2657/Kyra's Continued Acne

Kyra's Continued Acne
Date of Scene:	20 July 2015
Location:	Techno Urbania
Synopsis:	Kyra confronts the Starbound Flotilla about their ties to Souji, and another monster bursts from her head.
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, 626, 627, Starbound Flotilla, 707, 792, 823, 830

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Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    The time seems to be slightly after rush hour in Techno Urbania and the sleek, levitating subway train of the Plaid Line pulls into the gleaming metal and glass Union Station 45. Amongst the passengers that exit just so happens to be the hooded form of Kyra Hyral. She's not moving very quickly at the moment, her body language betraying some form of extreme tiredness not just of body but of the mind.

    Unlike the other passengers, she doesn't exit the station and opts to linger next to one of the steel pillars supporting the ceiling, waiting for the rest of the Starbound Flotilla to arrive.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The STARBOUND FLOTILLA arrives, albeit with some chaos. All six of them chatter and banter amongst themselves in a friendly, almost family-like way as they approach. They've gotten over here quickly, but not with emergency sorts of urgency. They wander down into the station with purpose but not ex<span style="color:itement.

    "c#00dd00">Hi, heal friend! Floran not sssee sssince we go fight bad robot people. How hasss been? Good?</span>" That's Biteblade speaking up first, bounding on up and going for a hug if possible.
    "Yeah, what's up? Wanted to talk to us, kid?" The red-eyed man, George, is the next to wander by, apparently distractedly finishing up a game on his holophone or something like that. The rest of the Starbounders are sort of filling in gradually.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra can hear them coming before she sees them, Pavo's accent standing out the most of them all. Despite the subject she's about to bring up with them, she can't resist a hug from Biteblade and hugs back. If anything, it makes her even more upset about what she's about to bring up.

    "Yeah...uh..." she draws in a breath, "I've been wondering if I really belong with you guys? We..that mission with the Glitch and Murasame..and then..."

    Something inside her seems to snap and she can't hold it back. "Alan! You guys helped get that Alan guy in Denver. You were helping the Empire! What the hell! Why?! Was it the money? Was Vader paying you!? /Or was it the Zaibatsu/?"

    She balls her fists, her agitation clear, volume rising. Bystanders look away in embarassment. "Just come out and say it, are you six /completely/ in Murasame's pocket now or what!?"

Haruhara Haruko (792) has posed:
     A sudden shift appears on Kyra's head once again, her hoodie being thrown back suddenly. A large block shape starts to come out of her head. It begins at the front, but starts to come out on top. It's like a giant, bizarre fleshy rectangle right on top of her forehead. It keeps getting larger, stretching out until the entire subway tunnel is filled. It remains looking fleshy as it comes out, until it finally breaks from Kyra's head. This giant wall of flesh suddenly turns to a thick slab of stone several feet wide, merged into the wall. This, of course, leaves the train cut in half. Luckily everyone around was able to get away.

     Of course what gets more terrifying is the form that appears on it. It looks like a twisted skull is forming out of the wall, and a pair of horrible claws accompany it. It seems made of stone itself, and it lets out a /particularly/ loud roar. Luckily, the stairway into the subway system is still present, but it won't be for long. The creature is beginning to move forward, slowly. Towards Kyra. Towards the Starbound Flotilla.

The Cursed Wall That Crushes Its Enemies
DEMON WALL

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Meanwhile, Xiaomu has been blissfully unaware of any chance of trouble happening in the vicinity of Techno Urbania. Not that she isn't *prepared* for trouble - she's typically armed, and even if she'd left her handguns at home she would most likely have her staff, even for something as mundane as going shopping.

(You spend enough years in a world where you're one of the few things standing between human civilization and the depredations of youkai, and you learn not to assume that ANY errand is going to be free of incident, even if it's just going downstairs to the vending machine.)

She doesn't seem to hear the initial roar on her way down into the subway station, possibly due to the earphones plugged into her phone. On the other hand, it's nigh impossible not to SEE the Demon Wall - whereupon the sage fox removes her earphones and scowls. "I didn't see a 'Station Closed Due To Monster Infestation' sign, is something going on -"

Oh hey, that giant thing is moving. And Xiaomu forgot to bring grenades this time. "- yeah something's going on, where *DID* that thing come from?" Xiaomu draws her sidearms and starts emptying her clips at the Demon Wall's face, her staff apparently sticking to her back while her hands are otherwise occupied.

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Xiao Li Yu was not here for any emergency, no.

     ...It was actually pure, bad coincidence that she happened to be here in Techno Urbania this day. In her hand was a cell phone, held to her ear. "Yes. Yes, that's right. Make sure the preparations are made for when I return." She made her way down the station stairs having a casual conversation with what must have been staff at a FUJIN research facility. "I have plans to...yes. Uh-huh. Actually about that...Wh--hold a moment."

     Stepping down the last step, the girl found herself witnessing a /very/ odd sight. She'd caught the tail end of DEMON WALL coming out of Kyra's...head? That /was/ Kyra, right? And over there are the Starbound Flotfilla she was rather familiar with. "...I will call you back later. I just happened upon a...situation." Xiao's tone was amused and slightly exasperated. Really, the things she happened to walk in on.

     She cut the call the pocketed her phone, casually walking up as the monster took up space on the tracks, unfortunately destroying the train in the process. "And here I thought I would be able to go out without any shenanigans taking place today." She smirked, slowing to a stop by Kyra and the Flotilla, ignorant of the impending debate they were about to have. "You just can't stay out of trouble for two minutes, can you, Kyra?"

