1634/Welcome to Midgard!

Welcome to Midgard!
Date of Scene:	22 February 2015
Location:	Midgard-87
Synopsis:	Elites from both factions show up in defense of Alif against an undead horde.
Cast of Characters:	4, 106, Inga, Lezard Valeth, 626, 662, Reiji Arisu, 716

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Alif (716) has posed:
     Traveling through the warp gate would find pretty much exactly what Alif warned about. Off in the distance from the warpgate itself, it would be possible to see a large force approaching a town, largely due to the portal having opened on the outskirts of the city. The portal itself was somewhat inconvenient for getting to the battle, but it would make for a great pincer opportunity, as the large force was faced away from the portal.

     When the visitors arrived, they would find the situation is already far underway. Seems Alif hadn't spotted it until it was too late, herself, or she'd delayed for some reason or another. At the outskirts of the town, humans were doing their best to shore up makeshift defenses. Sand bags, snow piled up high, and similar to try and give them the advantage. But they were horribly under-equipped, against an enemy that was well-equipped, almost born for war. Stones, sticks, broken pipes, and other makeshift weapons were what humanity had.

     Meanwhile, the 'bloodless ones' were horrific monsters. Once human, they now looked twisted. Their pale skin stretched tightly over bones, not a single drop of blood left in their veins. Sunken eyes and bared teeth, hair long having fallen out, they were enduring and had unnatural strength, with the tips of their fingers twisted into horrible claws. And humanity's defenses were struggling to stay up, as the people who fought were peaceful and had not seen war in years.

     Spread out here and there, there were a few humans who seemed well-equipped though, they were transparent and shimmering, many of them wearing doctors coats and equipped with strange guns and melee weapons, or using magical spells. But even with those beacons of hope, there were hundreds, maybe even thousands of the bloodless ones, and humanity had only half that. It was a desperate situation, and no wonder that Alif called for backup.

Inga has posed:
Despite the fact that they will be walking into a battlefield, Inga is still coming. While no warrior, there are many ways she can still be of use. She hopes, anyway. Despite this alegedly being Ragnarok, she really isn't sure what to expect. A world like hers? Not like what she'd left, and likely (hopefully!) not like her world in this age, either. All the same, she's elected to wear the clothing she thinks people will expect, looking like the woman out of her time that she is in a long red overdress pinned at the shoulders with silver brooches over white linen, her woven belt tied with pouches and charms of bone carved runes. Over all this she wears a heavy wool and fur cloak.

The Seer walks out of the warpgate leaning on a carved wooden staff that helps to alievate a limp in her gait. She looks toward the battle with a frown of concentration, reaching for the knife at her belt. "More draugr," she hisses, looking toward the others who have come through the gate as well. "We mean to fight, I assume? I can support with magic but I am no melee combatant," she informs. "I can provide wards of protection and healing--but I must warn, if I have a vision...it is likely I will be helpless for a time. Do /not/ risk your life in that case," she continues, glancing to Kyra. She at least would understand why.

Inga then brings the knife to the inside of her arm, quickly slicing and drawing blood, flicking it outward toward the others as she chants a spell, a shimmering barrier forming over her allies one by one as she casts.

Yuri Stinson (106) has posed:
    "Once there was a maiden...
     ... who spent her life in shackles.
     One day her masters offered to remove her chains, if she would behave.
     With silent eyes she nodded, and her chains were removed.
     When their backs were turned, she beat them with her undone shackles.
     She stood over their bodies, covered in blood, and she whispered:
     'Defiance knows no wait. Vengeance knows no duration.'"
     ~Scripture of the Rebellious Maiden

    Out of the warp gate steps a figure clad in cloaks, a hood pulled up to obscure white hair and green eyes. Yuri Stinson, The Dark Hero That Rebels Against Tyranny, has arrived. He takes two steps forward on the ground and a metallic dragging is audible. On the ground, trailing behind him, are several feet of chains, as if worn on the legs of an escaped prisoner. The rest of the cloaks and coats obscure his form as he steps forward and looks around.

    "A world cries out for freedom. A monster has arrived, but will they accept him?" He looks around carefully, "The monster is unrestrained, his trappings of morality left safe elsewhere. His revolution may continue without restraint. He will paint the tapestry of their dreams upon the ground with blood, and his brush shall be a blade. Will they think it a masterpiece of a macabre parody?" He talks to himself, as if milling over the point.

    He crouches a bit and then lunges forward. Almost immediately, there's a blowing rush of wind around him that kicks up the snow as he runs. He's moving blindingly fast, hundreds of miles per hour at least as he moves across the ground. If his outfit or the chains he may wear underneath impede him, he is not showing it as he carries himself into battle with a calm determination.

    As he moves, he pulls back his hood and an energy seems to gather around him. It's a red-orange, like the color of a raging fire against the backdrop of the field, but with no heat. What it does do is impose his presence. He is here, he is Exalt, he is Rebellion. It's a crushing presence that flares up and around him, signalling that something much greater than man and much darker than a monster has stepped onto the battlefield and wishes to announce its existence.

    And that frightening god-monster is charging its way right towards the enemy flank, trying to insert himself directly into the battle lines and divert forces almost immediately. As he hits the opposing force, a glint flashes underneath his cloaks and his body moves. He spins easily through the snow, a copper blade attached to his arm by a chain coming out. As He throws his blade, trying to impale one monster and then wrap the long chain around the necks of a group of monster and flick his arm, attempting to decapitate as many as he can while returning his own sword to him.

    "War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over."

    He pauses.

    "Face me now."

Alicia T. Harlaown (4) has posed:
    Ragnarok... The end of the world...

    Alicia has never experienced the end of the world before, but she's seen its results. Numerous times has her work has taken her to the ruins of dead civilizations. It's always a sad sight, to think of all the lives lost... All the hopes and dreams that will never be fulfilled... The call for help from someone experiencing such an event brings back memories of those worlds to the Mage. Except this one isn't quite there yet and Alicia certainly isn't going to stand around and let it happen. Not if she can help it!

    The warpgate opens and the magical clothing-clad Mage, Alicia Testarossa Harlaown, steps out. Her hair and Barrier Jacket sway in the wind as she stops to look out at the sight ahead of them... She grimaces. The sight of undead, which is what these creatures appear to be on first glance, is always disturbing. Just another reminder of lives lost.

    As a magical barrier forms around her, Alicia gives Inga a smile, "Thanks."

    Alicia turns her attention to the portal in the distance and frowns, "I don't like the look of that... It's still open which may mean more are coming." Alicia blinks as one of the responders from the gate suddenly rushes out towards the monster army... Well, if he wants to fight without a plan, Alicia's not going to worry too much about it. Glancing at the others she says, "I'll see if I can find a way to close it."

    Gripping the staff in her left hand a little tighter, Alicia begins to dash in the direction of the portal, though nowhere near at the speed displayed by Yuri, it'll take her a little longer to get there. Time which she uses to study the portal and let her Device gather information on it.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    For the support of Inga, Kyra had made a promise that she would defend the seer during the times she was hard at work providing warding or other more complex rituals. It is out of both friendship and of guilt that she does this, the latter arising from at least two different incidents she felt slightly at fault for. The white mage arrives with the seer, astride a yellow-feathered chocobo bird, part of her considering surrendering her ride to the seer for ease.

    "They look like they could use some fighting help, yes." Kyra nods, unzipping her hoodie with some reluctance because it was pretty damn cold here. Still, she needed easy access to the materials beneath and had soon planned to warm up the surrounding area shortly. "Oh, I know, but if you start setting up some kind of ward that NEEDS to be completed...well..." She reaches up under the collar of her hoodie and pulls up a set of goggles. "...don't worry, I'm not letting some filthy /undead/ take me down." She waits for a few moments for Inga's magic to take hold, pleased at the initiative the wisewoman takes. "I'm going to be going ah-"

    Yuri Stinson charges in and Kyra stares, unable to look away as the power roils around the Exalt. Having never been exposed to one before, the sight brings no small amount of awe to the teenager. "...all those magic particles..." she mutters before spurring herself into action. One hand remains clutching the saddle of the Chocobo while the other starts tearing flasks of liquified napalm from one of her belts. Knowing that large armies of undead were going to be present here meant she took the time to stock up on quite a bit of the explosives.

    The chocobo is fast and able to close the distance between the gate to the world and the rear of the undead mob. All too happy to force the monsters to fight a battle on too fronts, Kyra lobs the napalm into the shambling masses.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
You called for backup in a war against the gods of Asgard and Niflheim.

You get Lezard Valeth. From the Warpgate, there is a low thrum of power, the black Sorceror of Midgard arriving to look over the frozen lands. Fimbulwinter holds the land deep within its grip, and the chill cuts those unprepared to the bone.

Lezard is not unprepared. The air around him hums, and he strides forward to look over the massive horde of undead already moving in to press the humans. The bloodless ones, they were called.

Lezard reaches up, pushing up his glasses as they reflect the light, a dark sheen washing across the lenses as a terrible anticipation enters his voice. "Ye who would consume mankind in your folly, prepare thyselves to face /true power/." He savors the moment, purple flames roiling around his hands as he calls upon the souls at his own command, gathering into a howling purple flame in one hand. "I do not make an example such as this lightly, fools, but you have drawn forth the wrath of LEZARD VALETH!" With a flourish, he draws forth a ruby-tipped sceptre, an eruption of Power rising around him as he calls up a phenomenal amount of magical force. The wind whips up around him as a magical circle draws itself below, and he focuseses himself, his voice ripping across the battlefield in a reverberating, powerful tone.

"YE MUST DESIRE RESPITE FROM THY EMPTY EXISTENCE! THOU SHALT HAVE IT!"

High avoce, halos of brilliang holy power gather, circling and shrinking rapidly. When they collapse inwards, there in an explosion of white feathers as beams begin to lance downwards in a heavenly rain, a wave of golden, cascading light showering down in brilliant blasts.

