4789/The Halo

The Halo
Date of Scene:	15 November 2016
Location:	City of Ravnica <Rav>
Synopsis:	The allies of the Izzet defend the Nexus.. and then a miracle.
Cast of Characters:	1037, 272, 325, Bahamut, 385, Corona Arclite, Sanary Rondel, Maya, Yang Xiao Long, 750, 644, Staren, 639, 300, 215
Tinyplot:	34 - Moeru

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Ijiwaru (1037) has posed:
    RAVNICA -- IZZET SECTOR -- THE NEXUS

    The best ways to get around a city are commonly public transportation, you meet the most interesting people when using the less popular ones.

    Especially when you're underground.

    The Nexus might be some of the most guarded locale in Ravnica right this minute, other than perhaps Nivix itself...

    All the more surprising when an explosion rips through the sector outside the Mana Nexus.

    One that is not Izzet created.

    Sirens errupt in screams, any on the streets who are not mages take off running for safety as the cries of the injured echo to the brilliantly gleaming red and blue stars above.

    ANd around it all, the window, that gash ripped in the fabric of Ravnica's sky, gives a sharp pulse, cracking at its edges, the brilliant white light dimming slightly.

    Fireballs and lightning errupt from the hole, along with a hail of arms fire, and a massive, metallic hand, clawed, reaches up as a metallic titan pulls itself up, with the groaning of metal. This juggernaut of steel is roughly human shaped, with a bulbous body and sturdy, stubbed legs, but long arms ending with cruel claws. Its apature cleams a brilliant yellow as Magic Eaters and Guildless alike allign, the gray-and-brown cloaked guildless leading a zealotous charge against the Izzet League!

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Inside the Nexus control room, a pair of dimunitive Kodama are stirred to action by the explosions, the sickly looking blue haired one with goggles around her arm looks up, her sister, pink-haired with brassy goggles ove rher head looks at the ceiling, where some parts begin to fall.

    "They're here." Yu whispers, and she takes a deep breath, her eyes beeginning to tear up.

    "Yu. /Focus./ Or no one will get out of this alive. We're still Hers. We /still/ serve the Izzet in her stead. And we Still. Have. Work. To Do." Mi states, and she hops on the horn.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    A massive explosion rocks the area near the Nexus. To say the Izzet wasn't prepared would be silly. They were -waiting- for this, if nothing else. A flurry of activity begins as soon as the debris start to settle. Weirds surge out from almost every nook and corner of the massive construct. The Boros, one of the Izzet's closest allies, march forward in perfect formation, the front line with shields raised, pikemen behind, ready to engage any that begin to move forward.

    Inside, the explosion knocks Ryxinel out of the chair he had been -standing- on. He had found a particular panel that didn't make sense and he was trying to ensure this part of the Nexus was correct when the concussion reached him and the kodama inside. His fall, while brusing, leaves him no worse for wear. "EXPLOSION NEAR THE NEXUS! All allies report!" is his transmission as he becomes a flurry of activity inside, "Dear stars, and Yunomi, please tell me you left more notes around here somewhere..."

    If anyone was looking toward the spires shortly after the explosion rang out, the sight of not one, but -three- dragons soaring out of Thirix would be visible. The metallic form of Thianel was easily spotted, but the smaller, true forms of Sidonia and Rhapsody both may be very unfamiliar to those that knew the sisters. They simply did not take those forms often, but now, as the final 'bell' seems to have rang, they refuse to hold anything back. As they approac, Thianel lands right infront of the generators, ready to be an inmovable object to resist any force that would come to it. Sidonia, simply vanishes against the night sky, doing as she always does. Rhapsody -slams- down to the ground, but breaks into a run, shifting to the form most recognize her in, drawing both spellblades as she leads a charge of magewrights, goblins, and weirds straight toward the opposing force.

Bahamut has posed:
     Bahamut just happened to be racing here already, his majestic wings carrying him at near super-sonic speeds. High in the sky, he might look like a gigantic bird of prey. But, he is still dwarfed by whatever that is emerging from the Window. Bahamut dives, and as he does several brightly glowing golden rune circles form in his flight path. There is a thunderous crash as he shatters each one with his passing, and he leaves a trail like a falling comet as he dives.

     He pulls up just in time to avoid smashing into the ground, then lands with a resounding thud and a mighty roar right beside Thianel. Rhapsody charges, and Bahamut follows close behind her, using his size and intimidation to try and draw attention and give Rhapsody some cover. His powerful claws slash at anything that gets within his reach, and when there is nothing within reach he throws spells of all varieties. Fire, lightning, water, ice, flare, and of course his signature Impulse - A cluster attack of grey-white orbs that explode with pure energy upon hitting the ground.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna has not been standing watch at the Mana Nexus for the past 24 (or so) hours.

She's just a human girl, after all; she needs to eat, she needs to sleep, she needs to take care of certain other things ... and more importantly, she has partners who can stand watch in her stead while she's dealing with personal necessities.

But she's at the Nexus when the explosion happens, and besides the shockwave hurling her off her feet and leaving her half-deafened (thankfully *only* half), the sight of a giant robot - one which is probably heavily armed above and beyond those claws - solves one problem for her on sight: how she's going to fight.

Jiina and Erina aren't that far away, but Marina had been running a patrol elsewhere at that moment. Elner is at Yuna's side as usual, and triggers her transformation even while the blonde young woman is getting back to her feet. "Any idea where Ijiwaru is?" Yuna asks the little robo-faerie.

"Probably hiding," Elner speculates. "He would let us know if he was here, I'm sure. - There's Marina now."

Yuna waves to the orange-red and white armored android as Marina of the Sea comes not merely sprinting, but almost flying towards Yuna and the other two Matrix androids. That puts all five of them close enough together for Yuna to take a deep breath, and then yell ...

            "LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT *UP*!!! EL-LINE!!"

And a pillar of light flares into existence, centered on Yuna herself but expanding to engulf the rest of the Matrix of Light, their silhouettes fading from view as the radiance intensifies to hide them. There's a surge of power from within, then, and the pillar of light starts to diminish once more, revealing the sleek, gleaming form of the Matrix Figure, El-Line, fully formed and ready to do battle.

"LIGHTNING SWORD!!!" Yuna shouts from inside El-Line's cockpit, and a crackle of light erupts in the Matrix Figure's right hand, materializing into a suitably large blade. "SHUGOSEIHEKI!!" is Yuna's next shout - conjuring her kite shield, scaled up to El-Line's size, already strapped to the mecha's left forearm the same way Yuna wears the human-sized one.

It was Niv-Mizzet who upgraded the original kite shield and helped integrated it into Yuna's powers and equipment. It seems fitting to use it in defense of the Izzet League and their allies. And as soon as she's finished materializing the equipment she'll need to start with, Yuna lets out a loud (if wordless) yell, charging to meet the attacking giant robot - ready to catch its claws on sword or shield as needed, or both if push comes to shove.

Corona Arclite has posed:
You know an explosion is a Big Deal in Ravnica when it WASN'T caused by some Izzey experiment getting a little too good.

And sometimes having really good hearing wasn't such a great thing. Corona's ears were still ringing from being nearby, but that didn't stop her for making a hustle for the Nexus' generators. They had to keep those up and running or the shields are toast. Which is just as much a problem of all the attackers getting in as it would be keeping whatever contained if the Window spazzes out. Or something to that effect.

She knew the Nexus and what it had meant to Yunomi was going to make it a target yet.

Sometimes it sucked when hunches were right.

The foxgirl's mad dash for the Generators is accompanied not only by the clanging of tools and spurs, but some sort of mechanical device she's carrying on her back. Though her manic pace makes it almost impossible to make out just what she's carrying just yet...

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Finally. Maybe things can finally end today. THen Sanary won't have to even think about whatever's going on in Ravnica, how she might get punched or eaten by the people she's helping out on a part-time basis, or how the fighting could spill out of here and into places the healer actually gives a damn about.

     All that rides on the outcome of.. Whatever it was that caused the explosion. The healer's riding a horse into battle for once, looking more like one of her world's Generals rather than an actual healer with how much armor and gear she's got strapped to herself. Her gunaxe is strapped to her back along with a riot shield, her kite shield is braced against and arm, and she's conjuring up gray loops around her limbs and gear in advance.

     She might have some questionable morals, but she's not going to just lead this horse into a suicidal charge. Once she's confident that the loops are all secured around her stuff and her anklets are on properly, Sanary turns the horse around and gives it a light smack to send it off running away from the fight.

     And then she takes off. Power flows into the anklets and the loops, sending her into a relatively controlled flight straight in the direction of the descending titan. Sure, it might be a lot bigger than she'd expect by the time she gets to it and swings her axe around to try and cleave right into its arm, but it can't be /that/ much bigger than her, right?

     Depth perception's a bitch.

Maya has posed:
So the time had come and she also knew what she might need to do given the blood lust that had taken some of the people going to help bring this to an end. Did she have love for Ijiwaru? Not really but she also knows had she got Revenge on the man who was behind the battle that killed her family? Her planet may have died, or she'd have died, or lost someone else close to her in the end. She just wants the damn cycle of hate to end in regards to this and so here she is she's suited up and ready to go. She knows the battle is baout to start and she knows what to do. If Corigan was here? He'd be able to help with it but matters on Septerra have long kept the Paladin busy with helping to rebuild and guide their broken world.

So to the Generators it would be where Maya is going, though she seems to be packing a backpack with some things that might not be expected with her. She'd almost brought her bio power armour but she feared the magic eaters might well? Eat it. For now she's going to be summoning her wings and flying full tilt where she can to reach the Generators

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang comes screaming along the streets. Pushing Bumblebee to the limit as she hears that explosion, and sees the form of the giant mechanical monster rising up. "What the hell is that?" she asks to noone. She listens in on the radio, and shifts her course, rearing up to pop a wheelie, clearing some debris, and mowing down some unfortunate sap who just happened to be on the other side of the jump. She doesn't slow down though, ducking low and gunning the engine to break through the lines of Guildless and Magic Eaters, letting the heavy frame of her motorbike take the damage. Not again. Never again.

    "I WON'T LET YOU DESTROY HER LEGACY!" she roars as she skids to a stop, leaps off her bike and deploys her gauntlets. "You're going to have to go through me first." she declares, then slams her fists together. "And By the Gods I will make you PAY IN BLOOD for every single inch!"

Rebound (750) has posed:
EXPLOSIONS?!

Rebound normally loves explosions unless they'd directed at her. Then they're not as much fun. But this one isn't directed at her, instead being a centrilized blast near the Nexus. Rebound is flying through the air, figuratively, as she's just jumping really far with each hop, as she sails into the area where the blast just happened.

The mutant fighter is ready to throw down with all of the guildless and undoubtedly the Magic Eaters who are prompting them. She didn't trust them from the moment they showed up, and she was ultimately vidicated, "HEY YOU ASSCLOWNS!" She yells out from her perch above where they are charging in, "You guys just don't quit do you? Come on!" Rebound leaps again, unleashing her full enhanced mutant strength as she sails through the air to land right in the middle of the guildless, aiming to crush them with her landing and then start swinging.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    There is a beam of light that eminates from the ground right next to the Mana Generators, and it all coalesces into a humanoid figure! It's Neva Fernandez, wearing her cloak and now armed to the teeth with two Izzet Charm gauntlets fastened to her arms and glowing with energy, an Izzet Signet hanging from her neck, and a handful of cards ready to play.

    She goes wide eyed at the sights of everything, and for a moment her instincts gnaw at her once more, and Neva for a moment is Paralyzed in indecision...

    This isn't your business, just walk. They can take care of this. You don't have to do anything. Just go... Nobody will blame you...

    Neva trembles and closes her eyes, as she goes through the motions of drawing magic to begin the Planeswalking Ritual...

    YOU WILL BLAME YOURSELF. STAND UP AND FIGHT.

    Neva's eyes snap wide open and she narrows her eyes, before saying with newfound determination, "I won't runaway again..." With that, she begins putting down land cards. A Mountain. She quietly recites the turn steps, before drawing another card and putting down another Mountain.

    "Main Phase 1. Summon SPELLHEART CHIMERA!" She taps the mountain cards and draws some of the mana into her Signet, before channeling the acumulated power into creating a creature...

    https://deckbox.org/mtg/Spellheart%20Chimera

Staren has posed:
    Ravnica is under attack!

    Ijiwaru isn't the only one who loves technology. A warpgate opens, and a plane flies through and then shoots up into the sky! The shape is reminiscent of an F-14 Tomcat but with parts added on and a shiny finish. It aeleron rolls so Staren can look up through the canopy at the enemy giant robot. "'Something big', huh... Well TWO can play THAT game!"

    He /is/ the plane. Or at least he feels like it, with his control system. He doesn't have to look at a screen -- important HUD details follow wherever he looks, and he issues commands with a thought as easily as one twitches a finger. He doesn't need to point his radar at the target -- in visual range, computers can process images and recognize 'giant robot' -- a hard problem for so many years, solved by software from the future. So he just looks, thinks of what he wants to happen, and it does: There's a brief beep in his head, and then a buzz as the computer asks him to confirm the target, and then a pack on the back of the plane opens and twenty missiles rise into the air on columns of smoke. The Star Hawk, for its part, comes to a stop as parts move around like a cybertronian, arms and legs emerging from under the fuselage as the warmachine hovers high in the air. Smaller missiles rain down around the charging enemies, bursting in balls of superheated plasma instead of explosive shockwaves.