     The Flotilla are given a look and a smile. "Hello, Biteblade, George, Seft, Albert, everyone? Fine day, isn't it?" Yes. Totally amazing day. We've only just got DEMON WALLS threatening to crush us flat and all! Xiaomu is given a look after all that upon her arrival. "Oh and the Sage Dog. Hello~"

     She sighed after all of this. "...I don't suppose I could just turn around and pretend I saw nothing, huh?" Even as she asked, her hands went into her sleeves, retrieving her usual weapons.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa had been called down by Kyra with the rest of the Foltilla she knew it was to the core fleet and while she was keeping tabs on things she wasn't about to drop in. She had a feeling on what it might be about, yet? She was going to hold back out of respect for her friends. IF things went bad she'd try to keep it from getting worse. That's when the alarm and call for help goes out. It doesn't take long for the blink of Light and the stealth suited Kotone to drop in. She's now thinking looking at the demon wall. XCOM armour might have been the better idea. She is however going to act fast, she wasn't unarmed she'd hit hte weapons locker before she came. She had the missile launcher from the holo zombie station still, which she brings up.

"We can chat later Xiao! Bite? George? Seft? Albert? Kyra? I got no idea what's up but that thing need to go up in smoke!"

She levels the launcher and fires off a missile at the demon wall. She's also taken notice of Xiamou as she arrives as well she gets a feeling they are going to need all the help they can get.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
"Murasame. It is time to feed."

    [SAMURAI]
    [BUSHIDO]
    > [1: FANG]

There is a black and crimson line that shears across the grinning demon face upon the wall out of apparently nowhere. "This is an unusual situation, Kyra Hyral." That voice is unmistakable. Souji Murasame is just suddenly /there/, standing on the severed train and apparently facing down the implacable advance of the Demon Wall, the Murasasme Blade outstretched with killing intent. "It would not be suitable for you to be harmed here. Is everyone prepared?"

Mamimi Samejima (830) has posed:
The light is flickering again.
Mamimi, placed underneath the levitating line in a place she most certainly should not be, looks up.
Yeah. The train.

The murmur of voices causes Mamimi to stir, throwing her bag over a fence marked clearly 'KEEP OUT' as she crawls up the other side of it. Eventually, she'll manage to sneak on. Maybe this time? Sliding through the wall of people, she makes it up to the place where they all would enter. Yet, there's a pause. A massive rectangle, a skull and claws. A demon.

A devil?

"Ah?" She asks, standing there as many of the civilians push and shove past her. She doesn't really move much though. Hands extend outwards again as she stands in the way of the wall, arms spread out like a hug. "Lord of inevitability! The slowly inevitable passage of time!"

Though she would be crushed under it like all of humanity ... well, it's inevitable, right? Looking to the others as they rush in, Mamimi blinks, "Ah... but it's inevitable?" She may answer Souji, even as they chip away at it.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "..." George goes a bit silent and puts his phone away. It's clear, at least, that he's about to take this seriously. He looks about ready to start talking when a giant fleshwall begins to emerge from Kyra's head.

"Hyral! Surviving now, talking later. Do you recognize this creature?" Albert calls out, immediately drawing his tremendous power-hammer and taking a ready stance, trying to shove Kyra back behind the rest of the Core Fleet <span style="color:aptains.
"cxterm50">Ahhh, Ms. Yu. A pleasure, as always, but unfortunately you find us at an inopportune time.</span>" Moonfin says, drawing his own power-katana and approaching with intent to experimentally slice at the wall's protrusions.
"Warning. Unidentified assailant. Hostile intent assumed." Seft is the one speaking up here, her eye-visor displaying a surprised "!_!" expression. She heads back, intending to link up with George to do something...

"Augh! Floran thought, would be made of meat! Isss not! Why! Ssstone isss bad!" Biteblade doesn't have a very good time of this, having immediately wanted to bite into it and likely having failed. She backs off for now, drawing her tremendous RAILGUN BOW from her Matter Manipulator and trying to put several thick rods of durasteel through the creature's twisted skull.
"...Lass, I think it's time we had a certain talk. George, matey, let's get to work on the back-lane business. We need tell Kyra what we're about." She then pulls out her MATTER MANIPULATOR, and begins digging extra space for the group to occupy through the opposite, normal wall of the subway, intended to buy extra time.
"Ghhhhh... Alright kid, get to work on how you're gonna heal us up on this. Not like what I'm doing isn't something I can't still give you an answer while I do it." Seft joins him, and George gets to work on... Fortifications! Little metal walls with spikes, things like that, rapidly formed and constructed using his Matter Manipulator, intended to cause grievous harm to the Demon Wall if it tries to crush through them.

    As each group gets to work, they each call out in immediate response to Souji. "Ready, bossman." "I am prepared." "Floran already on tasssk!" "Aye, cap'n!" "Status. Ready for combat." "Squad prepared, sir."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    She seems like she's about to continue with the yelling when that /thing/ rips out of her head. Kyra falls forward onto her hands and knees, then tilts her head backwards as the enormous wall emerges. Her shock doesn't last long once she realizes what it is though by then, Albert has already hauled her behind the rest of the core fleet.

    "Punch it, Xiao!!!" Kyra screeches, hurling herself back up to her feet and immediately grasping at the items she has hidden under her hoodie. "/Kill it Souji/!!!" She'll freak out over her classmates witnessing this later.

    "It's a Demon Wall! I've only seen them on TV! Hit it! Hit it hard and hit it fast or else it'll crush us all flat!" Even as she speaks, she starts hurling her explosive liquid napalm-based mixtures at the monster, "Souji! Can you haste /everyone/? You should haste everyone!! George! It might stone you if you get close but I can fix that! Just throw yourselves at it and don't stop!"

