2806/Project C: Devastation

Project C: Devastation
Date of Scene:	14 August 2015
Location:	Urbania
Synopsis:	Desription pending. (Project C TP)
Cast of Characters:	2, Deelel, Arthur Lowell, 135, 219, 253, 255, Theo Morrison, 347, 385, 395, 545, 565, 626, 829, 834
Tinyplot:	Project C

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Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    It has actually been /hours/ since the Hadou group found out where the Illusionary Heart Mother ended up. Why the delay? Well, they're mustering a little /help/ for this one. Mainly 'the Pacific Fleets of every nation who can spare a ship nearby' had to have time to rendezvous with one another and form up. This also provides convenient transport for anyone who can't walk on water or fly.

    Obviously, this means the giant black sphere is over water. Specifically, it is now hovering threateningly in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. An entire armada has been brought to bear, with numerous destroyers on approach, and several old battleships, plus a half-dozen aircraft carriers. The cruisers and other support ships are too many to count.

    Seems like the governments are taking this seriously, at least.

    At the moment, the ships are still some distance from the Illusionary Heart Mother, but they're on their way at a pretty fast clip. There is, as yet, no reaction from that black sphere.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    Mercenary work is a hell of a thing. That last job helped knock a few numbers off her dues to Psyber and the rest of Heaven or Hell, but apparently even blowing up a giant robot and turning its pilot into a pool of cuddle-goo doesn't quite make the cut. Marisa still has debt to work off.

    And so the little witch responds to the call as it goes out, her broom beneath her as she sails towards the giant, throbbing, noneuclidean sphere. She still tries her best not to look directly at it.

"So!" Marisa says to... nobody in particular. The radio, maybe. "We wanna blow that thing up, right? That's the idea?"

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Shortly after word got out to one of the American battleships, a woman with silver hair descended from the sky, planted herself on the very frontmost tip of the bow, and stood there, silently, looking out at the vast, empty ocean ahead. Aside from giving her name and affiliation, she has been fairly quiet in the hours since - although a few brave seamen may have been able to get conversations out of her, if they've tried.

    But now, the time for conversation is past. The swordswoman knows that the men in the bridge have been watching her, and when she makes a movement, it's slow and deliberate, a direct effort to get their attention. She turns, far enough to look their way, holds her left arm above her head, then reaches up and taps her left wrist with her right index and middle finger. It's exactly where a wristwatch would be. The message is fairly clear.

    'It's time.'

    And then, she simply turns her gaze back out over the ocean, watching and waiting.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
While Yuna would be happy to hitch a ride, she's equally happy to just summon El-Line once she's on the right world and fly under her own power. Elner's analysis is that El-Line would probably be faster - even going through atmosphere - than any of the ships going to the destination coordinates; however, there's not much point in getting there ahead of any of the others.

So Yuna and the Matrix of Light actually arrive on the Hadou Group's flagship; however, as soon as they're close enough to see the ominous black sphere floating ominously over the middle of maritime nowhere, Yuna glances at the four, then transmits a quick heads-up to the ship's bridge, so nobody freaks out.

            "LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT *UP*!!! EL-LINE!!"

Cue the pillar of light, the disappearance of Yuna and her three-and-a-half companions, and the materialization of the Matrix Figure - now hovering protectively over the ships, as it materialized about a hundred meters straight up from where Yuna was standing at the time. The super robot currently LOOKS unarmed, although Yuna can summon weapons (or her shield) about as quickly as she can call their names.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber has forgone bringing out either the Battleship, the Aircraft Carrier, or the Submarine that have begun to follow him around. (Okay, so the submarine doesn't actually follow him around, it was given to him by the aircraft carrier)

    Either way, the half-angel has instead used his Union Rank to requisition himself a small tactical insert helicopter. The black form of the chopper, meant to insert teams of 3-4 at the most, flits over the water with one of its side doors open. Psyber, holding on to the guide rail with his right arm while the left one is mysteriously kept inside of his duster, looks out over the water.

    "Is this really my Friday? This feels like a Monday-Caliber problem."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    This time. This time, Amalthea need not experience the strange awkwardness of neighbors getting on the elevator and seeing her in full regalia, readying for war.
    After her nasty wound from Titus just the other night, she probably did take up Theo on his offer for repairs, but that doesn't make the general sense of dread, fatigue, and lingering soreness from pervading her whole body.
    The rocket knight is seated hunched against a wall on one of the myriad ships, at the highest point, silvery-rainbow hair tossing in the sea-breeze. The soft ssshhhiink of a whetstone dragging smoothly over the sharp blade-edge of her lance drowned out by the roar of the waves, and smell of burning diesel, she stares out at the giant orb over the sea, drumming her fingers on the haft of her spear as she steels herself, silently praying the battle to come will not put her daughter in the position of being forced into a hard choice.

Lila (545) has posed:
    Nero the Tyrant. Feared Sorceress. Evil magician. Master of the awe-inspiring Nameless One. Even the overconfident Anticross tremble before the small girl once they learn of her identity, and they might be worried if they knew that she was anywhere near the battlefield.

    Yet she is.

    Currently, playing a Game Boy in the back of the helicopter with Psyber, wearing some earbuds. "Are we there yet?"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra's not a flyer. Float could only be considered a pale imitation of flying. It's not the sort of true flight that Marisa has mastered. Fortunately, Kyra has other means.

    Flying overhead is a small, bus-sized spacecraft vaguely shaped like a shark that has been encrusted with vines. Though meant for the hard vacuum of space, it seems to be handling being a regular aircraft just fine. It is by no means near the forefront of the assault despite clearly being armed with some kind of weapons.

    Kyra sits on the bridge of the Rafflesia, not exactly piloting the Starling-class ship-that's generally taken care of by the AI. She's got other things to take care of right now-such as sorting through all of the gear she's going to be taking into this mission. It's the usual-potions, remedies, explosives, but thanks to her ship being here she can stash a bunch in reserves for later.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    With the cat out of the bag, 'Valentha Summers' has decided to join today's assault in her full draconic form. About three times the size of the helicopter Psyber's joyriding on, she swoops up alongside it... careful to keep her wingspan far from the swooping MURDERBLADES that keep the craft aloft.

    She does NOT look like a comfortable ride if Psyber wanted to jump ship. She's fairly well covered in spikes all down her spine and along the leading edge of her beating wings. But her body undulates up and down with each wingbeat, sending her soaring forward.

    Keeping pace with the helicopter requires her to put CONSIDERABLE effort into that flight but she doesn't seem to be at all bothered by the strain. No sign of tiring whatsoever.

    "So. That sphere is tough as nails. We DO have some plan for taking it down, right?!" Her booming voice bellows out in Psyber's direction.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "No, this isn't Monday-tier yet," Homura says to Psyber, putting a screwdriver down as she stands back up from INSTALLING A TURRET in the other open door of the helicopter, because Psyber has monopolized the other to look cool in the wind. It's not really meant to fit in a helicopter so much as 'on the ground'; not a vehicle-mounted turret, that is to say. More of an all-terrain easily deployed gunner emplacement. It's fine, she anchored it to the chopper's floor. It should hold.

    "Nothing has attempted to break reality yet. But given the Anticross and Therion, it won't be long before it escalates. I'm not looking forward to having to fight the Liber Legis again. One time was enough, and it was pretty powerful."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is arriving a bit after the others and she does not own a light boat, those things don't come in baton form but she's on her jet which seems to be hoveirng well enough low on the water kepeing with the rest of everyone else who is arriving trying to bring this to a close She pauses for a moment banking up to run escort for Kyra as she dors so, she knows this won't be long but you never know you can't be too careful right?

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel is, once again, nowhere to be found. This time, though, it's because she's just where she's supposed to be... or where fate has decreed she be. That being, she's in the cockpit of the Demonbane with Al Azif, the wings of the Shantak System spread out behind the massive Deus Machina to carry it at high speed across the ocean surface.

With surprising care the giant robot slows, then alights on a large ship that looks a bit like an aircraft carrier. It's the Hadou personal ship, made for transporting Demonbane, or for carrying it. For some reason, Ariel didn't take the ship... nor did she use the Imaginary Catapult.

She will hitch a ride for the rest of the trip though. Finally she clicks onto the local bands. "I'm here. I guess we can finish this, huh?"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur stands at the bow of one of the government crafts, arms crossed, his long robes and his longer hood flapping dramatically in the wind. His voice is broadcasted magically, to the allies who approach. "Alright." He says, aggressively. "Here's what's up. Anticross, the core elite sorcerers of the Black Lodge organization, have summoned the Illusionary Heart Mother, and they're powering it with multiversal artifacts of power. We don't know what's inside, besides that it's big, mean, and sleeping, but we know they're planning to take over the world with it, and we know it's tough as nails." He slams one fist into the opposite palm. "And we're gonna crack it open. Here's the deal. We're facing a lot of firepower here. The Liber Legis, the Ogre, the Kraken, the rest of Black Lodge, and whatever those bastards can pull together. Maybe even the Legacy of Gold, just to make things worse. It's more than we've dealt with, and I don't know if we can. But we're here to try."

    "Here's what we've got to deal with. The Kraken on its home turf. The Ogre at its best range. The Legacy of Gold with nothing to lose. The Liber Legis at its peak power. Black Lodge going all in. A threat, for all I know, from outside this reality. Take out the Kraken so it can't abuse the ocean battlefield. Take out the Ogre so it can't protect the Heart. Take out the Legacy, to kill off their artillery. Clear out Black Lodge once and for all. Stop the Heart, kill the threat before it can start. We /do not/ kill Therion. But we stop him. Take him down, bring him in. You kill him, we've got even worse shit to deal with." There's a heavy pause. "Most of us aren't recovered all that much from yesterday. I know you kids are tired. But we're at the home stretch here. If you can take on melee, you go for Ogre. If you can take on terrain advantage, you go for Kraken. if you can take on artillery, you go for Legacy of Gold, if that traitor son of a bitch gets fielded. The Liber Legis is stronger than the three of 'em put together, though, and we've gotta keep the pilot alive. So you leave that to the people who know how this works."

    "I'm bringing out the big guns today. Biggest I got, in fact. The rest of you sure as hell better do the same. Otherwise we're not pulling through this. Keep calm, eyes out, watch each other's backs, split up smart, and we all save the world, and go home. That's what we're here for most of all." He cracks his knuckles. "Alright, you sons of bitches. Let's show these assholes what happens when they fuck with Ariel." Behind him, a ship-wide inscription can be seen. A brilliant, glowing green spirographic energy construct written onto the naval craft. He's done this with at least a dozen others around the sphere. Looks like he has a plan. The biggest gun he's got, from the sound of it.

Theo Morrison has posed:
Theo does not have a spaceship, or a regular ship for that matter. Not that he'd want to be in the water right now anyway. Instead, he is one of the passengers in the chopper with Psyber and Co., clinging to the interior and trying to keep on Psyber's good side, as previously instructed. Given that side is holding onto something, that's tough.

"Reality-breaking feels like a Saturday kind of thing to me," Theo says. He's already shuffled out cards, having started the moment the other thing was in sight. Kickotron is holding the tray and making it slightly more crowded. Only slightly, because the myr is about the size of a small child, plus the width of the wooden tray table on its head. "Dunno why. Kind of a thing."