    The larger missiles arc down, loaded with high explosives, at the giant enemy robot.

    <"Really?! Attacking Ravnica?! What do you think you can GAIN? Do you really think you can succeed when EMRAKUL failed?!"> Staren transmits towards any radio system the enemy has.

    If Ijiwaru did his research on Staren, he might know that that missile pack means he doesn't have the sniper rifle, if that information is at all useful.

Merlin (639) has posed:
    Amidst the sudden chaos, Merlin sighs. He'd had a feeling that something like this was going to be coming, though apparently so did the entire city of Ravnica. It was as the tension before a war, slowly notching up until the first swing of a sword. At least the first part is over, he thinks, letting those more knowledgeable than he do their parts. He'd been here to examine further this "window" and determine just...what could be done with it. A little consultation from an outside point of view; sometimes useful - sometimes not. Now that the battle has been truly joined, he looks to the massive machine striding forward, and considers. Things have entered a new phase, and well...it's time for the wizard of Dun Realtai to join the battle in his way - sometimes useful, sometimes not.

Ijiwaru (1037) has posed:
    The Defense Begins, but will it be enough to control the crowds? Goblins and Weirds charge into the gray, the dragons landing causing more than a few of the Guildless to reconsider their actions -- dragons are pretty big, after all -- but many charge forward, throwing fire where they cna, lightning where they can't, some trying to control, others settling for bursts of raw power lobbed at others, and a precious few bolstering their fellows into performing actions for them. Behind them, the Magic Eaters stomp out, the sound of machinery roaring to life as smaller armored mechs take to the streets, opening fire on the gathered heroes and avengers.

    And in the midst of it all, Ijiwaru rides atop the giant steel behemoth's shoulder from his place of honor. He brings a hand to his ear.

    "We are in position. If you have the time, Madam." he states, and exhales.

    THis will be a bumpy ride.

    The steel behemothr oars, and brings its arms up into the air, hands glowing with power as it charges up and bellowing, brings the steel hands down, crashing to the street with a mighty shockwave!

    Ijiwaru draws out a new chosen weapon -- a long, cold iron spike, four foot long, and charges into the fray himself.

    "GUILDMASTER! NOW IS THE TIME"! he calls out,

    ... but not to Rhapsody.

    There is a shudder, and then following the metal mostrosity there comes the flutter of leathery wings. Skull-faced horrors with spindly legs spill out, taking to the air.

    Those in the know may recognise the Dimir creature, nightwings, as they swoop down, seeking to pull goblins and humans alike from the crowds -- indescriminant -- to throw into buildings or stab with their long, scorpion tails.

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Yu and Mi look at one another.

    "... do you think--" Yu begins, and Mi swallows, and shakes her head "We can't know for sure at this point, Yu." she whispers, and rubs the back of her head. "Get me the samophlange controls. If we short them, the internal generators might overheat."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Ijiwaru probably can't even imagine how bumpy the ride's about to get. Riding on the outside of a giant robot is dangerous enough when the other side doesn't have a giant robot to worry about; the Izzet League count *two* among their allies - and one of them is already getting up in the Ijiwarobo's face. So to speak.

With the way the other robot's hands are glowing, Yuna has no doubt that letting them contact ANYTHING is going to be bad; fortunately, she's already got her melee armament set up, and she's more than willing to test Shugoseiheki's strength against whatever the robot's doing. "NOT SO FAST!!!" shouts Yuna, bringing the Wall of the Guardian Star up sideways, trying to slam the shield's surface up against those descending hands - and (just a little belatedly) trying to brace El-Line's legs to help absorb the impact so the Matrix Figure doesn't simply get blown off its feet.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    The charge is a fantastic sight to behold. The Boros, maintaining the front line with the shield and pike line simply -part- as a wave of Red and Blue comes crashing down the center of their formation. Fireballs, waterblasts, weirds and dragons simply roar into the fray. The amount of spellslinging going on is, simply put, incredible. There's far too much to keep up with for just one person.

    Within the fray, Rhapsody is a whirling dervish of flashing blades and dragonsfire. At one point, one of the Greys is moving up behind her, only to find a blade slashing him away to the side. Sidonia's form ripples into view, and the sisters are simply back to back, taking on the world... for the moment.

    The Dimir prove to all that they have been involved from day one. The guildmaster calls it out, alerting Thianel who in turn would alert the other guilds. That isn't what changes the state of the battle. The sight of Ijiwaru, atop his monster, weilding a very long, very SPECIFIC iron spike causes her to roar out in absolute fury. In a flash, the dragon ascends, true form appearing in a flash as her wings send her surging straight for Ijiwaru, a deep breath and a massive blast of pure white energy heralding her approach.

        "I -WILL- KILL YOU!"

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
Stadler was done with this city. Simply... done with it. Not enough that the bastard's down their had killed her, when it /well/ should have been. Now it was attacking her gift to the city. Why? How much spite did they have to feel to do that?

Richard knew what the answer might have been, though. What could cause that. Because there was a part of him today that wanted to destroy that robot, then the people that created it, then the families of those. MAybe he would get the chance...

The two Blackhawks swept low to the ground, pilots skimming rooftops as they approched the Mana Nexus. Each one loaded with one well trained squad of infantry, conducting final checks on weapons, launchers, gear... before the helicopter's crew chief silently plugged Stadler into the commnet connecting to the Izzet net.

Then he swears. "Fucking bastard couldn't make it easy for us, could he?" He mutters under his breath. A few moments of agonizing decision, the temptation overly strong to forget everything but the man weilding the spike...

"Public safety first. Engage flight-capable BOWs." Technically they weren't, but 'technically' was about all that was the difference here. "Head toward pre-designated LZs."

As the UH-60's approch, those flying creatures were going to have a bit of a time. M240 machine guns, one at each of the two UH-60's doors. Four in total, manned by door gunners who knew what they were doing, sweeping back and force like thundering buzzsaws aganist the nightwings attempting to sweep people up, as the helicopters heads to the rooftops Stadler had picked out, withing a good view of the nexus.

He really wanted to rapel down onto that robot and show Ijiwaru what his own spike could do to someone's skull. But he had to admit, confused feelings or not, Rhapsody was sufficently rage-filled for the both of them.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    The Guildless Mages start streaming in, and they're met, fireball for fireball, lightning bolt for lightning bolt, with explosive bolts from the woman herself. She sets her feet, and just starts punching rapidly in the air, launching exploding bolts of energy to intercept spells and blast them out of the air, and then even more, landing in the midst of the encroaching ground force.

    The sismic wave from the Mech, even from this distance, rocks her balance and makes her stumble, but she's quickly back on her feet. Just in time to see the Dimir come swooping in. She changes targets, turning her explosive bolts up to take on the air force, these ones seeming to slightly home in when near a target, but all of them detonating in proximity, not on impact.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    Meanwhile, inside the Nexus, Ryxinel moves from one panel to another to another to another, trying to trace a circuit that he didn't think was complete, hoping against hope that THIS was the one that needed fixing, "Please.. we can't leave it open anymore.. I'm sorry.."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Is Ijiwaru controlling that thing? Does it really matter? Perhaps not. What does matter to Sanary is that the Magic Eater is outside of his giant robot for whatever reason, making him a prime target for her. swinging her legs forward to boost herself backwards and away from the path of the robot's downwards-swinging arms, the healer bides her time as Yuna's and Staren's own... Wait.

     Where the hell did they get giant robots?! "... That's just not fair." It's not like she wants a big robot of her own or anything! It'd probably just be a pain to control, anyway. besides, being able to fly freely mean she can focus on Ijiwaru himself, and the healer starts charging forward at the gloating anti-magus.

     "Ijiwaru!" Sanary shouts defiantly, then... Nothing. She doesn't really have anything prepared for this, does she? Oh well. Before she can get close enough to swing her massive axe at him, though, she notices Rhapsody coming in fast and changes her mind.

     Instead, the healer channels some of her magic outwards towards Rhapsody, funneling power into the dragon to give her a boost to her power and allowing her to draw from Sanary's magical reserves. The healer would rather not get anywhere near her, but at least she can still help this way while turning her focus towards the robot again.

     With her new target chosen, the armored axe-cleric glides that way next. She rears back with her gunxe, waiting until the last moment before trying to cleave that axe head right into the titan's shoulder joint!

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Neva continues to mutter the turn phases, "New turn. Untap..." She untaps her cards, and mumbles, "Upkeep. Draw..." She draws another card and hrms, "Okay, another one, I'll keep it for another Chimera..." She holds it in hand and then utters, "Main Phase 1." She puts a card down, tapping the two mountains. "Runechanter Pike." A weapon materializes.

https://deckbox.org/mtg/Runechanter's%20Pike?printing=18929
    She then mumbles, "Combat. Main 2. End." She seems to be taking it slow, as she says, "Next turn: Untap..." She begins the process again. "Upkeep. Draw." She draws, and then places an Island Card down, and then taps the two mountain cards, "Equip Runechanter's Pike onto Spellheart Chimera..." The Weapon disappears and reappears in one of the monster's claws... "Combat. Main 2. End. Discard.

    She's just glad she's somewhat isolated and the Magic Eaters and Bad Guys haven't noticed her.

Staren has posed:
    Is that Ijiwaru OUT IN THE OPEN on top of the robot that's attracting lots of heavy weapons fire? Is he NUTS?

    Probably!

    As Ijiwaru leaps off, though, Staren decides to let someone else handle him. He's one of a few best equipped to take the robot.

    The Star Hawk hovers high in the air now, like a plane with arms and legs, and thrusters in the feet. As his missiles rain down on his foes, he doesn't let up -- the right arm points straight at the machine, and the gatling railgun in the armpack sends a hail of hypersonic metal down at it, to test its defenses! He stops firing into the crowd of enemies, now that allies are running into the fray.

Merlin (639) has posed:
    Towers are great things. So amusingly suggestive, as far as people - of whatever shape - tend to build them. They're also good for getting a fine vantage point over the area, and for making sure your voice is heard. Merlin's not too worried about the battle - he knows that there's a tremendous amount of Elite power here, possibly enough to make a victory of this assault.

    But well...perhaps there was still something he could do to lend some small hand. It wouldn't do for Yunomi's memory to be simply ignored, and not step in when her beloved city is under attack. There isn't anything he can do directly, just as a fire hose cannot defeat a sponge. His magic would fall uselessly against the Dimir, Magic Eaters, and the rest. But that doesn't mean he's got no targets for his magic after all...and besides, Gawain's mix tapes had turned out to be quite awesome indeed.

    So it goes that the Wizard of Dun Realtai himself summons a simple instrument - a four string bass, specifically. One that needs no amplifiers, since it feeds by magic into the air itself...for only those Elites he chooses to hear it. The Dimir? Nothing. Ijiwaru? Nothing. His men? Nothing. And the rest?

            Come, let's drink to the time
            When peace and the sun will shine
            And the world will be, as one, forever

            Your destiny
            Rides out before you
            Like a cloud in the sky
            It travels afar

            All men shall pay thee
            The homage and dues to come
            To prepare the way
            For a better world

    It might not sound quite like the song of hope and strength that it is, however...but Christopher Lee's downright Mephistophlean voice has such a wonderful ring to it in a battle.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona is running so hard that when she gets to the Generator position she skids and stumbles a bit in trying to stop just as quickly. Or maybe it was a little off balance because of her load. But she manages to keep her footing as she stops. Okay, need to get a defensive up here, mainly so the generators don't catch stray fi--

She stops, ears snapping up at the ruckus as there's shouting, and creatures from -that- guild reported taking the field. Not to mention the Generator position is quickly getting swamped around by goddamn everything and everyone. Okay, fine then. When she said she was done playing by the dirty varmit's terms, she wasn't kidding.

Her back is still partway towards the inbound mob as she reachs up to grab her goggles, and true to 'get serious' moment form pulls them on fully. "Fine, ya wanna do this the hard way...."

Corona spins around, and as she does so she grabs the device off her backside and uses the momentum to fling it in front of her.

"SAY HELLO TO MAH LI'L FRIEND!"

The device starts as a vaguely spherical form. But as it rattles off the ground steam hisses from it, the glow visible through the furnace grate on the front as gears and panels shift. A pair of large jackrabbit-like legs extend from the clicking works, followed by the smaller scoop-shaped forelegs. The ovoid shaped head clicks into place, photoreceptor eyes flashing to life as the long rabbit ears twang back and into place.

And then a pair of six pronged -antlers- slide up to lock onto the top of the head.

The second time it hits the ground it's one his legs, pistons and springs clicking and then immeadiately releasing again. Which sends the steampunk jackalope HURTLING like a metal lagomorph rocket into the fray with enough force to send the first mob entity - Guildless, Magic-Eater or otherwise - it rams into crashing backwards into the rest of the group!

"Now that is how ya make a first impression!", Corona yips, though there's little time to celebrate 'field testing' just yet. "Cover muh back Hopalong!"

Rebound (750) has posed:
As much as she really, REALLY wants to hit Ijiwaru in his stupid face, Rebound has more pressing matters to attend to. Like taking out one of those flying things, "Aw hell no, you can't just bust out giant flying monster things!"

Giant flying monster things are probably an issue for most people, but for Rebound, well...It's Rebound. She's going to do what she does best. She plants her feet and leaps, jumping into the air with all the force she can muster.