Haruhara Haruko (792) has posed:
     The gunfire from Xiaomu does exactly what one would expect gunfire would do against a wall made of stone. Small holes are shot into it, only going a little bit deep. Stone is fairly tough to shoot through, and fairly defensive, after all. The rocket launcher from Kotone does a bit more damage, blasting off a chunk of the wall. It does less damage than likely expected. Again, a massively defensive monster. At the least, though? Souji manages to do a fair amount of damage. The Bushido attack leaves a wide cut across the face of the demonic face, the creature howling in pain due to it. This might also help narrow down where to attack, though: The face. Moonfin discovers similar, cutting more easily at one of its claws. Some rods now stick through the creatures skull, impaled into it. Even though it obviously takes so much damage there, it's still resilient even there.

     The Demon Wall keeps its path forward. The metal fortifications slow it down, but eventually it manages to get past them. Small chips come out of its body due to the effort, though. It also slowly is causing the train to be pressed forward. Due to the irregular force of it, the train is likely to fall off the rails just slightly, and get stuck against a slight turn in the tracks. Eventually it will crumple up. It seems to take a lot to slow this thing down from moving forward. It doesn't just move forward though. Oh, no. Instead, it starts to chant, its claws clenching and moving around slightly.

     Several white clocks appear, right around each party member if it works. The hands on them are moving at a normal pace, before they suddenly start to slow down rapidly. Yes, Slowga, cast on the entire group. But, this isn't the end of the chaos for everyone.

     One of its hands lifts up, attacking those closest to it. Albert and Moonfin. If the claw makes contact, they'll find a strange magical condition /trying/ to affect their bodies. It won't necessarily work, and can be resisted via willpower. But, starting from the legs? A petrification attempt starts up.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji simply looks over at Mamimi when he is addressed. "There are few things that are truly inevitable. Decide for yourself if this is one of them."

The Flotilla then gives him responses. A momentary glance spared to them shows that they're already moving to engage in their individual specialties to counter the obvious tactics of the Wall. He smiles. Good. "Your initative is stellar as always." He compliments them. He does not reply to Kyra's assertion of said Demon Wall tactics. She is correct and he has no need to modify her assertions.

In a stunning display of cooperation, Souji even pauses in his sword-based assault to gather energy to his hands, forming a complicated pattern of Time Magic. "Rivers of time, part and roar in fury... Haste-2!"

It's probably for the best, as the orange flare of the spell settles in, more clocks appearing and speeding up as they clash with the deep purple Slow effect, creating a temporal lock. Neither spell can function properly while the two opposing forces are present over the team.

At least they can maintain normal speed...

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     "....Wonderful. A Demon Wall."

     Xiao sighed again, her arms coming out from her sleeves, covered in black metal. She held her arms at her side and clenched her fists. "Very well. It would be a crying shame if we were all crushed here now, wouldn't it?" Smiling despite the sudden, dire situation, the scientist focused, causing a cold breeze to build up around her body.

     "...Hm?" She could spy the telltale signs of SLOWGA spell being cast upon them all. Wow, not cool Demon Wall. Not cool at all. At least that was before Souji cast Hastega to counteract it. "Good job, Boss~" The cold got harsher around Xiao, and she reared back with a fist, punching the ground.

     Upon impact, a large cluster of ice crystals burst upwards, and then more continued forward in the same manner, barreling into the Demon Wall with full force, and then attempting to spread frost over the surface. Matter tended to slow down when cooled!

Mamimi Samejima (830) has posed:
"It finally came!"
It was inevitable after all.
The game over screen for them all!

"Well I guess it is a demon wall, but it's more like a Lord Of Time." Mamimi notes, responding to Kyra though she wasn't spoken to. Looking it up and down, Mamimi is forced to go down the stairs in order to continue appreciating, though there is a sudden LOCK OF TIME - though Mamimi may not be directly affected by Haste 2. Maybe not, at least.

Looking back and forth at Souji and the wall, Mamimi responds. "Yeah. It looks pretty ineeeeeeeviiiiiiiiitaaaaablleeeeeee." Mamimi's voice, slower, remarks. She might be a teeny bit slower. At such a speed that the wall is going, Mamimi's slight 'haste' to not be crushed, ends up almost matching the wall's forward motion. The lord of time! Though we may ask for him to be quick about it, it is at his speed that he shall grind us down.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Get it wrong again in this fight," Xiaomu yells (unnecessarily loud, really) at Xiao Li Yu, "And I'll equip you for a blunt weapon before I try meleeing that thing! I'm a *FOX*, not a dog!!"

Her guns click empty, and Xiaomu quickly swaps in two clips of anti-spirit rounds - hopefully they'll be more effective than standard-issue bullets. Particularly given that this is very decidedly a supernatural monster. She's REALLY wishing she were carrying grenades today, but she didn't expect a random boss encounter. Wandering mobs are one thing - she's geared for those on a day-to-day basis - but boss-class spawns are something else.

The Slow effect starts to latch onto her, which comes as a spectacular annoyance - but before she has time to be REALLY annoyed, or worse, Souji's Haste-2 takes effect to balance it out, and she gives him a fast thumbs-up before -

Running.

Not up the stairs, of course; that WOULD be the smart move, if she could still get to them safely, but she's no longer here to be smart; she's here to kick a monster's flatly vertical ass until it ceases to be. Rather, she sprints parallel to the Demon Wall, focusing her fire on its face as she runs and guns, even doing a leaping cartwheel into a backflip before she comes down again at the other end of the party's 'line' ... and ejecting another pair of spent clips. The flips and twists weren't entirely unnecessary, either - she timed them to steer clear of her allies' own attacks, as well as trying to confuse the Demon Wall's aim if it has any ranged attacks.

"So where did that thing come from, anyway?" Xiaomu asks Kyra, reloading once again as she catches her breath. The idiot sorceress's ice spell is noted with a quirked eyebrow; Xiaomu has ice magic as well, so if that turns out to be a weakness for this thing, she can certainly help hammer on it.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Xiamou! This boss has a timer on it! You need bigger ordinance! Also it just popped out of my head!" Kyra calls out from behind Albert after thoroughly exhausting her own supply of napalm. She's about to go for the acid mixtures even though she isn't confident that they'd have any effect on the massive stone slab. Dart guns would be right out of the question too-but more importantly, as Albert calls out, she knows that they're going to need certain types of support.