He puts a card down, the second one so far, muttering, "Island," to nobody in particular. He taps the identical lands and adds, "Jhoira's Timebug."

A delicate mechanical ant (big for one but still pretty small) appears on Theo's shoulder. It's tan near the middle and a pretty swirl of blue and white along the legs at and either end of it. It chirps a little, sort of.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    Where Demonbane is, Al must be. She can operate the machine without Ariel, but the reverse is not true. So she's in the cockpit with Ariel, looking out over the ocean and the gathered fleet. "All of this is going to be useless, I bet," she sighs. "Human weapons are just an annoyance to this. But I guess I have to give them credit for trying."

    She leans back and looks over her shoulder. "Ariel. We're going to get through this, and do it without killing Therion. You're a good person... the best Master I've ever had. Not because of your talent, but because you're just... a good person. Don't ever forget that."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    And the forces are gathering. Ships are aligning in a specific way, and comms are pretty chatty with the various nations lining up their ships into attack formation. Guns are rising, some of them the newer rail guns that launch slugs. It's a pretty big lineup of guns and cruise missiles readying to blast any incoming forces. And... there are incoming forces.

    It's not the HUGE swarm that they had before, but it looks like numerous Destroyer Bots are pouring out of the sphere, some of them arraying themselves in a defensive screen while the others break up into small squadrons, zipping toward the fleet. There aren't nearly as many, but they might be a danger to the ships!

    If only that were it, though. Two more threats make themselves known. As Arthur predicted, the giant form of the Kraken drops out from the sphere, landing with a small splash and a larger rippling wave outward on the ocean surface. The green Deus Machina stands ready to fight, with Caligula snarling angrily within... and the water around him twisting and contorting, forming tendrils in the beginnings of a screen of water to aid the Destroyer Bots.

    That is not the worst of it, though. Atop the sphere, at eh very apex, those in the air or with very sharp eyes will be able to see a small girl emerge, with loose green hair and mismatched eyes. She has a dull expression, blank and distant... but she opens her mouth, and a 'song' begins to pour out. The sound is alien, keening, and the kind of sound that causes a spliitting headache if one tries to make out the words. In response to the alien sounds, the ocean churns again, and a few ripples can be seen approaching at high speed. Very, very high speed... the size of massive tanks or larger, but the speed of torpedoes, the underwater creatures are rapidly approaching the ships from beneath. A few shots are fired, but whatever those things are, they shrug off the massive shells that blast on their carapace.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    BUT WAIT! Not all is lost!

    Ness: "You ready for this, Stone?"

    Stone: "If it means finally defending the city and people that I am sworn to protect, then I am always ready!"

    Ness: "Yeah, I figured. All right, Super West Invincible Destroyer Robot Type-37B: 'Zig' is ready for launch."

    Stone: "TAKE OFF! FOR GREAT JUSTICE!"

    The doors on the Hadou ship swing open, and a large, hastily-assembled robot springs out from within, jets firing to launch it into the air. It looks like a larger version of the incoming Destroyer Robots, and it bristles with weapons. Ness and Stone, piloting the robot, immediately engage the nearest incoming Destroyer Robots.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "WELL!" Psyber shouts to Valentha, "Usual plan is that we fucking figure out what's going on, then engineer the counter-solution on the fly. So, you know, roll with it. Best advice I can give you is cover people. You're a big dragon, cover air superiority."

    To Homura and Theo, Psyber says, "I dunno, it feels like a Monday problem that escalates into a Wednesday problem," He considers it and then starts to rummage around inside his coat. He recalls that he might have something that could actually counter that girl, or at least get her to stop.

    That is, of course, a small tan bag with about two stones left in it. It was a christmas present from Laine some years back that he never got around to using all of. He'd only used three, to date, and this seemed like a good time to use the fourth (and fifth, if necessary).

    So, he holds one of the stones up to his throat and crushes it. Immediately, Laine's Booming Stone enhances his voice, commanding obediance and attention (with consent, obviously) as Psyber's voice emanates from the helicopter.

    "GIRL ON THE SPHERE. KNOCK IT OFF. SURRENDER PEACFULLY."

    He can't really do a prolonged speech, the effect only works for a limited time.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Right, kill more giant robots, don't kill the giantest robot," Marisa throws a great big thumbs up in Arthur's general direction. "Got it. I'll head over and deal with the boomiest one if it shows up." The Legacy of Gold is a powerful machine with some incredible firepower. Its master is a ruthless and brilliant sorcerer, and the terrain is basically wide open and utterly absent of anything that can be used as cover.

The big guns, here, have basically nothing to obstruct them.

In other words, it's just the sort of fight that Marisa Kirisame loves.

Of course, it hasn't actually shown up just yet.

    The witch instead targets some of the drones in the sky. Her usual complement of spells applies. Magic missiles, starlight laserbeams and starburst bullets pour out from the witch's fingertips, Hakkero or orreries. One of the four!

    The girl on the sphere gets a glance and a squint-- but Marisa knows Songs She Shouldn't Listen To when she hears them. She does her best to drown it out with as many big booms and huge freems as possible!

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Rafflesia." Kyra speaks, commanding the attention of the ship's AI. "Move to circle, radius of fifty feet around the Kraken, altitude of two hundred, speed of twenty. Take evasive manuvers if any non-allies come within twenty-five feet of the ship." Kyra herself rolls out of her chair, scooping up her hunting rifle off the floor and skipping over to several neatly-organized racks of darts. She scoops up a number of blue-liquid-filled darts and loads them into the rifle.

    As she does, she speaks up again, "Rafflesia, open starboard loading door." Wind fills the interior of the Rafflesia as the door slides open, exposing the side of the ship to the inner circling of the flight path around the Kraken and the girl riding atop her. Kyra drops onto her stomach to steady herself as she lines up her shot, aimed at the girl.

    She hesitates when Psyber commands the girl to stop singing but after a moment, fires the Mute rounds at her anyway just in case that happened to have not worked.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    It's time. No more waiting, no more delays. Yet still, Amalthea's gaze lingers upon the Demonbane as it lands. But the unicorn is already rising to her feet with a slow hiss of stea. This isn't going to get any easier.
    One glance at the massive crate beside her and she gives it a pat. Before a savage kick causes the panels to fall apart.
    The contraption within is something that appears similar to a multi-stage rocket, and she's already linking up with it, connecting her jump pack with the monster construction of steel and propellant, a few more straps and she's ready.
    Thumbing the activation rune on her shield, there's no response at first. Before the jets kick on with a raging force and heat, the weight of the unicorn and her contraption remaining grounded for a moment before beginning to slowly lift...
    And then EXPLODING through the skies in a sudden KICK that launches her lance first through the skies- zooming past the zig, Wishblade whistling as it cuts the air.
    Her intent is pretty simple... Use the unstoppable force and speed of the Always Booster to tear a STRAIGHT LINE through the skies.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    The reinforcement courtesy of West draws a brief smile to Homura's lips, right before the screeches of the girl atop the sphere wipes it off. She's mentally equipped to deal with that sort of influence, due to experience, but that doesn't really make it painless.

    Remaining in the helicopter, Homura simply mans the turret she installed and lets loose with a line of gatling. Both the Kraken and Dagon aren't her best bet right now-- she lacks underwater combat tools, and lacking foresight, has yet to actually loot a stockpile of ship weaponry. Depth charges would have been great otherwise.

    So for now, the gatling turret is being fired at DRONES. Homura will adjust her plan if the helicopter can't sustain combat conditions or if she NEEDS to go help with the Kraken, Dagon, or something else.

Lila (545) has posed:
    A plan is made! Lila is helping! Lila can't wait to help, really! She smiles, "Oh, it looks like we have a plan! You're with me, cutie!" Wait, what? What's that mean?
    As it turns out, it means that Lila is grabbing Theo's shirt and, powerful grip on his clothes, she leaps out the side of the helicopter she was riding in with him. In an instant the two are falling toward the ocean at high speed. She shouts on the way out, "CAST ON THE WAY DOWN, IT'LL SAVE TIME!"

    He's not in real danger of course. Lila whips out her two pistols on the way down, firing a quick series of shots at one incoming ripple to send blood leaking out into the water on the way. The pinpoint accuracy will surely be enough to damage one, though she's not sure she can kill it without iinvoking some REAL magic. And right now, her Real Magic is busy forming a black circle on the ocean, a sort of net of cool darkness that will catch her and Theo, to form an englobement of air above so they can sink beneath the waves.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    "Hrrrmngh." Chaos unfolds around the Great Horned Dragon. Chaos beyond anything she's dealt with before. "Same as usual, then." She sounds unhappy. As a Wizard it's no surprise - finding elegant counters and being very prepared is one of the main rules.

    Mechs fly and Deus Machinas bristle. Destroyer Bots swarm!

    And an alien voice gives Valentha an immediate, splitting headache. Despite being a much grander being than a human, with a not-quite-human mind, it's not alien enough at ALL to consider that noise 'pleasant.' She outright GROWLS... then her whole body crackle-sizzles with a blue radiance.

    After a few seconds, she's simply GONE. Instead she's up atop of the sphere, behind the girl. A similarly bizarre string of words, ancient syllables of power, resonate from her as well. Equally ancient, but far more pleasing to the human mind. She reaches out with one forearm, a few claws twisting around to shape a flow of magical power of her own make. The agonizing headache is enough to slow her spellcasting and force her to concentrate against it...

    But if the girl doesn't STOP that awful singing like Psyber is demamding?

    Then Valentha will finish her spell, and ALL SOUND PERIOD within a short range around the green-haired girl will simply STOP HAPPENING. No screaming, no voices, no chanting, no singing. No explosions, no wind.

    It's a Globe of Silence.

    That'll screw up ANY spellcaster, at least for a little while! ... until they relocate anyways.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Numerous enemies. Under the water, atop the waves, high in the sky. More than a match in numbers for the forces they have on hand.

    But theirs is a group to whom numbers are meaningless. She's in good company, Setsuko muses silently.

    As the ship she's on prepares for the oncoming storm, Setsuko's boots lift off the prow. And in less than a meter's distance, she's already moving at full speed, straight up into the air towards the incoming flight of Destroyer Bots. Her right hand goes to the sword at her side, the left holding the sheath steady, and in one smooth motion, she draws Zanjintou from its sheath and whips it to one side. The motion itself seems to snap the weapon 'open' - to expand the crossguard along its width, to more than triple the length of the grip, and in a heartbeat, blue-white light ripples outward and solidifies into the massive, broad blade of its true form.

    And then she is among the airborne drones, her blade lashing out again and again. She's not up here just to act as a screen protecting the ships. No, she is on the attack, actively seeking out and destroying the mass-produced units. But all the while, she reaches out not just with her human senses, but her battlesense as well... trying to feel the flow of the fight, trying to find the point where Ogre will show itself.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur needs to reserve some energy until it's time to strike. He needs to reserve some focus to work on coordinating his allies. So for now, he sticks to the gimmick he's had so far. A battleship ought to have a fair bit of heavy calliber weaponry, and that's what Arthur needs, which is why he planted his feet firmly on the deck, at the bow of the craft. Instead of broadcasting to his allies, now he broadcasts to the craft he's on. "Alright you salty sons of bitches, grab your ship and brace your shit, you nautical motherfuckers are about to take a ride on the space side."