Once she reaches the height she needs to take one of those things out, she whips her whole body around to kick the nightwing in the face with all the force she can muster.

Bahamut has posed:
     Bahamut is equipped to fight a 60 foot construct. He has done it before. But, he suspects his claws and spells may not be effective on it. He has to wait...wait until he hits Overdrive. With Rhapsody and Sidonia back to back, he grins at the pair before spreading his wings and taking to the sky. There is plenty of ground coverage.

     The nightwings would soon find themselves the targets of the same slashing claws and powerful spells. He pounces them against the sides of buildings with his foot-claws. He slashes them out of the sky with his hand-claws. He blasts them with explosive Firaga and shocking Thundaga. Almost there...Bahamut's eyes look to the giant robotic thing as the gyro on his back starts to spin and glow, then he scans the crowd for Ijiwaru. If that monster even gets close to Rhapsody and Sidonia, or any other allies on the ground, Bahamut wants to be ready to dive-bomb him.

Ijiwaru (1037) has posed:
    Mizzium Lining is entirely appropriate to deflect the Magic Eater Titan's attack! The ground shudders, more cracks appearing near the ruined section of street as the Titan groans beneath the weight of El-Line's presence. The aparture spins a moment focusing in on Yuna's mech before one arm turns, clicks open, and a cruelly totohed saw takes its place, whirring to life and shooting outwards on a secondary swing-arm, trying to get in close and get righht to the point -- Yuna.

    Rhapsody's cry was not lost on Ijiwaru. He spins his spike like a spear, familar with its weight. Gone is the overly handsome man, and now, in his place -- and his ar mor -- was someone who looekd far more normal. More memorable. Tadeshi, the Daimyo's grandson, formerly betrothed to Odanuki Umehana in a deal that was supposed to spare humans and yokai from further fury -- if Richard Stadler might remember a face.
    "I do apologize, Guildmaster. We must end this rather quickly -- we both have our families to return to. I don't suppose I could encourage you to surrender?" he inquires with a slight smirk before he presses the attack, bracing for impact as he brings the spike up before him, and the spike drinks from the white-hot rage energy, drawing Rhapsody closer before he spins, and attempts to stab the guildmaster through the shoulder.

    "WRRIRIIIIII! WRREEEIIIIII!" call out the nightwings, their toothy maws opening, some already reddened with blood as the creatures turn their attention to the helicopters, some attempting to latch on, piling on one another and trying to upset the weight of the blackhawk, eyes burning with hatred and hunger for blood.

     The Guildless aren't going anywhere. They're beginning to surroudn Yang Xiao Long, trying to extinguish that fire of hers. One even reaches out to try and sweep her off her feet by throwing their arms around her and lifting her up to throw her over their shoulder, like some kind of prize winning!! The NERVE!

    The Steel Titan gives a roaaaaaar as its shoulder gets axed a question -- and really, the question is 'hi! Im' an axe!' which is not a question at all. Terrible pun. The giant mech turns is apature to Sanary, raising its hand up to try and swipe her away as it snarls.

    Neva is not noticed yet, except by a mousy, brown-haired girl wearing shiny new Izzet armorment. She swallows nervously, and gives a small wave. "Hi. Ah. I'm Backup." she states quietly, and stands up, keeping her turbine engine at her back and wrist primed. "Pleasedon'tblowuppleasedon'tblowup..." she mutters encouragingly to herself.

    The Star Hawk rains missiles down along the streets, sendingin up chunks of pavement and striking against the Steel Titan. It appears physical attacks work just fine -- its plated armor has a crack in it!

    HELLO SMALL FRIEND!

     ... well. The Mob doesn't seem to be phased by a sphere. However, the steam catches the attention of a few, the steam and the glow making an eyebrow raise before the long legs extend, and the eyes flash and -- aww, it's a bunny rabbit.

    "... is that thing an Izzet?" someone asked... and then the antlers slide up, locking into place, and then it charges, proving that more than one rabbit can, indeed, be dynomite!

    Rebound takes on a Nightwing. "SCKRRIIIIIIII!" it chitters . WHACK WHACK goes the feet. CRUNCH goes its skull like face. And with echoing cries, two more come down to try and sweep Rebound up, grasping at her with long, spindly legs and trying to whip their tails at her!

    And last, but not least, Bahamut will find that his slashes, blasts, and shocks rend nightwings to bits, chunks landing all over the crowds -- but Ijiwaru is already engaging Rhapsody in battle!

Maya has posed:
Well now this is where things are getting crazy right? She's off to defend the geenratos as they do not need them to go up in smoke that would end very badly for everyone else. Maya doesn't look like much, blue hair, leather and metal armour, but the wings might make some thinkg she's some kind of strange angel but that's not when she gets to work.

"Corona if you got any anything with set up now is the time to use is!"

Maya pauses a Corona lets slip her newest creation, man she thinks? Corona really is like her little brother some days and maya now starts to cast spells to support and protect those who are defending the generatos she'd ward everyone who is in range with a protection ward that should give them some added protection form just about everything.

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Yu and Mi look at one another again,a nd then they turn, and they hop to the floor, and then up to Ryxinel like Gummi Bears, reaching up to help him maniupulate the pannels with their tiny fingers.

    "Ryx, I know Rhapsody said to keep it open -- but there is nothing that can come out of there right now that would be good in this moment." Mi whispers comfortingly to the dragon, "Let's shut the Nexus down and close the window."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
If there's one thing Sanary's good at, it's axeing questions! Or axeing... Axe... Axes. Okay, maybe she's not so good at the word play. Still, what she lacks in verbage, she's hoping to make up in spades with brute force, a stupidly huge axe, and just a bit of cheating with magical energy augmenting her capabilities.

     "Didn't like that, huh? You know.. Up close, you ain't that tough!" She shouts in challenge to the Steel Titan moments before it swipes at her, swinging herself around to use the back on her shield to weather the blow some. She's still in quite a bit of pain at taking that swipe, but the shield does mitigate it somewhat along with the innate effects of her armor itself.

     Also, cheating even more with her magic helping her regenerate from this welts forming on her faster than she would without it. The healer goes flying off several yards as she goes along with the hand, but eventually frees herself from the momentum of its hand before bracing the gunaxe over her shoulder again. "This next one's... Going in your head!"

     Shaking off the dizziness and spitting out what she can only hope was a tooth, Sanary charges right back at the Titan and... Goes for the shoulder again!

     So what if she called a headshot before? It's not like she's trying to fight honorably here or anything.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
        Meanwhile, in the Mana Nexus...

Ryxinel is still following the same circuit, leaving a path of pried open panels and loose wiring in his wake. By now he was certain he was on the right track. If anything about That Night a week ago told him, it told him Yunomi was working on something. Something important, and something she had to step away from for something far, far more important, "Almost there... Please almost there.." a nod is given to the pair of Kodama, "I know.. if anything were to come through now, we are done for... lets finish it, Mi, Yu. For everyone here.

    Sidonia continues to slice and strafe through the crowd. She was easily the most lithe, and speedy of the three siblings. Her dark color and swift movements allowed her to pass through the massive crowd with an uncanny ease. Allies of the Izzet may occasionally find their opponents simply dropping to the ground for, what would seem, no clear reason, only to see the azure dragoness dart by a moment later. Those that look close may see something not seen in years. Sidonia is actually smiling.

    At the generators, Thianel continues to be an impossing presence that has yet to let anything slip by. Only the occasional nightwing or guildless grey has come close. Nightwings are swatted or blasted from the sky. Greys would find a tail swatting them back or a paw doing the same. During it all, the construct's internal radio is coordinating the weirds and the magewrights of the Izzet League. His vision, reaching over the heads of many, allows him to help coordinate the Izzet and Boros forces better than anyone else currently in the field...

        As for Rhapsody...

The white dragon hardly cares that the spike is taking up the dragonsfire sent Ijiwaru's way. She also doesn't care for his new appearence, her own ire blinding her to a truth that only Richard seems to understand. As the spike is thrust forward, the dragon rolls. A crimson line is traced in her white hide, though it's hardly deep, and she does -not- feel it. Instead, the guildmaster pulls up hard, rolls, and lets her wings send her screaming toward Ijiwaru once more, claws before her, only wanting to feel them bite into his flesh..

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Merlin's private concert comes at a good time - and while Yuna isn't normally a big fan of metal, there *are* songs she appreciates, and Merlin's happened upon one of them. The nature of his performance probably helps, instilling Yuna with fresh optimism and reinforcing her resolve.

So when the Ijiwarobo (Magic Eater Titan, whatever) deploys its saw to try and attack El-Line's cockpit, Yuna completely and utterly fails to be panicked. She still has the Lightning Sword equipped, after all - and having seen that arm pop open, even briefly, she knows where the hinges are. Of course, she has to do her thing without dislodging Sanary from bounding around on the Titan's shoulder, and that's not as easy as it might look.

Either way, the Lightning Sword comes up, a flash of light "reflecting" off its blade in a manner which ignores where other light might be coming from *to* reflect. And Yuna brings the blade up, not just to parry the saw, but to try and cut into the arm - ideally to disable the saw, at *least* to fend it off and start doing some actual damage to the machine. "I don't know who's piloting that machine," she calls out, "or where you're from ... but if you want to survive, this is the WRONG PLACE for you to stay as our enemy!!"

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang is caught off guard, her focus skyward as it is... that when someone goes to pick her up, she just uselessly flails for a moment, before yelling. "Hey, getoffame!" She fires her gauntlets to knock her captor off balance, then with a nimble twist, latches onto the Guildless, plants her feet, and SUPLEXES them in a reversal that would make the crowds go wild.

    After that, she shifts her focus back to the immediate ground threat, using her speed and Semblance boosted strength to parry staves, swords and other attacks, and her Dust shells to counter spells thrown at her, punching them out of the air as she twirls, a dervish of burning Gold amidst the Red and Blue.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Neva blinks as she's suddenly accompanied by the mousy little girl, and grins, "Hi Backup, I'M Neva.." Pause, "Did I just make a Dad Joke? Dangit..." She turns and utters, "New Turn: Untap, Upkeep, Draw..." She performs the actions in that order, untapping all her cards, before drawing another, and smiling, "Yes! Another land!" She drops the card down. It's a third mountain. Now with one island and her Signet around her neck, she grins, "ALRIGHT! Time to bring out a big gun!" She pulls a card from her hand, and in a sweeping motion taps ALL the land cards, using the one of the Mountains to draw into her Signet. "Please work please work please work..." She lays the card out and channels the Mana into it, the Signet amping ONE Red Mana and turning it into a Red and Blue, giving her effectively 5 mana pool at this point.

    Her eyes sparking with power as she calls out to the sky, "One Red. One Blue. Three Colorless... I USE THIS MANA TO SUMMON..." The mana channels into the sky, brewing up into a silhouet that grows, and GROWS, AND GROWS.

    "LEGENDARY ENCHANTMENT CREATURE - GOD!! KERANOS, GOD OF STORMS!!!"

    And suddenly the form EXPLODES into being, made of starlight and lightning arcing around it. A monstrously huge being that towers above the city.

https://deckbox.org/mtg/Keranos,%20God%20of%20Storms?printing=24552

    Afterwards, Neva sucks in a breath, and states, "End Turn."

Staren has posed:
    A crack? From all that firepower?

    Staren grits his tough. This mecha is... well, a tough mecha to crack!

    Well, that's why he has a lot more bullets and missiles.

    For now, he keeps raining railgun fire down on the machine, trying to keep his aim steady on the crack.

    Also, did Neva just summon a god? Wow! He knew those cards were a thing -- he has Journey to Nyx cards, himself -- but it's another to see it in action!

Corona Arclite has posed:
Part of him is Izzet. Corona took some of what she learned while helping rebuild Thianel, and applied it to some of the other ideas she had with her own steampunk technology. You could say he was the best of both the worlds she's dedicated to defending now.

A fox ear twitchs as a familir young voice joins the group. When Corona glances in the direction near Neva and sees the girl's new armorment, she smirks a bit in spite of the serious atmosphere. Another young one off the streets and given a purpose, as it should be.

Maya's shout brings her back to the here and now though. "On it!" With one gloved hand Corona pulls a couple of devices out of her inventory. With the other hand, she yanks her trademark hammer from her belt, though keeps it at it's normal 'tool' size for the moment. The devices are dropped to the ground, and Corona smacks each one with her hammer, driving it a bit into the ground so the anchor prongs catch. From their they unfold, ratcheting struts and panels upward to form a set of barricades in front of the generators. Anything to keep potential fire away from the Generators, as temporary as it may be.

A point well proven when a tossed goblin slams into one, leaving a goblin-shaped imprint when he slides off. Corona groans something like "I just built that!" and kicks the goblin out of the way.

Hopalong, for his part, keeps playing defender at crowd control. The idea is to keep said crowd back and away from the generators? We can do that.

The construct proves to be more than just the jumping and ramming one might expect of a jackalope, if they know what a jackalope is, when he thumps a foot on the ground. It makes a sound almost like kicking the throttle pedal to rev a motor. He thumps again and again, picking up the pace each time as the revving turns into a grinding and churning of a generator kicking on instead.

It proves apt as a few small sparks sizzle along his wire whiskers. Then large ones up between his antlers doing a nice impression of a Jacob's ladder...

And then the discharge of current *KRAKATHOOMS* from his horns and into the crowd.

