2766/Nero Miss

Nero Miss
Date of Scene:	09 August 2015
Location:	Urbania
Synopsis:	The Anticross make one more play for Al Azif or Lila... but is that their real purpose?
Cast of Characters:	2, Arthur Lowell, 135, 219, 253, 255, 395, 545, 565, 834
Tinyplot:	Project C

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Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The assault on the city was sudden, but not without purpose. The three 'giants' that have appeared are strategically placed around the city, probably to keep something /in/ rather than out. The destruction aside from that is confined to one district... but it is, unfortunately, a shopping district during the day. Not one of the busiest days of the week, perhaps, but there are a lot of people screaming and fleeing, jamming the streets already.

    This is a bad thing, because the destruction isn't going to stop there. The day is rather cloudy, but the roiling stormclouds part only to reveal two giant DEUS MACHINA up in the air. One of them is a four-legged contraption, massive in size and hovering over the battlefield as if watching it. The other is more familiar, the LORD BYAKHEE screeching out of the skies to 'buzz' the shopping arcade in a low-flying clip, shattering windows along the way.

    The others are not yet present, but no doubt there are more than those two. Lord Byakhee's Master very rarely works without the Kraken's.

    SCREECH! Coming to a halt is a MISSILE TRUCK driven by none other than NESS AND STONE, backing up the police with apparently military firepower. Stone is, of course, yelling curses about giant robots.

    Ness, rather than being laid back, is motioning to the civilians and being serious. "THIS WAY! Clear the area!"

Lila (545) has posed:
    Ariel is such a bad influence on Lila. That's all there is to it! The little girl that is dodging and ducking between the fleeing pedestrians is holding onto the cute hat she bought, the wind of the Lord Byakhee's passage ruffling her hat and hair. People are screaming, buildings are crumbling, and huge chunks of masonry are threatening to squash the clump of people flat. Nothing she needs to worry about... or care about.

    But disappointing Ariel is something she doesn't want to do.

    Space warps and tears as, suddenly, a THIRD Deus Machina appears in the city, just out of nowhere straddling the street. It's massive, larger than even the one hovering above, and it casually outstretches an arm to block the street from the falling building chunks...

    Which disintegrate without even touching the arm of the massive machine.

    "Well, I guess they know where I am now," Lila complains.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    One's a grizzled half-angel, the other's a time-travelling witch from the future-past who was on a quest to change the past-future. Together, they solve crimes and also do miscellanious daily activities. They are... Psyber and Homura, Time Crime Stoppers.

    At least, that's the thought going through Psyber's head as he weaves and skids his car through the streets of the city as chaos spreads throughout it. The car, a RPO B2K Callaway Twin Turbo Corvette courtesy of Chrysanthemum losing a bet to him, weaves through the street and zips in and out of dangerous situations.

    Despite the incredibly dangerous sitaution they're in, Psyber is still managing to make casual conversation with his passenger, "So I was thinking..." He pauses to screech and slide around a corner to avoid a roadblock, "... with school starting up in the fall and all..." Another loud screech and he swerves around some falling debris, "... plus, you know, more driving missions. Maybe you should get your license soon."

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    A lonely patch of sky above the city crackles and ripples briefly, filling with a blue light. Moments later that patch fills in courtesy of a TELEPORTATION. Golden scales gleaming in the sky, great wings beating far too slow to explain keeping such an enormous beast aloft, a GREAT HORNED DRAGON has made an appearance seemingly out of nowhere way up there.

    Not the subtlest entrance possible, and anyone under the shadow or looking up at the time's probably going to assume this creature's with the DEUS MACHINA causing so much trouble.

    Valenthanixa is hoping that her actions will be reassuring, however.

    For now she circles above the city in huge swoops, taking a minute to examine the battlefield and situation in greater detail.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Giant pillars, giant robots.
    She'd almost kind of missed it.

    Riding alongside Psyber (or in a backseat, it doesn't much matter) is Homura, the late teen already transformed in her magical girl outfit from knowledge they're headed straight into an awful place. Since class hasn't started yet, she doesn't have her face stuffed in a book for once, but rather is toying with a plasma grenade she's split open, a screwdriver in her mouth while she fiddles with wiring.
    That's, well, accounting for Psyber's bumpy ride.
    Any other driver might be nervous at this being done in their car.

    Sorry Psyber, she's not thinking about sitcoms.

    "Am I going to need a license for this too?" she does ask, motioning idly with the open grenade. She already kind of knows how to drive anyway! It seems like a waste of time.

    As the sight of the giants, she points. "Drive us to the base of one of them. I'll get to work on those things, you're more suited to wrestling a giant robot."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Before his appearance in Eorzea, Setsuko Kaminagi had little to no experience with Master Therion. Some corner of her mind had relegated him to a threat that her allies had well in hand; better to let them continue acting as they thought best, to ask her help if they needed it, than to push her way in. But then he had appeared before her, stolen a powerful entity of the Void that they had been on the cusp of defeating while it was still weak from its long slumber. She has no clue what he means to do with it, but he is dangerous, it is dangerous, and they can only mean problems together.

    So she has come to Arkham. To see this place for herself. To learn of it. To better understand it and Master Therion both, that she might be better prepared for him in the future. The demigod floats above the city, eyes sweeping between the giants surrounding it and the Deus Machinae floating above it. A frown tugs at her lips; unfamiliar enemies all around. She's not sure where her strength would be best suited. So, for the moment, she waits, until those more familiar with the world give her direction.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    "Imaginary Catapult is powering up."

    "Probabilities are being calculated, Mistress!"

    "Do we allow launch?"

    Deep under the earth, Ruri Hadou's seat comes to rest in the command room, where she frets with her bottom lip and glares at the monitors. Sigh. "I... we can't afford to hold back in this position. The Union are coming, but there's signs of activity all over the city. Go ahead and ready the Naacal Code, too."

    "YES, MA'AM!" cry three voices in unison.

    Meanwhile, off to the side of the panicking streets, a distortion forms in the air above a building. With an explosion of force that shatters (more) windows, the Demonbane appears, probability itself changing its position from 'the hangar' to 'above the city' in an instant. The wings of the Shantak System deploy immediately, hovering it above the ground and letting it survey the chaos.

    Inside, Al looks back at Ariel in the pilot's console. "This is pretty serious, how are we going to help the civilians get out?"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur recognizes the Cykranosh. The last time he got in a fight with this, he had a giant robot to back him up. He thinks, this time, that he'll feel things out for human-scale combat, first. Blasting at the massive machine on a ROCKET BROOM, Arthur gets himself into what one could reasonably call 'SHMUP mode', charging a stream-blast of magical bolts in preparation for firing them. "VESPASIANUS!" He calls out, aggressively, broadcasting his voice magically. "God DAMN it you THIEVING SON OF A BITCH, it's not gonna help you steal AL AZIF if you just bring TWICE THE ASS for me to KICK!"

    He's ignoring the fact that the last time he effectively beat Vespasianus, Arthur was powering Herbert West's giant robot. Oh well. Worst comes to worst and he can't pull through, Arthur plans on just calling out 'ELSAAAAAAA' and figuring that her penchant for dramatics will even the playing field. Let's hope it doesn't come to that, since who knows where West is.

    For now, Arthur rockets towards the Cykranosh and immediately attempts to begin SHMUPing the large robot, which is to say, spewing tremendous bolts of white fire at exposed bits and doing slow strafing runs over it. He's not waiting around to see more details of the situation!

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Haggard and weary, and reeling for some wholly unknown reason she gives utterly no answer for, Amalthea growled and hobbled her way to the closet in the trendy little Sector 5 apartment by Arkham's water view. Moments later, armor strapped on and weapons stowed she...
    Says hi to a neighbor and listens to lousy elevator muzak while heading up to the luxury roof deck.
    It is an immensely and extreme awkward elevator ride.
    Thusly, after saying bye to said neighbor and leaping off the roof, the unicorn lets herself enter freefall for a moment, angling for the best line of sight towards the hazard in progress before thumbing the activation rune on the grip of her shield, jump pack screeching to life and setting her on a blazing path towards the shopping district. It is probably the first time Arkham city has seen a rainbow in years.
    From the skies she has the best point of view to assess the situation. Mecha. Pillar Men. Ness and Stone- with Ness being frighteningly serious for once... Blue eye surveys the arrival of the other unionites, the unicorn takes her own initiative.