    He rubs his hands together, and then slams down to one knee, planting his palms on the deck. And he pumps energy into it, filling it with space magic. He's keeping a lot in reserve, for now, and he's only recovered so much, but for a traditional boat, this should be enough to give a major boost to its offensive power, and right now, that's what they need. The shells they're firing will begin to glow with a dark fire and impact with far more mass than they ought to ever have, and the ship itself may begin to work at a vastly multiplied rate of maneuverability, possibly even beginning to float!

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna's attention is a little bit divided as the task force prepares to engage the remainder of Black Lodge. She's paying particular attention as Arthur outlines what they know to expect; unfortunately, she's not sure which of Anticross's Deus Machina El-Line is best-equipped to counter. Fighting Kraken is probably out of the question, although El-Line isn't as helpless in the water as Yuna is outside of Marine Form; she would be outgunned or out-meleed against Legacy of Gold or the Ogre, but she knows better than to invoke that as an excuse --

And then she hears *singing*. Or rather, chanting, in the ecclesiastical sense of the word - a ritual recitation that adheres to a particular 'melody'. Yuna shakes her head to clear it, sucking in a couple of deep breaths. "Shining Prism, if you're awake, now would be a really good time for your help," she says to her Abstractum pendant. "See if you can break down that girl's song, figure out what she's doing with it, and help me counter it at the magical level!"

Whether or not her Abstractum can help counteract the eldritch hymn in terms of magic, though, Yuna glances at Elner's monitor. "'Paradise of the Sun' seems appropriate, don't you think?"

/If anything is,/ Elner replies - but the opening notes of the song's accompaniment start to play over El-Line's external speakers. Yuna takes a deep breath, and begins to sing:

o/~    Let's set off on a big journey, beyond the sun and wind
    And surely the door will open, to a paradise not on any map

Rather than holding still, El-Line accelerates towards the Illusionary Heart Mother, with Elner supporting Yuna's piloting as she tries to weave through the destroyer robots rather than fighting her way through them - Yuna can't split her attention THAT much, and she has to keep singing, even if it's just to give her allies something happier to listen to.

o/~    The morning you were born into this world, the bells of blessing rang
    People are born embracing one unique treasure

o/~    Never forget the feeling you had that day, flowing in your heart ... 'Dear My Song'

As Yuna keeps singing, El-Line's flight actually becomes more graceful as it continues trying to dodge destroyer drones. El-Line is an extension of Yuna's powers, after all - it could be described as *THE* manifestation of the Savior of Light's full power, the embodiment with which she fought the Queen of Darkness directly in her own domain. So maybe it shouldn't be much of a surprise that its evasive flight seems to take on a dance-like quality, swaying with the beat of Yuna's song.

o/~    We're in the middle of our journey, aiming for the land of the sun
    To the promised place that isn't on any map
    Changing a commonplace tale into a future without end,
    Surely all kinds of dreams can come true, so smile

Theo Morrison has posed:
That horrible noise starts up. Theo winces, but feels ready to play on. Things are wonky with his chosen form of spellcasting, but people seem to understand it enough to back him up, now. It's pretty nice having people willing to give him a hand --

'You're with me, cutie!'

Theo pauses mid-draw. "Wait, whaAAAAAAAAAHHHHH-" Theo exits the chopper in the second to last way he wants to. Less than a second later, Kickotron follows, dutifully throwing himself from the helicopter with nary a sound. The cards stay affixed to the tray, because abstract sorta-magic, that's why.

Theo is suddenly falling from a helicopter. He's falling towards the /ocean/ from a /helicopter/, which is a thing that /kills/ people. Understandably, Theo is freaking out, because he has no idea what Lila can do and how fast she can do it. He's flailing pretty wildly. He doesn't lose his grip on his hand, though, because that would be silly.

Kickotron ends up level with him, more or less, and Theo struggles to push his cards onto the tray as they approach the water. He's not in let's say the /correct/ state of mind to dramatically dictate what he's doing, but a cyan-tinged window like a pane of glass materializes in the sea beneath and to the side of them. Water seems to be flowing out of it. It connects to a much darker, much deeper place in the sea... or /a/ sea.

Accordingly, it's some kind of temporal window. Fortunately, he doesn't think that Hound is actually aquatic, so they're probably fine. Not that that's a /conscious/ concern till they hit the water, anyway.

Deelel has posed:
The forces have gathered but things seem to be starting to heat up. She notices the enemy is coming and she moves in to aid those acting against this whom she can. Then comes a freaking huge Kraken of doom. Deelel is a creature of purposes even if she's evolved she'd never lost her original purposes the song the music is wrong it's sick. It's a mockery of what music should be from her world, she's in pain and attempts to fire some shots at the thing. She has some magic but nothing that could hinder someone like this. Deelel does notice Valentha making her move and banks trying to follow after her, the Dragon may need some support hopefully she can do something to help.

as Yuna starts sinking she launches some units that she uses during the odd concert hooks the remote units up to the comm network in an attempt to boost Yuna and get her song out to more of the battle zone, she's hoping it's going to work or at least help with moral. There's a lot to worry about too still like the Karken and if that song can't be stopped it's going to get worse.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Shining Prism speaks up; as always, its tone is one of a dutiful retainer, or a loyal warrior. "Right away." The pendant says. "Powering Strife Drives. I'll try to run analysis and enhancement." Brilliant red holoscreens pop up, flickering back and forth with data and strange runes. Its specialty is magic-type sensing, and so the Abstractum will try to sense the magical elements of the song, looking for weak points that Yuna's non-magical singing can target, and then modulate her output to go for them! It may not, unfortunately, work; it's a little bit of a stretch. But it'll try!

Ariel (219) has posed:
It's a good thing she brought allies, Ariel thinks. This might actually be something she can pull off. "I guess that leaves Caligula to us." Ariel steadies Demonbane as the Zig takes off, and she giggles lightly, "Glad those two can fight back for once."

But she has a job to do! The Shantak system fires up, and Demonbane launches into the air, hurtling toward the giant sphere. No doubt the Drones will try to stop her, so she does need to clear a path.

"Cthugha, Ithaqua... can you do me a favor?" she asks, the two giant guns whipping out. Yes, guns this time, for a reason. "God-Beast Form!"

She's hoping that this will clear out a path for her to come in fast toward Kraken, with the leg-shields charging. At high speed, she's going to come in and unleash all that stored energy at once, aimed toward the Kraken's chest. She's not worried about killing Caligula... she knows this won't be enough. "ATLANTIS STRIKE!"

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    God-Beast form makes the bullets fired from the twin guns transform, sending a shrieking dragon of ice across the water at high speed. The other gun, the automatic, summons up a furious blazing form of some kind, which chargest through the sky to rampage in front of Demonbane, smelting into components any Drones in the way.

    Al bites her lip, "Be careful, Ariel. They have to know that you're stronger than the Kraken and Caligula, by now. Something's up."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    It looks like there's a lot of focus on that singing girl, isn't there? This is probably a good thing, because that singing is making it hard for the ships to coordinate. Already, one of the destroyers has crashed into another, and are starting to sink. Fortunately, they're being evacuated by some others nearby, so it isn't a crisis yet... but this will only get worse.

    Yuna's song floats out over the seas, though! There's nothing supernatural here, but boosted by Shining Prism and further spread by the drones Deelel deploys, it still manages to muffle the effects. For the moment, the minds are clear... but that keening song is still there in the background, and moment by moment it's digging its barbs into the minds of everyone present. Yuna's managed to DRASTICALLY slow the effects this has had, but there's still a definite time limit on the battle.

    Psyber's Booming Stone /does/ have an effect. For just a moment, the song stops, and blank, quietly sad eyes turn toward the group. Then the song resumes... for a few seconds. It is silenced by the englobement of Valentha's silence spell, which gives another respite... just not a permanent one. The R'lyeh Text keeps singing in silence, as if not paying attention to the spell. It's only a few seconds later that the spell simply /unravels/ around her, as a bit of a reminder that most magics in this world do not require a voice. The singing resumes.

    But what of Kyra? The Mute Dart would surely help as well... and it does, in an unexpected way. A thick tendril of /something/ fleshy erupts from the sphere, coiling in front of the girl to block Kyra's shot. Apparently it automatically protects her, meaning her presence is something that they want protected. But with the sphere beneath her, there's no easy way to approach without the tendrils intercepting.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The DRONES in the air are much less numerous than before, and... well, as it happens, there's a lot of firepower going after them. Homura doesn't even need to use her magic to send bullets flying through the air, ripping into many of the Drones. Flak from the battleships provides cover as well, and with the Zig and Amalthea plowing through the east flank, and Setsuko teaming with Homura to tear into the west flank, the numbers of the drones are dwindling fast.

    It doesn't seem like they're being replaced, either. Which means that the aerial support is pretty quickly vanishing. No sign of Ogre or Legacy of Gold /quite/ yet... oh there it is. Not the Ogre, but a brief opening in the Sphere reveals the Legacy of Gold, which sends a bombardment of lasers toward the Elites in the air. Augustus is atop it, arms crossed and looking annoyed... probably because his coup failed. Maybe that's why he's here, and Ogre is in there. It's going to be hard to get into that sphere, though... especially with the Legacy providing cover fire. Air superiority isn't a thing that they have, though.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber watches down below to survey the efficacy of the many silencing maneuvers all getting deployed on a single target. He figured it wouldn't be so easy to silence a girl like that, but he also figured it was worth a shot anyway. Nothing about this particular world has been even the least bit easy. He scowls a bit, gripping the inside of the helicopter with his right hand.

    "Homura!" He tries to shout over the turret, "I need you t-"

    Then the ENTIRE VEHICLE shakes as it tries to evade and duck through the bombardment from the Legacy of Gold, the whole thing rocking and turning violently as he aims to avoid what it can and manages to narrowly scrape through the shots. Unfortunately, Homura will never know what Psyber was going to say, because he lost his grip with the one-arm and all, and promptly fall out the non-turret side of the aircraft.

    Determined to turn lemons into lemonade, he reaches into his coat and withdraws a piece of paper. Said paper promptly turns into a massive warhammer that he hoists in one arm. He adjusts his trajectory and tries to come right down on the R'lyeh Text with an overhand hammer blow.

    Unfortunately, because he's deliberately increasing proximity, the headache caused by her song has progressed into a wicked nosebleed. He's not trying to hit her so much as the sphere under her, with that giant hammer, and he wants to provoke the defenses that they just discovered to create openings for other people.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    That opening--

    Homura hops off her turret emplacement, without warning. And right out the helicopter. Not only will she never know what Psyber was going to say but she'll never know it wasn't technically her fault. If someone else in the helicopter wants it, it's all theirs though. Not even a second later, she is hovering next to Setsuko, cracking black wings outstretching from her back, less wings and more literally cracks.

    "No time to explain. Hand. Now."

    The moment Setsuko complies, time stops. The greyed out, eerily silent sight of the battlefield will have to wait to be admired, though, because the Puella Magi immediatly begins flying towards the SPHERE.

    The opening the LEGACY OF GOLD is coming out of.