"CELESTIAL STAR!"

The bombardment does not harm the defenders, only the assaulting Bloodless Ones. The strikes continue until there is an explosion, the ruby erupting and shattering under the volume of power flowing through it. Lezard, nevertheless, cackles with glee, crying out, "BOW DOWN BEFORE ME, WRETCHED SERVANTS OF THE GODS, AND KNOW YOUR DOOM IS AT HAND!"

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    As Reiji had promised, so he has appeared, emerging from the warpgate not long after Inga. The Japanese exorcist might just look about as out of place as someone could possibly be given what particular brand of apocalypse happens to be occuring. He does not, however, appear out of his element. "With any luck, they won't be getting close enough to you for that to be a concern," Reiji says, his hand moving to its place above his portable arsenal. His fingers curl loosely over the three weapons racked one on top of the other, "Focus on support for now. If they do break through, then we can start worrying."

    Reiji inclines his head as the Infernal God-Monster that is Yuri Stinson surges onto the battlefield. He nods in the direction of the ambulatory natural disaster, "Do what you can, Inga. I'm heading in."

    Cold air blasts across his face as Reiji breaks into a hard sprint for the undead horde. He follows after Yuri's monstrous charge, though nowhere near as quickly as the Exalt is capable of. He dips away from the Dark Hero's chain as it screams through the rotting masses, and fades left a dozen meters from the center of the Titan's fury. Fire dances through the air as Karin traces fluid lines into the crush of undeath. Blasts of shrapnel follow shortly thereafter as his shotgun roars angry rapports of gunfire into dead and frozen flesh.

    Lezard's spell rains down all around him, doing its divine work. Reiji rolls between the shafts of light, twisting like a blade of grass in the breeze. His weapons flicker in and out of his arsenal at almost inhuman speeds; it's Iaijutsu applied to both sword and gun. Flame and lightning and supernaturally pellets of shot cleaving into every and any walking corpse that draws close enough to hit.

A zombie horde is nothing new for an experienced exorcist. Though these might be just a bit hardier than he's used to.

Fake Avenger (662) has posed:
     Avenger is a monster who has witnessed the end of the world.

     There can be no doubt that Kojirou Sasaki, Avenger-class Servant, is a monster. It takes but one look at the ominous black tattoo-scars etched into his flesh, one glimpse at the black and unsettling flecks of darkness in his luminous purple eyes, to tell that he isn't really a human being anymore. It can't be helped, of course. When one achieves such power that they can be said to have left the human race behind; when one achieves such legend that they are known by al breathing things with fear and hatred; when one is hated by an entire world without pause or equal: in circumstances like this, one can only, and rightly, be called a monster.

     Nor can there be doubt that Kojirou Sasaki witnessed the end of the world, for a thousand years ago...

     Well, that doesn't matter. As Kojirou Sasaki steps foot on the field of battle, around him is silence. There's no brushing of snow from his trailing kimono. There's no crunch of snow from his feet. There's not even the barest hint of his presence as he arrives in Lezard Valeth's shadow, and people might be forgiven for not noticing him. He glides across the battlefield, silent, his purple hair flowing loose in the wind.

     But then, he stops suppressing his presence, and it becomes impossible not to notice. Kojirou's gaze sweeps out across the battefield, at the monsters present, and shakes his head. Not one of these enemies...not one of them is worthy of his blade. Not one of them is worthy of his art. Not one of them deserves to witness it.

     Kojirou walks forward as the lights from heaven come falling down, as the Devil With The Rebellious Maiden roars into battle, as the others begin mounting their attacks. He is heedless to harm to himself, ignoring the shockwaves and blood splatters as a man might ignore the falling of the rain onto his umbrella.

     Kojirou pauses only as a broken sword falls at his side. Cracked and damaged, the European weapon gives him that moment of thought. He crouches and lifts the weapon.

     Kojirou considers it for a moment. He runs his fingers along the edge, and a surge of magic - a surge powerful enough that it can be felt all over the battelfield - explodes outwards. The cracked and damaged blade etches lines into itself as that power flows into it.

     He swings the sword experimentally once, twice, three times. The sword hums with power as he enters the fray.

     There it becomes immediately obvious why Kojiou did not draw Monohoshi Zao.

     Every stroke of his sword, every strike with that broken weapon enhanced only by his own Reinforcement, every slash of that broken sword, is like an artist painting a masterpiece. He carves into the battlefield without rest, without anger, without second thoughts - merely a peaceful smile, a strange look in his eye, and a grace that defies logic and explanation.

     He could not use Monohoshi Zao on these unworthy beasts.

     An artist does not waste his finest brush on bad canvas when a lesser brush will do.

     His style is without explanation. Each strike shifts, each slash changes. He flows each strike through, into, around blocks, the neck always his target, the path always different, the path impossible to read. He is an artist.

     He is a monster who defies human logic. He is the one who mastered an impossible sword technique that gives even gods pause.

     And, he hoped, he would be able to find something to use that perfect brush upon.

Alif (716) has posed:
     A healer. Inga's arrival is something sorely needed, as humanity's forces sorely lacked any that could do that to any useful amount in combat. The Seer's arrival seems to draw attention in and of itself, a gaze across the battlefields, but no direct action, just yet. Until she casts her spell. And then the undead turned, a small group of them beginning to make their way across the snowy wastes.

     Only for there to be a horror far worse than them join them on the battlefield, the living incarnation of rebellion. The painter of the battlefield. His charge into the flanks of the enemy force was enough to knock those bloodless ones over, they fell to the ground simply from the might of his charge, and the force of his aura. While these were enough to overwhelm humanity, they were naught but the shock troops, those who were sent for the slaughter, to weaken the enemy before the true army arrived. An Exalt, a being who existed to be an army... the strikes took down foes, slashing flesh and bone alike. But while they were not particularly enduring while facing the exalt's onslaught, they were many. And they were surprisingly quick, turning and lashing out from all sides towards the exalt, intent on attempting to tear him apart and have him join their army of the dead.

     Yuri's worries of being accepted or not would be something he hadn't had to worry about. While some might see a monster, ruthlessly cutting down with cruelty, humanity saw a hero. Humanity saw a burning torch of hope tearing through their enemies. And they cheered and fought all the harder for it. As they fought, more poured forth from the portal. It was a good thing that Alicia had noticed it and went with the intent to work on closing it, as portals to hel were definitely things that you did not wish to have still open. As she flew, Alicia would note that there was very little threatening her... that is, until the undead began to throw their own at her as weapons, one or two even likely ending up close enough to attempt to latch onto her!

     A charging yellow bird was difficult to miss, and the undead army had turned thanks to Yuri, intent on fighting its incoming enemies. More humans, or so they thought. More of their prey. More to kill. As the chocobo charged, so did the undead. They targetted the bird and attempted to tear it out from under Kyra -- even as napalm exploded in their midst, leaving many of them burning. Screams escaped their throats, unholy and twisted human voices screeching their agony as they burn.

     Magic. Magic of someone from 'their' world. That draws the attention of the undead, they look to him and almost seem to listen to him as he spoke. Were they in awe? It was difficult to tell! They looked up towards those halos beginning to form above them... and then... blasts. It was devestating, blast after blast sending undead flying and several are simply destroyed from direct hits. Their endurance began to show itself though, as those only somewhat wounded stood slowly once more, giving screeches of their pain and rage at their wounds. And their ever-gnawing hunger.

Alif (716) has posed:
     With each shot of the shotgun, another of the horde falls. Another becomes just a pile of flesh on the ground, laying silent and still. Especially with those charged shotgun pellets. Fire, lightning, and sheer force ripping through their ranks. Those not hit directly continue to move though, and dart in towards Reiji, giving screeches of joy as they attempt to tear into Reiji. Another chance to cause others to revel in horror and pain.

     Finally, Kojirou arrived on the battlefield. His movements had drawn the attention from the undead. His aura had caused them to begin to swarm around him. And though they struck at him, tried to rend him to pieces so he could be remade in their likeness -- he ignored them. Were they still human, they would be frustrated, they would be angered. Why would this human not pay attention to them? And then... he chose a broken blade, one that had fallen from one of the few equipped humans. And he had made it his own. Strike. Strike. Strike. Every movement of the blade carved into flesh, and there was definitely plenty of canvas to paint on, as the undead continued to pour from the portal.

     Meanwhile, on the human side of things... they were faltering. Even with their increased morale, their aid on the other side, humanity was not ready for war on this world. Their weapons could hardly injure the undead, and while those who followed Alif were capable of doing such, there were only 100 of them on this battlefield. Far too few, even with Alif doing her best to direct them from atop a nearby building to the battle. But she, too, was not free from assault. Words glowed on her arms, whispered softly. Sears of white light strike down her foes, as a man and woman defended her from attack. "DO NOT GIVE UP! DO NOT BACK DOWN! REINFORCEMENTS HAVE ARRIVED, WE MUST HOLD FIRM UNTIL THIS BATTLE IS WON!" She calls out over the meager human forces, several of which gave encouraged shouts, while other cowered behind cover, curled in the fetal position and trembling. They did not want to die. And who could blame them?

     The battle continues to rage on, and there is a dent being made in the undead army... possibly enough of one that a path could be made to the city itself, should those who arrived to help so choose.

Alif (716) has posed:
     Since Alicia was NOT flying, the undead do not throw themselves at her, instead a group of them charge at her, attempting to leap onto her and keep her from getting to the portal!

Inga has posed:
A gust of arctic wind blows back the hood from her face, then Yuri passes and the breeze he creates from the speed of his passing nearly sends her reeling. She watches, wide-eyed, as he storms into the hoard, his god-fury something quite impressive to behold.

Inga shakes her head, then looks to Alicia, nodding to her, lips thinning thoughtfully as she waits for others to arrive through the warp gate.