    This is why there's a rainbow streaking straight for Lord Byakhee at suicidal speeds.

    There is a lance on the end of it.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    'Help evacuate the civilians'. Words from Ariel; from a girl whom she's known almost literally since the day she was born, a gentle and innocent soul who considers this situation serious enough to warrant lethal force. Even if she's ordinarily ill-suited to the task, if Ariel has requested it, Setsuko can't say no. Down and out of the sky she flies at full speed, straight towards the civilians - she'll protect them no matter the cost, until they're safe, if that's where she needs to be.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Aaaand that leaves Ariel, sitting in the pilot console... or rather standing, in her Magius form, with the screens coming to life after launch. "Nnnh... why'd they have to do that? At least Lila is actually helping instead of standing there this time." Her voice has a definite note of happiness concerning that, at least!

But the little unicorn has to make some quick decisions! "Right... AL! I have an idea!" It's a pretty simple one, but it seems to usually work out when they try it. "Make us invisible, set up a web to stop the incoming Byakhee next time Claudius buzzes the place, and project Demonbane heading toward Cykranosh, all right? Can you handle all three of those?"

The idea is to land straddling the street, much like the Nameless One, and invisibly just stand there with Atlach-nach sending out a spray of webbing to lace across the street. Meanwhile it will appear that Demonbane is going to come up to support Arthur, but it's just an illusion.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    "MOVE MOVE!" Stone is yelling now. The large man who is apparently built like a brick wall that shores up other brick walls and is made of solid steel bricks is atop the missile truck, making broad gestures that are actually helping funnel the civilians to the shelters pretty well. Ness, meanwhile, hops back into the truck and adjusts his hat... before launching a series of homing missiles toward the Lord Byakhee. They won't do anything of course, but at least it looks like he's managed to get some proper funding for fighting this stuff, for once.

    Unfortunately, more than that is going on.

    It's a good thing that Setsuko and Ariel are there to help evac people, because there's a problem almost immediately. As the civilians scream and flee, the REASON for their screams become apparent. No, it isn't the giant dragon in the sky - though several have noticed that - it's the roiling, rotting mass of intestines that erupt from the sewers, wrapping at several civilians and starting to drag them away. Yes, intestines. It's pretty disgusting, and the looming, dark, bulbous figure that steps from between two buildings - and wasn't there before - shudders the ground. The Belzebuth has arrived.

    From the other end of the street, ANOTHER Deus Machina appears, a massive machine roughly Demonbane's size that looks to be like a samurai, weilding two katanas. The fifty-meter monstrosity casually readies the blades, one of them slicing through the top of a building to distract Lila again, before charging forward suddenly toward the Nameless One with the other blade held forward. He apparently doesn't realize he's outmatched, despite the incredible sharpness of those blades.

    There are still a few missing, but there are already numerous Anticross out today. Lord Byakhee appears unworried, the nimble machine twisting in an attempt to avoid Amalthea's charge. It's only partly successful, the lance shearing through a leg, leaving a wake of sparkles and light, before a barrier blasts the missiles from Ness out of the sky. "Haha! I don't have time for sparkles and rainbows. I'll let Cykranosh deal with you!" He bolts down for another buzz toward Lila-

    And ends up crashing into a building, tumbling and slamming against the ground well before he nears the fleeing civilians and Lila's Deus Machina, thanks to Ariel's clever use of the web. He's now a sitting duck for anyone who wants to take him on, too.

    Finally, Cykranosh itself remains hovering, ignoring Arthur's strafing. Lowell's blasts are shearing up bits of plating and causing sparks to fly, but the Cykranosh is waiting. And Vespasianus is laughing, "YESSS! Come to me, Demonbane! I look forward to... this?" His laughter stops as he realizes that the image of Demonbane has just shattered, and he's basically been letting Arthur get FREE HITS for a while, and only now does one of those legs start to kick out toward the Master of Space. Whoops.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    It takes a second or two for Setsuko to even realize what she's seeing; the sight of intestines acting as living, moving tendrils is something so strange and unsettling that it takes her that long to even properly process what she's looking at. For an ordinary person, that would be quick enough all things considered, but with her reaction times, it's an eternity. As soon as she realizes it, though, she has Zanjintou out of its sheath, and without even waiting until she's in range, she begins swinging and slashing. Paper-thin arcs of blue-white energy fly out one after the other, each projectile as sharp as the sword itself, aimed to cut civilians free of these strange attacking organs until she can properly plant herself in the way.

    As soon as Setsuko's boots touch the street, she swings her blade to one side and allows it to snap out to full twelve-foot length; with that tremendous blade, she can far more effectively begin slashing and swinging, acting as a living barrier to prevent the intestentacles from snaring civilians.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "I don't give a shit if you wanna play with grenades. You only really need a license so I can put you on my personal insurance plans," Psyber says with a shrug to the Puella before skidding to a momentary stop, "You can disembark at your leisure, really," Psyber comments. The stop lasts literally less than a half-second, since Psyber knows that is the maximum Homura will need the car to be stationary to grab her equipment, finish up her work, and disembark.

    As he speeds away from the dropoff, he holds his hand out. There's a crackle of lightning and a surge of electricity before Einherjar appears in his hand. He idly thrusts the sword straight up, impaling the roof of his car with the sword and then going back to driving. There's a long few moments before the entire car begins to crackle with electricty that is very zappy, very burning, and very holy.

    And then he skids the car hard and drives the holy electricity-coated car straight towards the swarm of intestines and flooring the car as he tries to slam into and through the writhing swarm of body parts.

    As an afterthought, he rolls up his windows, turns on the AC Circulation setting, and engages his windshield wipers.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    The moment that the Cykranosh goes down and Valentha has it pegged as definitely an enemy, she swoops in hard, complementing Arthur's own position by being on the EXACT OTHER SIDE of Cykranosh. "God of Space! Keep your head down!" Is her one and only warning. A few heartbeats later, just as she's strafing herself... the great beast inhales deeply, whips her head around and....

    FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHHHH!!!

    And that is why he should keep behind Cykranosh. Because Valentha's breath is FAR too hot for any ordinary flame to lay claim too! It's easily enough to melt asphalt and reduce flesh straight to ash...

    She's NOT screwing around here!

    But after one good application of breath she's already swooping back up skyward, eyeing the awful things slurping up out of the sewers. "Disgusting... it couldn't be the Old Ones?! Something very like them...!!"

Lila (545) has posed:
    It really is a mistake for Ogre to try to take out Lila and the Nameless One. While Lila is far from indestructible, Ogre simply isn't in the same league as her, and neither is the samurai piloting it. The massive war machine's blade actually cuts into the Nameless One's arm... as the katana can cut spacetime, it can cut her without automatically being destroyed. But...

    The Nameless One just /stands/ there, providing cover for the civilians fleeing and, in the process, merely letting her aura push out. Nearing it causes the Deus Machina to feel the effects, as Lila's own special power tries to strip the armor and mechanisms out of existence on Ogre's body, not just melting or damaging them but erasing them from being.

    "I'll just stay right here and let you heroic types rescue me again~ <3" Lila calls out. "Though it's getting rather busy. Maybe... maybe I will help out today."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "One will hope I don't get my ability to keep a car for a long time from you, maybe that insurance won't be needed at all," Homura says, as she closes the toy in her hand up and then promptly vanishes from her seat, once close enough to one of the pillar-like giants that she can get to work.

    Purple electricity arcs through her arm to form Tyrfing-- cleaves from the holy sword send arcs of light and lightning forward towards the intestine deluge, trying to keep them from reaching her and, if applicable, any civilians still trying to get away from the pillars. She doesn't waste large amounts of energy on that though-- a quick step forward, and she reappears at the very foot of one of the giants.

    Another quick abuse of certain powers, and the thing is surrounded by high-yield explosives rigged to go off in one burst. And another step, to get out of there before it all does go off, but stay close enough to watch.

    She does need to see what happens, in the event that pillar were more than a fixture. And should she need to switch her focus off blowing up the thing and towards protecting civilians.