    Normally it would be too fast to really make use of, especially with the Deus Machina in the way and charging up its lasers. For Homura that's a different matter, though the amount of forces here make the stop a bit more of a drain than it would normally be. It doesn't help those things are charged with horrible eldritch magic.

    The end result is that HOMURA and SETSUKO should be able to penetrate the SPHERE by slipping through the same opening the LEGACY OF GOLD used to exit. Hopefully it's a hangar and not something more horrible.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Lila and Theo splash into the water, and as they sink down beneath the waves. Numerous huge creatures are here... the massive beasts immediately seeing the new threat, several heading right for it. They aren't strong enough to get past Lila, but they'll keep her busy... which is kind of the point, isn't it? Because that will leave Theo free to open his gate and prepare his own spell to take care of them.

    The Hounds feel it... but the nearest vessel is a SPHERE so there are no corners to pop out of. Theo and Lila are safe for now. But there are a LOT of these things, and they're starting to swarm.

    Fortunately, Arthur boosted a ship nearby, and the cannons that send their shells streaking into the water slam in much harder, ripping through the various otherworldly beasts. This stirs them up and distracts them, giving the two beneath the waves some breathing room.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
o/~    It can't be seen, but there's always a treasure deep within the heart ...

It may not be much, but it *IS* something - and Yuna continues singing, as much for the mundane morale boost as to help counter the strange girl's stranger song. It's a particular morale boost for Yuna personally - this song's an old favorite of hers, and she loves to sing generally; actually being an idol singer is just a happy coincidence in some ways.

o/~    Never forget the feeling you had that day, spreading wide in your heart ... "Dear My Place"

o/~    The bell of hope resounds; open the door of destiny
    And surely we can make it to the final paradise
    On days when sorrowful rain continues to fall, we can keep swimming
    Always, deep in your heart, you believed in yourself

On the other hand, just singing her heart out isn't going to be enough to actually turn the tide. Psyber distracts the chanter briefly, Valentha and Kyra try to silence her outright, but none of it takes; the strange chanter is clearly something important to whatever Black Lodge is up to - or she's meant to SEEM important. And then Legacy of Gold starts shooting at everybody.

THAT is when Yuna misses a beat, letting out a yelp as a couple of lasers slam into El-Line and leave scorch marks on its armor, a few sparks crackling in the wake of the impacts. Fortunately, Elner can loop the instrumental bridge to extend it slightly while Yuna recovers; Yuna takes advantage of the interruption to tap one of her panels, and the Lightron beam rifle materializes in El-Line's grip.

o/~    Somewhere beyond the rainbow, is the sound of tomorrow being born ...

That next line, in the middle of the bridge, is slower, more yearning compared to the upbeat tempo most of the song has - and coming out of the bridge, the song regains its initial vigor, with El-Line's 'dance' now anticipating and trying to dodge shots from Legacy of Gold, in addition to weaving around any drones which are still a factor.

o/~    We're in the middle of our journey, aiming for the land of the sun
    To the promised place, that isn't on any map
    Changing a commonplace tale into a future without end,
    Because surely all kinds of dreams can come true

The Lightron is aimed towards the girl while Yuna keeps singing - not directly AT her, but towards the sphere's surface nearby - and then Psyber is lunging into melee, and Yuna IMMEDIATELY points her gun SOMEWHERE ELSE as she finishes the final chorus.

o/~    The bell of hope resounds; open the door of destiny
    Surely we can make it to the final paradise
    On days when sorrowful rain continues to fall, we can keep swimming
    Always, deep in your heart, you believed in yourself

On the (maybe) plus side, if El-Line is right over the sphere - which is where Yuna's been trying to get to - then maybe Augustus's Deus Machina won't be able to shoot at the Matrix Figure. Yuna's bigger concern is queuing up her next song, though - because the OTHER song is an ongoing incantation, whereas Yuna's repertoire is pretty consistent about having beginnings, middles, and ends. That's a disadvantage.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel sees the combined effort it helpt to drive some of the effect back but she's got a feeling it won't stop the horrible song forever. It does howeve rbuy them time and it seems she's helping, Psyber gets the song to stop for a moment which seem to give everyone breathing space as does Valentha's efforts. It's only a few seconds but anything to stop it should help give them a bot more time. She sees the effect is working and she'll try to keep her drones operational with others go into the battle, she does watch for what Psyber is doing but she's now turning her attention to the Karken she's got a lot of light charges with her, so she might be able to help with that as well.

She'll set up the drones to alert her of issues and she makes ready to go if an opening is made by Psyber or someone else

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra actually fires a few times, emptying the entire 'clip' she loaded of Mute darts. Each one is blocked, stuck into the thick skin of the Kraken and not the intended target. At least there were backup plans on that! Her ship unleashes a warning chime for 'evasive manuvers' and Kyra quickly rolls away from the open loading door, grabbing onto the bolted-down pilot's chair. Seconds later, the Rafflesia pitches to avoid the salvo from the Legacy of Gold.

    Once the ship has stablized, she hastily slips the strap on her rifle over her head and shoulder to secure the weapon to her person. Carefully, she manuvers back to the open door, one hand firmly gripping handrail on the side. She takes thet moment to check her allies for any sorts of grevious harm. Psyber just bailed on the helicopter but he doesn't look like he's leaking pieces so that seems to be fine.

    At a bit of a loss for what to do at the moment, she turns her magical senses to the Kraken and the singing rider. "Reveal the secrets of your vitality." she murmurs, ending with a louder, "Libra!" It's a scanning spell, common on her world, but still useful for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of enemies (and health problems).

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko's blade whips and swings, cleaving drone after drone; Powerful though they may be, the divinity that forms her blade will not be denied its victory by lesser opponents. The appearance of the Legacy of Gold doesn't go unnoticed, either, and the demigod turns in preparation for that spread of lasers - only for a drone to peg her in the shoulder the second she's not looking, clipping her right side deep enough to draw blood. She comes around in preparation to retaliate, and-

    Suddenly, Homura.

    Setsuko doesn't hesitate, doesn't ask questions. Too much trust in the magical girl for that. She returns her sword to its smaller form with her right hand, while reaching out with the left to take Homura's hand.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The God Beast forms of the two godlike beings streak through the air, clearing much of the riffraff in the way. Marisa is also in this area, zapping and exploding numerous Drones. It's not that hard, now that their weak points are known, and pretty soon the pair of them have pretty much cleared the air... and left a path for Ariel and Demonbane to plummet toward the Kraken, which is manipulating the water in preparation for an attack.

    The Atlantis Strike that Demonbane used SMASHES into the Kraken's chest, sending it staggering back on the water. As Demonbane 'bounces' back and presumably catches itself in flight, the Kraken rights itself, showing a massive gash and torn armor in the chest. The tough Deus Machina is very enduring, but that's a powerful strike!

    Except...

    It's sealing up as Ariel and Al watch, quickly slamming the hole closed and replating armor, at an impossibly fast rate.

    "AHAHAHA!" Caligula gloats. "I am INDESTRUCTIBLE!" The Kraken moves dramatically faster than it should, sending out a torrent of water that's like a battering ram toward Demonbane.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    Valentha's at first relieved... but when the singing seems to continue even in silence, and the spell is COMPLETELY UNWOVEN.

    THAT gets a frown. Valentha knows ways to cast magic without chanting. It's slower and takes far more focus, but it can be done. Still, seeing it done this casually? "Whatever this girl's nature is... impressive is the only word for it. But I'm not dissuaded so easily."

    While Psyber and others decide to go Physical, Valenthanixa has a different idea for what constitutes BRUTE FORCE in this context.

    Flaring her wings open wide, the Great Horned Dragon then SHRINKS. It takes a few seconds, but in no time at all she's back to human form... with a glowing white robe as her only clothes. Likely a minor conjuration for simple modesty concerns, given the glow. She is in fact floating a few feet off the Sphere, supported purely by magic.

    Magic, as it turns out, she ALSO has in spades.

    Now that she's in a form more suitable for the gestures she learned, Valentha sets about to her own chant. It takes a good seven seconds or so, unlike her typical spells. An enormous flare of pure magical energy erupts from her hands, seeming to burn the air hungrily, ripping and gnashing. This... she then FLINGS at the R'lyeh Text, a sustained 'beam' easily as thick as her own body.

    It's not a particularly elegant spell. It doesn't have to be. It has one simple, special purpose.

    RIP APART SPELLS AND OTHER MAGIC through brute force.

    A tidal wave of brutal, chaotic magic is her weapon, and the wellspring of power needed to back up the attempt considerable indeed.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Kyra's shots are indeed blocked... and that leaves her kind of helpless unless some way can be found to target the girl herself. The medic is going to have a tough time... and then that Libra spell leaps into being.

    It can't actually discern EVERYTHING about this. Most of the beings here are too high level to get much information out of them. It can tell immediately the most important aspect though... there's a metaphysical link between the sphere and the girl, to no one's surprise. More important is the metaphysical link between the KRAKEN and the sphere, like a magical umbilical feeding it a constant supply of power. Very, very pure power, and a lot of it.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur needs to protect his boats. Lila and Theo can buy him the necessary time, thank god for those two, but he needs Lila on the surface and away from the small fry, he needs her where she can do the most damage. She's the only one with the sheer quantity of firepower to tear open the sphere, and so if she's stuck underwater, he'll be able to do /nothing/!

    Arthur's palms, planted down on the deck of the ship, curl, crushing a portion of the ship's deck under him and gripping it. "ALRIGHT!" He calls out to not just his boat, but the entire naval fleet. "HOLD THE HELL ON AND GET READY TO CONTEND WITH SHIT YOU AIN'T NEVER CONTENDED WITH BEFORE!" He was trying to keep more reserves, but he can't afford to lose those boats and they can't stop that sea-monster summoning spell. So if they can't stop the spell, then... Why not simply leave its area of effect? Arthur uses his enchantments on the other craft throughout the combined fleet as a relay point, and from each, the spell spreads out to the other craft. They're allied; conceptually, he can perform an effect on them that he could not perform on something chaotically disorganized or opposed to him. They're able to receive his power much more effectively.

    And so, Arthur Lowell fills them with antigravity.

    If this works out, every boat will begin to float off of the water and up to an area about level with the sphere. This will drain a lot from Arthur. His hands burn with brilliant, blistering black fire and his face is already bleeding from the strain of trying to lift an entire navy, but the simple fact is, sea monsters are bound to the sea, and if Arthur can move the naval fleet, he can keep them competitive and useful with a much lesser risk, and exploit Black Lodge's lack of air superiority.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
DA-DA-DA-DA-DANN! The bullets come flying!

BA-BA-BA-BA-BAAN! Everything explodes!

    Marisa soars through the sky like a thermonuclear eagle, blossoms of flame glowing all around her. Wrecks of twisted metal drop out from between the clouds, plummeting into the churning sea below. "Must've cleared out most of 'em yesterday," Marisa mutters, her beams tearing through one last drone as she rockets over the weird, undulating sphere.

    And then, suddenly, there are columns of tremendous, golden light. The Legacy of Gold emerges from its distinctly meaty hangar. Marisa yelps in surprise as the the massive machine disgorges its brilliant might into the sky. Even if all of those beams are coming from a fixed location, it doesn't help the fact that there are /tons of them./

    The witch twists around one of the beams as Kraken and its pilot turn the sea into a massive, churning, nautical nightmare. Fortunately, Marisa is way overhead. Unfortunately, she's busy dodging artillery-beams.