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
The nightwings would attempt to latch on to the helicopters themselves. Attempt to, being the primary word. Every man in those helicopters, from the infantry, to the crew chiefs, to the pilots, had dealt with similar situations before. It was why the door gunners themselves were latched tightly in place to the helicopter; why the guns on either side could traverse straight up and down 90 degrees. They sweeped that way now, clearing their sides as the infantry inside gripped hand holds and pressed pistols and carbines down for skin to skin contact, turning the dark green bodies of the helicopters red with gore.

The music helped. Helped quite a bit. Some people were confused in those helicopters, but they could see Stadler wasn't, and that was enough.

Finally, the helicopters reach those rooftops, setting their wheels down, as Stadler dashes out of one, slamming a boot down on one of the nightwings still holding on, jamming a trench spike through it's skull, before his off hand rapidly pulls the trigger on his Hi-Power. "Positions! Hold this position! /Nothing gets past this line!"/ He calls out, hands going to his rifle. again. The helicopters weren't going anywhere now. Escape with this much crap flying around would be difficult at best; they would be better as metal sheds with machine guns attached, the door gunners still firing up from their positions as the infantry set up their defense.

And then, Rick got a good luck at Ijiwaru. On who he was. Who he really was. And he could feel his blood boil. That self-entitled mother fucker. That royalty that would have had Yunomi as a submissive princess than who she really was. The person that killed her finally had a face. A homeland. Something Rick could... /hurt/.

"Radio! And a goddamn Barett!" He yelled to the furious winds on that rooftop, and someone decided to obey, slapping a radio in his hands even as an anti-material sniper rifle is set up on it's bipod. "Hammer Flight, X-Ray 6-1. Go to readiness. Priority alpha tasking. Coordinates to follow."

Hand set held back, he's down on that rifle, jamming the butt aganist his shoulder, sighting, and firing. Once. Again. Again. Sending fifty caliber rounds any time Rhapsody's far enough away from that big bastard he can get a clean shot.

Rebound (750) has posed:
Rebound can't technically fly, she can just fall with style. But she doesn't fall, as the Nightwings grab hold of her and then try to strike at her with their tails. She ducks the first strike, and then grabs the second tail that comes in, holding onto it tightly as she struggles to keep it from pulling away, "No touchy!"

She yanks the tail upwards as the first trikes again, pulling the second tail in the way of the first so the nightwing will strike it's partner. Then she grabs both of them, wrenching herself out of their grasp and grabbing the two tails, "NIGHTWING CHUCKS, HOOOOO!"

She lets gravity do it's thing as it pulls her and her two nightwing captives down towards the gaggle of grumpy guildless below her, as she goes to slam the two creatures into the crowd and make a nice crater.

Ijiwaru (1037) has posed:
    YOUR WARDS WON'T SAVE YOU NOW!

    A brown-cloaked Guildless comes up behind Maya. He has a morning star. He has plans to make Maya see stars. He growls, he gives a howl, and he /swings/.

    Sanaray's unhonorable shot at the mech's shoulder is rewarded with 'I came, I saw' -- and the saw that was parried by El-Line comes up to try and slice at Sanary! -- and this is One Big Sawblade.

    Rhapsody is taking up the majority of Ijiwaru's attention, staying in close range of the Guildmaster. He watches with a sick sense of accomplishment as that line of red traces down the snow white skin. "I wonder, Guildmaster, if I had agreed to take your head for my client, how much would I have made? Though I will admit -- at the FULL size it is intimidating. Now, you would make a handy paperweight." he smirks, and he nimbly side-steps the blow. An angry opponant is an unworthy opponant, keep Rhapsody from focusing and he still might win the day!

TWith the Titan's blades going after Sanary, there's no chance for it to stop Yuna's attack on its blade! The sawblade goes FLYING, embedding itself halfway into a building as the machine howls with anger, and turns back to Yuna's El-Line, and attempts to kick it off its own feet! GRR!

    Yang's pot-shots pay off, and the guildless grabbing her grunts, releasing her as he tilts over, arms flailing as he goes up, up, over -- and is SMASHED into the pavement behind Yang. AND THE CROWDS GO WILD!

    Well, at least the mousy girl up with NEva does! "YES! GO IZZET! Woo..ooo..oh my what is that?" she inquires, and she watches as Neva taps the cards, turning them as her eyes rise to the heavens, which begin to churn, the smokey haze from the buildings and teslacoil towers that a monster of a god comes into being -- and Backup covers her lips. Oh. My.

    That's not everything. THe ground beneath the Titan is now full of holes, cracked, weakened. IT cracks more beneath the weight of it as Staren keeps raining down firepower around the titan!

    RRRIIIiiiii...splat. The Nightwing is smooshed by boot, stabbed by spike, and Ijiwaru's home might have its goose cooked -- but he's never too far from Rhapsody, tangled with her in a dance of death.

    AND REBOUND HAS NIGHTWING CHUCKS MOTHA LOVER. There might be no touchy, but there is also 'no crashy', until she slams the two down into the ground indeed, making a crater.

    THe ground beneath the Generators begins to crack and crumble beneath Thaniel.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    Through the crowds, Sidonia continues to move. At a rather abrupt point, the blue dragon turns toward the Nexus. Something has her attention, what, she isn't even sure, but she has a strong desire to -get back-.

    Thianel sends a command back to Nivix. In an instant, the area around the Spires would hear a sonic boom, then a second, as two streaks of red explode out of a floor near the center of Nivix. A pair of Hypersonic Dragons come roaring through the sky, slowing enough as they near the battle that the breach of the sound barrier is heard as they start to engage. One of them swoops low, scooping up Sidonia as she directs it toward the Nexus. The second, however, surges down, landing beside Neva Fernandez! It stoops down, lowers a wing, then makes a motion for the planeswalker to hop on. If and when she does? It would go soaring into the air around Keranos, allowing the planeswalker to communicate with her summon as well as sling her spells from a far safer vantage point. Thianel, satisfied by this, hears something, then glances down. "..?" Cracks? The generators are -right- there... "UNDERGROUND! SOMEONE SCAN BELOW US NOW!"

    Rhapsody crashes for a landing, but scraping claws and a thrashing tail keep her from stumbling fully before her opponent. Another short roar is barked at the man, but then a shot rings out... another... another. The dragon's ire turns upward, thinking she's being fired on. When she spots Richard aiming, and firing, at Ijiwaru instead, something changes. She remembers. There are more than her that hurt, that hate, that seek Ijiwaru's head. When she turns back to Ijiwaru, it is in a mental state he probably did not want her to be in. "Oh... Ijiwaru..." she croons -frigidly-, "You have chosen... poorly..." Another SONIC BOOM rings out, a red blur surges by, and Sidonia drops from above, daggers before her.

    "We fight as -one-."

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang cuts into the crowd of Guildless, elbows, fists, knees and feet lashing out with inhuman speed.

    She's taking hits, even while parrying more. The number is just too much for her to keep everyone out of combat range... but that's what she's counting on. Each strike builds her Semblance. Each parry draws her anger out, and her hair begins to glow golden.

    And then she unleashes the dragon, slamming fists together and sending a blast of kinetic force out around to knock the Guildless back. She shifts, and starts moving even faster, smacking heavier opponents with the full range of her punch, smaller goblins and other creatures getting punted clean out of range and into obstacles.

Merlin (639) has posed:
    The music continues, a whole retinue of metal to drive burning passions further - this time songs dedicated, and slightly rewritten, to the fallen. To Yunomi.

            They came without warning
            They destroyed our heart's guard
            The end will still be upon us
            But we'll stand and fight hard

            The threat of death
            The threat of death
            We shall have no fear

            The threat of death
            The threat of death
            The time, the hour is here

            For her brave memory we fight
            We'll sacrifice our lives for her
            And resist with all our might

            Paladins, Paladins
            Together we raise our swords
            Paladins, Paladins
            Lightning, steel and more

    It's a reminder of why everyone is fighting, and what they've already lost and might even further risk. A war ballad, in the end - but one to stir the fires of the souls of those in battle. Once the singing goes, Merlin watches - and then his eyes narrow at the cracking ground.

    Does he have time to step in and begin a spell for strengthening the land? At this point, he's not sure - even Merlin can only do so many things at once.

    He'll entrust it to the others, the wizard decides. It isn't for him to do everything...and their battle is still in doubt. Merlin simply focuses, redoubling his efforts and his bassline; those below must hold - while those above call the victory.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Thianel isn't the only one to notice the cracking near the generators. The splits in pavement rings in Corona's ears. Less painfully than the explosion did, this is just pinging off her resonate hearing something hard.

By the time the magitech dragon is shouting over the radio Corona has already snapped open her C-Pad analyzer and started sweeping its scanners over the ground. Thank the stars her modifications to withstand the intensity of mana around the Nexus are working and the thing isn't frying.

"Hopalong, get back here. Ah might need ya..." Corona doesn't know -whats- down there just yet, but if it's big enough to be digging and making cracks beneath them, she might need whatever help the construct has. Right now, only she knows what it could be.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary digs that axe into the mech's shoulder as much as she can, landing on the shoulder itself and relying on brute force to try and disable it until she realizes that there's an excessively large saw blade coming at her. Even with her shields, she's not confident in her ability to deflect something of that size and /not/ lose a limb or two in the process.

     Thankfully, the El-Line's there to deflect the blade, and once the intial shock of nearly getting cleaved in half by a giant robot's saw wears off, the healer flashes its pilot a broad grin. <<"Remind me to send you some tea later, Yuna!">> Sanary chimes in over the radio while drawing her axe out of the mech's shoulder and diverting some of her energy into the weapon itself. The first two chops didn't quite do it, but with what she's heard from Yuna and Bahamut? She's got a good feeling about this plan as the weapon begins to glow a light blue, icy air surrounding the blade with the activation of Freeze shell inside.

     She might actually be trying to use something she learned in a science class finally. That, and dramatic shouting as the healer bellows out a mighty war cry, throwing all of her (and her armor and shields') weight into one more mighty blow against the Steel Titan's shoulder. Afterwards, she starts dragging it forcefully against (or through) whatever parts of the shoulder she's already found purchase in. Sanary's trying to both bust the Steel Titan's joint up more /and/ cool it rapidly before throwing herself onto the El Line with a heavy thunk, apparently taking the Flare part of Bahamut's Mega Flare literally!

Maya has posed:
With COrona going hod wild with her new invention she's moving to do what she can do but then one very smart Guidless is able to sneak up on Maya with the intent to take her down. The one thing he doesn't do that is smart? Is let out a war cry. This gives Maya enough time to shift and twist out ofthe way of taking a direct hit. She's still clippled and she is hur but it's not as bad as it could have been. She's got another card out and launches a section of the ground right at the cloaked attacker.

"Not today, you made a mistake in joining this attack!"

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
Stadler's forces finally array on the rooftops. There's an Anti-air detachment, two people in each squad, adding their own fire to the helicopter's guns, working back the night wings as they fly toward them. The rest of Rick's people focuse on the advancing robot and mob; a pair of Javelin anti-tank missles streak out from the positions as the chatter of aimed rifle fire seek to enforce a line which, to cross, would mean death. And that still wasn't all Rick could do. He'd taken some damage; a nightwing ripping and tearing and a 22-year-old PFC's arm, another smashing and pulverizing ceramic plate before a magnum blew it off the soldier, but nothing was going to stop him from completeing this. Nothing.

He silently looked through that scope, not adding his own fire to the mix, mouth pressed into a tight line, waiting for Rhapsody to get some distance from the man. Waiting. Before snapping his fingers for the radio. "Hammer Flight, X-Ray 6-1. Hold on runaway. Do not commit until go order is given."

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Neva goes wide eyed as suddenly HYPERSONIC DRAGON! EEE--Nope, no squealing. Time to focus. Focus on cards. She does gleefully grin and climb onto the dragon, but before she does she looks to Backup, and beckons to her, "Hey Backup! Hop on board!" She grins, and waits for Backup to hop on, pointedly insisting that the dragon waits for the second passenger.

    ONCE aboard and soaring through she sky, Neva gleefully calls out, "THIS! IS AWESOME!!! AAAAAAAA!" She shakes her head and looks to the God she summoned, "KERANOS, GOD OF STORMS! I realize that conflicts such as these are beneath your notice and concern, but I beseech you to aid us in this battle!"

    The God just sort of peers grumpily at the Planeswalker, seeming mildly annoyed at being dragged from his home plane somehow, before saying, in a booming voice, "IF GRANTING THEE AID WOULD RETURN ME TO THEROS SWIFTLY, MORTAL, THEN MY AID IS GRANTED."

    Neva grins and turns to focus, untapping and then drawing a card and revealing it. "Sulfur Falls. Awesome. Having revealed a Land Card with Keranos in play, I draw another card" She draws another card, having revealed the Land card, and then places the Sulfer Falls into play.

    In Ravnica down below, just beneath Keranos, the image of a mountain rises into the sky, waterfalls pouring into a cave full of thermal activity. Neva then taps the Sulfur Falls, as well as the remaining lands, channeling one of the mountains into her signet once more to amp up.

    "Three Red. Three Colorless. I use this mana to cast... MIZZIUM MORTARS! ON OVERLOAD!!!"