Ariel (219) has posed:
"Al... I guess we have the big guy," Ariel notes, readying the systems with a shift of her 'wings' across her back. "Let's go, before he messes anything more up." It's Belzebuth that has her attention, for now... she's seeing that the others have the civilians in hand, and she's going to need to keep the other Deus Machina from entering the fray.

Abruptly she summons up a leap, then a second jump from midair, altering course with a shield of ice shimmering into being in Demonbane's left hand. The machine of adamantium and magic hurtles directly toward Belzebuth, shield-first. It's a collision course that has Demonbane's cloak failing... but at the same time, the SCIMITAR OF BARZAI appears in its right hand, slicing at the enemy's legs in an attempt to topple it by combination of damaging the legs, and the impact of the shielded Demonbane.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    Al is, of course, ready to support! "Chain-Severing system, active! You got this, Ariel? Wow... you're a lot better at this than when we started," the book notes as she engages the space-warping leg-shields. That maneuver causes a bit of a lurch, but she steadies herself quickly and does a quick status check.

    "With Lila holding off the Ogre, and our air support swarming Vespasianus, I think that we can handle this," she mutters. "Once the civilians are in the shelter we can get this taken care of easy."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Not Amalthea's best work by far, Wishblade only shearing the leg earns a hissed curse from the mechanical mythic as she lands horizontally on a nearby building wall in a crouch. The force of her jump pack is enough to shatter the glass as she kicks off it again to keep in the air and try to regain her bearings.
    There is a brief flash of pride at her daughter's cleverness, but it's far too quickly quashed by the small quiet pang of the knowledge that Ariel is being made to grow up way too fast by all these catastrophes.
    Sigh.
    Thing is, while Cykranosh is distracted with Ariel's feint and Arthur, Amalthea has a different plan in mind.

    Landing herself atop a light post...
    And spreads her arms wide in arrogant challenge, frowning immensely.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur shouts, with pure aggression. "IT'S ALL ME, BABY!" As he blasts through the dispersing illusion. Arthur gets free hits! And then free KICKS. The leg lashes out and Arthur's more irresponsible behaviors have an obvious effect. He's a bit more vulnerable than normal, here! He's slammed by the impact, cushioned by a gravity barrier but still evoking a brutal, meaty "CRACK!" Arthur goes tumbling, but rights himself soon after, bloodied and bruised but still in fighting condition. "SORRY CHUMP, looks like you're not WORTH their ATTENTION. All you're worth is ME, you SCRUB!"

    Val tells Arthur to get his head down, and he SORT OF does. He gets it down, but not nearly enough to be entirely safe. What this means is that, while he doesn't suffer the direct damage, he does wind up coming out of it partially on fire, but it seems to mostly be the harmless sort. Or at least mostly harmless.

    "Sit the FUCK DOWN, VESPA!" He calls out, diving. Time to focus, onnnn... The hovering apparatus! He works on strafing, primarily, the hovering limb-jets. They should be explosive and he should only need to take one or two out! "When I'm finished with YOU, I'm putting YOU right down GALVA'S THROAT. I'm putting GALVA'S RIBS through OTHO. I'm putting OTHO'S TEETH into VITELIUS' SPINE. And I'll take ALL THREE of 'em down to the FUCKING GARBAGE DUMP where they BELONG, with the rest of the TRASH!" Arthur is getting into his aggravating, obnoxious modes again, it seems. "GET OUTTA THE SKY, bitch! GRAVITY always WINS EVENTUALLY!"

    The flaming boy darts around the edge of that breath weapon and focuses on brutalizing the hovering systems, but he always remains prepared to find a path towards the armor that Val hopefully just weakened.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    These INTESTINES are an impossible enemy! No matter how many are cut, more regenerate or spring out to wrap around the hapless civilians! No one could truly stop them... except that Setsuko is an impossible swordswoman, and the cleaving strikes force the intestinal tendrils back long enough for the civilians to stagger to safety. There are far fewer now, so few that Psyber driving through that muck(with his car remaining strangely clean) has no problem ramming through and reaching the fight proper. And there WILL be something for him to fight, very shortly. In the meantime, Ness yells out to Setsuko, "We got it from here! Go ahead and help your friends!" Looks like the civilians are going to be safe.

    OGRE gets its armor starting to vanish, chewed away by the Nameless One's anti-existence field. Titus, piloting it, is not an idiot and backs off immediately, edging warily to the side.... before hurling one of his katanas, point-first, toward the center of Lila's Deus Machina. It's still not going to work well, but it will work marginally better.

    LORD BYAKHEE disentangles itself, shaking itself free, and then Claudius shrieks, "YOU BITCH!" The mecha launches itself toward Amalthea at a bit of a reckless pace, especially considering its leg is not repaired. This is another case where, despite the size difference, Amalthea probably outclasses her opponent, but it's not quite so clear cut due to the layout.

    As for Belzebuth, the blade /easily/ slices through the leg, and Demonbane slams into the giant machine to start it toppling back... but the leg suddenly regenerates fast enough to catch the massive thing's fall, and the insane cackle of the lich inside thunders through the city as he hauls off with a giant haymaker at Demonebane's head.

    Vespasianus is in a bit more trouble, considering. Velantha's blast of flame is surprisingly 'easy' to weather for Cykranosh, but it does slag the outer plating swiftly, melting some key points and letting Arther blast in to hammer it, making the elegant man scream in uncharacteristic anger. "I will NOT be defeated by some CHILD and his PET!" Lightning blasts down toward both, but it's poorly-aimed, because he's actually losing power fast... and Cykranosh is starting to lose altitude.

    Partly this is due to Homura, as... she had a really easy time of it. The summoned giants are largely for anti-vehicular measures, and aren't paying too much attention to a girl her size. This is kind of dumb, since if there's anyone who can blow up giant stuff, it's Homura. With a loud keening wail, Otho begins to topple, its regeneration not fast enough to commensate for suddenly missing ALL its supports... but that regeneration still taps into Vespasianus's power, which means this is basically a three on one for him. No wonder he's losing badly.

    Unfortunately for TEAM ARIEL there is a bit more of a problem, in that Velantha will suddenly have beams of powerful golden light lancing at her from below. The LEGACY OF GOLD, an artillery-class Deus Machina with 'lots of beamspam' as its main weapon, has appeared and is walking steadily toward the conflict. On the other side, to replace the fallen Otho, the KRAKEN erupts from the ground with a wave of water roaring down the street toward HOMURA.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    For Setsuko, the past and the future melt away with a blade in her hands, especially in a target-rich environment. She has a line past which she cannot allow any enemy; she has hearing and sight and smell by which to note the location of all her targets; and she has a sense for the flow of battle itself, knowing when and where each strike must be. Her world becomes nothing but this moment and the next, the slash she unleashes now flowing into the next she must deliver. Zanjintou's movements do not cease until Ness clears her to proceed, and then the huge blade disappears in the blink of an eye.

    Setsuko does not return her sword to its sheath, however. Psyber has called for her help as soon as she's free, and she's now free. Her feet lift off the street and she shoots ahead like a rocket, quickly coming up alongside the car... but, with all that holy lightning crackling around, not setting down on it. That would hurt.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    As he pushes through and tries to reach his fight, Psyber eventually brings his car to a bloody, sloshing stop at a curbside. Like any true Bostonian, regardless of all else happening, he gets out with a handful of quarters and feeds about 12 into the parking meter. Then he locks his car with a chirp.

    And then it's back to business. He takes a few moments to chirp some coordination into his earpiece before looking to Setsuko, "Setsuko. I'm going to need coverage while I make some really bad plays. I will probably get a lot of flak from my next move," Psyber comments as he takes his jacket off and then unlocks the car again, throwing it in the back of the car before shutting it. He snaps his hand and his sword reappears.

    He takes the sword out of his car and nods to Setsuko, "Amalthea's gonna need the Byakhee off of her when she makes her move," And then he takes three steps, wings erupt from his back, and he's flying up and away through the mass of leftover intestines and gunk. He takes up towards the sky, abusing the fact he's yet to draw direct aggression until now.