    "You ain't bad," Marisa growls. Her Hakkero slides into her palm, her fingers closing around its octagonal shape. A beam shoots up from under her-- she weaves out of the way just in time to avoid being swallowed up entirely. Her hat seems to have caught fire, though. "But you're slow! Way too slow!"

    The witch yells as she weaves through the beams- and reciprocates with LASERS OF HER OWN. Cerulean lasers and mana-eating, emerald missiles race down from the witch and her four orreries. But will they do much of anything to the massive, golden bell-machine!?

But the Hakkero seems to be... glowing. Brighter and brighter. Something is coming- something big. Something bright. Something...

Colorful

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Homura grabs Setsuko and tries to slip by with a time-warp.

    It's a drain, but it does work. When the shield closes up and time resumes flowing, the pair will find themselves BEHIND the Legacy of Gold, in a large passage heading deeper into the Illusionary Heart Mother.

    It won't be very far, however, before the pair will encounter another foe. The Ogre is there, fully repaired somehow and bearing all four blades. All of them, both pairs of arms bearing weapons, lift up and enter into a complex and guarded stance.

    "I am afraid I cannot let you pass any further," comes Titus's voice. "But I am pleased that one of the opponents that I have come to respect are now here for me to face down. This may be my final battle. I wish for it to be a good one."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "S..shit..." Kyra stares at the battlefield, seeing things only made visible to her after she's cast Libra. Everything was so incomprehensibly /high leveled/. The more she looks at it, the more her head hurts, and eventually a small trickle of blood leaks out of one of her nostrils.

    "Rafflesia-" she commands the ship's AI to cease circling and reposition at a spot above the black sphere and somewhat between the Kraken and Singing Girl. While the ship moves itself, she rushes over to her secured (Moogle-shaped!) backpack and pulls her mPad out of it. She fires up the video capture program, activates a few extra options, and pulls a stylus out of one of her pockets.

    Carefully standing at the edge of the open door, she points the mPad down at the battle and casts Libra again to reconfirm what she saw earlier. As she does, she films the spot and uses the stylus to mark on the feed where exactly the power-giving tether between the sphere, the Singing Girl, and the Kraken is located.

Theo Morrison has posed:
The temporal window seems to be acting strangely. Normally, they come into focus slowly and gradually, helped along by the odd magic that Theo employs. This time, it's very quickly accelerating towards crisp, clear transparency. The tide pushing out of it grows stronger, a deluge of alien sea-water altering currents and making the sea more perilous than before. It's not really something he can /help/, though...

Theo doesn't know how he's not both drowning and dealing with a soaked deck, but he doesn't question it, doing little more than shooting Lila a still-nervous look and grabbing the next card off the top. He slaps down a fourth Island without preamble, hastily tapping the land on his board and feeling the familiar flow of Blue mana from the vast ocean around him. It's almost comforting, after yesterday.

"Two for Isochron Scepter!" He slaps a card down with a second on top of it. There's a flash of amber, and a curved, flanged scepter appears in his grasp. "Imprinting Clockspinning! Two to Clockspin, and tapping the Timebug, to bring in..."

The mechanical ant on his shoulder lifts its head, antennae twitching. There's a ticking from it, a sound which gets louder until it's magnified tenfold, an eerily slow 'TICK.... TOCK' of a clock echoing through the sea. A ripple of sharp blue lines accompanies it, coloring the area immediately around them -- and then a second ripple follows, accompanied by a flash from the Scepter in Theo's no-longer-free hand, raised above his head.

"...Deep-Sea Kraken!!"

The cyan-tinged pane of magical energy cracks like glass. It abruptly becomes clear, a portal opened beneath the waves, and... something... emerges. It's enormous in every respect, long and wide, a thick, dense body bearing something like a bone crest on a beaked head that a sharp ridge of spines trails down its back from. Enormous tentacles and smaller grasping arms comes with it, the shapes of many limbs dimly visible in the dark waters.

Then, inexplicably, it seems to disappear. It blends with the sea-water, gliding through the ocean in silence, despite its utterly colossal size. When it reappears, it's suddenly practically on top of the sea monsters, dwarfing many and coming from unexpected angles. There's no way for it to be that agile and that strong at once, and yet...

"Worth the wait, I think," Theo pants, having apparently recovered enough to make stupid remarks.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Psyber slamming that giant hammer down toward the Text has the... expected effect. That being, numerous tentacles erupt around the singing girl, snapping up above her to harden the instant /after/ absorbing the brunt of the hit. This sends a quake down through each of the five pillars that now shield her, the shock going through them and into the giant sphere.

    They can't retreat right away though, because of this. That means that the ones that snap up toward Yuna are much slower and less numerous, easy to dodge but keeping her busy. SHE is also keeping THEM busy though, which allows Valentha's spell to burrow into the side of one, burning it away and opening up a deep gaping hole in the dome they form. It's already starting to heal of course.

    But it's there.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    As soon as Setsuko's boots are on the ground inside the Illusionary Heart Mother, she's running, although she remains slow enough that Homura won't be taxed keeping up. Her footfalls slow, however, as her senses alert her to what's up ahead, and by the time they come into view of the Ogre proper, she is walking calmly, and finally comes to a stop. "Titus," the demigod greets simply. There is acknowledgement in that one word; respect, and perhaps a bit of regret. She knows quite well how this dance ends, and most likely so does the Ogre's pilot. And yet, it is a dance both of them cannot help but throw themselves into.

    "Then I will grant that wish," she replies, sweeping Zanjintou around herself in a flourish, before holding it vertically. The grip extends, the crossguard widens, and that tremendous blade grows skyward, one edge towards Setsuko herself, the other towards the Ogre, so that she can gaze around it at her opponent. "My name is Setsuko... Kaminagi Setsuko! Sword of the War God!" Down and around her it whips, held behind. "HERE I COME!"

    And like a missile, the silver-haired woman launches herself towards the Ogre, swinging her tremendous sword around for a full-force opening strike.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    If she could go back a minute she'd just wait for the Ogre to deploy too. That would have been swell. Great, in fact. They could have avoided this entirely! But it's too late. And now they're in an enclosed space fighting a four-armed relatively powerful Deus Machina.

    Homura glances towards Setsuko.

    The immediatly understood message is 'he's yours'.

    Homura herself just cranks her powers up a notch. She doesn't stop time again-- in here, she thinks, it would probably drain her too quickly. Too much ambient magic, too much background noise. It might not be acting to counter her, but it's overwhelming in a whole different way. Otherwordly. So instead, she settles for essentially casting Hasteragaja+ 3 on herself and moving fast instead of in stopped time.

    With any sort of luck she intends to slip right past the Ogre and head deeper in-- she won't maintain the spell longer than is needed to avoid bumping into nasty things that might try eating her, either. She's going to look for what amounts to a control room. A generator room would also do. Anything she can throw grenades in to make the Illusionary Heart Mother less of a battlefield presence.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
It doesn't take Yuna terribly long to come up with her next song. 'Optimistic' is kind of the theme she's focusing on, keeping morale up as well as she can - and as soon as a suitable song comes to mind, she calls out to Elner, "'Courage for Tomorrow'!"

Then she has to *DODGE*, G-forces wringing a half-gasp, half-yelp from her as she shunts El-Line hard to the left so none of those pillar-tentacles hit her. She can do more than just dodge while she's getting ready to sing, though; even as Elner starts playing the instrumental lead-in and pings Deelel to offer a proper transmission link, Yuna splits her attention enough to level the Lightron at the tentacle-pillars and pulls the trigger, releasing the charge that the beam rifle had already been building up from the moment it materialized.

The blast is aimed well above Psyber and R'lyeh-tan, mind you - but damage to the sphere should still be *damage*, and weakening the defensive tendrils has to be a helpful thing generally, even if it's just 'a little less mana to feed the rest of Anticross while the sphere's regenerating'.

And THAT is when Yuna starts actually singing:

o/~    With an extraordinary smile,
    Let's pump the pedals strongly
    With a headwind blowing against us
    It's no good to get discouraged

As if making up for lost time, Yuna pours her emotions into the lyrics, El-Line continuing its evasive slewing and zig-zagging. Odds are that the Matrix of Light are doing as much to pilot El-Line as Yuna herself is, especially given that she has to split her attention between 'pilot El-Line' and 'sing her heart out'.

o/~    The strength that won't lose to sadness
    You tell me of it softly
    While we aim for the wide ocean

o/~    Do your best! Someday your eyes
    Will shine brightly, bathed in light
    Don't give up, and what you believe in
    Will become courage for tomorrow

Ariel (219) has posed:
The torrent of water slams into the icy shield that Ariel works to summon. This sends Demonbane hurtling back, smacking the surface of the water. Armor shears off and spins away, but the damage is thankfully minor for now. Rattled up, some plating gone, but Demonbane is intact for the most part.

That will change if Ariel doesn't do something.

Letting out a deep breath, Ariel steadies the flying Deus Machina. "Okay. Time for me to show everyone what I've learned, right Al?"

Demonbane's hair whips out and around, curling about to entangle the Kraken. It's not very strong, but might slow it down. "ATLACH-NACHA!"

But that isn't all her spells, not at all.

"MIRROR OF NICTORIS! CRITIAS! TIMAEUS! CHAIN-SEVERING SYSTEM ACTIVATE!" An explosion bounces off the water, sending Demonbane rocketing into the sky... no, a /dozen/ Demonbanes, all moving in erratic patterns that surround the Kraken, keeping it busy for her real attack.

"In this world of light, there is no place for you of the darkness!"

Power gathers in the mecha's right fist as one of the Demonbanes hurtles toward... the spot indicated by Kyra.

"Thirst not. Hunger not. Return to the void!"

Demonbane brings a fist back, then slams it forward, heading for that point...

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber hits the tendrils and grunts from the impact of it. If he had two arms, he suspects he might be able to power through. But he's all right, so he has to stick to that. He holds the hammer down, letting the force of the impact ripple through it. Eventually he pulls back from the strike, backflipping off of it and skidding across the surface of the dome.

    "Son of a bitch, little girl. You're damn well protected," Psyber comments as he slams the hammer down on the surface of the dome to get his footing back. And then he dashes forward again, "But you're going to need ALL your defense to stop this next one."

    As he swings the hammer, the back opens up and an essence-fueled rocket appears, erupting in a silver display of forward momentum. The silver and cobalt weapon streaks forward at an insane speed, Psyber having more than a bit of trouble controlling the wild strike with only one arm.

    He's attacking the opposite side of the R'lyeh Texts that Kyra is on, trying to draw all the defense to one side to block his next heavy strike and leave the girl open to the actual attack from the alchemist. He can already feel his 'good' arm aching from the exertion of trying to control the wild weapon and absorb the shock of its strikes.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    As Demonbane's fist draws back, a white hot glow appears around it. No explosion, this time... on the way to striking that point, instead, the giant robot's fist is enveloped in a sudden *CRACK* as air snaps down around it, sucked into the rip in reality that the heat has caused, heat beyond what should be in one place without igniting the atmosphere.

    When the fist swings forward, it doesn't come alone. Something is drawn out of that black hole.