    Dispell for one, though Kyra's is only single target. Thankfully, Souji's timely casting expertly negates the need to remove Slowga, "I didn't know they could do /that/." Kyra confides to Mamimi before gently tossing the girl one of her acid flasks. "Here, put this on it! I gotta do something!"

    That 'something' turns out to be ensuna-or rather, one ensuna for Albert and a remedy-baring dart for Moonfin since those two are in the most danger of being petrified from the Demon Wall's claws.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
She's got a rocket launcher it's hurting the Demon wall but it's not enough still it's doing more than lighter weapons would so. So she levels the thing again and fires again. She keeps tabs onit's weapon loads out, how does this things make rockets? She's never checked. She'll have to bug the core fleet later. For now she's bounding about with inhuman agility and firing missiles.

"I'm not complaining about any support."

She is targing the more demon parts of the wall even as the spells an such start flying.

"I don't know Xiaomu! Kyra? Mr. Mursame if you got any ideas how to better kill this?! Just yell at me where to shoot!"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Grrrrhhh!" Albert is sent tumbling back, his military uniform ripped up and his body bruised. With one quick motion, he brings a hand down to his Matter Manipulator and taps it, summoning his Durasteel armor, styled after a dystopian commando. "Biteblade!" He calls out, and obligingly, despite the petrification of his legs, the plant-girl rushes forward -- thankfully in Real Time due to Souji Murasame's generous application of Haste -- to yank Albert back and to the back lane.
    "Floran got!" She calls out, putting away her bow and taking Albert's hammer from his hands. Rushing forward, she moves in to strike with that heavy hammer, intending to strike in such a way as to demolish a hole in the wall, and being EXTREMELY careful to dodge away from those hands if ever at all possible. Albert, for his part, follows the cue of Kotone; he retrieves and begins firing his rocket launcher at the wall, in areas where the explosive impact shouldn't cause too much issue for the rest of the team.

    Meanwhile Moonfin can remain on his feet, and can exhaustingly block the impact of the claws with his sword, but that doesn't stop him from suffering the paralytical effect. Fortunately Kyra can handle that. While his shoulders and arms are jarred and exhausted by the strain of blocking, he can continue because of her, backing up slowly. "Fifth Sea Hylotl Style: The Flood and the Levee." He says. flaring his blade dramatically, and then moving to strike over the rest of the matters right at the neck of the creature, where the head joins the wall, bringing our a flood of slices. If the skull is separated from the body, maybe that will deal with this!

    "Listen, kid." George starts, whipping up shaped charges as fast as humanly possible and handing them off to Seft to toss out. "I need you to think about it like we are right now. Look at Seft. Girl doesn't agree with the boss man at /all/ sometimes. She puts herself and everyone around her up against some pretty goddamn intense moral standards. But she's not... It's like..."
    "Explaining. Souji Murasame is helping us right now. When his organization threatens something important in an ethical way, I will stand against it. I will vote for the Core Fleet to act against the Zaibatsu, and at times it will. But I will not defy him purely for the sake of defying him." Seft speaks up, lobbing another shaped charge at the wall and then getting back to constructing more spikes for it to impale itself on.
    "You need to understand, lass. I think you deserve to properly know what we're about." Pavo speaks up, still urgently digging. Oddly, her piratey accent is a little more absent. "When we work with the Zaibatsu, or the Empire, or things like that, it's not because we're lacking principles. But what good's acting on those principles then? I think the Empire's wrong for how they betrayed Juno. Would it /do/ anything if I just fought them on every single other point, turning down jobs that have nothing to do with her? What we are is just people who don't hold grudges, lass. That's all it is."

Haruhara Haruko (792) has posed:
     The ice being tossed forward does slow down and damage the wall slightly. The gunfire towards its from Xiaomu hits right on, giving it a lot more damage. It roars out in pain as its head is filled with even more holes. Bits of its skull are also blown away by the rocket.

     And depressingly enough its skull is beginning to /reform/ slightly. Most notably as its neck is attacked, the damage heals incredibly rapidly, preventing its head from falling straight off. Though, from this angle, it's impossible to see how it is healing itself. It's width is shrinking, the wall getting significantly smaller. It's using its own stone to recover. The downside to this, though? The Flotilla will be able to tell this. As Biteblade hits with the hammer, her own instinct as a digger might make her realize some signs of the wall getting thinner there. Minor cracking, different sounds. It will still take some effort to make a hole completely through, let alone one big enough for people to get through.

     Also, there is one thing the Demon Wall is known for. Trapping Adventurers in. Sealing them in from both directions. It hasn't done that. Up until this point. Behind the group, there is a thundering sound. The ground shakes. A large flat wall appears.

     There is a sudden red flash across the Demon Wall. A red clock apears across its body. Haste. It moves much faster, despite the objects in its way. The walls shake and shudder as it keeps moving forward.

     Another spell is cast. Bio. Bursts of poison fill the room, trying to poison everyone within, while also trying to erode at their skin with the magical acid. The Demon Wall moves even faster, chanting yet another spell.

     At this point, there is only about ten feet between the wall itself, and the back wall. It will only be a moment before the party finds itself crushed. If anyone is holding anything back, now is the time to do it.

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Xiao frowns at the space between the boss and the back wall, and the effect they were having on it. ....And now she suddenly felt a bit sick. Did it just cast Bio on them!? "...Hey, Sage Fox." The scientist called for Xiaomu, oddly not screwing up her name or race this time. "Do you have access to holy magic?" She glanced over at Kyra. "You too, Kyra. I have an idea." She clenched her fists.