    When he gets high enough, he lets out a shrill whistle to Amalthea and then points to Legacy of Gold. And then he divebombs onto it, trying to land on the outside of the machine and start slamming it with both fists and sword as hard as he can, trying to find the faultline or seam that will let him rip it open and get access to the cockpit, "KNOCK KNOCK, MOTHERFUCKER. HAVE YOU LET CHRIST INTO YOUR HEART YET?"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Otho falls, or at least, it falls for now. There's no point wasting more energy overkilling it. And that aside, the KRAKEN is about to make it very difficult to stay there.

    The crashing waves that come out of seemingly nowhere blast the magical girl back-- the pressure of the water's bad enough on its own, but being slammed into a storefront isn't too pleasant either. And there's still the deluge of intestines refusing to stop.

    It's a bleeding and wounded Homura that flies out of the flooded building, black-purple wings more akin to cracks in reality than anything else flowing out of her back. Rather than engage the KRAKEN, she just-- disappears. Leaving a trio of flashbang grenades where she used to be floating, primed to go off immediatly.

    She would reappear at GALVA's supports, producing this time a large missile per 'foot' of the giant, however many supports those things have, just set on the ground next to them. They click, they tick, and they beep, going off together into large fireball-- but that hinges, again, on there being no surprises in store.

    She's reusing the same trick over and over, and kind of expecting it to stop working eventually. But until it does, why change what works? The main difference this time is that she's kept herself airborne, at head-level with the pillar-giants. Well, face level. Those things are very odd looking.

Lila (545) has posed:
    Hmm. Lila allows the blade to embed in the side of the Nameless One, shearing through some mechanisms, but after that she doesn't bother paying Ogre any more mind. Normally, she wouldn't be so trusting of anyone here... but this is Ariel we're talking about, and over the last months even Lila has to admit that Ariel would at least try what she says.

    So without further thought, the Nameless One turns its back on an enemy, and looks down toward the oncoming wave of water. Stretching out one damaged arm, the wave comes to a halt, twists upward, then curls around in the form of a snakelike entity that roars right toward the Kraken at high speed, aiming to shear through one of the giant mecha's legs and cripple it with its own attack.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    On paper... On paper, directly challenging one of the six Anticross by appealing to that massive ego streak, and getting Claudius' attention was a good idea. Whether she outclasses Lord Byakhee or not, however, doesn't matter for much, when the massive machine actually whirls around, with a seriously angry pilot altering course to go right for her...
    In practice this was an astoundingly lousy idea, and the old knight is cursing herself for it quietly.
    "... I've honestly had better ideas than this."
    She will admit to fault, when she is in the wrong, and with a leap off the lamp post, she thumbs her jump pack's controls again, kicking off at top speed. She's probably going to be training Lord Byakhee to the zone line with this one as she blitzes at breakneck speed. She's making that move Psyber mentioned just now, suddenly snapping sideways mid-air and swerving just aside on Setsuko's cue, as intends to hit Legacy of Gold full force with her boots and prop herself against it. While Psyber is wailing on armor and trying to prize it open, she twirls her lance, intending to jam the silver blade into the seams with him. "If not Jesus, there's always the two of us--" Grunted as she HEAVES all her might into adding leverage.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    "Oooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!" Is the noise Valentha makes as golden beams pierce into her hide, drawing sprays of blood and searing neat entry ways into Valentha's body. Entryways that... strangely swirl and ripple. Just as soon as the light fades those wounds are HEALING. Fast enough for it to occur in plain view!

    She's of half a mind to follow Arthur's direction and go wreck the artillery, but with Psyber already down there...

    She gets OTHER ideas.

    "-WHAT- did you call me, scoundrel? I don't think I heard it clearly. Why don't I... RIP YOU FROM THAT ABOMINATION FOR ANOTHER TRY?!"

    With a bellowing roar the golden dragon dives into the fray with all her might. BOTH forearms come close and LUNGE, razor talons thrustling like ten spears.

    She's big. She's fast. And above both of those things, she's OUTRAGEOUSLY STRONG. Her aim is to rip both paws in past Cykranosh's armor and then RIP each arm in different directions. As if simply tearing open a ribcage... the assault's savage and without apparent mercy in mind!

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "How about JUST THE CHILD THEN!?" Arthur screams out, before finishing off his strafing and deciding to PLUNGE INTO the machine. He screams and shouts and covers himself in a brilliant black and white fire to go a bit with the residual flame from Val and the screaming gush of exhaust from his rocket broom. He slams into slagged armor and attempts to burst through, progressively increasing his rocket-blasting and occasionally alternating it with rushes of bristle-first blending. He hopes to breach the armor and blast through the internal systems like a hostile, living bullet.

    Unfortunately, there's no protection he'll have against any internal countermeasures that the Deus Machina itself has against that sort of breach. And while he self-destructively tries to crash into the machine and burn through its midsection, he shouts out to his particular foe. "So YOU ASSHOLES are going ALL IN, huh? Putting it ALL DOWN on us? What the FUCK! You bring SIX KINDS of ASS and I'm gonna bring you SIX KINDS of ASSKICKING! What the FUCK are YOU ASSHOLES throwing a party THIS HARD for?"

    He's losing a reasonable amount of blood, and the swelling's starting on those bruises. His bravado has a false tone to it. He knows full well what sort of desperation is appropriate right now.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Psyber and Amalthea need cover. Setsuko isn't sure what the angel has planned - she has an inkling, but she won't know for sure until he does it - but if he's doing it, then despite being a bad idea it is probably also a good one. Zanjintou snaps into oversized shape once again, and the swordswoman gives him a simple nod. "I'll buy as much time as you need."

    And then she's in the air, off at full speed.

    Her flight path is carefully chosen. Between his laserlike focus on Amalthea and the fact that the unicorn is between him and her, Setsuko is flying in such a way that her approach should be visually obscured from Claudius until the instant Amalthea swerves - at which point Setsuko turns as well, Zanjintou held behind her so that sword and swordswoman pass by rocket knight unicorn with perhaps an inch of clearance. It's a rather nasty surprise already, and it only gets nastier.

    Still hurtling towards the Lord Byakhee at full speed, Setsuko twists and turns herself in the air, hauling her immense blade around in preparation for an attack. "ZANJINTOU...!" With her speed and the pace at which the Byakhee is no doubt following Amalthea, there will only be an instant before the demigod swings, adding all the momentum of both their flights to that first slash. But the second comes in a rapid spin, as Setsuko hauls back on the sword and turns all that momentum upward, bringing it around for a second slice with nearly as much force as the first.

    "ICHIMONJI GIRI!!"

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The same trick... does work for Galva, in this case, though less well. The explosion starts to topple the giant, but this time black, crackling power arcs out, trying to blast Homura right from the sky. This doesn't stop it from falling over, with a dying shriek from the summoned beast. True, Vespasianus could just resummon the thing, but it's not like he can do that right away. It crashes into a building, but the evacuation is in full swing by now.

Ariel (219) has posed:
A plan, and something to take care of Ogre. Ariel has to deal with two now! Maybe not her best idea in the world, but if she really has a plan... maybe she can do it. "Okay Al! I think this will work!"

First things first... deal with Belzebuth, who gets a swing in! Demonbane crashes into the side of a building as armor crumples under the hit, smashing it through and forcing it to stagger. The damaged Deus Machina responds with something abrupt though. "Atlach-nacha, now!"

Sending the web out to Belzebuth is just a delaying tactic, she knows, but she doesn't intend on leaving him alone for long. She just needs him out of her hair while she takes care of Ogre.

Launching Demonbane, damaged or not, toward the Ogre, he icy shield in her hand turns into a revolver. Snapping off three shots, the bullets go wide... then change direction and zip toward Ogre unerringly. She doesn't expect them to take care of the machine though, instead summoning up a flaming lance of power, Cthugha's melee form for her. The spear aims to bisect the Deus Machina, trying to tear and melt the midsection from the legs.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Augustus is a giant dick, and piloting the Legacy of Gold. So this is actually going to work... a little. "What do you two peasants think you are doing?" the man asks from within, as if about to laugh at Psyber and Amalthea's attempts. That isn't a good idea, though... for Amalthea did evde Byakhee, and her holy nature weakens the mecha's defenses, plus Psyber's own nature and super strength... well.

    The hatch creaks, then tears open, allowing access to the cockpit. It is currently empty because Augustus is controlling it remotely, but...

