ship

The sword can cut through the floor, and just in time too as those dog-beasts and charging right at them, the rest of the demons moving not nearly as fast due to their heavy armors.
Now its the issue of falling that becomes the greatest threat, though the ships shield might slow down the fall... right?
Either way, right now they're freely falling and trying to get back on board the ship again seems unlikely.

[Mad Magic World]

The bear does not seem to like this idea very much as it lets out an angry growl, to Anika a growl sounded more "her" than Xaviour's male voice did.
They were expecting her to just leave Wenomir and the others out there and go along with some stupid plan that may or may not be real and not even all that effective? Sounded like a bad deal, even if she decided to somehow trust this demon-illusion.

She wasn't sure killing this elf-person was the right way to go though as she didn't even knew where mage-maid was, no she had another idea.

Time to get beat, nerd!

The bear roars and charges... the books, and will start to quickly tear up the entire library. If there was something she knew was that nerds loved their books so unless demon-elf would let her and greyears leave there wouldn't be much of a library left, or books for that matter. There was the possibility that this was all some lame fake illusion world thing, but she was going to see how miss demon person reacted first.

[Skies Above Riverside]

Malechenar castle continues to fly away, still followed by that horde of flamegoyles. Where could it be going?

[Northside Disaster Area]

As the angel appears, the soldiers suddenly get a new priority. "I don't know what is happening, but our orders remain the same. Protect northside, and protect that... spirit-thing." The gorgon declares as she gestures at the angel.

And so the soldiers goes back to their positions as the gorgon goes to see how Sister Fatimah is doing. Looked like magic was pretty hazardous to ones health, huh?
"Can we get her out of there?" She asks rhetorically. "Damn it, we can't handle all this magic on our own." She turns to the angel, pointing. "You! You're magic, can you free her or at least conjure up something useful?"

As for the angel, when it approaches Lathamiel, the music changes slightly. The glowing being recognizing that its being approached. It turns, regarding the worker with curiosity. A demon, yet not a demon. Fascinating.

[Morty]

[The Lotus Gardens/Communication]

"We met AMEN. I'm... fine, except someone switched our bodies around. But the AMENites caught Anika and a MERC member named Cassandra into a pocked dimension, then fled to who knows where. They've got someone... a man-shaped monster with them that's practically invulnerable." Wenomir/Anika pauses to catch his breath. "We'll try to get to the Gardens and regroup."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Other Side of Nowhere]

Zenon frowns thoughtfully, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hmm, that is unfortunate. She would have been so much more useful if it was repeatable. Still, the knowledge of what our "allies" fear might be useful. Do you think you can find out how she did it? Perhaps either you or I can replicate the effect, if we know how it was done." It's more likely that Omiko could replicate the effect than he could, if it's possible at all, but he doesn't say this. Knowledge, even if one cannot utilize it in its intended fashion, is still power, after all.

[Darkcomet]

[Now only Vigil Confusion]

"...Little more coherent than their last invulnerable abomination. Do you think the old trick with the EM fields this would work on this one too? Probably not. Unfortunate -" The robot's voice trails off, interrupted, clutching at its chest like someone having sudden pains, yet, one imagines robots aren't made with that type of damage recognition, and there is no apparent physical damage besides.

Of course, it's hard to pay attention to that when the giant explosion happens.

"Ugh...she have any idea what that blast was?"