     "The name Demon Wall, implies that is is of a dark nature. Therefore, it should be especially weak to Holy magic of any sort." One last glance behind them, and she went on. "We haven't much time left, so I believe that coordinating our light magic against this creature would ensure maximum effectiveness."

     Xiaomu and Kyra are spared glances again. "Can we agree on this?"

Mamimi Samejima (830) has posed:
"I knooooooow!" Mamimi proclaims!
The Lord of Time is truly the end of them all!
Unless someone stops time!?

An acid flask is tossed towards Mamimi, and she 'catches it'. It more 'smacks her in the face' as she is still a tiny bit slower still, the girl grasping it finally before it falls and splatters down. As she is told to 'Put it on it', Mamimi turns around to see a giant WALL erupt from there. "Weeee're out of time already?" She exclaims, slow possibly wearing off from her - or perhaps she's so panicked, that's her speaking faster!?

With Bio filling the room with poison, magical acid filling it all, Mamimi's eyes turn into spirals as she throws up her hands and topples forwards, the girl crashing to the ground as the acid tumbles slowly through the air towards the wall, Mamimi crashing to the ground, helpless, as the wall closes in! She even curls up a little, how helpful she is!

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa sees that Biteblade also is using high explosives. She's not sure how the weapon generates rockets but she keeps an eye on it's energy levels to not make it stall out. So she times her shots. She's never stopping moving and she now hears some of why Kyra called the fleet for talk to. Kyra seemed to share some of her own concerns. She's still using her roicket launcher to deal with the flesh.

Kotone doesn't have to worry as much about the posion, right? Or does she she oesn't want to find out, but it sees that yes the acid is eating away at her exposed synth skin. She's not very happy about /that/ Also once it gets through that it can start doing damage to her innards it's eating away at the illusion of her still being flesh. IT's also eating into her armour as well which does not make Kotone /very happy/ the suit would cost more than synth skin repairs. She's firing her missiles a bit more often now too.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Albert getting wounded is enough to spur Kyra into immediately murmuring up a Curaga spell for everyone. It's clearly doubly needed as the bio spell spreads throughout those fighting. In Kyra's case, her own healing overrides the bio on her, if only because she wasn't too injured beforehand. Despite the intense amount of magical particles the spell requires, she channels this need from her with ease. There are no signs of the Wild Magic tonight despite the ludicrous amounts of stress this encounter is generating.

    Xiao proposes a triple team up with holy magic. In this case, as they nearly quite literally have their backs against the wall: "GREAT IDEA, LET'S DO IT!" she chirps.

    The words of the Flotilla, as they explain how they operate, and why they would work with the Empire one day but oppose them the next, are not unheard by Kyra. She seems to be thinking of the response-but first she needs to get past coordinating DPS with Xiaomu and Xiao.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Some, yeah," Xiaomu replies to Xiao Li Yu as she finishes reloading again. "Binding, sealing -" She glances at the accelerating clocks, then the flat wall behind us - anvil to the Demon Wall's hammer, she's sure - and then gets Bio'd.

Mental note: text Reiji and make sure he fully replenishes their supply of fried tofu. She's going to need more downtime at this rate.

Still, triple-tech holy magic sounds like a good plan. "Haven't got any better ideas, so -" she begins again, and this time, she's interrupted by a transporter next to her: a case of grenades, straight from Shinra HQ. "- here's the heavy ordnance, they're enhanced with fire magic, use 'em if you need 'em!" She re-holsters her handguns, grabs a grenade from the box, pulls the pin, and tries to chuck it straight down the Demon Wall's throat, followed by a shout of "BYAKKOHOU!!" and a focused wave of light magic, ALSO directed down the monster's gullet.

"XIAOMU WAAAAAAAAAAAVE!!!!"

And her last contribution (for the round, anyway) is her mainstay binding spell. The Demon Wall is too big to fully enclose in the sphere of mystical force, but she's centering the effect on that ugly mug, digging in with her willpower to try and hold the monster in place. "Hit it now!" she shouts; then her voice drops to a more conversational volume as she begins chanting a sealing sutra.

The 'barrier' she conjures, incidentally, is completely permeable to attacks directed against the monster within. Anyone who's seen her and Reiji double-teaming an enemy with Shinra Banshou would know this; anyone who hasn't ... well, it's not hard to figure out.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Pavo hits the wall and swears. This will be way too tough to dig through easily. Her piratey accent comes through quick. "Ye had best be right about this, Xiao Li, matey, this is all goin' capsized in a flat way fast!" She calls out, drawing her own blade from the Matter Manipulator and rushing forward. She has a plan. "Get to work, we'll keep 'im off ye!" She gets a facefull of poison, of course, and is unable to stop that, but she's forcing herself through the pain to plunge her Power Cutlass into one of the arms, intending to pin it to the wall itself so it can't stop the triple holy tech.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "We shall strike such that you are not harmed. Take your actions quickly, and we will prevent interference." Moonfin says, flicking his blade back and forth over the neck until, suddenly, he backdashes out of a cloud of poison, coughing as he speaks calmly. "Second Sea Hylotl Style: Harpoon Upon Bones." And then he rushes in, alongside Pavo, trying to stab his blade through the same bone arm and pin it to the wall.

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Xiao nodded at both Kyra and Xiaomu, smiling. Pavo as well. "Either this works or we get crushed." Then she looked towards the Demon Wall.

     "Holy."

     Her body flared up with light magic, and she took a stance. "Haaaaah!" The energy gathered into her fists and she lurched forward, thrusting out with both arms. The light magic gathered in both of her hands fired forward, spiraling together and then taking on the form of a pure, white dragon.

     The ethereal dragon opened it's maw wide and then mixed with Xiaomu's aptly named 'Xiaomu Wave', growing bigger and stronger. That was two out of three! Xiao gave Kyra a sidelong glance.