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    Red lights flash all across the console, and Al shouts out, "That was a bigger hit than I'd like, Ariel! Any more of that and we won't be able to see so easily!" In fact, the view from the cockpit fuzzes a little before stabilizing, and then... Ariel is piloting it toward the Ogre?

    "I hope you know what you're doing, Ariel! Ia ia, Cthugha!" Al steadies the warning lights, diverting and bypassing some power, but Demonbane is still leaking a silvery fluid down the side of the machine.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Pro: it did work.
    Con: it got a shot off.

    The black bolt of power, intended for targets likely larger and bulkier than Homura, would make easy work of the magical girl if it hit dead on. The speed at which it comes catches her by surprise to boot, and though she avoids getting caught wholesale in it, it still catches half of her body, the energy (singing? electrocuting? causing unspecified damage?) and managing to force her to land on a rooftop to avoid crashing to the ground.

    It takes her a few moments to shake the pain off, and then another to decide cutting the pain off right now is the objective good idea. Yes, Sayaka, sometimes your way is correct. Broken clock, and all that.

    The Puella Magi takes back off, and makes for VITELIUS. One last giant. And rather than try the same thing again, she appears above it this time, with her bow out and already pulled back, pointed down. "Starlight Arrow." Hey, don't look at me like that. The PSP game named it, not me.

    Instead of EXPLOSIVES, the final pillar gets a large pink-purple beam of light crashing down from above, charged with purification (but not holy, exactly) magic. It's not quite big enough to entirely engulf the pillar (it's far too big), but it should be concentrated enough at the tip to pierce through until ground level... hoopefully. Otherwise Homura just wasted a shitton of magic for a pointless lightshow, and damage so far does not make that a good thing.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    The pass with Setsuko is horrifyingly close. To the outside observer anyway. All it took was for the demi-god to tell her that approach vector and Amalthea doesn't even flinch at the high speed pass, leaving it in the divine woman and her collossal blade to take the heat off her.
    "Borrowing your Deus Machina." Retorted in a quick snap. But once the plate pops open and proves empty, there is a mild disappointment. Still, the lack of an actual pilot means it's MUCH easier to fling herself in through the open hatchway, stowing her lance aside as she plops into the higher seat inside the Deus Machina. The seat usually reserved for a Grimoire to plug in and power the machine, on complete chance.
    "Dibs, shotgun."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Oh, this isn't going to end well for Claudius. He was already outmatched by Amalthea, but as Setsuko suddenly switches off, he makes the mistake of thinking it's a weaker foe. Technically, in some ways Setsuko is... but Setsuko is a warrior, through and through, not a healer as well. "OUT OF MY WAY!" he shouts, bringing the rifle the Lord Byakhee carries up to snap off a shot that blasts a huge hole in the building behind... but will miss Setsuko widely.

    An instant later, the rifle is spinning off into the street, because that first slash cleaves right through the arm at the shoulder... easily. It also takes part of the wing, sending the Byakhee tumbling in midair and heading for the street.

    "FUUUUUUUUCK!!" Yes, Claudius has a mouth on him, and it's easily heard as the second slice cuts right through the middle of the relatively delicate machine. The bottom half tumbles and slams into the building behind Setsuko to her right... and the top half, complete with screaming curses, slams into the street to Setsuko's LEFT, leaving her relatively untouched.

    Heroes: 1, Anticross: 0.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Vespasianus is the one piloting the Cykranosh, and well... Arthur and Velantha are really tearing at his mecha. Armor melts and wrenches away, and it's all he can do to keep the machine regenerating, repairing at a not-quite-fast-enough rate to keep the machine aloft. He does send out beams lancing through the air, and he's actually... strong enough that this could hurt, for sure. He does answer Arthur though!

    "Why, that is simple! All we need is one thing. Hand her over and you could end this! Or we destroy the city!" He laughs. "The Tyrant Nero! Surely you do not want to continue to defend the most evil sorceress in the world? She is one of ours... and we will have her back."

    For all his laughter and bravado though, it ends with a curse as one of his legs finally loses it, tumbling away from the Deus Machina to crash to the city below.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Really, pretty much that. Consider it an aggression acquisitions policy," Psyber says as he follows into the cockpit after Amalthea. He settles down into the drier's seat, letting her into the grimoire seat, "Alright, you take shotgun, I'll take driver's seat."

    Psyber then cracks his knuckles and looks down at the controls in front of him, "Okay. So this is going to require... the gentleman's touch, so to speak. Precision, delicacy, and the most subtle of maneuvers," He says to Amalthea as he prepares to get to work. Of course... Psyber now realizes that a lot of people he really cares about are in at least disadvantageous positions and he, personally, has been under a lot of stress lately.

    Owing to this, he then promptly starts slamming his hands down on the controls, trying to let loose with every shot and ability the Legacy of Gold has, firing them out onto any Anti-Cross members with reckless abandon, no restraint, and generally attempting to turn the mech against its own side in a hellish storm of bombardments, potentially laced with Holy due to Amalthea as an energy source.

    "Fuck your mechs! Fuck ALL your mechs!" Psyber screams as he slams the controls wildly, generally getting into a fenzy as he lets the lasers fly out at the people trying to attack a hefty chunk of his social circle, "I will teach you to keep fucking with this city! I'll teach you all!"

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The Kraken topples over as that piercing lance of water crashes into its leg, making Claudius growl in rage. He catches himself though... and the Kraken is TOUGH. Even Lila can't take it down that easily, meaning it steadies and starts limping forward.

    That's all an act though. An instant later, torrents of water /erupt/ from beneath the Nameless One, trying to slam into it and topple the much larger mecha. This is going to be tough, because most of the mechs here are around 50 meters or less... but Kraken still sends an /incredible/ pummelling upward, perhaps even enough to topple the 300+ meter Deus Machina.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Ariel's maneuver is clever... but not clever enough, as it turns out.

    The Belzebuth is only momentarily caught, as the webbing tangles it up and causes it to topple over... only for the entire thing to dissolve into a mass of flies and other insects, swarming upward and reforming, in full, standing once again. It starts moving toward Demonbane once more with a confident stride.

    Ogre's remaining sword slices through the air unerringly, cutting the incoming bullets easily. Ogre is not ready entirely for the incoming spear though, which tears through its shoulder, cutting into armor and beginning to penetrate further when-

    From the backpack behind it, two more arms, smaller than the main ones, unfold in the snap of an instant. One grabs the flaming spear of Cthugha, heedless of the fingers starting to melt, and helps lever the Ogre backward with Demonbane on the other end. The other one, drawing a smaller blade, whips out to stab toward Demonbane's middle as the Ogre twists about, stabbing its assailant while flipping it toward the ground.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur has some exposure to those beams briefly. Unlike that kick, this one's a full-on attack and Arthur himself remains a squishy caster. A beam or two manages to lance into his body, evoking a spray of blood and a web of bruises. "Well you better FUCKING ASK HER, and if she says NO, you'd better FUCK RIGHT OFF back to your BLACK LODGE, bro!" And he manages to get into the body itself, shielded from more brutal violence that would be likely to kill him at full exposure.

    With a heavy blending noise, he emerges from where that leg's separating. "In the MEANTIME, asshole, why don't you TAKE A SEAT RIGHT OVER THERE?" He calls out, gritting his teeth through the pain as he tears away from the falling machine, not even spending a moment on putting pressure on that spraying wound on his back. He's gonna stop by Val first, and grab onto something, hoping she can drop a quick heal on him. This is BRUTALIZING his body.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Long experience in the Multiverse has taught Setsuko never to turn her back on an enemy until she's certain that it won't be getting up again. Even such crushing damage as 'arm cleaved off and body split in half' is no guarantee. Only once she's certain the Lord Byakhee is done for now does the swordswoman turn in the air and go soaring over the city again. Ariel is facing two enemies at once; and one of them is a master swordsman.

    She may approach her battles with a businesslike soldier's focus, but a corner of her mind still murmurs, 'How interesting.'

    Though she may have the size of a human, her blade and her inhuman strength both give her the capacity to duel much larger enemies on even footing. She's banking on that; banking on her ability to fight the Ogre evenly. Because she intends to call the pilot out.