    A brilliant, incredibly shining blade swings out, sending a flash of pure energy, beyond anything that Demonbane has generated before. Reality itself is cut in half by the strike, easily slicing through the air to leave a glimmering of /nothing/ at all... and cutting the umbilical to Kraken's power.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    It's rare indeed that Valentha has to exert so much effort against ANY kind of magical foe. Rarer still that all it results in is a mere HOLE in the defenses. A part of her boils with frustration - centuries and centuries of study, and this is her limit?

    Another shines with curiosity. What power this being holds. Could anything be learned from it usefully?

    Alas, she decides that's probably not happening. Far too dangerous to associate with anything of THIS nature...

    It reeks of the Old Ones, after all. Something LIKE them.

    The spiky-haired blonde woman spreads her arms wide, continuing to pump energy into her Negate Magic spell. But over time this 'beam' changes shape, stretching wider. It's an EXTREME drain on Valentha to keep this effort up. She would groan, but the severe concentration at work doesn't allow even that. The blue 'beam' sizzles and arcs with raw power, widening slightly but diffusing. The goal is to punch that hole wider and wider!

    Her eyes are fierce and blazing white, and so much power's going into this that some of her P.P.E. simply leaks out wastefully into a mystical blue aura that's ripped and tugged along by the massive spell channeling.

    Very few spells can be actively SUSTAINED like this, but Negate Magic appears to have been a wise choice.

    If by 'wise' you mean 'it's drained about half of her entire reserves already.'

Lila (545) has posed:
    Theo has just summoned a water kraken, leaving Lila quite impressed! A barrier forms, letting one of the things smash into it again, and she steps back in the little globe to admire the boy's handiwork.

    She casts him an impish grin. "Very nicely done. I like it." The bubble starts to surface again as she rises above, and as Theo is left on a raft consisting of solid shadow.

    The Nameless One, that titanic entity from before, shimmers into existence. Lila vanishes, presumably teleported into the cockpit of the 300 meter giant robot.

    "Arthur, you had something for me to do?"

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    It... Takes a bit of work for Amalthea to slow down, after kicking that thruster on. But she manages it. It takes every ounce of her skill to not clean overshoot the massive sphere, by the time a part opens up and-
    "Hello Legacy of Gold."
    All those lasers coming at her are kind of a problem.
    From both in front and behind.
    Amalthea cuts thrusters completely and just lets herself freefall, twirling and jinking, suddenly thrusting in an aerial somersault sidewards to evade another blast as she simply... Lets Marisa Kirisame do her thing.
    Once her course is adjusted to not be fried in the air from every which way, she re-angles. Eye narrowing as she picks a spot, slings her lance into readied position, waiting for her moment. Waiting, as Demonbane and Kraken continue their titanic clash. Waitinf for Ariel and Al Azif to present an opening.
    As soon as the umbilical connecting Kraken to the massive sphere is severed Amalthea jams down the button on the grip of her shield.
    In an intant The Always Booster erupts to life again, the massive rocket backpack setting her and her lance on a screaming course for the Deus Machina as, briefly, a silent moment of pride wells in her breast.
    Her speed just... Keeps building. A miniature comet of silver streaking for the massive mecha, on multiple jets.
    With a fizzle, two of the thrusters die down, fuel reserves spent... They break away, detaching from the main thruster. Another two die down, sputtering before they fall away, four empty chambers of fuel falling to the ocean below. And leaving one massive one still blazing on her back.
    It's with the SNAP of the sound barrier choking behind her, that Amalthea takes that opening, turning herself into a rainbow-trailing cruise missile, lance point first at Caligula's mecha.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The Legacy of Gold is DEFINITELY better than Claudius and the Lord Byakhee was. The blistering rate of fire doesn't slow, with Augustus sneering with disdain. "Is it a game to you, girl?" He doesn't laugh, he's just insufferable. And he keeps up the beamspam, letting his own mecha just absorb any counterfire for now. Which is going to give Marisa a free shot...

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Rafflesia, arc over the target area, I need better resolution on this spot!" Kyra wanted to make sure to be as precise as possible so Arthur, Marisa, Ariel, and whoever else taking the shot knew exactly where to aim. She spends about a minute of doing this before Psyber asks for something over the radio.

    She scrambles away, cramming her mPad back in the secured backpack. From there, she madly starts stuffing new darts into the hunting rifle, these having resevoirs containing a black liquid. Another stack is dragged to her, kept nearby, though she's unsure just how much time she's going to have to fire.

    Once again she flops down onto her stomach in front of the open starboard loading door, quickly giving her ship commands to move and hold position high above the R'lyeh text. She takes aim and waits, listening to the radio carefully for the signal.

    At Psyber's cry, she unloads, metholodically firing six darts in a row down at the girl. Once the sixth has left, she scrambles to reload, then unleashes another six darts of paralytic tranquilizer rounds.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Well that's nice. The entire fleet is above water, lifted away fromt he beasts beneath, floating unsteadily. The Zig swoops around, adding its own firepower to the barrage that the fleet sends down into the water.

    Stone: "YES! We have them on the run!"

    Ness: "I admit, I could get used to this."

    And then the kraken appears, snapping up the monstrous beasts from beneath the waves. It leaves the waters a churning, frothing mess, but it's also crippled the 'army' that they summoned. This leaves Lila some space to summon her Deus Machina.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The Ogre's swords come up, and with a clash, battle is met! Titus is better this time... both in skill, if possible, and in his Deus Machina's power. The blow drives the Ogre back, skidding across the floor, but it doesn't severely hurt it. Sparks fly, and a magical aura of battle appears... or perhaps it's just the fighting spirit of two samurai on the battlefield.

    All four blades begin an intimate dance with Setsuko's blade, a flurry of motion that is complex and, in a way, lovely in its intricacy. As blades clash and blows are taken, Titus finally explains.

    "You asked why I fight, and why I continue to fight," he says. "I will tell you. The perfection of the art of the sword is my driving force. I live for it. To become the best, I sacrificed my living. My morals. My humanity."

    All four blades lunge into an attack as he finishes off his speech. "In defeating another warrior of worthiness, I will know it was worthwhile. In losing to another warrior of worthiness, I will know that my path was flawed."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    As Blurr noted when he infiltrate before, internal defenses are rather spartan here. Homura will find no problems walking the rest of the way into the corridors, which turn more fleshy and organic as she goes.

    Control room? More like throne room. The Liber Legis is here, and both Therion and Etheldreda, his Grimoire, are perched atop it. Next to them is that giant heart, beating strongly now. All about Therion are the signs of an intricate ritual, shimmering lines of power covering the entire room.

    "Ah... not who I expected to arrive first," he murmurs to Homura. "I am not quite ready yet. I'd prefer if Ariel were here to see this. Can I get you something?"

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The flash of brilliant light from the Demonbane isn't an attack it has used before. Kraken is a little busy, torrents and tendrils of water snapping out and crashing into... mirrors. Illusions of Demonbane that splinter, one after another. "GRAAAAH! STOP CHEATING!" Caligula screams!

    Then he notices where the REAL Demonbane is... and that strange reality-tearing strike. "What the hell is that?"

    Abruptly, his power is cut.

    And in the same instant, a unicorn at post-Mach One and punctures the suddenly MUCH weaker Deus Machina, blasting from the front to back and out the other side. The Kraken lurches dangerously, and Caligula HOWLS as it teeters...

    Then tumbles back, crashing to the water and starting to sink.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur Lowell has a floating navy. This is a rare occurance, in fact it's only the second time in thirteen billion years that this has happened to him. he intends to make good use of it. He activates a customized Fraymotif, alchemized for his own personal use many objective years ago and many subjective billions of years ago... And as he does, the enchantment points he put on the ship will light up.

[ORCHESTRA'S INVITATION]

    At this point, the above the sphere will abruptly be occupied with a gate of tremendous size, but it's not in the atmosphere... It's far above, in orbit. A familiar, brilliant green light can be seen, and then, soon, a familiar sight far above. Homura, Psyber, Yuna, Laer, and Deelel will recognize this very well, whichever of them happen to have a few of the sky: Arthur Lowell is summoning The Land of Spires and Frogs into the heavens. It's a tremendous ocean planet, covered in massive stone spires; instead of clouds, it's covered by tremendous metal plates, shifting with clockwork the size of continents.

    Arthur's eyes flash a brilliant black and white, and continue to bleed from the fresh strain. But he has more than enough energy to summon a Gate for Lila to take her tremendous mecha to the surface of the massive mechanical cirrus layer in orbit. She'll have solid metal ground to brace against. He also has enough energy to summon the PIPE ORGAN interface for his planet's energy direction system onto the deck of the ship he's on. Wiping the blood from his face with both hands, he begins playing an aggressive, erratic song with his bloodied fingers. Energy is collecting; a massive conduit has opened up at where he'd like Lila to set herself down, to let her access every ounce of energy that his planet-sized generator is capable of producing, intended to supercharge Lila's strike into a tremendous, lancing orbital beam.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "What's life if you're not having fun?" Marisa answers. More lasers streak up at her, filling the air with pillars of blinding light. She hisses a curse as one blasts a little to close for comfort. Marisa grazes it, but even that sends her spiralling through the air, one arm burnt red from just the heat-haze rippling through the air around the laser. "So come on. Let's play," she says through gritted, but somehow GRINNING teeth.

There's a dangerous glint in her eye. Blood throbs against her inner ear. She's... enjoying this.

And the light in her hands--

The brilliant star glowing and growing between her palms--

Finally, its radiance reaches a breaking point.

BGM CHANGE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TLRfFoEhS4

    Marisa feels the pressure build. Heat cooks at her already scorched fingers as she ducks /into/ the incoming beams. Rays of golden, steel-vaporizing light scream through the air all round her, but the defiant starlight in her eyes and the rush of blood in her veins press her further. Closer- as close as she can possibly get, as fast as she can possibly go.

As bright as she can possibly be.

    The beams converge. She has a split second to move- and she /doesn't./ They sweep in, smash into her, and collide with... An expanding bubble of arcane energy. Marisa's power twists at the Legacy of Gold's beams, tearing the colossal lasers into component motes. Her magic pulls /in,/ drawing the scraps of magical energy into the already impossibly intense core of the protostar burning between her fingertips.

    She turns her eyes onto the Legacy of Gold, now looming far too close for anyone's comfort- but there is no fear there. There's only hunger. Pride. The need to see whether scale this great, golden mountain.

    "Alright shiny," Marisa grins, finally pulling her burnt hand away from the Mini Hakkero. The star twists, bubbles-- "Now get a taste of this! The pinnacle of Marisa Kirisame's magic!"

--The star--

*~BURSTS~*

DEATH-BOMB
MAGICANNON: FINAL SPARK!

    The Hakkero emits a sound like a hurricane gale mixed with a thunderclap. The light it produces is tremendous, blinding! Neither blue nor red, nor yellow nor green, nor any mere color of the rainbow! This is Kirisame Marisa's very own Love-Colored Magic.

And it's being disgorged right at the Legacy of Gold, as close as she could have possibly gotten, and at the orb of flesh behind it...!

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Oh.

    Oh that's not a control or generator room at all.

    And that's /Therion/.