     "Kyra, go!"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Are we doing this? Let's do this!" Kyra lifts her right arm, pointing a finger at the Demon Wall. White light gathers at her fingertip, forming a small marble-sized orb that doesn't look too impressive to start. When she fires it, though, it suddenly expands into massive white laser-size. She might be cribbing a little bit of Marisa's style in that moment. But she's not here right now to give her crap about it so she'll gladly do so.

    She fires it alongside Xiaomu and Xiao once they coordinate. "HOLY!"

    "So what you guys are saying is, it's nothing personal, it's just business?" Kyra finally asks of Pavo. "I wish I had known to throw more money at you over that Denver guy, it would have saved my investigation a /lot/ of time." She seems to accept this explanation, if a little bit bitterly in light of what she and her friends later learned about the Denver stuff. "Did you guys even know we were there?"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "You hit with biggessst ssstab, Floran make sssure wall not hit back!" Biteblade is poisoned, but her REGENERATION is at least working enough to deal with /some/ of the poison. She moves to crush the joint of the arm that Moonfin and Pavo aren't addressing with her heavy hammer, using her manic berserker style of combat to overwhelm the pain and pin the other arm, with help from...

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Time is not on anyone's side, as the Demon Wall quickly proves. "Tch." Souji emits with some asperity as he looks behind himself at the erupting back wall. "We have less time than I imagined. Focus on the head!"

He does not have the time to prepare his best attack. They'll be crushed before he can unleash it. He can, however, prepare something else. He sets his stance, raising his blade as he gathers his focus to engage in a powerful sword attack. The air seethes with poison, running through his system, but he tries to remain intent. The pain of poison will be of little matter if they end up pulped.

"This is not the end of my path." He states. "There is too much yet to be accomplished. Murasame Family Sword Arts..."

    [SAMURAI] [MYSTIC KNIGHT]
    [BUSHIDO] [SPELLBLADE]
    > [4: FLURRY] [THUNDAGA BLADE] <

"Four Judgements of Heaven!"

Souji's blade erupts with a towering column of lightning as he suddenly blurs forward, lashing out with four incredibly quick strikes, leaving trails of blue-white crackling light that explode into fountains of lightning in their wake.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Urgent. Moving to assist." Seft calls out, abandoning the shaped charges and drawing her POWER BATTLEAXE to rush forward alongside Biteblade, moving in perfect synch with the plant-girl to strike at the other arm. "Urgent. We will prevent its motions from striking back against you or protecting its head. Please initiate attack now."

Haruhara Haruko (792) has posed:
     The continued missiles from Kotone are getting a bit more dangerous in this close quarters, but at least she manages to avoid hitting anyone aside the Demon Wall. The creature's arms are bound now, as well. The combination of the Xiaomu Wave and the blades pressed against its arms are keeping it from moving, and slowing its progress a bit more.

     And then, the dual Holys strike. The beast reels in pain at this, letting out a loud roar. It's head is mostly disintigrated now. Mostly being the key word.

     The wall keeps moving forward. It is far too close for comfort. There is barely any room left to manuever, and in seconds, the wall /will/ crush the entire party.

     If not for Souji.

     The four strikes hit, blue trails of lightning slashing through the beast. The blue light stays in its skull for a few seconds. Everyone is now pressed fully against the back wall.

     And then the beast's skull splits into multiple parts. It disintegrates, Souji's attack finishing it off.

     In a way, Kyra now owes Souji her life. While there is a good chance the party could have pushed the wall back, and shot off a few more attacks to just barely finish it? It is, almost certainly, for the best that Souji finished the wall off. Of course, he didn't do it alone, at least. Everyone helped.

     But, at a guess, Kyra isn't going to be happy about /who/ finished the Demon Wall off.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "It is absolutely personal, Hyral." Albert says, with a heavy, emotional grunt, as the head disintegrates. "But all that matters is results. We do not follow money. If money was all we were motivated by, we would each vote with Pavo and we would have given Juno up to the Confederacy. What matters is loyalty. It is what we care about more than anything else. We do not take actions that don't get us the results we want. There are times when that means following the Zaibatsu. There are times when that means fighting the Zaibatsu. All that matters is that we get our results."

    "Kid, you need to understand." George says, making some placating gestures. "When it comes down to it... You have beef with things Souji does. And hey, you should act on that. 'Cause that's your choice, sure! I've got some beef with the bossman sometimes myself, and I act on that. But the way this works, when you're on the edge of surviving the way we were, you start learning, maybe it only really matters when it /matters/, you know? We had no idea you were there, and hell, if we had, it might'a swung the voting another way. But turning down a job to help the Empire wasn't gonna make the Empire chase Juno down any less. In the end, sometimes you just need to understand when to be principled, and when to go with the flow. We've all got our ethics, but they don't mean a damn thing if we don't keep 'em out of the way until it's time to bring 'em out properly. Get it?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Thingss are gettinga bit closer now, but well what can she do? Her other weapons would do jack. She's gong to keep an eye on her allies and place her shots away. She has to keep it up or the thing's regeration will strt to overpower everyone. She hears the talk on Loyaly even as she fights. Being a cyborg has it's perks after all but she may end up listening to it again later. For now she's got to keep moving. She does hover shoulder the launcher? Why because this madness is over. She looks about to check on her friend and heads over to Kyra. Though she may not be as comforting as she likes portions of her face have been bruend away along with other parts showing the mechanic workings of her body. Thankfully it's mostly just a smooth metal micary of the human form baring some of the damage to her jaw.

"Kyra are you okay...?"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    No, Kyra is not happy about who finished the wall off-but in this moment, she's just glad that it /was/ finished off and everyone was not crushed to paste. Only now, as she starts hitting those still afflicted with the Poison status with ensuna spells, does the weight of what happened really hit her. Not only that, but those here that witnessed the event include a few people she'd rather not have know about this problem. Souji included.