    Her approach pops upward at the last moment, giving her a brief burst of altitude that allows the demigod to come down from above on the arm that Ariel's foe is using to try and flip her over. She aims directly for the wrist, looking to break the hold on Demonbane's spear entirely, but keeps right on going and heaves the Zanjintou downward in a bid to smash aside the shortblade before it can reach the midsection of Ariel's unit. "Your opponent is right here!"

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Attacking from above with a GIANT PILLAR OF MAGIC is a great idea for Homura! In her case, the overwhelming power and the target being unprepared for it means that the giant is ripped to shreds, crumbling into nothing within short order after that blast of purple magic tears down to the street level. Sure, it makes the buildings shudder, but let's face it: this city isn't escaping this fight intact.

    And with that, Homura's job is currently done! This is actually REALLY good, because the three giants were being used as a form of power booster for the others, and with Vespasianus going down, they aren't likely to be summoned again any time soon. This should make the rest of the fights a bit easier.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    It does indeed hurt. It hurts a lot. The lancing eams cut huge swathes across Valentha's reptilian form! The armor-like hide bubbles and sizzles. Much of the force is dispersed and blunted, like a bullet hitting cement. Were it a laser, that might not hurt so much. Her hide is tremendously resistant to heat, but not the magic that she's being struck by. The dragon roars in pain but refuses to flinch despite every nerve in her body screaming to do just that.

    She is a practiced mage. Pain is a state of mind.

    Wizards are masters of the mind.

    She's begun chanting under her breath even before Arthur Lowell's arrival. Bloodied and ragged as he is... he's going to feel it pretty hard once he makes contact.

    It's like having a hundred gallons of life jackhammered into a ten gallon tank! Bluish-whtie energy flows into Arthur Lowell in huge torrent, seeking out each and every cut and bruise. Flesh mends and cracking bones heal. Stamina is restored. If he watches, every gaping wound is being swiftly eliminated... as if it had never been there to begin with.

    Were he not a God and thus, healthier than any mortal would be expected to be, there might be further benefits... but he'll have to be content with feeling like he just got supercharged with a new lease on life!

    "Give them hell." Valentha instructs, grinning.

    Her answer for the pilot is pretty clear. "That's quite a thing to hear the aggressors say. I don't recall her summoning a giant terror in the middle of a city for any reason save self defense here. Regardless of your target's guilt or innocence, your actions are reckless or inexcusable. If you can't use toys like these responsibly, they'll be BROKEN."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Beamspam from the Legacy of Gold! This is actually a pretty good thing, because Belzebuth gets blasted pretty hard, and the Kraken gets a pretty good licking too. One arm is blown off the powerful machine, while the Belzebuth is forced to disintegrate and reform /again/ some distance away. Is it impossible to kill? Well, maybe, but this is making it pretty annoyed and slowing it down. It's certainly given the others a good chance to slam their opponents.

    Then the Legacy of Gold is gone, leaving Amalthea and Psyber in midair.

    It materializes again, only about fifty meters or so down the street. Augustus, the dark-skinne mage who controls it, lands lightly atop the mecha's shoulder. "Fools," he sighs, snapping his fingers.

    There is a reason that Deus Machina generally cannot be hijacked, it seems. Something to reflect upon as the wave of much more carefully-aimed golden lasers blaze down upon Psyber and Amalthea.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur hangs off of Val like tattered cloth, and with about the same sense of unsteady presence. Then a shock of healing blasts into him, regenerating his energy properly, though the abstract strain remains, despite woundlessness. He gasps suddenly, and then nods, giving Val an enthusiastic sort of fist-pound against her scaley hide. He disengages with a skydiver's drop. Where would the pilot of that one be... Somewhere near the middle?

    With the machine crippled and dropped, it still presents a threat. That weaponry, and the summoner within, are all important to deal with as quickly as possible. And so, Arthur dives, massively increasing the force of gravity on himself to accelerate to tremendous speeds, and encasing himself in a heavy shielding of warped space. He hopes to lance through the weakened Deus Machina while it's crippled. He already did his trash talk. Now is the time for screaming. "YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!" He turns himself into the equivalent of an orbital strike projectile, and aims for the rough center of the Deus Machina. His hope is to catch the summoner himself somewhere in there and drag him out the other side, but it's more likely that Arthur will force things more towards retreat.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    With the three giants down, Homura finds a perch, alikely atop a miraculously intact office tower, to settle down, dismiss her wings, and then take a breather. She's a bit out of shape, it seems, but at least she did something useful so it's not like she's slowing the group down.

    Guess she hasn't quite fully recovered from her fight with Material-S yet. And that's why going all-out is a bad idea. Over the radio, she simply transmits:

    "Homura here, landing on a roof to take five. That took more out of me than I thought it would." She'll get back up if something extremely awful happens, but for now she'll be content to sit down and breathe slowly.

Lila (545) has posed:
    Even if the Nameless One far outclasses her opponent, even Lila - who is also generally pretty overconfident - can be taken by surprise. The jet of water blasting Lila's mecha manages to knock it off balance... creaking and falling into a building, crushing it with the mech's weight. With a thunders slam that buckles the ground, the Nameless One is over, leaving Lila cursing at it. "Fine. No more nice Sorceress."

    A moment's pause, and... "Spell Selection: Cannon Spell."

    Toward the damaged Kraken, a rippling, dark blot that tears time and space itself shears through the air, rocketing toward the other Deus Machina recklessly. She can at least handle this one, if everyone is going to be defending her.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is robbed of his newfound dream of burning all opposition with lasers just as soon as he got it. The fire in his heart will never be awakened and he will never find his true destiny as the troubled anti-hero mech pilot he was always meant to be. Forever, this narrative will be unrealized.

    "Well Amal, it was a good run," Psyber comments as they both float in the air. He's pretty confident he can get back up after a blast like that, but he knows Amalthea is already feeling some exhaustion from earlier. Plus, Guardian Angel and all. So as the barrage of lasers comes in towards them, Psyber lunges sideways and grabs Amalthea around the waistline. Immediately, his black wings erupt from his back and wrap around them, forming a makeshift cocoon that will cause Psyber to absorb a huge portion, if not most, of the damage directed at them.

    Unfortunately, it also leaves his wings scorched, patchy, missing feathers, and unable to sustain his flight. So he's forced to the ground, landing on a knee as he painfully pushes himself back to a standing position before collapsing back down onto a knee again. The wings, devoid of almost all their feathers and looking pretty skeletal, stretch painfully as Psyber needs to take a few moments to recover from the damage.

    "Amal! Go back the others up!" He shouts to the guardian unicorn, waving her off as he tries to play down his injuries despite their overwhelming severity. He knows if he looks too injured, she'll divert to come help him, so he's downplaying what was a pretty cataclysmic blow he absorbed from the Legacy of Gold.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The blade going toward Ariel's midsection gets a block, apparently. The tremendous clash saves Demonbane from further damage, at least, and the initial strike from Setsuko forces Ogre to release the spear or else lose a hand. It's still horribly damaged from grabbing a flaming spear though! That was a good idea for him, but...

    "Another sword user, at last," Titus says from within. The missing katana is rapidly summoned to his other, injured arm, and the Deus Machina doesn't bother to offer an 'equal stance' because Setsuko obviously is a worthy opponent. "I look forward to this!"

    Four blades slice down in an intricate pattern, but Ogre has lost the element of surprise from using his extra two arms. This means that Setsuko doesn't have that unexpected ploy to deal with, and is indeed fighting on relatively even ground... perhaps even at a slight advantage.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    Al listens to Ariel's idea as damage monitors blare inside... and then she pales. Why? You'll see. "Hey Princess! You there?"

    Back at the base, Ruri is watching with pacing and fretting, as are everyone else. Winfield, her butler, stands by with a tray and a glass, for her use should she need it. As soon as Ruri hears Al's voice, she knows the question.

    "Activate the Hiranipra System. Encrypt the Words of Power. Set up the Naacal Code!"

    "Naacal Code Transmitting, Mistress!" one of the maids says.

    Winfield shows no sign of surprise, this time, staring at the screen with a tight-lipped look of worry.