The next who arrives is not who she expects, though really, she should have. Inga cannot keep a scowl from appearing at the sight (and oh, the sound!) of Lezard Valeth and his whale-sized ego, even if the power he wields is currently in defense of people. She doesn't think for a single moment that his actions are altruistic. Inga reaches to touch the iron hammer that hangs on a chain around her neck, whispering a prayer to Thor. Her Thor.

A sigh, then Inga looks to Kyra. "I understand. Thin the ranks if you can. If I can get there, I will fortify their defenses," she says to Kyra and Reiji as he arrives from the warpgate. "Gods see you and grant you victory," she says to the warrior, blessing him with one of the wards before he dashes off to join the fray, leaving Inga standing alone outside the warp gate.

As if there wasn't enough power beyond reason clashing her today, her gaze snaps toward Kojiro, pupils widening, a perfect picture of the past playing through a stretching second. The darkness and stink of the sewers, Joe Slater losing himself to the monster he is becoming, Kojiro calling forth a monster of The Filth, black tentacles flailing in aggressive madness, trying to break through--

Inga snaps back to the present, her pulse quickening. She lets out a shaking sigh, then steels herself. "Odin's bones," she curses, then begins to simply walk into the battle, staff in one hand and bloodied seax in the other. It was fortunate that the others are rather more attention grabbing than she is. Plans form and re-form in her mind as she walks, wondering what the best approach would be. A charm of concealment? No, she has already been seen...Lightning? Fire?

Some of the undead approach her, limiting her options considerably. She moistens her lips with her tongue then begins a soft chant that gradually grows toward a crescendo as she draws another line of blood down her arm, blood gushing from the vein to hover, shimmering, in the air before her. The crimson liquid forms together, solidifying into elongated spears, four of them, glimmering sharply, steaming in the cold air. With a gesture, the spears fly swiftly forward toward their targets.

The bloodless ones will be considerably less so.

Inga continues forward, moving as quickly as possible toward the human line, ready to provide assistance however possible. Gods know they need it.

Fake Avenger (662) has posed:
     One should not mistake Kojirou's presence for the presence of one who is kind, or who is here to aid others. There is no urgency in Kojirou Sasaki. There is no great need to link up with the others. There is no great desire to carve a path through to other humans. Kojirou does not hurry himself to help them, because, in the grand scheme of things, Kojirou does not really care about the people he is theoretically here to help.

     Nor, however, does he enjoy this battle. It's clear in each stroke, in each motion, that he isn't putting any real effort into this. Gently he side-steps around an attack from behind and carves open a dead thing's skull. Softly he slips between two, leaving nothing in his wake but a flashing blade and severed heads. Effortlessly he wades through the crowd, and where he passes passes blood and (re)death...but he is not enjoying it. He is dispassionate, disconnected, distant and apathetic. His thoughts lie far from this battlefield.

     Kojirou never fought in war. He was never a soldier, never served in an army, never joined any of the warlords of the Sengoku on their grand quests. He simply drifted from place to place in pursuit of a worthless dream, like a leaf carried on the wind. Now, again, he is a leaf; now, again, he floats through the battlefield, find no meaning, no interest, nothing but the claws of the mindless dead.

     These are not opponents.

     These are /targets/.

     As his blade flashes, Kojirou bothers to speak. It likely goes unheard by all but dead ears.

     "I don't wish to fight such a meaningless battle. Guide me to your master, so that I might fight something worth my time and my blade."

     "Or find me someone on your enemy's side worth my efforts."

Yuri Stinson (106) has posed:
    It has been long since the Supernal Exalt threw himself into true battle, and longer since he did it for the cause of another. Those flickers of doubt as to his nature earlier burn at him as a weakness. He remembers that without FIA here, external opinions are discardable... or are they?

    It is good that the people find hope in him now, that bolsters him. And he has yet to truly show his monstrous nature, and when he does, it will be okay if they hate him then. This, too, is in his concept. The Unshackled Monster is a being of both hope and horror in equal measures, for he is not the protagonist any story. He is merely here to help Alif and humanity, and then vanish into history, a footnote of a monster who once bit the Gods.

    In the aftermath of his opening carnage, Yuri takes a long moment to look around and appraise the changing lines of battle. His sword is back in his hand and he must choose his path. Though limited in power while on foot, he was not helpless. He was, however, locked out of his most powerful and monstrous abilities.

    Eyes turn to Reiji and Kojirou, both of whom seem capable of holding their lines in this battle. He turns around slowly, looking towards Lezard, though the man as well seems capable. In these moments that he turns and inspects, spears pierce him from every direction, pushing through his body and turning him into something resembling a living pincushion.

    It is upon those advancing for Kyra that his ire next strikes. He takes a deep breath and then seems to notice he's been stabbed multiple times, "Nnn..." He snarls. The man doesn't feel the wounds, nor do they slow him down, but that is the nature of a once-Malfean. The monster rages until his last breath, at which time he will merely die uneventfully. An inability to feel pain is not the same as an inability to be wounded. And he has been wounded.

    He turns violently, breaking the spears in his body. As they fall around him, brass and green flame leaks from the wounds and onto the ground, sizzling in the snow as he lifts his blade again. He then hurls the blade forward, embedding it into the ground between Kyra and the lines of advancing monsters. With a mighty pull, he drags himself across the battlefield, interposing himself between Kyra and the advancing monsters.

    With Brass and Flame bleeding out of him, he turns towards the approaching lines and lifts his chained blade again. He swings it in a wide, cleaving half-circle, trying to cut them down and protect the mounted medic.

    All of this is done in a stony, and somewhat creepy, silence.

Alicia T. Harlaown (4) has posed:
    Alicia's eyes narrow at the portal as she gets closer... Doesn't look all that different to what she's used to. She's fairly confident she'll be able to find a way to close it, once she is close enough and can gather the information she needs. More immediately, she has an under problem to worry about.

    Turning her gaze to the undead charging her from ahead, Alicia considers... She doesn't want to slow down, giving the portal more time to pour forth reinforcements for the enemy. Which means she needs to be a little light, "Melody..."

    Already knowing what her master is thinking, the staff in Alicia's hand, Sweet Melody, chimes in response, <Yes, master. Gale Form.> The outer layer of Alicia's clothes suddenly turn silver light and fade, just leaving the inner layer. Now free of the more restricting armor, Alicia begins to move faster. She spins to the side to avoid one of the charging undead, then hits the ground in a slide under another as it leaps.

    Coming back onto her feet, Alicia continues the rush towards the portal, though several undead cluster ahead of her, charging. She can't go around... So she goes over. A silver spell circle appears just above the ground in front of Alicia. She jumps onto it then jumps again, a foot touching down on the head of the lead undead. It is barely there a moment, long enough for Alicia to jump off again to the next. She uses her magic to enhance her movement, staying light and swift as she jumps from one undead to the next, all the while silver magic begins to gather just beyond the crystal of her staff.

    Finally reaching the last of the undead in the group, Alicia launches herself off it into the air, spinning around as she does to face all the monsters she just evaded. Swing her staff to aim at them, she cries, "Shoot!" The magic gathered in her staff bursts into numerous beams of light that streak towards the undead to explode on contact.

    Landing on the ground once more Alicia keeps running. She does take a moment to glance at her staff, "Melody, do you have the data yet?"

    Sweet Melody chimes, <Analysing...>

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    In defiance of the infinite legions of the damned, Reiji proves disturbingly difficult to actually score more than a glancing blow upon. His portable arenal proves to be an effective shield, knocking aside attacks that would otherwise cripple him. Cuts begin to open across his arms and legs regardless as the creatures nick through his defenses. Karin and Chirai form walls of flashing steel and elemental energies, cleaving away limbs before they have a chance to land a telling blow.

    But the dead legions are numberless. They pour infinitely from a hellmouth, and fight with the limitless strength of the grave. Humans, no matter how puissant, will eventually tire. But for now, Reiji's arms and legs move unhindered- though he's moving with greater purpose, now.

    A cloud of flame reaves through several corpses as Reiji leaps towards Inga's advance. "Stay close," he calls, ducking to avoid a claw before twisting almost cat-like under the strike to remove the creature's arm at the shoulder. "I'll clear a path to the front lines, then double back for the portal," Reiji continues, moving at a brisk pace in front of the blood-mage, "Keep picking them off and we should be fine."

    He glances toward the rest of the battlefield in the narrow slivers of tranquility that flicker intermittently within the endless cycle of block-parry-strike that the Exorcist has fallen into. Fake Assassin's appearance gives him pause- but a pause that only exists between heartbeats. Chirai screams out of its sheath, cleaving into another of the walking dead. "Keep up the pace," Reiji grunts, "The longer we take here, the worse it'll get!"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Lezard..." Kyra grumbles, not looking away to spot the sorceror, knowing that he was here thanks to his usual over-the-top means of announcing himself wherever he goes. Of course this is only the second time she's seen him do this but she now assumes that wherever Lezard goes, he has to loudly and elaborately introduce himself to everyone there.

    Magical nuke that follows is optional.

    A little surprised at the attention the chocobo garners, Kyra is ready to deploy even more flasks of liquid napalm as a group closes in on her and tries to part her from the chocobo. Touching and pulling the bird elicits the same reaction it might from any animal being grabbed. It thrashes and kicks, the latter of which actually being quite powerful. Unfortunately, Kyra did not spring for a chocobo summon matrix with the choco meteor upgrade. That was just WAY too expensive.

    After flinging down a third flask, Kyra's hand strays to the egg-timer-looking device at her waist (which is, in fact, the object containing the calling circuits for her ride), ready to override and pull the plug in case the Bloodless continue the harassment.

    But the Exalt interferes on her behalf, literally cutting through the advancing line with her chained blade. The Chocobo kicks away the flaming remains of one of the monsters and pulls back, still there and now no longer in danger of being mobbed. "Thanks." she breathes out breathlessly, something repeated into the radio quickly.