    She taps throws the card in her hand onto the board, and the magic channels. From the ground down in Ravnica, something explosive is stirring, as Mizzium Morters upon Mizzium Morters burst from the ground, and then FIRE upon EACH CREATURE that Neva doesn't control. She hopes that this means her allies will not directly get hit, but... It IS Mizzium Mortars.

https://deckbox.org/mtg/Mizzium%20Mortars

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
There goes the sawblade, and not an instant too soon; Yuna pays just enough attention to where the saw is flying to be reasonably content that it's not going to hurt any of her allies. Merlin's still singing, too, and that continues to reinforce Yuna's willpower - and while it's not going to directly strengthen El-Line, anything that keeps Yuna going will help the Matrix Figure as well.

She tries to stay in close with the Ijiwarobo - slicing at its now-sawless arm, trying to inflict what damage she can while Sanary's laying into the hostile machine's shoulder. Then Sanary finishes ice-cleaving, scrambling to El-Line's shoulder ...

*RIGHT* as the Ijiwarobo plants its foot in El-Line's 'belly' and sends the Matrix Figure hurtling backwards!

A strangled yelp escapes Yuna's throat as she's jostled around in her cockpit, but she's less concerned with *her* well-being and more concerned with making sure Sanary doesn't plummet off El-Line's shoulder. Still, the shove sort of helped - Yuna flutters El-Line's thrusters to try and keep her mecha from landing flat on its back, legs flailing as Yuna attempts to plant the Matrix Figure's feet on relatively solid ground for better braking.

And the Lightning Sword got dropped in the middle of that. She might have lost Shugoseiheki, too, but the kite shield remains strapped to El-Line's arm. The Matrix Figure does have other weapons, so recovering the sword isn't a *huge* worry - and for the time being, as soon as Yuna regains control, she just points the mecha's now-empty right hand at the Ijiwarobo, golden light flaring and crackling around its palm.

"LIGHTNING SHOOOOT!!!" she yells ... and while the resultant blast is more concussive than electrical in nature, the beam of force lashes out at the Ijiwarobo with enough force to at least *look* like a bolt of lightning.

... That would probably have been more impressive if El-Line hadn't basically landed on its butt. Yuna's got bigger worries than her (mecha's) dignity.

Bahamut has posed:
     Bahamut growls to himself as he notices Rhapsody charging in against Ijiwaru. He trusts that her fury will keep her going for now, but Ijiwaru is dangerous, and a magic eater to boot. He has to trust that Rhapsody and Sidonia have things handled on the ground.

     It is not easy for him. He is a guardian. A front line fighter. Leaving those he cares about to take care of themselves is not his strong suit. But, Bahamut comes to a hover as the golden gyro on his back reaches its full speed. He stops right in front of that gigantic metal titan, then lets out a challenging roar that shakes the ground lightly. "If you are on or near the enemy construct, I suggest you change that." he growls over the radio before arcs of yellow-white energy flow from that spinning gyro to form up in front of his mouth. A growing orb of energy ranging in colors from purple to blue to white forms there in front of his open maw. Were he a typical dragon, most anyone would recognize a dragon about to use a breath attack. But, this dragonbreath is unlike most any other.

     That orb grows to nearly the size of Bahamut. Then, finally fires. A beam at big around as Bahamut is tall lances out at the skyscraping construct. A blazing spear of white energy fringed with purples and blues punches through the sky, aiming to impact the construct right in the center of its chest. The power of the impact sends shockwaves across the area, followed by a steady gale of stormlike winds as the energy continues blasting away. Several seconds of unbridled, pure destruction try to punch straight through the Steel Titan's body, followed by an explosion that erupts outward and upward as the beam ends, joining the several others powerful attacks converging on the Steel Titan. Bahamut gave warning to all his allies before he fired. He trusts they are out of the blast area. If not...well, he will apologize later.

     Bahamut hasn't faced much that can survive his Mega Flare, but he never counts his chocobos before they have hatched. Whether the construct is still standing or not, Bahamut immediately dives toward Ijiwaru and Rhapsody. "IJIWARUUUUUU!" he bellows as he dives, several hundred pounds of steely dragon fury aimed for the head magic eater, urged on by the war ballad and his desire to save everyone he can.

Rebound (750) has posed:
The crater that Rebound vanished inside of stirs a little bit as she climbs out of it. That plan was not her most well thought out activity. But still, she took out the two nightwings, along with the one she took out first, plus however many guildless she took out in the first place.

She grabs one of the guildless that's still standing by the collar and punches him in the face with the Impact Driver, letting him slump out of her hand, "OKAY!" She calls out, "You want some, come get some!" She doesn't even care who engages her at this point, she's just having way too much fun punching attackers with everything she can muster.

Ijiwaru (1037) has posed:
    Cracks, hypersonic dragons, the roars and chaos of of Mizzium cascading around them. The guildless cry out. Some flee back to the hole in the streetside. The Nightwings fall from the sky as they're shot, or turned to ash. The world seems to be going crazy for the figures around them as the Steel Titan, AKA Ijiwarobo's arm freezing, breaking -- and then exploding off its shoulder. The machine gives a howl of rage among the fire, turning, toppling backwards -- and through a new hole in the street, threateningly close to the generators and Thianel.

    Ijiwaru is busy focusing his energy on the attacking dragons, bringing the spike up to try and threaten RHapsody -- only to be clobbered by Sidonia from above! One of the daggers rip through his armor, digging into his shoulder and side as he yowls with pain.

    ...a nd it crosses his mind, he may never see Miki or Koemi. The thought freezes him in place for as plit second, th ethought of his family -- with all those spiders still out there, waiting.

    ... but he had to uphold his end of the deal, and pray that /SHE/ upholds /HERS/.

    So the magic eater turns as Sidonia lands, growling in frustration and trying to peirce the dark dragoness through the chest when the roar bellows above him.

    ANd Ijiwaru focuses.

    He breathes out.

    And as Bahamut dives, Ijiwaru's Shockwave ability activates, the ground rumbling, loose street rattling against itself, bits and pieces falling into potholes, sink holes, holes opened like gaping maws in the Izzet Sector, deepening those cracks at the generators as he tries to shield himself -- and the two dragonesses by proximity -- from Bahamut's attack with a blast of concussive force!

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
The biggest problem with bringing a giant robot to a battle like this one is that giant robots also tend to be very heavy. Yuna hadn't been worrying too much about that ... but Elner is paying more attention to the state of the ground below than Yuna has, and with the increasing amounts of damage to not just the pavement but the infrastructure beneath it, Elner finally gives Yuna the belated warning that El-Line needs to be in the air, *not* standing or sitting on an increasingly-fragile surface.

Yuna takes barely long enough to warn Sanary of their incipient flight before El-Line rocks forward, a burst of the thrusters helping propel the Matrix Figure back to its feet, for a start. The sleekly armored mecha reaches down just long enough to scoop up the Lightning Sword, and then El-Line is fully airborne, allowing the sword to dematerialize.

There may not be much Yuna can do to reverse the damage to the ground around the Nexus, or to prevent much more of it ... but at the very least, she can make sure she's not making things any worse. For now, Yuna begins firing off additional Lightning Shoot blasts, trying to thin out any remaining Nightwings. Stadler's helicopters can probably use the assistance, and some of her allies might need the help as well. Plus, while Yuna's in the air, El-Line can monitor the fallen Ijiwarobo and make sure it's actually *out* of the fight ...

Plus it's a chance for Yuna to wonder about, and Elner to analyze, that staticky message of just a moment prior.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    And everyone goes -flying-. Rhapsody had every intention of moving away from Ijiwaru, but the concussive blast catches her off guard, sending her sailing upward, and over onto her back, likely to come down with a -crash- onto the pavement below, letting out a roaring wail that hints at just how much that hurt, and how often she's ever landed on her back with her wings free. (NEVER).

    Sidonia is thrown just as far. it's hard to tell just how well Ijiwaru's thrust struck the Guildmaster's sister. When she comes down, the spike isn't in her chest, but it is clear through her shoulder. When she does land, she doesn't call out in pain, she wouldn't give the man the satisfaction. She just curls, shivering, holding in the cry of pain that every fiber of her being wanted to scream to the heavens.

    Thianel, near the generators, is panicing. Everything is falling apart and he can't do -anything- about it. Desperate, the dragon-engine takes to the air, calling out for one last ditch effort. A flurry of Petrahydrox weirds, made of air and earth, come at his call and soar into the underground to try and patch up the holes, and the instability as best they can... he hopes it isn't in vain.

    Within the Nexus, Ryxinel is a flurry of activity. The panic of everyone outside is infectious, and the single son of Niv-Mizzet is working as fast, and as hard, and as rapidly as is safely possible, "This isn't happening, please, please STOP YOU DAMN THING!"

    From her impact in the street, Rhapsody heaves a ragged breath, through the pain in her back and wings, and transmits to Richard, "Weapons.. Free.. Stadler...

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Landing on the El-line was a feat in and of itself, but Sanary's more than ready to let Yuna handle the deft maneuvering for the time being while she gets her bearings straight. At Yuna's warning, she straps the axe onto her back again just in time to practically latch onto the El-line so as to not slide off of it during the rapid ascent!

     The healer's magic is still flowing freely, at least, as she tries not to think too hard about whether she's linking herself to Yuna or the robot in order to give her (or them?) direct access to Sanary's magic reserves. It's only when she notices that there's still Nightwings fluttering about that she sits up enough to start taking potshots at the fliers as well, firing off (fairly badly aimed) heat lasers at the Nightwings that explode on impact!

     Or even in proximity, considering how hard it is to aim those lasers between being on something that's moving, something that's moving in the air, lacking depth perception, /and/ firing out of the same thing she's looking out of. If not for the explosive part of those lasers, it'd be a wonder if Sanary could hit anything at all!

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite curses under her breath. Things were still going south, fast. She leaves worrying about the strange sounds on the radio to other people, she's got a very big practical problem to fix. Though not necessarily by herself.

"Maya, iffen ya got anything in those cards of yers that can fix the ground, I suggest ya use it! If those generators go, we're all gonna be kissin' mushroom clouds."

That said, Corona motions to her partner. "Ah think it's time we showed em what else ya can do, Hopalong." The construct makes an agreeing click-click, and jumps into her hands.

Or more accurately, jumps so Corona can take the jackalope by the horns. Save when she does so, the rest of the constructs body reconfigures so those antlers become a pair of handles. Limbs fold up against his body, then the back end of the jackalope extends to the sides to reveal an opening that allows a rather a rather large barrel to slide out.

"Not quite what Ah designed this mode for... but INNOVATIN'!" When Corona fires the ja-cannon-lope it's not bullets, but a sort of reddish-grey gunk. The slag leftovers of the furnance that powers the construct. But as Corona sprays it into the cracks it starts to cool and harden, hopefully helping the weirds in fusing and reinforcing the ground back together.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Neva grins as she watches her havoc rain down on the world, and cackles, "MWAHAHAHA! SUCCESS!!" She then turns and calls out, "Turn 7! Untap! Upkeep! Draw!" She untaps everything and proceeds to make with the drawing, and grins at her prize, "Ooooo!" She reveals it as a Lightning Bolt card. "KERANOS!" She points at Ijiwaru. "LIGHT HIM UP!"

    The Storm God just sort of hovers there, hrrrming in annoyance, before reaching to the sky and drawing a bolt of lightnign out from nowhere, and proceeds to casually lob it at Ijiwaru.

    Neva gleefully grins, and taps Sulfur Falls, the Island, and two Mountains, channeling the Blue mana of the mountain into her Signet to once again amp things up, and then puts down a card. "Two Red. Three Colorless. I use this mana to Enchant my target! CURSE OF BLOODLETTING!!"
https://deckbox.org/mtg/Curse%20of%20Bloodletting

    She kinda hopes that the enchantment takes, because she next puts taps the last Red, "One Red. I CAST LIGHTNING BOLT AT IJIWARU!"
And out from the sky drops another bolt of lightning, targetting the bastard. If the Curse of Bloodletting does indeed take? Double Damage.
https://deckbox.org/mtg/Lightning%20Bolt

Bahamut has posed:
     The great construct falls through a gigantic hole, and Bahamut follows it with his beam.

     Tunnel vision is a terrible thing. Before he realizes it, his beam is focused on Ijiwaru. He would not have targeted Ijiwaru with Mega-Flare consciously. Ijiwaru was both in the middle of the melee and in the middle of the two sisters. When the energy blast encounters the concussive force, the beam starts exploding before actually reaching Ijiwaru. It is sure to shake the area powerfully, and waves of energy radiate outward from the clash point, but as the beam dies out and the resulting explosion clears, Bahamut realizes where his aim ended....and even beneath that gunmetal grey dragonhide he seems to grow pale. "W-...what...?" he stammers as he dives down. Rhapsody? Sidonia? Are they okay? His sharp eyes pick up that...no, they are not. And even worse, Ijiwaru's counter might have actually saved them from Bahamut's own attack.

     Now perhaps as angry at himself as at Ijiwaru, Bahmut breaks off from Ijiwaru to swoop down and cover Sidonia and Rhapsody. "...forgive me." he says to them. He then pulls out one of his trusty Al Bhed potions and uses it on the sisters. "Perhaps Stadler will have better aim."

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
With El-Line helping thin out the Nightwings, Stadler can give his helicopters orders. '27 percent structual integrity didn't sound like it was in any reasonable safety margin, and while he was seeing a job done... it didn't mean most of his people had to die to do it. "Blackhawks in ready positions. Combat elements will withdraw on orders!" He yells. Command elements wouldn't, though... and he was the only command element here. He had a job to do, after all. Maybe the last one. At least Rhapsody had done her part, however.