Ariel (219) has posed:
The damaged Demonbane is still a little rattled, and Ariel starts in surprise as the blade comes from NOWHERE to stab toward the giant robot's midsection. "No!" She tries to wrench away, but there's no way she can do that in time. It's going to hit-

Except that Setsuko comes to the rescue. "Th-thanks, Aunt Setsuko!" Demonbane is still flipping through the air, but the interference means that Ariel manages to 'land' without slamming down too hard, instead crumbling into a building.

And that's when Vespasianus yells about grabbing Nero/Lila and generally acting like more of a dick.

Oh, and Belzebuth is up again. Wonderful.

"No, that isn't how things work," Ariel says, through Demonbane's speakers. "You want to mess around with me, that's fine. With Al? I guess I can understand that, but you're messing with me. You want to mess with my family?"

A loud whine emits from Demonbane, and the damaged eye flares with light, healing itself with magical repair circuits. Steam jets from numerous joints, the back flaring out with winglike explosions of magical energy. For a flickering moment, a sigil, some kind of rune or symbol, appears in the air around Demonbane. Those who were present for when it happened may recognize it as the symbol that Hazel put on Ariel that disables the unicorn's limiters.

"DON'T FUCK WITH MY FAMILY!"

It isn't an attack, directly, that Ariel launches at first. Instead, the snapped spell on Belzebuth is a sudden appearance of a dark circle beneath, the buildings around the Deus Machina crumbling and collapsing for no apparent reason. A wavering in the air may look strange... but it's only a moment later that the light 'tug' can be felt that clarifies that she's just increased the gravity by at least an order of magnitude to trap the dematerializing monstrosity.

"Thirst not! Hunger not! Return to the void!"
"LEMURIA IMPACT!"
"Sublimate!"

The leg shields flare up to life, launching Demonbane forward to slam the glowing palm into Belzebuth, before launching the Deus Machina backward, flipping and landing atop a much farther building. Despite the weight, Demonbane lands there and stands without crumbling it.

Then the entire block around Belzebuth vanishes into a white explosion of infinite heat, flash-melting the buildings and ground around it.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    "Of course," Setsuko replies simply to Ariel, her tone briefly taking on a soft warmth. But that's all the attention that she can spare for her niece; a titanic opponent stands before her, and as Titus moves to attack she readies herself for the worst until she can discern what sort of opponent he is.

    Even a seasoned veteran of the battlefield would have trouble with four swords. No, more than that, even a master of a twin-bladed style; the quartet of limbs offers such a vastly different configuration of possible strikes, the potential for too many to handle at once, and a simple sheer ability to overpower from having more strength to do so with. As it stands, whipping her sword around and parrying the first several strikes takes every ounce of Setsuko's strength, all the instinct she has, pushes her reaction times to the limits. And yet, she accomplishes it. One parry, two, three, four. She begins the fight on the defensive, filling the air around herself with the sparks of a sword battle between titans.

    And amidst all of it, a preternatural calm comes over the demigod's face. A vitality begins to shine in her eyes. Her parries begin to happen faster, her movements more prepared for the Ogre's attacks. It takes several strikes, but the divinity of War within her is coming alive.

    "...a splendid opponent," she decides simply.

    And then suddenly, as the light from the Lemuria Impact shines somewhere behind the swordswoman, one of Ogre's attacks is deflected into another. Setsuko spins and shifts, using her weight and the mass of her blade to create one gap in Titus' guard. She whips around and simply batters at a second blade to create another. Breaking both his defenses and his rhythm in one flowing movement, that leaves her a gap to lunge in straight forward, turning a somersault that lends force to Zanjintou as she swings it vertically, her eyes briefly ablaze with divine blue visible even against the white light of Ariel's wrath.

    "CHEEEESUTOOOAAAAH!"

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    For one moment. One shining, glorious, moment of hot blood, Amalthea is in the secondary seat in that mecha, teeth gritted, eye wide, a roar burning in her breast as Psyber jams buttons and her power is sapped to to provide that destructive hail.
    But before she can even voice some cry of triumph, the two are, in an instant, left hanging and confused over empty air, as the very machine of war they were just sitting in- turns right back around against them.
    Again.
    "... Shit."
    It's an apt response to the dawning moment of realizing how astoundingly bad an idea the whole plan was, even if it sort of kind of worked for a least that one brief moment.
    When the lasers and beams come, she braces as best she can while falling- until Psyber is upon her. "Wh-"
    Now comes the moment of horror. A look of the most extreme pain-ridden guilt etched on silver features as wings enrwap her, before the two plummet and land. She staggers from the shielding embrace, hobbling free with a much more pronounced limp than moments ago, but it's not as crippling as it could have been if not for Psyber.
    "... Are... Are you sure?" There's worry in her tone as she skids boots. And she really is about to try and shamble back into the fray until...
    She hear's Ariel's voice. Loopy ears swifel straight up the instant she hears that challenging cry, the chant- and then is promptly blinded by the Demonbane's most devastating attack brought to bear.
    "Dude, Psyber what am I supposed to do, I can't keep up with that, she's growing up way too fast."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    High in the sky, the light show is about to end... while it begins on the ground. More bright beams lance out as the massive machine starts to tumble away, toward the ocean beside the city. Cykranosh is, however, suddenly forced into exploding at the side as Arthur tears through a weakened section of armor. The broom-bearing God of Space rips through the large cockpit, and right out the back. As the Cykranosh falls, it begins to vanish into motes of light, returning to its unsummoned state.

    "HNRGH!" The bearded gentleman that WAS inside is now on Arthur's broom, swept up with a look of shock on his face. He's beaten, sure, but he expected to be able to use his normal tricks to get away. Yet without his Giants(thanks to Homura) and now with his Deus Machina disabled, he's... well he's still a formidable sorcerer, but far weaker than Arthur.

    Heroes: 2, Anticross: 0

    About that time, a rippling ball of annihilation holes an entire building. Before it even collapses, Lila's Cannon spell swallows up the Kraken's lower half, sending the huge machine toppling over to crash into the ground. Caligula HOWLS angrily from within, still unable to accept that he honestly never had a chance.

    Heroes: 3, Anticross 0.

    Blades ring, massive katana versus smaller, yet god-wielded blade. The clash of blades sounds throughout the street, and as that light blossoms in the distances, the rapid parry and attack continuing even as the city behind is swallowed up in that blaze of heat.

    Then comes the strike, tearing through the Ogre's front, sending one of its smaller arms flying as it is severed. The Deus Machina staggers back, blades coming up with eagerness even if it is currently outmatched. "MAGNIFICENT!"

    Heroes: 4, Anticross: 0.

    And then the light beyond, as the Belzebuth is unable to escape. "W-what?!?" Tiberius struggles, but the crushing gravity holds him and his Deus Machina in place. He can't escape the center of the explosion that vaporizes the buildings around him, flattening part of the city to defeat him. When the light fades, the ground is blasted and burned, and there is no sign of Belzebuth.

    Heroes: 4?, Anticross: 1?

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "I dunno," Psyber remarks to Amalthea as he starts to stand up, his wings vanishing behind his back and phasing out to spare people their grisly sight. He covers his face with an arm in the wake of Ariel's attack and starts trying to remain fully upright, adjusting his footing a bit and then trying to remain standing in the aftershock of the ability.

    "They grow up pretty fast, yeah. One day you're watching them trip and fall, and the next they're going off to college and building plasma grenades. Most you can do is just be proud, I guess," Psyber remarks as he uses the back of his hand to wipe some blood from the corner of his mouth as he assesses which organs his body may need to regrow or repair for internal bleeding.

    "Fuck, though. What the hell caused them to make this big a showing after such a long haitus?" He asks aloud, "Maybe they're getting desperate to finish their plans or something," He wonders a bit.

    And then he looks to Amalthea, "You may wanna go make sure she's okay after that."

Lila (545) has posed:
    With a creaking groan, the Nameless One rises again. The awe-inspiring giant of a Deus Machina starts to turn, looking toward the Legacy of Gold now. This is, of course, the point.