    Since Lezard wanted to demonstrate holy magic so thoroughly, Kyra would not be the one to be showed up. Holy spells were one of the few offensive tools that a white mage was offered nor were they easily mastered. In a way, she would be showing off as she murmurs the incantation, holding a hand to the sky, one finger pointed upward. But only those from her world might recognize the distinction and even then...only other white mages would really be impressed.

    "HOLY!" she cries out as the murmured incantation is finished. Fortunately, for today, the magic behaves as intended. For a few seconds, the grey clouds above split as light from above tears down, meeting and covering an enormous, ornate-looking spell array that appears in white light on the ground. The array, which seems to serve as a targeting cantrip for the enormous holy blast from above, covers a portion of the left flank of the in process of being forcibly parted horde.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Lezard enjoyed that. The looks on the faces of these people. The obliterated undead, the crushing power... It is an addictive rush. It is no wonder why most high-tier sorcerers tend to be a little on the egomaniacal side, isn't it?

Lezard of course takes that to the next level. Even as the Bloodless Ones melt around him, he stays near Kojirou, tossing aside the smoking, ruined scepter and raising his hand. "MYSTIC CROSS!" He calls out, a lesser barrage of holy sparkles rushing out to crash into the horde in a torrent. Not nearly so grandiose, but at least he doesn't detonate his magical focus using it.

He senses a gaze upon him, and he looks to Yuri, watching him intently. When the man is skwered and continues battling, he nods in response, instinctively drawing towards Yuri and Kojirou and forming an imprompu battle team.

Lezard settles for laying down wide-scale blasts at this point, cleaning up whatever Yuri and Kojiro aren't murdering at the moment. He uses brutal, tactical strikes to maximize takedowns while keeping the swordsman and brawler from getting overwhelmed from unexpected directions. When time permits, he does throw a couple spells downrange to help take pressure off of the defensive line as well.

Alif (716) has posed:
     Spears of blood, striking the bloodless. There was some irony in this, as the blood stabs through them. They continued to move forward, slowly, for several moments... but eventually they collapsed to the ground, simply laying there silently, unmoving. Due to the battle raging in front of her, her movement forward would likely be relatively unhindered, at least for now. The bloodless ones were focused on the monsters tearing through their forces, over the healer and seer that was moving to protect. At least for now. It would give her time to prepare as she moved forward towards the town, to ready herself to make her way to it. They definitely did need it, that was for sure.

     As Kojirou carved through the ranks, calling for one who was actually a challenge, the undead did not offer an answer for a time. That was, until a shadow flashed from the portal, flying towards Fake Avenger and striking the ground before him. A bloodless one, though this one looked old, grizzled, and still had some of its facial hair, for one reason or another. One of its eyes had been lost long ago, and it held a rusty old sword in its hand. Miraculously, as this sword is lifted to meet the Fake Avenger's blade... it would not break, at least not immediately. The old grizzled war-hero, who lived to die of old age... at least had enough skill to face the Fake Avenger. It moved with speed, a clawed hand striking out for the Fake Avenger's flesh, while the sword moved to do its best to defend against him.

     Strike. Flesh, they had managed to wound the monster that charged into their midst, they had managed to cause harm to Yuri. But stabbing into him proved a horrible mistake. The undead found claws and weapons alike shattered and broken, and though they had not died to this... many did, as that blade was thrown across the battlefield, piercing through the undead as Yuri dragged himself across the battlefield. Those that had been lit on fire and screaming were granted peaceful respite as the blade cleaves through unburned and burned alike that had been after the chocobo-riding white mage. Returned to the sweet embrace of death, until they were called once more to the armies of hel. Still, there were more to fight, and more still coming for Yuri. Dragging oneself across the battlefield was not exactly subtle, and many along the path he had taken were now following, beginning to pose threat to Yuri once more.

     Strike, burn, kick, thrash. These things had proven effective defense for Kyra as she approached, the undead were quick, but not fast enough to do much in the face of the pair. And then Yuri came to her aid, and she was given a moment of respite. Until, like a sea, they began to crowd in once more. And once more, due to the blast of those powerful holy magics, the sea is parted by the power of an Elite. The holy magic rending them and resulting in little more than bloodless dust in their wake. Once more though, the horde comes. Once more, it tries to close them in, to encircle them, and to cut off escape or ability to dodge.

Alif (716) has posed:
     Alicia's rush towards the portal was heroic and brave. Weaving, dodging, and slipping through the undead ranks. They were not slow, but she was definitely agile and quick, and they had not expected that of humanity. At least not to that level. Once she was close enough to begin analyzing... well. The portal was definitely magic. It was an ancient magic of the gods, created by the leader of this army of undead. It was almost a hexagonal shape, with a large rune on each of the corners of the portal, something that could theoretically be disrupted... once Analyzation was complete, at any rate. However, due to its age, there might be some difficulty in the analyzation...

     Strike, strike, strike. The legions of the bloodless strike at Reiji endlessly, but they never seem to strike hard. And yet, they never stopped trying. they continued to strike at him... until flashes of steel and elemental enemies remove their arms, stopping their ability to strike anymore. Reiji's movement to Inga's side was effective-- protection that would soon be sorely needed, as the bloodless follow him -- and thus begin to target Inga. Still. Block, parry, strike. It was enough to get them through the grunts, it was enough to get them through these shock troops. They had only been sent to destroy humans... they had not expected those with the power of gods.

     Lezard had killed many, and many had melted away to nothingness. His ego was likely well-deserved, at this point. As his lasers pour out into the horde, swaths of the undead are eradicated and destroyed, kept nicely and neatly away from Kojirou... save for those that Kojirou were wiping out, himself. Still, the undead began to move quickly. They began to attempt to get between Kojirou and Lezard, even as they are melted, cut down, and otherwise. So that they could separate them, so that the veteran could fight without distraction. And so that they could attempt to divide and conquer, with their endless strikes and swipes of claws.

     And humanity fights on. The front lines are beginning to falter, but they are holding strong, thanks to the heavy distraction that the visitors were posing. The undead turned largely towards the powerful infaders, leaving only a much smaller force continuing to assault the town. Alif's army was beginning to slowly push back, beginning to strike down the undead before they could get to the normal humans. And those brave humans that fought on the front lines... many of them were wounded, but fought on. Morale was high. They could win this. Heroes were fighting at their side. Perhaps even gods. And that was something humanity could believe in.

Inga has posed:
Well, if one is going to get stuck as her escort, at least the position comes with the perk of healing. Another flick of her knife and blood is directed from her wound to surround Reiji, a surge of healing energy seeping into his body, granting him a few moments of something like her own regenerative powers. Wounds would reknit themselves before their eyes, magic running through his veins to invigorate his body.

As or area spells, Inga thinks she can oblige. "A moment. Guard your eyes," she says to Reiji as she gathers her anima, chanting, reaching into the staff as her Focus...

The air around them grows rapidly warmer, coming alive, tingling with life as the air becomes charged. Inga steps to the side and points her staff ahead of them toward the undead approaching. The runes carved into her staff light up a brilliant blue as her lips part, eyes rolling toward the heavens. "Thor, Mightiest of Gods, Defender of Midgard, lend me your strength!" she shouts, then unleashes a storm of lightning that crashes with power, a deafening thunder cracking as it seeks to tear through the undead who impede their path.

The end of Inga's staff meats ground again before she once more begins to move forward. "Come, we are almost there," she says to Reiji, praying the gods have not abandoned these people. It was wrong, all wrong.

Alicia T. Harlaown (4) has posed:
    There. She should be close enough now. Alicia skids to a halt, briefly examining her surroundings to ensure there are no direct threats close enough to disturb her. She expects more undead will be heading her way shortly, but for now she takes what time she has to begin deciphering what's necessary to close this portal.

    Releasing her grip on her staff, the intelligent weapon just floats at Alicia's side. Alicia swings her hand around in front of her, summoning several holoscreens into existance that display the information gathered by her Device in a language that somewhat passes for English. She moves both her hands down, a holoconsole appearing, and she begins to type rapidly.

    Typetypetype, "Not a form of magic I immediately recognise... Still, there are several close that should form a strong enough basis to work off..." Since her unification almost three years ago, Alicia has studied a number of forms of magic not of her own world. She should be able to piece a process together to close this portal... Hopefully before something bad... Something worse... comes through.

    As she works, Alicia occasionally glances in the direction of the others fighting. She wishes she could help, be in two places at once, maybe even three to help the townspeople survive... But she has to focus on closing the portal, to end this, and trust the others will keep the monster army distracted.

Fake Avenger (662) has posed:
     Kojirou throws up his kimono - his Holy Shroud, made by his Caster - to deflect the spill of the Holy from Lezard and Kyra. It doesn't actually offer him protection, and he's not actually in the radius of it, but he doesn't really want to get caught in the strike.

     Granted, it's not as if it'll kill him.

     His enemy seeks to catch him unawares, as he's blinded by the light and his Shroud. It's an excellent strategy - as the sword comes in and the claws falls, one might be mistaken for imagining they caught Kojirou Sasaki unawares. Certainly something like this creature might be forgiven. It is different from the others. It is better. It has some shadow of its former self, some shadow of memory. Some flickering wisp of what it once was.

     In a way, Kojirou reflects as the european sword slings up to block the claw, they were alike. His sword grinds across the hand as Kojirou's thoughts turn. He, too, was a dead shadow. But that was where the similarity ended. This was only a shadow of its former self.

     Kojirou was not.

     The enemy wields its blade in defense. Kojirou does not bother to punch through it. This is not an enemy worthy of his time, not really. It's a good distraction. But...that's all it is.

     "You are not what I seek," Kojirou tells the uncomprehending dead thing. He raises his left hand and points at the enemy.