    Homura frowns, stopping-- she looks tense as hell, but is still unarmed, which is better than threatening the lord of the house, she wagers. The Puella Magi glances around the room-- the signs of a ritual, the large beating heart. She wonders if she could disrupt it enough to matter before Therion was able to just choke her.

    "If it's Ariel you wish to see, I believe she'll be along sooner or later. I just came to slow the Illusionary Heart Mother down for everyone else outside. I assume it would be too much to ask that you comply and lower the vessel's defenses?"

    She mentally maps out her options. It's not explosives she's lacking, and worst-case scenario she can take the room out with her. Probably not the Liber Legis or its two pilots, though. "Of course, if that's not an option, I would just do it anyway. But you offered me something, so I thought I'd ask nicely first." Her eyes settle on the beating heart for a second, then back to Therion.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    As Psyber's hammer slams in again, sending shooting pains up his arm, and Valentha's spell weakens the barrier to slow its regeneration... it becomes vulnerable. Or rather, the R'lyeh Text becomes vulnerable. Yuna's singing is becoming less effective... but in another moment it doesn't matter.

    The hole is still closing up swiftly, but nine of Kyra's twelve darts manage to make it through. The Text just stares, looking at the cluster of darts that has embedded into her chest and shoulder. The song... falters.

    Then the R'lyeh Text collapses, falling over and rolling, leaving the connection severed and the tendrils from Cthulhu's body withdrawing.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    In one side and out the other, the force of impact is a jarring, monstrous, high impact crunch of immense amounts of kinetic energies suddenly SLAMMED by neck breaking inertia. No sooner than she smashes out the back of the Deus Machina, Amalthea completely loses control. "Yeah fuck you and your Deus Machina."
    Armor dented and buckling, Always Booster sputtering out one last time, the unicorn just sort of... Succumbs to several days of a non-stop endurance-grueling gauntlet, and just starts to plummet sea-ward. Unless she's caught, she'll probably have a less than pleasant landing on a ship's deck below.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Marisa's Spark draws in numerous lasers, and Augustus's overconfidence and pride, as always, proves to be his folly. The power that shears through the Legacy of Gold rips through and out the other side, tearing open a small gash in the sphere itself even. A small one, but more than a lot of things have done. Augustus almost falls off the Legacy as it sags a little.

    "ENOUGH OF THIS!" He blusters, knowing he's beaten. The lasers power up again, the golden glow preparing to fire... a much wider spread.

    At the fleet behind Marisa.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber lets out a heavy sigh of relief as the girl finally seems to go down. He's not heartless, after all, and he definitely wants to save her from some terrible drowning. Everyone knows water does TERRIBLE things to books and Marisa would get really upset, not to mention the ethical implications.

    Both Laine and Lila have now established that his coat is, if nothing else, a handy place to store small girls that need to be portably carried to other locations. Owing to this, Psyber dashes forward as the R'lyeh Text keels over and starts rolling. He scoops her up with one hand and just shoves her into the jacket's interior, its bag of holding effect meaning that it's pretty safe in there. She even has a fresh sandwich or two if she wakes up.

    And then he's running right for that swiftly closing hole in the dome, trying to do a totally dramatic sliding dash to get into it before it closes.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Before, the Ogre was damaged, and Titus already taxed by his fight with Demonbane. Now, both Deus Machina and pilot are fresh, and if anything their skill has improved; a true meeting of equals. Setsuko finds herself sinking into the fight entirely; all other considerations melting away, everything ceasing to matter. Only the foe before her, the clash of blades, matters. Anything less will mean defeat. It is only through that focus, through her reaction times pushed to their limit and her senses strained to their utmost, that she is able to meet the Ogre's fourfold swordplay with just one of her own.

    Up comes the Zanjintou, then to one side, swinging, parrying. Where she can't put her sword between herself and Titus' blades in time, she instead puts herself behind her sword, moving around it with miliseconds to spare. No hint of the demigod's aura appears around her - it cannot, not here. All her divinity is turned toward the actual battle, with none spared for a display. But that presence of hers only seems to grow with every flare of sparks, with every near-miss that clips her arm, with every block that slams her into a wall. She comes back up again, and again, deflecting this stab downward, that slash to the side, ever using Ogre's four arms against it to create openings for strikes. No holding back this time.

    And even in that heated clash, she speaks, calmly. "It is truly a splendid art. I have seen gods and devils, men and immortals, countless strange and spectacular beings in the Multiverse. Seldom have I seen a swordsmanship so pure. In that respect, you have succeeded - I will concede that it is an art more refined than even my Kaminagi-ryu, that has been honed by a thousand years of history and the skill of a half-god."

    Around comes a block, her blade jammed into the ground, but it is not quite fast enough. The blades of Titus split around Setsuko, separated by Zanjintou, but not in time to keep them from cutting her. Her right side takes deep gashes, along her ribs, along her hip. The left...

    ...she won't be walking out of here. Floating, perhaps, but not walking.

    "...but in forsaking all for its purity," the swordswoman growls through gritted teeth, fighting against the pain to stare into Ogre's optics with softly-glowing blue eyes, "You have forsaken that which would have made it stronger! A swordsmanship without heart, without conviction, will never withstand the heat of battle! OUGI!"

    Up and over, pulling the Zanjintou out of the ground and launching herself in between her opponent's four arms with an arc of blood from where her shin used to be. It's a single, clean shot at the body, and her divine presence swells so fully in that moment that it may even be felt briefly outside. All of it, all her strength, all her conviction, pushed into one single, ferocious spinning strike, whirling around Setsuko like a cyclone, slicing at arms and body and head in one storm of motion.

    "ZANJINTOU! INAZUMA JUURYOKU OTOSHI!!"

Lila (545) has posed:
    The Nameless One has been summoned! The Nameless One is... kinda starting to sink! But then the Nameless One is ON ANOTHER PLANET!

    "Oh, now this is a pleasant surprise," Lila realizes as she feels the surge of power starting to flow into her. Targeting the sphere, Lila breathes in and smiles. "It's never gone THIS way before."

    Whatever she means by that, she doesn't clarify, as the Nameless One powers up, being used as a focal point for an entire world's power. She intones quietly, "Spell Selection: Cannon Spell."

    Then a disintegrating beam of magic TEARS from her mecha's array, lancing down toward the SIDE of the sphere. She is being nice, and not targeting the middle. Maybe it's to save Homura. Maybe it's so Therion won't die. Either way, it should strike off-center, if she's right.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra reaches for another reload of tranquilizer darts when she sees the girl go down. She sighs in relief, not concerned that she'll die knowing that she's probably got some kind of supernatural stamina and...well /somebody/ should pick her up before she falls into the water and drowns. That somebody turns out to be Psyber at least.

    She stands, "Starboard door close. Uh. Head for the black dome?" Just before the door closes she sees both Arthur summon a planet and Amalthea crash land onto an aircraft carrier. "Belay that, get in low to the carrier where my ally Amalthea just landed." Setting aside the hunting rifle, Kyra reaches for the grenade-launcher-like CURE-ALL. "Time for some heavy duty healing."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Setsuko looks for openings... and finds them. Pure and skilled as Titus is, it is impossible to have a truly perfect defense in all conditions... but it's close. Even so, a nick here, a stab there... as Setsuko gets bruised and battered, the Ogre has armor sheared off, bits and pieces sparking. It's an even match, a battle of attrition that it's unclear who would win.

    Until that final attack comes, tearing into shoulder, into hip, slicing into the neck of the Ogre. Some of the cyclone is blocked, almost impossibly so, but...

    When Setsuko floats past the Ogre, it sways unsteadily... then spews steam. The machine slumps as the controls die, and Titus lets out a heavy sigh.

    "I took your leg... but the victory is yours. Conviction. A cause. Perhaps that is what I am missing in my path. Go. I will go my own way."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
So the good news is, the R'lyeh Text is no longer chanting anything, her magic is inactive, and a large portion of the threat has been dealt with.

The bad news is that Augustus just flipped out so hard that Yuna could practically hear it inside El-Line's cockpit, and he's about to lay down about half a Gensokyo of beamspam all on his own. That's drastically uncool, and Yuna - finally catching her breath after lengthy singing - isn't about to let the fleet get devastated, decimated, or otherwise drastically reduced by an angry sorceror.

"SHUGOSEIHEKI!!!" Yuna yells, subconsciously allowing the Lightron to vanish as she sends the Matrix Figure racing around the Illusionary Heart Mother's curved hull; the massive kite shield appears on El-Line's left forearm, one strap passing around the palm of the hand to stabilize it. Legacy of Gold is way too big for Yuna to have any hope of blocking ALL of the beamfire unleashed by the Deus Machina, but she already knows she's not the only one who's going to try to do it, either.

She goes for the center, interposing both El-Line's own mass and the protective plate of her kite shield to tank as much of the lasers as possible.

... that's it, really. This is gonna hurt like the dickens (at least) but Yuna's going to take as much damage as El-Line physically *CAN* take, just so that the fleet DOESN'T. El-Line's probably a little more resilient than all of those ships, too, and it can recover if damaged - or even if 'destroyed'.

As long as Yuna survives the ordeal, she can heal up and eventually return to the field. And if Yuna doesn't survive ... well, she won't be the first Savior of Light to lay down her life for the sake of her duties, and the Queen of Light willing, even if it comes to that, she won't be the *last* one, either.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    Down goes the singer. Valentha, robes still fluttering in the wind, lowers her arms. The blazing aura ceases as she reins in her magical energy, what's left of it. She's down to around a third, and that's quite a thing to say over the course of a single battle.

    But when the fleet starts coming under fire, she reacts. Although exhausted and panting, she begins GROWING and GLOWING again. With a *BLIP* of magic she's immediately in the path of the shots and the fleet. Once again in her full sized form, wings spread and beating slowly. Still, magic holds her aloft, physics of flight be damned.

    And with a few quick words chanted she channels a field of bluish energy around her legs, tail, and wings.

    And she happens to be right in the middle of the incoming volley. She immediately sets into a swooping, diving path through the heart of the volley... and BACKHANDS the first blast that nearly strikes her. Sparks fly on impact and then something STRANGE happens. Something very strange indeed.

    The beam warps, distorts, and bends off in another direction. Back at the Legacy of Gold in a weird u-turn!

    Valentha continues swooping around, striking others with her wings, tail, every part of her body that could be used to put some LEVERAGE on the beams. All at breakneck speeds!

    Once, she even manages to teleport herself into the way of a beam that's about to hit a ship. it slams straight into her belly!

    And THAT gets her roaring at the top of her lungs from the utter PAIN. She is resistant to heat beams like lasers, but this is magic - that's something else entirely. Her hide sizzles and burns, and in the process of trying to slap the blast away... well, she does succeed at sending it skyward.

    But one of her arms and a chunk of her wing is simply gone, tattered and bleeding. Thankfully the bleeding stops within about ten seconds, but she's still lost a significant chunk of her body.

    And it looks like she should no longer be able to fly.. but that's not the cause. Despite all the agony that's got her roaring loud enough to deafen and terrify anyone on the ships she continues her efforts to protect them. Some blasts are slammed into the ocean, others are turned back on the LEGACY OF GOLD, while yet more slam into her body to hideous and painful effect. Even her hide, fabled to be one of the toughest natural armors in existence, is torn asunder and vaporized by these blasts!