    Albert counters that they don't actually follow money, which confuses Kyra at first until they do bring up a good point about Juno being worth a hell of a lot of money. "You better tell that to Juno too because she's still moving and afraid to trust you." Kyra points out quietly, her shoulders sinking.

    Kyra cringes a little when she hears George call Souji 'Bossman'. "Yeah I guess I get it. A little. I..." she trails off, looking kind of embarassed. Too embarassed to bring up her very personal reasons for not getting along with Souji. "What do you do, though, if you suddenly find yourself somewhere and nobody is getting along with you? Because I feel kind of alienated."

    She pauses and looks at Kotone, "Whoah. You look awful. Hold still for a second-" she puts a hand on Kotone's face, "Heal! The scar of the glowing sun!" Technically a time spell taught to her by Orphen, the magic quickly reverses the damage done to Kotone's synthetic body.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Moments before doom is assured, when the Demon Wall would crash down upon them all and obliterate them... The strikes land and the Demon Wall disintegrates. Souji turns away from the dissolving beast, sheathing his blade. "It is done." He states, with a finality to his tone.

He leaps from the train, pulling a vial from his suit and drinking down the antidote so he can stop taking poison damage. He assumes Xiao carries her own. Or maybe she's one of those weird people who like being poisoned. It doesn't matter to him. As it stands now, he simply approaches the Flotilla proper. "You are all intact?" He looks about them all, considering, and nodding. "Good work, all of you."

He looks back to Kyra, then, and simply watches her intently. "Why do you hate me?" Souji asks her, simply.

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Once the damn thing finally went down, Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew. Okay. Alls well that ends well!"

     Minus the whole being poisoned thing. She felt sick to her stomach. Well, a good adventurer always carries the proper items! She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a vial of antidote, drinking it in a single gulp.

     That taken care of, Xiao deposited her weapons back into her sleeves and then smiled towards Xiaomu. "Well done, Sage Ferret! I knew you had it in you!" A pause followed. "...Xiaomu Wave though? Is that the best name you could come up with?"

     And once the threat passes, it's immediately back to being a troll.

Mamimi Samejima (830) has posed:
With ensuna striking her soundly, the dizzy @'s about her eyes vanish.
This is because Mamimi is no longer a non-elite suffering from a bio-spell.
Just in time for the giant wall to crash down.

In pieces, though. Mamimi is at the edge of the wall before she watches it tumble down, crashing before her in a massive terrifying mix of sound and vision, Mamimi either scared stiff or simply not scared. In reality, it is a combination of both and an understanding she couldn't escape the Lord of Time, anyhow - though they seemed to have managed it, somehow.

"I guess it was his time, actually." Mamimi remarks, almost sad, as she places her hands before her - clasping them together as she looks up at the elites, talking to each other. A single cigarette is slipped out and put to her mouth as she sits cross-legged below them, listening in. Alienated and nobody gets along with you? "You get bullied." Mamimi responds, up at Kyra - answering as if it was a question, or intent to be helpful.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Thanks, Kyra," Xiaomu says with a worn-out but relieved look. She's not as badly off as she thought she'd be, all things considered, but a few days' rest would still go well. Then ...

'... Sage Ferret'

Just what act of self-control she engages in to avoid tossing fire-enhanced grenades at Xiao Li Yu will never be properly documented for posterity. What Xiaomu DOES do is close the box back up, heft it in both arms, and head for the stairs back to street level ... assuming they're still some form of climbable.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    So, the final tally: George is the only one who stayed in the back lane, suffering nothing but some minor poisoning. Seft's corroded, Pavo's more heavily poisoned, Moonfin's had his arms traumatized by the repeated blocking, Albert's got some wounds, and Biteblade's much more poisoned. But they're working on first aid already, and looking for heals from their support folk here.

    Seft is the one who walks up to Kyra, grasping her hand a bit more firmly. "Warm. Kyra, you are only as isolated as you choose to be. The fact that I will be working against you at times is irrelevant, if you choose to let it be." Her expression goes to that "^_^" again. "Caring. I think you are a good person, Kyra. I want to be friends with you, and I want you to feel supported. The Core Fleet has obligations, but if you feel alone, or like you lack support, I want to know, and I want to know what you'd like to happen to feel less isolated."

    "Miss Hyral, we may act against each other at times, but that is no cause for a feeling of animosity. Seft speaks accurately. Much of the Flotilla and all of the Core Fleet think highly of you. The fact that our actions put us, at times, in opposition, such matters should not interfere with the basic foundations of simple civility." Moonfin says, as he approaches, and then dramatically sheathes his blade in his Matter Manipulator and bows briefly. "Please accept my apologies for any times you have felt less respected or supported by the Core Fleet due to our work with Mr. Murasame and the Zaibatsu."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Is that a serious question? Or something you're asking facetiously because of my strange, uncanny way of causing you copious amounts of trouble recently?" Kyra asks Souji bluntly, considering their interactions between the Glitch city up until now when her head just produced a Demon Wall.

    "...well yeah." she says to Mamimi, "You get bullied. You get bullied if nothing changes and you do nothing."

    Seft approaches and takes her hand. Kyra squeezes back though it may be an option seen more than felt. She looks at the ground. "Well...it'd be nice if my ideas got support. Even if I don't have Souji's business savvy. I did appreciate it when you and Biteblade and George came with me to help the Outcasts." As Moonfin approaches, she watches him and...eventually nods, "They do? I wasn't aware you guys felt that way. Um...thank you."

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
"You appear to not understand the situation." Souji reaches up, apparently about to adjust his Moogle Glasses for a moment, before he simply removes then and closes them with a definitive SNAP noise, placing them in a suit pocket.