     "And I do not have time to waste on shadows and corpses that bring me no joy." The lines on the back of Kojirou's hand light up. There's an explosive feeling from around Kojirou, an overwhelming sense of power and of darkness, as he reaches into the endless well of prana that is the Holy Grail and drinks deep.

     "Bring me a god. Bring me something that can make me feel joy once again."

     "GANDR."

     A normal Gandr Shot is a bullet. Cast by an ordinary magus, this spell is barely capable of breaking flesh, inflicting spiritual wounds. Cast by a powerful magus, it can leave holes like a shotgun.

     From Kojirou's finger, the attack that roars forth is a thunderous vision. It is not a shotgun - it is a missile, a missile of destruction that roars forth from that single finger. It is a floodgate of power that pours from Kojirou's finger, a floodgate opened at his will. Red and terrible light, crackling with black electricity, it screams - not only at the opponent across from him, but at the battlefield, at the portal...at pretty much anything foolish enough to be in its way.

     Kojirou closes his fist. The Gandr Shot ceases.

     He does not seem visibly fatigued.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Regardless of how thick the swarm becomes, the fact that each of these monsters is limited to short range means that Reiji only has to deal with three or four at once. He has entered into a rhythm- the walking dead only have so many ways to attack, and only so many directions to strike from. Reiji knows them, now. He knows the reach of their arms, the curvature of their claws. He catches one in the gaps of his arsenal as it lunges, before he lops away its limbs with a flick of his blade.

    Worse still for them- the wounds that they had inflicted on the exorcist have begun to close. Reiji makes an appreciative grunt as he pivots, removing another corpse's head from its shoulders--

    And then Inga casts. Reiji shields his eyes just in time to miss the columns of lightning carve a path through the horde. Magic of such scale is uncommon back home- at least, the kind that's normally cast by a single sorcerer. But it's a welcome reprieve, no matter how ear-shattering it might be.

    "Yeah. Once we're through here, we should be in the clear," Reiji answers, dashing ahead to make up for lost time. Karin's fire rolls through the air all around the swordsman as he swings the enchanted sword in wide, sweeping arcs. His aim is less to obliterate the dead that might think them opportune targets, and more to keep them at bay- clearing a path like some kind of terrible elemental lawnmower amidst a field of shambling, rotting weeds.

Yuri Stinson (106) has posed:
    Yuri lets out a faint wince as a lance of holy is dropped onto the battlefield like a nuke. He covers his face with one hand, the sheer light of it causing him to flinch at the conceptual level. While not his Holy, and not the wrath of the Unconquered Sun, he can still feel the anger of the Gods reflected in the element.

    Lezard making his way over towards himself and Kojirou is clearing house with his attacks. He can echo the sentiment of these two men. While having no wrath for the Gods as a concept, the Rebellious Monster does not tolerate tyrants, and wishes to strike them down where possible. And with a press on all fronts, Yuri feels it is time to finally step into his true form, lest he be a sparrow among hawks.

    Kyra has said she wishes to come along, and so he will easily wait for her to join him where he stands (or to pick her up and carry as need be), before he rolls his neck and says, "By Pain Reforged. By Agony Empowered. The monster roars. Viridian Legend Exoskeleton."

    While a charm of the Tyrant Malfeas, the Dark Hero has bent it to his will. And upon its invocation, an immense roar of magic and power gathers around the man. He says simply, "Where the flames of rebellion roar, so is the monster's voice. And where revolution strikes, so is the movement of the beast."

    Out of the ground beneath him, seemingly summoned from nowhere, a massive red and white machine erupts, lifting Yuri (and possibly Kyra) up in a burst. 10 meters tall, it holds its passengers in one hand before its chest opens and they are entered inside.

    The interior of the machine is a standing cockpit, meant for motion control. Panels and readouts light up everywhere, showing readouts on the entire battlefield. For the record, there's also room for Kyra to go out onto the exterior and healbomb people from the cockpit ramp if she wants to open it.

    Slowly, the machine turns and, echoing Kojirou's own attack, the green visor lights up. It starts to fire massive, lancing beams across the battlefield. They leave sickly green flames where they strike, but to the undead the true power of the flames is irrelevant. It's just a very damaging beam.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Lezard continues laying down fire upon the undead, but the undead show that they know tactics, attacking to separate Lezard from Yuri and Kojirou. Kojirou calls out to him to stay out of the way, and he does so, pulling backwwards. The undead hound him, several of them lashing out at him and drawing blood, sweet, hot, fresh blood from a living being. The Bloodless Ones must relish such a thing.

Lezard, however, is not out of surprises. As the horde lashes out at him, attempting to dogpile him to death, there is a dull thud of arcane power that sends them flying backwards, buying him a moment.

"The undead... Very well. I will show you undead." Lezard grits his teeth in rage, perhaps that he would be wounded so, as he raises his hands.

There is a massive surge, and a large pueple portal opens in the ground. From it, a deadly, poisonous wind howls, as a hulking, seething, mouldering beast pulls itself out of the endless pit. Scales glisten in the chill winter light, and exposed bone and muscle flex with fetid liquids dripping from the outstretched, worm-eaten wings. One eye is a cavity, the other squelching as it irises open.

IT is a dragon.

A zombie dragon. Majestic in life, unstoppable in death.

With a cry, Lezard leaps upon it, perching upon its neck as the undead abomination roars, lashing out at the hordes. All around him, smaller portals open, more traditional undead arriving to begin backing up his own mount.

The battle is rapidly becoming an army against an army.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    With a fresh hole blown open in their ranks, Kyra is quick to take advantage of the gap before the Bloodless start filling in the space like an advancing ocean tide. A much firepower she did have on her right now, being in the middle of THIS many enemies was not a good place for her. From a durability standpoint, if they managed to grab ahold of her, these numbers would have no trouble overwhelming her and ripping her to pieces. Not good!

    Squeezing her thighs and wedging her feet into the stirrups of the saddle, Kyra grabs another napalm flask. Rather than throw it, she pulls something else out of one of the pouches on her belts-a bright red feather. Hastily, she stuffs it into the flask and re-corks it. This marks the first time she's combined such reagents (or rather, a reagent and a product from another mixture) and she's not sure if it'll work but...

    "Only one way to find out!" Kyra hurls the liquid napalm/phoenix down mixture behind her as she rally's to Yuri's position. It, of course, explodes in a blast of fire.

    A very, very strange green-colored blast of life-giving fire. It kills undead! It heals the living! It burns! YEAH SCIENCE!

    She joins up with Yuri a moment later, having mostly sought him out as an acceptable tank here. Fighting giant monster hordes with a party just felt more natural to the white mage. When she arrives, she hops off the chocobo, which disappears in a scattering of green sparkles seconds later. The animal is gone, perhaps to the dismay of the undead that wanted to rip it to pieces. At this point, she's not really sure what to expect out of an Exaltation, though Yuri did mention cockpit so perhaps it was an airship?

    No, it's apparently better than that. "It's a GIANT ROBOT?!" she exclaims as she's placed inside next to Yuri. "Holy shit! -OH, hold still, by the way." Although Yuri can't really feel his wounds and fights regardless of them, Kyra nonetheless sees them and does what comes naturally. She plucks a syringe from one of her bandoliers and tries to stick him with it. It's filled with potion. She doesn't even warn him.

Alif (716) has posed:
     When Inga calls upon the gods, there was a crackle of thunder in the sky. As her spell tears through the undead, Thor has taken Notice. Though he does not act directly, Inga's spell would find itself empowered by the gods' aid, striking larger and wider than she would normally have been capable of. Though this world differed from Inga's, Thor was much the same. Thor was still a defender of humanity, though humanity believed him just another god wishing to trample upon their existence. And Thor had listened. Moving forward would likely prove particularly easy, between that bolt of lightning and Kojirou's massive Gandr.

     As Alicia stood before the portal, it was mysteriously silent. No more undead poured forth from its mouth, and none approached her as she worked to close it. Though the army was largely mindless, its leaders were not. This battle was a losing one, and they had realized it. The remaining undead were forsaken, fighting for the simple right to exist until the end of this battle. And the work on closing the portal likely progressed quickly, as it was created by a lieutenant, and it was rune magic. Powerful, but also somewhat common.

     Speaking of Kojirou's Gandr... the massive blast of energy was rather unpleasant to behold, undead, and likely human alike were blasted by this massive destructive spell, and when it faded... the area around Kojirou was silent and still, and that undead that had come to fight him... was no longer there, having been whisked away as if it were but another flea in the path of the summoned warrior. Though the gods were not here, gods of another sort had seemed to appear, and the army was rapidly dwindling.

     Strike, strike, strike, strike. Reiji's blows were tearing through the remaining forces easily, the reduced army making his job grow easier by the moment. It would not take long for him and Inga to make it to the front lines, and it would not take long for them to be ready to tend to humanity. Though humanity was surviving, it was a haggard force. The spirits that fight under Alif fared well still, but the true humans were exhausted, they lay against walls, many of them wounded in their desperate fight, and many having been the unfortunate targets of the Gandr that had taken out much of the enemy forces.

     Really, the undead couldn't do much against the giant cancer laser robot, they were strong, but they were grunts. And they were meant to fight against humans. As the laser lances through the remains of the bloodless horde, the flames of rebellion alight upon the snowy ground, covered in the remains of the bloodless and the humans that had fallen prioer to the arrival of the elites. When Alif had asked for aid, she had expected men with weapons, or women with magic similar to her own. She had not expected anything like this. The multiverse was a terrifying place. Alif definitely found herself glad that she was on /their/ side.

     And then Lezard opened a portal. And through the portal, a dragon came. It was rapidly beginning to go the other way. No longer army versus army, but rather... victory. The dragon and undead arriving would find that the army was definitely on even footing with its own, that is... if they had been alone, at any rate. The bloodless ones still fight, but their numbers are starting to 'dwindle', many of them still standing back up to fight, but just as many staying down.