    There is no way in hell she can stop them all. But she'll tank them with her body before letting them hit the ships. The only question is, how many can she stop...

    ANd how long can she keep this suicidal course up?!

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    "It is the way of war," Setsuko replies. "A fight without conviction is doomed to fail."

    Zanjintou's blade disperses to nothing, the weapon contracting once again to be returned to its sheath. The flow of blood from her knee is slowing, and she stops to look over her shoulder at the warrior whose mecha she's just managed to defeat.

    "Nevertheless, you have challenged me as few can. Should you find your reason, I would gladly cross blades with you again, Titus."

    And a foot above the ground, Setsuko flies onward, following along the path Homura has already taken.

Ariel (219) has posed:
    Ariel stares at the blade she used, and then down at the sinking Kraken. The blade vanishes, somehow, and she turns the Demonbane to her fallen foe. A quick weaving of Atlach-nacha woven beneath, a tweak to the spell, and Caligula is left floating in the net atop the ocean. "Not even he is going to die for me."

    Then she rockets upward, taking the damage she gave to the bottom as her entrance. She's heading for Therion now, and Al might notice she has a pretty grim look on her face, for her.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is thankful for Yuna's help and the link makes thing easier for her own efforts to keep the drones up but they are pretty much on their own at this point as she's got other things to focus on. Arthur is pulling out all the stops, and then she catches note of something she sees Marisa and shes using some very heavy duty magic. She can get Marisa's sentiment, well for beings without innate purpose? Finding a purpose you want is an important thing she's come to understand and honestly? All work and no play makes even a basic a real null unit.

Then something else comes at them she notices the Legacy of Gold, she's got missiles she's got some light charges but will it be enough? No she's got another idea she's got her keyblade and she's about to do something really crazy with it. She dives at the Legacy of Gold, dropping every last light charge she has, but that's just a diversion what the real deal is her keyblade as she dives the light jet vanishes into wire frames, she grabs the baton slaps it on her hip and keeps falling. The duel disc is summoned and that's when the big blast magical energy in the form of Lightning and if that isn't enough she's going to attempt to use the Keyblade physically but there is the small matter of she's falling...but she'll worry about that later.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    The Legacy of Gold takes a direct hit! It gets punched straight through! Somehow, though, it still has enough power to shoot back. Marisa growls, her Hakkero sparking with leftover magical residue. "Tougher than you look, ain't you? But--"

    The hollows in the Legacy's shattered chest begin to shine. A unicorn falls out of the sky. Marisa curses, so many things to do, so little time-- and the Final Spark took more than a little power out of her but... Her scorched hand shakily pulling a glowing, green talisman out from the folds of her dress. She holds it over her head, letting its light pour out-- and then she crushes it.

And all around her, lingering arcane power is suddenly displaced-- no, swallowed up-- by a field of black and blue and gold.

MAGIC ABSORBER

    Marisa yells as she shoots down and /through/ the Legacy's spread-shot volley. The streams of impossibly hot light smash into the magic circle surrounding her... and dissolve, transforming into raw mana that slowly begins refilling Marisa's mostly-exhausted reserve. She can't block them all, but they're not what she's aiming for.

Amalthea.

    "Hang on, Monocorn!" Marisa yells, swinging down through (and swallowing up more of) Augustus' field-o-beamspam and into the downward-falling path of the extra-tired Robo Unicorn. Her broom creaks and sags, dragging the witch down as she struggles to arrest Amalthea's descent!

She manages to land on that boat below, handing the battered woman off to whoever looks trustworthy enough to take her.

...And then she takes right back off again to try and continue her (no longer so exhausted) bombardment of the Legacy of Gold and the pilot at its crown.

Marisa's nothing if not stubborn, it seems.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Those up at the 'dome' can probably find a damaged entrance, after all the punishment that place took. It'll be human-sized, but Val can shrink. But that isn't important, is it? Homura's asked some questions, and the throne room will soon have everyone in it, won't it?

    But for now, he's just... talking to her. That's all. And he seems content to just keep on talking to her, though what he says may throw off Homura's plans.

    "What defenses?" Therion asks. He leans back, gesturing. "The Kraken has fallen, defeated by Ariel and her family. The R'lyeh Text is sleeping. The Legacy of Gold will fall in mere moments. Ogre and Titus have finally gotten what they wanted, and are no longer a threat to you."

    He strokes his fingers into Etheldreda's hair, and the Grimoire quietly leans against his side, regarding those coming in without comment. And Therion says calmly, "What makes you think that I want to save this rotting husk of a base? It means nothing to me but a means to an end, even if that means shall be its death."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is thankful for Yuna's help and the link makes thing easier for her own efforts to keep the drones up but they are pretty much on their own at this point as she's got other things to focus on. Arthur is pulling out all the stops, and then she catches note of something she sees Marisa and shes using some very heavy duty magic. She can get Marisa's sentiment, well for beings without innate purpose? Finding a purpose you want is an important thing she's come to understand and honestly? All work and no play makes even a basic a real null unit.

Then something else comes at them she notices the Legacy of Gold, she's got missiles she's got some light charges but will it be enough? No she's got another idea she's got her keyblade and she's about to do something really crazy with it. She dives at the Legacy of Gold, dropping every last light charge she has, but that's just a diversion what the real deal is her keyblade as she dives the light jet vanishes into wire frames, she grabs the baton slaps it on her hip and keeps falling. The duel disc is summoned and that's when the big blast magical energy in the form of Lightning and if that isn't enough she's going to attempt to use the Keyblade physically but there is the small matter of she's falling...but she'll worry about that later.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "I see. Then, if you intend to let this fall, I'm sure you won't mind if I--" A quick burst of speed, and some manipulation of time in there. Can Therion see through it? His Liber Legis at least certainly seems able to control space, but does it have dominion on time too?

    The Puella Magi pulls a handgun out, the very same that was used to wound his Grimoire, a red diamond (the card suit) on its pommel. The ROMANOV'S END is especially powerful for a handgun, RPG end-game equipment, and has extra kick against royalty to boot. Though she's aiming at Therion and fires a few rounds, none of them seem angled to actually significantly injure him even if he stood still. Grazes, exceptionally aimed, for the shoulders and ribs. Barely enough to do more than injure skin, but hopefully enough to distract him. Then again, she might be grossly underestimating Therion's reaction speed too.

    Because at the exact same time, a volley of primed grenades and rockets fly towards the BEATING HEART, which Homura assumes is a part of the ship and not actually anything else. It LOOKS important, at any rate.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The light erupts from the Legacy of Gold, sending beams ripping into Valentha, smashing into the El-Line's shield, and some being soaked into Marisa's absorber. Not many, though... for the duel disc comes from an unexpected direction, tearing through the power feeds and slicing the front from the back. Augustus tumbles outward, also falling toward the ocean as the Legacy of Gold shuts down.

    Therion sits up again, folding his hands together. "You see..." He states as Ariel and Demonbane fly in. Anyone else, especially Setsuko, can join in if they have a reason to be inside the ship. "The Anticross summoned Cthulhu to conquer the world. To dominate it. That was such a simple desire. Laughable, really. They are gone now, and I will pursue my true goal." He flips hair back... and grunts as several shots impact, staggering him back. His eyes glance toward the heart, the rockets heading toward it...

    "Cthulhu is a Sacrifice."

    That's when Lila's beam tears into the side, ripping off plating and disintegrating flesh. A tremendous gash opens across the entire side now, deep enough that it exposes the throne room to the air, and that pulsing heart. The pulsing heart that explodes with the power of the numerous explosives blasting at the meaty shielding. Blood erupts, and the lines flare to life.

    Cthulhu, and the entire Illusionary Heart Mother, begins to rapidly disintegrate and fall apart all around, power swirling inward to form a brilliant, glowing doorway behind Therion and the Liber Legis.

    "Ruling the world is so boring," Therion finishes, floating backward toward the gate. "Now, Ariel and her friends. If you truly think you have dedication, you can stop me from ending... everything. I will be waiting for you on the other side."

    The doorway swallows him up, and the doorway will remain there, while Cthulhu crumbles and dies around the gathered heroes.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    The beam is streaking towards the heart, through the Gate sustained by those ships. Beams are being desperately blocked all around, to keep them safe. People within are desperately moving to reach the throne, and to destroy the heart without killing therion. Arthur, unfortunately, can do nothing to help any of these close shaves. A dozen things could go wrong: Even just one ship could get destroyed, Lila's aim could be just slightly off, Homura might not quite keep Therion's attention and keep him away from the Heart, Psyber and Setsuko might not get there in time, a million possibilities and everything would go to shit.

    Arthur can think of very little to do, in this precise moment, besides his default answer to nearly any problem. Blast more power through his pipe-organ interface. Move with more energy, slam down on the keys with his bloodied fingers with more urgency and desperation, and, of course, scream. He screams, in pain and optimistic triumph, at the Heart, as his fingers slam down one final time in the crescendo of the magical song used to operate LOSAF's energy systems, surging a little extra power through Lila into that orbital strike. He is bleeding, from the eyes and ears and nose and mouth, rather profusely now, and his arms are aflame with magic.

    And then, part of the sphere is just gone. Arthur concludes his recital of sorts, and collapses to one knee. "All hands." He says, broadcasting to the entire fleet. "Brace for impact." And then to someone else. "Lila, come on back." And that's when the antigravity effect on his ships falters; they'll slowly descend, and his gate will slowly close, but hopefully not so soon that Lila won't fly on back through. Arthur, for now, is sorta collapsed on the bow of that craft he commandeered. From here, he can, still conscious, watch the doorway forming, and the Heart disintegrating, and laugh a raspy, panting, strained laugh.

    "Yeah." He says. "You better fuckin' run."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
The Illusionary Heart Mother is obliterated, the Legacy of Gold is handily removed as a threat ... and there's a door hovering in the now-empty air.

Yuna can only stare at it for a long moment, and wish that she were hallucinating. She actually asks Elner if she is. The robo-faerie's image on the monitor just doesn't answer ... which is enough of an answer on its own.

The last time Yuna was looking at a giant door floating in the middle of nowhere, it was the portal into the Dark World, one of the last landmarks between her and the Queen of Darkness. It was ... not a pleasant experience. Now Yuna looks at the gate which leads to another, similarly climactic battle, and - there's no getting around it - she's terrified, not just because of the eldritch and mind-wrecking nature of it.

But she has to go in, both for her friends' sake, and because it's her job. 'Savior of Light' isn't just a title, after all; it's her actual job description, the name of the role that she's been growing into with a lot of help.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra turns to the screens showing the outside world to her ship and waits, watching as the sphere crumbles, Cthulhu is slain, and Therion flees into a place that is NOT a place. Kyra starts up a sigh of relief that becomes cut short as she understands what had really happened.

    "Rafflesia-" she urges the ship over to the newly-freed space, ghosting over the still-preserved battleships that came out to fight the mysterious and dangerous threat. "-open both port and starboard loading doors." In an instant, a hole all the way through her ship opens up, Kyra once more stepping up to the opening. She doesn't spend much time waiting, shouldering the CURE-ALL and unleashing a healing blast on Arthur in particular.

    "Anyone else that needs some of this before they go in there...just yell!" Kyra calls out, ready to heal those that need it before they pass into the concepts in pursuit of Therion.