THe helicopters, light of troops, now, hover off the buildings, lifting up, machine guns still chattering at the remaining night wings that would dare get close to the agile things. Rick's men kept firing two, driving back the mob that still remained. Or... most of them did. There were two in each squad that were setting up the tubes, the brace plates, the stands, the ammunition, and, when Rhapsody /finally/ gets clear... it was a matter of timing. Shells placed in the tubes, one by one, thumping up... then coming down. First slaming around the robot, then closer as the infantry in front hoarsely called out corrections. And Stadler still stood. Still watched. Felt the way the mortars were going...

And, when he /knew/ the next ones would converge right on Ijiwaru, he pulls the trigger of the M121, the recoil of the round nearly breaking his shoulder, as he fires again and again. He wasn't aiming for the head this time. He said he would make it quick. But seeing who it really was put a kibosh to that plan. Of the heavy rounds he fired, he aimed for the ribs. Lungs. Stomach. The ones that wouldn't kill right away. The ones that would leave him time to know it was coming.

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Deep inside the Nexus itself, Mi was breathing hard. The controls were far too large for the small Kodama to move on her own -- so vines had been called up. This far from the Singing Garden, though, it was difficult to call them, and Mi was wincing, turning controls as she moves through the short tunnels and access points, as fast as her tiny legs will let her, and when she hits the control, she looks up, and whispers "Please let this work."

    And as she plants one foot down, vines growing from the organic lining of the Mana Nexus, they wrap around a lever, and pull.

    There's the exact opposite of the what the Mana Nexus does on power up -- there is a sudden flood of mana into the atmosphere. Where as during power up, everyone may feel their belly buttons being pulled in -- this is a warm feeling. A feeling like being wrapped in an electric blanket. A feeling like warm chicken soup if you're sick, mixed with the sudden feeling of blood flow returning to an extremity.

    This was the Mana Nexus's heart beating.

    A loud THUMP-THOMP! echoes around, and the brilliant cloud of mana above the Nexus disperses all the local weather -- mortar and natural alike -- revealing a sea of stars above in a perfect, crystal clear sky.

    And then the echoing halo of mana from above Nivix, where a machine was still in operation, calling, sending out the message of its Guildmaster. And in a brilliant red and blue circle, the super-charged machine glows brilliantly!

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    THe Window, However, is still torn in the atmosphere -- and growing, ever. So. Slowly.

Rebound (750) has posed:
As much fun as she's having beating the crap out of the guildless and the occasional Magic Eater, it seems that issues have arisen that may require Rebound's special skill set. She finishes roundhouse kicking one last guy in the back of his head, and then leaps off, bounding several times through the battlefield towards where the window to another world is.

Landing hard, she rushes inside, looking up at the still ever expanding window, "I take it shutting this thing down didn't work, huh?!" She calls out to the dragon sibling working on it, "Just do what you can, I'll take care of whatever comes through that portal!"

Merlin (639) has posed:
    Sometimes you're frankly enjoying yourself, and then something strange happens. Listening to the others, and learning of the Window's strange effects...and wondering just where that window goes, Merlin makes a new decision. The music for the warriors comes to a crescendo, building in intensity just as the heartbeats and the great glorious sign in the sky do as well. He turns and descends back to the location of the portal, glad to see Rebound and the others.

    With magic senses aglow, Merlin settles his staff upright, and closes his eyes. He's reaching out to the portal, to /feel/ it and become part of it. Not to cross the threshold, but to be one with it - and perhaps learn enough of just what is controlling it from the other side.

Ijiwaru (1037) has posed:
    You wanna know what also gets supercharged the more mana is around them?

    That's right.

    Magic Eaters.

    The Guidlless are fleeing, no longer enraptured by the magic eater's cause and promises of freedom from the guilds. Others are freezing in place. Others lay burned, injured, or crushed.

    The magic eaters though... they don't seem too worse for wear.

    ... even Ijiwaru. HIs armor's taken some of the blow... but he's in relatively bad shape, physically. He stumbles, bleeding, but he produces another long spike, spinning it over his wrist as he rises from each blow against him, and he takes a deep breath, reaching into his deep reserves of anger, of pain, of focus -- he has a wife to return to. He has a little girl whose world will be free from this blood feud now... he can't fail.

    Not like this.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    On her back, gazing up at the open void, at the open sky, at the Twin Guardian Stars... something becomes crystal clear. By now, Rhapsody has even reverted to the form all know her under. Her gaze is -locked- on everything above, but most of all, the Transmission That Never Stopped. "I still forgive you... I will -never stop- forgiving you."

        "Come back to me.."

Maya has posed:
Maya sees teh cracks she hears the warning and she's just manaqge to not get turned into street pizza either. She's just been lucky enough to drop her attacker or at least get enough breathing space to attempt to do what she is going to do.

"I have an idea Corona! COVER ME!"

Maya pulls two fate cards out one blue and one green she focuses as a huge amount of blue fire leeches out of her body.

The flames dance about her and Maya starts to mutter somrthing.

"Lord of Earth and Stone...heed my call your aid is needed once more."

Maya seems to fade from view and a huge hulking figure take shape seemingly from the ground of the city, a hulking barely humanoid figure with a signel yellow gem for an eney. It growls sounding like two slabs of rock griding on eachother but it understand Maya's intent very well and moves to start using it's domain of the earth and it's powers there in to try and seal up the cracks.

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    All Merlin would see, through all his vision, is a rose. He would know it the moment he saw it.

    Up above in the cleared sky, there is a shooting star, coming down to the surface of Ravnica, sweeping along the city streets in a brilliant azure and scarlet light, until a figure stands near the bank of generators, clad in Izzet colors, a dark blue hood pulled over their head.

    Send out the signal -- and I'll fly low.
    IF it means the death of me, I won't let go.
    And if I'm lost in the world's shadow -- I'll use the light that comes to me from your halo.

    The figure stands, shining brass against her gauntlets and boots, goggles hanging around her neck, and red and blue bangs kicking up in the breeze, a smile forming on crimson lips, in Thianel's shadow one moment, and then on the move the next.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    A sight so well known, a sound so well heard, the Guildmaster slowly rises to her feet, glaring across the distance at Ijiwaru as he slowly climbs the same way. "Ijiwaru. You -failed-. SHE MADE THE WORLD STOP!"

Corona Arclite has posed:
At this point Corona doesn't need her scanner, she can feel her fur stand on end as the massive amount of mana is ejected into the night sky, conveniently clearing it.

Shit is going down near the portal. Between the weirds, her improvising, and Maya's earth summoning, they have the generators about as restabalized as they can get.

Just in time for the real event to start, it would seem. "Ah knew that girl was gonna do the impossible, but not like that! " As appropriate she rest her construct-weapon at her side with one arm, using the other hand to yank her hat off and wave it. "Yee hah!"

Take that and stuff it in your pipe to smoke, Idjiwara.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang doesn't chase the Guildless. Most of them were just dissalusioned and scared... but as the Magic Eaters rally, Yang stamps her right foot down, and slams her fists together again. She lets loose a roar of challenge as her eyes flip red, and her hair begins to billow as if underwater.

    And then Yunomi comes back.

    "Y--Yunomi!" she grins ferally, then flips her radio on. "Suck it Ijiwaru! You're done! You can't hold us down. You've got NOTHING that'll stop us!" she says, then with the report of Ember Celica, she falls on the Magic Eaters, aiming to main, destroy weapons and disable, renewed.

    She still can't quite reach the rest of her Semblance, held tantalizingly out of reach, but a sense of calm tempers her fury, her strikes not wild flailing hammers, but like the precision strikes of a master with the staff, seeking out weaknesses in armour instead of trying to punch through the heaviest plates with raw strength.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Meanwhile, perched on her Hypersonic dragon, Neva is hard at work with her hand, drawing another card, "Turn 9: Untap, Upkeep, Draw!" She goes through those motions and revealse Call to Mind, a Sorcery, which she proceeds to direct Keranos at Lightning Bolting at Ijiwaru! She then proceeds to throw another Runechanter's Pike onto the table, and attaches it to the Spellheart Chimera, tapping the Sulfur Falls, an Island and two Mountains. "There we go, X is Equal to 2. 6 Effective Power on the Spellheart Chimera." Then she taps two more Mountains to summon a Satyr Firedancer, which is now on Summoning Sickness.

    She then points to the Chimera, "Go, Spellheart Chimera, slice up all who oppose us!" The beast, now armed with two Pikes, goes and proceeds to slice and dice any enemies who remain, trampling and flying over them!

    She pauses and glances to her Permanents, "Keranos is now a Creature! KERANOS! Please destroy the enemies of this land, the Magic Eaters!" The God in the meantime rolls his eyes and charges up lightning and blasts out the bigger Magic Eaters with Gusto.

    Then the heart beats. The pulses. The voice. At first Neva panicked, thinking the heartbeat could have been from the Eldrazi, but once the voice came out clearly, and the figure emerged, Neva went from relieved to Happy.

    "YUNOMI!!!"

Merlin (639) has posed:
    It doesn't take long for Merlin to recognize things - and for him to point, and lead if she desires, the way for the newly revived Guardian to Rhapsody and her father - as well as the others.

    And it is here that Merlin will see Rhapsody's own battle turned fierce against Ijiwaru, the two of them locked into brutal struggle as only they can. There is little the Wizard of Dun Realtai can accomplish himself...but still, more needs to be done. The magic-eating powers of Ijiwaru call for a different answer, and while it might best come about from Stadler's troops...he is not yet in command of himself, nor able to provide the perfect tool.

    And so a woman steps forward, nondescript...mostly forgettable...white-haired, and once Boros guild. She draws from her scabbard a blade, a familiar one to Rhapsody, who's seen it before - and one that Merlin knows will be crucial.

    The Sparkblade, a creation of Ravnica that's seen better days, still uses no mana. There is nothing for Ijiwaru to eat...but steel. "GUILDMASTER!" The booming cry from Skara echoes across the battlefield. And Skara launches it, thrown end over end in an arc that will terminate in Rhapsody's own fist. "END IT!"

    Boy, it's a shame Merlin himself is missing this.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
It's not the first time that a miracle has saved one of Yuna's friends ... and with Yunomi's return, impossible though it would have seemed, Yuna no longer has any need to avenge her. That doesn't get Ijiwaru *entirely* off the hook - he's still caused no end of trouble, is directly responsible for Sakiaro's death, and remains committed (so far as Yuna knows) to killing Yunomi until it sticks.

Shugoseiheki vanishes from El-Line's arm in a crackling flare of light, and the Matrix Figure's rifle, the Lightron, is brought to bear. The remaining Nightwings are a little too sparsely spread out (and too close to Yuna's allies) for her to keep using the normal Lightning Shoot; the Lightron allows more precise aim, although she can't fire as frequently.

At the moment, though, the Lightron is pointed down at Ijiwaru. "It ends here," Yuna's voice reverberates from El-Line's external speakers. "I don't know if there's anyone who would come to avenge you if we kill you here and now, but you 'killed' Yunomi ... and it *DIDN'T TAKE*, despite your best efforts. It's over. Give up, and run while you have legs to carry you ... and NEVER! COME! BACK!!"

Ijiwaru (1037) has posed:
    Ijiwaru looks at that form. Cloaked in colors he's grown to despise.

    ~The Deal is moot, Takeshi. We are withdrawing our support.~ comes a tickle from the back of his mind.

    Ijiwaru turns, and he calls out: "RETREAT!" he howls, and he turns, hatred glowing in his eyes as he limps towards Rhapsody.

    The magic eaters, in their flight, fill the air with rounds, aiming at ANything That Is Not Them. And Ijiwaru turns to the white dragon. He snarls, and he charges her, bringing the spike up.

    "I will at least break her heart!"

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    And in a flash, the Sparkblade is held by Rhapsody, the Izzet Guildmaster. With it in hand, the dragon stares into it, seeing only her own reflection cast back by the Mizzium reflection. The blade is turned, her eyes glaring daggers past the two handed blade before she simply -charges- forward, both hands to the hilt. The blade is pulled back and is then thrust forward with all the strength of her true form, despite the current one. If it finds Ijiwaru, she would -twist- the handle. Not to make the wound worse, but to discharge -all- of the electricity within the blade. No magic. The blade was created with the Magic Eaters in mind, and the electricity is entirely discharged from a battery built within the blade.

        "No, you won't."

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
The mortars came down again, and again, 1 every 2 to 3 seconds slamming to the ground around the robot itself, aganist Ijiwaru, as he fired again, and again, round after around meant to slam through metal and engine blocks sent toward the source of Rick's emptiness. He didn't know about Ijiwaru's family. But at that moment, he didn't care. They had left him with nothing, and if what he needed to do created another widow, another orphan pinning for a father, he'd do it. The emptyness of the gun comes as a suprise, when it shouldn't be, snarling as slapping the clip release, reaching for a fresh one, before the words on the local band came through. And he stopped.

Stopped, because of what that horrible, idiotic dragon was doing. Was calling out to only one person past that portal, who couldn't be there. Couldn't be alive, his rational mind told him, but whose heart teared and rended from bonds designed to contain it. Miracles were just that. Rare. And certainly not something you got more than once. Rhapsody didn't know what he did; that she had already come back once. TO hope for the same... it would destroy someone. Why couldn't she see that?