     BOOM! LIFE-GIVING FIRE! Many of the undead that are caught in the explosion would find themselves consumed in it! Unfortunately, the bloodless ones did not instantly die to life-giving spells! This would likely be unpleasant, as some of them begin to actuall grow healthier-looking. And stronger. Luckily, they were right in front of a giant robot, so their strength would result in them attacking metal! But those claws of theirs had grown more fierce, and their strikes might actually be a threat...

Alif (716) has posed:
     Humanity, meanwhile, is working at bolstering its defenses, for now. Alif standing atop of it and motionoing her spirits towards the bulk of the bloodless army that remained nearby, as the elites had made this battle become rather one-sided, turning the tide rapidly.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    With Inga delivered to the human lines, Reiji seems to be feeling significantly more confident about their ability to minimize losses. That was what was important here- not the murder of gods or the slaughter of the already dead. There was no use fighting if the ones who they intended to protect were already dead. Of course...

    Well, now that he has a chance to look toward the battlefield, it doesn't seem like there's going to be much /left/ to fight. There's a giant robot over there, and not far away is a monstrous zombie dragon. "The multiverse has some impressive individuals," Reiji mutters, turning back towards the horde. He glances back over his shoulder towards Inga, "Alright. Hit me up with that protection spell. On my mark, give me a shove."

    The exorcist fixes his gaze on the nearest shambling horror and lowers into a stance that, if Avenger was close or willing enough to notice, he might find distinctly familiar. His knees are bent and his back is stooped forward, one hand hovers over his crimson katana as the other braces his arsenal against his hip. "Ready?"

    Reiji waits for the first enchantment to take effect, before he rushes forward, hand gripping tight to the hilt of his blade. But he doesn't swing- he leaps. Reiji jumps, his steel-toed boot slamming down into the zombie's shoulder as he pushes himself forward and over what's left of the swarm, "Do it! NOW!"

Alicia T. Harlaown (4) has posed:
    "There! That should do it!" Alicia finishes her preparation, hitting a key and then letting all the holoscreens vanish. She reaches out to grab her staff and looks at it, "Ready, Melody?"

    Sweet Melody chimes, <As ever, my master.>

    Alicia swings her staff around to point in the direction of the portal. Spell circles appear near each of the runes that make up the portal's corners. Tendrils of silver magic begin to snake out of the spell circles, wrapping around the runes as they begin the process of destabilising their magic.

    At the same time as her magic works on the runes, Alicia prepares the second stage. Sweet Melody chimes, <Sealing Mode.> A spell circle appears beneath Alicia, slots on her staff snapping open as petals of silver light flow out. Magic begins to gather just beyond the crystal of the staff, the petals curling in to surround the growing orb, the hum of energy getting louder.

    Finally, Alicia is ready, "Enact modified sealing program!"

    Sweet Melody chimes, <Sealing...>

    A continuous blast of silver light blasts away from Alicia and her staff. It heads to strike the centre of the portal and begin closing it as Alicia continues to channel her magic into the attack. Unfortunately this leaves her immobile until the process is completed.

Inga has posed:
Again and again the multiverse had taught her how tiny she really is. Such power wages around her, so often opposing her. There are beings on this field who wish to challenge the gods. Who think they will win if they do. Inga isn't even entirely sure they are wrong. What is she suppose to do against such power? Even if it works toward a common goal now...well, if anyone is equiped to recognize the prickling of destiny it is a Seer. She will oppose Lezard again, and likely Kojiro too. Is there no bloody end to it?

Then her lightning is unleashed, tears rising to her eyes as she feels Thor empowering her strike. The god-speaker called out and the god answered. Whatever else was happening here, Midgard's mightiest defender still listens and moves to help his people. Inga is deeply moved.

She reaches up to touch her mjolnir pendant, whispering a heartfelt prayer of thanks.

They've nearly reached the line now, a clear path, and Reiji is ready to go help close the portal to whatever terrible place these undead are coming from. A mad plan forms.

Grumbling to herself, Inga opens another wound and moves toward Reiji, smearing him with her blood in the form of a rune, her grumbling turning to more arcane mumbling as she casts her spell. "This will turn blades, or claws, away from you and strike fear into the enemy...by the gods I hope this works," she growls, then waits for his signal.

When the signal is given, Inga turns toward him and points her staff, taking a deep breath as she begins to cast, anima buzzing inside her, coming together, building up until she calls for its release. "R��a!" she cries, and releases a blast of force toward Reiji on his cue, sending him flying. It is the best she's been able to do with the spell thus far, throwing him fifteen to twenty feet. It may not make much difference, but she prays it does the trick.

Inga moves forward then, coming into the town line. She's growing tired, but there is no time for rest nor even a taco. She brings her knife up again, wondering just how much blood she can use before she accidentally kills herself. Well, time to find out. She sliced one arm then the other, opening both veins deeply. It is a gruesome sight, and not one likely to immediately made the defenders of the town feel better. But the blood rises from her her, pooling in the air before it begins to move, swirling outward in a line to form a barrier between the town and the main point of attack. With more time, she could ward the entire town--but she does not have that time just now.

Even with her remarkable healing ability, Inga nearly passes out from the loss of blood. She topples, her vision going black for a moment as her regeneration works to try to close the self inflicted wounds. The blood however, will continue to provide a crimson misty barrier that shimmers in the light.

Yuri Stinson (106) has posed:
    The upside, for Kyra, of being in the machine is that she's almost entirely safe from harm while inside of it. It's an armored war machine meant to face down other Exalts and custom-tuned to Yuri's own war-like tendencies and specifications. She's pretty darn safe inside the machine.

    Yuri less-so, due to haptic feedback. More powerful, but linked with his machine in terms of damage. But luckily for him there is nothing much capable of piercing its armor, so we can't see how that plays out for the pilot in terms of damage.

    OH! And, there's a recliner chair off to one side and a mini-bar fridge stocked with soda. He has those there for when FIA is awake. There's also a door in the back of the mech that seems like it would open to the back of the machine, but is mysteriously locked. Pretty relaxing setup.

    When she injects him with the potion, it goes to work almost immediately. A couple of his larger wounds stop bleeding green fire and brass, slowly shutting as he says a subdued, "Thank you." To her, giving her a nod of his head.

    At the controls, he slowly rotates the machine. Since bigger attacks are going out, he guides his own machine across the battlefield with an uncanny swiftness and skill. The large form of it comes to a crouching halt in front of the human lines, meant to serve as a bulwark against incoming forces and to block the human forces from attacks and give them some relief.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    he mixture Kyra sports seems to have the...opposite of the intended effect? Well if it can't kill undead like Kyra can do with regular 'healbombing' then the mixture would have little application. Who would be interested in being burned to health on the 'civillian' side of things. Her experiment is going to matter little to her in a few moments.

    Because in those few moments, Kyra winds up INSIDE A GIANT ROBOT. NOthing else really matters right now...well, except maybe keeping an eye on Reiji and Alicia.

    "Hey, don't mention it. It's the least I could do for you-ooh, is that a minibar?" Kyra is thoroughly distracted by her environs. Thoroughly! She performs a very brief examination of the cockpit, it's side areas, and the ramp that leads back outside. She touches what she can-provided it doesn't look like controls that Yuri is in the middle of using. "Whoaaaaaaah." Eventually, she does find that little exit she can leave and perch upon so she can resume her usefulness to those fighting. From up here, she can expend the last of her napalm flasks in piece but she ducks back inside when the mecha starts moving to fast.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Inga's spell slams into him like a firing pin into a primer. Reiji shoots forward like a bullet, his feet slamming into zombie after zombie after zombie as he surges overhead at speeds that could kill lesser fighters. He's not using the spell for a quick boost of speed-- he's using it to RUN. Rotting bodies transform from possible threats into platforms for his advance- the army has become a road.

    Up ahead, the portal looms. Alicia has begun to close it, but that doesn't reduce the threat that still exists on this end of it. Reiji makes one final leap towards the ground just ahead of the gate. He draws Karin in that same, smooth motion, and drives the blade into a trio of the Bloodless. A wave of flame rolls out from the cut, washing over a half-dozen undead as it sluices forward. Reiji lands and rolls, arcane runes swarming around him and absorbing his impact with the ground. He continues without hesitation, slicing once, twice, thrice more, clearing the land around him for what's next to come--

    Reiji takes in a breath. His lungs fill with rotten, putrid air, but also with energy. So much prana has filled the battlefield by now- more than enough for him to act. "Arisu-Ryu," Reiji murmurs, sheathing his blazing sword. He lifts a leg a half-foot off the ground, "OUGI!"


"JUU NO KATA!"

     Reiji's leg slams down. Azure light erupts from the ground beneath his feet, exploding outward in cocentric square sigils. They drive into the undead that remain near both Alicia and the portal, all of whom would suddenly find that space itself would begin resisting their movement. It's as if the very fabric of the world were endeavoring to hold them in place.

And then Reiji draws his guns.

In one hand, a gleaming, polished hand-cannon that glistens like gold.

In the other, a black-barreled shotgun, its stock carved from the trunk of a sacred, blessed tree.

    Reiji's eyes flash. He points the guns into the horde... and depresses their triggers. Again and again and again, he fires, pivoting and aiming and firing in the space between heartbeats. Bullets and buckshot scream out from within his guns, their blessed slugs mixing the elemental forces of wood and metal into a typhoon of bloodshed. As the rounds pass over the azure square, they suddenly blaze like tiny shooting stars-- and ACCELERATE. Space twists to expedite their journey, and it twists in other ways as well. One bullet seems to become two, which then seem to become four. Countless rounds spiral away from the man dancing in the center of the magic circle, sweeping into what's left of the shambling dead.