    "It would appear that you are all alone now, Augustus," Lila taunts from within. "Are you still set upon capturing me? As you can see, Ariel and her family will not allow such a thing... and I think I like it better with them. Run along now~"

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel is suspiciously quiet after that, with Demonbane being very still. One could take it as standing dramatically with the ponytail fluttering in the wind, possibly.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko falls back from her strike, waits for the space of a breath, and then goes on the attack again; a single blow will not decide this battle so easily, and at the urging of her comrades, loss or victory temporarily cease to be a concern entirely. Instead, Setsuko unleashes a stream of attacks meant to increase pressure. Strike and parry, spin and slash, she crosses blades with Ogre again and again. Leaving openings deliberately to invite attack, pushing Titus' guard to see how well he defends against pure skill. All of it purely for the purpose of 'fighting' rather than 'defeating', creating an endless dance through which she can get a feel for her opponent's style... and, more importantly, the spirit driving that style. The conviction that moves the blades to action. A swordsman's communion, after a fashion.

    And before even she realizes it, Setsuko finds herself speaking between every clash.

    "For what purpose do you seek perfection, Titus? Your every strike rings with it. There is a refinement and drive to your swordsmanship seldom seen on any battlefield, an honor I cannot help but laud. I find few chances to match my blade against such a pure swordsman, and yet-! And yet, you lend your blade to those who would bring ruin! Certainly, your allegiance brings you strong opponents - and yet, when you have felled your foes, what then? What of the innocents they protect? No matter how impressive your skill, when you lend it to a cause which sheds the blood of the powerless, you sully that purity... will you truly continue down such a wretched path, master of Ogre? What will you find at the end of it, and what worth is there in skill gained on that road?!"

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    "I worry is all." Muttered softly, Amalthea surveying the damage.
    How pissed will Stone be after this?
    Nevertheless she's already trudging towards the Demonbane, being vere careful to stay out of Setsuko's path- or especially Lila's in her monster of a mecha as it squares off against the Legacy of Gold. "Yeah... Yeah I reckon I oughtta do that.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    For a bit there, Valentha wasn't sure if Arthur had it in him to rip that mecha to shreds. But she hasn't come this far by making poor choices.... most of the time! Secretly Valentha's practically smirking with how well THAT turned out. But now's not really the time to be too smug.

    Not so long as people are in danger...

    "The entire entity was dispelled?! ... Banished...?! ... Iiinteresting. So damaging them enough will eliminate them, but in a different way..."

    She'd go and assist someone else now, but after looking around the battlefield, it's kind of hard to see who actually NEEDS help...

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur now has that bastard at the end of his broom. Okay, how can he keep him from getting away again...?

    Hmmm, he thinks. I didn't think this entirely through.

    Not thinking things through is what Arthur claims is his specialty, though. After tearing up his body a little more to be able to get through that rigorous volley of beams and that armor, Arthur then attempts to do two things: First, slam the man into the ground or a nearby building. He's a sorcerer, he has to have defenses against that sort of thing. Second, impact the man's throat just enough to stun and stop any verbally-reinforced spellcasting. Third, immediately attempt to warp spare around him in sufficiently distorted ways that a teleportation can't be performed. Arthur is not, unfortunately, specced out for that one. He's a Mage of Space, rather than a Mage of Void or perhaps a Thief of Space, and so there's a solid chance that this guy will get away.

    But, unfortunately, even assuming Arthur COULD kill him in on-foot combat, he's not gonna try. No killshots for him. But he'll go for a capture if possible. The man might get the chance to slip out, of course, when Arthur glances away at the tremendous show elsewhere in the city. He goes slightly pale. Was that huge disturbance he felt ARIEL?! He is utterly stunned by the idea.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Setsuko's opponent no longer fights to win. He knows he is beaten here. Yet the Ogre continues to clash, merely for the enjoyment of the fight. He is /extremely/ skilled, with feints and parries that are perfect in form, even with the damage to the mech. His flowing movements with four arms are natural... well, three arms now, but still. And his answer? "I have set myself upon this path, and I cannot turn from it. To do so would be a greater stain upon my soul than even what I have given myself."

    The blades retreat suddenly. "I know when I am beaten, and I acknowledge your victory. I am Titus. Might I have your name so that we may meet again in honorable combat?" No doubt the other Anticross are shuddering at this... in fact, Claudius has recovered enough to bit sitting nearby, and is just facepalming so hard.

    Vespasianus is slammed into a building, which true to form crumbles before even smudging his suit. Jabbing him in the throat with a divine broom handle does wonders for shutting him up though, and the cocky bearded man chokes a little, coughing before wheezing out loud rather than managing to do much. He probably can't teleport out easily... though someone else might snatch him.

    And the Legacy of Gold squares off against the Nameless One. "I'm much stronger than you think," Augustus declares snootily. "I think you will find-"

    "You will find nothing."

    At long last, one more player is on the field. Therion has appeared, alighting atop a ruined spire of crumbling building. A casual brush of his hair backward examines the battlefield, and he murmurs in that bored tone, "You have failed to capture the Tyrant, or Al Azif, but we have obtained something of much greater value today. You cannot win against these, Augustus... and I certainly am not going to help you if you want to fight a fool's battle." He turns, and finishes off with a lazy order, "Return to Black Lodge immediately. All of you. We are done here."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko's sword halts when Ogre's withdraw, held steady in the air for a heartbeat or two before, with a snap, she reduces its size and sheathes it at her side. "That is unfortunate... but I can't fault your loyalty. We will almost certainly meet again, Titus. I am Major Setsuko Kaminagi, and my style is Kaminagi-ryu." Unfortunate indeed, but if he is withdrawing, then that's all there is to be done for now.

    And it's thankful that Ogre is off the field, because Master Therion's appearance now has the swordswoman entirely tense and focused elsewhere. She won't be off her guard until he's gone entirely.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Also, Tiberius reforms next to the shore, near the Legacy of Gold. "Hmmmn..." Apparently he is impressed... but still alive. Such as it is. There's no sign of the Belzebuth, so Ariel's attack must have really taken a lot out of him.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber doesn't have much energy or fight left in him. Even at his extensive power level, taking a full volley takes a number out of him. Still, when Tiberius reforms near the Legacy of Gold, the half-angel has a scowl fall across his face. After all he put Ariel through today, after how far his Niece had to push herself, he didn't even have the decency to stay permanently handled. For Psyber, it's fairly unforgivable how far he pushed the girl, especially after the prior incident with Arthur. The half-angel sort of tiredly points at him with a single finger. Then he turns that single pointing finger into two fingers and a thumb, making a gun gesture. His intent is pretty clear.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur seems to have successfully stunned Vespasianus, and hopefully limited his teleportation. The sharp blender bristles of his broom spread wide and the Mage attempts to plant them over the sorcerer's neck and face, not cutting but making it very risky to move. "Shit." He declares, in an exhausted whisper. "You sons of bitches are tough. Churned through my energy fucking twice now." He then sees Therion, albeit from a distance. Arthur knows how this works. One in the hand is worth two in the bush. He can't go after Therion right now, because of the Lila situaion. So despite practically spitting with frustration at him, Arthur keeps himself limited to shouting, "Oh, REALLY, huh? What the fuck's THAT?!" He shouts back at him...

    And spoken low and soft on the radio, "Got one, maybe, slippery fucker. Someone help me out, I need him brought in and I might take a cheapn shot and get killed by him or something." Arthur seems to, at the very least, treat this particular foe seriously in a certain way. He's very aware that there's a lot of risk here and he knows when to stop acting like an idiot.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    A tear in spacetime opens before Therion, but he pauses on the way out. Even the stoic mage has gained much entertainment and respect for his foes, beings of power that have challenged him more than he's felt challenged in a long, long while. It's a nice change of pace, and one could say he's having fun seeing such /uncertainty/ in his life, even if the other Anticross are clearly infuriated with it. One by one, the others vanish, but Therion lingers to answer the question on everyone's mind.

    He smiles, glancing over his shoulder. "We now know that she can kill."

    Then he steps through the portal and vanishes.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Amalthea has halted in her tracks.
    Standing stone silent at the foot of the Demonbane, a dark shadow has fallen across the unicorn's face. Her gauntlet creaks from how hard her hand has balled into a fist, lance clattering to the cratered ground at her feet.
    For a moment her expression is unreadable; a placid silver mask of that chronic, mild, inhuman, apathy.
    And then the facade breaks, wordlessly glancing up at the Deus Machina with a somber expression of profound silent sorrow.
    "Perhaps. She's growing up a little too fast."
    Murmured so low it's nary but a whisper.