Yet even as he thought that, he saw the Star come down from the heavens smacking into the ground from the generators, and the form emerging from the glow. And still, he couldn't beleive it. Couldn't let himself beleive it. An illusion meant to distract them... Worse. A spirit here to aid them once and scatter to the aether after. If it was anything like that, he knew that would be it. That he would go home to a gun that only needed one bullet.

And then, Ijiwaru advanced bringing up his spear, and the triained hind brain took action. Slamming the clip home, ratcheting another round it, fear and sworrow and joy he dare not let himself touch swept away into a single, colasced objective.

"You're not taking any more." He says, flicked over to the broad band, as he brings the crosshairs up, and fires a single round, aiming through the throat, toward the back of the spine.

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Yunomi blinks in and out of being, flitting from place to place until she drops off, in the Control Room with Ryx. Her lips curl into a smile, and then she's gone, outside the control room, back to the pannel outside that she had abandoned to... tend to some items that required immediate attention.

    The tanuki couldn't help with Ijiwaru. That was another life's pain. She had a job to do here, her eyes looking up, casting a gaze to the window above as the rapport of a rifle cracks in the air, and she exhales, and looks to her left arm, covered by her new, shiny gauntlets.

    The Window stabilizes, and then shrinks to size.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
With the battle seemingly winding down aside from nearly everyone else aiming to put an end to Ijiwaru's ambitions, Sanary actually seems rather content to remain seated on the El-line for the time being. She does keep a glowing light cloud of healing magic loitering around her, however, just holding it several feet in front of her without directing it anywhere in particular.

     <<"... Hey. Should I keep him alive, or no?">> The healer asks over the radio, the adrenaline already wearing off long before she gets an answer. Once she does get that answer, though, she lets the cloud fall back into her, and she keeps her eye open to instead keep watch over the stragglers from the battle.

     At the very least, she can make sure nobody's trying to take potshots at the ones with a real stake in this.

Ijiwaru (1037) has posed:
    And it was done. The sword blow. The crack of a rifle. The spray of blood. Ijiwaru stumbles. His eyes go wide, his nostrils flare, and he chokes out something, a word. A name. His vision darkens. He reaches out a hand, letting the iron spike drop, hearing it like the proverbial needle before he stumbles backwards... and expires.

    Mamori Tadeshi, the grandson of Mamori Ijiwaru, has fallen, and the Yokai Purge of Namamura, and the blood feud between the Magic Eaters and the Yokai has been put to a bloody end.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
With the Magic Eaters retreating behind a hail of bullets, and Ijiwaru clearly committed to the idiot route, the only thing Yuna can really do ...

Is lower El-Line towards the ground, drawing its legs up. Rather than touching down, Yuna keeps the Matrix Figure airborne, dismissing the Lightron and re-invoking Shugoseiheki. The best she can do is to try and deny the fleeing Magic Eaters some of their potentially-easy targets.

As for Ijiwaru himself? He had his chance. He didn't take the opportunity to flee. Rhapsody and Richard are putting an end to it.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang chases down the Magic Eaters, juking through their automatic fire like a woman possessed. Arms held in close to her body. She pours on speed, and leaps one final time, slamming her fist into the ground and sending a rippling shockwave after the fleeing Magic Eaters. "AND DON'T THINK ABOUT COMIN' BACK! OR I'LL DO THIS TO YOUR DUST CURSED HEADS!" she roars in unleashed rage. But she's hearing to let them run and so, finally she pauses, her eyes shifting back to lilac between blinks and her hair falling back to settle in its unruly tresses behind her.

    It's finally over huh? "Now where's the damn Tanuki."

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    The Guildmaster watches the eyes go wide. The shot fired over her shoulder. The spray of blood that likely flecks across her white hide. It doesn't seem to phase her. With a sound that hardly needs described, the Sparkblade is pulled free from Ijiwaru's body and then simply -jammed- into the pavement. She turns, everyone can likely see the Magic-Eaters blood across her face and chest... and then she just drops. Right to her knees. Is she.. crying? Possibly. It is certainly not a single emotion that is causing it...

            "Please.."

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    And now, the enemy is on the retreat, and Neva is on the back of a Hypersonic dragon with Backup in tow, and Neva huhs a little, "I guess that's a victory for me for the purposes of my powers." She gestures to the board and sweeps her arms out, dismissing all the creatures and lands and everything she summoned.

    Keranos, the God of Storms, hrmphs in annoyance, "UNTIL NEXT TIME THEN..." Before dissipating through the planes back to Theros.

    Neva in the mean time packs her cards up, and looks around, "Yunomi?! Was that Yunomi? Please let that be Yunomi!"

Bahamut has posed:
     Is it really her? Bahamut can't believe it, even though he always held a spark of hope for Yunomi. She seemed able to defy everything and still come out on top. Of course, he won't forgive her so easily as Rhapsody does. She caused a lot of pain and anguish with all of this. But, that isn't important now.

     There are still things to do, people to protect, enemies to eliminate. With Rhapsody and Sidonia mostly alright, and that warmth of the mana in the air, he stands once again. "You have some explaining to do, young lady." he growls lightly to Yunomi, though there is a grin on his face.

     When Ijiwaru charges, Bahamut's expression quickly goes cold. He would charge as well, but he is ill-equipped to join in close quarters combat with Richard and Rhapsody hitting Ijiwaru with all they've got. Especially when he is not needed. He instead lets out a snort as Ijiwaru, or whoever he is, breathes his last. He moves to check on Sidonia, helping her up if she needs it, then just watches. He may have helped with this victory, but he isn't going to draw attention away when it seems everything is under control and those truly hurt by all of this will soon have a tearful reunion. Even a proud, arrogant dragon knows when to take a step back.

Corona Arclite has posed:
The Guardian is back. Yunomi did the impossible. The Legacy still stands despite all the efforts to bring it down.

Corona is utterly not surprised that Ijiwaru can't take losing gracefully.

... Oh, -there's- Skara. Knew she had to be lurking around somewhere. She was every other time. And -that- sword. One that's not magic. One that was become PERFECT to the moment.

A few shots rain down around the fox. One even manages to zing her shoulder, burning the armor plating in her vest. Looks like the Magic Eaters can't just run with their tails between their legs, either.

"Bad move, varmits." Corona brushes a hand over the damaged shoulder, then tugs her hat down by the rim.

Rhapsody says to let them run? Okay then.

But that doesn't mean she can't still make sure the point gets across.

With a smirk, Corona pulls out her trademark shotgun. Cranks it up, flips it over to hold it properly. "Get along little doggies! An' don't come back!"

But she's only firing at their backs. The pulsarium powered shots send plumes up where they hit the ground at the retreating Magic Eaters heels or send bright flares of light sailing overhead JUST a little too close for comfort. Enough to get the point across that they're most definately not welcome back here, or next time those shots won't be missing.

It takes a good gunslinger to hit their mark.

It takes a GREAT gunslinger to purposely NOT hit the mark in the most intimidating way possible.

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    The transmission from atop Nivix has also ended, and there is the soft sound of boots landing behind Rhapsody.

    "I beleive this belongs to you, Guildmaster." comes a soft, oh-so-familiar voice to Rhapsody. Yunomi gives a slight smile behind her, slowly pulling down the dark blue hood as she exhales. Her ears pop up. Her tail shifts beneath the long jacket, and the tanuki-turned-mage gives a soft huff of air, rubbing the back of her head as she presents a wooden netsuke -- though this time, its shape has shifted, and instead of a curled and sleeping tanuki, it's upright, attentive.

    The blue and red clad mage is also anticipating the moment being broken soon -- best to steal what time she could.

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
As the round fires, the electricity strikes through that hated man, Rick sees him fall to the ground. And he has the body that he had wanted from the start. His eye moves away from the scope, capping the lens, as he takes a deep breath. Steeling himself. Steadying himself. Placing a scaffolding around the hope in his heart. Keeping it still, for the moment, until he could know. That he could know for sure. He reaches for the radio handset. "All elements, X-Ray 6-1. Cease fire. I say again, Cease fire. Command Sergeant Major has operational command." He says, before tossing the handset away. He'd had a rope on the building placed. Another contingency that he used, heart beating as he rappeled downward. A few seconds, hitting the ground with his boots, and then slow, measured, controlled steps to where the dragon and... what it may be were standing.

Iria (215) has posed:
During this battle, there have been some who have been pretty much blending in because of all the fighting. A lot of them are of Niv-Mizzet, but there's one who is directly affiliated with the Union who has been helping out as well. That someone is Iria, the elite bounty hunter and a good friend of Yunomi's. Ever since the start, Iria's wanted to make sure that Yunomi would be OK, and she's done everything she can to ensure that. Even if that means keeping a somewhat low profile during the battle while the others were up front. It was a very difficult fight, and even Iria had trouble during the battle, running out of ammunition and being forced to resort to using her chain-sword. But she never gave up, she knew Yunomi and the others were depending on her.

And now Iria finally makes her appearance in front of the others. It's definitely not a pretty sight though. Iria's cape is badly torn and tattered, and even her armored bodysuit shows signs of damage too. To top that off, there's signs of blood on her bodysuit, and it definitely looks like Iria's. Instead of running up like she normally does, Iria's limping weakly, using her sword as a cane to keep herself propped up as she limps forth to where the others are. Unlike previous times where Iria was in top shape and acrobatic, it's obvious she's in poor condition now and is going to need some medical assistance once she's done here. But even that can't stop the determined look on her face as she makes her way into the area. No matter how pained her expression is, no matter how hard she's breathing, she's showing no sign of slowing down as she approaches the others.

Once she finally gets there, Iria drops to her knees and begins breathing even harder. She's used up a lot of strength getting here, but she then looks up to the others and gives a thumbs up. "We did well today. This was a very difficult battle, I admit. But Yunomi's back, and the enemy has been defeated." A weak, but noticeable smile forms on Iria's face. "We triumphed. We came out on top! And Yunomi's here again!" Tears begin to well up in Iria's eyes, and she's wishing she could give Yunomi a running hug, but she doesn't have the strength for that right now. All she can do is continue to give her weak smile and thumbs up to the others. "Good job, all of you!"

Rebound (750) has posed:
    Well the window seems to be closing..And with it seems that the cause is Yunomi's return and the magic eaters's retreat. Rebound stands down, the fight is over. And if the fight is over, seems like she's not really going to be of much use. She heads back out of the Nexus, to take a look at the scene, Ijiwaru's dead, the enemy ranks are broken, seems like...Well maybe not everything worked out, but most of it did. That makes her happy.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
            << https://youtu.be/TIM-sALG9fI >>

    The sound of soft boots against the pavement of the street was all Rhapsody had to hear. She takes a quick breath inward, wipes away the tears with the sleeve of her coat, and rises. When she finally sets blue eyes upon the Champion of the Izzet, all she can do is just smile. Shaky hands accept the Netsuke Charm back from Yunomi, "I never, ever, gave up on you," she whispers before the most obvious thing ever happens. She takes a step foward and just -wraps- both her arms around Yunomi and lets her emotions drain out of her. All the pent up frustration, anger, sorrow, rage, it simply boils over and is set loose.

            For about 5 seconds.

    Something changes, then. The Red Star high above starts to -gleam-, filling the sky over Ravnica with such a glow, that it makes it seem more like dusk than night. Yunomi may even be surprised as Red Mana, tucked away somewhere within her, suddenly begins to arc up and around them both. Thunder cries out, lightning flashes high. The Guildmaster's trademark trenchcoat simply burns away, leaving the blue scales down her back in its wake. These scales, a gift of her father, were never truly her own. She had been born scaleless as she had given hope to a guild that had thought its heirs were lost. Through the Champion of the Izzet, a gift is passed.

    The blue scales, similar to the trenchcoat that just burned away, simply shatter off of her spine. The red mana that roils around the pair affixes itself to the Guildmaster's back, but rather than simply turn into scales, these new brilliantly red scales -grow- into place instead. They glow, brimming in red power, and finally settle to their normal hue.

    Rhapsody, confounded, simply looks at her own tail, curious, then simply looks back at Yunomi, smiling.

        "You found -him-.. didn't you?"

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Did someone call for a MOMENT KILLER?!

    Suddenly a Hypersonic Dragon lands where Yunomi and Rhapsody are, and off of it hops Neva Fernandez, who promptly sprints at Yunomi in and GLOMPS at her! "YUNOMIIIIIIIIIII!!"

    And so commenceth the babble, "I'M SORRY FOR NOT BEING REALLY THERE AT THE PRESENTATION DAY! AND FOR NOT BEING THERE TO HELP YOU! I knew you wereinnocentbutIwasscareofthepoliticsand---!

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Hopping off El-line as it changes forms, Sanary aids in the cleanup for a little longer until things settle down for real, and she watches as the local and Union allies start to gather around the new person that she doesn't quite recognize as being a certain Yunomi Stadler. She's got enough context clues to figure it out, though, and she's got enough tact not to make any awkward comments about the whole thing.

     Besides, it does feel pretty good seeing other people this happy, so she's more than content to hide behind some rubble and a large (but not quite large enough) rock until things quiet down again.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite blows the fumes off the barrel of her shotgun afterward, spins Forgesweeper around and stows it back in its sling. Then stoops down to give Hopalong, who'd shifted back to his normal jackalope mode once he was dropped. "An' ya did wonders fer yer first time on the field." Or at all.