"You have had a problem with me even before then, Kyra Hyral. Not even that sham of an arranged marriage would explain it. Am I simply a symbol for you to rebel against? Someone that gives your aimless rebellion against society purpose? Have you considered that you might be using me as a scapegoat as much as you might believe others use you, /Kyra Hyral/?"

He goes quiet for a moment, the intensity of the situation allowed to die down in both the environment and his tone of voice. "Before you allow yourself to play the victim, consider that you might inflict the /very same/ wounds on others."

Mamimi Samejima (830) has posed:
There is a nod from Mamimi.
She blows a smoke cloud outwards as she sits back.
Yep, that's exactly what happens.

She just continues to be a fly on the wall.

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     "And there she goes." Xiao quipped, watching her similarly named non-compatriot stalk up the stairs. "Bye Hermit Crab! We'll meet again!" She waved in a cute manner, belying her teasing of the other. But that soon ran it's course.

     That left her with Souji, the Flotilla, and Kotone. They seemed to be having a SERIOUS DICUSSION. Something about ANIMOSITY and HATRED and all that good heavy stuff that drama was made of. ".....Eh." A shrug followed. They had serious talks to have, SHE had serious research to get back to.

     "Alright then. I should be on my way. Later boss, Albert, Seft, Biteblade, George, Pavo, Moonfin, Smoking Lady, and my best friend, Kyra!" A pause followed. "...Do see a doctor though. That whole monsters coming out of your head thing is rather suspect. You just might have a condition. ...Well, beyond the ones you already have."

     Another wave and then she bounded off up the stairs and out of sight.

Haruhara Haruko (792) has posed:
     The current situation is, obviously, not something that Kyra is liking. It's going to only get worse though. A bulge forms on her head. It looks incredibly red, almost like it is just an injury. But it starts to stretch out. It's a few inches long. Mostly flat, the line of it going vertically across Kyra's head. The underside is rounded slightly. And, of course, it looks very fleshy.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is now just trying to relax and she's really not trying to creep you out Kyra, she's really not trying to do so. She looks to Souji and the core fleet. She's got her own concerns about being in the Flotilla. She's not trying to be creepy here, she thinks about her own Behaviour during the Glitch busiiness she'd been trying to keep those she could alive. She looks to to Kyra now alone.

"I consider you a friend Kyra, and I have no idea how badly I might have ended up if I hadn't fallen in with you and the rest of the Foltilla."

She'll try to give Kyra a hug if she can if her frined will let her.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Oh so you /are/ being serious." Kyra drawls, suddenly quite irritated that Souji's bringing this up now in front of everyone. "Do you want to know why, Souji? Do you /really/ want to know why? Because you /became/ that symbol."

    She spreads her hands out, "We both know you weren't always like this. Not before my sister died." She lets that hang in the air coupled with the implicit promise that she could bring out more details about that particular bit of unpleasant history. But she is not, instead electing to show some restraint.

    She changes subjects just slightly, "Are you suggesting that you think I'm alienating you? Really? From /who/?"

    Kyra cringes suddenly and puts a hand to her face, "Ugh-buh...what the?" She pokes at the 'horn'.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft emits a gentle, bell-like tone of laughter. "Cheerful. Kyra, we would not have invited you to the Flotilla if we did not think well of you. Your candidacy as a person of high quality was universally endorsed and voted for. You are well liked. If it will assist, I am sure the Core Fleet captains can make their support of you more transparent when possible, even if it's not actionable."

    Biteblade glances between Souji and Kyra, noticing the moment of tension between the two, and quietly sort of shoves the Core Fleet captains off to one side. "/Yikesss/, now is ssscary time for heal friend and money friend. Get between, maybe ssstruck by lightning." She mutters to her allies, but then she winds up a bit hypnotized by the emergence of the horn. "Heal friend growsss horn. Isss what human meat people do, normal? Floran not know."

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Unlike when Diabolos gutpunched him, he is ready for Kyra. "You bring it up all the time, Kyra. You put on these airs about how oppressed you are! How much you have suffered! Maybe I was a different person then, Kyra Hyral, but do you understand something?"

He narrows his eyes, preparing to deliver what would probably be a murderous verbal retort, when he sees the horn grow. "... What..." He pauses, and looks around for a moment. "What is this?"

He looks back to Kyra, and exhales. "This argument is not going to solve anything. Not here, not now. And especially not tf you apparently keep growing things out of your head every time we attempt to come to some form of an understanding. We need to correct this problem."

He looks to Xiao and the Starbounders. "You have my support in finding a cure. Let me know if you require any Zaibatsu resources in your research. Once you have a lead, let me know, and we will put an end to this."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa looks to her firend with concern she's wonders about what's going on with Souji and Kyra. However the bit about friend's dead sister? That seems to clear up a bit of this. She recalls Kyra also bailing on things back home as well.

"Its not an easy time and Biteblade? Seft umm?"

She looks at the horn that Kyra's poking with great concern...

Mamimi Samejima (830) has posed:
A dead sister?
That's pretty bad, actually.
Mamimi doesn't speak up again though, letting them talk as she stays beneath them all.

This wouldn't be the first time - though she didn't understand why they fought the Lord of Time, when his advance was almost inevitable. They /had/ stopped it though! With another breath of smoke, Mamimi laid out on the rocks, still looking up, still watching and listening. "It could be something good." Mamimi remarks, of the horn - when it's called a curse.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    It really does look like lightning is going to strike between the two of them. Or maybe some kind of hurricane at this rate? There is a brief frustrated noise from Kyra but whatever she was going to say to that effect is gone. She prods the horn with a hand and quietly slips her hoodie down over it.

    This act does not help conceal it much better. "You're right, this is going nowhere." Kyra says hastily, pulling away from Souji. "...why, though...why are you helping me?" she asks him with that typical Hyral bluntness.