And when at last his rounds are spent, and his weapons are left smoking and burning hot from the strain, Reiji at last lets his arms fall-- and he finally releases his breath.

The magic circle flashes one last time, before flooding away in a wave of concussive force.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Lezard would be /really/ disappointed if the people here were losing to a /shoddy/ undead army. He takes some measure of pride in the Necromancer's art, after all. At the moment, his own small horde moves to intercept the Bloodless Ones, harpies flying through the air as Lesser Vampires, Ghouls, and Zombies strike out and clash with the horde. But their purpose is simply to even the score against a horde. The true push comes from his associates. He pauses in his next spell as he hears the crack of thunder, and he looks into the distance, his brows furrowing. "Intriguing." He says to himself. Could he have detected the assistance from Thor in the middle of the pitched battle? It's hard to tell at this point. His gaze sweeps down to the exhausted Inga, And he raises a hand...

But turns to the Bloodless Ones, pointing. The dragon howls, a sonic shockwave blasting through the area with shrieking, pulverizing force, while the mouldering tail smashes downwards, sweeping around to strike at groups of Bloodless Ones. He'll join back up with Yuri's badass mecha and Kojirou's murderfest shortly, but at the moment they have some more of these things to deal with.

Fake Avenger (662) has posed:
     Kojirou isn't in this battle for the defenders. They are an incidental element of this battle, something motivating Lezard (perhaps) and Yuri (perhaps) and the others. He does not specifically care if a few of the warriors standing against the dead are slain in his strike. All those who stand upon the battlefield must understand that they have a chance to die on the battlefield, and the destruction of the undead was, in a way, worth it. He is not so high-minded as to believe in protecting the weak. His battle is not so laden with meaning for anyone but him. For others, Kojirou is only here for his selfish vice of fighting.

     For Kojirou, that vice is more important and meaningful than any other reason he could possibly be here.

     The remaining dead around him are quickly swallowed up by Lezard's dragon and Yuri's war machine. Kojirou lazily slices one of the survivors' necks in twain as he watches Reiji. In his mind's eye, he can see the other man's stance. As he bulets come swarming all over the field, Kojirou's blade flashes through them lazily in the arc around himself - and by extension, Lezard and part of Yuri's robot.

     Every bullet Kojirou's heavy european sword carves through splits in twain.

     Kojirou doesn't even appear to have noticed that he did it.

     "This is," Kojirou says slowly, "Not a battle worth my time."

     And then he simply stabs the European sword into the ground, folds his hands into the sleeves of his kimono...and waits.

Alif (716) has posed:
     Shooting the portal! What an ingenious way to close it, brute force! That's totally not going to wo-- oh wait that's a sealing spell. As the spell begins to blast the portal, and Alicia is left immobile... the portal begins to slowly close, the runes at each corner beginning to erase themselves. It takes far longer than Alicia would likely like, but it does close! And before too many of the Bloodless Ones could exit it, or try to flee into it. Reinforcements were cut off, now the last of the bloodless ones just had to be killed.

     And then... Reiji charges towards the bloodless one, and uses it as a step stool! Having not expected this, he manages to escape harm from the Bloodless one, who swipes where he was standing, rather than where he was! Running on the head of the undead was ... likely not the most pleasant of experiences. They liked to move and shift and try to get out of the way, but nonetheless, Reiji manages to use the undead as a road to the portal! As Reiji nears the end of his path, Alif lifts her hand, a soft word spoken. "Entangle." Runes wrap around him as if they were roots, grabbing him and helping to slow his momentum -- before quickly fading. And then... bullets, bullets everywhere! Ripping into the bloodless flesh, tearing into the heads and bodies, ending what little was left of their life and leaving the horde ragged and largely unmoving and dead!

     Inga's help is taken note of, and humanity moves to stay towards the edges of it. Meanwhile, a rather cheerful little red-head walks up to Inga, quickly making her way to her side, lifting her hand. "Hello~. I'm Aradia~. I'm here to stop you from joining Hel's army by losing all your blood~." Aradia says cheerfully, lifting her hand in a playful little salute, before she lifts her hand, several runes glowing on visible tattoos on her body. "Restore." She says, her voice echoing with power. And then... the spell would begin to take hold. It was not an instant repair one, but rather a gradual regeneration. Normally, it would be kind of useless in battle... but as the battle was coming to a close, and Inga was safe, she was capable of using it on her to a useful level. After that, Aradia waved to her one last time, "Bye bye~." And then turned quickly to return to taking care of the rest of the humans. Of note, Aradia totally was dead and one could somewhat see through her. Possibly creepy!

     It's probably good that Yuri is being a shield for the people, all things considered... even with Inga's shield, it's probably best that it not be struck too often and make Inga have to expend too much energy on protecting them! And the fact that it was all set up like that was kind of awesome~. As Yuri's machine runs, those hopped up bloodless ones had tried to attack it -- to no avail, beyond getting a vial of alchemist's fire to the face. That really wasn't as pleasant as the last fire, to be honest. Not at all.

     Nor was getting assaulted by the sonic screech of an undead dragon, or being torn apart by /true/ undead! As the undead dragon tears and rips into the remains of the horde, and the portal closes... the battlefield goes silent. No more wails or screams of the twisted dead, no more of those who died of age or illness stalking the land. The bloodless ones were no more than a bunch of corpses in the snow, many of them trampled underfoot into the snow by their bretheren. Eventually, though, all of their corpses began to turn to dust, little more than filth upon the ground. Luckily, due to their lack of blood, they had very little to rot. Closer to mummies or skeletons than any other form of undead.

Alif (716) has posed:
     "..." Alif stands atop her building, staring out over the battlefield. Looking out over the monsters and heroes alike that she had summoned, unknowing of their power. Her knees shook, and eventually she fell to them, breathing a little heavily as she tried to cope with what she'd just witnessed. The multiverse was horrifying. The multiverse was powerful. She was terrified, happy, and hopeful all at once. And it was overwhelming. Eventually, though, Alif managed to stand. Her gaze sweeping the humans. "..." She lifts her hand. "...It must be frustrating..." She says softly. "...Dying like this... to a bunch of mindless bloodless monsters..." She says, her gaze falling on each of the humans who died. "Being killed by the one who came to defend you..." The runes on her arms began to spread out, sent flying towards those fallen humans, those who had died but not left their body. "...I can let you fight again. I can let you help protect humanity." She murmurs softly, her voice lightly resonating, as spirits began to step out of the bodies. Not all of them, but most of them. Some were too scared. Those ones she would leave for Reiji to guide to an afterlife. "...Ah... thank you... my comrades... I'll make sure that everyone can rest in peace when this is over, okay?" She murmurs softly. And then her hand closes, slender threads attaching to the tattooing on her arms. "Contract complete."

     And then she turns towards the battlefield, taking a deep breath. "Union, Confederacy, and Unaligned!" She says, dipping into a slight bow. "...You are appreciated. I do not have much to offer, but your aid is appreciated, and when my world is no longer on the brink of extinction, I will do what I can to repay you." She says, straightening up. "... I believe some of you wished information, and to talk to me. We have places to rest, and a few healers to tend to your wounds in town. You're welcome to come and rest, if nothing else." She says, before turning to begin to make her way down the side of the building. She definitely didn't look like a general, a war hero, or anything even remotely of the sort. Nope. She was totally a frail little scientist. Just doing her best to not let the world burn around her.

Inga has posed:
Inga looks to Aradia. Immediately, she knows that she is not alive, which is why it is very surprisingly when she casts a regeneration spell very similar to a spell she has. Of course, her spell requires blood, which is what she is lacking at the moment, so...would rather defeat the purpose. The spell serves to kick Inga's already excelerated healing into overdrive, the wounds on her arms reknitting before their eyes, leaving not enough a scar behind. Still, she is tired. That was a lot of blood lost, and the barrier continues to hold.

"Thank you," she says to Aradia before she leaves, turning then to watch Alif, her brow creasing in thought. She is binding the dead into her service...though she gives them the choice.

Inga decides she sees no issue with this.

The wisewoman gets to her feet, leaning on her staff as she bows her head slightly to Alif. "I thank you for your hospitality, then. I volunteer my services further. I can erect a more permanent barrier for this town. I can also assist with healing and...other things," she offers. Those 'other things' would need to wait until later. Inga has many questions.

Now, what would the other do? Especially Lezard and Kojiro. Worry remains, but as she thinks about how she'd felt Thor's presence her faith is bolstered.

Inga reaches into her belt pouch and pulls out a taco. Munch munch.

Alicia T. Harlaown (4) has posed:
    Alicia may have had to maintain her current position and stance to close the portal, but she could still look around and admire that effectiveness of Reiji's attack. At least those creatures, who had once been people, could be released from such a sad form of life...

    Pouring her magic into the portal, success finally comes for Alicia. The portal collapses and vanishes, Alicia's bombardment of magic finally fading away. Her spell circles soon follow, until Alicia finally relaxes and breathes a sigh of relief. She swings her staff around to the side, the four small exhaust ports sliding open to unleashing the bursts of cooling gasses. Alicia then smiles at her Device, "Good work, Melody." The Device chimes in response.

    Seeing the undead have been defeated, Alicia makes her way over to the town's edge to see if there's anything she can do to help. She's no healer, but there are other things she can do which might be useful to help clean up. But things seem to be under control... Her eyes go a little wide at the sight of the spirits rising up out of their bodies... Creepy. Of course, then there is the invitation for information from the leader of the defence. Sounds interesting... Though she glances to see what the others are planning to do.

Fake Avenger (662) has posed:
     Kojirou feels nothing. There is no expression in his eyes. There is no expression on his face. There is /nothing/, as he watches the dead and living alike die. He seems so out of place, so peaceful, so distant. As though the bloodless had not fallen to his blade as wheat falls to a scythe, as though he had not murdered the creatures on instinct and reflex more than any real effort.