Then Corona ambles in the direction of everyone else... Though not before grabbing Rebound as she passes the 'roo. "Com'n you, this fight's over but the celebratin' is just starting!"

Sure enough something is just starting, as Rhapsody loses one surrogate set of scales, only to get a -real- set in their place. First she lets out a short whistle. Then remarks. "Ah reckon that's a certain someone's way of sayin' ya been doin' just fine, Guildmaster."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
So the fight, and the incident, are all over - finally.

After Sanary dismounts from El-Line's shoulder, Yuna dismisses the Matrix Figure; its mechanical form becomes a shape of coherent light, glittering briefly before the light scatters harmlessly, leaving Yuna and the Matrix of Light standing below where the cockpit had been.

Not that Yuna stays standing; as soon as her feet touch the ground, she takes off running towards Yunomi and Rhapsody, aiming to *HUG* Yunomi as tightly as she can, as though trying to make up for lost opportunities.

Not really saying anything, just hugging ... but if Yunomi's already surrounded by others hugging, Yuna just adds to the pile. Everyone else kind of needs hugging as well, more or less, right? Especially Rhapsody, too.

(Plus this keeps her mind off what's left of Ijiwaru ... which is probably too close by for comfort if she *did* notice.)

Meanwhile, Elner flits over to Sanary. "Your help in resolving this incident is greatly appreciated, as I'm sure Yuna will want to tell you. I know you and Yuna have been at odds a few times, but she still counts you as a friend for the most part."

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang starts walking back towards where Rhapsody and Yunomi are. Her pace is even for the first few steps. She watches Neva glomp tackle Yunomi as Rhapsody grows red scales, she watches everyone else speaking with the Tanuki, and her pace quickens. Becoming a canter, a jog, a run, then a full out sprint as tears form in her eyes. "YU-NO-MI!" The joyful expression, is replaced by a momentary wash of anger, her eyes shifting red as she goes to slug the Tanuki... it's /thankfully/ held back, so it comes across as only a normal person punch, not the superpowered punch that sends someone flying out a second storey window... and then she grabs the Tanuki in a tight embrace. "If you ever do that to us again, I'll follow you straight to whever the hell you vanish to and drag you back by the tail."

Rebound (750) has posed:
"H-hey!" Rebound protests as Corona hauls her along, "I was here for the bad guy punching, not the schmoopy hugging and kissing and little teddy bears celebrating in their treehouse after killing the big bad part!"

Seems like Corona isn't going to give her much of a choice in the matter though, as she still winds up hauled along against her will to join the rest of the celebrations.

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    The mage is hugged. She gives a surprised 'oof' sound, and she hugs back. Tightly, Holding on to someone she thought she wouldn't get the chance to have again. And she's crying. "I know, Rhaps, I know. You never gave up." she whispers, and then the Red Star gleams. Her eyes draw upwards, as if questioning -- and then the red mana errupts. Yunomi's eyes burn slightly from the energy crackling around them -- and when the light fades... Rhaps is now a redhead.

    And Yunomi purses her lips a moment. And looks up to Rhaps.

    ANd was about to answer when she was SUDDENLY ATTACKED BY A PLANESWALKER!

    "ACK!" she flails an arm, and reaches over to hold Neva a moment, blinking. "Neva!" she exclaims "Hey, don't worry about it. Kinda glad you weren't there, actually. Or Theo. That might have gotten pretty bad." she breathes out, and then is hugged by Yuna. And PUNCHED by Yang, which causes a small yelp from the mage as her ears go back, then pop upwards again at the hugs. THERE ARE SO MANY HUGS.

    "Help... drowning... in... affection..."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite laughs. "That's just it! Ya do all this fightin' for the good of others. It's time ya learned to -enjoy- some of what yer fightin' for."

With that Corona pushes Rebound into the hugpile forming upon Yunomi.

And then joining in herself, of course.

Iria (215) has posed:
Despite her injuries and how weak she was, Iria has somehow made her way to where Yunomi is to join in the hugging! Apparently, seeing an old friend brought back is more than enough to motivate you to run up and give them a big hug! Even if it means that you're more than likely to collapse after you've finished!

But it's well worth it...

Bahamut has posed:
     Bahamut's eyes widen at the blast of energy from the star and Rhapsody's transformation. Blue to red? Surprising, yet appropriate. As Yunomi is surrounded by those who know her much better, Bahamut moves closer but still says nothing. There is really nothing for him to add. He did his job by helping to ensure everyone made it to this point. Now, he can watch with a slight smile as Yunomi and her friends all share a moment.

     Then Bahamut blinks before looking around. Where is Richard?

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary actually seems surprised by Elner of all people (robots? Whatever he is) coming over to speak with her, waving at him to come closer before squatting behind the rock to keep her profile down.

     "Ah, it was... Er. I mean, it wasn't nothing, but... I just wanted to keep the whole mess out of Dun Realtai. Not for her or anything else." She sounds almost defensive as she makes that excuse, unable to even maintain a steady gaze at anyone or anything in particular. "Just tell her to... I dunno." Sanary ponders for another long moment while she peers out at the group surrounding Yunomi, then draws back behind the rock.

     "... Don't tell anyone I'm back here. It'd be weird."

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
Richard Stadler keeps his steps metered, regulated, marching forward even though there seems to be a wall of feeling hovering a few feet away from Yunomi that was... so hard to cross. Part of him, a shrinking part, still guarded, protected. Any moment now, she might give one last smile, one last goodbye, and blink out of existance. Part of him was protecting him from that even thought the reset of him realized that thanksgiving was in a week. Christmas in a little over a month. Father's day next year, and then another thanksgiving, streching out before him. Time. Goddamn time.

He finally stepped through the crowd. His own people watching on the rooftop with scopes and bincoulars (which makes a compeling argument to move from his path and clear off the hug pile. When he reached Yunomi, he knealt down, hand going up to his glasses, removing it so the lenses wouldn't send any false information, any misleading signals, looking at her through eyes hazed with flaws and the brimming of tears.

"We're..." He says, voice broken and husky. "We're going to have to talk about how you make plans-" He tries, breaking off and gripping her in whatever strength his muscles had left, wordless, racking sobs coursing through his body in a way he simply couldn't hide any longer. Miracles happened twice. They shouldn't. But they did, and she was here.

She was still /here/."

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Yunomi was overwhelmed. She thought her return would brood anger, that her dad would be cross. But with everything she knew went on... she felt tears threaten at her eyes.

    One more smile. No goodbye. Just a young woman who threw herself at the dad that would have sacrificed anything for her, as she wraps her arms around him. She breathes out, her fingers curling and holding onto him.

    "That was a seat of the pants plan, and it /sucked/ and I am so, so sorry, Dad. I'm sorry for what you must have gone through trying to figure it all out." she whispers, and she just hugs her dad tightly. "We're gonna talk about the plan. I promise, I promise we will."

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    Sidona, thanks to Bahamut's potion, is standing juuust to one side of her sister. Yes she is visible. Stop staring. "Mmmhmm... Not just to him... either..." she sounds -stern-, but, given a few moments for the two, she would kneel down and offer a smile that is -rarely- seen on the azure dragon's features. "But, we are glad you are back... All of us.." Oh right. There's an IZZET LEAGUE BACK THERE. Guess who breaks out into cheering now? EVERYONE.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang lets Yunomi go, and clears out the way for Richard with the others. She watches for a few moments... and then, turns to leave, letting them have their moment. She was a relative outsider here, a relative newcomer to the proceedings and thus, felt she had little place.

    If only she could see the mirror image of her own mother walking away that she's painting now.

Neva Fernandez (644) has posed:
    Having stepped back to allow probably other people who were much closer to Yunomi get a hug and a chat, and a feels, and everything, Neva steps away for a little bit, and blinks as she spots Yang beginning to walk off, before looking back between Yunomi, and then Yang, and then Yunomi again, before... Turning and chasing after Yang, "Hey Yang, wait up!"

Merlin (639) has posed:
    Huh. Shame Skara Sparkblade missed this part. Oh well, she can see it on TV later. It's a simple thing, but it's something Merlin enjoys. After all, it /is/ darn cute. "Miss Stadler. I believe you have provided to us all an object lesson of faith in people. Of believing in them no matter how dark the night. But you have not returned to us completely. Not yet." With deft fingers, a cobalt blue and crimson petaled rose is woven into her hair, which almost seems to glow. "NOW you are whole before us." Another is handed to Stadler, because while he'd look quite appropriately silly with it in his hair Merlin does believe in self-preservation by way of recognizing dignity. "Mr. Stadler...and Rhapsody as well," he adds, proffering the third matching rose to the Guildmaster, "I believe your faith...has been eternally rewarded."

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite backs off once she's gotten her hugs and celebrating in. "So... vacation, Ah guess. Don't get many of those." It's all over, so she finally pulls her goggles off, letting them hang around her neck. Serious time is over with. She gives Rebound a tug again, this time to pull her away from the hugfest. "Okay, that's 'nuff for one night. Let's let the family have their moment."

As she starts to wander away the fox folds her hands behind her head, while Hopalong lives up to his name poinging along after her. At first she looks up at the sky and the Red and Blue Stars now glowing quite brightly still overhead.

Then looks back down as her stomach rumbles faintly. Hmms thoughtfully. "... Ah wonder if they reopened that shop down in Namamura District yet? Could go for s'more Mystery Meat & Noodles..."

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
Stadler doesn't let go of the hug. Not for a long, long time, until his soul itself can be assured that she's real, back, and not going anywhere soon. Yunomi's self-depreciating apology is meant with a whispered voice, fierce. "I am so. /SO/ proud of you. Now more than ever." He says. And just holds on, for a little while longer.

Eventually, that emotion does ebb back, allowing him to release, to lean back with a smile on his face and tears of in his eyes. Even Merlin get's an appreciative nod. In this moment, he might have even gotten away with putting that rose in his hair instead of in his hand. Well, at that moment. It was probably wise to play it cautious next to a man with plans and proven accuracy with a sniper rifle. "Thank you." He says simply to the mage, before leaning back again, gripping Yunomi on the shoulders, and even managing a grin, after one deep breath. "Now. Let's celebrate properly, hmm?"

Rebound (750) has posed:
After being thrown into the hug pile and then subsequently getting the heck out of Stadler's way, Rebound stands next to Corona, looking over the scene, "Good job out there, cowgirl." She says as she turns to face Corona a bit, only to get hauled away this time, "If not I know this great burger place in my hometown...And it's very welcoming to folks who look like us."

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    Yunomi gives a smile to Merlin, and she looks up at him with a small smile, and she exhales. "Thank you, byt he by, for the help. I don't think I could have done it without such a boon." she states, and then she walks to Thianel.

    She looks up at the mighty metal dragon. And closes her eyes, and deeply bows to him.

    "I have so much to apologize for. To you and Rhapsody most."

Bahamut has posed:
     It's the set of roses that finally does it. Bahamut rumbles, then looks off into the sky for some reason. He totally has something in his eyes, yeah. There's lost of dust and debris after that battle. He coughs into a clawed hand, then chuckles before spreading his wings and taking to the air. It is a much better end than typically happens on his world.

     With the Izzet League restored and cheering, it seems a perfect time for an ally to depart. Following Yang's and Neva's example, Bahamut heads back to Spira. There is always something that needs his attention there. And a good guardian always goes where he is needed most.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Elner bobs slightly to Sanary, as though nodding, and flits away without drawing further attention.

Not that Yuna really has much attention to pay; she's too happy that Yunomi is back and that the crisis is basically over. But still ... "Apologies notwithstanding," Yuna says ruefully, "there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. I think we figured out a lot of them, but ..." She looks at Rhapsody, "Is Yunomi still facing charges for anything?"

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    On some level, this was expected. The cheering of the Izzet League quickly fades as Yunomi makes her way from the group to Thianel. The sea of red and blue magewrights, peppered with the occasional Boros soldier, parts as the tanuki walks forward. Thianel, for his part, had been watching from afar, as he had been doing for the last few years since his creator had left. Still, seeing her here, he settles down, waiting to hear what she has to say.

    "You did what was needed, nothing more." he motions upward. Above, the twin stars are shining brighter than ever before. "That is all the proof you need to see to know that they forgive you.." he motions at Rhapsody, who has by now, wandered up beside them both, "She forgives you," and then his hand is set back down, "And I do as well."

    He pauses, looks to Yuna, then answers the question for her, "When Ijiwaru produced a prisoner that was not Yunomi, and then proceeded to 'kill' her in front of us, the information was relayed to the guilds. They voted again. They have officially condemned his actions. Additionally, with the revelation that this was also a Dimir action, it is believed that, despite how it was done, Yunomi acted in the best interest of both the Izzet League and the City of Ravnica as a whole." Pause.

        "All charges have been dismissed."

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    Another long pause, "Unless Rhapsody wants to press charges." Thianel's gaze would wander to Rhapsody who just gives him a very ... intense look. "I don't think she means to do so."

Yunomi Stadler (272) has posed:
    "Oh. Good." Yunomi replies, and she takes a deep breath, and turns to the assembled, the Izzet, her allies, those who beleived in her the whole time.

    "Thank you, everyone." she whispers, and she takes a deep breath, and looks up to the sky, to those brilliant stars, shining between the spires of Nivix and Thirix, surrounded by her family, her friends... and the city she gave her life for.

    "Thank you, Niv."