     Kojirou's gaze is distant and distended. His presence recedes, his terrifying power vanishing as he kills his fighting spirit and subsumes it back into himself. How horrifying, that a monster like this can exist!

     He looks at nothing in specific. He gazes off at the sky. He looks at the snow. He doesn't particularly care about the spirits rising, or the dead, or...anything.

     "Repay me by telling me where I can find the gods," Kojirou tells Alif distantly, "I want nothing but the duel I was promised by Lezard Valeth."

Yuri Stinson (106) has posed:
    Yuri's machine slowly lowers itself into a crouching position, keeping itself spaced properly to allow Kyra to hop down off the outside of the machine and go give medical aid now that the battle is over. The machine has some paint scrapes and some dings, which are reflected via cuts and nicks on Yuri's face, but is overall mostly unharmed.

    As it does this, Yuri's voice booms from inside the machine, "It is not the nature of the unchained beast to be welcomed. As one does not invite the fire to the table for supper, so too must rebellion maintain some level of distance so as to not steep men in his presence." It is Yuri's voice, but it's coming from the machine as if it were speaking as him, despite no parts moving and it having no mouth.

    "I will come again when the tyrants seek to beat down on men, and those who are more sociable than myself will make reports and information I am sure," He notes. There's a hint of sadness to the voice, mostly because staying present directly defies his concept in some ways. As does attempting too hard to relate to the average person. He interacts with humanity as concept, and the concept of 'human' is lost to him for it.

    "I wish I could stay, but the most I can do is offer my aid and allow you to call on me once more."

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Spent clips clatter against the ground. Reiji holsters his pistol in its place at his back, then locks his shotgun back into his portable arsenal and lifts it to dangle across his shoulders. "Could have been worse," the exorcist mutters, making his way slowly from where the portal had once stood back towards Alif and her settlement. He slips a little grey box from a clip on his belt, and gently presses a cigarette to his lips.

After combat is the best time to light one up, after all. And so he does, bright embers glowing from the end of his stick. A thin contrail of blue-grey smoke drifts up into the sky as Reiji makes his arrival.

    "Don't worry about it," Reiji says to Alif around his cigarette. He plucks it out of his mouth to continue, "Just doing my job. Leave the defense to us for now. Let your people rest."

    His gaze flickers towards Avenger. "Why in such a hurry to fight a God specifically, anyway?" Reiji asks, tapping away a few scraps of ash, "If I'm not mistaken, there are giants to deal with, too."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Before Kyra steps out of the machine, she pauses, grinning at Yuri like a lunatic. "Hey, that was fun. We should do it again sometime." Yes, she says this in spite of hs super dramatic speech about being unwelcome as a victor amonst those of the village they just saved. She doesn't try to debate his speech, though. If he wants to play the hit and run rebellion beast hero, that's his choice. Still, she gives him one cheerful wave before stepping out to rejoin her compaions. In particular, she returns to Inga, who will probably appreciate the help in caring for the injured.

    For today, she will be using her white magic, which seems to be cooperating much to her relief.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Lezard stands, triumphant on the battlefield. The dragon gurgles and makes unspeakable noises as the Necromancer looks over the field. Nothing more than the chaff of the army. No leaders. He can imagine the massive irritation felt by his associate.

He leaps from the dragon, and the purple portals appear once more, swallowing up the Dragon Zombie and the minor beasts and dismissing them whence they came.

He looks over unto the battlefield as some of the spirits choose to join Alif. Others do not. A hand twitches in consideration, but he does not move, approaching the others. "Indeed. This battle will never end until the gods are taught to cease feeding upon the realm of men for their war. You have suffered enough. Though the lay of this land resembles that of my own world, it would be foolishness to try to apply my own information to the land."

Lezard pauses. "IF you can give us informaton and directions towards the bastions of our foes, we will begin to lay waste to them. Show us how to draw them out and bring them low, and we will help you achieve victory and peace within the Twilight of the Gods."

Inga has posed:
Inga looks toward Lezard, frowning deeply. But she says nothing, not now. She hopes she will have a chance to speak with Alif and any others who make the decisions in this conflict. One thing Lezard says is true, at least. This isn't their world. All that she knows might not help them...but still, it might. She is a Chosen of the gods, and perhaps she is here for a reason.

Inga does smile to Kyra. "We'll have much work to do," she says, then finds someone to heal--yes, probably with blood.

Alif (716) has posed:
     Yep. Alif totally gave them the choice, and it wasn't a huge act! Actually that's the truth, at least right now. She hadn't gotten enough renegade points to start forcefully putting people into her service yet, and it would lose her potential allies. Alif made her way over to Inga as she offered the shield, giving a small nod. "That would be appreciated, I'll see if some of my magic-types can help with that, too." She says, dipping her head slightly towards Inga. "...And aid in healing is appreciated, there are very few doctors among my comrades, so we're stretched thin..." Really, though it was a victory, there weren't that many humans that came out unscathed, mentally or physically. Also, taco. That looked rather tasty, though Alif had no time for food right now, she had to properly greet her guests and such!

     Alicia was welcomed by the guards at the edge of the barrier, many of them praising her for her help and making various largely unimportant small talk, asking things along the lines of where she learned to do that, and how she has the energy for it. Even if they were spirits, they didn't have limitless supplies of energy, after all!

     Kojirou is given a bit of a Look from Alif though, and she listens to him silently as he spoke. Alif decided that she rather disliked this one, though she'd already pretty much decided that before. Still, she was sure that he could be aimed at her enemies and 'fired' in a way useful for her. "...I cannot, yet. They have scarcely shown their face. But, so long as you go to where the battles are... eventually, you will fight the gods. Stronger and stronger enemies..." She gives a firm nod. Of course, if he continued this nasty habit of also killing the living... she would have to stop him at some point. But she also knew that angering him would just result in her army being treated much the same as the army of bloodless. Not ideal.

     And then the much more agreeable and helpful monster(in her eyes) spoke up, the one who terrified her but also reassured her at the same time. He had aided in protecting the humans, and was aiding in the rebellion. "Though it is not necessarily your nature, I will offer it regardless." Alif says softly, gently bowing her head. "...After all, it was not in my nature to fight before, either... and now I am leading an army, because I just happened to have the right skills..." Alif murmurs. She still firmly did not believe herself a hero, she was just someone who had developed the right thing at the right time. Luck, mostly. "...Still. Since you must go, I look forward to seeing you again." She says, bowing respectfully towards Yuri. "And wish you as safe of travels as possible."

     Reiji is given a bit of a look, as Alif starts to muse a bit, thinking on his voice. And then how he spoke. She gave a small nod. "Ah, you. You were the one, right?" She says, before motioning towards several of the dead. "...Those ones need guidance, lest they be claimed and turned into warriors." She murmurs. She was far too calm about it, but that was partially because she was just being really good at hiding it right now. Though, through the cracks, it might be possible to see little signs of her lack of war-hardened-ness.

     Kyra is MORE than welcomed by the other doctors and spirits with healing abilities, as they were highly understaffed. They did their best to help her and share some rations with her, along with some water and various other useful things to help recover from the fight and rest. Because those were important things, really.

     And then Lezard approaches. Thankfully, without his undead, because her humans were kind of traumatized and fucked up enough to begin with! At least the physical ones at any rate. The non-physical ones were somewhat more battlehardened. Lezard made his speech, and Alif listened, along with several of the humans... who continued to have a decent morale boost from these heroes and monsters that came to save them. There was hope, for the first time since this whole mess began! Alif's response would

Alif (716) has posed:
     And then Lezard approaches. Thankfully, without his undead, because her humans were kind of traumatized and fucked up enough to begin with! At least the physical ones at any rate. The non-physical ones were somewhat more battlehardened. Lezard made his speech, and Alif listened, along with several of the humans... who continued to have a decent morale boost from these heroes and monsters that came to save them. There was hope, for the first time since this whole mess began! Alif's response would likely be disappointing though. "I apologize, I... don't really know, Lezard." Alif murmurs softly, her gaze shifting away. "This... stuff ... only started happening like ... a month or so ago, we haven't had a chance to scope out the enemy, or how to draw them out. We've been focused on just trying to survive and do what we can to fortify areas, and start trying to arm humanity as well as we can." She says softly. "My scouts can't go all that far from me either, and the other humans are all people who have not lived in a time of war..." She says, looking towards one of the people cowering by the edge of one of the barriers, still too terrified to move. Another human was trying to help him. "I will start trying to seek out people... starting with ...whoever is sending those /things/ after humanity."
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Reiji Arisu has posed:
    "I am," Reiji nods at the woman, then looks over towards the fallen. He goes quiet for a moment, taking a long draw from his cigarette. Its embers glow and then flicker and fade to ash. With a flick of his wrist, he flings the cigarette into the ground and grinds his foot into the dimming flame.

     "...Right," he says, extracting a long string of fragrant beads from one of the many pouches of his armored coat. Reiji pulls one hand from its gauntlet, then wraps the beads around his wrist and hand, letting them dangle slightly from between his fingers. "I'll do what I can. I can make no promises, though. If the cycle of life and death has been broken, then... The best I can do may be to put them at rest into the Earth."

Inga has posed:
Inga looks to Reiji, frowning slightly. "Could we talk more about that? I have worked with spirits...I would like a chance to understand more what is happening here," she comments.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
Reiji pauses, inclining his head at Inga. "Of course," he nods, "I'm in unfamiliar territory here, myself. My speciality is in Eastern spirits and these are..." He turns a long stare to the field of bones and ash that was once a legion of undead soldiers, "Not... those."

Inga has posed:
Inga nods to Reiji. "From what I heard, there is likely much in common...but we should learn more about what is happening here before any action like that is settled on. First, however, there are many injured who need tending. We will all speak later," she says, then excuses herself to go help Kyra and the others with healing the injured.